Category: Blog

10May

Verizon. AGAIN.

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The details are irrelevant. Suffice to say another billing cockup with Verizon. Another equipment cockup with Verizon. And no one wants to be responsbile or provide a solution UNTIL you result to dogshaming. Yes, dogshaming*.

Dogshaming in this context is posting on the Verizon community forums. Calling customer service directly yields zero results. But once you post something on the public forums that are indexed by Google you will get a response from a customer support person via email to start a private support resolution. And you will get someone calling you the next day. With a solution.

The question is why it has to work like this. Why are solutions not provided at 1-800-Verizon? It also begs the question as to why there are problems in the first place over really basic issues like getting the service you contracted for at the price you contracted for.

The other wacky component in all of this is that even the private support people don’t have administrative authority to correct a specific problem with a specific fix. They have to dig around in their archive of special offers and find some offer that hasn’t expired and apply it to your case. They don’t have the ability to customize solutions. They don’t even seem to have the ability to give you the deal you contracted for in the first place. They have to do these contorted workarounds.

I’m still not sure if our problem is solved. I have to wait for the next billing cycle and see if the latest layer of workarounds actually  …. work.

*the one and only Dogshaming website is a marvel to behold. Go visit them. It will make your day.

 

 

 

01May

My hair and boar hair

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Hair!

Hair!

I have recently started brushing my hair with a boar bristle hair brush. My hair is very fine textured but it has a lot of wave. A lot of the wave gets lost because the length and weight pulls it out which is the only downside to having long hair.

Nightly brushing has made my hair shinier because the brush distributes the natural oil from my scalp. It also gets crazy fullness from the brushing. And it just feels good.

01May

Loss of the ‘Comment Culture’

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I was thinking today that part of the reason LJ, and to some extent, DW isn’t working for a lot of people is that we’ve lost the comment culture. On Twitter, unless you’re there in the moment, there’s little point in commenting/replying. On AO3 most people use kudos rather than making a comment. Tumblr isn’t made for a conversation, comments back and forth require reblogging the same thing again and again. I remember such great comment conversations with people in fandoms where story ideas were born, where ideas and thoughts and everything were exchanged. I don’t know if it was like that for a lot of people, but that is one of the things I love about the format of LJ/DW.

So saith a wise woman that I have known in fandom for more years than I’m willing to admit to. And it’s sad, actually. At least I find it sad. I LOVE the comment culture. Or at least what it was. Through LJ I found so many wonderful women and made so many friends. But things change, people move on, and a lot of them have gone to other platforms. I’ve investigated the other platforms like Tumblr and it really doesn’t make for relationships in ways that were fostered by the LJ culture in its prime. The fracturing of LJ was due to changes in ownership and bullshit changes in policy. It scattered people to the winds.

I miss those times and I miss those friends.

26Apr

Mirror, Mirror on that Wall

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Rhoda Kahler installationI was really impressed by the art installation I saw today. The work is in progress but it is far enough along that you can really see how wonderful this will be when finished. The artist is Rhoda Kahler. She opened her workspace and process workbook so I could see the concept drawing for the finished wall which was extremely generous. After all the mosaics are installed the remaining wall surfaces will be painted with a copper patina paint. If you are traveling on High Street in West Chester, PA, you can catch a glimpse of it from the street.

14Apr

John Carter

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Just watched John Carter for the umpteenth time and I love it more with every watching. *FANGIRLS*

Disney, you suck wholesale for making sure this movie would fail even before it left the gatehouse. Even worse is the absolutely unforgivable sin of  not making a plush Woola. Here’s hoping your mouse ears rot and fall off.

No love, Me.

13Apr

Growstuff.org

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SONY DSCI recently joined a new website project, Growstuff.org.

The site owners can describe it better than I can.

“Growstuff is a community of food gardeners. We’re building an open source platform to track, share, and discuss edible gardens and sustainable lifestyles. We offer growing information tailored to your location, and help you connect with your local food-growing community.”

This isn’t a flower gardening or non-edible landscaping site. It’s about growing food and sharing knowledge and making connections. And it’s free to join.

DO IT.

02Apr

Happy Birthday Maria Sibylla Merian

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Merian_Maria_Sibylla_1647-1717From the Christian Science Monitor:

So why should we care about Merian all these centuries later? Well, as the website of the J. Paul Getty Museum puts it, Merian and her daughters (more on them later) were not just extremely talented artists. They were also pioneers who “raised the artistic standards of natural history illustration and helped transform the field of entomology.”

And Wikipedia:

Merian received her artistic training from her stepfather, Jacob Marrel, a student of the still life painter Georg Flegel. She remained in Frankfurt until 1670, relocating subsequently to Nuremberg,Amsterdam and West Friesland. In 1699, she spent two years in Surinam on the encouragement of Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck, the then-governor of the South American Dutch colony. Upon her return to Europe, she published her major work, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, for which she became famous. Because of her careful observations and documentation of themetamorphosis of the butterfly, she is considered one of the most significant contributors to the field of entomology.[1]