Spanning the globe

I've added a section at the bottom of the right column that lists where people have come from who have visited this blog. I've been keeping track of the locations for a while, but finally got a place to make them public. It's interesting to watch and I'll add more as other unique countries or states find me here on the Web... :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Animator vs Animation

A friend sent this to me at work today. She thought it might bring a laugh. The video won't embed properly so you'll just have to go to deviantART to see it directly. It's worth the link, though.

Take a hike!

It's been awhile since Google released it's StreetView data. I've bounced around a bit in there, but this is the best use of the recently released API I've seen. Not only does this site provide directions, it actually drives it for you! I wish that there was a way to control the speed, but cool nonetheless.

People is People

One of the only things I dislike about the town I live in is that it is not very racially diverse. Despite the lack of local diversity, my wife and I try very hard to instill a sense of "everyone is equal" and "everyone is different" in our kids. I think that we've done a fairly good job of this based on the comments that they make when describing someone that they meet, or see, etc.

TrendHunter spotted an advertisement from McDonalds the other day that uses a shock factor to catch your attention, but then really shines as far as the end message is concerned. It's from McDonalds in Sweden, but should apply globally...

Gas prices

I came across this widget the other day that will automatically display your local gas prices based on your computer's IP address.


Disclaimer: All prices are approximate :-)

Give'm the finger

One custom of small town North Carolina that's kinda growing on me is the obligatory raise of at least one finger, if not the whole hand in a greeting gesture as you pass someone on the road. Depending on the placement of their hands (you still drive at 10 and 2?), whenever anyone passed me while in my mother-in-law's neck of the woods, they would raise at least part of their appendage in greeting.

One funny thing that I noticed about this custom was that it only applied in the most rural part of the countryside. As we passed the town of Joe (population 2) and Trust (population 16) and moved toward Asheville (population 70k+) the greetings diminished greatly. Funny thing is, as you pass up to the cities with populations nearing 250k+ and up, with traffic jams, road rage and too much extra-caffeinated Lattes, the gestures reappear... Though not in the same friendly kind of gesture I experienced. :-(

Back from vacation...

... or starting a new one. :-)

Vacationing with the family is always a fun time, but the disruption of schedule, including sleep, is a hard one to deal with sometimes. I'm not taking about the kids. For the most part they're back to their ol' happy, normal selves. I, on the other hand...

While my employer was shut down last weekend, we took the opportunity to head down south to North Carolina for a visit with my mother-in-law. After a 12 hour ride in the car, we were all exhausted. The kids compensated for this exhaustion, by exerting any last remaining adrenaline they could muster and stayed up for another several hours before crashing, and then waking up at, as my wife would say, "the butt-crack of dawn."

My mother-in-law lives almost as far from civilization as you can go without falling off the edge of the globe. Well, OK, not really, but she lives far up in the mountains, quite a distance from any McDonald's, Walmart or other store you might know by name. The last 15 miles to her cabin is literally switch-back after switch-back after switchback. That's all fine and dandy. But all this seclusion comes at a price -- actually a rather reasonable one if you're interested in renting her cabin apartment as you travel. But I digress... The price, as far as I'm concerned, is the several days it takes me to get over the fact that if something happens, the nearest hospital is who knows how far away. It takes me quite awhile to fall asleep. "Did we remember the Epi-Pen for my son?" "Did I set the parking brake?" "Was that a branch or a bear shadow I just saw?" All of these "non-sensical" things kept shooting through my mind, preventing sleep. I often would have to drown those thoughts with mind-numbing television (thank goodness for satellite TV) and pure exhaustion before I could fall into at least a fitful sleep. So much for using vacations to rest and rejuvenate.

It's all good, nonetheless. I'm glad for the time with family.

Funny knows no language

It's all about attitude

I received a letter from my homeowner's insurance company the other day saying that I was past due on my payment. The thing is, I don't make a payment to them -- it's all supposed to be taken care of by my mortgage company. They apparently didn't pay it. That's a problem. No payment, no coverage.

I figured that something had gotten mixed up, but that with a couple of quick calls I'd get the whole thing straightened out. I called my mortgage company (hereafter referred to as Big Company 1) first to see if they had made the payment. Navigating through the endless menu of a too-big-for its-own-good IVR system, I was able to determine that BC1 had made a payment to my insurance company (hereafter referred to as Big Company 2) on the 11th. BC1 sent my letter on the 12th. Payment was due on the 13th. I assumed that payment would be made at that last minute. Score BC1 - 0, BC2 -0

With information that BC1 had paid BC2, I tried to contact BC2 to verify that my letter was just sent "too quickly," and that they in deed received payment and that I was still covered. Unfortunately, it was a weekend and BC2 was not big enough to have a 7-day call center to answer my questions. This would have to wait until Monday. BC1 - 0, BC2 -1 point for not being open on the weekend when I needed to contact them.

So on Monday I called BC2 and asked them to verify that they had received payment. They had not, but based on my statement that BC1 had sent payment, they made note not to cancel my coverage pending receipt of payment from BC1. BC2 stated that in their dealing with other members that had BC1 mortgages, this was not unusual and that they had likely send the payment snail-mail so they were expecting a 5-10 day window before they received my payment. Why a Billion dollar banking company (aka BC1) still uses snail mail to sent payments instead of EFT, surprises me, but I guess it earns them a few hundred thousand dollars in float interest -- stuff we get penalized for and pay the price for. BC2 also stated that BC1 called BC2 on the 10th to verify the premium amount. Score BC1 -2 points for not using the most efficient means of finance and causing problems for me and apparently many others, BC2 - 0 for continuing coverage and the friendliness of the agent.

Grateful for continued coverage, I then called BC1 back to validate the payment and complain that they caused a late payment. They said that they never actually received a bill, but had noticed that a bill should've been received and made a proactive (but tardy) call to check on the amount due. At my initiation, I checked the address that the bill should've been sent to. It was wrong on my paperwork from BC2. I obtained the correct information to pass along to BC2. BC1 also stated that they had sent a letter to BC2 in February of 2007 to correct this information because of apparently similar issues last year. As I ended the call, BC1 agent had to finish her script ("I'm glad I was able to help resolve your issues today. Was there something else that I could help you with today? Did you know that you could also check the status of your account on line? Thank you for choosing...blah, blah, blah) So, now back to BC2 to complain that they weren't following up. Score BC1 -1 (points for being proactive and trying to correct the problem, but no bonus points for the the attitude and scriptiness of the BC1 agent ) BC2 -1 for not keeping a clean house.

Calling BC2 back to correct the address, I was connected to another agent than the one I talked to before. When I explained the issue she was quick to verify that the address was correct in the record now, but had been recently changed. She also pointed out that she, at BC2 processed over 50 BC1 policies a week (or was it day) and that BC1 used a boilerplate contract for each of them. Nothing should've changed from any other policy holder with regard to the address, etc. She couldn't explain how things got out of synch, but was empathetic to my problems and woes. She assured me that things were all set now and thanked me for my leg-work. We'll have to wait for next year to see if things are REALLY taken care of. Score BC1 still -1, BC2 - even for attitude.

So after all that, I'm not overly impressed with the whole system, but I was thinking about it last night and I still had a generally negative attitude toward BC1, while my attitude toward BC2 was actually overall positive. Both companies said that the other one was to blame for the issues. Both companies seemed to screw things up or at least drop the ball (though with all facts on the table, it looks like BC2 may have messed up a little more.) Yet I still had a better impression of BC2 than of BC1. Why? I guess BC1 was too big and made me feel like account #A2047265582, while BC2, treated me like one of their customers who had been inconvenienced. In the end it didn't matter who was wrong, it was how they made me feel...

I'm still a little pissed that I, the customer -- of BOTH companies, had to be the one to do the leg work, but unfortunately that's not unusual nowadays. I remember spending over a week dealing with the dealer when trying to get my first car. The car was late and they couldn't give me an ETA on when it would arrive. I finally gave up and called the manufacturer customer service line and within about 10 minutes I knew exactly where my car was and when it would arrive. It ticked me off so much that I wrote a very detailed 10-page letter to the dealership management, ownership, the manufacturer, and about 10 other people I'm sure really didn't care either, but at least I got it off my chest. In the end I was told that my letter was used in dealership training classes for the brand. I don't believe that, but that's what they said.

It's a real shame that we as consumers have to do so much ourselves -- stuff we're paying others to do. If a company were to just focus on customers for a while, image the possibilities...

God rays

I was always fascinated by the streams of light that seemed to burst through the cloud cover particularly after a storm. I'm not sure where I heard it, or if I made it up myself, but I started calling them "God rays." It seemed a little romantic, in an other-worldly kinda way.

Then along came the big book of Google and ruined it all. I was searching for something and came across the "real" name for these picturesque events... Crepuscular rays. Sounds a lot more ominous, almost medical, when compared to "God rays."

Well, fear not. There are still others, I've found, that think God rays is a more romantic, if not appropriate, term for the rays shining down from the heavens; the smiling twinkle of millions of hues of yellows and whites intertwined in their ephemeral journey toward this cold, dark rock we call Earth.

Yeah, I like the romantic better. :-}

WAKE UP! You're Late!

This weekend, this morning actually, the United States began Daylight Savings Time. Implemented a little earlier than usual beginning this year, it was designed to save energy, but the Wall Street Journal reports that it may, in fact be backfiring... Those living in Indiana had, in the past, been split on whether to follow Daylight Savings Time. Some counties changed their clocks with the rest of the nation, others didn't. This provided a sample for researches to measure the impact of the change when this year the whole state began observing the time change.

You apparently don't have to live in Indiana to be confused about what time it is today. According to Google's Trends web site, a lot of people are trying to figure that out. Fully 1/3 of all entries at the site are about time change this morning. Some of those, I'm sure come from Arizona who is still a bit confused about the switch :-)

A great site I've found for all things time is WorldTimeServer.

EDT

Engineering a purchase

When our printer gave out last year I decided that we needed two printers to replace it -- a color ink jet for my wife's photo printouts and the occasional need for color projects, etc and a laser for the bulk of our printing. Despite my proclivity for all things technical, I still like to read things in print. It's more portable and I think easier on the eyes.

I know that most manufactures enclose starter cartridges with the printers when they sell them. They give you enough to get started right away, but not so much that you can go too long before needing to pay up for their over-priced toner (or ink). When I bought our printers this time, specifically the ink jet, the "thirsty-factor" played a big part in my decision. Other than quality of output, this is the most important thing when choosing a printer in my mind. For the laser, this was less of a factor for me for some reason.

We're just now running out of ink for the ink jet after a marathon photo-printing session my wife made in preparation for a retreat she's attending this weekend. The laser is a different story...

Almost a month ago, during one of my marathon printing sessions, I picked up the stack of papers and realised that about halfway through the output, the printer had begun leaving a white streak down the center of the papers. No fear. After finding the websites again that I had been printing, I simply removed the cartridge, shook it good, rolled it around a few times, re-inserted it back in the printer, and re-printed the pages that were at issue. The printer had no issue printing clean, crisp output this time.

Several weeks, and about 100 pages went by without incident. Then I started to notice faded output. I repeated the steps from before (remove, roll, shake, re-insert) and went back to work. Again perfect output. Several weeks have once again gone by without issue.

I have the new cartridge sitting by the printer for when it really gives out, but had I, like I assume most people would, replaced the cartridge when it first started failing, it would certainly cost a lot more in toner each year -- money that no one can afford to toss out the window nowadays.

I've not had the same luck extending the life of ink jet cartridges, but I think I'm finally gonna try one of the refill services this time. It used to be, through a lot of successful OEM propaganda I'm sure, that I was afraid of damaging the print heads by using non-OEM inks. Now, printers have gotten so cheap that even if I do completely wreck the heads, the money saved on the ink will make up for it.

Try extending the life of your toner, and pocketbook, not to mention the environment...

BUT... when you're ready to purchase new toner/ink, use the link on the right side of A World Discovered and shop at Amazon to save!

Also, remember that most schools and other non-profit organizations (churches, clubs, etc) collect used toner and ink cartridges for recycling and to earn a few dollars. Take your empties where they'll do some good if you're not gonna refill them.