Archive for Personal Rants
April 7, 2008 at 11:37 AM · Filed under Personal Rants
My Wife and I planned to spend our hard-earned weekend lounging around in Sea World’s latest water park called Aquatica which opened just last month. It boasts two of the largest lazy rivers around and is packed with new rides and and gigantic wave pools hugging 80,000 square feet of sandy beach. Sounds like the ideal place to spend your off-time in Florida, right? Not in April.
It rained, and poured, and thundered, and was rather ominous the entire weekend, only slightly clearing up in the early morning only to continue the downpour around 1:30 PM. What a bummer! I hope next weekend won’t be as bad but you know what they say: April showers bring May flowers. For now, let’s put those damn flowers on hold because I want to splash!
March 29, 2008 at 9:32 PM · Filed under Personal Rants
We’ve come a long way in the past 50 years as far as technology is concerned. As more new stuff comes out, it leaves most of us to wonder what new and exciting things we’ll see in the future. For a few people like myself, we’re left wondering not what cool things we’ll have in the next 50 years, but what things we won’t. Let’s face it, we already take what we have right now for granted, but what if all the things you see around you were just a memory when your kids are old and grey?
Live Television
When my Wife and I sit down to watch TV, we’re not watching it as it happens. It’s pre-recorded and aired at a later date with commercials and such. On top of that, we record shows on our TiVo-style digital recorder so we can fast-forward through the boring parts of our favorite ones. Needless to say, there’s nothing live about our living room. I know a lot of people won’t agree with me, but in the next 50 years, I see the few live shows we have (like news, etc.) to become a thing of the past on our televisions as more people surf the Internet to find out what’s going on in the world.
House Phones
Do you have one? I don’t. When I did have a land line telephone, it was only because my high-speed DSL connection required a wired phone line. I’ve since ditched the house phone and live exclusively off my mobile device (CDMA). It’s clear, always with me, and supports high-speed EvDO data. What more could I ask for? I see more and more people switching to cell phones and VoIP (Phone via the Internet) for lower rates, more portable service, and more calling options than ever before. Why not splurge on technology?
Cash Money
A while back, I went to buy something and couldn’t because they wouldn’t take my money. It wasn’t foreign currency or anything, just my bank card. Nowadays you can’t do jack shit without holding a major debit or credit card like Visa or Mastercard. Want to rent a car for that summer trip? Forget about a cash deposit. Even if you had a million dollars, most places now require a card to put on file on top of you paying in cash. Better luck next time!
What about that cheap hotel down the street? Sooner or later, you’ll need that shiny plastic thing for just about everything in the future. Better get used to stuffing your cash in the bank or on a pre-paid credit card because in the next 10 to 20 years, I bet you it’s going to be almost impossible to go anywhere without your plastic cash card. Didn’t Visa say it’s everywhere you want to be? No joke.
March 1, 2008 at 9:27 PM · Filed under Personal Rants
Just the other day I was talking to someone through Windows Live Messenger (MSN Messenger) when suddenly he started to type in a delusional, almost cryptic word using abbreviations and acronyms unbeknown to me. I’m no stranger to chat, having frequented the likes of AIM, Yahoo!, ICQ, IRC, etc. for over a decade now, but I found myself “Googling” these strange 2-4 letter puzzles just to keep up with the conversation.
I know “tpn lk ts” is a lot faster than spelling out each word, but for those of us who communicate often over the Internet, if you don’t spell the word correctly then you’re not “speaking” the language you’re using. If I typed in an acronym-filled crypto-speak on a corporate e-mail to my Boss, I’m sure I’d be seeking new employment by the end of the day.
To an extent I can understand such behavior on a mobile phone where the keypad might be difficult to effectively type on, but on a device with a full QWERTY keyboard like a smartphone, computer, etc., I find this to be absolutely unacceptable and nothing short of laziness and ignorance on any medium.
February 4, 2008 at 12:13 PM · Filed under Mobile Gadgets, Personal Rants
Aside from faking your own death or moving to Antarctica, there are few options for people wanting out of that lengthy cell phone contract unless you’re willing to pony up the cash for the $200 to $300 early termination fee written in lawyer-speak on the back of the phone contract you probably don’t remember signing. Let’s face it: We don’t carefully read through every fine print line of our phone contracts when we sign away years of our lives to the likes of Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc. Living on the edge is the American way!
The Easy Route
It used to be simple. Let’s say your job required you to pack up and move to New Mexico next week. When you arrive at the airport you realize you have no service! Oh, no. You still have about 15 months left on that Verizon Wireless contract and you can barely get a signal if you stand on your head.
Most mobile carriers have written into their Terms of Service that they don’t guarantee that service. This means if you move to an area which has no service on that “Nationwide” coverage, you’re still responsible for paying. Just because you can’t use your phone doesn’t mean you should stop paying for it, right? Yeah right!
Military Movers
Nowadays, with more and more military men and women moving overseas, most cell phone providers are willing to cancel out the contract early without paying any additonal fees as long as you don’t owe them money. Just fax in a copy of your orders or bring them to a local retailer. Some providers also offer a “vacation plan,” where they suspend your service until you come back to the United States and you’re only responsible for a small monthly fee of $15 or so to keep your service and phone number rather than the whole thing.
Contract Swapping
The easiest and most recommended method of getting out of your long cell phone contract is by giving it to someone who wants it. A friend or family member might have little or no credit and is stuck using a pre-paid phone because they don’t want to shell out $500 for a deposit. There’s your way out. Charge them just what the bill is, and call your mobile provider to have the “credit limit” on the account reduced so they can’t go all out and run up a $2,000 bill. They get a free slightly used phone, a new paid contract with more minutes, and you get the freedom to move elsewhere.
And there’s always faking your death, which as a dead person you might find it difficult to establish a new line of credit or enter into any legal agreements. Antarctica’s looking better all the time…
February 1, 2008 at 12:32 AM · Filed under Personal Rants
I know, I know. 246 more days till the United States presidential elections and there are fewer faces running than when I first stepped out of my own little world and tried to imagine this beautiful country without another Republican in office. I’m not really trying to pick sides on this statement but come on, America. 8 years is long enough. It’s time for a change and whether some black man acting white or some woman who cries too much is our ticket to ending all this craziness, then let’s do it!
Yeah, I’m probably what you’d call a Democrat.
However, I’d love to see an independent party take the White House so all you Republicans and all you Democrats out there can work together for a change instead of working against each other. Pro war, anti terrorism, high gas prices, big oil. Those are the keywords of the United States these days and I think it’s time to change them.
Destroying an entire country to locate one man? That’s not what’s best for this country. “Big Oil” in the White House and gas prices reaching record highs? That’s not what’s best for this country. Efficiency in lawmaking? Nope, you guessed it. I’m not listing reasons why we should vote Democratic for the 2008 Presidential Elections. I’m just giving you reasons why you shouldn’t vote for another 4 to 8 years of what we’ve already been forced to live with.
On the flip side, it’s not looking good for the Democrats. As I write this, we are left with two minority runners and two firsts in the history of this country. In one corner we have Mr. Barack Obama, a 46-year-old black man and in the other Mrs. Hillary Clinton, a 60-year-old white woman. Considering this country was founded by white slave-owning men, who knows what we’re in store for but it sure is fun to watch on TV!
