As previously noted here and on other blogs, funny stuff is going on in the Minnesota recount. But when I read about the claims in Franken's initial lawsuit, I knew this was not about an accurate recount but instead another attempt to steal an election. Put another way and using the words liberals love to throw around to argue against anything that could possibly improve the accuracy of our election process, Al Franken is trying to disenfranchise voters in Minnesota.
According to news reports, the Franken campaign's initial lawsuit alleged that the vote of an 84-year-old woman in Beltrami County was rejected because, after suffering a stroke, her signature on her absentee ballot didn't match the signature on file.
Apparently someone decided to investigate this claim and the Franken campaign was forced to admit their story was a lie. Yes, the woman's ballot was rejected, but the reasons turned out to be completely valid.
After the Florida debacle forced many states to adopt voting machines that utilize optical scanning, Franken is calling into question the accuracy of those same machines. Apparently liberals...oops...losers...are never satisfied. The claim...the vote cannot be accurate becauseFranken received 12.2% fewer votes than did Barack Obama. According the the Franken camp...this is impossible because a vote for Barack is a vote for Al. Of course, this ignores years of history in which the people have send one party to Congress but the other party to the White House. The claim is specious.
I fear that focusing on using the courts to get your way has become the modus operandi in this country. It is so much easier to convince a few judges to give you want you want than badger half the Congress into compliance and then worry about the veto power of the President. I predict the Democrats claim of wanting the lead from the center and act in a bipartisan manner is all smoke. Like all things liberal, it will be their way or the highway. Compromise in not in their nature.
I just found out yesterday that my company is shutting down for two weeks after our Christmas party on Dec. 18. Luckily, since I'm the warehouse supervisor, I'll be needed for inventory and will only lose one to days of work, but it still concerns me. We've only been working four days a week (32 hours) for months now, and now this. I don't think the company is hurting too bad, at least not to the point of closing its doors for good, but I am worried about my fellow employees. When things like this happen, people begin questioning the employer. They think (a) the employer is hurting and close losing its ass, so I better find another job, or (b) the employer doesn't give a shit about me, I better find another job.
We're already running on a skeleton crew. We've had people leave, and since sales are down, they haven't tried replacing anyone. Four more are planning on leaving within the next month or two, and there's no plans to replace them, either, at least not until business picks up. I'm afraid if we lose too many people they'll shut our location down and just move everything to their corporate location. It's scary times. Jobs that I'm qualified for were scarce two years ago before the economy completely went to hell. And people like me don't get severance packages, so if I lose my job I'm screwed until I find something else.
Hopefully everything will start turning around next year. I don't know, though. Car dealers are one of our biggest customers, and with the big 3 looking like they might go under I'm afraid it's going to get worse before it gets better.
Crap. Early morning insomnia and weird dreams........ First, I woke up around 5:00 after having one of my weird "waitress" dreams. These always put me in a position that I have no idea what I'm doing or how to do it. This time I had to run (literally) about a block away to find my tables, then run back to place the order, then run back to take the food, then run back to make change, even tho I was told to never give them any change. Then, I had to run back to beg for a tip. Blah! Awful! I tried to go back to sleep when another thought dawned on me.....Thanksgiving! Next Thursday! And, I am having guests that amount to more than I can accomodate. Well, that's not really true. The more the merrier. But, I have 7 plates, thanks to daughter breaking one years ago. 6 chairs at the dining room table. Mix and match glasses and cups.....we can survive with that. I can add 2 folding chiars, put the leaf in the table, and...what? I need one more chair, more plates and utensils, and, dunno what else. So, should I get another set of 4 plates, etc. just for this one day? Or lower my standards considerably and do the paper/plastic thing? Ack! I have to go shopping!
On the bright side, I have a 4 day weekend. Yay! I have been feeling like a slave and getting in my share of overtime ever since I started back to full time. I just have to keep telling myself....full time = benefits = money = independence. Also = no life..... Ewwww...ATC and I should be meh together.
For Selden: Here is the picture when I cleared out everything on the demo of A Kingdom for Keflings
So I know the timing is off.
Mood of the day:
Ever get the feeling that what you do is really not important. You know like it does not stand out to people to represent what you can do. I just got this feeling today and now I am just in Meh mood. Not sure if it started last night after playing a game of Legendary which um sucks cause no one is playing MP for this game. Single player is Meh also and feels linear like Eternal Sonata, but then again this is the same company who made turning point. So yeah my day is going to be a shit hole in a hand basket. So on a final note I will leave blank spaces and try to see if someone comes up with the word. If you get the answer then you will be special, but if you don't then your still special.
_ _ _ a _ _ _ o _ _ e
Good Luck Guessing. Will reveal word on the next blog. Yes I will let anyone know if they get it right.
The title of this blog is dedicated to everyone who's gender cover has been blown by the new avatar setup on XBox Live.
Almost Friday. Yay! Busy week at work, with the end of year coming up and us making the mad dash to meet the projections for 2008. Makes for a lively day at least, and they tend to go by fast so thats good.
I don't have the boy this weekend, but I do have him for Thanksgiving so I'm looking forward to that. I am going to take a shortcut with my cooking the dinner, opting instead to scout around the local markets and find places selling pre-cooked (or even smoked) birds to save myself the trouble. Ah, the chicanery. Who knows where this will end...I may even buy the whole dinner pre-cooked! Muahahahahaha.
The riff I came up with that the other guys in the band helped rework has now become a full-fledged song. I have a little tweaking to do, and its all subject to change once Ed and Brian get involved of course, but I have at least the whole thing structured. Possibly the only thing I may still tweak is the chord progression under the solo, but we'll see. Who knows, I may even try to write some lyrics for it too. I used to be good at that, way back when. I may give it a shot, we'll see. I had a really nice compliment paid to me by Brian earlier in the week. He told me its hard to believe I've only gotten back to playing less than a year ago (its actually been just over 9 months). Considering what an outstanding musician he is, that means a lot coming from him. But whats really helped me is playing with guys the caliber of Brian and Ed. Both these guys have been playing forever and they really are great, great musicians, so it forces me to raise my game. Plus I learn a lot from both of them when we play together, so its been a great experience so far. On top of everything there's a good chemistry between us all so that makes a difference too. I seemed to fit in with them right away, and it helped me get comfortable with them that much sooner.
Ok, gonna cruise Netflix and maybe watch an episode of The Munsters before bed. Ta.
I would like to register a complaint about a customer service representative. He repeatedly gave incorrect information that he insisted was official Microsoft policy that could have cost me $60 in new charges in addition to not solving my issue. He also did not listen to what my issue was, as evidenced by the half dozen to dozen times that I had to re-explain it to him in detail during the 1 hour and 35 minutes that I was on the phone with him before he finally let me speak to a supervisor. I ask that you please check to see if this conversation was recorded for quality assurance purposes, and that if it has you review our conversation.
I called this evening (Thursday, November 20, 200 to follow up on the call I made yesterday (ref # [removed for blog].) The issue is that one and only one of my LIVE Arcade games (Shotest Shogi) will not let me play it even though I am signed into Xbox LIVE at the time. (All of my other Arcade purchases work just fine.) He told me that before he could "escalate" my issue to the next level up (and before I could speak to anyone else,) I had to create a new LIVE account, repurchase the game under that Gamertag, and see if it worked before any solution to the DRM problem could be found (at a cost of $10 to me.) He then told me that in order to access LIVE Marketplace, I would have to purchase a Gold subscription (at ~$50.) He said that Netflix can be accessed with a Silver Account, but in order to go online and use Marketplace I had to have a Gold account. He also said that Shotest Shogi had a different license agreement than any other game offered through LIVE Marketplace, and that it was the only game on LIVE that does not allow access to it on anything but the original purchasing console even when the purchasing profile is signed in to LIVE. He said that because it is a license issue, there is nothing Microsoft can do about it and I should create another profile to repurchase the game through.
The agent was polite in his tone and demeanor, but it was repeatedly made abundantly clear by what he said that he not only did not know what he was talking about, but that he would rather make up incorrect information than refer me to an agent who was more familiar with my type of issue. I concisely gave only what information was necessary for the resolution of my issue, but he kept asking irrelevant questions that I answered several times before he would put me on hold for 10 minutes only to come back and ask me again. He then got confused by the extraneous details that he had asked for (such as why I had at one time sold an Xbox that I used to own) and kept trying to answer questions that I didn't ask. He also repeatedly forgot the answers to the questions he had asked.
When he finally let me speak to a supervisor, the supervisor was able to hear my issue, try a resolution with me, and then explain what they needed to do next and how many days it would take. This conversation (I think the supervisor's name was Jim) only took about 20 minutes. My issue is now being worked on under the new reference # [removed for blog]. Jim confirmed that the information the previous agent had given me was incorrect.
Perhaps the most troubling instruction that the first agent today gave me was to sign into my brother's account and repurchase the same game using his MS Points. It was not the agent's intention that I steal, but nevertheless his complete lack of familiarity with Xbox LIVE, its membership levels, the MS Points system, Gamertags, LIVE Marketplace, and DRM management led to his instructing me to use his account (and his MS Points) to make a duplicate purchase. This level of ignorance of Microsoft policies is inexcusable in a customer service representative for the Xbox 360 console. More outrageous was his unwillingness to listen to anything but the questions he thought I was going to ask him and his propensity for making up wrong answers and claiming that they are official Microsoft policy.
Please write to me to let me know how Microsoft is ensuring quality customer service experiences.
Gamertag: Case Legal
support reference # [removed for blog]
I just started this workout DVD collection and all I can say is good christ.
I haven't been physically drained as I am right now since I first started Tae Kwon Do when I was 20.
My arms and shoulders are completely and totally blasted. I have to say, considering I did maybe one third of the amount the people on the DVD did, I am very pleased with the workout in general. Today was two discs, the first was chest and back and was 56mins of pull ups, push ups and resistance band work. After than I did the abdominal DVD which is only 16mins long, and which is about 14mins more than I was capable of doing. My stomach feels like it been strained way past its boundaries. Considering I do tons of supposed crunches at the gym in the morning, this routine is fucking brutal.
to follow up on the call I made yesterday (ref # [removed for blog].) The issue is that one and only one of my LIVE Arcade games (Shotest Shogi) will not let me play it even though I am signed into Xbox LIVE at the time. (All of my other Arcade purchases work just fine.) He told me that before he could "escalate" my issue to the next level up (and before I could speak to anyone else,) I had to create a new LIVE account, repurchase the game under that Gamertag, and see if it worked before any solution to the DRM problem could be found (at a cost of $10 to me.) He then told me that in order to access LIVE Marketplace, I would have to purchase a Gold subscription (at ~$50.) He said that Netflix can be accessed with a Silver Account, but in order to go online and use Marketplace I had to have a Gold account. He also said that Shotest Shogi had a different license agreement than any other game offered through LIVE Marketplace, and that it was the only game on LIVE that does not allow access to it on anything but the original purchasing console even when the purchasing profile is signed in to LIVE. He said that because it is a license issue, there is nothing Microsoft can do about it and I should create another profile to repurchase the game through.