Last week I had the unpleasant task of giving a highly rated bike shop its first C and D grades that it’s received in a long time.
Maybe I caught them on a bad day. More likely, I think I used a service that is not their forte: bike rental.
Some friends and I decided to ride mountain bikes on a local trail, and a couple of us, including me, needed to rent mountain bikes.
The bike shop we visited was the natural choice: Its member reviews are filled with reports of excellent customer service. But that wasn’t the case on this day, and not with my bike.
The employees conveyed a blasé attitude and their miscommunication with me and each other resulted in my friend and I standing around needlessly for 20 minutes.
Despite mechanics “checking out” the bike, once I got it on the trail I noticed the kickstand rubbed against the rear tire and several times the seat collapsed — an unpleasant sensation, to say the least. I pointed these flaws out to the mechanic when I returned the bike and he said, “Yeah, the kickstand will rub if it’s not properly adjusted.” OK. Whose job is it to check that adjustment? As for the seat collapsing, he just shrugged.
I’m the first Angie’s List member to rate this company’s bike rental service. My advice to them: Either stop renting bikes or bring that part of their business up to the same high standards their other work is known for and praised for on the List.
I did not enjoy giving this company a bad review, but I feel it’s important to point out the good and the bad. A friend of mine disagrees. She used an A-rated house painter on the List and he did a horrible job. He begged her not to give him a bad review — begged. He gave her a huge discount. My advice to her? “Warn other members about this guy.” Her heart, however, is softer than mine.
Matthew is the senior editor for local affairs at
Angie’s List magazine. When he’s not at the Blue House, he enjoys reading and writing fiction, playing guitar and riding his bicycle.
Music is a wonderful thing.
It seems like I’ve played an instrument of one sort or another all my life, mostly the piano and brass instruments like the trumpet and baritone. But as I got older and started living in apartments, I realized 1) The piano is not very portable and 2) Neighbors hate the trumpet.
So I bought an acoustic guitar. It’s relatively quiet and very portable. In fact, when I moved to Idaho I just handed the post office clerk my guitar case, she stamped it and away it went.
I write all this to say that lately I’ve been more diligent about practicing my guitar, and diligent practice inevitably involves a metronome. What is a metronome? No, it’s not a gnome who lives in the city. It’s a device, mechanical or electronic, that precisely marks the beats per measure.
When I fired up a metronome this week for the first time in 20 years, its rhythmic ticktock took me back in memory to my old piano teacher, Mrs. Burris, and her stick.
Yes, she carried a stick. She’d tap the back of your hands if she didn’t like their position, she’d turn pages with it, she’d keep time with it. She liked that stick.
Mrs. Burris retired before Angie’s List made it to my hometown of Oklahoma City, but I’d like to think she would have earned an A, stick and all.
Matthew is the senior editor for local affairs at
Angie’s List magazine. When he’s not at the Blue House, he enjoys reading and writing fiction, playing guitar and riding his bicycle.
Haircuts are one of my favorite things in life. I like getting rid of all that excess material on top of my head. Sometimes I dream of having long, flowing hair down to my shoulders à la former Blue House colleague Josh Shoppe. He had groovy artsy musician hair. Oh wait. He was a groovy, artsy musician. Then I think about having to wash it and jack with it every day, and I say “No way.”
As long as a few minimum standards are met, I’m happy with most haircuts. Here are my musts: Continue reading ‘Bangs for my buck: What I require in a haircut’
Matthew is the senior editor for local affairs at
Angie’s List magazine. When he’s not at the Blue House, he enjoys reading and writing fiction, playing guitar and riding his bicycle.
After reading my blog post about dance classes from a few weeks ago, a dear friend of mine in Idaho called to remind me of my signature dance move: The Raptor.
Astaire had his waltz. MC Hammer, his “Hammertime” jig. Me? I have The Raptor. Continue reading ‘Carnivore of the dance floor: The Raptor dance’
Matthew is the senior editor for local affairs at
Angie’s List magazine. When he’s not at the Blue House, he enjoys reading and writing fiction, playing guitar and riding his bicycle.
I want to learn to dance — not shake my booty, but really dance, as in fox trot, cha-cha, even tango.
This desire stems from several years ago when I covered the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. One of the events involved a formal dinner and dance. The social elite in attendance moved with elegant precision to the sounds of Glenn Miller. My fellow journalists and I shrank into a corner and ordered more drinks.
Next time, I want to bust out some serious moves. Continue reading ‘Hot to trot’
Matthew is the senior editor for local affairs at
Angie’s List magazine. When he’s not at the Blue House, he enjoys reading and writing fiction, playing guitar and riding his bicycle.
Fire is on my mind lately: visions of me waking up wreathed in smoke and flames or more likely, me going to bed and not waking up — ever.
Happy thoughts inspired by the bare wires dangling in my apartment and throughout the building, by the natural gas lines and the dripping water next to the Edison-era breaker boxes.
Water. Electricity. Water. Electricity. I’m not a licensed technician, but something tells me those two shouldn’t go together. Continue reading ‘Smoke signals’
Matthew is the senior editor for local affairs at
Angie’s List magazine. When he’s not at the Blue House, he enjoys reading and writing fiction, playing guitar and riding his bicycle.
“Goodnight, sweet princess.”
Yes, it is appropriate to misquote Shakespeare’s Hamlet in reference to the death of my beloved Honda Accord.
She had 263,000 miles on her when she made that final shift into overdrive, and she was epic in every way a car can be. Continue reading ‘Changing gears’
Matthew is the senior editor for local affairs at
Angie’s List magazine. When he’s not at the Blue House, he enjoys reading and writing fiction, playing guitar and riding his bicycle.
I’m one month into riding my bike to work and already the reviews are pouring in:
“We laughed. We cried. Two thumbs up,” say Ebert & Roeper, mistaking my commute for the Italian neorealist drama, “The Bicycle Thief.”
“Keep it short and you’ll limit the helmet hair,” says my barber.
“Um, could you bring an extra change of clothes on humid days?” say my co-workers. Continue reading ‘This is how I roll’
Matthew is the senior editor for local affairs at
Angie’s List magazine. When he’s not at the Blue House, he enjoys reading and writing fiction, playing guitar and riding his bicycle.
I bought a bike last week from Angie’s List A-lister Indy Cycle Specialist. Not just any bike. A Giant Tran Send commuter bike with rack, fenders, bell and built-in compass.
“Hello, inner 8-year-old.”
I feel like that kid in A Christmas Story who longed for a “Red Ryder carbine-action, 200-shot Range Model air rifle BB gun with a compass in the stock and a thing which tells time.”
I might blow out a knee, but I can’t shoot my eye out with the Tran Send.
When I moved to Indianapolis this month to join Angie’s List, everything came together to make my dream of bike ownership come true. Continue reading ‘I won’t shoot my eye out.’
Matthew is the senior editor for local affairs at
Angie’s List magazine. When he’s not at the Blue House, he enjoys reading and writing fiction, playing guitar and riding his bicycle.
