June 27, 2009 / Saturday
Spazzy Back Week 4
Friday the the 26th marked 12 straight days of some sort of activity. That's quite a lot for my body after doing almost nothing for two weeks, but I figured I would rest the following week at my parents' place.
The back is still the first thing to feel sore when I get tired, but there is definite progress. I went to pickup again on Thursday and felt pretty good, although I was frustrated that I wasn't doing anything useful with the puck. I decided in the final shifts to try to hang on to the puck and got a few end-to-end runs in. That's better! I'm looking forward to rejoining my NCWHL team next weekend.
I think my body will benefit from a break next week. While I've enjoyed all the activity, I've had a fairly mediocre week in terms of performance. I want to push, but my muscles refuse. "Explode!" I say. "Meh," they reply.
We'll try this "Explode!" thing again next weekend.
09:10 PM | Injuries | Comments (0)
June 21, 2009 / Sunday
Spazzy Back Week 3
Week 3 went a heck of a lot better than week 2. I kicked off last Monday with yoga, went mountain biking Tuesday and Wednesday, played pickup hockey Thursday, got my butt kicked at yoga on Friday, went mountain biking again on Saturday, and did a ~25 mile spin on the road bike on Sunday.
The back is continuing to heal. The injury still hurts if I push on it unflexed, and it's the first thing to feel sore or tight when I get tired, but given that I can ride and play mellow hockey again, I'm not complaining. Sideways range of motion has improved, but I still have a ways to go on that front.
I'd been afraid that my two weeks off would result in really sore muscles upon resumption of activity, but I've fared pretty well for the most part. (They were actually just fine until Friday yoga's slew of butt-busting Warrior and Chair poses.) Amusingly, the things that have gotten soft are my biking and hockey callouses. Those ached, fell off, and are now regenerating.
Can I just tell you how cool the Stevens Creek Trail is? I rode it in its entirety on Sunday, from near the Grant/El Camino intersection in Mountain View. It's beautifully paved, goes under El Camino, over 85, over Central, over Moffett, under 101, and all the way to Shoreline, which has its own set of nice multi-use trails. You can use it to get through all the hard-to-cross "walls" without having to worry about cars. What a great facility for pedestrians, skaters, and bikers. :)
And finally, one of my best moments last week: Sneezing without pain. Phew! And achoO!
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
08:00 PM | Injuries | Comments (0)
June 20, 2009 / Saturday
Dirt, Dirt, More Dirt
Three dirt rides in one week! That's a new record for me. What can I say? I've really missed being able to ride.
Saturday afternoon, we went to Wilder Ranch. It's a step up from Chabot and St. Joseph's Hill in terms of technical difficulty; just what I needed to give my still-healing back a two-wheeled challenge. Mostly, it's just a good fun ride with a few features to challenge me.
My biggest dirt project right now is turning on descents. I have an unfortunate habit of tensing up through turns, which makes me run wide, which makes me look to the outside of the turn thinking, "Oh crap, I'm running wide!", which, in turn, makes me run even wider.
Basically, I just need to relax. Relax, look through the turn, stay light, loose, and let my bike do the rest.
That should be easy, right? I'm getting better at it, and when I finally have it down, I'm sure I'll wonder what the big deal was.
Speaking of looking through the turn, I'm finding this looking ahead thing to be useful everywhere. Looking ahead and/or through a turn lets me:
- do track stands easier
- turn a 180 on the trail easier
- turn around switchbacks easier
- turn at speed easier
- ride in a straight line easier
- ride over bumpy terrain easier
I've known that I'm supposed to do this since pretty much day one, but for some reason it took 3+ seasons of riding before it sank in enough for me to start doing it semi-consistenly.
This was so amazingly evident to me last Tuesday at Chabot. I forgot to mention this in my last ride post, but during that ride we crossed a long, narrow bridge with railings just a few inches wider than our handlebars. I struggled for the first 10 feet, rubbing one railing and then the other as I looked at them and exclaimed, "Nooo!". Then I looked up toward end of the bridge, and just like that, I rode in a perfectly straight line, with equal distance between the narrow railings.
Looking ahead is magic!
During my last visit to Wilder, I learned to take drops at speed. This time, I learned to take them better at slower speeds (some trails you just shouldn't try to fly down) by pushing the bike forward and down. Again, it's something I've known for a while now, but was only recently able to convince my body to do. It made my descent on Zane Gray faster, smoother, and more fun. I was able to take a more difficult line while feeling more confident and in control.
This season, I've made it a point to take the hardest line I can handle out on the trails. You wouldn't know it with all the accidents I've had, but I've actually gotten a lot better at riding over and through reasonably sized obstacles.
This was gross:
V: There's something making my eye sting.
A: Maybe it's sweat.
V: Maybe it's sunblock.
A couple hours later, I rubbed my eye and a mangled bug came out. Eww!!!
On our way back to the car, we stopped to b-bock at the chickens (they b-bocked back), meh-eh-eh at the goats (they ignored me), and ride the sawhorse.
I'm a big dork, and Wilder Ranch is fun. :)
10:15 PM | Mountain | Comments (0)
June 19, 2009 / Friday
Open Letter To Safeway
Dear Safeway,
I've given you a lot of feedback in the past. I've used your website, I've used your comment cards, and I've spoken with your employees. None of this seems to have had any effect, so instead of direct communication, I'll just broadcast what I have to say on the internet. It still may not have any effect, but it'll at least make me feel better.
What prompted all this? My latest visit to your Fremont store on Mission Blvd. It's probably the most convenient store for me to visit on weeknights, but I try not to come here when I can help it; there always seems to be ridiculously long checkout lines, and this last visit was no exception.
Still, it wasn't the long lines that pushed me over the edge. The thing that prompted me to sit down and start writing was what I found when I got home: The bagger had decided that out of all my purchases, the best way to send my dozen eggs home was in a plastic bag with two jars of pasta sauce. (She also placed that bag into the cart with a thud.) That slimy stuff on the inside of the bag when I got home? The eggs.
I considered going back to the store to complain in person, but it was too far away. I considered calling the store, but I didn't want to waste my time waiting to get a manager on the line. I considered sending in a complaint through the website, but I've already done that before, and NOTHING HAS CHANGED.
My last bagging complaint through the website had to do with a cashier at the Sunnyvale store on El Camino who thought it was okay to throw my groceries into the bag. Ripe tomatoes, ripe avocados, followed by canned soup. I asked him nicely not to do that, and he apologized. I then sent a note through the website asking Safeway to better train their cashiers and baggers. I guess that note was ignored. That same cashier was throwing groceries into other people's bags the next time I saw him.
I know it's not impossible to train your employees to bag properly, because Trader Joe's does it extremely well. My groceries are always impeccably packed, and those guys visibly take pride in their ability to do so.
Back to what I said about not wanting to call and wait go speak with a manager. I'm actually not so sure that I want to speak to a Safeway manager after witnessing the behavior of one of your managers at the Sunnyvale store on Hollenbeck Ave. He was condescending, dismissive, and rude to the customer in line ahead of me, and during their lengthy exchange that clearly did not need to take place at the register, he thought nothing of the inconvenience he was causing to the growing line of customers. After that experience, we swore never to return, as we did not want to give that manager's store our business. We've kept that promise; it's easy to do so when my stomach turns every time I pass by.
Your poor customer service extends beyond your stores. Earlier this year, you launched FoodFlex, a website that allows Safeway Club Card users to analyze their purchases in the context of health and nutrition. I thought this was a great idea, and signed up for it as soon as it was available.
Upon signup, I got an e-mail that said, "Your Club Card purchase information will be loaded within six hours. You'll receive an email when your information has been loaded into your FoodFlex account."
Seven days later, I still hadn't heard back. I sent an e-mail asking about it, and received a form letter telling me to wait another 72 hours.
Two weeks later, I still hadn't heard back. I sent another e-mail asking about it, noting that I had signed up three weeks ago and asked about it once already two weeks ago. I received the EXACT SAME form letter from the EXACT SAME customer service representative telling me to wait another 72 hours.
I sent back an unhappy reply stating that I had already waited 505 hours for my account to be activated, that I didn't think another 72 hours was going to make anything better, and that I was not enjoying being blown off by customer service.
After sending some requested information, I got a reply from a different CSR that said, "I have contacted my IT Dept. about the issue with your Food Flex account and I am waiting for their response. Once they let me know that they have located what the issue may be I will contact you to let you know how we will resolve this issue for you."
That was in March. I have not heard back since.
I do, however, receive automated monthly e-mails telling me my nutrition snapshot is available. When I log into my account, it tells me, "Thank you for registering for FoodFlex® Your Club Card information is being uploaded. It normally takes up to 6 hours."
So. Much. FAIL.
And while I'm ranting about things that bug me about Safeway, remember my post about how your checkers ask for "cancer donations"? Recently, you added a request for donations screen to the device that customers use to swipe their credit card. It reads something like, "Do you want to donate to PROSTATE CANCER?"
Who in their right mind would want to donate to prostate cancer? *facepalm*
All that said, I don't think you mean to be terrible. To me, it looks as if you mean well at the corporate level, but fail at execution. I liked your store makeovers, I can see that you tell your employees to say hello and ask your customers if they need help, I approve of your efforts to collect donations for good causes, and I think FoodFlex is a great idea. Unfortunately, when it comes to getting the details right, you fall flat on your face. And when your customers contact you to tell you what needs fixing, you ignore them. Not once have I heard back from you after submitting feedback. That tells me you don't actually care about providing your customers a good shopping experience.
Perhaps you could learn a thing or two about good customer service from Peet's.
As my unhappiness has grown, I've found that I can get most of what I need from Trader Joe's, the farmers market, local produce shops, Asian supermarkets, and even Target. Better still, it's cheaper for me to shop at these places than at Safeway.
I just realized that what I'm really writing to say is goodbye. We used to be so close, but instead of visiting you twice a week, I now find myself wanting to see you only once or twice a month. I've found grocery shopping happiness elsewhere.
You may never read this, but I don't think you read anything I sent you through your website anyway. That's okay; I think it's more important that your other customers read it. Perhaps this will jog their memories about all the frowns you've put on their faces in the past. Maybe if we vote with our wallets you'll actually start listening to what we have to say.
Viv
08:56 PM | Rant/Whine | Comments (0)
June 18, 2009 / Thursday
Ice, Check
Made it back on the ice today for low-key pickup. I felt good enough to play, but took a little while to loosen up. Mostly, I was afraid of injuring myself. I definitely noticed some discomfort power turning right; it requires "leaning" left at the hip, which my back isn't quite ready for yet.
I got bumped here and there, not very hard, but my back definitely didn't like it. Didn't fall, though. Huzzah!
I had fun, but I don't think I'm ready to play a real game this weekend. I'm still pretty tentative out there, and my body doesn't feel good enough for my brain to green light any explosive movements quite yet. That, and I'll likely get more than just bumped, which I'm definitely not ready for.
That's okay, at least there's pickup. I'm signed up for next Thursday. Who's coming? :-D
