collisionbend.com

More than once I have written about stupid drivers.

My favorite — complete with photo — is this post, where someone didn’t have the time to clear off more than a handful of snow from their rear window before taking off on an incredibly bad snow day to drive all of 10 miles an hour through snarled traffic.

Other times, I’ve given in to random thoughts about people with no common sense. Yes, a favorite theme around here at the ‘Bend, but sometimes I just can’t resist.

I’ve even taken an ominous tone at times (see thought 4: well, OK, I thought that opening a post with thoughts on the Mob, even though a fictional family, would lend some darkness to the post) about what I see on Cleveland streets.

So now I have found someone with my own ideals at heart. Someone who has the right idea about how to use the web in a grassroots effort to make a serious change for the better.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you: PlateWire.

Not to be restricted to a mere blog about bad drivers — this guy is flagging plates all around the country, having users tell their stories about who did what when — along with car descriptions and license plate numbers.

And, yes, the plates are uncensored.

I registered as a user, which is free. I see enough nonsense every morning rush hour that I can’t help but keep my eye out for bad drivers — some of whom I see plying their trade every morning. And yes, I plan on participating — regularly.

Forget about traffic cams, people — look out for PlateWire!

Not to be outdone, there is another site in the works: PlateXchange.com. Not to be outdone by PlateWire, PlateXchange has a ncer design and an interface that is easier on the eyes as well as easier to navigate (so far — it’s still in beta as I write this).

So word up, bad drivers all: someone is watching you — and we’re nearby, with cameras, notepads, and Internet connections at the ready.

Go ahead, idiot drivers: make my day.

My new ISP, Road Runner, has released its Turbo service, supposedly running at 15Mbps — 3 times faster than my current cable connection. Little do they know that *I* know that is won’t get over 8Mbps…

Interested, though, I had the following chat with a Time-Warner support rep tonight, looking for cost and availability of Road Runner Turbo in my area:

–[opening personal ID banter redacted]–
me: is it available in my city?
Jay K: Yes it is available in your area.
me: OK, Jay… that’s all I needed. Thanks!!!!!
Jay K: Ok, what you would need to do is to contact our local office at 1-877-xxx-xxxx [redacted] so that they can assist you on that issue
Jay K: If you have no further issues that we can assist you with, you may end the chat session by clicking on the X button in the upper right corner of the chat window and a chat transcript will be displayed for you. Once again thank you for choosing Time Warner Cable Road Runner Internet Technical Chat! In an ongoing effort to continue improving our quality of service, we are conducting a customer survey. If you would like to participate, please copy and paste the following link into your browser: [link redacted]
me: Thanks!
Jay K: You are welcome.
me: no x up there…
me: on a mac…
me: no button there…
me: what do I do?
Jay K: Analyst has closed chat and left the room

OK, so he was helpful. What got to me, though, was that last couple of lines: “you may end the chat session by clicking on the X button in the upper right corner of the chat window…”

I had no such button. At first, I tried to access the support site in Firefox. No dice — you had to be using Netscape 6.0 or higher to use the site, or Safari 1.0 or higher for Mac.

Netscape 6? Not 6.22? OK… Safari 2 I have, but isn’t Firefox merely a better version of Netscape, and far higher than Netscape 6, which was released years ago?

Once again, we see a lack of forethought — and testing — in the development process: there are a lot of Mac users on Road Runner; I am not alone.

Point: when you develop for a system that you *know* will be used on operatng systems other than Windows, you *must* make accommodations to those other operating systems — and browsers. Else, you leave your customers out in the cold.

(This is why I am such a big stickler — especially now that I am a Mac user — for developing on the Mac. this is also why I’m driving my new employer — a *strict* Windows house — crazy with my Mac requests.)

I have no intentions of bashing anybody here — this guy in the chat, Jay K., left the chat session before realizing that he had given me advice for a Windows user — when I couldn’t see what he was referring to because I wasn’t using Windows to chat with him. I flooded the room, slowly, but enough for him to know that I couldn’t see what he saw…

And he left anyway.

Blame it on the designer. Blame it on the developer. Blame it on the development houses that won’t accede to multiple platforms on the internal network. Blame it on the support guy’s trainer. Blame it, finally, on the support guy himself, for he should have stayed in there and found out that I couldn’t see what he saw because I use a Mac.

He could have relayed that info. He didn’t. He bailed. Such is the state of customer service in America.

I haven’t done the survey yet. I might; I might not: last time I used such a survey, after pacing the lot at Classic Ford in Mentor for 35 minutes — including a slow march across the showroom floor at 6:40 on a Monday night — without so much as a wave from a sales rep, I got an almost immediate response: Jim Brown does not want to hear this kind of stuff — and neither do his managers, who are denied their bonuses for a single complaint — which leads to the inevitable conversation from their service department where they tell you not, under any circumstance, tell the phone survey people that you were unhappy with any part of your Classic experience — else they lose their precious bonus (without which they might not be able to put food on the table).

Somehow, I doubt if I’ll get it this time, utilities (especially a legislated monopoly like a cable company) rarely respond to negative experiences.

Such is the state of customer service in America.

Such is the level of BS we put up with from companies on a daily basis. OMG, where are you, Seth?

My **th high school reunion is this weekend. No, I’m not telling you how many years it’s been, but I will give you a clue:

Rocky River High School beat Avon High tonight by a score of 42-7. When I was a student at RRHS, that score was usually reversed — every week.

After conversing with a couple of my fellow grads tonight, we determined that our varsity football team won all of three games while we attended RRHS. One year, we scored a total of 5 points.

Yep: 5 points. Count ‘em. 5.

I can remember one night, playing either Avon or Avon Lake, having lost every game that year so far — by shutout (it may have been that year I quote) — that our team was down 49-0 with scant time remaining in the 4th quarter, and we scored a field goal — which sent everyone on our side into a frenzy.

When folks from the other side asked about it, we told them that we were cheering because we actually *scored*.

So River beat Avon tonight, 42-7. It was 28-0 at halftime.

I felt like I was watching my other alma mater, The Ohio State University Buckeye Football Team (and, yes, the capitalization is quite correct), only the colors were a little weird…

Seeing a whole bunch of old friends at the game: priceless.

We’re meeting again tomorrow — much more officially. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I’ve been shopping for a new car, since mine is getting a little long in the tooth.

Then I get a load of this.

I’m seriously encouraged (sarcasm? who? me?).

And I can’t relate the issues I’ve already had with Classic. They continually advertise cars they don’t have, trying to draw customers into their lots.

Thieves.

Man, the Browns are a lousy team.

You’d expect a little improvement, perhaps after making those moves in the draft, but they are still the worst product in the NFL, and they are an embarrassment to this city and its residents.

They can’t tackle, they can’t block, they can’t run the ball, they can’t throw the ball, they can’t catch the ball, they can’t kick the ball — I doubt if they can even see the ball.

You’d think, after Lerner spent so much money getting the Browns back in Cleveland, that after 8 years they’d have a decent team on the field.

They don’t, and they haven’t.

I’m not predicting 0-16 for the year, but it’s going to be pretty close to that. 5-11 at best, whether or not Brady Quinn ever gets a chance to play: he can’t do it alone.

And until things improve in the Browns’ HQ, it ain’t gonna change any time soon.

Carr gave out platitudes.

Coach Tressel played it diplomatically. (Sorry, it starts automatically — you can’t control it even with Firefox plugins).

Ron Zook, coach of the Ilinois Hawkeyes, was succinct.

(And you know a redesign for this site is in the works)…

…you don’t want to know what I think of last week’s UM/Appalachian State football game.

Just a few random thoughts that I have been ruminating over for the last few days:

Why is it that most of the SUV drivers that drive in the area of I-271 & I-480 during rush hour are more inconsiderate?

My car has seen better days, so it’s time to replace it. Problem is that 99% of the used cars on the dealers’ lots are junk: almost every one of them has been hit. Carfax reports are useless (they even admitted it in court): every car I’ve test-driven (6 “clean” used cars so far) had a clean Carfax report; naturally, every dealership touts this as indisputable evidence that the car is clean, despite the fact that there’s unsanded bondo and matte paint on the bumper, overspray all over the vehicle, and damage that could only come from a nasty accident.

News Flash: If the car jumps sideways when you go over a bump, there’s something major wrong with the car, guys! The only way this happens is a multi-thousand dollar accident. And they want to wave a Carfax report at me? They must think me blind — or an idiot: there are states in this Union that don’t have the salvage or flood requirements on a vehicle title — resell the car there and your title is securely laundered — and the unsuspecting consumer is taken for a ride. Why can’t we police this better? This is obvious fraud…

After the old hard-ball hustle (one guy wouldn’t let me out of the dealership the other night until I signed on the dotted line — I didn’t), and the grease-ball tactics, car salesmen have the gall to assert that they are decent people like you and me. What’s with this?

So I’m looking at new cars. Why? Because I can, that’s why: I got a new job (in my field), am getting paid well, and am in a great situation — and I’m happy as a clam. I’ll detail this in a later post. One thing I’ll say here, though: if it doesn’t work out, I’m going to go out and get myself a Dirty Job.

Just had air conditioning installed in our house (new furnace, too). First time I ever had central air. After the last couple of humid days, I’m wondering how I’ve lived without it for so long — and how folks can live without it. It’ll be interesting to hear what the gas company says when they see my gas usage cut by 60% this winter; I’m all about saving money on utilities around the house <grin>…

I bought my bride a birthday present — a month early. What did I get her? A Canon PowerShot 570 IS, of course. After a couple days of use, I have to say that I love this camera. Here’s a shot she took while getting acquainted with it; fortunately, I had the common sense to wear cruisewear to hide the extra 10 pounds I gained working retail…

I joined a writer’s group while at my old job. Now I have to force myself to write in my spare time. I’m glad I did.

I have a ton of photos from a recent (2nd in a year) trip to Washington, D.C. Love that city. Expensive, though. I’ll post a few later on, when I have time. Stay tuned.

Apple released a new iPod today — but you knew this was coming, didn’t you? Lemme see here… $400 bucks for a 16GB (flash memory? — they don’t say) iPod with the new touch screen… Hmmm… Might be a winner…

I heard a commercial on WNCX the other day, claiming that sometimes their DJs make a mistake and play the wrong song on a CD — “sounds good, doesn’t it?” Haven’t heard anything different yet, guys, but when I do I’ll be sure to let you know. (I have to add here that one of the cars I was test-driving this week had a 1-year satellite radio subscription: play jazz, light jazz, blues, rockabilly, classic rock, 70s classic rock, 80s rock… hmmmmm…)

I recently survived a comment spam attack on my web server. Akismet corralled over 2,500 spam comments in a little over 6 hours. I saw one of them, which led me to the discovery, so it evidently works — and quite well, too.

Speaking of spam, I haven’t received the latest blogger meetup email — my email filters have been skewered down tight lately. If you know about this month’s venue, can you please email me with the details? I’d like to go. Also, can we do Pearl of the Orient in Rocky River again? I found that I love eating with chopsticks…

Not to date myself, but I’m going to my 30th high school reunion this month. Where the f*** (sorry, I know: keep it a G-rated blog, OK?) did the time go? I still feel like I’m about 27…

And finally: why do some people, when they are placed in charge of a company’s computers, disallow anything other than a Windows XP computer on their network — for security reasons — even when they know that Macs are far more secure?

So for a month, it’s been monthy (and work’s been worky). And you? Was it good for you, too?