Unruly Behavior

Gave two weeks notice at the job this morning. After much consternation I decided to start looking for a job about six weeks ago. Found one that is similar to what I am doing now, but will not be in banks, just for regular companies. All the things I was looking for, better hours, no travel, more pay. It still took a lot to decide to change though, I really like the field techs where I have been working, and will miss hanging out with them. However, the travel was reaking havoc with my family, just last week my wife and son spent two nights at her mother's house because of my travel schedule. I ended up spending those nights alone at home. Not really the reason I got married and had a kiddo. The new job says they only travel about 1 day out of each quarter. This sounds good. They also start at 8:30 AM instead of 8:00 AM which will make it easier for me get my son to school/day care in the mornings. My mom has been helping with that quite a bit, and I can tell she is getting worn out from all the helping. Finally, I got a raise for changing companies. Hope it works out, I'm looking forward to some change and meeting some new people. Hope the old job takes it well, I'd really like to stay on friendly terms with everyone there.

That's right, my very own XBOX Clan!

It's not much now, but check out:

CLAN EASY FRAG

I think that the Tech Support form Dell that claims to be award winning, must be winning them awards from the phone company for really high WATTS (Toll Free) line bills. Called to get support for the 20GB Dell Digital Jukebox that my lovely wife got for Christmas last year. It has been malfunctioning.

Called the 800 number and entered the "Express Service Code" number from the back.

Waited on hold for about 18 minutes. Finally someone comes on the line and confirms my identity, gets the "Service Tag" number, verifies my address, phone number and e-mail address. Then says, "Oh, I see you have advanced support for this. Let me put you through to a higher level tech quickly."

My call has now been connected to Dell for over 50 minutes according to the call timer on my phone. Express? Quickly?

Guess time runs more slowly in India.

UPDATE:

Ok, after 60 minutes on the phone, I finally got through to a tech. Spent about 20 minutes having me reset the unit, update the firmware and defrag the HDD.

Good servive, too much of a wait.

It might be doing you less good in the near future, as the FTC has decided that even though you signed up for the "No Call List", that you might actually want some pre-recorded marketing calls. You don't you say?

Then fill out their form linked below.

Here is what I had to say:

Why whould you let people call me with prerecorded messages after I have signed up to be on the NO CALL LIST.

No - meaning none, nil, nada, zero, or lack therefore.

Call - meaing on my phone, for which I have paid the bill and feel that I should have some right to tell marketers not to call me.

List - A list usually indicates one or more like items. In this case, taxpayers that don't want to be called with marketing offers.

Which part of that is difficult to understand?

Federal Trade Commission - Comment Form

Just a quick note, those arrogant assholes at SunnComm sent me a "One Time Link" to an Active X control that could remove their crapware from my system.

So if you are stuck with their crapware, they will allow you to remove it if you stick with the e-mails telling them you do not want it on your computer.

Discovered a new feature of Verizon this morning. Fax messaging. That's right, got a fax on my cell phone. Printed it to the local fax machine at the jobsite through the service as well.

Figured out that it is not some asshole giving out my cell phone number as a fax number.

Instead it is people too stupid to read the number they are faxing to and entering it properly. My number is in the 713 area code for Houston, the fax number they are attempting to send to is in the 281 area code for Houston.

They didn't put enough contact information on the fax for me to find the person they are faxing to, Dottie, however, it is a start.

Dottie:

The not so intelligent Jamee Wilson at Stewart Title would like you to know that you and Charley C Reado have a refinance closing at 11 AM today at World Savings, GF# 04127932 and they need certification of insurance.

That is all.

Or at least everything I can think of right now.

1) Worst ISP - I've now been on SBC DSL for a whole week. So far, so good, only real compalint is that they have a bunch of the alt.binaries where I download TV shows and stuff blocked. The Tivo messed up Lost and Despearate Housewives last week, and I needed to play catch up online. Had to go to my folks house and borrow a Usenet account from another buddy to get them downloaded. My folks still use the Worst ISP

2) SBC DSL Rebate News - They sent me a postcard in the mail for a two month rebate. Still don't have my 4 free movie tickets.

3) The Boy - He spent a week at his Mimi's (grandma) house while he had Pneumonia. She went out and bout about $300 of new toys, including a Ball Walk, so he was playing and playing all day. He had tubes put in his ears last Monday, and he is clearly hearing much better. He is at his Mimi's for the next two nights because I have to go out of town for work.

4) The Wife - Best one I could have. Little worn out, but she really loves being a Mommy, and is a great one too.

5) The Job - I know I spend about half my time on here bitching and moaning about the job. It's a shame, I'd like it to be more rewarding and less taxing. I really like the other techs where I work, and my bosses have their moments. But the company overall seems stuck in an ancient "Good Old Boys" culture, and too set in it's ways to change or improve. (We've always done it that way, it always worked before, so we're not changing.) We're even trying to hire more folks it would appear, I saw a job posting on Dice that looks like our company the other day.

6) The Car - Had a bad battery. Was a royal pain in the ass to find a new battery. Had to go to Tommie Vaughn Ford to get the battery. Man do they ever have a parts warehouse. Freaking huge.

7) Washing Machine - Stupid Whirlpool Calypso is burned out. Motor is bad, pump is bad. Two years old and it is dead. $400+ to repair, $800+ to replace. Going to replace it with a new GE high capacity washer. Also found a Class Action Lawsuit for Calypso owners on the internet while looking at Epinions.

8) Google Desktop Search Engine - Loaded on my laptop and my Windows 2003 server at the house. It is pretty cool, but causes problems when using the MMC on the server, have to shut it down to do server managment. Currently have ??? files indexed and searchable on my laptop and ??? files on the server.

9) Jack Daniel's - Got a personalized "Form Letter" from the e-mail I sent them about changing their formula. Basically said they were not changing back. However, since I've pretty much switched to Jack Daniel's Single Barrell, and it is staying at 94 Proof, I'll probably loose interest and forget the formula changed on the original. I've still got a couple of bottles of the 86 Proof black label in the liqour cabinet, maybe I should sell them on eBay.

10) Project Gotham Racing 2 - Still playing this on XBOX Live a bunch. My online rank is currently Level 29, offline I'm close to scoring gold and unlocking the Mercedes. My online position as of 10:00 PM is 4696 of 260,485 players, number of races completed is 1,795, Total Kudos is 3,021,270, or about 1,683 per race. Total miles driven is 14467.0, Time Playing 291 Hours, 57 Minutes, 23 Seconds.

11) Future Vacation Ideas - Ok, now that I've ridden the tallest, fastest, steepest roller coaster in the world at Cedar Point, Six Flags has announced that they are building one 36 feet taller, the Kingda Ka. Guess I'll have to go to New Jersey and ride this thing when it opens.

Got an e-mail from a nice gal about Clear Channel and Rock 101 KLOL. Here is a link to a petition to bring KLOL back to Houston:

Return KLOL to the air

Here is the e-mail of one guy at Clear Channel:

Omar V Thompson

Here is an article from the Houston Chronicle last week about why KLOL got axed:

KLOL Marketing Realities

Will KLOL make it back as it was? Probably not. Consolidation in the radio market has led to fewer and fewer choices on the radio. What can you do? Call the FCC and your representives in Washington and complain. Listen to CD's. Find independantly owned and operated stations in your area and listen to them.

Never listen to Clear Channel again.

Got the new Velvet Revolover CD recently. Stupid thing installs what is basically Spyware to keep the fucker from being ripped on my PC.

$15 and I can't do what I want with My Music.

Think I'll look into copying all my CD's from the Usenet now. Won't feel guilty either. Thank you RIAA, RCA and BMG for making me a music pirate.

Here are two sites with info on how to combat this shit:

CD3 Copy Protection Removal

�Copy Protection� on the album Velvet Revolver: Contraband - Features - features.engadget.com ++

UPDATE:

Ok, I sent a simple e-mail to their tech support:

"How do I remove your software from my computer?"

Here is the response I got from techsupport@sunncomm.com

Thank you for contacting us. We appreciate your purchase of the Velvet Revolver CD and apologize for any inconvenience.

Please note that MediaMax was designed to manage and safeguard the copyrights of specified artists' CDs while giving you an enhanced visual and listening experience. It does not interfere with or impact any of the normal operations and/or functions of your computer.
Rob
SunnComm Tech Support

What a bunch of arrogant fucks. I sent another e-mail:

That's nice. It's my computer. I want it removed. Won't play any
more of your CD's on my computer. Won't buy any more CDs with copy
protection. How do I remove your software?

Oh, in the meantime, I figured out how to defeat their software:

Remove the file SbcpHid.sys from the directory windows\system32\drivers

There are some references to it in the registry, but I did mess with zapping them. Next I put the CD back in the drive while holding the SHIFT key to avoid the Autorun. Then I ripped the CD using Music Match. Then I copied it to my Music Server. Stupid arrogant fucks.

I love my wife. But she is nuts.

This morning, as I was headed out the door, I realized that the boy had pooped himself with nasty, runny, liquid poop. So I gave him a quickie bath, got him clean clothes and a clean diaper, and out the door I went.

Every morning I call my lovely wife after I drop his butt off at day care to let her know that he got there fine, and that I didn't zone out and drive him to the customer site that day. (I have never done that, I would like to say in my defense.)

So this morning I call her and tell her what happened. What does she want to know? Does his new outfit match? "I don't remember", I tell her, "I just grabbed the first pair of pants and shirt that I saw." She then proceeds to question me about what color pants, which shirt, etc.

When I point out that he is barely over 11 months old, and it is not critical for his clothes to match, she tells me that it is important that his clothes match, else the other kids might make fun of him at school today. So I gently reminded her that he is one of the oldest kids in the room at 11 months, and most of their vocabularies consist of Ma, Da, Ba. Don't really think that the other kids will be making fun of him just yet.

Still she insisted that I should have gone to great lengths to make sure his clothes matched, insuring that the other kids would not make fun of him.

Women are funny.

We love the environment. We want to save the world from bad trash. You should recycle.

Buy our new DVD that self-destructs 48 hours after you open it and then can be disposed of in your local landfill.

Litter is bad. Landfills are evil.

Brought to you buy Professional Celebrity Hipocrites: Chaz Palminteri, Susan Sarandon, Penelope Cruz and Robin Williams

ABC News: Self-Destructing DVDS to Reach More People

Here is the e-mail of the guy at Clear Channel in charge of radio programing:

Omar Thompson

Here is a list of stations to avoid in Houston, TX.

Clear Channel Worldwide

Yeserday, Clear Channel Communications yanked Houston's oldest surving Rock station off the air and replaced it with latino crap radio.

No more Walton & Johnson in the morning. No more Outlaw Dave in the afternoon, Wendy Miller at lunchtime or Uncle Nasty in the evenings.

KLOL also sponsored two of Houston's largest blood drives each year, and numerous other fund raisers for children and adults.

Clear Channel, America's Radio Monopoly. You suck. I'll not listen to your stations in the Houston area any longer.

Mega 101

Added a few more DVD's recently. Got some great $.50 DVDs at Target for Halloween. Then Best Buy had $2.00 off all regular titles today through Saturday with your silly Rewards card.

DVDCollection

My mom sent me this. Too funny...

Subject: NOTICE FROM CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES:

Afghanistan Cruise

We at Carnival Cruise Lines didn't forget that a lot of entertainers had
promised to leave the country if George W. Bush became President. With
that in mind, we have a Special Offer for those who still want to keep
their promise!

Attention: Would Alec Baldwin, Rosie O'Donnell, Ed Asner,Whoppi
Goldberg, Cher, Phil Donahue, Rob Reiner, Barbara Streisand, Jane Fonda,
and anyone else who made that promise, please dispose of all US assets
and report to Florida for the sailing of the Funship Cruise, "Elation,"
which has been commissioned to take you to your new vacation homes in
Afghanistan. You may opt to be dropped off in Somalia or Iraq.

The Florida Supreme Court will sponsor a Farewell Parade in your honor
through Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties prior to your
cruise.

Please pack for an extended stay... at least four more years

Note: Since you advocate strict gun control, you may not bring any.

Staffing your voyage is Bill Clinton as captain, Al Gore as cruise
director, Monica Lewinsky as recreation director, Ted Kennedy as lifeguard and
emergency procedures director, and Ex-Congressman Gary Condit as intern
coordinator.

If you have any questions about making arrangements for your
homes,friends and loved ones, please direct your comments to Senator
Hillary Clinton. Her village can raise your children while you're gone,
and she can watch over all your money and your furnishings until you
return.

Bon Voyage!"

Got SBC DSL configured, up and running yesterday. The Worst ISP has now been fired. I feel sorry for the flunky that I spoke with on the phone yesterday. Called to disconnect, and the poor girl started into the trying to sell me out of disconnecting. Finally said, "look, it took you 23 days to repair my service last month when it is down. I think that you are the Worst ISP in the world. I enjoyed it when I got Direct TV and fired you from my cable business. The only reason I took cable for internet access when I moved into this house is that DSL was not available. Now I am free from you completely. Please remove me from any telemarketing lists that you may have, and from all mailing lists. I do not wish to do business with you any further." She still kept reading from her script. Just asked her where to return the modem, told her I would drop it off by the end of the week and goodbye.

then today when I went out to mow I found thier cable in the back yard that was supposed to have been burried by now. Not burried yet. So I disconnected it from my house, and cut it where it went under the fence. I've been needing some RG6 Coax to finish wiring things up in the house.

Goodbye Worst ISP.

Ok, I have this wacky, far left wing friend in California. He's been sending to me via e-mail, mixed in with the Jokes and Stories, what he things is wrong with Bush/Cheney for the past few years. I've known him since about 1997. Last time I saw him was probably 1999. So not a really close friend, wasn't ever expecting to see him in person again anyway. But the e-mails were cool, his Holiday newsletter is always a good fun read, and he the first diabetic I remember meeting, so we've talked about my health a bit the past year.

Then on Thursday, I got the following e-mail from him. I've removed his name and e-mail address, he does not know aout this blog:

People who voted Republican were stupid and ignorant.

If you voted for Bush/Cheney, please stop all contact with me.

You are contemptible and despicable.

I guess this is just part of the problem with Politics in our country today, if you buy into the other side's bullshit to much, or even worse, into your own side's bullshit too much, you end up polarized and bitter.

If either presidential canidate was as bad as the other side would have had you believe, the best thing we could have done was ship them both off to another part of the world.

Here is my problem: I am a social liberal, but fiscally conservative. I don't care if gays get married; while I believe that abortion is wrong, I don't think you'll ever stop it through legislation; I think that welfare is a waste of my resources and should be stopped; and that the government takes more than enough of my money for the levels of services that they provide.

There is no party for me. Neither the Democrats or Republicans represent my values. So when election time comes, I have to look at the canidates and evaluate which one will come cloest to my views in an area that will benefit me, or if certian things are going well for me, which one will rock the boat the least.

So for this election I listened, I thought, and I voted. I voted in more than just the presidential election, and I did not vote, nor have I ever, a straight ticket. I voted for all three parties in Texas as a matter of fact. I chose who I thought was the best canidate for the job.

In the choice for president, my decision was based primairly on economics, and the benefits that I have had from the tax cuts of the past four years. Yet, I'm not rich, I'm barely middle class, and still I had over $2000 in tax cuts last year, and will have even more this year. So by now, I'm guessing you can guess which way I voted for president.

Here are some other problems I had with the democratic attitude this year. I remember seeing Ben Affleck up there with Kerry, complaining tht he had saved $1.5M in tax cuts due to President Bush. John Kerry also kept saying over and over how he and his bitch of a wife Teresa, did not need the Bush tax cuts.

Here is what they didn't say or mention: You can pay more than the minimum due at tax time. If you want to pay more, it is your option. Ben, go ahead and pay that extra $1.5M if you think you missed out on paying. John, Psycho Bitch, pay the extra taxes on your ketchup made overseas if you feel you missed out.

In closing - I've voted every chand I've had since I turned 18 in 1986. This is the only Presidential election in which I have voted and the canidate I voted for has won. Only one. I've never hated anyone for voting for another canidate. They are entitled to their opinion. If your canidate didn't sell a majority of voters to their side, and sales is that this is, then you have to move on, support the winner, because they are your President/VP/Judge/City Councilman/Whatever.

NO MATTER HOW YOU VOTED THE PERSON ELECTED REPRESENTS YOU.

This is a republic, not a democracy, your vote counts. If Bush had won 80% to 20% he would have had a different message from the people. The close race got the point across to some degree I am sure. Get over it and work to change the things you can now, and bide your time if you think other things should be changed later.

Last Saturday morning I got up and the car wouldn't start. The battery had a good charge, the starter relay and solenoid tested good, but the car wouldn't start. So I push started it and took it to the local Goodyear shop. Later in the day, they called to say that they had pushed the car into the bay, and after checking everything out it started. They let it run a while, and it still started. Come get the bugger. When I picked it up, it started fine, but the AC would not work. Didn't touch the cranky bastard on Sunday. Monday morning the car started just fine, and the AC worked. I just figured it was a strange thing with the car. Then today while surfing, I think I found the cause of my odd car problems...

UtterlyBoring.com: The Cause of Train Derailments

Ok, some folks close to where I live like voting so much, they did it twice.

This is my theory: They are just some enthuastic John Kerry supporters. Wanting to be like their canidate, they went in and voted for Kerry. Then they went in again and voted against Kerry. Simple explanation.

ABC13.com: Officials confirm at least six Galveston voters cast two ballots