The bridge across the river in downtown Lowell is being repaired. Because of this, there is only one lane of traffic in one direction on the bridge. Those traveling in the opposite direction, need to follow the detour. And, in an effort to accommodate traffic following the detour, a new traffic light has been installed.

Now, at first, this new light seemed like a good idea. But as time goes on, this new light creates problems.

The light is placed at the bottom of a hill and stops traffic that normally had the right of way. And, while this is not a problem for most drivers, it does reek havoc with the truck traffic.

For trucks that normally start their assent at 35MPH, sometimes the light makes them start their climb from a dead stop. So, for some trucks, it might take them 5 minutes to make the 1/4 mile stretch up the hill.

This, of course, plugs up traffic! So, the light that was supposed to improve traffic flow, actually inhibits it.

I wonder if the light will remain after the bridge work is completed?

After I graduated from college for the first time, I had this overwhelming desire to own a small convertible sports car. After looking at MG’s, Triumph’s and Porsche’s (the cheap ones), I settled on a Fiat 124 Spyder.

While the Fiat dealers in Grand Rapids and Lansing both had cars on the lot, the Lansing dealer had a bright orange car with a black interior and a black top. And, while I loved the orange car, the dealership was asking list price for it and would not deal. Finally, the dealership decided to knock a few hundred off the price and I jumped on it.

Now, the Fiat came with a 20,000 warranty. But, in order to maintain that warranty, the car needed to be serviced every 5,000 mile at the dealership. And, since this servicing came with an adjustment of the solid valve lifters, the servicing cost about $100. Ouch!!

I can honesty say that I didn’t like the Lansing dealership in the first place because I felt that they were a bunch of crooks. So, the 5,000 mile servicing didn’t improve that image, particularly since they had a big smile on their face every time that I brought the car in for service.

Well, when I was getting ready to get married, our honeymoon plans called for a trip to Canada, And, since we were going to be putting a few miles on the car, I decided to take it in for servicing. And, even though the car only had 19,000 miles on it, I decided to have the 20,000 mile service performed anyway.

Now, technically, the 20,000 mile service was the end of the warranty, so anything that needed repair would be at my cost. But, since the car only had 19,000 miles on it, I was surprised to learn that there was almost $1,000 worth of parts that needed to be replaced.

Naturally, the service manager had a big smile on his face when I arrived at the service counter. He went over all of the items that needed replacing and explained it all to me. I thanked him for his diligence and asked him why I was being charged?

He explained to me that when I agreed to the 20,000 mile service, I agreed to have these items checked and replaced if needed. And, since the 20,000 mile service was not covered by the warranty, I would have to pay for the parts myself.

It was at this point in time that I explained to him that the car only had 19,000 miles on it and was still under the warranty. And that any thing that they replaced was at their expense and not mine.

The “man, I just screwed you for $1,000” look on his face turned into the “I just screwed myself for $1,000.”

YES!! The look on his face was priceless!! He knew that he had no choice but to honor the warranty. After all, they had declared that the parts were bad even though the car was sill under warranty.

He wrote out a new bill of services and only charged me for the standard $100 service fee. I thought he was going to cry. And, while I never knew if I really needed the replacement parts, I felt that I got my money’s worth out of the warranty. I suspect that the parts that they removed went back into stock as they were not really defective.

I never went back to the dealership in Lansing. Instead, I had the car serviced by the dealership in Grand Rapids. And, while all of the time I felt that I was getting screwed in Lansing, the last time I went to them made everything right.

Once the drums were successfully relocated to the basement, I began the assembly process. When I opened the large box, I found a multitude of smaller boxes. But, this is what I expected.

I searched through the contents expecting to find a detailed installation instruction manual. But, alas, I did not find any detailed instruction manual. Instead, I found a glossy, two sided installation diagram with very small pictures and almost illegible print. But, between the pictures and the print, I managed to assemble the unit.

YES!!

Once my order was officially in the system, I checked my email for delivery information. The next day after the product substitution, I received a shipment notification. It would arrive on Monday, the 23rd.

Now, since this product weighed more than 70 pounds and cost more that $10, I figured that someone would need to sign for it. After all, when I ordered my $100 flat screen monitor, the UPS man left a note on the door to be signed and posted on the door for the next day delivery. So, the best I could hope for was a similar tag. And the worst was a live “me”.

So, imagine my surprise when I arrived at home on Monday, the 23rd to find the drum set sitting on my porch. Was my signature not required or was the UPS driver too tired to deal with such a large and heavy package? I don’t know and I don’t care. At least I didn’t have to take a day off from work.

Kathy and I quickly maneuvered the drums into the house and down into the basement. YES!!

Having determined that electronic drums were a viable option, I decided that it was time to do some product research. Since the electronic drum business had boomed from what it was many years ago, there were many companies with many products and many new designs.

Roland, of course, is the market front runner. And, while they have a very nice product, they also are a bit pricey. Convinced that there were other products with similar features at lower prices, I began looking and comparing.

I finally settled on a set of Alesis DM5s. They had all of the features that I was looking for at a price that I could afford. So, I began looking around for the best price on line.

The first place that I checked had a great price on the drums. But, when I went to order them, they were “MD”, manufacturer discontinued. Bah! If I couldn’t get this set, I would have to move up to the next set, a DM10 at twice the cost.

I started scanning websites looking for the drums. I figured that my best chance was to find a site that had a set in stock. But site after site was the same. MD!

Finally, I found a site that would accept my order. Nervously, I put in my credit card information. Moments later, I received an order confirmation from Guitar Center. Great! I found a set and they would ship them the next week.

But, after a few days, I received an email saying that my purchase was on back order from the manufacturer. Rats! This meant that they didn’t have the product in stock and that my order may be subject to MD!

For the next 2 weeks, I received emails saying that my shipment was still on back order. I braced my self for the inevitable notice that my order could not be fulfilled and that I would need to purchase the DM10 set at twice the cost.

Finally, I received a phone call saying that the drum set was no longer available. I braced my self for the next line of questions; would I like to cancel my order or purchase the more expensive DM10 set?

The DM10 set was twice the money. But, if I said “no”, I would have to start all over on acquiring a set of drums. But then, the caller said that they would substitute the DM10s set for the same price as the DM5s.

WOW!!! I could get the more expensive set of drums for the same price as the set that I had ordered. This meant that I was getting the more expensive set of drums for half the price. YES!!!

I told the caller that I would agree to the substitute and asked when they would be shipped. He assured me that the drums were in stock and that they would be shipped the next day. YES, YES, YES!!!