Yesterday, I gave the world a warning. And who of all people chose to ignore that warning?

The people behind the Star Watch paper.

Allow me to briefly channel Whitney Houston, “Aw Hells to the Naws!” The indignity of it all is that the paper is currently embroiled in a giant fight with the city and county leadership regarding that very same Star Watch paper. According to the Chattanoogan, Tom Griscom of the Times Free Press told the County Commission legal committee on Wednesday that recipients must simply call the circulation office at 757-6262 if they wish to no longer receive the free subscription. The Circulation director, David Enoch, has the audacity to claim that out of 120,000 papers they deliver weekly, he received only 87 complaints over the last six months. You know what that means? It means David Enoch is not getting all the complaints forwarded on to him.

Allow me to change that. David Enoch is listed as having the phone number of 423-757-6262. It seems that this number is for the Circulation Department and not his direct line. When I asked to speak with him, I was then transferred to his line. Shock and surprise, he wasn’t answering his phone at that time. I left a message requesting a return call with his assistant Jessica this morning. She can be reached at 423-757-6344. If you recall me previous battle with the Star Watch from March, you might also remember the name of Robby Allen. I left him a voicemail this morning also requesting a call back. He can be reached at 423-757-6534. I have also sent an email to Executive Editor Tom Griscom: tgriscom@timesfreepress.com.

Hey Enoch, you want to be dismissive of people? You want to claim that no on is complaining? Mistake. Big one. I’ll give you all you can handle…

If one more customer tells me that I didn’t copy his data over just because he isn’t smart enough to find it…

If one more customer tells me I didn’t do a job because they were too lazy to actually go look to see that the job IS finished…

If one more customer talks down to me, as if I am the mouth-breathing idiot of the relationship…

If one more customer says that they just want a job done and don’t care how, and then stand over me to micro-manage my every move…

World, be warned: I’m done taking shit undeservedly. You start up with me right now, you had better have a good reason. If I’m in the right, I’m taking you on. Courtesy–gone. Politeness–gone. Customer retention–gone. Restraint–gone. So think carefully before saying whatever it is you want to say to me. My eyes are narrowed, my mouth is twisted into a sneer, my hands are balled up into fists. I’m just waiting for a reason. Go ahead and give me one. I dare you.

Banner day at McKay’s:

1) Nellie McKay CD – $1.95
1) Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri – $2.50

Life is occasionally good.

Our vacuum at work died. Well, to be accurate…our vacuum at work died, got fixed, and then thrown away in a horrible vacuum mixup. The Bossman decided we needed a Dyson. My input: we don’t need a $600 vacuum for our 1/16 inch crap work carpet. With that advice ringing in his ears, he went vacuum shopping. He came back with this:

That is a Vax. The worst Dyson ripoff in history. Not only is the appearance of the vacuum a bit, ridiculous, but it includes features like scented filters (that smell like old-lady-perfume) and the sloped extension wand of doom:

The best thing about the Vax? I’d have to say it is the opportunity it has given all of us at work to endlessly tease and harass my boss about buying a Vax. The worst thing about the Vax? Well, just look at it–it’s a VAX! I’ll stick with my Hoover, thank you.

Jean Papillon. According to the Wikipedia, he is the inventor of wallpaper. Sure, this sadistic bastard is dead already, but I cannot take much joy in that because he did not die by my hands. Painfully.

Wallpaper is a most evil substance, and I’ll never understand the mentality of it. “Lets GLUE some ugly-ass vinyl-y flowery crap to the wall.” Great idea. I’m currently in the throes of removing this evil substance from my bathroom. This particular paper is even more evil than normal. It consists of a nearly waterproof covering that peels off in 2″ strips, a paper backing that comes off fairly well, a thick & disgusting paste, and finally a green substance that must be removed with my ass pushing a scrub sponge. I worked about 8 hours over the weekend, and only about 20% of the wall is done. And my arms hurt.

Wah!

The Amazing Screw-On Head

Scifi Channel is currently offering the pilot episode of “The Amazing Screw-On Head” on their website. Good stuff. Screw-On Head is a bodyless head, and a top agent for Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. What more do you need to know? I especially enjoyed the evil Emperor Zombie, brilliantly voiced by David Hyde Pierce. I expect that the show has very little chance of seeing more than a season on the air, so enjoy it while it lasts.

While on the subject of the Scifi Channel, I have to admit that I enjoyed “Eureka” last night. Certainly not groundbreaking TV or anything, but nice enough summer fare. Plus, Matt Frewer. And That Guy from “Ally McBeal” and “Ned & Stacy.”

Why have I been absent?

I’ve been a busy AngryB, working on my kitchen. Much thanks to MomsB for the painting assistance. It isn’t done yet unfortunately. Unbeknownst to me, deep red = four coats of paint. Moms is visiting again in a couple of weeks to help finish the job. In the meantime, I’m going to attempt to get my bathroom ready to paint as well. If she is going to paint, she might as well paint everything, right?

I worked about 20 hours over the weekend and I’m tired. To tired to write. Oh, and work has been completely insane this week as well. Joy. I think I might actually be too tired for anger as well. Sad I know…

See, I’m not the only one who thinks the Star Watch is a nuisance and should be stopped:

Commission Legal Panel To Deal With Star Watch “Litter”

Even members of the Chattanooga City Council don’t like it, and those guys are idiots!

All I want from Dell is a price and opportunity to order a part. It shouldn’t be this hard.

9:31:38 AM RTS Constance Cannon Is this a new or existing case?
9:31:56 AM You New. I need to purchase a replacement part.
9:32:01 AM RTS Constance Cannon Thank you. May I also have your phone number and e-mail address?
9:32:18 AM You xx@xx.com
9:32:27 AM You xxx-xxxx
9:32:28 AM RTS Constance Cannon Thanks Angry B.
9:32:33 AM RTS Constance Cannon How can I help you?
9:32:46 AM You I need a power supply
9:32:58 AM You m/n ps-5161-1d
9:33:34 AM RTS Constance Cannon Ok. What is wrong with the system? What is the system doing?
9:33:46 AM RTS Constance Cannon Does the system power on at all or have power to it at all?
9:33:52 AM You It has a DEAD POWER SUPPLY.
9:33:55 AM You It no work-y.
9:34:10 AM You I’m not looking for tech support, just an avenue to purchase a replacement part.
9:34:26 AM RTS Constance Cannon Oh.
9:34:41 AM RTS Constance Cannon Ok. You will need to purchase one from spare parts or sales.
9:34:49 AM RTS Constance Cannon Let me give you the phone numbers.
9:34:56 AM You Thank you.

Oh, indeed. If “Constance” would just trouble herself to actually READ what I type, she wouldn’t have to ask me questions I’ve already answered. Oh boy, now I get to CALL them…

So I call, and John Jimmie Heimer Tech Support guy starts giving me the third degree about who owns this PC and whether or not I know all of these addresses it is labeled under etc. This PC has been re-sold about 3 times, and I have no idea about any of this stuff nor do I see the relevance. I’m not trying to get warranty, I’m not trying to get support, I just want to buy a replacement part and GIVE THEM MY MONEY. I don’t know why they fight so hard to keep that from happening. But they do. So I start yelling. Loudly. Amazingly enough, after about a 30-second rant, none of this information is needed and he can happily look up the part. This gentleman is currently processing the order, and is doing so without asking me a bunch of irrelevant and irritating questions. I should have started out the phone call by yelling at him. Would have saved us both a lot of trouble.

Kool Keith may or may not approve of this material, but I approve whole-heartedly.

Remember when I talked about the Big Dig project and how they had been using substandard concrete in it’s construction?

Woman Killed in Boston Big Dig Tunnel Fall

It will come as a surprise to no one that Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Chairman Matthew Amorello claims the quality of the concrete has nothing to do with the accident. Instead it was due to steel tieback snapping, which in turn dropped a 40-foot section to the ground.

Maybe Amorello is right and it wasn’t due to the bad concrete. If that is the case, then what he is telling us is that the crappy concrete is held together by crappy steel tiebacks. Super.

I’m still not driving through that thing.

Church constructs monument to Christianity in likeness of Lady Liberty

Do I really need to discuss the many ways this pisses me off? Forget all of the church / state ramifications and idiocy for a minute. This, this thing, cost $260,000. $260,000! How in the hell can a church not figure out a better way to spend that kind of money? Of course, the put it in a low-income area where it will inspire people to find a better life through religion. Yeah. That’s gonna happen. Mind you living next to that thing would inspire me to find a new place to live, so maybe there is some truth to that.

How sad am I that Kenny Lay isn’t going to prison? Times like this it would be nice to believe that there is a hell, so that I could at least take comfort in the idea that he was going to spend “20 to eternity” getting poked with a sharp, red pitchfork. I guess all I can hope is that his heart attack *cough* suicide *cough* was really painful. REALLY painful.

All eyes now turn to Jeff Skilling–lets make sure we get him some really good medical care so that he has a nice long life. A life filled with punishments.

It has been quite a while since I first posted about my love for the iPod nano. Thanks to the fine folks at AMD and their prize drawing prowess, I now own one and can give a hands-on review.

That is the 2GB Black nano, and it is pretty cool. Light, TINY, bright screen, all with the iPod feel and function that we know and love. I must say that I find the 2GB to be quite limiting, especially since I’m used to carrying around my entire CD collection on my 40GB iPod. But if you want a truly portable MP3 player, this is an excellent choice.

This will definitely replace my Rio as the choice for exercising, lawnmowing, etc. You can see all the pictures in the world, but until you hold one in your hand, it is hard to appreciate just how small it is. If these pictures look a bit funny, it is because I have already enclosed the nano in a protective case–the Agent 18 Shield 4 nano–only $18 at Target. I was going to order the Rhinoskin aluminum case, but have seen a few people complain that it scratched their nano. I’m not too keen on a protective case that damages the device I’m trying to protect. This one is pretty OK though. It seems tough enough, and allows access to the click wheel, hold button, docking port and headphone jack. I hate the cases that you have to open in order to use the device–I just don’t see the point.

Thanks again to AMD for adding to my Apple device collection. Now I just need to win a Macbook…

In no particular order and pretty much off the top of my head, here is a list of 20 actresses who would have been a better choice to play Lois Lane in the Superman Returns movie:

1. Jennifer Connelly
2. Dana Delaney (about 10 or 15 years ago–she would have been so perfect)
3. Eliza Dushku
4. Amanda Peet
5. Jennifer Connelly
6. Marla Sokoloff
7. Anna Faris
8. Tea Leoni
9. Jennifer Garner
10. Mira Sorvino
11. Anne Hathaway
12. Zooey Deschanel
13. Naomi Watts
14. Jill Hennessy
15. Lola Glaudini
16. Amy Acker
17. Liz Vassey
18. Paige Davis
19. Rita Sever
20. Queen Latifah

Seriously, even the Queen would have been better than Kate “I have the charisma of Steven Segal” Bosworth.