mobile frustration.

My contract with Cingular is up, so this afternoon I went to Cingular to upgrade my phone and renew my contract. To be clear, let me say that I am very happy with Cingular, mainly because all of my family and a majority of my friends are on the network, which makes the vast majority of my calls free. Some of the people who work at Cingular, however...well, they're not always my friends. Here's the scoop (unlike Grant, I am naming names and places):

I go to the Cingular store on 75 and Park Ln and get "helped" by a guy named Joseph, whom I simply tell I want to upgrade my phone and change my plan.

He asks what phone I want, and I tell him, "the BlackBerry Pearl," (which I know went on a huge week-long sale today for only $99.99, of course also with a 2 year contract and conditional data package rebate).

He responds, "Great phone. Well with the upgrade discount, I have you down for the Pearl Bundle Pack for $200 flat after a $50 rebate, so I'm processing that now."

$200? After rebate? Confused, I ask, "What is this Bundle Pack?"

J: "Oh, well it's just all the essentials you need for the Pearl."

M: "What essentials are included in this pack? BlackBerry doesn't put everything I need in the box with the phone?"

J: "Oh, well...everything you need. Bluetooth, USB cable, cover...stuff like that."

Well, I don't want another Bluetooth, and I find it really hard to believe that a USB cable doesn't come with the phone. So, I ask him, "Really? A USB cable doesn't come with the phone? Can I see the box?" Oh, and the whole time, I'm thinking to myself that none of what he said, except for the USB cable, is an essential...and I can go buy a USB cable for under $200.

So, Joseph gets the box, opens it up, and responds...
"Oh, yeah, so it looks like it comes with that. Oh well...I guess you'll just take the phone then."

Great, so now I've established at least one of two things:
1. Joseph doesn't know what he's talking about
2. Joseph is trying to screw me

So we move on.

Now he's setting up my new BlackBerry and printing up the agreement, when he says (nearly under his breath), "and now I'm just adding your Blackberry Data Package."

What Blackberry Data Package? I mean, I haven't even told Joseph what kind of data package I want. Pretty assumptive, I thought. So, I inquisitively say, "BlackBerry Data Package? How much is that?"

J: "$40.00 a month"

Hmm...I know there are more than one data packages.

M: "So, what does that get me?"

J: "Unlimited everything."

M: "Web, email, text...everything?"

J: "Yep, everything."

M: "So, don't you have a plan that's less than that? For instance, can I get less text messaging or something for a lower price?"

J: "Nope, this is our only BlackBerry plan."

M: "But I can't do anything with less text messages?"

J: "No."

Trying to give him one last out, I ask, "So, you have no other BlackBerry plans? This is the only one? "

J: "Yes."

At this point, I tick him off by telling him I want my phone back and that I'm going to another Cingular store, because I know my friend got something different. He stalled and left me standing to help some girl, in which I told the manager guy that Joseph should probably finish with one customer before moving on to another, but I finally got my stuff back and I left.

From there, I went to the Cingular store where my friend went, down on Greenville and Lovers. to confirm my thought. I walked in and simply asked, "Hey, if I wanted to add the BlackBerry Data Plan to my Pearl, how much is it a month?"

The new store clerk looks a little confused and responds: "Well, it depends...I mean, we have different ones."

Ah hah. "What price do they start at?"

NSC: "$29."

More ah hah. I next ask him, "Well, what comes on that?"

NSC: "Unlimited email and internet."

M: "What about about text messages?"

NSC: "Well, you just add that to the package."

M: "So, I can change the price depending on how many text messages I want?"

NSC: "Yep."


Avoid Joseph at Cingular.

Blast from the past.

Growing up, I loved watching The Wonder Years. I recently noticed that it is airing on Ion, a channel I didn't even know existed. Anyway, to me it is a most blessed station on weekday nights between 9:00 and 10:00. After all these years, I still love this show - though to be true, watching it as an adult is like watching a totally different show than when you were a child. What's amazing to me is how much I can recall - almost 20 years later, I'm watching a scene and I often remember what's going to happen next. Anyway, I'm not going to go off on how this show is some analogous American narrative or anything (though if you want that, click here...not that I disagree, I really haven't looked into it...but I digress); however, I just wanted to make the small claim that it is one of the greatest shows ever and that anyone with any sense should watch it.

letter from tim: save internet radio.

Hi, it's Tim from Pandora,

I'm writing today to ask for your help. The survival of Pandora and all of Internet radio is in jeopardy because of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora. The new royalty rates are irrationally high, more than four times what satellite radio pays, and broadcast radio doesn't pay these at all. Left unchanged, these new royalties will kill every Internet radio site, including Pandora.

In response to these new and unfair fees, we have formed the SaveNetRadio Coalition, a group that includes listeners, artists, labels and webcasters. I hope that you will consider joining us.
Please sign our petition urging your Congressional representative to act to save Internet radio: http://capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9631541

Please feel free to forward this link/email to your friends - the more petitioners we can get, the better.

Understand that we are fully supportive of paying royalties to the artists whose music we play, and have done so since our inception. As a former touring musician myself, I'm no stranger to the challenges facing working musicians. The issue we have with the recent ruling is that it puts the cost of streaming far out of the range of ANY webcaster's business potential.

I hope you'll take just a few minutes to sign our petition - it WILL make a difference. As a young industry, we do not have the lobbying power of the RIAA. You, our listeners, are by far our biggest and most influential allies.

As always, and now more than ever, thank you for your support.



-Tim Westergren
(Pandora founder)

© copyright 2006, Pandora Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

On a different note.

Well, I really want to write about the hypocrisy of the firing of Don Imus when Sharpton and Jackson should be really be focused on the trash that comes out of the ilk of 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg. In all seriousness, just look at the titles of the tracks for Snoop's new album...

So, instead of going on an uncontrollable rant, I'm going to post one of my favorite scenes from King of the Hill: The Hills visit the local mega-church. Enjoy.

yes, this is progress.

Yesterday, we had some serious yard work done. We cut down eight trees, two bushes, and then we had seven more trees pruned. Yeah, you read that right - we have a ton of trees. Anyway, here's what the front of our house looks like right now if you were going to drive by. Now there's no need to, because:
a) You can already see right here what the house looks like*
b) Nobody's home right now, so there's no point in trying to visit us**


*except that you really can't see the house
**this is important, because we especially don't like it when people try to visit our house when we're not there. If you were going to try, then it probably means that you're trying to rob us, and if you're trying to rob us, you're probably not our friend. However, I feel pretty safe because only my friends read this and know where we live. You might be some random guy on the internet reading this, but if you don't know where (at least in vicinity) we live, then you probably aren't our friend - unless we simply haven't had you over yet, in which I apologize, because we certainly do care about you and wish to have you over soon...unless you, of course, are that random guy, in which case, that might be awkward...

he is risen!

Golf.

I've recently decided to dedicate myself to golf this summer. Much of this - well, most of this - is due to work. I took some classes at Baylor in college, and some lessons at the country club before that in high school, but I haven't really used my clubs at all during the last four or five years. As such, I'm in that stage where I'll be at the driving range and one out of five shots is exhilarating with the others scaling form mildly encouraging, frustrating, and the seemingly common infuriating. I'm excited though about seriously taking this project on, and hopefully (with much practice), I'll hit some level of decency in the not too far off future. All that being said, I'm watching The Masters right now, and for probably the first time ever, I'm actually really watching it. Usually when I flip on the television on the weekend looking for a basketball game only to find golf, I don't see how people actually watch this stuff for so long - and so seriously...and honestly enjoyably. Well my friends, I think I'm finally getting it.

Internet pet peeve.

I really dislike all of these word verification security checks. I almost always am 100% sure of what the "word" is that I am supposed to repeat; however, about 15 - 25% of the time I am wrong. In reality, it is probably not that bad, but the annoyance factor of those times where I have copied it incorrectly probably accentuates and mentally skews this proportion. Usually there are numbers and more vertical lines imposed within the image, but the above is a good example of what I often run into. So, even if I can read it pretty easily, I have to stop and really look: "is that V-M-M or is there something tricky going on in there?" Anyway, it slows me down, which is just annoying by itself, and it makes me feel like I am in some sort of kindergarten for special ed kids. Surely there is a better solution.