Media Whiners

I have come to the conclusion that all those folks on talk radio and the cable "news" shows (Ed, Beck, Cooper, Olbermann, Maddow, Matthews, O'Reilly, and the list goes on...) are a bunch of whiners. They (Gretta excluded) are no better than the whiners we have hired (elected) to work for us in Washington. Just take a moment and listen to them sometime. They are full of political spin. Some claim to be independent yet they do their best to push the agenda of one party over another. They try to come off so righteous and holier than thou that it probably makes a Theologian puke.

What is this anti education kick they get on sometimes. Many of them do their best to denigrate those who have achieved a higher level of education than they have. They must think that because they have these lucrative contracts that makes them better than most college educated folks. Even the local talk radio jocks have this attitude. And they don't get paid the big bucks. While there are folks, like Bill Gates, who drop out of college and go on to make a fortune, one should never devalue the benefits of having an education. Most folks today don't have the earnings potential their parents did unless they have a higher level of education. Besides, isn't that what we want for the next generation? A better way of life.

Recently the TSA pat downs have been the thing to talk about. I think the talking heads, as President Obama calls them, are pawns for the politicians. "Get the talking heads to rant about the hot button issues. Then we will ram and pass expensive, worthless legislation through." Letting the rest of us worry about it later when we see the power of the dollar dwindles along with our paycheck.

The fun part is watching many of them come off like they are journalists. As if journalists are something to honor. Sorry, journalistic integrity wen out the window they day their company started to worry about ratings. Now its about entertainment or appeasing their audience with the political twist they prefer. What a joke.
I will give credit to CBS News. I watched it the other night and was impressed. In the evening news broadcast I was informed about the top national and world news headlines, heard some political news without little commentary (no spin), and treated to a few special interest bits as well. It was refreshing. I hope the other two evening news shows are like that as well. But from what I see on MSNBC I don't think NBC is.

It comes down to this. If you want to know what the Republican's, if you can call them that these days, are doing watch Fox News. Why I say Republican beats me. It is no longer the party of Lincoln or Reagan. I don't know what it is but their actions do not reflect the values and traditions the party stands for.
As for the Democrats you can get your fill by watching MSNBC. I must agree with some talking heads. There are times in which I think MSNBC is the communications department for the Obama administration. Propaganda arm anyway. Same was said about CNN for President Clinton and Fox News for President Bush. Go figure.

I have to give Fox News some credit. Some of their news professionals do go out of their way to remind the viewer there is a difference between them and the talking heads. Thank you Shep and Carl.

Oh yeah... News Media. Many of these talking heads criticize the news media. Some have even dropped news and go with media. HELLO. You are part of the NEWS MEDIA. WHY? You never go out of your way to explain the difference. Oh sure they will say they are not journalists then they go ahead and report on the news anyway. Sorry but it doesn't work that way. You can't flip flop like that and be credible. NO WAY.

I will leave you with this. Why are these cable "news" shows competing with Comedy Central?

Don't Touch My (colorful metaphor) Car!

There is nothing better than walking out to your car after a day at work to find a foreign object on your car. The idea that some jerk had the audacity to mess with your car can destroy the ride home. I realize neighborhood associations and such place newsletters and ads in the handle of your storm door. Some go so far as to tug so hard on the storm door that the latch breaks and the door never closes right again. Not to mention being out ten or twenty dollars to replace the handle.

But to stick a piece of paper under the wiper blade of someone's car is going to far. That is where I draw the line. Touch my car and I make your life miserable. That is a promise. You don't mess with other people's cars. PERIOD! OK... caveman moment has past.

Really?
First there's the Walmart carts that the lazy managers at Walmart can't seem to go out and police on a regular basis. Then you have people who have no respect for the property of others. They open their car doors and God knows what else into the cars they are parked next to, dinging and denting to their hearts content. You may have a crappy looking car that you don't give a hoot about, but keep in mind the rest of us take care of our belongings. THAT INCLUDES OUR CARS! The worst part is that it even happens in the parking lot at work. A place where you thought people would show a little consideration. NOT!

Did I mention the Walmart incident cost me $520 to fix? Yep!

Anyhow...
Today I had the joy of walking to my car only to find I had something stuck under my wipers. A ticket placed by someone that the city has authorized to place on my car? No. A note left by a relative or friend, who I know would use the utmost care touching my car? No. It was a stranger. Someone I did not authorize to touch my car. I FEEL SO VIOLATED!

So If you have been a victim of this Jessie's Cleaning Service, or you just don't like people messing with your stuff (and cars), help pass the word. Don't call them to clean your house.

Time to blog

At work we have been having these blog summits. There are varying opinions about these summits. I for one am not going to venture down that road right now. These are work related blogs. They provide another resource for which library staff can inform their patrons about upcoming events, new books, and other interesting information they feel their patrons might enjoy.

One question I have is when do they find the time to blog? Just look at my two blogs and you will see I haven't posted anything on this one for several months. My IT blog, which was intended to be a journal for when I work on projects, hasn't been touched since December 2009. In fact I usually end up using Jedit and saving my notes on our documentation server. Blogging about my projects just seems redundant now. Though the initial idea was if another person were to read my blog they may be able to learn from my mistakes, find a more efficient way of doing something, or offer advice to help me out of a jam.

I could go on but this is a good place to stop. I apparently found time to blog myself.

I like this quote

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." - Albert Einstein

All is Well in Verizon Land :-)

As of 5PM April 3, 2010 life is good with Verizon and me. :-)

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Twilight Zone: Take Two

All told I spent 4 and a half hours on hold (broken up over a couple calls/redirects/and disconnects) before I finally spoke to Chris around 10PM. He seemed to understand what was going on and said they could have the primary email from the old account pointed to our new account. It would take about 24 to 48 hours to complete. I even gave him the actual username Verizon assigned (not my alias) to my account for them to look up. While it has not quite been 48 hours it is the start of day two, a Saturday. It is not yet changed but either it wont happen until later today or possible Monday. I can wait. It is hard but I have too.

I am displeased with Verizon. To me they had a reputation for quality customer service. The folks you spoke with knew what they were doing and asked questions to make sure everyone was on the same sheet of music. That has not been the case this time. Tiffany did a great job helping us set up the account. We were even able to call back a couple days later to upgrade from FiOS Prime to FiOS Extreme. However, this go around with the redirect of my email has me a bit concerned. Some of the people I talked to couldn't even find my account. I wasn't in the system at all. One person I spoke to kept referring to me as someone else. They could not even locate the ticket number that Tiffany gave us when we set up the new account or the confirmation number I was given the first time I asked to have my email account redirected. I am a bit concerned and not too satisfied at all.

April Fool's or Twilight Zone Verizon Style

Approximate wait time less than 30 minutes. Not! The week of March 17, 2010 we called Verizon to change a name on the account and move a primary email account to the new account that we did the name change on. Yes, it sounds complicated. I got married and my wife wanted to keep her telephone number, and I wanted to keep my email address. So all we wanted to do was make sure her FiOS TV was upgraded to match what I had, and I wanted to make sure I would not lose my email account when I disconnected the old service. Tiffany at Verizon was an angel and set everything up for us. She was very patient and explained that my wife’s account was no longer under contract and we would not encounter any penalties, so we basically started a new service at her place with all the extras we wanted. Tiffany then transferred us to another number to set up the email change. I was disconnected while on hold but later that evening I spoke to someone (I don’t have that name handy) who said things would be all set the following Monday.

Wednesday March 31, 2010 I called from my Mom’s so she could get her service set up. This is when they disconnected my old account and made arrangements for my Mom.
Mom got what she wanted and the installation is set for April 2nd and 3rd.

April 1, 2010 I went to check my email and found that it was disabled. I figure somebody didn’t move my email account and it would be an easy fix. It is but we called in the morning and as soon as I got a hold of someone (after about 20 or so minutes on hold), I was disconnected. We decided to call back later and we were on hold for 63 minutes and were disconnected. Each call was made from our home phone. So later this evening I decided to call from my cell phone. I was on hold for 65 minutes before I spoke with someone. DSL support. I had called FiOS tech support but got DSL. DSL support has now transferred me to FiOS in which I had to press through the same options all over again. The call so far has lasted for an hour and a half with a persistent message telling time my approximate wait time is less than thirty minutes. Must be an April Fool’s joke from Verizon.

Verizon used to get kudos from me for their customer service. Now they act like Comcast and I am really considering changing carriers.