25 Random Things About Me

For those not on Facebook, this was a note that went around facebook that i found fun. This is the one I did.

25 Random Things
I am supposed to write 25 facts about myself that are little known- or odd, not sure which. Then I am supposed to tag 25 people so that they can get to know me and I can especially get to know them. So I am tagging people I haven’t seen in a while, who will get a kick out of my answers, or that I am interested to read about. This will include the person who originally tagged me, so if I tag you be sure to include me in your 25 tagged people. To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app), then click publish.

1. Once when trying to impress some girls while rappelling I fell 35 feet and broke 5 bones in my right foot. I had surgery, had to wear a big boot for 8 weeks, and have some big nasty scars to prove it.

2. I learned Persian Farsi at the Defense Language Institute in Monterrey California while in the Army. I don't speak much of it anymore, but could order a meal in a restaurant and find a restroom in a pinch, just in case you are going to Iran any time soon.

3. I met my wife while working in a gas station. I used to give her free cookies, and am convinced that the free cookies and my truck were the only reason she went on a date with me in the first place.

4. As a pizza boy in college while on a delivery I had a girl ask me to take naked pictures of her for a sorority initiation. I had just gotten engaged, so told her I couldn't, but sent back a friend from work who did. I joke with him about it to this day. L6!

5. I have been to 11 countries, lived in 3, been to 29 states and lived in 8.

6. I am the middle child of a family with 4 boys and 2 girls, the oldest is 10 years older than me, and the youngest is 8 years younger than me.

7. I am a little OCD about a lot of things. One in particular is that I hate to start something whether it is a project, a movie, or really about anything without finishing it. This of course means I've sat through some crappy movies and read some bad books, but it drives me nuts not to finish. It also means that I’ll put off starting things I need to do if I don’t think I can or will want to finish them.

8. Another OCD thing is that I can't stand to have the money in my wallet facing different ways. The bills have to be in order from smallest to largest, and they all have to be head up facing in. I also like all the teeth on the keys on my key ring facing the same way.

9. I hate loud noises, particularly fireworks. If you are ever caught outside with me within earshot of a fireworks show, in about the time it will take you to blink, I'll be gone. (Sitting through mortar attacks and IED’s for a year will do that to you)

10. My most embarrassing moment was in the Army while I was in a big convoy from Kuwait into Iraq. The convoy stopped for a few minutes, and I had to take a poop. I ran out to what I thought was a 3 foot high hill that I could hide behind, but it turned out that it was only about 8 inches high. All it did was put me out far enough from the convoy that everyone (male and female) could watch me pooping.

11. I love to read and really liked the Twilight series. I went to go get the latest book from Barnes and Noble during the midnight release and was too embarrassed to stand in line with all of the screaming teenage girls, so I made my wife do it while I sat in the car.

12. I love spending time with my nieces and nephews, and when we are around them, I often take as many of them as I can fit in the car and go do something fun. It is usually something that I don't get to do much as an adult, and wouldn't be able to do without them as an excuse. I mean they'd be really sad if I didn't play all the video games and ride the go carts with them, right?

13. I am extremely ticklish, and my body jerks of around uncontrollably when I get tickled, which means if you take advantage of this and tickle me I am likely to smack you accidentally.

14. I have a secret ambition to write a novel at some point in my life, and have a story and several pages of notes for the one day I actually decide to start writing.

15. I had Spinal Meningitis as a kid, and spent several weeks in the hospital.

16. I got hit by a car while riding my bike as a kid, flipped 2 or 3 times in the air, and landed on my head. (That really explains it all, right?)

17. I saw the shower scene in Psycho when I was a kid, and still get spooked when showering in hotels if I think about it.

18. I have rarely if ever cried in my life. I have been sad enough to cry, had reason to, and even wanted to, but something just doesn’t work and no tears come out.

19. I have always wanted to skydive, get a pilot’s license, and scuba dive in the ocean.

20. I love gadgets, technology, and anything that takes instructions to figure out.

21. I really like shopping for clothes for me or anyone that I am with so long as I get to give my opinion on stuff and have money to spend on me.

22. I am so not a morning person, but really wish that I was. I do early mornings because I have to. Once I am up I am good to go, but it is so hard for me to get out of bed early.

23. I have lived around some of the best places to ski and snowboard that exist, yet have never gone.

24. I like a lot of different types of music, and have listened to, enjoyed, and owned music of about every type from country to alternative to hip hop/rap.

25. I have a brother who is secretly a huge Miley Cirus/Hanna Montana fan. I’ve caught him listening to her CD and watching the TV show on his own several times.

Swallowed In The Sea--Coldplay

Swallowed In The Sea

You cut me down a tree
And brought it back to me
And that's what made me see
Where I was going wrong
You put me on a shelf
And kept me for yourself
I can only blame myself
You can only blame me

And I could write a song
A hundred miles long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me
And I could write it down
or spread it all around
Get lost and then get found
Or swallowed in the sea

You put me on a line
And hung me out to dry
And darling that's when I
Decided to go to sea
You cut me down to size
And opened up my eyes
Made me realize
What I could not see

And I could write a book
The one they'll say that shook
The world, and then it took
It took it back from me

And I could write it down
Or spread it all around
Get lost and then get found
And you'll come back to me
Not swallowed in the sea

Ooh...And I could write a song
A hundred miles long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me

The streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me

Oh what good is it to live
With nothing left to give
Forget but not forgive
Not loving all you see

Are the streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long
Well that's where I belong
And you belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea

You belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea
Yeah, you belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea

What If

Listening to this song by Coldplay--"What If"

What if there was no light.
Nothing wrong, nothing right.
What if there was no time?
And no reason or rhyme?
What if you should decide
That you don't want me there by your side.
That you don't want me there in your life.

What if I got it wrong?
And no poem or song..
Could put right what I got wrong,
Or make you feel I belong

What if you should decide
That you don't want me there by your side
That you don't want me there in your life.
Oooooh, that's right
Let's take a breath, jump over the side.
Oooooh, that's right
How can you know it if you don't even try?
Oooooh, that's right

Every step that you take
Could be your biggest mistake
It could bend or it could break
But that's the risk that you take
What if you should decide
That you don't want me there in your life.
That you don't want me there by your side.

Oooooh, that's right
Let's take a breath jump over the side.
Oooooh, that's right
How can you know it when you don't even try?
Oooooh, that's right
Oooooh, that's right
Let's take a breath jump over the side
Oooooh, that's right
You know that darkness always turns into light
Oooooh, that's right..

The Diet Updated

Just wanted to post a quick update on the diet that I posted earlier. I've added more excersize to the whole routinue and have been doing an hour of cardio at least 4 days a week. So anyway I weighed in the other day, and here's the result. Granted it was after working out, but hey, I'll take it!

I think I'm going to have to change my goal weight. I only have 5 pounds to go, and the gut is still there! I wonder if I can hit 185 . . . . . . .

Customer Service

This has always been a hot button for me, as those of you that know me are aware. As a manager in a service industry, I succeed or fail based on the customer service I provide, and work hard to make sure that the service I give to my customers is top notch. I have come to expect that from the companies that I work with both at work and in my personal life. Unfortunately, having that expectation has set me up for a lot of disappointment and frustration over the years.

MY RULES OF CUSTOMER SERVICE

1) THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT

I had a hard time with this before I really understood it. This doesn't mean that the customer is necessarily correct in their thinking or that the customer gets everything that they want. The idea behind this rule is that The Customer's Perception is Their Reality. If you want to keep a customer, first work to understand their perception, their reality, then address their concern by addressing the perception and potentially changing or broadening their view of reality. They won't always be happy at the time with the outcome, but taking the time to understand what their concern is in an uncondescending manner and then addressing that concern shows that you care. Franklin Covey's 7 Habits explains this best as "Seek first to understand, then to be understood".

2) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT GOES A LONG WAYS

Anyone in any service related industry knows how it gets when things get crazy, and you have a million things to do at once. Typically when this happens, service quality and service delivery time decrease. There are going to be times when providing customer service that things outside of your control happen and you can't provide the level of service that you would like. Think about a time when you have been in a long, slow moving line waiting for your turn. When there is no communication it is extremely frustrating, especially if you have someplace that you need to be. I train my employees in this situation to make eye contact and either thank them for coming in and let them know that they will be with them as quickly as possible, or if the wait is going to be very long to explain the situation and to offer an alternative. For example, "we are having a higher than normal wait times, if you would like to wait, it will take approximately x minutes, if not we have another office 3 miles from here that you can go to that can help you as well. We appreciate your business and appologize for the delay." I have found that a little communication and acknowledgement of the situation goes a long way help to ease frustration.

3) BE ACCESSIBLE

My rule is to answer the phone before it rings three times. Sometimes when the phone is ringing off the hook, that can be hard. I've found that I would rather be on hold for a few minutes than deal with a frustrating machine answering system. It can take some adjustment to learn to juggle several calls at once, but honestly, if you have someone that can't do this, then they shouldn't be in a service industry. This applies accross the board from account management, to retail, to food service. For me, the accounts that I work with know that they can reach me on my cell phone at any time, day or night. I may not always answer, but commit to them that if they leave a message I will get back to them no later than the same day (or if in the middle of the night when I wake up enough to listen to the message) on their question/concern. In retail, it's all about being able to find someone for questions when you need them. In food service it's having a waiter or waitress that you can find after your meal is dropped off to address a concern. How many times have you been at a restraunt, have a problem, and not be able to address it with your server for 20 or 30 minutes. It is extremely frustrating. Don't be the guy that never answers your phone and can't respond to voicemails either.

4) ANTICIPATE THE CUSTOMERS NEEDS AND PROVIDE PROACTIVE SOLUTIONS

My sister-in-law was a server for a lot of years, and a very good one. I used to like to try to get to the bottom of my drink and leave it empty on the table before she brought a refill. I have to say that I never could, not even when she was 7 months pregnant. No matter how busy it was, she had my drinks full, bread fresh, and was on top of whatever we needed. Instead of reacting to what we needed, she anticipated it and had it before we even asked for it. This is the level of service that we need to provide accross the board to our customers. It applies to every industry and almost every situation if you really think about it. In my industry for example, we have clients with seasonal needs. Rather than wait until we receive the order from them, we gear up for it, and then call them to let them know we are ready to fill it and confirm the details.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

Here's a list of companies that I have dealt with and how I rate their customer service.

The Good

Costco
Outback Steakhouse
Marriott Hotel Chain
AT&T Wireless
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Get Away Today Vacations
The Buckle

The Bad

Denny's
Village Inn
Zions Bank
H&R Block
Jackson-Hewitt
USAA (I still use em cause the product/price is great, but the service blows)
Wal-Mart
Home Depot (very knowledeable people, but good luck finding them in a store)
Hollister
Holiday Inn Chain (IC Hotel Group with the exception of Crown Plaza)
Hertz (sometimes good, somtimes bad, but inconsistent enough to be bad)
Direct TV
T-Mobile

The Ugly

These are mostly companies/organizations that are a limited or single option for the service they provide, and their service reflects it. My experiences have placed the following in this category:

The Federal Government
The State of Utah
Qwest Communications
Delta Airlines
RC Willey Home Furnishings
Doctors Offices in general (Your 5 mins late you have to reschedule, they can make you wait for an hour and you better not complain about it)
Sprint

The Diet

So allot of people have asked me to email or write down the specifics of what I did to go from a giant fat ass:

To a little less of a fat ass: I went to the doctor for a check-up, as it had been a while since I had a full physical. He did the blood work and told me that I was pre-diabetic and had a 25% chance of a heart attack in the next 10 years. All that fettuchini alfredo from Olive Garden, Cheese Fries from Outback, and late night chocolate shake runs had finally caught up to me. Well, almost caught up to me, but the doctor assured me that if I did not do something drastic it would in a very bad way. Think blindness and loosing a leg for diabetes. I don't think the eye patch and peg leg suit me. So that, or drop dead from a heart attack. Either option not pretty. So, I opted for the drastic change, and trust me I wasn't looking forward to it. So, he sent me to a nutritionist, and I found the change actually wasn't that bad.

Basically I found that I don't process sugar like the normal person. My body takes excess sugar and either stores it or flushes it. So it didn't matter how much I worked out as long as I was eating sugar in everything from white flour, white rice, starchy vegetables like potatoes, fruit, and of course those chocolate shakes. So much for dieting and thinking that I could eat rice, fruit, and all vegetables. It was more like punishment with no reward. Anyway, I have done little working out with this diet and it has been effortless. I lost 40 lbs in the first 1.5 months of doing it, started taking Phentermene (prescription weight loss medication) to speed up the process and have dropped another 20 in the last 2 or 3 months. I went to the doctor today and last month alone I dropped 12 lbs, and I ate like crap during the holidays. So, I am down to 215 lbs, and want to lose another 20. I am adding work out to the regimen and hoping to tone up a bit too.

So, back to the diet. The nutritionist said it is the same diet they put a diabetic on, just less strict. In order to simplify it, the only thing you have to count is carbs. OK, before you freak and think this is the Atkins diet, Atkins allows like 40 carbs per day. I get more than that in a meal. Anyway, here is the breakdown, it is different based on sex, age, and weight, but this is mine.

Breakfast: 50 carbs

Lunch: 65 carbs

Dinner: 50 carbs

Snack: 30 carbs

So for me with work I eat out allot for lunch and opted to have a larger budget for that meal. I have found that you can look up how many carbs are in about anything on the web. You just have to know what you are going to order in advance. I could have cut out the snack, and had 65 carbs each mean, but I like having the option of something in the evening.

I learned that it is very important to have breakfast each day, which I never did, and to try to eat your meals roughly the same time each day. Also, I found that regular soda is horrible. If you look at it there are 40 carbs in a can of Dr. Pepper. That is almost a whole meal. You can, though, drink all the diet soda you want. Also, milk is high in carbs, but skim is higher than 2%. Also, while looking at the nutritional facts, you subtract dietary fiber from the carbs. So something with 10 carbs and 2 dietary fiber you count as 8 carbs. Pretty much, cheese and meat have no carbs. Also, sugar count is very close to total carbs, so if you buy sugar free stuff most of the time the carbs are low. No sugar added is NOT the same thing, so watch out for that.

So, a typical day for me is:

Breakfast: 2 choco chip granola bars and a can of diet coke for 36 carbs. Sometimes I'll do one granola bar, a low fat yogurt, and diet coke for roughly the same amount of carbs. If I am on the road I'll grab 2 McDonald's Breakfast Burritos and a diet coke for a total of 52 carbs. (Don't eat the hashbrown.) The fruit parfait has 31 carbs, so that and a diet coke is cool on the road too.

Lunch:

If I am eating at home I prefer to make a sandwich with all the meat and cheese I want, mayo and mustard (both are good to go), and I substitute a tortilla for the bread. The tortillas have about 18 carbs each, so 2 is 36 carbs. Or you can make a chicken/cheese quesedilla, just microwave over frying in butter or oil. If you go to Subway, don't get the wrap. The dang thing has more carbs in it than the regular bread. Get the wheat bread with a BMT and you will be at around 40 carbs, then get a 21 carb bag of chips and you are at 61. If I am in a hurry, I can eat one microwave deep dish pizza from Costco which is 40 carbs, but means less food.

Dinner:

This one is fairly easy too, Melissa cooks allot of lean hamburger, chicken, and sometimes fish, add a vegetable, add a glass of milk, and you are good.

Snack:

I eat all the string cheese I want (no carbs in those), I buy sugar free Jello (no carbs) and Sugar free pudding that are between 8-10 carbs a cup. I also buy sugar free ice cream bars made by Blue Bunny that are very good and are only 9 carbs. You can also eat an entire bag of microwave popcorn and are only at 38 carbs. Use spray on margarine and salt and you are good to go. The chips I used to pound are mostly out now, but you can have a small bag of them with lunch if you balance the rest and they are only about 20 carbs. Pork rinds have 0 carbs if you like them.

So, yeah, I say no to alot that I used to eat, but it's not that bad. I went to Outback, had a salad with blue cheese dressing and croutons, the fillet and vegetables, steak sauce, and a diet coke. I couldn't eat the cheese fries or the dessert, but it was completely satisfied.

So, that's the basics of it. For me it's not a fad diet, or something to drop some pounds, I will basically have to eat this way the rest of my life. My Dr. says that as long as I maintain my target weight it's no big deal to splurge now and then, but to primarily stick to it. I'm not to my target weight yet but I'll letcha know when I get there.

Holiday Time Well Spent

Having a blog has been fun. I have really enjoyed reading all of your blogs, and you sure didn't disappoint me with comments. 6 on my first blog isn't bad, and James' first comment ever. He is no longer a blog virgin. Yet another first James! Christie will be so proud. I am a bit disappointed, though, that you all have nothing better to do in your lives than read about my warped view on life haha. Well, if you are back, I will try not to disapoint.

What I've Been up to so far for the Holidays:

Well, the holidays have been good, and for the most part I've stuck to my philosophy on how to spend my time and energy, but have made a couple of exceptions in relation to the topic I discuss below. For now, though, I'll talk about the parts of my time that I've followed it.

We got to have Scott and Laura's kids come stay with us for 5 days, and had alot of fun with them. We have been around their kids alot and spent as much time as possible with their family over the last 10 years. We have lived with them, lived down the street from them, spent many holidays and family vacations together, and have generally been very close to them. We've always thought of their kids as an extension to our family. Anyway, their boy Gavin always cracks me up. One day while their kids were with us last week after a long day and a couple hours of ice skating, Gavin said "Uncle Dave, i want to go home." I figured he was probably getting home-sick as younger kids will do when away from home, and I asked him, "You want to go home to Cedar City?" and he said "No! I want to go back to my house in Ogden, with you". That made me laugh and made my day. We dropped them off Christmas Eve and drove down to St. George to stay with Chris and Christina.

Chris and Christina are always alot of fun to spend time with. We've been at their house now for about five days. They have always been good to us and are great to let us invade their space for a week or so at a time. My brothers all mean alot ot me, and Chris especially has always been close to me. We had a period of time where our lives followed each other closely, starting college, going into the Army at close to the same time, being at DLI together, then working at the same company for a couple of years. So, it's always good to spend time with him. While it would be a perfect holiday seeing more of my family, spending time with Chris and Christina and their kids and Scott and Laura and there's made it a great end of the year and a fun time over all.

We'll probably head home tomorrow and spend the rest of the year home.

Grudges . . . . (or the Gollum Effect)

So one of the downsides to having people that you are close to and spending time with them is that you sometimes have to listen to and consider advice that they have to give. It comes in different ways and different times. Sometimes it comes in the form of my mom in front of the rest of the family telling me about how I should pay tithing. (And no, mom, that didn't bother or upset me, so don't feel bad.)

Sometimes, like last week, advice comes in the form of my wife ganging up on me with my tweener niece who is full of life experience and advice, lol. They spent almost three hours telling me about all the things that they see that I need to fix in life. (and oh you could see how much Melissa enjoyed watching me squirm when Courtney brought up topics that I'd really rather not get into, but couldn't hurt her feelings by refusing to discuss, lol) Now, to be fair, they had to sit and listen to my arguments on the subjects, but it wasn't something I had of course planned to do.

For the most part, I take unsolicited advice from the people I am care about the same way. I listen politely, take it into consideration, and then do whatever I want to do. Sometimes that means I take their advice, and sometimes that means I don't.

Anyway, Melissa and Courtney's relentless badgering made me reconsider some things. I am definately a person who holds grudges. In my mind a person who holds grudges like I do is like Golum in The Lord of the Rings. I don't like to let them go, justified or not, and when I am forced to confront the source of them I have convulsions and make random noises in my throat while talking to myself about my precious. (though Melissa says that with the hair on my toes I am more like a hobbit) Anyway, uncomfortable as it was, I owe a thank you to Melissa and Courtney for caring enough about me to give me a hard time and helping me reach an epiphony in life. (See, Mom, like advice or not, I realize that people give it because they care and that makes me feel good)

So, I came to realize what I really knew anyway deep down. Grudges are basically the easy way out. It is a way not to avoid dealing with a difficult emotional situation, and just hang on to anger and hard feelings. I mean, ulimately, you hold a grudge because someone hurt your feelings deeply that you didn't expect it from. It's easier to cut them out of your life and burry those feelings than to deal with it. All holding grudges does is hurt the person who holds it and honestly for me just make me appear to be more of an a-hole than I really am. As they pointed out to me that night last week, there are alot of people who don't see the best things that I have to offer because I don't allow them to see it. Who can blame them then for thinking I am a jerk?

Still, on the one hand, I think that people who have a negative or destructive impact in your life do not deserve to have full access and involvement in it. On the other hand, me holding a grudge and harboring bad feelings doesn't help me or my family. So, I think that I can find a balance between those two concepts.

Anyway to wrap up this boring book, this holiday season, I have decided to take Courtney and Melissa's advice and try to let the grudges go. Since last week, I have taken steps already to do just that in a couple of cases. (Can't you tell how proud I am of myself?? haha) I do have to admit that you guys were right, even though I said you were both crazy at the time, it does actually feels good to let that crap go. So while I havne't held completely true to my views on how and who to spend time and energy on during the holidays, I think it was a worthwhile change.