Hey, driver of the Lexus SUV with SC plate # GCF 541. Yeah, you, the one with the sticker in your rear window that looks like a strand of paper dolls.

Yeah, you suck at driving. You cut me off while you were driving recklessly, and failed to take any corrective action once aware of your recklessness.

We were both in left turn lanes, you to the inside, me to the outside. Instead of turning into the left lane, you swept into my lane. You left me with a choice of either slamming into the housing project, or slamming on my brakes and hoping the guy behind me was paying attention.

I honked at you. I don’t think you realized, since you were ON THE PHONE. So as I passed you, I honked again to alert you of my vehicle. I couldn’t trust that you were paying attention. You didn’t signal during the initial turn, so I was unsure if you were about to swing back into my lane.

You were still ON THE PHONE. You didn’t even look over to recognize that you were a safety hazard.

You were behind me the rest of the way because, coincidentally, we both decided to pass the exact same cars at the exact same time. Of course, I always signaled before I initiated a lane change, and you NEVER signaled before you initiated a lane change.

I watched in my rear view mirror as you finished your call. After you completed your call, you then placed another call. You were talking on the phone when I turned out of the 50mph rush hour traffic onto a side street.

It is my greatest hope that, upon the crash you cause due to your recklessness and inattentiveness, you only injure yourself.

That is all.

Self-discredited former governor, Fox News commentator, and celebrity blogger Sarah Palin said yesterday:

If I had to vote in South Carolina, in order to keep this thing going I’d vote for Newt and I would want this to continue.

I’m shocked!

Are you telling me that Fox News contributor Sarah Palin is encouraging people to vote for (former) Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich?!

Again, I’m shocked!

On a totally different note, who does this picture of Newt make you think of?

Yeah, he looks like Dwight Schrute.

That is all.

UPDATED Jan. 19, 2012: See comment below

Uhh… DirecTV… do you suck, or are you just shady? That’s what I’m trying to figure out.

I want to order. I have perfect credit. I have never missed a payment on anything ever. I have owned my home for almost a decade, and don’t plan on moving at all.

It all comes down to about $23.

They want me to pay for them to ship hardware from their facility directly to their installer. I think that is ridiculous. The installer can’t do their job without the equipment. Certainly I’m not going to pay for an internal shipment. And they’re certainly not shipping anything to me.

In any event, DirecTV has been sending us these mailers. It’s basically the same offer as online, but an extra $5 off each month for a year. You have to call to receive the offer. Note the bolding.

Today I call, ready to order. We almost made it through the whole process, but it came down to $23.

It is worth noting, for those who might call and order DirecTV in the future, that I found the conduct of their representatives to be unsettling. I felt like I was being sold, not being allowed to buy, which is basic salesmanship 101.

They kept telling me of features for which I qualified, as if I was getting something that other customers do not get. Their website and advertisement indicate that just about everybody gets these features, if they want, when they sign a contract. Tactics like those can come off as shady. They also revealed details of their location and personal lives that, according to a supervisor, they are not permitted to reveal. It leaves me with the impression that they run a pretty sloppy ship over there.

We went through the whole ordering process, including intrusive questions about what I like to watch on TV that should have been avoided by simply asking if I knew what package I wanted, or if I needed help deciding. So at the very end, they tell me it will be about $23 for shipping. What? I thought shipping was free. Nope, not with this offer, apparently.

It says at the bottom of the mailer, “$19.95 handling and delivery fee may apply.” So it may apply. Ok, then, if it may apply, then why does it apply to me?

I’m told that in order to get the Shipping and Handling fee waived, I have to order online. But, the mailer they sent me directs me to order by phone to get the special deal. If I order online, it is impossible get the deal contained in the advertisement.

While they were happy to tell me about all these features for which I qualified, and raved about my credit, they were unable to tell me a single situation where I would be able to get the deal from the advertisement, but not pay for them to ship hardware to someone who isn’t me.

According to the DirecTV people with whom I spoke, in order to get the deal as listed on the flier that was sent to me through the mail, I must pay shipping. Period. Nothing would actually be shipped to me. Period.

Instead of saying a fee may apply, they should have said that a fee does apply. Put it right on the advertisement, and let me decide if I want to spend $23 now for $60 in bill reduction over time, or to save the $23 now and not get the extra discount over time. Why hide the shipping fees by saying they may apply, when customer service representatives insist that it must apply in order to get the deal on the advertisement that enticed me to call?

Can that be viewed as anything but shady? How many people signed up from similar fliers as this, and paid shipping without questioning it? Did they know that the flier said they may have to pay shipping, but the actual offer required them to pay shipping? Of course, they wouldn’t have qualified because, according to DirecTV, the fee that may apply, definitely applies. One thing seems clear,though– the mailer didn’t make it clear that I would pay shipping, and the company can’t tell me any situation where shipping could be avoided.

Twenty bucks, twenty bucks, twenty bucks. It adds up. Lots of mailers. It looks like lots of people may have had to pay a shipping fee, but really had no choice if they wanted the deal in the advertisement.

Now I’m not so sure I want DirecTV. Between the way they seemed slimy on the phone, the seemingly shady fine print, and their unwillingness to recognize that $23 makes or breaks a sale, I wonder why they deserve my business.

The thing is, I would be a great customer. I love football, and I love hockey. The person who referred me to DirecTV– and would benefit from the referral– did it based on the NFL Sunday Ticket, and the NHL Center Ice package. While there hasn’t been a single football or hockey game in the last five years that I have wanted to watch but couldn’t, it would sure be a lot more convenient to just turn on the TV. DirecTV really wants to lose those two sales over $23?

Anyway, I tried to call their corporate office, but– get this– they were closed due to weather. It doesn’t bode well for such a large company when their corporate office in Idaho, which receives 32 inches of snow a year, and is covered in snow for two months a year, is closed due to snow.

In any event, I will try to call their corporate office again tomorrow, and ask how I can get the deal from the advertisement and still fall under the may portion of the fine print. Either their customer service department doesn’t know they can waive the fee, or DirecTV has charged a shipping fee to every single customer who ordered based on the mailed advertisement, even though the fine print indicates that only some people have to pay the fee. And that ignores the fact that nothing is ever actually shipped to the customer.

That is all.

Occupy Savannah is a joke. I’m not going to go into the lack of impact their protests have had. I will note, however, that during their daily flash mob at the Bank of America branch, there are usually more people waiting in the ATM line than engaged in protest.

This morning, I was driving behind an occupier. Well, not an occupier– an occupier occupies. This person appeared to be driving to the protest, indicating they were a part time occupier, also known as “hanging out at the park.”

Written across the back window of their $19,000 Made in Mexico car was the following:

REPEAL CITIZENS UNITED

Wait…. w h a t . . . ?

I hope this particular person doesn’t think we can somehow “repeal” a non-profit organization. We can rescind their tax exemption status, but we can’t “repeal” an organization.

The only other reference to Citizens United of which I am aware– and I am acutely politically aware– is the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court decision. I’m not going to explain what it is, for if you do not know, it is unlikely that you are reading this.

Needless to say, how exactly can a Supreme Court decision be repealed? It can’t. It is a ruling, not a piece of legislation. It’s options are either to be overruled by a future Supreme Court decision, rendered moot via a constitutional amendment, or weaseled around with Congressional legislation of questionable constitutionality.

None of those meet the criteria of Repeal Citizens United. This particular individual should occupy the library, and acquire a bit of self-education on how our government works, before attempting to impact change.

That is all.

1. Attention JC Penney: Shopping in your store is like hunting for buried treasure. Why should I have to walk up to one of your employees and ask, “Excuse me, where are the clothes that are not for fat ladies?” You should put up a sign that says, “Fatties to the left, minnies to the right, and everyone else straight ahead.”

Of all the dollars I spent today– and I spent a lot of dollars– JC Penney didn’t get any of them, not even with a $10 off $25 coupon.

2. Attention Barnes and Noble: If your website says it is in stock online, and I go to the store and ask for the product, do whatever it takes to find the product. Don’t tell me you must be out of them without checking your computer. If I can order it online right now, and pick it up from your store in 60 minutes, you clearly have stock. If you cannot be bothered to look up the product I want, I definitely cannot be bothered to drive to your store and find parking, only to deal with employees who cannot be bothered to look up the product I want.

Of all the dollars I spent today– and I spent a lot of dollars– Barnes and Noble didn’t get any of them.

3. Attention chicken producers: I will not pay you several dollars per pound for 15% chicken broth. At $3.00 per pound, that is the equivalent of paying $25.02 per gallon for chicken broth or, more likely, saltwater. I will not pay you 8x the price of gasoline, 8x the price of milk, or 4x the price of chicken broth, for chicken broth. Any chicken product that is more than 5% solution should be labeled as exactly what it is– chicken product. You know, kind of how people who sell fake chocolate have to describe their product as chocolatey or ice cream that doesn’t contain cream is described as frozen dairy dessert.

That is all.

Hey MSNBC, I tuned in to your network for almost an hour today– even though it wasn’t my turn to watch– to try to catch up on the news. Can you guess what happened? Nope, I didn’t catch up on the news at all.

In fact, I didn’t see even a bit of news, not even one second. Any viewers who tuned in to MSNBC between about 2:05PM and 2:56PM EST to catch the headlines of the day were turned away.

Why? MSNBC was too busy airing yet another presidential campaign speech full of platitudes, clichés, and immature partisanship.

Sure, they could discuss the failing EU, the rigged Russian elections, or the two wars we are fighting. But hey, the president is speaking! Why not take a break? The worst that could happen is that some random nobody on some random blog says…

Hey MSNBC, you suck at this!

That is all.

Well, I did it again. I bought another guitar.

For those of you keeping score at home, 2011 has been the year of the guitar for me. I have purchased a Fender Standard Jazz Bass, an Agile AL-2000, and Jaime got a Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Short Scale Bass.

The newest addition is a vintage white SX Furrian from Rondomusic.com. Rondo originally was selling these guitars for $109.99. Then they dropped them to $99.99. I finally bought one when they lowered the price to $79.99. It fills three gaps in my collection: 1. It is white. 2. It has a maple neck. 3. It is a Tele-style guitar.

Here is my review.

Body. The body is nicely done, with smooth cuts. There are no major dings, but the back does have an area where it appears that the sanding was overly aggressive. The color is nice, but the paint job is not so nice. If you look into glare on the guitar, you can see a series of lines in the finish that run parallel with the grain of wood. The clear coat seems soft or thin, and is easily scratched. This guitar should age quickly, which is fine by me. The neck pocket has a hairline crack in the paint (same as my American Standard Strat), and there also was a paint buildup sticking out near the neck that I had to remove and smooth. The biggest issue that still isn’t a big issue is that there are several random black dots embedded in the finish, one right on the upper bout, the rest on the back or sides. They’re small enough that you can’t see them from about 5 feet away. If this was an expensive guitar, it would be completely unacceptable. But for $80, meh.

Hardware. The body hardware is a mixed bag. The pickguard is dual layer black-and-white and has a softer matte finish than most budget instruments, which is a nice touch. It had the rippled edges that you would expect on a budget instrument, and that was easily fixed with some sandpaper. The screws are straight, but cheap. The bridge and string saddles are of adequate quality. One of the screws for the bridge plate is installed at an angle, but secure. The six holes that hold the six screws that attach the string saddles to the bridge plate seem rough and slightly undersized. There is a bit of a gap between the head of the screw and the bridge plate. Some cleanup with a Dremel should fix this. The control plate is adequate. The knobs are surprisingly nice. The switch tip looked like they popped it off a mold for a model airplane, and required some shaving. The jack mount is of the football variety, and seems to be similar to every other football jack I’ve seen. The neck plate is thin, and the neck screws are cheap. The strap buttons are cheap.

Electronics. The electronics are just ok. The switch feels cheap, the pots are cheap, and the pickups leave much to be desired. The bridge pickup in my guitar was ridiculously microphonic. When removed from the guitar and hooked directly up to an amp, you could speak into the pickup and hear your voice. When it was in the guitar, you could hear the strap moving as you played. Kurt sent me out a new pickup that solved the problem. Still, the pickups are cheap ceramics with plastic bobbins, and will be replaced. The jack is of the cheap variety, but adequate. The soldering was done fairly well, with only a couple of cold joints that looked like they could use a reflow. I did shield the guitar because single coils do not play well with my noisy house power.

Neck. Overall, the neck is pretty nice. It comes covered with odd this orange tint that I quickly removed with paint stripper, revealing the maple below. Unfortunately, it also revealed a few areas where the neck was sanded after the sealer was applied, and so now I am left with bare wood in spots. My plan is to do a full refinish with Formby’s Tung Oil.

Frets. The fretwork is pretty good. There are a couple of frets that are a tad bit higher than the rest. It doesn’t make the instrument unplayable, and it seems like a perfect guitar for learning how to do fretwork.

Nut. The nut is actually of better quality than I expected, and was well cut but sloppy. I did a bit of cleanup while I had it out while stripping the neck, and I do not plan on changing it

Tuners. The tuners are junk. They move up and down as you turn them, and they seem to have dead spots. They are stable once set, but they need to be replaced to increase tuning accuracy. The string tees are also not very good. They had sharp edges and were causing the strings to bind when tuning or bending. Some sandpaper smoothed them out, and the result was greatly improved tuning stability.

Setup. The setup was mixed. The neck relief was set correctly, but not for the light strings that were on the guitar. My thicker strings pulled it to within 0.001″ of where I like it to be. The pickup height seemed random. The biggest setup issue, though, was the action. The low E string was at 9/64″, where it should be 4/64″. All the strings were between 4/64″ and 6/64″ too high. The E strings had the string saddles installed at severe angles, leaning in towards the other strings. It was very odd, and I can’t imagine that anyone could think it was correct. The intonation was dead on for most stings, with minor adjustments needed on two strings. This will all need to be changed, though, after I clean up where the string saddle screws set against the bridge plate.

Overall. This is a decent little guitar. It is more than I expected for the money. I would not recommend it to a beginner. The little issues here and there could be enough to prevent a beginner from sticking with it. I also wouldn’t recommend it to someone who is uncomfortable working on their own guitar. It doesn’t make sense to pay someone to fix any issues you find on an $80 guitar. If you can’t do the work, don’t get the guitar.

BUT… if you are comfortable doing some work, and appropriately adjust your expectations before buying, you will be extremely satisfied. If you look past the fit and finish issues, and the low quality hardware and pickups, you will see that you are getting a very nice body and a very nice neck for very little money.

This guitar seems like a great platform for improvement and customization. I plan on replacing the strap buttons, the tuners, and the string tees as soon as possible, and eventually the pickups. I’m going to use it to learn how to refinish necks, and to learn how to do fretwork. It is such an inexpensive instrument that it doesn’t bother me if it picks up some scratches. I would buy another one in an instant.

If there are any areas I missed, let me know!

That is all.

I can’t resist.

The Washington Post has published an article that explains how the CIA and DNI plan on hosting a scaled back “year-end” party this year. The article describes the fancy food and served booze that our tax dollars provided last year.

It then goes on to cite Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who apparently needs to direct a little more of his agency’s product to his own office, who said:

Scaling back our holiday celebrations is just another small example of our commitment to making sure that we continue to make wise fiscal decisions across the board.

Seriously? Our Director of National Intelligence considers it to be a “wise financial decision” for an organization to throw a party when that organization’s parent entity (the federal government) is currently carrying FIVE TIMES annual income as debt?

Here is the equivalent. You’re driving a school bus loaded with kids. You’re going 65 MPH downhill, quickly approaching a cliff that can only be avoided by making a sharp turn. In an attempt to slow your bus and avoid near-certain death, you stomp on the brakes fly your hand out the window to increase air resistance. Sure, you still plummet over the cliff, and you and a bus load of kids still die, but at least you did your part to slow the bus.

Here’s a thought: CANCEL THE PARTY.

Here’s another thought: Have the party at a public restaurant, pay for a single bland chicken entree that everyone gets, and allow your employees to participate in a cash bar if they so choose.

Here’s a final thought: C A N C E L T H E P A R T Y .

That is all.

Well, not quite fun.

We did have an excellent Thanksgiving, even though one of our guests was stranded up north due to weather. That, however, is not the subject of this post. The subject of this post is home repairs, and how they almost always occur at the absolute worst time.

About six hours ago, at 1:00AM, the trouble began. Our guest noted a gurgling sound coming from the kitchen. I went in to check it out, and confirmed what I had suspected– the drain was definitely slow. Not good. Last time we had that sound, I had to tear out my downstairs bathroom to the studs and the floor joists and rebuild it from scratch.

I cleared the sink (who would have thought that I could mess four full loads of dishes in less than 36 hours), and inspected. The water was slowly draining, so I was hopeful. I employed the double plunger method, as suggested by our guest, in an attempt to force out the blockage. It seemed like I had made some progress. Water was draining fast. A quick flush of the toilet and a flooded bathroom indicated otherwise.

I went outside and opened one of the cleanouts. All the backed up material came flooding out. Not good. I went under the house, and opened the other cleanout. There was water to the top of the 4″ pipe. Again, not good.

As I was now covered in some pretty nasty stuff and couldn’t use the water, there was no way I could go to bed. I decided to stay up until Home Depot opened at 6:00AM, and I researched my options.

The plan was to first try a bladder. This is a rubber balloon-like device that you attach to your garden hose, and insert into the pipe. The pressure from the hose causes the bladder to expand, sealing the system upstream, and subsequently sprays water into the pipe. In theory, the hydraulic effect pushes out the blockage.

The secondary option was to rent a drain rooter. This is the big snake device that plumbers often use to clear drains. Almost certain to work, and with my luck, almost certain to cause immense amounts of expensive damage in the process.

The third option was to call a plumber and proceed to fill his (or her) crack with cash (sorry plumbers, you must get sick of those jokes, until you get paid, that is!).

I was at Home Depot when the opened, and was back home by 6:05AM. I rigged the bladder up to the hose, and climbed under the house as daylight was just barely visible. I wasn’t comfortable being under the house near electrical wiring while spraying water at high pressure, so I rigged up a valve that I could control while standing outside. I went to stuff the bladder into the nearly overflowing pipe and realized… it was empty. That was good, I thought– it’s not a full blockage.

I put in the bladder, crawled out from under the house, and slowly applied the water. I could hear water spraying in the pipe, so I knew it was filling. After about five minutes of increasing pressure, the spraying noise had stopped. It sounded like water was flowing. Success!

I shut off the water, ready to close things up and hit the shower. Alas, it was wishful thinking. All of the water that I had just pumped into the pipe began flowing out of the cleanout. I quickly turned the water back on in hopes that the bladder would re-expand and re-seal the pipe. It did.

I let it flow with my ear on the sewer pipe (good times) until it sounded like it did before– silence. I then added slightly more pressure. With that, I heard a huge ‘woooosh’ sound that lasted about five seconds and then transitioned to the spraying sound of the bladder in an empty pipe.

I turned off the water, and removed the bladder. No back flow. I went inside and turned on the kitchen and bathroom sinks, and crawled under the house. Between the both of them, there was less than 1/4″ of water in the pipe.

SUCCESS!

I started at 6:05, and finished at 6:50. Nice. I woke up Jaime and told her everything was fixed (as she asked), and hit the shower. Now I’m enjoying a nice cup of coffee and having a nice, quiet morning.

In the grand scheme of home repairs, I rate this to be relatively simple, very cost effective, excessively inconvenient, and extremely disgusting.

That is all.

Yep, Samsung still sucks.

I finally got the replacement for my printer. For those of you keeping score at home, it has been 46 DAYS since I first contacted Samsung about my printer problem.

The printer that arrived to replace my MINT condition, 5-month old printer is cosmetically junk. It is NOWHERE NEAR the condition of the printer I sent in for repair.

My printer sits on top of a filing cabinet in a locked room where nobody– not even my cats– are allowed to go. There are NO opportunities for damage, scrapes, scuffs, or discoloration. I had only filled the paper tray ONCE ever. The printer I sent in, with the exception that it wouldn’t print, was FLAWLESS.

I count at least 15 scratches on the fake carbon fiber top on the printer they sent me. On the handle on the front, more scratches, but these were accompanied by a stranger’s finger prints! The paper tray also has obvious scratches that they (poorly) attempted to buff out.

Come on Samsung, it has been 46 days since I initiated this. You can’t possibly expect me to be satisfied with a scuffed up dirty printer.

This is insanity.

That is all.

So I’m done with Samsung. Their support is terrible.

I have been a huge fan of their printers for a long time, having recommended their printers to dozens upon dozens of people. But not anymore. It turns out that SAMSUNG SUPPORT SUCKS.

When you purchase a printer from Samsung that is a lemon, they want to place an unusually high burden on their customers to overcome their poor manufacturing and quality control.

Back in December, I purchased an ML-2525 to replace the ML-1740 that I had for years and years (and filled with Samsung toner after Samsung toner). I waited a looooooong time for Amazon to ship it, but it was an upgrade for my old Samsung– it was to be worth it.

My ML-2525 never worked right. It would never start the print job when you printed, instead going to a solid red light. Turn it off and on, resend the print job, and it will print that one job. After that, it is dead again.

I contacted Samsung on September 2 after I reached the end of my rope with the perpetual power cycling. They returned an email that asked me to complete a series of troubleshooting tasks, which I did. I emailed back the next day and NEVER HEARD ANYTHING.

I let TWO WEEKS pass waiting for a response, and let me repeat that I NEVER HEARD ANYTHING.

On Monday, the 19th, I contacted Samsung. I was given a choice of a repair or a replacement. Obviously, I chose the replacement– I do NOT want a refurbished printer, and I do NOT want this lemon back. Half of my prints were unusable, so the starter toner was wasted. I want a new printer with a fresh starter toner. I was told I would be contacted back.

It took Samsung EXECUTIVE customer support THREE DAYS to call me back. Those were THREE DAYS added on to the previous SEVENTEEN days I waited for a response to my email.

Now, after talking to Executive customer support, I am told I have two options.

1. Drive the printer to a service center using my gas, add wear an tear to my car, and risk my life on the roadway. The Samsung rep, Alisha at 1-800-SAMSUNG Extension 85109, told me she could not provide me with the address to the service center. Think about that. Samsung wanted me to drive my printer in for repair, but couldn’t tell me where to drive it. Does anyone with common sense see the apparent stupidity in their solution?

I looked it up. They want me to drive this printer to Hilton Head. That means that for me to drop it off for repair it is a 52 mile ride, and then a 52 mile ride home. Then to pick it up later, it is a 52 mile ride there, and a 52 mile ride home. That is 208 miles, or over 8 gallons of gasoline ($28 in gas!) plus 7% of the miles required between oil changes (Another $2.10 if oil changes cost $30). These printers go for $40 on sale at Amazon. Samsung wants me to spend over 75% of the cost of a new printer to get this one repaired. Obviously they are trying to make the burden for repair so high that I just buy a new printer.

Well I know that the business model of printer and ink manufacturers is based on environmentally unfriendly policies, such as artificially rendering perfectly good toner cartridges unusable to force people to CONSUME more toner, plastic, and shipping services, and I know it is the dream of every printer manufacturer to bring disposable printers to market, but that isn’t going to fly. I am not going to spend a penny out of my pocket to overcome Samsung’s shortcomings as a corporation in terms of either quality control, or customer service.

SAMSUNG wants me to spend over $30 to get my broken $50 printer fixed!

2. Send the printer in for repair. They will send me a shipping label via email (that I can’t print, Samsung you idiots), or they will mail me one (adding to the NINETEEN DAYS I HAVE ALREADY WAITED FOR SUPPORT). The problem? They will NOT arrange for pickup. They will NOT provide a box. OK, show of hands– how many of you hold onto printer boxes for 9 months? NOBODY. I don’t have a box. Samsung expects me to come up with a box to ship this printer. Then, they expect me to spend my money on gas and risk my life on the road to take their broken printer to a shipper.

As of right now, Alisha at 1-800-SAMSUNG Extension 85109 has transferred my case to some other division, furthering this TERRIBLE SAMSUNG CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE. I now have to wait UP TO TWO MORE DAYS to find out if the person that Alisha at 1-800-SAMSUNG Extension 85109 transferred me to can find a local place for me to take the printer so I can WAIT EVEN LONGER as part of my AWFUL SAMSUNG CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE.

If they can’t find a place to fix it, I will have to wait even longer as part this HORRENDUS SAMSUNG CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE for them to send me a shipping label (can’t print with my CRAPPY SAMSUNG PRINTER). Then, I have to wait for it to ship, for them to fix it, and then ship back another printer.

All told, I will have to wait at least a MONTH to get service on my printer.

If I don’t get contacted from someone from Samsung with confirmation that my brand new Samsung printer is on the way, they can expect that I will NOT recommend them to anyone in the future (check the DIY guitar effect forums– I have sold dozens of people on Samsung). Not only that, but I will take every opportunity available to me as the owner of a VERY popular political debate forum and a growing radio show to inform my members and listeners that SAMSUNG SUPPORT IS TERRIBLE, AND PLACES UNREASONABLE BURDENS ON THE CUSTOMER.

That is all.

Mike

President Obama apparently wants to address the nation and a joint session of congress regarding his new economic plans. He sent Speaker Boehner and Leader Reid his request for an invitation that directly conflicts with a previously scheduled Republican debate.

It is expected that the president will ask congress to set partisanship and politics aside in the interest of the country, so I was a little surprised by Speaker Boehner’s response:

OK, fine, that wasn’t his real response. Instead, he asked him to pick a time on Thursday. Ouch.

The president, who must be invited to address a joint session of congress, chose to request his invitation during a previously scheduled Republican debate. He also chose to request his invitation on the same day the congress returns to full session. Speaker Boehner says that this presents logistical issues due to necessary security sweeps.

Does anyone see this move by the president as anything but a political game?

Three of the Republican candidates are in congress, and I think intend upon being at the debate. The president wants to set aside partisanship and reach across the aisle.The president almost certainly realizes that presidential candidates who are in congress may carry more weight within their party, and will likely need to play a significant role in any bipartisan negotiations. In short, shouldn’t the president wait until those three can attend? Isn’t it a political game to choose to address congress when it has been well known that three members will be in California at the time he requested?

If the president’s focus is on jobs, why is he asking that the first bill passed by the returning congress is not about jobs and not about the economy, but about him. Give your speech from the Oval. Congress will watch. These people barely only work like four months a year. Don’t waste that time with political games.

That is all.

I ran out to the store a week ago this past Tuesday to pickup a set of strings for my Acoustic. I hadn’t changed them since when the Blackhawks were playing in the Stanley Cup Final, so well over a year!

I grabbed a set of Martin 80/20 Bronze Mediums from the local shop, and headed home.

Later that night, I started stringing, like I have hundreds of times before. Loosen string, remove string, wipe dust off area under string, pencil in the nut slot for lubrication, put on the new string the proper way, bring up to tension, tune, stretch up the length of the string, tune, stretch, tune. Repeat for each string. It usually goes off without a hitch.

This time, though, I was the lucky recipient of a fluke. Upon bringing the highest-tension E string– the thinnest string– up to pitch, it snapped. I would expect it to have snapped at the point where the string meets either the tuners, the nut, or the bridge. Not in this case– it appeared to snap right around the 3rd fret. Strange. It seemed like the string must have had a weak spot right there.

I emailed the company, and asked if they had any sort of guarantee on their strings, expecting them to pretty much tell me I was out of luck. To my surprise, I received an email from a nice person named Sandy, who asked for my address.

I got the mail to day to find a rather large package from Martin. Included was a replacement set of strings, a Martin calendar, a copy of their magazine, and one of their catalogs. Overall, a very nicely put together package, and definitely more than expected for a single broken string.

Thanks C.F. Martin & Co. I think the only way I could be happier is if you sent me a guitar… heh!

That is all.

I didn’t feel the earthquake. I was in the car, having just picked Jaime for lunch. I first heard about it when we got home.

Even though the earthquake was centered over 500 miles from here, it was apparently felt in our area. In fact, we were told that it shook the historic district well enough that window blinds were banging against the windows on the seventh floor, and to temporarily evacuate the building.

It wasn’t major, obviously. But, as a historic city with an excessive amount of buildings constructed a hundred years ago or more, it is enough to make you briefly consider the integrity of the structures that surround you.

One thing that is abundantly clear, however, is that us folks on the East Coast have no idea what to do in the event of an earthquake. Do we stay put? …run outside? …stand in a doorway? …get under our desks? …duck and cover in the hall? …sit in the bathtub? …open all the windows? …run to the cellar? …stop, drop, and roll?

Most of us have no clue, myself included, and the advice I have heard seems counter intuitive. Animals throughout the animal kingdom instinctively know to increase the distance between themselves and their shelters in the event of an earthquake, but I should stay put in my house and hope that my 91 year old structure sitting on 91 year old brick stilts doesn’t fully collapse?

And finally, my main point. Where was the Emergency Alert System? Yes, it was a very minor earthquake. Should the EAS assume, however, that people on the Southeast coast do not consider a minor earthquake to be an emergency? I have even read that people in the Northeast, who obviously were subject to stronger effects of the earthquake, were not notified by the EAS until an hour after the earthquake had occurred.

As far as I can tell, the EAS exists solely to test itself, and to notify us that, were we to look out our window, we would see that the weather is bad.

No EAS alerts on 9/11. No EAS alerts when a quake hits. No EAS when the sugar factory explodes and shakes the entire city. No EAS alerts when!!!!######!##!#!#!###!#!#!#!##!#!#!#!###!#

!!!!######!##!#!#!###!#!#!#!##!#!#!#!###!#

!!!!######!##!#!#!###!#!#!#!##!#!#!#!###!#

!!!!######!##!#!#!###!#!#!#!##!#!#!#!###!#

WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG POST TO LET YOU KNOW THAT IT IS RAINING IN JESUP, 70 MILES SOUTH OF WHERE YOU ARE, AND THAT IT ALSO MIGHT RAIN IN THE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

!!!!######!##!#!#!###!#!#!#!##!#!#!#!###!#

!!!!######!##!#!#!###!#!#!#!##!#!#!#!###!#

!!!!######!##!#!#!###!#!#!#!##!#!#!#!###!#

What the hell was that? I guess that is all.

No, this isn’t a JG Wentworth, 877-CASH-NOW commercial. It is a little story about a local bank that forgot what it is like to be a normal person.

I order a lot of stuff online. I mean a lot. It wouldn’t come as a surprise to people who know me that I often order from overseas. I build guitar pedals, and some of the parts are only available / cheaper overseas. In the last year, I have ordered from Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Latvia, Lithuania, and a few more locales in far flung corners of the globe.

Last night, I placed an order. Well, I tried to place an order. Since, however, the company where I was ordering was located in a foreign nation, my transaction was declined. Fine, I’ll try again, and it will probably go through—I have plenty of money in my account. Oh how I wish it were that simple.

It turns out that 60 days ago, my bank changed their fraud prevention policies. Now, every single purchase you make is scored. If it scores too high, it is deemed fraud. The transaction is denied, and– get this– the card is deactivated.

That sounds great, right? You have to prevent fraud, right? Wrong, for when they improperly deactivate your card, it is nearly impossible to get your card reactivated unless you meet a specific set of qualifications. Yeah, they call you and have you confirm your purchases– or in this case, my local bank had a third party in Ohio call me– but that accomplishes little.

Once you have been deactivated, and confirmed that your purchases were not fraud, your account is left in a crippled state. Practically any signature/credit purchase (as opposed to a PIN/debit purchase) will be denied.

After I was told my card was activated, I was denied at the gas station. Then I was told it was reactivated again, and I was rewarded with the pleasure of having my purchase declined at the grocery store.

I spent 7.5 hours today, fighting with my bank in person, and over the phone, to attempt to get them to restore my card to its previous glory. I talked with the local bank president, an account executive, and the region bank manager.

It took a 7 hour group effort for my local bank to figure out what the non-local company they had hired to prevent fraud had done to my card.

I really appreciate that my bank is trying to work this out, but I am really not pleased with them. They advertise all across town that they are local. That is why I bank with them. Why is it, then, that a company in Ohio has my name, address, phone number, a list of my recent purchases, and the last four digits of my Social Security Number? Why is it that a company in Ohio– which last I checked is not local to the State of Georgia– has the ability to freeze my ability to use my bank card?

Now, how do you get the fraud alert threshold back to the normal level so you can go about your business the same as before the fraud alert? You must make purchases using the card as a debit card, PIN and all. The problem is that I do not use my card as a debit card. There is only one place that I use it as a debit card: Sam’s club– they don’t accept credit card. Otherwise, I never use my card as a debit card, since you are afforded much better protection as a consumer when you put ink on paper.

So after 7+ hours, the bank has lifted the fraud alert scoring altogether. They tried to get me to accept liability if my account is subject to fraudulent transactions, but that wasn’t going to fly. I’m not giving up my federally protected debtor rights—nor do I think I am capable of giving up those rights—just so my bank can expedite my departure from their lobby. In fact, my card has the Visa logo. I’m only responsible for $50 if it is lost or stolen, and someone else uses it.

At one point, the local president of the local bank was convinced my card was activated, so we walked to a local pharmacy to test it. He was sure it would work. I was sure it would not. I was right. That $1.75 bottle of Coke was surely fraud.

Anyway, to wrap this up:

- Don’t think that your local bank is local just because they list your county’s name in their title, and their advertisements say they’re local. Chances are, they send your information out of state to companies whose privacy policies are not disclosed.
- Don’t expect good service from your bank, even though you have had excellent service for nearly the previous decade.
- Don’t expect people at your bank to know their own policies, or how to navigate the red tape they have constructed.
- Your bank is watching you, or at least paying someone to watch you. They watch every transaction to see where you were when you bought something (and how far that is from your home), and how similar it is to your previous purchases, among other creepy things.

I’m looking for a new bank. My current bank lost my business when I found out they outsourced the maintenance of my account to a third party.

That is all.

Yeah, I’m still alive. No blogging since Christmas. Sorry about that.

Anyway, I hope Vancouver beats Boston in 4 games.

It’s not that I like the Canucks– I don’t– and it’s not like I hate the Bruins– I don’t.

It’s that I think the NHL has setup the crappiest possible schedule for their fans to watch the game.

They stuck game 1 on the Wednesday after Memorial Day. Why would they do that, starting a series in the middle of the week? Why would they not put the first game on a holiday Monday when a heck of a lot of people are off work? Stupid.

So the schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, June 1 at Vancouver, 8 p.m.
Saturday, June 4 at Vancouver, 8 p.m.
Monday, June 6 at Boston, 8 p.m.
Wednesday, June 8 at Boston, 8 p.m.
*Friday, June 10 at Vancouver, 8 p.m.
*Monday, June 13 at Boston, 8 p.m.
*Wednesday, June 15 at Vancouver, 8 p.m.

How stupid, right?

If this series only goes 4 games, they only get one weekend game. ONE…!

If it goes the full 7, they get a total of two weekend games. TWO…!

So yeah, with the NHL setting such a lousy schedule for their fans, I hope this series is very short and has terrible ratings.

My hope is for a 4-game Vancouver sweep with all games completed in regulation, and all games completely one-sided in favor of the Canucks.

And that, from a Blackhawks fan. Pfft.

That is all.

Well, it’s that time again. Jaime and I have a long weekend ahead of us, baking thousands of Christmas cookies. We expect to be finished by Monday afternoon, when they will begin their journey across the country to friends an relatives.

I did all the shopping yesterday, spending about $140 on such ingredients as 25lbs of flour, 25lbs of sugar, and 8lbs of butter. I tried to get a head start today, making dough for five different cookies. I used three pounds of butter today alone!

There will be no major changes from last year. 12 varieties of cookies, and a candy.

Chocolate Sprinkles
Kaleidoscope Cookies
Snickerdoodles
Candy Canes
Toffee Bars
Jan Hagel
Chocolate Pinwheels
Pecan Balls
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Choco-caramel Delights
Peanut Butter Kisses
Sugar Cookies
Peanut Brittle

Some of the cookies are more involved than others. For example, the pinwheels require quite a bit of technique that has taken me years to develop. The production of the candy canes– my favorite– has Jaime weighing out one gram of red dough and one gram of white dough in order to achieve the best candy cane cookies I have ever seen (sorry Mom). The choco-caramel delights require dough to be rolled in a ball, dipped in egg white, rolled in pecans, baked, pressed in the center to form a crater– which holds homemade caramel– and then carefully drizzled with chocolate.

Some of them, though, are slice-and-bake, piece of cake.

If you want to be on our list, I suggest you start lobbying us now for inclusion on the 2012 or 2013 list. It typically takes two to three years of lobbying before you make it to the list, which is currently approaching thirty people.

It’s going to be a long weekend!

Yesterday, Michelle Obama traveled to the Gulf Coast to demonstrate that there are clean beaches, ready for tourists. During her visit, she made the following remark:

But the story today, since we’ve got the media here, is the piece that I think gets lost in the devastation, and it’s that there are still thousands of miles of beaches that have not been touched by the spill. And there are communities that thrive on tourism and on the economic power of beaches that have not been damaged. Source

Ummm… Mrs. Obama…?

Your very own EPA website states:

The Gulf of Mexico basin has been called “America’s Watershed.” Its U.S. coastline is 1,630 miles, it is fed by thirty-three major rivers, and it receives drainage from 31 States in addition to a similar drainage area from Mexico. Source

When I think “thousands,” I think multiple thousands, as in two thousand or more. If I have $1,630 dollars, I do not have thousands of dollars. I must exceed two thousand dollars to claim I have thousands of dollars.

Unless part of the whole hope and change agenda involved a claim of Mexico’s gulf coast– something that definitely would have been major news– her assertion is an impossibility.

That is all.

I own a Hyundai. I bought it in June of 2008. I have been completely happy with my Hyundai, but I do have to say…

Hyundai SUCKS.

They continually bombard me with email, trying to sell me a new car.

I have used their removal form dozens of times to try to get them to stop harassing me. It doesn’t work.

In January, I contacted Hyundai Consumer Affairs (Case #3797010). After politely informing them that I would not give them any personal information as they requested, beyond my email address– nice attempt to get more data from me– I was assured that I would not receive any future email from them. If only that were true.

I have since received eight email from them. I am sick of it.

If you buy a Hyundai– and I recommend you do if you are looking for a car– give them a fake email address. If you are getting service on your Hyundai, give them a fake email address.

If you don’t, you will NEVER get off the Hyundai-sucks-and-harasses-their-customers email marketing list.

If anyone from Hyundai reads this and wishes to address their pathetic opt-out system, or their overly-aggressive email marketing, feel free to comment below. Be sure to include a phone number so I may contact you because, as you can guess, there is no way I am giving you my email address.

That is all.

I hate this nanny state in which we live.

Last Tuesday I started to come down with a cold. It started as a scratchy throat, then my ears plugged, then my nose became stuffed, and then the cough set in. I haven’t been sick in years, but when I get a cold, it always follows that same formula. As a result, I typically treat myself. Cough drops, over the counter cough medicine, and plenty of fluids and rest.

Last week, I picked up some cold medicine from Kroger called “Mucus Relief DM.” This stuff made me feel like a zombie. I was totally out of it. I did some research on the two active ingredients. One is called Guaifenesin, an expectorant. It makes your cough more productive. The other is Dextromethorphan HBr, which suppresses your cough.

In doing my research, I learned that the Dextromethorphan is the ingredient in Robitussen that people abuse (thank you, shady websites for that little gem of knowledge). It makes you drowsy, and apparently makes you hallucinate if taken in high enough quantity. That was enough for me– I was done with it. All I want is a more productive cough, not to suppress the cough.

So today, I bought the exact same medicine from Kroger, but without the Dextromethorphan. Just to be clear– this is over-the-counter medication. It contains NO ephedrine of any kind. To my knowledge, the only active ingredient– Guaifenesin– is not on any sort of “watch” list or anything like that. There are no restrictions on its sale.

So why is it that I had to show my ID to purchase this stuff? I mean, come on– if I can buy the DM variety, which is regularly abused, without ID, then why do I have to show my ID to buy the ingredient that the abusers apparently try to avoid?

It makes no sense. I am an adult. I am sick. I am perfectly capable of determining what medicines I need to take. I do not need to be needlessly harassed by a grocery store just so I can buy some completely-legal, non-abused cough medicine.

A quick discussion with the manager and the pharmacist confirmed that there are no restrictions on this medicine. Kroger, for some reason, decided to police its customers use of over-the-counter, legal medicine, particularly when I bought some (awful) potentially-abused medicine without ID from the very same store just last week.

Why wasn’t I asked for ID for the menthol cough drops that I bought? How about the chicken soup?

Just sell me the damn medicine, Kroger. I’m a big boy. I can make my own decisions.

That is all.