Off Into the Wild Blue Yonder (and where I've been)

I feel that a bit of an update is necessary since I've been MIA for a long time now. As I may have posted before (I can't really remember and I'm too lazy to read through my previous posts) I've been preparing for a major job switch for the past few months (and no, despite the title I'm not going into the Air Force). It's a major life change for me and I'm really excited about all of the new opportunities that I'm going to have. The downside is that it's taken a lot of my personal time to get ready. Therefore the first thing to get dropped is blogging. Not that I don't love all of you, but priorities are priorities.

I definitely want to thank everyone that has read and posted comments for their support through my P90X journey. Like I said before I'm not going to be giving up the healthy lifestyle. Admittedly I've slacked for the past month or so, but for the most part I've held myself at the place where I was at day 60. To me that shows that P90X has the staying power that you need for it to be a "real" fitness program. On top of that I've gotten several of my friends to start the program and they're really excited about it. Part of my job as an instructor has been to help people live a healthier life and giving them P90X definitely does that.

The next few months are going to be absolutely crazy and for the most part I'll be offline, so this is going to be my sign-off for the next few months. Thanks again to everyone that has supported us and I'll see you in 2009!
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XBOX Live Issues: Resolution and a Bit of Thanks

My post yesterday about my issues with XBOX Live billing was picked up by the kind folks over at Consumerist.com. There was a flurry of comments on the topic all throughout the day with some people blaming me while others understood my situation. I did find it interesting that some people thought I was trying to get something over on MS, but that definitely wasn't the case. In the end after a 20 minute chat with James in escalated support my issue was handled quickly, professionally, and to my satisfaction. Here's what happened.

I spoke with James at XBOX Live billing in their escalated support section for about 20 minutes. Right off the bat he explained to me what MS would be able to do, and I was offered the option of a full refund of the amount that I paid or they would provide me with a 12-month XBOX Live Gold membership code that I could redeem. I opted for the full refund since all I wanted originally was to downgrade to a Silver membership.

After getting that cleared up, James asked me to explain the entire situation to him, and I gave him the story pretty much verbatim from what I sent to the Consumerist and posted here. When I finished James apologized for the confusion that occurred, and he explained a few things including why he thinks the situation occurred:

- His first comment was that I was absolutely right that I should have received a full credit for the time paid for (vindication!).

- My case should have been escalated by default when I first spoke to billing because my request and situation were non-standard. My account was in a decline state which the billing department can handle, but since I wanted to downgrade to a Silver account while in a decline state I should have been escalated immediately.

- James believes that the major confusion occurred because my annual account was in a decline state, and that it is very rare for a billing CSR to deal see. Decline states are common with accounts paid on a monthly basis (which makes sense), and the CSR treated my annual account like it was a month-to-month. With month-to-month billing if you get declined your payment to bring your account current gets you paid for that month. Basically you're just paying for time that you've already used. However, with the annual membership, when you pay your balance there is time that is owed to you. The CSR that I spoke with just pretty much screwed this part up.

I absolutely believe that James was sincere in his evaluation of the situation, and his point that decline states don't occur often with annual accounts means that the CSR I talked to may have never had that exact situation before. While that doesn't mean that what the CSR did was right, mistakes happen and MS worked quickly to fix the mistake. James said that they will make sure to address this in training with their CSRs. Whether that happens or not I don't know, but the fact that they called me directly speaks volumes.

I did ask James if he knew why I received a call from their department, and his response was that he was just told by his boss to call me and not given any other information. This to me was a pretty big clue that it was the Consumerist post that sparked the phone call. I'm definitely not going to complain about that!

Most importantly (because I want to help other readers that have been trying to deal with XBOX Live billing) I brought up to James that there were other Consumerist readers that were having similar problems, and I asked if there was anything they could do to make getting their situations resolved a little easier. This is what I was told:

1) If you are having billing related problems with your account, call XBOX Live support at 1-800-4MY-XBOX.

2) When the IVR (known as Max) answers, wait for the option to speak with billing. This option is AFTER the choice for XBOX Live support. He said that many users choose the option for XBOX Live Support when in fact they need to speak with billing (obviously they should be changing their prompts).

3) If you account is in a decline cycle (meaning your credit card expired, etc.) tell the CSR that you know you are in a decline cycle, and explain exactly what you would like to have happen. This could be anything from just paying your bill to downgrading to a Silver membership. Be clear and things should hopefully shake out.

4) If at any point you feel uncomfortable or confused with what the CSR is saying, ask to be escalated to the next level of support. They should do this immediately without any objections.

5) At this point the escalated support should be able to help you out. They have authorization and additional information to handle most requests including refunds if necessary.

The main reason I didn't escalate my call was because I was rather angry, and I didn't want to yell at someone that was just trying to help me out. In the end everything worked out, and I thank the Consumerist for that! With the information that I got from James as well I think that other people with billing related problems should be able to get squared away. If not, just write in to the Consumerist :)

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How I Got Screwed by Xbox Live

I’ve been a faithful Xbox Live Gold member since I first bought my Xbox 360 a few years ago. When I first signed up for my account I chose the annual option, so for the past two years I’ve paid my $49.99 like a good little gamer.

This year was probably going to be no different, but my billing ran into a little snag when my credit card on file was replaced. I started receiving emails from Microsoft telling me that I needed to update my card info so that I could be charged for the next year, but I kept forgetting. I finally received a final email saying that my account had been closed and at that point I could no longer sign onto Xbox Live. Honestly I couldn’t care less about having a Live account, but I have a good amount of DLC, so I immediately gave Xbox Support a call so I could at least get switched to a free silver account so I wouldn’t bork what I had already bought.

After a minute or two on hold (I called 1-800-4MY-XBOX) I got through to a very nice woman. I explained to her that my account had lapsed and that I just wanted to convert my Gold account to a Silver one. She said no problem, but informed me that I would need to speak with billing. “Not a problem,” I thought, and I got forwarded immediately.

After another minute on hold I was through to the billing department. I was pretty impressed at the lack of hold time, considering it was a Sunday night, and I even made a comment to my brother over IM saying, “Wow, Xbox support is pretty good.” Needless to say my comment was a bit premature.

I again explained my situation to the billing rep, and he asked me to sign on to http://billing.microsoft.com so I could update my billing information there. That seemed like a pretty simple request, and he said he would stay on the line with me to make sure that everything got updated properly. Again, I was impressed because most reps would just tell you where to go and hang up. He verified that my billing information was updated, and he told me that I would be charged $49.99 because I had an owing balance on my account. While all I wanted to do was convert to a Silver account (hopefully for no charges), I was half expecting this since my account had technically lapsed in June. I asked if it was possible to just pro-rate the two months that I was given service after my account lapsed, and I was told because I’m an annual member that wouldn’t happen. Alright, fine, no big deal – it’s just $50. The charge was put through and I figured all was set. Here’s how the rest of the conversation went:

Me: Alright, so my account is settled. Since my account lapsed in June I’m assuming I should have about 10 months left of Xbox Live Gold service, right?
Rep: No.

Me: Ummm… what do you mean no? When I paid the $50 I was paying for service from June 2008 to June 2009. I understand that I won’t get a full year of service from today, but how come you’re telling me I’m not going to get Gold service at all?

Rep: By paying the $50 you settled your account. Your account has been reactivated as a Silver account.

Me: Okay, I understand that my account is now settled, but I just paid for 12 months of service. If you date that from June 2008 I should have a Gold account until June 2009.

Rep: No. When you paid the $50 that was just to settle the account and bring it current. Your account was almost sent to collections, so your payment stopped the process.

Me (Getting very pissed off right now): Okay, so what you’re telling me is that I just paid $50 so you wouldn’t send me to collections? With Xbox Live service you PRE-PAY for the service! If I’m paying you $50 I just PRE-PAID for services that you owe me. Now you’re telling me all I did was stop you from sending me to collections?

Rep: Yes. However, now that your account is settled you can go ahead and purchase a Gold account if you want.

Me (To the point of ripping my hair out): So what you’re telling me is that I just paid you $50, and if I want to get a Gold level account I will need to pay again for it even though I just paid you $50?!?

Rep: That would be correct sir.

Me (Trying not to yell at the guy so I can ask pertinent questions): Okay, that makes no sense, but let’s continue. Can you tell me exactly what I was charged for? Was the $50 I just spent for Xbox Live Gold service, collections fees, account reactivation… what?

Rep: The charge will be for Xbox Live Gold service.

Me (Ready to rip his throat out through the phone): You just said that I was being charged for Xbox Live Gold service. If that’s the case then how come I am not getting the balance of the months?

Rep: Because that charge was to bring your account current.

This ordeal continued for another 10 minutes. He told me that my payment was solely to bring my account “current.” His rationale for not giving me the balance of the months on my account was that my account was almost sent to collections. Well, first off, my account was never sent to collections, so that’s the biggest BS story I’ve ever heard. Second, how can you send me to collections on a debt for services that I was never given? Microsoft cut off my account when it went delinquent, and at the very least I got a free month out of them. I absolutely understand them wanting me to pay for that, but how can you send me to collections for an entire year of service that I haven’t even used yet? I also asked him that if I had called last month to settle my account would I have been given the balance of the months. His answer? Yes. Rationale? Because my account wasn’t being sent to collections last month.

After all of this I informed the rep that I would dispute the charge with my credit card company. He told me, “Fine, we get that all the time. However, we always win because we will show that it’s a legitimate charge.” I tried to argue with him saying that yes, while the charge itself is legitimate (I did authorize it), Microsoft is refusing to give me the services that I paid for, and that is grounds for a dispute resolution in my favor. He didn’t really seem to care and I knew I was getting nowhere, so I just hung up at that point.

So where do I stand? Yesterday I was charged $50 for 12-months of Microsoft Xbox Live Gold service which should have been dated from June 2008. However, my account is currently at a Silver level, and the only way to upgrade the account is to pay again for Gold service.

There are several problems that come up with this entire phone call. First, I only had the choice to pay $49.99 to bring my account current even though there are monthly and quarterly payment options available. If I had been a month-to-month member I probably would’ve just paid for a single month and lost a month of service, not 10. If I had been paying via Xbox Live Cards that you buy at retailers nothing would’ve happened because there are no recurring payments. So for the most part, a dedicated customer who makes an annual commitment to the service gets screwed the hardest. Thanks Microsoft!

Feel free to hit me up on Xbox Live on my handle ForceTrainer. However, don’t expect to game with me since I’m just a Silver level subscriber now. I guess taunts via voice messages will have to do.

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A Random P90X Discussion

Last night I found myself in the role of a P90X salesperson. I had a promotion test for my students yesterday, and afterward we were hanging out at a bar talking about the test (5 hours of hell for them) and other random topics. One of my students said, "I was up late last night and saw this ad for P90X, have you ever heard of it?" I look at one of my other instructors (who's planning to start the program once his shoulder heals) and just laughed.

When she said that to me I immediately launched into my "how I chose P90X" story. It started with how I had my first discussion with a SWAT friend of mine a while ago and wound up buying the program myself. Before I knew it I was singing Tony's praises and saying that she should definitely look into the program. After about 10 minutes of droning on about Ab Ripper X, my hate for Yoga, and Plyo I realized I had become my worst nightware - a miniature Tony selling P90X!!

In all actuality P90X has done amazing things for me thus far, so I guess it's not that bad. However, I still feel kind of weird admitting that it was an infomercial workout that got me into great shape. Considering I'm supposed to be some sort of fitness professional it's slightly humorous. Oh well, it works and I can't deny it.
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Getting Back on the Horse

After two weeks of hell with my back I think I'm finally ready to get some workouts in. I definitely did a lot more than I originally thought because it took three trips to the chiropractor to get things back into shape. My last appointment was on Thursday and for the most part it's pretty loose, but I didn't want to try and jump into things and wind up screwing it up all over again. On top of that I've taught close to 12 hours over the past few days, so I figured I would be tired enough from that.

So, I'm going to pick up at he beginning of Phase III and get this thing finished. Because of the break I know I won't be where I wanted to be at the end, but I can tell you that I'm much better off than when I started.
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Enemy Mine

By birthright I'm a NY Giants fan and have always reserved the right to cheer for the Jets should they ever decide to do something worthwhile in my lifetime (if only they could get hold of a decent quarterback). For the last decade, however, I've been geographically positioned that the Philadelphia Eagles are my "home team". As painful as that is under normal circumstances today I am agonized by having to acknowledge a smart move on Philly's part. It's not a trade or strategic overhaul that's going to carry them through the playoffs to steal the crown from my beloved team. Oh, no. They're going to beat us with my own medicine. Seems that in the off-season kicker David Aikers and trainer Rick Burkholder have started using P90X within the Eagles organization including prescribing portions of the program for use by injured players during their rehab. Read More...

I guess it's my turn

No no... unlike my slouch of a brother I'm not dropping P90X ;) Actually, he's not really dropping it - I'll be addressing that in this post. However, I did think it was time for an update so people know where I've disappeared to. Apparently Muddy and I have been running into the same problems, and our solutions are pretty similar.

Alright, so where have I been? Working, heh. Yeah yeah, it's the typical excuse, but I really have. The past couple of weeks have been insane. First off, as I've probably said a few times I'm switching jobs in September, so I've been spending a lot of time getting ready for that. We've had to spend a good bit of time to determine who will be taking over for me, and while the decision wasn't mine it did take up some of my time. This past week we also were hosting a national instructor certification at my training facility, so that took up time because I wound up teaching on a few of the days. While teaching students can be draining, teaching instructors is worse because it takes a lot more brain power. Your job is to give them everything they need to prepare them for teaching their own students, so you have to be 100% on the ball.

To top it all off, on Saturday I threw out my back - badly. I was teaching my kids and doing some self-defenses with them, and it aggravated my back. I should know better by now not to go hard on them without warming up first, but that's neither here nor there. I went home, plopped myself down on the couch and decided to relax with my Xbox. After about 2 hours I stood up and *WHAM* the pain hit me like a ton of bricks. I've historically had problems with my lower back so it was nothing new, but when I went to stretch it out something in my lower back popped in a very gruesome, cartilage grinding on bone, kind of way. I collapsed to the ground screaming many obscenities and then managed to get back on my feet after a few minutes. Lets just say I didn't work out on Saturday.

Sunday I spent most of the day sleeping in a drug induced haze or lying on the floor with an ice pack. I was able to get to the chiropractor today, but I did enough of a number on my back that I probably won't be doing much until at least Friday. So basically this entire week (which should be week 3 of Phase III) completely out. Add to that minimal workouts in Week 1 and Week 2 and this month has sucked. However, there are some positives.

First off, to go back to my comment about Muddy, he's not a slouch :) He's actually doing exactly what we had discussed when we started this. He knew that he wasn't going to adhere to P90X for the rest of his life because 1) time is tough with a family and work and sometimes you're going to miss workouts and 2) he doesn't like some of the workouts (i.e. 90 minutes of Yoga hell). However, what he is doing is sticking to the diet, making his own routine out of the workouts he likes, and sticking to a healthy way of life. More than anything I'm uber-proud of my big bro because he went from doing nothing to completely changing things around. He looks friggin' awesome, and I'm excited that he's going to continue to stay in shape. The most important goal - the healthy lifestyle - is the one that he's achieved. Now that he knows what to do he's stubborn enough to stick to it, heh.

As for me, well, come next week I'm going to completely repeat Phase III. While I've fallen well behind of the 90 day mark, I haven't come this far not to complete the program. It might be closer to P120X, but hey, I'm going to finish. My plan was always to continue after finishing anyway, so the most important part is that I continue eating properly and put together a workout regimen that I'm going to stick to.

On the ultimate plus side, despite not doing well for what is going to be three weeks, I still look pretty good! Since leaning out and discovering that I have abs, I have admittedly gotten very vain and I look in the mirror every day to see how I'm doing. While I don't look much different than my pics from a few weeks ago, more importantly I haven't gone backwards. That's definitely a testament to eating well (err... mostly well) and having built a solid base. I've probably gained back a few pounds of softness, but that will melt away as soon as I hit the weights again. So really I look at it as nothing lost, nothing gained. I've just stalled for the past few weeks because of life.

Like I said in one of my posts a little while ago, the true test of P90X is being able to continue this for the long haul. I've never been a gym rat, and I know I'll never become one. I would like to say that I'm going to work out 6 days per week for the rest of my life, but the reality is that there's no way that can happen. The new job I'm switching to will just not allow that (the hours will be long and I will be traveling a lot), but I've learned a lot because of P90X. I know how to eat right no matter where I go, I have great workout routines that I can do almost anywhere, and I now care enough about my body to not allow myself to go back to where I came from. Monday will begin (again) Phase 3, and I'm looking forward to finishing this.

Come September my life is going to turn upside down, but the good part is that PT is going to be part of daily living for the next 7 months, so I know I'll be able to keep up with what I've done this summer. Even though I haven't finished yet, I will finally tuck my tail between my legs and say, "Thank you Tony." Yes, you heard it - Tony Horton is the man. I'll even say that he's moved out of the douchebag category. However, I'll still be using the "Silent with Cues" version of the workouts :)
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Change of Plans

When I started P90X I knew I had a window of opportunity to get through the 90 day regimine. Unfortunately that window has narrowed to the point that I'm forced to hang it up.

Now, before I start getting jumped on let me clarify. As of today I am giving up the P90X program, but only from the "do these routines, this often for 90 days" point of view. Tony Horton and I are still going to be familiar with each other for a long time to come.

Like I said, I knew I had a finite window to adhere to a 90-day, everyday system. I have events starting shortly that will make swiss-cheese out of my workout schedule and having been sick a few weeks ago I lost my margin of error time (and then some). Add to that the unexpected event of going under contract for a new house and my ability to keep to the program on a 6-day a week basis has dropped to nil. So it looks like Day 69 is going to be my day 90. I'll do photos and results later in the week.

All is not lost however. I've already picked up the P90X+ program and am looking forward to working with it. P90X+ isn't a full program in itself, it's designed to merge with P90X creating an alternate or advanced program. It's a series of workouts that, while shorter in length (~45 minutes versus ~1hour+ for P90X) works multiple groups simultaneously so you get "just as much of a workout".

So this week and next is likely going to be an informal introduction to P90X+. I'll split the workout time I do have available between the stuff I know and the stuff I don't, disregarding the P90X sequencing. After that I'll play the mix and match game with the goal being to come up with a 4-5 day repeatable program with enough flexibility that I can stick to for the long haul.

Even though I won't be making it through the "official way" I fully support this program, it does work. I'm thrilled with the results I have seen thus far and am confident that even an improvised system is going to produce greater results and benefit me for years to come.

Oh yeah, I'm sticking to the diet.
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New iPhone and lack of time

Sorry for the lack of updates. Work has been a bear and on top of that I bought myself an iPhone for my birthday. Unfortunately the new gadget gets my very minimal geek time.

Sent from my iPhone :) Read More...

8.5-9.25%

That's my estimated body fat percentage as of right now. There's a bit of a swing because there were two different charts used based on the caliper readings, so I'd venture to say that I'm probably hovering somewhere around 9%. I definitely look completely different than I did two months ago, so I don't have a single complaint.

I could probably bitch and moan that I'm not going to be shredded at this end of this P90X cycle, but the only one that I can blame is myself. My diet has been so-so over the past few weeks because of eating out a few times for birthday celebrations and imbibing a bit of alcohol here and there. However, I know that there's a reality to all of this. I have made some significant life changes with the diet, and I'll continue those habits. I thoroughly enjoy my shakes in the morning, a huge salad at lunch, and protein bars and other healthy snacks throughout the day. However, if someone says, "Force, lets go grab a bite at X," I'm not going to do the whole fretting nonsense that I did during month one. Would I love to be shredded? Absolutely - but now I truly understand what is necessary for that to happen, and I don't see that being my life. I like to drink with friends, brownies are good at a pool party, and french fries on occasion are a nice treat. Will I be eating them as regularly as I did in the past - no friggin' way. But, I'm not going to forgo some of the simple pleasures in life (mmmm... cheesecake) because I know I won't enjoy it. If I continue to eat well, workout like a monster, and sit at 8.5-9% body fat for a long time I will be more than happy. Besides, as I add more muscle (I'm still a bit sknny) that will make up some of the difference. I don't need to be at 6% body fat to be happy (or look good). I'm already happy taking off my shirt at a pool party - from here on out it's just going to get better :)
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