This a.m. i drove about 50 minutes to get to my second focus group. Well, yesterday was a one-on one survey. Today it was a focus group but as it turned out, they overbooked (intentionnally, in case of no-shows) and my name wasn't called to go in (which is a good thing) so i and a few others got to leave without having to put in several hours at the focus group, and they PAID US ANYWAY. Two crisp $50 bills in a white envelope, thank you very much! Plus they fed us lunch! You can't beat that! This place is a class act.

The one i did yesterday, well, no comparison. The two women i dealt with there were really not very professional, either in their approach with me or in their appearance. They both acted like they hated their jobs. No customer service skills.

When i got home, i had a message from Honda USA on my machine. I'd been thinking of the gal i spoke with when she 1st called me yesterday, and feeling very bad that i was a little testy with her on the phone. I have no good excuse for it, she just called when i was trying to do 3 other things, bad timing, but i should have been nicer. She was, after all, trying to HELP me.

So when i returned her call today the first thing i did was apologize for my rude behavior with her the last time we spoke. She was very sweet about it. In fact, she said i made her day becus today, SHE was having a bad day and had just gotten off a rough phone call before me, so i think it made her feel a little better. I'm thinking of writing a little thank-you note to whoever her manager is, becus she was very calm and professional and i think i was kind of unkind and kind of a jerk.

You know, if i don't get good customer service smehwere, I'm not at all bashful about pursuing the matter however i need to, but i also really like to give someone a pat on the back when they deserve it. She deserved it. Imagine how stressful her job must be, acting as mediator between unhappy Honda owners and the dealers when there's a dispute.

So, anyway...I may not believe in god, but i do believe in making amends to people you have wronged. After my apology, she told me she did speak with the service manager at the Honda dealer and she was "100% sure" he was going to call me and "take care of it for me," meaning, i think, it's not going to cost me anything more. She said he noted that i was a good customer and that i regularly was in there to do my service tune-ups, and apparently, that made it more worth their while to help me out.

So, crossing my fingers, i'll get that vibrating noise taken care of (trip #4). Yeah, i have an 8-year-old car, she's no spring chicken, but those vibrations make it sound like a JUNK car on the road.

Last night H. and i saw a $2 movie, 3:10 to Yuma. It was a western, pretty good, with Russell Crowe, though not as good as No Country for Old Men.

I've got 2 press releases that have been ok'd for release, i'm just waiting for photos before i do distribution. And i just got asked to do 2 more. This works out perfectly, as i've had all of December free.

The electrician didn't seem upset that i rescheduled his visit a 2nd time; he explained what does bug him is when someone doesn't bother to call at all and then they show up to do work and they can't do it. So he's coming Christmas Eve day, which is fine by me.

I have been positively ITCHING to start posting my year-end expenses and all the interesting things i learn from my year-end summary. But of course, we're not quite thru December yet, so i have to sit tight. This year-end summary is what makes all the daily expense tracking so worth it, becus then i get to look at the big picture and size up how i've done compared to previous years, in which expense categories i've spent more than previous years, or spent less. Some of it is beyond my control, but much of it is not.

After a trip to the dentist tomorrow, i'm hoping to wash my car (by hand, in the cold). The salt on it looks terrible.