I am juiced!
I'm not steroid raging juiced, but I have been accepted as a Beta tester for Joost.com. If you haven't heard about it (which is why I'm telling you here), Joost has set up the first (as far as I know) internet cable provider. You can watch programming from all over the world on your schedule. Screw Tivo and DVR's, I'm totally JOOSTED!

With Joost, I will have instant access to tons of TV programming all full-screen and hi-quality. With my PC connector, which enables me to connect to my digital projector, I have all of that content in Hi-Def glory! I'm not sure if its broadcast in stereo, dolby, or hi-def sound yet.

Did I mention its FREE? I LOVE the future!

You can get Joosted too by clicking here or going to www.joost.com

I just bought my own radio station!

Okay, so maybe I'm not really cool or rich enough to buy my own radio station, but for only $2.99 a month (paid for full year), I get 12 months of digital quality radio piped straight into my laptop and to my ears. You can get it for free if you don't mind a commercial every five songs. The payed subscription kills the ads.

Big deal, you may say. That is only if you haven't experienced Yahoo's music player. You start off by rating music genres and artists based on music YOU like. From this, Yahoo will stream music to your computer using your selections as a guideline. The more stuff you rate, the better your radio station is. If you happen to stop liking something, or a song gets too played out, you can decrease its rating or simply never play it again!

The only thing that keeps the free player from being well worthwhile is the limit imposed by Yahoo on how often a month you can use it. I feel that for $2.99 a month for me to listen to ONLY music I like, it is well worth the money.

There are several limitations to the free service, though.

Here's an example of gratitude for you.

So, Saturday night, I turned in early. My friend Chris had come by the house and was watching TV as I was crashed on the couch.

All of a sudden, I'm awakened by a loud banging and wailing at the door. I jolt awake, stand up, take 2 steps (6 feet) toward the door and see this guy running toward my door with this wild look on his face. Needless to say, I wedge my big boot in the door and locked the deadbolt.

I hear this woman pleading, "Please call 911! Please call 911!" And I look around for my phone. I find it and dial 911. Then I return to the door and open it.


"911, what's your emergency?" asks the 911 operator.

--background--"Oh, my babys! How they gonna do this to my babies!"
As my house is suddenly flooded with a short young guy, a young woman, a seven-year old boy, a three year old, and the guy cradling a screaming 5 (FIVE) month old baby.--

"These people just crashed outside my house and they look pretty banged up."

Operator: Can you get them to quiet down in the background, I can't hear what your saying. Are you at *&$% U Rd? Officers have been dispatched.

--background--"I'm gonna get that ******. Why he do that? Man, we were trying to get away. You gotta help us, man. "
"My baby! My babies bleedin'!"

At this point, I run to get a towel as this man lays his baby RIGHT ON MY COUCH. I swiftly return and slip the towel under the (thank you Jesus) not bleeding baby. The woman collapses on my Laz Z Boy and starts gasping, cursing, and crying all at the same time.

Now, they were pretty banged up for taking the lumps they did.

According to our neighborhood forensic investigation team who have seen quite a few wipeouts at this curve, the man had to have been going at least 60-100 miles an hour (one neighbor is a little older. This car couldn't DO 0-100 in less than 30 seconds, which is more time than it takes to hit this curve.

When he encountered the curve, he hit his brakes to slow down which caused him to fish-tail. He overcorrected and nailed the mailbox post which was constructed out of two steel girders embed in a 2' x 2' x 2' concrete block.

After colliding with this (pictured above) bohemouth (apparently, someone some time ago got tired of replacing mailboxes and posts from drivers taking the corner too fast), it appears from tire marks at the scene that he was airborne for about 15-20 feet, the front of the car came down first, then the car was on two tires, then all four.

Unfortunately, with two now flat front tires, he was unable to steer and nailed a telephone pole. (You can see the car against the pole in the top photo. You can see the aftermath in the second one.) The impact from this and his possibly lowered front end stance from losing some tires caused the car to swing 90 degrees counter-clockwise and land. I didn't hear a thing.

The tale that began to unravel is one difficult to grasp and even more frightening to imagine. Of course, there are sides to every tale and I'll not point fingers. I do not have the full details that the police would, only what I heard and what I heard was basically this:

"We were in the McDonald's parking lot and this guy came up and started yelling at us. He pulled out a gun and we took off. He followed us. I turned down this road 'cause its a back way to get to my house. Thats not even my car! I was trying to get away and he kept coming. "
--I didn't get all the details of the crash. I'm sure it happened way too fast, but we can see what the aftermath was and draw conclusions from that.

Ending this part of the story is that I let them use my phone to call anyone they could to come take them to the hospital (I didn't volunteer because they all appeared healthy and not too stressed after what they just experienced). You'd think it would be easier to get in touch with someone at 3:30 in the morning (Three-thirty o'clock! AM! (a.m.)).

--What the heck were they doing out at 3:00 in the morning with their whole family hanging out in a McDonald's parking lot? Even their 5 month old!

Finally they leave, I watch a little TV, then slumber land greets me once more.

Today, when I get home from running the computer system at church, my friend tells me the people from last night came by.

According to him, they accused me of taking their police paperwork and telling the cops that they had been drinking (neither of which happened). They DID leave their EMS paperwork here and I put it on the countertop in case they came back. They may have been what they meant. They still shouldn't have accused considering how I opened my home to them as complete strangers.

If I see him again, I'm going to tell him he owes me $300 for repairs to mine & my neighbor's mailboxes.

I cannot believe this idiot had the NERVE to come over to my house and accuse me of STEALING HIS PAPERWORK! It's people like this that continue to perpetuate stereotypes. This stupid bastard has at least one child (he didn't claim the other two as his own) and a direct inability to accept things as being his fault. He lost his paperwork and couldn't even say he may have LEFT IT. He had to accuse ME of stealing! Then, he walked around the outside of my house looking for it! If I had stolen his paperwork, do you think that I with my carefully manicured lawn would have simply tossed it out a window? C'mon.

On a side note, I also hope that maybe someone from the City of Beaumont will see this and decide that something needs to finally be done about this curve. Maybe a sign with blinking yellow lights and reflective tape with those little reflective things that look like tiny skateboard ramps. Or maybe something more.

Truth be told, I think this is actually a really cool t-shirt that I am selling on my other website, but I can't tell you which one. Sorry. You'll have to either email me or leave a comment to be able to buy one. Trust me, it's totally worth it.

The Day I Turned Off My Cell Phone

This was approximately three weeks ago. I did it because of receiving a nearly $440 bill because I thought all theses months that I was on a nights & weekends plan, only to finally discover that the NW on my bill DID NOT in fact mean Nights & Weekends. It really stands for Nationwide (which is ONE word!).

I came to the realization that me being able to communicate at the drop of a hat with anyone in the civilized world was not something I was willing to pay almost $100 a month for. I have a lap top, an mp3 player, a radio in my car. I really don't even like half the people I talk to on my cell-phone and half the time, I'm perturbed when they call because of its inappropriateness.

Who really wants to get a call from their mother calling about your insurance while they are occupied by the toilet? Bluetooth headset picks up and momma hears leakage. No thanks. I'm done.

My last entry was about keeping a large corporation to their word. As a follow-up, I would like to report that Time Warner agreed to meet me half-way (I'm sure they discovered they were wrong) and not charge me for the digital cable box for six months. Good thing I don't have a contract. I can drop the service anytime. Excellent.

Since turning off my cell phone, I have blissfully realized what I can and cannot live without. Yes, I still need a cell phone in case of emergencies, but ALL cell phones can still dial 911 as long as there is a signal. I still keep it. It stores my numbers for me, it keeps the date, time, and my date book. It no longer rings. The silence is thrilling.

Attention Time Warner Cable Customers:

I just wanted to let readers know about the supposed "great" deal that Time Warner is currently offering. They have advertised their digital cable, VOIP (Voice Over Internet Phone), and cable modem package as being $119.00. This is not true!

After filling out an arduous online form (which I don't recommend), over a week passed and I received neither a follow-up email to schedule service nor a phone call. Frustrated, I called Time Warner and sat through another arduous form (this time filled out by a salesperson).

Because I know how some technology companies operate (with hidden fees and what not), I asked the salesperson what, if any, added fees, taxes, and services would be applied with this sale. I was told originally that the costs would be $148 (approximate) and I wondered aloud why. The salesperson went and checked, then told me his first price was wrong and the cost with tax and all would be $126.00 (approximate). I agreed this was a reasonable price and we finalized my hook-up appointment.

A few days later, I rescheduled my appointment to a week later so that my cable, internet, and phone could be installed all at the same time (I work 9-5 and couldn't take two days off). They were originally going to install just the internet and cable with the phone being installed a week later.

Today, I received a call informing me that my installation was scheduled for tomorrow and this made me very happy. The lady on the line made no reference to the $128 I was assuming I needed to pay to get the services connected (you pre-pay for your service). I asked her about it and said I hadn't paid, yet. She went and checked a few records and said that I was correct and had not paid. She asked me how I would like to pay the $148 (approximate).

Of course, this surprised me as I had been told the cost would be $126 (approx). When I asked the girl why it was suddenly $148, she didn't know and put me on hold to find out. The next thing I know, I can tell I was transferred because I hear ring tones again and a different lady picking up the phone asking how she can help me. I tell her, I don't know because I was talking with someone else who was "helping me" and all of a sudden I'm talking with her. I then explain what happened and she puts me on hold.

At this point, I am extremely perturbed at the treatment I am receiving, particularly because I am not yet a customer and I already feel like I am getting ripped off. I was quoted and agreed to a price given to me by one of their salespeople and in less than a week, I am upcharged $20 which they say is because of taxes and a $7.50 monthly rental charge for the equipment.

This makes no sense to me. Why would you charge me an extra $7.50 monthly for equipment that I HAVE to have to be able to use your service. I cannot get digital cable without this equipment, yet they did not include the cost in the original pricing. On what planet does this make sense? I feel I am being cheated out of $240 (the year's compounded extra charges).

I was told they will review the tapes of my conversations with the representatives and will see what was said. When I asked for a copy of the conversations for myself, they refused saying, "They are company property." I said, "Until the subpeona comes in."

Should companies be bound to the statements made by their salespeople? Does this sound like classic bait and switch tactics to you?