Still alive!

Despite the lack of postings recently, I am still alive. Packing and all of the associated moving crap has kept me really busy. I don't see this changing much in the next couple of weeks, since we still have to drive 3,000 miles in 2 days, unpack, go back to work, and find a permanent place to live. I'll be back to normal in a few weeks :)

What's up with customer service?

Yes, I am an 80-year-old woman in a young body. Where has customer service gone?

Exhibit A: Yesterday, I called to see if a local dealership had a Honda Civic Hybrid. She asked for my first name, and I gave it to her. She asked for my last, and I politely said I preferred not to give it. She then told me she couldn't give me any information then, and hung up on me. What?!?

Exhibit B: We went to Scion to test drive the tC. We walked in, the only people there. The receptionist paged a Scion rep twice, and no one came. She proceeded to ignore us, and 5 minutes later we walked out, having never been spoken to again.

Exhibit C: Went to the Nissan dealership to test drive a Nissan Altima Hybrid. 45 minutes before closing, and we're told "the gate is already locked, so you can't drive it today." Closed, 45 minutes, before you close??? At least the saleslady was really nice.

Exhibit D: Drop of my car today at 9am to get a hitch put on. Tell the guy I'll be back at 2pm, and he says that's fine. Come back at 2:20, and it's not done, with 2 cars still to be finished before he gets to mine. They close at 5, so it's unlikely they will even have it done today at all. What?!? Too bad we're screwed, because they are the only place in town with the hitch in stock.

All of these things happened in the last 2 days. What happened to nice people who give decent service to paying customers (or potential customers)?

Brief update

I know you all are dying for wedding updates, but I just haven't had time to get photos from everyone, upload and organize the ones I have already, and write about it. Coming back from your honeymoon with a mean case of vertigo, a work proposal to write, many things to sell on Craigslist, an entire house to pack, a trailer hitch to have installed, friends to see, etc etc etc has keep me very busy. Suffice to say we did get married! For now, you'll have to be satiated with these two scanned formal pictures from our honeymoon cruise. Enjoy them, because they are almost surely better than our wedding pictures anyway (long hair + wind on the beach = just-got-out-of-bed look in every photo).

The end of me, the beginning of we

We're off to do this:
Then to try this:

And this:


On this:
Wish us luck! See you the 18th.

Teeth!

The before pics (left side, obviously) and the after pictures on the right. Excuse the angry red gums....they weren't too happy with having glue scraped off. Not bad in 13 months. Now to get used to this new retainer. Thankfully it's an Essix (the clear plastic kind), but I still talk funny and it is pretty painful. I've started using Crest Whitestrips too, at the recommendation of my ortho. I'll have to post some after shots of that if they work well.

Also, congrats to Bryan for passing his ERI test with flying colors! It was the last hurdle to graduation, and he did really well on it. Now onto studying for the NCLEX.