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Chrisbert's LiveJournal:
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| Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 | | 6:14 pm |
Livejournal neglect
Well, I've been woefully neglecting my livejournal. Mostly, this is because I've moved to twitter. But I think I'm going to start having my tweets (or at least links to tweets) posted on my livejournal, as soon as I figure out how. Also, I think I'm going to start posting to livejournal the rants and such that won't fit in 140 characters or less. Meanwhile, my twitter feed is here. | | Monday, August 24th, 2009 | | 11:40 am |
Something to share on the health care debate and the state of politics
Saw this posted anonymously on a board I frequent, and thought it was relevant. You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.
You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.
You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.
You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war.
You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.
You didn't get mad when you saw the Abu Grahib photos.
You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.
You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.
You didn't get mad when we let a major US city drown.
You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.
You finally got mad when.. when... wait for it... when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all ok with you but helping other Americans... well f*ck that. That about right? You know it is. | | Sunday, August 16th, 2009 | | 3:24 am |
Job Seekers Beware!
Scammers are now targeting job seekers.
Video here.Pretty low scamming people who are already unemployed out of money they don't have to lose. Anyone can prey on the desperate, the vulnerable, and the unfortunate. No wonder there's so much damn much misery, when there's people just waiting to gain by making your misery many times worse. So anyway, if you're job searching, be very very aware. Current Mood:  annoyed | | Friday, June 12th, 2009 | | 9:42 am |
Neo-Nazis, Facists, White Supremacists, may I have your attention please?  That is all. | | Friday, April 3rd, 2009 | | 6:12 am |
| | Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 | | 6:45 am |
| | 6:34 am |
| | Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 | | 3:26 am |
| | Monday, October 20th, 2008 | | 3:12 am |
Well, I think I know who Seth McFarlane is voting for. | | Monday, March 3rd, 2008 | | 1:21 pm |
An institution that needs to be institutionalized
I have a 91 year old great aunt who I run errands for in winter because while she still drive, she doesn't drive in winter. Her driveway gets too icy for her to walk down to the garage, much less get her car out, especially at her age. Typically, she makes a check out to me to take to her bank to cash (her bank is closer to her house than mine), and then I go to the grocery store and run other errands she needs done. She banks at Well Fargo. Well, actually, she's had an account for many, many years. It's just through name changes, mergers, etc, she's ended up having an account with Well Fargo. So the last time I went in to cash a check from my aunt, they made me sign in to see a personal banker. The personal banker has to check my id's, get a bunch of information from me, and put it into a profile in their computer. Of course, they tried to offer me a Wells Fargo Free Checking account, which I declined, because I already have a checking account that's convenient for my own business. The only time I go to Well Fargo is when I go to cash a check from my great aunt, a check drawn from that bank. Apparently, what I didn't catch was that fact that I was still going to have to sign in, wait for a personal banker, verify my id and information, and then hear an offer for a Well Fargo account every time I want to cash a check drawn at that bank, simply because I myself don't have an account. They say it for security. They could provide the same security at the teller window: pulling up my profile, checking my two forms of ID, getting my thumb print on the check. No, instead, they prefer to inconvenience me, and pester me to get an account with them. Instead, I would think that getting people to sign up for an account they rarley use and don't monitor closely would open up countless opportunities for both bank fraud and identity theft. That's not even the kicker. The "selling point" the personal banker tried to hand me about getting a Well Fargo Free Checking account was that I'd again be able to go and use the teller windows instead of waiting for a personal banker! WHAT A LOAD! First of all, having an account I neither want nor need is not a convenience, it's a burden and a liability. Second, don't make a transaction more complicated and time consuming than it should even be, and then try to "sell" me on the convenience of having a bank account there. One, that's pissing on my leg and telling me it's raining, and two, why would I want to bank somewhere that I know will make it inconvenient as possible for someone who does not have an account there to cash a check from me? Cashing a check drawn on an account at a given bank, whether the person cashing the check is an account holder or not, is a very basic service. Yes, it is reasonable to put security measure in place, but not this policy. Why would I want to put someone through that? Even more to the point, why in hell would I bank someone that I know is going to put someone though that? To really split hairs, why in the world would I even want to bank somewhere that put *ME* through that? I let the personal banker know just how I felt about this policy. I told him that that measures that were actually relevant to security could easily be handled by a teller, and I knew the rest was a ploy to get people to sign up for account. I further informed him that these methods had quite the opposite effect with me, and that given the way I way being treated for trying to perform a basic function at a banking institution, opening a Well Fargo account was the least likely result of their efforts. At the conclusion of the transaction, I told the banker that I understood he had to implement the policies that the bank tell him to implement, but that I would like him to forward my complaints up the chain. This is just plain bullshit. If they were serious about security, they wouldn't try to get people to sign up for accounts they didn't need and didn't want. A rarely or disused account is also likely not to be monitored by the customer very closely. Such accounts are an open invitation for bank fraud and identity theft. Making me wait for a personal banker who is going to pester me to open a account with them is not the way to get me to open an account. Being competitive (such as having lower fees and providing better customer service, pretty much the opposite of Wells Fargo) would be the way to get more people. Whether I have an account or not, when I take a check drawn from a particular bank, and I present it endorsed with proper ID, I expect to be able to cash it with a minimum of hassle, unless there's some kind of a problem. This is one of the most basic, fundamental functions that a bank can perform. If they could perform this basic function with a minimum of fuss and give good customer service, that might be a way to entice me into getting a checking account there, if I didn't have one somewhere else or was dissatisfied with my present financial institution. Instead, they had only two tellers out of six windows in the morning on the first business day of the month. Then I find out I have to wait for a personal banker to give me a sales pitch under the guise of security. If that's the way they treat you before they even get you signed up with an account, I don't want to find out how they treat you once you do have an account. The last thing that pisses me off is that I sound like an old man when I go off on rant about stuff like this, dammit. Current Mood:  pissed off | | Friday, January 25th, 2008 | | 1:13 am |
| | Monday, November 12th, 2007 | | 2:43 pm |
Dental work done
Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It helped that the bone had emerged more, so instead of cutting into my gum, they were just able to pull it out with a pair of tweezers after numbing everything up. Novacaine is the WEIRDEST thing. I can only feel pressure on the right side of my face/mouth. Half my tongue is numb. It feels like I have the side of a cow in my mouth, I talk like a stroke victim and I'm salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs to a mechanical alarm clock. That went a lot easier than I was anticipating. Of course, I was anticipating asking the doctor to strap me down to the chair. Current Mood:  relieved | | Sunday, November 11th, 2007 | | 5:15 am |
| | Sunday, November 4th, 2007 | | 2:16 am |
Can you spot the problem in this picture?  Current Mood:  amused | | Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 | | 7:32 pm |
At least nobody stole my Vicodin...
| My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul |
|---|
| Chrisbert goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as Dr. Gregory House. | | clawdia gives you 5 teal mint-flavoured gummy worms. | | ditzwill gives you 7 dark green blueberry-flavoured pieces of bubblegum. | | gretchen_marie gives you 3 purple apple-flavoured pieces of chewing gum. | | hoopycat tricks you! You lose 14 pieces of candy! | | j3nny3lf gives you 19 softly glowing watermelon-flavoured gumdrops. | | jdev gives you 16 brown coconut-flavoured gummy worms. | | mybadhairlife tricks you! You lose 23 pieces of candy! | | nymphofairy tricks you! You get a rotten egg. | | silvair tricks you! You get a used tissue. | | veryfineredwine tricks you! You get a toothbrush. | | Chrisbert ends up with 13 pieces of candy, a rotten egg, a used tissue, and a toothbrush. | | Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern. |
Then again, maybe the Vicodin's why I was tricked so many times. | | Sunday, October 28th, 2007 | | 4:15 pm |
I was out running errands today. I'm pissed about something really stupid a couple teenage girls did. As I was going along Euclid, there were two girls on a street corner, getting ready to cross. One started to step out, but the other girl held her back. They actually waited for me to get *CLOSER* before stepping out RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY CAR. I swerved, of course, and missed them. But when I looked in my rearview mirror, they were looking toward me and laughing!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE??!After checking for other cars around me, I pulled a tire squealing u-turn turn and went to tell them off. Their only retort was to comment on my u-turn. I really hope those two don't reproduce. The gene pool is polluted as it is. Current Mood: pissed off | | Saturday, September 29th, 2007 | | 4:58 pm |
Windsor Heights Police
So yesterday evening, my exhaust came loose while on the way to pick up my finance ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ditzwill from work. This happened around 4:15pm. I got kinda bent out of shape cause we're going to a wedding Sunday, I had shopping to do at Penny's (which I didn't get up early enough to do), and I was sure I was going to get pulled over at some point by police, most likely the Windsor Heights, Iowa police. I *really* hate it when I'm right about things like that. I tired to get it fixed this afternoon at the BP station on 8th st. in West Des Moines. They don't do exhaust, but the one on 35th St. does. I went there, and found out they're open tomorrow and I could bring it in, but I knew I'd have to make sure I had a different way to get to the wedding. I couldn't reach her by phone (she left it at my house, and she was sleeping in anyway), so I found out when they closed tonight so I could call later to tell them whether I could bring it in Sunday. I decide that I'll go talk to her after I get my haircut and get clothes shopping done. So I get my shopping done, and head over to Ditzwill's house, which, unfortunatly, is in Windsor Heights. I was going down Hickman at around 4:15pm, when I had the misfortune to go by a Windsor Heights cops, who followed me onto the street and into the driveway (she lives right on the corner). "You've got a *LOUD* exhaust," says the officer, who asks for my license, registration, and proof of insurance. I explained to him when it got loud, when I planned to get it fixed, that it was my only vehicle, and that I was trying to make arrangement so I could get it fixed. He gives me a written warning, and tells me that if I keep driving it around, I can be pulled over and ticketed. Seriously, couldn't he have just given me a verbal warning? Cops do have a bit of discretion. It's not like I was trying to pull a fast one on him or anything. Yeah, I know my exhaust is loud. I'm trying to get it fixed. IT'S A FUCKING WEEKEND. Not EVERYBODY has the money to just up and go to any place that can fix the car right away. Sure, there's a noise ordinance, but there's also a little thing I like to call REASON. My main problem with this cop is the attitude he had. The way he said, "Your muffler is LOUD." The way he told me, after running a warrant check, running my plates, and writing me a warning, "if you keep driving this car around, you may be subsequently pulled over and ticketed." Maybe instead of harassing motorists on Hickman and University (or me, for having a loud exhaust), they should put a little more effort into cracking the recent rash of burglaries. Makes me wonder what happens in Windsor Heights if you're anything but white. ` Current Mood: annoyed | | Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 | | 9:46 pm |
| | Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 | | 4:03 pm |
I'm at work, and since there's no customers right now, I've sitting at a table with a notebook computer in front of me (with a wireless mouse). I decided to start reading a book I have in my backpack. Anyway, when I got towards the bottom of the page, I grabbed the wireless mouse and tried to scroll the page of AN ACTUAL, PHYSICAL, PRINTED BOOK. I wonder if there's any psychological studies about something along the lines of "interface confusion." Current Mood: amused | | Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 | | 9:47 pm |
Argentinians Come to America to Eat Chinese Food
As many of you know, I work at a Chinese buffet. We had two buses pull in today, with most of the people on them coming into our buffet. Some others went to a Godfather's Pizza or a subway, but about 40-50 had the buffet. They were a group from Argentina that was touring farms, looking at farming equipment and methods. It was in recounting this experience that ditzwill the subject above. :) Current Mood: amused |
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