Simply Electronics, Simply Disgusting

I posted earlier on my quest for a 500mm Sony lens. This has turned into much more than a simple shopping trip on the web. Its turned into a horrible experience that I wouldn't wish on anybody. Here's a rundown of what led up to this situation:

1. I wanted a lens that I knew was discontinued
2. I felt that even though it was discontinued, it may still be available
3. I searched for and found the lens on multiple sites
4. I clicked through to sites and right off the bat, was told that its out of stock
5. One site, Dells, indicated it was indeed in stock
6. It was indeed, not in stock at Dells, one of the largest computer companies in the world, who doesn't grasp the concept of inventory
7. I ordered the lens
8. Oops, Dell says "We don't have it"
9. My account gets the money back
10. I then found the lens on the website of the villain of this story, Simply Electronics (look it up, I won't link to them)
11. They had 2 in stock
12. Then they had one
13. I ordered on the 28th of March, 2011
14. Let the games begin
15. Did I mention that I used Google Checkout? An outstanding service that appears to stand for nothing!
16. Simply Electronics soon found that, and I quote:
    "Upon packing your order, we had discovered that our shipment of Sony SAL-500 500mm F8 Reflex Super Telephoto Lens was damaged, and therefore had to be returned.
    Unfortunately, the replacements are not expected to arrive within any short period of time.
    We apologise for any inconveniences caused, however in this unfortunate event, we would like to ask if there are any other similarly priced products listed on our site that may be suitable as a replacement? Should the price be slightly higher, we can perhaps waive this as a gesture of goodwill (please note we can only do this usually for minor differences).
    Likewise, if the price is lower, we can have this reimbursed to your account.
    Kindly let us know by reply and we will do our best to expedite this for you. Otherwise, kindly advise on how we should proceed.
    Looking forward to your response, thank you.
    
    Kind Regards,
    Tobias
    Customer Service Executive"
17. For the folks playing at home, it was never in stock. They must have an excuse box next to the phone and they pulled damaged! Trust me, it was never in stock
18. I get it! I'm looking for a discontinued lens! So, cancel and give me my money back, right? Wrong!
19. Emails, phone calls, yea, yea, yea! I'm getting nowhere
20. Simply Electronics is based in Hong Kong, 
21. I think that translates to "bye, bye gringo money"
22. That was a joke
23. This blog is hosted on Blogger, a Google company
24. Google Checkout is another Google company
25. I participate in the Google Adsense program
26. I can't rip you off like Simply Electronics can with Googles blessing
27. Google might say that I didn't go through the dispute process
28. My bank has a dispute process
29. The local branch of my bank disputes what the phone people from the bank say
30. If you click on an ad on my sites, I get $.0001 (or less, not sure) and if I buy from Simply Electronics they keep all my money
31. I ordered something, never received anything, yet my bank says I could lose the money I paid for nothing!
32. There's no such thing as a free lunch! That used to be an old saying. 
33. Don't mind paying for something you never receive! April 5, 2011! Our banks, our government, us consumers!
34. My headaches almost gone and the knots are almost out of my neck! I don't know, do you think they'll try to charge me for therapy?

UPDATE: We finally got our money back on April 18, 2011! We feel lucky! I finally found a way to raise a dispute about this with Google. It wasn't in plain site and I'll try to find it and post it. I'm not sure if it was that Google got after them or my bank or the combination of the two. Again, after waiting nearly three weeks I did get my money and I feel relieved, but the process was terrible to go through and I wouldn't wish it on anybody.

I hate Microsoft Even More!

Why do I hate Microsoft? Let me count the ways!

1. Windows ME
2. Windows Vista
3. Office(any version)
4. Internet Explorer (version 8's okay i guess)
5. Service Packs: XP has 3! Really! Was this software ready for release?
6. Adobe has Flash. Why Silverlight? Why not "Lightning"! Sounds catchy. Therefore, not Microsoft.
7. Did I mention Windows Genuine Advantage? Advantage = them! Us = not so much.
8. Nice website
9. Bill Grates on my nerves
10. All of the above

Actually, I do have a minor gripe with "the empire". I design some websites, not very well thank you, but still I do. One of the "tools" I use is Microsoft Expressions. I originally started with Frontpage only because I'm not notepad website hacker guy. I need WYSIWYG( pronounced "wisseewig" it stands for "what you see is what you get". Anyhow and whatnot, I use Expression 2 and noticed an opportunity to upgrade to version 3 and get a "free" upgrade to Expression 4! Being the dumbass that I am,  I jumped at the chance to go with a company with a great track record of providing quality software at a reasonable price. I bit, HARD! They got me!
The story is that Expression 3 sucked and sucked bad. Real bad! After installing, computers were crashing and nobody could get anything done. This was why they offered the "free" upgrade to version 4. Version 4 would fix everything, right? Wrong!
My situation is this: if I open a website designed in Expression 2 it doesn't look like what I designed, so I went back to version 2 and it crashes shortly after liftoff! What to do, what to do? I guess I may have to reinstall my operating system and the Expression Web 2 and try to hold it together until they tempt me with another great offer. Maybe if I buy Expression 5 they throw in a coupon to Dreamweaver so I can actually design instead of bitch, ya think?

I Hate Microsoft!

I hate Microsoft! And I've paid for that right! I have owned every operating system save for business related ones like Server and such. MS-Dos, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, I've owned them all and still do. The crux of this post is Windows 7 and the problems I'm having with it. Please let me explain.
The back story is that I beta tested it which involves installing an early release of the software and was successful and helped the program and other users.
The story now is that I bought a 3 license upgrade "Home Premium" pack from Bestbuy and installed it over a month ago.
The problem is that the other day I booted it up and got the message that my copy is a illegitimate bastard child! Ooh, I'm sorry! Let me use their terminology: "you may be a victim of software counterfeiting. This copy of Windows did not pass genuine Windows validation".
I'm sorry, I lost my cool there for a moment. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10!
I'm okay. Most other people would not be okay because of the key word "upgrade". If you upgrade your operating system and this happens, your computer will stop working after awhile. 
I won't be affected because the computer I installed this on actually can boot into three O.S.'s: Windows 7, Windows XP and Ubuntu. I still hate Microsoft, but after all this typing and explaining I realize that they are their own worst enemy. I can still use my computer but the average person, their core group of customers, will hate them far more then I do. I think they should call this "the genuine windows disadvantage".

Is Mother Nature Out of Control?

Is Mother Nature Out of Control? - AOL News   First it was the weather not cooperating for the Olympics, dumping all the much needed snow elsewhere in the U.S. then that chunk of ice that fell of Antarctica some time back bumped back into its mother ship and knocked another chunk off. Then this earthquake thingy with Chile, I mean we just had one in Haiti! Then of all things, this backhanded, failed, misguided attempt to smoosh the Hawaiian Islands with, Good God, a tsunami! Somewhere in there a "Killer" Whale killed someone! Spacing, Miss Nature, SPACING! And even as I write this, she's damaging Europe, again! Have you no shame, girl? I think its about time the natural girl herself got what she deserves. A time out! Off in the corner with you! Wipe that smile off your face and no dinner! And if you won't listen to reason we'll call .... Aunt Hillary! Auntie? Auntie? She's being bad again!

Global Warming in Cleveland

Global warming is stupid! How can you have global warming when we having global cooling in Cleveland, Ohio? Maybe the people controlling the weather (oh, it's true!) are sending all the crap weather to Cleveland. Portland, Oregon is warmer than (60 degrees the next 3 days) Cleveland yet amazingly, it's more north than Cleveland (not lying here)! Since the North Pole is North and Santa and Frosty live there, most people think it gets colder as you go north, DUH! You know, that whole polar ice cap thing. Well, lake Erie is frozen all the way to Canada. Canada! They talk funny because it's so cold up there.

 

In the picture to the left, you see Lake Erie. It is frozen. If you squint, you will see Canada. It is also frozen. In the foreground there is a cat. He's not happy. He's not happy because he's frozen to the tundra. This is Cleveland.

Now, they say the polar ice cap is melting and global warming is coming to getcha in your sleep and all the polar bears are going to die. I have a solution. We Clevelanders love polar bears. We want to hug them and kiss them and put them to bed. Maybe we could name our  football team "The Cleveland Polar Bears" and scare the hell out of the NFL and win it all for once!  Hey, just bring those baby seals everybody's talks about down here too. We won't club them because the only fur we like is on our dogs. We don't wear fur, we walk it. In the summer, when everything thaws(maybe), the polar bears could go after those terrible Asian carp that's our next big threat.

Anchorage, Alaska is 5 to 8 degrees warmer then Cleveland for the rest of the week. This is fact. Global warming is an invented term. Facts win! I want to hug a polar bear!

Computer or Pool Maintenance

Weird title huh? Not really because everyone wants to use a pool/computer, but nobody wants to clean it when it gets dirty. I understand, I do, but it's got to be done. Let's identify the state of your problem.

How frequently and what do you do with your computer/pool:

• Rarely. If you're a light user, hardly ever install programs, surf the web once or twice a week, you won't need much maintenance. It's like having a neighbor who has a pool just to let everyone know they can have it, but never uses it. It drives you crazy, but the pool man hardly ever comes over.
• Sometimes. Heavy use on the weekends, maybe a stray Milky Way bobbing here and there. Somebody peed in the pool! Okay, I'm out of control with the pool metaphor, but it's working for me, so buckle up!You install programs as you see fit and rip MP3's but, you use account control and have 1 antivirus and at least 2 anti spyware programs installed.
• Heavy. Multiple users, no account control, if a leaf fell on your keyboard, you'd try to install it. If your computer was a pool, the water would  be green and brown, it would smell and nobody would want to use it. Your anti virus is out of date and you don't know or care about spyware. But, you're willing to click on a link that says you can see Jessica Simpson naked. (Jessica Simpson will never appear naked, for Gods sake! Her dad's a preacher). I will eat this blog if she ever does!

Choose the word that best describes your usage pattern from the above and lets move on.

Swine Flu SWINEdle

Yea, I know I misspelled swindle, it was intentional, just like the profiteering off the " swine flu epidemic or pandemic or whatever". Whenever someone dies from this terrible disease it always makes the news but never in connection with a number that brings things into perspective, the population of the U.S. Here the Census bureau tells us that this number is approximitly 308 million.

"Estimates from April – October 17, 2009:

• CDC estimated that between 14 million and 34 million cases of 2009 H1N1 occurred between April and October 17, 2009. The mid-level in this range was about 22 million people infected with 2009 H1N1.
• CDC estimated that between about 63,000 and 153,000 2009 H1N1-related hospitalizations occurred between April and October 17, 2009. The mid-level in this range was about 98,000 H1N1-related hospitalizations.
• CDC estimated that between about 2,500 and 6,000 2009 H1N1-related deaths occurred between April and October 17, 2009. The mid-level in this range was about 3,900 2009 H1N1-related deaths."

The information above is from the Center for Disease Control.

I read a book about the 1918 flu epidemic   The Great Influenza: The story of the deadliest pandemic in history. That book detailed the real horror that our country went through, and I'm not trying to diminish the fact that there has been loss of life, it's just that on the scale of things, this has been overblown. Another book, The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time (P.S.) that I also read, is a real eye opener and helps put things into perspective. Sad to say, this feels more about scaring the hell out of us and making money than about whats best for our country. Maybe by reading this article you'll begin to see the point. I quote:

"The one thing that was up last year was earnings for makers of H1N1 vaccines. CSL Limited saw its profits rise 63% above 2008 levels by June 2009, while GlaxoSmithKline enjoyed a 30% jump by the third quarter. Roche, maker of the preventive Tamiflu, enjoyed a twelve fold leap in profits from the second quarter of 2008 to the same period in 2009."

Let's be honest here folks. If you read this post or click on links, I stand to profit. This is how the Web works and most people know this. I am providing information to you and a slightly informed opinion as a service and I do not claim to be an expert or to know it all. However, I also know when something doesn't smell right and this stinks. It's about profiting off of basic fears and using a shell game to hide the truth.

In closing, how come you can find out the population of our great country with a click or two, but try as I might I can't find out how much money that's been made so far? Show us the numbers! Show us the money!

Cable bill went up again!

Okay, I'm a little pissed right now. I just went to TV Fool and it showed that i should be able to receive digital T.V. broadcasts OTA(over the air) using a indoor antenna. Our cable bill just went up again($25.77 to $32.85 - basic) and one of the only reasons we have it for football games. We don't watch TV that much because your are a slave to their schedule. Besides, it's not right to pay for cable to subject us to infomercials we don't want to watch! So i'm going to find a good indoor TV antenna and probably a amplifier and cut the cable!

The 15 Most Toxic Places to Live

I really liked the story at MNN about the top 15 worst places to live but the last image disturbed me because it seemed fake. And it is! The image, seen below, is an artists rendering but nowhere in the otherwise excellent article is this fact noted. There's an article here that indicates it's not real. This took five to ten clicks of the mouse to figure out that it wasn't a real image. I'm naturally skeptical but really, now I'm left wondering what else I shouldn't believe from MNN.

Image above: CREDIT: European Space Agency.

Why anyone can and can't edit Wikipedia

I'm going to take a wild guess here about the people that read this blog and further, any potential readers. In addition, I want to include a majority (more than 50%) of the people that use the web for the information available and believe what they read is truthful and unbiased. I believe that this slice of the pie chart doesn't know or care how the information on the web is gathered or governed. In particular I want to discuss the venerable Wikipedia, of which I've quoted and used and admired for years. Wikipedia, "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit". I'm willing to bet that most people don't know or care that they or their neighbors can edit Wikipedia and furthermore, have never done it and don't know anybody who has. This has what you might think of as a "telescope effect". Facebook users understand both ends of the scope of what they're doing. Wikipedia users, on the other hand, don't. Facebook users know that as they edit their own slice of life, they are in control of what users see. Wikipedia, "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit" may not be free because Jimmy Wales, its founder, is begging for cash and "anyone can edit" doesn't seem to ring true either. I may be the only person I know to have tried to edit a part of Wikipedia (I'm still asking people) and I have never been successful. Once (or more, never kept track) I found typos, like "th" instead of "the", and vainly went back the next day to check out my "contribution" to the internet community. HAH! Gone!  Rescinded! I also added a link to Cleveland Torso Murders (full disclosure: we own it.) to a page on Wikipedia with similiar content, Cleveland Torso Murderer, only to have it pulled the next. This would seem totally self serving and was but was done with some innocence, I assure you. Time to quote "Cage the Elephant": "there ain't no rest for the wicked, money don't grow on trees" (video below).

Anyway, I digress. The point here is there seems to be a shadowy army of "watchers" that keep an eye on articles and if someone has the audacity to change one they just change it back. Wow. That kinda throws mud in the eye of the whole "anyone can edit" thing, huh?
Now I'm not going to use words like "goose stepping fascists" because, first, I'd probably look fascist up on, you guessed it, Wikipedia to make sure I was using the right words for this assault, and I'm not sure anyone "goose steps" anymore either. One thing I didn't do was to register or login or whatever, because I'm a bit of a privacy junky, so I was anonymous, but so was the person who countered my edit, one "Horwendil". This secret society seems to make up a minority who edits for the majority. It sounds like censure to me, but, it is! A weird fact that a lot of people won't care about, is that librarians often are the very group that bans books.

Here, we have information for the people, by the people as long as some of the people approve, and we don't know who those people are. Otherwise nobody will ever know what Bob from Denver added to this article, or how Dorothy from Kansas could have enhanced that article. I understand how some control is needed, especially because of the ever present threat from hackers, but the phrase "anyone can edit" is hard to swallow. Maybe if Jimmy has his hand out the spotlight should swing that way and a little transparency is in order. How about a new catchphrase. I think "the free (that can't exist without putting you on a guilt trip for reading it) encyclopedia that the elitists have determined that only they can edit but you can read" sounds better.