Companies That (Still) Suck and Movie Reviews

First, special venom today for Winn-Dixie (previous post) for case 790762 which on 3-3 and 3-11 they promised me a reply from their "District Office" and which hasn't happened. At least we know why they've been bankrupt once already.

Second, even more venom for Tony Roma's (previous post) which still hasn't replied about my issue from 4-16-08, 4-24-08, and 5-23-08. Hell, it's been a YEAR and they haven't given me the promised response. Apparently "Karen Weinberger" who is going to call me is a bit behind. I haven't eaten there since.

And I and am mystified why Rock Beach Grill hasn't checked on their company's name. It's always good to Google your company's name. When a complaint appears above your own company's page, it's good for the complainer's page and not so much for your own. Some companies must love negative publicity.

The day started with the typical OPH breakfast, followed by skating. We went skating at Pines though "skating" is a relative word as the chillers were broken and the ice was the consistency of a Slurpee™ and we were making Bow-Wakes at the far end due to the 1/4" of standing water. Still we had fun and got our exercise in. Johnny and Liz didn't join us for the movie and lunch.

Next up, we saw Monsters vs Aliens. Was more excited about seeing trailers for Wild Things, Ice Age 3, Star Trek, and Up than I ended up about the movie. The movie wasn't bad, it wasn't good, it was just sort of there. It was funny -- much like the second Shrek -- but I didn't actually GET anything out of it. Ice Age 3 will be much like that, too, but I'll go just for a dose of Skrat. Star Trek looks abominable and dropped so far down my "must see" list that it isn't there any more. Wild Things is at the very top of that list now. Up looks amusing.

Today's Cracker Barrel experience was typical. We all had fun, but the service at the Davie branch is always sub-part. The wait today was especially atrocious -- we planned on a late lunch and ended up with dinner. We had a party of 8, and there were people who arrived, were seated, ate, and left before we were seated. But the food was passable and we didn't go for a dining experience. I bought Bottle Caps candy on the way out: FLASHBACK. They no longer have lemon-lime flavour though :(

Shane and Lizzie wore me out. Wow. What a long, rough day.

A Cat In Your Pants

Please vote on this LOLCatz. I don't want to mention that this is my friend Paul. So there is no way I will mention this is my friend Paul. I am certain Paul wouldn't want anyone to know that's him sitting on the crapper with a cat in his pants. So I will not post that this is Paul with a cat. In his pants.

I didn't want to see the new Where The Wild Things Are film when I first heard about it because I didn't want to see yet another childhood memory destroyed by Hollywood.


I cannot wait to see this film after seeing the trailer. This is an amazing trailer. I think this may be another LOTR quality telling of a story. I've actually got my hopes up now.

I've also attacked another spammer:

Dear Registrar:

Your user is repeatedly spamming us. She and I have had contact before and she has promised to cease and desist. Here authentic headers are below. It is my polite suggestion you terminate her account with extreme prejudice and ban her. I certify we have never done business with, requested information form, or had any desire to even hear from her. Spam is the bane of the online community and this "lady" just doesn't get it and won't stop. Your assistance in making her go away (and her banishment from the planet might be nice) would be deeply appreciated.

Sometimes when especially peeved as I am right now, I publish these spam-removal requests on my blog. The ISP and registrar's response will be duly noted if you so desire. I allow up to 24 hours before posting to allow time for your actions to be noted.

Thanks,
Eric


Return-path:
Delivery-date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:06:48 -0700
Received: from 241-80.delaware.net ([66.173.241.80]:42603 helo=venus.delaware.net)
by REDACTED with esmtps (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256)
(Exim 4.69)
(envelope-from )
id 1LmrAM-00081O-9z
for REDACTED; Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:06:48 -0700
Received: (qmail 15431 invoked from network); 26 Mar 2009 11:03:27 -0400
Received: from mail.abna.us (HELO JENN) (70.91.152.105)
by admin.forumdrop.net with SMTP; 26 Mar 2009 11:03:27 -0400
From: "Jennifer Stacey"
To:
Subject: Past Due Accounts
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:03:25 -0400
Message-ID: >
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0842_01C9AE02.7C1EF120"
X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 12.0
Thread-Index: AcmuJAMKFgwJtzN0SeuRolC+JbU0+w==
Content-Language: en-us
Disposition-Notification-To: "Jennifer Stacey"
From: Jennifer Stacey [mailto:jstacey@abna.us]
Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 11:03
To: REDACTED
Subject: Past Due Accounts

Answer The Following Five Questions pertaining to Your Company

(Spam Redacted -- why are female spammers worse than male spammers?)

Have An Amazing Day!
Jennifer Stacey
Domestic/International New Client Development
ABNA International
95 Wolf Creek Blvd
Dover De 19963
001-302-883-8564
jstacey@abna.us

This is a solicitation of services on behalf of ABNA Intl by Jennifer Stacey. If you feel that you have your receivables under key and no one is showing any of the red flag signals above, simply respond Unsubscribe and you will be taking off my list. HOWEVER please keep my information handy in case a “problem child account” pops up! As always I wish you continued success and an amazing day! Simply respond unsubscribe in the subject line along with your email address to jstacey@abna.us !

I have not, for the record, heard from any of the people I complained to. This will be escalated. I despise spammers, though why I believed her the first time when she said she'd fix it. I do give her credit for having REAL contact information and for actually answering her emails. I don't hate her company any less for it.

A long Diatribe and some updates

First, I must say, the Panthers are sucking so bad, it's embarrassing. They are a train wreck. How bad is it? Legendary fan and media-whore VanMurph finally thew a fit over it and has jumped in with the rest of us who are saying what the fuck is wrong with this team?

You know, many of us have been suffering a long time. I'm a charter season ticket holder so I remember not only the bad times but even some of the good times. We did. after all, make it to the Stanley Cup finals, losing in one of the longest hockey games in history. (That story is the subject of my We Believe article.) Over the years me, and most of my long-suffering friends and brethren have become negative, bitter, cynical, and sarcastic with regards to the team. There's really no other alternative -- that's how you end up.

Some of the newer fans have wondered why we long-suffering fans are like this. They are now experiencing first hand what our years of dedication have proven. And it's frustrating to watch your team have yet another collapse. We've seen these collapses through various coaches, GMs, and a whole slew of players. There's only been one constant: Alan Cohen.

If I had one year to run this team, I'd make changes. I don't think I could fix it in one year. Let me be blunt. The first one out the door would be Michael Yormark (I hope he's reading this). He's sold the soul of the team to the highest bidder. If you're in our arena, you wouldn't even know a hockey team played there. This has been mentioned to me time and time again. I could tell you about the banners that no longer grace our halls, the fact our building has almost nothing resembling team colours, and the whole arena is a paean to advertising. I get that you have to sell ads to make a team profitable, but this is a guy who has our own team's logo on an ad in a urinal. When I have to piss, I have to piss on my OWN TEAM'S LOGO. He should be fired for that alone.

The players who don't give a shit would be gone. Bye-bye Jay Bouwmeester, the most overrated player on our team this decade. You don't care and neither do I. I'd rather take it up the arse than let you play another shift. The coach would be instructed to bench anyone who didn't play, pretty much guaranteeing half the team would be sitting whilst call-ups would be on the ice. I'd rather lose a hard-fought hockey game than sit through the shite I've seen the past few weeks. Abhorrent at best.

I like DeBoer as a coach but he's blowing it badly. From the Boynton fiasco to not playing Andy. It's ugly. If he doesn't correct the cranial-rectal inversion, he's got to go too. And I don't want him to go. I wonder if he's under constraints from management?

The bottom line is VanMurph is a homer of the best -- some might say worst -- sort. A blindly loyal fan who overlooks almost anything. These are the sort of fans you need to make a team survive. Our team just lost him. That tells you how bad we are. I like VanMurph and what he brings to the game. If you can't keep the fans like him, how are you going to keep people like me who've been living and breathing this team since our very first opening night. The worst thing is, the team is so damned blind to what's happening, they don't get it. Even our players see it. Don't believe me? Ask 'em. I have. And not just the current batch, this goes back.

*** END PANTHER RANT ***

Also, I want to commend the Onion for their excellent spot on breast cancer awareness and what one brave pair of scouts is doing to help. Anyone who doesn't get it and comments or emails me about this will be pilloried -- you might wish to check what the Onion is about if you don't know.

And special kudos to the fine lady who's been stealing boob jobs. No, really. I am not making this up as Dave Barry would say. A serial 'Boob-Job Bandit' .... caught stealing cosmetic surgery procedures totalling more than £8,000. The 30-year-old blonde was tracked down by police using a serial number on her removed breast implants. Read more at Metro. I mean you all just are curious about this aren't you?

Special kudos to the TV show Lost. Last night's episode had their finest "A" game going on. The last few minutes with Sayid and Ben were some of the best dramatic moments I have ever seen on television. I don't want to spoil it, but WOW. A perfect ten moment. I've been totally gobsmacked before and not seen something coming, then looked back and said "Yeah, I guess I did see that coming." Not last night. Perfect episode. Even Heroes sucked less than usual this week.

And a random thing for a certain friend who's a parent to be who is wrestling with a certain decision: read this.

Lastly, I had previous reported on the 12 year old boy who fathered a kid and was much publicized about it. He's not the father according to a paternity test and some 15 year old kid is, though nearly a dozen teens claimed to have slept with the slag. That's so much better. Not.

Technorati Suckitude

Technorati is pissing me off. Normally I get a fair amount of traffic from them. However for two weeks now it's been not updating my blog posts to their database. That means people who access this blog via Technorati are seeing "last update 14 days ago" -- and I've been trying to get in touch with their tech support for 10 of those days. Arsemunches. So no new Technorati traffic for Eric.

A lot of traffic has been hitting me for the Rock Beach Grille and I am pleased because it's the sort of negative publicity they need. Winn-Dixie never got back to me and it's been over a month since my incident, proving they don't care. And my post on the Panther Boobies Lady is still generating traffic albeit pass-through traffic.

Speaking of the Panthers, I wish to point out they are doing their very best to miss the playoffs by a point or two continuing their fine tradition of medicority. I won't go on (and on and on) about it here because that's what my message board is for. I also wish to thank Jose M and John B for sorting out the CSS and not only returning it to Panthers colours but improving upon the previous one. And a note of bemusement to my friend Greg who last night ranted and raved at the driver of the car that almost tried to run him over in the parking lot after the game, not realizing it was me deliberately trying to scare him. I confessed today.

Shout out to Erin who is pissed at me because I dissed baseball by saying it was boring. It is. But it's better than NASCAR -- everything is better than NASCAR. Including watching paint dry. Double shout-out to Mini-Stanley for the always welcome visits to our section: we love Mini!

I ate a frozen Boston Market Macaroni and Cheese for dinner. Then I followed it with some cantaloupe and then my last box of Smarties™ (chocolate UK variety). It was, by all accounts, a bad combination. I did not decide wisely, but I wasn't in the mood to cook the pork chops I bought. I know you deeply care about this which is why it's posted here.

I was going to write tonight, but was not in the mood so I am making a blog post instead.

Post 600: Nostalgia and Herb Caen

I was feeling nostalgic today. Not because this is the 600th post -- that's a coincidence, but because I was thinking about my favourite columnist of all time: Herb Caen. Mister Caen is famous because without him you'd not have the word beatnik which he coined in 1958, or the word hippie which he popularized in the 1960s. Nor would the phrase Baghdad by the Bay be in our vernacular. Many people knew of Mister Caen. But if you never lived in San Francisco you never knew Mister Caen.

He died of lung cancer and his funeral was the largest attended in the history of the city. He was beloved like no other. And to say he shaped the city is no lie. From the Embarcadero to the new Giants Stadium, they all bear his signature. He was a legend in his time and thereafter.

His eulogy was delivered by one Robin Williams. Pretty funny. Just how Herb would have wanted it. It took a week's worth of newspapers to print a fraction of his rememberances, and they are here if you want to read some. They won't mean much to many of you because you can never understand what one man can do to shape a city, a culture, just by documenting it and appreciating it. The old chestnut "I left my heart in San Francisco" rings true for those of us who have been there and actually left our hearts there. He documented the infamous earthquakes, the legendary Trader Vic's, and many other places from Sears (diner) to Coit Tower and many places only a native would know. He felt the city and the city felt him.

As a young Cal student, I wrote him a note about the idiotic Berkeley Police. He wrote me back. The framed letter is still on my wall. But I had been a loyal reader of his from long, long before that. Back when I lived there briefly as a young boy, I discovered him. I read him religiously, and that is, quite honestly, how I began my love affair with the newspaper.

A collection of his columns is here. When he knew he was dying but most people didn't the city threw him a huge party. He won a pullet surprise that year as he said (Pultizer Prize if you can't figure that one out). He typed every one of his columns on a typewriter. There are a number of books of his columns and they all bear reading by his devoted fans. I have them all. Lots of famous people talk about him: Robin Williams, Don Johnson, Willie Mays, Walter Cronkite, more. This man is legendary. In 202 they tried to recreate the party but it wasn't quite the same without the namesake.

I thought I'd go for real nostalgia in this column, and he's it. How can you not love a guy who Walter Cronkite respects? That's a real journalist.

This blog is going to hit five years old on the back half of 2009. I've covered myriad topics -- many of them of no credible interest to anyone. Others of wide interest. The posts about Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd generate visits near a hundred of thousand, while other posts generate nearly nothing. The top topics are indeed the ones I just mentioned followed by Daniel Radcliffe and the exposure of his magic wand in the play Equus. Those are followed by Terry Goodkind and my take on his novel Phantom. Billy Elliot follows that -- a topic I've covered a number of times. Sneezing blood comes thereafter. Who knew?

Will this public blog change? Nope. I'll keep at it. I write what I want to, and you can read or not. But at over 210,000 visitors since I installed the counter (which wasn't installed when the blog went live, but in January 2006) someone is reading. I want to thank my regulars -- whomever you are.

Go read some Herb Caen. It's good for your soul. Really.

I miss you Herb. As you once said: "I'm going to do what every San Franciscan does who goes to Heaven. I'll look around and say, 'It's not bad, but it ain't San Francisco.'"

Amen!

Panther Fan Flashes Camera

A lot of people are hitting my blog looking for the above phrase. I am not sure why it's matching because until I wrote this, there's nothing related to it on my blog.

However, the unofficial message board does have a thread on it. The official message board, apparently, thinks discussing fan behaviour and flashing boobies to be offensive in spite of the fact all local news media covered the incident (without showing said mammary glands).

If you want the full story, go the link above, and read all about it. There's also both versions of the video so you can see them in all their glory. Bottom line is it was another drunk fan at a sporting event. It's not news except this rarely happens at hockey games. Boobies 1, Prudes 0. Yay boobies.

If you want to post, you will have to join the board. The board does not allow full guest access.

Interesting Video

The video starts off with "If you're one in a million in China, there are 1300 people exactly like you" and moves on to "The top 25% of India's population with this highest IQs exceeds the population of the US"

The music is really irritating so you might wish to turn it down a bit, but I enjoyed this thoroughly. I checked a few of the facts and found nothing seriously amiss Though some of it's not worded clearly leading to possible misinterpretation.




It's important you watch this video because it'll alter how you perceive the future, YOUR future.

This blog is rapidly approaching its 600th post and started 17 October 2004. I can't believe I'll be hitting five years of blogging later this year. Wow.

Ender In Exile: OSC Blows One

I am a big fan of Orson Scott Card's writing*. I've been especially a fan of the Ender series (both the Game and Shadow cycles).

So with great excitement I got Ender In Exile the latest in this long, ongoing series. It's set between Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead or so it claims. I'll get back to that. Alone, the book is pretty dry, definitely not very interesting. It's short compared to the other tomes -- about half the size. He had nothing to say, I guess, though that's not the conclusion because it was short, but because nothing happens. I read the whole book and I can't answer the question as to WHY he wrote it? What purpose did it serve? We learn almost nothing new about any major character, nor does it shed anything new about the Enderverse. I just can't see why he wrote it except to milk more money out of the series. He's done a Robert Jordan and I am mightily peeved.

The fact that once I start a book I read it in between one and three days and this one was started 8 March and finished 19 March should clue you in is to how riveting it was (not). It's well written to be sure, but even so I cannot in good conscience actually recommend this book to anyone. If OSC and I were still in contact, I'd gladly tell him myself but it's been nearly two decades.

It gets worse, though. In the acknowledgement at the end of this new book, he tells us it actually takes place between chapters 14 and 15 of Ender's Game. He then goes on to apologize for the fact that there is some significant discrepancy between this new tome and the classic, legendary Ender's Game. And here's the kicker: future of volumes of Ender's Game will have a newly re-written chapter 15. Yeah, he's doing a George Lucas and just totally changing the original novel. FIE ON YOU MISTER CARD! FIE I SAY! He's also indicated that parts of Speaker For The Dead will also be re-written but I don't much care because I can't get past the first bit. Wow. This is revisionist history in a fictional world. Who knew?

PS: Liz have a safe trip to wherever you're going. Congratulations on an absolutely stellar performance Barky at last night's game. And a special thanks to Murph The Media Whore who gave us some great seats for the game last night: and I am mightily pleased your banner's now got a victory going for it.


* Him not so much since he's gone so extremist the past few years. But that's neither here nor there. In previous reviews of his books I had mentioned how he was getting more and more preachy.

Just Stuff

First, a brief plug for my jokes list. Once again, it's a read only list. Nobody can post so no more than 3 or so posts per week normally. Many weeks it's zero. Some of the jokes are not for the faint of heart. Just go here if you want to join.

Secondly, the Panthers are collapsing and it's really pissing me off. There's no reason for it other than flat-out laziness and sloppy play. I won't tell you all how much Jay Boumeester sucks but if you care, go the Message Board and read all about it.

Thirdly, I've changed the blogs in my friends' blog roll below lower right.

Fourth, Dad's having cataract surgery tomorrow so I'll be really busy at work for two days. Good luck to Dad.

Fifth, I am hoping skating pans out this weekend since last weekend the rink was closed for a stupid figure-skating tournament. I have nothing but scorn for figure skaters during public session where they are narcissistic, self-centred, disasters waiting to happen.

Sixth, all your Facebook groupies who hate the new news-feed might I suggest you join the group for all haters of same. Once again Facebook foists an unwelcome change on users without actually asking the users. Blech.

Seventh: my brain is deteriorating. I have found myself using the "words" meh and W00T in conversation. This is disconcerting. It is not acceptable.

Eighth: I am going to start a new novel. I'm going to aim for 100,000 words to beat my own personal record. I know nobody cares, but I do. Writing is good.

Shout Outs: Welcome back from Disney, Evan -- and you made the blogroll. Greg -- thanks for the tickets last night.

A Few Things

First, to amuse the hell out of everyone, my mother sent me a thank you note for her recent birthday plane trip. It's written on the back of a Virgin Atlantic BARF BAG. I really laughed hard. It was really sincere but that certainly sent mixed signals. I will cherish this always along with the typed translation that accompanied it. If you wonder why, then you try writing on a barf bag mid-flight and see what it looks like.

Second, off to a hockey game tonight. The first in nearly a month. I am excited. I am going stag since Timmy never answered me. I'll sit with Karen who is also going stag.

Third, Adrian cancelled on me again today. I gotta give him credit for being consistent if nothing else. I was expecting it though, so I am doing what I had planned to do before he made plans with me for today. I just knew this wasn't going to happen. I'm not mad at him, but consistency isn't necessarily a good thing.

Fourth, a shout out to a friend who is sick -- I hope you feel better. Also to Erin who is more fragile than a Ming Vase, I really hope you don't need surgery on that foot. Poor Erin, she's always broken :(

Fifth, I've got an add-on to the Birthday Trip post. I never did mention that on departure from Heathrow, I saw not one but two A380s. I dislike that plane, but I will tell you it's one huge Mofo. There was a MD-88 next to one, and it looked like it could have driven under the Singapore A380. The most astounding thing was the collection of landing gear on it. Wow. I guess it's to absorb the weight. The other A380 (Quantas) was parked next to a 767 and even that was dwarfed. I also saw Concorde as we took off. It's on the runway surrounded on all sides by blast walls whilst they prepare a final place for it. But as your plane lifts off, and if you're on the correct runway, you can see it. I was nostalgic.

Sixth, and last, I am sending a letter to BankUnited again. Once again the USPS -- the incompetent idiots -- are mixing my mail and BankUniteds. Complaints fall on deaf ears. Last time BankUnited's complaints helped far more than mine. If I were a crook, I'd have all I need to steal tons of identities, but I turn it all in for re-sort. BankUnited, however, is returning my mail to sender "not here" -- I don't fault them for it, but it does cause issues when my Amex card is held because they think I've skipped town. So I've written BankUnited again with some photocopies of past correspondence and also some new examples. Not sure how XX1598 and XX1599 is so confusing. They have big signs over both our boxes warning the sorter, but apparently he/she has his/her cranium shoved up his/her arse.

Just A Little Thing

Michael Jackson's comeback at the O2 has been extended to 50 shows (Nearly 20,000 a pop or a 860,000 people) and completely sold out. It will be the biggest concert series ever and has set multiple world records. A brief article appears on the CBC here. Part of me almost wants to go just to be part of the event. I don't hate his music, nor am I a huge fan though he's got some really good songs. I'm particularly partial to Another Part of Me and Man in the Mirror. I'm not going but I wouldn't object. He just creeps me out more than a little bit.

This is one of the most random images ever. If you click on the image, it'll take you to my Flickr Page where you can read the comments and see a larger version of it. You can also read the story about how I came to take this photo earlier today.

(Post edited 3-20-09 to correct photo size)

HP2605 Laser Printer Woes

Howdy all you guys in geek-land for today's post is of geeky nature. We have (at work) an HP2605DN with the extra paper tray. Worked great for two years and stopped suddenly last week. This is not your concern. Because it was not easily fixable, I bought a new printer.

I took the 2605 to the repair shop and the labor at $125 is cheap. The parts (Formatter Board and DC Controller board) are $310! That $460 with tax to fix it. It was $699 brand new including the extra paper tray (250 sheet monster).

So, I have a free printer if you want it for parts. If you have a HP2605 series and need the monster extra paper tray, I've got one. It's free but you have to pay shipping only.

More irritating to me is that it has four nearly new cartridges installed. I will also give you these as well. I will shrink wrap each cartridge to prevent spillage. This is well over $300 worth of laser-toner. Again, free exclusive of shipping. Or, if you want, you can just come and get the whole printer. Manuals, software, and power cord also available.

I don't feel bad about posting this from work since it is a work related post.

And, as a note, I appreciate most my friends more than they can know.

Some various Things

1. Wacko Jacko will now play a total of 50 shows at the O2 which have all sold out. All of them. Wow. I wonder if he'll actually do them or cancel out like he does everything.
2. Melanie has produced the most amazing book of family photos I've ever seen. Wow. I cannot wait to show those of you who are interested this book. Even if you don't care about the pictures, what she has done is fantastic.
3. Several blog posts from February were deleted. Enough on that. This was a special one-time thing to remove certain posts that shouldn't have been made to a public forum.
4. Skating this weekend on Sunday and Panthers Saturday. W00T!
5. Still talking to Josh via email and I am thrilled about that. And some nice IM chats with other people.
6. Played around Facebook a bit today, signed on to MySpace for the first time in ages.
7. Wrote WinnDixie and reminded them they hadn't replied.

Settling Back In and Settling the Accident Claim

I am settling back in after my long weekend with Mom. Fatigue. Blech. Seems a number of you are jealous based on emails and comments that appear on my Facebook feed. Cool. I'm glad you're jealous. I will remind everyone that I am the best tour guide you know for: London and Las Vegas. That's why I've got several full pages of information on those two cities on my website. I do questions and directions too. (Ask Evan who called me and I gave 'em to him off the top of my head.) I know my way around these places as well as -- or maybe better -- than my own hometown.

Speaking of settling, I do want to let everyone know that the accident case with Progressive has been settled. Has it been settled to my satisfaction? Absolutely, positively not. I believe this check is about 20% of what it should have been. It barely covers expenses paid out and leaves me nothing for future treatments. I think I've got about $700 left over. The bottom line is that the attorney who was advising me (at no charge, so a special thanks to Ian O. for the freebie and Richard S. for recommending him) said that while there was no doubt we'd win the case, the question was to what extent and how long I'd spend in court. This never was about the money. It was about doing the right thing. I will tell all of you no insurance company in any field ever does the right thing. They are all out to shove a old, wooden, splintered telephone pole up your ass without the use of Vaseline®.

I could have fought. I would have won. The lawyer would have taken his 33% cut. That would have left me ahead of the game but out hundreds of hours of time. It would have impacted me, my friends (you'd all have to testify that I wasn't faking, etc, etc), my job, and my life. I wanted it over more than I wanted money. I am not happy -- so the bottom line is I will be in pain for the rest of my life because of this accident, and I will get nothing for it. Anyway, I'm moving on. I just thought I'd give you closure.

Happy Birthday Mom (Trip Report)

Mom's surprise trip has concluded and I am at home. She's due back in Orlando any minute (if the airplane gods are kind).

So. Mom's trip was to see a Tina Turner Concert. I kept that part from her right until 30 minutes before the show. I hosed her good. That was Saturday Night. The show was almost identical to the one here which I previous reviewed so I won't rehash the concert review. The set list was identical but most of the songs were shorter because the concert didn't last as long. And I had a pretty good time except for the herd of heifers in front of us who came in all liquored-up and were really loud and obnoxious. But if you leave that out, it was enjoyable. Where was it? Oh, didn't I mention we flew to London for the weekend to see it? It was the excellent O2 Arena.

We left Thursday night for London, me set to arrive 3 hours before Mom into Heathrow and her into Gatwick. Our plane had a severe mechanical fault (thank you American) and we left close to 3 hours late. The pilot was mightily pissed, the gate agent was mightily pissed, everyone cared, except maintenance.

On the flight to London, I watched Slumdog Millionaire. Excellent film. Really. I tried to sleep but was unable to due to thinking about various personal issues. Didn't read. The food was really good. I no luggage so at least I got through the airport in record time.

I beat her to the hotel by about 15 minutes so that worked out well. We checked in, went to Patisserie Valerie for breakfast around 1030am on Friday.

Then off to the Tube (which due to extensive engineering works was a mess with the District, Circle, an Jubilee lines all shut.) I tried to buy a ticket 3-day oyster based travel card and the guy just argued and argued and argued. I caved so the whole trip wouldn't be ruined arguing with him. Yeah, he saved me a pound. BIG FUCKING DEAL! The oyster card is worth it due to speed.
We went to London Zoo (mom's request) until her feet couldn't handle the shoes. Why is it every single female I've ever travelled with to somewhere they KNOW we're going to walk has a shoe crisis? Does your species not understand it's better to have happy feet than pretty feet? AAAIIIIEEEE.

That night we ate dinner at Bunches of Grapes because Mom wanted good, authentic fish and chips (with peas, of course) and they do a brilliant job. We took to the tube to Picadilly Circus, walked through to Liecester Square and back to the room for the night. (The Rembrandt, of course.)

Saturday morning, we went to Portabello Road after eating at the always excellent hotel buffet. What should be a 10 minute trip from our hotel, required a backwards tube ride to Oxford Circus to get the Central and all the way back to Notting Hill Gate. Mom did a face plant (I feel bad for her) after she was walking and the "sidewalk wasn't there any more" -- but happily she wasn't hurt badly and we did this. This was the other thing she really wanted to do. Since this was a really short trip, I let her pick all activities. After that we went to Tottenham Court Road, walked to Foyles (I did a quick 15 minute toor), and then to Liecester Square after a stop at Cafe Nero for coffee. We returned to the hotel and had "alone time" so she could go shopping.

So, the tickets for the concert clearly said 630pm thus I planned dinner at Pizza Express at the O2 because there weren't many options due to the odd show time. The tube ride, 30 minutes at best, was 1h 10m due to the fact the only way there was: Picadilly from South Ken to Kings Cross, then to the Northern Line back down to London Bridge. Then pick up the Jubille Shuttle to North Greenwich. If that sounds like an ordeal, it was. And we had to reverse it after the show.

Dinner was, of course, a success. We finished at 610, and due to the fact the O2 was swamped with people, skipped the tour I promised her. It was worse than when I was there New Year's Eve with Karen. Really. So as we're walking out, I stop her and said "BTW, I have tickets for the Tina Turner concert" and waved them at her. We got in the very long queue to get in, and the clock ticked, and ticked, and at 7, I asked "what's the deal" to which I got an "8pm" which ended up being 830pm.

I don't much care, except had I know they rescheduled it (which apparently nobody did) I'd have taken mom to Belgo Centraal instead. We wasted a lot of time sitting in our seats in the O2.

The show ended around 11pm and everybody was leaving -- that means all the people at the concert, all the people at the multiplex, all the restaurant people, everything. It was closing. Imagine 20,000+ people all running for the tube. I dragged poor mom like a rag doll to get on a train before it swamped. We did it. Yay.

The flight home was on time out and a bit late in (due to headwinds and a longer than usual air time). The only hitch was a broken loo halfway through. I slept on and off, and barely finished my book Deeper (the sequel to Tunnels). Not nearly as good as the first one, and another sudden ending -- so I won't spoil it for you. More Cal, Will, Rebecca, and Chester. Plus some new folks too. I still liked it but it lacked that certain something. I didn't even make it to my other two books (Ender in Exile and the one Higgins loaned me.)





(Mom called, she's home safe and had fun.)


So, except for the part where Mom is the slowest walker on the planet, the trip was good.

Firefox Continues To Cause Grief at Microsoft 2.0

Firefox 3 has become the first non-Microsoft web browser to overtake IE6 in market share. (Note this doesn't even include lumping in FF2 so it's a straight up comparison). The open source browser climbed to 24 percent of users in February while IE6 dipped to just over 22.6 percent, making Firefox the second most popular browser by individual version. Although Internet Explorer 7 still leads with 40.8 percent, the Firefox increase narrows the gap as Microsoft's browser has remained largely flat since at least July. Microsoft's client is also limited to Windows while Firefox is also available on Mac and Linux platforms.

In news related to Billy Elliot, it's hard to believe the miner's strike which is what the whole story revolves around is now 25 years old. Makes an Anglophile feel old.

I saw a hat today that made me think of some of my geek friends. Programmer (N) -- An organism that turns caffeine into software.

I am coughing. Uh oh.

I am packing. Yay. And in a little bit I'll check in for my flight. I am excited. I am going to be laptop free so you will not see me online until, likely, Monday. I might sign on Sunday night if I'm not too tired. I will have my cel but will be unlikely to turn it on except around lunch on Friday just to check in at the office.

I got lots of bills in today's mail.

Identity Theft : Just When You Thought It Was Over

I got a call at work today from a credit card company. On 11 February someone applied for a credit card online. On the plus side there's an IP address. Also, blocking your credit report helps. I received a call at work to confirm I applied for said card. They call the address on the credit hold request. I verified that I never even heard of their bank.

They are going to report this to the credit bureaus and also kick it up to their fraud department. This means the douche-bag Ex-employee BankAtlantic has sold my information to someone else.

Sadly, I have accidentally dropped the paper with the bank that called me today into the shredder at work. Otherwise my intent was to call the police with this new bit of information. It started with an "M" and I never heard of it. Blech. I'm sure there will be more.

I leave on Thursday with Mom -- we're leaving from our home cities and meeting at our destination. She knows now where we're going. She is packing. More eventually. If you all are nice to me.

I ate at the Hitchin' Post BBQ for lunch today and am thoroughly satiated :)

Today's Diatribe: Winn-Dixie

This is adapted from the missive I emailed in.

I've been shopping at the Doral Winn-Dixie on and off since it opened. Today I went in to make a purchase. I wanted a whole box of some FruitaBu fruit leathers (24/pcs) which I brought to the self-serve checkout along with several other items.

I also brought one INDIVIDUAL FruitaBu because I know the full box doesn't always scan properly. I've done this before without any problem. So I got to the register and scanned all my other stuff first. I have the receipt to prove it (number 0280-93-0141) and the fruit leathers are conspicuously absent.

Why? Because the first employee who came to help when the "assistance required with this item" light started flashing didn't speak a whit of English. Now, I speak some Spanish and that doesn't bother me, but I am unable to explain the phrase "scan the barcode" in Spanish and hand gestures were clearly way beyond her ability to grasp. She kept asking me where I got the big box and I tried explaining that if she just scanned the individual one (which has a good but different bar-code) and told the computer there were 24, it would be okay.

No dice. She insisted on getting the manager. I can respect that. The manager would certainly be able to grasp such a simple concept. The manager, a lady, spoke better but not fluent English. Sadly it was apparent that her grasp of common sense was, shall we say, lacking. I explain the situation to her again in clear English. She keeps telling me she has to go back to the shelf. Why?

Now, I ask you, if I have a single piece (which does scan) and the big box (which has a different bar code but contains 24 of the smaller unit inside) what is the sense in going to the shelf? She insists she needs to go to the shelf. I roll my eyes in frustration, but say nothing. After several minutes of waiting and her not coming back, I paid for what was already scanned, and walked out the door.

I will never return. First, Winn-Dixie need to hire employees that can communicate with their customers. I don't care if they speak Spanish, French, or any other language; that's great. However some basic English skills would be nice. And I'm not one to call names but if that lady manager is the best Winn-Dixie can do, they've got trouble. You can't teach common sense. No wonder they're in bankruptcy. Back to Publix for me. Forever.

If Winn-Dixie responds, I may share it. I won't hold my breath. My email may be past their skills to understand.