I’m Loki. Welcome to my world.

Dog Abuse!!!

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:50:56 -0700

What kind of horrible guy gives his dog the leftover root beer float, with a scoop of ice cream stuck on the bottom of the glass? Who? (Yes, I stopped him before he actually bit the glass

Today in Corporate Stupidity!!!!

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:38:58 -0700

What is it with Banks and Insurance Companies? Is there a rule that they have to hire the stupidest people available, then give them they’re little bit of power so they can treat the rest of the world with contempt? Today, I give you PNC Internet Bank.

Starting this story, I have absolutely no idea who PNC Internet Bank is. On Saturday I received a letter from them about accessing my account, pointing me to the their web site and telling me that I can get into my new account by entering my account number and access code. It is on their letterhead. It says to call customer service if I have any questions.

Question 1. Why do you think I have an account with you? In these days of internet fraud and identity theft, you can’t let something like this go. I’m especially concerned because a collections agency has my number and is calling me for someone else’s debt - they are accounts I’ve never had and its a different social security number. There is another guy with my name in town who appears to be a bit of a loser; for awhile I was getting regular phone calls from a lawyer in New York telling me to stop hassling the Physics department at Brandeis University. “The WHAT? Physics? Oh, counsel, you don’t know how funny that is, and by the way I’ve heard of Brandeis but only the Law School. Where is it?”

So, I call PNC Internet Bank’s customer service line as suggested by the letter. You can’t get through without keying your account number. I DO NOT HAVE AN ACCOUNT NUMBER. “We’re sorry, but we didn’t understand your last response.” I punch Zero, I punch #, I punch combinations of the two. Nothing. Finally I hit the right combination and the robo-voice shuts up and go into the cue to wait for the “next available customer service representative.” And I wait, and wait, and the call terminates. I try it again. I wait. I wait until the call goes past the closing time for their customer service representatives and the robo-voice comes on to tell me they are now closed, call back later, and the call drops.

On to their website, where I write a nice and very concerned not on their customer service/complaint system. Here is the lovely little note I wrote:

I received a letter today from your bank which I initially thought was a
marketing letter, but it concerns me because the language suggests that
I already have an account with your bank. I do not. The letter states
"to get started with PNC Online Banking, go to pnc.com and click GET
STARTED NOW. You will be prompted to identify yourself. Simply enter
your Social Security Number, your PNC account number and your 4-digit
PNC Check Card PIN...."

I do not have an account with your bank, I do not have a PNC account
number, and I do not have a 4 digit check card PIN.

The letter was sent to Thomas Crowell at [redacted] San Bruno, San
Francisco, CA. That of course is odd because there are two units in my
building, and both addresses are included in the address line. That may
be because this is a marketing letter and you got the address from some
marketing database, but the language of the letter disturbs me. In
these days of identity theft and fraud, I need to make sure that an
account in my name was not set up at your bank.

Ok, I think I’m doing a good thing and notifying them of possible fraud. AND this was their response:

Thank you for your E-mail. We appreciate you sending us this
information. PNC Bank is aware of the fraudulent emails in circulation
and is working with law enforcement. If you opened the link in the email
and provided PNC bank account or card information please forward the
email to abuse@pnc.com immediately. If you are not a PNC customer and
have responded to the email please contact the security at your Bank.
Thank you.

Should there be any other questions or concerns, please feel free to
message us, or contact us at 1-888-PNC-BANK (1-888-762-2265). Thank you
again for writing.

Deborah Batten
PNC Bank
Internet Client Services

What Email? Did I say anything about an email? I received a LETTER with YOUR letterhead on it.

Please re-read my initial note. I did not say I received an e-mail. I
said I received a letter, it arrived by U.S. Mail. It appears to
actually be from your bank, and indicates that an account already exists
in my name. Your response does not respond to my problem.

And their second response??????

We understand your concerns regarding the letter you received. We
appreciate you sending us this information.

You may wish to take this letter to your local PNC branch location
for assistance with verification of this letter you received. We
apologize for all of the inconvenience this matter has caused you.

We appreciate your business at PNC Bank, and we hope that our response
has satisfied your banking needs. Should there be any other questions
or concerns, please feel free to message us, or contact us at
1-888-762-2265 (7 AM - 10 PM EST Monday-Friday and 8 AM - 5 PM EST on
weekends). Thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,

Linda Hott
Internet Client Services
PNC Bank

Seriously, Ms. Hott? This is how you deal with a potential fraud? If this was just a marketing letter could you tell me? Could you do a little research into the problem and verify that I DON’T have an account with you? Wait, you end with boilerplate language about appreciating my business, and satisfying my banking needs. YOU DID NOT EVEN READ THE LETTER? NO, you stupid toad, you have not satisfied me in any way and you are poo-pooing my concerns or utterly ignoring me. I was polite, you are about to find out the meaning of impolite.

Oh, and I went on your website to look for my “local PNC branch location”... Epic fail. There are no local branches, but I at least know where my home is vis-a-vis the Amazon Basin.....

Really, I’m not abandoning this blog....

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:23:07 -0700

I’m bored.

Really.

I’d like to share clever witty commentary on current events, but, blech! Job, same as it ever was. Dog, he’s fine. House? Dirty. Garden? Growing.

In fact, this is nothing more than a check in.

Does anybody want me to start sharing brilliant bbq tricks? Since last you heard from me I did buy a fab new propane grill and I haven’t cooked a damn thing on the stove since. Loki really appreciates the new cooking style, including the increase in leftover animal products.

Hint to carnivores, Trader Joe’s boneless Maui ribs...... throw those suckers on the grill, 2 minutes, flip, two minutes, it DOESN’T GET BETTER.

BP and UK, are you KIDDING me.

Tue, 1 Jun 2010 17:20:04 -0700

To be honest, the BBC has been pretty good about covering the Gulf oil fiasco. I read an article today that sent me over the top, however. Oh, chicken little, the stock of BP is down 13 billion today (which, interestingly enough, is one year of profit.) Here’s the main point of the woe is me article:

“it's certainly not ludicrous to assume that the final cost for BP of this mess could wipe out at least an entire year's profit (which for the past three years was just over £13bn on average) - once compensation and possible fines have been paid.”
One . Years . Profit. One. Profit. That’s all the money left after they pay their expenses. That means nobody’s foreclosing on a refinery, nobody’s going to lose their salary, nobody’s going to miss out on their glorious executive bonuses. No, profit is what’s left after all that’s paid for. There won’t be any money left for dividends (which does suck... maybe the shareholders should do something about their executives who cut corners, destroyed the Gulf, and caused them to lose a year of dividends.... just sayin’)

But after a year, everything for BP is back to normal. The worst environmental disaster in US history, possibly world history, and it costs one year of profit? Really? No wonder they don’t give a damn. Think about it. The chance of this happening, pretty low. If the worst case scenario occurs, one year of profits. With a cost/benefit equation like that, there is no incentive for them to do the right thing and use the best technology to ensure this doesn’t happen again!

Oh, right, the moral imperative to do the right thing. Giggle.

And the effect on the rest of us will last a whole lot longer than one year.

Oil dispersed into seawater disperses horribly toxic chemicals. Those chemicals are absorbed by plankton and filter feeders. Kiss gulf shrimp good bye, probably for hour life time. But shrimp provide food for larger, carnivorous fish, and the toxins concentrate in their flesh, making them even more poisonous. Fish are funny things, they don’t realize they’re supposed to stay in the Gulf and will probably migrate to the Caribbean and beyond. The population of the Caribbean is at risk, as are the rest of us. 12000-19000 barrels per day.

We in this hemisphere are going to be affected for a lot longer than one year, and if BP’s shareholders don’t get a dividend for a year, well, they’ll get over it. In a year.

Random Thoughts and Catchup

Sun, 30 May 2010 07:05:08 -0700

While Dearest Auntie was visiting a month or so ago she made a comment on how Loki plays with Mr. Fluffy Dog, how he takes care of it and cuddles it. We had a bit of sun last week and Mr. Man felt Mr. Fluffy Dog needed to warm up.

OMF DOG. Has it finally stopped raining? I stood in my office window and watched the thunderstorms last week: NO NO NO IT DOES NOT STORM IN CALIFORNIA IN LATE MAY. NO IT DOES NOT. STOP IT.

There has also been ferocious wind, which means its probably hot as hell in the Central Valley. When the wind blows that hard during the summer, it’s because the heat in the valley cases the air to rise and the wind rushes in from the sea. That means we get fog, and Modesto gets our smog. On my trip out there last week all I saw was anti-Obama signs, Tea Party bullshit, and lots of signs about projects being funded by recovery money. Yup, they’re the ones getting the recovery money and bitching about it. I’m sort of glad those hummer driving boneheads are sniffing the small amount of fumes put out by my hybrid. The flip side is that the wind has destroyed all my attempts to have a nice lush garden on my deck this year. Hasn’t done much for the rest of the yard either.

My, that sounded bitter, didn’t it. Post vacation buzz finally worn off? This week “Bizarre Foods” did a show on Aussie Bush Tucker, which I think I previously mentioned was Aboriginal food. Didn’t think much of seeing a wallaby tossed on an open fire, but they did a bit on the green ants that taste like Buddha’s hand/lime that I talked about.

So far I’ve pulled about four big bags of weeds and crapola pulled out of the back yard, my tiny back yard. Truly impressive how weeds grow back there.

Saw two movies last weekend. Dances with Smurfs (Avatar) and The Hurt Locker. Like many have said, the plot in Avatar has been seen before (Aliens, Dances with Wolves, etc.) but the technology was amazing. One of those movies that took full advantage of my system: the sound alone was amazing.
Hurt locker, however, is just an amazing movie. It deserved whatever awards it received (and the director deserved the Oscar over her ex-husband, who directed Avatar.)

Finally, for those who get songs stuck in their head, here’s the odd collection of stuff I’m stuck on at the moment.

First, I admit, I am drawn to American Idol like some are drawn to multi-car collisions with casualties. Ryan Seacrest is the most obnoxious human on TV, the judges are lame, contradictory, and clearly show favoritism to the contestant THEY want to get the contract. There is no other explanation for pushing the ultimate winner this year, who seems like a nice enough lad but is inconsistent and had this issue with singing off key. However, No. 2 is the one who is going places, if she stays true to her roots. There is always room for a female rock and roll singer who whether she knows it or not is more Bonnie Raitt than Janis Joplin (but has the voice of Janis.) This single has been release (and I’ve downloaded it) but it suffers from typical LA overproduction. This stripped version is why I think she’ll release the album I’ll be buying.

In Honor of The Best Movie Ever

Mon, 10 May 2010 21:28:36 -0700

Yeah, I haven’t written much. Today’s the 35th Anniversary of the release of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. My friends and I have been emailing and texting silly lines to each other all day.

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

We were supposed to post our favorite python line in our status on Facebook. Mine was “Dinsdale.”

Little background. One of the two brilliant teachers I had in high school could probably qualify as a sociopathic maniac. His neighbors complained about weeds in his front yard so he planted the entire yard in artichokes. “They aren’t weeds, they’re food.”

Seriously, I thought at one point that he could have been the unabomber. These two teachers represented the dark and the light, culture and crass, angel and devil. In other words, both sides of me.

They did not like each other.

The madman and his merry band of maniacs (of which I was a proud member) were relatively low on the high school social scale, the thing was we liked it there. One year the class above us thought that high school elections were so beneath them, they decided to run a mythical creature. They settled on Spiny Norman.

Dearest Auntie wore me out.

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 08:16:17 -0700

Mexican food again, beach, Grandparents, cousins, A dog can take so much in one day.....

Random nonsense

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 07:43:45 -0700

Ok, I haven’t posted much lately, guess I’m trying to maintain that post-holiday buzz. Hard to do when there is monumental turmoil in the office, and you KNOW I don’t post things like that.

Did forget once story from Oz (which explains the picture.) In Oz, “Bush Cooking” means brilliant gourmet cooking on a camp stove in the outback. “Bush Tucker” means essentially Aboriginal food - native food or living off the land.

During the tour of the rainforest, Bob says “now it’s time for some Bush Tucker.” Without missing a beat, I turned and said “I ain’t eatin’ no bugs. Not gonna happen. Been there, done that, don’t get the thrill.” You could see the gears in Bob’s head turning - I don’t think he’s ever had that swift a reaction before - but I’ve been enough places that wanted me to eat a bug to get a thrill out of it, and besides the fact that I don’t like eating bugs, I do have a bit of an issue with something gratuitously dying for a human thrill, particularly if there is no thrill. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll kill a spider that enters my house, because he broke the rules. Ants that invade my kitchen? Hasta la vista, baby. But some poor guy who’s out in the wild, trying to get by, gets scooped up and devoured so a human can say he did so? I dunno.

Anyway, the bug in question is the Australian Green Ant. Bob found a swarm of them, and gave one to the English Doctor to try. It bit him on the way down. English Doctor was offended, but my thought was “bully for the ant, he went down (literally) fighting.” I refused. So Bob grabs a couple, mooshes them up in his hand, grabs my fingers and jams them in the moosh. “JUST TASTE IT.”

Damned if they weren’t delicious. They taste like a cross between lime and Buddha’s hand. Apparently the Aborigines used a mash of green ants to season and tenderize meat - the citrus flavor goes well with Kangaroo and the acid in the ant bodies tenderized ‘Roo meat (which can be very tough - apparently it has to be cooked rare.)

As for Loki, there is an interesting new behavior since the trip. He’s even clingier at night than he was before. I think he was fine at camp during the day, but I have a feeling that he was lonely and chilly, even though its heated. Around 1 or 2 am, every night. he jumps off the bed and stands there staring at me. He’s waiting for me to throw the covers back so he can get under. The rest of the night he sleeps completely, head and all, under the covers, curled up against me.

The sun’s out today, and I’m really hoping the rainy season is over. He’s such a jerk when he doesn’t get his walks, and he won’t go out in the rain. Last Saturday he got his first big dog-day, several hours on the beach, a trip to his favorite snack store, lots of attention while we waited in line at the cookie store (outdoor line - yeah, I know about every place in SF I can go with him.) Then we split a burrito.

Note to self. Refries and dog don’t go together.

Tales of the Land of Oz Part VIII (Cairns, Part II)

Wed, 7 Apr 2010 18:44:09 -0700

The Great Barrier Reef. Few places have stirred my little boy interest as that one. I’ve always wanted to dive it. Day 2 in Cairns I did.

I decided not to go scuba, for several reasons, notably that I was only going for one day, would be flying 2 days later and didn’t want to worry about off-gassing, and i just wanted to see the reef. The day trip I took was recommended by the B&B, as they are more hands on (like the rainforest tour.) The common turista day trips involve taking you out to a pre-set area with a big round buoy, throwing several hundred people into the ring, letting them splash about, then taking them back.

This boat had a large crew, who hung out with the passengers between dive sites and chatted us up, took us to three different sites, and put divers in the water to make sure we didn’t get into trouble. As I turned out a bit more adventurous, doing some 30 and 40’ free dives to get to the deeper water critters, I had a dive master hanging out with me (and the photographer.) That’s not a wetsuit, its a stinger suit, to keep the jellyfish off me. Yay. All these pics were taken by the professional photographer

Tales From the Land of Oz, Part VII (Cairns)

Mon, 5 Apr 2010 17:45:52 -0700

I think I can bang this one out in two entries, one for the rainforest and one for the reef. 1 month post holiday and I’m still working the Oz buzz.

Cairns is in the north, pretty far from Sydney, and in the tropics. Seriously, it’s 16 degrees from the equator, the next country north is New Guinea, and it is hot, steamy, and full of wild assed critters.

I stayed at a B&B that also arranged all the day trips. First night, I said “hey, I think there’s something on your wall.” The response was “just the one thing?”

Geckos.