Long time no write!

So I came to my blog to post something about the cat genie, and I realized, its been over a friggin year since I posted. wow!

Postal increase

Heres a nice link to show the price hike: Endicia Rate Change Information. Most notable: Priority Mail 1lb (oversized, >600 miles) 422% to 711%. I guess they wanna give that business to UPS.

Stupid parents and their lawsuits

I was watching the news yesterday, and there was mention of a suit where 4 parents of 14/15yr old girls are suing myspace because they met an online predator there. why go after myspace, why not the backbone myspace is on, level3. when not sure the electricity company supplying myspace, the backbone, HIS isp and HIS computer. why not sue pizza hut for the pizza he got delivered while the girl was in his house. why not sue the guys HOA for not noticing a pedophile in their midst. why not sue Compaq for allowing this guy to get online. why not sue netgear for allowing a predator to gain online access.

i can go on and on and on in relation to how relevant myspace is to this situation. sure, they met there, but if it wasn't there, it woulda been AIM. gonna sue AIM? PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. these parents lack parental skills and are looking for a scapegoat, plain and simple.

so, why bring this up again (since I'm sure its been commented on a million times), well, today's idiocy:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006600086,00.html

Boy slips under car in his Heelys KIDS were warned to beware of trainers with roller-skate style wheels in the heels after it was revealed a boy suffered brain damage when he slipped in front of a car.

Trendy 55p Heelys shoes -- worn by X Factor's Ray Quinn -- have been a must-have Christmas gift.

But their US makers face a multi-million pound lawsuit after Carlos Procell, 10, rolled back in his as he crossed a road and was hit by a car.

The schoolboy suffered serious head and chest injuries and has been in hospital for a month.

His New Jersey family is suing for compensation, saying the shoes should be fitted with brakes.

Last night Roger Vincent, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, urged children here to take care.

He said: "Use common sense. Read the instructions and safety tips."

"In the US case, the boy was wearing his Heelys to cross a road. We'd advise against that."

hey idiot, the sole of the shoe is the break, retract the wheel.

buy.com update

So i called buy.com back again today and spoke to a real american. his notes showed the supplier never got back to them, so he put me on hold and called them. after about 10-15 mins, he told me the supplier is waiting on the manufacturer to ship new units. They said the whole market is dry and waiting on these units from oregon scientific.

So I do a lil research on this, apparently OS has this backorder probelm on alot of their products. Are they uber popular, or is their production line take months of time NOT doing anything. Its friggin rediculous.

so I end up at the OS website, and Im gonan call them tomorrow. I also see the WMR968 product page, and it says "out of stock" and a "email me" link when they get back into stock. Hopefully when I call i'll get a date.

buy.com customer service numbers

Let me begin with... I've used buy.com previously with no issues, and loved dealing with them for years. But heres my story..

I'm on ebay, shopping for the best deal on a WMR968. So i "buyitnow" from a guy who states he has 170 items. 2 days later i get an email saying he's out of stock. Long story short ...

we exchanged heated emails, I got my refund, he ended up stopping the auction early.

Thats where buy.com comes in. I go to the website and the inventory check states they still have some in. Knowing they have decent inventory controls, i place my order and have the warm and fuzzies of tracking the order. This was last thursday. Every day I check the status "sent to warehouse". ok, cool, they have to drop ship it, no biggie. every day i reload the product page, still in stock. So then its monday morning "out of stock" and still "sent to warehouse". After looking for a friggin number all day, i find an 800 number hidden in some guys blog.

DO NOT BOTHER CALLING THE 1-877-780-2464 NUMBER!

You will end up in an India call center with people who actually do a pretty good job sounding american. I'm not talking the obvious guy who isnt named "Joe" saying hes "Joe" either. After about 2 hours of the run around with this number, I left the call with the corp mailing address. All I wanted was three questions asked. 1) what is the ETA on the new shipments from the supplier, 2) why wasnt I notified of this backorder status, 3) and why cant you put me on hold and find this information for me? The answers i ended up with was 1) "it could take 3 hours, it could take 3 days" to which my response was "using that logic, it could take 3 weeks or 3 months, give me an estimated time, not your formletter answer". 2) "we normlly send out notifications, i dont know why you didnt get one, maybe it got lost" to which i asked "who do i contact to verify this information" and i got "I cannot give you that information" 3) "i've answered every question you asked, i have been very helpful".

So anyways, I google the street address for buy.com, I end up at this ripoffreport.com page where a guy has basicly run into the same issue, but he gives up the corp number! You know that angelic sound you hear on shows when something good goes right? Im hearing it in my head.

THE CORP NUMBER IS 949-389-2000

So today, I call up this number, the operator asks who i wanna talk to "Fulfillment manager please" "are you a suplier or a customer" "a customer wanting to know real information on a backorder". So i end up talking to a REAL guy named doug. I tell him the india call center is worthless and a waste of my time. I give him my order number. without even asking he goes "there seems to have been a problem in the inventory reporting on this item from the supplier. they state they ran out on thursday, but didnt report that to us for a website update until monday morning. Can I get your number and i will call the supplier and get an estimated date on the new shipment" omFg, a real guy reading my friggin mind. so i pretty much go "thank you, thats all I ever wanted to hear, that customer service number gave me a headache in what you just solved in 10 mins."

So now we wait for the call back...

Big Brother is watching you, no really

Too funny...

FBI: Surveillance E-mail Is Really a Scam

WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued an alert Monday about a scam involving unsolicited e-mails, purportedly sent by the FBI, that tell computer users that their Internet surfing is being monitored by the agency.

The users are told they have visited illegal Web sites and are instructed to open an attachment to answer questions.

The FBI did not send these e-mails and does not send any other unsolicited e-mails to the public, an agency statement said. As many harmful computer viruses are located in e-mail attachments, the FBI said it strongly encourages computer users not to open attachments from unknown recipients.

The FBI is investigating the scam. Recipients of these e-mails are asked to report them by visiting the Internet Crime Complaint Center at http://www.ic3.gov.

Group behind daytime awards expected to announce new category for handheld devices

Whats next, Best online porn ring? this is kinda lame, not like we have a "Best while on an airplane" category, or "Best while standing in line"

http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/11/technology/emmys/

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The group behind the daytime Emmys is expected to announce a new category specifically for content made for computers, cell phones and other hand-held devices, according to a news report Friday.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is to debut at the next Sports Emmys show and eventually become a category in other Emmy presentations, The New York Times said.

Entries in the category must be original, and cannot include content that has already been shown on television. Devices that can play videos -- like the video iPod and PlayStation Portable -- are seeing more original content developed for them.

The market for portable video content is still small compared to broadcast television, but it is growing rapidly. There are currently an estimated 500,000 mobile video viewers in the US, according to the newspaper.

Dentists dont listen

So 2-3 months ago I had some work done above #5. He had to numb the bone with several shots into the bone. One of those shots I think nicked a nerve. A couple days after the visit I had a bump where my cheek meets my gums. It was sensitive to touch from the outside of the cheek. shaving wasnt comfortable. After about 4-5 weeks, it seemed to have been healing and going away.

Yesterday I woke up and that same spot was bigger than it ever was. I saw no obvious inflamation in my face and the pain was moderate. I called the dr and he was booked solid. I gave the receptionist my details and description and told her to ask the dr what todo. About 4 hrs later, I called back for an update and she told me:

"The dr doesnt wanna perscribe any oerscriptions because he doesnt want you to make a super bug unless you are showing inflamation"

Well, I kinda wanted to laugh at her cuz you cant make a superbug in a week in one person. Mutations are instant.... idiots. ANYWAYS. I told her "thats actually why I'm calling, I;m starting to puff up" so they called in penicillin.

Penicillin?! Well, I hope this works, cuz levequin woulda been much better AND easier. penicillin 4 times a day for 7 days, ugh. levequin 1 time a day for 5 days.

So... the pain.... it started last night. ibuprofran, stopped working around 4am. Vicoden is doing its job. Thank god this same dr perscribed that to me b4!

So the moral of this story is, when you complain about a problem, make sure it gets resolved and dont wait for it to heal, it might not :)

USPS

why cant the damn USPS get anything right? I opted out of that "missing children" thing because thats what you are suppose todo to stop getting all the crappy ads. I dont get that card now, but I'm still getting the ads!

another name thing

I'm not even sure how they got this one. its one i've never seen before.

Kishk damnit, Kishk

Rain

Falling asleep to rain is soothing, yet waking up to it sucks. You feel droopy all friggin day! Im meeeeelllting!

HAH!

And you thought me shooting a nail through my thumb was bad, check this one out! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3685791.stm

what a dumbass

Name variations

Now, I can understand my name has a couple variations, but when I got this to-go receipt, I just had to start a new tradition of posting the idiocy I have to deal with. There are only TWO acceptable versions of my name, the first (the biblical one) being the one which I use: Isaac and Issac. Many people use the double ss, which is common, but just looks silly. Anyways... here is the first.