Free at last...free at last...

A few weeks ago I hooked up the new Ooma equipment and tested it out. When I was satisfied that it could workI disconnected it and went forward with porting my number (which takes 7-10 days) so that I could cancel my Verizon (local) and AT&T (long distance) services which have been like a repetitive series of kicks to my groin over the years.

When the email came through I hooked up the equipment again, bought a new cordless phone set and crossed my fingers. While the system worked I wanted to report to you on how well it works. So far its been pretty good. The only difference from the old system is that when you pick up the phone there is a brief chime. Also, calling numbers in another area code required you to push 1 first. Once you are talking, there is a short delay between when something is spoken and when the other party hears it. About a half second. Call sound quality has been mixed. Yesterday my brother called and some of his words were garbled or washed out, but he was on his cell phone, which may have had an effect. When I spoke to my Dad in Massachusetts on his land line it was crystal clear.

The system comes with caller I.D. and my new cordless phones can actually tell you who is calling using this information. Very cool. Both the cordless handset and Ooma have a blacklist feature so you can block calls from certain numbers. This is an AWESOME feature. I used to get three calls a day from satellite tv companies and 4 or 5 from call warrantee companies. This has gone waaaaay down. The Ooma works like a regular answering machine except I can get my messages on line when I am traveling. Nice. To call internationally you have to buy credits, but I don't call internationally very often so I haven't tested this out yet. There are extra features available, like a second line and other goodies if you want to pay about $14 a month.

The old cordless phones, which were showing their age, will be put in the garage and the shop respectively so I can finally get calls there.

The best part? No more local or long distance charges EVAR. Ooma is a one time cost. Do you hear that Verizon?? Huh? Do you know how good if felt to tell AT&T to die in a fire? It felt AWESOME.

Standard Operating Proceedure

The previous post "I'd give the Devil the benefit of law" generated some strong opinions about how we should treat 'the bad guys'.

I appreciate strong opinions. I have a few myself. Some of which were reinforced when I watched the film Standard Operating Procedure which dealt with Abu Gihraib. It was hard to watch at times. The matter was not a simple black and white case. We put 18-21 year old kids in charge of a prison. Kids who are trained to follow orders. Kids who were told what was being done was okay, even if the regs said it wasn't. After all, we're in a war, right? I'm not sure what excuse the older personnel had. They knew better.

It gave context and detail to the infamous photographs. It showed the mindset of some of these people. Their reasoning and rationale. And what was seen in the pictures was not the worst of it. It never is.

Is it okay to torture a suspect if you believe he is guilty of being an insurgent or a terrorist?
After all, we didn't hang them, or beat their feet with metal rods or shock their genitalia.
THAT'S torture. Saddam did that shit. We didn't (Although we sent people to countries that did it for us).

Lets talk about what our guys did.
Tying someone in one position naked for 5 hours naked isn't torture, is it?
Depriving someone of sleep for days isn't torture, is it?
Forcing prisoners to masturbate and simulate sex acts in front of women isn't torture is it?
Waterboarding and punching prisoners isn't torture, is it?
Keeping high profile detainees from the eyes of the Red Cross isn't illegal, is it?
Our guys just 'softened them up' for the pro's (CIA, FBI, DIA etc).

After all, these guys were the Bag Guys. Except the ones that weren't. And it seems that the vast majority of these people were just dumb SOB's. Drunks & thieves... oh yeah and most of the fighting age males in an area. Fathers and sons. We took them from their homes because they could POTENTIALLY join the insurgency, not because there was any suspicion they were.

Lock them all up and DO NOT let ANYONE out. That was the order. We did not deny them due process, we denied than ANY process. When they finally got out, I wonder how many of those average Iraqi's were willing to let bygones be bygones?
The end result of not following the rules and the law was an increased insurgency and a deep unifying hatred of Americans in that entire region.

Take a look at this list of Memo's. Look at the titles. Some of the details of these memo's are just now coming to light though we likely will never know the full details of them all. Look at the titles: Convention Against Torture has limited application in the U.S., Torture can be prosecuted only if there was 'specific intent' to harm Is this America at it's finest? Is this the beacon of freedom spoken in hymn and song? It this the best we could do? America has the brawn to do these things, but does it have the brains to do something better? To fight smarter?

I highly recommend you check this movie out through Netflix. It's thought provoking. Here's the trailer:

I would give the Devil the benefit of Law

In response to this McClatchy article about the Captain of the U.S.S. Cole saying "We shouldn't make policy decisions based on human rights and legal advocacy groups,'' a spirited debate sprung up on FARK.com regarding whether we should give suspected terrorists the benefit of Habeus Corpus or other rights.

I will confess that as I am not a Constitutional scholar, a lawyer or an expert in military law I am ill equipped to speak with any great authority. It is not any easy situation to rectify, made worse by the previous administration that simply had no strategy whatsoever and simply did "whatever was necessarily" to "keep us safe". But since we aren't operating in the shadows anymore we must take the bull by the horns.

There are criminals in Guantanamo. By various accounts 70 of the 270 are really bad guys. This is down from the over 600 who used to reside there. We let the rest of those people go because we really didn't have anything on them. With all the resources and the with the full and intimidating threats of the US of A pressed upon them we simply had nothing. I am sure they forgive us though.

Rumor, innuendo, suspicion. On that evidence we abducted people, held them in secret prisons, and tortured them.

On the flimsiest of connection to 9/11 and on dubious intel we waged a war on Iraq that has killed tens of thousands.

But we had to, you know, to keep us safe.

Look, thinking is hard. But maybe if we did it more we wouldn't be in this shit. I don't want to give any religious whack job with a desire to kill people a pass. But to ignore the law? To just go all Jack Bauer? Is that the answer? Will ignoring US law, international law and treaties work? Will that find and punish the guilty? George Bush thought so. He thought these men were evil.

But I would give the Devil himself the benefit of Law.

I offer this short clip from A man for All Seasons:

New Minion!

After about a week of deliberation I am happy to introduce our new minion Wendi Williams. She had sold our product before, knows the setup/teardown process (a big part of the job) and looks like this:

Do YOU want to tell her she can't have the job? Anyway, thanks to those who applied. I appreciate the help. I am hoping that getting into more shows will help our bottom line and grow our business. And if the economy collapses and America falls into Chaos at least all my female employee's/minions will be well dressed and we drive around on motorcycles killing each other for spam and gas.

Looking for a job?

We just finished ChattaCon, which wasn't gangbusters but it did make a profit and get us into the selling mood. While driving home Rossana and I discussed an idea we've kicked around before of bringing in another sales person to handle shows that we can't get to for whatever reason.

So here it is, do you want COOLEST JOB in the WORLD? We're looking for someone to travel to shows in the Midwest to tie up hot chicks in corsets. (Sounds great, right? Well there are some caveats. Read on)

• We want someone who has some experience with one or all of the following type of events: Renaissance Fairs, the SCA, Science Fiction conventions or fetish shows.

• Must be able to travel. Some shows will be one day, others a weekend and some will require being gone from Thursday till Monday with driving time. We will cover travel expenses.

• Must be friendly, personable, and able to interact with a WIDE range of people.

• Must be able to schlep (carry) our stock and all sales equipment. Corsets can be heavy.

• Non Smoker. Clean driving record. Non-drinker preferred.
  

• Must be able to do simple bookkeeping.
  

• Must have reliable transportation. (And must not be a sub-compact)

• Computer literate (can email, IM etc. Photoshop and others skills a plus)

• Sewing skills a double bonus
  

• If female, must be willing to wear our product for duration of event

• An Ohio resident would be nice, but isn't required
  

If you're still reading, I am impressed. We will train you to the best of our ability, but you need to have some innate salesmanship skills. Above all you need to be honest and trustworthy. Our company has a very good reputation. We pride ourselves on good customer service.

What does this dream job pay? I can't give you a definite answer. I can say that there is a base pay with a bonus for meeting certain sales numbers. Also, you get to make money for attending events you have paid to attend in the past, which is pretty cool. We're hoping line up at least 2 shows a month, but more are possible in the summer months


If you think you'd like this job send me an email at steve.pack@gmail.com with your experience, and a photo if possible. I'll get back to you with more details. If you know someone who you think might be right for this job, please forward them this message.

That other good speech..

I'm sure you all heard Obama's speech today. It's was pretty good in my opinion. So here's another one. FDR's speech from 1933. You've heard the soundbite of "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself". But the whole speech is very good, addressing the economic crisis of his time.

Things get a little strange at the end, where he says that if Congress doesn't act, then he'll ask for "supreme executive power" to give him the same authority he'd have if we were at war. We saw what an unchecked Executive branch got us and it wasn't good. But the speech is great otherwise.

A new day... a new Prez

Tomorrow marks the start of a new administration. I am mighty pleased with that. I have slogged through the last 8 years, just like you, with a sense of dread about our President and what he and his minions were doing. I watched the news reports, read the papers, listened to the pundits and saw the results. And the results were not pretty.

Not that we ever really saw the results of these wrong policies. We were spared the painful images.

We weren't allowed to see caskets coming home from Iraq.
We were lied to about how Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire.
We got a glance at the Abu Gahraib photos, but there were worse.
The video tapes of waterboarding were 'accidentally' destroyed.

And the images we were shown were often lies.When the administration got in front of a camera and told us that:

There were no CIA Black Sites in Europe.
We did not perform extraordinary rendition or torture prisoners.
We did not hand prisoners over to countries that DID torture.
We did not tap Americans phones without a FISA warrant
That the war in Iraq would be over in 6 months, pay for itself, would have us greeted as liberators...

All lies.

They said Sadam worked with Al Qaida, had yellowcake, was building WMD's - none of it was so.

They showed us film of New Orleans and said they were raping babies and killing each other like savages at the dome- but that was wrong.

They say that the equal housing opportunity act caused the financial collapse, but that isn't true.



The list of cock ups goes on and on. The list of things that were done right, or without too much damage is very very small. This is why I am glad to see these Jackals leave. They have broken this nation. They have beaten the crap out of our nations image at home and abroad. Can it be fixed? I truly hope so. I love this country. Far all its flaws and foibles I am, at heart, a flag waving softie. I have traveled the world, and while there are places with wondrous sites that have tempted me to consider leaving there's no place like home.

Tomorrow Obama starts a new job. Two days later we go to Chattanooga for our first show of the season. Wish us both luck...

The last of the great Playboys

Sir Dai Llewellyn passed away recently in England and despite it being politically incorrect, I rather admire this chap. He was the very definition of a player. He was nicknamed “Seducer of the Valleys”, “Conquistador of the Canapé Circuit”, “Dai 'Lock Up Your Daughters’ Llewellyn” or simply “Dirty Dai”.
He was a product of another age that we will likely never see again. The smooth Sean Connery James Bond type who could have any woman he wanted. It would be easy to dismiss him as a upper class twit and a waste of space and perhaps he was. But there's still a small part of every man that would like to be that guy, if only for a short time.

WARNING! Scam Alert

If you're like me, you don't look super close at your bank statements. I confess, I am lax. But my beloved wife is NOT lax. She is a hawk. Nothing escapes her view. Which is why she caught the bogus check that took $24.95 out of our account. The same thing had happened to her about two months ago and fixing it was a pain in the ass.

I don't know how they got my account into, but they did. They then made out a check from ME to a company called Payment systems for a 'subscription' (apparently to an adult website). There is a phone number and a reference number on the check. The company that answers the phone is called M Billing or any of a number of variations. They quickly offered to refund the money (Rossana received hers promptly). They claim to only be a billing processor. Using the googles I traced their official address to Cypress. Read into that what you will. I smell a rat.

There is some internet buzz that the account information was leaked from Mary Kay or from Propay.com When Rossana was hit, they had her old address on the check, mine had my current address. Some people have been hit multiple times. We will likely never know the source of the leak. So many companies have your account data these days its frightening.

Tomorrow I will go to the bank, open a new business account, move most of our money into it, check for any outstanding checks, then close the account and order new computer checks. Fun.

Now go check your bank statement, here are some links to more info on the scam.

Death of a man I didn't know...

Went into 'the city' today. It's what we call Oberlin. 'Town' is Wellington and 'The Big City' is North Olmsted and regions. Cleveland is referred to by its proper name as it is in essence, another country.

After grabbing a bite to eat a decided to take a walk. Cooped in the in the house is making me a little stir crazy. I strolled past the copy store and the Feve (home of the Buffalo shishtawook & tater tots which rock my world) and was halfway past the hardware store when my brain caught up with my eyes. I stepped back and looked into the window of a little store called the Workshop Gallery. It's small by any definition of the word. Barely 15 feet wide. It's been there as long as I can recall coming into Oberlin. It sold an eclectic mix of prints, original art, sculpture, glassware and whatnot. Beautiful things. I can't recall buying more than a few items there over the years. Some of the things were pricy. What had cought my eye today was a large white handprinted sign in the window. It was jarringly out of place. The window usually held a mix of items that made you want to go into the dark and very cozy store. But this sign was plain.

"There will be a memorial service held at The Feve Saturday from 12-4 to say goodbye to Mark". There were flowers, heaps of them with cards bearing the names of people and businesses from up and down the streets. And a photo. I recognized him, but had not known his name.

And I was suddenly very sad. Something was lost here. Something and someone special. I've seen it before. I see it maybe more than you because I spend so much time on the road. It is the loss of those places that are unique, that do NOT strive to be the biggest and loudest and most efficient. Mom and pop stores, greasy spoons, odd shops run by eccentric people. Places that are not franchised or mass marketed. THESE are the places I seek out. I don't need to see another Walmart. There is no suprise in a McDonalds menu. All serile, all the same and becoming more the same every day.

I did not know this man, but our little corner of the world is less interresting with his passing.

My brain hurts...

I love movies. I always have. From the annual ritual of watching the original King Kong on Thanksgiving to Indiana Jones, the first film that truly blew me away and still does to this day. I enjoy movies that run the gambit from high concept to lowbrow. I prefer to see movies in the theater, but at home can be nice too. (No missing anything while you run to take a pee) I try not to use absolutes but if I had to I would make the following two statements.

First, Blazing Saddles in Mel Brooks best work. Everything after that started to slip.

Second. Uwe Bol should never be allowed near a camera again under any circumstances.

Thanks to Netflix I've been catching up on some movies I just didn't get a chance to see this last year or so. Two recent experiences have left my cerebellum bruised.

The first is Revolver. It's by Guy Ritchie. I like his style but this isn;t a typical Ritchie film. This thing blew through the theaters a year ago. Do you remember the ads for it? No? Because there were none. It's like it didn't happen. It's not the casting. Jasan Statham is in it giving a great performance. The guy CAN act. Roy Liota is here too, chewing the hell out of the scenery along with a great supporting set of characters. But as I said, this ain't your typical Guy Ritchie film. It strives to be something much bigger, and it almost makes it. Things start out pretty clear. Statham gets out of jail and seeks revenge on Liota, but they quickly spiral out into muddy waters. The story is not what it seems to be. And at the end you say "I think I get it" although you might have missed the big picture. I appreciate a movie taking you most of the way and then throwing you at the finish line. Such as in 'The Usual Suspects'. Fine. But Revolver takes you to within 200 yards of the finish and then wanders off for an icecream cone. I appreciate the attempt, but it doesn't quite work. Your mileage may vary. I recommend you see it.

Southland Tales, on the otherhand.... Well, how can you describe this movie? I honestly cannot. It has a pretty A-list cast with The Rock, Sarah Michelle Geller and even Christopher Lambert etc. But the story. Where do you start? It's supposed to be a dark comedy about the end of the world in a post 9/11 world unfolding over three days in the near future. But it's a trainwreck. No, it's a train hitting a busload of nuns and orphans. Each one of whom is holding a kitten.

There are about 9 different, complete stories in this thing. Maybe 12. Half of them might be good, it's hard to tell. It's like a computer model of Stanly Kubrics brain dropped acid after reading the patriot act. They then filmed the results. It's all over the fucking place. It mocks most of the story telling styles used in Hollywood movies. It throws in random story elements. Even a musical number. I kept thinking "Any time now, this thing is going to pull back and we'll start to see the overall story arc. Something is going to tie these fevered dreams together into something that makes some kind of sense".

But it NEVER did.

It had some potential. If they'd done about a dozen rewrites this thing might have gone somewhere. Or maybe I'm just stupid. It might make a good book. If you weren't constrained by the limited of film this might have made some sense. But it isn't, so we're left to try and make sense of it on our own with a lot of jigsaw pieces from different freakin puzzles.

UPDATE according to this wikipedia article, the movie was to have been part of a graphic novel series. This makes a certain sense. The film does frame a lot of its scenes the way some graphic novels do. The voice overs and images jump suddenly between scenes. But it STILL doesn't work. I've read a few reviews that call it the best film of the decade. Really? If you have netflix, check this out and give me your opion.

The Feast!

My wonderful mum gave Rossana and I a great gift this year. Tickets to the Trinity Church Boars Head Feast. Trinity really is a lovely church. Situated downtown across from CSU. I used to go visit it during my brief time college experience. Not as large or grand as some of the Cathedrals I've had the pleasure to see abroad, but it has a great design. Clean lines and not tarted up. A place of peace.

The meal was very tasty, and served promptly. The entertainment was passable and the company was pleasant. When I was asked what I did no one seemed to believe me. I even met the head priest and the director of the church. I didn't push it by telling them that I'm married to a witch and live in a hobbit hole. Weird overload and all that.

If you have a chance to attend I highly recommend it. Costumes are optional but make it more fun. No utensils, hands only.

By the way, this was a few weeks ago not long after Rossana had undergone foot surgery. The weather was brutal that night. Ice everywhere and her foot bound up, just off of crutches. And she STILL looked good. Check out the few pics I managed to grab.

Spending money to ...save money....wait what?

Times is tough. Money is tight. So we're looking at ways to make our pathetic pieces of green paper go farther.

The first was changing our health insurance. Apparently the arrival of the new year is the signal for our insurer to tack on another $100 a month to our insurance bill. This we just can't take. It's gotten to the point of absurdity. But I don't want to have no insurance at all, so we make our deal with the devil. We lower our premiums by accepting more upfront costs. A LOT more. On the up side, when you tell doctors or hospitals you are paying cash, the bill is often lower. The plan is to save the insurance for the really bad stuff.

Car insurance will be next.

Then there's the phone. The local phone lines are so decrepit that we loose 50 - 80% of our service when is rains heavily here. I can't get cell signal in our home (being underground and all) and I don't want to try a call-repeater or change our number (which is tied to our business). The answer? Ooma. Ooma is a VOIP system, like Vonage. But unlike vonage, you buy the hardware once and that's it. Voice quality is also supposedly better. It looks like a pretty sweet system. I bought the base unit and one satalite unit. But I need to get a router working in my office to hook it up to. I also need to test the system with my wonky internet provider. But if it all works, I will be able to change over my landline to Ooma (something Vonage can't do here yet) and start saving an ASSLOAD of money. I'll let you know how it's working in a few days.

The Machine....it WORKS!!!!!!!

Swiss watch found in 400-year-old tomb

Archeologists in China are baffled after finding a tiny Swiss watch in a 400-year-old tomb.

The watch ring was discovered as archeologists were making a documentary with two journalists from Shangsi town.

"When we tried to remove the soil wrapped around the coffin, a piece of rock suddenly dropped off and hit the ground with a metallic sound,? said Jiang Yanyu, former curator of the Guangxi Autonomous Region Museum.

"We picked up the object, and found it was a ring. After removing the covering soil and examining it further, we were shocked to see it was a watch."

The time was stopped at 10:06am, and on the back was engraved the word "Swiss", reports the People's Daily.

Local experts say they are confused as they believe the tomb had been undisturbed since it was created during the Ming dynasty 400 years ago.

They have suspended the dig and are waiting for experts to arrive from Beijing and help them unravel the mystery.

Keen - Pics of shuttle Endeavor

A great set of pics documenting all the steps involved in a typical shuttle mission. Very keen.