So I woke up this morning to get ready to go home after a very long year of touring.
Let me tell you a few things I did to prepare… one, I had the flight booked for around noon and that would still give me just about 6 hours total of sleep. We played a show the night before and had to drive to Atlanta to stay at an airport hotel to be able to conveniently get out the next morning.
I used to book the first flight out in a hurry to get home but have since realized that if I get home trashed from no sleep, I'm either going to sleep there, or get it in the night before. I'd much rather jump right into being with the family from the minute I get home!
The 2nd thing I did to prepare was set my iphone alarm to wake me up. I don't know why… I feel, (for my age group at least), I'm fairly tech savvy but for the LIFE OF ME I can't figure out how to set the volume on my iphone to be loud enough to actually create an alarm!
I know, I know… I'll get all kinds of comments in this to tell me how… and believe me, by the time you read this, I will have done the research to figure it out…
But it just kind of perplexes me… I've gone in and seen where the volume levels are… here's where it kind of doesn't make sense to me.
When I put the phone down after creating an alarm, I make sure I press the buttons on the side of the phone for volume… I make sure it's ALL THE WAY UP. That seems to make sense that would do the trick. What's the volume for? Ringer? What's the difference? I know I've gone into the settings before and seen where there is a specific place to set alarm volume… so what's all this ranting and raving Jason? (you might be asking)… just go back in and find out what the answer is! In fact, instead of typing this all out you could have had your answer by now… (and I actually will once I finish writing this…)
But then if I get my answer what if anybody else has the same issue? Maybe I can *help* them by providing the answer!
Again, you might be saying… “Go get the answer… make a quick post about it and we're over and done with” but NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Jason's got to go on a rampage! He's got to DRAAAAAAAAG this thing out! haaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
Actually, I'm 38,000 feet on a plane and WHAT ELSE AM I GONNA DO? I'm jotting my thoughts down… blogging, journaling… and it makes me feel good!
(hold on here… I'm going to go research my alarm volume issue and I'll be right back…)
~~~~~> Ok… Update… sometimes I am the BIGGEST IDIOT!!!! <~~~~~
So it looks like one of 2 things… FIRST, (and this is pretty pathetic), I had the phone on vibrate so I'm probably lucky there was ANY kind of sound coming out of the phone to wake me up! So first thing… I'm going to test an alarm, (when I land), and get all the settings right.
2nd possible issue is there is a setting that says when you use the volume for the phone it will be automatically set to bring the volume of the alarm up (or down). (I'm still thinking my entire issue is the phone in “ringer off” mode.
So anyway… if I haven't put you to sleep yet, believe me, I'm going to make a point…
What I've just done is go on a bit or a rant *complaining* about something… the iphone alarm volume syndrome! But as you can see, I got it out… and then paused for a second, did some research and (I believe) fixed the problem.
One of my pet peeves is complainers… I'm talking about the type of complainers who don't have or WANT TO FIND a solution to the problem. I LOVE when people find things that need to be improved upon, and go about making that change… as many of you know, I've been in a very educational mode over the last several years to solve challenges that have come my way.
So much so that when I share what's going on with me people keep banging on me to help, teach, which is what is inspiring me to do it.
SOOOOOOOOOOOO… first half of this post… Iphone alarm issue, and I believe, it's solved! Never have to bring it up again… AND, one of the most important aspects of it is it's doable, fixable and all it takes is a little pause, patience and it's fixed.
Now, moving on to the 2nd challenge… I got downstairs and I missed the shuttle to the airport, (1 mile away), by 2 minutes… I asked them when the next one comes and he told me at the top of the hour. That meant I would be leaving to the airport an hour before my flight.
I had no idea how many stops the shuttle makes… thinking that most airports have a 30 minute cutoff policy on checking in I figured I probably would be ok waiting for the shuttle but I made an executive decision.
Think about this… here's another thing I see so many people go sideways on… starting to look at the challenge and getting upset at the effects, not the cause. The cause? I didn't get down there in time and even more important, I didn't check to see when the shuttles went!!!! How simple would that have been?
But it is what it is, (or was what it was should I say?), and it was time to just make sure things went smoothly… I asked the bellman if they had cabs and he said yes…
First thought? Grab a cab and there's no problem… you'll be there probably 70 minutes or so before the flight… you have TSA Precheck so you'll probably be through security in 5 minutes… (TSA Precheck plug here… I have nothing to gain other than to have helped you make your life a bit easier… anybody traveling a lot, GET TSA PRECHECK), and you won't be on a shuttle wondering how long it's going to take to actually get you to check in.
Soooo, I have the guy call me a cab… the cab driver pulls up and when the bellman tells him we're going to the airport I can feel this driver deflate… 1 mile away? After that he gets to come back to the hotel and get in the BACK OF THE LINE?
So I don't say anything at first… and then apologize for having such a short trip… he's visibly not happy but doing his best to not be unprofessional… and just kind of mutters something like, “Well, it just happens that way… I was working last night from 8 pm on just trying to get a *good ride* and there was nothing… so today I was hoping but it just happens this way. I'm just going to go home after this…”
I'm pretty good at reading people and I didn't really feel he was working me… I could feel the sincerity… and my mind started making some calculations…
The fact *I* caused my situation of potentially being hurried, stressed, possibly late, etc. I grabbed a cab. I looked in my wallet and saw a 20 dollar bill and thought, “Isn't it worth 20 bucks to make sure I make that flight? And wouldn't it probably turn this situation around helping out a guy who is just trying to put food on his table by tipping him well? What he'd be hoping for on a REAL GOOD RIDE?”
So I asked him… “Do you guys take credit cards?” He starts in with a very upset tone saying, “You know… I forgot to tell you this when I picked you up and when I tell this to people they think we're ripping them off but it's a straight $20 fare to the airport.”
I'm thinking “20 bucks to go a mile?” and I'm also thinking, “Maybe he's just trying to make up for a short ride…” but it didn't matter… I kept thinking of what my needs were… get to the airport, and FAST!
I said, “Hey, as long as you accept credit cards, that's fine… but here's what I have for you…” and handed him the $20 bill.
You should have seen this guy's life change, on a DIME… (well actually a 20 dollar bill)… but the joy in this man… the RELIEF I felt in him…
I said, “I hope this helps for not having anybody from last night and having a short ride today” and he said, (in a completely changed, happy, grateful demeanor… “This is all I need… thank you so much… bless you”.
We get to the curb, he takes my suitcase out, I fill out the credit card form and he reaches out to me and pulls me in for an incredible hug.
As the great Jim Rohn said, “It doesn't cost much to change the world”… it changed mine and changed his… is $40 a lot? It's all relative and I know I'm lucky to have that to give to someone but again… if I pay closer attention and find out what time the shuttle leaves a whole different set of circumstances happen.
But, when the challenges come up… to be able to turn them around… I walk through the rest of my day knowing that the person I'm becoming of trying to add value to others makes me feel good. That's the reason to do it.
Some good vibes that have gone out into the world… and I don't look back on the day as a victim… I refuse to allow myself to be victim… to always look for the angle of how I'm being taken advantage of.
So that's my long rant of the day but just wanted to share it with you to hopefully remind you to look for the challenges as a way of “turning things around”. The opportunities are there exponentially. ALL in the perspective!
My husband’s iPhone alarm plays your very own “Free.” At full volume. There’s no sleeping thru it.