PSA

From Military.com:

'Help Our Troops Call Home'

The Army and Air Force Exchange Service's (AAFES) "Help Our Troops Call Home" Program recently surpassed the $8 million mark in contributions. Military Exchange Global Prepaid Phone cards purchased through the program can be sent to individual servicemembers or "any servicemember." By logging on to the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) at aafes.org or calling 800-527-2345, friends, family members and civic groups can take part in the "Help Our Troops Call Home" effort by sending any one of three Military Exchange Global Prepaid Phone cards, including a $27.50 card capable of providing more than two hours of call time from any of 69 phone centers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait to the U.S.

For those with a loved one on sea duty, ship-to-shore calling cards are also available.

Cue Willy Nelson

"On the road again, just can't wait to be on the road again...."

Athos and I have been traveling of late. He's teaching a class at an industry conference, one which is being held rather conveniently in my hometown. His old stomping grounds are not far away, at the other end of the turnpike, so rather than him flying in for three days of the conference, we loaded ourselves into the car and are driving there.

Observation: Why is it that the more toll-road miles a state has, the worse its rest stop facilities are?

So far, we've encountered:

- A motorcycle "trike" with a wheelchair strapped upright to the back. (And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the WIN of the day!)

- A hearse with a bicycle on the roof. (WTF?)

- The nearly-obligatory wreck. We didn't see it happen (thank gods!), but we got to see the before-cleanup aftermath. Two or 3 highway patrol cars, one of the big mucking rigs they use to drag semis around, a fire truck and an ambulance. This one was going to take awhile to un-SNAFU. One semi had run into the back of another semi's trailer, and both trailer and cab were pretty well fucked up. We hope the fact that the ambulance was just sitting there, and the paramedics didn't seem to be in any major hurry, was a good sign. At any rate, somebody was going to be shoveling a LOT of feed corn off the highway!

- An "Italian" restaurant that uses canola oil instead of olive oil! I was told they didn't have a bottle of EVOO in the place! Folks, I was appalled. No olive oil? Heresy!! Needless to say, the food was okay, not not spectacular. Not a lot of there there, is probably the best way to describe it. Olive oil just adds a layer of richness that canola doesn't.

- And let us not forget the "good ol' Southern boy" in the Walmart shirt who was digging for gold in his nasal cavity right there in the hotel hallway, in front of everyone. I didn't stick around to see if he found anything -- or what he might do with his nugget prize. Redneck much?

More to follow....

Zombie Chickens - cool!

"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the Zombie Chicken-- excellence, grace, and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all."

Dori, gods bless her, recently honored me with this and I'm pretty sure that means I now owe her a drink when we finally meet up face-to-face. LOL (It's so going to happen, just the when and the where that are TBD.) So now I get to pass the award along -- just as soon as I can figure out which of the bloggers I read regularly I should name.

Yes, Virginia, asking a simple question CAN get you arrested, even in America

This is a video that everyone should see, especially if you still think the insurance companies have the consumer's best interests at heart....

You can read the details here:

FOR ASKING WHY YOUR INSURANCE RATES INCREASE, YOU CAN BE ARRESTED

Now, in the interest of fair play, I have no way of knowing exactly what transpired between their arrival at the Anthem offices, the lock-out and subsequent appearance of the local constabulary. But having dealt with insurance company run-arounds, evasions and equine excrement before, I'd hazard a guess that it didn't take much at all for the visitors to become personae non gratae. Blue Cross/Blue Shield sure as hell didn't like me asking questions and wanting answers....

FedEx FAIL!

Early last month, Technogeek pre-ordered a copy of Apple's "Snow Leopard" OS from Amazon.com. We knew it wasn't being released for shipment until the end of the month. We're cool with that. We've always had good luck with ordering from them . . . but not so much from some of their shippers. I love it when they send our stuff via UPS, because we know we'll get it when promised. Sometimes our orders have even shipped/arrived earlier than expected, which is a nice little bonus!

The only real problem we'd had until now was one time when Amazon shipped an order through the post office, and USPS managed to misplace (or misdeliver?) it and my movie went MIA. I contacted Amazon and they expedited shipment on a replacement, no problem. (And WTF is up with USPS not admitting they even *have* a package until after it's delivered? Tracking numbers are no good if you can't actually, you know, TRACK YOUR EFFING PACKAGE!)

However . . . Techgeek's software still has not arrived. Amazon sent it via FedEx on August 31st. FedEx's tracking record shows it arrived at their Sacramento location on Sept. 8th. Why the discrepancy? Who knows. Even if one makes allowances for the Labor Day weekend, that still leaves 5 working days where the package was in limbo.

So FedEx admits to custody as of the 8th. It's now the 15th, and the package still isn't here. FedEx's own records show it's not due to arrive for two more days!

Here's where it gets . . . interesting. The package departed Sacramento, CA on Wednesday the 9th and arrived at one of their distribution locations on Sept. 11th. Um, hello? It would have been faster to drive halfway across the country and pick it up than to send it via FedEx!

So. The available online tracking information shows his software was physically present (or at least, logged as such) on the far side of our state, less than 5 hours' drive from here, on Friday the 11th, at 11:54AM. It left there roughly 4 and a half hours later. So apparently it sat in a truck all weekend. C'mon people! Are they telling me that none of their people work weekends? Gee, and here I thought they meant their "When it absolutely, positively, has to be there overnight" slogan was supposed to have any basis in reality.... (And yes, I know we weren't promised overnight delivery, but still!)

On the 14th (!!) we find an entry: "Shipment information sent to USPS". Um, WHY? Does FedEx still have custody at this point, or has the post office taken over? Oh, there we go: "Arrived at FedEx location" and "Departed FedEx location" on the 14th as well.

It gets better: at one point the package was all of than 20 miles away from us. Yep, it went from 4 1/2 hours east of us, to 1 1/2 hours west of here. IN ANOTHER STATE.

Go figure.

And they don't expect to have it here for 2 more days!

Yes, Technogeek has registered a complaint about their shipper with Amazon. Hopefully they will be equally displeased that his order will have taken TWO AND A HALF WEEKS to arrive. That's outrageous, even with "super shipper saving" or whatever they call it. I've gone that route for years, and never has an order taken that long to arrive! In fact, Amazon usually has packages at our door in less than a week even with the "slower" delivery service.

Wednesday update: Apparently FedEx has handed the package off to USPS; the tracking info shows it logged into the local post office facility as of yesterday afternoon. Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be here today....

It's official

I probably should have titled this oh my gawd, what have I done? but I just can't force a feeling I don't have. I'm not having second thoughts or regrets -- unless, of course, I should regret having a conscience and trying to do "the right thing" by giving notice instead of just saying take this job and shove it, and walking out. Life would be one helluva lot easier at times without a conscience, you know?

I turned in my resignation today. Maybe not the best idea in today's economic climate, but it needed to be done. I'm tired of putting up with the bullshit and the slights. And it's tough working for someone for whom I've lost respect.

At lunch, Athos asked me what I would say if the owner offered me another, better, position. Not that I'm likely to be offered either a promotion or a raise; I'm sure the office manager wouldn't allow it. Yes, I've been working in a company where the owner has less say about what goes on than does one of his underlings! Isn't that just peachy?

No, if I have any regrets, it'll be because I will no longer be working side by side with a couple of wonderful, hard-working, largely unappreciated people who I have the honor to claim as friends. J.L. and I.W., I will miss you.

And as for C.Y. and P.H., you can kiss my gassy ass!

Um...oops?

Western Pa. historic war buff charged for firing

cannonball through wall of neighbor's home

Do home owners' insurance policies cover that sort of thing?