When we moved into the house, there was an old, 15-year old probably, garage door opener that was really loud. The baby had not yet arrived and we wanted to replace the old thing with a quiet belt-drive model. I picked up a Craftsman model from Sears and was excited.

The install went decent. After only a month or two, however, the new opener was acting strange. Would not open, would not close, and the only way to fix it was to unplug, wait 30 minutes, and plug back in. That requires a ladder and is a pain when you are trying to get out of the house in the morning.

I called Sears. Everything was still under warranty. Then it went back to working out of the blue, no problems. The flashing code was either 1) overheating or 2) bad logic board. Since the machine would freeze up and stop working after one opening or closing, it had to be that board.

But the machine worked again, for about nine more months. Maybe two months ago it was back on the fritz. Now, though, we are out of the labor warranty and the scamtaculous activities begin. This is where the blood pressure reaches dangerous levels.

The opener was built, manufactured, in March of 2007. That means that right now, today, it is one year and four months old (although it is right now in a dumpster). I digress. So this opener will not work, at all any more, and I called Sears. Well, the parts are under warranty, but not the labor. So I tell them I need a new logic board. Good, that would be covered. However, they have to send a person to my home with a charge of $60 to tell me the board needs replaces and then they will charge me the labor to replace the board, and the parts are covered, no charge. But no one at Sears will tell me how much the labor is to replace a logic board. No one, and I mean no one, will tell me that labor rate.

Apparently the people on the phone can schedule a visit to your home, but they do not talk to the people that come out. They cannot transfer you to the people that come, and after two hours of calling, being hung up on, calling back, transferred around and around in Sears, I finally gave up. I am not going to pay $200 for someone to come out and replace the dumb board when I can get an entirely new opener for that much. No one at Sears know the labor rate for replacing that little logic board. No one.

This horrible customer service is only months after I bought a new Craftsman pressure washer that would not suck up soap which then required a return to the store and they shipped the thing somewhere for repair. Why would they not just exchange it for another one? What crap.

So that is it for me. I do not want to ever buy anything ever again from Sears. Not even a Craftsman wrench, socket, anything at all from them. That is it for me. I will buy Snap-on, Northern Tools, Matco, Irwin, anything other than Craftsman.

Part of me wonders if my rage against Sears and the Craftsman opener and pressure washer jinxed me into getting the one Genie opener that was missing a bolt and the drive coupler. What are the odds?  Hopefully the parts will arrive today.

The heat in the Valley here is really starting to "burn".  It reached about 114* yesterday and I don't know about you, but to me that is STUPIDLY STUPID HOT.  I mean, please!  I don't live in Death Valley, do I????  My air conditioning bill is going to be HELLA STUPIDLY HIGH and what is the purpose people???!!!  Ok, I'm done.  Besides that, I am sitting inside a very nicely cooled air-conditioned office so who am I to complain???  Besides, even though it's ANOTHER HELLA HOT DAY OF HEAT out there, I don't care!  Unless I have to run errands.  Even then, I am lucky to have my gym towels to soak up so more sweat, hey!  Yeah?  Who needs the gym?  LOL, no seriously folks, drink lots of water.  I'm going to need it.

~Shawna

Complaining also betrays one's elitism. By complaining about surroundings and such, one is sending the message that one is better than those surroundings, or the people in them. I am far too guilty of this attitude.

The complaints spring from a mindset that I have received unnecessary and/or undue hardship from the world. But I reckon, for a variety of reasons — the vicissitudes of life and my own inept behavior — I am where I am, doing what I do, and I ought to make the best of the situation and take whatever steps I can to improve it, rather than whine about it.

I suspect I need to weigh more carefully what I am about to say, and shut my mouth much, much more. Unless what I have to say is necessary, or at the very least not harmful, then I reckon I ought not say it.

The story provides no information about what the actual test was. They were probably forced to use computers with windows update deliberately disabled running an unpatched version of windows from several years ago but still, the McAfee director has no authority to say "machines slowing down definitely means spyware".

How would mearly "surfing the web" without spam filters result in any spam anyway unless you're giving out your email address? The whole thing is ridiculous and should not be on a serious news website.

The first compares the size of the glass to a standard syrup container (I'm sure you've used one at some point). The second picture shows the same size orange juice. I estimate I got about 12oz of milk.

My issue here is price. The milk was $2.69. I paid for nearly an entire gallon. There are 128 ounces in a gallon, which translates to about 10 glasses per gallon, which translates to $26.90 in total revenue to the store.

Oh, and the OJ, it was only slightly more expensive. $4.39. WOW

UPDATE

July 30th, 1PM PST

Today at lunch, I got a glass that represented exactly what I was expecting when ordering a 'large' glass:

The first picture compares the glass to a typical bottle of Tabasco. Not exactly the same scale as the maple syrup dispenser, but at least it's a reference. The second picture shows the wide mouth of the glass. Huge is the only word to describe it.

(and looks back, very rarely is someone interested in listening to his ball-talks, he continues..)

See.. See that twenty twenty cricket. It just goes to show that the younger generation has very little attention span. No attention only. They want fast fast quick fix for everything. And no tolerance only. The tolerance levels have gone down dramatically. In my son’s office, one man is working.. Madrasi only, close to our native place house.. his daughter.. seven years old. In the vacation time, they sent her for horse riding, violin, piano, drawing, swimming class like that. Everyday she went for horse riding, violin, piano, drawing, swimming class.. now she is confused actually. Parents forced her, but now she does not play piano or violin. Little drawing and painting she used to do, but now that also she has stopped.

FIN

Prof. P.S. is fictional.

It's going to be history. The Dungeon, a very popular concert lounge in Oshawa is slated to be closed on June 30th, 2008. It was bought out by the new owners and won't be re-opening it as a "The Dungeon".  This, along with the constant noise complaints have prompted the closure of this once-popular entertainment complex.

I first attended the Dungeon back in June 2007 - to see Marianas Trench. The most recent time I last went to the Dungeon was back in April when Faber Drive performed there. There have been some efforts to Save the Dungeon, but despite the huge number of support made by people, the closure will go forward. The adjacent Laser Quest (now known as "Lazer Tag" or something like that) has made a majority of noise complaints along with the surrounding buildings to the City of Oshawa that forced the owners of the Dungeon to close down for good.

So with the Dungeon now closing down, how would many low to high profile bands find a way to get some good entertainment to entertain the fans?!

There's always E.P. Taylor's - a student pub located onsite at the Oshawa Campus of Durham College and University of Institute of Technology.  I've sent a few messages to Marianas Trench and Faber Drive about the closure. So far, only Marianas Trench had responded to my message. Ian Casselman, the drummer of Marianas Trench told me that it's very sad about the news. In another twist, he asked me if there was another place in Oshawa for them to do a show. In a funnier twist, he even asked me if I should start one! No offence to that, but as far as I'm concerned, it's better off that they should find a place for themselves - E.P. Taylor's is a great place to do shows - as far as I'm concerned.

Anyways, we will remember the Dungeon for the rest of our lives. May our prayers godspeed for the Dungeon and it's people involved....

Showbiz Tonight" is TV's most provocative entertainment news show. Hosted by A.J. Hammer in New York with Brooke Anderson in Hollywood, "Showbiz Tonight" reports, discusses and debates the most controversial and topical stories involving Hollywood's biggest celebrities

My issue with this is mostly, I think of CNN as a respectable news source. Integrating 10 minutes worth of 'celebrity news' tells me CNN is struggling to come up with real news stories. Leave the celeb gossip for the no talent hosts on E! and Fox and retain your dignity.

PokerRoom also leaked my address to spammers, I know this because I use a unique address for every website and I get a serious amount of spam from them.

This isn't because of my often fuck-ups in sleep schedule (though I'm sure that me waking up at 3 in the afternoon doesn't help). My mind is racing on things. Instead of focusing on any sort of a future, I find myself dwelling on past events. And since I can only remember the bad things, mainly the moments of humiliation, I'm almost certain I'm back on the corner of Piss and Moan. Depression mixed with anger.

Now, I hate being depressed and angry but I think a lot of that hatred stems from how the world around me has viewed that mindset and judged it.

I feel guilty for being upset because so many other people have it worse than me. I have a roof over my head, a good number of technologies and entertainment at my disposal, a good family, a best friend and a few good ones with him, and talents and the curiosity to explore them. How dare I let it rain on my parade?! I should have used my money (or my parents money, rather) to get a fucking umbrella in the form of a fucking jaguar, right?

This is that supposed "tough love" psychology shit I've gotten from people and it really pisses me off. It doesn't solve my problem to say I shouldn't have this problem. It's like if you broke your fucking leg and the doctor, instead of taking care of it, lectured you on why the bone shouldn't be broken in the first place. It's broke NOW. Fix it. Or listen to my screams of agony. Either way will work.

Now, when it's a mental thing, there's no real quick medical fix and I certainly won't scream but it's nice to know I have an audience of a sort when I need to let it out.

I like complaining. I love to make it funny if I can, but I like to get the load off my chest in some way. I hate how people will tell you to "stop your bitching." I've been one of those people and there's no way to not feel like a douche after saying something like that. It's especially worse when they say "You could have it a lot worse. Look at ______ guy."

Fuck him. We're talking about me. And now you're trying to just shut me up. If you don't want to hear it, then get the fuck out of my sight. Here's the thing.

1. If you and I are not too close and I'm talking about something, 99% of the time (And I do feel comfortable with that percentage) I have joke in mind about something that really gets at me. Turning your whining into entertainment is one of the greatest, and healthiest, things you could do in my opinion.

and 2. If I have no joke for it, and no conversation to really spark from a complaint, I'm trusting you to just let me spew my bile. Even if you just nod your head, I'll feel better because I won't feel isolated on an issue mentally and it'll take a load off.

So if you have a complaint, big or small, I'm more than willing to be your complaint department. I love listening to them (it makes me feel normal), I love voicing them, and I love not having to hide how I'm feeling just because it'll inconvenience some motherfucker and I'd like for more people to gain that feeling.

Maybe this post was too incoherent. It definitely wasn't one of my best but hopefully you'll get it. If not, I'll work on it when I wake up.

Tootles.

~Ben

The traffic was a state.

"It all began harmlessly enough" might be the introduction to an interesting - perhaps even thrilling - account of the Fellowship's latest exploit - if we Minions had any exploits. And we haven't. We don't even exploit the gold fish, and they'd put up with just about anything. And so I might as well relate that moment during complaint time when Judah Synnestvedt... but wait - you better sit down. Draw your coat tightly around you. Do you faint easily? Maybe make a mug of hot chocolate, and then settle yourself before we proceed. Ready?

Well, there's a tradition here at the Latin Job that goes way back; it's almost as old as... (I've just searched and searched online for something that I think is about as old as this tradition, but all I discovered were some sad facts about the mental instability of Britney Spears. Actually, the tradition might be as old as those are.) Anyway, it's an old tradition, which occurs every day after lunch hour, just as people are getting back to work. As manuscripts shuffle, and someone has just remembered to turn the music on again, our boss Scott blows the metaphorical whistle and all work - and music - grinds to a halt once again. Complaint Time has begun. Governor-by-whim Frazier (who is by no means whimsical) determines the order in which we complain, and judges each complaint on the scale of "Excellent complaint" to "That was terrible." On occasion someone sneaks in two complaints disguised as one. But no one can get away unscathed. Today, when Scott abruptly turned on me, I gazed off into the whiteboard, casting about in my mind for something to complain about. People? Not people. 'Cause if I really have a complaint against them I'want to deal with it internally. This is embarrassing. Rats? Too random. Complaint time? I've complained about it before. Need something fresh, something... new.     Then I did the only thing I could do when I couldn't think of anything to do, and that was to continue applying pressure to both ends of a plastic SoBe Life-Water bottle. When one of the grooves encircling it near the neck suddenly gave way, and the bottle shrunk in height about an eighth of an inch, sound suddenly gushed from me like water from a leaking sponge, forming some partially coherent phrase resembling, "I... pass."

Maybe it was so pitiful that my glaring break with tradition went uncontested. All I know is, it's after midnight.  "Yikes! I'm away."

Wordpress.com needs to start supporting use of the Seesmic plugin and embedded video clips.

As the several posts I've written here indicate, I've spent the last few months gaining a greater and greater appreciation for the potential and value that Seesmic has to offer - from both user and technical perspectives.  The Alpha video chat application is continuing to pick up speed, having launched a procession of valuable tools and functions that spread it's capabilities farther and farther outside the confines of the main site.

In the wake of its continuing development, we are starting to see the emergence of a powerful new means of online communication that caters to rapid asynchronous discussion while retaining and in fact injecting the human and non-verbal communicative elements that make face-to-face discussion so much more engaging and immersive than text-based discussion.

Notably this includes the recently launched embed option, which enables users to view the entire thread worth of discussion on a topic as well as submit a response or even create a new Seesmic account - all within the embedded player.

Equally valuable is the plugin for WordPress that enables users to post inline comments that are embedded within the chronological flow of commenting discussion.

Online video is becoming an increasingly ubiquitous component of internet usage today.  However this option is noticeably absent in blogs hosted at WordPress.com

Seesmic Not Supported By WordPress.com

As of this post neither option is available to users of WordPress.com.  The commenting plugin is not an available option, and any attempts to embed Seesmic video clips results in the code snippet being stripped and therefore not playable.

The perhaps disconcerting part about all this is the fact this topic has come up before - amidst calls of support and agreement from the user community - but has thus far received no responses from WordPress of any kind.  Indeed at least on the surface it would seem that discussion of the topic is being actively discouraged.

A forum post called "Seesmic video support?" for example was opened by underleft on 23 February saying:

"Just wondering if it would be possible to request support for seesmic videos.
Seesmic is pretty much a video version of Twitter."

However the topic was inexplicably closed to new replies with no response - formal or otherwise - from WordPress whatsoever.

A previous thread asking a similar question and which had received over a dozen replies of agreement is no longer returned in the search results.  This would suggest it too was closed and perhaps even deleted without reply.

Email to WP.com Support

Given the vacuum of available information on the fate of Seesmic at WP.com, I've just sent an email to WordPress Support seeking clarification.  In this email I stated the following:

Subject: Inquiry on Seesmic embedded clips and/or WP plugin for inline comments

Hi There,

I've been following the WP forums for some time now regarding discussion on the Seesmic plugin for WordPress in an attempt to determine when it will be supported, however it would seem the oldest thread has been removed completely - and the only other request closed to replies.

Therefore I wanted to email you directly to find out what the official situation is with respect to the plugin.

I am a passionate user of both WordPress.com and Seesmic and am greatly interested in seeing Seesmic supported on WP.com.  However at the moment I can't even embed Seesmic clips - let alone use the inline commenting.

Are there plans to support either or both of these two activies?  If so can you tell me when this would be?

If support is not likely to occur ever I'm likely to move my blog to a self-hosted instance of WordPress.  I love the blogging platform and would ideally really like to stick with WP.com.  However my interest use of Seesmic is the main consideration driving the decision making.

Thanks for the assistance.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Mike Bogle

The Alternatives

In saying all this there are alternatives for users who wish to explore Seesmic in an embedded capacity.

A self-hosted Wordpress blog

First and foremost is a self-hosted instance of WordPress.  I've done just that with a testbed on my home server and truly amazed with what is possible in terms of extensibilty and customisation freedom.  The world is your oyster in self-hosted instances.

This comes at a price however, both in a dollar sense as well as that of time.  Getting your own hosted instance requires either paying hosting fees with a provider, or installing and maintaining an instance on a home server.

For many the latter option is perhaps too technical to swallow.  However for the interested users who would like to experiment with the possibilities, I've written up a post detailing how to set up your own hosted instance of WordPress - from installing and configuring the webserver itself all the way through the WordPress installation.

View this post here: "Setting up a self-hosted WordPress Blog"

Another blog provider

Unfortunately aside from the self-hosting option the only other possibility would seem to be going with another blog provider alltogether.

Blogger for example supports use of the Disqus 3rd party commenting tool, which includes the Seesmic plugin.  So you're effectively able to take advantage of video commenting though a slightly different means.

Parting Thoughts

In my case, barring WordPress.com bringing in support for one or both Seesmic activities I'm likely to go with one of the first two options - self-hosting on my own server, or paid hosting through a provider.

My experiences with WordPress.com thus far have been fairly positive, and have served to whet my appetite for the customisation potential that is so ripe for WordPress users.  However I've reached the point where the widget, plugin and embedded media restrictions are becoming prohibitive and starting to stand in the way of where I want to go with this blog.

Update: A few hours after sending my inquiry to WordPress.com Support for an official line on Seesmic use I received the following response:

Howdy!
Unfortunately, there is nothing to announce at this time.

I have added your input to our user suggestion library, which is reviewed on a regular basis.

Best,
Anthony

Automattic | WordPress.com

Unfortunately there is little that can be gleamed from the wording of this email.  The one exception is the point about my input being added to their suggestion library.  This is what you tell a user when you have no real information or solution to provide and want to be seen as taking their thoughts seriously.  More often than not though, what this amounts to is a brush off.

When you have good news for a user you given them specifics; when you have bad news, you tell them they've been added to the suggestion library.

Realistically the silence here from WordPress speaks volumes.  Users interested in exploring Seesmic functionality on their blog will either need to go without, or go elsewhere.

Update 2: Just to drive this point home, I discussed this topic on Seesmic.  Click on the image for a link to the video, or click here: http://seesmic.com/videos/PZ0ciRaOB9