Feeble Attempts in Humiliation

For those of you who for some reason simply don't know.....I was considered "ornery" as a child. I still have a bit of a mischievous streak in me and the transition from "ornery" to "mischievous" has taken quite some time.

Back at my first duty station when I was in the Air Force, almost 20 years ago, I was fortunate to live at McChord AFB. I say "fortunate" because I worked at Ft. Lewis, which is normally where I should have been garrisoned. The folks at McChord were doing us a favor, but they weren't going to do too much for this group of Airmen that didn't belong to them.

Fighting Fire with Fire

Spoiler Warning: This post has some hot-button socio-political-religious issues.  I'm not advocating towards one side of the issues or the other, just pointing out some folks pushing the boundaries of "polite discourse" and getting served some sweet, sweet ironic justice.

 I was doing one of my infrequent reads of Jezebel.com and came across this article: Payback Is a Bitch for Abortion Clinic Protestors, Thanks to a Brilliant Landlord.  Basically this guy owned a property that happened to have a facility called Reproductive Health Services Clinic.  This clinic does provide abortion services, but I don't know if this a a primary function or just something they happen to do.  I've talked in person to some folks at Planned Parenthood and found out that their abortion services account for less than 3% of the work they do.

Hunger Games

Carolyn and I went to go see Hunger Games yesterday.  I haven't read the book and she just started it, so we really didn't have any preconceived notions of what should be in there.

Overall I liked the movie, I'm not 100% here, but I think I liked John Carter better.  Hunger Games definitely had a lot more hype to it, which shows how much good promotions are to a movie.

One thing I really liked is that the movie was wrapped up in the end.  The didn't do a lot, but after the final climatic scene there was....more.  The film was ended in such a way that it felt complete to me.  I would have been made to think that they cut things short because there is a second movie coming out. I hate it when a movie in a series is cut short because you are expected to pick up the story later.  Each movie should be telling it's own story and together they weave the bigger tale.  Eargon did this "cut short" bit and that movie sucked.  Of course it was bad for other reasons as well.

The Time I Stripped In Class

I like to tell stories.....and not all of them paint me in a flattering light.

While some I will not put online....ever, there are some that I find amusing enough to share.  If you cannot laugh at yourself then you have a mess of problems that probably need professional help.

These stories may have been changed slightly to protect the guilty and/or to cover up minor memory lapses.....

Stickin It to the Man!

It's been a while since I've posted, and I'll get back to the "normal" gaming routine.....

One of the first things I got assigned to look into at my new job was an issue we were having with our cell-phone carrier. They pretty much don't have plans with enough minutes to satisfy my boss' airtime consumption. His phones last 4-6 months before the buttons get wore out.

What we were trying to do is get his PDA set-up to retrieve his email, using his cellphone as a modem. Should be easy since they can connect using bluetooth. Problem was with the carrier, Cingular. We couldn't get it to work reliably when John was out and about across the country. Previously we had tried to use a Blackberry device. That was before my time and would probably work fine now, but during the Cingular/AT&T merger, not going to happen. We had paid for a pretty good data plan for the Blackberry and when it didn't work we switched over to a different plan for the PDA.

The real problem came when we got a $200 early-termination fee for cancelling the Blackberry service outside of the 30 day window. Yeah.....we kept very detailed records and service was started just before Christmas. We knew in a week and a half that the service wasn't working and spent another 4 weeks trying to make it work. After that point we switched to another program still with the same carrier!

I ended up calling customer support multiple times, talking to "supervisors" and multiple "help centers" all they basically said was tough shit and no way we are getting that charge removed. Eventually I got a copy of the service agreement and filed for arbitration to remove that charge. In the convoluted document they call a service agreement, I found out I have to send not one, but two letters to different departments. Also in the agreement were the rules for arbitration (basically we only have to pay if the arbitrator find our demands "seriously inappropriate").

A couple of weeks after I send off the necessary letters, Cingular sends us to collections! Not cool and pretty much against the rules for disputed charges. We pay the $200 bill and eventually I get a call from some secretary for some Cingular Vice-President. She apologizes profusely and say they will remove the disputed charge from our account (news flash: we already paid the damned thing!, and duh.....arbitration is going to cost a LOT more than that $200 charge). I explain the whole collections problem and I am promised a re-imbursement check from Cingular in 2-4 weeks.

About 2 months later I call this Secretary back and tell her we haven't gotten the check yet......

It was mailed off soon after......I started this fiasco in April and we finally got it resolved in October. Thanks for the great service!

But hey! We got our money back. I just wonder how many man-hours were lost getting that wrong righted.

Where to begin....

I am a copycat. Not much in real life, but now. Right now. A friend of mine sent me the link to his blog and his first posting. Damn. Cool. I could do that.

Three minutes later and I'm all set. I don't know how this'll turn out, but I remember growing up and reading some journals of people's lives. There was this one of some kid's senior year and some of the crap he had to deal with. Pretty standard stuff, but in the 60's. I was riveted. Several times I've started some sort of journal but they all fail. I hate to write. I'd have failed the journal assignment given by "Killer Ed" Miller my senior year if it hadn't been for that new-fangled computer course (....programming in BASIC...). While I can't write worth a damn I can peck away at the keyboard all day without it bothering me.

I mentioned my friend in the first paragraph. We're not real close buddies, but could be/could have been. To be honest I don't make friends too easily. I might say I'm friends with so-and-so, and I don't mean any offense, but I'm talking real friends here. You know, the kind you call when you need help hiding a body. Growing up I got moved around a lot. Out on my own I joined the Air Force and moved around a lot. I've been in Boise going on 5 years in just a few days. In just a few weeks I will have lived in Boise longer than I have ever lived in one locale.

Anyway, pardon the rambling, my aformentioned associate is moving out of town in a few days. I'm pretty sad to see him go as I saw in him a kindred spirit and possibly a good, Holy Shit where do we hide the body, friend. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's leaving.

Doesn't make sense, but he is moving "home" and moving up in his chosen carrer. He's always specified that is goal was to move back home in a few years. "Don't worry, I'll be back down quite often and we can still......." I know he means it and in his mind he's 100% right, but I've been there and I've done that. Fuck it...life goes on.

I has to post this pic for my friend, who is a devout Illuminati fan. This is a pic of his ass. He loved the game so much he shaved is ass and got a pic of Bob tattooed on one cheek. Ever since that night (I though reputable parlors won't ink a drunk guy?) he's been very, very embarassed about it. Illuminatirob totally denies his tattoo and and although he's threatened to drop trough to prove it, nobody wants to risk seeing his hairy ass. Basically if it wasn't for this proof, it would just be my word against his. For those of you who know the man, think about it.......