Ack.  I seem to have been infected by a Star Wars meme when naming those last two entries.  It probably happened when I was reading the comments on Slashdot to the telemarketer story (someone had “<ackbar>It’s a trap.</ackbar>” in their comment).

Anyway, I am somewhat surprised so far with Charter’s support.  I expected it to be a crapfest, but they’ve been pleasant and helpful.  They responded to my problem report within a couple of hours.  They remotely checked the modem and found that it was reporting a low uptime, so they will send a technician out this evening to look at it.  It’s possible that the modem is starting to go bad.  It’s been almost continuously powered on since November, 2000.  I also reported a billing problem to them (they started billing me for modem rental, even though I own the modem) and they responded quickly that they’d fix it and research back to credit me for any previous months that were billed.

This makes for an interesting contrast to the trouble one of my coworkers initially had with Comcast.  He isn’t capable of using DSL (too far from the branch office), so cable is the only viable alternative (satellite internet costs a bundle to install and fixed-wireless has high monthly charges).  He tried to use their online form to order their service, but all he got back was an email (two days later) that said they could not process the order “at this time”.  No explanation was given.  He tried calling the 800 number given in the email.  After navigating the VRU menus, he was told that his call could not be completed at this time.  He finally managed to find their local number and call them directly.  The local person was much more helpful and got everything taken care of pretty quickly.  I guess they’re more motivated to help since they’re in a local office where you can go gripe at them in person. 

I watched the first episode of Dead Like Me today.  Overall, I liked it.  It had a good mix of humor and drama.  I’m looking forward to future episodes to see how the main character develops.

While the subject of marketing is still on my mind, I need to say that that guy from the OxyClean commercials is quite possibly one of the most annoying people on the planet.  I wouldn’t miss it if he never did another commercial again (and from what I’ve heard the product doesn’t even work).

Today’s Saturday Scruples:

1. Tidying up, you come across your teenage daughter’s diary. Do you read it?

   It would be very tempting, but I wouldn’t read it.  The only situation I could think of where I would do so would be if she were in some kind of trouble (i.e. had run away or was missing).

2. An executive at a large company will give you a big contract but demands a cash kickback. Do you agree to pay?

   No.  It’s illegal and the risks are too great.

3. You work closely with a colleague who has a bad stutter. When he struggles to finish sentences, do you help?

   No.

I got an email informing me that Jay Solo has moved to http://www.elhide.com/solo/.  He’s using pMachine on his own server.  It’s much spiffier than the old Blogspot site.

Or at least that seems to be this guy’s motto.

American companies spend millions of dollars every year on slick advertising to market products from beer to luxury cars, but a new book tells them; Your Marketing Sucks.

Marketing expert Mark Stevens believes car makers waste millions of dollars on advertising, sees fast food company McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE:MCD – News) as adrift and scoffs at beer ads in his book, to be published by Crown Business July 15.

I think this guy’s just got an oral fixation, though:

The author hopes to turn his snappy title into his own brand. After a promotional tour, Stevens plans to write his next book, “Your Marriage Sucks: Face it, Fix it or Leave it.”

Then he plans two more in the same vein—“Your Job Sucks,” followed by “Your Boss Sucks.”

Just don’t get caught reading that last one at work…

The USS Lexington (CV 16) is a World War II-era aircraft carrier that has been converted into a museum.  It is currently located on the bay in Corpus Christi, TX.  During a break in the reunion on Saturday some of us went to see it.

The first thing that strikes you as you’re walking up to it is how big it is.  You enter via the hangar deck, which is a huge open area that stretches for quite a ways.  They’ve put in displays of aircraft and equipment used at various points in the life of the Lexington as well as a food court, a flight simulator, a gift shop, and a theater (despite this, there is still considerable open area).  However, my first taste of what the ship was really like was when I had to use the restroom.  There are no restrooms on the hangar deck (at least that were marked).  There are signs directing you downstairs to the facilities.  The first thing you notice is that you have to go down a ladder which is very steep and has narrow rungs.  Once you get down you have to follow the signs through several compartments to get there.  On the way up I encountered a Boy Scout troop coming down and had to wait quite a while to get back up to the hangar deck (there is only one way in or out of that section).

Everything on the ship is accessed via small ladders and a confusing array of narrow winding passageways.  Fortunately, the museum has marked the way to everything, but I could only imagine what it must have been like for a new sailor.  I would have been lost for quite a while if I had to find my way around unaided.

Just the short time we spent moving around the ship gave me a new appreciation for the sailors who served on these ships during WW II.  The living conditions must have been horrible, especially for people in some of the engineering spaces (like the boiler rooms).

If you happen to be in the Corpus Christi area, it would be worth the time and money to see the ship.  However, I have to warn everyone that the tour is not intended for small children and people who have trouble getting around.  There are no elevators (at least for people) on the ship.  All movement between decks is done using ladders. 

There are those who claim that the ship is haunted.  I don’t know about that, but the museum association offers live aboard opportunities for those who would like to spend the night aboard the ship (if you dare ).  The Boy Scouts I mentioned above were moving into their quarters when I encountered them.

More photos from the Navy.

Last week was horribly hectic at work and I also had several things to do in preparation for a trip.  I left work early on Thursday to head to my mother’s house before we travelled to Corpus Christi for a family reunion on Friday.  My intention was to make several updates to this site Thursday night, but events conspired to prevent me from doing so.  When I arrived I attempted to go online and got the “no dialtone” message.  There had been a big storm here Thursday afternoon, which took out the phones. 

Discouraged from updating my website, I decided to watch TV.  This was when I discovered that the lightning strike that took out the phones also killed the satellite receiver.  The wire had been melted in two at the point where it entered the surge protector.  The strike had overwhelmed the surge protector and fried the satellite.

We got back last night, but the phones were just fixed a little while ago.  I’ve also been busy installing a new satellite receiver, so I didn’t have much chance to write any new entries.  I’ll be heading back to Denton tomorrow, and I hope to make some more updates then.

My %#@$# cable modem has been up and down (mostly down) for the past week or so.  It’s really starting to get annoying, since I had to go into the office last night rather than working from home (this is part of the install from hell that just never seems to end). 

I spent most of today assembling a new game computer from the parts that I bought.  The other day I mentioned the new processor/motherboard combo.  I went a little crazy on Friday and went to Fry’s after work and ended up buying a new case and video card (and a bunch of other toys).  The only component I took out of the old system was the sound card (a SoundBlaster Live with LiveDrive; and since it’s got built-in sound as well, it will still be usable).  Of course, this means that I have to acquire another copy of Windows XP (I found that TigerDirect sells the OEM version of XP Home for $99.99, which is far better than the full retail).  I ordered a copy during a brief interlude of connectivity, and I tested the computer by installing my existing copy of XP.  So far, it’s pretty speedy.  Somehow I always manage to cut myself at some point during the process of building a computer.  This was no exception.  I guess the computing gods want a blood sacrifice for new computers.

Here are the specs:

• AMD Athlon XP 2000+
• 512 PC133 SDRAM
• 120GB Western Digital (ATA100, 8MB buffer)
• PNY Verto (nVidia GeForce FX 5600 w/ 256MB DDR)
• 52x24x52 CDRW (on sale at OfficeMax, $9.99 after rebates)
• Enermax CS3071 case

The coming week is likely to be hectic, so posting may be light.  This application deployment that’s been dragging on has really screwed up my work schedule, so I’m behind on an important task.  Worse, this is going to be a short week, since I’ll be heading out of town Thursday night.

We should…be able to see that our interest would be best served not by asking the state to promulgate our values but by forbidding the state to promulgate any values at all.  If the state can espouse some value that we love, it can, with equal justice, espouse others we do not love.
    —Richard Mitchell