Usually, I do not mind Mondays. It may take me awhile to get out of bed in the morning, but that is usually the extent of my Monday blues. Today was an exception, a big exception. I do not know what it was today, but everyone wanted to argue, complain, piss and moan or need to be hand held thru everything. For those of you unfamiliar with me, I work in customer service. Specifically, I work in a call center doing customer service. Yes, I am one of "those" people that everyone loves to hate. I realize that EVERYONE has a horror story about their calls to this call center or that call center. I also realize that some of those stories are actually the fault of the customer service agent. But folks, let me explain something about our fair country, we have a lot of stupid people here. We have a lot of people who do not read (not cannot, that is a different story). Everyone has at some time done something incredibly stupid and then called to get it fixed. I can handle stupid people, you get used to them in my business. I can handle people who will not read; I have read more than one form word for word to them. I can certainly handle when otherwise intelligent people make really stupid mistakes. What really gets me is when people blame their mistakes on us. It is NOT bad customer service when I remind you that you were the one that sent in the wrong form to us, even though you insist you sent in the right form. It is NOT bad customer service when I tell you the form you sent in was incomplete, even though you insist it was complete, and I have a copy up in front of me. It is NOT bad customer service when I tell you we need certain information to complete the transaction. There is a reason we require that information and no, it is not debatable.
Folks, next time you talk to your friendly customer service agent on the phone, please remember that most of us are well trained, hard working people. There is a lot we can do to help you out, but we will not be able to fix everything all the time. And, please, don't blame us for your own mistakes.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The Dogs of War
As a bonafide, papered Hokie, I feel compelled to comment on the situation with Michael Vick and his indictment on dog fighting charges.
My first comment is that we have a responsibility to allow the legal system to proceed. Trying a person in the media may sell a lot of things, but it is not justice. The basis of our system is still that someone is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. Now, I am not going to get into a discussion about the state of out legal system right now, so if you have any comments about that, save them for a later discussion. My point is that regardless of all the facts, stories, innuendos, and interviews that are in the media right now, it is still up to the courts to determine his guilt.
My second comment is that dog fighting, or any animal fighting, is unnecessarily brutal and culturally unacceptable. I understand that some forms of animal fighting have existed for hundreds if not thousands of years. However, societies and cultures change over time. This is one competition that is not acceptable any longer. If individuals want to watch a bloody, vicious fight, all they have to do is attend a professional wrestling match, a boxing match, or one of the new "ultimate" fighting matches. All of those sports (some more loosely termed sport than others) contain enough skill, blood, violence and betting potential to satisfy any person's blood lust. The one thing they do not regularly contain is the prospect of death. It is unusual for a contestant (combatant) in one of those events to die during the match. It is not so with dog fighting. If someone wants to participate in a violent event, they should learn to wrestle, they should learn to box, they should learn to fight. In short, the should have the balls to put their own blood and sweat on the line. Anything else and they are simply sorry-assed, ignorant couch potatoes.
My first comment is that we have a responsibility to allow the legal system to proceed. Trying a person in the media may sell a lot of things, but it is not justice. The basis of our system is still that someone is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. Now, I am not going to get into a discussion about the state of out legal system right now, so if you have any comments about that, save them for a later discussion. My point is that regardless of all the facts, stories, innuendos, and interviews that are in the media right now, it is still up to the courts to determine his guilt.
My second comment is that dog fighting, or any animal fighting, is unnecessarily brutal and culturally unacceptable. I understand that some forms of animal fighting have existed for hundreds if not thousands of years. However, societies and cultures change over time. This is one competition that is not acceptable any longer. If individuals want to watch a bloody, vicious fight, all they have to do is attend a professional wrestling match, a boxing match, or one of the new "ultimate" fighting matches. All of those sports (some more loosely termed sport than others) contain enough skill, blood, violence and betting potential to satisfy any person's blood lust. The one thing they do not regularly contain is the prospect of death. It is unusual for a contestant (combatant) in one of those events to die during the match. It is not so with dog fighting. If someone wants to participate in a violent event, they should learn to wrestle, they should learn to box, they should learn to fight. In short, the should have the balls to put their own blood and sweat on the line. Anything else and they are simply sorry-assed, ignorant couch potatoes.
Monday, July 23, 2007
A larger Perspective
Take a look at Galaxyzoo.org. It is a site where you can help astronomers categorize galaxies. That's right, the all knowing, all powerful Wizards of Oz need some help from the Munchkinlanders. We get the chance to assist in figuring out how all of "this" came about. Its actually pretty interesting to us amateur science geeks out here. OK, its interesting to me. I'm sure there are a lot more"me's" out there that a lending a hand with this. It'll be interesting to see how many people end up volunteering.
The premise is relatively straight forward. Advances in astronomy have led to a massive surplus of images that need to be categorized. There are not enough grad students with the time, nor professors with the research budgets to hire them to look at even a small fraction of them each year. That is where all us munchkinlanders come in. The people over at GalaxyZoo have developed an easy to use program that allows rank amateurs to categorize galaxies with a simple click of a mouse. They have simplified the categories to six options. After a short tutorial, we are turned loose onto the universe, literally.
It is actually quite a zen-like time. Can you think of better time to contemplate your navel than when you are looking at image after image of one galaxy after another? All you have to do is decide spiral or elliptical? Do your bit to further our understanding of life, the universe and everything (thank you Douglas Adams). Check out Galaxyzoo.org.
The premise is relatively straight forward. Advances in astronomy have led to a massive surplus of images that need to be categorized. There are not enough grad students with the time, nor professors with the research budgets to hire them to look at even a small fraction of them each year. That is where all us munchkinlanders come in. The people over at GalaxyZoo have developed an easy to use program that allows rank amateurs to categorize galaxies with a simple click of a mouse. They have simplified the categories to six options. After a short tutorial, we are turned loose onto the universe, literally.
It is actually quite a zen-like time. Can you think of better time to contemplate your navel than when you are looking at image after image of one galaxy after another? All you have to do is decide spiral or elliptical? Do your bit to further our understanding of life, the universe and everything (thank you Douglas Adams). Check out Galaxyzoo.org.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Rock and Roll and Tumble
One of the things that the Marquise and I did on our trip to Grandfather Mountain was to visit the Emerald Village. (It is not down the Yellow Brick Road from the Emerald City). It is this touristy place waaay back in the mountains where you can purchase a bucket of rocks and "pan" for gems and minerals. The buckets are "enriched" so that everyone will get something. The higher priced the bucket, the more it is "enriched". It sounds kinda gimmicky, but it is actually very enjoyable. Not the most exciting time, but its kinda like gambling, you never know when you might hit the jackpot.
Well, we brought our loot home and we had to decide what to do with all these rocks. Well, the Marquise and I are smart, talented (sort of) and fairly crafty (you decide which definition), so we decided to polish the rocks and see if we can make some kind of Christmas presents from them. So, to that end, I started researching how to polish rocks. Everything I found was that we would need a rock tumbler and about a month's time spent tumbling the rocks. The Marquise and I thought we could do better than that, so we bought one of those rotary tools and proceeded to grind and polish away. Sometimes, it is not a good idea to strike out on your own. There is a lot to be said about building on other people's experience. If you haven't figured it out, the rotary tool was less than successful. It was not a complete failure, but it would have been very difficult to achieve the results we wanted. We ended up buying one of the small rock tumblers at a local craft place and some of our gems are happily tumbling away right now. I'll let y'all know how everything works out in a month or so.
Well, we brought our loot home and we had to decide what to do with all these rocks. Well, the Marquise and I are smart, talented (sort of) and fairly crafty (you decide which definition), so we decided to polish the rocks and see if we can make some kind of Christmas presents from them. So, to that end, I started researching how to polish rocks. Everything I found was that we would need a rock tumbler and about a month's time spent tumbling the rocks. The Marquise and I thought we could do better than that, so we bought one of those rotary tools and proceeded to grind and polish away. Sometimes, it is not a good idea to strike out on your own. There is a lot to be said about building on other people's experience. If you haven't figured it out, the rotary tool was less than successful. It was not a complete failure, but it would have been very difficult to achieve the results we wanted. We ended up buying one of the small rock tumblers at a local craft place and some of our gems are happily tumbling away right now. I'll let y'all know how everything works out in a month or so.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
A Week Ago
A week ago, I was happily working away on my latin studies. I had progressed thru the major declensions for nouns (masculine, femine and neuter) and was getting pretty confident that I was progressing well. Ya know, it is really amazing how much information one can forget in one week's time. Because of the Highland Games, getting braces on, watering the flowers, and various other reasons, I was not able to study my latin for a week. Big mistake. Very big mistake. I looked at the next section in the text and I was , well, lost. I actually had to go to a different textbook and start over again to "refresh" myself. The primary text I am using does not have a lot of exercises and I felt that if I went back over the same examples, I would not have to think about the answers as much. So I am "starting over" again for the third time. Let's see how things progress this time.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Highland Games
Well, I made it thru the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games! It was quite an experience. Especially since I am not Scottish. I figured that since I am half Irish and since I was "adopted" by a member of clan Davidson and because I am just so much fun at a party that it would be all right for me to show up. We, the Marquise and I, really did not get a chance to see much of the games part of the festivities. Most of the events were held early/mid morning and since we were staying in Burnsville at the Carolina Country Inn, about 40 miles away, we did not make it to any of the morning events. We did manage to attend both of the Celtic Rock concerts (Fri and Sat nites) and a couple of the concerts at one or more of the Groves. The Celtic Rock concerts that were organized by GMHG were really phenomenal! I don't think I have ever really seen a concert/festival quite so organized or efficient. Each night, they had the bands set up on two or three stages right next to each other. As soon as one band finished, the next band was ready to take "their" stage and start right up. While the second band was playing, the first band was taking down their equipment and the next band was setting up. The only delay was listening to the MC give intros/instructions. Thanks to GMHG, we were introduced to several bands we had not had the pleasure of hearing before. The two I especially liked were Coyote Run and Barley Juice. If you ever get a chance to attend one of their shows, make sure you go. You will not be disappointed.
A quick note about beer. Several of the counties in the area are "dry". You cannot buy alcohol in those counties. The GMHG is in one of those counties. Getting a drink can be difficult. Let me tell you of our adventure. On Saturday, we left the games and went to eat dinner (at a wonderful mexican place, I'll get the name later (Los Arcoiris)). We had a beer with dinner. We decided to stop at the Solo gas station down the road from the restaurant to get a couple of beers for the evening concerts. That particular store did not sell alcohol because they were morally opposed to alcohol. We were OK with that. We got back into my faithful truck and headed on down the road to the next store. Well, the next store was also in the next county and the next county was a dry county. The overworked and tired employee explained the situation to us and told us that if we went 4.3 miles down the road, we would be in yet again another county, but that this one allows the sale of beer and that there would be a grocery store at the end of our little "yellow brick road". My esteemed traveling companion and I were at this point, naturally, quite determined to get our beer. We did find it a little odd that the employee knew that it was exactly 4.3 miles (I checked with the trusty odometer) to the closest place to get beer. I have a feeling that that particular grocery store makes a bundle by selling beer and alcohol to the good residents one county over.
Let me take a moment to give some kudos to the Carolina Country Inn and Burnsville. The Inn there is really, really nice. To be honest, I was not expecting a whole lot considering the price range for the rooms. However, the management have kept the rooms up wonderfully and maintained the atmosphere of the "mom and pop" motels that used to be so plentiful. If you EVER find yourself heading in their direction, check them out.
Burnsville is a another wonderful surprise. There are wonderful views all throughout the town. The people are extremely friendly. The two restaurants we ate at we very good. We had lunch at the Garden Deli on Saturday and breakfast at the Hilltop Restaurant on Sunday. They have a surprisingly vibrant downtown. We took a quick walk thru on Sunday (most stores were closed, of course) and only saw one, maybe two empty store fronts. Considering any downtown of comparable size in eastern NC would probably have a majority of the stores empty, that is a great achievement. All in all, my hat is off to the good people of Burnsville, from what I saw, they all have a great community.
A quick note about beer. Several of the counties in the area are "dry". You cannot buy alcohol in those counties. The GMHG is in one of those counties. Getting a drink can be difficult. Let me tell you of our adventure. On Saturday, we left the games and went to eat dinner (at a wonderful mexican place, I'll get the name later (Los Arcoiris)). We had a beer with dinner. We decided to stop at the Solo gas station down the road from the restaurant to get a couple of beers for the evening concerts. That particular store did not sell alcohol because they were morally opposed to alcohol. We were OK with that. We got back into my faithful truck and headed on down the road to the next store. Well, the next store was also in the next county and the next county was a dry county. The overworked and tired employee explained the situation to us and told us that if we went 4.3 miles down the road, we would be in yet again another county, but that this one allows the sale of beer and that there would be a grocery store at the end of our little "yellow brick road". My esteemed traveling companion and I were at this point, naturally, quite determined to get our beer. We did find it a little odd that the employee knew that it was exactly 4.3 miles (I checked with the trusty odometer) to the closest place to get beer. I have a feeling that that particular grocery store makes a bundle by selling beer and alcohol to the good residents one county over.
Let me take a moment to give some kudos to the Carolina Country Inn and Burnsville. The Inn there is really, really nice. To be honest, I was not expecting a whole lot considering the price range for the rooms. However, the management have kept the rooms up wonderfully and maintained the atmosphere of the "mom and pop" motels that used to be so plentiful. If you EVER find yourself heading in their direction, check them out.
Burnsville is a another wonderful surprise. There are wonderful views all throughout the town. The people are extremely friendly. The two restaurants we ate at we very good. We had lunch at the Garden Deli on Saturday and breakfast at the Hilltop Restaurant on Sunday. They have a surprisingly vibrant downtown. We took a quick walk thru on Sunday (most stores were closed, of course) and only saw one, maybe two empty store fronts. Considering any downtown of comparable size in eastern NC would probably have a majority of the stores empty, that is a great achievement. All in all, my hat is off to the good people of Burnsville, from what I saw, they all have a great community.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Highland games and Albannach
Well, I am off to the Highland Games festival this weekend. The Marquise and I are headed over that way on Friday and we'll be back on Sunday. This will be the first festival for both of us and I am ready to get going. One of the main attractions this year (a repeat from what I can tell of last year) is the band Albannach. They are a group of 5 drummers and 1 bagpipe player. The first time I heard them was at Tir Na Nog last October. When we arrived, there was no table left except directly in front of the band. There was a reason it was still open. I was to naive to realize why: they are very (VERY) loud. Check out their website and you will see why. They play great, big, huge drums. I would say "manly" drums, but one of the band members is a woman, so "manly" is out. It took a couple of days for my hearing to get back to normal. I bet my hearing is gonna go about a year earlier than scheduled because of those folks!
One of the reasons I bring them up now is that they are currently in the middle of their US tour. I listen to a lot of Celtic music and I am a big fan of Highlander Radio. I have noticed in the past week or two that they are playing Albanach's music much more. I didn't really think about it until just a little while ago. About a nonth or so ago, I was wondering why I never heard them on Highlander radio and now I hear them at least once every time I tune in. They must be having a really good tour!
Well, I gotta go. I'll let ya'll know how things go at the Highland Games.
One of the reasons I bring them up now is that they are currently in the middle of their US tour. I listen to a lot of Celtic music and I am a big fan of Highlander Radio. I have noticed in the past week or two that they are playing Albanach's music much more. I didn't really think about it until just a little while ago. About a nonth or so ago, I was wondering why I never heard them on Highlander radio and now I hear them at least once every time I tune in. They must be having a really good tour!
Well, I gotta go. I'll let ya'll know how things go at the Highland Games.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
A Great 4th of July
Well, all, I had a really good 4th of July holiday. I was able to spend the day with two great friends, Meg and the Marquise.
I went over to Meg's place that afternoon. She recently adopted a very pretty kitty she has named Gustav (I'll see if she'll let me post a picture of Gustav). Her father is somewhat of a tinker and built her a kitty condo. Now, her father lives several states away so he dissassembled the **** thing and mailed it to her. It is my job as the resident testosterone generator and repository to put this kind of stuff together for her. So, I loaded my little bundle of joy, AJ (a 85 lb goldendoodle) and off we went to Meg's place. You kinda need to know that AJ's experience with cats is that he chases them and they run away from him. He has never gotten face to face with a cat before!!! (I knew this was gonna be fun) I really have to give Gustav a lot of credit, he (all 2 lbs) stood up to AJ very admirably. Needless to say, it turned out that AJ was relatively well behaved and Gustav finally decided he was OK and started to "stalk" AJ's tail. Well, in between AJ wanting to be petted/played with and Gustav wanting to play with AJ's tail, the kitty condo was finally assembled. I DO NOT certify that it will stay assembled, but it is assembled right now.
I went over to Meg's place that afternoon. She recently adopted a very pretty kitty she has named Gustav (I'll see if she'll let me post a picture of Gustav). Her father is somewhat of a tinker and built her a kitty condo. Now, her father lives several states away so he dissassembled the **** thing and mailed it to her. It is my job as the resident testosterone generator and repository to put this kind of stuff together for her. So, I loaded my little bundle of joy, AJ (a 85 lb goldendoodle) and off we went to Meg's place. You kinda need to know that AJ's experience with cats is that he chases them and they run away from him. He has never gotten face to face with a cat before!!! (I knew this was gonna be fun) I really have to give Gustav a lot of credit, he (all 2 lbs) stood up to AJ very admirably. Needless to say, it turned out that AJ was relatively well behaved and Gustav finally decided he was OK and started to "stalk" AJ's tail. Well, in between AJ wanting to be petted/played with and Gustav wanting to play with AJ's tail, the kitty condo was finally assembled. I DO NOT certify that it will stay assembled, but it is assembled right now.
So after performing my responsibilities and assisting the damsel in distress, we went out for lunch and parted ways.
That evening, I met up with the Marquise for dinner and drinking and Hercules Mulligan. We decided to eat at Carraba's Italian Grill (mostly because it was next the Hibernian). Neither of us had been there before, so it was a new experience. I was not the brightest bulb in the restaurant that night. I have mentioned before that I am in the process of getting braces (read the post below), well, my teeth still hurt. Friends, do not eat a house salad with carrots and celery when your teeth hurt. Very Bad. Very, Very Bad. However, the entree was great, the salad dressing was much better on bread than on the salad. The sangria was good (a bit expensive) and the Marquise made damn sure that every drop was poured from the pitcher.
After dinner we walked down the road a bit to the Cary Hibernian to cheer on our favorite band Hercules Mulligan. The beer was good (Paulaner Heffe-Weisz), the band was even better, the irish carbomb (Guinness and irish cream) sucked. The beer is not something I would really want to drink all the time, but it was good for the evening. It didn't get upset that it had to share a room with sangria, if ya get my drift. The band was really good last night. We had a really responsive crowd and Chris K. was determined he was gonna have a good time and determined the rest of us were gonna have a good time also. He started off with a rousing rendition of "Star Spangled Banner". I can honestly say that I have never been in a bar before when the anthem was sung. It is a lot more intimate than at a ball game with 50 or 60 thousand of your closest friends. And finally the carbomb, oh the carbomb. Just say no! Every once in a while you come accross a concoction that just doesn't work. A half/quarter pint of Guinness and a shot of irish creme just don't mix.
Monday, July 2, 2007
This Wednesday, July 4th
For those of you in the Triangle area that don't want to put up with the heat, parking, and crowds of the public fireworks display (please do not have your own fireworks display due to the lack of rainfall) come on out to the Cary Hibernian restaurant and enjoy Hercules Mulligan. They are the best Irish-Bluegrass band with an upright bass in the Triangle!!!!
Braces
I have decided to get braces on my teeth to correct some major overcrowding and crookedness. I didn't decide just now, its actually been a rather long drawn out affair. I contemplated, I hemmed and hawed, I talked to my mom. After much deliberation and my mom agreeing to pay for them, I made the decision to get braces.
I went to my friendly orthodontist for a preliminary check and the first thing she said was that the "preferred" treatment for my condition was surgical. I.E. they would break my jaw. It did not take to much thought to rule that option out. So I am now at the beginning of option two. I have already had 4 teeth removed. Yes, 4 teeth. I knew I was in trouble when the dentist extracting the teeth told me I had "really dense bone structure". Well, i made it thru the extractions with the usual and customary discomfort. After about a week, my jaw was pretty much back to normal.
I am now waiting for the bands to get put on my teeth next week. I had to go into the office today to have"spacers" put between my teeth. They look like tiny blue plastic washers. They went in OK. However, they are annoying as all get out. Imagine having 6 pieces of (insert food remnant of your choice) stuck between your teeth and NOT being able to get rid of them for a week and a half! I have had them in for not quite 12 hours and they are already driving me crazy. I keep telling myself that all of this is actually worth it. I'll let you know in 2 years.
A new mantra for me: I will look good with straight teeth. I WILL look good with straight teeth. I will LOOK good with straight teeth.
I went to my friendly orthodontist for a preliminary check and the first thing she said was that the "preferred" treatment for my condition was surgical. I.E. they would break my jaw. It did not take to much thought to rule that option out. So I am now at the beginning of option two. I have already had 4 teeth removed. Yes, 4 teeth. I knew I was in trouble when the dentist extracting the teeth told me I had "really dense bone structure". Well, i made it thru the extractions with the usual and customary discomfort. After about a week, my jaw was pretty much back to normal.
I am now waiting for the bands to get put on my teeth next week. I had to go into the office today to have"spacers" put between my teeth. They look like tiny blue plastic washers. They went in OK. However, they are annoying as all get out. Imagine having 6 pieces of (insert food remnant of your choice) stuck between your teeth and NOT being able to get rid of them for a week and a half! I have had them in for not quite 12 hours and they are already driving me crazy. I keep telling myself that all of this is actually worth it. I'll let you know in 2 years.
A new mantra for me: I will look good with straight teeth. I WILL look good with straight teeth. I will LOOK good with straight teeth.
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