The Joys of the Gulf Coast
Can you believe it?? Here it is the second week in November, and we now have to worry about a hurricane? In my 35 years, I cannot remember a single time that we had to worry about a hurricane in November! It has always seemed that once we survived September/early October, we were in the clear. That now seems not the case: (Hurricane track courtesy of the National Hurricane Center)
We have Hurricane Ida heading for us now! I know one thing – I plan to avoid the grocery stores the next two days!!
So Where was I?
I know I have been MIA on the social media front as of late. My blog has gone totally neglected for several months now. To say I’ve been busy is to put it mildly, but I will try and catch you up.
In July, I was cast in a local theater production! Chickasaw Civic Theater performed a production of Neal Simon’s “The Odd Couple”. I have not been on stage for several years, and I had the itch to once again perform. I was cast as Roy, one of the poker buddies, and we had a great cast. I spent 2 months in rehearsal and then we had two weeks of performances. We got great reviews, and everyone who saw the show loved it. I loved doing the show and would love be on stage some more, but it appears that my acting career will once again have to take a back seat for a little while.
A week before we started performances, my wife came home with some news. It seems that we now have a bun in the oven! I was completely off guard, and was thrown for a loop – but it was a lovely ride! We are both so excited, and I will begin to chronicle the process here on my blog as we progress from pregnancy to birth and the joys of new parenthood. The baby is due around May 8th, so there is a lot of work to be done between now and then!
Well, after the play wrapped, the beckon of my work called me back to reality. As the Student Data Manager for Mobile County, it’s my job to see that all of our data is in order to be sent to the state so that the school system can be funded. So the last month has been nothing but long hours of making sure all student and teacher schedules are in order, as well as making sure all of our system enrollment and attendance data was accounted for. A lot of work when you consider how many students attend a Mobile County Public School!
I finally wrapped all of those reports up last week, and now I’m slowly getting back to what will be the new routine, preparing for the baby that is to come. So stay tuned, and I’ll let you know how everything goes in the coming months!
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Don’t worry, no spoilers here – at least no intentional spoilers.
Last night, I indulged my inner dorkdom and went to see the new Harry Potter movie at the midnight showing. It seems that I am not alone in my geekiness! There were a lot of people at Carmike’s Wynnsong 16. In fact, when I arrived at the theater at 10:30pm, all tickets were already sold out. Thank goodness I had purchased my ticket on Fandango beforehand. I had no trouble swapping my confirmation for my ticket and in the door I went! With still one and a half hours until the movie, the fans were snaking around the lobby.
It was packed! Wynnsong showed it on 9 theater screens, and shortly after I got into the lobby, they closed the doors and started forming a second line outside. There were a lot of people in costume, and it was a party atmosphere. Around 11:00pm they started seating people in the lobby line, and opened the doors again to allow those in line outside to finally be able to enter the lobby. We got into our theater around 11:30, and everyone was buzzing. We were even entertained at one point with a teenaged Harry Potter ran into the theater with his wand shouting “Expectum Patronum”! He got quite a few laughs. One of the other more interesting things from the night, was that at one point we heard Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin‘” sung by the Chipmonks – I got quite a laugh out of that one. Soon, the previews were rolling, and it was time for the movie!
As for the movie, I loved it! It was a great movie and it reinvigorated my love for the Harry Potter series. I’m excited to see the series brought to a conclusion with the Deathy Hollows movies, which is so big that it’s being split into two movies. The actors are really grown now, and it was interesting to see the changes in some of characters, having re-watched the first 5 movies in anticipation of this one. Did the movie live up to the book? Yes and No. The story was there, but there was also a lot of liberties taken with the details, and that troubled me, but the overall story was great. It seems that at least one of the major themes of the book, Harry’s search to find out who the Half Blood Prince is, was pretty much left out of the movie. Other than a few mentions in the movie and two or three scenes, nothing else was said about it, and it just seemed an afterthought. So much so, that when the Half Blood Prince was revealed near the end of the movie, I was like “oh, yea – forgot about that”! But being limited by a time schedule I guess something had to be left out – and a lot was left out actually, but it was a great movie overall! I would definately recommend any fans, casual or rabid, to go see the movie – it was really very good!
Kentucky Grilled Fiasco!
I’m sure everyone by now has heard about the abysmal launch that Kentucky Fried Chicken had for their new grilled chicken. They taunted their product on Oprah without having the computer power to handle the onslaught of people that would be rushing to print their coupons for the free chicken.
They originally intended for an Internet based coupon system that would allow you to only print a couple of coupons for you and family/friends. Each coupon had a unique identifier and such to stop copies,etc and were good for anytime over the next two weeks (except on Mother’s Day). The problem was that in minutes of going on Oprah, the servers crashed hard, and people got upset with Oprah because they couldn’t print their coupons. Oprah’s site then puts up a generic PDF copy of the coupon, and KFC’s own website follows suit shortly after, thus now allowing unlimited reprints of the coupon. Hilarity ensues, and it seems everyone rushed into KFC for their free chicken. Restaurants had long lines with people waiting hours for their free chicken, traffic was snarled around restaurants, stores were running out of chicken, it was a total disaster. Some restaurants weren’t even honoring the coupons that were printed from the generic coupon version – it was total chaos!
Now, KFC definitely got publicity out of this stunt, and everyone knew about their new grilled chicken now, but in the process I feel they hurt their reputation. Seeing that the situation with the online coupons was definitely not sustainable – and realizing many people had now planned on eating free meals everyday for the next two weeks, KFC abruptly canceled the promotion and backpedaled into a process to issue “rain-checks” instead. The process for obtaining the new coupon was to go into a KFC, fill out a form, attach the original coupon, and either turn it back into the store or mail it in yourself. I felt they should have also posted an online form to fill out and mail in with the original so that I didn’t have go back to the restaurant, but the form was available in-store only. Also, now instead of the original 4 coupons allowed, it was now one coupon per household. To make up for all the troubles with the promotion, KFC’s president was nice enough to include a free drink into the deal now.
So far, I was OK with the promotion. The new mailed coupon should remedy the situation, and there should be no issues redeeming it at any of the restaurants. Well, the other day my “rain-check” arrived. Here is where I feel they failed again. I received on June 25th a coupon that is good for only 2 weeks. OK – no problem right? I should find some time in the next 2 weeks to use my coupon. No – my coupon is not good until AUGUST 17th! They expect me to put this coupon up and save it for use TWO MONTHS from now, then remember to use it within that short two week window. Now I shouldn’t have to be programming a reminder in my phone for two months from now to use a stupid coupon. To me that is poor planning on their part. I can understand that they want to space out the coupon usage, but it would have been a much better tactic to stagger the mailings to match the redeem dates, and just limit the coupons to end-dates. This way you wouldn’t have to put it up, and then remember to use it in two months, you could use it once you receive it. This has to be a part of their tactic though – they hope that many will forget to use their coupons or lose it the the long stretch. To me though, this just comes off as a sleazy, underhanded move on their part.
Anyway, that’s my thoughts on KFC’s new Grilled Chicken fiasco. And for those curious, I have eaten the new grilled chicken, on several occasions now, and I really do enjoy the chicken, just not the promotion.
Sirius-XM iPhone app failure
Posted by Chazon in Cell Phone on June 18th, 2009
I am a Howard Stern fan. I listen to his show all of the time. So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that Sirius was working on an iPhone app to allow you to stream their service to your iPhone.
Well, today they released their new app. Excited, I downloaded the service, signed up at $2.99 a month for on-line streaming ($2.99 for those who already have a radio subscription – it’s $12.99 for non-subscribers), and searched for my favorite show. I can listen to Stern on the internet stream, so shouldn’t be here? Nope. Sirius has chosen not to add the two Stern channels to the available line-up on the iPhone app. That was my whole purpose of getting the app. I will promptly be canceling the online account and deleting the app.
Thanks for nothing Sirius/XM!
Hats off to Chickasaw’s Finest!
For those who don’t know me, I live in a small town of about 10,000, a suburb of Mobile, Alabama called Chickasaw. I have to say that Chickasaw is a great little city, and a place I am very proud to call home. It is also a place where I must say I feel very safe, and even safer after what I saw last night.
Last night, I ran up to our local store, Fred’s, to get my wife some allergy medicine. When I arrived, there were 4 patrol cars all surrounding a van in the parking lot. Not thinking much of it, I went inside to get the medicine. It was at the check-out that I found out what was going on outside.
It seems that some “persons-of-interest” helped themselves to 6-8 canopies that were stacked near the entrance of the store. Nobody in the store had any idea that this had happened, and these “persons” were making a clean getaway, until one of our city’s finest, who was on routine patrol, spotted them and inquired as to their so-called purchase. With no proof of purchase, and the cashier’s confirmation that she had not sold any of the items, it was pretty clear.
In a larger setting, these “persons” would have gotten away with the store taking a hit, and nothing done about it other than a report, but thanks to our close knit community and our eagle-eyed officers, I know I sleep better at night.
And The Winner is . . .
Posted by Chazon in Cell Phone on May 3rd, 2009
I am now an official iPhone user.
I actually spent 4 days using a Blackberry (Blackberry Curve 8310) and now another 4 days on my iPhone (iPhone 3G 16gb). While both did what I wanted to do, I was disappointed in the web functions of the Blackberry, as the browser had issues with quite a few pages. The same pages worked great on the iPhone. Twitter function was good on both (Twitterberry on the BB and Twitterfon on the iPhone) as well as both had a Facebook app that functioned great. I actually liked the fact that the Blackberry Facebook app linked with my Address Book adding profile pictures and other info. It would be nice if the iPhone app would do the same, but it doesn’t appear to do so. Both phones were GPS enabled phones, which was great for the several apps that used your location to find things. Scrolling on the BB was a pain, as the ball was slow to scroll through and the T (Top) and B(bottom) functions didn’t help when I needed to go to the middle of the listing. On the iPhone its a simple flick of the finger – the faster the flick, the faster the scroll.
I have easily adapted to the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard, a sore complaint for some users. I actually found the bb keyboard a little harder to use. I do have a few mis-clicks with the iPhone, but the self correct function seems to be really well suited, and catches 99% of my mistakes, and even a few non-mistakes. The other thing I like about the iPhone is the wealth of apps for it. Given, the Blackberry has a lot of apps, but I’m a gamer. Games was the one area of Apps that were not as abundant on the Blackberry. iPhone has a plethora of Apps in all categories. As the commercial says, yea, there is an app for that! I’m working on another post of reviews of the games that I have played so far, so stay tuned for that!
Now, my wife chose a different phone. She has been adamant about the fact she did not want an iPhone. She also stated she didn’t want a “slider” phone. So, in order for her to find exactly want she wanted, we went to the local AT&T store and let her play with all the phones on display. She had already dismissed the iPhone (she had already played with my cousin’s iPhone), and went strait to the smart-phone and Blackberry counter. After spending an hour in the store playing with most of the phones on display, she picked the Samsung Impression – a slider phone – go figure! AT&T had this phone listed for $249.00 with a $50.00 mail-in rebate. I was able to go online and, as this was a new account, get the phone for free with a new contract. The phone has been shipped and is due to arrive tomorrow. I will follow up with her comments and likes/dislikes once she has had a couple of days with it. Let’s hope that the activation and number porting goes well!
The Great Phone Hunt
Posted by Chazon in Cell Phone on April 18th, 2009
Sorry for the lack of updates, but I guess I have been struggling with new blog-writers block. That being said, I have been spending my time lately drooling over all the new cell phones out.
It seems that I am behind the times, cell phone wise. My current phone, a Motorola Krzr, has served me well, but it’s not a smart phone. I can remember when I got my krzr, and was really proud, as it was an MP3 player as well as a phone. This was right before smart phones came into mainstream. With a 2 gig memory card, I was all set. Needless to say, even with the good intentions, I didn’t use the MP3 function that much. It turns out that to listen with earphones, I needed a mini-usb connector, which made the whole thing awkward. I also had hope for getting Bluetooth earphones, but came to find out that the Krzr didn’t support stereo, only mono. I soon after purchased an I-pod nano, and the need for the phone player fell by the wayside.
Also, my first experience with smart phones wasn’t the greatest either. When Trish and I got together, we decided it would help save money by consolidating our plans. Smart phones had just started to become popular and she decided that she wanted one. After looking at what Alltel had to offer, she went with the Palm Treo 700p. It’s been a good phone, but due to pretty much abandonment by Alltel, the phone’s major annoyances were never fixed. We soon learned on the Treo that MMS messages didn’t work very well, forcing you to go to the web to with hard to use logins to see images that were sent. Also, Blazer, the browser software on the phone is antiquated and was always locking up the phone. I got Opera to work on it for a while, and it was better than Blazer, but because Alltel uses Brew, you have to use a JME, which is no longer available or supported, so Opera won’t work anymore.
The one good thing about my cell phones has been my provider. I have always had great experiences with Alltel, and have been a customer for 9 years now. I have sent countless referrals to them, and everyone has been happy with them. I’ve always gotten good coverage with my phone, from Las Vegas to New York and points in between. With the My circle plan, the wife and I were able to get just a 500 minute plan, and have never gone over – despite consistently using our phones for an average of about 1000 minutes a month. Their plans have always been priced well, and the add-ons have been reasonably priced as well. The one lacking feature I ever found with Alltel is they had fewer phone selections then other carriers, but I have always been willing to overlook this in light of all the other factors. But alas, Alltel is no more – now being consumed by Verizon. I’m not as trusting in Verizon as I was with Alltel, so now is the time for me to jump ship, as they say.
Now, at this point, I’m really, really leaning towards the I-phone. My cousin has one, which I have played with, and I love all the apps available for the I-phone. My problem with the I-phone comes with AT&T. I abhor AT&T. My carrier before my stint with Alltel was Bellsouth Mobility. I liked my phone with Bellsouth, and had a small simple plan, because back in 1998-1999, I only really used the cell phone for emergency calls, or the quick call to say I was running late, etc. I had a great plan; it was like 200 minutes for $25. No bells and whistles, no text messaging, just phone service with a total bill under $30. Along comes Cingular Wireless (which later reverted back to their original name, AT&T). Seems my phone plan vanished in the new system, and now they want me pay $45 for the same plan, yet giving me only 50 more minutes. I told them no deal and started my relationship with Alltel.
I’ve priced what the I-phone would cost us on a new plan, and I’m not real happy. With Alltel, unlimited texting is included with our $30 data plan. My wife does a LOT of texting, as do I. AT&T wants $30 per phone for the data plan ($60), and another $3o for unlimited texts. So that’s $90 a month ON TOP of the rate plan of $70.00 a month for 700 minutes of talk time. That’s a lot more than what we are paying on Alltel currently. So with taxes and other charges, we’re going to be looking at about $180 a month for our cells. To me, that is crazy! My first gripe – $60 for Internet – I only pay Comcast $40 for high speed Internet on all my computers at home. To me $30 a phone seems bloated, but I understand that’s what most carriers charge – and it’s what we were paying at Alltel, so it’s not really a stretch for me. The text charges are another gripe, and a legitimate one I think. They only offer three packages on individual phones, or one unlimited family plan at the same price of 2 of the mid-level individual text plans.
The other option is to stay with my new carrier, Verizon. They have a really cool Blackberry Storm which is my second choice over the I-phone. The one feature that I loved with Alltel was the My Circle. 90% of our calls are to about 8 different numbers. This, with free nights and weekends, has kept our anytime minute usage way down – about 300 minutes a month for both of us. Verizon has adopted this from Alltel, calling it the Friends & Family package. My problem with Verizon is I have to select a 1400 minute family plan for $90 to qualify for the Friends and Family. This is way overkill for us. Their 700 minute plan for $70 does not include the Friends and Family. Again the data plan for the two phones will cost us $60, and texting another $20 for 500 text message plan for both phones. Total price plan – again about $180.
So it seems that it’s going to cost us about $180.00 a month for 2 smart phones. I don’t know that I’m ready to pay that much. If I do bite the bullet, I have to decide what to give up, in order to pay for these things. Does anyone else think this is overpriced?
Dollhouse gets better each week!
What can I say other than Joss Whedon is brilliant! Each week Dollhouse has gotten more and more interesting. I’ll admit that after watching the first two episodes, I had my doubts. Mind you, I am a Whedon fan – from Buffy and Angel to Firefly, and I expected the same qualities with Dollhouse. I can now say that after tonight’s episode, the show is on my must-watch TV list, along side NCIS, CSI, and Medium. The cast is top-notch, and Eliza does a wonderful job as Echo. Some of my other favorite characters is the whole twist with November and Topher, as I can relate the best to his character (the geek factor).
I admit that I was upset to hear that Fox was chosen to carry this, as I was a huge Firefly fan, and I feel that Fox was the major reason it didn’t make it – playing the episodes out of order and not giving it proper promotion. It seems that Fox maybe learned their lesson – let’s hope so.
Welcome to my first blog!
I am attempting to start blogging. This blog will contain bits and pieces of my life so that I can share it with the rest of the world. I hope to incorporate my passions into here for everyone to share in!
What are my passions, you ask? Well, for one, I am a foodie. So I will be posting about my culinary adventures, be it recipes I have made at home or reviews of restaurants and dishes I have had in my adventures.
I’m also a cruise addict – this kind of goes along with my food passion if you ask me. Traveling to new places on a luxury ship is my idea of traveling. It helps that I live on the Coast (Mobile, AL) and have a ship right here in my hometown (the Carnival Holiday)! My wife and I celebrated our one year anniversary by sailing the Baltics, and the pictures can be seen from the links.
I’m also starting the new adventure of my life together with my wife! We’ve been married for a year and a half now, and share our home with 3 crazy cats and 1 beautiful dog, our dalmatian. We are also trying to expand the family a little more, if the stars align and we are blessed.
So that’s a small peek of whats to come in my new blog, so stay tuned!
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