A few thoughts from the Undefeated Life!
Archives for May 2010
Beware Women and the Mechanic’s Shop…….Yikes!
You know I always dread having a mechanical problem with my truck. About a month ago my check engine light came on….I thought O, No…this is more than just an oil change…I have to see the mechanic. I called around discussing the diagnostic code I had received on the vehicle; it read running lean on O94. The Ford dealership said that could mean leaky head gasket, ($452.00), or the Injector’s need replacement ($500+), or perhaps something else that could cost ($750.00).
OUCH! I talked to another place with my diagnostic code in hand and told them of the Ford estimate (Big Mistake). This place sent me to another place and here is where the nightmare begins. I went to this place Fri. afternoon after picking up my son from his program. He is Autistic and does not do well with change, or having to stay somewhere with nothing to do. This Mechanics shop informed me that it would take an hour to perform the diagnostics.
I asked if I could come in the following day, Sat. at opening, so that there would be time to finish the work as I have only one car and need it for the up-coming week. I went prepared to wait for an hour, thinking that if there were extensive work to be done I would take my son to the movies across the street. I got there a little after opening with my son who had books to read. We sat patiently for one hour reading books.
The mechanic came in and brought me a spreadsheet of diagnostic problems that could cost up to $765.00 for repairs. However, the manager said a smoke diagnostic test needed to be performed to fill the compression with smoke to determine where the leakage of compression was occurring which was causing the (running lean on O94 code). He asked me if I would come back in one hour after he had performed this second diagnostic test. I walked with my son for an hour visiting a coffee house for a snack and coffee, and then off to Michael’s, then to a bakery thrift shop (my son likes to look at food on shelves). The whole hour my Son repeated…what we were supposed to be doing insistently; O.C.D. is very typical with Autism; and I continued to inform him as to why we were not able, at that point, but that when the work was done we could.
I walked about three miles today, and after one hour and fifteen minutes returned to find out the results of the additional diagnostic. The manager met me and said that he had not started the second diagnostic and that I needed to wait for another hour. Because my son is Autistic, it gets very difficult to continue to disappoint him. I said to the Manager, why did you tell me to come back in an hour then if you were not going to do the test in that time frame? I was not yelling, I just asked an honest question in my disappointment. At this point he became upset and said, “BS! You’re calling me a liar, if you don’t want to wait then have someone else do the work!” Yelling…. He knew he had me over a barrel, as he had observed my son’s activity, and also understood that I did not have anyone that could pick us up. I replied, “No, I’m not calling you a liar…I’m just saying that if you were not going to do the work in the time you specified for me, you should not have told me to wait… Then he said, “I’m not going to do the work! pull her car out!” I told him I could not believe that he would turn down a cash customer that was prepared to drop $600.00 cash…I asked to speak with the owner of the company and he would not let me…
On my way home I spotted another Mechanics shop within walking distance to my home. I drove in with my diagnostic in hand and explained all of the work the prev. shop had said I needed and about how they continued to delay performance; getting disrespectful towards me when I questioned their business practice. I was encouraged when this shop seemed to understand how wrongly I had been treated. Guess what? They performed their diagnostic and found that I was running lean because my fuel filter was clogged, needed replacement; and also I needed a fuel injector cleaning due to fuel running through a dirty fuel filter. Interestingly enough, I had paid for a new fuel filter about two months ago at another Mechanics Shop. The work was performed, including diagnostics within two and one half hours, costing me $142.00! It seems today that people in many businesses just don’t care about honest business practices….I guess woman are seen as ignorant and venerable by so many Mechanic Shops. This is the way of business today in a world that is contrary to performing honest business practices in integrity, and most importantly, while respecting the customer….This is the Anti-Civilization. These dishonest business types create an Un-Civilized atmosphere in our society today. I felt so up-set with myself for being, “Once Again, angered and frustrated with today’s dishonest society, the Anti-Civilization.” I am always disappointed when someone takes advantage of me because it goes back to that time in my life when the world made me believe I was not good enough; and that I deserved what I got.”
There is a happy ending here though, after the work was performed by an honest Mechanic Shop, with an Honest Business Owner, we each saw the value of what we were bringing to the table. He gave me good work at a very good price; without trying to over charge, and cheat me, and; I also found out that he wanted his mechanics’ to wear shirts with his company logo on them. So guess what? We viewed my T-Shirt website, I showed him my art and designing abilities and he emailed me his logo asking me to insert a car on a road to it and turn it into company T-Shirts.
I love this….We, through our respect for each other, were able to offer additional value to each of our companies, and in that way continue to grow. This is what happens when honest people work together for the benefit of all. This is how the civilization of the civilized in the universe of honest service providers will prevail. I just hope that at some point, I can find a Mechanic within the Neothink® Society; or perhaps, I have already found my future Neothink® Mechanics Shop…. Thank you, Elaine Ray is The Undefeated Life (at least in this outcome)…
Organized,Patience, & trying 2 Connect
Help me to awaken my mind, re-enforce my intellect and save the true essence of who i’m supposed to be. Mr Hamilton i’m at the mercy of this anticivilization & my on pain. i’m dealing w/ so much and my family needs this honesty, mental wealth, wisdom, wholeness, peace, and financial wealth know. I deseparately NEED to succeed know for their future
Found my love and passion
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From reading the material presented by neo-think, I had found my love and my passsion. My love is woman by the name of Terri and we are a great couple. Neo-Think litature explained that this would take place and it had. My passion is creating all the varrious things for love to grow between her and I and developinga course of action for us to be free from the anti-civilization. Terri and I owe much due respect and honor to Neo-Think Society and all it’s members, and to Mark Hamilton for such a great work of litature. We look forward to meeting all of you somday.
Proof that TV Influences Our Subconscious!
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My wife is from the Philippines and she has a subscription to the Filipno channel online. Saturday night she was at our computer, which is right next to our TV, watching her soap operas. My son and I were channel surfacing and finally settled on a funny but scary show (I will explain later). So we all sat in the living room and I would glance at what my wife was watching (She uses headphones so I couldn’t hear it) and she would glance at what we were watching.
Sunday morning arrives as usual after Saturday night and while we were drinking coffee she started telling me about a dream she just had. It seems we were back to our old residents and our son was young again. We were in a bar and a couple of girls kept stareing at me and one finally came over and started playing with my hair (Obviously a while back since I have been bald for a while). Well she said she smacked the girls hand and the girl got up and left. My wife was now mad at me and so she got up and went out to the car.
Now it gets weird. Still mad about the incident inside, she decided to drive around. While she was driving she got lost. After finally stopping to ask for directions she was pointed in the right direction to get back to pick us up but that the road to get there was dangerous. So she started driving down the road and out of no where a dinosaur started to run at her car! She tried backing up but the dinosaur was very fast and started banging on her car. Then a truck behind her saw she was in trouble and started to honk. This got the dinosaurs attention and she sped away.
She made it back to the bar and my son and I were now mad but when we saw how frightened she was and the damage to the car we forgot all about the bar incident. End of dream
I told my wife that she couldn’t watch TV anymore. She looked at me funny and said why. Here is why. The girls on your shows are always fighting for some boy so that explains the bar seen. “What were we watching on TV last night?” I asked. “I am not sure” she replyed. “We were watching Americas Worst Driver on the Travel channel and guess where they were? Seattle. ” Our home where are son was born and the drivers are given all kinds of things to do and points are deducted every time they brake a law or get lost. So these people are driving around downtown lost and you were seeing sites that are familiar.
Finally I said do you know what they do to the loser of that show? She shook her head no. They demolition the losers car so they can’t drive. Did you notice how they did that last night? No again with the head shake. Robosaurous! a 40 ft robot dinosaur came over to the last two cars and grabbed the losers car and picked it up into the air. Breathed a little fire on it and then put it in it’s mouth and literally cut it in half with it’s huge metal jaws.
So lets recap.
Bar scene = Philippine Soap Opera
Driving lost in Seattle = Driving lost in Seattle
Dinosaur Chase = Robosaurus devouring loser
You can’t tell me that TV doesn’t influence our subconscious after that!
Planning for a Sunny Day!
Would you love to have more time to do what your heart desires? Do you know what your heart desires? Has it been decades since you focused on yourself? Does everyone else get more of your time and money than you do? If you honestly answered these questions you might have responded with at least one “No” and hopefully it wasn’t in response to the second question. If it was, hope is on the way. Every one of these questions is centered on you. What do you do to take care of yourself? Why should you feel guilty spending time alone? It is in your time alone, without stress, that you discover what you enjoy.
How you use your time matters more to your budget than you might imagine. If you aren’t happy at work: switch-it-up by using your time wisely to learn a new skill, or, start assuming responsibilities from a co-worker. You might think, “Why would I want to take on someone’s work load, especially from a lazy co-worker?” The answer is for self-gain. First, you gain personal knowledge about something new, second you can gain the respect of your boss, third you gain pride from a job well done, fourth you gain personal happiness, and fifth you gain self-love as you discover how capable you are.
Do you cringe at the word budget? Is it out-of-fear of seeing how little you might have in-the-way-of time or money, or, that you might see you are wasteful? Perhaps you will see how much you have, and, you will feel guilt and sorrow for the less fortunate. Do some have less because they use their time less wisely? The nitty-gritty details should be observed in all aspects of your life. Don’t count on someone else to plan nor provide for you. How you spend your time has more to do with your success, happiness, and love in life than you might imagine. Busy work keeps you from realizing how much you lose, and, it also can keep you from gaining more in life. Be mindful of your time.
I challenge you to first start budgeting your time to your physical tasks in your work routine, then, give it a whirl in your leisure time. Once you see how you can use extra time to learn something to help you prosper, I challenge you to understand your financial picture to get out of debt and plan for that sunny day!