Heat tolerance and weekend plans, or lack thereof.

I'm on my own this weekend as jmaynard will be elsewhere. There are a few things that I can take care of at home and I expect I'll take care of at least some of them. I'm not going to rush on any of them.

One thing I've been pondering for a while is a walk, rather than a drive, across town for lunch. Last time I thought of this and had the opportunity, it rained and so I didn't bother. This weekend there is no rain in the forecast. There is, however, heat in the forecast. Saturday is expected to peak at 96 F and Sunday could be as high as 99 F. Those are raw temperatures, not adjusted for humidity. The heat index will be over 100 F. The distance from the house to the restaurant is about 1 and 3/4 miles for a round trip of 3 and 1/2 miles.

Not long ago, I'd not even have considered such a walk at those temperatures. I'm probably going to at least try it tomorrow. Today's high was 93 F or so and it wasn't too bad. I wouldn't want to exert myself any in the heat, but walking is no problem. And it's not like I'd be walking at the pace I use on the treadmill. Perhaps my treadmill time is paying off with a better heat tolerance too. One way to find out.

A sleazer replies to a post of mine.

In the Sleaze Factor post back in March I mentioned the postcardiod stunt that K-Designers pulls. Today there was a reply posted to it. The reply is reproduced here:

I work for K-Designers

It's not really a scam it's just an advertisement. Basiclly, if you call the number on that card you'll be connected to an inbound rep at our call center. Then they'll inform you that if you allow a sales rep to come out to your home and show you one of our two promotional products, either, 'Siding' or 'Windows', whichever one you're interested in then you'll receive a free george forman grill whether you decide to buy it or not. So as long as you just take a look at our product then you'll receive the grill. The appointment is very brief and the rep will only stay as long as you're interested and have questions. [And as far as the times go we go to different areas looking for promotional homes to help us advertise. That's why the card probably suggests urgency.]

I assure you K-Designers isn't a scam... we've been in buisness for 27 years and we're the #4 home remodling company in the US.

That card is just a ploy to get people to listen to our sales pitch. That's all. You really CAN get a free George Forman grill if you want one. :p

Take care. Hope this puts your mind at ease!

Oh brother. They may be the #4 home remodeling company, but their advertising methods stinks of #2.

Lets see:

- There is the admission that the card "is just a ploy"

- Neither the name of the company nor its product is listed on the card so the "Awards Coordinator" could be mistaken for some genuine drawing someone might have entered and forgot the details of.

- Googling the phone number didn't reveal the company directly, but the company was revealed by someone warning of the ploy.

- Googling the company name leads to an entry in a Who Called Me Database which suggests if not verifies that the company did engage in telemarketing and is using this ploy to get around Do Not Call legislation.

I'm sure that if someone endured the pitch they would get the grill. But I still call this a scam. It may be (just barely) legal, but that doesn't make it ethical. It depends on tricking people into calling. Scam.

And I rest very assured. Assured in the knowledge that if I ever have any remodeling to do, one place I need not even consider is K-Designers. If they need to trick people into hearing about their product or service rather than advertising it outright, they don't deserve my (or anyone else's) business.