Type Crisis

So last night I went to see ‘199 Lives: The Travis Pastrana Story’

You’ve probably never heard of him. I hadn’t, except for seeing mention of him related to Subaru Rally Racing, and his name on the window of some WRX-based rally cars. So i had no idea what i was in for. The only reason I knew the movie even existed is because I got email from Subaru of America announcing it.

The dude is crazy. He’s got no fear and broken a bunch of bones and has no real concern about getting hurt. It was a really awesome movie: Thrilling, interesting. and lots of amazing stunts. Its really just a biography of a guy who is mostly a motorcycle sports legend, but has now shifted over into US Rally car racing, as well as doing both in things like the X Games. Anyhow. the stunts he does are absolutely mind-boggling. This is an adrenaline pumping, music blasting, DOCUMENTARY. Its an interesting experience. I imagine my wife would have been bored but i found it fascinating. i guess its a ‘Guy Movie’ barring the occasional girl who digs motorsports other than Nascar. Anyhow. it has me wishing I had done more crazy athletic fun stuff before i settled down. Also I have to give props to Subaru for supporting a movie that is very very minimally related to Subaru.. He drives Subaru rally cars now, but 90% of the movie was about his life and motocross/freestyle career. They did not dwell too much on rally. While i guess I would have liked to see more rally, since I’m in love with my car (See Mike Ness: “I’m in love with my car”) I ended up thoroughly enjoying the movie and having a new appreciation for motorcycle racing.. which by the way is still insane. These guys fly through the air like rag dolls, and often land in the same manner. I keep saying things like crazy and insane.. but ultimately.. its impressive.. Amazing. And just fascinating that someone can put themselves through that kind of torture then get up and do it again and again. I have only a limited knowledge of ‘thrillseeking’ but this is just incredible. I imagine this will be out on video soon, as its theater run is very limited. That is unfortunate, but I can see why. Documentaries about Motocross heroes are probably not the ‘box office draw’ that it would take to support a full run. Also the picture quality on a lot of it was iffy, because much of it was home video and tapes from television and such. After the first 5 minutes though I didnt notice the picture quality because i was so impressed with the story and well.. character.. except he’s not a character. He’s a real person. Travis Pastrana is like Evil Knievel for the 90s-2000’s, except he seems like a down to earth guy without a huge ego. (This is from the film. for all i know he could be a jerk in real life, but probably not.) He’s kind of goofy, and even compares himself to Richie Cunningham. He’s sort of a hybrid of Richie and the Shark-Jumping Fonzie. Except this time the shark jumping is badass. I’d watch this movie again just to see the Double back flip motorcycle jump again. At the X games (I think) he launched his bike off a ramp.. flipped it in the air TWICE (720 degrees!!!) and landed it flawlessly - Hopped off. let the bike skid up the next ramp, and threw his arms in the air and the crowd was just in awe. Very very cool stuff. When i have played videogames I have always thought ‘ yea right anyone can do that kind of stuff’. Apparently, they can.

Awesome.

(See: http://www.movietickets.com/movie_detail.asp?movie_id=63540&showdate=0&tstate=6 for reviews)

Looks like we’ve been slacking on our writing here.  This is not intentional though.  I know I’ve had finals for my online college courses this week not to mention the family’s been sick. I’ve just been getting by and trying not to lose what I’ve learned that has some real value. Right now I am going to sleep feeling a bit restless mentally but physically I am exhausted.  Let’s hope my brain will let me sleep for once.

Tags: sleep

I’ve noticed this in the past; people really like to argue over trivial things on the internet. Last week I wrote a post on my dealings with Apple when I tried to acquire a refurbished iPhone. There is a gaming related forum that I regularly visit but only in a discussion related capacity; I no longer game with these people on their servers (which is a separate discussion for another day). There have been some interesting discussions between some Apple fans and Windows fans. These discussions are typically interesting because it is a “gaming” community and Apple’s support for modern games is pretty much none existent.

My post there was a means to share my frustration with the Apple matter. All of the discussion was pretty much standard for a community that is pretty much civilized in comparison to the other similar communities I’ve visited in the past. However, there was this one member who continued to call me “naive” and pretty much insinuated that I am an idiot because the Apple site said the original price was $599 which was the original price back in July of 2007. While Apple may not necessarily be lying about the original price being $599, they are being less than truthful when they claim that you are saving 42% by buying the refurbished iPhone for $350 now. That would be true if the iPhone was still being sold at $599 but it isn’t being sold at that price any more. I’ve worked in retail in the past and keep up with consumerist issues all the time. What I do know is that selling something that is refurbished or used at almost the same price as it is brand new and fibbing the so-called savings by quoting a price from almost a year ago is false advertising in my opinion. You do not need to agree with me but I would hope that you would respect my point of view. Most people would rather argue with you for the sake of arguing.

This is the “internet age” where most anyone and everyone feels safe behind their computer screen. They feel as though they can argue and insult someone from afar without having to worry about being punched in the nose. Perhaps all computer monitors should be equipped with a mechanical fist so those on the other side will remember that doing the same thing in person would be quite antisocial and could result in a black eye.

Tags: argue, complaint, jerks, people

I found this funny and I am sure you will too.

Tags: funny, rickroll

Hey Lee, you may not feel better about your Apple experience for a while. I had a similar experience with Verizon and it pissed me off for 2 years.

Economies of Scale are a notorious thing. Apple (Or Verizon, insert malevolent entity here) does not dislike you, they just don’t care. 1 pissed off person does not worry them in the slightest. We were trained as consumers to believe in policies like “The Customer is always right,” but the truth is that type of ideology is spawned from small business, or at least smallER businesses. To a corporation the size of Apple of Verizon, there are always 10 more customers waiting around to replace you. For an example of this in effect, look at the Nintendo Wii. You CANT buy one. If you were to buy a Wii, have an issue with it, and take it to the store for replacement. they would throw up their hands because the don’t have any to give you to replace it. Customer satisfaction is effectively no longer linked to the bottom line, and the bottom line is ALL ‘Apple Sales and Marketing’ is concerned with

But there is good news, sort of. Here’s the crux of if: the products are not to blame. The moral bankruptcy of the people who sell these things does not apply to the things. They are just things.

My new verizon phone service kicks ass, I spent 3 years hating Verizon and telling my friends that they should not use Verizon (another thing we were told to do as consumers that no longer has any effect due to volumes of scale) and what did it get me? Just internal rage. So I moved to a new area where my AT&T phoene did not work. I had to cancel and luckily, I was still within 30 days of getting a new phone, so I could cancel it. It took me 1 hour and 40 minutes on the phone to cancel. I spent this time on the phone at Radio Shack in the mall. AT&T also sucls. e

So, Verizon corporation is still a bunch of faceless douches, but the PHONE SERVICE PRODUCT. is good. Assuming that i do not have any trouble with it.

Additionally, Apple products are not even created by apple themselves, at least not by ‘Sales and Marketing’. They are created by (at least) 2 sets of people.

1. the chinese(or singapore?) factory workers.
2. the apple employed software engineers. Many of whom probably hate Sales & Marketing along with you.

Apple Sales and Marketing division is the proper target for your legitimate rage.
To reach them, attempt to buy any product, then change the topic and yell at them. This will do you no good and provide no satisfaction.

The best you can hope for is to find a different good deal on an iphone and forget your rage, OR find another product that will fit your needs. I recommend a Verizon Phone, just don’t try to deal with their Billing Department, Sales, or Marketing.

Incidentally, my tone on this probably sounds a little dispassionate or even condescending, and condescension was not my intent. (I try not to employ concepts i am not sure i can even spell!) This is the result of how things sound in my brain before they (sometimes) go through a filter to escape my mouth. I think your anger is legitimate. The problem is it only ends up reflecting back on you, AS IT DID ME with Verizon) because the company DOES mean to be Dispassionate and Condescending.. or at least Dispassionate.

Tags: apple, corporations, customer service, iphone, verizon

Customer Service. Apple doesn’t know what customer service is nor do they care that they over price their products and falsely advertise on their website. First, I will show you a link to their iphone store front with the 8gb model of the iPhone priced at $399.

iPhone Pricing

Notice how the original price of the new 8GB is $400 dollars.

Read the remainder of this entry »

Tags: apple, customer service, iphone, rudeness

I clicked on a banner ad today, on a website.
It’s unprecedented, because it appeared to be a product I might actually want. I think this might be the first time anyone has ever clicked on one of these out of genuine interest in the advertised product. Seriously. I was intrigued by the item advertised and may even check out to see if it is available at a real store in the real world. This may be a signal of the coming apocalypse.

Oh yeah. the item/ad was not porn, nor was the shooting of some creature with your mouse pointer involved.

I’ve been spending way too much time tonight trying to find a theme that works and looks the way that I want. They either work correctly by showing an excerpt rather than the whole post but the author’s name doesn’t show up. The author’s name just may show up but the theme doesn’t align correctly. It’s one thing after another tonight and I am finding this overly frustrating. I guess I should go to bed now.

Tags: annoyed, irritation, themes, wordpress

I made a post on this new blog.  While there isn’t anything of value in this particular post, I promise future posts by Lavinrac and myself will have plenty of amusement.

Is your Identity defined by where you shop? Mine is. I am a member of over 30 exclusive clubs and you are not. Oh.. whats that you say? They invited you to join too?

It seems like everywhere I go these days, I am offered, no, EXPECTED to already be carrying, a little plastic or cardboard card for whatever place of business I happen to be in. It used to be that these were just credit cards. and NO was a pretty reasonable answer. Now it’s all kinds of cards that allegedly are of some great benefit to me. It’s becoming a card epidemic. I am drowning in an endless sea of fantastic offers and great bonuses.

My wallet generally contains the following: A Drivers License, a Virginia Tech Employee ID (Why do i need this cluttering up my wallet? Whats wrong with my VIRGINIA STATE DRIVERS LICENSE?), One Debit/Check Card, One Credit Card, a Medical Insurance Card, and a Barnes & Noble Card. Thats 6 cards. about a millimeter thick each on average. This is pretty much enough to FILL my wallet, which is in fact a metal business card holder, and not a wallet at all.

In addition I have the option of carrying around a card for almost everything else even incidentally part of my life. For example my Auto Insurance card. I have an auto insurance card IN my car glovebox, but its not wallet-sized, so some reason I may need a card at all times even when away from my car. Now i can SORT of see the logic here. but anyone with any level of sense can find out the 800 number for USAA without much effort with the assistance of nothing but a cel phone. Each of the video rental stores I am a member of also issue me a card. These I immediately bury at the bottom of the first stack of papers I see at home. They all accept your drivers license to rent anyhow.

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Tags: annoyances, cards, rant