The email support I got from Cablevision on an issue 2 weeks ago was somewhat lacking… or rather less than worthless b/c they kept me waiting for a non-answer. So I wrote ’em a letter.
A lady called me a few minutes ago to apologize and credit my account $20.
Cool.
It struck me a little bit that she was part of a call center; I could hear people in the background talking on the phone and I could tell in her tone of voice that her job was to “apologize, give him a refund and move on to the next person.” Not that I’m complaining here. It’s just interesting that Cablevision has a whole complaint answering department. When I think about it, it’s not so strange. I mean, they have hundreds of thousands of customers…
Don’t tip a computer that has a CD spinning in the drive. The resulting gyroscopic perturbations will do bad things to the CD in the drive.
I was re-installing XP on a newish Dell 2400. The XP product activation code is written on the side of the PC. So when I needed the code, (the computer was sitting on the floor and I was in a chair) I tilted the case. The resulting noise sounded like a circular saw that was trying to cut through a piece of wood that was just too thick. Once the CD came to it’s (literally) grinding halt, I took it out and found a long circular gash in the disc.
So I’ve spent an hour with a Skip Doctor, trying to read the disc. No luck yet but I think I’ll get it eventually. Feh!
My ad STILL hasn’t made it into the paper. The kid who sold me the ad is a bit green. He promised a bunch of things he couldn’t promise (like the delivery date). I hope my gentle coaxing pushes him toward being a reputable salesman and he doesn’t continue his slip into being slimy.
Me: “Hey Ben. Is my ad in the paper yet?”
Him: “[insert hamming and hawing here, and then…] “I’m not sure.”
Me: “Well, you said it was going to go in at either Easter or the weekend after. It’s now 1 week after that time. So…. What’s up? Is it in? Is it going in soon? You went to church yesterday, didn’t you?”
Him: “[insert hamming, hawing, mentions that he wasn’t such a good catholic and promises that he would drive to the church right that moment to find out and bring a copy right to my door]”
Me: “No, I don’t need that. I just want to know if my ad is in the paper. I paid $xxx for this ad and I just want to know when it’s going in.”
Him: “[An explanation of how flawed the listing process is and how the company had originally told him one thing and then another about how long it takes to put a listing in.]”
Me: “Why don’t you give me your boss’ phone number and I’ll tell him how I’m unhappy that you had initially been mislead.” [Of course, I suspected he was telling a little white lie about his original knowledge and his current knowledge… this phone call would either help get my ad in on-time, or get him in trouble]
Him: [He gave me the number and then an explanation of how Churches preprint their newsletters sometimes up to 3 weeks in advance. He promised that my ad would be in next week’s newsletter.]
Me: “Don’t promise things you aren’t sure about. Why don’t you make some phone calls and find out when the ad is going in. Give me a call back later today or tomorrow.”
Blah blah… [insert blogging minutia here]
He called me back and said it was going in “soon” or some crap. I don’t even remember exactly what he said.
Pixyglam Yahoo Group is the place to find out all the poop.
Ha ha
TGIF Humor is the list to be on for that
Forwarded from PPG:
April 12, 2004
Pop-Up Ad Company Plans an Initial Stock Offering
By BOB TEDESCHI
http://nytimes.com/2004/04/12/technology/12claria.html?pagewanted=print&position=
The Claria Corporation, the company best known – and reviled by privacy advocates – for its online pop-up ads and tracking applications, has filed to offer shares to the public.
Claria, formerly known as Gator, hopes to raise as much as $150 million in its initial offering, which will be underwritten by the investment firms Deutsche Bank Securities, Piper Jaffray, SG Cowen and Thomas Weisel, according to Claria’s filing with the Securities Exchange Commission on Thursday.
…
A majority of my business is defending against these people. Who wins in an arms race, no matter what? Arms dealers.
(Not to worry intrepid reader, this IPO makes me just as queasy as you.)
Phew, I’m busy.
Business is getting frazzlingly brisk. Two or three appointments a day takes some serious scheduling! But that’s where I want to be so…
I went to a Bi-zone conference this weekend. I was the facilitator for the SOFFA (Significant Other, Friend, Family, or Allies) panel. It went well. It occurs to me that this was the first time I had ever been a panel facilitator. It went just fine.
I got a snazzy Neovo 19″ LCD monitor last week. I’m very happy with it
My Amazon.com product review:
– It looks very slick on the desktop
– the front plastic shield has protected my friend’s trade show monitor well
– it folds up smaller than the average LCD monitor (though it’s not height adjustable :-( )
– You can really crank the brightness and contrast up
– It’s viewable from any angle
– competitive price (free shipping from Amazon too)
– 3 year warranty, including burnt-out pixels (no burnt out pixels yet)
– cool name
Things are going very between PPG and I.
The Eleventh President and I are doing very well. We went to Washington Rock State Park recently. That was cooler than either of us thought it was going to be.
April 7th-11, I think I put on 10 lbs. It was great. Stevie came by for a couple days. Steak and Optimator! Saturday was a Seder with PPG and family. (PPG noted that matzo should be called “the bread of freedom” not “the bread of affliction”; I mean, think about it) Food! And then Easter with my cousins in Aberdeen. THAT was a great meal. And the leftovers were just as good! I tell ya, driving home with the steering wheel in one hand and brussel sprouts in cheese in the other is dangerous and delicious!
I keep not hearing from The Frog Princess, which makes me sad.
My cousin Jay and I had a business idea for Computer Guy. It might create a lot of business :-) Time will tell.
He was on his way back from a trade show. And look what he had just sitting in his trunk.
The laptop on the left is a 3.4 Ghz, 1 gig RAM, 1920×1280 resolution, gamer video card, DVD burning laptop. It came off the assembly line a few weeks ago and is the fastest gamer laptop obtainable. :-) Working for a company that specializes in 3-D visualizations has its perks.
Let me just reiterate that Spenix is a good internet hosting company. Inexpensive and FULL featured. You should use them.
