Bruce's Place to Ramble

Time Capsule: Headlines From 6 Months (Jan) Ago

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:09:00 +0000

Locally, Palo Alto (Palo Altans) don't want more housing in their neighborhoods. Meanwhile, the city still enforces resident-only rules in some of their parks. Go figure.
Tesla was going to move their HQ to San Jose, but the economy stopped them in their tracks. Oh... no pun intended there!
CA OK'd a mandatory 2 unpaid days off a month for CA state employees.
A low snowpack threatens to make 2009 the worst drought for CA. (That's what happens when you cultivate a desert folks!)
For some reason, identities of anti-Prop 8 donors were trying to be kept secret. A judge blocked that ruling, quoting the laws intent to protect the public. (Now why would someone dumped funds and still remain unknown? Guess they should have thought of that one before they did it!)
Ill governor Blagojevich was eviced from office... not a single lawmaker came to his defense. (Ya think!?)
Obama declared that it's shameful that Wallstreet paid their people $18 billion in bonuses, that's BILLION, while still asking for bailout money. Obama says they need to show restraint, discipline and repsonsibility.
Unemployment jumps to a 25 year high.
Royal Caribbean's 2008 fourth quarter earnings drop 98%.

Time Capsule: Headlines from 6 Months Ago, Dec 08

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:10:00 +0000

Here are some local (Nor Cal Headlines)

7 arrested in L.A.-area protest of Propostion 8
Carlsbad man arrested in fight over Prop. 8 signs
Hundreds of Prop 8 protesters take to L.A. streets
Schwarzenegger proposes 1.5 cents sales tax increase to close budget gap
Craigslist to crack down on prostitution ads

And CNN Headlines from today, the 6th of November, 2008

Emanuel accepts chief of staff offer, aide says
CNNMoney: Dow falls in accelerated selloff
Democrat Merkley takes Oregon Senate seat
Rabid fox bites jogger, hangs onVideo
WCVB: Zoo gorilla gets colonoscopy
WNEM: Car slams into house, 2 dead
At 90, Billy Graham remains 'America's pastor'
Factors in the retail price of gas
Real 'man cave' priced at $900k
CNNMoney: Oil falls as demand woes resurface
CNNMoney: Gas prices down 2.6 more cents
CNNMoney: Gas falls to $2.45 a gallon
DOW Down 435.44 after Obama elected.
Dow tumbles below 9,000
Fidelity to cut nearly 1,300 jobs

It's Your Head: Wear A Helmet

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:24:00 +0000

by Bruce Simmons

First I have to say that I rant because I care. I want to see people getting the best opportunities afforded to them whether it be with consumer knowledge to save money, save time, save being ripped off. At other times, I just want to vent so I can get someone thinking and maybe, just maybe, I help one person with my work. My ranting, if you will.

See the entire post over on my new publication site, Bicycle Helmet Safety at Bruce's Place of Thoughts.

Is Piracy No Longer Piracy, Or Just An Excuse?

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:24:00 +0000

Over on ScreenRant.com, an article was published talking about the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie leak where an uncut rough draft of the movie made its way onto the internet a few days back.

The article questions the premise of piracy and that despite the social issues, bottom line is that it is illegal to make available, download and view copyrighted content without paying for it.

Despite the letter of the law, there's an amazing perceived gray area to the issue.

Read more after the break over on my new "Thoughts" page. (This link takes you away from Blogger.)

Time Capsule - Headlines from 6 Months Ago (Oct 08)

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:42:00 +0000

These are headlines from early October of 2008

Market Confidence Plunges
Bailout Package Sparks a Worldwide sell-off
Bank of America Reports 68% Profit Drop
EBay To Trim 1,600 Jobs
Dow Dips Below 10,000
Rescue Plan Woes Contribute to Sell-Off
European Governments Go Their Own Way on Crisis
Fed to Provide As Much As $900 Billion In Loans to Banks
Oil Prices Fall as Financial Turmoil Heats up Worldwide
Iceland Going Broke?
All 5 Stock Market Measures drop

A chilling Headline from that week:

N. Korea to Restart (Nuclear) Facility.

I have to wonder as I put this together in October, what things will be like when this post goes to print from it's timed posting.

The day before I wrote this, I was in the dentist office getting a tooth filling and I watched the DOW drop 200 points while I was in the Dentist chair. (He's got TV's hanging over the chairs.) My filling represents a 200 point drop in the stock market.

A New Term

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:51:00 +0000

I was chatting with someone today and called them "Snarky Dark"

They always have something pessimistic and sarcastic to say on their comments on blogs...

I like it.. Snarky Dark. Dark Snark.

What's Comcast Up To?

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:36:00 +0000

So I got a notice in my mailbox that says I need to contact Comcast before April 6th and let them know how many TV's I have that are not on cable boxes.

They say that for me to continue to get a sub-range of channels, I need a box on these TV's. No extra charge they say. Once they found me in their database... (for some reason my only phone # didn't come up with the 3rd party they've contracted with to carry out these communications) I've got my adaptors coming.

Now all I have to do is once I receive them, hook them up, have Comcast initialize them once connected, and away I go.

My normally suspicious nature makes me a basket case when things like this happen. Why? I remember some years ago when my "cable provider" distributed a "survey" asking what channels we, the subscribers like.

Afterward, it seemed that the channels that were upvoted by many people, were then put on their own additional entertainment tiers and we were then charged more for our "favored" channels. That's why I'm nervous.

I'm waiting for this extra information to bite us in the back side later on down the road. Bookmark this post and wait. I'm a gambling man.

Travel and Your Passwords

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 10:49:00 +0000

How often do you change passwords? Once in a while? Sometimes? Never?

In theory, one should change their passwords every 6 months to a year. In practice many never change their passwords because it's just too much trouble, but changing your passwords is one proactive method for protecting your online accounts, financial data and other personal information.

Concerns When You Travel
When you travel, public computers are a great sand trap for keylogger software and spyware. A multitude of users have access to the computer and you never know who's been on it last.

But you're probably thinking that these computers have password controlled access and you have to be a hotel guest to use it. Sure, but web bots can find these systems, or a disreputable user might have a network drive out on the internet that he can access his malware from and install it. For the general user, it seems insurmountable to break a login screen. To the professional, it can be a matter of minutes with the right software.

Travel Security Tips
When you know you're going to travel, change your passwords before hitting the road to online accounts you know you'll be accessing. Change them back when you get home.

If you end up using an account you weren't planning to while you're on the road, change them to something new when you get home.

When you're done using a public machine LOG OFF properly. Don't just close the window with the X in the upper right corner.

What Kind of Passwords to create / use?
When creating passwords, try using a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and or symbols with a minimum of 6 characters.

You want to make it as complicated as possible to break while still being able to remember it.

One common piece of advice is don't use things that are related to you: Birthdays, anniversaries, initials, etc..

I create sentences to make my passwords. Today is Monday the 31st or TiMt31st. Ok, that's too many t's, but you get the idea.

It's up to you to create some simple first defense to your sensitive information because if you don't, you only have yourself to blame if someone happens across your unprotected account, and I don't want you regretting any lack of action on your part and saying, I should have listened to Bruce.

It's your financial information online or on your computer. Protect it accordingly.

image: freedigitalphotos.net

Comcast And The Most Inopportune Advertising

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:50:00 +0000

So I am trying to contact COMCAST because my cable reception was pretty iffy. So I am already somewhat miffed.

While I am on hold, it probably isn't the best time to try and advertise to me an additional service to tack onto the system that's presently ticking me off.

Do ya think?

Word Of Warning To New New Real Estate Agents

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 11:13:00 +0000

It's been a few years since I got out of the real estate business and canceled my real estate license. You'd think that once you got out, you're out.

Nope.

To this day I still get loads of junk email from all these prospective business partners who have all kinds of good information to share with me.

First off, if you're going to be spamming people as a real estate professional, you should try your own domain you lazy twits. Hotmail and gmail business offers just look terrible and don't inspire anyone. - Well, at least not me.

Secondly, once you scrape the real estate association list of realtors, or buy them from the associations, you ought to do it more than once every few years. For example, Jerry AT The TallGroup seems to think that despite my using their opt-out links in their emails for the last few months consistently, that I still want their emails. Boy, do they have a surprise coming. That's because violating the spam email laws can land you a fine of up to $10k. Hope it was worth it.

IF YOU ARE THINKING OF GOING INTO REAL ESTATE:

First, you're nuts. But if you have an in, more power to you. But what ever you do, set up your email or new domain account before you jump in.

Brand yourself by using your name as your brand, but whatever you do, go make an email account that you want to give to the different associations you are forced to sign up with and pay dues to. (You see, even in an iffy economy, all the associations with their required annual education restrictions guarantees that the backing associations will still do well, regardless of the individual state of business. Nice, huh?)

I recommend Yahoo or Gmail for signing up with the associations. I leave out AOL because they filter some mail before it even gets to you and you may never see it.

If you don't plan ahead, you'll be getting 10 to 20 wonderful business offers every day AT EACH email you've used, for quit a few years to come. Yea... you see, my problem was that I used one email, then thinking I'm being smart, changed it to another. Now both are getting spammed regularly, years after the fact.

Maybe I should make a list of the spammers and publicize it... let you know who the unprofessional, desperate entities are... hmm. I like that.

Why I Like Photobucket Over Flickr

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:45:00 +0000

I just tried uploading a bunch of pics to Flickr. I've liked the service, but found out their free service limits you to 200 viewable images. Meanwhile, Photobucket doesn't.

Flickr won't let you put video out there, Photobucket does.

I didn't look to see if there is a bandwidth limit on Flickr. Photobucket has a 25Gb monthly limit, so for most, that should be fine.

Of course, regardless of the service, you can always get around the limitations by upgrading to their pro services!

ACDSEE, You Suck My Back Side

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:13:00 +0000

ACDSee, your accounting department / ordering process stinks.

In January, you sent me an email offer you can't seem to fulfill. 3x on the phone you said you'd contact me to take care of the problem. Helloooooo!?

Your online ordering system is asinine with no clear cut instructions until you screw up and then you get the red print or error. Only by making errors do you get the full gist of what is required.

I've tried ordering things 4 frakking times now, and your effing accounting department has put a kabosh on my name because they don't like my mailing address that I use with all my credit / cash accounts. Their online purchasing system continues to fuck it up. And calling you 4x doesn't seem to help either.

On top of this, they've blocked my name so the system won't even accept my certified paypal account that has cash in that account.

In the end, the online supervisor says they can't process my order due to complications with the address I use for running my business... They wanted me to change the business address I associate with my company for "24 hours" so they can process my order. You're kidding me right? Change my entire business infrastructure for one company... yea, right. Bullshit to you ACDSee.

I get it. You're so effing big, with 25 million customers that I don't count. No problem... Open Source GIMP it is.

Thanks for shedding light on this issue.

Sincerely, an ex 10 year standing customer.
--
Bruce

PS: Despite this going on to 3 months of banter and no one calling me back, the folks on the phone were very civil and tried their best to work with me, but they were stumped by their dumbass purchasing department.

Bah Bye Acdsee... bah bye.

When I Say "Understood" - It Really Is

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:51:00 +0000

It's rarely a good thing when I reply with a single word, basically, "Understood." It's not bad either, but usually, it means I see the brick wall and I stop here.

I picked up this phrase after watching a show called DUE SOUTH starring Paul Gross who played Constable Benton Fraser.

Fraser was a wood-lore savy Canadian Mounted Police officer, attached to a Chigaco police precinct, for reasons that we don't need to explore at this juncture! (LOL). But the character infected me. I've most notably picked up two terms from the show that seemed to not only stick with me, but I tend to use.

One is "Thank you kindly." I use that all the time these days. It's a nice way to say thanks and it stands out.

The other phrase, I rarely use, is "Understood." Fraser used this catch phrase to reply to people who made no sense, was in the wrong or was just damn moot to the point of the situation. When there was really no point in arguing with someone, or he was on to something beyond what was being said, he tended to reply with this infamous, short, one word reply, "Understood."

Here's an example I can come up with: Fraser might be talking to a bad guy with a gun. He's asked him to put the gun down. The bad guy might say something to the affect that no, he's here to rob the store. Fraser would then say, "Understood", but with the intent that it's moot to try and talk him out of it, but that he (Fraser) will be disarming him in some form in the immediate future, but there's no reason to go into that now.

It's classic, it's meaningful and says that there is so much more going on in my head, but what is the point of me even going there? Whether it 'is understood', or 'what is understood' or 'understood by whom', it just says - "fine."

I've learned a long time ago that sometimes, trying to make your point with some folk is meaningless and a waste of everyone's time. When they're set in their ways to the point of using stubborn emotional blinders to any other process, I just don't see the point. It's better to just have an understanding and move on. Trying to get someone else to see your point when they are NEVER going to change is more frustrating than anything else.

And that, is why you sometimes see or hear my one word response, "Understood", in our conversation. For those who know me, if they care, they inquire. For others, it's a sufficient end to the conversation. "Nuff said, as it's been put.

Thank you kindly for hearing my rant.

Palo Alto Strikes Again - Thank You Daily Post

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:04:00 +0000

I seem to like picking on Palo Alto, CA. Previously I've mentioned how they have this wonderful park up in the mountains - it's big, it's scenic, it's connected to the wildlife in the region... but oh, you can't go in unless you are a resident of Palo Alto.

That's because back when other cities had a chance to pitch in and provide funds for the land, they didn't. So the Palo Alto infrastructure struck back at everyone by saying since we paid for it, no one else can use it.

Palo Alto also started looking at some plan to charge non-residents fees to park in their city. That would also include the non-residents who own businesses in Palo Alto, but don't live there.

Now the latest fun I'm having with Palo Alto... which some around here use the term affectionately, Shallow Alto, is that over the last few months they were looking to build a new police station for their cops. It was projected to cost $80 million. Fine, I get that. But wait! After all this time, something was being overlooked.

My new favorite newspaper, called the Daily Post ran an article last week titled "Mystery Floor May Help Cops" points out that there's been this 3rd floor of the present police headquarters that is empty... and has been empty since the building was built back in 1968... crickets... 10,000 square feet of empty space, just waiting to be occupied.

Palo Alto doesn't seem to want people to come to their little neck of the woods and doesn't seem to think there's a limit on their spending. Or their vision of advancement is obscured. How do you miss an entire floor of a building? Eh, I'm not involved in the process. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation.

For now, the Daily Post is my fav paper. They're been calling out local municipalities on various issues. Red Light Traffic Cams that cost the city $6k a month for each intersection to run. Or that the Yellow Light time frames at these interesections seemed shorter than the national recomendation. Or how they've been outing the income of city officials in different locations. I liked the list from Palo Alto. Street Sweepers making $72k... librarians - $100k... the paper is a fun read.

I hope more people pick it up and read it. The only short coming is that the paper doesn't think it needs a website... so we can't visit it vicariously through the web... sorry. I'd like to see them be able to monetize an online existence. I'd be there everyday.

Making AOL Uncluttered

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:39:00 +0000

Pondering Dropping AOL E-mail?
If you've ever pondered the idea of dropping your AOL email because you're sick of the junk in the box, but not sure if you want to try another provider, there is a way to control the influx of crap to your in-box and suddenly make your AOL email semi-useful once again!

What I've Done:
I have a particular email address I've set up that is specifically designed for interaction with 5 email addresses only and it's wonderful. No junk, no spam, (Ain't that the same?) no unsolicited offers to enhance my male talents or my wallet or my career.

Just plain old fashion communication with the persons and entities I choose. Ahh. It's good, and it does have it's drawbacks, but the empty in-box sure is nice to see.

How'd I Do That?
This method is direct from the E-mail interface, but I'm sure you can find this same option under the AOL application. That's how I initially set this up, via that 'application'.

Once you're signed in on the Email Web Interface,

Near the Upper Right corner,

Click on Settings
Find Spam Controls on the left side,
There's an option called Spam Filters by Address.
I've chosen the Custom option.

In Custom, I've added specific email addresses to only receive email from.
Type in an address and click on the '+'.

Walla!

This function does work. I've had it set up under one particular address for the last year and only received 1 email all year long. The email I want. With this setting, nothing gets put in your spam folder either. All but your permissioned email addresses get bounced.

Is There A Downside?
Hell yea! It's AOL. Everything has a downside these days doesn't it? More to the point, you need to know the email addresses of people or entities that will be sending you email and you'll have to interact with your email settings folder every time. If you don't have many of either, it's a low maintenance way of controlling the noise in your in-box. I love it.

Is This A Reason To Stay With AOL?
Hell no! I've converted to Gmail's unique system of E-mail organization and I love it. Everyone that's taken a gander at it that I've sent there has also touted it as a godsend. If you have a lot of email from various sources, GMAIL is the best way to tackle and track it all.

At first, I didn't like it because it was "different" and people in general don't like different. But in this case, different is not only good, it's dang efficient in how it handles email strings, sorting, labeling (As opposed to folders) and retention methods. Not to mention Google's Gmail gives you a ridiculous amount of disk space to use for your email.

Right now I've used 103 Mb of my 7,047 available MB's. You do the math.
http://mail.google.com

Remember, I've set up several AOL accounts for my junk or specific purposes. And maybe they haven't noticed, but anything of any importance gets forwarded to my Gmail account. Ha!

Not to mention right now, I get error messages EVERY TIME I log into AOL. Sigh. It's almost like they want us to go away.

Bowflex Recall

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:11:00 +0000

Wow, haven't seen a recall on such a widely advertised item before, but for you Bowflex fans, here it is:

The Bowflex® Ultimate 2 Home Gyms are being recalled because the horizontal seat rail is designed to be latched in a vertical position for storage. If the seat rail is not manually latched, it can fall unexpectedly on the user or a bystander, posing a risk of serious injury. 18 injuries have been reported so far.

This affects ~ 78,000 units... a few more than their 68,000 home gym recall that took place in December of 2007!

The injuries are not minor, as some have required stitches or staples. Ouch.

What's the saying? If it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger.

For additional info, you can contact Nautilus at (800) 259-9019 or visit www.bowflex.com

Source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

ACDSee Doesn't Want My Business

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:59:00 +0000

When you're really big, you don't need to pay attention to the individual.

Some time ago I got an email advertisement from ACDSee that sported a package sale. Yet I couldn't order it online. And when I called to order it interactively the sales reps didn't know what the offer was either. They've sent my forwarded email to the sales coordination department (Or some such named dept) to look it over and in both cases, I was told they would get back to me.

Despite reminder emails from me as to what's up, no one replies. I've already spoken with 2 reps. Both said the same thing. I wouldn't even mind it if they came back with the excuse that it was a mistake. But instead, I get the silent blow-off treatment. Nice.

Well, there's always Picasa 3 or the much vaunted GIMP 2 or even InfanView. All free, all just as powerful.

Picasa takes some getting used to. It constantly wants to index your hard drive, no matter how many times you tell it not to. It also has a different way of showing the images. If you have privacy issues with images, I don't think this is for you.

InfanView is just that, a viewer. Works fine for me.

GIMP is complicated, but I believe to be the most effective piece of software there is out there and at least being open-source, you can get the service you expect from open-source. Unlike the service I've received after being a 10-year running loyal customer to ACDSee.

They're getting too big. I'm too small.

Locking In That Foil Roll

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:35:00 +0000

So how often have you had the roll of saran wrap or tin foil come flying out of it's container so that you end up covering half the kitchen in either? And how many times have you wanted to take that roll box out and run it over with your car?

Now, just how long have you been using tin foil or saran wrap? Have you ever really looked at the end of your Reynolds Aluminum Foil box? No. Maybe you should. I never did until recently.

At the end of these boxes is a small printed statement that says:

"Press here to lock end"

What? Is this for real? Are you kidding me? Am I that much of a blind moron? (Don't answer that one.)

There's a perforated tab section at the end of each box that you can press in to lock that dang roll of foil or wrap inside the box so you will never have to deal with flying roll tubes again!

I just found this out and I'm amazed at how simple of an item that's there that I have never seen.

It's not on all containers, but it's on almost all of them. ... You're running off to the kitchen right now, aren't you?

Thanks to Karen, via Amy for sharing this with me.

Shoelaces Coming Untied? Sanity Threatened?

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:43:00 +0000

Of late, my shoelaces have been threatening my levels of sanity.

I remember the days when I used to tie my shoes and forget them until I got home at the end of the day. Ah, the good 'ol days. But recent times have shown me that most brand new shoes these days come with shoelaces that seem to undo themselves within the hour after tying them.

I tried double knots, triple knots and even four knots but my latest brand of shoe has an aggressive shoelace that seems to want to desperately escape the region of my feet.

I finally took a few minutes to visit my local shoe guy... not store, a cobbler, shoe repair kind of guy and he dispensed the following wisdom upon me:

"New shoes come with Nylon laces and they don't stay. Buy the cotton laces."

What? Cotton? You kid me, right? No, he was not kidding me. I bought cotton laces, strapped them up and then discovered I now have a completely new problem. After a few years of cranking down on my nylon shoelaces in frustrated anger, it seems I tie my shoes too tight now!!! And yes... they now stay tied.

The packages don't always say what they're made of. I am lucky. My local shoe repair store stocks lots of shoelaces. He knew which ones were cotton and guided me upon my way to safer and sane bi-pedal powering!

Can Cell Phone Usage Be A Right?

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:33:00 +0000

There's this fellow that took out a $10k bulletin board in the Bay Area venting about how the new Cell Phone law in CA is stupid and it is his right to talk on the phone whenever he wants. The impetus of the billboard is to get people to start a petition to revoke the law. ... crickets...

First off, the law isn't working here. Everyone around here has not let up one bit in regards to driving around incoherently while craning their necks to talk on their phone. No one seems to understand that a tiny little $10 ear piece would not only simplify their lives, but keep me safe.

Yea, keep me safe.

Twice I've almost been plowed under my some moron who for whatever reason has to beat that gap in traffic that is thinner than his car whilecraning their neck to talk on their fracking phone. I've seen proof that most people can barely do two things at the same time, never mind three. That is if you count balancing that gelatinous mass of what some would call a brain over the precious cell phone, while dodging oncoming traffic and gunning it to make their aggressive left turn cutting the traffic pattern and almost clipping me. Oh, wait. That's four things if you count trying to run me down.

So to the fella that thinks it's his right to talk on the phone while driving, I guess he feels it's his right to make it an even set of odds of running me down in the process too!

This feels like a similar scenario where people are saying that flashlight the registers alcohol on their breath is a vioation of their civil rights. Frack you! If you're driving toasted, you give up your rights. Do you really think it's your right to plunder about and put people at risk from your intoxicated effort at manuevering your multi-ton vehicle with your crossed up eyes and buzzed brain in the dark of night while little lights from cars and intersections blink away annoyingly? - Give me a break.

Some folk need to take inventory. That's all I'm saying.

ACDSee: Where Art Though

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:01:00 +0000

A few weeks back I received a promotional Valentine's Day e-mail. It was set to expire by the end of February so I sat on it for a week. Last week, I decided to partake in their newest deal that ACDSee sent me.

Disclaimer: I've been a very happy customer of ACDSee software since it's inception MANY years ago when it was free-ware.

So last week (Thursday) I logged onto the website, went through their enitre process and at the end of the process, I get the message that transaction can't be processed. Hmm? I tried 3 different times, different browsers, etc. Same results. WTH?

Last Friday I spoke with a sales rep of ACDSee who said he will put the order in and get it going and I will be notified when I can get my product. THAT WAS A WEEK AGO! Oh, and I had to send him my email because he couln't find the special offer I was looking at.

So here's my observations on the issue so far:

Digital River handles their product ordering. Digital River needs to update their error messages. If you don't format the Cr Cd number properly, it doesn't tell you that, it just says there's an error in my order.

When it tells me it can't complete the transaction, it gives no explanation. I've seen better sites give much better feedback in terms of my order windows. I am leery of DR.

I'm also miffed that though it's been a week, no one has contacted me. I called last night to find out that the order was ix-nayed and the sales person can't tell why. Their own sales person! So they tried putting the order in again, and even the sales person got an error message.

So here I wait, day 7, for trying to purchase a download from ACDSee. Are they getting too big for their britches. I can say they sure don't seem to know what the L and R hands are doing. Not if they're sending me special offers they don't even know about.

Despite all that, I still am fizzled about the fact that no one called or emailed me to say there's an issue. They just left me hanging. We'll see how it goes after yesterdays call.

More to follow.

PETA Defends Nudity

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:59:00 +0000

This is just an opinion from the hip, but I passed by a TV where PETA was trying to defend itself in a FOX News interview on it's approach to its campaign where they pitch nude stars to promote not wearing real fur or to become a vegetarian.

So basically, reverting to the "sex sells" theme, to me starts to cheapen them. They no longer stand above the rest. Now they are swimming with the rest.

I have nothing against PETA. To each their own, but I don't think people draped in skimpy rags or angled in such a way to see most of their body and calling them naked are going to persuade people one way or the other. If someone already is leaning towards the idea of not wearing fur, well, they probably already are. If not, this won't do it. And if it does, are they a keeper of a client, or just someone outside the 1% retention sales effort that will flit in and flit out when they find they don't have the focus to be a friend of PETA.

I mean come on now if I came across this,

: Annalise Braakensiek posing "nude" for PETA

I'd um... ah, be willing to have a conversation on the virtues of not being cruel to animals... yea. Cute lamb, huh?

But they do have some incredibly awesome causes under their PETA umbrella. They just seem to have an overtly aggressive way of approaching some of them...

The present video on PETA TV at their website, PETA, shows one of their programs where they build dog houses for families who can't afford them. It's a sad vid. Of course, now that they're into staging things, can you believe them? This is where their credibility comes into play now.

I WAS going to host a few YouTube vids here, but they're too graphic for my taste and you need to be warned if you go to these links, they HAVE GRAPHIC KILL AND TORTURE SCENES.

YouTube Vid 1: Official PETA video, Vid 2: Exotic Animal Cruelty.

After seeing these, maybe the nude angle ain't so bad. At least I can stomach that!

Menlo Park (And Surrounding Areas) Raising Their Trash Rates

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:57:00 +0000

The City of Menlo Park, CA obviously has some issues, just like the rest of us do. Why?

We just got a notice that the City of Menlo Park is raising its solid waste trash rates by 24%. Oh, and though you just got the letter, it's retroactive to January 1st. It must be nice to do what you wish with your business practices, unlike the businesses they govern.

They're raising the rates to give the contractor a rate of return based on approved costs.

And even though renters are the ones that are paying the bill, the notice is written to such that only the home owner can write a petition letter.

Ouch and thank you MP. Will you at least provide the lubricant?

Fine... I thought I'd look into what I can do to reduce my costs. The reason I thought I could was that I have this giant blue thing (96 gallon wheeled beast) and most of my neighbors have smaller, store bought cans.

Turns out the service I was given was the most expensive service they have. They base their service costs on the size of the can!

So if a 96 gallon trash can costs $185 for 3 months, a 45 gallon can costs around $80 for 3 months. Zoinks! Here's one time where downgrading is a good thing.

The moral of the story is when you sign up for services, ASK about your options. ASK if there are options! ASK ASK and ask some more.

Silent Hunter III, A Moment In The Storm

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:53:00 +0000

The storm was horrendous. More so than I thought. All I wanted to do was get to my patrol zone and settle in for 24 hours. Despite having set my engines to flank speed, we were only doing 14-15 knots. I didn't realize how bad it really was as the bow dipped down deep into the water then lifting completely out of the water.

Suddenly through the sleet I saw what I thought was a cloud of lighter grey mist but as we charged in closer, I realized we were headed straight for a C2 Tanker. It was less then 400 meters away!

I bellow hard to port, all emergency back! The horrid part was waiting for the crew to respond to the orders. It felt like forever but finally the rudder was slammed left, the engines strained against the storm.

Our boat was turning and slowing. We were still headed towards the tanker but despite being tossed in and out of the ocean, it looked like we were going to be ok. We could reach out and touch the tanker from the conning tower bridge.

I was just about to start pondering how I'm going to take this tanker down. The weather is so bad my sonar and radio guys never detected it. No one spotted it from the deck. We started to back off to trail it.

As we dropped back from the tanker, I thought they were shining a spot light on us because the ship lit up. Suddenly I turned around and there the source of the light was. A patrol boat was rushing down on us no more than 200 meters out.

Bullets ripped across the water toward the boat, ripping into the forward deck, taking out the deck gun. Crap! We had no options, I had to get away from that beast and put the tanker between us.

I order a crash dive, rudder hard to starboard. Yes, into the tanker. My hope was to get under it and put it between us and that pesky patrol boat who let rip with another salvo of bullets and a cannon shell taking out a part of our batteries. Watching the bullets striking the water, the bullet splishes coming straight at us was not a good site. Down went the flak gun... oh well, it's fairly useless anyway. I've hit quite a few planes with that thing, but never brought anything down.

Waiting... that's all it is now. 50 hours of boredom, 50 seconds of trauma, followed by the waiting. Ug, the waiting. The depth meter is semi-useless, but as we pass the 15 ft depth mark we've hit nothing, so I order a hard to port manuever all the while at flank speed.

All I want to do is get lost in the noise of the tanker. After I hit my desired direction, I order all slow while the damage repair crew works on the batteries. Gulp!

All in all, we silently dropped to a 70 meter depth and just putted away from the danger zone. Now the sonar man is reporting in. Apparently I was in the middle of a convoy and we never saw them. Thanks bud.

Lowering Your Property Taxes Is Free

noreply@blogger.com (BruSimm) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:40:00 +0000

I just received an email from my county Assessors Office reminding me that a "A "Decline in Value" request is FREE to any homeowner".

a property owner requests a Decline in Value review by filling out a simple form and sending to the Assessor's office (online, by fax, mail or in person). It only takes a couple of minutes to complete.

They are warning me of this because apparently many tax payers are getting "offers' by private corporations to lower their tax rates for a fee. (That's pretty efffed up!)

I've previously written about how your taxes took off with the property boom, and now in this recession, your taxes should be going down with your house values.

So folks - Keep your eye out, don't pay someone to do something for you that's free, and be aware. This isn't specifically a scam perse, but it still sort of reeks!

--
Bruce