Doldrums

As we come to the end of the month, I look back, not only at the last 29 days, but back through the years. It has always seemed to me as if February is one of the hardest months to get through.  I think back to school days and I remember it seemed as if February would never end. Too many tests and Spring Break still seemed out of sight  - far off in the future. In the days I ran residence halls for Drake, as Hall Directors, we always knew this was the month with the most craziness. This was the month roomates would decide they had enough of each other and this was the month people would walk out into the hallway and just start fighting with each other. February was always hard work.

So, of course the question is why? I think there are a lot of reasons.  Part of the issue is that by this point, winter has been around too long. I think the days are too short and the nights are too long. We have a lot of the nasty weather in February, and even more important, February is generally without sunlight. Gray days most of the time.  I think part of it is because we come off such a high time, with Christmas, New Year, Super Bowl, you pick the thing which is most important, but in February there isn't much after Valentine's Day has come and gone.  And finally, it's the shortest month of the year, so all of your regular payments come way too close to each other. Had you thought of that one?  

But guess what? The other end of the spectrum is coming. Spring is just around the corner and before we know it, farmers will be planting fields and trees will be sprouting their little buds which lead to them leafing out. We will have reached the Spring Break period for families and students, and all will seem better. We will see the last snow storm of the season come and go and we will know it will get warm and stay warm.

So, as we reach this time of change and the promises of Spring, I guess the question for me is what will I do with it?  Every year I look forward to this: waiting for the end of winter, waiting for the time I can put the coat away for good. And every year, I think of the items I have left over from the year before which haven't been completed. I am on year three for a patio project. It needs a little more rock and I need to move the grill upstairs where it's easier to use. I need to put a second coat of paint on the garage door. This has been waiting since the year Megan graduated from High school.  I should probably get that done, don't you think?

I'm coming to the end of February and the beginning of March and am going back to one of the things I learned while working at Drake. This is a planning season, the time you think about the things coming up and see if you can make sure these go better next time around. We have a lot of things coming up this year - I should try to be ready for them. And I've learned a very valuable lesson in the shop lately. I discovered that if I really set my mind to something, and really work on it, a project moves forward at a nice clip. I believe I will have photos of a new bedstead I've been working on to show you in the next couple of weeks.  

A great deal of my life I thought I was pretty organized and got a lot done. Thinking through the doldrums of February have put me in a different place. I do get a lot done at work nearly every day, but when I come home it's really easy for me to turn into a slug and time passes and gets away from me. I have, like many people, lost years to sitting on the couch and watching television. Now, I'm not for a minute saying I will eliminate it all, but I am saying I will work diligently to curtail time-wasting activity. Also, I have to start thinking about building kitchen cabinets. We have been working toward a kitchen remodel for quite some time and it needs to start now.

Finally, I have an order for a teardrop trailer to make for my sister by her birthday. Fortunately, it is not for this birthday, but for one coming up which ends in a "0", but will be here before you know it (sorry for saying so Jaye).  I guess I had better get busy there as well.  Okay, out of the doldrums of February and into the frenetic activity of Spring.  Anyone care to go with me?

Voting

For those of you in Iowa, you either looked forward to or are thankful that we just finished the Caucus season. For those of you living somewhere besides Iowa, the state's "First in the Nation" status regarding the Presidential contest does in fact come with some baggage. We've had more access and exposure to reporters from around the nation than is ever required. In the last two weeks, at least half the time my commute included a news crew doing a story about the conflict....oops, I mean contest.  But now that is all over for a while. The candidates have packed up all of their slogans and promises and moved on to New Hampshire, and I am sure I speak for many when I tell them to travel carefully. Even though we worried a blizzard might keep people here another day or so, it looks as though they are gone.

So, let's talk about the real power of voting. I am not talking about the caucuses, although all of that was important, I am talking about voting economically. We've all thought about this at one time or another, and have probably executed this at one time, but if you are like me, I always wonder if it really matters.  Well, I am here to tell you for me, it does.

You know me - a story has to come with this. I have been with the same bank for over 26 years. I moved to this bank in 1990 because I discovered a very interesting thing. At the time, if you were with a bank in one state, and at an ATM in another state, you could not make a deposit.  At the time I was with a local Des Moines bank and working in Kansas City - in the days before direct deposit. In order to deposit a paycheck, I had to drive to Iowa and find an ATM in the middle of the night. Yes, if there is any doubt, the deposit needed to get into the account and HOW. So when the smoke cleared, we moved to a bank with a national footprint so this wouldn't happen again. And I have been with them for 26 years. Until a week ago.

Over the time, this bank has added more and more fees, as so many have, and I just accepted it, but a week or so ago, they charged me $37.00 for something which was incorrect, at least in my opinion (by the way, remember, I am the customer here). When I called to speak with someone, I was pleased to be talking to a call center immediately identified as being in Rhode Island. Okay, good first step. Then after I explained what my issue was, to my amazement and disappointment, the person on the other end of the phone tried to explain to me why I was wrong, and in what seemed to me to be a very demeaning tone. This after they identified me at the beginning of the call as a "Preferred" customer. By the end of the call I had to resort to telling them in the event they did not want to fix this, I  would just leave. They fixed it and I came off the phone angry enough I decided to leave anyway.

In steps JP at a local bank. I've used this institution to finance the Toybox for several years now, and even though JP on occasion asked me about other opportunities, he never pushed or treated me like any less of a customer because he only carried the paper on the Toybox. When I called him to make an appointment, he told me he was working on Saturday and typically after the rush first thing in the morning there was a very quiet period of time. I went in during that window and found things to be just as JP had said. We sat and talked about all of the things he could do, and I set up accounts with him on the spot. I also believe if there is ever an issue with anything, JP will take the time to listen to me and come up with a solution appropriate for the circumstances.

Now, in looking at the total current assets of the bank I am leaving, they show 2.144 trillion dollars. I feel highly confident nobody in that organization woke up this morning and said, "Crap, I think Jim Martin left us."  From the point of view of voting economically, this did not affect the company I left even one bit. But it mattered to me.

I feel as though I will be taken better care of in a more local situation. I know the name of the person I am dealing with, and I believe that getting my business matters to him. And that is good enough for me. Thank you, JP, for caring enough to treat me as not just a customer, but also as a person. I look forward to doing business with you.