Nothing to say

We saw Paprika on Saturday when it was a bit too hot to really be doing anything but hanging out in an air-conditioned building.

I thought it was great.  I absolutely loved it.   The soundtrack is also excellent.

Kia loved the soundtrack as well, but found the movie to be a bit contrived, so YMMV.  :)

I was reminded today of the aspect of my Sunday experience that rendered me most livid.  Why this didn’t come to me last night, I can’t be sure.  Perhaps I worked so valiantly to put it out of my mind (so as to quiet the anger) that it stayed out.  Nevertheless, I was reminded today with a phone call.

“This is Terry.”

“……………………….”

“Hello??”

“Yes, hello……….. can I speak with ……… Terry ……. ?”

“Who’s calling.”

“This is _________ with Visa Cardholder Fraud Prevention.”

“Oh, this is Terry.  I expected to hear from you.”

“Yes………….. there were some….. transactions on your account …………………………… that we would like to …….. talk ……… to go over with you……………………………… do you have time?”

Mind you, I’m going 100MPH at work over some super-priority report that was due last Friday, and I found out this morning was totally wrong.  Time, at this point, is one thing I totally lack.  And this guy is driving me CRAZY with the broken english, tone of wavering uncertainty, and seriously lengthy pauses.  So I says to him, I says, “If you can be brief.”  Because I’m suddenly remembering exactly how INSANELY PISSED OFF I was the day before, and it’s all coming back to me now (Celine Dion can eat a dick, too.  Whale.)

“………….. Yes, ok…………….. I can do that.  ………….first ……………… I need to ask you some…….. questions ………. to determine …… your ………. identity?”

“Ok, no, I don’t feel comfortable with that.”

“Yes, ok …………. I understand …………….would you like ..? ……….. let me ………. give you the number ……………. you can call us ………….. when it is convenient.”

“That would be good.”

He gives me the number, I repeat it, and he goes into the lengthy, pause-ridden farewell as I promptly hang up on him.

I ignored the number he gave me and called the one on the back of my debit card (different number).  A nice woman with a pleasant voice answers the phone.  She sounds intelligent and speaks at a normal pace.  I tell her about the call I received and she asks 3 quick questions, giving me most of the info herself to show that she also has it in her system.  (”I see your phone number is 786-374… can you give me the last four digits?”)  Very professional, very nice.  She explains “I show a charge on the 24th for creppy connection… creppy … creppy connection?  I know I’m pronouncing that wrong.  It looks like creppy, but I haven’t seen that word before.  I’m sorry.”

“Spell it?”

“C-R-E-P-E … connection.”

“Oh, yes, breakfast.  That place was awesome.”

“Ok, great.  Then there was a charge at the Apple store.”

“Which was DECLINED.  I was purchasing a laptop for my fiancee.  She had to pay for it.  That was INCREDIBLY embarrassing.”

“Yes, I see.  I’m very sorry about that, sir.”

“You know what, that was harsh.  I don’t mean to direct that towards you.  I know you had nothing to do with it, of course.  I’m just .. it was seriously embarrassing.  I had enough money in the bank.  I checked.  It wasn’t over my limit.  It’s a local, reputable store … they check ID!  It’s just ridiculous.  She had to pay for it herself.  I couldn’t believe it - the charge wasn’t declined for insufficient funds, was it.”

She, sounding apologetic, almost guilty, “No, it wasn’t…”

“I didn’t think so.  See?  That’s .. I’m sorry.  Again, not directed at you.”

“It’s ok, I understand, and I’m very sorry that this happened.  The next charge I need to speak with you about was Publix on the 25th.”

Me, completely outraged: “That was this morning!  That publix is across the street from work, and I shop there regularly!  Why on earth was that flagged??”

“I’m not certain.  And I’m very sorry about …”

“No, it’s ok.  You had nothing to do with it.  I’m just really upset about it.  But whatever.”

“So what I can do for you is…”

“No, you know, don’t worry about it.  I’ve got it taken care of.  You know the charges were legitimate, so you can do what you need.  I’m closing the account.  I already have an account with another bank and am waiting for the debit card.  This has been just ridiculous with these people.  I’m not going to deal with that any more.”

She apologized again, as did I, because I was so upset I was literally trembling.  My teeth were almost chattering from the tension.  We apologized to one another, I thanked her for being so kind, she wished me luck with my new bank, and we bade one another a good day.  That was that.

Seriously, though, picture this.  I’m at the apple store.  I have absolutely enough money to make a purchase.  I have taken up the time of an associate and the assistant manager while we decided on a laptop, I picked out an iPod and we went over the specs on the printer.  We chose our accessories, and you know that’s not a quick process for me.  We were there for quite some time getting everything Just Right.  And then my !@#$%@#!$% card was declined?!?

I know my available balance.  I know my daily limit.  I’m not even close to EITHER of them.  The money is MINE, and it is THERE.  But they refuse to let me spend it?

Seriously, Power Financial.  You have dicked around with my money for the last time.  You give credit unions a bad name.  And you seriously, completely, totally, utterly need to eat a dick.

Starbucks can eat a dick.
There’s a new creperie that has opened up on SW 8th St in Miami. It’s at about 143rd Ave, pretty far out west. You can see the mostly completed shopping center here. The place is awesome, and Starbucks (who hasn’t even finished their store yet) has already sued them for selling coffee. What the eff, people. Starbucks can totally eat a dick.

Apple can also eat a dick. They voided the warranty on Kia’s macbook, because someone had apparently spilled something on it. That’s true. I did. Last January. Over FOUR MONTHS before the hard drive just up and died. You’re going to tell me that those things are related? Eat a dick. So here’s what happened. I bought a new macbook today. It came with a free (after rebate) HP all-in-one printer/scanner and a free (after rebate) iPod Nano 4gb. So I got both “free” items with her laptop. And I’m going to put a new HD in the old macbook and keep it. Then sell my old ibook. And we’re replacing our Canon MP150 with the HP C4280. It’s smaller, cuter, and has a built-in card reader for CF, SD, and crap we don’t care about (because CF and SD are all we have/need/use). Who knows how long the rebates will take, so I withhold judgement on that. And I got the red iPod, which means I donated 10$ to Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.  That’s cool.  I also complained about the complete warranty dis, when the case on her old macbook was cracked and chipping away (A KNOWN ISSUE, they told me)  and the assistant manager at the Apple Store in The Falls (mall in Pinecrest, FL) was super freaking awesome.  He hooked Kia and I up with 50$ in whatever accessories we wanted.  She found an AWESOME case (the Incase Canvas Sleeve) and I found the matching case for the iPod nano.  Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.  Both came to over 50, but he still took 50 off the total.  So nice.  I’m very happy with that.  $50 doesn’t make up for some shabby build quality of a $1200 device, though, so Apple (in general, not the assistant manager at the falls) can totally eat a dick.

Apple’s iTunes Store can eat a massive dick, too.  They’re getting a double dose tonight for requiring me to setup an account so that I can add the album art to my existing (legal!!!) mp3s, ripped from my own discs, which I bought and still own.  Not only am I required to setup an account, but for that account, I’m required to enter my credit card info.  Hell No.  Jerks.  Eat a dick.

Miami, you can eat all the dick in the world.  I’m serious.  Shittiest town I’ve ever lived in.  Machismo.  Train horns on massive pickups.  Jerks at the laundromat spilling my coffee and offering not so much as even an acknowledgment that they did it, let alone an apology for having done it.  Eat your OWN dick.  I understand there are some cultural differences, and maybe standing AGAINST me instead of just next to me doesn’t seem like … completely uncomfortable to you.  Still, it’s remarkably uncomfortable for me, but I realize that I can’t just make you conform to MY feeling.  We have to find some mutual understanding - some middle ground where we can both get along.  But it goes above and beyond that.  This city is populated with selfish, inconsiderate, uncaring, completely self-serving assholes.  I’m not saying that because I’m still angry.  I’m over today’s transgressions.  It’s just a fact.  Miami fucking sucks.  So it can find its way to the nearest all-you-can-eat dick buffet.

Cheers.  I’m going to load a few more album-art-less tracks to my iPod (whose battery, two months from now, will surely last a full maximum of 2hrs).