Living in the Moment…

Posted by random olio

I am loving the Daily Om from yesterday. It was titled: “Enjoying Life.” Or what I like to call: “Living in the Moment.” How easy it is for us to go through each day getting caught up with everything that is on our To-Do list, the meetings, and our regularly scheduled routine. We often forget to live in the moment. Whether that means that we are not listening to those we are close to while they share a story of their day, or we forget to notice the new buds on our trees, or we miss seeing that we are growing and being challenged each day.

I love this line from this Daily Om:

“There is so much to be enjoyed and appreciated that we need to remember to pay attention to the present moment, because it is the only space in which we can experience being alive.”

Who does not want to feel ALIVE? If we can only remember to do that – to stay alive and in the moment. Why is that so hard to do? Why do we get so caught up in the future, in all we have to do? Why is it SO hard to stay in the moment, whether that moment is painful, unhappy, or exciting and exuberant? I think when life is exciting and going the way we want it to it is easier to stay in the moment, but when we are overwhelmed, stressed, or fearful about the future, it is hard to stay in the NOW. So any and every reminder helps to draw us back into what is happening, to what we are feeling, to reality.

That is my mantra this week. To stay in the now. To be present for the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. Are you with me? Can we be present 100% together?

I am charging ahead, please join me.

Customer Service – UGH!

Posted by random olio

I have a rant. So our contract is almost up with our Internet/TV/Phone provider. We called today to find out if our rates would increase. They are. By $50. Gulp. Seriously. It does not make sense. We have been a customer for over 3 years and they (ahem – Frontier FIOS) are doing nothing to keep us as a customer. It makes no sense to me. We are researching other companies, and we could move to Comcast, Century Link, or some sort of arrangement with satellite (Dish or Direct TV). So with so many competitors, why would Frontier do nothing to keep us as loyal customers? Their response was that their system no longer allows discounts and the only way to get a deal is to sign a new contract for new service. Again, this makes no sense to me. Why should I have to sign a new contract to continue paying what I am currently paying?

I have had an iPhone for years. My rates have never changed. I was grandfathered in with the unlimited data plan, and yes AT&T I will not leave you, because my unlimited data plan I believe is golden. I never think about how much I am on my phone, using my apps, the Internet, doing email. AT&T never changes my rates from year to year, and I appreciate it. Thank you, AT&T.

So, Frontier, we are looking to change companies. Wouldn’t you? Why should we stick with a company that has always given us bad customer service, messed up our billing for over 9 months, and has done nothing to keep us as a customer? Does anyone have any experience with Century Link or satellite? We have had Comcast before and might switch to them. We will most likely cancel our phone plan and just stick to Internet/TV. I would like to find a TV/Internet provider that actually cares about their customers. Is that even possible? (Frontier could really learn something from Zappos). To find a TV/Internet provider that cares about their customers? I would love to be happily surprised.

Perplexed in Portland.

Weekend Recap: Relaxed and grateful!

Posted by random olio

I had another good weekend. Chris is finally feeling better (he was out most of last week)! I love going to bed on Sunday night with the laundry done, fresh sheets on my bed, the house cleaned, and as much crossed off the list as possible. Yesterday we put a bunch of items on eBay to sell, and got through some things that have been on our list for weeks. It felt great to end the weekend with some relaxing time spent together. I got a couple of good runs in, and I feel ready to tackle the week ahead!

It made me think, how do others approach the end of their weekend and the changeover to a new week? How do you make sure you are relaxed and you get some rest before your week starts?

On Saturday, I was waiting for an elevator to go into a building for an appointment and I had this overwhelming sense of gratitude and appreciation for life. The thought that came to me was to not take any of this for granted. I then went over many large things in my life that I am grateful for – what a humbling experience.

Since it is Monday, and I had my humbling moment on Saturday, I wanted to share a bit of inspiration with you. I have included the quote from David’s blog here, but be sure to click to also see the great painting he included (Thank you, David Kanigan):

“You can be fully satisfied with where you are, understanding that you’re eternally evolving. When you get into that place of feeling appreciation of where you are and of who you are, and appreciation of what you are, and you accept that you are a never-ending, always unfolding Being, then you can stand in that delicate balance of being optimistic about what is to come, without being unhappy about where you stand. Find a way of eagerly anticipating future changes, while at the same time you are in love and satisfied with who, what, where and how you be.” —- Abraham

And a not so serious post from David. For those of you that do not click on the link it says:

“I do 5 sit-ups every morning. May not sound like much, but there’s only so many times you can hit the snooze button.”

Happy Monday!

PDX has my Heart!

Posted by random olio

I love Portland. Today I came across this amazing video from the Discovery Channel. Their website states that the video is:

“Comprised of 308,829 photographs taken from over 50 unique locations, it took an average of 3.8 hours to make each second of this film. The intent of the project was to place our cameras in unique locations across the city, achieve significant ranges of dynamic camera motion, and pursue cutting edge time-lapse techniques.”

I am in awe of the work that went into this short video. Ah, the bridges, Mount Hood, Portland at night, during the day, the waterfront, Powells, Voodoo doughnuts, food carts…

Now do you see why I love Portland? This is the perfect “Visit Portland” ad.

Enjoy and have an amazing, adventurous, relaxing, and playful weekend!

Warning: Mortgage Auditing Program

Posted by random olio

So this week we received a letter in the mail stating that we “may be owed a refund of several thousand dollars from your mortgage lender.” It then gives the date we signed our home loan and the amount of our original loan. The letter goes on to say:

“Government studies by the FDIC as well as financial audits of lenders have shown that thousands of mortgages contained mistakes or overcharges. Your monthly mortgage payment may have been miscalculated and you may be due a refund from either your current or previous mortgage lender. The average refund is $1,497.32 and one third of the refunds equal $3,000 to $7,500. You are eligible for a mortgage analysis and refund review.”

At first I thought wow, I would not mind a refund! Then I think…this is not from my mortgage company, and all it says for the return address is: Mortgage Auditing Program//Division of Consumer Services – of WHAT company? So I Google: “Mortgage Auditing Program” and all I find are tons of hits about how this is a scam. That you have to pay $249 to sign up, etc. Yuck, I hate stuff like this, because it always makes me think of my grandma and how if she had received something like this, she might have believed it. She was very trusting of companies she worked with, and this is just vague enough and enticing enough to mess with your mind. Who does not want to learn that they could receive a refund from their mortgage company?

If you stop to think about it, the only time you usually see any type of refund from a large company for a mistake is through a class action lawsuit. So if your mortgage was miscalculated, then most likely others were too, or it was part of a larger situation where large numbers were effected and charged a fee they were not truly required to pay. If that happened, you would hear about it in the news or directly from your mortgage company.

Further research shows that the Better Business Bureau gave this company an F rating and they had 41 complaints in the last 12 months. With the following comment: “For $249 the company performs a review of the payments you have made to your mortgage lender.”

I just wanted to share this in case anyone else receives a similar letter. It is frustrating because I do not want individuals to get duped and excited about the possibility for a refund from $3,000 to $7,500!