Yes, we're still open

Despite my poor posting abilities on here the last few months, we are still open here. It's busy of course. With a three month old and a nearly 3 year old, this house is seeing all kinds of energy, from the kids. The adults are just trying to survive. We're quite busy too heading into the holiday season. I'm in the middle of making some snacks for us to enjoy this weekend, and prepping to get ready to head out Thursday morning. I think I preferred the college days when you got a whole week off for Thanksgiving. Well, I can't complain, I get Black Friday off, so I'll be home with the kids while Heather does the shopping thing. She'll enjoy it, if for no other reason to just be away from the kids for a while. That leaves Grandpa Rod and me and Whinny in trouble....

So, in other news, we continue to prepare to move to Sioux Falls soon. We're still trying to wrap up details and get everything squared away, but it's becoming closer to reality. More on that soon. In the mean time, Happy Thanksgiving, and here is Olivia and Lauren to share that with you.

Two very different companies

I had a very interesting experience yesterday. But it makes me reflect on experience that I had a few weeks ago when trying to get some new windows put into our house and Mitchell. As part of the process of getting the new windows put in, we ordered some windows from Menard's in Mitchell. After waiting for several weeks for the windows to arrive, I had our contractor contact the store to see what the delay was on getting the windows. After the contractor call me back he informed me that Menard was having trouble tracking down the windows that we had ordered, and they had determined that someone else had gotten our shipment. After I contacted the general manager of the store to let him know that I was not pleased that they had to reorder my windows and the time delay this put us on, I did receive a phone call from the manager. Through the call, the manager said that he was disappointed in his store for not living up to a better standard. I listen to them talk about this for close to 10 minutes, but at the end of the conversation he wasn't willing to do anything to make it right. So I'm not forward to today.

My wife found some good coupons online to get some good gluten-free food at Hy-vee. I went to the store during my lunch hour and found out that not only were the coupons good, but there was an additional discount being offered in the store on Wednesdays. After talking it over with Heather, we decided that I should go back and pick up some more items is the discount was there for us to take advantage of. When I return to the store and purchased the additional items with more coupons, The cashier did not put the 10% discount on that onto the bill. A little while later after I was away from the store, I found at the discounted not been applied and was really disappointed. At the top of the receipt was an email address asking for comments so I decided that I would email the manager and just inform him what it happened and suggest to them to better train their employees on how to hand out the discount. Within 30 minutes of sending an email, which I sent at 6 PM, I had a reply from the store. The manager apologized and said that he would look into new ways to train the staff to make it easier for us to receive this discount. He said that this customer should not have to Ribie relied on to be able to help the cashier remember to put this on the customers bill. I was quite impressed and even more impressed when he told me that he was going to send me the money that I was old for the discount plus additional money on a gift card. There's a big difference between the two experiences. The experience at Menard's which was over hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise resulted in absolutely no thing to make the situation better for me. Experience at Hy-vee which was only worth a small fraction of what the Menard's deal was worth, resulted in that customer service trying to make this situation correct. I'm glad to see that there is still companies out there that want to please their customers and want to make it right when they mess up.

Official word

Well, many of you by now have probably heard the news that Heather and I are expecting our second child in September. Well, this past week we had an ultra sound to find out that its going to be another girl. At least that's what the doctor believes. He told us that he has only been wrong 3 times in the past 15 years. That's a lot of babies and a lot of right conclusions on his part. We are excited either way but it looks like the easier way for having what we need already.

In other news, we did sell one of our houses. The one Heather and I first had when we were married has been sold. S, that leaves us with just our really large old house now. I'm working on a new laundry/mud room here, and I'mon hold for the remodeling in the baby's new room. So, I've got my summer plans cut out for me. And, for the finer time in many years, I'm not playing softball. Our team actually was contracted, and I didn't find a new team to get in with. I'll have enough to do this summer without that.

In other news with keeping busy, I am doing a lot of summer reffing. The reason is that we decided that Heather is not going to return to teaching next year. She's going to be a stay at home mom with the two kids. With having to keep up with a gluten free lifestyle here, it's a move that will definitely be beneficial. So those are the changes for us. Nw, summer is right around the corner, so bring it on!

The Real Estate Problem

It's been a rocky real estate road for us over the past several weeks. We've had two houses here in Mitchell, the one we bought back in May and the one I bought just before Heather and I were married. We'd been renting the first house we'd bought as the one we purchased last May is much larger. So, we work on projects here, and rent the other one, but recently lost our tenant. So, we've made some big decisions recently and decided that it was in our best interest to sell. We put it on the market, and within 5 days had a deal in place. Late last week, the buyer weaseled his way out of the deal. That doesn't make me very happy, but come to find out he has a history of doing this in town, so I wish I'd known that before we'd agreed to the deal. The problem was, now we lost a month of viewings. So, back to step one, only there was more too it. As part of the deal, I'd removed the swing set from the yard at his request and had arranged for the hot tub to be moved. Well, now I've got the hot tub coming, and the swing set is already set up at our new place. We're going to get the hot tub here and hooked up shortly, so I can begin using it ASAP! With soccer season ramping up, my poor legs will need the assistance and relaxation. The other problem this left us was the inside of the house. The tenant was had was permitted to paint because she had told us she wanted to buy it. So, I let her paint and her color choices were.....different. So, this past week, we spent time undoing that with some fresh coats of paint. I've got more areas to get painted, and some landscape work to get done, so unless a buyer happens along soon, I've got a lot of work to do at the place that isn't going to be ours. I just want to finish the two projects that I've got going in this house, not to mention the ones that I don't consider projects yet, but my wife sure does!! Guess efficiency will be the key, and with the impending snow storm, possibly some good inside work will get done!

Some Wild Travel

It's nice to finally have a week at home, where I can just return to my family after the day's work, and not have to head off to a hotel for more work and little sleep. The past two weeks I'd spent in North Carolina, and I actually came home over the weekends I was out there. There were some wild travel experiences, so here's the recap.

Week 1:
As I was getting ready to leave North Carolina for Atlanta, freezing rain started to fall. As the plane came in, and re-loaded, and was ready to head back to Atlanta, we say on the tarmac for 2.5 hours waiting for the de-icing. How many planes did they have to de-ice? 2 before us. Apparently, they don't use their de-icing equipment that often, so it was a very slow, very painful process. So, we waste 2.5 hours in North Carolina, and I miss my flight from Atlanta to Minneapolis. In fact, I missed 3 flights from Atlanta to Minneapolis. As I arrive in Atlanta, very distraught over my options being practically eliminated, I went to Delta customer service. Upon arrival, the agent tells me that I could go standby on the 7:00 flight, and still make the 10pm flight in Minneapolis to Sioux Falls. So, looking at my watch, I only had 20 minutes to get to the gate. I raced across the Atlanta airport, just in time to get to the gate and claim the last seat on the 7pm flight. Yes!!! I'm going to make it home on time. So, we fly to Minneapolis, and I get over to the Sioux Falls gate for the late flight home. I was just happy I was getting to go home, I didn't care if it was the late flight. As I went to the ticket counter to have them print me a new boarding pass, the agent comes on the PA system and tells us that the flight to Sioux Falls has now been cancelled. Talk about an angry passenger. All that work, and all those things playing just right so I could still make it home, and now I'm stuck in Minneapolis. I checked when my Saturday flight home was, but since I wouldn't arrive until 2pm on Saturday, and was scheduled to leave at 1pm Sunday afternoon, I knew that I didn't have time to wait. So, I rented a car and drove it, 5 hours home arriving in Mitchell at 3am Saturday morning. Not fun, but I made it. I was just hoping the next week was going to be better.

Week 2:
So, fast forward to Friday of the following week, my boss Sue and I were getting ready to head back to Sioux Falls from North Carolina, and as we leave our client there, we get a message that our flight is now delayed 3 hours. Well, good news for my boss, I'm an expert at these delays! I quickly told her to find a new option, because it's not good to get stuck in Atlanta and Minneapolis. As we're heading away from the client, we move toward the airport and Sue decides to call Delta and see if they have an alternative for us. In looking for food, we drive past the airport, and as Sue talks with the agent, she finds out that there is a flight to Detroit that was slightly delayed and leaves in 30 minutes. So, I flip a u-turn and we race back to the airport arriving 25 minutes from scheduled departure time. We run in to the building, and try to use the new kiosks, and it tells us it cannot print a boarding pass because we are too close to departure time. Of all the times you want the machine to make your life easier, and now it won't do it!! So, we get in line. This doesn't look good. Finally, we get to the counter for an agent, and she checks with the gate, and finds that the plane is still on the ground, and loading. She quickly gets Sue her boarding passes, and Sue heads for security to get to the gate. Meanwhile, when you miss you flight, Delta has an automatic rebooking system. Well, mine had already kicked in and was trying to take me off the plane I was supposed to get on. 10 minutes from departure, and I'm still standing at the ticket counter willing the ticket agent to get my boarding documents. She finally handed them to me and wished me luck. I was going to need it. I raced to security. I get to the officer checking Id, and of all the days for them to be training a new person, it had to be today! It took 3 times longer than necessary. Thankfully, when I got past them, everyone else in line let me skip to the front seeing I was in a hurry. I'm still grateful to those people. I get through security with no issues, and race for the gate. I'm literally sprinting for the door, and as I arrive, they still let me on the plant. Thank goodness! So, we now are headed to Detroit instead of Atlanta. Fine by me, I just want to go home. In Detroit, I was the recipient of a complimentary upgrade. Thanks Delta!! A nice seat and some space to enjoy the flight over. We got a nice 737 that had individual video monitors, so I caught up on some ESPN on the flight, and as we come into Minneapolis, I switch over to watch the flight information that tells me how fast we're going, our altitude, how long we have left, etc. The pilot comes on and tells us we have to circle for a bit due to heavy snow in Minneapolis, air traffic is backed up. Great....delay. So, we circle for about 15 minutes before being cleared to land. As we come in for our landing, I'm watching the altitude, and am seeing us drop to 3000 feet, 2000 feet, and we are seconds from touching down, when all of the sudden, the engines start roaring again, and up we go as if we were actually taking off. The pilot had pulled out of the landing and was now climbing back above Minneapolis and turning us away from the airport. Now I've flown alot in my time, and I've never had that happen before. As we climb and turn away from the airport, I look out my window and see the reason for us having the pull out of the landing. There on the runway sits another plane. Somewhere, someone screwed up and we were on a collision course for the other plane. Not a real great feeling, but I think I'd rather have that be the issue than for the pilot to have just messed up the landing and had to try again. A plane seems like an acceptable reason to go try again. Except, now, we had to circle back around, and go to the back of the line. Fortunately, our flight to Sioux Falls was delayed, and after we went to the back of the line and came around again, we landed without trouble. Quite another adventure though, for a traveller who didn't really want to see any adventure!

One Busy January

So I look at date on the bottom toolbar of my computer and I'm left wondering why it's been nearly 30 days since the last post. I've not had alot to say, so overall, it's been slow posting. But when I look back, it's been quite a January. The weekend following New Years we had to go to Minnesota for a funeral. The following weekend, we had the Fenske Christmas, the week following that I had to be in North Carolina, this week, again I sit here in North Carolina, and next week, I return to North Carolina. Taht's my January. I will spend nearly as much time outside of South Dakota as I will in South Dakota. We are trying to get a project closed out here, so its a busy time of year. We will see what next week brings out here.

Of course, I look ahead hoping the slow down is coming. Tomorrow I will go catch a plane home for a day and a half, and then return again for my final of three weeks here. I'm not totally sure when I'll have to return or go somewhere else, but that's a mystery that will be left for a while. I do know that when I return to SD, the first weekend after being gone is the MCS Auction and I have a soccer meeting in Sioux Falls and the following weekend is a birthday part for my little celiac. February doesn't look much less busy.....

Christmas Time

Merry Christmas to everyone. It comes time to reflect on the year, and as I gave Olivia her bedtime kisses, which she now requests me to give her before she goes to bed, I remember how a few months ago we had a very sick girl on our hands. Now, a few weeks later we are blessed to have our little girl back. This Christmas, Olivia carried the gifts, opened her presents with a child-like delight, and was just all around a wonderful little girl. She got to do one of her favorite activies while she was at grandpa and grandmas, she got to play with Whinny. Trent's chocolate lab is a favorite of Olivia's and very interestingly, is quite gentle around her. Very active and careless otherwise, but when near Olivia, she slows down and is quite careful. It was wonderful to see her excited and joyful this Christmas, and in a three weeks, we'll get to see her again at her other grandparents having the same great time.

It's been quite a year in reflection. We've added three new vehicles to our family, and only gotten rid of one. And, that reminds me, if anyone wants to buy a different vehicle, let me know. Of course, the pickup isn't mine, it's just on loan from Grandpa Elgin, so that one I probably cannot really sell.

We purchased a second home this year. Of course, most people purchase a second home in a tropical climate, not 7 blocks away from each other. I didn't realize when we got this place how much of a fixer-uper it would be, but we're currently still working through that. As soon as the window and trim goes up in the bathroom, that project will be completed. It's almost there! Currently though, two rooms are torn apart (one by choice, one out of necessity). As soon as those are done, we'll continue on projects, and we're still trying to figure out how to keep the heat in this place. Old houses with high ceilings may look cool both inside and out, but right now, it's kind of a pain.

With the purchase of that second home, we are also landlords for the first time. It's not that back of an experience, and our tenant is fine, so it's not too bad, and there is great potential, but I still think I'd really like to scale down and just have one place to worry about.

Well, that's 2012 in a nutshell. Alot has come and gone, and now we approach 2013. You're pry thinking that it's not even new years yet, why reflect. Well, when I get to work tomorrow, it will be a madhouse for me until April. I may not be on here much, but I wanted to reflect and wish everyone what will probably be my final post before I'm 30. Only 4 more days, and then I'm official old. Bummer.....