The Rowe Family Blog

In case you didn’t know there is a class action lawsuit against Epson regarding their ink cartridges. I have two qualifying printers but I doubt I’ll see a penny out of the settlement. I have trouble believing that the company handling the settlement is intentionally denying me my right to the settlement so I am left to believe that they are incompetent.

I submited two claim forms. These forms MUST be submitted by mail as there is no web based mechanism. I recieved one rejection letter and one letter seeking clarification. Perhaps they are using terrible OCR because there are a LARGE number of errors. They spelled my name wrong on one of the letters.

For the printer they rejected they said that a CX400 doesn’t qualify. They’re right. There is no such thing. I own a CX4600 which DOES qualify. I referred back to the copy I kept of the claim form that I mailed. I clearly wrote CX4600. For the printer that they needed more information on they actually got all of the data correct off of the form (except for my name) but still “can’t verify” the printer.

I’m sending them a clarification and a letter in response to their rejection notice. I don’t expect to see a penny out of this. I think this company, Rust Consulting. INC out of Minneapolis Minnesota is incompetent. They could have saved a huge amount of money had they allowed web based submissions. It wouldn’t have been nearly as error prone either.

Just a couple days prior to our scheduled departure a terrorist plot in the UK was uncovered that involved the use of liquid explosives. Because of this plot the US banned any forms of liquid to be carried onto a plane. We weren’t worried but we now needed to plan on extra time at security. Since our flight was for about 6:30am we now needed to arrive at the airport by about 4:30:am.

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It’s been nearly two weeks since I ran.  Mary and I went to Hawaii (a trip report and pictures are in the works, stay tuned!) and although i brought my running sneakers I never did find the time to run.  I didn’t find time to get to a weight room or to touch my computer.  So it was a successful vacation.  .

Shortly before leaving Hawaii I came down with a cold.  When I got home the cold got worse.  I dealt with the jet-lag from the 6 hour time difference and a fairly nasty cold.  Finally, this past Monday I was healthy enough to run.  I expected that the run would be very easy because they weather here has been very cool and my legs had rested for about 2 weeks.  I was wrong.

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On Tuesday night I bought new sneakers.  On Wednesday I went for a 3.2 mile run to be certain that I liked them.  The sneakers felt great.  By that I mean that I really didn’t notice them at all.  I didn’t have knee pain or any other discomfort.  Probably because it was much cooler outside than I’m used to I ended up running rather quickly.  My time was about 25 minutes.  I can’t remember the exact time but that number is close.

I wanted to get a long run in before vacation but I ended up not being able to do that because of time.  To be fair I could have made time for a long run but I didn’t.  I slept in this morning instead of getting up to run.  I justified that because I’ll be getting very little sleep tomorrow.  By the time I was up and had breakfast I had about 1 hour of time that I could devote to running.  I decided to run the Rowe Quater (6.5 miles between my house and my parents’ house).  It was cool, dry, and sunny with the temperature in the mid 60s.  Since I had little time to spare and because the weather was so nice I was able to run quickly.  I finished the Rowe Quarter in 54:25!  That is the fastest that I’ve run for a 6.5 mile distance by far.  My pace was 8:37.  This is comparable to my pace for the Boilermaker (8:45).  The Boilermaker is longer but there were water stops, bands, and people cheering which helps a lot.  There were no crowds this morning but I did see 4 runners.  Anyhow, this was a very good time for me.

This past weekend I went for two runs.  On Saturday morning I did the 3 mile loop (3.2 miles total) in 27:00.  It was much cooler out than I’ve become acustomed to.  I noticed that I didn’t tire out as quickly as usual.  My times were far better than I expected because I wasn’t pushing myself at all. Read the rest of this entry »

I forgot to post this run.  Sometime last week I went for a run.  I intended the run to be about 6 miles.  I was planning on running the 3 mile loop twice but changed my mind shortly into the run.  Instead I ended up running through the entire “Chestnut” development.  Other than guessing my distance based on how long I’d been running I had no idea how far it was.  When I finally twisted my way out of Chestnut I finished the 2 mile loop.  When I got home I checked the distance and found my run to be 6.4 miles.  That run was completed in about 57 minutes.

Last night Mary and I ran together.  It was very hot out, which is why I wanted to run.  I want to get used to difficult conditions so that the “easy” conditions are that much easier.  By the time we got back from the gym the sun had pretty much set so we didn’t have to worry about that.  It was still 85 degrees outside though.

For the first mile of the 3 mile loop my legs ached from my knees to my feet.  After that first mile things loosened up and I was able to run at a comfortable pace.  Mary kept up with me for most of the run.  I broke away a bit near the end because I enjoy the terrain of the last mile (mostly downhill) and Mary hates it.

I finished in 28:23.  Mary came in just about 1 minute after that.  I’m glad I went out and ran.  I felt better after doing so and I put more time in high heat under my belt.

On Monday I came home from work to find my good friend Adam Bates in my living room.  We had plans to go out to dinner but I didn’t expect him that early.  He wanted to go for a run with me.  It was very hot out but we chose to run the Rowe Quarter.  The Rowe Quarter has no shade for almost the entire 6.5 mile distance.  It was 89 in the shade so I strapped a few water bottles into my fuel belt.  We set out around 5PM I think.

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I didn’t expect to run outside last night. I was planning on doing 3 different cardio workouts at the gym, but Greg was going to run outside. So, I decided to try to keep up with him. We ran the 3 mile loop. I was right on his tail until the end of the first mile. After that, I was only about a tenth of a mile behind him for the entire run. I finished the 3.2 miles in 29:37. That’s not bad! It’s actually my best time for that distance…except for when I ran the 5K at St. Christopher’s. That was a pleasant surprise.

I decided to run this morning for a couple of reasons.  Greg and Bates went for a run in 95 degree weather last night and I kind of wanted to go but thought it was a little crazy.  The second reason is because we went to Red Robin in Webster and I had onion rings, a chicken sandwich, and a kiddie milkshake.  All were worthwhile, but I knew I needed to work it off.  The third reason is because I just want to stay in shape.  I ran the 3 mile loop (3.2 miles) in 32:54.  It was 85 degrees at the start and 86 when I finished with 70% humidity.  Overall the run felt pretty good.  I was glad I was out there and was even enjoying myself a little bit.