The bloody toe (a runner’s blog)

I just got off of the phone with Jim Price, who is the Trails Coordinator for Mountainland Association of Governments.  He is in charge of the 17 mile enclosure that is planned for the Murdock Canal structure.  Here is what we learned from today’s conversation:

Me:  Is there a place to view the trail plans?

Jim:  So far, there isn’t a place to view the plans for the trail.  When they become available, they will be located at www.mountainland.org.

Me:  Will there be a dirt trail for running?

Jim:  The intent is for the trail to be paved, but there will be an unpaved trail beside of for horses and runners.

Me:  How can local runners help in this effort?

Jim:  They will be looking for input on the trail, but will announce this on their website.

At the end of our conversation, Jim asked me if I had any more questions, which made me feel that he was interested in my (a runner’s) perspective on this project.  I would suggest to local runners that you get involved in this process, when you can, so that we can get a decent dirt running trail in Utah County.  If I get any more information, I’ll post it, here.

Today, I called the Provo Parks and Recreation to see if they could point me in the direction of a good dirt trail for running.  The person that I spoke to on the phone told me that she didn’t know, but suggested the Provo River Trail.  Unfortunately, that trail doesn’t qualify for this quest, because it’s PAVED.  At my prodding, she asked someone else in the office, who suggested the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  Unfortunately, while the BST (as it’s referred to, locally) does qualify as a dirt trail, it is not ideal for casual running, because it is a little rugged and more for mountain biking (unless someone can correct me).

So the quest continues.  In my opinion, the Provo River Trail should have had a piece of single-track to run along side, but for reason (and I’m curious on this point), it didn’t.

I asked the woman that I spoke to what it takes for something like a dirt trail to be introduced to a city.  She informed me that first off, the land would have to be donated.  Secondly, the money has to be donated, because Provo doesn’t have a budget for this type of thing.  Bummer, Provo.  Seriously.  You guys have been a city since 1849 and you still don’t have a dirt trail?  I’ll bet you did, way back in the day, but for some reason, you’ve seen fit to pave over EVERYTHING.  If I’m wrong (and I’d be thrilled to be wrong), please point me in the area of a place where I can run for a minimum of one mile on reasonably runable surface (I’m not excluding the BST, but don’t want to constantly change elevation on the trail).

Salt Lake has Liberty Park, which has (and I guess this is ok) a wood-chipped course.  Could we not have something similar to that, running outside of one of the many parks in Provo?

Maybe I’ve missed the boat and Provo is the bastion of outdoor trail running.  But I haven’t seen it.

How I miss thee, Bidwell Park.

I called dad, this morning.  Yesterday was the Bidwell Classic.  He told me that after the race, he’d been chatting with a nice family.  He noticed that the man in this family had some type of springs on the bottom of his shoes.  Dad told him, “That looks like cheating!” (jokingly).  The man pulled up a leg on his trousers and said, “It helps with my prosthesis.”  They continued to chat and it seemed that the man took no offense.  I think that it sort of embarrassed dad.

He called it his “FooPah”, as in “faux pas.”  Classic dad.

Went to the Bayou Burger for lunch with some friends, today.  I noticed that in a remote corner of their building, that last night’s Sharks vs. Canadians game was on.  I asked if they’d move the game over to a television that wasn’t being used (that was much closer to our table).  They were friendly about the whole thing.  Unfortunately, it took a lot of work to do that.  They were climbing on furniture and checking cables and generally allowing themselves to be hassled by my small request.  After about 15 minutes, they got the game working and went back to what they were doing.  It meant a lot to me, though, and I appreciate it.  So folks, if you’re up in the SLC area and you want a great burger, check out Bayou Burger at 645 S. State Street.

Today, I’m chatting with a Comcast rep named “Sunshine”.  Awesome.

A nice man asked if I was Nathan and I asked if he’d take me off of their outbound calling list.  I think we understand each other, now.

Last night, I pulled all of my websites off of their host and over to a faster, larger-capacity box.  Things are moving along swimmingly, so I hope that visitors notice a little improvement in browsing speeds.

Came across this site, because I wanted to test my network up/down speed.  Check it out.

Live Chat
Status: Analyst Mary is here and your issue status is: working

Problem: User ID Lookup
End Session
user Guest_ has entered room

Guest>
User ID Lookup

analyst Mary has entered room

Mary>

Hello Guest_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Mary. Please give me one moment to review your information.

Mary>
I apologize for the inconvenience that this issue has caused you. We remain committed in providing excellent service to our customers. Don’t worry, I can certainly take your worries out regarding those.

As soon as she said “I can certainly take your worries out regarding those”, I knew I was in trouble.

Guest_>
Thanks.  Yeah, I’m just trying to figure out what my username is.

Mary>
I am sorry to hear about your password issue. Let me verify all necessary security information so we can go ahead and reset it. I understand how important it is to access your emails. Rest assured that I’ll have you logged in in no time.

Great.  Now I’m confused.  Did I call about an email problem?  I can’t remember.  I must have.  Either way, she’ll have me logged in and reading email survey requests from Comcast in no time!

Guest_>
Ok, thanks.

Mary>
But before we do that, let me just verify the information you have provided for us. I just want to make sure I have the correct account pulled up. And I definitely would want to see to it that your account is secured. May I have the name and address on the account as well as the account number or the last 4 of the SSN on the account?

Feeling more secure, already!

Guest_>
Nathan Nelson, **** North **** West, ******, Utah, *****, ****

Mary>
May I have the complete account number, please.

Guest_>
I don’t have that on me.  I can give you that last 4 of my social…

Guest_>
****

Mary>
That is fine. May I have the phone number on the account, instead?

Guest_>
Sure…***-***-****

Mary>
Thank you so much for the information that you have provided.

Any time a support rep thanks me “so much”, it makes me uncomfortable.

Mary>
Please give me 2-3 minutes to pull up your account.

I try to imagine what takes 2-3 minutes to pull up an account in the year 2010…but I trust Mary.

Mary>
By the way while I process the request, I would like to inform you that there will be a three-question survey after our chat. This would help in improving our services with great customers like you. Please click on End Session after our chat to proceed with the survey. Would that be okay?

Guest_>
Sure.

Mary>
Thank you so much!

Again, with the exuberance that you wouldn’t find among family.  Very uncomfortable now.  Do I send back “You’re welcome!”?  I feel like it would become a shouting match, so I back down.

Mary>
Thank you so much for patiently waiting. Not everyone is this gracious when faced with such inconvenience. I assure you that I will be here to assist you with your issue.

I try to imagine her typical customer.  Maybe I really am an exceptional person.  I am patient. I really do care about others. I’m disappointed to learn, later, that they use this line on all of their callers. Her last sentence makes me wonder if they have a tendency to hang up on the customer.

Mary>
May I verify the CPNI pin, please.

Guest_>
What is that?

Mary>
That is the four digit code found on the pink sheet given to you when you first have your service with us.

Does anyone really keep those things?

Guest_>
Uhm…I’m not sure what that would be…Is it one that I’d choose?

Guest_>
Or is it assigned?

Mary>
It is assigned, Nathan.

I am taken aback by her good use of commas.  I’m a sucker for a tech support rep who knows when to use them.

Guest_>
Is there another place that I can find it?  I’m not sure where my contract is.

Mary>
In case you don’t have that right now, I may process a callback in order to verify your account first.

Mary>
It is assigned, Nathan.

Mary>
Are you at home to do this?

Again, in the year, 2010, is it really necessary to force a customer back to their land line to confirm their existence? Whatever happened to the good ol’ days when they used to ask for all your necessary security information, like they did two minutes ago…?

Guest_>
My wife is…can you call and her answer?

Guest_>
Wait…our home phone is out.

Guest_>
Dang..is there no other way?

I know at this point that there is NO WAY that I’m getting this resolved in this conversation.  I’m a little bummed out, but I hang on, anyway.

Mary>
Can your wife forward the call to where you are located at the moment>

Guest_>
How could she do that?

Guest_>
Our home phone, right now, isn’t working…so I’m not sure how she could do that.

Mary>
We can only verify the account through a callback Nathan. If you have a phone at home and someone can forward the call to where you are, we can verify the account then.

Guest_>
Do you see any notes for a cell phone contact number on that account?  Because I have my cell phone with me.

Getting desperate.

Mary>
Oh I see. I am sorry but the callback is done only when we are able to contact your home phone, Nathan.

Do you, Mary?  Do you see?  Because I don’t feel like you do.  I feel like your every other sentence is being auto-generated by some monkey-programmed…uh…program.

Mary>
In that case, please feel free to chat back with us regarding this issue once you get home, Nathan.

Translation:  Feel free to go home, call us back, go through all of this, again…at your convenience, of course.

Mary>
May I know if there is anything else that you want me to assist you with today? I want to make sure that we have covered everything before this chat ends.

Guest_>
Can I guess my username and you confirm it?

Mary>
I am sorry Nathan but its a part of our protocol to verify all the informaiton on the account first before we disclose information on the account as well.

Guest_>
Ok, thanks.

Mary>
Okay, Nathan.

Ok, Mary.

Mary>
You’re very much welcome.

I even feel welcome.

Mary>
Oh, I would like to inform you (Yeah, Mary, you JUST now thought of this) that Comcast has an Online Storage Feature where you can save your personal files like photos, mp3 and pdf files. And because it’s online, you access it anywhere you want as long as you have Internet connection. You can store up to a maximum of 10 MB *GASP!* and even have the option to share them with your friends. It’s like having an extra hard drive (from the late-70’s) that you can access anywhere you want, for free (provided you have your CPNI pin…I know, I know…now I’m just being difficult). If you want to take advantage of this feature, just click on this link for the steps: comcast.net/backup.

Mary>
Thank you for giving me the chance to resolve (Wait…did I miss something?) your concern today. It’s been a pleasure assisting one of our valued customers. Please click on the “END SESSION” button that will appear right after this chat. Again this is Mary. Have a great and blessed day!

Mary>
Take care, Nathan!

Guest_>
10 MB.  Awesome.

• While putting Reagan's shirt on for church, she told me, "Don't mess up my curly hair." http://tweetphoto.com/12831864 #
• Earlier, this week, while heating up food for the girls in the microwave, Reagan told me, almost crying, "Dad, it's hotted!", as in "done". #
• : Drew first blood on the Sunday headache…took 4 ibuprofen BEFORE church. #

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