sometimes, the world blows

so, sometimes my job involves rather distasteful things. today is one of those days. my firm represents a company whose driver ran over and killed a young woman. i have to depose the administrator of the estate, the young woman's mother. i've going through documents and other things the plaintiff produced to prepare. it's pretty difficult because it seems this girl was beloved by her friends and colleagues alike. the outpouring of support and emotion is amazing, the breadth of it is striking, makes you wonder why certain lives are snuffed out when it seemed to be on this amazing trajectory....

at the same time, you wonder if your life would create something similar from people: do i have friends and colleagues who would feel the same way and write so eloquently about me? have i touched lives in some similar manner? have i accomplished things of the magnitude that this woman did, at a younger age than me? when i ask myself these questions, i'm left with the notion that the answer is no, that i'm not doing what i should be doing, that i'm not going where i should be going, that i'm not fully engaged with my life or my decisions that brought me here....that's actually the most painful part of this.

back to the grind

hmmm, so i find this really interesting. a random conversation at a bar with a friend has led me BACK to blogging. and why? to be honest, i didn't particularly enjoy it in the first place. i also didn't hate it. it seemed like an appropriate outlet for the garbage that floats around in my head. shit, i'm an attorney with no creative outlet so this seemed to help. it kept me to busy sometimes. seriously, it's been nearly two years! maybe i have something interesting to say, but i doubt it.

beyond that, fuck, do i have some life changes going on. i'll slowly get to them for all my eager beaver readers. oh wait....

first though, blogger/google make it so fucking difficult to transfer accounts, when the solution was actually really simple. i used an old yahoo account to set this up. i have since cancelled that yahoo account and formed a gmail account. you can't actually just switch it over. but blogger allows you to either add authors or admins. the problem is you search google help for hours (literally, i just wasted about an hour of my day searching) without explanation or a helpful guiding hand in a particular direction.

i get into work today and read this...and i'm reminded of that. see what i did there?

i'll say this: i doubt i'm the only one to have made that connection but why did it take the tradmed so long to put that together/publish it?

fees fees fees everywhere and not a drop to drink

i've held a citibank card for 12 years, since i was 18. it was my first credit card, my only credit card for about 8 of those years. it's not my back up card and we use it mainly for low interest rate balance transfers. the credit limit is insanely high which works well for those transfers.

earlier this week, i read an article on the new credit card reform law going into effect shortly. the article basically said, beware, the law kicks in soon and some issuers will make sure tho change your terms and conditions before then.

imagine my surprise, then (none), when citibank mails me a change in terms and conditions letter! they are going to start charging me an annual fee of $60, UNLESS i use their card for $2,400 in charges per year.

fuck them! mind you, i get no benefit from this card. it isn't an amex with points redeemable, etc (at least i don't think so, i don't use it enough to know) but even if it is, amex didn't just bend me over and give me an annual fee on my blue credit card.

here's the thing that infuriates me about the whole thing, it ain't like $60 a year is going to break the bank. it's my options, or the lack of them. when are my choices, really? bend over, grab my ankles, grit my teeth and bear it or cancel the card. im pissed enough to cancel and i will. i have until the end of my current card to pay off the balance (something like 16 months).

here's the rub: my credit is now going to take a hit. my FICO score will now reflect this canceled card and my overall credit available will go down so my percentage of used credit goes up. which, as i've constantly read is bad for the score. this is what pisses me off so much. the banks have a choice, we as consumers don't. the choice we have is to bear or take a credit hit. either one isn't a good choice. i wonder if fair isaac takes that into account when the calculate score. fuck sticks.

interaction

all the cool kids (brands) have an online presence, be in facebook, myspace or twits. they think, or least outwardly show, this makes them a great company with whom you can interact with.

here's the thing though: most of them don't have shit for customer support. they spend all this cash to look great online where lots of people interface with the brand. fine, and that's great. but similar to my mtg problems, when you actually CALL a fuckin' company to talk to somebody, they better know what the hell they're doing. in my opinion, interaction with a customer service rep can make or break a relationship with that brand.

here's my story: nixon. the verbal spouse and i have headphones from them. we've had problems with them so i fedexed them back to the company for repair/replacement, along with a key chain that needed a new screw. they held on to the merch for over a month w/o telling me anything about what the hell was going on, whether or not they headphones would be replaced, yada yada yada. i call, they apologize and say they will send my package out priority. two weeks go by, nothing. i call again. we're sorry sir, the gentlemen you spoke with didn't mention they were closed the day after i talked to him for a whole week! my shipment sat at their warehouse. awesome, it's on its way though. i get the package and THEY SENT ONE OF THE ITEMS INCORRECTLY. i got regular headphones, not speaker, iphone compatible headphones. what a mess. i call again, they apologize, AGAIN, and they say they'll send the correct ones out immediately. a week later and i still don't have anything.

the brand's great, i love their stuff and frankly, ive never had a problem with them before. this experience has been beyond a problem though. this is atrocious customer service! not informing me what was going on, holding the package for over a month, telling me it was going 'priority' but really not and then sending me the wrong stuff! not exactly the type of endearing help that makes me want to spend anymore money on nixon.

large brand managment

i propose no solution to the problem i address. but really, should this happen.

my mtg is with bank of america. an institution i truly wish i did not have to deal with. they are horrible, completely disorganized, the classic right hand doesn't know what the left is doing.

i tried to sign up for automatic drafts to pay my mtg. it would deduct from our checking account (no way in hell is that with bofa) twice per month, starting middle of november. i called to verify it was set up properly earlier that month and assured it was. middle of november, there goes my money to bofa, no problems. not so fast....

december doesn't get taken out. i called them and was told that the first november draft is floating out in bank of america cyberspace land and was NOT applied to my mtg. awesome. 'how do we correct this problem?' i ask. they said go pay HALF of the mtg and the rest, the floating rest, will be applied and your mtg current.

i hope you got that.

i had to call SIX more times to resolve that fuckin' little problem. everytime i called, the conversation started with, 'sir, did you know your mtg is past due?' 'yes, jerk off, and its not past due!'

i understand in large entities, especially ones strewn about the country (and bangalore, for that matter), need to link their systems and input accurate data. i don't mean to sound like an ass here but it's not that hard of job. or, they can't train their employees for shit.

i just want some appropriate diligence on their part. i do my part by paying. the least they could is properly ACCEPT and CREDIT my payments.

anyway, thirty days later, it was finally resolved and i'm no longer late. let's see if they grab their money on monday...

list of stupidist thing of 2009?

i hate the end of the year for one reason (actually, two if you count how freakin' cold it is). that is all the 'top ten _____ of 2009." even better, this year we get, top ____ of the decade lists."

these fuckin' things are repulsive. look, the end of the year is three weeks away! something drastic could happen anybody remember that tsunami a few years ago? that happened on....december 26, 2004. huh, i'd bet that was after all the 'top ten events of 2004 lists were compiled and released to a hungry public?

can't we wait till after the new year/decade starts? then decide what was best of 2009?

are you anonymous?

for starters, read wired. really good mag with very interesting articles.

i'm particularly fascinated by the article "gone" in last month's issue. one of their writers tried to 'disappear' for a whole month. anybody that found him got $5K; if he stayed away, he got $5K. in a digital, where you are really never anonymous, he managed to stay away for about 25 days before getting caught.

the lengths the 'hunters' went to find him was truly staggering. they tracked him all over the country despite him setting up a phantom computer and IP address in vegas.

just think about this the next time you're fucking around on the internet. somebody's watching you.

did advice to brand tiger follow the template of brand jordan?

so last night, verbal spouse commented about the silly tiger woods story and more mistresses "stepping" forward and nike's full support of brand tiger.

so i thought a bit. now, i'm from chicago and remember another cash cow icon for nike (their first and arguably most important one). i recall a few years ago (maybe more by now) when numerous allegations came out about jordan's affairs going as far back as shortly after his marriage. i don't remember the particulars but i do recall somebody commented about jordan's "arranged" marriage, more of thoughtful push really. somebody (i'd guess nike) wanted to make him more marketable, protect the image of what they created. so it was a "why don't you get married, mike?" type conversation. "jordan is more than incredibly talented athlete, he's a family man. see? he's married, with kids!"

the family jordan emerged even though, later reported and google-able (is that a word?) he was having affairs all over the place. cut to recent events and tiger woods.

is it possible that tiger was always this guy, as apparently jordan is/was? not the family man you see in the media but the image that's now come out? tiger seems to be following the same playbook, down to the build a huge house and insist on complete privacy while you compete for public adoration and money. similar stories: uber talented out of college, signs with nike, becomes marketer's wet dream, wife and kids, and oops! mistresses!

as i previously said, i don't care about the affairs, it's not my business. but isn't it curious that these two have the same story? anything to do with nike, their advice, their creation? or am i totally off my rocker here?

prowling tiger?

huh, so others are starting to notice some chinks in the armor now, too? i'm not going to sit here and speculate about WHAT led to the accident, the talking heads and gossip rags are doing a fine job, but this just appears to be more dents in the perfect suit of armor for the man. he's been pretty impenetrable for the last ten years plus.

something happened that led to the accident. at quarter to three in the morning, the accident just looks suspicious. the "cover-up" for brand woods just kinda makes the whole episode more questionable.