These folks have perfected the "It's not my fault -- what do you expect?" attitude once you've bought from them. An under-warranty sensor cleaning of my Canon EOS RebelXT will take at least 2 weeks, maybe 6, maybe more, who knows? The store has to send every repair back to mother Wolf in Minnesota. The guy I gave the camera to originally said 2 weeks but told me to call after a week so he could see if he could expedite it. I called and a veteran clerk who answered the phone was immensely patronizing as he ridiculed any idea of getting [...]

The breathless media questioning frenzy to discover why the mentally ill man killed 32 people stops me cold.  What made him so angry? What happened that day? Why did he pick the buildings he did? Just what part of "schizophrenic" don't reporters understand?

I hadn’t realized that crazy-quilt pricing, perfected by the airline industry, had moved into the land of white-bread electronics stores.  Sure, I know that you have to bargain when you buy in the low-rent camera stores on Market, Grant, and Kearny streets.  When you buy at specialty stores like Wolfs I expect to be rewarded when asking for bundles, cheaper extended warranties, or items to be “thrown in”. But, I didn’t expect the pricing at Circuit City to vary depending upon where you are when you ask the price. […]

Another 40-something friend is in the hospital, recovering from cancer surgery after months of chemotherapy designed to shrink the tumors.   The operation was about a week ago, and I think he's cleaned up enough now for his three- and five-year-old daughters to visit him without freaking them out too much. Good surgical results, apparently, but not really good times. Nothing for friends to do. Fortunately other church folks worked with the family and set up an online needs list at Lotsa Helping Hands. Behind a password we see what help around the house is needed (a meal on this day, shopping on that day), and [...]

I made flight reservations to the Denver convention without much problem today. (Okay, no seat assignments on the way home, but standing for 2 hours won't be bad, will it?) However, it looks like the hotel block is filled on some days and filling on the others.  The online site showed most days sold out for either a normal room or a "Regency Club" room from our 5/23rd arrival through our 5/28 departure. The toll-free number reservation number found a Regency Club room for the 23rd and regular rooms for the remaining nights. But, we have to move on the [...]

After 16 tax seasons with redozdachs my method of coping has devolved into sharing his pain by being equally focused on non-fun things.  Since arriving home from the pre-tax-season cruise, I haven't managed to edit and publish the photographs from the trip.  But, I have:Completed a website for a Unitarian Universalist minister looking for an interim assignment. The picture for this post is of the minister, Rev. John Marsh, and comes from that site.Completed a site for a Scottsdale Certified Public accounting firm.Updated another interim minister's site.Reconstructed a site for a non-profit that promotes economic development in Transylvania.Assumed web master responsibilities [...]

Yesterday, during hearings on the State Departmentâ™s 2008 budget, Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) slammed the U.S. militaryâ™s ban on gay servicemembers, saying the Pentagon âœseems more afraid of gay people than they are [of] terrorists,â and that if the terrorists were smart, âœtheyâ™d get a platoon of lesbians to chase us out of Baghdad.âread more | digg story