The Squeaky Wheel Does Get the Grease!!!

Have you ever had this happen? I am sure I'm not the only one who has forgotten whether or not an online payment was scheduled. In my case, it was my home mortgage. I ususally schedule a payment well in advance of the due date and record it in my checking spreadsheet. It turns out that I found two entries for my car payment, that were entered 6 days apart, and in horror, realized I probably had not scheduled my mortgage payment, and instead mistakenly paid my car payment twice!! Yeegads, that's a first.
Well, I tried in vain to ascertain whether or not I had indeed scheduled a payment by first calling Wells Fargo customer service. It turns out that they cannot see whether or not an online payment is pending. Nor could I verify this online through my Wells Fargo Internet account. Boy, talk about frustration.
I ended up emailing Wells Fargo and let them know the problem I was having. Well to my surprise, I received a response within 24 hours, telling me that I had not scheduled a payment. So, there really is a way to tell whether an online payment has been scheduled, it just isn't a feature that is available through normal channels.
Okay, I was glad to know this and was able to schedule a payment in time to meet my mortage deadline; however, I responded to Wells Fargo with the following email:

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate you being able to confirm whether or not I had scheduled a payment.

I would ask that Wells Fargo consider adding this feature to their online service suite of tools.

Ultimately, I realize that I am responsible for knowing whether I have scheduled a payment, but since I am human, there is always the chance that I, as well as others, may make the same mistake another time.

Best regards,

Debra Duane

Here is how Wells Fargo responded:

Dear Debra Duane:

We apologize for our delay in responding to your inquiry.

Re: Loan xxxxxxxxx

Thank you for your reply. You make a valid point regarding the lack of notification for the pending payment transactions. Please be advised however, that Wells Fargo is in the process of adding the notification feature to our online services. Unfortunately we don't have an estimated time when the feature will be made available.

Thank you again for contacting Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. If you have further questions, please reply to this message or contact a loan-servicing representative by calling (866) 234-8271 Monday through Friday between 6 AM and 10 PM CT and on Saturdays between 8 AM and 2 PM CT.

Sincerely,

Kevin Roderick

Mortgage Online Customer Servicer>

So, for all those naysayers who say you can't get anything done by complaining -- yes, you can -- if you go about it the right way. I was taught early on in my adult life that if you are going to complain about something you need to offer a solution along with the complaint. I offered one to Wells Fargo, and they committed to doing it! Way to go Wells Fargo!! Sometimes the squeaky really does get the grease.

Breaststroke anyone?

The first stroke I learned as a young child was the breaststroke. I remember my Red Cross Instructor not wanting us to "dog paddle" and instead, taught us how to breaststroke to gain confidence in the water. Once we had that one down, she moved on to the backstroke and the "australian crawl" as it was called then.
Now, all this took place when I was about 8 or 9 years old -- I didn't swim again seriously until I was 15 in high school, and as I've mentioned previously, I experienced another lapse in swimming between 1976 and October of this year.
Now that I am swimming again, I am seriously asking myself "WHY!!!!?" Why did I stop swimming when I love it so much? Yeah, I've been in the water many, many times over the past 33 years, but never did more than 10 laps in a 25-yard pool -- usually after a power walk workout as a cool-down.
But, thanks to Masters Swimming, in only two weeks of coaching, I swam 1400 meters today in one hour. And, my coach told me she wished she could have me on her high school team as a breaststroker. She said I have really good form. Wow, I haven't had a compliment like that in years!
So, big thanks go to the anonymous Red Cross Instructor, who all those years ago, taught a little girl to swim the breaststroke. I'm not sure whether I will pursue competing, but I must say I'm thinking about it a bit more seriously now.

You're Gonna Love My Nuts!!

I tell you, that Vince guy who hawks the "Sham-Wow" and the "Slap Chop" really creeps me out. I've been meaning to post this picture of my daughter doing her best "Creepy Vince" look while holding the Slap Chop for quite some time. Not long ago, both of my daughters played me the funniest song on YouTube that someone made by taking Vince's Slap Chop commerical and doing the most awesome editing job I've heard in a long time.

Update on Swim Workouts

My first workout was great, but tough!! I managed to eke out a measly 750 meters (30 laps) in 60 minutes. I really like the new Masters coach. She really helped me fine-tune my strokes. After 25+ years away from swim workouts, my technique wasn't as good as it could be. But, within 15 minutes of doing stroke correction drills, I saw definite improvement. I read somewhere that swimming well is 70% technique, so I'm well on my way.
My Thursday morning workout went much better. My aerobic capability is already improving and I was able to swim several 100s without stopping to catch my breath. I got in 1000 meters in 60 minutes, which I was very happy about. My goal is to get to 2000-2500 meters in a workout, so I have a lot of work ahead of me. Fortunately, since the Masters swim had been on hiatus due to the former coach moving away, I have Karen all to myself for the time being. What a lucky duck I am!!
A bit about Karen -- she is the swim coach for the new high school in Gilbert. She's an easy-going coach and allows me the time I need to recover between sets. Since I'm working on my fitness right now, there isn't any pressure to go fast. That will come later should I decide to compete again.
Speaking of competing, I went out to watch the Open Water swim at Tempe Town Lake last weekend. I was really inspired by the swimmers who participated. They represented all ages and abilities. One of the competitors was a little 13 year old girl who swam in the 2000 meter wetsuit race. Another of the swimmers who caught my eye was a gentlemen close to my age (maybe a little older) who swam the 2000 meter wetsuit race even though he is missing his right leg below the knee. Seeing that made me even more determined to reach my fitness goals. I have no excuse for not getting back into shape and staying there.
Can you tell I'm stoked!! I am!! Stay tuned for updates. :)

Getting back into the "swim" of things

Being a Scorpio, I know its true that I am influenced heavily by water (afterall, it is a water sign). I've loved water in all of its forms my entire life. My all-time favorite picture of myself is one of when I was less than two, taking a bath in the kitchen sink. The look on my face says it all!

I remember the first time I saw a "built-in" pool. I think I was between 3 and 4. I don't remember whose house it was, but I could see the pool through the back patio door and had to go out and see it. I managed to get outside and saw a flat innertube floating near the deep end. For some reason, I decided to try and grab it and ended up falling in. I remember this very well, and surprisingly I wasn't afraid in the least. Luckily for me, one of the grownups saw it happen from inside the house and snatched me out of the water.

My next recollection is from a couple of years later. My aunt and uncle had a Doughboy pool in their backyard. It was probably less then 4 feet deep, but I learned how to swim underwater in that little pool. I would pretend I was a dolphin (the TV show, Flipper was really popular then).

When I was 8, my mom took me and my sister to the Colorado Lagoon and enrolled us in a Red Cross "learn-to-swim" class. At the culmination of the class, students had to be able to swim the width of the lagoon and back to get their completion certificate. I managed to do it without any problem. I do remember getting a horrendous sunburn early on, but somehow survived it (although it's not much to boast about -- I see a dermatologist yearly due to the amount of sun I got as a kid).

By the time I was in Jr. High, my sister and I would pay 10 cents to ride the bus to beach. We had our choice of the Cherry Avenue beach (Ocean Blvd. and Cherry) or, we could transfer to another bus and be dropped of at the Long Beach/Seal Beach border (near what is now Seaport Village). We could walk across the jetty bridge and we would find ourselves at Rivers End. Seal Beach had waves and Cherry Beach didn't!! So, obviously, Seal Beach was better. At 17, I tried my hand at surfing at that very beach, that is until someone stole my surf racks off of my car in the school parking lot. :(

When I was 12, my dad finished building the boat he had started before I was born and we spent many weekends and vacations boating off the coast of California. Sometimes we would stop halfway between Long Beach harbor and Catalina Island and my sister and I would take a dip. Fish would actually come up and nip at our toes! I have no idea what kind they were, but after seeing Jaws in 1975, my memories of deep-water swimming took on a whole new meaning.
Once I was able to drive, every free moment was spent either at the beach or at the stables with my horse. My favorite beach was Tower 21 at Bolsa Chica. The waves were always big and the water was cleaner than my local beach.
During my sophomore year in high school, I learned I could take swimming as my primary P.E. class, which meant I could swim every day, all year long! Woo-hoo! I was in heaven. In this class, I really learned how to swim. My coach taught me the basics and I ended up trying out for the girl's swim team the next year. I was a "B" swimmer (we only had one girl who was good enough to go up against Susie Atwood at Milliken). I didn't come in first in any races, but I wasn't always last either, so I had fun competing. I also passed the Jr. Lifeguard test (part of the test was having to "save" my swim coach, which was one of the hardest things I've ever done). After passing the lifeguard test, I was allowed to teach some of the non-swimmers how to get over their fear of water. I remember this one girl who was terrified of putting her face down in the water. I managed to gain her trust and before long, she was swimming. It was only the dog paddle, but she wasn't afraid of the water anymore. Here's a picture of my team from my 1970 yearbook. I'm the second from the right in the back row. My best friend at the time is sitting to my left.

The swimming I've done since high school has been purely recreational, although I still jump at the chance to swim whenever I can. So, here I am, much older and wiser (I think), and ready to get back into the swim of things, literally.
Through a colleague at work, I learned about Masters Swimming. I had heard of it before, but thought it was for serious, competing swimmers, you know, a "master" swimmer. But, after hearing about it again, I decided to check it out online and found that in its basic form, it is simply a swimming program for adults over the age of 19 -- competition is optional. Masters Swimming is touted as a great way for adults (especially those my age) to get back into shape, regardless of your swimming experience. Goodness knows my knees have their bad days now and then, and I haven't kept myself in the best of shape over the past few years (and, don't get me started on the effects of "mentalpause", as I like to call it). Swimming is much easier on your joints than "dryland" sports or exercises.
I've been doing my own thing for the past 6 months, but my progress has been slow. So, I bit the bullet and became a member of Life Time Fitness in Gilbert. Not only do they have the best gym and fitness programs I've ever participated in, they also have a Masters Swimming program. So, Tuesday morning, at 0-dark-thirty (that's 6:00 am in real time) I will be attending my first Masters Swim and absolutely cannot wait. I know I'm gonna get my butt kicked, but it will be so worth it!