Month: August 2002 (Page 3 of 6)

Dr. Mark Greene Proves I’m a Bad Person, Part II

Dr. Greene is considering a job in another state. To judge how much they want him to stay, he asks his boss about tenure at Cook County General. The boss says, we’ll consider you for tenure in ’02 (this is 1999). Dr. Greene is disappointed.

“Leave town!” I shout at the TV. “You’ll be dead by then!”

Maria: Can you stop watching TV for a minute?
Matthew: No.
Maria: Why?
Matthew: Because. I had a bad day at work. I had to subvert my principles and kow-tow to an idiot. Television makes these daily sacrifices possible. Deadens the inner core of my being.
Maria: Let’s move away then.
Matthew: They have television everywhere, there’s no escape.

From Trust, a fantastically quotable and entertaining movie. Highly, highly recommended.

Memo to self:

Write more posts about country radio.

We’re living in a society!

Supposedly we here in the United States are living in a service economy. Our primary product is service. So why is it so hard to get even decent service, in any circumstances?

I left my previous web host because the tech support, such as it was, was surly and rude. Now I choose a new host, and I’m on the phone with them for three days trying to get them to properly set up the account, which should have been done in the first place.

For example, I called them when I found out that the statistics on the new account weren’t working (just one of many setup problems I’ve had). I was told in a flat affectless voice, “Stats aren’t set up on that account yet.” Why not? “On other servers, the stats are set up automatically.” So on this one, you just assume people don’t need stats? Why should I have to call and specifically ask for you to do something basic like this?

Of course, this lack of service isn’t just in the tech industry. Restaurants, utility companies, financial institutions are all pretty dismal. But I’m amazed that it’s so hard to find a decent web host with support people who don’t treat you like a nasty interruption in their day, and can get an account set up without a ridiculous amount of hand-holding.

(I have to take this opportunity, though, to plug HostingMatters, the fantastic hosting company Xkot works for. They set up both an account for a client and a small account for me so I can fool around with PHP and Movable Type, and they’ve been wonderful. If I didn’t need something they don’t offer (Cold Fusion), I’d move everything over to them in a heartbeat.)

You can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs

Whose bright idea was it to change web hosts?

Oh right. It was mine.

Does the phrase “out of the frying pan, into the fire” mean anything to you?

Learning about blasphemy with The Simpsons

Bart: Why do we need church shoes? Jesus wore sandals.
Homer: Well, if he’d had proper arch support, maybe they might not have caught him.

Today we celebrate two birthdays here at words mean things: Arthur Coddington and my niece Anne Blust. I’m sure Anne (who’s 15 today) will be mad at her uncle for displaying such an old photo of her. But it’s so cute I couldn’t resist.

As for Arthur, he’s been my anti-war idol over the past year, an all-too-uncommon voice of common sense and peace in these troubling times. You should definitely get over to his site and wish him a happy birthday.

The weblog world seems to be in a late-summer funk, me included. I go to all my favorite sites, and people aren’t updating much at all. It’s a vicious cycle, because I keep thinking, I need to read some interesting stuff on other people’s sites to get me inspired. Instead, my brain feels like those shots of Homer Simpson’s head, with the tiny little cartoon characters wandering around when he’s supposed to be thinking about something important. Except not as funny.

If anybody out there has any inspiring words, or links to inspiring sites, lay them on me. Thanks.

Last night’s “American Idol” basically sucked. The performances went from fine (Tamyra) to setting-off-car-alarms horrible (Nikki). Even my favorite, Kelly, did just an OK job, and that unfortunate tube top thing didn’t help. We also had to watch a skeletal Burt Bacharach give some inane praise to each contestant, even when it was clearly paining him to do so (R.J.).

I just want to skip ahead to the final week, when Kelly and Tamyra can square off, sing three songs each, and deliver us from product placement filler hell.

I love The Daily Show and Jon Stewart. I really do. And I appreciate how Stewart tries to inject some real issues and news into the program – sort of like packing the sugary breakfast cereal full of vitamins.

But when they get to the point where they have a former UN weapons inspector as the interview guest, I think they’ve gone off the rails. This is The Daily Show, not “Frontline.”