Remembering Comcast

Today was the last day for my Comcast cable service. The reason for cancelling is simple. Comcast raises prices at least twice a year and offers nothing more in terms of programming. As of today, the Basic Expanded package is $60. No movie channels, no special channels, no DTV boxes, no pay-per view charges. Just the basic programming.

To cancel a subscription you have to call. You can't do it online because, well... because they just won't let you. Then there is a wait involved to speak to a representative in order to cancel the service. 10 mins.? 20 mins.? No, not even close. It took 90 minutes to speak to someone about account termination.

After waiting on hold for that amount of time you might think I was upset. You might be right. When the lady answered I tried to be cordial enough, though undoubtedly I came across somewhat curt. She asked "What is your reason for cancelling?" and I said "Price". That triggered a sales pitch. Cutting her off, I said I was not interested and due to the 90 minutes I had to wait I wanted nothing to do with them- cancel the account immediately. Then she asked what I was going to do for television.

This afternoon a Comcast employee learned that there are fu**ing stations that broadcast from big fu**ing towers located in towns across the nation, that these fu**ing broadcasts are fu**ing free, are digital, are often in hi-def and can be received easily with a fu**ing DTV ready television or one equipped with a converter box and a basic fu**ing $60 antenna. Slightly surprised to learn this, she asked if I happened to have any of these DTV sets. "Yes," I replied. And in a smart-ass tone asked "And how many do you have?"

She claimed I was insulting her intelligence. I found this particularly interesting considering all I called to do was cancel a cable subscription and in doing so had to be on hold for an hour and a half, had to sit though a sales pitch and then be asked a question as ridiculous as 'what on earth will you do without Comcast cable? Don't you need TV? For cripes sake, man! Get it together! Think of your friends! Think of your family! Think of the children! What on earth will you do without us?!'

And I am insulting her?

I put her back on track by telling her that I was not about to let up in my disgust and anger directed at Comcast through her. Finally she agreed to cancel the account. She coarsely proceeded "Well! Lets just see what your outstanding balance is!" There was a brief pause and then a humiliating sounding sigh. "It appears you do not have a balance with us... in fact you have a credit of $1.94. We will mail it to you after we shut off the service tomorrow."

And a good day to you too, madam!

Mobile Fixation

Among my current allotment of slight obsessions (Vivaldi's Four Seasons, the iPhone and an endless pursuit of well made and well fashioned shoes) is the Google phone, aka G1, available now through T-Mobile.


Last weekend I thought to compare the iphone to the G1 and finally make a decision on some new gadgetry. If only things were so simple. What these phones offer is quite similar- internet, touch screens, e-mail, movies, music, apps, wi-fi, etc. They do differ in service (tmobile vs att) and some functionality, such as the G1 gives you street level maps via google earth/maps and it reads bar codes to look up a better deal in the surrounding area or online, whereas the iphone is still the music king, far slimmer and more stylish. Additionally, the iphone runs a Mac OS which is solid and the G1 runs the open source Android. And therein lies my new quandary.



The Android OS is slick. No getting around it. And the possibility for apps is limitless, basically. The best part may be that it is such a good idea, such a good OS, that major cell phone manufacturers like Motorola, LG, Samsung and my personal fav Nokia can all use the OS in their phones. And apparently they all have big plans to. All the aforementioned companies as well as several others are setting target dates in 2009 (Q1-Q3) for release of new phones with Android as the OS.

The question is whether to get the iphone and easily love it for all it is or wait for new phones to come out in a few months (optimistically) with the new open source OS.

The iphone is probably like a BMW- it never really goes out of style. My four year old ipod is still kicking without a problem to speak of which is some testament to the construction of Apple products. The new Android system phones scheduled to come out could be a homogeneous lot, like every other flip phone, distinguishable only by case color. But I could be wrong. The Android OS functions almost too well to not be purchased in some form and is most likely worth the wait.

So, it seems, the future will find me waiting this one out, at least in the short term, to see what the manufacturers roll out after the first of the year. Now, as to what can I fill the obsession void with in the meantime- School work? Home remodeling? A truly kick-ass vegetarian chili?

The first of few

It occurred to me, like the epiphany so many staunch republicans are currently experiencing, that a blog is a good idea. And not just any blog, mind you. Because I have a blog or two out there which you don't know about, where I divulge information about myself which could be damaging to my character and career and where I claim to know things about quantum physics (which i have no business doing) that would strain your mind. This is going to trump all that! Because, dear reader, this is public.

Okay, so that's a little ambitions. Nonetheless, outside of myspaz I've not done too much blogging and if you know me you are well aware that I like to get things out of my head from time to time. So, here's the beginning to an attempt to that end.