Yay! Blog!

I drove by two filming locations today. One was "My Generation" being filmed at the Texas School for the Deaf. It's a new show that will be on ABC in the fall brought to you by the person who wrote/produced "The Unusuals", a favorite show that was canceled far too soon.

The other was a movie called Blacktino, a dark teen comedy due out next year.

Over the last year, I've driven by locations for the Coen brother's True Grit remake and Robert Rodriguez' Machete.

The only celebrity I've seen, though, is Danny Trejo stretched out on a gurney in an alley as I drove by Machete.

My coworker, Richard, is conservation minded. I'll give you an example. I found a typo on one of the web pages he manages. There was an extra word in the sentence. It started "There are a two ways to...." So I notified him. He asked if I had noticed a missing "a" anywhere else on the page because he wasn't sure what to do with it. He didn't want to delete it and waste a perfectly good letter. So we decided the best course of action was to cut and paste it into notepad to save for later when he needed an "a." In our current budget crisis, Richard is a hero for that kind of thinking.

I'm on hold. There's music. There's also a lady who breaks in every 40 seconds to say "We appreciate your patience. All of our agents are assisting other customers, but your call is very important to us. Please continue to hold for the next available agent. Your call will be answered in the order it was received."

Why do I need that repeated every 40 seconds? My short term memory isn't *that* bad. Plus, every time that voice breaks in, I think they're answering. Soon, I'll become immune and when they do answer, I won't realize it. Then they'll hang up on me. Waaah.

By special request from Boogaboo:

I pre-ordered an iPhone 4 on June 15, day 1 of pre-orders. I had great difficulty ordering from the Apple site. After 25-30 tries, I went to the AT&T site and found success the first time I tried.

I got an order confirmation that day. Then, two days later, I got another order confirmation. I went to AT&T's order tracking page and it said I ordered on June 17. I figured it just took a couple of days to get it in the tracking system.

The phone was supposed to be delivered today. I took off work because I figured I'd need to sign for it. But when I look at the AT&T order tracking page, it still says "In Progress." No e-mail to tell me it's shipped. My credit card hasn't be charged. No sign that it's on it's way.

It's fine if demand was too large, and they can't get it to me today. But the complete lack of communication about the issue is maddening. Searching for news on the issue, I find others on an AT&T customer forum in the same boat. They've called AT&T customer service, and don't get answers or get rosey assurances that their phone will be delivered on time. AT&T has posted an assurance that those who ordered the first day will get their phones this week. Am I one of those people? I ordered the first day, but their system says I ordered the third day. Argh.

All I want to know... are there enough phones? Have they just not gotten to my order? Do they anticipate shipping it today, tomorrow, when?

I'm frustrated, not because I must have my iPhone NOW, but because of the lack of communication.

I love that there's a post office in the building where I work, but over the last few years, that post office has incrementally become inconvenient to the point that I'm going to start driving to a different post office at lunch when I have to mail a package.

First, they changed their opening time from "early enough to go before work" to 9:00 a.m.

Second, they only ever have one person working, so the line can get pretty long. Sometimes it's a grumpy person which makes an already inconvenient trip miserable.

Third, they removed the self-serve stamp machine so you have to go inside to buy stamps.

Fourth, when the line is so long that it extends out the door, they refuse to unlock the other side of a double door, forcing the people in line at the door to have to move out of the way every time someone exits.

And the final straw... today I went to mail a package at 1:00 p.m. to find a sign on the door that said they had gone to lunch and would be back at 2:25.

On another note, I am comfortable in my clothes today. Shoes, pants, undergarments and shirt... all very comfortable. I don't look like a million bucks, but I don't care. I wuv to be comfy.

I got an e-mail saying I am a member of a class action lawsuit against a popular online flower seller. It said that because I had made a purchase between specific dates and there was a shipping charge, I was entitled to a $10 voucher toward the purchase of flowers there.

Doesn't that seem to benefit the flower seller more than me? You can't get delivered flowers for $10.

I'm suspicious that it's really a promotional e-mail instead of a lawsuit.