Oh, hello there: four years later

I guess I have some penance to pay to my own blog, considering I haven't even touched it in 4 years. Not that I haven't been writing - I feel like my dang fingers never stop, what with all the emails, texting, Facebook posts, scholarly journal articles, and a dissertation thrown in for good measure. And how funny is technology that if you just put something down like your blog, that it would still be there patiently waiting for you to pick it up again. So, I've been writing, just not here.

You know, my last post was about mourning for Tim Russert, and as I watched the election results, I wrote something on Facebook that it's times like this that he's really missed. Still true - you can find all the talking heads you want, but you can't always find someone who actually speaks to you - someone who would speak to you in person in exactly the same way but happens to be using the medium of televion to do it. It's a far cry from some of the crap "journalism" I've seen in recent years - but I'm not dogging the craft. I'm sure most of the ones I don't like aren't actually trained as journalists and certainly didn't go to school for it, but maybe they went to the school of annoying and pretending.

Tim Russert's loving tribute weekend

I think I will really miss Tim Russert as every person who's been remotely involved or concerned about American politics will be. He's one of the few people who told the story straight and gave you an opportunity to trust him. But I'm still really surprised by the outpouring of on-air time devoted to him this past weekend. If NBC/MSNBC/the other NBCs had just replayed some of his best Meet the Press shows, that would be one thing. I actually expected that. Instead, they've spent hours interviewing the people that he interviewed and those folks stated their best memories of him. All weekend long. I guess if I didn't already know that Darfur was not on the American radar, I'd think that there was no other news other than Russert's passing. Maybe this weekend was a slow news weekend in the grand scheme of things. I'm just saying that spending that much time eulogizing a dead man, a good man we can't bring back, is a bit much.

What's the Difference between "IT" and "It"?

This blog originally started eons ago as part of a class to discuss all things information technological, and that's why the blog was originally called "The World The Way I See IT" but the convo quickly veered into a discussion about everything else (as I knew it would). Forethought, while a curse most of the time, was helpful here. With just one lower case "t" this blog now can own up to its true calling: ranting about every single thing that bugs me. The template is new, too, so Rounders 3, I hardly knew ye, but I guess it's time for a change.

Meanwhile, I guess it's taken a whole day for it to sink in that Heath Ledger is really dead. We're about the same age, and it hits home to think that yes, an entire life can be lived in 28 years (or less, or more). However....Heath should be upset that a lot of his fan sites don't work. I can't tell whether or not these sites came down because of his death and the fans are so aggreived or before the news. That's bad PR.

So I guess this blog is still about IT!

US News' Article About Rebates is Really About Dumb People

So first, I'm really surprised to return to my blog, only to find that because my Gmail account is open, that I don't have to log in to Blogger. I just go straight to the Dashboard. It's really strange, like all the doors are open even if I don't want them to be.

Anywho, the reason why I write is because I think the recent US News & World Report article "Why Shoppers Love to Hate Rebates" is missing the point. The author and her sources want to blame the companies for being shifty in how they decide to give out rebates. There's even legislation for companies to give consumers more time to fill out rebates. The point is that it won't make any difference. If you're too dumb to follow instructions, then find someone who can help you. Or don't buy something with a rebate if you know you're not going to send in the form.

What's missing from the article is a description of fulfillment companies' reluctance to give out rebate money that people should get when they do do everything right. How many phone calls did it take to get my $20 rebate check from Vivitar's fulfillment company? at least 4. Each time I talked to a human, I was told that the rebate was being processed or had been processed and was waiting for a check to be sent. I really think they were trying to wait me out so that I wouldn't bother. They had no reason not to give me my own money back, and once they get your money, they're slooooooooow to get up off of it. Rebates take a lot of time and vigilance, and consumers, especially stupid ones, don't want to put in the effort. So don't. Leave it to the pros, people like me.

And I think the legislation that they propose in the article is stupid. Publicizing redemption rates will fool consumers into thinking that their chances of getting their money back are low - it's money they're entitled to. If people are dumb enough to buy something and not follow the instructions to get a rebate, then it's their fault that they paid more than they should have. Knowing how many people are smarter than they are won't help them.

When I think about those nights in Montreal.......

Ok, so in my mind, I'm in Montreal right now, and I don't know why making teleportation machines haven't come to market yet. I'm driving to Montreal in several hours (which will take several hours) to chill and listen to free concerts for the next 4 days. I am so excited!

Since the exchange rate is so sucky, though, I think I'll make a game out of how to do things as cheaply as possible. Better than crying about it, right? I've already "reserved" a spot for all the free concerts, so I think between Granola and Slim-Fast bars for sustenance and the mall food-court, I think this will be a cheap vacation - you know, once I've shelled out hundreds of dollars for hotel and gasolina.

I am excited not to be checking my mail for several days, so I'll let you know how everything goes. I never intended this blog to be about travel, but I'm grateful to have the chance to visit other places. I mean, two countries in one summer? For some people, it's no big deal, and for other people, it's not even a remote possibility that they've even dreamed of. For me, it's...somewhere in between. Like I said, I'm grateful.

On transcription and On Friendship

I've been working on the Romania project here and there, doing transcriptions - and an extra one that got dumped in my lap, grrr.... and I remember how much I hate transcription. Not that I ever forgot, but...it's just so boring, can't do anything else while you do them, and then between the myriad voices and the sound of air rushing over a microphone, it's just super tedious. Hate hate hate.


Especially when the interviews have had nearly nothing to do with the internets, the whole reason for going in the first place. And between my constant use of headphones and my transcriptioning, I worry a little about my hearing. What's actually easier is when a translator is needed, because then you have a little time in between the English to fix little mistakes. Plus, the text is shorter by about half because most of the convo you don't have to write anyway.



So in the meantime, I give you this stanza of a poem on friendship attributed to Sarah Orne Jewett. I just found the poem tonight and it makes me realize that even though I've been doing these transcriptions, I still, deep down, have faith in language and its ability to move me:

The massive iron rent in two, Still may be joined as strong as new,
Yes, just the very same; But friendship shattered, never more
Can be the same as 'twas before, Altho' it bear the name.

I put the mania in Romania

Ok, so I didn't find internets in Romania as often as I would have hoped even though I am positive that many Romanians and many places in Romania have internets, but with our time constraints and limited information, we didn't find the right spots. For example, when we got back to Bucharest, we learned that there were few internet cafes left in town because most people had their own internet tubes running in their homes. That got me thinking about America, where there are few, if any, internet cafes - like, you can check your mail in Starbucks, but you'd better bring your own computer AND have a subscription to their ISP. And people tend to not appreciate it when you check your mail on their laptops for some reason. The bottom line is this: I am back safely in the land of capitalism and I really should fill in holes about this trip. So what we're gonna do is play a little game I call "Revisionist History." I'm gonna post some more details about Romania and this project and we're all gonna pretend that I posted them all in chronological order, ok?