Miscellaneous: January 2008 Archives

I sometimes wonder if I'm addicted to gadgets. At the end of November, I bought an Inno XM Radio from an XM online offer. I have one in my car, one in my home, and now I figured that it was time that I had one at work. So, I ordered one. I was very happy with the radio. Then one day, the volume selector went dead. The radio would only play full blast. So, I contacted XM radio for a replacement. They told me that the 30 day warranty had expired, and that I would have to contact Pioneer directly. I was a bit annoyed, but whatever...

I called Pioneer. They told me to send the unit back to them with a proof of purchase from XM, and they would mail me a new unit once they determined that I hadn't tampered with it (I love the trust), but whatever...

I sent it back. And three full weeks later, they sent me an email saying that they had determined that the unit had gone bad (DUH!). They would send out a new one (another week!), but whatever...

The new one arrived at home last Friday, and to my absolute horror, it had the SAME PROBLEM with the volume! I thought, this is a sign. Someone is trying to tell me something. I called Pioneer this morning. She asked me to check some things, which included taking the radio out of the charging cradle. When I did that, the volume selector started working. She then said, "You can't work the volume with the radio in the cradle." I thought that was a bit dumb, but whatever...

The weird thing is that I then put the radio back into the cradle, and the volume control continued to work. Anyway, you would think that they would say something about this in the instructions. But I got to thinking. In the time that elapsed between having to send the radio back, and the time I got one back last Friday, I was tracking it's arrival every day on the web. You think I'm just a bit addicted to my gadgets? I sometimes wonder, as I'm watching a western or some movie that took place a hundred or so years ago, what the hell did people do to entertain themselves? No Internet, no radio, no TV, no electricity. Damn, life would suck!

ok.. that's it for my random thoughts. Just happy my radio is back!

I get a lot of marketing calls at work. In fact, I never (EVER) answer my desk phone if it is from an outside line. The inside extensions from in-house people get an answer. The reason I never answer my phone when outside people call is because they are always people who work for companies that are trying to sell me services. If I need those services, I'll call them! The people I really want to keep in touch with have my cell phone number.

This morning, I answered the phone because I was expecting a call from one of our other locations. It was some vendor who was trying to sell me a network service. Among the attributes that he gave they he held in high regard for his company is that they believe in "good old family values" (read: we hate gays) and that we are "family owned and operated".

I replied, "That's nice. How many black people do you employee?" Silence. I replied, "How many gay people do you employee?" He said, "Uhhhhh". I said, "Yeah, I'm 'one of them'. Well, I'm a professional so the questions I asked are rhetorical. I don't expect an answer, but your reply of 'Uhhhhh' spoke volumes to me. We aren't getting off to a very good start here, are we?"

He then promptly hung up.

I'm all for "family values". Unfortunately, thanks to today's political environment (thank you God-loving, Gay-hating "Christians"), "family values" just doesn't quite mean what it used to mean. Now, it's a code phrase to mean, we just don't care much for gay people. That's fine. But don't call me telling me that that's one of your selling points, because it won't win points with me. He's honestly lucky I was quite professional about it, didn't storm into a cloud of four-letter-words, and give him a peace of my mind.

Aside from that and a few hot fires to put out, today is turning out to be a sad day for me. I learned this morning that a good friend of mine passed away last night. I'm going to go grab a sandwich now, drive down to the river, and over lunch, think of him.

Three men convicted of homosexuality — a crime in Cameroon — were sentenced to six months' hard labor, their lawyer said Wednesday.

Lazare Baeeg, Emmanuel Balep and Tony Dikongue were arrested last August and have already spent nearly six months in detention in the port city of Douala, lawyer Alice Nkom said.

In Cameroon and several other African nations, homosexuality is a crime. Convictions carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of up to $450. (source)

I can't even imagine being imprisoned for being gay. Anyway, one less place that I don't need to visit. We are planning a visit to Africa in the future, but that will be around Cape Town. I suppose I should check before I leave to see if being ... me ... is a crime there.

This morning, as Kent and I were reading the Hartford Courant while practicing our Friday morning ritual of having bagels at Charlies, I came upon this story.

VERNON — Police are asking the public for help as they investigate a series of thefts from a CVS pharmacy in town. On four occasions the thieves targeted "Oil of Olay" but also stole Newport cigarettes in one instance, police said. (source)

We both laughed about it. I said, "Oil of Olay?", and thought to myself, is that worth the risk of going to jail over? I can understand the cigarettes. Not being a smoker, I'm not sure how much cigarettes cost now, but I think they are quite expensive. And then there's the habit. If you just don't have the money to buy them, I can understand the need to get them at any cost.

So that leaves me with the Oil of Olay issue. I thought about possible motives in why someone would steal Oil of Olay.

1. You have noticed wrinkles developing and you desperately want to look your best (I can relate).
2. You are very wrinkled and you are there to get cigarettes anyway, so why not give Oil of Olay a try? Although this probably isn't the case because the story said that they stole cigarettes in one instance.
3. You have no wrinkles, but know that smoking can cause premature aging, so why not supplement your smoking with Oil of Olay.
4. You read on the Internet that some ingredient in Oil of Olay can be used in bomb making materials.

Don't know. I have tried Oil of Olay and thought it was too heavy to be a good moisturizer. Without endorsing a product, I will just say that I'm ... and older man ... and somewhat older than 30 ... and am often told that I look 30-35ish ... so, I guess my moisturizer is working. Yes, I'm in age denial damn it!

One final rule of thumb on choosing a moisturizer is that you never want to use a moisturizer that is heavier than the natural oil in your skin. If you do, the moisturizer will actually draw the natural oil out of your skin and the end result will be drier skin. For best results, use a lighter moisturizer with sun protection, morning and night.