It doesn’t cost anything, but it means everything

I could write about the ridiculous request of the county to get a geotechnical study, or how nervous I am to get a septic in the ground when it won’t stop raining. But I think this post permeates all of my struggles with this project. And I believe is necessary in everyone’s life. Feel free to skip this if you only want the details of how to build a home on 5 acres in Contra Costa County…

Last week I was attempting to attend my Grandmother’s funeral

Grandma Marion and Grandpa Walt Swarthout

I paid for a 6am flight to get me to LA in time for a service at 11am. I woke up at 3am to make it. When I arrived at the airport, boarding pass in hand, printed from my printer at home. I saw there was a line to get on the plane, and knowing I had an assigned seat, went leisurely to use the bathroom. After all the Marquee said that it was the flight to LAX at 6am. When I came back and attempted to board my flight. It scanned as “wrong airline”. And I was asked to step to the counter. Apparently, the flight I tried to board was for Seattle, and they left the Marquee saying LAX so that all those passengers would come there to get redirected. My Flight was Cancelled due to “bad weather” (SFO – LAX cancelled on bad weather hah yea right).

Not a cloud in the sky

What made this a terrible experience wasn’t missing my flight and my Grandmother’s service. That stunk. But the lack of care that Alaska Airlines had for me as a customer was awful. If they had told me the flight was cancelled at 3am I could have driven down. If they had called/texted me on my drive in, I could have found another flight. If they had changed the Marquee, I could have driven to Oakland and flown from there. But they did worse than that. They put me on standby for the next flight and wouldn’t tell me what number in standby I was until the agent for that flight was at his service desk (30 mins). I was 40th in line

This many people would board before me

I will not fly with Alaska again.

Next up, Comcast. I just switched to AT&T, by way of Sonic, for my internet service provider (ISP). I have roughly the same speeds.

Comcast vs AT&T

But Comcast is always changing their rates to charge consumers more for the connections they have. Their connections could be sometimes 100x faster without any more load on the lines. If you use their modem you are giving out free wifi to all comcast customers within range. None of this are you told. Comcast keeps its customers in the dark. A very un-kind thing to do. I’ll make my voice heard with my wallet. My $60/mo is not even a drop in the bucket for them, but it makes me feel better.

Photo Credit to Brainy Quote

Now to speak of kindness. My Grandmother who passed recently at 97 was always kind. She was strict at times and always spoke her mind, but she did it in a kind way. A way that I knew she cared. Of course she had her moments of waking me up to drink Robetussin… Although, she forgot to wake me first 😊 But she loved her family and I think everyone she met. She was always giving of her time and money. Goats or pigs to other countries in our names. Remembering 100 birthdays to make sure to send money with a card to them. Going out to lunch/dinner if you came to town. I hope to emulate her, and spend time with anyone who wants my company.

Thank you for showing me how to be kind.

I plan to seek out more friends who are kind! Those that can influence me to be a better version of myself. When I find them, I hope to grab on to them (not literally) and learn from them and emulate them. Luckily, my wife is a kind person, and she tends to find kind friends wherever she goes.