Amiens cathedral

The differences between people are getting too out of hand. There has to be a moderation or we're headed to a sticky self-destructive end. To quote Dogma:

Rufus: He still digs humanity, but it bothers Him to see the shit that gets carried out in His name – wars, bigotry, televangelism. But especially the factioning of all the religions. He said humanity took a good idea and, like always, built a belief structure on it.

Bethany: Having beliefs isn't good?

Rufus: I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier…

(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120655/quotes?qt=qt0309073)

That's where to start.

Like many really good movies, the one you remember is the better one from a more recent remake. In this case, my favorite scary movie is actually a tie. Tied between "The Thing" and "In The Mouth Of Madness". I like them for different reasons. I like "The Thing" because it raises questions of doubt and identity and has some really outstanding creature effects. I like "In The Mouth Of Madness" because it lends credence that reality is formed mostly by our agreement-in-perception and that with enough force to change that perception, that you could in a way, change the world.

I find that the complexity of the first is less than the second. Movies like "The Thing" are simple, situated as it is on the premise of failed quarantine while "In The Mouth Of Madness" is actually far more insidious and pervasive and really more scary in the long run.

Fleur de Lis

I wish I had time to refine my French. I think it's a beautiful language and I often times find that the actual speech makes it easier for me to express myself and I tend to not mumble in French as I usually do in English. I sometimes think that I mumble in English because it's too easy, that I'm too close. Having to actively think about the language slows me down and makes expression more clear. If I had hundreds of dollars just to blow on a whim I'd likely try the French Rosetta Stone program.

Randi, I can only assume that your silence-in-reply on my previous email to you means that what you write in the quoted email here is actually a regularly scheduled script that runs when one of your employees closes out a service visit report that has an email attached to it.

Embarrassing.

Oh, and by not replying to my earlier email, I’m pretty much done wasting my time communicating with you. This will be the last communication from me to you.

Have a happy life.

On Sep 20, 2011, at 10:08 AM, Randi DeSantis wrote:

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Thank you for your recent visit to our service department. It is our hope that we were able to service your vehicle to your complete satisfaction. We strive to provide you with the best customer service possible, and I hope that this was the case at your last visit. If for some reason this was not the case, I want to get involved to get that corrected. Please call or email me to let me know what I can do to assist! We never want to leave a customer unhappy with their experience here.

Thank you again for choosing Maple Hill Auto Group for your service needs. We look forward to assisting you again!

Best Regards,

Randi DeSantis
Customer Service Director
Maple Hill Auto Group
rdesantis
(269) 342-6600 X 541

PS We encourage as much feedback as possible- and want the world to know how we are doing. If you would like to comment on your experience, please do so at any of these links!

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Randi,

At the beginning of this week I fueled up my 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe and everything was normal. Two days after that the Check Engine light illuminated. The behavior of the vehicle was unaffected and so I figured I just didn’t secure the gas cap properly. I brought it to Maple Hill Auto, as I have for all my service, (loyal to a fault) and they performed an oil change and cleared the check engine light after testing the vehicle. I paid $13 for the oil change and $45 for the repair. I drove the vehicle away and later that night the Check Engine light came back. I drove the vehicle to Maple Hill and they told me that they were going to change out the Vapor Canister and that they wanted to keep it overnight. They claimed they tested the system 3 times and the light had stayed off.

Today, while driving from my workplace, which is Walwood Hall on Western’s East Campus to my Gym on Stadium Drive, nearing the intersection of Drake and Stadium the Check Engine Light came back on.

I am going to drive the vehicle to Maple Hill tomorrow morning at 7:30am and hand it over to them. I am in a quandary over this, this will be the third time that Maple Hill has attempted to fix my 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe and I am nearly out of faith, patience, and understanding on this. I think we really ought to have a sit-down meeting and discuss the path we should take.

The ownership of this vehicle has not been without it’s unpleasantness. Total Brake system overhauls for $600, made more bitter when I learn that Hyundai overpacks the pads and nearly guarantees pad and rotor failure. Another $600 extortive boondoggle surrounding the 60,000 mile service which includes a charge for checking the fuel system when it doesn’t have any serviceable parts and ultimately comes down to an A/C check and a replacement air filter. I did it myself. Then there is the $400 loss surrounding a tie-rod end that I was under the false impression that my extended warranty “should” have covered and come to find out that it wasn’t. The company that stands behind the extended warranty that Hyundai resells hid behind their fine-print and screwed your customer on a repair that really should have been covered.

So here we stand. I own a car with a extended warranty hosted by a slimy shiftless fine-print dodging company and now I’ve got repetitive failures and nobody seems to be able to fix the problem properly. Randi, I’m quite tired of handing Maple Hill Auto my credit card and there is only so much I’m willing to take before I have no choice but become the ugly angry customer that I really don’t want to become.

Tomorrow at 7:30 I will be bringing my Santa Fe in for service. Please let me know when you would like to have our sit-down meeting.

Thank You

Andy McHugh – 269-216-4597

If you have the basics, enjoy life. That's what it's all about. Leave the hustle and bustle to people who enjoy micromanaging things they can't possibly control. Being a castaway disconnected from everything else isn't as bad as you think. After all, hell is other people. 🙂

Fresh Apple Tart ~ Homage to Julia Child

For a year you could eat your way through "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and live quite happily. These questions are too easy. 😉

I would split it up into 100,000 batches and give it to my closest friends. It may last them a long time, they may piss it away, or they could get out of debt and have a shot at happiness. What they do with the money is up to them. It's more direct than charity and more relevant than investing it. You don't invest in companies, you invest in people.

Easiest answer ever. Weaponize a Meijer's. "Ammo in Aisle 5" 🙂 We'd need many guns, each person would have a rifle and a pistol on them at all times and everyone would wear a uniform made of a Kevlar and Tyvek blend. Nothing bites through that! 🙂

The most important sales pitch of all, the one word that would sell a flying car to anyone at all: "Autopilot".