Over the years I’ve attempted to form exercise habits in spite of my distaste for it. I’ve employed a number of psychological tricks over the years to aid in forming a physical fitness regimen. It has never lasted, however. You may even recall my experiment a few years ago where I set out to walk at least 45-minutes a day for 40-days in a row through the use of a Paper Clip Chain. That worked for about 42 days. I never got to the point where it was a habit or where I really wanted to do it. I’ve tried several other similar things over the years and nothing has ever stood the test of time.

A number of things have conspired to inspire me to add regular physical activity to my life. I normally don’t get a lot of physical activity during my day. I sit at a desk and work on a computer most of the day and I haven’t had any strong desire to be more physically active.

I recently read The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance by Tony Schwartz, and one of the thing he talks about in that book about how our bodies affect our overall work. The book is about brining balance in to all areas of our lives for maximum energy, engagement, and productivity. It’s certainly not a book on health, diet, and exercise, but there are a couple chapters related to this. In chapter 7 he writes, “Experts say we need twenty to forty-five minutes of exercise three to six days a week…” After reading that, it has been in the back of my mind as something I needed to start doing again.

I’ve also shared about how I’ve been dealing with depression in my life. As I’ve talked with others, some have indicated that regular exercise also plays a role in regulating the chemicals in the brain that are related to depression. Some have shared that they can really tell a difference if they don’t work out for a few days. So, I thought that exercising might help me as well.

Along with depression, the medicine that I’m on has a known side effect of weight gain. In fact, I gained 3 pounds the first two weeks that I was on it, and I made a strong effort to eat less because I knew this was a likelihood. I’m already quite over weight and I don’t need anything else to add to it.

So, I’m trying something new now, and it is working so far. A couple weeks ago I decided to go for a 1-mile walk around my neighborhood right after I got up in the morning. I didn’t enjoy it, but it did seem to make me feel better throughout the day. The next morning I changed the route a little bit to a 1.2-mile route that took me about 24-minutes. This was a more challenging route that takes me over steep rolling hills which provides some nice intervals during the time I’m walking. This is the route I’m doing now.

I’ve decided that I’m only going to do this on regular work days (typically Monday through Friday) and not on weekends, holidays, or when weather doesn’t permit. And I’ve decided that I’m not going to feel guilty on those days that I don’t go. There is a good chance that I’ll get more physical activity during the regular course of the day when I’m not working as well.

Another thing that has changed this time is that I’m not doing this to lose weight. I certainly would like to lose weight, and I hope this will help, but weight loss isn’t my goal; I also don’t consider my walks to be a tool for weight loss.

So far, these three things have helped to solve a couple problems with my past experiences. First, in the past I’ve made my walks to be at least 45-minutes to 1-hour; that’s a long time! By cutting that in half to 20- to 25-minutes, it’s much more agreeable. Second, in the past I’ve made it an everyday event with no room for exception. By making it a workday only thing, I can look forward to breaks on weekends and holidays. Third, by eliminating the goal of weight loss I’m not looking for results that I may not see every day.

More than anything, I’m doing this because I seem to feel better because of it. Last Friday I slept later than usual and thought that I would just skip my walk. I felt drawn to go ahead and walk anyway, so I just went later than usual. I don’t know how to describe the feeling exactly, but it is kind of like that feeling where you know you need a shower or need to brush your teeth–you just feel icky if you haven’t done it. I feel physically icky when I don’t walk on the days I should now.

A word to my critics: You may be thinking that 20- to 25-minutes walking isn’t enough exercise. That’s OK. What I’m doing is certainly better than nothing. You might even say that it walking isn’t challenging enough. The route I take is over rolling hills which provides some extra resistance. Also, if you know me in person, you recognize that I weigh nearly twice what the charts say I should. So, I’m moving a lot of extra weight on that walk as well. If you can imagine walking this distance over rolling hills while carrying someone on your back who weighs about the same as you do, you can get idea for what my walk is like. It’s a pretty good work out in my opinion.

So, why am I sharing this? I know how difficult it has been for me to add physical activity to my life over the years. I’m hoping that by sharing what is currently working for me that others will be encouraged as well. Perhaps something similar will work for you as well. Also, by sharing this publicly, it provides a certain amount of accountability–which is always a great motivator. If I’ve inspired you to try something like this too, let me know in the comments! Happy walking!

Some of you may be asking yourself, “What does Ricky have to be depressed about? He has a good job, he has a wonderful wife who loves him, he’s active in his church, he’s always learning, he joyfully serves and helps others. I mean, if I had his life I certainly wouldn’t be depressed.” If you’re asking that question, it is a question based in ignorance. It’s like hearing that I have a broken arm and saying, “Why does Ricky have a broken arm? He has a good job, he has a wonderful wife who loves him, he’s active in his church, he’s always learning, he joyfully serves and helps others. I mean, if I had his life I certainly wouldn’t have a broken arm.”

Although depression affects the psyche, it is very much a physical problem–as much as a broken arm is a physical problem. It is nothing to be embarrassed about and it doesn’t indicate some particular weakness that is the fault of the depressed person. For some reason, in our society, we tend to remain quiet about mental disorders. Just like we can’t always control what’s going on with our physical body, we can’t always control what’s going on with our brain either (note that the brain is part of our physical body). Because depression is a physical problem, it can be treated like other physical problems, often with medication and/or therapy. When I was debating on whether to consent to take medication for my depression, one of my friends asked me, “If you had cancer, would you take chemotherapy? If you were diabetic, would you take medication for that?” “Sure,” I replied. “Well,” she said, “this is no different.”

When Did It All Start? How Did I Realize I Was Depressed?
I’m not quite sure when my bout with depression started. I tend to think that it was at least two years ago though. For a couple years now I’ve had a very difficult time getting motivated to do things. I’ve been procrastinating a lot and causing myself extreme stress to meet deadlines. Even for those things I haven’t had to do, and I would normally want to do, there just hasn’t been a lot of drive there.

You may recall that a couple years ago I was looking for a new hobby and decided to take up sketching and drawing. This was coming off wrapping up a particularly challenging project. In retrospect, I think this is about the time some shift began to take place in my brain. Looking for a new hobby seemed to be the way to resolve the problem, even though I didn’t really know what the problem was. I only knew that there was something wrong in my life.

Well, drawing and sketching didn’t hold a lot of interest for me. I tried several other things and nothing else has held much interest for me either. When I talked to friends about how I was feeling, some of them, including my dear wife, had suggested that maybe I was dealing with depression. I dismissed that quickly thinking that I had no reason to be depressed; therefore it must be something else.

My wife had suggested that I talk to a counselor. I seriously considered this option. Because I think like an engineer, I can’t just tell someone that there is a problem without identifying the problem as much as possible. At this point I knew I had some problem in my life, but I had no idea what that problem was. For me to go to a counselor at this point and tell her, “I’ve got a problem,” would have been like someone telling me, “My email isn’t working, fix it for me,” without telling me what they were trying, what the desired and expected behavior was, and what they had done to try to fix the problem themselves; I need more information to even know where to begin investigating.

So, last fall I began a “Depression Notes” journal. I’m not quite sure why I called it this, but that’s what I called it. I didn’t journal every day, but I would mostly journal when I was stuck and couldn’t seem to work on anything or when I was especially stressed. I think I discovered a lot about myself through this process. On May 12th of this year I wrote:

I’m bored. I mean, I’m like really, really, bored. Sure, I have plenty of things I could be doing. I have plenty of things I should be doing. In fact, I have another big project that I’m behind on now and I just don’t want to get started on it. I have a tight deadline and I’ll probably be majorly stressing for the next 2 or 3 days as I work on it. Right now though, there just isn’t anything that I want to do. I don’t really want to be journaling right now, but it seemed to be one of the least negative things that I could do.

So, what am I bored with? Pretty much everything. I’m bored with my job. I’m bored with my business. I’m bored in my ministry. I’m bored in Toastmasters. I’m bored with what I read. I’m bored in my marriage. I’m bored with computers. I’m bored with our evening routine. I’m bored with music. I honestly can’t think of anything that I’m not bored with.

When I applied the word “bored” to my life, I felt like I finally had something tangible I could grab onto. I now had some way of describing what I had been feeling for a couple years. I had something that I felt could be “fixed” because I knew what the problem was.

At this point I thought it was a problem with myself, a sin, if you will. I’m a believer. The Holy Spirit lives inside me. I shouldn’t have felt so bored with life. I repented to God of my boredom and asked Him to help me grow through this. After this, I was really motivated and excited for the next couple of days.

James tells us, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” I think that confession is a big part of getting the help to grow and improve, however most of us want to just deal with things on our own in blatant disregard for James’ wisdom and God’s instruction. I began to share this with some of my friends so they would be praying for me as well.

One friend shared with me that he thought I may be clinically depressed. By this time, the ‘high’ from my realization and repentance was wearing off already. He shared about depression in his own life and urged me to see a doctor about it. I didn’t even know what kind of doctor to go see. He told me that any general practitioner could diagnose and treat it. So, I made an appointment with my doctor.

What Is My Current Treatment and Experience?
When I talked with my doctor, he agreed that it sounded like I’m dealing with depression and prescribed 10mg of Paxil per day. I started taking it the next day. It’s supposed to take a couple weeks to kick in, but almost immediately I began feeling better. I think a lot of this may have been the placebo effect and just psychologically knowing that I was on a path to getting better.

About a week-and-a-half after I started the medication, I felt “lower than a snakes belly” (as my wife would say) for a couple days. After feeling so good for over a week, this provided a great point of comparison for how I had felt for so long as compared to how I could feel.

I’ve been on the medication for three weeks now and I really can tell a difference. No, I’m still not as motivated and energized as I would like to be, but I’m still in the very early stages of my treatment as well. Imagine having a toothache and having periods, maybe days, where it doesn’t bother you at all, or not quite as much; that’s kind of what this is like. I see my doctor again next week and we’ll talk about the medication and how things are going. He may also recommend psychiatric counseling, but he wanted to see what the medication would do first. I also need to talk to him about Sleep Apnea as something that could possibly be contributing to this.

Along with the medication, God has also been bringing other sources of strength and help into my life. When I told one friend about it, he put out his hand to shake mine and exclaimed, “Welcome to the club man!” Other friends have also shared about their experiences and encouraged me and listened to me.

Many of the books I’ve been reading lately have been dealing with depression (even though depression is the focus of the book). One of them is a book that overcoming creative blocks that I just started re-reading. Even though I read most of it just a few months ago, I don’t remember much about it; it’s as though I was in some kind of haze at the time. Now I see that the book talks a lot about depression in creative type people. It’s odd that I re-read any book, and I don’t have any good reason for re-reading this one except that I believe God drew me to it again, knowing that I was now ready for it’s message and teaching.

I’ve also joined a virtual Master Mind group which is helping me through some of my productivity and motivational issues. We meet over the phone every other Monday evening and a personal productivity coach facilitates the discussion between us. I’ll be sharing more in future blog posts about what I’m gaining from participating in the group. I don’t think that I would have joined it if I wasn’t moving down the path of treatment for depression, even though I’ve wanted to take part in a Master Mind group for several years.

So, through confession to others, God is helping me. He’s brining all sorts of helpful resources into my life that I would have otherwise have ignored. I’m so thankful for His abiding presence in my life.

Why Am I Sharing This on My Blog?
The bottom line for why I’m sharing this is that I want to help others. I believe God allows all of us to experience things so we can help others who experience those same things after us. I wish I had read a blog post like this a long time ago–it may have pointed me in the right direction a lot sooner and I could be even further down the path of treatment. Maybe by reading my confession, some of you will be encouraged to share your own experiences with depression and therefore be able to help others as well.

I also have a number of new blog posts that I plan to write, and some of them deal with lessons that I’m learning as I grow through this. I think that by writing this public confession it will provide a better context and background for those articles.

Finally, just as opening up to others has already helped me, hopefully confessing to a larger group will provide other help as well. Perhaps some of you will share your own stories and encouragement which will contribute to my further healing. And hopefully some of you will be much in prayer for myself and others who are dealing with this.

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. — James 5:16

The book was waiting for me when I returned home from a vacation in early May. Both Tony and his agent was probably expecting me to read the book in a few quick days since that’s how most reviewers review books. Sorry guys, but I just don’t read that way, especially things in the personal development genre; and when a book challenges the way I’m doing things I tend to read it even more slowly and methodically so that I can begin making changes to the way I conduct my work and life. So, here we are nearly three weeks after the launch date and I’m just now writing my review after finishing the book earlier this week.

Short-short summary review: This is an excellent book to read and work through and I predict it will become the First Things First (by Stephen Covey) for this decade.

Longer Summary: The book probably could have been titled The Way We’re Living isn’t Working. Although the book does talk about work a lot, work is part of our life and not our entire life. I’m hesitant to say the book is about work/life balance though as that implies that larger separation of the two as though work isn’t part of our life. The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working makes the case that the things we do when we aren’t producing for our employer affects the way we produce for our employer and the way we produce for our employer also affects the quality of everything else in our life.

The book begins by taking a look at the current way most people work and how work fits into our lives. He then explores the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual facets of how we live our life. He provides numerous examples throughout the book on how people have worked (or rather lived), how his organization The Energy Project, has helped people to make adjustments (often small and seemingly minor), that has produced huge benefits in all areas of their life.

Book Organization and Structure: I normally wouldn’t have much to say about the way a book is structure. However, Mr. Schwartz and his team did a few things in this book that I found especially noteworthy and I hope that many other authors in the personal development genre make use of these techniques in their books.

One of the things I liked the most was a one-page summary of each of the twenty chapters in the back of the book in a section called “The Big Ideas.” I really wished I had skimmed the back of the book and found this earlier so that I could have read these 20-pages first. I’m one of those people who likes to have my journeys well-planned out and to know where I am during the journey and where I’m going, not just blindly following a leader. If I had read this section first, I would have had the overview and road map I’ve always wanted for a book.

I’ve found that The Big Idea pages also provide a wonderful way to continue savoring the book after you’ve finished reading it. Where it may take me a half-hour to read a chapter, I can read a Big Idea page in a minute or two. It is great to read one of these each day to remind yourself of the principles Tony discussed and taught in each chapter. This will allow the book to continue challenging the way you work without requiring a lot of time. If reading the Big Idea page sparks a desire to re-read a chapter, you certainly can.

The second thing I really liked about the book was that each chapter concluded with a list of Action Steps–these challenges of ways to apply the material presented in each chapter. I think that application is where real learning takes place. As adults, we too often just read something and then feel that we’ve got it. However, we need to work with what we’ve learned and apply it to get the most out of it. A couple years ago I realized this and started adding a section to the computer software courseware that I write that I called “Extra Credit” or “On Your Own”–these were ways for students to explore on their own and apply what they had just learned to real-world problems instead of just using them in a lab under the instructor’s direction. The students who do the extra credit exercises in my classes always seem to get far more out of the class than those who don’t. The same is true of this book–you’ll get far more out of it if you do the Action Steps than if you skip them.

The last thing I found especially noteworthy was the use of the 2×2 matrix. If you’ve read much of anything in the personal development genre, then you’re certainly already familiar with Stephen Covey’s use of the urgent/not-urgent and important/unimportant matrix. Throughout the book, Mr. Schwartz utilizes the 2×2 matrix to help us see how the amount of time and energy we spend in certain areas and the type of energy (think positive and negative) we expend in those areas affects our lives. I found these graphs to be especially useful in understanding and applying the concepts he shared. It is a technique that should be used in both personal and business planning more than it already is, and certainly more than the one 2×2 matrix most of us are familiar with.

Conclusion and Summary: I encourage each of my readers to read The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working. Don’t make it a quick read, but read a little each day and allow the book to challenge the way you work and live. Read The Big Ideas in the back first if you want to get the general overview first and then work through the Next Action steps as you read. I think you’ll discover some ways to make the way you live, not just the way you work, much more enjoyable and effective.

The original rules of Scrabble Slam! are pretty simple:
- Begin by using 4 of the cards to create a 4-letter word, such as PARK.
- Deal the remaining cards between the players equally. Note that there are 55 cards total.
- When the game begins, players change the word by changing one letter at a time. For example, PARK may be changed to MARK, then MARE, the CARE, then CORE, the BORE, etc…
– Each player plays as fast as they can, announcing each word as they make it.
- The winner is the first player to play all their cards.

We played one game by these rules and realized we didn’t like it. It was just too fast for us. It may have been more fun with 3 or 4 players, but we didn’t care for it with just the two of us. So, we were stuck with these 55 Scrabble Slam! cards. I thought about how we might be able to play a game with them that was slower paced and allowed the players to add some strategy to their play of the game. I was able to come up with a variation that has worked fairly well for us.

Here are the rules we play by now:
- Play begins by choosing a 4-letter word for a base and spelling that word with cards from the deck. This can be a mutually agreeable word, or you can take turns selecting the word. In this example, we’ll assume we begin with the word PARK again.
- The remaining cards are dealt and divided equally amongst the players. So, if there are 2 players playing, they each get 25 cards and the last card to be dealt is set to the side and will not be in play. If there are 3 players, they each get 17 cards. If there are 4 players, they each get 12 cards and the last three cards to be dealt are set to the side and will not be in play.
- The first player must change the first letter of the word to form another word. In our example, we’ll assume the player changes it the word to MARK.
- The second player must form a new word by changing the second letter of the word. If he can’t form a word by changing the second letter, then he loses his turn and the next player gets to try forming a word by changing the second letter. Let’s assume the next player forms the word MIRK. Yes, Mirk is a valid Scrabble word!
–  The next player has to form a word by changing the third letter. We’ll assume he changes it to MILK.
- The play continues with each player having to change the next letter of the word. Any player that can’t form a word with the cards in their hand by changing the next letter loses their turn. If all the players should be unable to play on a particular letter, then play will continue to the next letter. For example, if no player could change the K in MILK, then play would continue to the next letter, which also automatically rotates back to the beginning of the word.
- The first player to get rid of all his cards is the winner!
- A couple of important notes: Word can not be repeated. For example, you couldn’t play an S on the S in SILK to make SILK again. However, after SILK had been changed to  FILK, it could be changed to SILK again later. Also, the regular rules apply regarding acceptable words as in Scrabble. Words may be challenged. If a word is found to not be legitimate, then the last card played is removed and the player loses his turn. If it is found to be legitimate, then the player who challenged it will lose his next turn.

So, it’s still a pretty simple game, but it slowed it down enough to make it more enjoyable and to make us think a little more. It also allows you to use some strategy as you think about what words your opponents may, and may not, be able to play on.

If you have a deck of Scrabble Slam! cards laying around, give this variation a try and let me know what you think in the comments!

So, how did they trick me? Here is a picture of the pump:

You’ll notice two things:

• First, notice that the grade selection buttons are out of the normal order. Most stations place the lowest octane fuel on the left and the octane increases as you go the right. The station I visit most recently even offers 10o-octane Race Fuel (of course, I live in North Carolina, which is the heart of NASCAR country) and it is always to the right of the Premium 93-octane fuel.
• Second, notice that the 93-octane sticker is very worn. You would expect that the grade of gasoline that is purchased most often would be the most worn, right? It appears that they’ve recently added new stickers over the 89-octane and 87-octane buttons, but left the old sticker on the 93-octane button. In fact, it appears to me that they may have even scuffed the Premium Unleaded button up some to make it look more used. In my opinion the scuff marks just don’t look like they came from regular wear and tear.

After I finished filling up, I pulled out of the station very slowly so I could examine all the other pumps. Every pump was like this! They all had the highest octane button the left hand side and the Premium Unleaded button looked very worn while the Unleaded Plus and Unleaded Regular buttons fairly new.

So, the bottom line is don’t get in too much of a hurry when you purchase gas or you may be tricked into buying something that you don’t really mean to buy.

Caveat emptor! That’s Latin for, “Let the buyer beware!”

At this particular station, they also give you discounts on your fuel, depending on which type of wash you purchase:
- Ultra Wash costs $9 and you get a $.15/gallon discount
- Super Wash costs $8 and you get a $.10/gallon discount
- Basic Wash costs $7 and you get a $.05/gallon discount

I’m sure that a lot of customers are swayed by the cost per gallon savings. However, I know that is just a gimmick to get you purchase a car wash. Most people aren’t going to take the time to calculate what the car wash actually costs. Of course, I’m not like most people.

I usually fill up my truck when it is very close to empty–my wife hates that I do this, but it just makes the most sense to me to use as much fuel between fills as possible so I don’t waste any more time than necessary in the entire fueling process. Usually I can pump 16-gallons of gas into my trucks fuel tank when it is near empty. So here is my fuel savings for each of the different wash options:
-  $2.40 for Ultra Wash (16-gallons x $.15)
-  $1.60 for Super Wash (16-gallons x $.10)
-  $.80 for Basic Wash (16-gallons x $.05)

Remember that the gas savings is just a gimmick. However, you can deduct the fuel savings from the cost of the wash to calculate the actual cost of the wash like so:
-  $9 Ultra Wash – $2.40 fuel savings = $6.60
-  $8 Super Wash – $1.60 fuel savings = $6.40
-  $7 Basic Wash – $80 fuel savings = $6.20

So, if I’m going to pay $6.20 for a car wash anyway (the Basic Wash), it’s probably worth it to pay the extra 40-cents to get the extra benefits of the Ultra Wash. And if I was purchasing more than 20 gallons of gas then Super Wash becomes cheaper than the Basic Wash and the Ultra Wash becomes cheaper than the Super Wash. And if you happen to have a large truck, or want to fill up multiple vehicles at once, you can get an Ultra Wash for free with a 60-gallon fuel purchase. If you purchase more than 60-gallons of fuel, they will be saving money so it’s like they are paying you to get the wash!

Now, it’s up to each person to decide if it’s worth the cost of an automatic car wash to use it instead of just washing your car yourself with a garden hose, bucket, rag, and detergent, but at least now if you are going to use the automatic wash you know how to calculate the actual cost.

Remember, as my wife says, “A clean car is a happy car!”

One of the key strategies to winning this game is to think in advance and count forward in your mind to know which cards you will need to play on your next turn, and indeed on every future turn. It’s certainly possible to do this in your head, but as there are more players in the game, it can become a daunting task to count forward and also pay attention to what other players are doing at the same time–especially if play is going quickly.

So, I developed a little business card that would fit in my wallet that would help me with games of up to 9 players. Your opponents may, or may not, allow you play with this in sight, but it can help if they do. My original intent for this card was to help my memorize the sequences for varying numbers of players so I didn’t have to count off in my head. It may help you with your memorization too.

You should be able to print this on regular paper, card stock, or copy and paste it into a business card template. If it helps your Bull Crap game, or you have anything else interesting to share, please let me know in the comments.

Enjoy!

Use this card to help you learn the sequences for the Bull Crap card game for varying numbers of players

A lot of my business calls are conference calls. When I schedule conference calls I usually schedule them using Windows Live Meeting because I like Microsoft’s VOIP and I also like to use a webcam so I can see the people I’m talking with and so they can see me as well—expressions and gestures add a lot to understanding another party. LiveMeeting has a lot of other things I like too, but that’s another blog post for another day.

The person who scheduled this particular conference call scheduled it through FreeConferenceCall.com. When it was time, I used my magicJack to dial into the meeting at 218-339-2500. Instead of being asked to enter my conference number, I received the following message from magicJack, “Important announcement! Please listen to this entire short message, the number you have dialed can not be completed from your magicJack. For free conference calling set-up you must dial 305-848-8888. You may press 1 any time during this message to connect. Please use this number for all future free conference calling. Please visit FreeMagicConference.com for more information on magicJack Free Conference Calling. Again, that was FreeMagicConference.com.”

So, I disconnected from this call and called the 305-848-8888 number and entered my conference ID when requested. It was not accepted. Obviously, there was no connection between FreeConferenceCall.com and FreeMagicConference.com. I was really frustrated that I was going to have to make this call and use my cell phone minutes. That’s not why I purchased my magicJack.

After the call, I decided to test and see if I could use Google Voice to place the call. Although I haven’t used Google Voice very much so far, I have configured it to ring my cell phone, home land line, and my magicJack when calls are received. When I received my call from Google Voice, I answered it on my magicJack and then I heard the FreeConferenceCall phone ring once; after that I heard a busy signal. I thought that maybe Google Voice was blocking FreeConferenceCall.com as well. To test this theory, I placed the call again, but had it routed to my cell phone instead. This time there was no problem and I was connected. Somehow, magicJack is even hijacking and diverting these calls even when they are made through Google Voice!

I searched through magicJack’s knowledge-base to see if I could find out anything about this and no matter what keywords or questions I entered, I kept getting answers about how to schedule a conference call using FreeMagicConference.com. No explanation at all about why I couldn’t join a conference call.

I did check out FreeMagicConference.com and it is a service very similar to FreeConferenceCall.com and anyone can use it to schedule a meeting, even if you aren’t using a magicJack. I haven’t tried the service, but I may try it one day and let you know how it works. However, being able to initiate a meeting doesn’t help me to attend a meeting at all.

I planned to document all this here on the blog, but I got tied up with other things. This afternoon I read a blog post by Russell, my magicJack pusher friend, about his recent problems (read MagicJack Call to Free Conference Call not Placed to 218-339-2500). In his post he provides the transcript of a chat session he had with magicJack customer service, so I thought I would chat with them too. Customers have to speak out about this and let them know this isn’t good business. Here is the transcript of my chat:

Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with ‘Kiefer’

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK419075516900X

Kiefer: Hello, how may I help you?

Ricky: Hi, Kiefer.

Ricky: I seem to be unable to join a conference call at 318-339-2500.

Kiefer: Please follow the instructions for making conference calls.

Kiefer: First, dial 305-848-8888

Kiefer: Then press 2

Kiefer: Enter a 3 digit pin to create a conference room number.

Kiefer: And write your conference room number down,

Kiefer: Next is to distribute your dial-in instructions to your conference room attendees.

Kiefer: Dial 305-848-8888

Kiefer: Press 1

Kiefer: and enter your Conference room number.

Ricky: I receive a message telling me I need to call 305-848-8888, but that’s not who my conference call is through.

Ricky: No. I don’t want to SCHEDULE a call, I need to JOIN a call.

Kiefer: Please follow the steps above.

Ricky: My conference call was not scheduled through that service.

Ricky: How do I join a call at this other number.

Kiefer: Thank you for your patience. I will transfer you to a higher level of support. Please hold while I transfer you.

Ricky: Thank you!

Please wait while I transfer the chat to the best suited site operator.

You are now chatting with ‘Kyle’

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK419075516900X

Kyle: Hi, Ricky.

Ricky: Hi, Kyle.

Ricky: I seem to be unable to join a conference call using my magicJack.

Kyle: May I know the exact nature of your problem with full details please?

Ricky: These calls are one of the major reasons I purchased it.

Kyle: Okay

Ricky: I am trying to connect to a conference call at 218-339-2500.

Ricky: My call gets diverted and I receive a message telling me how to SCHEDULE a call through your service. I don’t need to SCHEDULE a call, I need to JOIN one.

Kyle: Ricky conference call will not work with MJ not unless you will be the host of the conference call.

Ricky: It has always worked before.

Ricky: Why will it not work now?

Ricky: I don’t understand.

Ricky: This just started happening on Monday, and it persists.

Kyle: I’m sorry but we have a new update that you cannot connect to a conference call not unless you’re the host

Ricky: So, I’m just out of luck? There is nothing I can do?

Ricky: Where should I escalate my complaint?

Kyle: Ricky I am at the escalation level and I am explaining this to you,

Ricky: So, you’re the CEO of magicJack?

Ricky: I want to make sure that people there know this isn’t acceptable.

Kyle: No I am one of the escalations.

Ricky: And, do you have a supervisor?

Ricky: Can I chat with your supervisor about this?

Kyle: Our superior will be available in the morning Ricky

Ricky: OK. How should I contact him or her?

Kyle: You can chat us back Ricky.

Ricky: So, I need to go back through all this again? Tomorrow morning?

Ricky: That’s even more frustration.

Ricky: At what time will the supervisor(s) be available?

Kyle: In the morning Ricky I do not have a specific time

Ricky: Do you know a time zone? Morning where? I’m in the Eastern Time Zone.

Ricky: It’s always morning somewhere. )

Kyle: We are in FLorida Ricky, it’s EST here.

Ricky: I’m really not wanting to be a pain for you, but I do want to resolve this problem. I purchased your product as my solution to attending costly and time consuming conference calls and now I find that I’m not able to do so. I just need to make sure this gets fixed.

Ricky: OK. I’ll try back in the morning. If I include my Issue ID, can I skip retyping all this?

Kyle: I understand Ricky as much as I want to help you, but I can’t

Ricky: Thank you Kyle. I hope you have a good rest of your evening.

Kyle: And you as well Ricky, have a pleasant evening.

So, the bottom line is that they are no longer allowing their customers to connect to conference calls via the magicJack unless the customer is the host of the call through their service.

I’ll try chatting tomorrow morning and see if I can get to an escalation supervisor. I’ll keep you posted!

Update: I did some research on FreeConferenceCall.com and how they make money. I found a really short and simple article entitled, The Skinny on FreeConferenceCall.com. I don’t know if magicJack has to pay when people use their service to connect to these lines, but I’m doubting it. I end to think they just want their piece of the free US Toll calling pie and they want to force their users to give it to them. I plan to broach this with the supervisor tomorrow morning if I’m able to actually talk to one.

Update: I have filed a form 2000B – Billing, Privacy, or Service Quality Compliant with the FCC. Here is the text of that compliant:

magicJack no longer allows calls to be placed to FreeConferenceCall.com phone numbers, which means that I can’t attend many conference calls that others schedule for me. They play a message that I can schedule a conference call through their own FreeMagicConference.com service, but there is no way to join a conference call someone else scheduled using the other service. They used to allow this and then suddenly I noticed they were blocking the calls on Monday, August 24. I have contacted customer service and they tell me, “I’m sorry but we have a new update that you cannot connect to a conference call not unless you’re the host.” They don’t give any reason for the change in policy, nor was any warning given.

I don’t know if this is a violation of FCC policies or not, but I wanted to bring it to your attention in case.

I have documented my complete experience, including chat transcripts at: http://rickyspears.com/blog/2009/08/magicjack-hijacks-my-free-conference-calls-to-218-339-2500/

Update (2009-08-27): I was able to chat with a supervisor. The bottom line is that they will not provide any explanation for the change and she says that I can’t chat with anyone higher than her, nor can I call anyone higher. Here is the transcript of our chat:

Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with ‘Morgan’

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK419075595198X

Morgan: Hello, how may I help you?

Ricky: Hi. I chatted with support last night on Issue ID: LTK419075516900X. Then I chatted with an escalation representative on Issue ID: LTK419075516900X.

Morgan: One moment please…

Ricky: Kyle told me I could chat with an escalation supervisor today.

Ricky: I would like to chat with an escalation supervisor, please?

Morgan: Okay

Morgan: One moment please…

Morgan: Thank you for your patience. I will transfer you to a higher level of support. Please hold while I transfer you.

Ricky: Thank you, Morgan!

Please wait while I transfer the chat to the best suited site operator.

You are now chatting with ‘Myrene’

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK419075595198X

Myrene: Hi Ricky.

Ricky: Hi Myrene.

Myrene: One moment please…

Ricky: I’m rather disappointed that I can no longer ATTEND conference calls. I would like to get some sort of explanation about why this changed if I can.

Myrene: aRe you having issue with the conference call?

Ricky: Yes. I can’t ATTEND conference calls that other people schedule through services like FreeConferenceCall.com.

Myrene: Alright, I believe you want to Join a confenece call, right? I am sorry but you cannot call that number, magicjack does not support that number. However, you may create your won Conference call . first, create your free magicjack conference room number, – Dial 305-848-8888.

Ricky: I just get a message saying that I have to use FreeMagicConference.com to schedule a conference.

Ricky: However, that doesn’t help me to attend one someone else scheduled.

Ricky: I used to be able to attend them before Monday.

Myrene: That is the new upgrade in our system that i cannot change it Ricky.. I understand how your feel believe me but we cannot change it anymore.

Ricky: Can you tell me why this was changed?

Ricky: Perhaps, why the company felt this would be good for your customers?

Myrene: Before we do not have our own conference phone number but now since we have upgraded you as  a MJ user can create a conference call for free,

Ricky: I hear you.

Myrene: Thank you for that Ricky

Myrene: And for allowing me to explain it

Ricky: However that addresses why you don’t want people to SCHEDULE calls, but it doesn’t explain why you won’t allow people to ATTEND calls.

Ricky: From a customer perspective, it’s rather rude.

Myrene: We are open with your opinions and suggestions Ricky.. Please do not worry… I  let the higher dept know about this so that they are aware of this as well.

Ricky: Can I chat with anyone higher, myself?

Myrene: I am sorry but this is the higher level that you can chat with Ricky.

Ricky: OK. Who can I call and talk to about this?

Myrene: we as a supervisors… and once we end this chat i will copy and paste our conversation so that they are aware of this.

Ricky: So, you’re saying there is nothing more I can do to get an explanation unless I involve a body outside of magicJack? Like the FCC or BBB or something?

Ricky: I would really prefer to talk to someone there and get an explanation.

Ricky: I just don’t see why some explanation is that difficult.

Myrene: If you are going to create a conference call… the other can join the conference

Ricky: Even if you lie to me, I won’t know the difference. )

Ricky: But I don’t schedule these calls. Other people schedule them. I can’t force them to use one service or another–the way you’re forcing me.

Myrene: I know that you are now frustrated with this but i do not want to lie with you because i do not want you to expect.

Ricky: Just so we are clear: are you saying there is no way for me to get an explanation about why I can no longer attend a conference call that someone else schedules via FreeConferenceCall.com or any other service?

Myrene: I am afraid yes.

Ricky: OK. I’ll take this as gospel… for now.

Ricky: Please let my displeasure be known where you can, and I’ll let my displeasure be known where I can.

Myrene: Sorry didn’t quite catch that

Ricky: Please let your supervisors know that I am displeased and why.

Ricky: I will do everything I can do publicize my experience.

Myrene: Affirmative Ricky

Ricky: Thank you, Myrene. I hope you have a good afternoon!

Myrene: I hope so.

Myrene: You are welcome

Update (2009-08-27): I have just found out that calls to FreeConference.com are being blocked in this same manner as well.

Update (2009-10-07): About a week ago I received my paper copy of my complaint to the FCC and I filed it away. Personally, I think these paper copies are quit wasteful in the modern electronic age, but that’s what they do. Oh well. This afternoon I received a call from someone named Andrew at magicJack saying that they had received their copy of the complaint and were offering me a full refund on my 5-year contract. I called him back. He was very friendly and professional; I think we had a really good conversation. I told him that I was generally happy with my magicJack and wanted to continue using it–so I didn’t want a refund. I explained that I wasn’t sure about the legality of them blocking access to certain numbers and the only way I could discover that was to file a complaint and leave it for the FCC to decide. He explained that they had reached out to the free conference call companies but said they don’t seem to be willing to work with magicJack to provide free access to their numbers for magicJack users, so it’s unlikely that this functionality will be coming back any time soon. I expressed to him that the consumer will continue to lose as long as CLECs, the VOIP operators, and the Free Conference Call companies all continue to hold onto their current business models and are unwilling to work together to find a solution that works for their customers. A third party will come along eventually that does meet the consumer’s requests and they will wish they had worked together sooner rather than later. It was nice to get to finally express my opinions to a real person at magicJack. [By the way, I am not at liberty to disclose Andrew's direct phone number at magicJack, sorry.]

As an educator, I see all types of people seeking training. Even more so, I see all types of people who aren’t seeking training. If you are a lifelong learner, or even if you’re someone who thinks their education ended in high school (except for the daily school of hard knocks), I think you might want to read this article.

I will warn you that if you pay attention, it might have the effect of increasing your position in your company, or some other company, and increasing your salary as well. So if you’re happy where you are in life, you may want to skip this one.

My laptop runs Vista Business and one problem I have is that when I need to Shut Down (Turn off) or Restart (reboot) my laptop, those things aren’t options in the Start menu. When connected via RDP you you only have the options of Log Off and Lock.

I’ve found a nifty little work-around that may help you as well. Click on Windows Security instead of where you normally click to turn off your computer.

In the Windows Security area, click on the Shut down options button—this is the little arrow beside the Shut Down button in the lower right-hand corner. Here you can access the options for Restart, Sleep, Hibernate, and Shut Down.

Enjoy!