Meltdown

Picture it:

Minneapolis.

Friday, January 23rd, 2006.

I come home from work ready to check my email and do various other interneting. I flip up the top of my Sony VAIO notebook and this is what I see:




The writing is a little blurry in the picture, so in case you can't read it I'll paraphrase: DANGER! DANGER!! DANGER! YOUR COMPUTER IS ABOUT TO IMPLODE!

Well, how bad could it be right? I tried letting the computer boot up and get into windows to do some last minute, emergency backing-up of important files. Of course, I have a 300G external drive that should have a complete system backup on it, but I was too lazy to do the file transfers when I bought the thing, and of course I never got 'round to doing it at all. So I was hopeful that I'd be able to save at least a few things before my system took its final nose dive. Turns out it was pretty bad already. Here's what my computer looked like after about 20 minutes of trying to load windows:




I have lost everything from the old Sony. Programs, files, any and all contact information I may have had for you, etc, etc. Basically about 50% of my life died with my old hard drive. Should have backed up those files...

So here's the brand spankin' new computer:



It's a Toshiba.

And I have to tell you, buying a computer these days is a rip off. Gone are the days when these things came loaded with really good, free software. Now you get 30 day trials of MS word. What a joke.

But at least I am back. I need your help in regaining contact info. If you think I might know you, please send your email address and other pertinent information to mcmcmcly@earthlink.net

A Spot of Cleaning

I may have caused brain damage today while cleaning the bathroom at the old place. What is it they say about not mixing bleach and ammonia? Well I've never been one to follow the rules, especially with cleaning products. I hate porcelain. No matter how long, or how hard you scrub that shit it just never looks clean. Bathtubs should be made of a more inviting material. Something that might actually look good after two hours of cleaning. And the sad thing is, Drew and I were not living in filth. Can you imagine what it might be like to have to clean this:



Spray, Scrub, Soak, Rinse...

Hot Spots, Hot Looks, Hot Zones, Hot Trends, & Hot Flashes

Today was the always anticipated Spring 'Strategic Set Meeting'(SSM) at JC Penney. Four to Seven times a year, our company broadcasts via satellite important information about the upcoming season's merchandise set to all 1100+ stores. Retail merchandising is a quirky business. I won't bore you with the details of the Spring Set at JC Penney, but it should be noted that all of the Hot items listed in the title are actual initiatives in our company.

Except for Hot Flashes of course. Basically, they all mean the same thing with slightly nuanced features. Most of these terms refer to the manner in which we dress & display the plastic gender forms you are used to seeing in every clothing store. You thought maybe the people in the store decided what outfit to put on the forms? Not so. That would lead to an inconsistent customer experience. You'd be surprised at how little control store-level associates have over merchandise sets. Basically, we just execute someone else's ideas.

This is apparently going to be changing soon. Penney's is on the verge of at least halting, if not reversing the centralization trend within the retail sector. There is a lot of discussion about store-level management gaining increased responsibility for merchandise sets. Much of this type of responsibility was taken away in the rush to centralize the buying and allocation of merchandise. It was also taken away as retailers moved toward a more consistent look within every store.

This works wonders for cookie-cutter stores like Target or Wal-Mart, but Penney's is an old company and not every store looks exactly alike. Hence, our superiors have decided to give us back some of the responsibility that store-level managers lost during the past three decades. This would certainly make my job more interesting. We'll see how much control I am actually given and when.

The Postman is Angry

Even mighty Apple computers infringes on intellectual property. Well, sort of. The Pitchfork article does not explain who actually owns the video, the filmmakers or the band. My guess is that legally the filmmakers own the video, so if they want to sell it to Apple technically I suppose they have every right to sell. It does seem strange though, that no one consulted the band. Especially considering The Postal Service have shown no resistance to plugging their music on television commercials. I think I've heard their songs in no less than 5 current commercials.

On a side note, anyone remember the Denteyne Ice commercial with the Papas Fritas song in it? Boy, I miss that band. They were a lot of fun.

Drew hat das GebÃude verlassen

That's right. Drew left for Denver this evening, and I am officially without my unofficial boyfriend. Granted, we never made it or anything, but it was nice to have a familiar face to come home to. You'd be surprised at how many people at work are shocked when they hear I am not going to Denver as well. They act as if we must have had a bad breakup -- and then they get weird. That's when I walk away. With work associates, I prefer to keep 'em guessing rather than set the record straight.

I'm gonna miss the little guy. But we do have plans to get together every year for the Superbowl (wink).

I have completed 90% of the move downtown. The rest is just a few articles of clothing, and some items Drew abandoned because he couldn't fit them in his car. Now that I live alone I am posting an open invitation for anyone to visit at any time. Ben and the Rock have the opposite weekend off from me, so without Drew around I'll likely get bored every other weekend.

In other news, Corey stood me up last night (shame on you, silly man who falls asleep on his couch) so I had the unfortunate experience of "just waiting for a friend" at the bar for nearly an hour. Finally a couple of guys took pity on me and I ended up having a decent time, even if I did average 20 years younger than my companions.

A shout out goes to all of my international readers as well. Okay, its just one international reader. Tom from the UK has returned from his honeymoon with Roseanne and has graced the pages of PoE. Thanks Tom.

Auf Wiedersehen Drew, even if you don't know what that means.

Why (insert your cable provider here) Sucks

Back to the Web. The guy who came to install my cable service was great. I called him Friday morning, and I had working cable television and internet service by 5 PM. This is almost unheard of. No problems at all really. He showed up on time, set it up and left. Nice guy too.

The problem is with the cable company itself. Here's my minor beef:
The back of the digital cable box has a 'digital audio out' jack. I tried hooking the cable box up to my stereo via this option, but no sound. I thought maybe I had a faulty cord, so I went to Target and laid down $20 for a new one. Take two: still no luck. I was sure it was a problem with my stereo receiver, and spent a bit of time flipping though menu's, changing settings, and the like to see if I could get sound.

Nope.

Then I figured out that the truly digital channels on the "digital cable" had sound with the digital audio connection, but the analog channels (everything you would ever watch) did not. Now it's not my system's fault, so I call Time Warner customer service. Five minutes later the rep tells me the digital audio output on the back of the box is not active. "Yeah, it's on there, but it doesn't work. They had originally planned to offer it, but then changed their minds for some reason" Strike Three.

Okay fine. No big deal. I'm not such an audiophile that I can't watch my television with a standard composite stereo connection. I can take the cable I bought back to Target, and get my money back. The problem I have is that Time Warner claims to offer this capability on their website.

Free markets work wonderfully when they are actually free. But there are some commodities that simply don't fit nicely into the global village, or even the local village for that matter. The answer to my problem with the cable company would naturally be to switch my service to a more customer friendly competitor. But because of the massive infrastructure costs of multiple cable networks in a city, there is no competition.

Okay fine, this is an understandable restriction for this specific product/service, but if you eliminate competition in a marketplace, you must make some attempt at regulation of the resulting monopoly. (Actually, there is competition in the industry, but it is at a level higher than the end user. Municipal governments decide which service provider to grant access to the infrastructure, but the key to winning a government contract is not end-user customer service. Ask yourself, 'What can I do for the Government?' Not 'What can I do for the consumer' if you will) While there may be some minimal regulation in the form of price protection; in terms of the integrity of the company's stated products/services there is no refuge for the consumer. We get screwed.

This is the same problem that plagued the British railway system when it was initially privatized in the 1980-1990s. If Virgin is the only company with rights to use track or station platforms in your city and you are not pleased with their level of service,then you as a consumer are left out of the market equation. You have no alternative. Thus, loosely regulated companies begin skimping on maintenance, on-time results, and customer service in general. Imagine what happened to train service in Britain.

Admittedly, satellite providers are starting to provide competition for the cable companies. But even with the increasing competition from Satellite providers, local cable companies have not been quick to change to a more customer focused business model. Why? I'm not sure. My guess is that cable companies still have a majority of the market share, and as such feel no need to change their policies.

So what can consumers do? I dunno, I just analyze the problems. I don't fix 'em.

A Spot of Moving

I'm in mid-move from our shitty apartment in St Louis Park to my new deluxe apartment in the sky in Loring Park (a lot of parks in this city eh?) For your reading enjoyment, let me refer you to my Sidebar until I return to full blogging capacity. Cupcake posts nearly every day, sometimes more frequently. While DMC does not post often, they are usually worth reading. The others are damn good as well. Have at it.

Or everyone could post comments to this entry, and hijack my blog for a couple of days. Do what you wish. I may be without the inter-neat for a couple of transitionitory days soon if that influences your decision.