Vox

Conversation at Work

The bookkeeper was in today and this was just one of our frustrating exchanges:

her: Did the taxes get paid last week?
me: I didn't pay them, I believe M was going to come in and do that
her: So can you tell me whether or not they got paid?
me: No, but M said that she was coming in on Friday to pay them. If she did she would have left you the receipts.
her: Yeah, I've got the receipts.
me: ?????!!!!!

UPDATE: Turned the episode into a comic at Pixton

Crash. Boom. Bah.

Out of nowhere the unexpected hits you like a giant pothole in the road. Well, in this case, that is exactly what it was - a giant, truck-killing pothole.

Those of you who know me and this blog know I can be cheap frugal, but I will get things if I can reasonably afford them (life is stressful enough without incurring debt). The past few months have been sort of level, so I figured I was OK to replace my 7 yr old computer. Poor thing was straining under the demands of new programs and large storage needs. It cost a bit more than expected, especially when you throw in the extra software I "needed" to have :-), but with no major expenses coming up I decided I could swing it.

Then the pothole. D's truck is a massive Ford F-250. That thing has gone over some harsh roadways with no trouble, but he hit that pothole just right and busted a leaf spring in the front end (when I tweeted about that, I called it a lead spring. Hey, I don't do cars and "leaf spring" makes no sense) He took it to Brakemasters since they had most recently worked on it and he thought they might be reasonable. Hah!

Brakemasters diagnosis claimed the broken spring had caused the bushings (?) to break, which required replacing everything because you "can't just replace the bushings", they also claimed his shocks were shot and needed immediate replacement. There were a couple of other things in there, as well, to the tune of nearly $2,400. Ouch. Instant stress about where that money will come from & "why didn't I wait to buy the computer?".

He has a friend with a body shop, and though body work is his bread and butter he is a certified mechanic (so he can rebuild those totaled cars that come in) He told D that based on the Brakemasters diagnosis, and without seeing the truck, he thought he could do it for around $900-$1,000, but he is busy. He couldn't get to it till Monday.

One more place to try: Glendale Spring. When D first bought his truck he took it to them to get it set up for his preferences (they are suspension specialists, I guess). He thought they might be able to at least sell him the spring direct, even if he took it to his buddy to do the work. Turns out they were willing, able & available to take care of the whole fix. And this is where it gets REALLY irritating.

We dropped off the truck Thursday evening, they had it finished well before lunch on Friday. All it needed was the springs; the shocks were perfect, he said, surprisingly so for a truck with 180,000 miles. The bushings had not been damaged, though if they had been, he said they are easily replaced for around $20. No other problems. In and out in less than a day for under $400 total.

It would appear Brakemasters was attempting a huge, expensive scam - no wonder people don't trust mechanics.

As for me, though I wasn't planning on spending that $400 last week, I keep looking at it as $2,000 that D saved by shopping around. That's money in the bank, Baby :-)

Dropping off and picking up the truck involved playing musical cars. That meant on Friday, the most efficient way to get everything back where it belonged meant driving the Corvette to Glendale Spring and one of us driving each vehicle over to D's house. I don't feel comfortable with the idea of driving either; we had a Camaro way back in the 80's and that big front end always threw me (but ya' gotta love the pick up) besides the fact that he loves that car (what if I wrecked it), the truck is just SO big I was sure I'd overlook some little hybrid and crush it . It's been ages since I drove a stick, though, so I opted for the truck. Almost all straight-away, no issues - but glad I didn't have to park it. Yes, I can be a seriously wussy girl sometimes ;-)

Problems With The Cement Pond

One of the properties I bought had tenants in place - in fact they had been there over 6 years and wanted to stay which made buying the place a no brainer. The process was slow and painful because it was a short sale, but finally got to the end and was ready to close....but my mortgage company wouldn't sign off until the pool was blue. Don't ask me, I didn't understand it, either.

Tenants had a long sob story about why the pool was in such bad shape, but it didn't change anything. I had 2 days to turn a swamp blue. I paid for a large amount of serious chemicals to get it in shape - and I told them that after that I didn't care what the pool looked like as long as no one was issuing citations.

She then told me that it had been acid washed 4 times in 5 years and they had been told that there was not enough plaster left to do it again, it would have to be resurfaced. At the time I said, "There is no chance that I am going to have a pool resurfaced that has been so poorly maintained the last few years it needed serious intervention - several times. If it gets to that point, I will just have it filled in" I was dead serious, too

Since then I have given them some gift cards when I had extra, given them some stuff for the kids. Nothing major, but thought it might help.

Well, the tenant just called to say that she has had a rough month (every month is rough for them) and she wants me to buy her pool chemicals so they can swim. I reminded her that I hate pools and she let it get in that shape so, if it is going to keep being a problem, I would just as soon fill it in. Not sure she understood that I would REALLY just as soon fill it in.

The kicker to this story: said tenants are on 100% Section 8 housing meaning they pay $0.00 for living in a 5 bedroom house with a pool. They get a subsidy for utilities, and I have been paying the sewer/trash bill anyway, just because I could & it was easier for me. Living proof that giving people something for nothing instills an assumption that they should expect to be given more. Sigh

Quote Of The Day

From a comment over at AZ Central:

"The free market concept is why we are in the mess we are. We need to revert to a more socialistic society based on capitalisim and socialism combined. The free market concept has made too many people greedy and thinking only of thierselves and not our society as a whole." [sic]

Not sure it is possible to be any further off base there, AZ Gringo. What is even more disturbing are the number of comments that echo the "we need to move to a more socialistic system" mindset.

The propaganda of the left is very effective.

Customer Service "Don't"

Received an email this morning from my doctor's office:

Blah Blah Blah Physicians has sent you a secure communication. Because we value our confidential relationship with you, this message is only available to be viewed through our secure online patient portal. To access the portal and view this communication, please go . . .

Followed by instruction about what part of the website to visit and entering my login & password, etc.

Of course, I rarely log in to that account so I forgot my login and password. Have to answer a bunch of questions for them to send my login ID. Got that. Have to answer a bunch more questions to get them to reset my password. Got that.

Have to answer more questions to reset & change the password. Then I have to login. Then I click on my messages folder, and have to log in again.

Then I get my message which says:

We would like to wish you and your family a very Happy New Year.
Thank you very much and we look forward to seeing you at your next visit.

As much as I appreciate the thought...why the F#%@ didn't you just say that in the original email?!? It isn't like there is anything requiring a "secure" messaging system. No personal data. Nothing.

Stating the Obvious

A woman was apparently killed when she tried to leave the ceremony initiating her into the KKK.

One of the more redundant quotes:

"The IQ level of this group is not impressive"

They're members of a white supremacist organization, the lack of brain power goes without saying.

Of course the sheriff, in trying to alleviate fears I am sure, adds this gem:

I can't imagine anyone feeling endangered or at risk by any one of these kooks

They are investigating a murder and have so far found several weapons. They may not be organized enough to pose a serious threat to large numbers of any ethnic group, but they certainly could be dangerous to someone.

Ugly Is As Ugly Does

The main theme emerging in the comment threads around the internet is that Palin can't be smart because she is pretty.

"Just a pretty face"
"A trophy VP choice"
"Apparently he only cares about surrounding himself with attractive women"
"How long till the nude photos surface"
"Just wait till the sex tape shows up"
"It is an insult to serious women everywhere"

"blah blah blah"

Apparently, in order to be a serious, intelligent women, you have to scare small children on the street.

Interesting

UPDATE: "She may be a homophobe and an anti-feminist, but….

John McCain's Vice Presidential running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was a hottie back in the day.
She was probably a slut too!
Can't wait ’till all the skeletons start tumbling out of her closet!
How many dudes have done her up the butt and tapes it??? "

Way to stay classy and take the high road.

A Public Service Announcement

I would like to point out that the weather report called for a slight chance of rain tonight.

It has been pouring for hours.

I tried checking in several places (weather.com, wunderground, etc) for the current week's forecast and found predictions ranging from sunshine for the next five days to thunderstorms through Sunday, and everything in between. It seems as if they simply had their computers randomize all the possibilities.

Meteorology might be a reasonable career path for those D+ students out there, you only need to be right every now and then.

cue jingle The more you know...®

Glad That's Cleared Up

I have become rather fond of iced coffees - those horribly over-sweetened things the fast food joints are selling. I can't even begin to imagine how bad they are for me. (and I like it that way, I don't need any of you helpful people leaving that information in the comments, thankyouverymuch. This is a situation where ignorance really is bliss)

That, however, isn't the point.

McDonald's offers theirs in two sizes. I generally get the smaller one, which occasionally leads to a 'small' problem.

Conversation -
Me: I'll have a small vanilla iced coffee
Them: We don't have small, we have medium and large
Me: How can you have a medium if you have only two sizes?
Them:........................

I guess I could avoid the problem by just ordering the medium, but that just makes no sense to me at all. I will continue to order the small, it is the principal of the thing.

Headline of the Day

Magazine puts diversity in vogue with all-black issue

I don't think that word means what you think it means.

Myopic Vision

I have been giving Netflix a try for the last couple of months. I have been much less than thrilled with the experience.

Their web interface is ridiculously clunky.

They limit what movies you are allowed to know about, for instance, by not actually having a page to list ALL new releases. When I called customer service to see if there was a place to see what DVDs had released each week I was told no, that they had decided to only show some of the movies to limit the demand for popular movies and reduce wait times. Huh? Why not just tell me what came out and let me know I will have to wait longer for this movie than for that movie? Pretty counter productive to require me to go to HollywoodVideo.com to find out what movie I might want to see.

When you add a movie to your queue, you have to deal with an obnoxious pop-up listing other recommendations. You know what? If I want other recommendations, I can click on the link to recommendations. When I want to add movies to the queue, that is what I want to do - don't make it slow and clunky. Customer service answer - that is a feature and there is no way to change your preferences to get rid of it. Yeah, great feature...it made me nuts.

The turn around time is SLOW. Perhaps I got spoiled on being able to turn in movies at my local Blockbuster, either getting a free movie in exchange or just having the return logged (thus getting my next movie sent right away)

The prices ain't that great.

When they send a movie from my queue, they seem to pick completely at random. Why have me determine an order I would prefer to receive the DVDs if you are just going to ignore my list?

So I canceled. They sent me through a long survey page to find out why I left, but never gave me a chance to actually answer. The only subject they were really interested in was their "Watch Instantly" feature. How did you like it? How did it measure up to your expectations? Did you find it easy to use? How many movie did you watch instantly?

I didn't join because of their "watch instantly", I didn't use it during the trial period (which they should know), and my cancellation was in no way related to that feature. I had many complaints I would have shared with them had they given me the chance, instead I will share them with you.

And add another one - complete disregard for getting information that might help them improve their product.

BTW: I forgot to mention their extremely unfriendly cancellation policy. I timed my departure so as to hit the day before they billed me for another month. Good thing. They were very sure to tell me, no partial months will be refunded. You are unable to continue using the service. No credits will be issued. If I had already been billed for the next month, too bad - cancellation is immediate and complete. And kinda snotty in the delivery, too.

When I canceled with Blockbuster, they told me when I was paid through and allowed me to avail myself of their service up till that time. Even after my online membership was expired, when I took the DVDs back to the store, they allowed me to exchange them for free rentals. I may have had issues with Blockbuster, but they handled our parting of ways like a professional service oriented company - one that might want me to come back someday.

Gag Reflex

Speaking of bad commercials (yeah we were, at the office)....

There is a particularly unpleasant ad airing these days for Mentos gum. You may have seen it, chick walks up to a guy sitting next to the water cooler and "drinks" from his mouth instead. It has gotten enough air time that now I only need to hear the background tune to starting gagging.

If the goal of an ad campaign is to create that indelible link in a consumer's mind for a product, this one is a slam dunk.

I will forever associate Mentos gum with other people's spit.

Parental Authority

Got this in an IM from T.C.H.O.T.P. today:

Commentary on the Canadian court overturning the grounding:

The phrase "nanny state" doesn't begin to capture it, since, at least in non-Crazy Town, parents overrule nannies, not the other way around.
~ from Jimmy Akin

Quote of the Day

From a comment on the AZ Central concerning a proposed remodel permit amnesty program.

I'll take the permit and fees any day. its what is great about this country.

Hmmm, I can think of many things that are great about this country - but permits and fees wouldn't be anywhere on there.

UPDATE: Here's a new one

This should make everyone in Maryvale, on Bell Rd between I-17 and 32nd St, Sunnyslope and Cave Creek & Sweetwater neighborhoods happy. There are more non permitted construction in these neighborhoods than in Iraq, Mexico and Afghanistan put together.

Exaggerate much?

How To Drive Customers Away

I have several accounts with Washington Mutual, and have for several years - in fact, they are the fifth or sixth bank in a line to have purchased a bank that previously had my account.

They are trying very hard to get me to leave, though.

Were there an obvious choice, somewhere I could expect great customer service, I would already be gone.

Recently, I found out they charge for electronic transfers. Every transfer, every time. Even if I am transferring money in. Nice - charge me for giving you money, thus guaranteeing I won't be transferring money in ever again.

Today I found out they don't take third-party checks. At all. D got paid for some jobs and, thinking I could save him a trip, was going to deposit them in my bank and get him the cash. I easily have the amount covered - literally zero risk for WAMU. In fact, the other checks I was depositing would have covered it. No go. No wiggle room.

Of course, I have already signed them so now it will a pain in the @$$ for D to cash them. I called Wells Fargo and was told they don't have a policy against it. I have an account there, too, so I start heading to the local WF. On the way, I pass another WAMU and decide to give them another try.

I get the same answer, but the clerk asks a manager for me. She explains that if the checks bounce, I am on the hook for them - duh. If the checks were made out to me and they bounced, I would be on the hook for them, that is how it works. However, in this digital age, finding out if the checks are good can be almost instantaneous.

She says she will make an exception one time (since D is there to give his ID, too) and starts the process. My faith is starting to get restored....

Then she says the account has been flagged by the guy at the other branch. He put a notice to not take the third party checks from me because he already told me it was against WAMU policy. Niiiice. My perception of them is right back in the toilet. She goes ahead and takes the checks anyway, but it is really too little too late.

As we drove further down the street, D pointed out a brand new Wells Fargo branch - wish I had just gone there first.

Call Me

"When someone wants to give you money, don't make it difficult for them"

I have been trying to find some people to do some work at my house. I need my pool resurfaced, and I need my landscaping rescued. So I sent out a request to friends for any referrals they might have.

I got a couple of names for pool guys, all of whom have gone out of business. Luckily, one of them knew someone who they recommended - so I got a referral, once removed.

The landscaping has been trickier. I got a couple of promising leads, ones that even came with the assurance that "he'll return your calls" - not like the other guys. That is very important to me because the main reason my yard is in such bad shape is my inability to find reliable service. They don't return calls, they don't show up when they say they will, they don't do the job they promised to do.....

Well, I talked to both of the referrals. Both returned my calls and came to look at my property. Both set up times when they would call me back to give me their ideas and pricing.

I called each of them after their visit and they said they would call in the next two days. Neither one has called since. Weeks later - nothing.

I am looking to do a complete overhaul, front and back. This will be a large, and not inexpensive, job.

With all the complaining about the sluggish economy, it shouldn't be so hard to give someone money.

Guess I will start again. Do any of you have personal experience with a landscape designer that you would recommend?

I mean that you would really recommend - someone who won't flake out on me before they even start.

Un-Businesslike

One of my pet peeves: people who use their business email lists to send jokes and other email forwards (many of which turn out to be untrue)

This morning I got one that pushes that even farther, from a local teacher. There isn't anyone on my email list that I would sent this to, certainly not to just the whole general group.

What was he thinking?

(included below)

UPDATE: I failed to note that this particular piece was attributed to Michael Richards, though I don't actually believe he authored it. I imagine he will get saddled with this type of thing for many years. There is no doubt he is an idiot and he got caught up and went off the deep end with the N-word at a stand-up gig. I don't, however, think he would be stupid enough to expand on the concept, particularly after experiencing the fall-out.

Proud To Be White

Someone finally said it.
How many are actually paying attention to this?

There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, etc.
And then there are just Americans.

You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You Call me 'White boy,' 'Cracker,' 'Honkey,' 'Whitey,' 'Caveman' ... and that's OK.

But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head, Sand-nigger, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink ... You call me a racist.

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?

You have the UnitedNegroCollege Fund.
You have Martin Luther King Day.
You have Black History Month.
You have Cesar Chavez Day.
You have Yom Hashoah.
You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi.
You have the NAACP.
You have BET.
If we had WET (White Entertainment Television) we'd be racists.
If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.
If we had White History Month , we'd be racists.
If we had any organization for only whites to 'advance' OUR lives we'd be racists.

We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce.
Wonder who pays for that?

A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any color can be in the Miss America pageant.

If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships you know we'd be racists. There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US. Yet if there were 'White colleges' THAT would be a racist college.

In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.

You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug-dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.

I am proud.
But you call me a racist.

Why is it that only whites can be racists?

Idiots On Parade

Nothing says "Happy New Year" like taking a life - or 2, or 4.

Random gunfire

Drunk driving

Shattered families because a couple of morons asked themselves, "What's the worst that can happen?" and failed to let the obvious answer stop them.

Yes, I know these are just two examples of what I am sure are many, many tragedies over the Holiday season, but they serve to illustrate my point.

Poor PR

I just received this email notice:

We have five brand new blends of coffee under the Mighty Cup label.

They are all roasted locally by a genius roaster!! (No not me - LOL)

Stop in to see and taste (and buy!) them. We are offering a free medium drink from our menu - with the purchase of a bag-o-beans.

I am very excited about these - bring all your friends!

Happy holidays to you all!

That's it, in full. If you didn't know that "Mighty Cup" was not only a brand name, but also the name of the coffee shop, you would be completely lost. Instead you are only partially lost because they not only neglected to mention WHO they are but also WHERE they are. They want you to come down and buy...but you are on your own to figure out that pesky detail.

This isn't the first email I have gotten from them that neglected that important information, and I have pointed out the problem to them on at least 3 occasions.

It also went into my bulk mail folder because the subject line was "New Beans - Promotion!!" <~ most filters don't care for multiple exclamation points.

I actually like the place, I want them to do well, but how, in this day and age, can someone do that poor of a job with their marketing, online or off?

Barry Manilow is A Wussy Boy

OK, that isn't exactly a newsflash. But he is way more wussy than I ever gave him credit for, so much so that he is afraid of a girl.

Is it some butch WWE wrestler type chick that has Barry quaking in his boots? Nope, it's this tiny little girly-girl.

She is a Conservative, though, so that might give her scary superpowers.....

UPDATE: Heard Dennis Miller talking about this on his radio show, he referred to the singer as "Barely Man Enough" - I think it fits. What is it about the left that, when they disagree with someone, they can't discuss it? Besides, let's face it, this wasn't Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh, both 'entertainers' whose whole shtick is to agitate and who might rile him up for the pure fun of it - and who usually make their targets look pretty bad.

His appearance on The View was to involve a performance and discussing his new album. Unless the songlist contains an ode to partial-birth abortion, I don't imagine Hassleback would have been on the war path. She would have been charming, told him she always loved his music, can't wait to get the new album....blah, blah, blah

Maybe it is just a publicity stunt on his part to try and generate buzz, hoping that will translate into sales. Making yourself look like an idiot seems an odd choice for that, though.

Getting positive exposure on The View, on the other hand, would have nailed his target audience and probably gotten him a sale or two.

Pain In The

The spambots have found me again. Comments are off until they move on.

What Not To Eat

I have been wanting pizza the last few days, so I figured I would grab a couple of slices for lunch. I ran down the street to our local little joint, Pizza City. Or so I thought.

It is now "Melrose Cafe" or something like that. Not that I need to remember the name, I won't be going back.

Not only were the dollar slices tiny, (two slices were smaller than one from the old days) they sucked. Bad. Cardboardish.

The cashier was rude, as well. Right down to the end where he insisted on giving me my penny in change. When I said, "Oh, you don't have a penny cup?" he said, "No, those are tacky" voice dripping with all the condescension you imagined.

FYI

FedEx sucks

That is all

Cooties

I stopped at the Circle K at 19th Ave & Northern this morning. The dirtiest, most disgusting of their stores I have ever been in. Yeck!

And Another Thing...

...that pisses me off about MySpace. Hot linking! I have been meaning to post about this, then I saw 3Ts post and have to agree.

Why do those boneheads think it is OK to steal my bandwidth? I have my hotlink protection on, so they never actually get an image to display. However, every time some under-supervised, over-hormoned teenager clicks on one of their friends' pages, my server has to deal with the request. Considering how many of these jerks there are on MySpace, that is a lot of traffic.

And it ticks me off!

I understand it is a good resource for new music. I just don't have the patience to wade through the cesspool to find a new band I might like.

UPDATE: As of 11/20, my test image is still the number one result on Google....

Rap Sux

We finally got a decent station in Phoenix, STAR 97.5, playing standards and jazz.....

but when I tuned it in the other night it was playing RAP!

It sucks when you are expecting Michael Buble singing a love song and you get some moron screaming about b*#@^es and hos, instead.

[sigh]

&*%$^#$@

I just wrote a long post - and a pop up ate it. Changed my edit page to something else and everything I had written disappeared.

Argh!!!!!

Bottom line; I got lousy service when trying to buy myself dinner a couple of nights ago, tried Sonic, Taco Bell, and Popeye's Chicken - finally settled for a Pop-Tart.

It was a much funnier story in it's original form.

Zing

I just got my Quotes of the Day email and this one really struck me for some reason:

A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company.

-- Gian Vincenzo Gravina

I know many people who fit that description......

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

This is just a quick post because I am in a hurry, but I am so peeved I had to get this out there.

My boyfriend picked his son and a friend up from football practice this evening and planned to take them to a local sports bar for Buffalo Wings. He has done this before with friends. Today, they wouldn't allow them in because "he is not directly related to you" and so it is "against the law". Now, as I said, he has done this with other friends and no one ever asked a question. What made this different? Today the friend was black and so quite obviously not related.

I can't imagine this was a racist thing since I have seen other black/hispanic/what-have-you people in there on previous occasions. However, I have to question what law this guy was refering to, and why it has never been an issue in the past.

Anyone?

BTW: In case you are interested, it was Drivers Sports Bar at Litchfield and Indian School Rd.

UPDATE: I got confirmation on the law. The problem now is that we have been in violation of it almost every other time we have eaten there. We have sent the son in by himself to grab us a table, we allow him to go play pool and/or video games (the law states that minors have to stay right by their parent or legal guardian at all times), we have taken other kids, he has gone with other families (one of whom is all short little Mexicans and he is a tall blonde kid). If they are going to follow the letter of the law, they should be doing so consistently. Don't you think?

Are You Kidding me?

Seriously, can this possibly be true? Is there any chance Bacardi will win this, no matter how absurd it is?

Women sue Bacardi over rum burns

How exactly is that Bacardi's fault? Shouldn't they go after the guy who started the fire?

Blocking Your Customers

We are trying to work out what to do for lunch today, so I thought I would check out the Wendy's menu. But when I go to their site, this is what I see:

Wendys.com users a version of the Flash plugin that may not match the current version on your computer. Please update your Flash plugin now

Yeah, the typo is theirs, as well.

So, not only do they lock out users who don't use Flash (why is flash necessary for a fast food website?), they lock out users who use an older version of Flash. Very bad user experience, very poor planning.

All Inclusive

I just heard a phrase on the radio that I have to post for Special Agent Johnny Utah and the language police. The ad was for Walgreen's pharmacy where they apparently accept "all major prescription plans, including mine"

Not Helpful

So those of you that read this blog yesterday saw my post about my web host service having to move my site to a different server - something that shoulda been pretty simple. Those of you reading today will see that everything since June 29th has disappeared.

Nice.

When I called them they said they had a backup from July 8th they could put up, which is better than what I've got. Of course, that was about 2 hours ago - and they said it would be up in 30 minutes.

It's not that I think anything I posted was earth shattering or anything, but I still hate to lose it :-(

Interesting Sales Tactic

I stopped at the Dollar Store to pick up a few things on my way to work this morning. When she told me the total it seemed a smidge high, but I wasn't sure. I looked at my receipt right away and saw that she had charged me twice for one item, no big deal really - right?

So she says, "Yeah, I did, but we don't give refunds so if you just want to pick something else out...."

To which I said, "Excuse me?!?! You just overcharged me and you are telling me you won't fix it? Are you kidding me?" Seriously, her response totally threw me.

She started stammering and trying to defend it when the manager saw me and asked what had happened. Then she gave me my money back. However, rather than void the transaction and re-ring it, saving time, trouble and paperwork, she did a refund (which they don't do, remember) and required me to fill out a form.

Really, are you kidding me? Nice way to wrack up sales, though. I can just hear the meeting, "OK, people, we are a bit behind in our numbers. Everybody just charge an extra item to a customer each day. If they complain tell them to pick something out because we won't give them a refund"

MySpace For ????

Manny seems to hold MySpace in only slightly higher esteem than me.

Not only do I not get it, I think is highly detrimental to the kiddies - yes, I actually just said "what about the children?" But, seriously, other than looking at nearly nekkid people, what is the point of it? Would you really take seriously a business that had a MySpace page? It would certainly make me steer clear of them.

Via: Glitterati Gossip

Only In Amerika

This can't really be happening, can it? A judge in hot water for saying the Pledge of Allegiance when he opens his court for the day?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to The Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I guess the "liberty and justice for all" is offensive in a court room?

Turning Off Your Customers

I have been a long time subscriber to Blockbuster online. I have made good use of the service and been fairly happy with it. The prices have been steady for me, in fact, each time they raised their prices for new subscribers they assured me that as a long time customer I would remain at the old rate. The old rate was $14.99 per month for three at a time rentals, plus two coupons for a free in store rental each month.

Recently they offered a "great deal" - their new plan offered a free in store rental each week. However, the coupons had to be used that week only, and you had to choose to switch to a $17.99 a month plan. Not interested, thanks.

I happened to check my bank account today and found that they had charged me more than usual - $3.25 more. Hmmm. So I went to their site and found no answers. I put in a support request and was told that

:

Now, we’re giving our customers the opportunity to continue their rental plan at its original non-promotional price with our free in-store movie or game coupons; still a great value at $17.99.

Except my rate wasn't a "promotional price" it was their original rate. Now they tell me I have to choose one or the other:

I would like to inform you that there are two options you can choose from. One is to remain on the 3-out at $17.99 with 2 monthly e-coupons good for movie AND game rentals. This is still a great value because no other movie rental online service can offer this benefit to their customers. Another is to change to the 3-out at $17.99 with 1 weekly e-coupon each week.

Hrmph!

So, I decided I would check out Netflix. I hate cookies, however (you store your own damn information, unless I have a reason to allow it), so I have them rejected. Netflix, in their infinite customer service wisdom, doesn't allow you to get ANY info unless you allow cookies. No rate info, no plan info, no movie info. No cookies, no business - you can't even take a peek at what they have to offer. HOW STUPID IS THAT FOR AN ONLINE BUSINESS?!?!

I tried the phone number they list for questions and was told, by a recording, that I could find out anything I want by going online to "w w w dot netflix dot com". Idiots. Perfect chance to steal me as a customer and they managed to turn me off even more than Blockbuster did.

UPDATE: Netflix is about the same price as Blockbuster, but without the free in store rentals. I may have still gone for it, since they have a better selection, but they really turned me off by locking me out. I feel the same way about sites that require Flash in order to view them, or a specific browser. I am trying to do business with you, don't dictate stupid terms or make it hard for me. I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to give you my money. If you want to have Flash, go ahead (though in most cases I think it is just useless fluff to show how cool you are) but don't require me to have the plug-in just to see your site. </ rant >

Basic Math

I work for a payroll company - lots and lots of numbers, lots and lots of employees with questions. One in particular who I don't usually mind dealing with because, unlike many of them, he is generally polite.

But he is frustrating - especially today. He doesn't think we paid him correctly a couple of weeks ago, and we have been going around and around this week. I went through all the worksheets with him and he agrees that the hours we paid him for are correct. He agrees that the rates he was paid at are correct. But he is unwilling to accept that the total is correct, swears he got shorted $100 somehow. If the hours and the rates are right, how can the total not be?

Here are the figures:

Regular	Overtime	Doubletime	rate		total
22.5	1	3.5	$ 16.75		519.25
0	7	0	$ 18.65		195.83
			Total:		715.08

How does he get over $800 from that?

Water, Water

Flaw In That Plan

I entered an online contest to pick the perfect bracket in the NCAA tournament (my picks were not perfect, but I am still doing OK) After I filled out the form, I received a confirmation email to the email address I signed up with. So far, so good.

They are awarding points based on correct picks along the way, so I tried to log back in to see my picks - they even have a link for that "Click here to see your picks" However, when I try to log in they say that the email address does not exist in their system. I went back and checked my confirmation - even copied and pasted the address from it - still says I don't exist.

So I sent them an email asking why my account had disappeared and explaining how I was unable to log in. I also asked if they thought it was a good introduction to their service (it is sponsored by an online gambling site) to just lose a customers account. I got a reply:

We are having difficulty finding your account. Please reply to this e-mail including your full name and customer ID number (which appears on your grey betting ticket underneath your name when you log into your account). Once we have received this information, we will be able to help you with your contest query.

The emphasis is mine, because they obviously don't see the glaring problem with my fulfilling that request.......

mySpace

I am completely puzzled by the whole MySpace thing. As far as I can tell, the only people with pages are teenagers (mostly horny ones) and porn sites/prostitutes.

Am I missing something?

If you have something to say, why would you not just get a blog? You can get a free one and it is a much more attractive presentation. I have yet to see a mySpace page that wasn't crap.

Really - what is the deal?

Say What?

Heard two of the most absurd things ever yesterday:

First, when presenting a cashiers check to a government agency, being told that "the funds will not be credited until the check clears" which could be up to two weeks. For a cashiers check!?!? Isn't the beauty of a cashiers check the fact that it is guaranteed to be good. It was drawn on Chase Bank for heaven's sake - not exactly a fly by night outfit. If I wanted to wait for it to clear, I would just have given them a personal check - for which the bank would not have charged me $10.

Second, when then attempting to get cash from said major bank, being told that they "don't have cash here". At a bank? At the main branch in the headquarters building?

Incidentally, crying may not work with cops, but it does wonders with bank managers - they found the cash somewhere.

What Was The Question Again?

Our company is a payroll service, which makes this time of year a bit more hectic than normal. In preparation to print the W-2's we will be sending out, we are attempting to verify the Social Security numbers and names of all the employees - no small task. It is made a bit easier now that the SSA provides a verification service, and this year their turnaround is just 24 hours.

It did take me a few tries to get the formatting right for the file I submitted, but I got it, and we got the results. 5% unverifiable - not too bad. After double checking the files and correcting those we transposed, as well as trying variations based on different guesses at their poor penmanship, we knocked the number down to a more manageable 10 employees.

That's when the phone calls go out.

We got several who called and corrected the errors (e.g. "Oh, my SSN is in my married name and I got divorced and gave you my maiden name") but this voice mail takes the cake - "This is [name]. I heard that you are having trouble with my Social Security number and need it to get me my W-2. I just gave you a new W-4 with my new address [proceeds to give me her address] so I don't know what the problem is. I am leaving now but you can call me in the morning." You know, leaving your SSN might have been a good thought since that is the problem - and she even said she knew it was the problem.

It turned out (as I found when I called back and got a hold of her husband) she has been married for years but hasn't bothered to tell the social security administration. Since, according to him, she just tried to get her drivers license updated and they wouldn't do it, citing the conflict between her SSN and her name, you'd think she would have known that - and told us in the voice mail. Duh.

Or maybe I'm just cranky.

Simple Things

When she went on sabbatical, we went looking to hire some help in her absence. It took us a while to even get any applicants, apparently unemployment isn't as bad as we've been lead to believe.

We finally got TM. The job requires the most basic of computer skills and a rudimentary familiarity with Excel, Access & Word. During the interview, TM assured us she had completed classes in Microsoft Office and was very familiar with using those applications. Yeah, we should have tested her - but why would you lie about that, especially since it is so easy to disprove.

Like when I told her to hit the save button in Excel and she didn't know what it was - or even what I was talking about. It doesn't get more basic than that - never mind getting her to enter in formulas and such.

But the most irritating things are those related to her work ethic - or perhaps her age. Capitalization and grammar; non-existent. Details; dismissed. For instance, I asked her to stick some labels on file folders which ought to be pretty straight forward, but straight is exactly want they weren't. Not a little off kilter, but between 45 - 60 degrees off in most cases. How hard is it to stick labels on straight?

Seriously.

She doesn't have the skills claimed in the interview, and she can't handle the non-skilled tasks either. She may not last too much longer.

The workload is lightening, but we will probably still need to have someone part-time. It took us 6 weeks to find this one - how long will it take to find another candidate?

Santa Claus is Dead?

Apparently the Grinch is still alive and well - and living in PA.

Jackalope is right, she should have gotten a boat load of coal in her stocking - and if the townspeople are smart, that's just what they did.

Where Credit is Due

A client wants to credit me on the CD sleeve for some photos that I took. Unfortunately (besides the fact that I am still pissed off and don't want to be associated with the bleepin' thing at all) the pictures that "Bob" chose to use are not the ones I would have chosen, and he messed with them in ways I wouldn't have. I know this because he sent me the final edit for proof reading -

I told him he could not use my name, but could credit them as "Photos taken by Alan Smithee" - can't wait to see if he does it.

Communication

This is another pain-in-the-neck client peeve.

This particular client is one for whom I have designed a couple of CD covers (though the first one was done with his art work so I don't generally claim it). At some point in the past year I fired him because he was too hard to communicate with; no feedback, no direction, no input..... I told him he should just use his buddy, 'Bob', a graphic designer - he said that wasn't a direction he wanted to go. Whatever.

Since then, he needed some work done and I needed some money so I started working with him again.

He has a new CD coming out and I mentioned a couple of ideas to him, which he said sounded interesting and that he would like to see them. Cool, I put them together and sent them over. I got very little feedback, but got the impression he wanted some other options, so I put them together.

He then called and said he thought that 'Bob' was putting together some ideas for him. I asked if he was going to go with Bob on this one and he said he didn't know, he was still looking at ideas. I asked him several times, "Did you already give this project to Bob?" "Is Bob under the impression he is doing this project?", etc. I told him that would be fine with me, but to let me know so I didn't waste my time. He said no decision had been made - and he sent me the first design Bob had done.

So I did several more versions, emailed 'em over, got (very little) feedback, made alterations, sent him the updates.....

Then he sent me Bob's latest version, which he is using. It was THE SAME ONE. He is using the very first idea that he got (OK, it is slightly less yellow, the first one made him look like that character in Sin City). He finally admitted he ALWAYS PLANNED ON GOING WITH BOB. But he didn't bother to tell me - cause he was being a j***a**!

I called him tonight and gave him some "other suggestions" - including (but not limited to) what he could have said to me:

• "You just don't have a clue what I am looking for so I am using someone else."
• "The other CD's you did for me really suck and my friends all laugh at them so I am using someone else"
  or
  
• "I appreciate your enthusiasm for this project, but when you quit I got the impression you didn't want to work on my major projects anymore and I have already committed to someone else for this one. In the future I'll check to see if you have any interest before making that decision."

So many things he could have said to keep me from wasting my time and energy. He may have been trying to spare my feelings, but it is only worse now after spending several days creating several options and having them all rejected out of hand. I would rather have just known at the outset.

At least this way I get to charge him - and my rates have just gone up.

@blankmail.com

You know what I hate about hotmail, yahoo, gmail...etc accounts? I can't tell what frikkin' ISP you use so I don't know if you have broadband or not.

Not Acceptable

One of the benefits of having your own domain(s) is the ability to create countless email addresses. I generally create a new address for each website I sign up for, some of you may have noticed the email address I use in comments on your site is specific to your site.

I do that for business sites as well, so when I went on TicketMaster I created the email address ticketmaster at bkennelly dot com. This is not an address I have (or would have) used anywhere else. And yet I started getting spam to that account - and really, I am happy with the size of my penis, thank you.

            So I went to Ticketmaster to find out why they allowed my email address to get out - and the first response I got was

Thank you for your email. We apologize for any inconvenience that you may have experienced. To change your preferences, please visit:

https://www.ticketmaster.com/member/edit_subscriptions

Near the bottom of the page, there is an option labeled "Receive customer service emails only" in a gray shaded area. Select this option and then click the Submit My Request button. This will ensure that you receive only order-related email from Ticketmaster.

Should you have any further questions, please reply and include all previous correspondence.

I wasn't complaining about the emails I was receiving from them, however, so changing my subscription preferences would be unlikely to solve the problem. I wrote back and told them they didn't even come close to answering my question, to which they replied:

Thank you for your e-mail. We understand and appreciate your concerns. Ticketmaster sells tickets on behalf of third parties such as sports teams, event promoters, stadiums, arenas and theaters. Many of these third parties (i.e., event hosts) require that we provide them with the contact information we collect from the customers who are buying tickets to their events. Please note that when we send customer contact information to event hosts we inform them of the customer's e-mail opt-in or opt-out preferences regarding receiving marketing communications.

At Ticketmaster we believe it is very important to completely and conspicuously disclose how we use the information we collect. We pride ourselves on the fact that we give even more notice than is typical of other web sites: we make our information sharing practices clear throughout our purchase and registration processes by displaying prominent on-screen notices, in addition to in our privacy policy. We do this because we believe it is important for our customers to be able to make informed decisions.

If you are not comfortable with having your information shared with the company that is offering the ticket through Ticketmaster, then we encourage you to either purchase the ticket directly from that company's box office (after first asking them about their information practices) or to purchase the ticket at one of Ticketmaster's several thousand in-store outlets.

Nice try, but I didn't buy any tickets through TicketMaster - I merely signed up for their alerts. There is NO reason for them to have given my information to a third party. That leaves two other options I can think of:

• They sell/give their email list to outside parties when there is no acceptable business reason to do so (i.e. if I had purchased tickets to a third party event)
  
• They have lousy security on their site which allowed someone to crack into their database and harvest their customer emails - which would make me uncomfortable with giving them any credit card information

Either way, I won't be doing business with them now or in the future. And I don't find their 'explanation' acceptable, and I certainly don't believe the tagline they included:

Thank you for using Ticketmaster, and we really appreciate your business.

Luckily, I can kill that email address as easily as I created it. Maybe I should set it to forward to them....

Questions For Clients

To anyone for whom I send out an email newsletter:

Remember that big fight we had 8 months ago, where you finally agreed that you had to give me updated information at least 5 days prior to my deadline for sending out your newsletter? Remember how I have been pretty much a stickler for that, the same way you have been a stickler for my sending the newsletter on time?

Remember how last month I asked you to proof read the newsletter prior to it being sent and you said you did, but after it went out you called to tell me that one of the dates had been changed 'weeks ago'?

Remember how I called you on Thursday and asked you if you had any changes (even though we agreed it was your job to get them to me, not my job to track them down) and you said no?

Remember how when you sent me new names to add to your email list on Saturday I emailed you back and said it was OK this time, but you missed the deadline you suggested and in the future late additions might not make it?

Remember how on Monday I called you and asked if the gig you were questioning was still on (you said yes), and whether you had added any new ones for November (you said no) because I was about to hit "Send"?

Remember how I asked if you would proof read the newsletter before I sent it out and you said you didn't have time to deal with it?

So why, 4 hours later when you get your copy of the newsletter, do you call me up and ask if I have already sent it because you "cancelled that thing on the 4th"? How much more freakin' hand holding do you need? How is it my problem that this "misinformation got sent out"?

Thanks for listening.

Ocean Sounds

I did a bit of work outside today; watering my trees and cactus (I think the barrel is beyond saving), cleaning/filling the pool, scrubbing down the birds cage and toys.... Since it was in the high 90s I got a bit sweaty. Love that, love the heat, love the sun.

Don't love when a trickle of sweat lodges in your ear and makes everything sound like it is echoing through some underwater chamber. Aaaaagh!

I'm going to go take a shower now - hopefully I can get it fixed because it is driving me batty.

Etiquette

I am a stickler for manners on the phone. I love it when people get it right and start their conversation along the lines of, "Hi, this is Jane Doe. May I speak to Vox?" or whatever. I hate when people neglect to tell me who they are. I really hate it when people want me to identify myself first, and don't bother to do the same.

I especially hate it at 7:00 in the morning, when the conversation sounds like this:

• Vox: Hello.
• Caller: Who is this?
• Vox: You called me.
• Caller: click.

Say "Hello", ask for whoever you are looking for, acknowledge that you may have the wrong number...something, but not "Who is this?"

No Soup For You!

To go along with recent bad experiences suffered by Snarky and SAJU, I had a bizarrely odd encounter with a business today.

I got SG a personalized gift for his birthday last year, poker chips to be exact, and he seems to really like them. His birthday is on the way (well, I have until November) and I have been mulling over some ideas. One of them involves personalization. It has just been sort of in the back of my head till today when I passed an engraving store, C & C Engraving. I figured I would just stop in and get a feel for what they could do with my idea.

Bad idea!

 
The woman would barely let me get my words out. I started describing the situation and she started immediately telling me "we don't do what you want" - and I had to keep saying "I haven't told you what I want yet" She kept stopping me while I was trying to explain and telling me "we can't help you"    WTF? You are a business, don't you want my money?

I finally managed to get it all out and discern that they could do what I need, though not quite what I was envisioning. However, since she was such a royal b**** and their stuff looked sort of cheap and tacky, even if I decide to do it, I certainly won't be taking my business there. I would recommend you look elsewhere for your engraving needs also.

This was followed by a very helpful and sweet lady at the cell phone store, AZ Wireless & Paging, right next door to the engraving shop, where I got a clip that I hope will work for SG's RAZR.

Then a stop at the AM/PM where the friendly clerk was giggling at me dancing to their muzak and told me "you come back anytime, we love people like you"

Later, a stop at Blockbuster where the clerk went above and beyond to get me a couple of movies we wanted - though she couldn't manage to conjure up a copy of The Longest Yard.

All in all, positive experiences today way out number the negative - yet I keep thinking about that little twinkie and her dismissive, get-the-f***-out-of-my-store attitude. I hate that!

She Never Learns

Remember this chick, who sent out bad information to the entire email list of a political organization? Well, she is still at it. This time she forwarded the "So I Volunteered" story - I imagine because it fits her agenda. Then a while later she sent out this:

Here is the link to say that story was a hoax, had a feeling at least one (or 20) of you would be sending one of these on to me :-) Also had a feeling this would be one of these hoax emails when the "doctor's" name and address wasn't licensed the same as it appeared at the bottom of the email.

She had a feeling it was a hoax, and expected people to tell her so - but she didn't take the 30 seconds necessary to find that out before sending it to the whole list?

Completely irresponsible, and not what I would expect (as in demand) from a conservative, especially in a position of authority. Once or twice a month I get information on upcoming events of interest - 10 to 15 times a day I get crap.

Yeah, I'm gonna unsubscribe - or at least try.

Idiots

In my search for Arizona blogs, I have been venturing to places I have never been. The ones I found that I was sorry I have been missing I put in this post.

Then I found one that I won't give you a link for, and you will see why. The site is called "All Preparation and No H" - I clicked and started reading about how he had just found out that a friend died two-weeks ago, a friend who he thought was in another state for the past two years but who was really around the corner - his friend was dying of AIDS and he never visited or said goodbye. I don't generally have regrets in my life, but those that I do center around wondering if loved ones knew how much they meant to me before they died.... Needless to say (thats for you SAJU), the post touched me.

 

Problem Solved

Removed Netscape Navigator 8.0 and now my IE is working great. That is just completely wrong - why would they make a product that does exactly what most users I know try to avoid - takes over other programs, second guesses what it is you want to do, removes personal control?

I am back to using NN 7.0 - I won't be updating that in the foreseeable future.

Netscape Sux

re: this

Netscape has somehow infiltrated my IE settings - and my history....? I have never visited Netscape from IE, and I only keep one days worth of history stored anyway, and yet, if I have opened NN during the day, the Netscape home page shows up in my IE history. Seriously - WTF?

I have two separate browsers that I would like to behave like two separate browsers. Why is that not happening?

No, Macker, BK and Broken, I don't want to switch to Firefox. And I changed those NN settings on the specific site - and it doesn't keep them. It is possessed and it is evil.

People complain about Microsoft taking over their computer, but IE isn't trying to run my NN - it is the other way around. I think I am just going to uninstall it - I think I still have the old version - but sheesh. You would think they would avoid those type of issues since they are trying to be one of the anti-IE options.

General Irritations

My vacuum sucks, and not the way it is supposed to. I have yet to find one that can keep up with my Australian Shepherd and her shedding - let alone the extra effluvia the bird brings to the mix. Of course, as much blood as I have in the carpet, and how poorly all my stain removers seem to work, I may just rip it up and go with bare floors for a while.

I rarely use Netscape Navigator but, since I am unable to access my bank through IE, I need to occaisionally fire it up. I recently 'updated' to NN 8. Bad idea. Not only can I not get it configured the way I want because they have removed some of those options, I can't get it to keep the settings I would like. For instance, since it is for banking, I don't want it to remember and fill in datacards and passwords (a feature they offer) so I go in and turn that off. But it comes back. And I turn it off. And it comes back. Seriously, I go in, uncheck the box, click OK. Next time I open it up I find it filling in that info so I go in, uncheck the box which has magically rechecked itself, and click OK. Over and Over. ARGH! What gives?

Just to make the situation more unpleasant, downloading NN 8 seems to have messed with the setting of my IE. That is the only thing I have changed on my computer, and now all the sites that I had set up to automatically log me in - like my blog - don't. None of them, even when I click the "remember me on this site" box. They don't even recall my login. So what we have is IE behaving the way I want NN to, and NN behaving the way I want IE to. What gives and can anyone help me fix it?

In the mean time I recommend NOT moving to NN 8. Oh, and my bank sucks for not being accessible through the most widely used browser - hello!

I have lost a bunch of hangers somewhere. Oh, sure, go ahead and laugh, but it is very frustrating to finally catch up on my laundry and not be able to hang up all my nice clean shirts. I haven't bought any new clothes lately, so where did all my hangers go?

Just generally

Yeah, I'll come up with a happy post here in a bit......

Login & Password

Have I ever mentioned how much I love this site?

No?

Well, I love this site!

Email Drivel

I am a fringe member of a Conservative group here in Phoenix. I don't attend many of their events because, frankly, they seem a bit extreme and ineffective.

The woman who handles the mailing list does so quite poorly. She sends so much crap, often I get 10-15 things a day and most of it junk, that I end up deleting most of it without even reading it. Last week she sent a version of the Denzel Washington/Brooke Army Medical Center story. It had bits of truth but was not entirely true, as researched by Snopes. I sent her a reply that simply said, "Yes, it is a great story but you should be careful about checking things before you forward them - that is how so much misinformation gets circulated into the general populous"

I found her reply when I got back from my trip -

I always appreciate the feedback and ALWAYS leave it up to those I forward to to check on things themselves as I do not have the time to check on everything!!!

Huh?!?!

You are sending massive amounts of information to a list that is collected and sanctioned by a political group - and you don't have time to check if it is true?!?!?! Give me a break.

Is this earth shattering misinformation? No.
Is my point the same anyway? Yes.

I always give people a pass the first time, because they may not know any better - but to intentionally send out emails without bothering to authenticate the story, just because you like what it says, is the height of irresponsibility for someone in that position.

Nate Says So

One of my big pet peeves is fake flowers and plants. I just think they are so bad and completely unnecessary. When I was in retail we sold of ton of them, people love that crap - I don't get it.

One of the audience members on Oprah just asked Nate Berkus, her decorating guru, "...is using artificial plants and flowers considered tacky?"

His answer: "Yes"

Now that it has been on Oprah, I imagine homes across the country will be purged of that eyesore by nightfall.

Quirks

Long time readers will know from an old post that I have issues with my 'personal space'. Don't know why it is, just that it is.

My sister has recently decided to sell her house and had the realtor come to the office to complete the paperwork. So I arrive at the office and turn on my computer and start working/blog reading/surfing/etc - no big deal. But he comes over and stands at my desk and starts reading the stuff on screen. Totally pisses me off when people do that - it's not like I have anything to hide (what am I gonna be doing at the office?) but that doesn't make it OK for you to read it. It is none of your business. I know he is a nice guy and my sister really likes to work with him, but it took a lot of restraint not to give him the big, "can I help you with something?"

Yeah - I have issues.....

Language

I listen to talk radio now and then, less now that I have a killer MP3 player. I was listening the other day, though, and the host was Joe Crummey. This sentence stuck out:

"He also supports that method, too, as well."

He does that a lot, often, frequently and it is like fingernails on the chalkboard.

She's Gotta Have It

Once again ShinyShiny comes up with something I need....

How Does That Happen

I often watch TV while I work, whether at home or at the office. This generally does not present a problem - unless I am hungry and a commercial comes on for the DQ Brownie Batter Blizzard.

So, of course, I had to go get one...only the DQ was closed.

OK, I can adapt ~ Jack in the Box has flavored shakes, I'll go there. I go ahead and pull my little car into the drive-through (those of you who know me, know I hate drive-throughs) and wait my turn. Get to the microphone and order my Chocolate Malted Crunch shake..and she says "I'm sorry, we don't have any shakes tonight. We're out" They're out of shakes. At Jack in the Box?!? Fine, whatever - but now I am stuck because there are cars behind me and cars in front of me.

On the way home I pass a Circle K and pull in there (scary place with many scary people hanging around outside) so I can get an Ice Cream Sandwich.

So, I got an ice cream fix - but not the one I wanted...which means I have to go later in the week to get the Blizzard. And I just have to wonder - how does Jack in the Box run out of shakes?

Doctors and Customer Service

I had a follow up appointment with my doctor today, just to clear me after my shoulder trouble. Since it was also my day for physical therapy and they are in the same building, I tried to schedule accordingly.

My doctor's appointment was at 10:30 - since it was just a follow up it should have been about 5-10 minutes. So, I scheduled physical therapy for 11:15 - plenty of time, right? Wrong.

By 11:00, when the assistant hadn't come to get me yet, I went to the front desk and asked, "Any idea how much longer for my 10:30 appointment?" The girls sort of chuckled embarrassedly and called back to ask, the medical assistant said he'd come get me right away. Which he did - and left me in the exam room where I waited another 30 minutes. Yep, an hour late to see me!

Now, I love this doctor - really love him. He is the best doctor I have ever had; great bedside manner, great compassion, really listens and explains. Unfortunately, he moved his practice into a new office and ever since the "office" part of the visits have sucked. Always late. His new assistant pretty much sucks (I miss the old one; funny, friendly, efficient). I don't want to give up such a great doctor, but I am fed up with the crap - I think I will write him a note.

So, I finally get to physical therapy half an hour late. This is an office that believes in customer service. They were very understanding and worked to get me in, but they had other patients that they weren't going to inconvenience just for me (which I agree with). So, they took care of me in the bits of time they had while treating other people. It should have been a 30 minute appointment and ended up taking over an hour - but it was worth it and I don't blame them at all for the extra time.

The good news is - I graduated! No more therapy as long as I don't screw it up again. As much as I enjoyed it, I am glad to be done with the hassle and expense.

That Stinks

I love to go out dancing, something SG uses to his advantage by taking me out - often. It had been a while since I went out much, used to go out all the time with the girls. Now we average going out once a week - and I love it - except....

...the smoke.

I hate coming home reeking of cigarettes but I have yet to find a club where that isn't the case. It is even worse since we often go to country bars, there is one we like that has a live band and is close to home.

But cowboys smoke a LOT And they drink a lot. And drunks smoke a LOT.

I've never understood the allure of cigarettes, even less in the context of a social evening where you are blowing your smoke in someone else's face. It stinks, it makes you look old before your time, it stains your teeth, it can (and probably will) kill you... I just don't see the upside of the habit.

I have to imagine a smoke-free club would make a killing..but maybe I'm just kidding myself.

Watch Out

• Can't stop cryin'
• Dishes flyin'
• Teeth a clenchin'
• Fluid retention
• Head a swellin'
• Can't stop yellin'
• Moods a swingin'
• Tears a slingin'
• Rantin' ravin'
• Misbehavin'

And that's all I have to say about that.

How To Get Hits to Your Site

I just received an email newsletter from one of our local bands giving me the scoop on upcoming shows. Generally their emails are pretty lame; multiple font faces & sizes, poor writing...

This one had a little something extra. Instead of giving a link to their site, which would make it so much easier on their audience, they said

~ for more schedule info, look up our website on your browser by typing in [band name] in the search window~

WTF? How unclear on the concept can you be? If you want someone to click through, give them something to click on - don't make them work for it.

Breakthrough

I have never seen Forrest Gump.

That movie had a key part in the events that led to the final dissolution of my marriage. I have never been able to hear about that movie without experiencing that same stomping on my heart feeling - and people love to talk about that movie. I certainly never had any desire to sit through the whole thing.

Well, last night I was visiting a friend...and the kids wanted to watch it...and I felt that kick in the sternum....but I didn't know how to say, "no, please don't because I will spend the entire time fighting to keep breathing and stop crying" without going into the specifics of why. So, I watched it.

And you know what? It was the right friend at the right time. The right hand holding mine, the right kids goofing off with us.

I feel like a weight has been lifted because I conquered that demon. Thanks SG

It may seem like a small victory to you - but it feels like the Tour de France to me!

Do I know you?

Bad enough to get telemarketing calls all the time (boy do I hope the Do Not Call list works). Worse, they address me by my first name like we are old friends. I generally say, "You are a business calling me. You are trying to get me to do business with you. Yet, you don't know how to show me respect. I am not interested."

Perhaps I am too old fashioned, but that is the way I was raised. You do not address someone by their first name without being invited to do so, either by invitation or introduction. Mrs. Smith remains Mrs. Smith, unless she says, "call me Jane" or you are introduced to her as Jane. You do not shorten someone's name without being invited to do so, either by invitation or introduction. Samantha remains Samantha, unless she says, "call me Sam" or you are introduced to her as Sam.

I cling hopefully to the past, in the hopes that some polite behavior will trickle down to the next generation.

Hrrmmph....

Done with Goblet of Fire.

Yes, it was a very good book. Yes, I look forward to Order of the Phoenix. But...

One of my pet peeves (yes, another one) is complex story lines that get sorted out by having one of the characters suddenly confess [as in this book] or remember [as in the movie Conspiracy Theory]. It seems sloppy, or perhaps lazy, to me - as if the author was unable to unravel their storyline.

So, we have hints dropped throughout the story but she isn't quite able to fit them all together on their own. I thought it was a strong enough story to stand on it's own - if she could have brought those plot points out in a more natural progression. Instead, our heroes use truth serum on the villian and he tells them everything. In this book she actually used several no-no's, or at least variants, from the Evil Overlord List (#6, 7, 10, 11, 18, 24, 34, 37, 47, 55, 62, 73, 75, 78, 91, 93)

All in all it was a great story. Other than that one chapter, it was pretty tightly written. The book is over 700 pages as it is - maybe she just wanted to wrap it up.

Pet Peeves

My roommate runs his business out of the house, therefore his clients come and go regularly throughout the day.

Two of the rude behaviors I have to deal with on a weekly basis in my own home:

1) Cars parked in my driveway. Not just in my driveway, but across the driveway. I have a two car garage and because of some idiot I can't get into either side. It would never occur to me to park in the driveway of someone's home, let alone completely block it. Many of these people do it repeatedly. They always apologize, but then they do it again. Either they believe they did something inconsiderate, and should therefore NOT do it again, or they don't, so why even bother to apologize? Just rude. Fortunately, in the summer in Phoenix they prefer shade to the 15 fewer steps to the door. So, for a few months, they park on the street under the tree. Unless someone else is already there.

2) Repeated doorbell ringing. Always annoying, even worse when it is first thing in the morning and I don't have to be awake yet. Why do people think they have to ring the bell 30 times in rapid succession? It doesn't get him there any faster. It does ensure there will be cranky people inside. I don't even answer the door when people do that - not an option for Pete since it is business. This is how I was awakened this morning. Grrrrr!