Hop To It!

Still not old! Hallelujah!

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:12:00 +0000

Worthwhile reading - Hop to it!

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:32:00 +0000

BBC News - The Perils of Commuting on Ice - Basically a video of people biting it on the ice in the UK. (Thanks to BoingBoing for the link.)

Yankee Pot Roast - Stuff Fictional Characters Would Leave at my Apartment if We Broke Up - Always with the toothbrushes!

NY Times - I Lego NY - Just in case you haven't seen this one yet. The fresh pepper one is my favorite.

The American Prospect - Why Ledbetter Isn't Enough - This kind of rained on my parade a little bit. I, for one, am sick of feeling suspicious that I'm not getting a fair wage. (Hat tip to Jezebel for the link.)

Send someone a Valentine's Day card that will make them laugh/angry.

Anyway, enjoy the anniversary of St. Valentine's super disgusting death by either stoning or beheading!

Ch-ch-changes!

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:17:00 +0000

Just FYI guys, I'm in the midst of making some changes around here. Everything should look and act exactly the same (aka mindwarpingly awesome) here on Hop to It, but I'm shaking things up in other parts of the interwebz. Stay tuned!

How to get a live person when calling HSBC customer "support"

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:39:00 +0000

I had a mysterious charge on my HSBC checking account. $139.17 is no insignificant sum, and it wasn't officially posted when I checked my account online, so I thought I'd just ring 'em up and find out what it was for.

HO. LEE. SHIT. I didn't expect such a runaround.

Here's the short version of what happened:

Dial 800-975-4722, the main customer service line, and the only one given on the HSBC website.
Go through automated prompts, learning nothing I didn't already know from looking at the website.
Press 0 for operator.
"Invalid entry"
Repeat steps 3 & 4 about 5 times.
Abruptly get hung up on.
Flip my shit.
Call back, going through full menu of options, waiting for the one that tells me how to get a live person on the freaking phone.
Repeat steps 6 & 7.

You see, HSBC doesn't have an option that allows you, the customer, to speak to a live person with questions, not even during business hours! Here's how I finally got a real person on the phone:

Dial 800-975-4722
Enter account information
Press 1 to manage your account
Press 2 to report a lost card
Press 1 to report the card stolen (Don't be fooled by the "customer service" option 2. It takes you right back to the automated menu!)
Wait on hold for a million years.
Get a live person.
Explain your situation.
Get transferred to the right department.
Wait on hold for another million years.
Finally get the right person and hopefully get your issue resolved.

Viola! Getting a live person on HSBC Customer "Support" in 11 easy steps! I learned an important lesson today. And that lesson is that I am the only person who gives a shit about suspicious charges to my account. Despite all the hassle, it was absolutely worth it to (finally) talk to a CSR and sort it all out.

Buffalo & WNY Blog Carnival

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:23:00 +0000

I moved back to WNY in 2008 after a 5-year absence. Best decision I made all year. Buffalo is an amazing city and I've never felt more connected to the place I live and the people I interact with. I know I'm not alone, so I decided to start a blog carnival dedicated to Buffalo & WNY in the hopes of getting my fellow Western New Yorkers to share in this with me.

The first edition of the Buffalo & WNY Carnival will be hosted right here at Hop to It on Wednesday, February 25th. Deadline for submitting is the day before.

Good post topics include, but are definitely not limited to:

What you love about Buffalo/WNY
Ideas to make Buffalo/WNY better (not just ranting, unless it's really funny)
"Only in Buffalo/WNY" stories
Cool upcoming events
Buffalo sports (not limited to the Bills & the Sabres either!)
Stories from expats about what they miss

To submit a post for the carnival, click here and then click the orange box on the top right that says "Submit Your Blog Article to this Carnival" or email me the link at beagoodhuman11 at gmail dot com.

I'm thinking of making it a monthly carnival, but haven't decided yet. If you want to host an edition on your blog, shoot me an email and I'll set it up.

Totally lost? For more info on what a blog carnival is and how you can participate, the folks at blogcarnival.com have all the answers here.

Photo from Flickr user stratushead

Hop to it: the roundup!

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Here are a bunch of my old posts that Google Analytics says are still pulling in the ol' eyeballs. Thought I'd throw 'em up here instead of, y'know, writing new content.

How to Make People Think You Care About Them - I promise it's not as callous as the title implies.

Wherefore the Hot Wife? - "Wherefore" means "why" you guys.

Pollution Means Execution - This is the one with the Electric Company video.

What I'm Doing With My Free Time - Lots more people are unemployed now than were when I was last year. I wonder what everyone is doing to keep busy. Besides looking for a job, of course.

How to Get Shit Done When You're Depressed - Obviously, I wasn't too thrilled with being out of work, but I still had to try to function like a human being.

Don't Call Me a Flatass - In defense of not being Beyonce.

How to Track All of Your Blog Mentions - Besides Google Analytics, obviously.

Dear David Paterson, - I'm not very please with our governor's proposed budget. Not very pleased at all.

Carnival of Feminists #71

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:13:00 +0000

Welcome to the 71st edition of the Carnival of Feminists! I'm super-pumped that you're here and I've got a fantastic bunch of posts for you today! Lots of really great interviews mixed in there. They're long, but worth it!

First, the Blog for Choice roundup: NARAL collected some beautiful posts from fembloggers celebrating the 36th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade. You can find them all here. And there are lots. I couldn't read through them all, but I enjoyed the posts from Tiger Beatdown, Menstrual Poetry, Troubled Corpuscles, The Post Modern Geek's Guide to Sex, and Heathen Family Revival.

Here are some of my favorite recent feminist posts that weren't submitted to the carnival:

Choice means BUTT OUT! at NOT MY GAL

NY Times Article Got Story on DIY Abortions Wrong at The Curvature

Ten Ways to Make America a Better Place to Live at Menstrual Poetry

Drug-addicted and pregnant and Oh, puhhlease: Lesbians expelled from school at Salon Broadsheet

Dov Charney thinks you're stupid at Rage Against the Man-chine

Now, onto the carnivaling! Here are a few of my faves:

Dalia overheard an awesome mom teaching her son a lesson. Feminism begins at home! Lesson Learned is posted at Daily Dalia.

Zelda the Quark presents Deceitful lie-tellers posted at There's a Quark in the Vent, saying, "I wrote this post a few hours ago and thought it might be short and to-the-point on the issue of False Rape accusations." I say we start that False Grand Larceny Society!

Robin presents Lilly Ledbetter on the Passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act posted at womenstake. I love this. There's a video! Click through to watch!

The best of the rest:

Womanist Musings presents The Other Half Of The Choice posted at Womanist Musings, saying, "When we support we women we need to support all the choices that we make."

Deepa presents 'Slumdog Millionaire': All that hype and then nothing posted at Teashop on the Moon, saying, "A ripose to Nirpal Dhaliwal's column in 'The Guardian' on 'Slumdog Millionaire' and explaining why 'Slumdog' does not offer a real depiction of India's poor"

Ama Lee presents Speaking Truth to Power: An Interview with Jennifer Baumgardner posted at Feminist Review. From the post, "I think it is an example of talking about abortion—and we need more space for that. It’s so easy to scream about this issue, yet so hard to simply talk."

Madeleine Begun Kane presents John Mortimer (Barrister, Author, Rumpole Creator) Dies at 85 posted at Mad Kane's Political Madness. From the post, "Mortimer, like Rumpole, enjoys making fun of feminists. Yet I sensed that behind his flippant love-me-for-my-body remark was a man who, again like Rumpole, measures women when it matters on merit alone."

Robin sent me Candace's NWLC Celebrates 36th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade posted at womenstake. From the post, "The American people have made it clear that we are ready for a new direction -– a direction where a women’s right to make important life decisions about whether and when to have children without government interference is not only protected but strengthened."

Aviva presents Feminist Blogger Friday #1: Interview with Frau Sally Benz posted at Fourth Wave. From the post, "More than any one particular issue that feminists fight for, I think there is a lack of inspiration and effective strategy amongst feminists. There is not enough focus on grassroots efforts, not enough communication and partnership with people who don’t call themselves feminists (but have similar goals), etc."

Joseph Orosco presents Polyamory and Patriarchy posted at Engage: Conversations in Philosophy. From the post, "A polyamorous set up is really to allow men to have sexual access to more and more women."

Tali presents Eartha Kitt - Every Woman posted at Tali, saying, "Martin Luther King day was yesterday, so what a great time to commemorate one of the great black women in history: Eartha Kitt!"

Marcella Chester presents Tampa Police's Rape Story Has Inconsistencies posted at abyss2hope: A rape survivor's zigzag journey into the open, saying, "This case is an example of the serial mistreatment of a woman who was jailed after reporting rape."

whatsername presents Honoring my moon time posted at The Jaded Hippy. From the post, "I had decided by the time I bought my cup that I wanted to have a positive view of my period as part of a positive view of my body and the biological realities of what it meant to be a female sexed person."

whatsername went for a twofer today with "Mystical Negro and Self-flagellation," Thoughts on being an ally posted at The Jaded Hippy. From the post, "I have always been an outspoken minority just for being a socialist and a feminist but as over the last year I have been coming to terms with and divesting myself of white privilege and coming to analyze the events of the world from an increasingly intersectional perspective I have become quite the divisive figure."

And just because, here are some badass ladies you should definitely follow on Twitter (Let me know if I've left anyone out!):

Hops11 - Me, obviously!
Nerdette - From Not My Gal
JessicaValenti - From Feministing
ImogenHeap
TinaFey - Not sure if this one is real, actually.
DiabloCody
HollyOrd - From Menstrual Poetry
TheCurvature - Cara from The Curvature and Feministe
Sarah_Haskins - From the hilarious Target Women videos
NARAL
AnaMarieCox
Maddow - The awesome Rachel Maddow
Blergisphere - One of my BFFs. She's kind of a geek and she'll charm your socks off.
Feministe
RHRealityCheck
PenelopeTrunk - From Brazen Careerist
AmandaMarcotte - From Pandagon
JillFilipovic - From Feministe
Updated:
MadKane - From Mad Kane's Political Madness
FourthWaveFem - From Fourth Wave
WomanistMusings

That's it! Thanks so much for reading. Check out all the former editions here. Submit your feminist post to the next edition here.

Technorati tags: carnival of feminists, blog carnival.

Carnival of Feminists is coming to Hop To It!

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:18:00 +0000

Carnival Edition #71 will be in this spot on Jan 28th. I'm so excited! Some of you may remember the 58th Edition that I hosted at Be a Good Human.

If you want to submit, you can email me at beagoodhuman11 at gmail dot com or use the Blog Carnival submission form. You know you want to. Hop to it!

Since today is Blog for Choice Day, I'll be highlighting those posts. I welcome all your feminist posts though!

For more info on the Carnival of Feminists, look here. And head over to Sheffield Fems for the 70th Edition right now! Seriously, go!

Happy Anniversary of Roe v Wade!

Worthwhile reading - Hop to it!

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:23:00 +0000

Too bad the holidays are over. Because your husband, brother, pastor, butcher, heck EVERYONE would really love a pair of XTREME ACTIVESKIN LEGWEAR FOR MEN! (AKA pantyhose.) These are real. Feministing has a photo.

Fanboy - Social Media "Experts" are the Cancer of Twitter (and Must Be Stopped) Seriously! You're not fooling anyone guys!

Urlesque has a bunch of Billy Mays remix videos. The are fantastic. This one is my favorite:

(He's not really dead.)

CNN Money: Tax tips for the unemployed - Did you know you have to pay taxes on your unemployment benefits? I think it's pretty safe to say that a whole lot of people will be wondering about this. Yikes.

This week's song that I'm not sure if I should be ashamed to like:

Dear David Paterson,

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:13:00 +0000

Cut the shit.

Seriously. I know you're under quite a bit of pressure with the budget shortfall and all, but COME THE FUCK ON.

I've read up on your Executive Budget Proposal, most specifically the Human Services portion, since the non-profits I work for are at least partly human services organizations. And I've got to say, I'm really ~~fucking incredulous that you could be such a moron~~ less than thrilled.

Let's look at one little part, shall we? Here is a portion of the "Gap Closing Actions" that Uncle Dave wants to implement to save millions for NY State in the next couple of years:

As indicated by my arrows, Ol' Pattycakes is willing to completely eliminate all funding for Community Optional Preventive Services (COPS) to save $34 million/year. I won't deny you that $34 million is a hefty chunk of change, however, what percentage is it of the estimated $15 Billion (with a B!) entire budget gap? Not a big percentage, I'm sure!

So, the wording is a little confusing here. "Non-mandated Community Optional Preventive Services" is redundant in the first place. In the second, it's important to define what COPS are vs. what Mandated Preventive Services are.

Mandated Preventive Services are, as the name implies, mandated by law, usually the Department of Social Services (social workers) or a family court judge because DSS has shown that there is harm being done to a child. The policies for these programs are very strict, as families cannot participate in them unless they are mandated to do so.

COPS programs are, essentially, the programs that help keep children out of the Mandated Preventive programs and out of the foster care system. They are a safety net for at-risk families and children. They include parenting programs, school counseling services, and a whole host of other services that I'm not knowledgeable enough to speak of right now.

So what has me all riled up is that by cutting funding for COPS programs, our Governor is willing to throw a significant portion of at-risk families to the wolves. In an effort to save a few bucks, David Paterson would rather WAIT UNTIL CHILDREN HAVE ALREADY BEEN HARMED to intervene. This is not ok.

I know that this is but one small part of a very large budget proposal that is nowhere near being approved as is, and that cuts will be made in order to close the gap, but honestly, this is crap. I hope our legislature will do what's right and tell Paterson to cut the shit. I'm not naive enough to hold my breath on that though.

Worthwhile reading - Hop to it!

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:25:00 +0000

Let's start with the stunningly awful news first:

Business First: US Loses Another 524,000 jobs - Numbers like this scare the shit out of me. How do over a million jobs disappear in two months?

Now we can make ourselves feel better with good news and a few LOLs:

My Sarah Haskins crush shows no signs of abating in 2009. Witness:

Urlesque: I Know You've Seen Garfield Minus Garfield BUT... - Garfield Minus Garfield meme explodes all over the internet. And it is magnificent. Click through for more!

Garfield plus a regular tabby cat.

NARAL: More pro-choice members in the 111th Congress than in the 110th. Huzzah! Click through for more stats.

Net Change in Choice Composition
	Pro-Choice	Mixed Choice	Anti-choice
House	+21	-5	-16
Senate	+5	+2	-7

YNBNY: Dear George W. & Laura, I would also like to volunteer!!

Shopfloor: House Passes Ledbetter, Payckeck Bill - I don't really have anything meaningful to add to that, other than YES!!

Like typewriter-style font on a computer

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:16:00 +0000

I love non-scientific internet quizzes that reinforce my suspicions that I am, in fact, a unique butterfly that dances to the beat of my own drummer. Or something.

(PBS Helvetica quiz via SarahSpy)

Resolutions Schmesolutions

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:59:00 +0000

Wow. I am so relieved at the perceived significance of 2008 ending! 2009 is going to be soooooooo different!! Know why?

Because I making some schmesolutions this year. Last year, I put together a last-minute list of resolutions (hate the implications of that word) that were all too easy and ~~kind of~~ lame. My schmesolutions are totally different and not at all related to the dreaded New Year's Resolutions*. They are specific and achievable. Want to see?

1) Answer my phone when my friends call. I have a nasty habit of letting it go to voicemail for no good reason, and I'm terrible about getting back to people that matter to me. It's really inconsiderate and it's stopping in 2009!

2) Socialize at work more. I am truly lucky to be in a job with people that are nice. I know I'm still early in my career, but my experience up to this point has been with jerks who were mean to me pretty much every single day. I'm going to take advantage of not being miserable everyday and enjoy my coworkers' company.

3) Max out my Roth IRA. I don't actually have to do anything to achieve this (except stay employed, I suppose) because I already set my automatic deductions.

4) Bring back Good Humanity Sunday, which mysteriously disappeared after I couldn't handle such regularity in my posting schedule.

5) Donate some of my tax refund to Kiva. Don't know about Kiva? Click the box in my sidebar to learn more.

Got any good schmesolutions? Leave 'em in the comments!

*Failed hopes

Plurk that! Part 2

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 19:04:00 +0000

So my shift to Plurk was a bit premature. Twitter and I are back together, after a short separation. Are you following me yet?

Hop to these

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:34:00 +0000

NYT: When a Job Disappears, So Does the Health Care - One more reason I'm thankful to be employed right now. Also makes me wonder why we don't have a charity that helps people afford their COBRA payments each month, instead of waiting for them to be eligible for medicaid. I would totally donate to that.

BBC News: Shoes thrown at Bush on Iraq trip - LOL Somebody threw a shoe at the president. Click through for video!

BRO: Gimme a (coffee) break - Apparently two companies in Buffalo started the the idea that workers could have coffee breaks, then reaped the benefits of their caffeine-fueled productivity. Now I feel especially good when I hook up my IV to mainline straight from the espresso machine because I'm just honoring tradition. Huzzah!

How to hallucinate that you're under water when you're not on drugs: Check out this strobe from Neave.com. (Thanks to Princess Sparkle Pony for the link!)

And Obama's latest youtube address:

How tall is Sarah Haskins?

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:24:00 +0000

Seriously! Compare her with the women she interviews in her latest Target: Women and see for yourself.

She's like a glorious Amazonian (or at least the former star of her JV volleyball team) of comedic wonder. And I love her.

Happy Repeal Day!

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:18:00 +0000

Go celebrate!!

You mean MEN can prevent violence against women too?

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:40:00 +0000

I saw this cup sleeve at a coffee shop in the Buffalo Airport last week while awaiting my flight at some disgusting hour of the morning. It's a part of the year-old (funny, this is the first I've seen of it!) campaign from the NYS Office of Prevention of Domestic Violence. Coaching Boys Into Men, they call it. I'm glad they've finally figured out that preventing domestic violence should be a goal of those that are usually the ones that are the aggressors in such situations.

The invisible outlet mall

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:41:00 +0000

Google maps says there's an outlet mall in Buffalo on Delaware between Allen & North. A Great American Outlet Mall, to be exact. See?

Only, if you walk this area, you won't find any such mall. Is it visible only to true believers? WHY ARE YOU LYING TO ME, GOOGLE?

My favorite Ted Stevens "A Series of Tubes" Remix Video

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:54:00 +0000

Confused, old, convicted felon! LOL!

Yes We Did

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:25:00 +0000

Democracy!

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:38:00 +0000

That's the line at my polling place just before it opened this morning. When they let us in, there were about another two dozen people waiting behind me. This felt good.

Hope/Weep

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:26:00 +0000

Probably wasn't a good idea for me to watch this, considering my own grandmother just had a heart attack. (Doctors say she'll pull through.)

That ripped my guts out.

My Predictions

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:26:00 +0000

I'm no Keith Olbermann or Bill O'Reilly, but I'm a pundit, too! (Everyone can be a pundit. It's easy! Just be loud, opinionated, and unwilling to consider an opposing viewpoint.)

Here are my predictions:

I think Obama pulls out squeakers in Montana, Indiana, and Virginia. McCain holds onto Florida, Nevada, and North Carolina. We'll see!

Election Fatigue

beagoodhuman11@gmail.com (Hops) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:08:00 +0000

Is it over yet?