AT&T Still Sucks

Wow, 4 times tonight my AT&T U-Verse service has crashed for 5 to 10 minutes at a time.  No TV.  No Internet.

All the TV’s will freeze up and and Internet service drops. Wired and wireless. No light flickers, nothing else in the house is affected, just AT&T U-Verse quits.

I reported this to AT&T 6 times tonight.  SIX.  3 times via online chat sessions that dropped before the “helpful” AT&T rep did anything or actually reported the problem – because THE DAMN AT&T U-VERSE SERVICE DROPPED WHILE I WAS REPORTING THE PROBLEM!!!

And 3 times when I called in to 800-288-2020.  The first two is because AT&T disconnected me because I have home U-Verse service, and they wouldn’t take a trouble report BECAUSE I DON’T HAVE AN AT&T PHONE NUMBER!!!

I’m serious. The stupid damn AT&T automated IVR system routed me to a place where if I didn’t have an AT&T phone number I was not allowed ANY other options.  No “Please press 0 to speak to a representative” or “Please stand on your head and spin clockwise 3 times while saying blow me” – no nothing.

Simply a recorded message saying (I’m paraphrasing) “I’m sorry, that department is closed. Please call back during normal business hours. Thank you for calling – Goodbye.”

I am really close to telling AT&T goodbye. About a year ago I posted about how AT&T sucks, but damn, 6 attempts to report a problem takes “suck” to a whole new level.

I actually copied the last two chat sessions – since I discovered AT&T doesn’t have that capability after the first chat session crashed and they didn’t keep it…

Remember,  this is the 2nd time I’m attempting to get help from them – the service dropped during the first attempt.

System
Connecting to server. Please wait…
System
Connection with server established.
System
Technical Support Topic: TS&R: More Help
System
Nishanta Adhikary has joined this session!
System
Connected with Nishanta Adhikary
Nishanta Adhikary
Thank you for contacting AT&T U-verse Member Support. My name is Nishanta {na6044}. Please allow me a moment to review your account details with the information you have provided.
Nishanta Adhikary
Meanwhile may I know the name on the U verse account?
You
I am tired of this crappy service – (Name)
You
it won’t even stay up long enough to finish a chat
Nishanta Adhikary
Thank you for confirming…
You
System
Welcome (Name).
System
Connecting to server. Please wait…
System
Connection with server established.
System
Technical Support Topic: TS&R: More Help
System
bc740r(BISHWARUP) has joined this session!
System
Connected with bc740r(BISHWARUP)
bc740r(BISHWARUP)
Thank you for contacting AT&T Uverse Member Care. My name is Bishwarup (bc740r). Please allow me 2 minutes to review your account details with the information you have provided.
bc740r(BISHWARUP)
I was able to access your ac
You
I tried to paste in the last chat session but it won’t let me
You
is there a number I can call to actually talk to someone to report this problem
System
Your agent has been disconnected from the system, you are now being transferred to your original queue. Please stand by…
System
Nishanta Adhikary has left this session!
System
nr475y(Nikky) has joined this session!
System
Connected with nr475y(Nikky)
nr475y(Nikky)
Thank you for contacting AT&T U-verse Member Support. My name is Nikky(nr475y) Please allow me a moment to review your account details with the information you have provided.
You
the 800 288 2020 number won’t allow me to report the problem
You
it says the office is closed
nr475y(Nikky)
I am so sorry for the inconvenience caused.
You
Just get it fixed
nr475y(Nikky)
could you please let me know the issue?
You
the whole system dies when it rains. no tv, no internet
You
it’s cut out 3 times already tonight
You
I am sick and tired of typing this same info
You
It’s like rain fade with satellite, except the internet also dies
You
with this error: Gateway Authentication FailureGateway Authentication Failure. Please contact your Service Provider.

nr475y(Nikky)
Thank you for the information
You
Everything else in the house stays working. no power glitches.
nr475y(Nikky)
Please be with me I will quickly go ahead and check for the information.
You
all TV’s lose signal up and all internet (wireless and wired devices) freeze up and get the not connected error.
nr475y(Nikky)
How long have you been experiencing this issue?
You
6 or 8 months
nr475y(Nikky)
Did you perform any troubleshooting steps so far from your end?
You
what am I supposed to do on “my end”? All devices have been restarted multiple times. It’s the ATT UVERSE THAT DROPS – FIX IT
nr475y(Nikky)
ohh
You
It’s your bo that I’m renting
You
box
nr475y(Nikky)
I will need to run some line test from my end
You
the last guy did that right before your service dropped earlier too
You
about 15 minutes ago
nr475y(Nikky)
I want to make sure I get this issue resolved for you. I will transfer this session to our 2nd level of technical support. The next specialist will be able to
view our entire conversation and you wouldn’t have to repeat yourself.
Can I go ahead and transfer our session?
You
yes – will it be saved if my end drops again?
You
it’s getting ridiculous
nr475y(Nikky)
I can understand your concern
nr475y(Nikky)
yes they will take care of the issue
System
You are being transferred to another queue. Please stand by…
System
nr475y(Nikky) has left this session!
System
Tier2 – Lawrence (lr7563) has joined this session!
System
Connected with Tier2 – Lawrence (lr7563)
Tier2 – Lawrence (lr7563)
Hello, I want to thank you for chatting AT&T U-verse Tier 2 Technical Support from Arizona! My name is Lawrence, and my personal ID is lr7563. How may I help you today?
You
the last rep said you could see our chat – so I surely hope I don’t have to explain it again for the 3rd time tonight…
You
Gateway Authentication FailureGateway Authentication Failure. Please contact your Service Provider.

You
everything dies. TV and internet – 3 tv’s and all wired and wireless devices
You
goes out for 3 or 4 minutes and comes back
Tier2 – Lawrence (lr7563)
After looking over the chat session and the information you have provided, I understand that we are currently having an issue with intermittent services , would you say that is correct?
You
everytime it rains
You
that means yes, it’s intermittent
You
yup, just lost it again
You
so you’ll never see this
System
The session has ended!
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Rombama? Robama? Obamney?

Rombama? Robama? Obamney?  I don’t know what name will ultimately be used for this seemingly inevitable putridity of a choice, but it will suck.  Because there is no real choice between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

Except for a few of the “I’m more Christian than Christ” stupidities that all Republicans evidently have to parrot, they have the same positions on everything that matters.  Real stuff, like continuing stupid wars, TARP, bailouts, stimulus, payroll tax cuts, and of course RObamaCare.

Though Romney will loudly shout about the nuances that make his positions ever-so-slightly different than something Obama said, when you actually look at the policies, they both have the exact damn same positions.

Here’s a link to a story on The Root that compares some of the similarities.

Santorum is even doing it now with his new ad. (Just to be clear, I think Santorum would be an absolute disaster as President, doing everything he can to drag us back to the dark ages, but he’d be better than either Romney or Obama – because most of Santorum’s stupidity wouldn’t pass congress.)

The Tea Party Tribune goes after ObamneyCare as well. No, I haven’t read the site before tonight, it came up in a search. But I like the way the article ends: Romney is smart … he graduated from Harvard. Strange, so did Obama. Gee, it appears the striking similarities between Romney and Obama are quite, well, striking. Let’s just call it hope and change … Republican style.

Even PolitiFact can’t deny that there’s really no difference between ObamaCare and RomneyCare.

Meet the new boss…. Same as the old boss….

Send a REAL message.  Vote Libertarian and show the Republicrats we don’t like the “choice” they are giving us.  If you can’t bring yourself to vote Libertarian, at least vote against the incumbents.  You know, the dimwits who voted for RobamaCare, who voted for the bailouts, who voted for TARP, and for Afghanistan/Iraq.  FIRE THEM ALL!

gk

 

 

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5D Mark III Availability

I posted links to some REAL reviews of the Canon 5D Mark III yesterday, and mine arrived from Adorama yesterday as well.  Since I only placed my order on Friday (March 23rd) and I’ve heard horror stories about other places, I decided to write a post about it.

In short, Amazon is out. They currently say “Usually ships within 1 to 3 months”.  I also saw a post about B&H stock (sorry, I don’t remember where) where it said they sold out of their initial stock of 800 and had 4000 backordered. Even Adorama now says it’s back to taking “preorders”  and they’ll ship when they get more. Adorama was showing that they had it in stock when I ordered Friday – which is why I ordered from them. :-)

In short, this is obviously a hot item. I would recommend calling before placing an order with anyone.

gk

 

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Canon 5D Mark III Reviews

I decided to collect some links to real reviews of the new Canon 5D Mark III.  I wasted a lot of time clicking through links, only to find that something touted as a “review” was actually a “preview” and simply talked about the specs and operation of the 5D Mark III based off of a Canon press release.  Boo….

Since the 5D Mark III has been arriving in peoples hands for a couple of days now, there will be plenty of reviews soon.

These are all links to people who have used the actual 5D Mark III (or 5D3 or 5DM3) as I sometimes see) so you can actually read opinions and see plenty of sample pictures.  I don’t care much about video, so these will be primarily photography focused reviews.  Enjoy!

Ken Rockwell (My favorite photography site.)

PhotoFocus.com 5D Mark III review

Laurie Bracewell Photography

Engadget

Gizmodo

Jeff Ascough

Camera Labs

Steve DePino

The Digital Picture

Customer reviews at Amazon (Just a couple so far, but I’m sure it will increase rapidly.)

Martin Bailey Photography (He also has a podcast review available)

Spoken Word (Audio review)

Trent Chau

Jan Shim (Lot’s of detail on the menu options)

CNET Asia

Bamber Photography

Digilloyd

Patrick Butler (Notes and comments from using it to shoot a wedding – Excellent!)

Digital Rev (YouTube video review of Canon 5D Mark III)

Ron Martinsen’s Photography (Great real world info, and additional links to more 5D3 stuff at the bottom)

I’ll add more as they become available.

gk

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Funny Status Messages

I’ve decided to start a new category of posts for status messages.  Basically things I see that would be funny as a status message on Facebook.  Some of these I’ve used, other’s I’d like to use but for various reasons – such as I don’t want kids to see, or so as to not offend friends or family – I haven’t used.

I’ll tag them all with “status” so they’ll be easy to search.  Note that I created very few of these, most of them are statuses from friends or found on various sites  like Twitter.  Enjoy!

  • My doctor said I should stop masturbating. I asked “Why, is is harmful?”  She said “No, it’s distracting.”
  • Every time I get drunk I end up doing something stupid. My girlfriend for instance.
  • Some people just can’t get along. For example, my wife and my girlfriend can’t ever be in the same room without screaming and fighting.
  • I couldn’t find the thingy that peels the carrots and potatoes, so I asked the kids if they’d seen it. Apparently she left me yesterday.
  • Job application at Hooters. They give you a bra and say, “Please fill this out.”
  • Don’t worry, it’s only kinky the first time.
  • Romantic films ruin relationships as they give unrealistic expectations to women about what to expect from men. Porn has the same effect on men.
  • I hate double standards. If a chick bangs a bunch of dudes, she’s a slut. If a guy does it, he’s a homosexual.
  • A recent study says that weight loss dramatically boosts men’s sexual health. Time to start hitting the gym ladies…
  • Just saw the neighbor’s kid spraying whipped cream on his cat. I’m guessing he overheard something last night he wasn’t supposed to….
  • Dear Dr Phil: I was looking at my next door neighbor’s daughter sunbathing topless from my bedroom window. As I was masturbating I noticed my wife just standing there, arms folded, watching me. Is she a pervert?
  • I’m wearing pajamas and buying vodka at 11 am on a Thursday….  No, I won’t need a receipt.
  • This woman at Walmart has a lovely set of March Madness teeth. She’s down to the final 4.
  • You never realize what you have till its gone. Toilet paper is a good example.
  • I want to drown my troubles, but I can’t get my wife to go swimming.
  • I figured out how to turn my dishwasher into a snow remover. I handed her a shovel.
  • The stock market crash is worse than divorce.  I lost half of my assets and I still have a wife.
  • Why is divorce so expensive? It’s worth it.
  • My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met.
  • Swallow, or it’s going into your eye.
  • Don’t be sexist, chicks hate that.
  • My doctor told me I’m a compulsive liar. Then she gave me a blow job in her office.
  • My wife just caught me blow drying my penis and asked me what was I doing.  Apparently “heating your dinner” wasn’t the right answer.
  • My wife still thinks the ‘silent treatment’ is a punishment.
  • Why is it when a woman gets pregnant, her friends rub her belly and say congratulations, but no one rubs the mans penis and says good job?
  • We split the house when we got divorced. I got the outside.
  • Actually, you are not the stupidest person in the world.  But if he were to die….
  • Please believe me, offending you is the last thing I want to do. But it is on the list.
  • Don’t make fun of fat people who lisp.  They are thick and tired of it.
  • We use 300 muscles to keep our balance when we stand. The length of a penis is three times the length of the thumb.  The femur is as hard as concrete.  A womans heart beats faster than a mans. A woman has read this entire post. A man is still looking at his thumb.
  • I hate waiting in lines. I wish this woman would hurry up and pick a suspect.
  • If your boyfriend remembers your eye color after the first date, then you probably have small tits.
  • If it has tits or tires, it’s gonna cause problems.
  • I have a trophy wife, but it wasn’t for first place.
  • When a man with a lisp says bithness, he means business.
  • A rich old lady with a terminal illness is so hard to find these days.
  • If not now, when? If not me, who? … Well, duh: “Later” and “Somebody else”.

gk

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Why blame Obama for Afghanistan?

So I run across this story where Republicans are blaming Obama for the problems in Afghanistan.  And while I’m no fan of Obama, I have to wonder WTF these dudes are smoking?

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and ex-senator Rick Santorum assailed the president on separate television talks shows as creating an untenable situation by setting a hard-and-fast 2014 timetable for a US withdrawal.

‘If the game plan is we’re leaving irrespective of whether we’re going to succeed or not, then why are we still there?’ asked Mr Santorum on ABC’s This Week. “Let’s either commit to winning, or let’s get out.’ The attacks from the right came as the administration was struggling to contain the fallout from a massacre of 16 villagers, many of them women and children, by a US soldier who allegedly went on a rampage March 11 in southern Afghanistan.

So both Frothy Mixture Santorum and Flip Flop Mitt are now blaming Obama for Afghanistan.  That’s like blaming Nixon for Vietnam, or Truman for WWII.  Morons.

gk

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Do as I say, not as I do.

So it looks like the government has gotten concessions out of private banks in regards to outstanding mortgage balances. According to USA Today  the settlement requires the five leading mortgage servicers to forgive at least $10 billion in principal that homeowners owe on mortgages. That will help underwater borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

But will you get relief? It depends on who owns your loan.

Some Bank of America borrowers will see their principal cut to the point where they will not be underwater.

But the settlement terms only require JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citibank to write down mortgages to the point where borrowers’ loans are 20% more than home values, although the banks can write them down deeper.

Ally Financial, meanwhile, has settlement terms that require it to write down some first-lien home loans to no more than 5% above the home’s value.

And if you have a Fanny Mae or Freddie Mac loan?  Fugget about it!

Distressed homeowners whose loans are owned by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae won’t benefit from the settlement at all. That’s half of all home loans.

Note that I am NOT saying there should be any mortgage loan modifications at all.  I think doing so simply prolongs the actual price discovery process and drags the housing crisis out longer. I think those who don’t make their payments should be foreclosed on, and the banks then sell the properties at market value – real market value as determined at an auction.

This is the worst of all possible outcomes, because the government sets one set of rules for itself, and another for private lenders.  This is what happens when the government gets involved with the free market – they pick winners and losers.

The market (consumers) should pick winners and losers. Bad banks and lenders go broke and disappear, while good ones – those who didn’t loan money to any warm body holding a pen – get rewarded. This mixed economy crap gives capitalism and the “free” market a bad name when neither had a damn thing to do with creating the problem.

gk

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Romney edges closer to batshit crazy

The Republicans have certainly had their share of experience with candidates dropping off the deep end into “batshit crazy” territory.

Exhibit A was Bachmann, then Perry, then Gingrich – and Santorum has always been borderline lunatic – but for all his faults Romney at least seemed sane.

He must be getting desperate to connect to the ignorant base of the party, because today (according to CBS) he said that the “gas hike trio” (Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson) were hired to make “energy prices go up a lot.”

I am close to putting Romney into the “batshit” category because he – along with almost every other Republican – seems to forget that gas prices were even higher back in 2008 – when Bush was president.  Here’s the chart:

I distinctly remember it, as I drove from Tennessee out west to New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, Colorado, etc. that summer on vacation.  We paid over $4.50 per gallon in California that summer.

As anyone can see from the chart, gas prices then plummeted as the Bush Bubble was busted, plunging the country into the worst recession since the great depression. OF COURSE gas prices came down – the price of basically everything came down at the time because the economy was fucking tanking!

Note that I am not blaming Bush for the high gas prices in 2008. I’m also not going to say Bush did a good thing by pursuing inflationary policies that caused the real estate bubble and subsequent economic crash.

Because Obama took office at the depths of the recession, of course gas prices are higher now than they were when he took office.  But so is the stock market, and I bet you won’t hear ANY Republicans talking about that.

Anyway, by saying that Obama wants high gas prices in an election year, Romney is lying his pandering ass off. For a party that is supposedly religious and moral, they sure lie a lot.

gk

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Don’t bare your underwear?

You’d think TN government would have something better to do with their time that to legislate dress codes in schools, but I guess not.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/mar/16/ban-on-students-showing-underwear-advances/?partner=popular

“A House subcommittee on Wednesday approved Memphis Democrat Joe Towns’ proposal that would prohibit any students from showing their underwear in the way they dress. WPLN radio (http://bit.ly/ApllST ) reported the measure would require female student athletes to wear shirts over sports bras.

Knoxville Republican Bill Dunn agreed, saying he is shocked by how some female athletes dress. The bill was sent on to the House Education Committee. It hasn’t moved in the Senate.

Dress codes have traditionally been left up to local school districts.

Towns earlier championed a “saggy pants” bill”

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Another Mitt Romney Flip-Flop

Gail Collins had a good piece i the NY Times the other day, titled The Bad News is Good News about another Romney flip-flop.  Last week Romney said:

The idea of presidential candidates getting into questions about contraception within a relationship between a man and a woman, husband and wife, I’m not going there.

Except that Romney discovered that the reporter was asking about legislation that Republicans social conservatives were trying to push through, so of course he had to flip-flop to pander to the moron base.

And it turned out that Romney misspoke. He apparently didn’t realize that the subject he was proposing to steer clear of was a Republican plan to allow employers to refuse to provide health care coverage for contraception if they had moral objections to birth control.

He was definitely going there! Mittworld quickly issued a retraction making it clear that Romney totally supports the idea of getting into questions of contraception within a relationship between a man and a woman.

Really, what did you expect? If Romney couldn’t even take a clear stand on Rush Limbaugh’s Slutgate, why would he say anything that forthright unless it was a total error? This is why we can’t get the dog-on-the-car-roof story straightened out. The reporters have their hands full just figuring out Mitt’s position on the biggest controversy of the last month.

That’s the problem with Romney – he doesn’t have any core values, so he says – and does – whatever he thinks the audience wants to hear at the time.  Just like George H Bush, he doesn’t HAVE an opinion. And unless you think George “Read my lips; no new taxes” Bush was a great president, you simply cannot be a serious voter and still support Romney.

Note that I said “voter” and not “conservative” or “republican”.  I understand why conservative voters would vote for him, and I can understand why the “anybody but Obama” crowd would vote for him, but those cannot be called “serious”.  Those groups don’t care about principles, they simply want their big government (as opposed to Obama’s big government) agendas passed.

gk

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