I didn't get to do an installment yesterday because the e-mail that contained my links disappeared in the internets(!), so here are some fresh ones for today.
- If you're going to rob a home, make sure there isn't some big-ass dog on the premesis.
- This 90-year-old man proves that it's never too late to earn a high school diploma.
- Who would think a chicken bomb is a good idea? Apparently, someone did...before they abandoned it on the side of the road [insert Chicken-crossing-the-road joke here].
- Maybe R Kelly might want to try this: buying his jury sudoku to distract them in court. It could result in a mistrial...(just sayin')
- Remember how I mentioned that the Isle of Lesbos was suing a GLBT organization to get their name back? There's a new development in the case with the organization accusing the three plaintiffs of racism.
- If anyone remembers the movie Private School, you'll recall that the graduating class of girls moon the school at the end of their ceremony. Well, that might get the whole class arrested, because this student got hauled off to jail for his one-fingered salute. They called it disruptive and said that they wanted to have a dignified service. The parents believe they [the school] were always out to get their son. I think they could've found a better way to deal with it than jail.
- I actually found this insulting: There is a web service called youvebeenleftbehind.com which is supposed to let Christians send e-mails to their unsaved friends and family after the Rapture to save their souls. It costs $40/year to maintain an account and (get this) you can even preserve all of your financial information on the server for your family and friends to use after you've been swept up. Who says this service will be operational after the Rapture comes? Did they not see the Futurama episode where they say all videotapes were erased in 2424 at the second coming of Christ (meaning: this crap probably won't work, assuming you believe in the rapture concept)? I think it's a way to take money from the few Christians willing to buy into this...mess.
- And now, Brody Jenner is getting a new reality show which come off more like a dating show than anything else. Ryan Seacrest is executive producing this intestinal scrape of an idea, so draw your own conclusions there.
- Finally, a picture reminder of why you should always get the truck insurance on the rental truck.
If you've ever wondered why I try to include so much text in each hyperlink, it's because I learned from several classes and workshops that web "readers" for the blind can be set up to look at just links and I'm trying to avoid the one-word links, like saying "here" for every link.
Stay fly, everybody.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Those Cable People Are Hilarious!
In my never-ending battle to just be stressed out all the time, I have the conclusion to the Time Warner debacle from yesterday. I made my husband call them back on my cell phone (I had more minutes left) to make an arrangement to pay them on Friday as long as they turned our services back on [we still had cable (no box=too much effort to come out to cut it off, but I wanted the phone back on for emergency purposes]. I finally got it through his head that when I tell him to call services (so that I'm not doing it and cursing them all out) that he's to do a complete conversation and not just ask them about the few things I mentioned with no follow up. What followed was actually pretty masterful. Who knew that being a seasoned liar would pay off?
He called them up and wanted to know why our services were cut off when they sent us an incorrect statement [true] without sending us the promised reissue [lie]. They sent us a notice two days before it was due saying that we owed $300. What pissed me off about it (because I made him call them the day we received it) was that we had just gotten through paying them a lot of money and they printed the bill long after we had paid them, because we were only behind by nearly $50. They should've offered to send a reprint of the bill, but he didn't request it at the time because he was on auto-pilot at the time. Anyway, he kept insisting that we were going to pay the bill once we got the reissue but we never received it and were cut off abruptly. He got the woman to acquiesce to his persistence and made arrangements to pay on Friday, but wanted to make sure our services would be turned back on.
This is where the story gets interesting.
Apparently, the reason why they've been itchy to cut us off is because, according to her computer, we only had cable and must have thought we owed for several months worth of service. We only found this out when he mentioned getting the services turned back on and she said that she would have to send out a technician. He explained to her that the phone and internet were cut-off remotely, so why would they need to send someone out, and she said that her notes said that our cable was cut off at the pole. "No it wasn't" he told her, in such a fashion that I fell out laughing. We had to tell her that the cable had never been cut off in all the years we've had it in this apartment, because they keep thinking we have cable boxes. How do they run a company when they don't even know what services their customers have? I can assure you that I would not be paying nearly $150 a month for standard cable, but it does explain the sudden cold-shoulder we've been getting lately from them.
She also had us down for receiving e-mail bills (which I never signed up for). This just turned into a head-scratching moment because I don't know how their information got so screwed up, but I think it's been off since they moved to their new building a couple of months ago.
I will be paying them on Friday, because the phone will be off on Saturday if I don't (they've done it before). Again, I'm not saying that I deserve to have my stuff on without paying, but these people had gotten trigger happy when they assumed we were deadbeats on a simple cable bill (and cut off our primary phone that I'd rather have on for emergencies) instead of having all of their facts straight.
What a way to run a company, Time Warner.
He called them up and wanted to know why our services were cut off when they sent us an incorrect statement [true] without sending us the promised reissue [lie]. They sent us a notice two days before it was due saying that we owed $300. What pissed me off about it (because I made him call them the day we received it) was that we had just gotten through paying them a lot of money and they printed the bill long after we had paid them, because we were only behind by nearly $50. They should've offered to send a reprint of the bill, but he didn't request it at the time because he was on auto-pilot at the time. Anyway, he kept insisting that we were going to pay the bill once we got the reissue but we never received it and were cut off abruptly. He got the woman to acquiesce to his persistence and made arrangements to pay on Friday, but wanted to make sure our services would be turned back on.
This is where the story gets interesting.
Apparently, the reason why they've been itchy to cut us off is because, according to her computer, we only had cable and must have thought we owed for several months worth of service. We only found this out when he mentioned getting the services turned back on and she said that she would have to send out a technician. He explained to her that the phone and internet were cut-off remotely, so why would they need to send someone out, and she said that her notes said that our cable was cut off at the pole. "No it wasn't" he told her, in such a fashion that I fell out laughing. We had to tell her that the cable had never been cut off in all the years we've had it in this apartment, because they keep thinking we have cable boxes. How do they run a company when they don't even know what services their customers have? I can assure you that I would not be paying nearly $150 a month for standard cable, but it does explain the sudden cold-shoulder we've been getting lately from them.
She also had us down for receiving e-mail bills (which I never signed up for). This just turned into a head-scratching moment because I don't know how their information got so screwed up, but I think it's been off since they moved to their new building a couple of months ago.
I will be paying them on Friday, because the phone will be off on Saturday if I don't (they've done it before). Again, I'm not saying that I deserve to have my stuff on without paying, but these people had gotten trigger happy when they assumed we were deadbeats on a simple cable bill (and cut off our primary phone that I'd rather have on for emergencies) instead of having all of their facts straight.
What a way to run a company, Time Warner.
Monday, June 9, 2008
New NEW Mission: Get Time Warner To Suck It!
I just got off the phone with my husband who had to call me from his cell phone because our phone is out. Why? Because Time Warner decided to cut us off because we owe them $49. We paid them twice last month to get caught up (putting us in the poorhouse to the tune of $399), but because we were past due by that amount, they cut us off without warning (the letter we got in the mail was for the incorrect amount because it was printed in the half a day between when we said we would pay them the bulk of the bill and when it was actually paid). We had no official due date, and we are trying to get current with all of our bills, and this new cut-you-off-immediately policy is new. What's pissing me off is that this was the same tactic used by AT&T when I switched from them to Time Warner. I got a cut-off notice every month for two years before I finally got sick of their tactics. We would make arrangements to pay the bill and then the operator would (usually nastily) ask me when the next amount would be paid, since the bill was due in four days. I always had the same answer: I don't know, and the cycle would begin all over again.
Look, I'm not trying to say I don't owe people money. My bill for Time Warner is approximately $140 a month for phone, internet, and standard cable. We're all but caught up on the bill when they decided to turn into AT&T and strong-arm us into paying our bill now when we don't have the money to put gas in the car for me to get to work tomorrow (the money sent to us never got here), so they can just go to hell.
If we had to, we could probably find a way to get by on cheaper internet (at least until school starts), but I don't see how cutting someone's main phone off is a good idea when they can't call you to pay the fucking bill. I don't know why they stopped their old policy of just making your internet e-mail not work (which was a great tactic in helping me find out that a payment I thought I had made in the past did not go through), but if this keeps up, I don't know what we'll do.
Look, I'm not trying to say I don't owe people money. My bill for Time Warner is approximately $140 a month for phone, internet, and standard cable. We're all but caught up on the bill when they decided to turn into AT&T and strong-arm us into paying our bill now when we don't have the money to put gas in the car for me to get to work tomorrow (the money sent to us never got here), so they can just go to hell.
If we had to, we could probably find a way to get by on cheaper internet (at least until school starts), but I don't see how cutting someone's main phone off is a good idea when they can't call you to pay the fucking bill. I don't know why they stopped their old policy of just making your internet e-mail not work (which was a great tactic in helping me find out that a payment I thought I had made in the past did not go through), but if this keeps up, I don't know what we'll do.
New Mission in Life
I have decided that I must have some new ambition, and here it is: I want to either get an autograph from Stephen Colbert (complete with photo), or do something so noteworthy to get on the show. Since I have no political ambition (and avoid political talks like the plague), I'm shooting for the former over the latter. My feeling on this is that I want to do this because he earned cool points for being intelligent and funny, and because I'm, simply, an idiot.
I even have a couple of ideas of where I'd like his autograph to appear in my autograph book (it began it's life as a journal with floral pages). I'd either like it to be near the autograph of my favorite author, Peter S. Beagle, or I'd like it to be near Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker. However, I think his character would appreciate being by Mother Goose and Grim creator (and editorial cartoonist) Mike Peters.
Why am I shooting for the autograph instead of the interview? Quite simply, by the time I can do something with my comic-book-induced educational endeavors, his show might be off the air. Besides, he's smart and I'm not (I don't care what anyone says) and that's a little intimidating. I could try to create an internet phenomenon to get national attention, but I'd like to think I have a little more substance than a gimmick to be on the show.
I am not sure why I've developed this sudden fixation, but I'm trying to think of ways to put this plan (half baked as it is) into action. He tapes his show in NYC [yay!], but my broke ass can't afford to go anytime soon. I refuse to Greyhound to NYC (going to Cleveland from here is enough of a pain that I would probably end up killing someone on the bus before I got to New York and that's not the kind of fame I want), and I won't be able to fly towards the end of the summer, so I don't know what else to do.
I could write a song and get it on YouTube. I can also stick bamboo shoots under my nails.
I could try writing to him but I want to be present when the autograph is signed so that I can photograph the moment like I have all the others.
Okay. Here's my new hair-brained scheme: I'll write him a letter telling him about my desire to either get an in-person autograph or get interviewed based on my academic pursuit and see where that goes. This idea is so stupid, I'm laughing at myself for even thinking of it! How am I going to get a letter to him? Besides, I don't want to sound like a stalker (I've had one; they're not fun & mine was pretty harmless compared to most of them).
I'm (rather) serious about this. I haven't been this excited about something so ridiculous since I applied to grad school to study comics (or since I met Peter S. Beagle last summer). This will probably go nowhere, but I'd like to believe that I would at least try to do this before it falls apart.
I even have a couple of ideas of where I'd like his autograph to appear in my autograph book (it began it's life as a journal with floral pages). I'd either like it to be near the autograph of my favorite author, Peter S. Beagle, or I'd like it to be near Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker. However, I think his character would appreciate being by Mother Goose and Grim creator (and editorial cartoonist) Mike Peters.
Why am I shooting for the autograph instead of the interview? Quite simply, by the time I can do something with my comic-book-induced educational endeavors, his show might be off the air. Besides, he's smart and I'm not (I don't care what anyone says) and that's a little intimidating. I could try to create an internet phenomenon to get national attention, but I'd like to think I have a little more substance than a gimmick to be on the show.
I am not sure why I've developed this sudden fixation, but I'm trying to think of ways to put this plan (half baked as it is) into action. He tapes his show in NYC [yay!], but my broke ass can't afford to go anytime soon. I refuse to Greyhound to NYC (going to Cleveland from here is enough of a pain that I would probably end up killing someone on the bus before I got to New York and that's not the kind of fame I want), and I won't be able to fly towards the end of the summer, so I don't know what else to do.
I could write a song and get it on YouTube. I can also stick bamboo shoots under my nails.
I could try writing to him but I want to be present when the autograph is signed so that I can photograph the moment like I have all the others.
Okay. Here's my new hair-brained scheme: I'll write him a letter telling him about my desire to either get an in-person autograph or get interviewed based on my academic pursuit and see where that goes. This idea is so stupid, I'm laughing at myself for even thinking of it! How am I going to get a letter to him? Besides, I don't want to sound like a stalker (I've had one; they're not fun & mine was pretty harmless compared to most of them).
I'm (rather) serious about this. I haven't been this excited about something so ridiculous since I applied to grad school to study comics (or since I met Peter S. Beagle last summer). This will probably go nowhere, but I'd like to believe that I would at least try to do this before it falls apart.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Suburbaneisenhowereraville
That lovely little gem comes from a blog that points out the problems with my university's school paper. It is called the Anti-Lantern, and this is going to be this guy's last post for awhile. The subject of today's rant is about a student who wrote an article about his "harrowing" experience of being dropped off in the middle of downtown Columbus. To give you a little perspective, downtown Columbus is the size of a postage stamp, and there are so few blacks who live in town that I usually joke that "there ain't but 5 of us here." The assertions the original author makes are wholly and completely insensitive to different races, and the fact that it got published really hurts my head. The purpose of Anti-Lantern is to pick apart articles for grammatical, factual, and spelling errors, giving the reader a play-by-play of how horrible the articles (in particular, opinion articles) are written. The author of this blog wants to write for the paper in the hopes to improve things, so he's going to be giving up the blog to someone else (if a replacement can be found) when he takes the journalism class for the paper in the fall. He's written some really insightful and hilarious comments, and this was just priceless if, for nothing else, my new favorite word: Suburbaneisenhowereraville.
Keep in mind that I grew up on the "mean streets" of Cleveland where we have no bars on our doors (and the window ones are decorative), and locking doors just makes sense. There have been door locks since the invention of the door, so why people keep their crap-shacks unlocked is beyond me (OK, so crap-shack might be a bit harsh). My family still lives on the "dangerous" East Side (so called because that's where the blacks live; the city is still horribly, racially divided) within walking distance of the Cultural Gardens, the Botanical Garden, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Case Western Reserve University, and other museums and art and music colleges. The neighborhood is on the National Register, and the house I grew up in is one of three that were commissioned by Rockefeller. I get really defensive when people bash city dwellers in general (and Cleveland in particular; it will always be home), so the idea that some suburbanite kid spent 27 minutes in "the ghetto" (which was not nearly as bad as the Projects of various big cities) and acts like he was living out a scene from "Menace 2 Society" is irritating.
What a punk.
Keep in mind that I grew up on the "mean streets" of Cleveland where we have no bars on our doors (and the window ones are decorative), and locking doors just makes sense. There have been door locks since the invention of the door, so why people keep their crap-shacks unlocked is beyond me (OK, so crap-shack might be a bit harsh). My family still lives on the "dangerous" East Side (so called because that's where the blacks live; the city is still horribly, racially divided) within walking distance of the Cultural Gardens, the Botanical Garden, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Case Western Reserve University, and other museums and art and music colleges. The neighborhood is on the National Register, and the house I grew up in is one of three that were commissioned by Rockefeller. I get really defensive when people bash city dwellers in general (and Cleveland in particular; it will always be home), so the idea that some suburbanite kid spent 27 minutes in "the ghetto" (which was not nearly as bad as the Projects of various big cities) and acts like he was living out a scene from "Menace 2 Society" is irritating.
What a punk.
What's Interesting Today?
In the interest of keeping up with posting without much substance, here are the articles I found interesting today.
- What is the deal with stealing statues lately? Yesterday, it was a Jesus statue and today it's Charlie the Tuna. Sorry, Charlie, indeed.
- I just want to know which pawn shop has these recently recovered gold bracelets so that I can make sure not to buy them. I know where they've been.
- Apparently, cute can only get you so far before you get caught...impersonating a doctor!
- This woman gets points for having a designated driver, but loses major points for the driver being a one-year-old.
- In celebrity news, Jessica Simpson's relationship woes continue because of her father's meddling. Joe Simpson asked Tony Romo to drop his agent so that he [Joe] can manage his $67.5 million contract. Are you serious? What idiot would drop their manager for their girlfriend's dad-ager, especially since his area of "expertise" is in sub-managing pop careers. The last straw was offering to sell their engagement and wedding like he did for Ashlee. Romo wasn't having any of that, and that's why their relationship is in the crapper. They're back together, but there's not much hope of it getting back to where it was before Joe started making waves. The best part of this article? The fact that Joe doesn't exactly deny that he's doing all of these things. He thinks it's good management, and isn't family better at managing than a professional? Um, no.
- On a serious note, a Time article asks us all why are we able to look away from those who are struggling here in the U.S.. I'm not sure I agree with the author's assessment that these changes will happen with a Democratic president (because I'm a cynic and nothing is guaranteed), but I think it's a good read that probably won't be available for too long on the Internet.
- Also, the fashion world came out to say goodbye to Yves Saint Laurent today. I was going to link to an article about it, but I closed it hours ago. It's easy enough to find, so I'm not really necessary.
I've got a headache to get back to; I've been letting my money woes take its toll on my health, and since my baby has to be my biggest priority, I need to take better care of myself. My stupid Tylenol only lasted two hours, and I can't go home until I've worked my hours (because somebody has to take this shit seriously) so I'm stuck. But it beats getting dressed down by an IRS employee. I called the IRS to find out about their policy of taking money without proper notification, and the first man I got talked to me like I was a little girl who didn't know that the Economic Stimulus Package was a one-time thing. When I demanded to speak to his supervisor, he hung up on me! I wanted the supervisor because I was on the verge of losing it and ready to cuss his sorry behind out, so I wanted to talk to someone before I got to that point. I didn't even start the hostilities (because if I had, I would've deserved some of the blame for his behavior). The second man I spoke with gave me reasonable answers that I could accept without treating me like shit. That was my Tuesday. Fun.
I'm going to get back to work, finally.
- What is the deal with stealing statues lately? Yesterday, it was a Jesus statue and today it's Charlie the Tuna. Sorry, Charlie, indeed.
- I just want to know which pawn shop has these recently recovered gold bracelets so that I can make sure not to buy them. I know where they've been.
- Apparently, cute can only get you so far before you get caught...impersonating a doctor!
- This woman gets points for having a designated driver, but loses major points for the driver being a one-year-old.
- In celebrity news, Jessica Simpson's relationship woes continue because of her father's meddling. Joe Simpson asked Tony Romo to drop his agent so that he [Joe] can manage his $67.5 million contract. Are you serious? What idiot would drop their manager for their girlfriend's dad-ager, especially since his area of "expertise" is in sub-managing pop careers. The last straw was offering to sell their engagement and wedding like he did for Ashlee. Romo wasn't having any of that, and that's why their relationship is in the crapper. They're back together, but there's not much hope of it getting back to where it was before Joe started making waves. The best part of this article? The fact that Joe doesn't exactly deny that he's doing all of these things. He thinks it's good management, and isn't family better at managing than a professional? Um, no.
- On a serious note, a Time article asks us all why are we able to look away from those who are struggling here in the U.S.. I'm not sure I agree with the author's assessment that these changes will happen with a Democratic president (because I'm a cynic and nothing is guaranteed), but I think it's a good read that probably won't be available for too long on the Internet.
- Also, the fashion world came out to say goodbye to Yves Saint Laurent today. I was going to link to an article about it, but I closed it hours ago. It's easy enough to find, so I'm not really necessary.
I've got a headache to get back to; I've been letting my money woes take its toll on my health, and since my baby has to be my biggest priority, I need to take better care of myself. My stupid Tylenol only lasted two hours, and I can't go home until I've worked my hours (because somebody has to take this shit seriously) so I'm stuck. But it beats getting dressed down by an IRS employee. I called the IRS to find out about their policy of taking money without proper notification, and the first man I got talked to me like I was a little girl who didn't know that the Economic Stimulus Package was a one-time thing. When I demanded to speak to his supervisor, he hung up on me! I wanted the supervisor because I was on the verge of losing it and ready to cuss his sorry behind out, so I wanted to talk to someone before I got to that point. I didn't even start the hostilities (because if I had, I would've deserved some of the blame for his behavior). The second man I spoke with gave me reasonable answers that I could accept without treating me like shit. That was my Tuesday. Fun.
I'm going to get back to work, finally.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
News Bites
- OMG...somebody stole Jesus!
- Someone lost a Cape Cod lighthouse, and it was found in California.
I had some others, but I want to go home. I might post them later (who knows).
- Someone lost a Cape Cod lighthouse, and it was found in California.
I had some others, but I want to go home. I might post them later (who knows).
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