In response to a question about the growing number of Americans without health insurance, President Bush replied, "people have health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room." (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/bush-go-to-an-emergency-room)
Yes, because the emergency room is the place to go to take care of, I don't know, cancer, degenerative disease, physical therapy, or any of the other ailments that aren't "emergencies". And if you're there with a sore throat and someone tells you that's not an emergency, tell them the President said, "just go to the emergency room." That'll shut them up.
It's supposed to be a simple proposition. We pay Comcast money. They provide us communication connectivity. But for some reason, their system can't handle it when a customer moves so all the checks they've been cashing the past few months have been applied to an inactive account, instead of the new one they apparently set up for us. Couple of problems with that.
First, why the f--- have you been cashing the checks? We mail a check. It gets cashed. We think we're paying our bill. Instead, we've been paying but apparently not toward our bill.
Second, why did you create a new account for us with no link to the old one? We're the same people. At the very least, the accounts should have been linked, so you could apply the funds correctly instead of trying to issue refunds.
Third, why can't your people tell us straight if we're going to be cut off? We were told the funds would be transferred. We have a ticket number. You have our money. Seemed pretty straightforward to me. Obviously not.
The part that really burns me is we didn't have this problem with Adelphia, before it was bought out by Comcast. We moved once with them and didn't have any billing issues. But now that you've monopolized the area, we got stuck with your incompetent accounting system that cashes checks without applying them. Congrats on officially sucking worse than Verizon (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2007/07/dear-verizon-go-f-yourself.html).
Update! Tanya got the scoop on why Comcast sucks. It seems Comcast is transitioning between two divisions in our area, and they only created a ticket for the problem in one division, which they are fixing by creating a new ticket for the second division. However. the $180 we already paid them cannot be applied until... sometime, so to get us reconnected immediately, they kindly accepted a payment of $60, which I guess we owe or would owe at some point anyway. I'm so glad all it took to resolve the issue was more paperwork and more money.
Been handwriting-centric for so long (and I did it late last night) that I didn't realize how badly I missed the point of Sketchcast (http://sketchcast.com/) and how ideal it is for Tablet PCs, so here's take two (http://sketchcast.com/view/4jE73Wa/). Enjoy!
Matt Faulkner at GottaBeMobile linked to this online sketch capture tool and noted it might be cool for ink blogging. Maybe but choppy. (No handwriting recognition either; I had to re-write this as text.)
A lot of people said some nasty things about Columbia University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University) when it was announced they had invited the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad), to speak on campus. Students protested. Lawmakers threatened to cut funds (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/24/columbia-university-to-be_n_65638.html). Conservatives, like Rudy Giuliani (http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/09/24/376905.aspx), called it inappropriate. The general sentiment from the opposition was that the leader of a state that sponsors terrorists should not have been invited to speak at the school.
However, what these critics failed to consider was that he wasn't just giving a speech; he was also fielding questions -- tough ones. And he also heard opinions, like when he was told he exhibits "all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator." (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/24/columbia-president-to-ahm_n_65588.html) As tough as the critics were on Columbia, Columbia was even tougher on Ahmadinejad.
There are those who say we should not speak to our enemies. To them I say, I'm glad I voted against your cowardly ass twice. Facing your enemies, not sending warriors in your stead but actually facing them, takes courage, and that's what we saw at Columbia University today, not just from the school but admittedly also from Ahmadinejad, who undoubtedly expected hostility. Quite ironic that the Iranian President would subject himself to that, while the U.S. President will only appear before tightly controlled groups of loyalists.
Haw! One-deal-a-day retailer Woot! (http://www.woot.com/) secured a great deal on the Zune (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zune) today. The bad news is it's for the Zune. The worse news is it's $20 less than the price of their last batch of Zunes. Oh noes! (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=oh+noes) As many as three people are pissed (price cuts suck!) and not just because they bought Zunes.
Fortunately, the good news is they're giving the suckers who bought the Zune at the old price a $10 discount off a $40 or more purchase, which would result in a $5 discount on their stock value if they sold stock. Woot! (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/stock/apples-stock-drops-515-low-boom-count-to-blame-296868.php)
Found this online whiteboard courtesy of Lifehacker (http://lifehacker.com/software/whiteboard/collaborate-with-an-instant-online-whiteboard-at-scriblink-302573.php). Ink is choppy but it's collaborative and entries can be saved and emailed. (No handwriting conversion; I rewrote the sample as text.)
Google "fake bomb" today and you'll pull up stories about an MIT student who was arrested for wearing a "fake bomb" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/21/mit-student-arrested-for-_n_65364.html) at an airport. It was actually a circuit board with flashing lights and a battery attached. She also was holding Play-doh.
Okay, I can understand why the board was mistaken for a bomb, but calling it a "fake bomb" implies intent. A pile of paper isn't called "fake cash" unless it was made to look like cash. My cats aren't "fake dogs". This thing is a circuit board mistaken for a bomb, and that's what should have been reported. Calling it a "fake bomb" is sensationalism.
After suddenly dropping off the web over a year ago, the most enthusiastic of my "ink progeny" (http://wickedstageact2.typepad.com/life_on_the_wicked_stage_/2006/05/sumocat_has_ink.html) is back and spilling ink on a new blog. Silver (http://silverhuang.com/) was among the ink blogging enthusiasts who pushed the development of Build 52 (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/06/prelude-to-build-52.html), and she carried the medium further by establishing an ink blogging guide and forum. Her good work vanished with her, but now she's back and I couldn't be happier. Her new blog, simply titled Sil (http://silverhuang.com/), is still under development, but already includes a text version to go with the ink. Check it out (http://silverhuang.com/) and join me in welcoming back our wayward inker.
Lifehacker (http://lifehacker.com/software/write-it-down/prevent-memory-leaks-with-pen-and-paper-300808.php) links to a blog that reminds us: Why You Should Write Things Down (http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2007/09/12/why-you-should-write-things-down/). Obviously, I've been practicing that for a few years, and I agree it's the best way to keep one's memories clear. Furthermore, having my thoughts in searchable, digital ink makes it much easier for me to go back and see what I used to think of things, like my thoughts on cloud computing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing) from October 8, 2006 (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/10/hey-you-get-off-of-my-cloud.html). Nice to know I got around to clearing that off my to-do list.
While driving in our Toyota Prius back home from the farmers' market where we buy locally grown produce (which we carry in reusable bags -- yes, we make me sick too), we noticed the Reston Town Center was hosting a Starbucks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks) party. After dropping off our produce, we stopped by the party and guzzled down shots of various coffees, in addition to tiny pumpkin spice Frappucinos. Walked away with some free samples of ground coffee too (I picked up an extra for someone). And to top it off, the weather was perfect early fall sun and cool breeze. Great day to be outside.
I've left a lot of jobs, but I've never said anything that bad about an ex-boss before. Oh, maybe he meant the criminals he prosecuted. Either way, it's fortunate he ultimately won't recall any of the horrors he saw, just as he doesn't recall any of those decisions he may or may not have made.
So President Bush interrupted my laughtrack-free (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/11/yes-laughtrack-is-derailed.html) must-see TV viewing last night to announce that he's bringing home troops from Iraq, about 6,000 soon and a few brigades later. Sounds good, except this only brings the troop level down to pre-surge levels, so the net reduction is zero. It's like jacking up the price of a car by 25%, then cutting it by 20% in order to make a sale. Looks great if the buyer didn't know about the price increase, but how many of us forgot about the troop surge? The temporary, unsustainable troop surge.
