AUTOMAKER BAILOUT WON'T HELP

let me get this straight:

1. The Democrats wanted the bailout
2. The Republicans stopped the bailout
3. The Republican President Bush gives the automakers a bailout
4. The Democrats accuse Bush of using this scenario to better himself.

Now I am not exactly sure when Bush stopped being a Republican and stopped being President. I am not even sure which happened first. I am sure that this was the worst mistake ever.

This shows you just how powerful organized crime ....... ERRRRRR... unions really are. They strong armed the gov't into given them money. The thought that they were big enough to affect the economy if they went under so why not use that to get some money.

I don't see how $13 billion will save them. It's still the same over paid under educated union workers running the show. All this will do is prolong the pain.

Now think about this. What smart American will buy an American car. We know they aren't doing well. So why risk buying a car from a company that might go under. Too big of a risk.

The automakers are still destined for the grave. No one is going to buy from them. It's like buying from Kmart. You know they are a dying company. So you stay away. Same thing will happen here.

Did you know that $10,000 from every car sold goes to the retirees of the auto union? Did you know that $2 billion a month goes to the retirees? Do you have any idea what a high school drop out's starting salary is working for the automakers? It's $28 an hour according to USA Today.

I go on record saying that I will never buy a Chrysler, Ford, or GM product again.

I TRIED. I REALLY TRIED!!!

I have been told that I am too negative. I have been told that this blog isn't the most positive blog and doesn't help me in any way. I even tried to stay away from this blog and stop complaining so much in my life.

Then it came in the mail. I have a notice that was delivered in the mail that basically says: "If at any time in the future a dog is seen unconfined in your neighborhood, your mail delivery service will be suspended." So if my mailman sees a stray dog, I stop getting mail.

Here come the capital letters now. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME!!!!

It's bad enough that paying postage on your package doesn't ensure that your mail will ever be delivered. To ensure that your mail gets delivered, you have to insure it.

Now, I may not get mail delivered to my house because some stray dog is crossing the street. Somehow that's my fault. Somehow not bringing me mail will make stray dogs go away.

Soon I will have to go to the post office and sort out my mail from the rest of the neighborhood.

Don't the mailmen have mace? Bring a gun. Shoot the dog. I don't care as long as you bring my mail.

I swear, if my mail stops I will be shooting dogs left and right, unconfined, confined, hot dogs. I don't care. I will be blowing everything away.

Honestly, I don't think I could ever kill a dog, but I am angry and my mouth gets the best of me. I am so glad I didn't get rid of this blog.

BACK ON TRACK

I feel like I have been gone a long time.

Most of you know that I have four blogs:

All that bugs blog
Blog and Cookies
Cooking With Jack
Need Prayer Now

I have been so distracted by my other jobs that I haven't kept up on the blogs too much. I have just finished producing a movie, filming cooking videos, trying to set up my church to broadcast live on the internet, and been on Twitter like a crazy man.

BTW, my twitter id is jakatak4 if you want to follow me. I will in turn follow you, too.

I have also had time to re-evaluate my blogs and decide if they are all needed. I have decided to keep them all. YEAH!!!!

Okay now let me bring you up to date on what I plan to do with each one.

All that bugs blog: not a healthy blog since I am trying to stop complaining as much. I will still keep it up there so I can inform people about things that bug me. I will just be more selective, like for example, did you know if you have a mattress from Sit n' Sleep here in LA and you somehow (don't ask me how) get a stain on the mattress, your warranty is no longer good. These are the type of complaints I want to do. Not as often, but much healthier complaining.

Blog and Cookies: This blog is about info that you need to know about that is positive. Like Pownce getting taken over by Six Apart. I am not complaining, but it's a hot topic.

Cooking with Jack: This blog will have more cooking tips. I will be producing a cooking video each week and posting it up there. I will give great tip like: before refrigerating your package of bacon, be sure to roll it up and put a rubber band around it. This way when you unroll it to cook it, each slice will be separate from the rest. It helps separate the bacon so you don't tear each piece.

Need Prayer Now: This blog is going to stay up for anyone who needs a pray. I also will be giving some insight to my thoughts about my faith and things I learn during my spiritual growth. Things like: did you know that "knowledge" is what you know and "wisdom" is how you use how you use what you know.

All my blogs will be shorter and to the point. Sometimes I ramble on and on and on and ..... well, you get it.

I am glad to be back. It's hard keeping up with your family life, work life, Twitter, facebook, emails, texts, etc. Feel free to subscribe to my newsletter in the upper right corner of this page.

Take care and we will be taking soon.

THE END OF NEWSPAPERS AS WE KNOW IT

My local paper is the Orange County Register in Southern California. I am sure it's pretty comparable to any hometown fish wrap.

Every morning when the newspaper hits my doorstep it is full of news that everyone already knows about. In fact, the news in the OC Register is as much as 24 hours old. News information that we read the night before immediately on the internet or that was SMS'd to my iPhone the second it happened.

How the OC Register stays in business is anyone's guess. They print on paper which is wasteful, their news is outdated, and their articles are grossly exaggerated if not completely incorrect.

Let's take this last Sunday's paper (10/12/09) for example. On the front page of the "Local" section of the OC Register there was an article titled:

SWAP MEET CROWDS THIN

It's an article stating that the Orange County Market Place in Costa Mesa is hurting do to the bad economy. I admit that the economy has affected all areas of the world, but this article is grossly exaggerated. Everyone knows the best deals are at the swap meets and when times are tough people head out there to save their hard earned dollars.

So the OC Register prints a picture of a kid at a produce stand selling avocados. In this photo, they try to make it look like the produce stand has no customers.

First of all, if you knew anything about this produce stand, you would know that the kid in the picture only comes to the produce stand during the last hour of the day right before closing. He bargains the last few produce items before they close up for the day. To make their story look legit, the OC Register takes a picture at closing time. Nice job guys. That's top notch reporting.

Here are pictures near that same produce stand the next day when this particular article came out. Yeah. This place looks like a ghost town. NOT!



To really pour on the lies, the OC Register interviews one of the vendor at the Orange County Market Place. The vendor they strategically choose to interview sells beaded furniture covers. Yes! You heard me; beaded furniture covers. NO WONDER SALES ARE HORRIBLE. NO ONE USES BEADED FURNITURE COVERS. I can't even imagine buying beaded furniture covers as a gift. I don't think I hate anyone that much.

Wonder why they didn't interview Papa Dan's Beef jerky, or "The Best Barbeque Sauce You'll Ever Taste?" I will tell you why. Because they are still doing good sales and that would have ruined this horrific newspaper article.

Thank God for the internet. It gives real honest people a change to speak out on companies like the OC Register and prove them wrong. It let's us shine the light on the cock roaches of the world and watch them scatter.

I subscribe only to the OC Register Sunday edition. I do this so my wife can have the Sunday ads. The OC Register is hurting so bad, they called me recently to offer me the rest of the week for FREE!!!! Wow. That's embarrassing. I would have at least asked for a penny.

The writing is on the wall so let me give a tip to the OC Register. Stop writing lies. Stop wasting trees. Shut your doors with dignity while you can.

If you'd like to express your concerns for this article not being true to form please contact the writer of the article: 714.445.6604 or at epak@ocregister.com

BARACK OBAMA TIES TO ACORN GROUP

I just received the following message and link to a disturbing video. Please watch and let me know what you think:

Dear Supporter,

Our campaign just released a new web video detailing the ties between Senator Barack Obama and ACORN, the organization currently under investigation for massive voter fraud in a number of battleground states.

Please follow this link to watch "ACORN."

As a result of Senator Obama's blind ambition, he has a long history with the group. Barack Obama trained members of the Chicago ACORN staff, and his campaign has paid more than $800,000 for "voter registration" to an ACORN front group.

We're asking you to take a few minutes this evening to watch the ad and learn more about the relationship between Senator Barack Obama and ACORN.

After watching the video, please forward along to at least five others. It's up to us to hold Senator Obama accountable for his questionable judgment and blind ambition.

Thank you,
The McCain-Palin 2008 Team

I DO NOT LIKE THE COLOR GREEN.

Last year I did a cooking video called "How to peel an egg" and the number one comment on Youtube what about how much water I wasted rinsing the egg off for 10 seconds. Seriously! People complained that I wasted 10 seconds of running water to cool the egg off.

I can guarantee that the people who wrote those comment NEVER turn off their water when they soap up in the shower. I bet they ALWAYS water the grass when the sun is out and I am sure they NEVER call in a broken sprinkler on city property.

The only reason they are worried about wasting water is because it's all about going GREEN. It's a way of life for some people to complain about the environment and to just be bitter about the whole thing.

I like a lot of the ideas of recycling and going back to paper produces and repackaging products. I am totally for that. It saves money and helps the environment.

I don't like all the talk about how we are killing the earth, global warming, and everything else that has no proof. Sure the ice is melting away at the poles, but there is no proof that we are the cause.

I also can't stand two faced green people. Like the parents who drive their kids to school. Have you ever seen the line of cars just to drop kids off for school. When did we become chauffeurs. Some of these kids live blocks away. What a joke. Preach to me about clean air, but don't let Johhny walk a block to school. It's as bad as ordering a Diet Coke with a donut.

Here is a thought. Last year there were blizzards that had record low temperatures on the east cost of the USA. You didn't see people screaming global warming then. In fact, it's funny that you never hear talk about global warming in the winter.

Here is another thought. If we are causing the ice to melt away, then who was responsible for the ice melting after the first ice age? We weren't around to melt the earth that time. How do you explain that? ... Yeah. Thought so!

When it comes down to it, we can destroy the earth only if money is involved. If you don't believe me then as people why they didn't boycott the Beijing Olympics. A place that had to stop manufacturing pollution weeks before the Olympics so people who came to visit could breath. No one made a stand against that event.

That's because Americans like to pick and choose what's important to them. Americans only do the right thing when it's convenient.

So I propose we:
Stop with the color green on product in the store.
Stop with the word green on every magazine cover story.
Stop profiting from people's fears of what would happen if they don't go green.

As a matter of fact, I am changing the color right now. let's go Yellow.

Why?

Because it's my favorite color. :-)

8 MILLION DOLLARS TO CEO OF WAMU

I just heard from the AP news wire that Washington Mutual (WAMU) has a new CEO. They have told the new CEO that if he can keep WAMU alive to 2009, he will receive an $8,000,000 bonus.

I had to play back the AP Video three times to make sure I heard what I heard. Where do they have 8 million dollars to just give away. They are in dire straights and yet there still sees to be millions. How about applying that 8 million dollars to cover those bad loans.

It's amazing how all of the executives get theirs before companies go under. The only person who gets hurt by this is the average Joe taxpayer. We always foot the bill!

THANK YOU FEDERAL GOVERNMENT!

I don't know much about buying and selling homes, or the stock market, or banking, but I do know this.

It seems that this whole economic mess came from banks giving out bad loans to people who should not have received them. It's like anyone could get a loan and these loans had fluctuating interest rates. Greed was running rampant. Then the economy started getting bad and the interest rates went up so fast that people's house payments almost doubled. So the people bailed on their homes and their loans.

The SEC sat back, watched this happen and didn't put the stop to it. That is why John McCain is asking for the firing of the SEC chairman.

I didn't buy a house because I knew I couldn't affor one. I didn't get a loan that had interest rates that could go fluctuate because I know that's the worst type of loan to get. I didn't do anything wrong. All I did was run my two companies, raise my two kids and pay my taxes.

So why did I run to my local Washington Mutual yesterday and empty out all 4 of my bank accounts? Because our government is not doing their job. Because once again greed has blown up and the innocent is being hit with shrapnel. Because when Monday morning comes I don't want to be standing in line looking for my money.

Let me keep this short and sweet.

First Indybank went under and then Lehman Bros., Merrill Lynch, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and WAMU is close behind.

Now President Bush announced that the federal government is going to (bail out) absorb the Billions, maybe even a trillion dollars of bad loans.

Now what these means is that the entire United States (who is already broke and still can't stop giving other countries our money) is going to foot the bill. There is even rumor that our Federal taxes could double by next year.

Wow! $5 a gallon for gas this past summer and now this. Canada is looking sweeter everyday. So much for the land of the free. Nothing is free and the innocent have to always pay.

You know, if they raise our taxes to pay this mistake, those taxes will never come back down again. Gas prices came down, but no one lowered prices on their products. So why should the government be any different.

I am sorry that these companies didn't know how to run a business, but why should the innocent people suffer for their mistakes.

Things are going to get tougher that they already are. The only way to survive in the coming months is to tighten your belts and cut costs in your life. When you have money in the bank and your not living paycheck to paycheck, you have security and your live much happier.

So here is my advice on cutting costs and making things in your life better.


1. RELOCATE - this means either leave the state your in (like California) and move to a state where you can afford to buy a decent home for you and your family. A decent home is between 200k and 300k. Look in places like Boise, ID or Nashville, TN. Great towns with affordable housing and still all the amenities of the big city.


2. REVIEW ALL EXPENSES - Do you need HBO? Do you need gardening service? Do you need a house keeper? Do you need the fastest internet tier? Do you need the newspaper? Do you need satellite radio? You would be surprised how much frivolous spending you are doing.


3. STOP DRIVING - save on gas. don't go anywhere unless it's a have to. Do your errands on the way home from work so your not making an extra trip out. Stop driving 10 hours away on vacation. Vacation locally. You can even stay home and vacation. You'd be surprised how much you will save on hotel, airfare, and gas. Then you can spend all the money you saved right here in your own hometown and have a blast.


4. BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR - The only true way to survive in this world is to work for yourself. Start your own company and work from home. I run two companies from my home. I save thousands of dollars on gas only. I also get to write of tons of household expenese since it's also my office. Read "Inc. and Grow Rich" and read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and read "The Success Principles". All of these books will tell you why you should be an entrepreneur.


5. STOP EATING OUT - you can cut your food bill in half if you just make a menu for the week and go shop for that menu. Stop paying $10 for a burger and fries at Red Robin. Stop adding a 20% tip on top of that. STOP PAYING $0.45 FOR AN EXTRA DRESSING. Not only will you save money, but you might loose a pound or two.

I hope the above suggestions help prepare you for the future.

THE FUNNIEST 6 SECONDS EVER

I hate cats. I still am laughing as I am typing this. Here is the funniest 6 seconds ever:

PIZZA HUT NASTY WINGS!

Last night I ordered Pizza Hut Garlic Parmesan wings. Here is what the ad looks like:



Pizza Hut was even kind enough to warn me about the intense flavor. That's nice. The above image is the boneless, but I chose to get the bone-in version. It's the cannibalism in me I guess.
Here is what they delivered to my door.



I never liked Pizza Hut, but for some insane reason my family keeps buying from them. Did you notice the shine on the chicken? That's from the puddle of grease that came with the chicken.


I will be taking these wings back today for a full refund. I will keep you posted

DO NOT GO ON A CARNIVAL CRUISE

My wife wanted to celebrate our 10th Wedding anniversary so she booked us on the 4 day Encenada, Mexico. This was just to see if we wanted to do a 7 day cruise next year.

We arrived at the Carnival Cruise parking lot in Long Beach, CA. There was two really big lines and we weren't sure which one to go in. There was not one person to direct the hundreds of people arriving.

We stood in one line for 30 minutes to find out we could either check our luggage in with the lady and we would have to wait about 2 hours for it to arrive in our rooms or we could just roll the luggage onto the ship. 30 minutes wasted in that line. We rolled our luggage.

Then we get in a line to board the ship. We have to pass through security. We have to put our keys, cell phones, and pocket knives into a basket, then remove our laptops from their carrying case, and making sure we still have our photo id and birth certificate in our hands. No electronics may be used in this line. So I followed directions. I just got my iphone so I watched that baby carefully get passed in a basket with my keys, pocket knife, etc. I almost dropped the laptop because I only had two arms to juggle all this security crap.

I am sure terrorists have their own entrance on the back side of the boat that doesn't require anything but a handshake and a promise to be good on the boat.

I finally get through security and the file us like cattle into another room where we have yet another line.Oh goody! look at this mess:



30 minutes again to get through this. Luckily we had two screaming kids in this line or I would have had nothing to complain about. Pure entertainment!

Now we are getting to our rooms and we see that they are dumping peoples luggage in the hallways by their doors even before the people were in their rooms. I saw a few Tumi bags I was tempted to borrow until death, but my Christian side told me to keep walking.

My wife, Tammy, puts our clothes away, while I check out this closet that they are asking us to live in for 4 days. Everything is small like you would see on an RV. We had 10 channels on the TV. 5 channels advertised nothing but Carnival Cruise Crap (CCC) and the other 5 were showing nothing but the Democratic National Convention round the clock......Did I happen to mention I am Christian?

The best part of the whole cruise is about to begin. The part where I get to eat. If you have seen me, you will know that is my favorite thing to do. Not as much now that I am diabetic, but still a lot of fun after an hour and a half in lines.

I find out they only have hamburgers and hot dogs available.



No salad bar. No vegetables. No fruit. Just hamburgers and hot dogs. Hmmmmm. I can't eat that. Oh well, I will cheat today and tomorrow I will eat healthy.

We get back to our room exhausted and full. I am just starting to relax my head and drift off to sleep when the captain now asks us to get out of our rooms, report to the night club with our life vests so that we can do the lifeboat drill. How exciting is this. My first minute of rest and I am running to a club with a flashing orange life jacket acting like the ship is sinking. We haven't even left the dock yet.

(scene change) I am now crunched in with about 100 people on deck in front of a lifeboat waiting for the rest of the boat to follow directions so we can go back to our cracker box rooms.

90 minutes later I am back in my room trying to finish the dream I had started. ( I was dreaming I was home pulling weeds)

I had no luck getting back to sleep. So we decide to sign up for some events. We go to the information desk and there are 30 people in line. Not cool. We decided to come back that night when it was a little calmer. So we came back that night and there were only 30 people in line. Much better.

Here is where the fun begins. We go to play bingo.



It takes them 20 minutes to hand out bingo cards and they still haven't reached my wife and me. So we decide to just do scratchers and get the heck out of there. We can submit losing scratchers for a drawing and win a bottle of champagne. So we buy 30 scratchers. We go to the back of the room and scratch while they play one game of bingo. The game only lasted 5 minutes. Now I am running our losing tickets to the front of the room so I can get them into the bucket for the drawing. As I am dropping my tickets into the bucket, the MC reaches in and pulls a ticket. He pulled the ticket before my tickets had even entered to bucket. I was standing right in front of him. No last call tickets. No waiting for the fat Italian guy running to the bucket or the 5 people he knocked over getting to the bucket. Guess what. You guessed it. I didn't win champagne.

So I ask the MC about cashing in my winning tickets. He said to wait until the next round of bingo. I go back to Tammy and tell her that they will pay us on the next round of bingo. Tammy points to the MC leaving the room and now bingo is over. What!!!!!

Let's review. it took twenty minutes to hand out cards, one game of bingo that lasted 5 minutes, no last call for losing scratchers, no payout for winning tickets until the next round and I find out the next round is TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!

So let's jump to Tuesday night at 4:30pm.

I am ready for an early dinner. I go up to Lido deck to get food. OMG, you would not believe the spread they had that night. It was hamburgers and hot dogs AGAIN!!!
I now proceed to yell at the head guy on Lido deck at the top of my voice, "I can not believe I am being fed this crap. I could eat better at McDonald's across the street from my house. I DID NOT PAY $1000 FOR THIS PIECE OF CRAP SHIP RIDE. You guys are the worst cruise line ever. (not that I had been on another one, but who cares. I was mad)

At this point I am praying for the ship to sink.


The next night I waited in line for 25 minutes for food. My hands are shaking due to my sugar dropping like my stock in Sirius Satellite Radio. I finally get up to where the food is and they tell me they ran out of food. The said they were sorry, but this is now only the soup line. They said I would have to go to the other side Lido deck and wait in that line for food. YOU CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE HOW LOUD I YELLED THAT NIGHT. I YELLED AT ANYONE WEARING A CARNIVAL CRUISE NAME BADGE EVEN THOUGH MOST OF THEM DIDN'T SPEAK ENGLISH!!!

I had to go up to my room and order room service just to get a salad. I was chowing on the chocolates on my pillow just to keep myself from cardiac arrest. Room service took 45 minutes to get me a salad and a pastrami sandwich. Here is what they brought me:



My wife order the chicken wrap. it was so small you couldn't even call it finger food. it was smaller than a finger. Look at this garbage:



This was just the first two days of the worst cruise anyone has ever taken.

I filed 3 complaints on the boat and 2 after I got off and no one has called me back. I told them I want my money back. We are still fighting for this. It ought to be a good one.

To be continued......

UPDATE 9/8/08

I called guest relations about my 3 filed complaints on the boat and my 1 filed complaint off the boat. The lady told me a supervisor would call me today. Well, they have not called.

Update 9/9/08

I called guest relations again. 4:30pm Pacific Time. They are closed. How convenient. This is going to be a long fight. I hope they come to their senses and just refund my money. I am guessing they will offer me a free trip. That's not happening!

Update 9/10/08

I get a wonderful letter from Carnival Cruise Lines. Wait until you read this. People said they would offer me a free trip (over my dead body). Some said to fight all the way to a full refund (over their dead body).

Here is the letter that they sent me. WHAT AN INSULT OF A LETTER.

Update 9/11/08

Not the best date to be doing anything, but I need to get a full refund. I just spoke to Guest Relations again and they apologize that $50 on my next cruise is the only thing they can offer me. I told them that they couldn't pay me enough money to step foot on your boat.

Now I am holding for a supervisor, again. I guarantee she will return stating that their busy and the supervisor will call me back. The same story they gave me last time I called...........waiting............waiting....... this call has been 8 minutes long already..........waiting.......waiting......still on hold.....this call is now 10 minutes long.....waiting.....she came back to tell me she is talking to her supervisor and she will transfer me in a moment.... They obviously are preparing their arguments ..... waiting...... now 14 minutes long and still on hold........17 minutes supervisor Shelly comes on the phone to tell me that they can't give me a refund but they can offer me 15% off my next cruise which I have no plans on taking.

So I get off the phone after speaking with Shelly for about 45 minutes and she truly was nice and understanding. I was quite surprised. She is going to speak with her supervisor, Carlos and then she will call me back Monday or Tuesday.

to be continued.....

UPDATE 9/17/08

Well, I know your laughing by now. I just recieived a phone call from a Carnival Cruise Line sales person trying to sell me another trip. It's Wednesday and no one has called me back from ALL my complaints and now this guy is trying to sell me another trip.

So I get on the phone and call Shelly. She says that Carnival understands my situation and is going to refund me a portion of my cruise. I am not going to post the amount, but I will say that it's enough for me to feel better about this trip. They did right by showing that they cared. They are sending me a refund check and I want to thank Shelly and Carlos for their hard work.

This will not be continued. This matter is closed.

NEVER USE TIME WARNER DIGITAL PHONE SERVICE

I have had Time Warner phone service for over a year. It is the worst company to be with. For the past three weeks it has not worked correctly. I am in touch with a person that is pretty high up in the company and have been complaining to her for quite some time and she can't even get the phones to work properly.

Here is the problem:

When people call me or I call them (either way) they can't hear me speak, but I can hear them speak. That's it. It's very annoying since I also work out of my home office.

So for the past three weeks Time Warner has destroyed my work life. All my clients can't get a hold of me. I am losing business because of this and Time Warner doesn't care. They keep telling me that it will be fixed and it never is.

Time Warner can not handle the load of information going back and forth for all it's customers so it causes my packets of info leaving my home back to the server to stop working. It's all insane. It's because they don't want to spend the money to upgrade servers and software.

So I am refusing to pay my cable, internet, and phone bill until they can provide me with the service I am supposed to be receiving.

Last night my son went into the ER. Then they admitted him to Critical Care Unit and the doctors are trying to call me so they can tell me what's going on. Guess what? That's right, I can't speak to the doctors because Time Warner service is so bad.

I told Timer Warner that if my phone isn't working by tomorrow, I will be calling the corporate office and bugging them every 5 minutes with me complaining about their service and demanding they fix it. I will call the office of the president and continue to bug Time Warner all day long every day.

IF I DON'T GET TO WORK THEN WHY SHOULD THEY!!!!

I will keep you updated.

UPDATE 9/8/08

After complaining, Time Warner has credited me for one month of internet and credited me one month of phone service. They also gave me full details on what was wrong and how it has been resolved. They have taken responsibility and have made me very happy with their kindness.

MOBILE ME, IS NOT MOBILE AT ALL

I could not get my iCal events from Apple's new Mobile Me to my iPhone. I went to the live chat customer support and here is how the conversation went. It's pretty bad:

• You are chatting with Jerry F, a MobileMe Support Representative

• Hi, my name is Jerry F. Welcome to Apple!

• Jack Scalfani: hi

• Jerry F: Thanks for contacting MobileMe support.

• Jack Scalfani: can you help me?

• Jerry F: Hello, I'm looking over the information you provided.

• Jack Scalfani: k

• Jerry F: Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.

• Jerry F: Have you been able to get any information onto the iPhone from MobileMe?

• Jack Scalfani: yes. email and contacts

• Jerry F: OK. Let me take a look at a couple of things.

• Jerry F: Do you get any errors?

• Jack Scalfani: Last night I placed an appointment on Wed. Oct.29th on my ical on the mac. It made it to mobile me but never went to my phone. No errors.

• Jerry F: ok. Has it ever uploaded calendar events to the iPhone?

• Jack Scalfani: no.

• Jack Scalfani: my push is on.

• Jerry F: ok. One moment please.

• Jack Scalfani: where does it tell my mobile me what my phone number is or where to send the info? where are my phone settings that tell my phone where to get the info?

• Jack Scalfani: can you help me or not?

• Jerry F: I'm looking into the information you provided.

• Jerry F: From your Mac

• Jerry F: open System Preferences

• Jerry F: then MobileMe

• Jerry F: select the sync tab

• Jack Scalfani: why are we going there. My info is already going to mobile me from my mac.

• Jack Scalfani: that part is fine. it's got to be settings in the mobile me or iphone area.

• Jerry F: do you have calenders selected?

• Jack Scalfani: YES

• Jerry F: I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.

• Jerry F: I'll be right with you.

• Jack Scalfani: I have to leave soon. Could we please give me some support?

• Jerry F: I'll do everything possible to resolve this for you.

• Jack Scalfani: This conversation has been over 20 minutes long and has been absolutely useless. I will be canceling my mobile me free trial. This is the worst non support I have ever received.

DO NOT USE ADVANTA CREDIT CARD

Let me tell you about my experience with Advanta Credit Card Company.

I loved them for 4 years. Doubled paid my bill a week early. I had two cards with them. One was 7.9 fixed and the other 8.9 fixed. I was so happy and they always were there for me until....... They decided to raise my interest rate on the one card to 16.9% and the other card 21%.

They never sent me a letter which by law they are supposed to. I completely lost it. I was so fuming when I realized they double and almost tripled my interest for no reason whatsoever.

So I screamed at their customer service person on how I was a great customer, and that I was a credit card company's dream client.

At the END of the call the customer service lady said she would bring my first card down to 8.9% and the other one down to 9.9%. I then screamed at her and said, "WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST BUMP IT UP TO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!" What are they trying to do, see how much money they can steal from you without you knowing????

Then to top it off, I come home and find out my wife ordered some stupid TV product called Awesome Auger. She didn't buy one, she bought TWO of them. I walked in the door and told her to cancel the order. I already got an Awesome Auger from someone as a gift and it ain't awesome at all. So she canceled the order..... so we thought.

Well, it seems they charged us $60 for this stupid device and sent it to us anyway. They also charged us $64 TO SHIP THIS PIECE OF GARBAGE!!!!! $64!!!! YES. I DID NOT TYPE THE SHIPPING WRONG. $64. $4 MORE THAN THE COST OF THE LOUSY PIECE OF JUNK.

So we went to our lovely Advanta Credit Card company and we put it in dispute. We went back and forth with dispute letters explaining how we canceled the day we bought it and we want our money back. Every penny! Advanta finally writes us and says:

"Under MasterCard regulations the merchant has provided sufficient documentation to support the transaction they billed to your account........ Your best recourse is to continue to pursue this issue directly with The Awesome Auger."

Are you kidding me? That's it? Oh, no that is not it!

Here is my next course of action. Starting monday morning I will be calling the corporate office at 215.657.4000 and I will be speaking with the following people:

Dennis Alter Chairman & CEO
William A. Rosoff Vice Chairman & President
Philip M. Browne sVP and CFO

I probably will only get to speak to their assistants, but that is okay. Because they are going to get to know me better than their own mothers. Everyday I am going to start my day with a cup of coffee and a phone call to all three of them. I am going to speak with them through the holidays. I will call their voicemail when they are not in the office and continue to leave messages asking for them to credit my account $131.50. That's right. It will be the hardest $131.50 I have ever earned and it will be worth it.

To be continued........

UPDATE 10/21/08

We have a lawyer in NY who is interested in doing a CLASS ACTION law suit. If this situation happened to you, please contact the following lawyer to be included in the class action law suit against Advanta.

alan l. finkel, esq
p.o. box 49
commack ny 11725
631 462 3100
nymediation.com
cloudcowboy@aol.com

I would write him an email immediately so not to take up too much of his time.

Please include:

1. your full name
2. your phone number
3. your address
4. your email address

We appreciate him even considering doing this. Ironically, Advanta did this to Mr. Finkel, too.

BARACK OBAMA REMOVES AMERICAN FLAG

I didn't believe this when I read it. In fact, I didn't want to blog on it. I was waiting for Snopes.com (urban legend website) to confirm it was true.

Well America, the presidential nominee Barack Hussein Obama HAS removed the American flag off of his 747.

How can a presidential nominee even think that was a smart idea.
What country is he trying to become president of?

Here is the full story on Snopes.com for confirmation and more details. I have included the two pictures of the plane below.




Americans need to think long and hard. How can you vote for a man who refuses to pledge allegiance to the American flag, refuses to wear the lapel pin of the American flag, and has the American flag removed from the 747 that Americans paid for.

I will not vote for this man. I would love to hear from someone who will.

BANK BAILOUTS WILL COST US PLENTY

I just received an email from Representative Ed Royce of Orange County.

Listen to what he is telling me. There is a bill before congress that will bail out the banks to prevent them from going under. First the banks get to rake in the bucks on tons of loans and then they get to dump their bad loans on the American people? I don't think so.

Here is how Mr. Royce puts it (btw, he is voting against the bill):

The bill included a $300 billion plan which would allow banks to dump their least appealing loans onto the Federal Housing Administration. By taking on these mortgages, we are shifting that default risk, currently held by institutions and investors around the world, onto the backs of the American taxpayers. Perhaps less obvious than the $300 billion bailout, but in many respects more egregious, is an affordable housing fund which would funnel as much as $600 million every year to activist organizations with long histories of both voter fraud and anti-free market advocacy throughout the country.

300 Billion dollars? Who's got that? Not America. We loaned all our money to other countries. Whatever money we have left is used to keep the lights on in Iraq for our troops.

I understand that the economy would be devastated and we could have another depression if the big three banks went under. I wouldn't even mind helping them out in some capacity, but first they should start by cutting into the millions that the CEOs are getting. You know those salaries won't be touched.

Now as you guys know from my past blog I have pulled all my savings out of the bank. I have it in an off site secure location just until this stuff blows over. And all my money is going strait in my gas tank. I have no more to give. So if a bank gets to reap the rewards of profit they should also pay the penalty of bad business decisions.

IPHONE 3G DISASTER - PART IV

I am feeling way better now that the iPhone is having major problems.

Most of you have been following my iPhone frustrations. I am the only one that has to pay $499 for my iPhone if I want one because I am an unloved AT&T customer that isn't due for a phone upgrade until January. So I have to pay the "hell will freeze" over price of $499, if I want one.

Well, it seems that the discount $299 price might not be worth it either from what I am hearing.

Let's look at the problems:

1. 3G speeds aren't true 3G speeds. They are somewhere between what they are right now (EDGE speed) and what they claimed they should be. It still takes a while to load an internet page.

2. Can't run any applications in the background of the iPhone. So basic software that notifies you of a stock market boom is not in the near future. This is probably not an iPhone feature due to problem #3.

3. HORRIBLE LIFE ON THE BATTERY. I would have to see for myself, but the guys over at TechCrunch keep complaining about battery life being very short and I tend to believe them. It doesn't take much to impress TechCrunch guys, but it takes a lot to irritate them.

4. White iPhones are cracking. That's right. There are many cases out there that are showing cracks as you can see from the image above. That's not good since they aren't even a month old. More stories are coming in. I am curious about how the black models are holding up.

5. Unable to capture video was a surprise on this iPhone. My toaster can capture video. Also, the camera is still 2 megapixel. Wow. What's up with that???

As I am impatiently waiting to buy my iPhone in January (SIX WHOLE MONTHS!!!), I am at least getting some relief by people having a miserable time with the iPhones they have.

as Nelson would say on the Simpsons: HA! Ha!

BOYCOTT EMPLOYMENTCROSSING.COM

For those of you who don't know, Randy Pausch sadly passed away on 7/25/08 at age 47.

He received major notoriety for his amazing "Last Lecture" he gave before he died.

It seems that Employmentcrossing.com decided to use his death as way to promote their site. They did a 3 minute video on Youtube. They spend 50 sec. talking about Randy and the other 2:10 talking about Employmentcrossing.com.

I am appalled that any one would be so heartless as to use the death of another for profit like this.

I am asking that you BOYCOTT EMPLOYMENTCROSSING.COM. Please call the company at 800-680-7345 to complain about their video.

BOYCOTT BEIJING!!!

There is a show on PBS called Frontline. I was watching an episode titled "Young and Restless In China".

It was a little shocking to find out that China built huge power towers in the middle of little towns to help with the coming Olympics. It was more shocking to know that over a million people were pushed out of their homes and their homes were demolished for the Olympics.

China is so worried that the look good in front of the world that they are destroying their own people by doing it. I don't believe China cares about anybody but themselves. The are monopolizing all our earthly resources like gas, steel, food products, etc.

They barely doing any importing of our products and yet they are making billions a year on exporting to the USA.

Now I do blame the USA for continuing to import from China. USA is mostly to blame on a lot of the problems in America. That doesn't mean we can't stand up for what we believe.

I can not support the Olympics in Beijing. I will not watch any of the Olympics. I will not use any products with the Olympic symbol on it, and I will tell everyone I know to Boycott Beijing. This country is still a communist country and yet we bring them the glory of broadcast all throughout America?

Watch this documentary "Young and Restless In China" online. Once your done watching it, then try to explain to me two things:

1. how can we support a country that fines you $95,000 for giving birth to a second child
2. how can we watch the Olympics when it became possible by destroying people's lives.

BOYCOTT BEIJING.

WHO ARE THESE GEEKS???

I have been a tech guy since the internet was only being used by companies like Prodigy and AOL. In the past 5 years, I have become a much heavier user of the internet.

I run 4 blogs, one company website, I have developed three other sites for other companies, I am on myspace, facebook, pandora, youtube, metacafe, twitter, friendfeed, loopt, twitterberry, and so much more that it makes my head hurts.

If there is one thing I have learned is that everyone on the net is fighting for attention saying "look at me. look at me". You have no idea of the different types of people there are.

Let's review a few. I may get some of the details wrong on some of these people, but you'll get the jist. Also, Please remember that this is strictly my opinion.



Kevin Rose - Although Kevin is probably the least selfish of the bunch and most successful, I must say I feel opposite about his site. Kevin developed Digg.com. You may not know digg, but every liberal 19 year old male does. They have huge traffic and yet no one in the real world of business knows who they are. Kevin comes across as a nice guy, but his website is very anti-Microsoft, Walmart, Religion, Bush, and Macs. So trying to get an unbiased view of the world is pretty hard, since the lunatics run the assylum at Digg.



Robert Scoble - Not sure what this guy does. He is always writing on twitter and friendfeed and yet never has much to say. He's managing director for FastCompany.tv. I have subscribed to FastCompany for about 10 years and never heard of FastCompany.tv until I came across Robert. He has loads of time to text things 24 hours a day and he is always posting picks on Flikr, which means he can't have time to do any real work.



Michael Arrington - He is the creator of TechCrunch.com which is truly one of the few and best places to get the latest info on technology. I subscribe to his newsletter. In that newsletter Mike is always talking like he is the biggest man in the business. People throw products at him for free or even pay him to review their stuff. Sometimes it crosses the line and he starts pushing his own interests. He has many subscribers. He is his biggest fan.

I don't know what's more pathetic. People tracking down Mike Arrington (TechCrunch) and pitching their company's website or the fact that Mike shows it to the world and makes fun of the guy. The worst part is that Mike held the meeting with this guy in his kitchen.



Jason Calacanis - here is someone I don't even know. He supposedly is a successful blogger, whatever that means. He has since gone public about stopping his blogging profession and only write a newletter to a private few. He will only allow 750 people on his private newsletter. He claims it isn't a publicity stunt and yet over the past few days he has changed the subscriber limit twice. First it was 750, then 1000. Now anyone can sign up with his approval, which is fully automated. Wow. How elite do I feel being on that list. And to make things worse, I get his email hoping for some intellectual conversation and it's nothing but a bunch of plugs for him, his interview on the web after the Batman movie, and other things he is so wonderfully doing.



Andy Beal - I just read about this guy for the first time today. His tag line about himself is "co-author of Radically Transparent: monitoring and managing reputations online." I didn't know there was a market for this. I have never heard of this book, if it really is a book. They write it like everyone knows it. What does a co-author do, anyway? This guy also has his own workshop based on the book. Wow.

Andy was the last straw in this self serving imaginary celebrity cluster. These guys are their own biggest fans and it shows in their writing. They might not realize it, but their little bit of a fan base has gone to their heads.

It reminds me of the unsigned bands that were on MP3.com back in the day.

These bands were the hottest bands on MP3.com. They had over 300,000 fans. The only problem was no one IN THE REAL WORLD knew who they were. It was a make believe world at MP3.com and I am starting to believe the same fate will come to most of the above mentioned names.

I guess the reason for my post is this. It's easy to get a website, send a few twitter messages, post video on the net, and say your someone big. Let's not glorify these guys more than they are already doing to themselves. Take what they have to offer. Tell them thank you and move on. Don't be a follower.

SOCIAL MEDIA BLUES

I am the biggest loser in the social media arena. I have been hooked on three great applications.

1. Twitter
2. Loopt
3. Friendfeed

I have invited all the hundreds of people in my address book and not one of my friends, family, or associates are on these services. I am the only one in the social media arena.

How stupid do I feel when I look on my Loopt map and all I see is me in all of Southern California. Then to make things worse, I type in the Loopt message box what I am doing at that moment. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. I AM TALKING TO MYSELF WHEN I DO THIS!!!

How about sending a Twitter to nobody. I just love talking to the wall. What a waste of time.

Then their is Friendfeed. It's a place that you can see all my activity from the Pandora radio station that I am listening to, to the posts I am doing here on my blog.

Thankfully I know that I have readers subscribed to this blog or posting this would probably make me the biggest loner geek around.

I've got to get a new family and new friends. I need a Red Bull Cola. :-( I bet my friends don't even know what that is?

iPHONE 3G DISASTER - PART III

Once again, I may have a blessing in disguise with regards to me not getting an iPhone 3G.

I have always believed that things happen for a reason. Not that I like it all the time, but for most of the time it turns out well.

I blogged awhile back on the Gphone and that it was coming. That story died down and I thought I had spoke a little too soon. Well, that story has resurfaced. Here is a link to one of my favorite sites TechCrunch. It's a story that has given new life to my hope of a Gphone. Here is the story. Take what you can from it.

If you didn't get an iPhone 3G then maybe you should wait a few weeks as Google gives us a little more info and the bugs on the iPhone 3G work themselves out.

IPHONE 3G DISASTER - PART II

Oh, how sweet this post shall be!!!!

I am still the only one on my block without an iPhone 3G, but I come to find out that is a good thing.

It seems that in the greediness of Apple and AT&T, most of the iPhones that were sold today were still unable to be used due to server crashes. It seems that they could not activate most of the phones due to high traffic to the servers. So they sent people home with something called an iBrick and they must try all day to see if it will be activated.

Even the old iPhone users are now the proud owner of an iBrick, since they went to update their software and it blanked out the phones and made them inoperable.

I feel sorry for the iPhone users that waited days camped out in line. I want to do something to help. So if anyone wants to make a call from my Crackberry, please let me know and I will be more than happy to........ Whoops. Hold on, I have a text message. it's my wife. She says to stop gloating and say goodbye.

For more on this story read the TUAW link: Click Here

Goodbye!

IPHONE 3G DISASTER

As I am typing this, AT&T is burning me.

I am on hold with AT&T right now waiting to inform them how totally screwed they are.

Let me tell you my story:

Two weeks ago, I was told by AT&T that ANYONE could by the iPhone 3G for the $199 (8 gig) or the $299 (16 gig) price. No matter what. I was told you didn't need to be eligible for an upgrade.

One week ago, I was told sorry, Apple changed the rules. (yeah, right!). Now I am told the only people who can get the iPhone for this price are:

1. old iPhone users
2. people due for a phone upgrade
3. or non AT&T customers

Everyone else will have to pay $499 (8 gig) and $599 (16 gig).

So I called last week and complained. A supervisor told me that she would give me a complimentary upgrade so I could get the iPhone at a normal price. Thank God. Finally someone who cares about me.

NOW I AM ON THE PHONE FINDING OUT THAT THERE IS NO WAY ANYONE IS GETTING A COMPLIMETARY UPGRADE FOR THE IPHONE.

I am a long paying customer and AT&T is not taking care of me. The cell phone industry has reached it's lowest point. There is no more customer service or loyalty to your customers.

I am not angry because I can't get an iPhone tomorrow. I am angry on being lied to, misinformed, and not treated like a customer should be.

I have just hung up the phone and I am waiting for the escalations department to call me within 24 hours. I will keep you posted on my progress.

LINE STARTED FOR IPHONE 3G - ONE WEEK EARLY

I have to give credit to Engadget website. They were as shocked as I was to find out that a line has already started in New York at the Apple Store for the new iPhone 3G.

Don't get me wrong. The IP3G will be a great phone, but I want someone to interview these people who will spend a week in line waiting for the phone. They are probably the same people who have a life long dream of being on the Howard Stern Show.

Take a moment and think. These people must have personal problems, self esteem problems, no life, and are very competitive. Did I forget anything. Oh yeah, and no brains.

You couldn't pay me $1000 to stand in line for a week. So why do it for a $299 cell phone.

The good news is that stupid people breed and have more stupid people. So there are plenty of family members that will take shifts.

To read the Engadget report on this topic, please CLICK HERE