Something That Happened.

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Thursday, September 11, 2003

Regrets...
I've had a few.
But then again,
Too few to mention!
--"My Way",
written by Paul Anka
When I hear that song, I think of Frank Sinatra, and sometimes Elvis or Sid Vicious -- all of whom have been known to perform, in their own unique manner, that wonderful song. Wonderful because -- though I don't always enjoy hearing it, I've heard it so much -- the song is a wonderful personal anthem. That's something we all need: a personal anthem. A song that praises our individuality; a mark of devotion to oneself. After all, they say you're going to have a helluva time loving anyone else unless you've first learned to love yourself, right?

This is not to replace your love for your God, or your spouse, or your family. I'm simply saying that we all need to give ourselves a bit more self-love at this time of year. (No, not that type of self-love !) Too many of us beat up on ourselves throughout the year, and then nearly destroy ourselves at year's end. No wonder there are so many suicides during the Holidays; the messages bombarding us are to Buy Buy Buy and to Give Give Give -- but what if you have nothing to give but love? If you have a dearth of that good stuff, then you'll have a bitch of a time spreading it around to your neighbors.

So be good to yourself, whether you're Christian, Pagan, Wiccan, Athiest, Hindu, Islamic, Mormon, Podcastin, or otherwise. Don't take the pills, they won't do you or anyone else any good; you'll simply miss out on the Next Big Thing (which may turn out to be Your Next Big Thing). Just do things your own way, singing that little hymn as you do so:
For what is a man,
What has he got?
If not himself,
Then he has naught.
To say the things,
He truly feels,
And not the words,
Of one who kneels.
The record shows,
I took the blows
And did it my way!

Monday, June 27, 2005

[Audio version of this post, 2.2MB MP3]

(Excerpt from) Best Buy Service Dirge

Perhaps a month without a PC;
perhaps much longer - that we shall see.
O, woe are they who buy eMachines
thinking they're safe with their PSPs!

I'm not one to bitch and whine about things, but I'm going to make an exception today because I feel - no, I know - my complaint is valid. Certainly there are more troublesome issues in the world than this, but life is short and I'm going to tell you why Best Buy may have just contributed to the degradation of the quality of my life for one entire month...or perhaps longer. And how many months do we have to live? Not nearly enough.

We (my girlfriend and I) purchased a personal computer at Best Buy a year ago, paying extra for a 3-year service warranty the retail store chain calls a PSP, or Performance Service Plan. I used to work at Best Buy, so I know that the PSP is the company's bread and butter; they encourage employees to push the PSP in order to make more money off their purchases. Everyone from the salesperson to the cashier is supposed to ask you if you want a PSP, and they will ask it for any item for which it is available. (Thankfully, CD's do not have PSP's.)

We were "sold" on the PSP because we felt it would be protect us in case we had any problems with our new (and expensive) purchase. I recall not entirely wanting to purchase the PSP for this particular purchase - computers usually demonstrate their shortcomings within the first few days of use, well within the range of Best Buy's default return policy - but the salesperson was adamant about the PSP's benefits, and my girlfriend and I were swayed to rack up more charges on our credit card. What the hell, we concluded, better safe than sorry.

As it turns out, the computer does have problems, and so we recently found ourselves carrying our failing electronics back to the Best Buy store we had purchased it from. We carried it directly to the Customer Service department, checked it in for a diagnostic check (covered by our PSP), and later was informed that the computer had issues with its video memory (or something). The Best Buy employee, a professional and friendly fellow who I have no issue with, asked us to sign a few forms authorizing the store to ship the computer off to another land in a far-off place, where the electronics would be magically repaired and then shipped back to Best Buy - all within 10 to 14 days.

This is perhaps a reasonable amount of time for a computer to be packed, shipped, fixed, and returned, 10 to 14 days, but it seemed a long time to be without a computer. I rely on my computer for so much these days that nearly two weeks without it could be devastating to my career, not to mention my psyche. I asked Best Buy for a loaner I could use in the meantime, but the rep said they didn't do that kind of thing. Oh, well, I figured, what other choice do I have? Fortunately I have an old Mac at home I can use temporarily...

Nearly two weeks passed, and we received a phone call from Best Buy. The computer had been returned to the store from that far-off land, the rep reported. Apparently, the wizards in that mystical land couldn't seem to find anything wrong with the device, and so had sent it back. Once the computer was received, the store had run another diagnostic check, finding the same results they had nearly two week earlier: the video memory (or something) was damaged.

So now they are sending it back to that far-off land, this time with a note insisting that the computer be repaired. They were apologizing for this inconvenience, and for that I am grateful. I asked how long the computer would be gone, suspecting the answer that I would soon hear: 10 to 14 days. Again, I asked, just to be sure, whether I could obtain a loaner; receiving a negative response on that, I asked if I could trade the computer in for another computer, paying the difference for a more recent machine. The reply came quickly, as if asked frequently: Unfortunately, that's not how our service plan works. So,

Best Buy Service Dirge

Beware, my friends, before you buy big!
That Best Buy store has its system rigged
enticing you to spend some more bucks
on a plan that won't stand. Trust, it sucks!

Perhaps a month without a PC;
perhaps much longer - that we shall see.
O, woe are they who buy eMachines
thinking they're safe with their PSPs!
posted by Harold  6/27/2005 02:17:00 PM
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I once posted, in this space (this right column), the following:

If I had friends they would be listed here

That particular bit o' text, that silly and idiotic phrase, was repeated a dozen or two dozen or so times and was intended to be temporary. I had been working on a project -- a new layout for this blog -- and had intended for that text to be placeholder content. That is, the text was supposed to temporarily replace the content that had previously occupied this column (which was a list of links to friends -- that is, other blogs and web sites I linked to). I didn't know what content I was going to place into that (this) space, so I placed a bunch of duplicate phrases here as a placeholder so that I would remember to fill in this space again later.

At the same time, I thought I was being cute with the heading:

NEW & IMPROVED FRIENDS!

The fact remains: I still don't know what content to put here, in this column. Links again? Pictures? Video? Audio? Ads? Oh, hell no! It hasn't come to me yet, but I'm sure it will eventually, and when it does it'll come quick and (as usual) with consequences.