Nothing in Excess…

The Chase saga continues

To continue on from the first post regarding Chase Bank I sent a response back to their original message noting that my account had been closed and wondered if it is was standard business practice to raise the APR on closed account especially when I closed the account to opt out of a change in terms of service.  Here is the new response from Chase: I should note that I was able to pinpoint the close date (2005) and the original opt out. Read more of this post

Chase Bank and their changing credit card policy.

I am fuming today at Chase Bank.  Chase services a credit card that I have for over 10 years.  In 2005 I received notice that Chase was changing their APR and was offered a chance to opt out of the terms which would close my account but allow me to pay the balance back under the original terms of the agreement.  This is what I did.  I was at 5.99% interest so I figured why let it get higher.

So today I am paying my bill as I have all along and notice that the APR is now 13.74%.  I inquire with Chase and they tell me that they sent me a change of terms in January of 2009 (mind you at this point the account has already been closed) notifying me of the change.  Hmmm.  Is it standard practice to change the terms of service on an account that is closed?  When you opt of a TOS agreement and close your account which was acknowledged by them,  should you have to worry about a new TOS agreement and a rate increase?  Apparently so, at least according to Chase Bank you should.  The email exchange follows.  Perhaps it is time that consumers fight back against these bullshit practices and stick it to the credit card companies.  These types of predatory practices have to stop.  I am sick an tired of being screwed by the credit card companies!  Has this happened to you?  IF so leave a message.  I can smell a class action suit! Read more of this post

WordPress on the Blackberry

So finally, this is the maiden post from the blackberry. This will come in handy in my pursuit to be the mobile geek who posts too much crap.

Kudos to you WP…

I got to be me….

So, if you read through my last few posts, I think you will find that I have been contemplating life and trying to make heads or tails out of daily tasks etc.  Now I don’t know if this has anything to do with turning 40 or if it is just human nature… maybe that philosophy degree is finally getting used.

A lot has happened in the past few days in the world.  We have seen the loss of David Carradine, Farah, MJ, the Sham Wow guy and two major plane crashes over over oceans.  What does this have to do with the price of eggs in China?  Nothing.  Just an observation, although it does play nicely into my last post.

So,  I digress and ramble which is nothing new… in fact, I just read an article in Rolling Stone about Gregg Allman and how conversation with him is like dancing the tango… that is to say it is all over the place in fluid motion! Again, not that it has anything to do with the price of eggs.

My newest life direction is just doing.  With 3 kids under the belt and a stable career that allows for a great work/life balance I am finally able to get back to doing things that I enjoy doing.  That is the really funny thing about parenthood, you realize after a while that you do everything for the kids and take little time (or have little time) to feed your own soul.  Getting back to some things that make you who you are is healthy and needed!  So with that, I have opted to just keep moving forward.  I have dusted off the strings on the guitars, have jumped at every chance to hang out with friends (kids included) and have been to a couple parades/picnics etc.  I even bought tickets to a couple upcoming concerts… summer is great, life is good!

I look forward to reconnecting with old friends, catching up with new friends and enjoying everything in between!  Summer, the Rays are coming full force so!

Complacency – where is the passion?

I am 2 days in to my ‘just do it’  campaign for better or worse.  The thought is that I will act on my thoughts to create the opportunities I typically just over analyze but never get around to finishing.  So how is it going?  Well, that is a loaded question.

Thus far, I have started to develop two projects however, I once again find myself searching for the easy way out.  This is when it dawned on me that perhaps I typically take the easy way out instead of fighting through the pain to get to the end result.  This is an interesting thought.   Is it a lack of necessity that keeps me from completing things I start or is it a lack of desire?

It was at this point that I thought hmm, maybe it is not so much a lack of desire but rather a lack of passion.  When one is passionate about what he/she the shear enjoyment of performing the task or working on the project is enough to keep you engaged.   When one is passionate about what they are doing they block out the critics and focus only on the task at hand, not the roadblocks they encounter.

I leave you with this thought:  There are two things that we are all capable of which differentiates us as individuals.  Those two things are confidence and authenticity.   You do not have to be the best to be successful you do however have to be confident.  (Don’t go over board, arrogance is never good!).  Secondly, if you are true to your core beliefs and true to yourself about who you are it will set you apart from others.   Confidence helps breed success, as success grows remember to be authentic.

30 Days to ‘Just Do It’

Last night I got to thinking,  what if instead of just thinking about doing this or that or imagining what shape my life will take I actually started to put those things into action.  At first I thought,  there is no way that I could do that given the constraints of time, kids and work but then I go thinking why?

What could possibly hold you back from taking a step forward?  I thought long and hard and believe I me,  I tried to find excuses but none of them were good enough to stick.  That is when I decided starting Monday after Easter (I need time to prepare mentally after all) I am going to put thoughts into action for 30 days and see what happens.

Will I achieve anything or will I be burned out?  Who knows but I can say that nothing will ever get accomplished if I am just ‘thinking’ about it.  After all, the fun is in the journey, not the destination!

Carpe Diem , God speed and all that crap – I will keep you posted on the journey as it unfolds.

Qik Video

I have been playing with Qik streaming video from my Blackberry for a few days and having a really god time with it.  I have taken some videos with of the kids, really comes in handy.  I especially like that they stream right to the site I can then remove them from my phone.  Only down side is the quality.  Here is the lates sample.

Back to basics

There comes a time when you realize it is time to get back to basics.  I was thinking recently that I have been on the sidelines long enough and that it was time to get back in the game.  

So, to that end, I am hiting basics and getting back to being somewhat productive.  To help myself along, I have decide to start on a couple new projects that will hopefully result in a couple of good applications.  

I will be spilling more details as I work on the applications and have made a commitment to myself to post more often and to tap into the collaborative community and hopefully bring my vision to reality.  

The two arena’s I will be playing in are Higher Education and social networking.  Wish me luck and stop by to read what’s been going on.