Things to look for in 2008

While so many journalists decide to reflect on the past year, I have decided to look at what is going to happen in the upcoming year. These aren’t zany predictions. This is simply a list of things to come, with a bit of commentary. So what changes are in store for ’08?

Let’s start in Houston:

School teachers in Texas will be fingerprinted. Why wasn’t this happening before?

If you are planning a trip to the strip club make sure you withdrawal more money. Strip club patrons will have to pay more to get in the door

In San Francisco:

The sale of spray coating products “that impair the reading of license plates by electronic devices” are illegal. I have never thought of doing this, but apparently it is a nice way to avoid getting caught by those pesky traffic cameras doing something naughty (to those with dirty minds I meant running a red lights, speeding, or illegally going through EZ Pass lanes). How does one determine how you are using these products? Since I am a novice at purchasing anything other than gasoline for my car, are these products sole use or can I find nifty ways around my house to use these products. Better yet can I use it at my place of employment? Maybe I can impair someone’s memory for some major capital gain or use it as some sort of black mail or torture device at work. I am a bit demented, but I am just kidding.

Brian Billick will need one of these tonight as he will drive past Steve Bisciotti’s, house either flipping him the bird, throwing toilet paper, smashing eggs against his car or attempting to throw a rock through his window.

Bicycle Illumination - a law requires bicyclists to use lights and reflectors while riding on a highway, sidewalk or bike path during darkness. Why in the world would you ride a bike without reflectors anyway? For those who do, you deserve to get hit.

Brittany Spears is going to get in a ton of trouble. Smoking with a minor Passenger is prohibited.

Baltimore:

This of course leads me to Baltimore where smoking is also prohibited in bars. Just a friendly tip to tobacco farmers; it may be time to try growing other crops.

Other U.S. destinations

Be on the lookout for changes for an airline passenger bill of rights and new measures for the mortgage and lending industry.

Why did the wrong teams win?

As I was bar hopping last evening, I couldn't help but to be mesmerized by the sporting evenings that were on last night. Now before I get into the results I do have to ponder why it is that restaurants feel the need to show the same game in digital, HDTV, and Analog. With each technology there seems to be a delay thus causing the game in some parts to be shown 3-5 seconds after a play happened. I seem to recall going to an unnamed Steelers bar a couple of years ago to have half the bar cheer or curse at the result of the play while the other half wondered what just happened or know the results of what just happened before it actually occurred (the only time that is convenientis when one is gambling). Imagine now watching the game in the same manner where two TVs are right next to each, Talk about making yourself dizzy. My suggestions to establishment owners… please just show the game in one speed. It is extremely irritating.

While everyone was watching the Patriots vs Giants game I couldn’t help, but to notice two other sports events on other TVs; the Penn State football game and the Pitt basketball game. Needless to say in each game I watched the team I was cheering for lost. There is nothing more irritating than to watch the Patriots, the cockiest and conceited team in the NFL, not only win, but to watch them celebrate a perfect regular season. I have hated the Pats since my college days in Rhode Island and have now watched them form a dynasty. As much as I would love for it to be exposed that they were engaged in spy gate since at least the 2000 season, it is hard for me to believe that this season it continued after being caught. On another note it was tough to see Pitt lose, their worst loss in 8 years, to Dayton. I was also irritating to watch the “ancient one” JoePa win in his bowl game.

On another note I am still looking for wedding song suggestions. I am currently on Clapton, but am also I am currently looking for mother/son dances. In the current “Iowa Caucus” stage of this endeavor I have the Louis Armstrong's "What a wonderful", Carpenters’ “Close to you”, Rod Stewart’s “Have I told you lately, Gloria Lynne (or Sinatra’s version) of “I wish you love”, Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable”, and Celine Dion’s “Because you loved me” on the list. There are still several others who will be throwing their hats into the ring. Please provide some suggestions. Oh and FYI if you search for songs you can usually find some rendition of this song on Youtube.com. If you know of any other places to get free downloaded music or to just listen to a track, for free, please let me know.

Can I pay more to pay you on time???

I have never had too many problems with my credit cards. I pay on time and do my best to pay off the balance each month. Yet from time to time they insist on doing something that irritates me to no end. This past summer I had an outragous "effective APR". When I called them on this I was told and assured that it had no impact on my finance charges, but that they had to put that information on there. It is apparently required by the government. No one could tell me how they compute this information and quite frankly they seemed unable to provide any rational answer as to what this information provides. I was told that it is different from my "APR". I still don't get it, not will anyone be able to tell me. The outrageous "effective APR" was reduced to its normal rate and has remained that way for months.

Today however I encountered a new piece of interesting business practices provided by my credit card company. To insure that my monthly payment is paid on time I decided to call said credit card company and pay over the phone. I have done this with other bills in the past as a way to pay in a timely fashion. Due to this wonderful electronic age that we live in there should not have been any problems. Even though I pay by check the whole transaction is done electronically and immediately posts to my account. Additionally I never receive a cancelled check from them either.

Much to my chagrin I was wrong. Did you know that this said credit card company actually charges you to take a payment over the phone? $14.95 if you speak with a person and $9.95 for an automated telephone payment. What a deal!!! I have to pay you even more to pay you on time. To their defence it is less to do this then to pay the also ridiculous late fee, but seriously all I want to do is pay you on your time schedule. What ever happened to the days when the customer was always right? Sheesh. I can't believe this. The more that I deal with large businesses the more distgusted I get. Honestly I feel that I am trying to do things correctly and in a noble manner, but any way these companies can make an extra buck they do.

Rhody cracks top 25... Christmas spirit -- Jewish style

The University of Rhode Island, my alma mater has officially cracked the top 25 in Men's College Basketball for the first time since the Jim Harrick era (when I was a student there) Congrats Rhody. Right now I am singing the University of Rhode Island fight song, which goes as follows:





We're Rhode Island Born


and We're Rhode Island Bread


and when we die we'll be Rhode Island Dead


So go, go Rhode Island, Island


Go, go Rhode Island, Island


Go Rhode Island U-R - I!!!





As a result of this honor, I have decided to share a couple of interesting tidbits about my alma mater. One is an e-mail shared from one of my classmates. The other was located from Youtube. How can you not like mascot violence?

This table took about two months from start to finish working on it whenever I had free time. The top of the table is made of a ¾in. sheet of oak plywood which we cut directly down the middle and added and additional foot of the same wood making the table top a unique 5x8 size. We used 2x4's for support around the edge and across the middle.
Next we marked the center points of the cups and drilled them out with a hole saw. We then traced the face of the TV's on the table top and cut out a hole that would show just the face of the screen.
Next we flipped the table over and designed the triangles to go underneath the table and support the cups. When that was done I went to work on designing the kegerator to deliver the beer to each end of the table. I took a dorm size refrigerator and extended the front of it and added a blower to push the air all the way to both taps. The air travels through PVC tubing that makes a complete loop under the table. The beer lines run from the keg through the refrigerated PVC tubing right to the taps on either side of the table.
Once that was figured out we designed a bottom for the table that would not only support the table but also hide the refrigerator, TV's, and stereo system. The stereo consists of two 10in. subs two mids and two highs. The speakers are on either side of the table on the bottom. The speakers are powered by a 400w receiver which also sends music to the rest of the speakers in the room. The receiver is wired into the TV, DVD player and the CD player so we just switch on what we want to listen to. The TV's in the table play whatever is on our main television screen.
Once everything was all set structurally we put side panels on the table made out of grade A pine and then used a router to round all the edges and the cup holes. Then we started the body work using automotive Bondo on any screw tops or imperfections on the table top. This process was repeated until the table was completely smooth and free of imperfections. Then I sprayed the table with 2 coats of primer.
Once that was dry we sanded the whole table with 600 grit paper and I sprayed the table with ten coats of white. Finally I sprayed four coats of high gloss clear and then brought the table to my house. We then applied the decals that were supplied by a local decal company.
We then siliconed two ¼in. thick sheets of glass into the two TV cutouts. The final step was wiring everything up and installing the TV's in the table. It was a lot of work and a lot of money but the final result is pretty cool and hopefully it will be around for a while.





Of course in true rhody style, who could of course forget the mascot fight between the St. Joe's Owl and the Rhode Island Ram. It was there and it was hilarious then and now.

Now to Christmas...Jewish style.

Of course today should not really be called Christmas. It should be called Chinese and a movie day. Thanks to Brandon Walker for coming up with this 'Ode to Jews Christamas video. Now I have come up with a few additional places that may be open on Christmas. Just in case you were looking.

• Any kosher Resturaunt
• Denny's
• Any Dunkin Doughnuts (I swear that they are all owned by indians)
• Indian, Korean, Japanese and any other eastern culture's resturaunt
• 7-11 (at least some are open)
• bowling allies... maybe
• In Baltimore click here
• In London click here
• In DC click here
• In Jerusalem click here

Feel free to let me know what else might me open on Christmas.

Back from hiatus

Hello all and welcome back after my brief hiatus. While I was gone I wondered several things.

Why is it that when you are in the hospital it is neccessary to be asked your name 50 bazillion times. Seriously, I think that if a nurse leaves the room they are now required upon returning to ask What is your name and Date of Birth. Is this a new HIPAA requirement?

Why is there always such a long wait at the MVA? All I needed to do was register my car. Total wait time one hour, ten minutes. Total processing time... 3 minutes.

What is the true meaning of Kwanza and how do you truly jusify it as a holiday. I did learn that the name Imani means faith. Imani is a cool name, so I guess that there is at least one aspect of this holiday that is reasonable. Just remember when people wish you a merry christmas reply with "Happy Kwanza!"

How did Ben Folds Five, Stone Temple Pilots, Warren G and Coolio miss out on VH1 ones greatest songs of the 90s?

Lastly thanks to Anonymous for his concerns about Kennywood. Anonymous writes:

KENNYWOOD MAYBE OLD FASHION LOOKING, BUT I THINK THAT THIS PARK NEEDS A BIG CHANGE. MAKE BIGGER SCARYER RIDES. I HOPE THIS PARK GROWS BIGGER. THIS PARK HAS BEEN SMALL FOR TO LONG. THIS PARK NEED A REALLY BIG EXSPANION. WEE REALLY NEED BETTER ROLLER COASTERS TO. WE DONT HAVE ENOUGH. I LIKE THREE OF THERE ROLLER COASTERS. THE REVENGE THE T BOLT AND THE RABBIT. RACERS I DONT CARE FOR AT ALL. IF IT WAS MY DECSION. I WOULD TEAR DOWN THE RACERS, AND PUT A EVEN SCARYER ROLLER COASTER THERE. I REALLY WANT THIS PARK TO CHANGE.

While agree that it does need some additional capital to keep up with the changes in the industry and could use some additional rides, it is still a great amusement park. I hope that it does not drastically change with the new ownership. Thanks for caring!

Druken Athletes

These guys may or may not be on steriods. However, it is very apparent that they are on something. Starting off with the awesome picture of the Steelers kicker Jeff Reed. You can see several others here.

Steriods in baseball...

The Mitchell report was published yesterday and it was not so shocking to see so many names. I was suprised by a handful of names. Others I had never heard of. That said I do have 3 questions regarding the widespread steriod use.

1. With so many Yankees taking steriods, does this taint their accomplishments?

2. While several former Pirates players used steriods, only 2 players who used steriods did so with the Pirates, Tim Laker and Kevin Young. Neither were worthy of hall of fame. Kevin Young may have had 1 all-star year, but was mostly an inadequate starting baseball player. He was at best a platoon player. As for Tim Laker. I did not know who he was. I would never have identified him as a major league player much less a Pirate. With those statements made, does this explain why the Pirates have sucked for so long? Maybe if they were juiced they would have had a winning season.

3. How is it that so many Baltimore Orioles were juiced up, yet they continued to lose? If it was not for the Pirates the O's would have the most consecutive losing seasons in the bigs.

Nastalgic Kennywood Sold...

Most likely the people in the picture are screaming AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What am I screaming about?? Kennywood, the world's greatest amusement park has been sold. This is very disturbing to me. I am saddened that this great family amusement park has been sold by Harry Henniger, whose son I played soccer with, when I was 8 or 9 (how come no all day passes? Did all day passes exist then or did we still have to buy tickets to get on rides?). It appears that expansion plans are on the way. However what changes are to come? Listed below are some comments and questions I have for the new operaters.

• Will you be changing the recipe to the Potato Patch fries, the 2nd greatest French Fries ever (Original Hot Dog Shop is ranked number 1)?
• Will the wait time for the lines increase? That has always been part of the charm of Kennywood, short wait times for rides
• What rides, if any will you commercialize. I really don't want to go on the PNC Noah's ark, Mission Impossible Wave swinger, or the Ocean's Thirteen Steel Phantom.
• What rides will you get rid of? My grandmother's favorite ride was the Whip, so please don't get rid of that or some of the historical and charming rides.
• How much will admission be? Please assure me that it will be lower than all the other Theme parks. I was saddened by your $33 charge, but hey it is still cheaper then Six Flags, Busch Gardens or Hershey Park.
• Please don't charge for parking like Sean says.

Wierd work stories...

I read the following link about the weirdest work stories of the year. This made me think about my weirdest moments at work this year. In no particular order, and understand I have several jobs, so here goes.

1. In front of a live studio audience, I asked the audience if they strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with the following statement…

“P.T. Barnham statest that there is a sucker born every minute”

The response I got: Of course. Why I asked why the audience member stated: Well there is a baby born every minute and they have to suck on their mother’s titties.

2. A pretend fight… go figure. Where is the creativity there?

3. A coworker come into work with a mullet wig. I’m not sure to laugh or cry.

4. My boss was promoted, then not, then transferred. Ouch. It really sucks, especially when he/she is a good boss

5. Potentially the most bizarre story of work. A kid is in my place of occupation throughout the week. At 4 years old he is a very creative kid. Aside from crawling around and not being responsive to the adults around this kid decided to chew on a toy and acted like a dog with a rag bone. Does it end there? No. He exposed himself to adults and decided to walk out into a public area. Later he urinated all over the men’s room as if he were a sprinkler system spinning himself around… trousers down by the ankles. When he completed this he made a toilet paper belt. Please leave your kids at home or potty train him/her.

6. Drunk coworkers at happy hour… always a must

7. During a soccer game I witnessed one team celebrate with jubilation after scoring the game tying goal and watching a soccer ball hit the back of the net. The other team and coaches bowed their heads in disgrace. Upset at giving up the game tying goal. The ball was at midfield waiting to be kicked off when the referee checked the net and ignored obvious laws of physics and denied the goal. Out team lost 3-2. so much for the tie.

8. Having a coworker ask me to oversee their assignment while they went out for a cigarette.

9. Watching the same coworker actually finding someone to do this task.

Wedding songs....

So my upcoming nuptials are less then 3 months from now and I am having trouble figuring out songs for the DJ to play. There are the usual songs or artists, Sinatra, Armstrong, Jackson 5, Village people, Sir-Mix-a lot, etc., but there are so many other songs that don’t seem appropriate for a wedding. We have our “first dance” song lined up as well, but from there it begins to get tricky. As a result, I am rummaging through my music collection. I have accelerated my quest that I started in July, to listen to all of my cds, tapes, and records in hopes to listen to all songs before the wedding. I have made it through my tapes, mixed cds, and the A’s of my regular cds. I have 231 more cds (plus the ones I took out of the library). This is where I need your help. You can provide me some suggestions from the list of artists below, whose cds I own, and provide feedback for songs that I could use for the Mother/Son dance and other “fun” songs. You could also provide with some songs from artists listed below. I did forget to mention the Hora and I think that I’m going to try to get the “chicken dance” song or the hokey pokey. I’m not sure who the artist of the hora is so if you know the answer please tell me. Here is the list of all the artists I have remaining.

Beastie Boys –
Beatles –
Bechet, Sidney –
Ben Folds -
Big Bad voodoo Daddy
Black crowes
Bon Jovi
Boston
Brubeck, Dave
Cake
Calloway, Cab
Charles, Ray
Cherry poppin' daddies
Chestnut, Cyrus
Clapton
Clarks
Coltrane, John
Counting crowes
Davis, Miles
Diamond, Neil
Dire Straits
Dj jazzy Jeff and the fresh prince
Doobie bros
Doors-
Dr Dre
Dylan, Bob
Ellington, Duke
eve6
Forrest gump soundtrack
Funhouse (Andrew Waldman) – hey I have to give you a shoutout!!!
gathering
Gillespe, Dizzy
gin blossoms
Godzilla
goo goo dolls
Grateful Dead
Grease
Green Day
Guns ‘n roses
Hendrix, Jimi
Jackson, Michael
Joel, Billy
John, Elton
Jones, Nora
Kenny G
Killers
king, bb
Led Zepplin
Lennon, John
lion king
Little Richard
Live
Lynyrd skynyrd
McCartney, Paul
Me, Myself, and Irene
Medeski, Martin and Wood
Miller, glen Orchestra
Mission Impossible
mod squad
Monk, Thelonius
morissette, alanis
Nelly
new Orleans klezmer all-stars
Nirvana
No Doubt
oasis
offspring
old 97s
Outside Providence – The one and only movie starring me (Sorry mom, the Bar Mitzvah tape does not count!!)
Parker, Charlie/Dizzie Gillespie
Pearl jam
Petty, Tom
Pink Floyd
Police
Preservation Hall
presidents of the u.s.
Queen
r.e.m.
rage against the machine
red hot chilli peppers
Rolling Stones
RUN DMC
rusted root
Santana
Saturday Night Fever
Simon and garfunkle
Sinatra, Frank
Smashing Pumpkins
spin drs.
Springsteen, Bruce
Starwars soundtrack
stereolab
Steve miller
Stewart, rod
stp
sublime
third eye blind
Thorogood
U2
Weather Report
west side story
Who
ZZ top – greatest hits

Weekend notes....

First of all I want to thank my brother for a kick ass chanukah party.

Why is Comcast so damn stupid? Really. A friend of mine has to wait until next Thursday to have his cable repaired. My guess is that they will charge his some crazy fee too. I will add my own personal experiences about Comcast soon.

Why did the Steelers lose?

Why can't New England lose? Am I the only one who can't stand hearing about how Tom Brady is a great quarterback from all the guys and how cute he is from all the girls?

Here We Go.... Steelers

Now that Steelers have won "one for the thumb", Bill Cowher has retired, and the Steelers are likely going to win their division, is there a new "Here We Go" song?

Giant grocery stores annouces Pay More get less food plan!

You read it correctly. Giant grocery stores are in the midst of changing over to a pay more, get less policy. Here are two such examples seen at a local Giant.





Here is an excerpt from the weekly flyer:









Post Cereal
BonusCard Price: 2 for $5
Honey Bunches Of Oats. Honey Roasted or With Almonds. 19 Oz-21 Oz Pkg. Or Fruity or Cocoa Pebbles. 17 Oz Pkg. Or Raisin Bran. 25 Oz Pkg.


This sounds like a great deal (or at least a reasonable offer). So what's the problem? The store does not sell their cereal in any of the sizes listed above and only sells it in 14.5 oz sizes. What is the cost of the 14.5 oz box of cereal? $2.99.

To put this in simple man's terms: We pay more and get less.

Maybe you subscribe to the you have discount for purchasing a larger portion. However the math does not add up. Take a look.

$2.50/19 oz = 13.15 cents per oz
$2.99/14 oz = 21.25 cents per oz

Usually stores will charge less per oz. Like the example below.

10 oz candy bar for $1 = 10 cents per oz
16 oz candy bar for 1.50 = 9.375 cents per oz

Giant apparently has not realized this or they have realized they can make a few extra bucks from the consumer.

In other news at the Giant, I discovered that they will continue to charge the same price for yogurt, but give smaller portions. The Giant brand of yogurt will now contain 6 oz as oppose to the current 8 oz. When pressed, a representative of Giant informed me that they have begun this process of changing over the sizes of their yogurts. If you want Peach yogurt you may want to think twice, they have begun this process with the Peach flavor.

At Tidbits and the angry consumer we pride ourselves by exposing these changes that hurt your wallet and add to the accounting books of major corporations.

So Long Reckin' Ball

Thanks for your years of service. We do appreciate your help with the young Penguins players and your Stanley Cup run. See the article: http://postgazette.com/pg/07338/839064-100.stm

School violence

I came across this website, http://stoptheschoolviolence.com/ while visiting http://www.postgazette.com/. I applaud your initiative in attempting to rectify the problems that affect our nation’s public schools. I am saddened to see Woodland Hills name in the papers for something other than academic, performing arts, or athletic success. I am sure that some of these stories are embellished or are aberrations to the daily routines at WHHS.

I realize that some of our schools are in complete shambles. There are many factors for this. However I truly feel that the root of this is community wide. Many parents lack involvement in our schools. They work so hard to provide additional opportunities and income for their children. To do this parents are often working 12 hour days or longer. These parents leave home before their children leave for school and do not arrive home until the late evening. As a result they are missing some very basic things in their children’s lives. During this time their children are being influenced by TV such as Springer and MTV, which glorifies violent and other poor behaviors.

Other parents feel that it is more necessary to spend big time dollars so that their son or daughter can be the next big thing in athletics, performing, etc. Many parents feel that college will be paid for through extra curricular activities or that stardom is right around. Unfortunately these parents seem to lack the vision and knowledge that these opportunities are few and far between.

The lack of parental involvement however is not the only reason for dysfunctional schools. The No Child Left Behind act has also had a major impact. What administrator wants to see his or her school not make annual yearly progress? They look back as administrators and have to micromanage so many things that were unheard of years ago. They have to consider ways to improve test scores, which regresses some of the brighter students. Boredom sets in and students begin to create their own fun. What kid wants to sit through this?

Did you know that some states track suspensions as part of AYP? Too many suspensions could put your school on the “dangerous schools list”. What administrator wants to be responsible for their school’s entrance to this list? This of course causes some administrators to bend rules or provide inadequate consequences for poor behaviors. One school I have been told could have 250+ kids in the hallways between classes? Seriously that is a problem. However as an administrator which of the following kids would you suspend if you can only dish out 1 per day?

Student A: a frequent discipline problem, classroom distraction, often “cusses out” his/her teacher and can single-handedly stop classroom instruction

Or

Student B: A student who comes to school high on drugs

Or

Student C: a student who chronically (15 times in a 45-day marking period) comes to class a minute after the bell, completes his classroom assignments, and is a courteous student with college potential?

The answer is not easy. There are several problems but only one can be addressed.

Another issue that faces our schools is the mandatory graduation requirement of passing the PSSA, HSA, Regents, California Achievement test, etc. Some students have fallen so far behind that they realize that graduation may not be a realistic goal. They do however go to School because it provides a social outlet and in some cases a market for the goods they push. Drugs are not entirely what I am getting at. Stolen CDs, Ipods, candy, and other things allow our young entrepreneurs to make some quick cash. Either way there are some aspects of the education that allow those who do not want to be there, those who cause problems to ruin a good environment.

Tough Euro draw for the Dutch

Ok so soccer (football for others throughout the world) is not the biggest sport in the U.S. and Pittsburgh, but you can see the drawings for the Euro 2008. Here's to hoping that ESPN can provide me with a number of games to watch throughout the summer.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/euro2008/wallchart?cc=5901

Now to the Dutch. My favorite team since 1994 when they knocked out England during qualifiers, the Dutch play a beautiful style of soccer and have always had their share of stars. Bergkamp, Van Nistleroy, Van der Sar, Edgar Davids, and the list goes on. However they are in the same group as World Cup '06 finalists Italy and France. I wish you the best of luck.

Pitt Wins!!! Pitt Wins!!!!

I have to admit, even as a Pitt fan, that I was pulling for West Virginia over Pitt in the Backyard Brawl. It is a great football rivalry, but I have always had a soft spot for WVU football ever since the days of Major Harris, one of college football's greatest and underrated quarterbacks. WVU also has former Plum High School soccer standout Pat McAfee (their kicker) and two members of my alma mater, Woodland Hills High School, Ryan Mundy and Wes Lyons playing for them. The only truly beneficial thing to this is how screwed up the BCS now is. The lack of a true national championship is probably the reason why I usually could care less about college football.

First entry

Hello!!!



I have long wanted to be a blogger, but I just never acted on it. From time to time I have felt the need for a sounding board for my frustrations, particularly with big business and privacy issues. I started my journey off a long time ago when I was in college. I made it to the next level after my graduation from college when I was on a Television spot on KDKA TV in Pittsburgh. I was young and idealistic. I also had major issues with being forced to provide my SSN to a guy named Travis at Duquesne Light when I first moved out of my parents house in Pittsburgh. I fought long and hard, but I had to succomb to the fact that I needed to provide my SSN to gain access to electricity. I did get my story out there and Wayne Van Dine, a retired reporter from KDKA TV, helped air my complaint.



I am serious, why is it that all these places feel the need to have your SSN to provide you with service. I am willing to provide most other things, but just not the SSN, particularly to an extremely irritating person on the other end of the telephone. They know everything about you, but provide you with little more than "my name is Travis how can I help you". When pressed they may give you a last name or Employee number, but usually not. All in all most people are honest, but how do you know that the person on the other line isn't a screwball employee looking to do more than provide you with electricity. They may want to provide you with headaches and a future history that could haunt you for years to come.



Needless to say I have developed this site as a sounding board for my frustrations with big businesses who on many occaisions are out to screw the consumer. They make millions and billions and treat you like crap (I'm going to keep this website PG for now) and like a fool. In my upcoming posts I will share stories of my friends and some of my own commentaries with you about MCI, Comcast cable, A T & T and other assorted companies and businesses who seem to wrong so many people.



That said I will also share some positive experiences and my thoughts about sports, news and other assorted information that should be addressed. Please at anytime feel free to provide your comments. Please remember that my friends and I are not the only ones who are victims of businesses. I know you are out there as well and have stories to share. Our stories will hopefully make these large (and small) businesses think twice before they hit us with poor service and experiences.