I’ve also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.

I have, however, been in Sane. They don’t have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family and work.

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I’m not too much on physical activity anymore.

I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.

I’ve been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes I’m in Capable, and I go there more often as I’m getting older.

One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!

I may have been in Continent, and I don’t remember what country I was in. It’s an age thing. 

PLEASE DO YOUR PART!

Today is one of the many National Mental Health Days throughout the year. You can do your bit by remembering to send an e-mail to at least one unstable person. My job is done!

Life is too short for negative drama & petty things. So laugh insanely, love truly and forgive quickly! From one unstable person to another… I hope everyone is happy in your head – we’re all doing pretty well in mine!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thbSSuo1Z00

Yesterday I went to Les Schwab in Rancho Cordova, CA to get two new tires. The guy asked me if I knew what siping was. I said no. He explained that siping creates additional cuts in the tires to give them more surface area. More surface area means better traction on wet surfaces and cooler tires when it’s hot. I thought, cool, my new tires were going to come with these additional cuts. (They damn well better because they cost me $219.33 each, their top brand Toyo. Probably another sales tactic push. I should have asked to see other tire options. Totally my own fault.)

BULLSHIT! It’s an after market service where the shop, not the manufacturer, does a Ginsu on the tires. The manner in which it was explained to me wasn’t clearly stated that it was OPTIONAL. I thought it was a feature of these very expensive tires. I ended up with not 2 siping charges, but 4 of them because they also siped my existing tires, thereby voiding any warranty on them! Total price, $58.

So, what’s my point? I’m pissed off that it was not clearly stated that it was an optional service. I’m pissed off that I was not specifically asked the question, “Now that you know what siping is, do you want us to sipe both your new and existing tires?” Please reiterate to your sales people how important it is for the customer NOT to find surprise charges on the invoice AFTER the work has been completed. I’m just sayin’.

IF THE MANUFACTURER THOUGHT SIPING WAS A GOOD IDEA TO IMPROVE TIRE PERFORMANCE, THEY WOULD ALREADY BE DOING IT TO THEIR TIRES!

This is no different than some pimple-faced geek over-clocking the CPU chip on his computer.

One other complaint, now that I think of it, they never went over the labor charge with me prior to doing any work. I was charged $140.25 for labor for mounting 2 tires. Are you fucking kidding me? I already paid for the siping, spin balance and alignment so what’s that $140 labor charge for? Tool charge? Shop rental? Or maybe the horrible singing from one of the techs out in the shop? That was real professional, by the way. The more I think about this, the more pissed off I get.

I called and spoke to the manager. He straight up told me that siping alters the structure of the tire to give it more traction. I just have to repeat myself here, but when you alter the tire, it voids the manufacturers warranty and you mofo’s did it on my existing tires! I could spit blood. The Attorney General’s office should investigate this.

Click here to read more Les Schwab siping complaints.

P.S. Other than getting siped in the ass, I’m not sure what was left to be pleased about. They could have offered free wi-fi. If they had it, they never indicated it. The chairs in the waiting room were comfortable and had awesome lumbar support. Little did I  know at the time that was going to be a good thing. Something soft to sit in for the ass raping I was about to get for over $600 and all I wanted was 2 damn tires. The waiting area was clean, newspapers to read, but the magazine selection sucked. All macho guy stuff. There was one old June 2011 issue of People magazine… Kim Kardashian got engaged. We all know how that ended.

A little old lady from Wisconsin had worked in and around her family dairy farms since she was old enough to walk, with hours of hard work and little compensation.

When canned Carnation Milk became available in grocery stores in approximately the 1940s, she read an advertisement offering $5,000 for the best slogan. The producers wanted a rhyme beginning With ‘Carnation Milk is best of all.’

She thought to herself, I know all about milk and dairy farms. I can do this! She sent in her entry, and several weeks later, a black limo pulled up in front of her house.

A man got out and said, ‘Carnation’ LOVED your entry so much! We are here to award you $2,000 even though we will not be able to use it!’

Every time a new Apple product comes out seems there’s always an update to a problem that follows.  The iPhones have had their share of problems like the brushed aluminum on the case interfering with the antenna.  Now with the new phone, some people are having a problem with battery life.  Apple pushed out a software update to fix it.

This morning I wake up to an email from Amazon and there was a problem with the Steve Jobs Kindle book. The captions to the pictures where not under the pictures, but rather on the next page. Yes, I can attest to that. I thought it was because I have my font set slightly larger and it couldn’t get the caption on the same page. Anyhoo, guess what? Amazon pushed out an update to the Steve Jobs book to fix the problem. ROTFLMMFAO!!!!!!   Art imitating life.  Oh wow.  Oh wow.  Oh wow.

So why can’t Apple push out an update to bring Steve back to life?

LG ENV3

I really like my old LG ENV3 from Verizon.  Awesome texting phone with its flip-open keyboard, so intelligently laid out with a separate row for the numbers and controls on the right without being embedded onto other keys.  But alas, time to once again investigate smart phones because I need to do more stuff.

Long story short, I picked an Android phone.  The Samsung Epic 4G with slide-out keyboard from Sprint.  I’d rather have it flip open, but oh well.  I’ve got to have a real keyboard and it has to have a row for numbers and decent arrow controls on the right.  I know having the physical keyboard sacrifices weight and thickness, but I really, REALLY need a keyboard.

Super amoled screen so I can see it outside in the bright light.  No more shading the phone’s display to see it.  I laugh at you silly huumons who do that.

Oh, and I got it for only, get this, 1 stinking penny.  Sprint wanted $99 for it.  I got it from AmazonWireless.com for only .01.

Samsung Epic 4G

The only bad thing I have to say about this phone is that the battery life SUCKS!  Even after I unplug it from a full charge, in a couple of hours with no use, I see the battery gas gauge dropping.  After some searching, I’ve tweaked it so it’s not as bad, but still.  So that means a lot of charging, like every frickin’ night, but  it was driving me nuts how it wakes me up when it’s done charging.  If it wasn’t dinging, it was vibrating, or it was shining all night long.  And with it being a touch screen, who knows WTF I touched to make it do all that.  That’s one of the things I don’t like about touch phones.  You’re not always prompted to confirm your changes.

Turning Off Notification Alert When Charging

So here’s what I’ve discovered about turning off notifications and the display when charging.

1. Turn Off Display When Charging  Applications, Settings, Applications, Development, Stay Awake:  Uncheck it.  If it’s checked, the screen will never sleep while charging.
2. Turn Off Vibration Alert After Charging  Applications, Settings, Sound, Vibrate:  Make a choice.  If you turn off the sound, but ‘Only in silent mode’ is selected, the phone’s going to vibrate and wake you up when it’s done charging, so I just turn it to Never.  I never use vibration for anything, any way.
3. Turn Off Sound Alert After Charging  Applications, Settings, Sound, Notification ringtone:  Set it to silent.  This is a GLOBAL setting, so if you turn it off here, you have to set up sounds on individual apps like Gmail, calendar events and text messaging.

Calendar Ringtone:  Applications, Calendar, Menu, Settings, Select Ringtone

Text Messaging Ringtone:  Messaging, Menu, Settings, Select Ringtone

Gmail Ringtone:  Ok, this one’s deep.  Applications, Gmail, Menu, More, Settings, Select which Gmail account, Labels to notify, Inbox, Ringtone

***** HUGE UPDATE *****

Guess what?  After all that shit, IT STILL DOESN’T WORK!  The sound it makes when it’s done charging is a blepping tone that’s not on any of the ringtone/sound menus.  That leads me to believe that it’s some type of internal thing, sorta like using a phone locator app to find your phone – even though the sound is off, it will still make a sound to “give up” its location.

If anyone has any suggestions, please leave a comment.  Has anyone contacted Samsung tech support or someone from Android that actually knows what they’re talking about…unlike me, obviously?

Click Here To Take The Netflix Price Increase Survey

Up To 5 Devices Per Account

I’ve been a Netflix customer for 6 years.  I first noticed something was going on this last summer.  First, a little background.  Netflix allowed up to 5, count them, FIVE simultaneous connections per account.  That means you could use any Netflix ready device like Roku, some brands of HD TVs, DVD players, gaming consoles like Wii, PS3 and XBOX 360 and other devices to watch instant streaming movies and TV shows – ALL AT THE SAME TIME, PER ACCOUNT AND ALL WATCHING SOMETHING DIFFERENT.  It was awesome.  I can only take so much Bob the Builder or Kipper out in the living room.

Instant Streaming Restrictions

Then I noticed that when someone else was already using instant streaming, I couldn’t use it.  WTF?  I searched the Netflix site and they modified their terms of service.  Yes, you can still use 5 different devices on your account, but now you can only use ONE at a time.  What the fuck good is that?  So they only alternative was to buy another account.  Screw that shit.

Radical Changes

Then the price increase and yes, I got hit with the full 60% increase because I do both DVDs and instant streaming.  I’d gladly do instant streaming only, but not everything’s on it, hence the DVDs for those that aren’t.  And now this week they announced the split of the company so we have to search two sites to find DVDs and streaming shows?  Why?  The current model was already working.

Oh, not to mention the new user interface to search for instant play titles.  OMG!  WTF were they thinking?!  Instead of the old way of showing movies for a category in rows across and down the page, they replaced it with a horizontal scrolling display that moves from right to left when you hover your mouse over it.  PEOPLE DON’T SCAN WEB PAGES LIKE THAT, YOU MORONS!  Was any user web usability study done on that idea?  Apparently not.  God, I can’t STAND to use it.

Oh, and say goodbye to Sony and Disney movies on Netflix at the end of February 2012.  Startz is not renewing their contract with Netflix.

Broadband Users

I can’t help but to wonder when broadband companies are going to start metering usage.  I discussed this with a AT&T rep over a year ago and she said there were some markets where metering was being tested.  Reno, NV was one.  She said you’d have to watch about 40 movies a month to be charged extra.  That was then and I can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen in the future.  It’s going to be a chain reaction.  Broadband companies will either increase their prices and/or start metering out of the financial need or leverage it as an opportunity to gouge customers and rake in millions.  Sorta like selling generators and plywood in a hurricane zone.

Whacha Gonna Do?

Are you planning to switch to a Netflix alternative?  The sole reason I signed up with Netflix to begin with was because I HATED going to Blockbuster to stand there staring at walls of movies I didn’t even like, much less having to jump in the ride and return them before the deadline.  I still don’t want to leave the house so something like Redbox is out of the question.  Besides, every store I go to that has Redbox, there’s always a line about 3-5 people deep waiting their turn.

Netflix Alternatives

I’m going to do price research for you because prices are subject to change, but here’s a list of some place to get DVD’s and instant streaming.

• Hulu Plus
• YouTube Movies
• Apple TV
• Amazon Prime Instant Video
• Blockbuster (will be adding instant streaming October 2011, including the Starz movies)
• CinemaNow
• Vudu
• Redbox
• GreenCine
• OnLive
• And thru gaming console networks with Xbox 360 and PS3
• There’s always the library for DVDs

In Summary

So, what do I plan on doing?  For now I’m sticking with Netflix until the dust settles.  They’ve got the biggest selection.  However, there are going to be price wars and other services will be adding more features.  Who knows, maybe Blockbuster will resurrect from the dead.

UPDATE NOV 15, 2011

I just received a class action lawsuit notification this morning via email.

If You Rented Online DVDs from Netflix
A Class Action and a Settlement with Wal-Mart May Affect Your Rights

If you paid a subscription fee to rent DVDs from Netflix any time from May 19, 2005 to September 2, 2011, you will be eligible to receive benefits from a Settlement with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Walmart.com USA LLC.  You need to submit this Claim Form if you want to receive a cash payment or a gift card. The deadline to file claims is February 14, 2012.

You can check it out here  http://OnlineDVDClass.com