The title of this blog is dedicated to everyone who's gender cover has been blown by the new avatar setup on XBox Live.
Almost Friday. Yay! Busy week at work, with the end of year coming up and us making the mad dash to meet the projections for 2008. Makes for a lively day at least, and they tend to go by fast so thats good.
I don't have the boy this weekend, but I do have him for Thanksgiving so I'm looking forward to that. I am going to take a shortcut with my cooking the dinner, opting instead to scout around the local markets and find places selling pre-cooked (or even smoked) birds to save myself the trouble. Ah, the chicanery. Who knows where this will end...I may even buy the whole dinner pre-cooked! Muahahahahaha.
The riff I came up with that the other guys in the band helped rework has now become a full-fledged song. I have a little tweaking to do, and its all subject to change once Ed and Brian get involved of course, but I have at least the whole thing structured. Possibly the only thing I may still tweak is the chord progression under the solo, but we'll see. Who knows, I may even try to write some lyrics for it too. I used to be good at that, way back when. I may give it a shot, we'll see. I had a really nice compliment paid to me by Brian earlier in the week. He told me its hard to believe I've only gotten back to playing less than a year ago (its actually been just over 9 months). Considering what an outstanding musician he is, that means a lot coming from him. But whats really helped me is playing with guys the caliber of Brian and Ed. Both these guys have been playing forever and they really are great, great musicians, so it forces me to raise my game. Plus I learn a lot from both of them when we play together, so its been a great experience so far. On top of everything there's a good chemistry between us all so that makes a difference too. I seemed to fit in with them right away, and it helped me get comfortable with them that much sooner.
Ok, gonna cruise Netflix and maybe watch an episode of The Munsters before bed. Ta.
I would like to register a complaint about a customer service representative. He repeatedly gave incorrect information that he insisted was official Microsoft policy that could have cost me $60 in new charges in addition to not solving my issue. He also did not listen to what my issue was, as evidenced by the half dozen to dozen times that I had to re-explain it to him in detail during the 1 hour and 35 minutes that I was on the phone with him before he finally let me speak to a supervisor. I ask that you please check to see if this conversation was recorded for quality assurance purposes, and that if it has you review our conversation.
I called this evening (Thursday, November 20, 200 to follow up on the call I made yesterday (ref # [removed for blog].) The issue is that one and only one of my LIVE Arcade games (Shotest Shogi) will not let me play it even though I am signed into Xbox LIVE at the time. (All of my other Arcade purchases work just fine.) He told me that before he could "escalate" my issue to the next level up (and before I could speak to anyone else,) I had to create a new LIVE account, repurchase the game under that Gamertag, and see if it worked before any solution to the DRM problem could be found (at a cost of $10 to me.) He then told me that in order to access LIVE Marketplace, I would have to purchase a Gold subscription (at ~$50.) He said that Netflix can be accessed with a Silver Account, but in order to go online and use Marketplace I had to have a Gold account. He also said that Shotest Shogi had a different license agreement than any other game offered through LIVE Marketplace, and that it was the only game on LIVE that does not allow access to it on anything but the original purchasing console even when the purchasing profile is signed in to LIVE. He said that because it is a license issue, there is nothing Microsoft can do about it and I should create another profile to repurchase the game through.
The agent was polite in his tone and demeanor, but it was repeatedly made abundantly clear by what he said that he not only did not know what he was talking about, but that he would rather make up incorrect information than refer me to an agent who was more familiar with my type of issue. I concisely gave only what information was necessary for the resolution of my issue, but he kept asking irrelevant questions that I answered several times before he would put me on hold for 10 minutes only to come back and ask me again. He then got confused by the extraneous details that he had asked for (such as why I had at one time sold an Xbox that I used to own) and kept trying to answer questions that I didn't ask. He also repeatedly forgot the answers to the questions he had asked.
When he finally let me speak to a supervisor, the supervisor was able to hear my issue, try a resolution with me, and then explain what they needed to do next and how many days it would take. This conversation (I think the supervisor's name was Jim) only took about 20 minutes. My issue is now being worked on under the new reference # [removed for blog]. Jim confirmed that the information the previous agent had given me was incorrect.
Perhaps the most troubling instruction that the first agent today gave me was to sign into my brother's account and repurchase the same game using his MS Points. It was not the agent's intention that I steal, but nevertheless his complete lack of familiarity with Xbox LIVE, its membership levels, the MS Points system, Gamertags, LIVE Marketplace, and DRM management led to his instructing me to use his account (and his MS Points) to make a duplicate purchase. This level of ignorance of Microsoft policies is inexcusable in a customer service representative for the Xbox 360 console. More outrageous was his unwillingness to listen to anything but the questions he thought I was going to ask him and his propensity for making up wrong answers and claiming that they are official Microsoft policy.
Please write to me to let me know how Microsoft is ensuring quality customer service experiences.
Gamertag: Case Legal
support reference # [removed for blog]
I just started this workout DVD collection and all I can say is good christ.
I haven't been physically drained as I am right now since I first started Tae Kwon Do when I was 20.
My arms and shoulders are completely and totally blasted. I have to say, considering I did maybe one third of the amount the people on the DVD did, I am very pleased with the workout in general. Today was two discs, the first was chest and back and was 56mins of pull ups, push ups and resistance band work. After than I did the abdominal DVD which is only 16mins long, and which is about 14mins more than I was capable of doing. My stomach feels like it been strained way past its boundaries. Considering I do tons of supposed crunches at the gym in the morning, this routine is fucking brutal.
Sometimes you can find some really strange people making odd presumptions about their company, space and what they think the Internet can do for them... and then there is this guy who sent Jonah Falcon an e-mail today:
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Dear Mr. Falcon:
I just ran across your article entitled RUMORS3 Sony’s Last Console, posted October 25, 2008, http://www.gamestooge.com/2008/10/25/rumor-ps3-sonys-last-console/, and I would like to raise an issue that is of concern to Selling Power magazine, which is the use of our trademark.
The word “Selling Power” is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for sales effectiveness. For example you wrote: “Between less than stellar sales figures, extremely costly research and development, and the cost of production, the PS3’s only saving grace for Sony, at the moment, is the PS2’s strong selling power for the entire PlayStation brand.” We do not condone such uses of our trademark.
As a practical matter, when you describe sales effectiveness, there are a wide range of terms available such as: sales excellence, sales savvy, sales mastery, sales acumen, sales efficiency, and many more.
The reason for this letter is to educate writers like yourself that we want to protect our trademark, since we don’t want to risk Selling Power being declared by the courts a generic word. Therefore we ask you not to use Selling Power as a phrase since it is our legal trademark.
We would like to receive a written acknowledgment of this letter stating that you will in the future identify Selling Power as a trademark if you should write about our magazine, and not use Selling Power as a phrase. If we do not hear from you, we will need to take further action.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
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Seriously? For real? You kidding me? Either they think they can brute force the entire internet into not using their companies name in "common speech" because it's their name or they're just looking for conflict. If they really believe this is going to work I feel sad for them.
Here's the debate that has been raging in my office today. Any entomologists or insectologists or whatever feel free to chime in here. It's been one of those hotly contested debates with co-workers raising voices, going to the internet for all sorts of conflicting information, and causing hurt feelings and resentment that will certainly cause a sting for days to come.
Sewer roaches--or palmetto bugs or WTF they are called. Do they come up through your drain into your sink, or do they go from inside your house down into the sink to find water? I cannot even tell you the various debates and points of view, all the 'what if' situations and 'how could they possibly know...', all the discussions of P-traps and water evaporation, etc. etc.
One guy just called the City of Mesa to find out. He's the guy who found the bug in his sink yesterday. Turns out when he asked the lady if they come from the sewer through the pipes, her answer was 'probably'. But then she said they'd send someone out to spray the manholes in the area, so I guess he came out ahead. Unless of course, spraying the manhole covers forces the roaches back into the sewer, where they come up through the pipes in greater numbers....oy vey.
In part 2 of the new feature on my blog, we’ll take a look at arguably the biggest douchebags on the planet; General Motors Chief Executive Officer Richard Wagoner; Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli; and Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally.
By Chip Somodevilla -- Getty Images
In recent days these three douchebags have been in Washington D.C. begging for a piece of the bailout money to save their floundering companies from failure. How could this happen? How could a once iconic symbol that is the American automobile be driven in to a proverbial brick wall? People will be quick to blame the current economic environment, but I would like to point out the arrogance and ignorance of those at the top.
While their competitors began to shift their focus to the hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles, those in Detroit were content to keep pumping out gas-guzzling SUVs and lower quality vehicles than those of their foreign competitors. As late as 2006, people were still pondering that the whole hybrid movement is a fad. On top of that, just two short months ago, Ford was making justifications for not ramping up their hybrid production. According to Ford, we really don’t want Hybrid vehicles; we just want more fuel efficient vehicles. While this may be true to some extent, there is only so far that the internal combustion engine can go.
Do I need to remind anyone that GM's next greatest move was to introduce a hybrid Escalade? An Escalade...seriously?
Continuing to wallow in their arrogance and obscene opulence, the big three douchebags had the balls to fly to Washington D.C. in their PRIVATE jets to beg for a piece of the bailout.
...the chief executives of the Big Three automakers opted to fly their company jets to the capital for their hearings this week before the Senate and House -- an ill-timed display of corporate excess for a trio of executives begging for an additional $25 billion from the public trough this week.
"There's a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hands," Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.) advised the pampered executives at a hearing yesterday. "It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high-hat and tuxedo. . . . I mean, couldn't you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here?"
From the same article, when asked if they would reduce their salary to $1 a year, only Nardelli had offered to do so. This is not unheard of in the corporate world. Many executives live and die by their stock price and bonuses for performance.
So it was hard to feel sorry for the executives when Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), late in the hearing, reminded them again that "the symbolism of the private jet is difficult," and mischievously asked the witnesses whether, in another symbolic gesture, they would be willing to work for $1 a year, as Nardelli has offered to do.
"I don't have a position on that today," demurred Wagoner (2007 total compensation: $15.7 million).
"I understand the intent, but I think where we are is okay," said Mulally ($21.7 million).
"I'm asking about you," Roskam pressed.
"I think I'm okay where I am," Mulally said.
And don't even think about asking him to fly commercial.
to follow up on the call I made yesterday (ref # [removed for blog].) The issue is that one and only one of my LIVE Arcade games (Shotest Shogi) will not let me play it even though I am signed into Xbox LIVE at the time. (All of my other Arcade purchases work just fine.) He told me that before he could "escalate" my issue to the next level up (and before I could speak to anyone else,) I had to create a new LIVE account, repurchase the game under that Gamertag, and see if it worked before any solution to the DRM problem could be found (at a cost of $10 to me.) He then told me that in order to access LIVE Marketplace, I would have to purchase a Gold subscription (at ~$50.) He said that Netflix can be accessed with a Silver Account, but in order to go online and use Marketplace I had to have a Gold account. He also said that Shotest Shogi had a different license agreement than any other game offered through LIVE Marketplace, and that it was the only game on LIVE that does not allow access to it on anything but the original purchasing console even when the purchasing profile is signed in to LIVE. He said that because it is a license issue, there is nothing Microsoft can do about it and I should create another profile to repurchase the game through.
S3 Sony’s Last Console, posted October 25, 2008, http://www.gamestooge.com/2008/10/25/rumor-ps3-sonys-last-console/, and I would like to raise an issue that is of concern to Selling Power magazine, which is the use of our trademark.
