JazzDuster

Corporation Translation

2009-12-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

In the corporate world, things are often said to sugarcoat situations, in order to persuade people to do work. Today's post is a translation of the sugarcoating.

Actual Statement:

"We have been presented with an opportunity to achieve. We will need the right person for this opportunity, someone who demonstrates the skills necessary to complete the task efficiently. This opportunity has been given to us by someone who will truly value the effort that's put forth into achieving the goal. As I said, this is an opportunity."

Translation:

"We've been handed some bullshit to do. We need some poor sonofabitch to handle this bullshit, someone who's stupid enough to do it, but will get it done quick enough that it won't cost our manager's their yearly bonus. This bullshit has been given to us by a bunch of assholes who won't even bother to send an email thanking said sonofabitch for everything he'll be doing. Again, this is utter bullshit. "

And this is the way of the corporate world. However, in something a little more direct, say, the construction world, the conversation might look something like this:

"Hey, we've got shit to do. Get your ass to work."

There are definitely days when I long for the old days of slinging rock with a shovel.

Question for the day:

2009-01-20T14:22:00.000-08:00

If a mallard asked you, in English, to give him a ride south for the winter.......would you?

A Promotion

2008-07-17T08:17:00.001-07:00

A few days ago, I received an offer for another position in the company. I accepted and my last day on the phones will be tomorrow, the 18th of July. Training for the new position starts Monday, the 21st.

I'm pretty stoked about it, and certainly a bit nervous. Getting those jitters you get prior to taking something on you may not be qualified for. Should be pretty interesting. More than anything, I'm excited to get off these blasted phones.

Canoe Trip Pics

2008-07-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

I'd posted earlier about the Canoe Trip Fail Adventure that we had embarked on this spring. Here's a few pictures from the trip.

This was actually a cool little section. It was a narrow little chute that took some navigational skill (done masterfully by Cassie and myself), else you spent much time pushing off the bank.

Here's a nice one of me catching Cassie "unawares".

I Gave Cassie a Black Eye

2008-07-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

She got lippy and things went badly for her. I kid, I kid. In all reality, I'm not even sure I can lay claim to the shiner she now wears.

It all started this weekend when I finally wore her down to the point of her caving and us proceeding to the park to play catch. I'm a big fan of playing catch by the way. We were enjoying the sun on our faces and the grass under our feet as we tossed the white sphere back and forth in a jovial manner.

A short series of events quickly resulted in Cassie hitting the deck, her glasses flying through the air, and a decent sized scratch forming on her face. She wasn't very happy. My thought process followed this pattern:

"Damn, sure is nice out toda-what in sam hell just happened?!?!?!?"
"I don't think I threw it that hard...or did I?"
"No, it was definitely a lob"
"Aww hell, scratch that off the activity list"

I won't claim to have knowledge as to how it happened. But as a result, Cassie now wears a good sized shiner...and I make her wear glasses when we go into public. Don't want people thinkin' I'm beating her. And the ones that do think that...I just tell 'em she got lippy.

Worst Movie-Games Ever

2008-07-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

Wired composed a list of games that could be considered some of the worst "movie-games" ever conceived by man.

As one person wrote in regards to Star Wars:

"...you know that things have gone horribly awry when he enters the Jawa Sandcrawler after about five minutes of gameplay to find Darth Vader, who transforms into a scorpion."

New Blog

2008-07-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've created another blog, Call Center Woes, in an effort to separate my work life from the rest of the crap I blather on about. Hopefully I'll be able to keep both updated on a regular basis.

On a completely unrelated note: Bryan wore a tie today for his interview (for the same position I interviewed for last week), surely in an attempt to show me up. No shame in his game.

Today's Annoyance

2008-06-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

Speakerphone

Sweet Jeezus...what is it with people and "speakerphone"? Do you somehow think you're really cool because you have a little button on your phone labeled "speakerphone"? I can see if you're a very, very busy person and have a lot on your plate. But you called me, I didn't call you. And you want service from me. Not the other way around.

I don't wanna hear your neighbor mowing his lawn in the background. Nor do I wanna hear your wife/husband's thoughts on the situation. I'd rather not listen to your whiny little brats squealing at the top of their lungs because they can't have the candy bar they wanted. Think your newborn is cute? I don't. Their screaming isn't cute by any standard.

If I wanna hear my own echo, I'll put my desk in the stairway. In the meantime, leave that damn button alone.

On a completely unrelated note: My weekend bag is Green, contrary to Cassie's "Brown Beliefs".

Getting Caught Up - The Weekend, Part 2.

2008-06-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

The wedding reception was nice. Lots of snack food to munch on, and some champagne. It is worth-while to note that the majority of these people are not, by any stretch of the word, drinkers. Cassie and I don't fall into the same category. While we rarely make it out for a social event these days, we still like to have a few rounds on occasion. And what better occasion than a wedding?

We gathered up a 2nd bottle of champagne and proceeded to finish it off with the help of what seemed like the only other drinkers in the building. When we were finished there, we decided that our presence was no longer needed, and we vacated the premise.

Back down the mountain we go. In need of more refreshment, we called Moser, an old friend from College. He wasn't doing anything, so he met us at The Library for a few rounds. After a couple pints of stout and a nut brown ale, Cassie and I started the journey back home. Along the way, we stopped off at a bar just outside the canyon known as "The Shamrock". A couple rounds later, we were back on the road. The rest of the trip is pretty mundane, so we'll skip it.

All in all, a good 8 hours was spent driving by me and as a result, we were both dragging pretty hard when we rolled back into town.

Getting Caught Up - The Weekend, Part 1.

2008-06-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

Yet another busy weekend was had by Cassie and myself. Scratch that...Saturday was busy. We didn't do shit yesterday. Saturday, however, was jam packed with some serious fail, some fun, a few brewskies, and a lot of driving.

To recap: We hit the road at 7:30 AM. We drove out to Laramie to attend my old roommate's wedding. At 10:30, I realized that I'd left the directions sitting at home, on my desk. Preparation Fail. We made a quick pit stop at K-Mart in Laramie whereupon one of Cassie's Sandals blew out. Sandal Fail. We got those replaced promptly and hit the road again.

I had a good idea of where we needed to go and headed out west. We quickly became lost and had to stop and ask directions. Back on track again. We soon arrived at Centennial and headed up the mountain. Upon seeing a sign for a road that sounded familiar, we took the side road and ventured forth. The scenery was beautiful, but we couldn't seem to find what we were looking for (Wedding location). Navigation Fail. We took a side road that looked promising, but ended up down at the ski lodge. Whoops.

We packed it back up and headed back up the road, eventually finding the highway once again. Thinking we were surely off track, we ventured back down the path toward town. Upon hitting the highway, yet again, we decided to follow it up the a ways. A few miles down the road, I saw another road that sounded familiar. Naturally, my curiosity got the betterment of me and we headed up the washboard road. Navigation Fail.

We did manage to run into some elderly ladies who were out hiking, who pointed us in the proper direction. 5 miles up the road, we crossed paths where we'd previously turned around, thinking we were lost. This time, however, we drove onward. Not 1 mile up the road, we spotted the lodge, which just happened to be the location of the wedding. Unfortunately, arriving an hour late, we discovered the wedding ceremony was already over. Punctuality Fail.

Ask a Ninja

2008-06-06T16:24:00.000-07:00

Props to Bravo for running down this fabulous link...#73 is awesome.

http://www.askaninja.com/

Throwback to Some Old School

2008-06-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

Real Ultimate Power

You gotta do a little backwoods searching to find this site, but it's easily one of the greatest sites known to man...and some of the larger canines.

Are you ready to get pumped?

A Gaggle of Google

2008-06-06T11:24:00.000-07:00

Holy ManMuffins Batman! I'm swimming in a sea of Google. Rich with features and gadgets, it flows around me in fluid motion. Streamlined and tailored to my needs...it's like being in the Wonka Factory of Google.

Google, Google Reader, iGoogle, Google Talk, Gmail. My life has been infused with the Red,Blue,Yellow and Green. Opulent and avant-garde, it races onward to keep me in the know.

Thank you Google...thank you.

Obama Makes History

2008-06-04T05:21:00.000-07:00

It seems as if Barack is making a little history as he sealed up the Democratic nomination yesterday. Mad props to him. I look forward to casting my vote in his favor.

Hey Hillary, Barack needs a soda, jibroni!

List02

2008-06-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

Today's List: Temporarily Favorite Bands

This is a list of bands that may or may not grace my favorite band list of all time, but I'm digging on them currently, nonetheless.

1.) WolfMother
2.) Pepper
3.) Citizen Cope
4.) Jack Johnson
5.) Franz Ferdinand

On a completely unrelated note: I love the smell of sunscreen.

This is simply awesome

2008-06-02T10:46:00.001-07:00

more funny fail pictures at FAIL Blog

Epic Adventure/Fail

2008-06-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Those of you who haven't seen FailBlog better check it out before reading this long-winded post.

This story really should start with Saturday's events, whereupon I found myself shoveling rock by the literal ton. Note: I haven't done this since the gravel pit days a few years ago. Needless to say, after that extravaganza, my arms were toast.

Moving along to Sunday (yesterday). Cassie and I met up with her mom and Dan (mom's husband) for a little river floating. We dropped off the canoe and canoe-type-thing (that we'll refer to as the Crawdad at this juncture), followed by the dropping off of Dan's truck on the far end.

We put in shortly before Noon and began our journey. It hadn't occurred to me to ask just how far we were floating before agreeing to this. See, in my mind, I'd envisioned us on large inner-tubes, floating along, sipping on some Coladas, soaking up the sun. Even as we climbed aboard the Crawdad with a six-pack of Busch Lite, it still seemed like a good idea, sure to be filled to the brim with fun and adventure.

Cassie and I were in the Crawdad, whilst the the other 3 were in the canoe. The weather was beautiful, the sky sans-clouds, and not even a breeze. Perfect for floating. We slinked along the river at a fairly casual pace, taking in the scenery and random wildlife (including a large snapping turtle). A couple hours into the trip, we decided to break for some lunch. We skipped some rocks off the river and enjoyed the meal.

After loading back up, we ventured farther down the river until we found ourselves navigating a narrow passage just off the river. This was definitely a hi-lite of the adventure. Cassie and I had improved our knack for rowing and made our way through the curvy canal like seasoned vets. Meanwhile, in the other canoe, things were looking bleak as their troupe weren't functioning very well and ran into a fair number of trees.

Once we made our way out of that particular section, we rejoined the river once again and resumed the normal order until we discovered a large sandbar. Cassie and I were eager to put the paddles down and give our arms a break. We frolicked about in the muddy bar for a bit before returning to what we were now considering our beast of burden.

The wind had picked up and was now gusting into our faces, creating a brick wall of force, denying our craft access to the river's lower reaches. Every stroke was almost in vain as we watched river-bubbles scream past us like they were running from something. That something, as I quickly realized, was the thunderstorm that was bearing down on us like a freight train.

Time stood still as we paddled in futility, often pausing to duck so the electrical fences (some of which were indeed "hot") wouldn't clothes-line us into the river. The others seemed to realize our struggle and offered to paddle ahead to get the truck and come pick us up. All we had to do was make it "around the bend". That's a direct quote that came along with a mild hand gesture that I assure you did not, in any way, indicate a long stretch of river yet to traverse.

That sounded good to us, since we were dogged at this point and were having trouble even mustering the will-power to scowl at each other's futile attempts to make the situation better. I proceeded to power the boat a short ways via foot-power. I ran in the shallows whilst pushing Cassie in the boat. I hopped back into the boat when my legs had exhausted themselves and began to paddle. Not really to my surprise, the wind slammed into us and forced us into a sandbar with no easy escape.

As Cassie stepped out of the boat, I heard "Sandbar Fail!!!" followed by her kicking the water and bellowing out a resounding "CHRIST!!!". I recovered from laughing a short while later. We returned to what we were now calling "FailBoat" and were now dragging it along the sandbars, catching as much shallow water as possible.

I don't know how far we walked in this manner, but it was a good couple miles. With FailBoat in one hand and Cassie in the other, we marched onward, in a race against time and weather. That's when the rain started. With the lightning crackling over head and the rain worsening, I threw Cassie in the boat and began pushing the boat as I ran against the water.

Exhausted and spent, I pushed the boat into the bank. Victory was ours. Just then, the other troupe showed up in the truck to gather us up, smiles on their faces. There were none on ours. Shelf clouds were forming and some swirling was beginning. We high-tailed it out of there, being greeted by the nickel sized-hail and a group of storm-chasers in tow.

Zoo Stuff

2008-05-28T14:27:00.001-07:00

So Cassie's going to protest a budget cut for the local zoo. And at the moment, I'm feeling kind of torn on the issue. Do I support an organization that jails animals when they should be free? I mean sure, some of them have some horrifying stories of rescue. But at the same time, they're caged animals.

Or is it better that they're here, regardless of the reason they're in captivity. Just not sure at this point. I suppose it's probably a good thing that some of them are in a zoo. But how long should we keep them? Indefinitely?

A lot of factors on this one to calculate an answer.

The weekend...and stuff

2008-05-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

Had a busy few days over Memorial Day weekend. Recap:

In Brief
1.) Painted Cassie's kitchen
2.) Went to the lake
3.) Had lunch with some family
4.) Acquired Canon camera...sort of
5.) Cleaned Cassie's apartment
6.) Played video games
7.) Did some volunteer work at the local zoo

Expanded
1.) We did the walls in a muted green of sorts...almost olive. Much more difficult than anticipated, at least for me.
2.) Nicole "Home Slice" Messman had her birthday on Sunday, we went out to the lake to roast 'mallows, spit seeds, and down some brew.
3.) Uncles Steve and Duane were in town with their wives. We had dinner at a local establishment. They grilled me as to the whereabouts of Cassie, as they've not met her yet. However, I'll not make the introductions until she's been fully briefed on their interrogation tactics.
4.) Uncle Steve is still struggling to adapt to the digital age and has given me his camera in hopes that I will have mastery over it by the time we trip back to Douglas in July.
5.) Cassie went down to Bridgeport on Monday to attend a memorial service. I stayed behind and cleaned the apartment to surprise her. Whilst doing so, I discovered her "Wolfmother" CD. I rocked out with ferocity...while mopping.
6.) I logged in some FF1 time, while Cassie put in a couple hours on the Star Ocean over the course of the 3 day weekend. We're both a little shocked that she enjoys the game. While she's not a full-blown gamer, she's showing promise...when she's not beaming with giddiness at the "cute little characters".
7.) We're on a committee that volunteers at the local zoo to help pull weeds, rake grass, lay bark, etc. The female tiger (whom I have renamed "Sally") kept hissing at me like I was dinner. I informed her that she was a little saggy around the mid-drift. She was less than amused. The puma, despite being in a cage, insisted on stalking me every time I walked by, even though I was staring straight at it.

List 01

2008-05-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to like making lists more and more. I think it may have started with Andy's Post and the comments that followed.

Today's List: Things that annoy me as a CSR

1. Putting me on hold as soon as you get to me through the system. You called me, I didn't call you.
2. My boss constantly reminding us of how busy we are and how close we are to missing our service level for the month. Yes, I'm aware of the situation. No, your emails are not inspiring me. They're getting in my way when they pop up on my screen.
3. Putting me on speaker phone. If I wanted to hear my own echo, my cubicle would be in a stairwell.
4. Talking to 2 people on the phone at once. What is this? Party line? Do you need back-up when you call in? Need someone to hold your hand? Maybe you're not ready to put service in your name.
5. My supervisors looking for me if I'm not on a scheduled break. You want my metabolism? Good luck keeping warm in the winter time. There's no need to send out a massive search party because I went out to get a couple drags off the cigarette that I'm trying my ass off not to smoke.
6. People insisting that I did something wrong, or that I'm wrong in general. You know how rare that is? We have to maintain an accuracy % to keep our jobs. I usually ring in around 98-99%

I now feel better having made that list.

Customer Service Tip 03

2008-05-21T16:18:00.000-07:00

Today's Tip:

DO NOT TAMPER WITH YOUR GAS METER. This is a Felony offense. Read that last sentence. Read it again.

Is Yoko Ono a Zombie???

2008-05-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

I think so, but Cassie says no way on the "Zombie Theory".

Customer Service Tip 02

2008-05-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

Today's Customer Service Tip:

1.)Get it together before you call in. It doesn't do any of us any amount of good if you have to spend 2 minutes wandering around, trying to figure out what you did with your bill...especially when you tell us "I wanna discuss my bill". Keep your bill in front of you so when we start rattling off numbers you're not scrambling to keep up, ultimately leading to you asking is the same questions over and over. This will frustrate your CSR, resulting in poor service.

Also, if you do have it all together, and have prepared a little speech ahead of time (Yes, this happened to me one day), BE ABSOLUTELY SURE that you have covered your bases and haven't missed something as simple as a couple billing dates.

Testing out Sage Aggregator

2008-05-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

This is only a test

McDonald's Fast Food Again?

2008-05-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

Over lunch today, I decided to hit McDonald's up. It's cheap and I had time. What I experienced today, however, has renewed my faith in the concept that McDonald's is truly fast food.

I pulled into the parking lot shortly after 1:26PM. I ordered 2 Double Cheeseburgers w/o onions and an order of small fries. I pulled around the drive-thru to find 3 cars stacked up in front of me. This is the point where I would normally start worrying about making it back to work on time.

The majority of my time was spent between the ordering station and the first window. Once I reached the window, I gave the girl my money, she gave me my 4 cents, and I drove immediately up to the next window (They had already cleared the 3 cars out). Upon reaching window #2, I looked over at the lady who grabbed the bag behind her and handed it to me immediately.

Roughly 5 minutes later, I pulled out of the parking lot and was on my way with my order.

Quite possibly the most impressive thing here isn't the speed, but that my order was done correctly, it was fresh, and it didn't look like 3 rhinoceroses and a giraffe had put it together.

On a completely unrelated note: I love my new Nalgene bottle.

Customer Service Help

2008-05-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, since I'm in a position to offer advice about this sort of thing, I'll do so. Also because I've seen other such advice from people on the net and know they're full of shit.

Here are the key items to remember when calling in to a call center. These are a few general things will help you understand your and our situation a little bit better, and help you get what you want:

1.) Our job is to help you. So help us help you. We don't have a job without our customers. But we have a lot of 'em. So chances are, if you're a shitty customer, we can afford to lose you.

2.) Our job is NOT to let you vent on us for any reason (including you getting your service disconnected because you were a jack-ass and didn't pay). Yes we're trained to do so, but we're not required to. Every phone is equipped with a "release" button. I rarely use mine, but there are any number of circumstances under which I may use that button at my whim.

3.) Good CSR's will do everything in their power to help you. Think you have a "bad" CSR? Try calming down, having a little respect, and adjusting your attitude...oh and patience goes a long way. Odds are, your CSR will shift into "good" mode. I, myself, have done some pretty shady things to help customers who displayed the previously mentioned attributes.

4.) Supervisors have VERY LITTLE OR NO more power than CSR's. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to you. If they really did have that much more power, there wouldn't be a food chain a mile long in one building. Asking for a supervisor is about the equivalent of asking for someone else who's going to tell you the same thing...and they will, especially if you've angered your CSR. Supervisors take their cues from us.

5.) Guidelines DO NOT CHANGE the higher up the food chain you go. Every link in the chain doesn't get a different set of guidelines JUST IN CASE you get to them. Asking for the next person higher up is not only a waste of time, but inherently stupid. Also it pisses your CSR off. I'm not saying there's absolutely no chance you might get somewhere. But to put things in perspective, I've been here for 18 months, taken tens of thousands of phone calls, and can count on one hand, the number of people who get what they want by going higher up the food chain.

Today's final tip is this: Don't make claims that you'll have some CSR's job. If you really had that ability, I'd have been fired a long, long time ago. Don't bother with a lawsuit either. We have flesh-eating lawyers who sit around all day waiting for this. Our documentation is extremely thorough. We don't lose very often.

On a completely unrelated note: I want some biscuits and gravy.

Where's the Lost Lake?

2008-05-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

10 Worst Beers

I am definitely overjoyed to see the Camo gracing the lists, though Lost Lake would definitely qualify for this list in my opinion.

Clouds of Annoyance

2008-05-07T07:10:00.001-07:00

As if we don't have enough advertising crammed down our throats...

Mini-Cloud advertising

At the Arcade with Cassie

2008-05-01T06:39:00.000-07:00

So last night, after having dinner with Cassie's parents at a nice establishment, Cassie and myself headed to the arcade in the local mall.

I should stop here and point out that any non-gamer girl, who will even walk into an arcade with her gamer boyfriend, gets some extra points in my book. Not only that, but any girlfriend who will stand there and pump quarters into the cabinets with you...rare indeed.

Upon entering the arcade, I went and exchanged a couple bills for the necessary quarters. I hopped on a dance machine (some knock-off of the popular Dance Dance Revolution) and got a quick game in.

Following the boogie session, we headed over to the "House of the Dead 2" cabinet. Those familiar with the cabinet will recognize it as a First Person Shooter (FPS) with the guns attached to the cabinet for zombie killing. Now, I won't profess that her aiming ability was astounding. But she held her own for being a girly non-gamer. I, myself, was perspiring a bit as I was shooting down the projectiles thrown at the 2 of us, shooting down the zombies attacking her, then the zombies after my own self. Ultimately, we finished off the main boss of the game and headed over to a boat racing game.

We played a couple races, but Cassie seemed to have a bit of trouble staying in the water (not sure how you get out of the water, but I assure you...she did. I won the competition in that department and we moved on to Arctic Thunder, the snowmobile game.

Here's where things get pretty shady...After decimating her in a couple rounds, I went to get some more quarters. When I returned, I pumped some more into the game and we went at it again. Yet, for some reason, my throttle control didn't quite feel as it once had. Not only that, but my snowmobile seemed to be a touch slower. When I questioned Cassie on the matter, she immediately took the defensive, insisting that my character had been eating twinkies while I was gone and had become so obese that her 'mobile was faster due to the weight ratio that was now disproportioned. Needless to say, she won a few rounds in there. I still question that one...

Upon finishing our 'mobile rounds, we headed over for a game of air hockey. I kid you not, her defensive position could be described simply as "Middle School". With her stick jammed into the goal so tightly that water would have a tough time getting by, she squeaked by and left me battered and bruised (Ego-wise).

All in all, a great time, despite her blatant disregard for gaming etiquette.

Top 20 Stupid Faces...

2008-04-15T11:43:00.001-07:00

Top 20 stupid faces Patrick Swayzee made in the move "Ghost"
-courtesty of Travors.com

This is Just Damn Cool

2008-04-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

Customer Service

2008-04-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

Back during the Christmas season, I had ordered a hands free soap dispenser. Initially, my bank had made an error and as a result when Hammacher Schlemmer tried to debit the money from my account, they obviously found my funding lacking.

From my experience, when this happens, you usually get an email (maybe), saying that they weren't able to complete the request. That's it.

But not these guys. I received no less than 3 phone calls (from live people), a letter in the mail, and at least 2 emails from them in regards to my order.

You couldn't get that kind of customer service if you lived in a one horse town and lived next door to the salesman. I should probably call them and thank them for the efforts they went to, in order to procure my money.

On a completely unrelated note: I have spilled grape jelly juice on my pants.

Homestar Runner

2008-04-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

HomeStar WiiWare

I gotta say I'm pretty surprised that this site developed into a game. Granted a lot of people know about our favorite little Strongbad, I honestly couldn't see designing a game around it. We'll see how that turns out.

On a completely unrelated note: I don't like pesto.

A Lack of Responsibility?

2008-04-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

As a customer service representative (CSR), I have the opportunity to speak with dozens of people every day. On average, I probably speak with 60 people, about 55 unique, per day. These customers span the spectrum from upper to middle to lower class citizens.

Now, the majority of the people who call in have problems with their account (who calls in because their account is being taken care of properly?). Now of this majority, I'd say about 25% receive energy assistance (EA) in one form or another. Of this percentage, it would be fair to say that the majority that call in rarely pay anything on their bills and rely on EA to make their payments for them.

What makes things frustrating for me, is trying to help these customers when the assistance runs out and they haven't made payments and now owe us large sums of money. We have guidelines on just how far we can stretch payment arrangements as well. And you would be surprised how many of these people think we're being entirely unfair to them, despite us not turning them off all winter long, and despite them not having made a payment in months.

Some of these people know how to work the system so that we're obligated to turn them on in the winter, and not disconnect them till spring (when they no longer need their heat)

So my question is this: Do we view these people as lazy for not paying their bills, creating a burden for those who do? Or crafty for figuring out a way to skip paying their gas bills entirely?

On a completely unrelated note: Thumb-holes in sweatshirts are dumb.

Sunken Subway Cars Create Reef

2008-04-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

Sunken Subway Cars

While this seems like a legitimate use of the subway cars, I question the asbestos arguments. I'm no marine biologist, or regular biologist, or doctor for that matter. But it seems to me that asbestos causes cancer in human beings when we inhale it into our lungs. While fish don't breathe things airborn like we do, they still do breathe through their gills, which may or may not filter out the asbestos.

On a completely unrelated note: I love fresh pineapple.

Bush as Worst President Ever

2008-04-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

Bush ranked as worst pres ever

This really doesn't come as much of a surprise.

On a completely unrelated note: Windows Genuine Advantage is a pain in my ass.

Some Serious Burger Making

2008-04-08T12:54:00.001-07:00

Serious work for a serious burger

4000-5000 hours to make a machine that uses 156 steps to make a burger...That's a lot of work to make a machine that does a lot of work to make a burger. I'm not saying I don't want one, this just seems a little on the ridiculous side of things.

On a completely unrelated note: iPod's make the work day go by much smoother.

Funniest Thing I've Seen All Day

2008-04-07T13:52:00.000-07:00

http://twitter.com/Moltz/statuses/783848203

This one is couresy of my boy Andy.

This may go down as one of if not THE funniest tweet in history.

"Somebody Has a Case of the Mondays"

2008-04-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's the realization that my weekend is officially over. Or maybe it's the feeling of dread creeping up into my soul about going to work. Whatever the reason, I had one hell of a time getting out of bed this morning.

Having trouble getting out of bed is typically due to a lack of sleep. And while I didn't sack out till somewhere around 1:30ish last night, my girlfriend and I engaged in an exorbitant amount of sleeping over the weekend. Not only that, but the alarm clock didn't ring for me until 8:30.

Yet when it did, I found myself slugging around between the sheets like a fat panda after a solid 7 hours of sleep.

On a completely unrelated note: It is ill-advised to go without shaving for 3 days, then proceed to shave with a dull razor.

Writing just to write

2008-04-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

It's come to my attention as of late that I don't do nearly enough writing. Scratch that...I don't do any. I think, in part, that's why this blog was started. I do enjoy writing, and so this may become my means of doing so. I'm clearly not capable, nor qualified, to write a novel...so I am reduced to this medium...and that's just fine with me.

But how does one write well? I think the important thing is just to write...and to enjoy it. The quality of writing is entirely relative in my opinion.

Whether you're writing for anyone else, or just your own personal amusement. It's getting those words down that matters. It's like playing tennis. What percentage of the population can claim they're actually "good"? My guess would be something below 10%. But that's one sport that is just damn fun to get out there and get after.

2008-04-04T19:18:00.001-07:00

Here's a quick pic of myself. I need to get myself a digital camera. Photography is definitely something I'm interested in.

Last Night's Happenings

2008-04-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

So I watched "30 Days of Night" last night. Ugh, what a terrible movie. Vampires that look like they have a few too many X chromosomes, poor dialogue, unintelligible decision making by the characters, and some over-the-top blood splattering left me sitting at my computer, ignoring the majority of the movie last night.

I did get some quality time in with my computer, though. I recently installed a new hard drive and began getting some key software installed. Amongst the list were iTunes, Firefox, some drivers, and Azureus.

First Post

2008-04-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

This is my first post and first attempt at blogging. Initially, I had wanted to build my own site. I may still do that, but in the mean time, I'll be using this service for my blogging needs.

I don't have a main theme for my content. Instead, I'll be posting whatever and whenever. This will probably be something to occupy my free time at work.

This post may also see many revisions as I test out the capabilities of this service.