Sunday's to RELAX

I am sitting here at my sisters house, she is playing trucks with my nephew and the fresh made cookies are cooling on the counter. I have had a rather uneventful week other than Jessica and Tyler having their baby, the art show I was in on Thursday and the meeting I had on Saturday about a very unhostile takeover of a small trucking company in South Texas. I am officially going to own a trucking company with my sister, we are keeping the current company's name... Chico... but Dos Hermanas Trucking name had crossed my mind. Until my sister can give it some time I am going to start learning the business. Funny, as Norm says, I will soon say my name is Kelly and I own a small trucking company in South Texas. I guess this is now how I will introduce myself. You know the... I teach English in Argentina or in Spain introduction had such a nice ring to it in my romanticized idea of life and how I would like to live it. Sometimes A= B-C, or so I have decided. I close on my house in about 11 days and only have a few loose ends to tie up before everything is done. I have some opportunities for graphic design down here and was also offered the possibility at having an art show of my photography of Central America at the Harlingen Museum. That would be fun. I guess I will see what the future holds for me, other than that I am excited about having my things back, they have been in storage since March when I headed to Australia and I am not even sure what I will find when I unload all boxes (the things I was sure I would still need upon my return). I am deciding when I need to next head to Austin, San Antonio and San Marcos, and can't wait to hang out with Jodi and have a bottle of Champagne. If I haven't spoken with you yet it is probably because I don't have your number, so get in touch with me, my cell phone is still the same.

Happy Sunday to All!!!

Welcome to the World Sebastian Tyler Gray

My New House - corner of 13th and Crockett

My New House - corner of 13th and Crockett
Posted by: kilastravels.

Back in the Saddle Again

So I am back in the Valley now, made an offer on a hose that was accepted, looking for work, filling out forms galore for DBE certification, entering an art show to sell some photography, doing a little free lance work, setting up a website for my mom and sister. Funny how you get thrown back into the thick of things, just like I used to be before vacation, with a thousand things to do on my list. I want to get my things out of storage, create a home again, have some order in my life. I headed to Padre this weekend, it was the Mexican National holiday of dies y seis de Septembre, so I felt for a brief moment like I was back in Latin America, but not really because it had all the trapping of the US, such as being able to actually flush your toilet paper and not throw it in the waste bin next to the toilet. I ordered a flor de cana rum and coke, to try and bring back the memories of being stuck in Ometepe Nicaragua but it didn't work. I am excited about selling my photography and have already started thinking about how I can go on my next trip, should I head down to Guate for the November Todo Santos race if I don't have a job by then, should I really consider photo journalism as an option to add to my jack-of-all-trades philosophy to life. Hmmm...

So my new address is going to be 1217 E Crockett, Harlingen, Texas 78550 and phone will still be the same. Don't send anything there until mid-October when hopefully I will be moved in.

Until then I am crazy and hopefully will make it once or twice to central Texas for some visitin' so have the sweet tea made and I'll be stoppin in.

Why Global Education Corporation SUCKS!!!!!

I have had the worst time with GEC. I applied to be in a dual program (Argentina & Spain) and from the start I had problems. They changed insurance companies, and my checks were sent back, they said they had not received my money and the same day I received my insurance card from the company, they told me different prices, their info (address & phone numbers) was wrong on the website and when my final payment check was returned and I had my sister call to say she would resend it I had reservations, but since my start date was nearing I asked her to send it on. Then 10 days before my start I was told to call in... WE ARE NO LONGER HONORING OUR 3-MONTH ASSIGNMENTS I WAS TOLD... CAN YOU DO LONGER? When I said I could not, they said they could probably find a three-month Argentina assignment but absolutely could not in Spain, however I had already made travel plans based around my contract. I was also told on my conference call with Peter and Debra that they had not yet placed me in Argentina or found housing (because they had not received my check) and if I had to back out I would need to tell them immediately. They said they had received my check just that very day. I emailed them back in two hours and said, do not cash my check, I am out, I was nervous, I could not commit and worried about a job since they did not have my assignments yet. I figured at this point my contract had been broken on their end. The next day I received an email from Marketus asking me to stay in the program, I said I could not and asked him to tell me what they had done with my check (so I could stop payment if I needed to), he never responded to 4 emails, and here is the kicker, 3 days later my check cleared, even when I asked them not to cash it. I had thought better but I trusted them to honor my wishes.

In my opinion that is the same as STEALING MY MONEY, they will not refund one dime.

They say since it was 10 days before my start date, I defaulted and cannot get any money back, even though I could not commit to the new changes and the six-month assignment. I could not because of the holidays and my sister's pregnancy. I also had plans to travel with a friend from Australia in Europe after my Spain assignment and could not commit to 6 months there either, they did not care and even though the start date for Spain is not until January 9, 2006 (well in the 90 day cancellation period), they are considering my start date for the program August 15 and will not even return half the money for the Spain program (how convenient). I signed two separate contracts for each program but Marketus insists that “technically” it is only one. I have given them every option, written a demand letter from my lawyer, every answer is no. I even asked if I could switch my money to an intensive Spanish program and the answer is no. I sold my house, my car and quit my job to do this and they don't seem to care one bit. I even said to Marketus that I was willing to compensate them for their time although I had no assignments as of yet and that I wanted us to both get something out of this but I now need to find a job ASAP and did not have 4500.00 to loose, still sorry nothing we can do. No remorse not even in the tone of his voice. I worked customer service for 5 years and between Ti, Marketus and Christopher this is the worse I have seen by far. Peter and Debra, kudos to you I think you have a heart, but GEC does not, and Marketus even told me that they talked to Peter and Debra about making it sound like I could get out with ease.

BUYER BEWARE, I think we are never going to see our money again, it is spent, BE CAREFUL WITH THIS COMPANY!!!!!!! I

I found an article about Ti Ron Gibbs, in the June Chicago Business...

"Even worse, the low prices attracted a high-maintenance, ill-prepared clientele that sapped the agency's resources.

Nine months after he relaunched the business in Chicago, and facing a fiscal crisis, Mr. Gibbs realized that the solution to his problems was a simple price increase."

http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?portal_id=47&mpid=47&article_id=23834