[Rant] Holiday Expectations

Why do people expect something for nothing?  Why does family sometimes cause so many problems.  Its impossible to please everyone, so you try to please most people.  But in the end, someone always gets hurt.

Case in point… Thanksgiving.

We decided to spend our vacation this year in Manhattan.  6 days in the city with time to visit relatives for Thanksgiving day.

Unfortunatly, it pits my wife against my mother.  Wife, understandably, wants to spend all our time in the city doing vacation stuff.  Mother, understandably, wants us to spend a few days with her, 100 miles away from the city.

Mother ends up having to work anyway, so the point is mostly moot… but still.

Christmas…

Put up the tree, sprinkle some lights, make it all festive…

Kids get presents galore, as it should be, everyone else gets good food, as it should be.  No rant, just saying it was a good christmas.

New Years…

Spent it with my wife and 3 friends.  Had a good time.

So, all in all, it was good and bad mixed together.  Still left a bad taste in my mouth though.  I think next year we are just going to fly to Mexico instead.  Felize Navidad (sp).

RANT-Political Mudslinging

All the politics pisses me off.  You have one candidate ignoring the issues by casting disparaging remarks on the other.  Oh no, I am not going to answer your question, but I am going to question my opponents character.  See, I am better than him, regardless of what my stance is on something.

I also hate it when some newspaper published some huge misconception, then files a retraction 3 days later on page B13.

I hate all these stupid emails going around full of unfounded and baseless accusations.  Please people, SNOPES or FactCheck… read them before you forward that crap.  You is ignorant ifin ya dont…

Vote the issues, read multiple writeups on both candidates.  Don’t expect a republican or democratic newspaper to not take sides.

Don’t vote party line if you don’t agree.  But don’t vote red or blue just because of one major issue.  Who cares if you are pro life when our economy is in the crapper.  What does it matter if we drill here and drill now as we continue to pollute our environment.

Just pick the candidate that you agree the most with on all the issues.  Also, don’t trust the man who is always on the offensive.  He usually has something to hide.

ROCK THE VOTE!

Rant – Lack of compensation by big companies

If I make a mistake and forget to pay a bill, I get charged a late fee.  If a big company screws something up that I then have to spend hours on the phone with them to get it fixed, I am expected to just accept “We are sorry that it happened”.  No, it ain’t fair at all.

There is no accountability any more.  Companies just blow it off because what does it really matter? What are the real losses incurred by 1 pissed off customer?  Well, if that customer posts about it and enough people read it then I would think quite alot of losses.

If I make $25 an hour and need to spend 5 hours on the phone to fix your screw up, don’t be an ass of a company and try to get away with “So Sorry, will that be all?”.  Give up some like form of payment.   Give your customer service representatives the ability to turn rightfully disgruntled customers around.  And above all, don’t make the customer ask for compensation.

Case in point, Me vs. Verizon FIOS.  FIOS is great, long live FIOS.  But honestly, Verizon’s way of cross billing and how one component of the company provides the service, then another part pays for it and then rebills the customer has got to change.

Let me state this clearly, “I have never had a problem with FIOS service.  It has worked perfectly for almost 2 years”.  I have, however, had to call Verizon about 15 times over the past 8 months.  I have spoken to at least 45 representatives on a billing issue and spent about 10-15 hours on the phone.

The issue was finally resolved by one agent who actually listened to the problem, found the issue and proposed a solution.  That solution was canceling my account and creating a new one.  At the time my service had been disconnected (even though I had a $0.00 balance due), so I figured it was worth a shot.

In the end, it worked out and I received 3 months of service for free.  Not exactly a heap of cash, but at least they tried.

Rant – 17.8 Billion types of USB Thumb Drives…

On and on people go and try to mess with a good thing.  So much so that it becomes practically unusable.  I mean COME ON!  The USB Thumb Drive… a long standing symbol of geekdom has been bastardized one too many times.

I have seen cute LED lights and clear cases, not that bad, light blinking for activity, has some use.

I have seen wooden cases, kinda cool, nice cherry red stain.

I have seen sushi.  Yes, sushi.

But that isn’t the worst.  That one won’t make kids wake up screaming in the night.

Prepare yourself for the most horrifying and disturbing USB thumb drive ever!!!!!!!!!!!

Only $17.99 at usbgeek.com

Gotta get one for my wife.

Rave – Online Banking / Rant – Online Banking Fees

Online banking…  what a great idea.  All that personal finance information at your fingertips.  Take out the phishing schemes, identity theft, server outages and downtimes and you got yourself one nice service.

I personally use Bank of America, I like the new “My Portfolio” section that they have.  I can input all my other accounts for rewards cards, frequent flier miles, credit cards, mortgage, investment accounts, etc. and see it all in one place.  The big picture so to speak.

This is how I noticed the second part of this post, the fees.  Man they charge you for everything, we have a line of credit.  We have had this for 12 years.  We never use it and it had a balance of $0.00.  This year, they up and decided to charge us a $50.00 service charge just to have this line of credit available.  After a quick call to BoA, they removed the $50.00 fee, but told us we would need to call every year to have it removed again.

Then there is the $14.99 a month fee for being able to hook our bank account up to Micro$oft Money.

Now, this fee can be removed if you have more than $25,000 in your checking accounts.  However, they all have to be in the same state.

My wife swears that it is worth it to keep track of everything, but all I can think of is that $14.99 is what an extra World of Warcraft account would cost.  And I am sure it would be much more fun.

Rant – Getting Older – Jerks on Bikes

Getting older and having a family means responsibility.  it means having to swallow your anger and pride and not slamming your car door into the guy on the bike next to you who is being a total ass.  It means not blowing your top and running him and his rice burner over.

Motorcycles…  I have mixed feelings about them.  I didn’t know that about myself until today.  I think there are 2 types of riders.  The snotty ass jerks and the normal decent guys.  Usually this can be split into the, “I’ve got something to prove and like to go fast” ones and the “I like the wind in my hair and the freedom of the road” ones.

I much prefer the latter.  Freedom of the road guys I can admire and wish that I had a Harley to ride to Sturgis on.  The former, jerks, I hate.  They compensate for a lack of maturity by darting in and out of traffic.  These are the guys you see turned into road pizza because they do wheelies on the tollway.  They do their youtube videos at 180mph.  They cause accidents to happen.

Here is a hint, Mr. Jerk, pick your battles buddy.  If you just cut someone off, don’t get pissed if you think they are following too close.  At least not enough that you try to get them to pull over.  Then don’t pull up right next to them and start banging on the window.  A .380 will still kill you, even through a window.  You never know what can happen in a “right to carry” state.  Also, that family man you are harassing with his wife and family in the car… yeah, no jury is going to punish him for protecting them when he feels threatened.

So here’s to you, Mr. Jerk… Thanks for making me feel bad about getting both older and wiser.  I really wanted to open my window, grab your arm as you undoubtedly took a swing at me, close that window on your wrist and drive off, dragging you off of your ugly rice burner.

Oh and to you normal, Freedom of the road guys (and gals)…

The Boomer’s Torment

It’s Monday, gotta get back to it,
In my office looking at spreadsheets.
I hear way down on the street,
That rumbling engine roar,
My heart skips a beat.
It’d be nice to go.

It’s Tuesday, pressure getting hot,
Talking to the CEO, who listens to me.
Off in the distance, some bro goes by,
He’s free to make that blessed noise.
My heart quickens its pace.
Can’t wait to go.

It’s Wednesday, right in the thick of it,
In a lunch time meeting of forty.
Jonesy blasts out from the garage,
Concussive sound shattering the air.
My heart goes racing.
I’m dieing to go!

It’s Thursday, I’m getting tired of it!
My assistant briefing me on schedules.
A leather-clad takes a look at the city,
The bellow bouncing off the buildings.
My heart slams in my chest.
Man! I gotta go!

It’s Friday, wear my gear to work!
Pouring over quarterly sales reports,
I see four guys go by below,
The thunder heard above the traffic.
My heart roaring in my ears.
Hell with it! Time to go!

Cynthia Philippi

I think Cynthia did a great job describing the 9-5 torment.

Rave #1 – The Consumerist Website

OK, this one is easy.  I love the consumerist.  If the consumerist was a woman, I would wine and dine and take home to meet my wife.  If the consumerist was a car, I would wash and wax it every day.  If the consumerist was a… well, you get the idea.

If you don’t know, The Consumerist is part of the gawker network, same people that bring you lifehacker and gizmodo and a few others.  The consumerist is hard on companies.  It gives a place for consumers to vent their frustrations as well as offer praise for different businesses.

It is a site that I read every day.

An Intro

I am not an angry person by nature.  It takes a lot to tick me off.  However, I have a soft spot for ripoffs.  I Hate ripoffs.  But first, lets look at what the word “Hate” means.

–verb (used with object)

1.	to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest: to hate the enemy; to hate bigotry.

2.	to be unwilling; dislike: I hate to do it.

–verb (used without object)

3.	to feel intense dislike, or extreme aversion or hostility.

–noun

4.	intense dislike; extreme aversion or hostility.

Yup, that about covers it.

See, I am always rooting for the underdog, and I feel that in todays economy, that underdog is us.  The consumers.  Every time you make a purchase at one place, then find the same thing for 30% less just 2 days later.  That feeling of “GAH, I got ripped off!”..  Yeah, that’s the hate.  Well, I have learned how to control the hate, and so can you!

Ok, probably not, this isn’t some anger managment blog, this is about how to spot a ripoff, how to find the best prices and what to do it you get ripped off.

This blog does not promote violence in any way, shape or form.