Daily Status Post

00:42 Finally just me, some time, TV and the Lost season finale.

Daily Status Post

09:57 577th anniversary of the burning of Joan of Arc. Good luck to all you witches, soldiers and "prophets". Watch out for matches & mobs.

11:36 Between reading Little Brother & listening to Richard Clarke speak I now fear/hate/distrust all governments. Time to start the world over?

15:05 So it might turn out that it's nature vs. nurture vs. quantum probability.

Daily Status Post

18:37 I think I feel the beginnings of a migraine poking the back of my right eye. Two and a half hours left of work. This ought to be fun.

20:25 Re-read Doug Jones' message to me about how much he'd love to see the shots I took of him at NYCC. Dear lord, he's such a sweet human.

My adventures in customer service

This story is a long and twisted journey in three acts.  Please, pull up a chair, curl up with a blanket and toss back a drink as I tell you how I've been (mis)treated.  And does this story have a happy ending?  Well, that depends on when you stop reading it.

Part 1 - Dashwire
Dashwire is a wonderful little web application for my Windows Mobile phone.  I run it in the background and it syncs all of my call logs, texts, speed dials, contacts, calendar appointments, photos and videos with an easy to access we site.  And it's two way so I can use it to restore my phone.  Well, at some point I reset my phone.  The internet was acting all wonky and I wanted to get rid of the built in AT&T crapware.  What better way to restore texts than to use this web program.  Well, I redo my phone and install the Dashwire client.  I go to log in and it tells me only one phone can be used per account.  Let me tell you how the tech support went:

• 12:07 am - I send an e-mail asking what's up with the service?  How do I do a backup if I can't log in with a new phone or even a reset phone?
• 12:19 am - They respond with a personal email, not form.  They explain where their development is at and they know it's a problem.  Here's what's great.  They ask if I have content on my phone.  If I do they say they'll reset my ID and let the phone overwrite my account.  If not, they'll set the account to write to my phone.  That's... helpful.  Incredibly helpful.
• 12:24 am - I let them know that I have contacts on my phone but would like the texts from the web site.
• 12:33 am - Dashwire e-mails me back and says that my contacts have been cleared off the site and everything else is set to load on my phone.

And that is amazing customer service.  I sent a final response telling them how blown away I was from that help.

Part 2 - Guitar Center
I've recently started playing guitar.  Well, learning.  I am borrowing my wife's guitar and needed a tiny amp to get started with.  I went to Guitar Center with my mind on a cheap $25 micro-amp.  If I have absolutely no aptitude then I don't want to blow $70+ for nothing.  Well, I ask about it and they say that there's nothing that cheap.  They show me a $50 amp and then tell me that it's crap and they have an $85 amp that's much better.  I actually find the cheap micro-amp on my own and ask about it.  The guy behind the counter (different employee) tells me that I can't really call that an amp and it's crap.  But for $55-$85 they have some cheap ones...

I leave dejected and post a Twitter update calling the employees dicks.  The next day I notice that I have a new follower who's not in my normal demographic.  It's the Executive VP of Guitar Center.  We PM and later talk by e-mail.  He asks if there's anything I need help with and that he's sorry for the hard sell at the store.  We're still corresponding and he gives me tips and advice whenever I post questions about playing.

That is amazing service.

Part 3 - Myspace.com
Motherfucking myspace.  This one actually starts with motherfucking comcast.  Out of nowhere they disable my e-mail address.  By the time I realize I don't have anything coming in and ask about it they have already assigned it to someone else.  So they're getting my e-mail.  Well, I've already moved over most things to gmail by this time buy my myspace is still on comcast.

Changing my e-mail address - part 1

• I got the Myspace.com
• I find the help link for changing my e-mail.
• I choose the form for when I no longer have access to my old account.  I fill in old, new and password.
• I get a confirmation page saying that all responses will be sent to my old e-mail address.  From the form used when you don't have access to your old address.

Changing my e-mail address - part 2

• I do the same above except lie and put my new address in as both.  In the comments I say what my old address is and why I need to change it.
• I get a confirmation the next day (April 23rd) asking for more info.
  
• I send them the info.
• That night I get a different e-mail asking for the same info.
• I send out the same info on the 25th.  I'm getting tired and will not dance to their schedule.
• On the 27th they tell me that the request has been forwarded to the appropriate department.
•  
• May 6th - I e-mail them asking what the status is.
• May 11th - I ask them what the deal is...
• May 15th - I ask what the hell is going on with my really simple request.
• May 20th - I tell them that this is fucking ridiculous.

Changing my e-mail address - part 3

• May 25th - I go and fill out that all too familiar form.
• I never get a confirmation.

Changing my e-mail address - part 4

• May 26th - I fill out the form again.
• I get a confirmation and it asks for that same information.
• May 27th - I send it out.
• May 28th - I e-mail them asking if they got my username change and password as I never got a response that it was received.
• May 28th -
  Hello,
  Thank you for bringing this to our attention. The profile in question has been deleted. Please note, it could take up to 72 hours for a profile to be deleted/removed. Should you have any further concerns or if the profile hasn't been deleted after 72 hours, please reply to this email directly keeping the subject line and footer information intact.
  
• I flip out and use caps lock to tell them that I don't want my account deleted and never asked for that.  I use up my monthly quota of exclamation points in that one e-mail.
• Hello,
  We have changed your email address as requested. Your password has not been changed. Please verify your email by clicking on the Verify your email address link on your Home page next time you login to MySpace. A verification email will be sent to your new email address.

And that is that.  For a social networking site that makes money on adverts on my page that I don't use except to read bulletins from other people I had to beg to not have my account shut off.  Shut off because I had to beg for help.  Many times.  Had they cancelled my account I would not have set up another one.  That was by far the single worst customer service experience of my life.

What did I learn from all of this?  Well, I'm not totally sure.  I don't expect fantastic customer service every time I have an issue.  But let's look at what beat out MySpace's service for help:

1. A free new tech startup personally responded to me within minutes and walked through their system to set up my account by hand to fit my needs.
2. A national retail chain tries to push a sale on me and the Vice President of the company starts chatting with me to make sure I'm not too put off and see if there's any advice he can give me.  He explains their training and how not everyone can have an A game every day.  He makes me "not mad" which is quite a feat.

And then there's MySpace.  A social networking site that has absolutely no social interaction with any of its users.  Sure, you see Tom's smiling mug in your friends list as soon as you sign up but every single help page tells you that requests don't go to Tom.  Is that supposed to let me retain fond feelings for Tom while still hating a support system that should be paid overtime for not showing up to work because they'd get more done that way?  Tom can shove his MySpace up a very SensitivePlace.  It's a web site based on communication and it can't handle either task of fulfilling a basic settings change or even keeping track of internal e-mails.

There is a bit of a happy ending.  It's not that I got my address changed without having them kill my account.  At this point I don't know if I even want the damned thing anymore.  No.  My happy ending is this:
My last e-mail from them contained a link.  It seems that they want me to fill out a survey about their customer service.

Daily Status Post

17:02 I'm eating at a place called Shenanigans. No flair, though. This place would beat up flair and leave it for dead in the back of a pick-up.

Daily Status Post

01:44 I forgot how wonderful the Robinson written Star Man comics are. Perfect gateway book from old DC to more post-modern titles.

16:22 Does anyone know where I can get on RF ESP implant?

Daily Status Post

13:53 Listening to radio program about Darth Vader. Proud that calling Star Wars a 6 part serial confused me. There really are only 3 SW movies.

Daily Status Post

10:22 NPR ran a bit on how black good programs can't be found all on one network. So they're advocating separate but equal TV?

18:44 I've started using a parallel processing style in online conversations. Can I start a dual-multi-tasking trend?

3 suspended for not standing for Pledge of Allegiance. God bless them.

Head over to the Star Tribune to read about this incident.  The short of it is that 3 students did not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance one morning and were then suspended.  These 3 little hell-raisers are back in class because the local ACLU got involved and mention that their actions and indeed, their policy in requiring students to stand at all "is in clear violation of the First Amendment".  Check out the article (and the accompanying letter from the ACLU as well as a nice little primer about the Pledge).

This really got to me.  Most if not all of my friends know that I love the constitution.  I think if properly enforced/protected it would be a great framework for a country.  Another topic that I champion is student rights in school.  I ran a pro-constitution protest at one point in high school and later became a minor gonzo celebrity when I fought for (and won) freedom of religion in my high school.  I had to go through a similar thing in college but got the school's paper in on that rather than self publishing.

So when I saw this article I got pissed.  Students don't have to stand.  It's not part of a long and illustrious history.  The "god" line is dated from the cold war and is more than a little mixing of church and state.  I expect schools to have illegal rules on the books, but the fact that they were enforced is ridiculous.

On a personal note I have not said the Pledge of Allegiance since about halfway through the 6th grade.  I will admit that the original reason was laziness, but after being told about the 50s addition of the god verse and the history of the Pledge (I come from a long and influential line of Communists and Socialists) I took a political stance on it.  Or rather, lack of standing.

I'm not going to presume the reason for their abstaining from the pledge.  I will speak up for their right to sit.  It doesn't matter if they're tired, lazy, hate America or protested.  It doesn't matter whether they knew what they did was legal or weren't aware of that.  It's still within their rights.  The fact that the school tried to press the issue with suspension...  People get pissed off when teachers and administrators take advantage of students sexually.  What about when they're taken advantage of in other illegal ways?  Shouldn't the ideal behavior be to protect the children?  And in this case we have the district's community education director, Mel Olsen, arguing for their punishment.  The article says that he was sent to Japan during the Vietnam War.  Well, what the hell version of America was he fighting for?  The one where everyone has equal freedom regardless of their station in life?  Or an America where those in power are allowed to intimidate those without, even if it breaks the law simply because it makes those in power feel better?  The fact that the article also has a pole and 84% of the voters say that they kids shouldn't be required to stand shouldn't even let the personal preferences of a single veteran stand in the way of what 84% of the community already seems to be aware of.  Just the fact that this man is admittedly pushing his own personal values in the face of the law is disturbing and shameful

While he said he'll fall in line with whatever change may occur, "I still have my beliefs."

Well then it's a damn good think it's not up to you, sir.

Daily Status Post

11:13 Just saved another poor student from using wikipedia as a reference. That's like citing your notebook. Use their citations, instead.

12:33 "Chris, why you gotta be black?" The kids in this town have achieved a higher level of dumbness and ass-hat-ery than anywhere else. Ever.

Daily Status Post

11:33 Polar bears are now endangered. Interior Department says "Eh," and lets oil drilling continue.

16:08 Political lessons from Ron Paul (who's still running): Respond to Qs with random platform statement and then agree with your own response.

16:18 Ron Paul lives in a strange America. I'd like to see it as a tourist one day. Americo $ and Mexico/Canada highways. Through the border wall?

17:12 New Entertainment Weekly is all Sex & the City articles. Couldn't they just have mailed it in its own little trash bag?

21:27 I just made a random child cry hysterically with my Fantasia Barino impression. I know, she IS that scary.

Daily Status Post

14:29 Something deliciously dissonant with the audio book version of Eastern Standard Tribe. Like in HEARING the frenetic typed character chats.

18:34 Let slip that I'm married and we don't like/want kids. Response:"Aw... Great... I have a friend like that."

Daily Status Post

15:25 I have built a fort out of boxes at work. I also declared it an independent micronation.

16:26 Bathroom door just squeaked the theme from Lost. W00t.

Daily Status Post

15:53 After practicing guitar is it normal for my fretting finger tips to be numb all the next day? I'm a bit worried and it's weird when I type.

Daily Status Post

11:30 Turns out going biblical kosher has been lowering my carbon footprint for years! Now I feel better about burning tires for entertainment.

Daily Status Post

02:01 After complaining about customer service at Guitar Center the GC CMO/EVP is now following me. Customer service response or search and add?

Daily Status Post

20:30 Dear Guitar Center, you're dicks. When I asked for a $25 item and you tried to up-sell me to $85, making fun of me wasn't the way to do it.

Daily Status Post

13:29 Does anyone out there have a cheap guitar amp I can borrow? Doesn't have to sound good, I just need something to practice on.

Daily Status Post

22:25 Overhead music: "My God is an Awesome God". My shirt: "Nice Jewish Boy". Who shall reign supreme?

Miley Cyrus and the no good, terrible, very bad PR incident. But the photos aren't half bad.

I'm going to write on a topic that I don't think anyone here ever anticipated.  This whole column will be about... Miley Cyrus.

Watching the news, reading the news and listening to the news I've been flooded with this story.  Parenting writers and groups are up in arms.  I've heard people rant against her, Disney and Annie Leibovitz.  And now I have something to say to all of those parents and people upset by this infamous photo:

Shut up.

Seriously, you people need to stop talking about this one simply and, dare I say it, innocent photograph like you just found her doing lines of coke off of a corpse's ass.  Let's take a look at it, shall we?

There, that wasn't so painful.  What's the big deal?  Looking at this photo in context this is simple and "nice" picture.  In fact, it's a little bland.  My biggest issue with it was that her lips look distractingly red compared to the rest of the pale image.  Now, let's deconstruct.

• It's taken by Annie Leibovitz.  She's an amazing and respected world famous photographer.  Should we give her the benefit of the doubt?  Normally the answer is yes but in this case parents are itching for a witch hunt.  Leibovitz is known for taking great portraits.  Sometimes these involve nudity, sometimes just taking the subject out of their element.
• In this case THERE IS NO NUDITY.  Technically she has no shirt on but she's more covered up than someone wearing a skirt and halter top.  Saying this is topless is a) false and b) the logic equivalent of freaking out when someone wears shorts because they're "not wearing pants".
• In terms of composition the shot is classically composed.  Really.  Look at it.  It's nothing you haven't seen painted hundreds of times.  Not only that but since there's no nudity at all it's probably one of the most modest versions of that pose you've seen.

On NPR one of the interviewed people, a writer for Free Range Children, referred to an event called the "Britney Spears Peel" which is essentially the event that shows the teen star's fall from innocence.  That this sexualization of the teen star seems to be inevitable.  Let's go through the teenie bopper idols for a moment.

1. Britney Spears - She started as a fetish symbol.  She appeared in her video, already gyrating, as an honest to god underage school girl.  No sexualization there...
2. Paris Hilton - She began her career as a talentless member of the new leisure class.  Then she had a sex tape.  Of course, she's an adult (physically) so other than embarrassment what's wrong with that?
3. Hillary Duff - The last Miley Cyrus.  She didn't have a fall from innocence.  She simply got too old for the roles they wanted to give her.
   
4. Lindsey Lohan - The only example from this list that might fall into the "fallen angel" group.  She started off talented and burned out real fast.  Not because of anything sexual, though.  Drugs and booze.  So even this one doesn't count.

By this time I hope you've all realized what the parents are really complaining about.  It's obvious.  That " inevitable sexualization" that teen stars seem to succumb to?  It's called puberty and if they didn't go through it then they'd have much bigger problems than bad PR.  Parents aren't pissed off because their kids just lost another idol.  If that were the case they'd have waited until Cyrus did something shocking and inappropriate, like releasing an Achey Breaky song.  No, parents are pissed off that a product they felt safe leaving their kids unattended with turned out to be a human being.  They're pissed off because now they are reminded that they have look at the media they give to their children, that it's no long safe to put on the TV and leave for the day.  Hey, bad parents!  Here's a bulletin for you.  It never was safe to do that!  Oh, and those same parents are probably also a little peeved that this innocent 15 year old has aknoledged her sexuality, even without doing anything sexual.  And that reminds them that their precious little 9-12 year old demographics are one day going to grow up.

You want to bitch about her pictures?  How about that creepy shot of her snuggling with her dad.  Or this one where she proclaims her Satanism proudly!

That'd be fine.  But don't bitch about her having a body and getting used to it as it changes.  Keep your parent issues of childhood, prepubescence and shame to yourselves.  Stop attacking Vanity Fair, Annie Leibovitz and Miley Cyrus.