Well my latest thing is I should get back to blogging but
#1: it has been quite difficult to write everyday
#2: my blog is not the most aesthetically pleasing but hey I never made any claims to be a graphic designer I leave that to the pros.
#3: I just finished school so I should (and I am dear....that is for my wife to not worry about what I am doing) looking for jobs
#4: I should be working on my novel instead of worrying about writing in a blog everyday


Well anyways I sit here tonight writing this after being totally obsessed with the Mac the past two days, and my imagination has been running wild with possibilities. Then those dreams are smashed buy the prices of software and the applicability in my life.

Biased or reporting what they can?

I got TASER'ed at school today. Check it out. There is NSFW language so be warned.

Since school has started it has been quite fun (while okay not really fun, but interesting and entertaining), and has been a lot of work. Yet I haven't even really committed myself to doing all of the work, so there is a lot more soul sucking that is soon to happen. I feel like the former me (the summer me), is slowly going away. But just as I am about to swallow all of my former lazy-self, a little bit escapes my mouth and flows back into the bottle which is my brain.
Example: This morning I am sitting at the table reading a chapter for class, and backwash tasting happens. It leads me to the computer to waste (so far) 1 hour, and I am sure that my tasting isn't complete yet. Maybe I need more coffee to get me going... We will find out.
Also of note I have weaned myself off of Flickr, cold-turkey like. You see I was up at Camp Ripley this weekend for guard and upon coming back, the obsession faded. So the road is smooth, no relapses yet, knock on wood. Recovery is going well. 

So as many of you know updating is a problem for some. Hence all of the computer virus's that hit large corporations, another reason is peoples stupidity at opening up attachments from people they don't know. I am guilt of both the stupidity factor (not virus's, but for not people a good blogger) and the not updating the site. Some quips that I almost always feel incapable of doing that I read on others sites intimidate me. Why am I writing this you ask...ummm to write again. Also damn Flickr...it is evil. That is where my energy has been spent for quite some time as well, heck even google tells me that is what German Chocolate Ladies is known for. Tsk Tsk.  

The drama never stops with politics. Not to perpetuate things just to follow them to whoever found that last political stories interesting, because i know I did, heck I wrote about them duh.

Also of note, my Flickr photos are sucking me in, let them suck you in too. Click on the following picture.

 

 

I am going stir crazy. Fortunately school starts in two weeks and next week I have a few appt.'s. So yes we hope everything goes by quickly. Yesterday I was so stir crazy that I copied a schedule of the Minnesota Vikings into my iCal, making sure I left some mistakes so that I would do something today. Sad yes, I am sure that i could clean up around here or do something more productive but when you are busy you are more productive and when you aren't busy you aren't as productive. Follow the logic?

Although I must say that the night life is jumping here lately. Two nights ago the wife bought an Apple iBook 12", along with an Airport Extreme Base Station, and Airport Express card for our G4 iMac, in short if you don't know what those Airport things are we are going wireless). Self medication is working so far, I am not going crazy waiting for it like other times we have ordered Apple products.
Then last night the wife and I went to bed at about 8pm and awoke again at about midnight to go see if we could see some shooting stars. You see Earth's orbit is taking us through the trail end of a comet, so meteor showers should be in abundance in the North Hemisphere, I am unsure of other places on the globe. Here is an article in our local paper so that you can read up on it. I tried to take some pictures but yeah it is night and the stars aren't bright enough for my camera to pick them up, or maybe I don't know how to finesse the camera correctly. Anyways we were out for oh about an hour and we saw plenty of them. And then we decided to head in because she had to work this morning. But if anyone gets some good pictures share them here or on Flickr. Let me know about them because I would love to see some.  

Here is an update to what his campaign is doing now. Go here to read. To me it is more than hypocritical for him, and his cohorts to claim that the issues are being ignored because of this. That this is just a diversion to the fact that he is such a good person for the job. But I guess leave it to them to say "Do as I say, not as I do."  

Talk about trying to get everyone to like them. What politicians will do in an election year knows no bounds. I started this blog with a bit of a rant about the 2004 presidential election, and I don't believe I have really touched upon politics since. Due to the fact that I didn't want to rant and was afraid of the reception that I would receive if I voiced my opinion. I figure that there are enough opinions out there, and most of the time it doesn't matter if an opinion is valid (meaning supported by facts, understandable, and flows logically), which is quite obvious if we look around. What matters most is the loudest voice in the crowd no matter how ignorant the opinion. I am human so I understand that emotions are strong in people over issues but also in being human i know that I am capable of logical thought and deduction, so I try to keep the emotional opinions in check and don't expect others to have the same emotional response to things that I do. And I most definitely don't expect others to have the same emotional opinions as I do. Such as religion as a major example, and I most definitely don't think of people that have a different emotional opinion than I do, that they are wrong. No I am not the final authority on anything. Yet in an effort to bring a more civil discourse to the squall of opinions that people have, I offer up an opinion that within a logical train of thought I would hope that you can follow.
There is that enough speaking on the soapbox for ya? ;-) Well I know that politics is politics and nowadays people think that it is a popularity contest, so that they should appear in a way so most people like them. Yet I find that wrong, and I don't like politics. I think it is a form of lying, and it most definitely isn't an innocent form of lying. There are those politicians that act tough at times, but they aren't really tough, they just want to please a certain group of people. I wish there was a politician that was out there that said "This is me. I believe in this and this, I know that you believe in this and this. I will work for you, but please realize that I will revert to my belief's in a tough decision making time. Please trust me to protect your rights and to do what is right." Or something along those lines, and they were actually honest. I hate the spin machine and all of it's components be it political advisor..to campaign manager. There should be limits to terms on Senators and Representatives, I feel. Vacations, pay, "perks of office" should be closely monitored by the citizenry and checks and balances should be maintained more. I just have a problem with a Congress persons pay raising consistently, but a minimum wage raising so slowly that inflation makes it null and void.
Anyways the reason for this post is because I read this article about a politician in my home state, and am disgusted! Read the article here.  

Obviously I have changed up the look of the site. I still haven't found a particular look that does it for me just yet. So I am sure that in a few months I will change again....but I decided to keep it simple right now. With simplicity a center of the site maybe (MAYBE) I will post more. I will definitely be changing the banner image soon. So don't fall in love with this one. I started working on my story yesterday. I have about 2 pages so far written in Pages. This wagon is kinda crowded hopefully I don't fall off. 

 

Going through the law enforcement program that I am I have to apply to and get transfered to another school to continue on. Well super news I got accepted (I never really thought that I wouldn't be, but whenever there is a possibility of them saying no ya get nervous). So now my goal is being tasted upon my tongue. I have one more school year left then I will be POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) certified. The first semester is Theory then the second semester is Skills (hands on training). I got my letter on this past Saturday but we were out of town. So we got home Sunday night, after having just talked about my schooling, and that was the only thing in the mail. I came upstairs a little nervous but opened it and just felt a huge invisible weight lifted off of my shoulders. Because I have been kind of in limbo since I applied. Now next week I have to go order uniforms and the such. Then I am gone for like 3 weeks because of the 4th of July, and then my two weeks of guard duty. Then school starts the end of August!!!!
On another note I am now a Pro user of Flicker. I have been tormented by it for about a week and finally upgraded, even though we are literally scraping by. Oh well, things always work out in the end, right? 

Made decision to upgrade phones and migrate to Cingular from AT&T Wireless 5/13/05

Russell went to Cingular store on Ridgedale Drive and was told they were not able to assist him with the migration in the store, he needed to call to complete that transaction.

Russell went home and looked at phones online to decide which phone(s) to switch to – Russell chose Siemens S66, and Trista chose Siemens CT66. Russ called Cingular customer service and was told to call a different number, 888#. After he hung up and did this he was informed that those phones were not available for the migration. He hung up and did more searching – found two other phones that would suffice and called back – was again told the phones were not available so he hung up and did MORE searching. Settled on the Nokia 3220 which is a camera phone, and called a third time to inquire whether they were available and was told they were. Hung up to contact Trista and verify that they should go ahead with the process and order the Nokia 3220’s – Trista agreed. Russell called again and went through the entire process of ordering the migration and phones, only to be told at the end of the process that the Nokia 3220 was NOT available. In his frustration he indicated to the CSR to forget the whole thing and the call ended.

Trista called back and before getting into the process of setting up the migration asked yet AGAIN if the Nokia 3220 was available or not – first she was told it was not, so she said “okay, never mind we aren’t going to make the change at this time.” The CSR who introduced himself as Vincent said “well wait, what area are you in?” Trista responded that she was in MN and he said “oh, I guess it is available now.” She asked him to check and make sure and he assured her that “it must have been out of stock or something but it’s available now.” She said “great then we want two of them” and then proceeded to set up the migration, ordering the $69.99 Family Talk plan plus an additional line for $9.99. She was informed of the one time migration fee for each line and also received confirmation that the original phone numbers would be kept for the new phones. At the completion of the transaction Trista was told that the phones would arrive within 3-5 business days and was given an 888# to call to activate the phones and to process the migration. She was also told that the cost for the phones and the new services would appear on the next billing statement. All of the preceding conversations/orders took place Friday, May 13, 2005.

On Thursday, May 19, 2005 the phones had still not arrived, so Russell called to check on the status and look into getting a tracking number. He was told that no order was indicated. Obviously frustrated, Russell asked the CSR (Aaron) to check into it, and when Aaron came back they stated that it looked as if Vincent had filled out all of the paperwork but had not actually submitted it so the order was never processed. So Russell AGAIN went through the process to set up the migration and upgrade the phones, and he was told at that time that the Nokia 3220 was available and had it confirmed that they would arrive within 3-5 business days. To insure confirmation of the order he asked for a tracking number so that he could be sure the phones were on the way and that they would receive them, the number he was given was Q060-0-18162.0. After getting off of the phone Russell went to the FEDEX website to track the order and the tracking number that he received was not an actual tracking number. A few days go by and he checks on the status at FEDEX again, once again not a tracking number so he calls Cingular back to confirm the order. He was notified that the order was placed and that the number Q060… was actually the Cingular purchase order number, and was given the actual tracking number for FEDEX 701600899775. While on the phone with Cingular Russell checked the status of the package on the FEDEX website to insure that the number he was given was real, it was the right one.

On Tuesday, May 24, 2005 the phones arrived. They were the Nokia 3120, NOT the Nokia 3220. The Nokia 3120 is NOT a camera phone, and the reason the 3220 was ordered was specifically for that function. Russell called Trista at work and asked that she follow up because he was too angry and frustrated to deal with the situation.

Trista called the number Russell provided 888-867-4384 and spoke with Doug. She explained the situation as described above and indicated the obvious disappointment and frustration that she and Russell were feeling. Doug apologized for the inconvenience and indicated that he was unfortunately not able to make changes since it was the migration line that Trista had called. He did check and indicate that he did not show the 3220’s as being available. He gave her the number to Customer Care 800-331-0500 and recommended that she call and explain the situation to them and find out what they could do for her to rectify the situation.

Trista called the new number 800-331-0500 and after going through the various prompts ended up speaking to Amy in Sales. Trista again explained the situation. Amy offered to send out prepaid labels for the return of the 3120 phones and indicated that she showed the 3220’s as available but the skew (sp?) number that came up was incorrect so that may have played a part in the wrong phones being sent out. She indicated that she wasn’t able to make adjustments to the account because she was the sales department and said that she would transfer Trista to Customer Care. What Amy actually did was put Trista BACK into the automated prompt system. Trista finally ended up selecting Canceling an Account and ended up with Brandon. When Brandon answered, Trista said to him “before you ask me any questions or I tell you the situation can you please tell me if you are Customer Service?” He indicated that he was, and she explained the situation AGAIN. Brandon checked and said he did show the 3220’s as being available. When Trista asked for clarification as to why she had been asked about her location when placing the original order, Brandon explained that availability and pricing vary by location. Brandon asked Trista what she had paid for the phones, and she indicated that the charges were supposed to show up on her next statement. He indicated that usually phones can be billed to an account only when they are free, so he wasn’t sure why she was told it would show up on the next statement. He also indicated that unfortunately since the migration was already in progress he wouldn’t be able to set it up as a new order to process – he wasn’t able to change anything. He placed her on hold to speak with another Rep about the situation.

When he came back he had Jennifer on the line, and she took the call from there. Jennifer indicated that she showed the 3220’s as available. She offered two suggestions, either that Trista charge the 3220’s to a credit card and receive reimbursement for the amount of the 3120’s once they were returned OR that she could set it up for the 3220’s to be sent out as soon as the 3120’s were returned. Trista asked what type of guarantee there was that the 3220’s would ever be sent since she had heard conflicting stories AGAIN about whether they were even available. Jennifer was not able to offer her any type of guarantee. Trista said she would try the route where the 3220’s would be sent once the 3120’s were received back – Jennifer then gave her another 800# to call for Secondary Sales 800-866-1514. Trista said “wait a minute, why do I have to call ANOTHER 800#?” Jennifer replied that she was only customer service, Trista would actually have to speak with the sales department to process the order.

At that point Trista said “you know what? Can you just tell me how long my current contract goes?” Jennifer said she didn’t have access to that information and Trista said “and why is that?!” Jennifer asked Trista to hold on and then came back to let her know she actually WAS able to find the information, and that the terms of the current contract (which was with AT&T Wireless) were 1/23/04 until 1/22/06. Trista said “okay, at this point I have had it. I am not going to call ANOTHER 800# - I have been on the phone with you guys for over an hour and haven’t gotten anywhere and I am at work! We are just going to finish out this contract and when it is done we are going elsewhere for our wireless service.” Jennifer asked if there was anything they could do to keep them as Cingular customers and Trista said “at this point, not really.” Trista asked that Jennifer confirm that the prepaid labels were going to be sent out for the return of the phones and Jennifer indicated that nothing was noted on the account (remember that Amy had said she was taking care of that!) but that she could transfer her to Secondary Sales to get that set up. Trista said “no, you are not transferring me again.” Jennifer placed Trista on hold while she attempted to contact the Sales department herself. Jennifer checked back several times and finally asked Trista if there was a number she could call her back at. Trista gave Jennifer her work number and the call ended.

About five minutes later Jennifer called Trista to inform her the everything was set for the prepaid labels to be sent out, and also offered the suggestion that Trista could actually take the phones in to a Cingular store and exchange them for the 3220’s, but that they would have to pay the difference on the phones. Trista indicated that she actually did know a way for Cingular to retain them as customers. She stated that for the trouble they have had with Cingular she didn’t feel it was out of line to request that they receive the phones free of charge. Everyone had apologized for “the inconvenience”, however not one person offered them anything to remedy the situation. Jennifer indicated that she would have to check with her supervisor on whether that was a possibility and placed Trista on hold – again. Jennifer came back and said they were unable to offer them the phones for free. Trista reminded Jennifer that she had asked what they could do to keep them as Cingular customers and THAT is what they could do – Jennifer again said no. Trista indicated that she would follow through with what she had said before and simply return the phones with the prepaid labels, stick out the original contract and look elsewhere for their wireless needs.

When Trista got off of work she and Russell went to the Cingular store. They waited for 20 minutes before someone assisted them, and asked to speak with a manager – the manager had already left for the day. The chose to go ahead and speak with the service individual and see what he could do, however they asked to sit down and discuss the situation rather than standing at the counter since it would take a while. The individual hesitated to take them somewhere to sit down and they again indicated it would take a while and they wanted to sit down to discuss the situation. The individual ended up taking them to the break room where they all sat down at a table. Trista and Russell explained the above situation to the individual and again expressed their extreme disappointment with the service of Cingular. They pointed out that they had not chosen to become Cingular customers; the company they were a part of – AT&T Wireless – was bought by Cingular. The experiences they have had with Cingular have been absolutely AWFUL, and not once had anyone offered them any type of compensation/discounts or SERVICE to remedy the situation. Trista again stated that she felt that Cingular should offer them the phones at no charge to make up for the trouble that she and Russell had gone through. The individual indicated that he could return the phones for them but that he couldn’t credit the account, he could only credit a credit or debit card OR they could exchange them for another phone in the store – none of which were what Trista and Russell wanted. He indicated that the 3220’s wouldn’t be in the store for about another month. Trista indicated that they would not be leaving with different phones, because that did not solve their issue in any way – the account was still messed up and STILL no-one was making any effort to remedy the situation! Trista and Russell obtained the name of the Assistant Manager, Jason, as well as what time he would be in and indicated that they would come back to speak with him since the service individual had indicated that the Assistant Manger would be able to credit the phones to their account rather than just a credit or debit card (he said only managers have access to that).

On Thursday May 26^th, 2005 Russell went up to the Cingular store on Ridgedale Dr. to speak with Jason, the assistant manager. He arrived there at approx. 9:35 am, as he was walking towards the door an employee that was outside notified him that they weren’t open yet, because the person that has the key to get inside the store was late. The store’s hours of operation are MON-FRI 9:00-8:00 ,SAT 9:00-7:00 ,SUN 11:00-6:00. So he got into his car and proceeded to wait for 15 minutes and since no one had shown up he left.


UPDATED: Russell went to the Southdale Eden Prairie Mall Cingular store and talked to the store manager there that same day. They finally got somewhere, "Tim" the store manager helped them out enough that they stayed with Cingular and have the phones that they found acceptable. Russell a Nokia 6230 and Trista a Motorla V551