Archive for January, 2009
A quick nod to Sovereign Bank
Jan 30th
I have to give a quick thumbs up to the customer service at the switch center for Sovereign Bank.
I recently decided to switch banks since my previous bank doesn’t have any branches near me enough for any quick runs to the ATM, and such. I chose Sovereign because there’s a branch near me, near Melanie, and at every CVS, so it’s pretty easy to avoid ATM fees wherever I go.
Well, in setting up my account (my sister, who works for the company, did most of the work) I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with their “switch center”. This is a line of their customer service specifically created to assist new customers with setting up their new accounts and direct deposits. They have been very kind and helpful in getting everything covered. It’s been amazingly comforting. What’s even better is there’s no menu system when I have to call them. I just get forwarded straight to a human being. Sweet.
Thank you, Sovereign Bank and thank you to my assigned rep, Debra.
Bang On: AOL is attempting suicide
Jan 27th
Column for the week has just been post:
For my generation, AOL was the Internet as we all signed on for the first time. Even if you didn’t use their dialup service, you absolutely had to download AOL Instant Messenger , so you could stay in contact with all of your friends. Let’s face it: Cell phones were still way too expensive, so instant messages were the text messages of that time. It was almost a social faux pa to be in high school without a screen name. And, while you were there typing away and entering chat rooms your parents probably wouldn’t want you in, you had to have some music playing. In came Winamp and, once AOL bought them out, it was an all AOL, all the time experience. So, what the heck is AOL doing now?
Read: Full article
Paramore “Misery Business” Video
Jan 26th
I was first introduced to Paramore, and this song, through Guitar Hero: World Tour. The band is pretty damn good and this song is very catchy.
A very cool mug
Jan 25th
Melanie’s mom had gone to the store and bought two Coca Cola mugs. When I was helping to unpack the bags, I saw the mugs and commented how awesome they were. She said to take one, just like that! Very cool.
They came in through the roof
Jan 21st
Yesterday was an interesting day at work. As usual, a couple of us guys got there at 6am to start our day of work. One of the new guys, Mike, was going across the store to punch in on a computer in the camera department when he came across a smashed in iPod security case. Glass littered the ground, surrounding an abandoned sledge hammer. He called the manager over and all of us were instructed to head to the front of the store while they scoped out the rest of the damage. A few aisles over from the iPod case, the cabinet housing SLR cameras was also busted open and emptied, though two large duffel bags were left behind just like the aforementioned sledge hammer.
Three police units came and they started looking around and discovered the burglars came in through a roof hatch, in the warehouse, that was left open after work was done on the roof, on Saturday. Suspicious? Very. They then managed to head directly the the cameras and iPods and, either by luck or skill, discovered a huge blindspot in our camera system and, thus, avoided ever being caught on camera. The only movemet ever caught on camera was actually a broom handle that moved, slightly, near the ladder where they came in.
Overall, they managed to grab about $35,000 worth of merchandise before leaving. When I was punching out, the detectives were there and forensics was dusting for prints and taking pictures of the two areas.
It was a crazy morning. This stuff just doesn’t happen every day, especially in my world. I wasn’t panicked or scared, but just intrigued and a little perplexed how this could all happen at the place where I work.
Bang On: Outsourced Xbox support is useless
Jan 20th
Here’s the latest in my weekly column on Neowin:
…With laughter in the background, my blood pressure rising, and an excessive amount of gratitude being given, the woman on the other end did everything from getting my console ID and serial number to having me clear my cache. The last step, by the way, involves losing all the game updates I ever downloaded, so every game I play now has to be updated, again. Best of all, none of this worked. I’m starting to really hate you, Microsoft.
After 30 minutes of complete failure, my case was moved up to a supervisor and she was the most useless of them all. At least the first representative admitted she knew nothing. This wonderfully useless supervisor simply asked me to fax over a copy of my receipts for when I exchanged my Xbox 360 at Best Buy. Slight problem: I don’t own a fax machine and, right now, I don’t have a printer to scan with. She advised me to use my “digi cam” to snap a photo of the receipts and use FaxZero.com to send the photo over. She was about to hang up when I kindly reminded her that she needed to tell me the number to fax it to. Slight oversight on her part, huh?…
Read: Full article
Birds and Boxing
Jan 18th
Bang is back into the role of the crazy alter ego
It may be hard to read, though, in all the places we go
Up flying with the seagulls then gloved up in the ring
These brain waves start to wander and this is what they bring
You can’t sing or do a thing except let them permeate you
These words can chew you up then they’ll regurgitate you
You may ask if my words hate you or if I’m schizophrenic
I just put it in a sentence and pray these kids will get it
Cause once I’ve said it, it’s been ended and nobody can erase it
Ignore it, love it, hate it there no hope that I’ll replace it
Maybe I’m not famous and perhaps no one can hear me
Or am I convoluted? Am I speaking to you clearly?
Or should I fix the mic and then make the paper brighter?
I can change the web address and I can turn the volume higher
I could aspire to be great, but I kind of like insanity
Just like my favorite sins of lust, gluttony, and vanity
Cause my anatomy and mind set both came from the same bucket
Somebody ripped the label off and scribbled on it “fuck it”
So, this what I’m stuck with and this is what you’re getting
A little bit of nothing disguised in what I’m sending
Patent pending and a copyright and everything official
Sometimes it’s complicated but today was very simple
Twist these dimples to a smirk and heed imagination
Myself and only me in this dream collaboration
Notes: Just me being bored and writing something silly.
Want your own buddy icon next to your comments?
Jan 17th
I don’t get many comments on the site, but when I do, you may notice that some people have a buddy icon next to their name. If you’re not one of those people, but would like to be, here’s what you have to do:
- 1. Go to Gravatar.com and register with the email you used to register here
- 2. On Gravatar.com, choose the email address in question and associate any icon of your choice with it.
- 3. That’s it! Within ten minutes, if you go back and check your comments here, you should see the icon next to your name
One cool thing about Gravatar.com is that it will show that icon next to your comment on any site that uses their system, including all Wordpress sites. Not bad, huh?
More definition, but so out of shape
Jan 16th
The human body is such a complex machine, isn’t it?
It’s no secret that I have a very skinny build. I’m about 6′1″ tall and weigh between 145 – 150 pounds. Over the past two years or so, though, I’ve started to finally fill out and some very basic work outs and my physical activity have helped to tone my body a bit. For the first time in my life, I have some nice muscle definition, especially on my upper torso. While it may not be something to brag about, it still helps build my self confidence.
The funny thing about all of this, though, is the fact that I’m more out of shape than ever before. Cardiovascularly, I was, easily, three time more fit when I was 18 than I am now. If I play basketball, my legs give out so quickly. At work, I burn out more quickly that I would prefer and, sometimes, more quickly than what’s safe for me considering some of the work I have to do.
Once the weather gets warmer, I really need to work on this. I need my stamina back. I hope that if I can get it back, I won’t feel so damn tired all of the time.
A plane crashes into the Hudson and Twitter shines
Jan 15th
It’s amazing. A plane carrying over 154 people crashed into the Hudson River and everyone survived. The pilot did a masterful job, without a doubt, and everyone who leaped to action, including the ferry companies, deserve a lot of credit.
However, one thing struck me. Rob, a fellow staff member from Neowin and my co-host for the NeowinCAST, sent me a link to TwitPic. TwitPic, is a site that lets Twitter users host pictures taken from their cell phones and such on their servers and then link to them on Twitter. In this case, a passenger on one of the ferries that was redirected to help the passengers of the sinking plane took a picture from his phone and uploaded it. Oddly enough, it’s one of the best images we have from the accident, either amateur or professional. Social networking sometimes does really outshine the professionals.
