The Decline of the "Service" Industry

Sue probably thinks I won't blog it, but what the hell. Like I told her last night: Sometimes my mood changes enough to warrant me abandoning a notion that sticks in my craw for whatever reason. These notions are things that I call "Blog Fodder". The downside is that because it's now a different day, I'm not spewing the same anger and frustration that it was during the events that I've noted below.

Suzie came over during late afternoon for a prearranged meeting with our wedding officiants (quite a character and worthy of a blog itself, but that's for another day). Due to the time (and me not making dinner) we decided to go out for some grub.

We decided to stop into Jack's Tavern for a burger and a glass of Hefeweizen. Apparently, the service industry has taken a hit along with many other businesses of late. At Jack's Tavern there appears to be no service. Granted--Their service has never been stellar (it's a bar after all). Last night we both ambled in and sat down, pretty much in the middle of the place. It wasn't busy or packed, and we were plainly visible. Their menu is printed on the wall, and although it's in fairly big letters, it's not all that easy to see for older folks like us (okay, me). It's especially so in a dimly lit bar atmosphere. So, we're there at Jack's for a couple minutes... Staring at the menu, then we get up and walk over to the menu and stand there staring at it for a little while. We went back to our seats and waited. Then we waited. Then we waited some more. I started mumbling remarks about their service and decided that 10 or 15 minutes worth of waiting was apparently my limit. "Let's try the Sports Page instead," I said. We got up and left, still apparently no closer to being served than when we arrived. I guess the only way to get service there now is to pour it and cook it yourself.

The Sports Page is only a few blocks away. We walked in and picked a table near a window, only about 20 feet from the bar. It was cold. I don't know if it was where we were sitting, but it wasn't comfortable. As we sat there freezing, the same feeling came over me: The feeling that it was not to be. We didn't stay there as long as we did at Jack's Tavern, but it was apparent that nobody at that time of day in either of those bars thought our money was worthy of their attention. I decided "piss on 'em" and told Suzie, "Let's go to The Pit."

Again, we got up and left.

The Pit is a fairly recent place in Auburn. When the eatery was first built it was called Henry's or something like that. Anyway, it's right next door to Auburn's newly build train station. I guess it was karma that we had stopped into two "dives" only to be rebuffed, because this place was what we needed. Greeted instantly at the door by a smiling waitress, we were seated at a nice, cozy window spot in a comfortable circular booth thing. Although our first choice of drink was out of stock (apparently everybody loves Hefeweizen), our second choice was just fine. Ditto with the burgers and fries. The Baja burger tasted fantastic, but in my opinion needed much more of all of its condiments (salsa, guacomole, etc). It just needed a bit more "slop" to it.

One thing worth noting: When we walk into Jack's Tavern we don't instantly go for a certain seat or place. It's more of an "I guess this will do" thing. It's a series of tall round tables with bar stools in some areas and long, folding cafeteria tables in the main area. We settle--Simple as that. It's pretty much the same thing at The Sports Page. It's a little bit better quality seating, but again--Nothing feels right. What do I want to feel when I walk into a bar or restaurant? I want the, "Oooo, I wanna sit here!" feeling to hit me. Both of those places have nothing in that regard. Zero. Last week when we were in Jimmie Mac's Roadhouse for the first time I said to Suzie when we first walked in, "I hope they sit us over there" and motioned to a particular spot that looked good. Guess what? The waitress took us right to it! That's what I want--A feeling that you want to spend time in a place.

I guess it was meant to be. Jack's Tavern? Crossed off my list. The Sports Page? Ditto. Although it spanks of something my old man would say, I don't feel like they deserve our business any more.

You would think in these times of monetary uncertainty that businesses would do whatever they could to separate someone from their hard earned money.

I guess not.

Things That Piss Me Off

Every now and then things just jump out at me and make me turn my head slightly and wince. Things that--For whatever reason--I don't notice much at first, but when it happens a second time or even more often make me cringe.
I wish I had the memory that makes me remember things easily, but I just have to hope I can recall them. Here are a couple things that I can recall that anger me.

• AM Radio announcers - I don't have a problem with most announcers really. I just can't stand the way announcers pronounce certain words. The way they turn the word "quality" into something more closely resembling "qualuddy". You know what I'm talking about. They strive for the words that enhance that "radio sound" when they speak. It's ironic really because I love to talk in a radio voice myself when I'm feeling in the mood. Maybe I'm jealous... No, I just can't stand hearing them say "qualuddy". I guess that's the price you pay if you want to listen to news on the AM dial.
  
  
• Pill bottles - Okay, this one is kind of twofold. First of all, I don't like child-proof caps on pills, but I've come to grips (excuse the pun) with that: I just wrench the entire outer cap off as soon as I get a new bottle from the druggist. What I'm talking about is the shape of the pill bottles. Why do they have to make pill bottles with a bell-mouth end? Sure, some pill bottles are the same width from bottom to top, but all the smaller ones have an opening at the end, that--Coupled with the shape--Makes it practically impossible to shake out only one or two pills. You also can't reach into them with a finger to "slide" one out because they catch on the shoulder of the pill bottle. There is one company that I've seen that makes pill bottles that are tapered to the opening. That's the way they should all be.
  
  
• Traffic light sensors - Don't get me wrong--I generally like traffic sensors. They have shortened light wait-times quite a bit from the pre-programmed cycle times of yesteryear. My rant involves the intersections with practically instant traffic signal triggering capability from the right lane. I don't know about everywhere else, but here in Washington we can make a free right turn after stopping. We certainly don't need a vehicle sensor in that lane that triggers the light and stops traffic in the main flow just so someone can make a turn they were going to make anyway.
  
  
• Store employees - You know as well as I do that we need store employees. Most of them are pretty able people and do their job well, but there are others and those are the ones I'm talking about. Sometimes I'm scanning a particular area in a retail store for something. I might see the area where something should be, but can't find any of what I'm looking for. I go find an employee and ask nicely if they have any of whatever it is that I'm looking for. What do they do? They walk over to where I was, scan the hooks or shelves carefully, and say, "If we did it would be right here." Wow, thank you for that--I guess you noticed my red-tipped, white cane, eh?
  
  

Hey, It's Friday!

It's been several days since I've felt like writing. Actually, I don't feel like writing now either, but I'll go ahead and lay down a few words.

My truck got it's new windshield put in yesterday! I've been tripping over that big piece of glass for a long time. According to my blog (which I occasionally get to use to check historical facts like this), I bought the windshield clear (no pun intended) back at the end of October. I didn't think it had been that long. It's a huge difference to not have the big cracks in front of my face, and I hope that I also get no more water leakage. As long as I've had that windshield in my house it's a wonder it never got broken. It's spent time upstairs on the guest bed, downstairs on (and in front of) the couch, and in the garage lying across the washer and dryer. Now I can put all the little things back together on the poor ol' truck.

A got a voting ballot yesterday which surprised me. When I set myself up for mail-in ballot right before Suzie and I went on vacation, it was a one-time thing. I even asked the guy at the place while he was setting it all up, and he said it was "for this election only." Well imagine my surprise when I got another one yesterday! That's really not the stupid part--The stupid part is what I saw when I opened it up: One item on the ballot. (Announcer's voice) "But wait, there's more!" The item on the ballot is for the Director of Elections. WTF? Talk about irony. I wonder how much money they spent to set this special election up? It strikes me as kind of a pathetic attempt at self-preservation. Yes, your tax dollars at work folks...

The Monday Morning Report

Here it is: The first Monday of 2009. Now we have to learn to write an '09 at the end of everything we date.

This has been a tumultuous weekend. Actually, that's not quite accurate. The weekend was fine, but the intro to the weekend was somewhat mind-blowing. New Year's Eve day was possibly one of the worst days I've ever had on an emotional level, and I'm glad things took a major turn for the better on the following day. The weekend itself was very good.

I have to give the media a major eye roll and thumbs down this morning. I was on Google News first thing, and right at the top of the list was a headline from Reuters:

Travolta heartbroken over son's death

Now don't you think it's pretty much a given that someone is going to be heartbroken over the death of one of their children? There is quite possibly one of the worst things about being a celebrity. There is no respect, no etiquette, and no reverence for the fact that someone lost a dear member of their family. They only care about being the first one to get a sound bite or statement that will make them look good. I can just visualize a huge mass of microphones being thrust into their faces with stupid questions being shouted loudly to make themselves heard. My heart goes out to Mr. Travolta and his wife that they should have such a tragedy and then have to put up with such a media circus instantly afterward.

I was at Suzie's house last night enjoying a most awesome soup she made, and outside the snow was falling once again. This is so unlike what we usually get around here! By the time I left for home, there was a little over an inch on the ground and still falling heavily. It was an enjoyable drive home. I like watching snow fall while I'm driving, and the fact that it was new and wet snow made it decent enough to drive in. I wasn't worried about it staying this time because the temp last night while it was snowing was barely freezing as it was. This morning I awoke to the sound of water coming down the downspouts so it's already melting considerably.

According to the school website, today is the first day back to school for Sarah. I hope she had a good time off. Kids love to go back to school after their Christmas break. After all, it's a very social life going to high school, or any school for that matter. They will all be comparing all the new clothing or cool toys that they received for Christmas too. I'm glad the roads are clear this morning for her to drive on. Her school is the only one of the four high schools here in Auburn that was built on a small hill, and so has bad driveways going in from either side when it's icy.

It will be a full 5 days of work this week, and I'm not looking forward to that. It would be okay if I were real busy, but the last couple days of work were not. The bad part is that even after I endure a full week of work, Friday's paycheck (for last week) will only have a 4 days worth of pay on it due to only Thursday being a paid holiday. Oh well.

Imposed Without Consent

I feel like ranting today. This subject has been on my mind since I went shopping on Saturday after returning from my vacation.

It's about a new kind of milk container.

Maybe some of you haven't seen them yet and maybe some of you have. If you haven't, trust me--You will. It's a massive conspiracy against the American consumer and it's just getting started. Wanna learn how people feel about em? Google it. I was amazed at how hot of a topic it is.

The new jugs are a completely different design, and their sole purpose is to save the shippers and handlers money. Instead of being shipped in plastic crates so they can be stacked, the new design is self-supporting and stackable without plastic crates. That means no empty crates for drivers to keep picking up when they make deliveries, and no empties for grocers to store in the back room. From that point of view, it's great. I like to go for efficiency whenever possible myself. The trouble is, that appears to be their only good feature.

A lot of people do like them because they fit into the doors of their Costco-sized refrigerators better. What don't I like about them? Almost everything:

• The Inner Foil Seal - I unscrewed the cap and encountered a foil seal that was so tightly glued down that I couldn't get it off. It had 4 little "tabs" around its periphery that I thought were designed for me to grab onto. Ha, they were just there to look at--There was no way you could pull that seal off. I even went to the garage and got a pair of pliers to use, but no--The tab just ripped off, leaving the seal untouched. I finally resigned to getting a razor blade and putting a slit through the center of it and carefully tearing it around the edge, finally getting it all off. How is an elderly person supposed to ever get one of those off? Oh, that's right--Elderly people wouldn't ever buy a whole gallon of milk anyway. Believe me, I've encountered a lot of these foil seals on chemical products, and I've never encountered one as tough as this one was--Even on antifreeze!
• Pouring - Okay, here's where it gets ugly. You know how sometimes you get one of those oddball milk cartons that--No matter what you do or how careful you pour it--A dribble of milk always goes down the side? Ditto with this design. It's not a rarity though. From what I read on the web, they all do it. I've tried pouring it from the front, side, and over the top (a trick I learned pouring oil and antifreeze from a full container) and no matter which way I do it, it dribbles down the side.

I have two problems with this imposed design change:

1. We, the consumer, weren't polled, asked, or consulted about features or input. They just told us it was what we were going to get. Did anyone ever think to put some sort of a "V" shape in the opening to aid pouring?
   
2. The design is supposed to save everyone money all the way down the distribution line. Will we see milk prices drop because of it? Hell no.

At least Rod Serling had the decency to utter, "Submitted for your approval..."

Friday Hair

I don't have much desire to write today, but I am wondering about something that occurred to me a while ago:

What makes hair totally "wing out" on some mornings when you get up and some mornings not? Granted, hair is always messed up when you awake in the morning, but I'm talking about more than that. I'm talking about goat horns sticking out the side of your head.

The side.

You would think that if hair was going to stand up on one side of your head it would all stand up on that side wouldn't you? Instead, I got two little areas about 1" each that decided to secede from the general hair populace.

I looked in the mirror and sighed. I tried to flatten them down (I don't know why--In case someone "dropped in" for a visit while I was making my lunch at 4am I guess) but to no avail. They just laughed at me and told me not to worry about them, knowing that I would drown them in the shower and force them to behave anyway.

I'm glad it's Friday.

Here We Go Again

I am very active on the internet and I use many parts of it to my benefit. Besides the usual web surfing, shopping, and things that people usually do, I also have many places with my personal files and pictures on them.

Finding web space out there in cyber-land has never been easy. Sure, there are tons of places offering free space to park your own personal website or your personal pictures or whatever, but I have certain standards I look for. Those standards make it tough for just any free site to "make the grade" and prove themselves worthy of my attention and time. Some of the things I look for include:

• Unlimited space - I don't want to run into a size limitation if I have too many files
• No ads - Okay, this one is tough, but I'm willing to live with an ad or two if I have to
• No pop ups - This one is a definite. I will NOT even consider such a place if they have pop ups.
• Speed - I don't want to click on one of my menu items and have it take forever to load the page, right?
• Reliability - This one is a hard one, and the subject of this blog post. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you don't.

My search for free hosting falls into two categories: Site hosting and picture hosting.

My current personal website coexists in two places on the web. Anyone that visits my website will only know about the one that I have provided them the link to. The other one sits quietly in the background in another part of the cyber-galaxy... Ready to spring into action should the main site disappear. It's happened before. I have had the proverbial carpet yanked out from beneath me many times in the past. For whatever reason, the geek that runs the site I may have my files on either sells out, decides to change to another format, or disappears altogether. I am fortunate that the site that hosts my website now is a big one with no limitations and it works very, very well.

That brings me to picture hosting. I am constantly on the search for places to host pictures, and that is tough because of my standards. My requirements for picture hosting include:

• Unlimited space - Pictures can be big you know... Especially nowadays with 10 & 12 megapixel cameras.
• No resizing - For a site to have a dimensional size limit on a picture is ridiculous. It should have options to view pictures either small or original size.
• Albums - Believe it or not, some sites don't allow you to be able to create and manage separate albums, but I think they're becoming fewer.
• Public vs. Private - Some things you don't want to become public and you should be able to have full control over that. The ability to password an album is a plus.

I'm sure I've forgotten some things here, but let's get to the real reason for the post today. My recent favorite picture hosting site seems to have disappeared. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I never expect things like this to turn around. If they do--Great, if not--Oh well.

When picture hosting sites vanish, it takes a lot of time to re-upload pictures to another site (that is assuming you find a suitable replacement to begin with). It also affects a lot of links from existing web pages.

Well, all I can say is free sites are worth every penny.

A Repeat Rant

I'm sure I've covered this topic before, but here it goes again: How to avoid actually selling a car you have for sale.

I was so pissed tonight, but I should have known. I emailed a guy about a car for sale on Craigslist the other day that I was interested in for Sarah. I asked a bunch of questions, and basically wanted to know when a good time would be for me to come look at it.

For a reply, I got one line with no punctuation, simply stating the address.

I looked it up on Google maps, and saw it wasn't' too far away. I sent another email later on asking for a phone number, and also asked if I could come by after 6 the next night and take a look at it. I got home from work today, and still no reply. At about 6, I emailed again:

I don't know if you got my reply or not, but is it possible to come have a look this evening?

A few minutes later, his reply was simply, "Yes."

I bombed up there at about 7:30, and there was a young gal leaving in an SUV with her boyfriend. I asked if someone there was selling a car, to which she replied, "Yes, but they're not home."

WTF?

So here's what I just sent him:

Thank you for telling me I could come look at your car, and thank you for not being there after I drove up there from Auburn with cash in my pocket.
You should try communicating with people next time.
If you don't really want to sell your car, you should do everyone a favor and remove your ad.

People like that piss me off.

Crying the Blues

I hate having to work overtime. Especially during a 4-day work week when I only get straight pay (under 40 hours = no time-and-a-half).

I've been working my ass off the last couple days, filling in for my supervisor on an installation of a piece of new shop equipment. This involves wiring, assembly, and all sorts of customization. Add to that the fact that our only other truck driver was out from Friday through yesterday (he'd better be back today) on vacation, which meant I kept having to drop what I was doing and go on a delivery or pickup. During all this stuff my regular work has been on hold and piling up in my inbox, so yesterday I stayed a couple hours over to try to put a dent in it. That's about all I did... And it was a small dent to boot.

One bright note yesterday though--I received two orders I placed online on Monday already! That was fast. Only two days is fast, and neither of them were from this side of the U.S. One of the items was an overhaul kit for my air compressor, and the other was the new rear turn signals I ordered for my Harley.

I was hoping to get up to someones house after work and look at or buy a bookshelf I found on Craiglist for Sarah, but she called back and apologized, noting that yesterday was her husband's birthday. We agreed on 6pm tonight. I hope it isn't raining by then. Last night would have been perfect. At least it's very local to me here, so it should be a quick and easy one.

I was out in the garage quite a while last night. It seems like this Harley job is taking forever. I guess that's because I hate long-term projects. I need to relax and just place one foot in front of the other and move at a steady pace. I'm almost ready to start in on the rear fender, and that's going to be tedious-A lot of welding and grinding. I hope I don't fuck it up.

Something else that's pissing me off is the fact that I have a tiny metal sliver in the tip of my right index finger--Right at the contact point for any button or anything you want to push. It's so small I can't even see it, let alone retrieve it. I may have to do some razor blade digging on this one.

(Sigh) I'll probably have to work overtime again tonight. Today the "setup man" for the Haas company that makes the big machine they just bought will show up and do the finalization of it, so I need to have as much done and ready for him as I can to minimize his time ($$) on the job. In the meantime, my regular work will again suffer.

I need a vacation.

Spinning my Wheels

That's how I feel sometimes when I'm shopping for something via classifieds--Like I'm spinning my wheels.

Craigslist is a great tool for the consumer to have at our disposal, but it can be frustrating. You're at the mercy of the seller for many things, like their perception of the item, their honesty & integrity, their ability with photography, and other things.

Take their perception of quality for example. Everyone sees things differently, so my idea of a "7" might be a "9" to you on the quality scale. Sometimes these are intentional (i.e. "fudging") by the seller, sometimes it's genuinely the way they see it.

Honesty and personal integrity are a problem, especially on the larger ticket items. When you're trying to buy a car, do you want to buy from someone that has lied to you? Even the slightest little lie can cost you big down the road. In these situations I tend to look at the person, their house and possessions, and their mannerisms when talking about their car. Caution flags fly with wild abandon when I go to someones house and see generally rundown condition of things. Similarly, the way someone is kept or dressed might come into play. If they won't stop "talking the car up" while you're looking, I also am very wary.

The seller's ability (or lack thereof) to put a picture in the ad can be a big problem and potential time-waster. Craigslist only allows 4 pictures per ad, and when you submit them they're re-sized to a specific maximum size by their software. More often than not, those pictures are fairly devoid of detail. Some people get around this by using their knowledge of html programming and do the formatting of their own ad to get larger pictures into the ad. Either way, you have to take certain things into consideration when you're looking at them. If it's a car, is it wet or raining? If so the paint will look brand new. If it's a furniture item, is the lighting in the picture intentionally flattering? For example, is the item in it's normal environment, or is it sitting somewhere so more flattering light can hit it and give it a shine or glow?

I drove to Kent to look at a car for Sarah yesterday, and almost everything I've written came into play there. I almost didn't stop when I got to the house. Cars everywhere, house in disrepair... You name it. The first thing I saw when I opened the hood was greasy fingerprints everywhere, and when I opened the trunk, the smell of moisture was strong. Sorry, we're done here folks!

I also drove to Bothell (yes, it's quite a ways) to look at a bookshelf for Sarah. The first flag went flying when I saw a big truck in the guys driveway that said S0-and-So's Thrift Store on it. Obviously, this was his business. Anyway, the piece was totally dinged up, and the guy talked about it incessantly while I was looking at it. He wanted 60 bucks for it, but refused to budge when I offered 40. Fuck him. I don't care if I drove 2 states... I'm not going to buy it just because I drove that far and don't want to go home empty handed. Put your P.O.S. back into your thrift store truck buddy...

On the way home I stopped and did some grocery shopping, so the trip wasn't a total waste of time.

You know what else pissed me off though? I went into Arby's near my house to pick up something to go. There was one young gal with a kid ahead of me, and she had put her kid up on the counter. Obviously, she was only there to socialize, as the gal behind the counter kept cooing and kissing her. After standing there for a minute, shook my head and muttered, "Jeezus fucking christ" just barely audible enough to be heard and whirled around and left. Hopefully my point was taken.

After having the whole start of my day pretty much in the toilet, I resolved to spend the rest of on my terms. I spent it in my garage, taking my frustrations out by sanding on my Harley parts.

Beer and other stuff helped a lot too. ;-)

MIA: Renter's Pride

If it's not missing, it sure seems to be. I think the general feeling among renters is, "The landlord maintains the grounds, so why should I care about it?"

As is typical of winter, more and more crap has been blowing around in people's yards. Some of it probably comes from recycling/garbage day when lids blow off of cans or when not all of the stuff makes it into the truck when they pour it. Some of it probably comes from litterbugs in general. The end result is the same though--The street in front of my place looked like shit. I would drive home and see crap strewn all over the street, sidewalks, lawns, and in shrubbery. Most litter seems to be a stark contrast to its surroundings too--Either white, or yellow--And therefore seems to stand out like a sore thumb.

I finally couldn't take it any more. I was out in the garage working on the Harley yesterday morning with the garage door open, and it got to me. I grabbed a bucket and went all around my place and up and down the street picking up everything that didn't belong. What a difference. I doubt if it even took me 15 minutes to do it all. I hope everyone saw me doing it, but I know if they did they probably just thought, "It's about time."

I went out to work on the Harley, but before I really got motivated to do that, I got sidetracked onto another path: Setting up my garage computer. Garage computer!? Yep, it was running at my old house too, and it's sole task was running mp3's through a receiver as my personal jukebox. So I scrounged around and got all the stuff together, ran the speaker wires, and got it all set up. It was good to have my music back.

Another thing that helped me work on the Harley was my kerosene heater. I've got one of those big round ones that is (I think) 22,000 btu. I almost sold it last month, certain that I'd probably never use it again. I'm glad I didn't. Even though it was sunny yesterday after the fog burned off, it was cold. With that heater in the middle of the garage, it was warm even with the big door open.

Garage, Harley, music, kerosene heater, lots of beer... Yep, it was a good day.

The Saturday Morning Report

I was getting Sarah's birthday presents wrapped before going over to their house for dinner yesterday when the doorbell rang. There stood one of those DHL men, dressed in their yellow and red garb, with a puffy envelope package for me. It turns out that it was a t-shirt from Mark and Dana! It was black (I like black) and was the right size, and it said "I (heart) NY" on it. Pretty cool of him to think of me during their trip to New York over Christmas. That was quite a surprise.

Having dinner over at Sarah and Teresa's is better than old times actually, because everyone treats each other like host and guest. No bickering is always good, and a good roast beef outta the crock pot certainly is a good thing too!

I felt kind of disappointed in Teresa when I saw what she got Sarah for her birthday. The few things Sarah opened from her were jewelry items that she had bought who-knows-how-long-ago at some clearance sale or something. Sarah didn't miss a beat on that either, saying something like, "Mom, these are just things you bought on clearance somewhere." The justification for it was that Teresa had already told her that completely redoing her bedroom was her birthday present. Come on T... How hard is it to spend a couple bucks for something fun?

I didn't spend much money on her, but she got some pretty fun things. She really enjoyed her electronic Sudoku game and her Pirate's Dice game. We played a few rounds of that until my parents showed up. My dad was in an "okay" mood, but his constant repeating of things is getting even worse. I also bought Sarah a tub of special Tillamook ice cream for herself. Teresa made a German chocolate flat cake, and I brought a cheesecake, so we had good birthday eats. The cheesecake could have been better though--It had a pronounced cinnamon flavor emanating from the crust, which in my opinion overshadowed the flavor of the New York cheesecake on top of it. Oh well. I did get to take a piece of cake home with me, which is good.

I mentioned in yesterday's blog about how I had put my website files on a new web space provider? Well, here's what was in my email when I got home from work yesterday:

Hello guys..

I'm sorry to say that we'll be shutting down all of websites
Due to heavy volumes of account. This doesn't mean cjb.cc will be completely gone. It means from now on, cjb.cc will only take paying members due to spam and abuse. You guys will have less than 24 hours to back up your website and the server will be upgraded to Xeon Dual core server, which should be very reliable.

Just like before, we'll offer $3 a month or $30 a year plan on new Xeon Dual core server (server upgrade). If you guys are interested, please wait until we get our new server ready, which will take another 2 days.

We'll announce the specification of membership

If you guys are interested in paying membership, which will not going to have down time. Please visit us at cjb.cc in two days or so. We'll make an announcement forum.

For current paying member, we give out free membership for a month.

If you paid for a year, pleaes let me know

Thank you for supporting cjb.cc, I really appreciate it.

I guess I timed that one pretty good didn't I? What a flake. Obviously a geek that didn't finish his business classes in college... He's also not very good at typing and spelling (I just copied and pasted it verbatim).

Comcast Drops the Hammer

I just got an interesting call on the phone. It seems that my account was "flagged" for excess bandwidth. Sure, I know I use a lot of bandwidth... That's no surprise. What surprised me though was the fact that according to the errand boy that called me, I'm supposed to "cut back drastically" (his words) to avoid another flag. If I am flagged again, my account will be automatically terminated for 12 months. As much as I pressed him for more details, or a concrete number, or even another person's phone number he just kept repeating himself.

WTF?

The problem here is one of judgment. Nowhere does their Acceptable Use Policy actually give a number to use as an "excessive use" limit. I pressed and pressed and he could not come up with any sort of number either. What that means is, even if I think I've cut back enough in the certain time frame, they may not. Poof. According to junior, my bandwidth usage was 281 gigabytes last month. Okay, sure... That's a lot. but even if I halve it, it's still a lot. Would that be enough? Who knows.

Here's the applicable part of their Acceptable Use Policy:

Network, Bandwidth, Data Storage and Other Limitations

Comcast may provide versions of the Service with different speeds and bandwidth usage limitations, among other characteristics, subject to applicable Service plans. You shall ensure that your use of the Service does not restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or degrade any other user's use of the Service, nor represent (in the sole judgment of Comcast) an overly large burden on the network. In addition, you shall ensure that your use of the Service does not restrict, inhibit, interfere with, disrupt, degrade, or impede Comcast's ability to deliver and provide the Service and monitor the Service, backbone, network nodes, and/or other network services.

You further agree to comply with all Comcast network, bandwidth, and data storage and usage limitations. You shall ensure that your bandwidth consumption using the Service does not exceed the limitations that are now in effect or may be established in the future. If your use of the Service results in the consumption of bandwidth in excess of the applicable limitations, that is a violation of this Policy. In such cases, Comcast may, in its sole discretion, terminate or suspend your Service account or request that you subscribe to a version of the Service with higher bandwidth usage limitations if you wish to continue to use the Service at higher bandwidth consumption levels.

I know... It's my own fault, but dammit, I've been doing this sort of thing literally for years. Why now? If it happens, I guess I'll get to find out how good or bad DSL is.

Big brother is out there...

I Used to Like Voting...

...But not any more.

The government has screwed me. I moved--Everyone knows that, but I still live very close to my old house where Sarah and Teresa still reside. I called the county voter's office a few months back and talked to a very nice lady, and got my address change all done nicely. She told me that I probably wouldn't get my new voter's card before the primary, and I assured her it was okay because I essentially just live down the street from my previous address anyway.

Today I picked Sarah up from school and we went directly from there to the place that I used to vote at. I say "used to" because I still haven't received my new voter's card in the mail. I wanted to take Sarah with me to show her the new electronic voting option they have. I went in there expecting the unexpected, and I walked up to the lady at the desk of my previous district. Hmm, she doesn't have me on the list. She checks the master list for the whole polling place.

Nothing.

Okay, I sort of expected that. I looked on the wall as we were leaving to see all the available polling places for our town, and went to my next choice based on location. I went through the same thing. Nothing. Nobody on their list by my name either. This time, however, the lady set me up with the phone number to find out my pertinent information. After calling it and drilling down through a couple of voice menus, I find out my new polling place.

It's way farther away. To put it in perspective, there are three polling places closer to my home than this one is. Okay, no biggie... At least I know where I'm going now. We go in and go through the voting process, and then another thing hits me: One of the crucial races I wanted to vote on isn't even on my ballot! WTF?

To put the address thing in perspective, my parents live closer to my "new" polling place than I do and they still go to the place I used to go to. All I can think of is that they (the powers that be) must have something in my address wrong. That might also explain why I didn't get my voter's registration card. This is just too weird.

On a brighter note, my dad just left here after bringing me a six pack of Corona, and (get this) he even brought a lime! I couldn't believe it. He was feeling so warm and fuzzy after my taking him the Cars movie the other day he was just beside himself.

Weird shit happens some days...

The Fright Fest that Fizzled

Yep, fizzled, failed, flopped... There are lots of F-words I can think of to describe last night's Halloween (or lack thereof).

You know what? It pays to do your homework before assuming something without facts or data. Take last night's Halloween for example. I now live in a townhouse with many townhouses on either side of me, and directly across the street is a huge apartment complex--And not the best apartment complex either. I'm pretty sure it doesn't cost an arm and leg to live there. Those are the kind of places where kids usually take advantage of something like Halloween. Free goodies for free--Goodies that they might not normally get at home for whatever reason. Anyway, I assumed that I would have a lot of trick-or-treaters. To further fuel that stupid assumption, I bought two (yes, 2) big bags of candy.

I had six. Yes, six total trick-or-treaters. That translates to 3 times someone was at the door.

I was actually pissed off about it last night. I felt like such a fool. I usually don't pull anything so blatantly assumptive, especially by the amount of excess that I piled on. I should consider myself lucky I guess, because I didn't go nuts on any decorations or anything. I guess it being my first Halloween in my own place, I blindly overlooked common sense and logic in favor of hope and expectation. It was like another milestone that I was reaching in this year of lifestyle change.

Now I've got candy. Lots of candy. I'm damn sure not going to eat it all. Don't get me wrong--I like candy as much as the next guy, but I don't need to go overboard on candy. After all, I'm trying to get myself into a little better physical shape. I'll end up taking the bulk of it to work I'm sure.

When I dropped Sarah off at her house yesterday after school, I went in for a while. One thing let to another and I ended up helping her carve her Halloween pumpkin. That was probably the high point the day for both of us. She didn't go out trick-or-treating this year for the first time, and didn't quite know what to do with herself. She called later and we talked for a while and we laughed about my candy excess. They had over 40 people at their house, which is down from the usual 75-ish they usually have every year. It couldn't have been the weather, because it was clear and cold and beautiful for it. It had to have been the fact that it was on a Tuesday night.

(sigh) Anyone want some candy?

Some Things are just Wrong

I flipped open a website that I use all the time today, and was somewhat taken aback.

You know the kind of websites like Google news, or Yahoo news, or something like that where they have all the latest headlines from all over the world? I use Excite.com all the time for my weather and stuff, and it also has important news headlines on it. At least it did. This one struck me as odd. With ALL the news in ALL the world, the headline that they decided was most important was this:

Pitt, Jolie Give Son a Ride in Rickshaw

Now isn't that just odd? I had no idea that it was more important than war... More important than elections, More important than economic news. I shouldn't be surprised I guess--After all, the real editor is probably off work on Sundays right? They probably have a janitor making the editorial decisions today. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone responsible at Excite.com for making sure I didn't miss that one! Now I'll be able to sleep tonight.

You know what? I'll bet that's what has been bugging me lately. Something in the back of mind that I haven't been able to put my finger on. Yeah, that's got to be it:

I've never ridden in a rickshaw.

Times Change

I went to the Puyallup Fair yesterday, and although it was a nice day and nothing went wrong, I left there feeling kind of empty.

I've lived here all my life, so I've been going to the Puyallup Fair since I was teeny. Little by little, it has changed so much that it's just a tiny fraction of its former self.

The first notable change that I can recall came back when I was in school: One year they had a big fire in there, and lost the building that held the Spook House, the Fun House, and the House of Mirrors. It also damaged one end of the giant wood roller coaster. They never rebuilt any of those attractions. All three of them were the kind of attractions where you could spend all day in them if you want, wandering back and forth at your own speed. The fun house was where I first found the job I wanted to do for the rest of my life. There was one section of the fun house on the second floor where you walked by an opening along the side where you could see the crowd below and they could see you. On the ground below sat a worker with the perfect job: He had a string hooked to a valve in the floor of that section of the fun house, and when a girl or lady walked through, he could yank on it and a blast of air would blow their dress up. God, I wanted that job...

It used to be that the first thing you noticed when you went into the gate, no wait--Even before you got to the gate--Was the cacophony of smells that instantly assaulted your nose. The fair's famous onion burgers were the big one--The huge pile of limp, grilled onions that smothered the burger so completely that you could hardly see what you were eating. The corn dogs, the raspberry scones, the smoke from Pete's BBQ... All classics that are still there, but for some reason are not nearly as noticeable any more.

One thing that angered me this year was a way they sucked you into another mailing list. It's not unusual to be sucked into mailing lists. Some ignorant people don't notice that the booth you were at when you filled out the card for that "free car" drawing was manned by someone selling windows, or hot tubs, or time share vacations, or any number of things. Anyway, this year as you go into the gate you are handed this little credit card sized paper card with a barcode on it.
"What's this going to do for me?" I ask.
"You might win gas for a year." She says, obviously already explained it 5 million times by then.
As you walk in, directly in front of you is a whole "bank" of electronic touch screen terminals where people are lined up. I looked at it and decided that I would just come back later. Later in the day I did exactly that and walked up, swiped my little card in the card reader and started in. It asked name, address, phone number, then started asking all sorts of marketing questions. I said WTF is this and cancelled out of the whole thing, tore my card up and walked away wondering how I could have been so stupid as to fall into the sheep fleecing thing that I so proudly managed to elude all these years. Then it hit me--It was the "package." The electronics, the touch screens, the actual interaction you got to make. Screw that... A mailing list is a mailing list.

I also got the impression that the animals were there in much smaller numbers than they used to be. Maybe it wasn't that, maybe it was just that there didn't seem to be much human traffic in those areas. Yeah I think that was it--People don't go to the fair for animals anymore.

Ditto the food displays. The careful arrangements of fruits and vegetables that were lovingly grown and nurtured by people and associations and schools... Pretty much a thing of the past. Sure, they were there, but very few of them.

A few things were still there and will probably always be. Things like the vibrating "foot massagers" that are all over the grounds, the booth inside one of the building where there was a giant panel with blinking lights on it that offered "instant handwriting analysis", the people with the microphones around their necks that drone on whether anyone is listening to their cookware sales pitch or not.

The prices are definitely out of control. Over the years the Fair management as squeezed the vendors so hard that they have been forced to jack the prices of their goods accordingly just to stay in business. I mean come on--$3 for a soft serve ice cream cone?! Hardly any food items are under 5 bucks any more either, most being like 6.50 or more. 3 bucks for a small bottle of water? Isn't that pathetic?

Oh well, it's still one of the best places in the world for one of my favorite pastimes: Planting my ass on a bench and looking at the people that walk by.

Ho Hum

I don't know why, but I've felt "down" at work for the last several days. Sure, I've had some events at work that caused me grief, but I still feel odd lately. I'm sure others notice it when I'm not myself too.

Bruce, my supervisor, always gets to work a half hour after everyone else because he takes the ferry over from Vashon Island every morning. This morning when he came in, I gave him the update on all my problems that I'd been having both yesterday and Friday. About that time, the shop foreman came up and told me and Bruce that the general manager had wondered why I left at quitting time the day before when there was so much work to do and people I could be helping. Translation: It's a short week, and they want EVERYONE to work extra hours every day because they don't have to pay overtime this week. They only pay time-and-a-half to everyone over 40 hours, and there's not much chance of that happening in only 4 days. They (in the front office) consider it cheap labor I'm sure.

Not me. I don't buy into that whole thing. I don't care if it's a short week or not, I'm not staying over and working for standard wage. My time off work is MY time, and I don't want to cut it short. Maybe that had something to do with my mood today, I don't know. I feel strongly enough about it that had someone pressed me on it, I was prepared to say, "Are you ready to lose another employee over this?" I would seriously walk, and I doubt if anyone would press it past that. After all, Boeing probably still wants me, according to my ex brother-in-law.

Anyway, come 2:30 I punched the clock and out I went... No problems at all. I had a very nice drive home, and I drank in the beautiful aroma of ripe blackberries that filled the air between Kent and Auburn. This is the time of year for them, and they are everywhere along the Green River. It's truly one of my favorite smells, and it is usually accompanied by the smells of the river itself and other vegetation that grows along it.

Before I popped my first after work beer (but after I stripped of course) I hopped up and did some chin-ups on the new machine. Ha... It's been a while. I managed to get a whole 10 of them, and let me tell you, that last one took everything I could muster to get it. I was literally shaking as I inched my way to the bar.

Now that I've sat a bit and relaxed, I'm going to go downstairs and make myself up some turkey burgers for dinner. I stopped and got some buns and lettuce and stuff on the way home. I always adjust the recipe, but they are always good!

Big Brother is Watching You

I understand that it's inevitable that more and more things are going to put people under the watchful eye of our "leaders" and government officials--It's pretty much inevitable just based on population and the need for regulation. But what's got me pissed off is the latest thing:

Traffic cameras.

Don't get me wrong--I am all for regulating and putting a stop to people running red lights. Here in my little town of Auburn, it's pretty rampant. It seems like this town has turned into a "transition" town, which means that everyone that drives here seems to be on the way to somewhere else. In this town, it is very common to see sometimes 2 or 3 cars speed through a red light.

The problem I have with traffic cameras is mainly the fact that I was taught (as many people were) that when you're making a left turn (unless you're on a red arrow signal) you pull out into the intersection and patiently wait your turn to go. That way, when traffic is thick and you may not get an opportunity to complete your turn during the green cycle, you will still get to make your turn when the opposing traffic stops for their yellow or red light. This insures that one car will always make it through the left turn cycle. Everyone I talk to was taught to do that, and it has nothing to do with "running" lights.

Traffic cameras don't see it that way. If your vehicle moves during a red light cycle, for whatever reason, you get a ticket.

I don't have a problem with people getting tickets that deserve them. People that stomp the gas pedal to the floor when a light turns yellow, or people that coast through right turns--Those are justifiable. I just don't like the "automatic" aspect of it: Flash, mail, and pay up.

The other problem I have with the traffic cameras is the slow but sure removal of the human element. Are humans reviewing all of these pictures? Are they reviewing any of them? We all know how good scanning software is these days... There are programs that can scan virtually anything automatically. I doubt if any humans ever look at these camera footages unless a challenge is issued.

What can we do about it? I'm not sure. Because I'm a proactive person instead of a reactive one, I'm trying to eliminate the problem before it becomes a problem. I'm considering buying a product called Photoblocker. It's a spray on stuff like clear spray paint. Here's a recent article on it from the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A222-2004Jul20.html

Part of me considers the product a scam though... I'm naturally leery of any product that costs $30 or so that is clear to the naked eye. I mean really... Is it real or is it just clear spray paint? We will never know.

It can't hurt...