This is my world - welcome!

Evidently religious discrimination still exists at

2009-11-07T04:05:24Z

Bath and Body Works. There is a link to send a message to corporate HQ. I told corporate HQ that I would be posting the information with regards to religious discrimination on facebook and Live Journal, which I now have.

Because it's the right thing to do

2009-11-06T17:34:23Z

Because Matthew Shepard Can't, & I Can - THAT'S why.

Atlanta Pride 2009

2009-10-31T22:01:32Z

Because of the 2008 drought, and in order for Pride to return to Piedmont Park (last year it was at the Atlanta Civic Center, which is not a great venue for a festival like this), Atlanta Pride was held today. When I checked to leave to head to Piedmont Park, it was pouring, so I waited for the rain to subside and then went out. Instead of getting to Piedmont Park at 9:30'ish, I didn't arrive until about 10:35 AM. Surprisingly, there were no religious freaks (although I was prepared - I brought a copy of the Masoretic version of the Jewish Bible to use against them to remind them that theirs was a plagiarized version of the original). I always go so that I can see what interesting sights there are to see and to see what interesting vendors and artisans are there. I usually end up spending about 3 hours walking around with my backpack on my back (this year it was 4) and getting swag here and there (which I did this year), not eating the overpriced food, and just being in the park. Well, I went a wee bit overboard this year.

After making a donation to help animal shelters, I was given a swag bag of stuff to bring to my sister's dog, Lucy, which she'll get in 2 weeks. Someone was selling something called "Big Skinny," which turned out to be a wallet which was about half as thick with credit cards in it than the present one I use. Taking no chances, I bought two of them and found (after I got home) that when I loaded it up with what's presently in my wallet, it's at least 1/2 the thickness of my old wallet and I have room for more stuff (which I won't be putting in except for things like the Costco card when I go to Costco, etc.). I also bought myself something called Tupelo Honey, which is supposed to be diabetic-safe, a candle made out of soy, a candle made out of beeswax, and (you ready for this?) a Utilikilt. They had it in my size, it was a very reasonable price, they had it in black (which will go interestingly with my blue camo sporran), and so I broke down and bought it. I now have a kilt for when I do Celtic festivals and highland games.

At 1:30, Georgia AVER (American Veterans for Equal Rights) held a Taps ceremony at the main stage. A member of Washington, DC AVER, an active-duty major in the Army, was remembered as being the first known gay man killed over in Iraq. We also honored all military personnel who have been killed in the past 9 years. I stood up and saluted when Taps was played.

I left after 2:30 and was home by around 3-something. Tonight is food shopping and maybe recording some lines for Starship Excelsior.

AND, you're not going to believe this: For the first time ever, I had children knock loudly at the door and yell "Trick or Treat! Being totally unprepared, you know............

And a Blessed Samhain to those who celebrate that tonight.

They've done it again!

2009-10-29T15:49:08Z

United lost Dave Carroll's luggage, AGAIN

I'm happier than I was

2009-10-23T15:57:36Z

If you remember this post, you'll recall that I had dropped a letter to Consumer Advocacy with a cc to the CEO of Motorola. Well, within a day or so of the letter being faxed, I received a call from Julie in Consumer Advocacy who told me basically that I shouldn't have bought the phone over ebay, that I was a second user of the phone (but how does that explain that the Motorola software I have say I was the first user?), but because of the rotten treatment I got at the hands of Customer No Support, Motorola had decided to send me a brand-new replacement phone. The phone arrived yesterday. I've charged the battery, put the SIM and micro-SD cards into the phone, downloaded the 2 ring tones I mainly use (the phone rings to the whine of the ST:TOS hailing frequency, and a voice mail is Worf talking about an "incoming message"), put up a different picture on the phone when it turns on, put the phone numbers into the phone for when I (hopefully) go internationally (even though the phone is locked - habit of force), and am now happily using the purple Motorola W490 as my US phone. The only bad thing is that it's a locked phone, but that's OK; I have my blue Motorola KRZR K1 as my unlocked international phone, for which I'll purchase a SIM card for whatever country I end up going to (except Japan - the phone is GSM and Japan is CDMA) so that I can save money when/if I need to make phone calls wherever it is I'm going.

I am happy. Thank you Julie at Motorola.

I am not happy - again

2009-10-09T14:59:41Z

This time, it's Motorola.

I bought a brand new purple W490 phone off ebay in September. After using it for a couple weeks, all of a sudden I couldn't hear anything from the earpiece and I couldn't be heard through the "handset." So I called Motorola tech support and after a good long time on the phone, it was decided the best thing to do would be to send it in for repairs. I'd also checked and found that the phone was indeed within warranty. About a week after I sent the phone in, it came back with a note saying that the "PC board" was damaged and the phone was out of warranty. I disagreed with that, at which point I was told to re-send the phone in and it would be looked at by a department called "repair escalations." Several days later, after sending the phone back a second time, it came back with the same note and a card saying "oh, and by the way, call us to buy a new phone and get 15% off with this coupon and coupon code." Thank you, NO! I want my phone to work. Move to October 1. I call again and was firmly told that the phone couldn't be repaired, it was out of warranty, it was my fault (I must have dropped the phone), and the best we can do is offer you a replacement black T-mobile capable phone (mine was unlocked and was purple) for $75.00. Now, I had paid $54 for the phone originally, and now they're wanting more?!

I said that was unsatisfactory - that 1) I didn't break the phone; 2) the phone was purple, not black; 3) why should I even consider getting a replacement Motorola phone if this is how I'll be treated the first time I have a problem with the phone? The person with whom I spoke said she'd see about getting an unlocked phone and would call me back by Monday, October 5. Fine, I said. Well, October 5 came and went, so on October 6, I called in and ended up speaking to a supervisor named John who told me that I'd hear from someone within 2 days. Cut to Thursday, October 8 - the person who had called on October 1 and told me I'd hear from her on October 5 called while I was in traffic. I asked her to please call me back at home in 10 minutes, giving her my number after explaining that I was in traffic and didn't want to risk an accident or anything.

Fifty minutes later, after she had not called back, I called in again and after nearly 20 minutes on the phone, I ended up speaking with Angelina (I'm guessing at the spelling), who said she was the Manager in charge of Repair Escalations. One of the first things she said was that the problem with my phone was the "flip," (now wait a minute! The cards I received said "PC board" - how could it suddenly be the "flip"?). After telling me twice that it was the flip and my reminding her that the cards said PC board, she admitted she was wrong, but she also said that there was nothing they could do with regard to the phone, that it was out of warranty, that I'd have to buy a new phone. I told her that her alternatives weren't satisfactory, that I still hadn't received any explanation as to why a brand-new phone could suddenly be out of warranty when I didn't do anything to damage the phone and it ends up damaged, so I demanded (I'll admit it) that I wanted to talk to her superiors. What ended up happening is that I faxed a letter to "Corporate Advocacy" explaining exactly what had transpired: the lies, the no calls, the no explanations, etc., and how I was still dissatisfied. What Angelina refused to tell me was the name of the CEO, as I wanted to contact him. She didn't know, and I didn't tell her, I was going to cc the CEO of Motorola Corporation. Well, the letter has been faxed, and it's in the mail to go to the CEO of Motorola today.

I don't know what's going to happen, but I know this: a company that has been respected in the US for so long is doing all it can to be disrespected. I realize that "customer support" has become "customer no support" and that the only way it seems to get any sort of satisfaction is to post your displeasure on the internet (although this is not as good as the youtube video "United Breaks Guitars (part 1)," which actually gave me the impetus to sit down and write this). All I want is a working, unlocked, purple W490 that doesn't have problems. Is that too much to ask?

2009 Atlanta Pagan Pride

2009-10-06T00:39:50Z

is this Saturday at this location. I'll be vending there.

Hope to see some of you there.

First Ringgold Highland Games

2009-10-04T00:16:52Z

were held today, put on by this group. It also turns out that there was a Civil War reenactment held very near by. We could hear the cannons being fired.

When no customers didn't show up during the first 4 hours of the festival, I got worried. VERY worried. Well, suffice it to say that I made my costs and a bit more, and I'm happy about it. I will go again next year. The people putting it on are working to try to expand it, and I wish them the best of luck in doing it.

Gays are sick people??!!

2009-09-27T22:14:14Z

I'm fuming at this, especially since the father of a friend of mine has a shop on this particular island.

Yom Kippur is tomorrow

2009-09-27T12:21:45Z

May your fast be easy and fast. May the weather not be oppressive. May you not only have a good inscription, but a good sealing. And may this year be a better one than last year.

Thank goodness!

2009-09-26T23:55:32Z

Garrison Keillor, host of A Prairie Home Companion started a new season this evening. Now he had recently gone to the Mayo Clinic for a minor stroke. However, tonight, you couldn't tell. He sounded great. He even joked about his minor stroke in his "News from Lake Wobegon" monologue. Thank goodness he is able to perform, and I sincerely hope that he will continue doing so for a good long time.

Before I forget:

2009-09-20T01:59:25Z

L'shana tova tikaseivu v'sikhaseimu.

Shana tova u'm'tukah.

Tzum kal v'mahir.

This is outrageous!

2009-09-18T16:14:18Z

While I'm not a fan of Dragon*Con, this still irks me. Please pass the word.

With all the religious wars going on right now,

2009-09-17T14:36:01Z

it's nice to know that two faiths can work together:

click here to see.

Oh no!

2009-09-17T03:07:59Z

Mary of Peter Paul and Mary is dead.

And people wonder why SF fans are viewed so strangely:

2009-09-16T20:26:39Z

The dirty dancer has danced his last dance.

2009-09-15T00:49:08Z

Patrick Swayze has died.

The April Fool's episode of Starship Excelsior is now online

2009-09-10T21:42:09Z

and you've got to hear it. It's called "The Line".

The best laid plans

2009-09-09T01:04:38Z

I had planned on working on redoing my lines for Star Trek: Grissom and the Kingery tonight, but I was able instead to get my vehicle in for service because the "check engine" light came on. SO I take the sport cute to Honda Carland for that and the little-bit-late 45000 mile checkup and they tell me that according to the computer, I have a slight glitch with the gas cap (again!). They're going to check the gas cap and let me know, but in the meantime, I'm driving a Chevrolet Cobalt until the car is ready, which should be tomorrow evening.

The next few festivals

2009-09-07T02:35:29Z

I'll be doing are Atlanta Pagan Pride and this one in Ringgold. See you there?

And while we're on the subject of stupidity,

2009-09-01T17:57:00Z

how about this?.

Anyone want to commet on

2009-09-01T17:55:45Z

this?

While I don't agree with everything the President does, he is still the President. There used to be a time when yes, you disagreed with the president, but after the election, the country would be behind the president and be polite. That time is long gone.

Comcast, Part 2

2009-08-29T01:44:04Z

Well, after the first debacle, I got home today to find the two decoder boxes I was supposed to get. After almost 3 hours on and off with tech support, it was determined that I didn't even need the danged things because I had not requested an upgrade out of basic basic cable. What happened is that evidently for the last lustrum plus, I was getting channels I wasn't supposed to get, which basically was everything about 27. It seems that Comcast had somehow incorrectly programmed me to get those extra channels, from which I learned the joys of Kaga Takeshi, Chen Kenichi, Michiba Rokusaburo, Nakamura Konmei, Morimoto Masaharu, Kobayashi Katsuyo and the like, the Science Fiction Channel (who had used me to advertise it back when it first got started, even though I did not have cable access when it started), Top Chef, the reruns of the Law & Order franchisees I enjoy, The Closer, The 4400, the list goes on and on. Hey, it's not my fault. I thought Comcast was being (dare I say it?) nice.

Well, what it turns out will happen is that as of September 15, 2009, I will be going back to limited basic, which is what I thought I had the last lustrum plus, which means, in New York terms, I'll be getting 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 28 (which is what I had back in NY up until our move in 1972). I will only get one public broadcasting channel (which will have to give me my Antiques Roadshow fix). I guess I'll start watching all those DVDs I got (can you say "The Prisoner" and "M. Appeal"?), plus the 40+ seasons of Dr. Who I was given on an external hard drive for my computer.

The funny thing is, Comcast tried to do the right thing after the debacle of a few nights ago with the bogus busted cable box, only for me to find out tonight that I don't need a cable decoder box because I'm not supposed to have the extra channels I've been getting the past lustrum plus. Well, someone is going to pick up three not-so-secret decoder boxes from me sometime in the next week, and as of September 15, I'll be paying for what I should've been getting all along. What does that mean? Well, when The Closer returns, I'll watch it on TNT's website. I won't find out what happens with shows like Iron Chef America or Top Chef. If there are any new oh wow shows on the upper channels, I won't know about them. I'll be getting broadcast TV and that's it. Either that or I'll ask my sister to record my stuff on her TV and load it from a DVR to a VHS (I think they still use VHS).

After all of this, with something like 5 hours on the phone with Comcast, I'm still not happy with Comcast. However, here in Atlanta, if you want TV reception, you have to have cable or dish, and right now, cable is still cheaper for me than any of the dishes.

I'm beginning to not like Comcast!

2009-08-27T01:29:19Z

For the last few weeks, at times during shows on the upper channels, I've been getting a scroll at the bottom of the screen which says I need a digital converter box before September 15 in order to keep getting my signal. Well, after 2 telephone calls to Comcast, one where I was told that I was going to be losing all channels about 27 (which include Food, TNT, and others where I get to see some shows I like) and that if I wanted to keep them, I'd have to get a more expensive plan for either 1 year for $29.95 a month, then $55.75 a month afterwards, or a more expensive plan for 2 years for $29.95 a month, then $39.95 a month afterwards. On the second call, I was told "No, that isn't so." However, I will still need a converter box for each of the 2 TVs in the apartment. Oh, and we're going to give you more channels, to which I said that I just wanted the ones they've been giving me for the past lustrum as part of my basic cable package.

Well, arrangements were made to get the the converter boxes, and they were supposed to arrive today, but to my surprise, only ONE box came. So after dinner, I sat down and started by calling Comcast and ask where's my other converter? There were supposed to be two converters. And then I said I might as well try to install the one you did send. First, it's impossible to read the back of the converter box because the back is silver and the "writing" on the back indicating which connection is which is in, you guessed it, SILVER. Then, I put the cables in the wrong spot, thinking that the antenna out to box in would be where it was on the VCR or the TV but NO, it's the other connection, and it took ten minutes to figure that out.

Well, after putting the correct cable in the correct jack, the TV showed a wonderful shade of black on channel 3 instead of seeing what I guess I should have seen. I tried connecting the cable box directly to the VCR (which leads into the TV) and then directly into the TV (which would cause me to have to go purchase more cables to connect the VCR to the converter box, and if you consider that the DVD plays through the VCR into the TV........). No luck. You see, after nearly 50 minutes on the phone with a technician, it was determined that I was sent a bogus, busted converter box! Now I have to try to arrange for a technician to come and get the bogus busted box while I wait for another shipment of converter boxes.

MSNBC is now reporting

2009-08-26T05:35:36Z

that Senator Edward Kennedy has died. If so, I would say "yisgadal v'yiskadash . . . "