we decided to jump from our second story window into our pile of snow.

 

 

For some reason, CNN only posted 9 rip-offs, so we have to come up with the 10th on our own...

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/news/1001/gallery.americas_biggest_ripoffs/index.html

 

 

It's been a while since I've put up a post in the "memories" category.  I was thinking about times I've almost died.  There aren't many, I think, but still something worth sharing.

When I was in high school, I dug up my Uncle Jay's 250 watt 15" Pevey bass amp from my dad's barn.  The funny thing about this amp was that it didn't have a ground wire in it.  It just had a 2 prong plug.  I ended up cutting off the plug since it was damaged and put a new grounded plug on the end, which at least gave me a sense of security that it wasn't going to come out of the wall.

Later on, my Uncle Kenny gave me my first 4 string base.  IT was a black "series 10" bass.  Nothing special about it, but it did the job.  I had gotten it in my head that I'd like a natural wood finish instead of the black matte, so I got some sand paper and started to go to town on the bass.  This was a lot of work.  When it got time to get around the pickups and bridge, I had to undue the strings.  I had the bass plugged into the amp, and the amp on, just so I could hear the awesome tones as I detuned.

So there's me, in a damp basement, sitting in a metal chair, next to a 250 watt bass amp, that's plugged into a surge protector on the floor next to me with a bunch of other devices, and 4 nickel wound, 1/8-1/4 inch diameter bass strings flopping around in my lap.  As luck would have it, something like the alarm clock was barely plugged in to the surge protector, and one of the strings found it way in the gap.  You want to know how I was sure something was wrong?  Because one of the base string starting glowing bright orange.  I jumped out of my seat, which was enough to move the bass string, but after some damage to the surge protector, which I still use today.  Here it is:

 

I think that counts as almost dying. 

I had an idea for a website with community driven content.  Someone would post a rumor or something unconfirmed and people would either simply "confirm it" or add evidence and such to support or invalidate the rumor.  I'd compare it to a cross with snopes.com and mythbusters.  You could have different user rankings for how much they've contributed and maybe for a rumor to move to a status of "confirmed" it would need to be confirmed by an established member or authority.  Eventually, as the community grew, I think we'd form quite a thinktank full of valued people. 

Watching J'aime's kids the other day, gave me an idea.  I call it KidCom.  It's a device, much like a watch, that your kids wear.

In it's simplest form, it just has the time on it and you can set alarms on it that say things like "1 hours before Daddy gets home", or "it's almost snack time".  It's to help highlight and grow the anticipation for the important and happy moments in their days.

There are a few things you can do to extend the functionality.  A web interface or desktop application to record your own voice and have it say messages on certain times.  Or you can change settings remotely if you're going to be late.

It could be integrated with a gps for locating your kids, or even some sort of 911/call home functionality for emergencies.  I think the simpler the better these days when it comes to technology...especially when it comes to kids...which makes me feel old...I'm going to go play with LEGO blocks now.

I put up my crappy webcam on the fish tank.  Sorry about the quality, but it's fun for a while anyway.  It does require Internet explorer for the activeX controls.  So far there are 4 gold barbs, 3 harlequin rasboras, 1 bristlenose cat, and 4 glofish zebras.  Also some live plants.  The best time to view is around 5pm EST for feeding time and you don't get the reflection off the glass.

Http://fish.footcomputers.com

When I see abandoned cars along the road or in vacant lots, or even really rusty old heavy machinery and such, I want to steal them.  I had always thought it'd be fun to have a flatbed truck, drive up to these vehicles, and just take them.  Take them to the recycling center for some extra cash, or just stack them somewhere in a big pile for fun.  When I passed basically a parking lot of a half a dozen rotting vehicles the other day, I had a new idea.  When you take the vehicles, just go and leave them in the middle of a street somewhere, or just parked in a parking space somewhere in the city.  That will get the owner's attention and start taking care of it.  

It reminded me of a story where some neighborhood with an HOA put a boot on his car right outside his house because you weren't allowed to park cars on the street there.  He ended up getting a car mover dolly and moving the car in his garage.  The boot company said he stole their boot, and he denied it and said that they are welcome to take it anytime want.  Pretty funny read...http://www.clublexus.com/forums/car-chat/362154-epic-thread-homeowner-vs-hoa-and-arizona-parking-solutions-boot-me-i-move-car.html

Avis customer support has exhausted my patience, so I'm considering this the final chapter.  If Avis is your cheapest rate when you go to rent a car, take a second to think about the risk you might run of having to deal with customer service.  I am not going to be a loyal Avis customer anytime soon.

I used Travelocity.com to book the cheapest car I could find for Kallie and I to use on our flight to California over Thanksgiving.  Avis was the cheapest, but not by much.  We picked up the Pontiac G5 at Sacramento airport on Nov 25th on our arrival.  It was the smallest rental car I've ever been in, which put me more in a contemplative mindset as I wondered why I've never had such a small car even though I've always rented the cheapest before.

The car worked fine until Friday evening in San Francisco.  While sightseeing, I parallel parked but was not able to turn the key to power off the car.  It was if it was locked in the on position.  We couldn't leave the car running and unlocked to sightsee.  We tried all the obvious things, then called the 800 number listed with the rental docs, and they had us try the obvious stuff again, then we told them we'd just go to the nearest Avis center and return it.  We were near empty on gas, but there was an Avis location in town, not far away.  We got to the location shortly after 5, and it closed at 5pm.  That meant that we would have to drive ~30 minutes to the San Francisco airport.  We got there, with less than a gallon of gas left, I'm sure.

Upon our arrival, I had the 2 employees and a manager sanity check me and they could not turn the car off either.  They said to go inside and talk to customer service to get a replacement car.  They initially said they would have to charge me for returning the car with an empty tank, but since I couldn't turn off the car, it wasn't safe for me to fill it up before returning it and they let that charge go.  The desk representative also volunteered a $25 voucher for our inconvenience, and asked her manager to bring the voucher to the desk for us over the walkie talkie.  ~20 minutes go by, the very nice desk rep pages her manager again.  We use the rest room, talk about the car, wait around, until the desk rep then physically goes to the manager's office to find the manager had left for the day and locked the office with the voucher inside.  When the desk rep came back to us, she said that she would leave notes in their system for our reservation so that when we returned the car in Sacramento, they would give us a voucher for "more than $25" since we had so much trouble and had to wait.  We got a replacement Ford Focus, and went about our lives.

...until Sunday, when we realize we may have left Kallie's Macbook under the passenger seat with our only copies of wedding photos on DVD.  We called the San Francisco airport location, and they said they don't see any notes on a laptop, but the car is at their repair facility off site, and no one would be able to look for it until Monday, but they would have someone call me back once they were able to look.  By 4pm Monday, I hadn't heard anything back, so I called them again, and they asked me where to look for it, so I said, "in the car", and they wanted me to be specific, so I said to try under the passenger seat or in the trunk.  They called back after a few minutes and said they were not able to find it there.

Fast forward to Tuesday, Dec 1st at 4:00am.  We drop off the car at the rental location to catch our 6:00am flight.  The receiving employee only has a hand scanner that prints our return receipts and she has no access to a computer or vouchers.  She said that we would have to wait until the desk representatives come in at 7:00am.  So I decide I'll have to pick this back up once we get home.

I give a phone call to the customer support number.  I explain the voucher situation to them, and they say they'll send it in the mail to me right away.  Seemed easy enough.  I also called the SF location again to have the search the whole car, thinking it might have moved or we put it somewhere else.  They said they will leave an open case in the lost and found if it ever turns up, but it's not in the car.

A week or so later, I receive a letter from Avis with a voucher attached to the bottom for $25.  The letter is your basic canned apology letter, but the voucher, at least, had something identifying on it...an expiration date of 12/31/09.  They had given me less than a month to use the voucher.  That's pretty much insulting, and I said that in my letter to them.  I used the contact form on their site to send it to them.  I could repost it here, but it's basically the same as this post and carries the same tone.

A few days later, I get this response via email:

From: "Avis Customer Service" <custserv@avis.com>
Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 10:31 AM
Subject: RE: Avis Rental U142826294 / Case 7737785 (KMM2651002I5371L0KM)

RE:  Avis Rental U142826294 / Case 7737785

12/28/09

Dear Mr. Hall,
Thank you for contacting us through the Avis Website.

In viewing the above Avis rental and your case I find that you have
phoned into our Avis Customer Service Department and the agent that you
spoke with has sent you an Avis Customer Service Certificate.  I do
apologize for the problems that you experienced with your Avis rental
car and if we can assist you in the future, please let us know.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact us, and we look forward
to assisting you with your future rentals.

Sincerely,

S**J***
Avis Customer Service Representative
custserv@avis.com

 

Wow.  First, they're not going to do anything.  Second, they obviously didn't read my letter very well if they failed to notice the part where I said I was insulted that they would send me a voucher that expired within a month.  I put about as much effort in my reply as they put in to theirs:

 

Perhaps you missed the part where I was given less than a month to use the certificate?

 

I received this reply today:

Case #:7737785
RA#:142826294

Dear Mr. Hall,

Thank you for contacting Avis via www.avis.com.

We apologize for sending a coupon that expires that soon. 
We value your business and as a courtesy we will honor your request to
replace your coupon.

Please mail the coupon to my attention to the addressed noted below.

Avis Customer Service
P.O. Box 690360
Tulsa, OK  74169-0360
ATTN : CASE 7737785

I appreciate your cooperation and await your response.

We appreciate your taking the time to report your experience to us.  You
have helped in a continuing effort to provide you, and all Avis
customers, with the service you expect and deserve.

Warm Regards,
 
K*** L***
Avis Customer Service Representative
custserv@avis.com

 

They want me to pay for postage and mail them back a $25 voucher that expires by the time it reaches them.  WTF.  I'm not even sure I have the voucher any more, since it was worthless to me.  That's ridiculous, and that is why Avis can not expect to see my name on their customer sheet any longer.  If their customer service strategy is to make users feel frustrated and eventually just get tired from getting the run around and jumping through hoops and give up, then they've succeeded.

One of my favorite things in industrial and functional art is efficient use of space.  People design their furniture and living spaces to make life work well in small places.  This ins't your feng shui movement/placement, this is getting the best use out of space.  I've seen hgtv shows where couples fit everything they own, neatly and conveniently, in a 400 sq ft condo.  I should pull out some of those links...everything from single foot staggered stairs, to entire walls that move and can be used for storage.  

This little idea of storing books in the staircase is pretty awesome.  Kallie and I have a lot of books, and if we ever live on a boat, this would be one place we could store them all.  Kind of gives a new meaning to treading lightly on the words you speak.

http://www.geekologie.com/2008/02/bookshelf_stairs_are_freaking.php

 http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/at-europe/at-europe-london-closeup-the-amazing-staircase-042543

And now, the reason why these topics have a picture of a smiling kitten next to them.  No matter how down I am, I've never been able to spend a few minutes on http://icanhascheezburger.com/ without feeling better and laughing.  I don't even like cats that much, but I'll be darn if those pictures aren't some of the funniest and cutest things I've ever seen.  It's a tool of mine, whenever I'm said, go take a look at I can haz cheezburger.