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From Drudge:
It's stuff like this that makes me happy that I am no on that side of the aisle.
"Many of you are well enough off that ... the tax cuts may have helped you," Sen. Clinton said. "We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
You can stop arguing now...
Democrats file anti-Nader suit
Allege that most signatures on Arizona petitions are invalid
Please return your tinfoil hat to it's upright and locked position....
Today, another feed bit the dust. No, not because it was unoriginal or dead but because I was starting to get headlines such as "Free Golf Clubs" and "Drop fifty pounds and gain seven inches NATURALLY". Mind you, this was a feed that wasn't used too often and had seen their "news" content drop fatally over the past 30 days.
I'm starting to wonder if spammers are pushing content out for a while on a valid feed, then just drop the news one day and start pushing Viagra 24/7. The vast majority of people will obviously delete the feed but you know that there's 1% of the populace out there that will buy...
Talk about a giant buildup to a complete letdown.
All the major news services were covering the story before takeoff. The big three networks (well, the big one Fox and the other network CNN and it's bastard stepchild MSNBC) had guys onsite to cover the launch. I should have known things were going downhill when the guys on Fox asked if the chase plane was SpaceShipOne.
Then during the actual launch, all three were either doing other stories or even worse, commercials. Finally when the time came for the ship to return, all three networks focused in on aircraft that were NOT SpaceShipOne (including the same chase plane that Fox had incorrectly pointed out earlier which was Rutan's Starship).
But even with the horrendous coverage, congrats to Burt, Paul, and the team for pulling off a wonderful flight.
Enjoy...
Let me make this perfectly clear...
T-Mobile, you by far have the stupidest, most condesending sales representatives I have ever had the displeasure of working with. I will make it my goal in life to drive ANYONE who wants wireless service to stay as far away from your company as possible.
The reason:
(Scene: Driving home from working on a co-workers computer, figure I have 30 minutes to spare before picking up baby. Decide to call T-Mobile store to see if they have a demo Sidekick I could try out on a few of my company's websites.)
Me: Hi, do you happen to have a demo Sidekick in stock.
Clueless Sales Rep: Yup, we have one in the store.
Me: Are you sure, because last time I came down there you guys disappointed me and I really don't want a repeat.
CSR: Nope, we've got one.
Me: And it has a data-enabled SIM card so I can try the data functions on it.
CSR: Yes, we have one in the store, it's the store manager's and we can let you try it out.
Me: And he's not leaving to get his hair done, his doggie washed, or has a pregnant wife who's about to give birth, right?
CSR: Huh?
Me: He's going to be there when I drive up to your store in five minutes.
CSR: Oh yeah, he's here until 5:00.
Me: OK, thank you, I'm about five minutes away.
(Scene: Five minutes later in the T-Mobile store)
Me: Hi, I'm the guy who called about the Sidekick about five minutes ago.
Scantily Clad CSR: Oh yeah, hang on. (and yes, wearing a halter top with a white, unbuttoned shirt just SCREAMS professionalism...if you are in a certain trade...)
(Wait five minutes while she answers a question about Mobile to Mobile calls from someone who walked in just after me)
SC-CSR: Come over here, I've got it hooked up for you. Enjoy.
(Scene: Now I'm looking at the phone with the big warning stating "GSM/GPRS services not enabled on this phone. You still may make voice calls from this phone").
Me: Umm, this SIM card isn't data enabled.
SC-CSR: Yes it is.
Me: Then it's a bit confused because it's saying GPRS services unavailable.
SC-CSR: Let me see that... (insert 30 seconds of staring at the same warning I listed earlier). Let me check with the manager.
Me: Good idea.
(Insert five minutes of rep walking around store, and 30 seconds talking to manager while I'm trying to memorize where their cell towers are located on the map in the back of the store)
SC-CSR: OK, well apparently that isn't a Data-Enabled SIM card.
Me: Really? Glad you figured that out....
SC-CSR: So where can I call you back.
Me: Excuse me?
SC-CSR: Call you back... So when we do have a data-enabled SIM card you can try it out.
Me: I live 30 miles away from your store. And you've screwed me over more than two times on trying a live Sidekick. Mind you, we're getting closer each time. This time they actually had a SIM card.
SC-CSR: So where can I call you.
Me: So you are telling me you aren't even going to try to get one of your SIM cards and try to rig it up for data?
SC-CSR: We can't do that.
Me: Wait, you have all these lovely data enabled phones and once again, T-Mobile won't let me try out the data capabilities unless I get a data enabled SIM card myself.
SC-CSR: Well yeah, that would be the only way we could do this.
Me: And your manager can't do anything else?
SC-CSR: No.
Me: Hmm...you can try me at anyone of the Verizon Wireless stores. More than likely they will let me try out their data-enabled phones and will be getting a substantial amount of cash from me very shortly. Unlike your company.
File that under things you never thought you would say out loud.
About six months ago I purchased an HP laptop through Best Buy (don't get me started on it, it was the absolute best deal that I found during my search and so far it's been awesome). And for that six months, it's been taken everywhere from hotel rooms to customer meetings. But last week I started to notice that my laptop had a slight wobble to it. Thinking it was the table, I moved it over to another table and same thing. Grabbed a level and nope, not even close to level.
What really sucks about it is the fact that typing is getting tougher and tougher with the wobble. I don't know whether to open a ticket with HP or just deal with it since I can only guess HP will tell me to suck it up and deal with it.
(Scene: Pile of dishes in the sink)
DeAnn: Emily, please wash the dishes in the sink.
Emily: But mom, the dishwasher is still running.
DeAnn: Yeah, just fill up the sink and wash the rest.
(Scene: Five minutes later, Emily is using the sprayer and is dousing the pans with a jet of hot water)
DeAnn: Emily, I told you to wash the dishes.
Emily: Yeah, I am, and????
DeAnn: That means fill up the sink with soapy water and scrub them.
Emily: (incredulous look) Why do I have to get so "pioneer" in doing the dishes. I mean, come on mom...
DeAnn: (leaves the room in order to prevent herself from laughing out loud).
According to my kids, we are the most evil parents in the world. I'm so proud, my wife and I work extra hard to make life as miserable as possible. :-)
Here's the latest list of the "evil" things we do.
#1. Curfew: Street lights on, kids in the house.
Some of the neighborhood kids can stay out later, but this is the hard and fast rule that has only been bent twice in my memory.
#2. If we can't see you out the front door, you better have told us where you were going.
Basic rule that every kid should have (but doesn't).
#3. No going down to the lake without an adult. And no, your twelve year old friend does not count as an adult.
My wife lost two of her cousins in a horrible drowning accident when she was eight. Both kids were great swimmers, one got in trouble and the other tried saving them.
#4. I get final OK on your friends. If there's a kid that's causing problems (i.e. getting arrested), then you won't see much of them.
This one is rarely used because luckily none of our kids hang out with convicted felons.
#5. I'm open to negotiation, but when I make my decision, it's final. Whine around about it and you will find yourself in your room.
This is the hardest one to do. We're pretty strict when it comes to what the kids can and can't do, but we still give them some leeway.
So what do you guys think? I'm pretty sure these are the rules I bitched about as a kid, but my kids seem to think I could take my pet dinosaur down to the volcano anytime I wanted to....
Anthrax - Sound of White Noise
Talk about an album that redfined an entire band. Anthrax's 1993 release with the addition of John Bush on vocals took them from a thrash band to the next level with a honest "balls to the wall" sound that still cranks through today.
If you look at my MP3 folders, this one is filed under "Music of Aggression". It's one of those albums that just yearns to be cranked until the laptop speakers blow out.
Got the official notice today.
One more course to finish the "in-class portion" of the Bachelor's degree (which thankfully the class is being held in October).
32 Hours of electives which can be either real classes, CLEP or DANTES tests on various subjects.
Bascially, if I can take/pass ten of these tests by March 2005, I should graduate with the Bachelors degree in crap Organizational Management.
Gotta love the wireless world...11Meg uplink to the Internet while going over accounting homework.
Question for the masses: How many of you that are in college put notes in via your laptop?
Last week in accounting I got tired of trying to do a balance sheet on paper in class and just cranked it out in Excel. I'm of course getting weird looks from my classmates who are less technically savvy...