There used to be a time when the credit card companies backed me up when I made a claim, disputing a payment. Well, those days sure seem to be over! There was a charge on my American Express card last May for $197 for a product that I did order. However I then subsequently cancelled that order and the merchandise was never received. I have proof that I contacted the company and cancelled the order, and I have an email from the company acknowledging the cancellation. Yet American Express keeps telling me that the charge is valid and that I have to pay it! So every month I have to reopen the claim. It is getting very tiring and I am thinking about cancelling that credit card! I have plenty of other credit cards that I can use – I don’t need the aggravation that goes along with this one!
My mother is constantly sending me clippings in the mail about some Celebrity Speakers or Motivational Speakers that are coming to the area that she wants me to go see with her. Or should I say HEAR with her? She thinks that motivational speakers are fantastic, and I’ve gone to hear a couple of them with her, but I have to admit that although they do a really good job, the main point of their speech is to keep a positive attitude and how they kept plugging along to get some kind of help through a hard time that they had and they got the help that they needed.
Most of the time, the help that they needed (and got) was close at hand, provided by someone close to them. I haven’t heard many motivational speakers talk about how everyone they knew turned their backs on them and a complete stranger helped them out! Well, notwithstanding the few wealthy people who sponsored entire classes to go to college after they graduate high school (and yes, that is motivational to finish school if you have a wealthy sponsor!)
I’d love to give an aspiring motivational speaker some speaking tips. Take a good hard look at your speech and ask yourself if the message you are delivering is appropriate to the audience? Telling someone to pull themselves up by their bootstraps isn’t going to help someone who has no boots! Of course, you shouldn’t tell them to just give up, either. There is a fine line there. If you are going to give someone a pep talk about improving their lives, it would be great if you provided resources to help them, and not just a pep rally.
Pumpkin patch time! Today we went to the local pumpkin farm to pick out our pumpkin. They were giving free hayrides and selling hot apple cider. The kids went a little crazy trying to pick out their pumpkins. I told them that they could each pick out a pumpkin for themselves and then we would bring them home and decorate them with markers. We will be decorating them tomorrow!
One sad fact of life is that so many people that become drug addicts start out as innocent victims of some kind of accident that puts them in a lot of pain. The doctors, in their efforts to relieve that pain give the patients a medicine, such as the very popular vicodin, that is highly effective in controlling pain, but is also highly addictive.
One of the most populat television show characters, House, is addicted to vicodin. On a recent episode we watched House agree to go to vicodin rehab in order to get his medical license back. It was suspended but he was told that if he went to one of the vicodin rehab centers that he would be reinstated after the doctors cleared him. I think that this particular show has shown a lot of good information about how easily one can fall into the life of an addict, and how not all addicts are out in the street mugging people!
Today is my baby sister’s birthday! She’s had a rough year, adjusting to life with her daughters after her hubby passed away. I’m glad that she’s finally started to date! I hope this coming year is full of love and laughter for her; she deserves it!
Business and work, Computers and/or Internet, General life, Money and finances, Rants | Dean | 
October 21, 2009 12:41 pm | 
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