My Triathlon Adventure

Back in ancient civilization there was always talk of various demons, monsters, dragons and other mythical beasts.  The names changed, but the ideas remained constant.  Some unknown beast lurking in the shadows patiently waiting to tear you to pieces.  I’ve often wondered where these ideas came from.  They were such a constant over time, and now a days they just seem to be Hollywood stories.  Good for a few scares and no more.

I was thinking this morning about demons, and I realized that they are still with us every day.  The ancients would give names to their fears, the things they didn’t understand.  These irrational fears or issues in their lives had to be caused by something, must be demons.

Well, our demons are our fears.  Fear of heights, public speaking, death, etc.  Like the demons of yore, our fears keep us from doing the things we want to do.  Fear of failure stops us from starting that business we always wanted to do.  Fear of flying stops us from seeing the world.

My current demon is the pool.  It taunts me and makes me lose my form.  It makes me anxious when the water gets too deep.  It lurks in the darkness and tries to make me give up.  But, like the knights of the middle ages, I will slay this demon, and I will swim.   No guts, no glory.

I wonder if  Speedo has an armor line?  Maybe one that floats?

I ordered some polypropylene pants for running in the cold weather from Campmor.com.  Like an idiot, I mistyped the house number on the order.  I only noticed it when I saw the tracking information on the UPS site indicating that I was an idiot.

Understandably, when I called UPS they told me that my only option was for them to hold the item and pick it up in person.  I could also call the shipper and have them update the address.  I called Campmor and spoke to Shawn.  He called UPS while I was on hold and said that the only option they gave him would require them charging campmor $11 to adjust the address.  It was off by one digit!  $11 is just silly, I mean the delivery person was right there!!!  Needless to say, Campmor shouldn’t eat the cost for my mistake, and I’m not spending another $11 to change the digit, so I think it is time for a short drive. Update: I’m not sure what happened exactly, but when I got home the package was here.  I wonder if the driver was contacted with the corrected address?  The tracking site says it was delivered about 20 minutes after my call.  Looks like today was a good day for customer service.

The reason I think Campmor is cool, is that first off he took care of the issue immediately.  Secondly, when I told him about a bad number and email address in the shipping confirmation email that I received from them, he took the initiative to fix it.  Most customer service people would shrug it off.  He actually cared enough about the company to want to fix it.  Any company that hires employees like that is great in my book.  I will certainly shop there again, though this time I’ll try to remember where it is that I live!

I’ll post what I think of the pants once I give them a try.  Update: The fit is nice, and they feel great.  I still have to give them a run to see how they are in action.  I just assumed that polypropylene was going to be kind of like Styrofoam,  they actually wear like cloth and seem pretty durable.