I know I haven’t yet written about Vic Falls (or posted the major portion of Zanzibar, which I will), but I have to call out the hotel I’m at. I’ll get back to journal entries soon enough. So, here’s the bitch fest.
David :: Mar.23.2009 :: assholes, consumerism, travel :: No Comments »
So, I reached Dar es salaam, Tanzania after about 25 hours of travel from New York to Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro through to Dar. When you’re arriving in a foreign city (read: a city I have never been to in a country I’ve never visited, on a continent I have no idea about), it is oftentimes a good idea to have arranged transport from your port of entry to your hotel when you’re arriving after midnight.
I was quite exhausted by the time we touched down, bought the visa in the 145F airport, and received my luggage that I was ready to just drop to the ground and sleep it off right there. But, much to my surprise, the driver I had hired when I was back in NYC was waiting for me at the receiving line. Ok, first good sign.
David :: Mar.13.2009 :: assholes, consumerism, journal entry, travel :: Comments Off
This is the MUST HAVE appliance of the year.
Holidays are coming up, buy this for everyone. Use promo code OPRAHWINFREY to get 50 off direct from Amazon.
I’m recouping from some oral surgery and this thing has been a godsend.
How many of you have finished a book in the middle of the night only to want to pick up another book immediately? This is your toy.
As someone who travels 3/4 weeks a month, this thing is perfect. No more leaving books behind in hotel rooms or packing an entire suitcase of books. Without expansion – 100 boks + blogs/newspapers/periodicals.
Seriously. Buy one.
Now.
You can make notes with it, use wiki, buy books right to it bypassing amazon.com (or use amazon)…Read samples (generous sizes). Expansion slots. It is amazing. (Just buy a little light clip – the technology doesn’t support back lit light – but you’ll swear you’re reading on paper)
Hearty endorsement for the readers amongst us.
David :: Oct.31.2008 :: consumerism, holiday, technology :: Comments Off
In a further effort to fuck the customer, Delta is further revamping their frequent flier program.
Read this.
Granted, it isn’t that much of a difference since they always try to back door you unofficially, but I always am wary when unofficial policy becomes official policy. As a frequent Delta flier, this is of great import to me and it should be to you as well.
Also, while waiting on hold with Delta today (to push my departure date back one day in an effort to avoid the closing ceremony of the Olympics – I was successful, thank you very much), I was treated to a politically charged informercial about how the rising price of oil is “disproportionately and unfairly” hurting the airline industry and that the customer should go to a website to sign a petition to stop oil speculation.
Are they out of their fucking minds? Read this post by Jeffrey Carter, former director of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (and current ‘speculator’, for transparency’s sake). I’m paying $1 for a cup of water on a flight from Vegas to New York with no pillows available because the flight is during the day and they have the chutzpah to ask me to help them out?
(Addendum: For a limited time you will receive 20,000 Delta skymiles for an initial consultation with Bosley hair restoration clinics and 150,000 miles if you receive a graft…You don’t have to be bald either – perhaps you have a history of baldness in your family and are concerned??? Link)
David :: Aug.01.2008 :: consumerism, liberty, travel :: No Comments »
So, a brief story of how I got the iPhone in the first place, since that’ll make your head spin.
I pulled an all-nighter since I cannot wake up in the mornings – certainly not early enough to be in line at 5:40 like I was. So, anyway, Apple Store 5th Avenue was my destination, and at 5:40 the line was already halfway down the block. I was told the night before that they would start selling at 7am (oh, I tried to get in line at 6pm the night before, but no dice [I heard those poor saps were waiting till about 1am for theirs]).
6am – the line starts moving AN HOUR EARLY! YES! By 6:30, I was at the counter with my own personal hipster, white 16gb iPhone in front of me, just minutes from activation. Yes, that’s right, they have to activate on the spot. Yes, that means that any sale Apple tries to make is dependent on AT&T. Take a second, gentle reader, to consider this. You’re a Kwik-E-Mart. You’re open 24 hours a day, but, you will only sell Tasty Cakes between the hours of 7-7pm and, in order to do so, you have to run it past a third party – and at a minimum it would take 15 minutes – and then you have to give the customer a 20 minute walkthrough of how to eat the Tasty Cake. If you proposed this business model in any B-School in the world, you’d be laughed off the factory floor.
Anyway, I digress (but not really). We’re starting the AT&T activation progress (what, me worry? I have an 800+ credit beacon…I’m a credit stud), and there is a snag…The little handheld device my Personal Hipster (PH) is using says he must contact AT&T for reason A843W. Bigger snag…AT&T Credit Services isn’t open until 8am!!! FUCK ME! My smooth as silk iPhone 3g purchase experience just got major-league screwed in the ass (and they didn’t even offer any lube bagels or coffee)…
Wait, I forgot to say that I made a friend in line. An iFriend. His name was Lulu and he was a pretty cool cat. We talked BMW talk for a while, and, wouldn’t you know it, he got caught in the snag too. So, there we are – two schmucks who could have had our iPhones at 6:30 standing around until 8am. Err, 8:30am for me. My PH was servicing a family of three and didn’t get to me until then. So, we start the process over again. Get on the phone with AT&T and TWENTY SECONDS LATER I was cleared. Apparently, gentle reader, I really am who I say I am. There were no other problems…they just wanted to make sure I really am David Ross Lehman…And aside from when I introduce myself as The Most Awesomest Person in the Whole World (my grandma says that’s not a lie, btw), I can confirm with 99.9% assuredness that I am, indeed, David Ross Lehman (despite what others may say, to the contrary).
My smooth 40 minute wait turned into a 3 hour ordeal. But, I got my white iPhone 3g. I was wary at first – AT&T sucks in my apartment and is even worse overseas. When I bought my first iPhone last year on release night (during the 8th inning of the Mets game [the game was in hand, don't worry], Miss Joy Donahue and I decided to go to the Apple Store 5th Ave. to buy an iPhone…People were waiting for 5 days in line – we walked right in and right out…we were back by the 9th, no bullshit), I signed up for AT&T like a good boy. The service didn’t work in my apartment, and after a trip to Argentina, I came home to an $800 phone bill. I argued for days with them, received %65 off, and promptly cancelled that service as soon as the unlock feature was available. Since then I’ve been in T-Mobile bliss. Wow, I keep getting off point…
I got back with the iPhone 3g and was astonished that it worked in every corner of my apartment, including both bathrooms – trés importanté (don’t worry, you didn’t just marqué el dos – I’m octo-lingual). All over the city I was getting full 3g service, and GPS was rocking my socks off. Of course, when I finally tried to make a call in the aforementioned apartment, things fell apart. That’s AT&T for you. We’ll see if that improves during the next 30 days.
So, for the most part, I like it a lot. Especially the App Store. ESPECIALLY Pandora! Pandora is sofuckingamazingIcantbelieveIveneveruseditbefore. I was at physical therapy today and Juan (my physical therapist – pronounced Joanne, I shit you not) asked for a quick demo. She said, “Maroon 5,” I dialed it into Pandora, and within moments, we were listening to some shit song by Maroon 5. So fucking cool.
Other apps I got/bought: Remote.app (this I was really excited about – it controls your itunes/apple tv…but you can’t access shared libraries on the ATV yet; Crash Nitro Racing – meh; Texas Hold ‘Em – you have to see it to believe it; Mocha VNC – control your computers from your phone…UHHHH-Mazing; and some other little free apps…very cool.
GPS is pretty nifty. I have GPS in The Beast™, but riding in a cab and seeing the beacon track is pretty cool. Wonder if it will work in North Korea (yeah, still working on that)?
A couple of bugs – the home button isn’t responsive and the screen is yellow (even with the latest update). People say the yellowing is improved with this latest update, but I don’t see it. It looks dirty. Maybe it is my heightened colorifical abilities, but it just looks dirty. Apple calls it a “feature,” saying it looks more “natural.” Hopefully they will “update” this “feature” soon…
Not much else to say about it right now – is it a worthwhile upgrade? Time will tell. I’m going to give my iPhone 2g to my sister when a 2.0 unlock/jailbreak is available, assuming I stick with the 3g.
(found on google)
David :: Jul.17.2008 :: Photography, consumerism, technology, travel :: No Comments »
Well, I’ve been holding back on this one for quite some time, gentle readers, but enough is enough.
First and foremost, Bank of America’s Platinum Plus Visa customer service…They’re absolutely atrocious. I called to file a dispute in mid-June. They said they would send me some paperwork to fill out. A week later the paperwork arrived (6/19) and it had to be returned by that SUNDAY. Talk about assclowns. So, I had to buy an efax account to get the paperwork to them on time, which I did because I’M AWESOME.
Anyway, called today to see what the progress was, and of course, there was none made. They needed more information than the 11 pages I had faxed them (including two which detailed every painstaking moment of the transaction).
My buddy and I were in Buenos Aires when some problems arose with my Amex card, and one phone call later it was resolved. No paperwork, no fuss, no muss. Amex rock, BoA sucks.
Now, for the king of all shitheads…http://www.gsbinc.net/ in New York City. The background: this company was suggested to my class by a guest speaker who runs an ad agency that will not be named herein (not his fault that GSB are a bunch of fuck heads). Anyway, you truly do get what you pay for. To make a long story short, the print shop ran the job twice and both times the product was sub-par at best. So, I returned the cards. My contact there was Zach and the cards were returned to an Alicia. I was told they would “investigate” the matter. Nevermind that a company that has to “investigate” itself for sub-standard quality product is a joke, they were beyond rude. They actually YELLED AT ME ON THE PHONE. Eventually they stopped taking my phone calls. So, there it is in a nutshell. If you’d like further details, I’d be pleased to share. They charged my credit card without authorization not once but twice. And Visa is just compounding my anxiety.
So, (little f) fuck you Visa and (GIGANTIC F) FUCK YOU Graphics Service Bureau and your representatives. Don’t treat your customers like shit and expect to get away with it – especially when you put out a lousy product (don’t worry, gentle readers, I know the definition of libel inside and out. Libel is taking a vacation over in the Seychelles while I’m ranting about this).
David :: Jul.12.2008 :: Photography, consumerism, liberty :: No Comments »