Putting the head down...

Last week wasn't a stellar week of training with the weekend being a total write-off. I *thought* I had the flu but it turned out to be super bad allergies. I've never allergy problems until about 4-5 years ago and each year they seem to get worse. I was out of commission Fri - Sun...missed the big BBQ in the park and all my workouts. Oh well, I can't change the past but can influence my future.

The pool re-opened on campus today which is great considering I haven't been in the water since Chinook! I have written in a few extra workouts this month to get back into the swimming groove.

Cycling is feeling relatively good as I have been doing it 6x week. I have gotten my commute to/from work down to 95 minutes round trip. This extra bit of cycling is definitely paying off. The first month of so of doing this was a struggle across the board. My legs felt tired for my other workouts...but things are slowly getting better.

Running is feeling good and will fine-tune that this month with some more key workouts.

This month is it...last bit of dedicated training for the Calgary 70.3. The next two weeks involve a little bit of "over-reaching" with the hope I come out a little stronger on the other side of recovery. The Canmore Triathlon is shortly after that which will be a great tune-up race for 70.3. After that, another half week of peak training followed by a taper into the Big Show.

I am super excited to be racing Calgary 70.3 as it appears everyone and their dog(s) are racing. It'll be great see some peeps I haven't seen in a while since the move back east and to meet some others for the first time.

I haven't made any plans for after the Calgary 70.3 other than the Corporate Challenge 10km in Sept. Been thinking about doing a Fall Half-Marathon but we'll see. Either way I am scaling back training for a bit to take a mental/physical break. But for now, it is head down and get the f@cking work done!

In other news, Mel and I are out $1000 on a down payment on a custom sectional couch we ordered back on May 2nd. We went with a "local" business, with several shops throughout southern AB, and were told expect it in 6-8 weeks. 8 weeks were up last week and when we called to inquire where our purchase was, the owner of the store said around July 15th. Mel being an auditor and me, a web programmer, we both pay attention to detail and are finicky about deadlines.

Mel told her it was unacceptable as we were *promised* a couch during the 6-8 weeks and was part of the reason we ordered through them, outside of trying to support local businesses. She said she would contact the manufacturer they order through and get back to us.

Four days later, and 3 voice-mails left by us we hear no word from them. We go down to the store front earlier this week only to see the store went into receivership!!! The next day I call all the locations throughout Alberta but are not able to reach anyone. I contact the manufacturer directly to see if they even got the order but I can't reach anyone there either! I left several voicemail with those guys and my next move is to show up on their doorsteps on Friday to see if the even exist. Meanwhile, I am also trying to reach the firm in charge of selling off the store's assets. Eventually I reach the gentleman and inquire what is going on. Basically he gave me one option:

1.) Wait around for the next three weeks and see if the owner calls you about your couch. They are *apparently* working hard to satisfy existing customer's orders. If they contact you, then you would obviously have to pay them the other half required for the sectional BUT would be responsible for figuring out your own way of delivering it home. Originally, the delivery was free!

Getting our money back will not be happening...for us or any other customer as the secured creditors come first and even they won't be paid off in full. But he did invite me down on July 15th (does that date look familiar?) to buy some of the stuff they are selling!

For the most part, I am pretty easy going and can let a lot of shit roll off my back. But at that moment, if were possible to reach through the phone receiver and grab someone by the throat I would have. After a brief pause, I replied "Yeah, but I am still out of pocket $1000 of MY money and I also don't have a couch".

After that phone call I was ripping mad...still am. As a consumer, what protection do we have? We just laid down a $1000 on a custom couch that probably wasn't even ordered...that is our money that we earned. I don't know what grates me more...losing $1000 or the fact the couch probably wasn't even ordered in the first place.

In my opinion that is fraudulent and I am not letting it go.

One option we may have is to call Visa and see if we are somehow protected. If we don't get our money back through them then I am going through legal channels.

Do you know how many Timmy Ho's coffee/tee you can buy with $1000?!?

On a relatively MUCH better note, Mel and I are going to Las Vegas during mid-august for her birthday. Tickets/Hotel are booked - we'll be staying at the Wynn for 4 nights and have secured tickets to see the Cirque Show KA! Both of us have never been to Vegas so it'll be great...I plan on eating & drinking lots...can't wait.

Anyways my friends...thanks for reading!