Category: I’m Just Sayin

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I'm Just Sayin Relationships

I Love It and I Hate It

Things are going well in my life, but I’m alone too much. I wake up in the morning and think, “What will I do today?” Obviously that includes work and working out and some reading, but what else? Can I grab lunch with a friend? Dinner? If you add up a two hour lunch and a two hour dinner that still leaves twelve hours in the day. I work out for 2 of those hours, normally with friends, sometimes groups of people, but then I am still alone for 10 hours of the day.

I like alone time, but 6 days a week I find that I am trying to fill my days with more than just work, working out, and eating. However, I’m in the middle of reinventing myself both physically and professionally and so I don’t have the money or the time to start being overcommitted to other projects that don’t serve someone other than myself.

You see, that is the solution to my problem – getting out and helping others. But, sometimes that makes me more miserable than just sitting at home alone on my couch. I have to get out amongst the unwashed masses of society and get my hands dirty? Okay, maybe the people aren’t unwashed or in masses, but my hands, my CLEAN HANDS!!

Anywho, as soon as my clients start paying I’m going to book a shrink… I realize that is what shrinks are good for, you pay them to listen to you talk and once a week for 80 bucks you get to let go of every single mean, lustful, hateful, conceited, prideful, arrogant, humiliating thought that is constantly bouncing around in your head and they can’t tell anyone. It’s like going to a priest for confession, but better because it’s an hour long and then you leave an you without so much as a Hail Mary full of grace. Not that a good Hail Mary isn’t good every now and then…

So… here I am 33 and alone with so many friends that think I am just “So Fun!” and “Almost a Celebrity”, but who has reached a point in my life where I don’t want to go on living like this… or do I? I just don’t know. Maybe I’m in a transitional state that will just take some time to get used to. I mean, I am sitting on my couch working for hours on end and then I feel guilty for sitting at home. It’s weird. This house has become my home and my office and so I shouldn’t feel guilty about being here all day but after 33 years of working multiple jobs and being around people all the time then it’s hard to make this transition. I love it and I hate it.

And for those of you who would like to say, “Well, you really just need to get married and settle down” thanks for that little nugget of wisdom. Don’t think I haven’t tried and tried harder than you know since I only write about 60% of what really goes on in my life on this website. While I’m holding out for Mrs. Right I feel guilty for taking solace in the fact that many of my friends that got married when they were young are now getting divorced. I want to smugly say, “Well, I didn’t make that mistake!” But in reality I’m sad for them and for me because most of them are working on spouse number two while I’m still looking for number one.

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I'm Just Sayin

HGTV Design Star

dan_vickery_hgtvThis is one of my favorite shows of the summer. Do you watch it? My favorites are Dan Vickery and Antonio Ballatore. They seem to have the best design concepts, especially Dan, but I like Anotonio’s anti-designer look. He looks more like a bartender than a designer and should probably be on Sons of Anarchy instead of HGTV.antonio_hgtv

This is my only TV show highlight of the week other than Entourage.

I’m looking forward to So You Think You Can Dance this fall. I’m such a huge fan of that show not only for the dancers, but the judges and choreographers. Everyone is such a class act – especially Nigel Lythgoe. He is so much better than Simon Cowell at making a valid point without being insulting. That is the difference between Constructive Criticism and just plain Criticism. I even love Mary Murphy and her crazy hot tamale train. She annoys some people, but I prefer her Zany joy to Paula Abdul’s sugary sweetness.

Lastly, I’m also looking forward to Glee and Fame the Movie.  I think in some alternate universe I am a dancer. Not a 6′ 5″ guy with a lineman’s build.

What are you watching and what are you looking forward to this Fall?

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I'm Just Sayin Observations Stories

How Does Your Garden Grow?

When parents have their first child they look at it as a bundle of joy filled with wonder and potential. To them it is perfection, however, they forget that even Charles Manson, Hitler and Bin Laden started out as sweet babies.

We are born as gardens filled with a variety of seeds that spring up and grow throughout our lives. Seeds of doubt mixed in with envy, greed, lust, deceit, cruelty, anger, selfishness spring up weeds that desperately try to choke out the flowers of love, joy, peace, kindness, self-discipline, and faithfulness.

When we are born it is our parents job to landscape our lives like a skilled gardener.  Hours should be spent weeding out the bad and nourishing the good. In a garden that isn’t cared for beauty struggles to survive.

I think in life we often feel that we can just sit back sometimes and coast. We like to keep things low maintenance and instead of getting our hands dirty and digging into the root of the problem, we just clip it back or pay someone else to take care of the problem for us. In my own life I’m working on weeding out some bad habits and planting some good ones. I’m digging deep to unearth some deeply rooted weeds that have threatened to not only choke out the good things in my life, but to destroy me entirely. It has only been by the grace of God that I am the man that I am. If left to my own devices I feel that I not only have the imagination, but also the resources, to successfully destroy everything that I have worked hard for in my life.

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I'm Just Sayin Relationships Stories

A Pathetic Outburst Followed By A Wave Of Clarity

On Friday I play racquetball with one of my buddies and I love it. It is the highlight of my week. After we had finished playing he asked me how I was doing spiritually and physically. “Not Good” I replied. He continued to probe and question and I kept giving him these reasons for my lack of focus and overall complacency and when we were finished talking I felt like a big toad.

Normally a good talk makes me feel better. You get some things off your chest and you breathe a big sigh of relief. That didn’t happen form me on Friday. Instead I kept replaying the conversation over and over in my head and I thought, “Wow, that was a load of crappy excuses. How pathetic!”

It was a pathetic outburst followed by a wave of clarity. It was as if voices all these inner complaints helped me to see them for what they were – whining and feeling sorry for myself.

I don’t like to admit this, but I find that sometimes showing weakness allows other people to relate to me better. Weakness makes us human and in our weakness we realize that we must rely on God.

So after this talk I resolved to stop making excuses and to start making some adjustments. If I can’t correct my problems immediately I can stop the self-sabotaging behaviors and the excuses which are nothing more than tools of the incompetent and I had quite a few in my toolbox.

As a leader I am someone that should be setting an example. Life is hard for all of us and when we overcome challenges, when we fight for what we want then that makes reaching those goals all the more pleasurable.

I recommend finding someone in your life that challenges you to do better, to be better, all the time. It’s not always easy to hear that you need to make improvements, but it’s nice to know that someone cares enough to say something and challenge you to be the best you can be.

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Business Reviews I'm Just Sayin

The Power of Posted Note

I’ve used this site many times to convey information about companies and I am always surprised at how effective it can be.

Recently I posted about Genator Johnson, and attorney that is supposed to help with fixing speeding tickets. The post pretty much talked about what poor customer service I got when I called.

Yesterday, Genator Johnson himself, left this comment on my site:

I am the attorney of the Genator Johnson Law Firm. Mr. Renz, I am sorry that we did not meet your expectations when you called in. I will address your complaint with my staff.

As a matter of accuracy, no one in my office is to promise that we can get a ticket dismissed for $39–that would be untrue. We do get a significant percentage of our clients’ tickets dismissed, but that is not possible in every case. Most of the dismissals come from the failure of the State to meet each and every procedural prerequisite to charge or convict someone of a violation. In the remainder of the cases we almost always secure a reduction in the fine AND an arrangement that will keep any moving violations off of the client’s record.

The legal fee is only $39 per violation due to the fact that my office is located a short drive up the street from the court referenced in the letter to you and the fact that I handle a high volume of citations in that court. I am sorry that I did not have the opportunity to employ my experience and expertise to secure a better deal for you than simply paying the citation in full.

After that comment a girl named Amanda left this comment:

It sounds like the appropriate thing to do would have been to ask for the supervisor. Because of your impatience, you paid for your ticket that will now show as a conviction on your driving record. If you’re that bothered by poor customer service, you should make the supervisor or owner aware of the issue rather than taking the unproductive route (complaining online). Hopefully in the future, you can try to help businesses rather than try to destroy them.

I was delighted to see that Genator Johnson was going to remedy the situation and I replied to Amanda with this:

Amanda,

Not trying to destroy the company, rather enlighten my readers both positively and negatively.

My job isn’t to educate every company that gives me poor service. That would be like telling Chili’s how to make a better burger. I don’t have time for that. This is a capitalist society, survival of the fittest, and sometimes you only get one chance to make a first impression.

As a small business owner myself I have to deal with the harsh customers and it makes me be on my best behavior all the time even when sometimes the customer is impatient.

***

At Posted Note I always try to keep my readers informed. If I got amazing service, which I always get at Chick-Fil-A, then I let my readers know. However, this is the power of the internet, the power to write a single post that can warn and inform – like the post I wrote about JK Harris telling people NOT to use them that they are scam artists.

Consumer feedback is very powerful, more powerful than any paid advertising. I like to use Angie’s List whenever I am going to use a contractor service and there are of course other consumer report sites out there for virtually every product.