Let’s start by saying I hate utilities. They all seem to get things done just a little bit annoying. Either they charge too much, or they take way too long to do something, or in my last case, they are completely incompetent and they should be taken to the mental institution.

SI&I Wireless

First I will rant about is the SI&I. This is a small little family owned phone company in USA that is unfortunately the only company that carries the famous Rutabaga rPhone. Since I really wanted that phone, I went to the SI&I store in Mountain View and place an order. How hard can it be? Well, not too bad. Since the wait for the phone was three miles down the road, I just placed an order and waited for the phone to come. Four or five weeks later, the phone was there and they gave me a call to come and pick it up. So I came there to get it. I scoped about 15 minutes because I already gave them most of information when I placed the order for the phone. However, the whole process took at least 30 minutes. And it looked like this was the first time they sold the famous rPhone that they were selling for the last year or so. But at least after all this, the phone works. Mostly… Except the famous 3G network is actually sometimes slower than the 2.5G. Also, sometimes in San Francisco I cannot send text message or make a phone call.

But this is nothing compared to:

SI&I DSL

I wanted to get broadband internet and being in San Jose, you have two options: cable or DSL. Cable is faster, but DSL is cheaper. Since I don’t really watch TV and did not want to get cable TV so I can have internet, I opted for DSL. DSL is a funny thing, since most companies still require you to have a phone line. Of course since I am already paying an arm and a leg for the rPhone and the stupid SI&I data plan, I did not want to get another phone. But tell that to the DSL companies. Finally I found out that Trulimit does not charge extra for DSL without the phone line. However, quick phone call to their sales center showed that deregulation of phones in USA is a complete farce. In any case, my second pick was SI&I with their proven track record. So I contacted them and they wanted my SSN. Why? No idea. When I setup a gas and electric service for my condo nobody asked about SSN. And the bill ranges from $50 to $150. So why does a DSL company with a $40/month service requires SSN. To do a credit check. Why? I think somebody should prohibit random companies like utilities, health insurances, etc to use SSN as anything. But seriously, why does DSL company need a credit check. If I don’t pay, they just disconnect my service. It is not like I will still the service or something.

So, after a lot of back and forward, I get the date when my service will be connected and they send me the DSL modem. The modem comes, couple of days later the service is supposed to be connected, so I plug the modem in and…. nothing. Ok, fair enough, they did not say when, so I wait until the next day. Next day, I plug the modem in and… the lights come on. Woohoo, I have internet… I thought. So I plug my laptop in and it gets the IP. Ok, I type http://icanhascheezburger.com/ in the web browser and I get bad connection or something like that. Found the neighbor’s wireless, open a chat with the SI&I tech support and they explain me I need a username and password. Of course. Excellent, now I am in business, so what is my username and password? Well, the tech support person explains me that I created a username and password when I signed up for the darn thing. But I don’t remember any username and password. But there is a solution. I can answer my secret question. Aha, I bet I know what that is. So, I start trying to remember all my brands of rollerblades, my favorite underwear, and of course those hard to pronounce ingredients in my favorite pasta sauce. Unfortunately the question was “Who is your favorite actor”. What? Why in the world would I pick that to be my question? I start naming some people and thinking how silly the whole thing is and of course getting it wrong every single time. So, more back and forward. Finally, after several chats and phone calls and some empty threats, they say I could fax them my driver’s license. What is up with SI&I and private information.

After faxing SI&I my drivers license they were more than happy to reset my password. First of all, the most important question for the SI&I tech. What is my favorite actor? Joe Rogan of course. Who the hell is Joe Rogan? Why in the world would anybody pick him as a favorite anything. So, I inform the tech that there has to be some misunderstanding, but he is more than happy to explain that it is all ok and the address is ok and everything. So, we continue and he tells me that my username is xxmurphy. This is even more odd, since I am not a Murphy anything. But the tech is still convinced that everything is ok. So he tells me the new password and helps me change the secret question to something more useful, like “When did you first time have a burrito?”, and “What color was your road rash after your first bike fall?” Finally, he asks me if he should send me the confirmation to my private e-mail, which is xx.murphy@washington-university.blah.blah.edu. I quickly inform the tech that this is not my e-mail and he tells me that: “Calm down Mr. Murphy, everything is ok.” Since I am still not Mr. Murphy, I get a little bit angry telling the guy that there is some problem. He asks me again if he should send me the confirmation by postal service instead to my address in San Francisco. This is when he realizes that there is something seriously wrong.

So, he apologizes and informs me that he will fix everything and call me back. He did just that and 20 minutes later I had my very own SI&I e-mail address and I was all set. When I came home, the DSL worked. It was not super fast, but at this point I was happy it worked at all. Of course it only worked for about a week and then it stopped. Calling an SI&I tech resulted in questions such as “Is your computer on?” and “Have you installed Vista on your PC?”. Telling the guy that none of that matters didn’t work, so I faked enough answers that they send the tech over. The tech quickly figured out that a different SI&I tech when fixing neighbor’s DSL disconnected my DSL since there was no dailtone. Note that I don’t have phone, so no dialtone. Also, turns out that they actually hooked my and my neighbor to the same phone line, which is why his DSL stopped working when my started. Well, the tech gives me his card explaining that SI&I are complete idiots and that if I have any problem I should just call him.

Since then, my DSL seems to mostly work, except I have to restart the DSL modem every once in a while. Also, the bills sometimes include credit from XX Murphy. Whoever you are, thank you.

Finally, the most recent one:

Blingcast

I decided to update my internet to something I could potentially watch HD movie over. The only company in my area (no monopolies here) is Blingcast with their 16 Mbps cable internet service. So I cave in and get that. Costs an arm and a leg, but it is fast. So, I go to their website and go through the ordering process. Right away, there is a problem. They say that I have to pay installation fee for cable, which is $30 and for internet I can do a self install for $10 or get a tech over for $100. I chose self install, but for that I need to be an existing customer. Call to Blingcast shows that the whole thing is messed up and that I either pay extra $90 or I first signup for the cable and then for the internet. Ok, what difference does a day make. So I request just the cable. Website, select all the options, try to chose “Purchase now”, or “Enter credit card”, but the only option is a live chat. So I pick that and now I am chatting with some random person that wants to sell me more services I do not need. After being on the chat for 10 minutes at least I have order in for the cable. Please note I had to tell the person over the chat pretty much everything I already entered on the website.

Couple of weeks later, I have cable. Woohoo, except all the channels are on weird places and TiVo does not get the guide data for them. Turns out I need CableCards. CableCards are some weird messed up way for cable companies to prevent people from using TiVo, since installing CableCards either costs money to get a tech over or it makes you want to shoot your brains out. Since now I am a customer, I order the internet for $10 self install and after another 10 minute chat with the person trying to sell me the same useless services again, I get the internet. Fortunately I don’t have to wait but I can just swing by the Blingcast store and pick up the cable modem. At the same time I pick up two CableCards not knowing that they are single stream cards (do they still sell those) instead of multi stream cards. Anyway, internet is up, but my TiVo only sees one tuner. Of course, it is a single stream card. So I took those back and got M-Cards.

Now I see both tuners, but no HD channels. So, I started a chat with the tech support and explain that I want to see SciFI HD and I only see SciFI in standard and broadcast channels in HD. The tech informed me I need the cable box. So I explained I have TiVo with cable cards and he informed me I need an HD-Card. I explain him that there is not such thing as an HD-Card and he said I need a more expensive plan and send me the web page where clearly my plan includes SciFI HD. So, he informs me that since my last name is not Murphy I cannot get SciFI HD. Ok, I made that last one up, but at this point I was so mad that I hung up on the poor guy.

So, this is it. I have internet that works, internet that works a bit less, but I have not cancel it yet, and cable that works but not all the services. Isn’t the word a great place?

I finally found the air freshener I like. It is perfect. It most certainly covers any other smell. Don’t trust me? Watch the commercial for it.

My weekend was super great. I had an awesome time riding on Saturday, great San Francisco Pride Parade on Sunday, and then today on my morning ride to work, I listened to Democracy Now!, and I heard this:

“…administration has placed a nearly two-year moratorium on the construction of new solar energy projects on public land. The Bureau of Land Management says it needs until the spring of 2010 to study the environmental impact the solar projects will have on land in Arizona, Nevada, California and other western states…”
(From Democracy Now 6/30/2008)

Are people out of their mind? I mean seriously!!! Solar energy environmentally questionable? What is next, CFL bulbs are bad for the environment? Hybrid cars are worse than hummers? Cycling is not environmentally friendly? Did somebody just switched my reality with the twilight zone?

I need a reassurance that I am still on the right planet!

Thank god people in this coffee shop have instructions on how to was hands.

This photo totally scared me

What is up with politicians anyway?

Clinton wants to be more conservative than conservatives, so she wants to remove gas tax. Well, beside the fact that this would increase profits of oil companies. There is actually not many people who think this is a good idea. Including economists. However, Clinton wants to follow footsteps of her predecessor, President Mountain Biker (sorry mountain bikers) and do things that don’t make any sense. Why don’t people instead think a little bit before taking that next car drive?

That said, there are bright people on both sides. Bachman is an interesting character. She wants to save the environment by proposing similar idea with no rational support. She is pro-life, but she also wants to be pro-choice. That is pro-choice to use polluting light bulbs or not. Her “argument” is that mercury in CFL light bulbs is toxic (which is true) and that it will take over the world and enslave all the people. That said, the fact that coal power plants put so much mercury in the air is ok.

Instead of all this mess, why don’t people switch to sun-light and LED light powered by solar energy? Here in California most days there is enough sun outside that every office space would be illuminated by properly channeled sun-light.

Finally, what is up with statements that there was no terrorist attacks on the US soil since 9/11? Politicians are using this as an excuse for taking away civil liberties, torturing people, sending more money to their companies. But as far as I remember, there were several terrorist attacks in the last couple of years. The last one happened in San Diego. Also, here you can see several terrorist attacks against abortion clinics in years 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. And there is an unsuccessful suicide attack in 2006. So, why don’t these terrorist attacks count?

Fortunately, there are alternatives to these “smart” politicians. I just wish people would vote based on the actual issues and not based on some sad popularity attributes.

This is super weird… I just found an ad on the banana. This reminds me to the ads on the toilet paper in Germany. Don’t you want to be the person in the store who gets a piece of toilet paper with coupon for 50 cents of the can of beans?

Why do I get so much spam? And I am not talking only about spam e-mail. I mean everybody gets it. But I am talking about a large amount of paper we get every day and we have to shred it.

Well, let’s start with the two that got me all rioted lately. First one is some letter from this crazy church. Let see, if I would want to go to that church, I would probably find it without them sending me spam. Second, shouldn’t church be against polluting the environment with, well, dead tree advertisements. Finally, aren’t churches typically so poor they have to ask people for money? I don’t see NPR or PBS stations sending me weekly reminders that they exist and I should tune into them.

So, this churches sending people over and sending food to my shredder, are annoying. Why send so many of them? Well, whatever…

The second spam mail is one that I just got recently. It was a letter from AARP telling me that now is the best time for me to join. Though I am getting pretty old, my twenties were finally over, but I thought they are pushing the retirement age further and further into the future. Looking at the trend, I think I will probably never retire.

But, apparently AARP with all its financial problems is now asking relatively young people to join. Well, maybe I am not that young after all. Perhaps I am just a moribund young looking man.

There are several day to day things that just throw me off. Interesting example of is the traffic laws in this country. I guess it is not much better somewhere else. Maybe some countries have more elaborate laws or higher punishments, but overall this are extremely funny. So, I could be writing about how in Italy a man can be arrested for wearing a skirt, or that it is illegal to kiss on the French railway, but hey, I am here, so I will write about this place.

Turns out there is a great number of people that die in car accidents every year. And for some reason the major causes of this, according to the message the media and government is sending, are speed and not wearing the seat belt. Ok, I can imagine a scenario where speed will cause an accident. For example let say I am driving really fast, and I cannot make a turn, or I cannot stop in time, or something similar. Ok, I buy that, but seat belt? Now, don’t get me wrong, I use it every time, but what is the worst thing that will happen if I don’t? I guess I can die, but I think if this is my decision to die, people should respect that and let me. I guess I can imagine a scenario where not wearing a seat belt will make accident bad. Let say the driver is launched through the window and he hits somebody.

So, what is this rant all about? Well, my question is why is there not more emphasis on the more obvious causes of accidents. For example, how about driving through red light, or passing over solid line, or, and this one may strike close to home, not use the signal. It turns out that there is no real emphasis on that. I see people at least once a week driving through a red light, or pass over the solid line. I would say about 30% of people do not use their signals at all.

I guess the priorities are important. Everybody will drive 55 miles an hour on the straight four lanes highway for hundreds of miles, wearing seat belt, but when you come to suburbia, all bets are off. People will disregard the signs, ignore the laws, and so on. And you wonder why most people die close to home. Well, nobody lives on the highway these days.

Another interesting one is the one about very obvious signs (black on white, about the size of notepad), such as “Slower Traffic Move Right” and “Do Not Drive On Shoulder”. The image on the right was taken today on the local road. As you can see, there is actually not only state law, but also an actual sign that people should not drive on the shoulder. But here you see at least three if not more cars doing just that. And all this just to save ten seconds wait. Now add to this the fact that our lovely suburbia with on average 1.5 acre per lot does not have enough space to put a decent bike path or sidewalk anywhere. That means that all pedestrians and cyclists have to share the road with people like the guy in the dark Buick.

I guess overall the problem with the society is that it is getting pejorated enough to just want to solve complex problems using simple solutions. It is easy to blame all the accidents to a simple problem like speeding. But at least in my reality, it is never that simple. Speeding can make accident worse, and not wearing seat belt will make your chance of survival smaller. That said probability of causing an accident by driving fast or by not wearing seat belt seems much, much, smaller than by driving through a red light or outside the specified lane (passing or driving on shoulder).