Travel Resolutions

Portland-based Boots-N-All wants to know your travel resolutions for 2012. Mine are a little tricky because I’m 99% sure I’m going on the longest trip of my life, but I don’t yet know where. So please . . . suggest some destinations where I can be sunnier than home and live inexpensively.

I’m currently thinking 1-3 months in Mexico, Central, or South America. If I go, my resolution is to be a Spanish student, informally out of need, and formally for structure. I’ll have the luxury of time away from my job, and it would be quite easy to lie in a hammock for 90 days and nights. An immersion program would be a good challenge. So that’s my contingent resolution.

If instead I go back to Asia, I resolve to learn a few more phrases in whatever language is needed. It’s polite. It’s important. But I also know my limits and the truth is that I will not likely ever learn an Asian language. I also resolve to go to Burma or Laos if I’m bordering either country.

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Cheers, then.

A few weeks ago I spent an evening as an extra for the filming of Chervona’s holiday/New Year video. I met some new friends and had a great time.

Two of my new friends mention me on their own blogs. Read more at the American Robotnik and Chicken Dragon.

I’ll see everyone at Chervona’s Russian New Year Party!

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Metafilter Transparency

Hey Cortex aka Josh Millard, Jessamyn West, Matt Haughey, Paul Bausch, others,

It’s not that long of a story. But I guess it’s easier to claim I was being a pain than for you all to admit you were thin-skinned censors.

Here’s the story as I recall. I created a site called Metaflippant, endorsed by Cortex, and posted it on the Metafilter Projects wall. I believe he even claimed it was funny. Matt didn’t like it so much.

All broke down when a Metafilter “poweruser” sent me an unsolicited direct message saying the same thing which is basically being repeated by some in your current thread,  (which is what alerted me to it. For the record, I’m not the twitter user everyone’s whining about.)

I featured the poweruser’s initials (initials that stand for a screenname of one of tens of thousands of MF users, rather than a real name) on the Metaflippant site, along with a half sentence from her quote. Jessamyn and I knew of each other prior because we share a profession and some national attention for different reasons. We later met in person at a Metafilter event in Portland, so I was surprised she took the link down to Metaflippant without any discussion. As a fellow librarian, I found her action deeply troubling.

It soon came out that she and Cortex are friends and/or bandmates of the poweruser. So both opted to side with her. I assume Matt and Paul are buddies with her too. I’d met and even shared a few meals with them and once gave Matt a $50 gift certificate he didn’t acknowledge. Paul chose a Metafilter event to make a friend I brought feel unwelcome by approaching him, laughing with an Iphone displaying a Metafilter thread in which one of his poweruser buddies physically threatened my friend for allegedly paying the $5 to join and attend for free beer. Ha ha. My friend, btw, was a VP at Akamai when they went public. I talked him into attending the MeFi meetup because he was looking for “talent” for his then-new company. As you might imagine, he doesn’t need handouts.

Anyway, back to my story. I chatted with Jessamyn and it quickly devolved into a righteous speech from her and a declaration to take it to whatever the board is called where Metafilter mediation supposedly takes place. That was a joke. Paul was the first to post, preaching that I’d posted contents of a private email. Nevermind that it was unsolicited and there was about 0% chance of knowing who sent it as I posted it with initials accompanying a pseudonym. He set the tone for a pile-on.

Eventually Matt canceled my membership at Metafilter. As it’s something that one pays for and he was unappreciative of my gift to him, and because I don’t want him to earn advertising revenue from my posts and comments, I told him he would have to remove them all or I would get a lawyer. Cortex can call that being a pain all he wants.

Incidentally, the poweruser who essentially ended my relationship with Metafilter had marked one of my posts as best answer. A colleague of mine is her next door neighbor and tells me the house is constantly filled with smoke. Perhaps it’s time for a little less weed and paranoia? Perhaps it’s time for thick skin and transparency too.

I don’t wish ill will on any of them, but I do wish I had a bigger venue for telling the true story. In fact, I saw Matt and shook his hand on opening night of Conan’s tour. As usual, it seemed like he had no idea who I was. I was just glad he was attempting to have a sense of humor.

Happy New Year everyone!

 

 

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He’s makin’ a list.

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Sentimental

Although I believe it is responsible for the death of blogging, I have to thank Facebook for many things blogs might never do. Take this for example: I posted a Poi Dog Pondering video on Facebook and it inspired some comments which eventually led to the gentle reminder that my dear friend MJ is the person who originally introduced me to them, probably circa 1989. She may or may not have learned about them through Dana, a Hawaiian I met only once in real life at Carleton College, where the two met. Dana and I are Facebook friends, of course, and MJ? Well I’ve known her in real life since we were in 6th grade. They’re both moms now. Started (no-offense) a bit later in life than some of my other friends, the same age, who have grown children, old enough to know they were born transgendered. And here I am, 42, childfree, hoping to make it past 53, when my dad’s life ended. I’m hoping to make it to at least double what I’ve lived. I want to live. I want to live. I have a new mantra.

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Customer Service Updates

We’ve got a winner and some losers and some meh.

  1. The winner is SiriusXM. After my frustrating chat, I spoke by phone with a a gentleman who got my service straightened out and replaced a defective radio for free. The radio arrived promptly and Jackie activated it with a push of the button and good cheer. I was impressed all around.
  2. Comcast is meh. I turned off my digital voice service in lieu of VOIP which is a few bucks a month. Paid to have my current number ported from Comcast, which conveniently neglected to cancel the service.
  3. Loser: Capital One continues to disappoint. More wasted phone time. More paperwork on the way. They canceled my old card and sent a new one “with complimentary shipping.” Seriously? Like I was gonna pay for that? Do they really want to continue to make me work for the unlawful $28 charge in Mexico?
  4. Bonus Loser: ODS. No word from corporate.
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How NOT to run a customer service chat: case study with Sirius XM

Justin: Hi, my name is Justin, Thank you for contacting SiriusXM. How may I help you?
Justin: Hello Alan. How are you doing?
Alan Cordle: Hi Justin — my radio no longer works. I’d like to keep
Alan Cordle: my Internet only plan
Alan Cordle: but deactivate my radio and that plan: UW7LTxxx
Justin: I am sorry to hear that. Please give me a moment to access your account.
Justin: Can you please verify two of the following items to ensure I have accessed the correct account?
Account number:
Phone number:
Radio ID/ESN:
Email Address:
Alan Cordle: radio: UW7LTxxx
Alan Cordle:
Account Number:
1-1xx0626xxx
Justin: Thank you.
Alan Cordle: phone 503.249.xxxx
Justin: What is the issue with the radio?
Justin: Is it having any technical issue?
Alan Cordle: it no longer works at all. it is the 2nd one that has burned out
Justin: I am sorry to hear that.
Alan Cordle: Me too. I think they are poorly made. But I like the service, so if you would remove the radio and keep my Internet listening, I would appreciate it.
Justin: Alan, to cancel the account you need to call our listener care representative at 1-866-635-2349 .
Justin: I will make a note on the account about the our conversation.
Alan Cordle: Why did you not tell me that at the beginning?
Justin: I have to make a note on the account so that you do not have to go through the same process. They will check the notes and will understand the issue and assist you with cancellation and provide you all the other options.
Justin: Thank you for understanding.
Justin: Is there anything else I can do for you?
Alan Cordle: I don’t need other options. I would like my radio deactivated and to keep Internet only, as I said more than once. Why have a chat service if you’re going to make customers duplicate their effort and time?
Justin: Alan, I understand your concern and value your time. Once you contact the phone support it will not take much time as I have made a detail notes on the account.
Justin: This minimizes the time when you call, so without verification I could even make a note on your account.
Alan Cordle: As I am going to put this conversation on my blog, perhaps you could tell people what kinds of things the chat service can do for customers.
Justin: Sorry for the typo, I mean I could not even make notes on your account without verification.
Justin: I will surely provide your feedback to our next level department.
Justin: Is there anything else I can do for you?
Alan Cordle: Yes. I am still curious about the purpose of siriusxm chat.
Justin: Alan, customers feedback is always counted and I will definitely provide your valuable feedback to our next level department and they will surely think about your concern as well.
Alan Cordle: Um. Thanks?
Justin: You are welcome.
Alan Cordle: Goodbye.
Justin: Bye and take care.
Justin: I hope that I have answered all of your questions. Thank you for contacting SiriusXM and have a nice day.
Alan Cordle: You have not. You too.
Justin has disconnected.

Posted in consumer, money, tech, waste | 1 Comment

Van Stone, King of Maya Glyphs

Dr. Mark Van Stone, one of my fellow Fellows on the Re-visioning the Maya World Institute should have actually been one of the faculty. He co-wrote the book, Reading the Maya Glyphs, with Michael Coe. His newest book is a scholarly look at the significance of 2012.

He’s also a talented artist. When he lived here in Portland (I never knew him until this summer), he was partly responsible for sculpting the California Raisins during his time at Will Vinton Studios. His “Pirates Code Book” can be seen in the third entry of Pirates of the Caribbean. Another Fellow at our Institute is a talented illustrator and has written more about Mark.

But he still has time for the little people. While waiting for a friend to get a haircut in Belize, Mark gave a few of us Sharpie tattoos.
DSC08355
At the end of the Institute, he presented each of us with our full names in Maya glyphs. I love mine and just hope that it’s right-side up here:
glyph

Posted in belize, mexico | 2 Comments

Health Insurance Woes with ODS

My life changed when I finally started getting treated for A.D.D. two years ago. With medication and therapy, I can now focus my attention on one task at a time. The first 40 years of my life were all over the place. I’ve written and am revising a book, something which would have been impossible before then.

When I went to pick up my monthly prescription this week, the Rx assistant rang it up as $51.05.

“That can’t be right,” I contested.

She double-checked and it was; ODS has upped the price. I last got the prescription in June and needed a two-month supply since I was going to be out of the country. Two month’s worth cost me $16. One month is now $51.05. That’s a 638% increase in price. My prescription is a generic.

When I spoke with the ODS employee on the phone, it seemed as though she wanted to apologize, but probably has been trained not to. “There are some generics that the company now considers to be preferred. Your drug is one of them.”

On October 1, the cost of my monthly insurance increases to $866.86 for me and my partner. Luckily, my employer subsidizes that. The plan does not include dental nor vision. That’s extra, of course.

So the cost of insurance increases, drugs are reclassed, and if I examine my plan closely, I bet I’ve lost some benefits too. What a world!

Luckily, I can afford the $600 per year for medicine to increase my productivity. Not everyone is as lucky. And you can bet the insurance execs don’t give a shit.

Posted in crime, ethics, health, money | 3 Comments

Maya World

Greetings from Belize. In April I learned I was one of 24 Fellows chosen to participate in the National Endowment for the Humanities Institute about the Maya.

I’m finding little motivation and time to blog here. Feel free to look at my photos in lieu of written content. Some of my colleagues and new friends are keeping blogs. I can’t believe how incredibly fortunate I am to be here with them.

We have a few days left here and then it’s back to Mexico, where we started. I have an invitation to visit a new friend’s mother-in-law, who lives in Juchitán de Zaragoza when the Institute ends. Seems like an incredible opportunity.

Posted in belize, geography, library, mexico, place, teaching, travel | 1 Comment