11:04 AM An offering
3:04 PM Listening to...
6:37 PM Odd bedfellows of the month: social media and non-profits
That's Buster, Josh's dad's dog. He is almost as awesome as Josh is.
But that's beside the point. When I was revamping my site over last weekend, I was having some issues with the SquareSpace UI (user interface). This was, I admit, mostly my fault, because I, the user, wasn't interfacing with the site properly. That's my fault. It's always hard to learn a new system, and I know just enough HTML to have posed a danger to myself. So what did I do when I encountered difficulties? I bitched about it on Twitter. And within three minutes of my spastic, self-serving complaint, I had a response from @acasalena, the founder and lead programmer behind SquareSpace. He was just chilling out on a Sunday night, and asked me if he could do anything to help with my issue. Turns out, he could, and he helped me fix what I was having problems with. Turned out to be my own stupidity I was struggling with.
The fact of the matter is, though, that Anthony Casalena didn't have to answer my Tweet. He (or maybe his rep, I don't know...I still chose to give him credit because he seems like a cool guy) didn't have to spend his time searching to see if he could help someone out. But now, because of that one action, I'm hoping to get my dad, my roommate, and my potential webcomic and/or craft store up on SS. Because if tech support is half as good as Casalena is, it's four times better than any other site I've encountered, including...*gasp* .Mac, now MobileMe. I know, I know...a self-professed Mac cult member saying that.
That's not all though, kids. A few weeks ago, standing waiting for the L to come and take me home after a long day at work, I found a small button waiting for me on the phone booth next to my right hand. It was just a picture of a blue sky with a few fluffy clouds, and on the back was a website and email address, asking you to contact the creator with where you found the button. Now, me being me, and easily distracted, I forgot about it until I found it in my bag today at work. And it got me thinking: is that what we're doing with social media? Reach out to strangers, leave little links and pictures and tidbits around for them to find and follow back to us at the source. We just don't always get to do it in such a beautiful and simple way. If you're curious, the site on the back of the pin is deepblueskies.com.
But wait, there's even more! The last post I put up here, the one about Decibelle and the poetry reading, got some attention. Last Friday, I got an email from T. Khyentse James Executive Director, telling me that she'd stumbled across my post. My immediate reaction was, of course, AH DON'T LOOK AT ME I'M SORRY. But then I realized that, if I spent a little time and effort on it, I could do some great work for them. And maybe it's the repressed angry feminist, maybe the repressed rocker chick, maybe it's the repressed Girl Scout...but I really want to. So I've begun doodling on napkins again, trying to figure out how to do more for non-profits in particular. Beyond what I mentioned in my last post about Facebook and teaming up with other non-profits, what resources are there?
And so I went poking around. I found Change.org (doesn't fit the needs of all non-profits, but it's a good place to start). Skimming through Decibelle's (really awesome) site, I looked at all the traditional media attention they've gotten in the past few years. It's great that they can get the articles written when they have events, but usually it's published after events have already happened, a sum-up of what went on and who was there. They even have some great, big to medium sponsors. They're definitely better off than most non-profits I've seen or worked with. Then it hit me. One of the places that they don't seem to be taking advantage of their diverse and wondrous talents is with small, local, regular events. At least, not in Chicago.
Here is where I think social media can really shine. I can get them in contact with weekly or monthly open mics that can not only funnel new listeners to them by announcing their events live or online, but also help them find new talent, new venues, new donors, and maybe even get some cash and support for themselves.
Here's my question for all of you, my loyal readers (for all that I may force most of you to read or run the risk of losing my friendship): what else can I do for Decibelle that will help them out? How can I get people to respond to them with the same excitement and conviction that I did to SquareSpace and my nifty Blue Skies Button?
Comments are ready and waiting people...let's help out a great cause.
work, social media, success, non-profit, puppy 9:05 PM Everything I need to know about social media I learned from lesbians.
No, really. I went out this Friday night with my beloved friend and sister-in-arms Megan, and I discovered, yet again, that there opportunities for learning about this stuff in unexpected places. We went to Women and Children First up in Andersonville (Chicago) for a book reading of a writer I’d never heard of before. But I trust Megan’s taste, and all she told me was that Michelle Tea was a lesbian, former sex worker, and talented. So I assumed angry lesbian poetry.
A) I was wrong. And B) there was a cool display of social media that took me by surprise. First of all, both of the writers who read that night were talented, gregarious women with a very loyal following, not only in Chicago. The second writer, Christy C. Road, was also immensely funny and talented. But again, I had heard of neither of them, despite being fully invested in the indy writing scene, particularly where it overlaps the GLBTQ community (excluding the jerks I met in Sautgatuck, Michigan last weekend on the boat with my cousin, her fiance, and the boyfriend of awesomeness) but I didn't even know that the event was happening. So, without Megan, I would not have known about it at all.
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
marketing, lesbians, social media, writing 8:21 PM Apologies and groveling
Sorry for the broadcast silence of late. Besides being busy and fighting off various sicknesses, I think I genuinely got overwhelmed by what has been going on in the world of late. I keep meaning to ask my parents about how they survived 1968, at which point my father would have been 18 and my mother 17, or even the years that followed. But I get the feeling I would get laughter and/or something about "Do you know how much I smoked back then?"
So, briefly, this is how I feel about things: Palin is scarier than McCain, who is scarier than Bush (who knew that was possible?).
Spore looks like a crapton of fun, but I will not know for a while, because despite the "this is a game for the people" sell, it won't run on most non-gaming machines, and barely any laptops without a several hundred dollar update to the videocard. Which is lame. On top of all of the delays, and the not really making the game they said they were making (even if it is still a cool game) it doesn't even play on most machines...and they haven't released it for anything except PCs and portable gaming. Does that make any sense at all? What's even more frustrating is that most of the reviews that I've read or seen/heard in podcasts don't even mention this fact. I understand that a lot of gamers have gaming PCs, and that they are some of the people that were waiting for this for the longest time, but seriously...this is not a better, more fun version of the Sims...this is not an expanded, awesome version of four different game types that simple enough and user-friendly enough for everyone to play. That blows. Big hairy chunks.
I am astounded by all that the government is doing right now. I know just enough about it to be dangerous (thank you over-education) and it really does just scare the crap out of me in some serious ways. There's parts of it that make me want to plug my fingers in my ears and go running "lalalalalalaIcan'thearyou" into the night. It makes me regret knowing anything about economics, and regret not being a teacher anymore. I can tell there is going to be a generation of kids growing up right now that don't know what the hell "normal" is (I'm still not positive myself, but I have a better idea than they do). It reminds me of a radio broadcast I heard, probably on NPR, talking about how people that were born between around 1960 had no idea that famous people, especially politicians, could die of natural causes. It was far more common to hear about assassinations than someone dying of old age or disease...and I get the feeling that this is a new generation of kids that won't know what it's like to have the rest of the world at least respect us, if not look to us for leadership. To have the economy be stable and their wellbeing, in terms of health and education, still matter to the various and sundry governments that hold sway over their lives.
Also, I am both proud and a little sad with all of the stuff that's going on in the world of GLBTQ at the moment. More celebrities coming out of the closet than ever before, the number of gay men, lesbians, and bisexual characters in both scripted and reality TV have continued to rise, we now have transgender and transsexual people on TV for pretty much the first time...ever. That's great. But why are we so obsessed with it? It should be pretty standard by now. I know that it isn't, and I know the reasons that it isn't, but it strikes me as the same thing of Race (yes, with a capital R) in the presidential race. It's the sort of issue that, if I ruled the world (as I totally should be doing), would be a non-issue, for the sheer fact that it shouldn't be one. Anyone who is in our population should be reflected as such in our public life.
That's my major rant for the day. I'm sorry that it took so long for me get down, but I didn't really have it sorted out in my head until fairly recently. As a result, I might add, of two days off nursing a fever. More soon, and I really mean it this time.
7:48 PM Monorail Kit is back in service...sort of.
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
7:37 PM Another Test
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
3:40 PM Accountability for free products (or, pray for the little black bird)
My computer, my beloved Magpie, is off to the Apple Service Center to be repaired. Light a little candle for me, so that Magpie comes back without a wiped HD, please. PLEASE.
What this means: posts will be sporadic at best for the next week, week and a half. Email will be pretty nil. Also, I will lose touch with EVERYTHING. Except when I'm at work. And I can't work on my MA paper, which isn't the end of the world, but it certainly is annoying.
This weekend in Minnesota was wonderful, and it got me thinking, as I poked around on ShareThis.com, FeedBurner, and Google Analytics, only the first of which was working to my satisfaction when interacting with Blogger. And here's the question:
How do you hold a company that provides you with a free service accountable for the quality of that service?
Something to consider: when a roommate, significant other, friend, family member, or other person that one may feel relatively close to treats you in a manner you don't appreciate, does something to hurt your feelings, continually "forgets" or skips out on seeing you, doesn't pay you back, etc, etc, what do you do? Well, if you're not passive aggressive, aggressive, or otherwise inclined, the first time (maybe the first two or three times), you may ignore it, justify it, or otherwise sweep it under the rug of your relationship. The next few times may lead to confrontation of some kind, either calm or not, but most people will make their feelings on the situation known. In the imaginary world of everything going right, the situation is resolve quickly, if it comes up at all. In reality, you lose friends, break up with significant others, avoid family members and move away from roommates.
But what happens when a company that provides a free service patronizes you, marginalizes you, craps out on you, and takes away services without warning? What recourse do consumers of free products and services have? Mostly, at least since Google has begun to take over the world, they can go to a message board and complain. That rarely gets the attention of a help desk or company employee, let alone gets the problem solved. And while I love seeing the Twitter Fail Whale and going to check that handy Twitter blog to see what's up, being told that the service is down and "it's being worked on" does little for my frustration.
The case of Google is even more interesting. Despite service outages, randomly malfunctioning services, and a rather lackluster performance on less central offerings like FeedBurner, Analytics, and in particular AdSense, Google is still dominating in customer service surveys. How does that happen? Well, it's easy to say that most of the time, Google's service is pretty good (and it is) BUT, that's only true for the more central services like G-mail and Google Documents. How well do we really think the Android is going to do, if Google doesn't throw all of its support and celebrity behind it? And, despite the problems that Apple has had recently, with their stock prices, Jobs illness, iPhone/MobileMe debacle, and the Nano announcement, does Google have the following that Apple and Crackberry have? I don't think so.
But back to the original point. How do you get a free service to respect you and continue to give you the service that you so richly deserve desire? Working for a company that has something similar to many other offerings, I know that the point of providing the service (even for free, despite Twitter) is to make money. And if you don't give people the services they want, they will take their business, and the advertisers, elsewhere (More on this later, when I have more time). There's too much competition out there, even for services as awesome and overall good as GMail, FaceBook, and Blogger. Look at the exodus from MySpace...(But ignore this.) So besides flaming companies, besides trying to get prominent bloggers to bash them so they'll shape up, besides trusting them to do the right thing, and besides switching services...are there any other options? A Consumerist.com for free stuff?
There's always the option of turning of the computer. (Ha.)
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
3:13 PM Marketing Wet Dream
Look at this.
I put up my FaceYourManga.com avatar...on Wednesday. By Saturday, it's everywhere. I can't claim to have started the trend, I got the link from...somewhere. I can't tell you where, I genuinely don't remember who's blog I saw it on. That's horrible of me, but it's the truth. So I like the fact that I kind of...beat the bell curve. It makes me feel as though the internet and I have just taken our relationship to the next, more intimate level.
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
10:17 PM Construction is...destructive
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
josh, mn, under construction 9:45 PM I say the darnedest things...
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
6:35 PM Making your feelings known
This is my new favorite thing ever.
I love creative graffiti. I don't think there's anything more thought-provoking and revealing about the city/neighborhood that you're in than what people do for art in the area. Gang tags are interesting, but I'm talking about the art for the sake of the stunning visuals. There's a great set of boobs when you're facing south on the Red Line in Chicago, on that straight stretch from Addison to Fullerton somewhere. A little on the gratuitous side, but still. Attention-getting, effective, and it always puts a little smile on my face in the morning, so I remember it. And when facing north, just at the Sheridan stop, there's an entire building wall that is adds for the business inside of it, and you can get a discount for mentioning the spray-painted art. This is all really cool marketing...or something close enough to marketing that we can call it that.
Then I start thinking about my roommate's stuff around the city. It's innovative, pretty, and just downright cool looking...but she's not trying to sell anything. At least, not anything but herself and her positive outlook on our chances of making our city a good-looking place. What's even cooler is that she's usually attracting attention to interesting sites, too. Loopy Yarns in downtown Chicago is a great example of a cool place that she's put stuff up outside of. And some places are just random, But they're still interesting and cool, and her non-destructive, interesting pieces help to accent how awesome community can become when enough people put their minds to it. (Despite the fact that some people chose to set her work on fire.)
But back to my original point: what is the point of building something that doesn't...gain you anything? I get art for art's sake, I do, but Kristin (roommate) would love to do the crocheting thing full time (or baking, or any other craft piece). She also makes jewelry, but, unlike me and my creations, does not tag them in the slightest (I add a little silver feather onto everything I knit). So how does she get people to pay attention to her (besides her on-hiatus podcast, her website, or other internet resources)? Word of mouth is the only thing that could possibly work for her outside of the internet. Right? At the heart of things, she is producing three products: crocheted street art, jewelry, and baked goods. Now, how do I know about her street art? I was there when she put one piece up, and she tells me when she puts up new stuff. (I also look at her website and see her Flickr feed, but that's besides the point.) Her jewelry, when I wear it, draws a lot of attention, and sometimes I wish I would just carry around her business cards with me so I can hand them out when people gush over it. Seriously, it's cool like that. Same thing with her cupcakes. I want to get chocolate business cards and just stick them in all of her cupcakes so people stop asking me how she did it, what she uses, etc, etc.
___________________________________________________________________
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
Kristin, annoyed, anthropology, knitting, marketing, microfiber militia 2:29 PM I never liked Hawkeye, but I may have to reconsider...
I have reached a conclusion...or rather, a conclusion has reached out and socked me viciously in the face. I am aware, and have been for some time, that I am a geek. Or a nerd, a dork, whatever you want to call it. I play video games, I like some (SOME) anime, I help my friends write fanfiction, I have played board games about Star Wars and Lord of the Rings sober, and I love comic books. LOVE comic books. I came to it late, but I love them.
And I have a problem with self-professed "dorks", the people who are supposed to be my fellows, who don't. I don't like it when people say they hated Watchmen, or that Hugh Jackman giving respect to the man that basically gave him a career is gay, or saying that people who get excited about all of the massively cool and startlingly concerning things that are happening in and adjacent to the industry are silly/stupid. It bothers me. We as a collective little culture get enough flack from the people on the outside, that we don't need to have "insiders" ragging on us.
I want to be able to dork out, and talk about how much I would HATE Keanu Reeves as Spike in the a live-action BeBop movie. Or argue about the various skills and value of Green Lantern versus Green Arrow (Arrow wins hands down). I want to get into proverbial pissing contests with random guys in shops about if Batman would beat Superman in various circumstances of battles, and get MORE respect, not less.
I suppose, on some level, it gets all back to the whole "I'm a girl in a boy's game" issue that I've talked about before, to the point where I'm rather sick of it. But it NEVER ENDS. And while that is no single person's fault, not by any stretch of the imagination, it's still frustrating. And I'm not sure how to fix it. As a business woman, you can dress smart and walk in with your briefcase and you totally can (in most places at least) earn the respect of the people around you, even if it is still a man's world. And look at the success of mom-blogs, places like BlogHer...there are great places for women to support one another and figure out how to win in their own fields.
But not with the stuff that I like. Video games and comic books are still for boys, even in the minds of readers. Even with the proof that the demographics are not as skewed as one may think, girl gamers, girl techies, and girl comic book readers especially are anomalies worth mentioning. And if she's cute, or doesn't look like she lives in her mom's basement, good lord get out of the way. She will either be a GOD within moments, or she will be called a poser, and people will try to knock her down with esoteric questions that no one with a life could answer without the internet.
Listening to iFanboy's podcast, they commented on the fact that the Huntress miniseries is written by a women...and then went on to talk about how "overwritten" the book has been. Only Coner pointed out that this is an issue faced by almost every first-time comic author. It's frustrating. Even the fact that Wonder Woman's author is (for the first time, at least in an ongoing role) a woman made national mainstream media news.
Tonight I'll write about something that matters to people other than me, I think. Unless you all see a larger trend here? Am I just crazy for being irked, or have we not made as much progress as we were supposed to?
Also, Narutards piss me off.
___________________________________________________________________
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
9:58 AM DHS (Not my high school, but the gobernment)
Oh man. Might be time to move to Canada. Oh wait, that wouldn't solve the problem. I would still have to come back for my cousin's wedding.
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
8:12 PM Booo Blogger
YRMC is currently having issues. It appears to be a mind coding problem that will hopefully get fixed quickly, but until then many of the links and other paraphenalia that was all over the sides has been disabled. Fear not, it will return shortly.
And if my boyfriend actually manages to fix this...I will do naughty things.
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
7:33 PM Cuil and the not-so-cuil
For those of you that managed to miss it, a new search engine got launched recently, with much promises of surpassing Google in capacity, accuracy, and precision.
I have determined, with one simple action, that all of these claims are utterly false. I Googled myself (it's turned into a verb for a reason, let's admit it) on Cuil yesterday morning at the prompting of a coworker of mine, the more than infamous CheapSuits, to do so. There were three results, two of which appeared to be in Ukrainian and had nothing to do with me. The first result, however, was a blast from my readily forgotten past. It was an introduction post on a gamer's forum/site that I had joined and ultimately started to help out at (minor moderating duties, helped to organize efforts, etc) in 2005 at the behest of my then boyfriend. The site has been down for some time now, and Google no longer lists it as one of the top search results when you type in my name.
Cuil, however, does. And it provides, in it's scintillating and visually robust (but less useful) interface the details of the first couple lines of my post. Who you are: Caitlin Rosberg. Where you are: Chicago. Why you're here: I gave some answer about being really excited about the project (I actually was, once I got involved) then admitted that my boyfriend of the time had drug me into it initially.
As CheapSuits said: it used to be that you moved for a guy. Now you join a forum for him.
My response: I wish I could erase half of the things I did (or more) between the ages of 11 and 21. Since 21 there have been a few things, but far fewer than between 11 and 21. He suggested I blog on it. And so here we are, considering all that has changed in the almost four years since I posted that.
Allow me to digress for a moment away from the personal torment that is teenagedom. The point is: Cuil is really actually pretty crappy, at least for searching some things. You only get that result when you search my name in quotes, and even then it's not the first result. When you search without quotes, you get one of the results that Google offers every time, but none of the other answers, yet again, has anything to do with me.
So why is it that Cuil felt the need to plug themselves so vigorously in opposition to Google? Why did they hype themselves up to the point where some people (the ones who dislike Google because it reminds them of evil Microsoft, but with Segways and better medical benefits and better customer service....) actually really believed it was possible to overthrow the juggernaut, only to be largely disappointed?
Press. Publicity. Branding. Cuil is certainly pretty, it definitely has that going for it. It's one of the reasons that Google attracted so many people at first, is that it was so clean and simple. Now, it appeals with all of the customization options, the ease of use, and the fact that...let's face it. Everyone uses Google. It's the industry standard in the way AOL and Microsoft once were (I will argue that Microsoft isn't anymore...but I can see how people would argue against me on that one). Now Cuil is trying to get in on the action where Google originally launched itself. Here's where it went wrong:
1. Bad name. Bad bad bad bad bad. I said soo-ill for days until someone told me it was pronounced coo-el (cool). Bad name. To quote Steve Krug, or at least loosely paraphrase, anything that makes a question mark pop up over my head is a bad idea for any website.
2. Google does a lot more now than just search. With Google Desktop now getting distributed like crazy, GMail, Google Maps just revamped their look, an image search that actually works pretty well, services like Analytics, AdSense, and a whole cavalry of other solid, working offers that are (usually) free, why the hell would we want something else...especially if it doesn't work as well?
3. Google is not Microsoft. While some people don't like Google, and some conspiracy theorists feel that they are taking over the net too much (admit it, many of us have thought it), Google treats its employees and users pretty damned well. I've never heard from the cubicle or study room or apartment next to mine "GOD DAMN IT. Google crashed AGAIN and I just lost FOUR HOURS of work on my
4. Were they not paying attention to all those great Ask.com ads that aired two, maybe three years ago on TV? The ads were awesome, the services were well thought out and user friendly, and the searches worked...but Ask.com still has just over one sixth the visits that Google has. I said it before, I'll say it again: it's a verb for a reason...kind of like Kleenex and Band-aid became common nouns instead of trademarked brands, UPS and FedEx became verbs, and LOLcats became luhl-cats.
Later, I will discuss Batman. Because I am a massive dork and I feel the need. But I need to go indulge in the best summer dessert ever: blackberry icecream in ginger ale. It's like a root beer float, only better.
I was just informed that we are out of blackberry ice cream. Because I love him, I will not kill my boyfriend. I may, however, demand that he go get more tomorrow. Since he didn't tell me that we were out while we were at the grocery store a few hours ago.
Either that, or I will post more pictures of him on the internet. He hates that.
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
work, cheapsuits, josh, tech 10:50 AM 15 minutes, here I come
I will be doing a more extensive post this afternoon/evening, mostly because I don't have time right now, as I am at work. But, here's a quick shot:
Look where I got linked!
Many thanks to Liz Strauss!
I feel like I may be starting to accomplish something. That's exciting, and it's getting my knees shaking in a first date sort of way.
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
9:54 AM Further proof that my boyfriend and I are immense dorks.
Josh: I think if I found out I had a clone the same age as me, I'd have to fight him.
Me: What if he was an evil clone. Or an evil twin?
Josh: I'd really have to fight him.
Me: But he could be an expert in Jeet Kun Do. You don't know.
Josh: I'd still have to try. He's evil.
Me: Then we need a safe word. In case the two of you start fighting and I have a gun.
Josh: I'll just tell you something only the two of us know.
Me: Yeah, but I'm a talker. I mean, if someone asked "How many orgasms did you have the first time you and Josh had sex?" I'd tell them. I mean, four or five people already know that, besides the two of us. But if someone asked "Hey, what's the safe word in case Josh has an evil twin" I'd say who the hell are you and why do you want to know?
Josh: Alright, the secret password is "He's the evil one."
And then I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. At least we're cute.
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
7:59 PM I did two things today that I'm moderately proud of. One involved a phone call, and the other an email.
Now, I should probably preface both of these stories with something important: I am not a hardass. I do have expectations, I want them to be fulfilled. But, generally, I just get confused and a little frustrated when people do not meet them. I don't get annoyed until they do something truly stupid, and I don't even get mad unless people prove themselves to just be a waste of air and food (this is really only an occurrence when someone is more than useless, they actually impede my ability to function or prove themselves to be just...painful).
But today I called a local radio station and told them that I and everyone I know would no longer be listening to their station because they broadcast Michael Savage's show. I never liked Savage to begin with (he is this odd bundle of contradictions that I neither understand nor care for), but his recent actions
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
7:59 PM Acting (up) out
I did two things today that I'm moderately proud of. One involved a phone call, and the other an email.
Now, I should probably preface both of these stories with something important: I am not a hardass. I do have expectations, I want them to be fulfilled. But, generally, I just get confused and a little frustrated when people do not meet them. I don't get annoyed until they do something truly stupid, and I don't even get mad unless people prove themselves to just be a waste of air and food (this is really only an occurrence when someone is more than useless, they actually impede my ability to function or prove themselves to be just...painful).
But today I called a local radio station and told them that I and everyone I know would no longer be listening to their station because they broadcast Michael Savage's show. I never liked Savage to begin with (he is this odd bundle of contradictions that I neither understand nor care for), but his recent actions have led me to just ignore the man, but to also hope that he continues to lose support. Aflac already abandoned him, and his website is now dominated by three things: calling Media Matters and similar organizations faggots (seriously?) that hate marriage and America and the parents of autistic kids, ads for get rich quick scams, and demands for donations to the MIchael Savage Defense Fund (which are not tax deductible...never a good sign). I hope the man just stops talking, or at least that people stop listening. Like Anne Coulter.
I also emailed both eBay (third time for this problem) and the Chicago Tribune's Problem Solver (I. Want. His. Job.) about an issue I'm having with eBay and PayPal. Short version: they saved an address I deleted, and because of the way that eBay now handles PayPal purchases, I was not aware of this until after six LPs (yes vinyl), several boxes of yarn, and a belt buckle were shipped to the WRONG ADDRESS. The operator I called at PayPal the other morning was rude, unapologetic, and less than helpful. I don't expect a refund...this is really more of an inconvenience and a worry (that the LPs may break, that USPS up here is so crappy to begin with, that everything may get sent back to the sellers, one of which is in Hong Kong). But I want an apology, an explanation, and hopefully a change in policy. Maybe even a coupon or something.
Now, my theory on this situation is that I'm a customer. I've worked retail jobs, academic jobs, service jobs, office jobs, theatre jobs...I know that if one thing remains true across the board, it's this (thanks Dad for teaching me): you are the one bringing in the money, and if you're not happy, demand what you want or take your money elsewhere. I have rights as a consumer (as does everyone else) that I feel like some companies just ignore...particularly the ones that can pass the buck or don't have major competition to fight with.
Now, if I'd had this problem with Amazon, there'd be a gift certificate and a speedy apology coming my way...but eBay? Who knows. Hopefully getting a major newspaper on their ass will help.
Ta for now, kiddies. But let me leave you with something that will make me squee with joy every time I see it.
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
customer service, geek, neocon, star trek