A Year of Gratitude: Day Three Hundred Fifty-four

Day 354 - Visual Health

I had my first appointment with my optometrist in over three years.  I am usually very good about having an annual check-up, but having been without insurance for so long, I couldn’t afford it.  I tried Costco, but was disappointed with everything, including the glasses (except the optician who helped me get the right lenses into the glasses – he was great).  Now that I have vision benefits through my work, I can go back to Dr. Mark Bisson.

It was a good experience, of course.  I really like Dr. Bisson, and trust him - I've been his client for over a decade.  I was able to buy frames I actually like (instead of the cheapest available) because of the subsidy.  The advantages that come from being employed full time by an employer who cares for the employees is such a blessing – I am so grateful to be employed again.

I am also grateful for being healthy.  That is partly up to me, and I do what I can to be as healthy as possible.  Still – for those things that are out of my control and serve me well, I’m thankful.

A Year of Gratitude: Day Three Hundred Fifty-three

Day 353 – Geniuses

I had an appointment at the Genius Bar today after work to resolve an issue I’m having with my MacBook Pro.  It has not been performing very well lately, despite my moving a lot of photos and such to flash drives and cleaning up the hard drive.  I brought my computer with me to work, and then went directly to the Apple Store in Cerritos for my appointment.

I discovered two things at this visit: 1.) Genius Bar appointments last 15 minutes regardless of the problem; and 2.) if your problem takes longer than 15 minutes, they will go ahead and help you AND the next customer at the same time, making both customers wait for follow up.

I’m not sure there is a better way to accomplish this; Apple Stores have the best trained staff I’ve ever witnessed, and I imagine I’m not the first Apple customer to have problems with his computer.  To be honest, I’ve had as many problems (maybe more?) with this computer than I ever did with my PC, but that’s another blog entry.  The end result was that I was at the Apple store for two-and-a-half hours.  I ended up buying an external hard drive.  And I came away with two profiles on my computer instead of just one, and have a ton of follow up work to do to clean up the duplicate files that were created in tonight’s efforts.

While this doesn’t sound like a positive experience (which, in truth, it wasn’t), I am grateful that the young woman (I swear, she was barely beyond what would be required to avoid child labor issues) was the Genius that she is.  She clearly knew what she was doing even though my specific computer wasn’t cooperating with her.  She was amazing. 

So thank you, Apple, for training your Geniuses so well.  Your products may not be “all that,” but your people are.

A Year of Gratitude: Day Three Hundred Fifty-two

Day 352 – Chain Gyms

I don’t normally have much praise to offer large chain gyms such as 24 Hour Fitness; I dislike their lack of customer service at every gym (though more on that in a minute), their preference toward new memberships rather than keeping their facilities (buildings and equipment) in good order or otherwise caring about existing customers, and other principles that large companies simply don’t have to worry about.  But there is one advantage that they can offer which I appreciate: having them all over the area so that I can find one close to me.

I put off looking into finding a 24 Hour Fitness close to my work because I have been enjoying the gym in Long Beach now that they’ve finished a huge remodel and expansion.  Tommy, the manager, seems to have prevailed on at least a few of his staff to offer friendly service, and the place is clean (granted, I arrived the same week they re-opened, so there hasn’t been time yet to wear it out).  I’m enjoying working out there even though there seems to have been a decrease in the choices of equipment in spite of having more floor space, and a reduction in the number of showers in the locker room.  I’m not sure what’s up with all that, but I’m enjoying this gym a lot more.

What I haven’t been enjoying so much is the commute to work; a friend who had initially expressed interest in carpooling seems to have cooled on the idea, so I’m doing the 405 drive with all the other plebeians heading south on the busiest freeway in the country.  I don’t know why I have put off looking into the gyms closer to work, which could afford me the chance to beat the traffic by driving to Irvine earlier, but I finally took care of it.  I found the 24 Hour Fitness at the Irvine Spectrum to be a good alternative; the gym’s layout and features are different, and the workout space is quite small; the parking structure is at quite a distance from the gym (which will not be pleasant on those infrequent rainy days sure to come this winter). 

I tried the morning 405 commute a full 90 minutes earlier than before, and what a difference it makes.  It’s busy, but it moves.  If I can get used to the miniscule lockers at the new gym (though there are more of them), and there isn’t too much competition for the small number of weights and equipment, this will be a good move for me. 

I’m glad there are enough of these 24 Hour Fitness locations to make my drive to work easier.  (Now let’s see how consistently I can make it down to Irvine that early.)

A Year of Gratitude: Day Three Hundred Fifty-one

Day 351 – Staying Connected

I think everyone can relate on some level to the difficulty in keeping relationships going over great distances, and how that is made more immediate by modern technology.  Although I’ve only been away for a little more than six weeks, I have been missing my friends in Portland a lot, and grateful for text messages, Facebook (yes, I admit it), and email that keeps me connected to people who have become very important to me. 

My re-entry into Long Beach life has been a little more isolating than I expected.  A couple of my friends with whom I expected to get right back into a rhythm have yet to respond to my requests to schedule something, and I am a little lonely.  I’m sure it will all work out. 

I recently received a text message from my friend Blaine just to tell me he loved me.  It is difficult to explain the profound effect that such a simple thing can have unless you’ve lived it, and it made me feel really good.  Whether it’s my mom with a recipe, my daughter with a call to say “hello,” or a text from a dear friend, I feel lucky to have these people in my life.

I am grateful to be able to stay connected to them. 

A Year of Gratitude: Day Three Hundred Fifty

Day 350 – Productive Days

Sundays are regularly productive lately; I do my laundry, grocery shopping, cook food for dinner and subsequent lunches, straighten up the house (sometimes) and iron shirts for the week.  Barring any special events or activities (which didn’t happen today), I can get quite a bit accomplished.  I just wish I enjoyed the chores more than I do.

But when I look at the things I accomplish, I can come back to the idea that I get to do these chores for myself.  I have a home to clean; I have clothes to wash; I have food to cook and a kitchen in which to cook it.  I am so lucky. 

So I get to have productive days.  I like that.