Nothing quite like the deep Summer in South Central Maine. Screen house and picnic table makes anything possible at all times of the day or night.
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Allagash single release sour tasting
Last night’s Allagash single-release sour tasting was a great time. Sometimes, the pieces just fall into place. The years of saving bottles are worth the effort.
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The humble sink
It was almost self-evident that moving to a house in the country would involve an ambitious home brewery build. In my mind, I could have oak barrels, stainless fermenters, 3/4BBL brew house (electric of course) and all the bells and whistles that go along with all that in a few short months. In reality, financial priorities lie in more practical things such as major appliances and heating oil. My dream home brewery will be an ongoing project for what will likely be a few years to come and that’s just fine with me.
I met New Mexico-based Pat Pruitt years ago when we had the same affinity for Nissan SR20-powered cars. I only got to see him once, maybe twice a year thanks to some national car events. Both he and his wife Marla are quite simply, exceptional people and talented artists. Pat does his thing with metal- stainless and titanium mostly, and Marla is accomplished in the medium of paint on canvas. I commissioned Pat for my wedding band in 2013 and just before Christmas last year he was able to make me a matching ring for my wife. She initially had something else but was so happy with mine that she wanted one of her own. Needless to say, she was thrilled with it. Here are the final matching rings together:
You can see more of Pat’s work on his website, patpruitt.com. Marla’s work can be found at marlaallison.com.
I have finally found my place in the world. Actually, we have found our place in the world. That place is in the tiny bedroom town of Durham, ME. A mile down a dirt road, surrounded by trees, rolling fields, wildlife, starry skies, overwhelming silence and peace and quiet. Living in Portland and city life ran its course. It was time for a change for the quieter, and we found it about 25 miles North and West of where we lived in the East End. On October 10th, we closed on this newer, custom home built by Maureen and Fred Bates who designed and built it in 2001. Fred sadly passed away in 2009 but we will be taking very, very good care of his home. This represents a big new chapter in our lives and will also mean big things to come for my homebrewing. I plan to have things up and running by the end of the year, we’ll see how that goes. I will be rebranding myself for the final time and I hope to expand and greatly improve all aspects of my brewing.
Stay tuned, if you’re reading this it means you’re interested in my online scribblings- interesting updates to come!
The following is a letter I sent to the president of Verizon Wireless in New England. It describes the train wreck of an experience I had in dealing with them.
On Sunday, September 28 I walked into a Verizon Wireless store at 3 Somerset St. in Portland, ME. Having just moved to the country where cell phone service was limited, Verizon was the best option. I had a straightforward transaction to start- I wanted 2 MotoX Gen 2 phones for my wife and I and we need to port our numbers over from T-Mobile. We were told they weren’t in stock but they would be in “Tuesday or Wednesday” that week. We could make due until then.
After not hearing anything on Tuesday, I called the store in the afternoon. I was told that I would receive an email when it was there. The original saleswoman on Sunday did say it might not be until Wednesday, so I waited.
On Wednesday afternoon, I called back to check the status. I was told it had not shipped yet and they weren’t sure when it would be in. I spoke to a manager who was able to find a pair of them at another store and said they would be there the next day. He also provided a tracking number which did not activate until Thursday.
On Thursday, knowing the package had not shipped, I called to inquire about the phones. I was told that the store in MA where they found them had packaged them up but had not shipped them. They would be shipped that day and be in-store on Friday.
I got a delivery confirmation on Friday from UPS and went to the store. I sat down to finish the transaction but was disappointed to see that they were handing me a pair of original (gen 1) MotoX phones. After some convincing, the salesman realized the error. He then did some research and informed me that he could get the phones I wanted, but it would be “a couple of weeks” and “we can’t be sure when exactly.”
At this point, we had gone nearly a week with no service at home with our only phones. They were unable to provide loaners nor find phones at another store. I chose different phones for twice the price (LG G3) in order to have service and get out of there after 2+ hours.
Over the weekend as I became more frustrated with a phone I didn’t want nor even like, I called Verizon in order to exchange the phones as promised by the “Worry Free Guarantee.” After some time, I was informed that because I had bought my phones at an affiliated store and not a corporate one, they couldn’t do anything for me. I called back and spoke to sales to see if there was a way to get the phones we wanted in advance of returning the old ones. No dice. I could, however, return the LG phones and then either order what we wanted from the website or from a different local store. I decided to do the latter, at a corporate Verizon Wireless store that had the new MotoX in stock.
On Wednesday, October 8th in the morning I returned the LG G3s to the first store. This process went fine. I was told the refund wouldn’t be reflected on my statement in 4-5 business days. I told them that I was buying phones from a different store, which they were apologetic about but otherwise had no other comment.
I went to the Verizon Wireless corporate store on Gorham Road in South Portland and after an hour and more time on the phone with Verizon customer service, I was informed that because of a “pending order” status in the system they could not sell me the new phones. I would have to wait “24 hours” for it to clear in order to buy what I wanted.
This morning, October 9th, I once again drove 45 minutes to the South Portland store. After nearly 2 hours, the same problem persisted with a pending order. Calls to the original store to clear the order and more calls to Verizon customer service were of no help. I offered to pay full price for the phones and deal with a refund later but was told that wouldn’t be possible. I also was willing to open a new account and transfer the numbers after the fact, but was told this would just be more of a headache for me. They did provide a single pre-paid phone for my wife, essentially a loaner, at my insistence, so we would have at least one functioning phone. At the same time, calls to either of our real phone numbers go unanswered, nor can we forward either of them while they remain in limbo with Verizon Wireless. The manager, despite being friendly enough, insisted that there was nothing he could do to override the order status and activate the phones on my account.
I was told they would actively check the status throughout the day and call me (at work) when it was possible to purchase the phones. I’m certainly not holding my breath. In the meantime, another call to customer service told me yet again that they should be able to sell me the phones and that they see no pending order status on my account. I can’t say I have any confidence that things will be different later today, or even tomorrow for that matter. Everyone is so apologetic but incapable of doing anything.
I’m completely astounded at the lack of communication throughout this debacle but what makes it especially frustrating is the lack of accountability. Yesterday, when an employee of Verizon Wireless called to resolve this with a fellow employee, she was transferred no less than 5 times and had to repeat the story as many times, to boot. I’ve lost count how many times I was told someone would call me back, only to find myself hitting redial over and over.
I contacted customer support again a little while ago, and finally, we’re having phones overnighted. To add insult to injury they have tacked on upgrade and overnight shipping fees but I didn’t have the energy to make this a show-stopping issue. I just need working service, and hopefully that happens tomorrow.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope that others don’t encounter the same kinds of problems we have in the future.
So this was the letter that got shit done. I received a phone call from Verizon Corporate Relations and a very friendly woman finally did I what I needed. She canceled the online order and told me that I could now go into the store and everything would work. So I did, and it did, and that is my Verizon Wireless story.
January 2015 update: In an ironic twist, we ended up hating the new Moto X phones and ultimately sold them and went back to the LG G3.