I was due for a new TV. I had a 32” Sony WEGA back in California. But I left it with my brother in Colorado rather than try to get it up to my 4th floor Upper West Side walkup. So I made do with a 20” flat tube, much more appropriate for a 1 bedroom not much bigger in its entirety than my California living room. When I joined my partner in Connecticut, my primary TV became an old style 27” tube TV. I might have settled for a 27” flat tube, but I couldn’t find one shallow enough to fit into my partner’s entertainment center. So I bought a 32” LCD HDTV.

I have mixed emotions about HDTV. Sports are much better in wide screen high definition. But everything still needs to work for normal TV - so it doesn’t really use the extra real estate or need the high definition. But if you’re going to buy a new TV, a quality TV; then I think the extra money for high definition is a good investment.

Recently, I got a lift from a customer - a sixty foot lift. I’m not really into heights, but this was good. It helped that I was wearing a safety belt (more like a climbing harness than a belt). And you can see from my cell phone picture that we’re pretty close to vertical. While this means that we’re higher up, it also means the boom is under less strain and the bucket is more stable. I even got to drive - about 4 feet on the ground and a tight circle in the air.

1. I’m addicted to caffeine. I’m not willing to give up coffee, so I get by with decaf.
2. I’m a bit overweight. Just like most of my fellow americans.
3. I like a cold drink in the summer.

Which adds up to: I want a decaf light frappuccino. I’ve always wanted a decaf light frappuccino. And for a brief period, my local Starbucks cafe offered a decaf light frappuccino.

Imagine that, a business recognizing a customer desire, realizing that they have all necessary materials on hand, and satisfying that desire.

Or more accurately, satisfying that desire for a few months until Starbucks corporate noticed that they were making an illegal drink and ordered them to stop making decaf light frappuccinos. I’m a little confused by the logic involved. Customers want the drink. Local cafe is willing to make the drink. And this is wrong, because …?

Well, well, well, customer service isn’t dead yet. My bank slapped me with an excess transaction fee, so I got on my high horse and cruised over to my local branch to hash things out. They talked me down, explained that Federal regulations limited saving accounts to six electronic transactions a month, and waived the fee.

My prospects of changing the Federal regulation seemed pretty slim, so I got started on getting my transactions under control. What pushed me over the top were three automatic withdraws going to my mutual fund company, so I gave them a call to see what we could do. They’ve run into this problem before and suggested that I consolidate the three withdraws into one and then exchange from that one into the other two.

I know that I’m a curmudgeon. But if I keep having good experiences like these, there may be hope for me yet.

One of the downsides of a decent page rank is becoming a target for spam. I devote about an hour a week to weeding out spam and managing my blacklist. Recently, all my incoming spam has been linking to .info domains. So I blacklisted the entire .info tld in response. If you’ve got a .info domain, then drop me a line and I’ll whitelist you back in.

That was harder than necessary. But my old cell phone number has caught up to my new Cingular service.

All the Cingular customer service reps did great. I suspect that they get a bad rap because Cingular has such brain dead business processes. I understand that Cingular can’t just give out Manhattan phone numbers to everyone. But given the close proximity to Manhattan, why not allow Connecticut Gold Coast retailers to give out Manhattan numbers.

Instead, I had to start with a Connecticut number from my local retailer (sim card 1). Request a relocation to the New York market (sim card 2). And finally complete the number port from my old carrier (sim card 3).

Oh well, I have my number and a Razr. I should stop complaining.

The 2005 National Amateur Retriever Champion is NAFC FC Day’s End Northern Express, owned by Jane and Mark Sutter and handled by Jane Sutter. AFC Sky Hy’s Husker Power, owned and handled by Ted Shih went 8 rounds. Series by series photos and video available from the American Kennel Club.

J.D. Power may rank Cingular customer service second from the bottom, but they’re coming through for me. I’m trying to port my Manhattan cell phone number (kept when I moved to Connecticut) from Sprint PCS to Cingular.

Moving to Cingular puts me on the same provider as my partner and I scored a pretty sweet Dads and Grads price on a Motorola Razr from BestBuy. Unfortunately, Cingular.com is convinced that Manhattan numbers and Connecticut billing don’t mix.

I knew better than to argue with a computer, so I cruised over to my local Cingular store to talk to a human. Jessica ran up against the same road block and called number portability to sort things out. Changing the billing address to Manhattan didn’t help, so Jessica promised to do some more research and get back to me.

Well, she called back this afternoon. It seems that I need to relocate my number to Manhattan first and then port my old number over. The toll free relocation number provided more great service and a new Manhattan SIM card speeding its way here.

Just a Fedex delivery and a phone call away from having my old number on my new phone.

28 June: Cell Number Port Complete

I think that I’ve officially arrived. Some lowlife has borrowed my post RSS is Broadcast not Narrowcast, combined it with still more borrowed text from Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS, and mixed in some words of their own. I wonder if it’s worthwhile to report them to the search authorities?

A tip of my cap to Matt Langeman who informed me of the duplication.

Amazon - the store that I love, the store that I hate. I’ve been an Amazon customer from the very beginning. I love the selection, the ease of use, the availability of reviews, and the prices are sweet to boot. But it’s foundations are built upon software. And once you stray from it’s designed operating conditions, things start to fall apart.

Because then it’s time for Amazon customer service to step up to the plate. And they consistently let me down. The latest episode played out over the weekend. I tried to buy a bluetooth head set; one that was eligible for Super Saving Shipping, but not eligible for Amazon Prime. I’m in no hurry to get my head set, so I decided that I wanted Super Saver Shipping. But I wasn’t offered the option.

My first email to Amazon customer support was answered by the computer - a canned answer telling me that not everything that is eligible for Super Saver Shipping that is eligible for Amazon Prime. Tell me something I don’t know.

My second email was answered by Clinton W. He very helpfully informed me that I get 2nd day shipping for free with my Amazon Prime. Still trying to learn something I don’t already know.

My third email was answered by Jamie M. Who informed me that the head set was not eligible for Super Saver Shipping because it was offered by an Amazon Merchant, not Amazon. Whoops, the head set went out of stock while we were trading email. And the merchant price was an extra 12 dollars.

My fourth email was answered by Eric L. Who finally researched my original question and informed me that Super Saver Shipping is not available to Prime members. He also wondered why I would want to wait for Super Saver Shipping when I got 2 day shipping for free. Does anyone actually read these messages before responding?

At this point, I’m ready to concede defeat and start researching other bluetooth head sets. Score - my head set is back in stock (albeit a couple dollars more). I create a new Amazon account, one that isn’t linked to Prime, and finally get my Super Saver Shipping.

Final score: Amazon 1 - Dwight 0. I finally got my Super Saver Shipping. But the price increase wiped out my shipping savings. And it’s going to take an extra week to boot.

Sometimes, you just can’t win.