Catch up

My friend Gina just called to tell me that she was catching up on my blog, and noticed that Google had placed an ad for Bally on my page. Ha! Oh, Google ads. Anyway... I dropped that letter in the mail on Thursday night. Then on Friday morning when I got in to work, I had an email response from the request I submitted through the BTF website. They're canceling my membership. Damn now I feel like an ass because I bitched them out in this letter, and then they do what I ask before the letter even arrives. Oh well.

My HUGE news: I completed and passed the AICPA ethics exam 2 weeks ago, so I am DONE with all exams required for my CPA license!!!!! DONE!!! Last week I mailed in my application with the $250 application fee. After they approve my application, I have to send in another check to cover the annual license fee. Thankfully my employer will reimburse me for that. I also had to have my fingerprints taken via LiveScan, which was $30 PLUS $50 for an FBI and DOL background clearance check. Good Lord! They don't make this affordable! I've heard it can take 5 months until I'll get my license and number. I'll keep you posted!

Here is the necklace that I made for Marilyn, the winner of my anniversary giveaway. (That's scrapbook paper, not something I dropped water on.)


And here is a necklace I made for myself. I bought more of these beads, crazy lace agate, so I can make more because I've gotten tons of compliments on it.

I've secured my etsy shop name and URL! I don't currently have any jewelry assembled or listed for sale. I'll let you know when I do!

My super adorable, chubby-bunny nephew will be 10 months old on Wednesday. He's crawling now and just started clapping last week. He's also able to walk while holding onto toys or furniture. He had an unfortunate accident in which he let go of his Intellitainer while walking, fell, and hit his mouth. He broke one of his front teeth and had to have it extracted. Poor baby now has a missing tooth until his permanent one comes in! Here's the silly little monkey, affectionately known at home as "Hillbilly Landon".


And here's a sweet picture of Landy watching Pirates of the Caribbean with his daddy. Too bad my brother had to go and ruin the moment! Thank goodness for photo editing! (Yes, my dad has a 58" TV.)


Peace & love.
J

Corporate Bullies: An open letter to Bally Total Fitness

Hi, I'm back. I know, it's been a while. I did make the necklace for Marilyn and took a picture to post here, but I'm at work so I'll do another post from home so you all can see it.

Anyway... I'm attempting to cancel my gym membership because my new job has a workout room at the office that I can use for FREE! ... and I probably used my membership 40 times within the last 3.5 years. Worst and most expensive "investment" I've ever made. Probably comes out to $200 per visit. UGH. So, on top of me hating that they made me sign a 3-year contract that you can't get out of unless you DIE, I hate Bally because they are making it totally impossible for me to cancel my membership. Did I mention I hate them?!

And now, my open letter to Bally Total Fitness:

***************************************************

To: Bally Total Fitness Member Services
P.O. Box 1090 Norwalk, CA 90651-1090

From: J

Date: December 2, 2009

RE: Cancellation of membership (#xxxxxx)

I need to cancel my membership (#xxxxx) to Bally Total Fitness as my new employer has a workout facility in our office that I may use at no charge. I am past my initial 3 year contract, and it is my understanding that I am now month-to-month. Therefore there should be no problem in cancelling my membership.

I attempted to cancel my membership both through the BTF website and by phone. I received NO response to my request via the website form. I called the number provided on the website, and was provided no option to cancel “just because”. The only options given are moving to an area with no club within 25 miles, medical reasons and “buyer’s remorse”. So after selecting both of those options (during two different phone calls), I waited through all the inapplicable info about mailing in letters to get to the part where I could select to speak to a customer service representative. Then I was informed that the wait to speak to someone was longer than 25 minutes, so I would be put in a queue. I found that to be quite ridiculous, so I hung up and called my local club. They informed me that I can only cancel my membership by calling the corporate office. I called the corporate number again, sat through the inapplicable messages again, and was then told by the automated system that the wait to speak to someone was more than 30 minutes, so the call was dropped. 5 minutes later I called back and received the same treatment – call dropped. So I submitted a second request through the BTF website. Then I attempted one more time a half hour later… same thing.

This is absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable “customer service”. Like every other service provider, you should at least allow an option to request a cancellation through your website. A request that you should actually respond to and act on. And dropping the calls of people who call in to corporate is unbelievable – first you require that I call corporate to cancel my membership, and then you make it absolutely impossible to get through to someone at corporate. At least provide the option for callers to leave a message for customer service to return. But I imagine if I did finally get to speak with someone, I’d get stuck with a sales person who will give me a long spiel attempting to convince me to not cancel my membership despite the fact that I don’t want to hear it, and don’t need a membership any longer, AND have every right to cancel since my contract is up. I know how these things work… I have dealt with pushy sales people before. And I don’t want to deal with this now. My membership needs to be cancelled and it needs to be hassle free. And at this point, I will NEVER consider membership with Bally again due to your horrendous “customer service”.


********************************************************

I hope you all never have to deal with this crap, but we all know that's wishful thinking. Oooh, I should totally write a letter to the BBB too. They listen!

Peace & love.
J

And the winner is...

Hello,

Guess what?! I suck. I still have not made that piece of jewelry for the giveaway winner. But, we do have a winner. I'd like to thank all three of you for entering - April, Mikki, and Marilyn. April got none correct, Mikki got 2 correct, and Marilyn wins with a whopping 3 correct!

Congratulations Marilyn! When I stop being lazy, I will make you a piece of jewelry, and I will post a photo of it here before sending it off. It will be this week because I start my new job on Monday!

Here are the 10 false "facts":

3. I have four step-siblings. (Correct: I only have 3)

14. My dream car is a Camaro. (Correct: Mustang)

17. I have attended 6 different colleges. (Correct: 4 - San Jose City College, Concordia University, Cal Poly SLO, and Cuesta College)

45. My hobbies include painting.

48. I'm a PC person. (Correct: Mac all the way!)

56. I have lived in Santa Barbara.

67. I have traveled to all 50 US states. (Correct: only 13)

77. I grew up attending a Presbyterian church. (Correct: Lutheran)

82. I have a pet iguana. (Correct: Just Charlotte the kitty)

97. I have had 3 serious relationships. (Correct: only 1, and that one hardly counts)

In other news, my throat is feeling almost back to normal. I had a lovely 10 days of sleeping, resting, relaxing, and recuperating. Saturday afternoon my dear friend Emily got married, and true to form I had a klutzy accident at the wedding. I missed a step as I was coming out of the trailer of porta-potties and rolled on my ankle. In my defense, the area was extremely poorly lit and the hand rail did not extend to the last 2 steps to the ground. And it was quite a dramatic scene - somehow I ended up on my back in the gravel. Thankfully, the best man was coming out of the mens "room" and helped me up. I think my ankle is sprained because it's swollen and HURTS! So, I'm back to lying on the couch... :-/

Peace and love.

J

Free Music from JJ Heller

I've recently fallen in love with the music of JJ Heller. For a limited time, she's offering her Christmas album for free!

Please help spread the word by posting the widget on your blog or social networking page. Click "Embed This Widget" for the code.

I hope you enjoy JJ's music as much as I do!

Peace and love.

J

100 Things About Me - The Giveaway Edition

Ok, so I had what I think is a genius idea for the giveaway celebrating my 3 year blogoversary and 100th post. I am going to list 100 things about me in honor of my 100th post. And you, the readers, need to leave a comment with 3 things from the list that you believe are not true. (Three things in honor of my 3rd year of blogging.) To help your chances of guessing correctly, I will not be listing only 3 false facts; I'll give you 10! And if I gave a sh*t, here is where I would tell you what your chances of choosing three incorrect things are. Unfortunately I'm on staycation, so I will not be calculating and providing that information. :-P

And because I'm exhausted and hopped up on Vicodin from having a tonsillectomy on Wednesday, I have not yet made the piece of jewelry that I'll be giving away. Yeah, I'm doing this all backwards, but that's what we get when my throat, mouth, jaw, teeth, ears, and head all hurt. I'm too busy being a zombie to make jewelry right now. Eventually I will create it and post a photo and give it it to the winner. Please bear with me.

Giveaway rules

1. Leave a comment indicating which three items from the list of 100 you think are false.

2. Leave your email address or link to your blog so I can get in touch with you if you win.

3. The winner will be announced in one week. I will also tell you which of the items are false.

If more than 1 person guesses 3 things or no one guesses 3 correct responses, I'll figure out another way to choose the winner.

And now, drum roll please... 100 Things About Me!

1. I am 5'11".

2. I have one brother

3. and four step-siblings.

4. I took gymnastics lesson during middle school.

5. I have passed all 4 of the CPA exams.

6. I scored 1240 on the SATs.

7. My joints are loose and susceptible to dislocation.

8. I graduated from high school in 2000.

9. After my parents divorced, I lived with my Dad and my brother lived with my Mom.

10. I had to apply 3 times before being accepted to attend Cal Poly.

11. My first car was my dad's 1982 Ford Ranger pick-up.

12. My second car was a 1992 Toyota Camry.

13. I currently drive a 2005 Honda Civic.

14. My dream car is a Camaro.

15. I like to think I'm pretty open minded and accepting.

16. I was sent by my employer to a seminar called "Managing Your Emotions Under Pressure".

17. I have attended 6 different colleges.

18. Since moving out of my dad's house in 2000 I have lived in 9 different apartments.

19. I have a Wii

20. and a Sega Genesis.

21. My hair is naturally curly.

22. I have been coloring my hair since at least high school.

23. Orchids are my favorite flower.

24. I am not interested in sky diving.

25. According to the Body Mass Index I am obese.

26. I love PartyLite candles.

27. My favorite movie is Garden State.

28. Will Ferrell is my favorite actor.

29. John Mayer is my favorite musician.

30. JJ Heller is a new favorite musician.

31. Grey's Anatomy is the one show I can't live without.

32. I prefer silver to gold.

33. My favorite gemstone is a black opal.

34. I passed my driving test on my first try when I was 16.

35. My college roommates got me to like country music.

36. May last vacation was to Kauai, Hawaii.

37. I love Chelsea Handler

38. and try to watch Chelsea Lately every night that I can stay up late enough.

39. I am irrationally afraid of large bridges.

40. I have no first cousins.

My hobbies include:

41. making jewelry

42. reading

43. watching TV

44. surfing the Internet

45. painting

46. photography

47. Men's cologne is irresistible.

48. I'm a PC person. (i.e. not a Mac person)

I have had the following jobs:

49. barista at Starbucks

50. smoothie maker at Jamba Juice

51. Receptionist

52. Accountant

53. Research Manager at a recruiting firm

I have lived in:

54. Los Angeles

55. San Luis Obispo

56. Santa Barbara

57. San Jose

58. I find Dimitri Martin hilarious.

59. I have the most adorable, chubby baby nephew EVER!

60. I occasionally like the way cigarettes smell.

61. I am a firm believer in bathing regularly.

I have traveled to:

62. Mexico

63. Suriname

64. Australia

65. New Zealand

66. South Korea

67. all 50 US states

68. Canada

69. I started enjoying baseball a few years ago - when the Red Sox were in the playoffs (and went on to win the World Series).

70. My favorite sport to watch is ice hockey.

71. I prefer flats to heels.

72. I'm a daddy's girl.

73. I have never done ecstasy.

74. My favorite drink is a margarita.

75. Yes, I love tequila.

76. My brother's fiancee asked me to be a bridesmaid in their wedding.

77. I grew up attending a Presbyterian church.

78. Most of my clothes are from Gap and Banana Republic.

79. I'm a hopelessly addicted to etsy.com

80. I'm a whore for cereal

81. and sweaters.

82. I have a pet iguana.

83. I hate working out.

84. The radio in my car is broken.

85. I have a cat who requires prescription diet food.

86. I can't walk out of Target without spending close to $100.

During my lifetime I have considered the following occupations:

87. Interior Designer

88. Editor

89. Teacher

90. CEO

91. CPA

92. Wedding Photographer

93. I love Scrabble.

94. I started babysitting when I was 11 years old.

95. I have framed on my wall a photograph of the plane my grandfather flew in WWII.

96. My favorite author is Barbara Kingsolver.

97. I have had 3 serious relationships (i.e. long-term boyfriends)

98. I live alone.

99. I love frozen yogurt.

100. My favorite cookies are peanut butter.

Again, to win:

1. Leave a comment.

2. Choose 3 things from the above list that you think are not true.

Good luck!

J