Moonroof lesson: When enjoying the open moonroof, allowing for increased airflow into the automobile, remember that it allows birds to shit directly into the interior of your car.

Quote for the evening: "If I can save people's lives, I can make hard candy, dammit!"

http://snoopkirby2.ytmnd.com/

Word.

Here's a letter I wrote to Comcast about our shitty ass service.  I'm bored and some folks around here thought it was funny, so I thought I'd post the text.

______

This is a service issue that I am extremely unsatisfied with the local office's ability to resolve.  The connection drops at least once a day ("it is an intermittent problem", to quote more than one of the service calls that have been sent out here).  I have scheduled at least 4 service calls over the last 6 months, and spoken to a representative at the local office of the problem each time I have gone in to pay a bill.  It still remains unresolved.

My landlords live below me in the same house, but we have independent modems and pay for our services separately.  We have kept in close correspondence over these problems with the connection.  Our connections always go out at exactly the same time.  This leads me to believe that there is a problem with the external wiring leading into the house from the main line on the street.  I have expressed this problem to the representatives at the local office, and every time, I am told to schedule a service call.  I schedule the call, and every time, the technician checks our router and the modem, runs diagnostics, and tells me that it is working fine, when it clearly is not.  Only on the most recent service call (earlier today) did he tell me that there actually was a problem, but it was intermittent and would take time to fix.  I am upset that it has taken us 6 months to make little to no progress.  Every service call has told me information that I already knew, but not fixed the problem.  I feel that it is not a professional business practice to make me wait for when the connection drops to make a call or schedule a service call and cross my fingers that it stays out long enough for someone to run a test on it.

I am paying for a service that should work around the clock.  An occasional hiccup is something we can all deal with, but a 2-4 hour string of hiccups is not.  Because of the series of problems, the 3rd service call (late May-early June) had told me that our account should be credited for one month's internet service because not only was the service dropping, there was a problem with a wire inside the house as well.  When I went into the local office to explain this situation, I had to argue with the person behind the counter to get them to credit the month's worth to the account, and also when explaining the upcoming need to move the service to a new apartment, the representative took a nasty tone with me when I joked with my roommate (who was with me at the time) about splicing the cable line.  I knew that splicing the cable goes against the Comcast user agreement, but I made the joke because I was frustrated enough that I had to convince her that the month's credit was due to our account, and the technician had apparently not indicated it anywhere on the report.

So, why complain about this little thing, you might ask?  Well, I was told that the credit would not go on the bill due June 22, 2007 because it was too close to the the due date when I went in to the local office.  About a week ago, I received my next statement in the mail, and it was for the full amount.  The local office has given me the run around and wasted my time on service calls, argued with me as a customer in a less than polite manner, and lied (or forgot) about applying a credit to my account that would make up for at least part of the downtime we've experienced on and off since we started having connection issues.

I am basically avoiding the local office from this point forward.  Professionally, I feel this problem should be fixed ASAP in a manner in which I don't have to put in as much effort scheduling service calls as the technicians that actually come out here to do the work.  Furthermore, I feel that I should receive at least one, if not more (I feel 2-3 would be adequate) than one month of service credited to our account for lost internet time, lost personal time, and the general annoyance the local office has caused me since the beginning of our service with Comcast.

Finally, the service is wonderful when it actually maintains the connection.  If fixed, we will likely remain Comcast subscribers for quite some time.  If the problems continue, however, we will be forced to find a new service without proper recompense for downtime.

A rope ladder tailored of the thread of miracles is the only way to escape this redundant oubliette into which I have fallen.

Beware the Ides of March...

Answer and discuss the following at your leisure:

Does personality influence appearance more, or appearance personality?

( Some opening thoughts )

I'm a cookin' #3 up as we speak, so answer quickly.

I have been discussing a lot of different philosophical/spiritual things with housemates, friends and coworkers as of late. I'm going to post them here for discussion. If you disagree with someone's stance on a particular question, approach it in a respectful manner, but please provide support or rebuttal where your opinions and ideas align or differ.

1. Can truly selfless generosity exist? Discuss.

i need some fucking balance - there's so much on my mind that i feel it might break

Mah Jong Nite at Don's!

Final Score
Don: -43400
Becky: -8100
Steve: 141600

I think I won.

今日の好きな歌詞：This Is Love - 宇多田ヒカル

予期せぬ愛に　自由奪われたいね
Oh 一目で分かったの
冷たい言葉と暖かいキス上げるよ
This is love, this is love

夜と朝の狭間震える手で
（デジカメ支えて）とらえる人
（後ろからそっと）抱きつく人
何か言いたいけど
（次の瞬間）もう朝なの

激しい雨も　ふいに芽生える愛も
Oh 不安と安らぎの
冷たい枕と暖かいベッドになるよ
This is love, this is love
This is love, this is love

夢と夢の間怯えた目で
（デジカメ覗いて）さまよう人
（私からそっと）抱いてみたの
とても言えないけど
（もしかしたら）これは愛かも

激しい雨に　鳴り止まない遺伝子
Oh 咲かせて上げたいの
運命と花を　あてどないソウルの花を
This is love, this is love
This is love, this is love

もう住んだことと決めつけて
損したこと
あなたにもありませんか
閉ざされてた扉空ける呪文
Oh 今度こそあなたに聞こえるといいな

悪い予感が　するとわくわくしちゃうな
Oh 痛めつけなくてもこの身は
いつか滅びるものだから甘えて何ぼ
This is love, this is love

予期せぬ愛に　自由奪われたいね
Oh 一目で分かったの
冷たい言葉と暖かいキス上げるよ
This is love, this is love
This is love, this is love
This is love, this is love

Every once in a while, the "guess the music from the single line of lyrics" comes back. It's back again, but I'm throwing it behind a cut because I know at least half of you aren't interested. Take a guess if you actually bother to look.

( Good Luck! )

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

So, I've gotten a lot of my paper done now. Just a couple body paragraphs and a proofread between me and getting it done. I was so unmotivated at first but as I started to actually delve into the research, I found my topic to be very interesting to me, which I suppose was the goal to begin with. In retrospect it would have been nice to find that out sooner. A few touching stories in one of the articles on specifics of how the Japanese care for the spirits of ancestors and descendants at the 仏壇 were so emotional that I couldn't help but finish the body section on it last night.

...with annotated footnotes and all, I think Guru B. will be pleased ^_^

That just leaves the sections on 墓参り and お盆 and then I'm done... probably about 6 pages. I think that's doable tonight because I'm on a roll.

I went home for the vote this last week. This was one of those elections where I cared less about the candidates and more about the proposals. Prop. 2 was a slippery slope either way it went. Affirmative action was given a bad rap because of the point system state universities used when reviewing applicants to the school, and therefore the proposal to ban it passed. I voted no myself, because thought a state as conservative as Michigan doesn't have the common sense to not start banning women's programs. Too bad it didn't include sexual orientation as well... then the previous banning of gay marriages would have become unconstitutional, striking a huge blow to conservativism in Michigan.

Prop. 1 was a blow off. Seems as if most of Michigan thinks that State Parks and Conservations funds should be used for ONLY State Parks and Conservations. What a surprise... what the hell were they doing before, lining their pockets with it?

Prop. 3 and 4 were fine. You still can't hunt mourning doves in Michigan. Makes sense, they aren't a game bird, they are basically target practice. The other provided more protection and compensation for property holders if their property would be taken by eminent domain. These two, in my opinion were common sense and went exactly the way I voted on them.

Prop. 5 is one I really don't feel like talking about much. It should have passed but didn't because the taxpayers of Michigan are too worried about the minimum funding level for public schools would end up lining administrators' pockets and going into teachers' pensions rather than going to the kids. I didn't think about that... all I thought about were the large holes in my high school experience because of underfunded facilities and arts because of overfunded sports programs that I wasn't involved in. Meh, I guess that's just the way it is, people are uncultured and can't be trusted.

And Granholm is back in office. She had better do something this time or a lot of people my age are going to leave the state when they can't get a job out of college.

Besides the vote I visited my former teachers at high school, only missing one or two that I wanted to see. I talked to the others for about 20 minutes each and visited my grandmother. Returning home had never felt so refreshing, although I still got nagged for how I used my computer in the time home, but I think that's something that will never go away, I've just come to accept it now that my parents aren't in a position to force me to do anything.

This week will be my third concert this month. Wind Symphony 2 weeks ago Friday, Symphonette last Friday, and Orchestra this coming Friday. I'll also be working on Vespers music as well as increasing the number of hours I have at Target do to the holidays. If I can get past Vespers, I think I'll be ok.

Well now that I've gotten the daily webcomics, email, and journaling out of my system, I can get back to my work. With the holidays, I'm sure I'll have the opportunity to see most of you within the next couple months. Then I'm home free.

~Steve

A little addition
I laughed inside when the motion to allow alcohol sales in Zeeland passed. It's a disgusting show of conservativism in the Holland and Zeeland area that this motion passed by only 40 votes.

From the Grand Rapids Press:
"The measure won in all four precincts but lost by a 2-1 margin with absentee ballots -- which are traditionally cast by elderly voters." Hmph, what a surprise.

Take that, stupid Holland/Zeeland bubble conservativism!

The Halloween party was fantastic. I couldn't have been happier about how it went. There are some pics, and as soon as I find my card reader for my camera, I'll have them up on facebook. On top of that, the food and cider was a success (your cooking skill has raised .1 points!) and we played Scattergories, Waterfall, 3-man, and Ninja Burger, all while getting thoroughly sloshed.

If you look at the time, I should be in class now. I have never cared less about class in my life. I love Boyd's class and it's not that I dislike it or the material. I just dislike that it is a class and the time it takes up. I'd rather just move on with my life because I'm tired of school and I don't care about my grades, so long as I still get my diploma.

The JET Program dilemma (I want to go to Japan, but do I really want to teach English there? And will I enjoy it when I don't have the student social atmosphere?) is still hanging around. Part of me just wants to relax and take it easy working at Target for what be a little more than the period of the upcoming spring semester to get my thoughts sorted out and find out what it is I really want to do with my life... but I'm not so sure that my parents would be so keen on that. I understand why they are so eager for me to get my career started, but if I don't know what that is at the moment, it's extremely difficult to start.

And finally,

You went trick or treating as Athos.
Anamaria gave you APoisonedApple.
Jesus gave you Kryptonite.
JeanGrey gave you AMagicMushroom.
WhiteSpy gave you Poland.
You had a dilly of a time until Viola burned down the church.

What's Your Trick-or-Treat Haul?
Shiver My Timber--A Pirate RPG

I found a new composer I like. And I set up an iTunes music store account to get this song... I can see my money slipping away.

I'm way happier than I was recently... and I'm looking forward to the party.

So, I cried myself to sleep last night. I don't think I have had this great a lack of understanding of my person at any point in my life.

Target is going great. My 90 day review is this week. When I ask if I should be worried about my managers and coworkers just roll their eyes at this stupid question. I makes me pleased that people think I'm doing a fantastic job. Yes, I'm sure there's some room for improvement, but at least I'm getting recognition for what I'm doing correctly.

School's on my nerves... I'm sick of playing the clarinet yet I love it at the same time. I'm pretty sure the weather is just making me unmotivated. Boyd's class is great but I hardly read or study and I do all of my work last minute (not that doing a 1 page response at the last minute means that it's done badly). My Japanese is going down the toilet because I'm not taking any classes on it, but my conversational skills are still pretty good when I attempt to talk to the students here. I love my tae kwon do class but today I'm not going because that pinched nerve in my neck hurts more than ever and my leg hurts really bad. I'd rather give them both a chance to get better before making them worse. That sums up the whole lot of my classes... I'm greatly satisfied yet unmotivated.

I can't figure out why I'm so depressive. Well, it's probably because most of my friends from the last year are either graduated from Hope and scattered about the country, or they are the friends I made in Japan and are all over the midwest and in Washington State. Some days I just want to fly to Portland (for obvious reasons) and make a pit stop at Puget Sound to see Jess, Ian, Lindsey and Greg or something. Oddly enough I found a folder on my desktop that had some of Sally's movies that she showed me during my time at Waseda. I teared up a little when I remembered the good time I had and realized that the social element of my is completely absent... I've thought about it before but I kinda just broke down, which was when I cried myself to sleep. I'm on the edge of having a social life with my coworkers... and I can only hope it works out, just because I appear happy or at the least content doesn't mean I am.

Things I need:
Motivation
Something to do away from home
A fun Halloween party this weekend
Photo Hunt

Things I am thankful for:
Roommates (I'd be miserable if it weren't for the company)
Artistic Expression
My Job

More from me later... I haven't posted in so long that I'll certainly think of something to say before the day is over.

Yeah, so Leeta stopped by yesterday, which was nice. We sat and chatted for a little while and then went out for pizza. As for the subject line, Leeta left around 11:30 and I went to bed at (gasp) 1 am... which is pretty early for me. I got up for work as usual but felt like utter crap. Had a plugged nose, not to mention I was freezing. I dug the thermometer out of the little plastic storage in my room. 101.7 ><

So I called in sick.

Despite my sentiments about my old job, I really feel bad about this. And although I know that they wouldn't want me in if I was sick anyway, I've met a lot of nice people there - I'm just trying not to disappoint.

The other news on the job front is that Target is pushing to increase base wages to 8.50 an hour because of the minimum wage increase here. They figure if their pay isn't above it, they aren't being competitive with other businesses to make us happy.