Dog House Ramblings

SPAMMERS spreading the holiday cheer....

2008-12-18T13:27:00.003-06:00

It's been a while since I posted an update. I'm at 27,108 SPAM messages. That's 6950 more since the last update 64 days ago. For an average of 108 a day.

Merry Friggin' Christmas...

Don't do me any favors

2008-11-16T20:34:00.006-06:00

So as I've probably mentioned before, I'm in the recreational marine business. I sell boats and boat stuff. And to be totally immodest, I'm pretty good at it. I guess it's my ability to comprehend what I read that makes it easy. Knowing how to sail doesn't hurt.

And (more immodesty) I've built one hell of a parts website for the business where I work... We (I) get no end of compliments about how easy it is to navigate.

There in lies the problem... It's too easy. So business is sometimes too good. Especially with the weak dollar. The shop is getting orders from all over the freaking planet. And being the "whiz" that I am, I get to handle the international orders.

P I T A

Thankfully, most of these customers know what they want. They just need to know how much it's going to cost to ship it. So before taking a single cent, I spend a lot of time estimating package sizes, weighing parts and looking for cheap shipping. Most of my customers are grateful.

Then there are the idiots... Like a customer from one of the US territories (yeah... I know... Not really an international order, but still a PITA from a shipping point of view). This guy doesn't know how to RTFM. And since he's totally alienated his local parts dealer (who I've spoken with) he has to shop on the net.

So he waves his hands via email and expects me to figure it out. It usually takes 5 or 6 emails and a couple of phone calls to figure out what he actually wants, but I eventually get him the parts. Of course, the first credit card number he gives me never works. Even the second one can be problematic. And the whole time, he's whining about having broken boats and not having parts.

So last week, I was trying to wrap up another order for him. He's got me writing two invoices for one shipment. One for the business and one for his personal boat. So I've got two credit card numbers. Neither works. I try to call... Nothing. I send email... nothing.

I'm fed up. I cancel the order because he's not paid for it... After all, sending parts that aren't paid for is just bad business.

So this moron submits the order again. Except it's different. He's specifying the wrong parts and changing things from the previous order. He's not listened and is about to make a huge mistake. I really don't want to deal with him, but call anyway.

Voicemail. Again....

I leave a message.

Nothing....

Five days later, we get a nasty email at the shop from this same moron. He's cancelled his order and hopes "We don't loose any more customers."

With customers like him, who needs enemies.

Sheesh... I'd say good riddance, but he's a bad penny and will probably be back. And as much as it should be allowed, you can't fire customers.

Just Shut Up and Vote

2008-11-01T11:52:00.001-05:00

'nuff said.

SPAM-orama

2008-10-15T08:21:00.002-05:00

I checked my SPAM trap email address this morning. It now has 20,158 messages. That's 3,231 during the last 32 days. Or almost 101 SPAM messages each day.

If that's not just nuts, I don't know what is. My "thanks" to Yahoo for keeping up the good work.

Another week, another entry...

2008-09-28T22:09:00.004-05:00

So it's State Fair time in Texas. Our annual celebration of Big Tex, pig races and fried foods started on Friday and runs for three weeks.

And I would not skip it even for serious money.

Lynne and I headed down just after lunch on the first Sunday. I mean, what's the hurry. They don't start serving beer till noon anyway. And we were not disappointed.

We used the entrance at the back side of the fairgrounds, near the animal pens, since it's never crowded. Plus there's a family with excellent parking on McKenzie just 50 yards from the entrance. Sweat deal.

Our first stop was the coupon booth. $120 later, we headed off in search of corndogs. Fletcher Corny Dogs are the standard by which all others are judged. And this year they did not disappoint. We ate 6 of them between us.

From there, we headed off to the Hans Mueller tent next to the main stage. This is where I get my good German beers - and the site of my first major surprise. Good beer prices had gone up. It now cost 12 coupons (6 bucks) for a bottle of Spaten Optimator or Paulaner Salvator. That's up 3 coupons from last year. I must admit, it slowed my drinking down. Luckily, the Turkey legs had only gone up 2 coupons (to 14). But Lynne is pretty sure she got an extra 3 coupons worth of leg this year. The turkey was cooked to perfection and huge. She couldn't finish it.

With those two things out of the way, we proceeded to the usual hangouts - auto show, Big Tex, dog shows, Food & Fiber Pavilion, Embarcadero/Creative Arts and the Grand Place. We also enjoyed the return of the Killdares to the fair at the Rock Band stage. I even picked up their new CD at one of the souvenir tents

Besides the cost of the beer, probably the biggest disappointment of the fair was the dog shows. The Dancing Dogs show we attended was just plain bad. Since the passing of Skid Boot, it's just not been the same. But at least the arena has been air conditioned.

We also noticed that attendance was definitely down. By 6 pm on Sunday, it was starting to look like a ghost town. The aisles in the Grand Place were definitely empty. One of the vendors we like to patronize said that their business was off at least 75%.

That said, Lynne and I still managed to spend about $250. Was it worth it? Well, as they say in Texas - Hell Yeah!

2008-09-21T13:50:00.002-05:00

They've had a tough time down in the Houston area since Ike it. And while agencies like the Red Cross do a good job at helping pick up the pieces, I don't appreciate that they're using part of my donation to solicit me for more donations.

The people at the Greater Houston Community Foundation tell me that they're not going to waste a donation doing that.

So if you'd like to help, please consider using the link at the right to support storm victims.

Additionally, the mother of one of my coworkers recently passed away after a long illness. During her final days of hospice, the Visiting Nurses Association of Texas did a commendable job of making sure she was comfortable. The family requested that friends and family support the VNA instead of sending flowers. If you'd like to help that organization also, you can click on VNA to donate.

Thanks

Random Ramblings

2008-09-13T18:08:00.005-05:00

My spam trap email address now has 16,927 spam email messages in the bucket.

Hurricane Ike was ugly down south, but mostly a non-event here. Except for gas prices. They've jumped 24 cents a gallon since Thursday morning. We actually could have used more rain. I hope all everyone down south is OK.

Carnival Cruise lines will sell you personal information to everyone on the planet. Since taking a cruise in April, the junk mail at the house has doubled. I know it's because of Carnival because it says so.

One of my coworkers has a mother in hospice. She's not doing well. And it sucks.

Looks like the Tennessee Volunteers may suck this year.

Did I mention that I bought a new rifle in honor of Joe B getting chosen as Obama's running mate? I did. And while I really don't care for McCain, his choice of running mate has me wavering. I had intended to pick None of the Above. Who knows.

Max (my Golden Retriever) is now 15 years and 1 month old. Every day with him is and has been a joy. Good dog, Max. And not to belittle the other animals at the house - Hank, Spock and Lance are all doing quite well, and amusing us with their antics. Though I do wish Lance (a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix) would quit trying to get into the house through the cat door.

There's a "new" liquor store in town. Beverage Depot has added a second store over off of I-35E and Northwest Hwy. You can see it from the interstate, but it's hard to get to... Which is why it's never busy. I'm afraid it will close soon if business doesn't pick up. Which is a shame because it has a great selection of adult beverages, along with the most cooler doors I've ever seen in one store. And the prices are good. Here's a map - Beverage Depot. I highly recommend a visit. You won't be disappointed.

Lynne is officially a full professor at the Baylor College of Dentistry. That means she can pretty much get away with murder.... as long as she cleans up the mess before she goes home for the evening.

I'm thinking about taking a month off to go sailing. I haven't sailed enough this year.

Closing in on 114,000 miles on my '95 325i, or about 70,000 miles since I got it. Thanks for the deal, Dad.

Seems like the charitable organizations are really scrambling for money. And as much as I'd like to help out, I'm not pleased with how my donations are being spent. Instead of using the donations to "take care of business", it seems like they're only using your money to send you solicitations for more money. Even when I specifically ask a charity to not solicit me, the solicit me. So I've started cutting back on the people I send donations to. But that's good for the groups who've listened - cause they're getting the money I used to send to other organizations.

My wife gave me an Oregon Scientific weather station for my birthday - the WMR968 wireless rig. And as slick as this unit is, the instructions for it just plain SUCK! It also appears that the rain gauge does not do well in wind driven rains. So as much as I like it, I definitely can not recommend it for anyone but a serious techno geek.

That's all for tonite.

DTV Coupon Program - another federal failure

2008-09-08T18:46:00.002-05:00

When the government announced the transition from analog to digital TV, I knew we would be affected. The only TV we receive is over the ether. We don't do cable and we don't do satellite. And our youngest TV is over 10 years old. I have a very nice antenna in the attic that pulls in local channels (and some distant ones) just fine.

But in the name of saving bandwidth (and making money) the broadcasts are going digital.

I don't really have a problem with that. After all, I am (or was) a digital design engineer. I know the power of ones and zeros. And I don't mind having to buy a converter box to make our old televisions work.

So the government announces a DTV Converter Coupon Program - "Limited Availability". I of course submit my application for a couple of coupons right after they start accepting them. Lo and behold, we get coupons a few months later.

Then the bad news. The coupons are only good for 90 days and only for specific models of DTV converters. I gotta say I should have waited. I spent hours driving, calling and looking for converters that fit the bill... with zero luck. While the government was ready with coupons, retailers were not ready with boxes. In the end, my coupons expired.

It doesn't bother me so much that I won't save the $40.... Okay, it bothers me. But the whole program was a horrendous waste of money. The feds wasted a ton of money printing these cards with no way to use them.

So I complained to my elected officials about the waste.

Talk about a bunch of clueless fools. Apparently not one person in any of the official offices bothered to read the letter (which was short and too the point). The plugged keys words into a program and printed out responses that had absolutely zero to do with what I wrote.

Amazing...

Come November, I say we vote "None of the Above".

Fuck 'em.

Dallas County Constable Failure

2008-09-03T21:29:00.003-05:00

There was a terrible wreck in the Dallas the other day. A drunk driver fleeing from police after they tried to stop his truck t-boned an SUV while running a red light, then flipped through the air landing on a smaller car. The passengers in the smaller car were killed. The SUV passengers suffered minor injuries (probably because they were in an SUV).

The drunk was a multiple loser and had frequent flier miles at the jail.

The problem was that he should have already been in jail instead of out on the street. There were outstanding warrants for his arrest.

Unfortunately, Dallas County Constables are spending all their time writing tickets for traffic violations (a money maker) instead of doing the job they're tasked with - serving warrants.

So to all you Dallas County Constables writing speeding tickets - the blood of the newlyweds who died in this accident is on you. Serve the damn warrants or join the police dept if you want to write tickets.

Dallas County Constables SUCK! And so do their handlers.

SPAM growing exponentially

2008-08-29T21:58:00.002-05:00

That throwaway email address I talked about on the 17th of August... It now has 1000 more junk email messages than it had 12 days ago. 15,221 to be exact.

I'm not sure why this thing has suddenly taken off, but it sure has. And all still from a single website sign-up. Amazing...

Wear protection.

Website updates even...

2008-08-24T16:35:00.004-05:00

I received an email the other day about beer brewing, asking for a bit of help getting started. I sent her the information she'd need to get started and even referred her to my brewing site... That's when I realized that it was really time to start updating The Dog House.

So I did. I just went through a couple of the brewing pages to fix bad links, grammar and typos. Since I've still not bothered to load a decent HTML editor on the laptop, I just did it the old fashioned way (a text editor and my html cheat sheet). Then I used the godaddy web-based ftp tool to upload the files.

It's not nearly as elegant as doing it with a proper software package, but it will get the job done.

Plus, in recognition of Obama's pick for VP, I went gun shopping today. Joe Biden is a gun-grabber, so I bought an assault rifle. Which means I have no money for software. It's a trade-off I can live with.

Is spamming really a problem?

2008-08-17T14:41:00.004-05:00

Spam is most certainly a problem. And frequently a huge problem depending upon who you give your email address to. Case in point:

I was doing some research into a neighborhood near where a commercial property was available. Besides things like property values and crime statistics, I wanted to know what the rents were in the surrounding apartments. Rather than contact all the individual apartment complexes while pretending to be a potential renter, I chose to use an online apartment finder.

Now, I am not an idiot. Because I suspected a high SPAM potential, I cranked out a free Yahoo email address to submit to the the apartment locator service. I got my access, did my research and logged out.

Fast forward a couple of months. I'm bored and surfing the net. I remember my one-time apartment hunting email address and log in to see what happened to hit.

HOLY CRAP! The address has become a SPAM magnet like you can't even imagine.

I start scrolling through some of the subject lines and find multiple examples of just about every SPAM/scam under the sun. Free laptops, free computers, online dating, viagra, work-from-home, make money fast, etc... If you've received a SPAM, you can safely bet I had a copy too. And I'm not talking a few SPAMS. I'm talking hundreds and hundreds. All from a single submission of the email address to a commercial website.

18 months later, this has turned into a game for me. I've still never sent out another email or submitted the address anywhere else. I've used it once. One time. To one place. Nothing more. Yet the SPAM continues to roll in. Every couple of weeks, I mark all the email in the Inbox as SPAM (it numbers in the 100's), then move all the SPAM into a folder called Crap. I started saving the SPAM about 6 months after setting up the account.

My Crap folder now has...

[drum roll please]

over 14,000 SPAM messages. Yes, you read right. 14k+. In a 12 month period. That's an average of over 38 per day. The reality is I'm running closer to 80 per day at the moment.

I'd blame Yahoo, but none of the other one-time-use email addresses I've cranked out have ever gathered this kind of SPAM. In fact, most of them are dead quiet. Even worse, my email account with Verizon (the one I pay for and which has never been publicly posted nor has been given to commercial entities) gets more SPAM than all of my Yahoo accounts, save one.

The messages here:

1) The company who you pay for your internet service WILL SPAM YOU. And they WILL SELL your personal information to others.

2) Take advantage of free email services to keep the SPAM out of the email boxes you want available to friends and family.

3) One day, we'll be paying for each email we send. It's just about the only way we'll be able to control the SPAM problem.

Cheers

Damn, has it been that long?

2008-08-16T20:52:00.010-05:00

OK... So I'm not much of a blogger. My last post was over two months ago. Why is that? I guess I have a life instead of an overpowering urge to write about my life so that others can read about it. But at the moment, there's nothing pressing on my to-do list and nothing on TV.

So what's been going on?

Windsurfing has not been happening nearly enough. But then it's been hot as stink around here for too long. I got in a really good session on the 10th of August. I think there was only one other good session between then and my last post. That's just North Texas in the summer time. I'll make up for it in December, January and February when everyone else is dealing with water that is solid.
Lynne and I celebrated our birthdays with a fancy dinner at The Capital Grille here in Dallas. If I could cook steaks like that, I'd open a stinking restaurant. But when you drop well over two bills, it better be good.
The week before, we hooked up with Tim and Linda for dinner at Cafe Istanbul. Not quite as fancy as the The Capital Grille, this place is still kind of high class. I'm surprised they'd let the likes of Tim and I in there. But the dinner was quite good and I'd happily go back. I just have to remember to bring "tips" for the belly dancers next time.
I'm about to keg a batch of Loud Mouth Stout. If it's good, I'll take some to the coast for Thanksgiving... Assuming we go.
The HVAC system at the house took a dump. And since the A/C system was the old R22, I did the ecologically sound thing and upgraded to a high efficiency R410 system. Damn, that was expensive. But since the A/C hadn't kept up all Summer, it wasn't really a surprise when it happened.
But before the HVAC went bye-bye, we'd had a radiant barrier sprayed and an extra 6 inches of insulation layed down. It's amazing how much cooler the attic is.
Lynne gave me an Oregon Scientific wireless weather station for my birthday - the WMR968. It's pretty stinking slick. I'm toying with the idea of setting it for online access... The only problem there is that the douchebags at iWindsurf would pick it up as their own. Maybe I'll password protect it and give it out only to the locals.
Lynne went to Harvard Business School for a two week class back in June. She had a ball and even learned some stuff. I missed her a lot. Still not exactly sure what it was she learned.
The new laptop is working nice, but Vista still doesn't play well with others. All the USB connected devices only get hooked up when I need access, lest Vista throw a hissy fit during boot up. And that's kind of a PITA.
Sprint cellular service sucks. No... I get a good signal. But they've started cold calling me on my cell phone, trying to sell me a new cell phone. How screwed is that? Maybe ATT or Verizon will do better. But I doubt it.
My step-grandfather died recently. RIP - Francis "Lucky" Jordan.

My Golden Retriever, Max, celebrated his birthday in August... He's 15 now and has been with me since April 15, 1994. Good Dog. Good Dog.
It rained a couple of days ago. That' wouldn't be news in a lot of places, but it was here. 1.58 inches (according to my brand new wireless weather station). That may bee the first rain since my last post.
Mariner has been crazy busy. We've been shipping Hobie parts all over the freaking planet. I've got customers on 6 of the 7 continents. And it's a bit frantic at times. To add injury to insult, we bought out the inventory and equipment of a shuttered sailing store in Florida. What we really wanted was the sailmaking equipment out of their loft (including a plotter/cutter table). But it was a package deal. Unfortunately, the delivered inventory and the listed inventory aren't even remotely related. And the plotter/cutter still ain't running. There was definitely a bunch of 5-finger discounting going on. Not sure if it was the owner, the employees or the people who put the store into storage after it shut down. But there's some brutal dishonesty going on here. As I've researched the old company, I find I'm not surprised. They had a reputation of being a bunch of screw-ups.
I've been thinking about getting Christine running again - that's my 1955 Bel Air. A couple of my windsurfing buds have some nice rods, and I'd kind of like to join them on a run. But to build a rod, you need both time and money. I usually only have one or the other.
So... I'll probably spend the time and money fixing my daily driver - a '95 325i. The parts are in a pile on the garage - rotors, brake pads, struts, pretty much everything needed to rebuild the suspension. I just need some cool weather... And several days without interruption.

And that's about it for now.

2008-06-11T21:48:00.001-05:00

Yes... I don't update the rest of my website.

Why?

Because I haven't recovered all the files or software since my main machine crashed.

Some day.

2008-04-22T21:37:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting in our room at the Harbor House hotel in Galveston. We picked up Lynne's parents in Houston earlier today, then drove to the island. We have a cruise leaving on Thursday. Till then, there's time to kill.

So for dinner we ate at Willie G's next door. We'd stopped in early for drinks, but were impressed by the place so we returned for dinner. Willie G's is a seafood place right on the water (just like the hotel). The food is really good. And our server, Joe, was top notch. If you're in Galveston, Willie G's is highly recommend - http://www.williegs.com/

HOV stupidity is increasing.

2008-04-17T08:31:00.002-05:00

So the new HOV lanes along I-635 have been open for awhile. And I've noticed that there are quite a few wrecks in the HOV lane. In fact, my last five commutes have been affected by fender benders in the HOV lane. And I have one question..

HOW FUCKING STUPID DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO REAR-END ANOTHER CAR IN THE HOV LANE??!?!?!?!

Let's face it. It's not like there are two lanes and someone merged or cut-in on another car. It's single lane, follow-the-leader easy. And there's a whole lot less traffic in the HOV than the main lanes. It's pathetically easy to maintain a safe following distance since no one can cut it (or at least that's the theory). Yet these morons keep having 2, 3 and more car pile-ups because they're too stupid. The problem arises that these stupid HOV drivers are impacting the rest of the road when TXDOT and the police show up to clear the mess.

Why?

Because the idiots at TXDOT were TOO FUCKING STUPID TO MAKE THE HOV LANES WITH A SHOULDER TO ALLOW GETTING AROUND A WRECK! So now the police have to block one of the main lanes to let all the other Stupid HOV drivers around the wreck.

But no... One lane is not usually enough. Two lanes is more like it. One lane for the emergency responders and one lane for the Stupid HOV drivers.

And of course, our fine officers in Law Enforcement have to get all the details. So a very minor accident that should have been moved to the shoulder after the first few minutes ends up taking an hour or more to clear out of the HOV lane.

Sheesh....

There's a law in this state. If the vehicles are running and there are no injuries, those involved in an accident are supposed to move their vehicles off of the road. It's the law. Period. I wish someone would start enforcing it. Because none of these five wrecks I've seen this week was any more than a minor fender bender. No fluids leaking, no cars sideways, no broken glass, no flat tires.

MOVE THEM OFF THE FUCKING ROAD!!!!! Even dumbass HOV users should be able to figure it out... But apparently not.

Government Smart Asses

2008-04-03T11:39:00.007-05:00

So I'm flying to South Dakota for my mother's 70th birthday at the end of April. And one of the things that I want to take with me the soda can pop-tops I've been collecting for her. Mom gives them to some charity that turns them into money. Not sure how it works nor really care. She asked, I collect.

But I've got a bunch of them. Enough to fill a gallon pickle jar about 1/2 way. Now it's a short trip so I had planned on carrying my luggage on. Then I started thinking about some of the bizarre stories coming out of airports around the country... You know the kind... Where the TSA has failed the common sense test.

Now I'm not really expecting a lot of help, but the TSA does have a website. After a few minutes of surfing, I figure the answer isn't there. But there is an email address. Yeah... You know where this is going...

The exchange follows. I am not making up their last reply (or lack of such) to me.

=== begin message ===
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:16:04 -0400
From: "TSA-ContactCenter6"
Subject: Re: Question about an item for carry on. <<#184018-260662#>>
To: xxxxxxxxx@verizon.net

--- Original Message ---
From: "Brian Cxxxxxxxxx" xxxxxxxxx@verizon.net
Received: 4/2/2008 3:49:39 PM Eastern Standard Time (GMT - 4:00 )
To: "TSA Contact Center" TSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov
Subject: Re: Question about an item for carry on.

Wow... That was a total non-answer. Why do you guys even have an email address? Never mind. Don't non-answer that.

----- Original Message -----
From: TSA-ContactCenter2
To: xxxxxxxxx@verizon.net
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 10:23 AM
Subject: Re: Question about an item for carry on.
Thank you for your e-mail.

The Transportation Security Administration's current security screening procedures require all carry-on luggage and accessible property be screened before passengers take them onboard an aircraft. Regardless of whether an item is on the prohibited or permitted items list, the Transportation Security Officers (TSO's) have discretion to prohibit an individual from carrying an item through the screening checkpoint or onboard an aircraft if the item poses a security threat.

Therefore, TSA security screening personnel make the final decision on whether to permit items like this into the sterile area of the airport. Should you need additional assistance, feel free to contact us at toll free 866-289-9673.

Please visit our website at www.tsa.gov for additional information about TSA. We continue to add new information and encourage you to check the website frequently for updated information.

We hope this information is helpful.

TSA Contact Center
--- Original Message ---

From: "Brian Cxxxxxxxxx" xxxxxxxxx@verizon.net
Received: 3/31/2008 10:35:27 AM Eastern Standard Time (GMT - 4:00 )
To: "TSA Contact Center" TSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov
Subject: Question about an item for carry on.

Good morning,
This may seem like a strange question.
My mother collects soda can pop-tops for a charity she is involved with. So I save pop-tops for her. I'm flying to see her in early May and have quite a few of these pop-tops for her. It's a short trip, so I had planned to just carry a small bag onto the flight.
Will the TSA security screeners have a problem with about a 1/2 gallon volume worth of these pop-tops in my luggage?
Thanks, Brian Cxxxxxxxxx

------ TCC Control Number:
------------ TCC Control Number: ----

I guess they did do what I told them to do... Not answer. And care to guess what happened when I called the phone number?

I guess I'll just check my luggage so that I don't have to mess with it. But now I wonder if I'm going to make the news when I head through security at month's end.

Weird Texas Spring has arrived.

2008-03-31T20:49:00.003-05:00

As usual for this time of year, the weather is starting to get a bit goofy. We had severe weather warning in the area today. Of course, I went windsurfing. I arrive at Fire Ant in the early afternoon to find no one else from the crew there. They were either working or scared off by the weather. I only managed about an hour on the water, but got a 30mph run out of the day on the Madd with a 5.5 SE Wave. I tried my Screamer for a few laps, but the barn-sized holes made the scholgg no fun. If I can loose some weight, it won't be so bad.

But the weird was reinforced when I headed over to my favorite hardware store beforehand. It's not one of the big chains. It's a "Mom & Pop" store off the beaten path called Arrington Hardware. I've shopped there for quite a few years for my non-landscaping supplies. It had a been a couple of months since I'd been in the place, so I was deeply disappointed to drive up to see "Store Closing" signs. I've known one of the owners, Pat, for about 5 years when we were first on a city planning committee together. We had a long chat, but the basic story is Walmart had sucked the life out of their business. So they decided to close before things got ugly.

Oh well.

Home Depot Apologizes

2008-03-14T11:35:00.004-05:00

After bitching about the continued crappy service from Home Depot, I wrote a fairly strong email to HD corporate. They replied...

Dear Brian,

Thank you for contacting The Home Depot Customer Care.

We appreciate you taking the time to forward your concerns at the NW Dallas Home Depot store. We apologize that we did not meet your expectations.

The feedback you have provided is taken seriously and will be used in the overall evaluation of the services we provide to our customers. Our Company was built on the values of great customer service and enthusiasm of our associates. We obviously missed the mark with you and this is not the way we mean to run our stores.

We need you and we don't take your patronage for granted. We would like to send you a $35.00 gift card that can be used at any Home Depot store. It's our way to say 'Thank You' for your feedback and our hope that you will give us another chance.

Please provide the telephone number starting with the area code and the physical address where you would like UPS to deliver the gift card.

Again, please accept our apologies for the circumstances you encountered in our store.

We look forward to your continued patronage and assisting you with all of your home improvement needs.

Sincerely,

Monica
Customer Care

Since I've complained about and to Home Depot many times for pretty much the exact problem, I don't really expect them to change.

And some people may wonder why I do business with them if they're so bad. One word:

Convenience.

This particular store is close enough to the shop that I could hit it with a rock on a windy day. And since it is a corporate training facility for HD, you'd think it would be better than their average store. The reality is that it's worse. Possibly the worst. And considering how bad Home Depot is compared to all the alternatives, that is saying something.

So I think I've finally learned my lesson. I'd take their gift card if I wasn't positive that they'll use that information to market to me incessantly. Let's face it... HD is run by a bunch of douche bags.

Home Depot sux

2008-03-13T15:21:00.003-05:00

Yeah, I'm sure no one has ever heard that before.

But they do.

Especially the one on Grissom Lane in Dallas. The manager, Randall, absolutely does not care that his employees have extremely poor customer service skills. You can call him at 972-484-7077 and ask.

Sheesh....

Late report on two more sessions

2008-03-08T06:22:00.005-06:00

I did manage to get some more windsurfing in last week.

I had a rough day of work on the 27th of Feb, so I took the 28th off. It was a good call. We had one heck of a day. The peak wind gust was something like 41mph. And you can see from the chart below that we had some wild rides. I was on my old Mistal Classic 275 with an Ezzy 4.7 SE Wave (first time out on it) and a Finworks Wing 360. I managed a best speed of just under 32mph, which I was pretty happy with considering the rough water.

Then we did it all over again on Sunday the 2nd. I had to use a bigger sail (5.5 SE Wave), but the rest of the gear was the same. A few more holes today, but a nice crowd at Fire Ant.

The Democrats must be desperate.

2008-03-02T22:41:00.001-06:00

The primary here in Texas is coming up Tuesday. The calls from politicians (mostly democrats) were hot and heavy. But tonite, they got out of control. We actually turned the ringers off on all of the phones after getting 4 calls in under 10 minutes.

Nuts.

Damn

2008-02-27T21:49:00.002-06:00

A short run at #1 for the Vols. They lost to Vandy last night. SEC is a tough conference.

Go Vols

2008-02-24T00:13:00.001-06:00

#2 Tennessee - 66 : #1 Memphis - 62

'Nuff Said.

I may be turning into a technophobe..

2008-02-17T11:37:00.004-06:00

Back in the later 70's, early 80's, technology was fascinating. I was pretty much a math whiz studying electrical engineering and enjoying the evolution of computers. I had my first computer in '83. In '85, I hired on at Texas Instruments. I got to play with all the cool toys, including the early stages of what has become the World Wide Web.

In '94, I jumped to the telecom industry and played with all those cool toys. I hooked up the internet at home so that I could continue to play when I wasn't at work. I bought cool electronics like there was no tomorrow. But by '98, the love was starting to fade, though I still mostly kept up with technology.

In 2002, I punted and took a year off to windsurf. In 2003, I started working in the recreational marine industry.

And now I think I'm becoming a technophobe. I hardly follow technology at all any more.

I realize this because I'm sitting here researching Intel processors. I'm doing that because both my laptop and desktop are in dire need of replacing. And I have zero clue as to the differences between all the processors currently on the market. Dual Core, Duo Core, it's all the same.

And last night at Angelo's (our favorite Italian restaurant), I'm wondering why the parents at the next table are allowing their children to listen to Ipods. I'm wondering why someone would be texting friends when they could just call them. And I'm wondering what's so important that it would interrupt such a good meal.

Then this morning, my wife explains a term that's new to me - twittering. Apparently it's something people with Blackberries like to do. I'd never heard of it, let alone can I think of a reason I'd want to do it. In fact, my 7 year old phone (I hardly call it a cell phone anymore) is not capable of any of it. Nor do I desire to own a phone that will allow me to text or take pictures.

Electronic leashes... That's all they are.

That discussion came on heels of a conversation about flat panel TV's - yet another technology that I'm sorely undereducated about. Yet we'll soon be forced into.

Yes.... I am starting to fear technology. At least the kind related to electronics. And coming from a person who graduated BSEE with honors, that just seems like a sad statement. Whether that is a sad statement about me or the world has yet to be determined.

Of course, all these thoughts are coming to me while I write in a Blog. The need for which I'm still trying to wrap my brain around. Yet here I type. I guess I justify it by calling it an outlet for my creative thinking.

Yeah.... Right....

I probably should just go windsurfing.