Here's an interesting article about various websites Terms of Service that Curt sent to me yesterday. Not sure how much of this is actually enforceable (as I am not a lawyer), but still an interesting read nonetheless. I wonder what the Blogger.com TOS says since it is part of Google. For all I know, they now own both my left and right hands!

I was driving in to work this morning, turned right onto Adams off of Woodward and was just about to pass through the light at Adams and Lincoln when I saw a small animal run in front of my car. At first I thought it was a squirrel but quickly realized it was a kitten! I got out of my car, put on my flashers (in the middle of Adams, mind you, with a dozen cars behind me), and picked up the kitten from under my front tires. He was a bit scared. I held him up to show the drivers behind me not to be angry and pulled into an adjacent parking lot.

I went inside the local bagel shop and asked the owners and patrons if anyone came in saying they had lost a kitten. The bagel shop people seemed annoyed but a few of the partons wanted to hold and pet the cat. I was hoping someone would want it and my time with the kitten would be done, but alas, it was not.

I put the kitten back into my car and drove the 1/2 mile I had left to my office. Deyer and I were the first ones in so I brought him upstairs to try and figure out what to do with him. We questioned taking him to the Humane Society but didn't want anything bad to happen to him. In the mean-time, we decided we would keep him at the office and try to find his owner. I put some posters up at businesses in the area I found him in hopes of his owner calling, looking for him back.

We named him Cat-5, after the ethernet cable we use so often. For now, he is our office cat, but hopefully we can find him a good home soon. He already took a piss and poop in the corner of Deyer's office. That was funny.

If you find anyone who is missing their kitten in the Birmingham area, please have them call me at 248-840-6866. Thanks!

Wow. I definitely did not realize how long it has been since I've made a blog post. A lot has happened since April...

• Gas shot up in Michigan past the price I last posted about in San Francisco.
• I went to Lindsay Bowman's wedding.
• Core3 completed its 1,000+ square foot expansion on-time and under budget.
• Gorman had a bachelor party.
• I tried getting free air for my tires at my gas station that usually allows that only to find out that they no longer give out free air and they now charge $0.75. This was angering and I vow to never go back to that gas station again.

On that thought, I am going to get my other blog going soon, The Valued Customer. It's basically going to be a place for me to rant and rave about poor and excellent customer service experiences I have. I've wanted to do this for seven years or so now but just couldn't find the right domain name (seriously). But now I've got it! I'll probably officially get it going in three years, on the ten year anniversary of my idea.

Lastly, while trying to figure out how much some furniture I am buying really should be worth, I stumbled across a Craigslist advice document that made me laugh, particularly near the end.

Newman sent me this pic yesterday of gas prices in San Francisco.

That's insane! How do people still afford to eat? How can they still afford gourmet popcorn?

I'm even more inspired now when I see news stories like this one (whether it's true or not).

Comcast killed my Grandmother.

About six months before she passed away, my Grandmother told me about an experience she had with Comcast...

She had called Comcast to complain about her bill or something of that nature (like we all do and are used to doing). After talking with the guy for a bit, he asked if he could put her on hold while he looked into something. He ended up not really putting her on hold (which I am sure he meant to, but he somehow missed the button) and made a comment to someone near him, "I am just going to give this old lady what she wants. Who cares, she's going to be dead soon anyway."

Needless to say, my Grandmother heard it and in a fury, told him that she heard it and ended the call. She never got his name or any other information. When she told me the story, I could see how much it had upset her. I think she hid just how much it brought her spirits down, but I know it really upset her quite a bit. I don't think they honestly killed her, but I do think it affected her spirits as she became increasingly ill.

I don't know why I was just thinking about it or why I am blogging about it. Customer service (along with human decency) is what makes a great company even greater. Go get 'em Comcast!

My GPS has been as far East as New York City and as far West as San Francisco.