When Kallie and I had our back windshield broken by some kids while she was at work, she drove it home and I started doing some research on getting it replaced.  In my online search, I found a lot of car windshield replacement services that boasted 24/7 hours.  What I learned though, is that just means SOME of them have an answering service and NONE of them can come out to repair your windshield until the next business day, at the earliest.

Why is that???  I would see a windshield as critical as a battery or a flat tire.  You simply can’t drive it safely without it.  With a flat tire or a dead battery, at least it can just sit there and not increase in damage, but if it’s raining, you’re interior is going to get ruined!  Also, people can get into your car and steal it or anything you have inside! 

When I called these places, they were saying that i’d have to wait 3 days for an appointment, or that I’d have to pay $600 for someone to come to me the next day.  There was not a simple place that offered a solution to get it done that day, and it was only 5pm.  There’s got to be a demand for that, even if it’s not a standalone business, but an add on to services like AAA offers for battery and tire repairs.  The solution is simple.  There are windshields in a warehouse somewhere, and I need one.   I mean, if I knew they would give me one, I would risk the danger and just drive it to the warehouse to get replaced. 

It’s just silly.  No way anyone can fix a windshield by themselves, and yet there’s no business that wants my business, even at a premium.

This is effing ridiculous.  A class action lawsuit waiting to happen.  If anyone knows an attorney, I’d be willing to talk to them and split the winnings with you.

So I get contacts earlier this spring, and each of the 4 boxes come with a $10 mail in rebate for CooperVision.  So i send in the UPC box tops and after like 3 months, i get this stupid visa debit card in the mail.  WTF is this crap?  Where’s my $40 check??

So here’s the deal with this thing.  It’s like a credit card with a $40 limit.  If I want to buy something that costs more than $40 – I’m screwed because it won’t accept the charge.  I’d have to be able to tell the cashier, “Take $40 from this card, then the rest on this other one.”  That’s hassle.  Coopervision has an anti-marketing campaign here because their name is tied to all of this frustration.

The trap doesn’t stop there.  As if that wasn’t making it hard enough for you to spend, you have 6 months to use the card, or you get assessed a $3 “monthly maintenance fee”.  WTF.  I want to [do very violent things].  This thing has a time limit?  That makes me feel like I’m really just borrowing money from Coopervision, and if I don’t burn it all before they remember they lent it to me, they’re going to take it back.

Keep in mind, since it’s a credit card, If I spend $35.32, I have to do the math in my head to know what is left on the card.  Then I have to remember how much is on the card for the next time I use it.  The closer I get to $40.00 without approaching it EXACTLY, the less likely I am able to actually use the full value of the rebate.

Whatever.  I can use this thing in 6 months.  I’ll just take Kallie out for a nice dinner, split the check, and it’ll be nice.  So here we are, at a swanky restaurant in Chicago, and I explain to the waiter what I need him to do.  He comes back and says, “Sorry, this card was rejected for $40.”  I’m livid.  WTF.  I tell him to try $39.99 maybe???  It dawns on me that perhaps I have had it for 6 months and they pegged me with the maintenance fee.  Anyway, after a second time, and much embarrassment, he says that it accepted $30 and he put the rest on my other card.  I apologize, and thank him for his patience.

So I go home and log into the webpage account for this card to figure out what the crap is going on here.  Here’s my statement.  Can you decypher why it didn’t let $40 through????  WHAT THE EFF is that $36????

I’m so sick of this card, I just gave it to Kallie and said, “Buy something.  NOW.  GET RID OF THIS VICIOUS CARD.”  So she gets on half.com and buys a book for $8.99 shipped….WTF IS GOING ON WITH THIS STATEMENT?!?!?!  DIE, COOPERVISION.  DIE, PREPAID VISA REBATE CARDS.  You’re effing ridiculous, frustrating, and should be banned before water boarding.

This is just disgusting business tactics to not give money.  They say they’ll give you a rebate, but they make it nearly impossible for you to claim that money.  It’s like a carrot dangling on a string, and I’m about ready put that carrot someplace that CEO won’t appreciate.  Or maybe he would.  I’m throwing down some serious hate here.

Had they just cut me a check, I would have enjoyed the experience, and done business with them again.  Now I don’t trust them, and I want to kill anyone will the last name “Cooper”.

BUYER BEWARE

I hate dress socks.  Why do I have to wear them?

Because that’s what society says is normal and acceptable to be considered “dressed up”?  Not good enough.

Because they’re dark?  How about I got a pair of WHITE dress socks in a variety pack.  WTF???  When would I EVER want to wear white dress socks???

With shoes and pants that fit right, there’s like a 0.01% chance that anyone will even ever see your socks.  Why are they so important?  Some people treat their socks with as much attention as they do their ties.  Who cares?

Dress socks are so thin and they provide no cushioning, especially when you’re wearing uncomfortable dress shoes.

One of the biggest problems I have with dress socks is that they are so tight and, when worn correctly, they stretch up on your shin, restricting circulation and airflow so my feet get super sweaty and anxious for freedom.

I walk about 1.2 miles to work and then a big hill back home in the afternoon.  That blows.  When I step in the door, one of the first things I do is rip that crap off my feet.

White, cotton, ankle socks is where the love is.  comfort, air, easy to put on and take off, easy to bleach and keep brilliant white and they last a long time.  Dress socks get worn out in the heels or toes so quickly.

In high school, I had a friend who loved to wear dress socks.  Even played soccer in them.  Chris Tchinsky.  Maybe I need to ask him what the appeal was…

WTF is up with trash bag sizing?  Why can’t we have standards here?  My whole life, I’ve struggled with the trash bag being too small and falling into the can, and then all the grossness builds up as it falls between the bag and wall and to the bottom of the can.  Either that, or the bag is too big and you end up either filling over the capacity of the can which causes garbage to topple to the floor or you end up just wasting potential storage capacity of the bag.  It’s ridiculous.

WTF am i missing here? I went to dictionary.com, typed in “bousy” and it said it wasn’t a word. Then i googled for “bousy” and it came up with a result on dictionary.com

WTF

So, I’m trying to transition over to itunes (version 9) after being a hardcore winamp user since the late 90s.  Winamp’s keyboard shortcuts are the cat’s pajamas though, and I’m missing them tremendously.  Specifically, the shortcut to jump to a song.  Hit "J" and just start typing in a title or band and it dynamically searches for you.  It’s great when you can’t remember who sang a song and you just remember the track name or vice versa.  Nothing like that in itunes, and surely not as simple.

I also miss the visualizations of winamp.  I loved having that in a mini window.  Infact, plugins alone are lacking dramatically in itunes.  It’s weak.  I want skins!  that’s one of the main reasons why I have a jailbroken iphone.  I don’t like your interface, Mr. Jobs.  LET ME CUSTOMIZE IT.  I AM A UNIQUE SNOWFLAKE.  I AM THE ALL SINGING ALL DANCE CRAP OF THE WORLD.

The another shortcut key I’m missing is queue.  In winamp, I could click a song, hit "q" and winamp would play that song next and then go right back to where it was on the playlist.  As far as I can tell, there is no way to do this.  That’s based on forum posts through google that date back to 2003, and Apple still doesn’t listen to their users.  How they crap do they have such product loyalty when they don’t listen to their users?  cough cough mindless droids  cough cough.

I feel like winamp was a baseball.  Intricately laced, tight, filled with strings and cool stuff and was pretty solid.  Itunes is more like a basketball.  It’s bigger, bounces better, but it’s filled with a lot of air.  I guess I’m the anti-michael jordan in this analogy?  Whatever, Apple is refusing to play ball regardless.

Pardon the political post.

United States of America.  My arse.  I am terrified about the Health Care Reform billed being passed this past Sunday.  I’m not terrified about the unknown long-term impacts or affects, or even the reconciliation package that is outstanding.  What I’m most scared about is that NOT A SINGLE REPUBLICAN voted for it.  There are 178 of them, and not a single one voted, "YES"???  That’s effing scary for quite a few reasons.

1. Can we honestly believe that every single district they represent didn’t want the bill?  Do we really assume that each one was overwhelming enough against it, that not a single representative teetered on voting "yes"?
2. If members of the Republican party are all going to vote the same way, can’t we just get rid of them and their salaries and get 1 person to represent the group?  Making this a Dems vs Reps opposition is not productive.  Get over yourselves and start thinking for yourself  THE PEOPLE YOU REPRESENT.

So they aren’t being true to their responsibility to the American people, they are wasting tax-payer money and time, and they are also creating a schism in the way our government works.  Our government was not set-up to be 2 entities deciding what is best for our country.  THAT’S EFFING WHY WE HAVE SO MANY OF YOU SUITS IN WASHINGTON.  If all they do is echo the sentiments of everyone else in their cute little party, then let’s get some consolidating going and get rid of everyone without a brain of their own and save some money and time listening to them ramble on and on.

Even George Washington said, "The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection."

Having agendas based on parties is like having big businesses run the government.  I can’t think of any argument in favor of that happening.  Each representative loses their individuality and becomes part of the group think machine.  They are no longer defending the views and rights of the people who elected them.  

And now we’re talking about creating new political parties???  These things are popping up like fraternities.

Watch this Jesse Ventura interview on Larry King – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yr46X8f4ww

how long has voicemail been around?  You think we know how to leave messages by now?  I’m on and off conference calls all day, and I waste a lot of time listening and waiting for prompts.  I wish there were options to adjust to avoid the messages.  There is this one that reads out the whole message of waiting for the prompt, then say your name, then press the pound sign.  It doesn’t even matter what you say there, but you have to wait for the whole thing before you can press # to skip it.  Ridiculous.  I want my time back.

My family is the most important thing in my life.  Period, end of sentence.  This weekend, I missed a weekend with all of them because I had a project at work fail last weekend, and we needed to finish it this weekend.  It was suposed to be a minor inconvenience.  We’d start at 9am, be done and on my way by 1pm.  Everyone we needed was aware and ready to go; full exposure for success.  We can’t get the server to come up.  I was up until 4am last night on this call, had an 11am call with the Chief technology officer about how to proceed, and now we’re working on it again until 4pm today.  This whole time my family is together, exchanging presents, and spending time since we won’t be able to get together for a while.

I will never let work cross my family again.  I have a picture of my whole family on my desk here at home and the thought had crossed my mind to take it into work so i have it there to keep me happy.  I think that logic is flawed.  The hyperboly of that situation is to bring family to my work, and I don’t want that to happen.  I think I’m going to keep my bare gray cube walls as a sign of my temporary state at the office. 

At this point in my life, my work doesn’t do anything to help my family.  I’m not getting supported, paid, or encouraged enough at work to take time away from my family.  This is becoming an increasing concern to me, and I think it needs resolved.

Corporate whore no more.

Something is off in the world these days.  Stereo-types are being altered.  I’m going to ask you to define the profile or person that first comes to mind when I say the word…GRAFFITI.   Young, black, male, doesn’t care about himself or others.  Somewhat accurate right?  and if I do the same for Knitting…grandma.  Kind of a clash there, right?  Well, there’s sort of a movement going on.  There’s a lot of knitting graffiti going on in the country, and even here in Pittsburgh.  Call it urban knitting, call it a sign of the economic hardship where people can’t afford a can of spray paint so they buy some yarn.  Whatever it is, I think I like it.

Major urban knitting pictures

CMU Artist weaves yarn in Oakland fence.