Having traveled a lot I have gotten to experience drivers in various other states. I have simply come to the conclusion that people are stupid and cannot drive. Having been in Central AR most of my life, the people there are the worst. Running up on people and then rear ending them and then complaining about it. No reason traffic should flow the way it does, its only because people are stopping and going and not keeping constant speeds. Moving to Northwest Arkansas, its much better, there are are a few bad ones but overall the driving experience has been better, but it is very congested even back roads are backed up sometimes. This past weekend I drove in 3 large cities; Miami, Nashville, and Atlanta, I was quite impressed with the later two and had no issues driving around and everyone seemed to flow and use blinkers and everything. Miami you will get run over, I am in my dads Sierra Denali, which is a large truck and I had little cars that would try and push me out of the way and just rant and rage over things that were their fault, honking for no reason, etc. The worse was the congestion though, I mean its really not their fault, but getting from Miami to Miami beach took 40 min then another 30 min to park. Dallas is the same, people just all go 90 and if you are in the way you get run over. Kansas City was great though, no problems, everyone seems to keep moving even in rush hour traffic. I now state my single biggest pet peeve, USE YOUR BLINKER!!!! I hate getting behind some idiot that abruptly slams on their brakes and turns with no indication, causing me to have to slam on my brakes. Also do not get behind me and flash your lights to move when I have someone in front of me and cannot get over, I will go slower and make you more angry. I will never understand the level of common sense lacked by a lot of people when driving.
Moving time again this weekend. This will mark the 6th time including the original move from my parents. First when I was 20 I left my parents shortly after getting a job with HP in Conway. The apartment was ok and plenty but my friend and roommate at the time had to move and I needed to go somewhere else. I decided on one of the “nicest” aka overpriced places in Conway with a new roommate and a bad waste of time, meaning crazy ex who I am glad is gone now. After all that was over I decided to move with my current love to Beebe, AR so that we could be of equal distance to our jobs in Searcy and Conway respectively. Beebe was truly an awful place to live, way too small and just beyond hick town. After 6 months of that we moved back to Conway and with me now being a Supervisor at HP, I thought about looking at a house, but decided to go with a 2 bedroom apartment first and then upgrade. 6 months into this HP decided to lay everyone off and close the call center down, leaving me stuck in a lease with Lindsey Management, but then again at least it wasn’t a house. Now the people in the office were wonderful and told me I could have someone take it over, buy it out, or transfer. I opted to do the takeover but I was apparently lied to by Lindsey Management, imagine that!!! And they acted all stupid and said that was against the lease and promptly I told the Director of Resident Relations and Lindy Lindsey where to shove it and have deterred as many as I can from dealing with them. That said, I lacked the funds or time to fight them so I just transferred to a place they had in Springdale for 3 months and here we are. This weekend marks the day I am free of Lindsey and with a much better management company in Fayetteville, where I wanted to live to begin with, that really seems to treat people right. Thankfully I didn’t get a house yet and plan to live at this next one until I do. Then again, I have moved 5 times already in the course of 5 years so who knows where I will be next year.
I decided on this because of my history with my last job. I started in Corporate Escalations for Hewlett-Packard and eventually worked up to Lead and then Supervisor, before our jobs were sent overseas, I mean workforce reduction, oh wait not supposed to say that. Anyway each customer is subjective and must be handled differently. To start, lets pick someone that is new to technology and just needs help, it might be frustrating but make sure to explain everything very slowly and in simple terms, make yourself have patience with theses people, as they are really calling to get help, not everyone is a technology genius and gotta remember the first time you picked up a computer. Next lets tackle the extremely angry person that THINKS they have been wronged by the company and just wants something for free. They send their computer in and it takes 7-10 days to fix, that is VERY reasonable, so don’t yell and cuss at me when I won’t give you a $500 tablet for free when your computer didn’t even cost that much. I as a case manager was the last step and if I said no, it was no unless you sued us, so calling and being nice might get you something, sure not a $500 tablet, but maybe a coupon. But no, you decided to yell and call me names and while I COMPLETELY do not care or get offended in any way, I hang up and you get nothing but your computer back in 7-10 days. These people should always be handled calmly and nicely, no matter how rude they are, this just ticks them off more and saves you from having to disconnect them. In rare instances they will see reason and work with you, but more often they are not able to be helped. Finally, the crying lady who is mad because we caused her hundreds of dollars in lost time and work, because her data is gone forever. Sorry, I understand that not everyone is saavy, but when you get the computer it tells you to back up your data, when we set up a repair order you are told that three times, so no sympathy when you didn’t back it up. Of course you cannot be rude to this person, simply explain in a nice manner that you will send a message to the service center and see if they can get anything off, of course knowing they can’t, but gives the customer some level of hope and puts them at ease at least until they get the system back, by this point they realize its their fault and ask for recommendations on backing up next time. Cest la vie, you can’t please everyone!
I lay here basking in my misery as countless love crazed men and women rush by. They don’t even stop to pick me up and look at me, I stare them in the eyes trying to do something to get their attention, but alas I am inanimate. I know your boyfriend or girl friend that happens to be rushing around at the last minute going crazy to find something will pick me, I just know it. If nothing just out of being in that crazed rush to please the one they love. But yet at the end of the day, I am shipped away in the cold, dark place your kind calls a box, I call it hell, and boy is it cramped here. Then as I realize how bad things are, it all comes together, at least I am no longer alone on the shelf, no one is truly alone once they learn to love themselves. I will always be the super ugly stuffed bear that no one wants but I wont always be sad because I love myself and all my new friends in this box thing, maybe when I get to my new home some little boy or girl will fall in love with me too.
I have traveled to many points in the Ozark mountains and found beautiful scenery all around me the vast majority of the time. The preferred time for me to travel through is fall when the leaves are beginning to change color and the air outside is not too cold, nor too hot. I drive through with windows down and sunroof open and a trip that would normally take just two and a half hours or so turns into a 6 hour journey. I can’t help but to stop and make an attempt to capture the beauty with a camera, its really something that has to be seen to get the full experience though. I especially make a point to take the pig trail on my trips between Northwest Arkansas and Central Arkansas and it would have to be my second favorite drive in the state, only surpassed by Highway 7 which travels the entire vertical length of the state. Highway 16 is another way to take, it basically travels through the Ozarks horizontally and there are just so many hiking trails and overlooks along the way. Its been hard to just picture but one from the pig trail during the previous snow storm stood out, different color trees are beautiful but white snow and bare trees can be just as stunning. I have put a total of twenty thousand miles on a car in 8 months mostly because I always take the long way around instead of following the main highways. Passing through the surrounding states is just not the same, no one thinks of Arkansas much but its truly a place to fall in love with.
Its funny as I post this I am riding in the back seat of a car with two of my best friend, on my way to go hiking at a new spot near the Buffalo River, I am excited to expand my portfolio of places I have been and more pictures will be uploaded after. The picture is from an overlook on Highway 7, that is a frequent place I stop in my travels.
So even though I am a huge geek and always have technology in my hand, I am new to blogging, I have read them but never tried it myself and am looking forward to the experience. At 24 I am also a little later than some for starting college and I wish I had gone right out of high school. I was lazy for about 2 years and then got a job working for HP in Conway, but they closed down the office in 2013, so I decided to start school. I couldn’t think of a better place to go to Northwest Arkansas, the first time I came here I just fell in love with the area as I am a huge sucker for nature and pretty trees and mountains. I have a goal to hike the entire 200+ mile Ozark Highlands Trail at some point. I also do enjoy staying home sometimes, watching movies or tv shows. I love gaming as well, Skyrim has me addicted right now, but overall I prefer older games, can’t put down the N64. Many of my movies and tv shows are older as well, I have a thing for mob movies and those that are considered classics. Anyway if you managed to read this far and are curious about the MrRansom part, that is my old gaming name used in Everquest and a couple other things from years ago.
MrRansom 