Twittering away my Marathon

I just finished my first Marathon on the 19th of October. It was great fun and I think I might be the first (or one of the first) marathoners to Twitter my way through the event!

Part of the fun of the day was to take pictures of milemarkers and my running partner & me at various points in the day. My family sent me encouragement notes as did a number of people who I don't even know, but saw my posts!

Here's how the Twittering went...

• Lights all ready for tomorrows very early (and dark) start. http://snipurl.com/4hbwh 11:46 AM Oct 18th from Twinkle 
  
• ...and we're off http://snipurl.com/4hxsy 5:36 AM Oct 19th from Twinkle 
  
• Mile 5 6:52 AM Oct 19th from Twinkle 
  
• Bridge http://snipurl.com/4hzqi 7:05 AM Oct 19th from Twinkle 
  
• 9 http://snipurl.com/4i0r4 7:58 AM Oct 19th from Twinkle 
  
• 14... http://snipurl.com/4i2of 9:15 AM Oct 19th from Twinkle 
  
• 15 and going strong! http://snipurl.com/4i37o 9:33 AM Oct 19th from Twinkle 
  
• Quick jog around the lake and then the home stretch http://snipurl.com/4i50o 10:39 AM Oct 19th from Twinkle 
  
• The smell of eucalyptus trees takes me back to my childhood and gives me energy 10:45 AM Oct 19th from Twinkle 
  
• 6.2 to go http://snipurl.com/4i5gi 10:56 AM Oct 19th from Twinkle 
  
• 23. And still moving 11:51 AM Oct 19th from Twinkle 
  
• 2.2 http://snipurl.com/4i7j2 12:08 PM Oct 19th from Twinkle 
  
• Just past 25 12:27 PM Oct 19th from Twinkle 
  
• 26.2!!! Thanks to all who followed me! 1:08 PM Oct 19th from Twinkle 
  

As you can see, the posts were not terribly exciting, but they entertained me and let my family follow along my run virtually (as opposed to Ron & the girls who followed me physically!)

A great experience. I'm quite sure that if I ran the marathon without the posts or the bathroom breaks, I would have finished a good hour and a half faster, but this one was about the experience...perhaps the next one will be for speed!

What's up Microsoft?

So we just watched the new Microsoft commercial (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/?CMXID=9790D267-4CCF-410B-A590-B9CB66996729&WT.srch=1#)

I have to say that I don't get it, but I'm giving our friend Brad the benefit of the doubt...

However, until we see more and realize that this is really a beautifully crafted, hysterically funny series of ads (did I mention I am an eternal optimist?), I have to ask myself, what is Microsoft selling here?

Let's examine our clues: Shoes (Conquistadors), Churros, and moist, chewey laptops...

Clearly something new and exciting is afoot and Microsoft is leading up to a huge launch of a new top secret project...


Caramel laptops! mmmmm chewey!

And one more...

My new picture from TizMe

Response from Amazon Fresh

OK - now we're talking...a quick response from the divisional merchandise manager...


Jennifer,
Thanks for all the great feedback you recently gave us. We got it! Don’t be surprised if you are surprised by a little something on your next order. J

Sincerely,

Phillip Oaks
Divisional Merchandise Manager
AmazonFresh
206-276-6884
poaks@amazon.com


I love a company that recognizes that they need to foster relationships when they start new divisions! Can't wait to see what happens on my next order...and if it's just me, or if it's everyone - anyone out there use Amazon Fresh? Let me know if you get something special in your next order!!

I tend to ramble a bit...

Thank you for your quick feedback and response to my concern about my first order.
I would like to give you some feedback as this was my first experience ordering through Amazon Fresh.

Generally I would say the experience was very good - a solid B or B+. The produces (other than the strawberries) looks very good - the avacados are PERFECT (not an easy task I know). Ordering was simple and straight-forward. Your search needs some more work (had to search 3 different ways for Canada Dry Lemon Lime soda water). The number of items is limited a bit, but I assume that you are working hard to increase this and will do so as you continue to get customer requests.

Your delivery person's response to my concern about the strawberries was excellent - without question or hesitation she took them back and arranged for deliver tomorrow AM.
There are two areas where I see that you can improve. They are quite small items, but make a big difference in the "it's the little things" category. (At this point I should tell you that I was a loyal customer of Home Grocer and hold that experience as the highest example of what every successful service company should follow...)

1) When deliveries are made with the home-owner present - please bring groceries into the kitchen and place on the counter. One of the reasons I want home delivery is because it comes to my kitchen and I don't have to haul groceries from my car (or portch) to my kitchen.
2) Surprise me. I know - this one gets expensive, but it used to make a huge impact on increasing my order history with HG. Every time we ordered, Home Grocer would bring a surprise. It might be a bouquet of flowers, a loaf of french bread, or a sample of a new product to try. It didn't matter so much what they brought, but was exciting to see what "bonus item" would arrive with my order. This is similar to Amazon's early days when you would send a mousepad or a t-shirt to thank us early customers for loyal support. Make me feel special and I'll not only be a loyal customer - but I'll send all my friends as well!

Great start - keep up the good work and surprise me sometime!

Amazon Fresh....it's no Home Grocer, but it's on it's way

So Amazon Fresh finally delivers to our house. I have to say, I've been in mourning ever since Home Grocer sold to WebVan who drove the company into the ground. So the minute I heard about Amazon Fresh, I started checking the site regularly to see if they would deliver to my house. After a year of "I'm sorry, we don't deliver to this location yet", I finally received "what time would you like us to deliver your groceries?"

OK - so you have to realize that I compare every bit of this experience to Home Grocer, because they truly set the standard for excellent customer service, and easy site to maneuver and a fun shopping experience. I'd say that I'd give Amazon a good solid B. They did the job, but I wasn't pleasantly surprised by anything.

Website:

• Fairly clean. They are still somewhat limited by their product list, but I assume that this will grow as customers make requests.
• The search isn't great. I had to search 3 different ways to find the soda water I wanted. I knew I'd seen it, but my search for soda water gave me tonic, club soda gave me plain only. Finally I had to search under Canada Dry and found what I was looking for.
• They seem to do a nice job of allowing you to set up a standard shopping list and also make available your previous purchases for easy access. This will come in handy.
• Time selection was a breeze and I liked how they gave me all my options and allowed me to pick hour windows.

Delivery:

• It has to be said....Home Grocer brought my groceries in to my kitchen and put them on the counter...this was one of my favorite things. I didn't have to carry groceries into my kitchen, I just put them away. Now I know it's all of 10 steps from my doorstep to my kitchen...but still - it's the little things.
• Home Grocer used to always bring little treats. Sometimes it was a bouquet of flowers, sometimes a loaf of fresh french bread. Often they would bring new products to try. The first time they came they brought me a mousepad....that little peach mousepad got used a lot! Amazon used to do this in their early days. I have an old Amazon t-shirt they sent after their 1st year to thank me for being one of their first customers. Also had an Amazon mousepad now that I think of it. The little surprises made me a happy customer definitely, but more important - they kept me coming back to the site. I'd be excited to order again wondering what surprise might be in store for the next delivery.
• The delievery men themselves were a joy. And yes, WAY back in the late 90's they were mostly men. But they were happy to be part of Home Grocer and happy to bring me my groceries. It was all about service and they were extremely good about making sure the customer had a wonderful experience. They would chat, get to know you a bit, without ever overstaying their welcome. This changed almost immediately after WebVan bought the company (part of my theory about why the company went under!)
• The Amazon Fresh delivery woman was very nice. She gave me my receipt, brought me my groceries (to my doorstep) in many trips and was happy to immediately take back the strawberries I refused (who wraps fresh Washington strawberries in plastic and then puts them on their side in a flat???) She even arranged for a replacement with a pre-dawn delivery. So the customer service was certainly very good. I guess I just missed the whole excitement of Home Grocer, when everyone knew that the start of something amazing was happening right then, with us.

Product:

• The produce looks good. Personally, I like my limes a little darker green, but I'm sure they will be wonderful in the Sangria.
• I have to say that the avacados are PERFECT! They arrived a nice large size and are the perfect ripeness to make my quacamole tonight, but can last until Friday as well.
• Other than the strawberries mentioned above, the produce looked good. Haven't eaten it yet, so I'll have to update this if for any reason I don't get the results I expect, but I think that so far they seem to understand that a home delivery means you have to bring the very best produce around.
• If anything they under packed the bags - but they are all recycleable, so I'll let that pass and it certainly meant that my groceries weren't all bent out of shape.

All in all, it was a very pleasant experience. I was really hoping to be surprised, or blown away, but in all honestly it's a bit like going to see a sequel. When the first experience is wonderful, it's almost impossible to delight and surprise the second time around. However, being the eternal optimist that I am, I continue to hope! Oh, and in the meantime - I'll send a little note to Amazon Fresh customer service as well! (who knows, if they're smart, maybe they are trolling the blogs to see how they are doing!)

Checking in...

OK so it's been a long while since my last post, guess I'm not yet a quality blogger...always time to work on it!

Tonight we are up in Bellingham. Ron is settting up a new computer for mom since hers went belly up this weekend and she lost everything. I'm here providing moral support. She's handling it amazingly well - much better than I would I think. She took us out to dinner to thank us. Actually, she took me out to dinner while Ron stayed at her house and worked on the machine, so I did nothing and got a lovely soup, salad & glass of wine while Ron slaved away for a long time at the computer only to find he had installed the wrong version of XP (ie: no license key). Of course we did bring him home a lovely dinner while he started ALL OVER AGAIN on Mom's machine.

This wouldn't seem like such a big deal - happens to most of us at least once, but she is also in the middle of a huge remodel so she has no kitchen, has to go upstairs for a bathroom and everything she owns is in boxes in various rooms in her house! It's chaos in the best sense of the word. Admittedly all of her own making, but chaos none-the-less. And to add to this, our dear friend Tom Hunter is dying of an extremely rare neurodegenerative disease which is agressive and devestating not only to Tom, but to all of his family and friends. All in all, a tough couple of weeks!

Mom amazes me, she hasn't been feeling great, but when we arrived she was quite cheery, said she was feeling better and seems to take the loss of data in stride with a "oh well, I did want to clean out my computer, so I guess it's now been done for me!"

I on the other hand am 5 weeks into my new job and still reeling from the whole 8-5 thing! I come home exhausted with no energy and ready to drop into bed. My house is a mess and I'm delinquent on everything from paying bills to scheduling dentist appointments for the girls. I did however sign up to run in the San Francisco Marathon (YOU WHAT???) Not that I have any extra time, but I decided that I needed to commit to something so that I would finally get my butt back into a work-out schedule (and yes, I do mean that literally!)

So, you will likely hear me rant and rave about how much I love running (NOT) over the next few postings (If I'm not so exhausted that I can't lift my fingers to my laptop!)

I started late in the process so I'm about to start week 5 of the training (Missed the first 3.5 weeks....oh well!) So far, my knees are a bit leery of this whole idea, my legs are sore anytime I sit for more than a couple of minutes at a time and my quads don't like the idea of going down stairs....however, there is a certain exhileration in remembering that I can run for more than 2 minutes and my body does have a glimmer of recognition of days gone by that it enjoyed the feeling of working out and being in shape. I even dare to hope that it will give me more energy at work and home and help me think more clearly, sleep more deeply and generally be a happier person! (Did I mention getting back into my favorite old clothes as well?!)

Ok - enough rambling for the evening. Off to take a nap so I can drive Ron home when he finishes working on Mom's machine!