Category: Stuff

Iowa

Yesterday’s caucus had some interesting results:

  • Barack Obama, my personal favorite (aside from Kucinich, who is a long shot) won the Democratic caucus. Obviously I’m ecstatic
  • Hillary Clinton is in third, and trails by over 8%. I think that America is rejecting the status quo, so this is a good thing.
  • Ron Paul somehow managed to beat Giuliani and take 10% of the Republican vote- with little to no mainstream media coverage and a ton of grassroots campaigning.
  • Somehow Mike Huckabee managed to win the Republican caucus. Like the current administration, his campaign betrays true conservatism in favor of economic liberalism, big spending, and a theocratic moral system that punishes all who don’t ascribe to his particular set of values. Worst of all, he does it all in the name of Jesus – I need nothing less than 4 to 8 more years of explaining that no, my beliefs do not support violence, hatred, poverty, or harming others to accomplish religious, political, or cultural goals.

So there you go. Here’s my complete list of “Candidates who don’t scare the @)&! out of me” from both sides. Note that it is not not an endorsement, just people who wouldn’t make me crap my pants if elected. I agree with none of them on all the issues, so please no “______ supports ________, how can you like them?” I just think these candidates are honest and transparent enough that we can actually worry about their publicly disclosed policies, instead of the crazy stuff that everyone else is likely to be hiding until they are elected. Nobody likes a lying goon in office.

Democrats:
Obama, Kucinich, Edwards

Republicans:
McCain, Paul

United responds

I got back to Colorado today. The flight back from Phoenix (on US Airways, née America West crew) went off without a hitch – friendly airline agents at checkin, security (since when do airlines put greeters at security?), and the plane. My flight took off a little late but still arrived on time.

Also, United replied to my complaints about their delays and rude, lying customer service reps:

Thank you for your email. We’re sorry to have given you such a poor impression of our operation.

Mr. Weeks, I am sorry to learn your experience with our customer care agents at the airport. Our employees should provide professional service. But, you report that our customer service staff let you down, which resulted in your disappointment with our service. Your comments are important to us and will allow the appropriate management to provide feedback.

I also understand that you arrived but your baggage did not. I am sorry. This frustrating situation you describe happened despite quality control standards to assure baggage reaches its intended destination. So I’ll forward your good comments to our airport management so they can work to improve baggage procedures.

I hope you will give us an opportunity to renew a positive and valued relationship with you.

Am I satisfied with their response? Partly.  But I have the feeling that my efforts in writing them will only be a drop in the bucket for an organization so apathetic towards its customers. Oh well – I have no vendetta against these guys, but I will still vote with my dollars by not flying with them for a while.

United Airlines delayed my plane, lied to me, refused to transport my baggage, and doesn’t care.

from Ezekiel Weeks
to UACustomerCare8@united.com,
cc airconsumer@dot.gov,
tips@consumerist.com,
date Dec 20, 2007 11:20 PM
subject Flight 918 to 7140, 12/20/2007

To whom it may concern:

I am usually a Southwest Airlines customer. This Christmas season, United offered a better price than Southwest for my trip from Denver to Pennsylvania on 12/20/2007, so my family and I decided to give it a try.

My original flight, Flight 918, was delayed because the previous flight using the gate took 30-45 minutes after boarding to leave the gate due to baggage issues. Due to this delay, I missed my connection to Flight 7140 (DC to Harrisburg) at Washington-Dulles. A United agent in DC informed me that he could not book me on the next flight to Harrisburg because it was sold out. I asked if a flight to Philadelphia was available, and the agent booked me on one scheduled to leave in five hours.

Somehow, the person behind me in line managed to get a ticket on the “sold out” Harrisburg flight.

I then waited five hours for the flight to Philadelphia, which was itself delayed (first by 26 minutes, then by another 30). Upon my arrival, I learned that my checked bag had made it to Harrisburg on my originally planned flight. The baggage office attendant told me that there was nothing that could be done about delivering my baggage, and that I had no choice but to pick it up in Harrisburg. He spoke in an ambivalent, condescending tone throughout our conversation, and expressed no sympathy or desire to make things right for a customer. Instead, I was told that “We don’t have to do anything because we got the bag to where it was supposed to go” – even though United didn’t get the passenger where he was supposed to go!

Overall, my experience with United throughout the ordeal was thoroughly disappointing. It was completely within your employees’ abilities to load cargo in a timely fashion that avoids delays, to book me on the next flight to my original destination, to have my baggage delivered when I had to divert my flight, or to even just treat me in a sympathetic manner during an obviously stressful trip. Instead, I faced avoidable delays, false information and unequal from service agents who booked the next person for the very flight that I was told was “sold out”, and an indifferent, even rude, baggage attendant who embodied the antithesis to customer service.

When I went online to send this letter, I read about how United recently adopted a new “Customer Commitment” pledge. While your customer relations department and corporate marketing may reflect this, I felt that most of the United employees in the airport lacked any such commitment. The savings made in choosing your airline over Southwest was not worth the trouble I faced. I realize that I have taken their high commitment to customer satisfaction throughout their organization for granted, and I will remember it the next time I travel. I look forward to flying again on United, but will not do so until I know that it has made significant improvements in its customer service.

—
Ezekiel Weeks
Head of Design
http://www.Zeedub.com

Rock-n-Bowl at Chipper’s Lanes

My band (Deliver Me 7) just played a show at Chipper’s Lanes. We had a total blast, and it was really fun laying down grooves on top of a friggin’ bowling alley!
I anticipated being shoved into a corner and ignored while people bowled. But they put a stage over the lanes and ran some blacklights and stuff. It was really great playing in such a big room, which gave me the opportunity to break in my new A. Zildjian ride and Sabian AA crash.
So all three of us are super-psyched to play more, but just had a great time there.
Pictures:

We have another show on CSU campus this Friday afternoon, if anyone’s interested (3:00-5:00pm in the Natural Resources atrium, across the road from Clark hall.)

YouTube Finds

Ed showed me both of these:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rXcdcDB2S8]

This is a Hang (Pronounced “hung” or “hong”). It was invented in Switzerland in 2000. It is incredibly hard to find one. But I want one. Bad. (Add it to the list of things I may be able to afford when I have a real job.)

And then there’s this…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdz38TIwqIQ]

1,588 Filipino prisoners. Forget jailyard fights, gangs, and ballpoint pen tattoos. This is a true lot of evil criminals.

Where to Go From Here?

So I always spend more time planning for the future than attending to my responsibilities in the present. For example, a few years ago I had no problem researching universities like crazy, but doing my nightly homework was another story. (That paid off, though, since I’m already a junior credit-wise.)

So since I’m at college now, I am of course planning for what I will do after I graduate. Instead of doing my calc homework for tomorrow.

I’ve been thinking a lot about where I could go. I won’t have many things holding me to one specific place; I probably won’t be married in three years, and my degree should pay well enough to support me.  I could easily stay in Colorado, since there are tons of tech jobs in Boulder and Fort Collins, and I already know and love the area. But there are a lot of other places I find enticing:

  • San Francisco (and surrounding area within a few hours… including SLO, San Jose, Santa Cruz, what have you)
  • Vancouver, B.C.
  • Sweden (100 Megabit internet for $24 a month? Yes, please!)
  • Spain
  • Somewhere in the Caribbean (think mojitos and telecommuting.)

Yes, there’s only one place in the U.S. on there. I haven’t traveled a ton, but I know I really enjoy the places I’ve gotten to visit so far. The truth is, it would be nice to live somewhere that isn’t led by a bunch of imperial fundamentalists. I feel fine in the U.S. for now, but every time I start reading about human rights violations or a new law that infringes on my privacy for the claimed purpose of counterterrorism, I get a pang of conscience that reminds me how easy it is to emigrate to Canada.

Of course, there would be a lotto get used to. I’m very hard-wired to my American cultural ways, and I would have to adjust to a very different social sphere.

Choosing a specific place would be hard- there’s worldwide demand for people in my field, but choosing a place where industry is strong would be tricky (for example, Hawaii is out because its tax system isn’t business-friendly.) Also, I struggle with the concept of moving further away from good Mexican food.

No, I’m Not Gay, Thanks for Asking

So today I’ve been seeing these ads show up all over different sites I visit:

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First of all, no, and I wasn’t wondering. I have to wonder how these supposedly “context-based” ads are tagging me as someone who is unsure about his sexuality.

But on an even more hilarious level, I can’t believe how someone would actually need to take a quiz to know if they’re gay! (Hint: If you feel all tingly looking at chiseled abs, you just might be gay. Or a female.)

If anything, this indicates more of a problem with straight men than gay ones. I just find it funny beyond belief.