Just a quick note that Discover’s customer service is awesome. As I mentioned in the dead stator post, I bought a rotor that sprays oil on the stator. I purchased this from Erik Buell Racing on a core charge basis. Essentially, I paid for the rotor modification up front, plus a $250 core charge. This $250 was to be refunded upon returning the rotor from my bike, after swapping the new one in.

Between the time that I paid the core charge and the time I sent the original rotor back, my Discover card was stolen somehow (issue for another time). Subsequently, the card was cancelled and reissued with a new account number. When the core charge refund was issued, it was credited back to my old card, which was cancelled.

I was informed that Discover accepted the credit and it had all gone through properly, however, the credit never hit my account.

I called Discover customer service to inquire about this. This call took place at around 11pm. I was connected to an American in Utah instantly, and they quickly addressed my issue. No waiting on hold and trying to speak to folks with thick accents and a seemingly weak grasp on the English language, who just read off a script and try and find the right answer to read to you. They informed me that I needed to speak with the fraud investigation department (who was closed), as they own the old account that was credited now, but that it would be no problem to get this taken care of. This is usually the beginning of a horror story, but in this case, everything worked out great.

I rang up the fraud investigations department this morning, a few hours after they opened. Again, I didn’t have to mess around waiting on hold or navigating a maze of menus. The representative I spoke with was very quick to understand and resolve the issue. In fact, the length of the call was 2 minutes and 6 seconds - from when I dialed the number to when I hung up. Yes, this includes the time the phone was ringing, the typical “this call may be recorded” message, and giving my account info to the rep. The credit should be properly moved to my account within 24 hours - so unless this doesn’t happen for some reason, then this was a very pleasant experience with Discover. I am proud to be a customer. I’m always quick to point out when a company treats me badly - whether it be on my blog, on Facebook, or in discussions with others - so I figured that when a company provides exceptional service, I should point that out as well.

Whew, a long overdue update. Since my last post, I’ve gotten my new bike on the road. I’ve put roughly 5000 miles on it, done the 12,000 mile service myself (oil/filter, rotate motor to change sparkplugs and inspect valve clearance, etc). I also had the bike with me at the Adirondack Buell Rally (great event, by the way).

My commute is shorter now. Due to some changes at work, we’ve moved our Albany office to Clifton Park. This cuts around 15 miles off my commute (each way) - and luckily, it’s these 15 miles that contain the horrible traffic and congestion during rush hour. This saves me around 30 miles of driving per day, and 30-45 minutes of time. This gives me more time, and a monetary savings of $50-$70/month at current gas prices, depending on what I’m driving.

In early May, I took a trip partially down the east coast on the bike with a friend. This took us through Atlantic City, Baltimore, and the surrounding areas - giving us casino time, time at Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags America, and a bunch of relaxing, riding, and seeing sights. It was fun and relaxing.

However, since the trip, I’ve been slacking off in going to the gym - some of this was being busy, some of it was being lazy. I also started eating like crap a little bit again, but nothing too horrible. I didn’t gain any weight back, rather, I maintained where I was at, so I’m not too disappointed. I finally got back to the gym tonight, and did a nice long workout to get back into things.

I plan on getting back into my routine of going to the gym a few nights a week. The 5-nights-a-week thing is a bit stressful, especially during the nicer weather when there are other things I want to do. A few nights a week is a nice balance, though. My goal is to drop some more weight, and then buy a new jacket and pants for the motorcycle - maybe the Spidi H2OUT Marathon set or something. An expensive set, so I want to meet my gym goal before dumping the cash.

Another ongoing goal is paying off my debt. I backpedaled a little on this, however. After I bought the new bike, I also bought a brand new Can-Am Outlander 650 XT, and financed it, giving me another $10,000 in debt. I did qualify for the promotional interest rate on the loan though, which is nice - 3 year, 3.9% interest, so that debt is not a huge deal at all to me. The big items are paying off the last couple thousand on my car, and paying off my loaded up Discover card before the 0% promotional period ends.

If you’re still reading this giant wall of text braindump, then kudos to you!