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I went snowboarding this past Saturday and something only imaginable happened.  Somebody fell off the ski lift at Mountain High.  This is something that you only think about, but never see it happen.  I wasn’t able to see whether it was a man, woman, or child.  But all the patrons went into panic mode.  The people on the ski lift (Snowflake – which is a beginner’s lift) were hollering to get the lift started again.  The people standing in the adjoining lift, Conquest, were also hollering to get Snowflake going.  The people waiting at the top of Snowflake were hollering the people on Snowflake to just jump off.  Meanwhile, the lift operator at Snowflake kept the lift at a standstill.  Weather didn’t play apart in the accident as it was not snowing, raining, or windy at the time.  It could have been caused by inexperienced because it was a beginner’s bunny slope lift.  The fall was a little past the halfway point up the lift.  But the panic frenzy was something that must have driven everyone crazy.

My experience as an EMT understood the situation.  How does the lift operator even know that it was the lift that didn’t cause the fall?  Unless the operator knows for sure, he/she should leave it off.  Having untrained people bark orders in a state of panic didn’t help.  During times such as these, the best thing is to wait for emergency response personnel to respond to the situation.  It doesn’t help to bark orders, thinking that this would help the situation.

Ski patrol probably got there within a few minutes of the incident.  I think like 4 ski patrol people were on scene.  Judging from the picture, I think they were getting ready to backboard the person & checking for any head and bodily injuries as well.

I think the best piece of advice to everyone during times such as these is to remain calm and let properly trained individuals handle the situation.  Yelling and screaming will not get help (ski patrol) to get to the scene faster.  I think the ski lift operator did a great job of not succumbing to the pressure of the crowd in holding off on starting the lift again.

xavier :: Feb.25.2008 :: rants :: 2 Comments »

During Shaq’s first game as a Phoenix Sun versus the Los Angeles Lakers (February 20, 2008), Shaq accidently elbows his teammate, Raja Bell. The knot on the back of Raja Bell is just nasty. The picture below was about 5 minutes after Raja was elbowed by Shaq.

xavier :: Feb.20.2008 :: Uncategorized :: 2 Comments »

I wanted to get an oil change yesterday and thought it was convenient to drive to a Discount Tire Centers near my friend’s house.  Let me say that my family has been going to Discount Tire Centers for a variety of things since the mid 1980′s.  We are loyal customers and have gotten many cars serviced here.  Things include tires (duh!), brakes, alignments, oil changes, etc.  We’ve found they provide good and timely service for the most part.  We don’t exclusively service our cars there, but we’ll definitely consider these guys at the top when needing service.

Anyways, I found the Walnut location for Discount Tires Centers to be conveniently located nearby, per their website.  I called the day before (Phone number on website: 909-595-4313)  to ask what time they closed, because they don’t seem to want to indicate this on their website (why even have a website if you can’t help a customer out?).  The person picking up the phone said they closed at 6pm.  I figure an oil change is quick so I didn’t need to leave work early or anything like that.  And the Walnut Discount Tire Centers is only about 15 minutes away.  When I got there, a sign on the door said they had closed since February 1 and listed 2 nearby locations, Whittier and Upland.  Those locations are like 30 minutes away!  This was ridiculous.  Why does Discount Tire Centers even bother to have a website if they have outdated information?

The website clearly indicates a Walnut location with the listed phone number.  If you close a location down, you should update it on the website.  Whoever they had the number forward to should also note the location of where they are at.  This is ridiculous!  Bad customer experience 101.  This is a note to all companies that have information on the Internet via their websites:  Please keep your information UPDATED!  Customers from all over the world use it to find information about YOU!  It’s  a free resource to market to customers, so don’t mess up like Discount Tire Centers did!  I’m going to contact their corporate office to see what they have to say about this.

xavier :: Feb.15.2008 :: Bad Business, Car, rants :: 1 Comment »

I was driving on the 22 freeway East to work and was near the Orange Crush interchange to the 57 freeway North when I saw this person in a Toyota RAV4 driving extremely slow, with like a 10 car distance from the RAV4 to the next car, and swerving between lanes.  It’s ok to have a safety cushion distance with the next car, but when everyone is traveling 1mph, you don’t need such a distance!  When I got up to the driver, I was able to see why this erratic driving was happening.  The driver, who apparently does not have a Y chromosome, had a piece of paper in the left hand and a cell phone (yapping away) in the right hand.

This was at the worst part of the Orange Crush and for the driver to act in such a inconsiderate manner is inexcusable.  How many cars this driver was able to annoy and inconvenience because of ignorance?  I can see why a few drivers get pissed here in teh area and use the finger, amongst other means, to display their feelings against such drivers.  Please, if you drive in LA or Orange County lay off the cell phone!

xavier :: Feb.15.2008 :: Car, rants :: 1 Comment »

I was pleasantly surprised when I got home yesterday and saw that I got a letter from Georgetown University say that they lost my personal information. All I could think of was “I am going to have to go through crap because of somebody’s unaccountability!”.  It was bad enough they took forever to refund my financial aid for dropping out, costing me interest that they said wasn’t charged to me.  Now, they lose my personal information because of negligence.  C’mon!  You guys are in a big city.  You should realize crime happens, so secure the stuff.  They send a courtesy credit stop from Experian, but they didn’t bother to include credit reports.  The teaching staff is great here, but the administrative staff here is completely incompetent.  I guess that’s what happens when the medical school puts you in a deep financial hole.  You can read the contents of letter here: Georgetown Loses My Personal Information Leaving Me Exposed to Identity Theft.

xavier :: Feb.14.2008 :: rants :: 1 Comment »