THERE’S A WOMAN IN INDIANA WHO’S BURIED IN THE MIDDLE OF A ROAD!

In 1831, a woman named Nancy Barnett was buried in a cemetery about 20 miles south of Indianapolis.  She handpicked the location of her gravesite, and made it clear to her family it was the exact location where she wanted her remains to stay.

–Fast forward to the early 1900s.  Officials in Indiana decided they needed to put a new road right through the cemetery where Nancy was buried.  And to do so, they wanted to relocate all the graves.

–But Nancy’s family wasn’t cool with that.  So to make sure nobody touched her grave, her grandson guarded the burial plot with a shotgun.

–Eventually, after all the other graves were moved, officials decided it would just be easier to leave Nancy’s grave alone.  So they split the road in half, leaving Nancy’s gravesite in the median.   Which is where it remains to this day.

Ok, this isn’t revolutionary but it is a big deal in my house.  We have four remote controls.  One for the TV, one for the Moxi DVR, one for the surround sound and one for the Playstation 3 (which we use as our DVD player as well.)

It is really annoying.  Or at least it used to be really annoying.

I just bought a Logitech Harmony universal remote.  I’ve tried universal remotes before, but there were always issues and you had to “teach” the remote to do many of the functions.  The Harmony series (and probably many of the others now, as technology has advanced) let you enter all of your model numbers for your devices on your computer and it programs the remote with a USB connector.

Now we have ONE remote, and it knows to turn on the surround sound and set it to the cable box if we want to watch tv or it knows to turn on the surround sound and set it to DVD  if we want to use the Playstation.  And it even does the DVR functions like FF and REW and REC, etc…

I’m in hog heaven!

The Greenville Zoo is an affordable way to spend a fun day with the family and they’ve just renovated and we have a special guest right now!  The Greenville Zoo has a Red Panda who they hope will help us to have a baby Red Panda in the near future.  If you haven’t checked the Zoo out here in Greenville, this is a great video!

And you can too!

The city of Greenville Greenville has just launched “311″ in the iPhone app store.   Greenville 311 is a free, simple way for citizens to report problems and speed up services in the city. The app is available free from iTunes and users can send service requests to the city, complete with pictures and the location of the problem. The information is sent directly to Greenville Cares which is the city call center for service on city property. If you give your e-mail address you will even get an identification number so that you can track your service request.

According to Angie Prosser, public information of the city and the Director of Events, Greenville joins a growing list of cities using advanced technology as an extension of their customer service efforts to provide options for citizens to stay connected to city government.

“The city began using Facebook and Twitter this summer as another way to reach our citizens, so for us, Greenville 311 is an exciting new opportunity to expand our citizen outreach efforts,” said Prosser. “Our goal is not only involve people in identifying problems and issues in the community, but to also provide them with tools they can use to help preserve and improve the quality of life in Greenville.”

This is why!

Edgar Woodfin with WSPA TV made the trek up to the tower that we share with Channel 7 and these are some of the pictures of the situation he encountered on the way!

Seems we lost a utility pole supplying power to the site…

Trees had to be cleared…

But the tower was still standing – barely.

Again, special thanks to WSPA’s Edgar Woodfin for the pictures.  I sure wouldn’t have wanted to drive up there to do that!

As many of you know, I hold NASA near and dear to my heart.  My father worked at the Kennedy Space Center his entire life until he retired in 1999.  My brother still works at Kennedy Space Center and I have an engineering degree that was supposed to be used at NASA, but I stumbled across radio while in college and took another path.  So it bothers me to see us abandoning important work in space exploration.  An electrical engineer with NASA named Calvin Turzillo made a video that shows why it is important that we continue the Constellation program and what will be lost if we do not.  There is some amazing rocket footage in this video and you will learn a lot just watching it.  He also points out that about 7,000 more people will be out of work when Constellation is shut down.  More unemployment!

Mostly though, it is just a great video about an important part of NASA that is about to be shut down.

Check out this monster shredder – it can shred anything from your tax records to a couch!

Every now and then we experience excellent customer service from a local business and we give them a plug on the radio.  So it only seems fair that we share our bad experiences too – right?  I don’t want to “bash” Allegiant Air.  They offer a very low price for airline travel and for those times when you need to get somewhere cheap they are very useful.  But I found out today that there are some things about them that you should know before you buy your tickets. These are things that I didn’t know and they burned me badly today…

First, let me share my experience with you and then I’ll tell you what I learned.  It might matter to you as well if you are thinking of flying Allegiant Air.

I was booked to leave Greenville at 2:05pm today (Saturday January 23rd, 2010) and arrive in Orlando at around 3:30pm.  I planned to visit my brand new niece that afternoon and then drive my family back to Greenville on Sunday morning.  I checked online shortly before leaving the house and my flight (706) showed “no information available.”  This wasn’t unusual because neither of my flights on Allegiant ever showed any information available.  I assumed this meant that everything was good.  Upon arrival, I stood in a long line of people who each looked surprised and irritated when they got to the gate agent.  I was about to find out why.

Our flight had been delayed from 2:05 pm until 6:00pm.  For me, that was a huge inconvenience.  In different circumstances it might have been only a minor inconvenience, but this time it was a bigger deal.

I asked the gate agent if there were any other flights he could put me on and he told me there were no other flights to Orland0.  I politely thanked him and sat down to call my wife.  I got to looking at the departure board and realized that Delta and US Air had flights going to Charlotte and Atlanta in about an hour.  I’m not a “seasoned” air traveler but I know enough to realize that Atlanta and Charlotte are major hubs and probably have flights to Orlando.  So I had my wife look them up and sure enough, both Delta and US Airways had flights that would get me to Orlando around 6:15pm.  Much better since I might have time to get over to see my niece.

I went back to the ticket agent and waited in line.  When I got to the counter I explained that I would like to be moved to one of those flights instead of waiting.  The agent told me that Allegiant is a charter airline and they cannot put you on another flight.  He gave me the customer service phone number and told me that they were not “empowered” to do anything about situations like this.  I thanked him and sat down to call the customer service number.

It is not a toll-free number (702–505–8888) but no big deal.  I get it, they are a “cheap” airline and they are trying to save money.  I called the number and got a recording.  Worse than that, the recording said that “They were unable to take my call at this time, but I could e-mail them and they would get back to me in 24-48 hours.)  THAT irritated me.  I couldn’t even talk to someone in customer “service” to try and resolve my problem.

So, I drove back to my house and decided to write this blog while I wait to return to the airport at 4:30pm and HOPEFULLY fly out then.

Please don’t misunderstand my blog.  I’m not screaming or crying because my flight got delayed.  It is very inconvenient for me and I had really looked forward to seeing my niece for the first time, but I understand that these things happen.  What I am upset about is the lack of customer service and options that were available to me when something did happen.  I just want to make sure that you know what you are getting when you save a few dollars on that flight next time you book with Allegiant.  It may still be worth it to you. There are times when it may be worth it to me.  But in times where your arrival or departure times are important, you should know some of these things and decide whether the cost savings is worth it or not.

I could have book for about $150 more through a “real” airline and that would have been well worth it in hindsight.  If I had known what I know now, that is what I would have done for this trip.

1.  Allegiant Air is a “charter airline.”  According to the gate agent (who was explaining why they couldn’t put me on a Delta or US Airways flight instead) that means that Allegiant cannot move you to a different flight if your flight is delayed or cancelled.

2. Allegiant Air does not empower its ticket agents to do anything to help you if you are in a special situation.

3. Allegiant Air does not have a reliable customer service phone number you can call to get in touch with someone who does have that power.

4. Allegiant Air does not offer compensation for delayed flights.  I was told that I would get free baggage check-in but I didn’t have any checked baggage, so I got nothing.  They did offer to “feed us some stuff” (no, I am not making that up) but I did not care to risk it and chose to go home and eat instead.

5. Allegiant Air is really not as cheap as I thought it was if you need to travel at conventional times.  If you can fly everywhere on WEDNESDAY then yes, they are cheap.  But if you have to fly on Monday or Saturday then they aren’t as much less expensive than the real airlines as I thought they would be.  I saved about $150 or so and experience a much worse schedule and no customer service as a result.  I would spend the $15o in a second right now to get to Orlando on time.

In the end, if price is your most important factor, then Allegiant Air has the goods.  They are cheaper than anyone else and if you can fly their off-beat schedule then go for it.  But just know that they will not fix things if they go wrong and make sure you have FLEXIBLE plans or you might end up disappointed.

I have always thought that granite countertops in your bathroom or kitchen was something that only rich people could afford.  But Hawk and I just met a guy named Steve Moon who has been a fan of the show for many years and he gave us the inside scoop on granite and how it can actually be very affordable.  You can check out his site at http://www.granitebystevemoon.com and see the incredible selection of granite that you can have installed by Steve in your home.

Here are some of the things that Steve has taught us:

1.  Almost all granite is pretty much the same “quality.”  What you pay for is “rarity.”  Exotic granites with fossils inside or unusual colors and patterns are more expensive because there isn’t as much of that type of granite out there.  The good thing about this is that you can find BEAUTIFUL granite that is very inexpensive and the same quality as expensive granite for your home.

2.  Some stores will advertise a very low price to get you in the door and then you find out that is for a very plain stone or that the price does not include everything.  Steve Moon’s prices include installation and everything involved.  No surprises.

3.  Not every granite installer is created equal.  You start with a slab of rock.  Your installer has to cut it to size and shape the edges and make it look right on your counters.  Steve has over 10 years of experience here in the Upstate and he has high-end builders that use him to install granite in MILLION DOLLAR HOMES (we’ve seen his work in some of them!) and they trust him to do it right.

4.  Many installers will leave you without a sink for a week or more.  Steve Moon’s installation professionals make sure you aren’t without your sink while they do the work.   You don’t realize how important this is until you’ve talked with someone who went without their kitchen or bathroom sink for a week or more!

5.  Character counts!  Steve Moon isn’t happy with the job until you are happy.  He guarantees you will be happy or he will do what it takes to make you happy.  With Steve Moon, it’s personal!

Check it out for yourself – tax returns are starting to come in and this is a perfect project for you to improve your home, and everything about your kitchen with Granite by Steve Moon.

My wife is out of town this week.  She is in Florida with her sister (and my brother) visiting our new niece.  Her name is Raegan Mae and she is named after one of our greatest presidents of all time, and also my maternal grandmother who was named Mae.  (I guess you know who I’m talking about with the president now!)  Anyway, the point of all this is that she has the kids and the dog and I am a bachelor for the week.  Until Sunday I have the house to myself.  So I have been sitting around playing games on the computer and eating Twizzlers™ and Utz Cheese Balls from Sam’s Club the whole time and I’ve already gained 8 lbs.  And the house is a mess.  I bet she can’t wait to get back!