Look for me in the news

Over the course of the last week, I have gotten a surprising amount of media attention. I say 'surprising' because at this point any attention at all is in fact very surprising. First, I received an email from a writer for the Boston Globe who had seen my blog and wanted to do a short interview about it for an article. Okay, I thought. Wouldn't hurt to get a free meal in exchange for an hour of my time - plus I'll be in the paper. So after an early morning (12 noon) interview, I was told that there would be something on me in this Sunday's paper, and that a photographer was coming over to my house to take photos of me for the article. Go figure. So if you happen to be in the Boston area, pick up a copy of this coming Sunday's Boston Globe. I think I'll be in the magazine section.

Now for those of you who live in parts of the world where the Sunday Globe isn't readily available, I also recently became a member of Metroblogging Boston. It's a site where I and thirteen other bloggers from the Boston area post about, what else, Boston. It's a really interesting site, and I'm sure to get a few more hits here because of it. Plus the new movable type interface is slick as hell and I can't wait to start using it.

Since that's not too much of a post, here's something to look at. to attract your attention before you read the text:


I take a lot of photographs, and only about 5 % of them make it to the web. This is an attempt to show the best of the rest.

Update: Dell Still Awful

For those of you who have been enjoying my blog, I thank you. For anyone interested in why I continue to hate Dell Inc. so much, here's an update on my struggle with the computer giant.

Yesterday, I received my bill in the mail from Dell's "preferred account" department. It was the usual shape and size. 7 by 11 inches, blue and black ink on white paper, in a nondescript white envelope with one of those little cellophane address windows. There was one thing a little odd with this bill, however. The date I received it was conveniently the same day that the bill was due. How could this have happened? I had called the customer service people three times now, trying to assure that my bill would arrive on time and at the right address. You would be surprised at just how difficult that is for some people these days.

So I called to complain.

"Thank you for calling Dell Customer Service, my name is Mark, how can I help you today?"

"Hi Mark, I was just calling to let you know that I got my bill in the mail today, and the due date is listed here as the same day. Also, I see a late charge here even though the last person I talked to, Mary X, told me that since sending the bill to the wrong address twice was your fault and I wouldn't be charged the late fee of $35. What are you going to do about this?"

I have given up trying to be nice to these people. I now prefer to treat them like impudent children.

"Well sir, I see that call here, and I will take that fee off of your last bill."

"And I won't be charged for being late on this bill either."

"Well sir, I cannot.."

"Yes you can, you just did it. If you can't send me my bill on time, and you won't let me pay online, then you aren't charging me a late fee. I simply will not be bullied into paying your over the phone check 'convenience fee' of fifteen dollars for a service I know costs you next to nothing. Now here's what you're going to do. You will send me my bill on time from now on. You will waive this billing period's late fee, and you can expect another complaint to corporate. Now may I have your name and/or employee number so I can include you in my letter?"

Silence follows. A short time later, Mark popped back on the line.

"Sir, we have everything taken care of for you. You should see your bill in the mail by August 7th."

"Thank you. You have been very little help today, which is the best service I have ever gotten from Dell. Goodbye."

I didn't give him the satisfaction of ending our conversation with his little "Thank you for choosing Dell" routine. But in the end, I got three things out of that conversation. First, I was able to get $70 worth of fees waived. Second, I actually got a sort of an apology. Finally, I became more frustrated with Dell for seemingly slacking off and trying to get me to pay extra money in fees at every step of the process.

I'll be writing another letter to corporate today, detailing the level of my frustration. I know it may end up in a shredder, but it's a worthy cause.

Remember, don't buy Dell. Ever.

Children's games and shuttle launches

When I was in the third grade, the whole school had a free day toward the end of May. As you can imagine, there were about 300 yelling and screaming children out on the asphalt parking lot "playground" of St. Vivian's school. Many of the children were watching a unique game being played by kids from my class against kids from the fourth grade class. The game was called lightning ball. It was aptly named since it was essentially baseball played with a tennis ball and tennis racket instead of a baseball and bat. The little green ball when hit, would rocket off at such speeds that our pre-pubescent minds could barely comprehend - it was like lightning. It was a mind-bogglingly fun and intense game.

It was during that game on a sunny afternoon in Ohio on an asphalt playground that I got my first lesson in the art of the midair collision. Not that kind of midair collision, but an interesting one nonetheless. The large group of onlookers stood intent on the game as one of the fourth graders came up to bat. He was one of the bigger kids and as such, commanded a bit more respect from the opposing teams. "Everybody back up!" The pitcher told the kids in the field. They did. Then they waited for what was sure to be a big a towering drive deep into the outfield. The pitcher held, and delivered. The fourth grader hit the ball with such incredible force that I took a moment to visualize the hit in slow motion, observing the compression of the ball at the moment of impact. But just miliseconds after that impact, there was a second one. Seemingly out of nowhere, a bird had flown directly into the flight path of the ball. The two collided head-on and fell straight down like stones. The tennis ball bounced away and the big kid only got a basehit, but there was a dead sparrow near third base. We cleaned it up and went on with the game after a few obligatory cries of, "Eeeew!"

The actual event of seeing a bird killed by, well, anything wasn't as traumatic as one might think for a child of nine. I wasn't so much disturbed by the corpse of a bird as I was amazed that out of all that space in the world, the bird had chosen that exact flight path - none other would have been so perfect - as to hit a speeding tennis ball with such force and accuracy that it was killed instantly. It might as well have been struck by lightning at those odds. Hence the now much more appropriate double meaning for the game, lightning ball.

This story brings up two other notable midair collisions that seem just as, or far more random than my experience in Ohio. I'm sure you remember this incident with then Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher, Randy Johnson and an unlucky white dove. And if you have been watching any of the coverage of NASA's return to flight mission, you might have heard about some interesting and unusual debris captured on camera flying off the shuttle during the launch. Among other things, one piece of 'debris' was a rather large bird that was struck dead on by the tip of the nose cone on the primary fuel tank of the shuttle. I would think the space shuttle Discovery might be a little easier to avoid than a baseball or a tennis ball, but I guess there are some birds out there who still haven't read this.

United States soccer team actually wins something

I guess I just haven't been paying as much attention as I should to international soccer. Since I no longer get the Soccer Channel, it has been difficult to keep up with the soccer world. Every once in a while though, something of note pops up on the American national sports media about soccer to renew my interest in the sport. This is just such an example. Yesterday the United States mens national team defeated Panama to win (that's right, win) the Gold Cup, a tournament held by CONCACAF, or for the acronymically challenged, The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football.

With the recent success of the US women's national team, winners of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, I suppose it was only a matter of time before the men's team caught up. The men's team is on a tear right now. Fresh off their victory in the Gold Cup, The U.S. team are set to be one of the 3.5 teams to qualify for the 2006 World Cup to be held in Germany. They are just one point behind Mexico, the leader in the North American and Carribean Zone cup qualifying standings, and five points ahead of the next best team, Costa Rica. The top three teams automatically qualify, and that .5 of a team comes from the possibility of statistics propelling the winner of the match between the 4th and 5th place teams into the final 32 for the Cup. If you remember, when the U.S. played Mexico in March the Mexican fans began chanting, "Osama, Osama!" and throwing trash at American players. Mexico won that match 2-1. Mexico seems to be out to prove itself though after a tough loss to the American team in the 2002 World Cup.

Further proving its mettle, the U.S. men's team recently garnered the rank of 6th among FIFA's international list of ranked national teams. Think about it this way: the international governing body for all of soccer ranks the best national teams in the world starting with Brazil and going down the list, Argentina, The Netherlands, The Czech Republic, Mexico, and the United States. FIFA says there are only five teams currently better than the U.S. in the world. Fifteen years ago, we were coming off a more than 30 year drought in qualifying for the World Cup. After the team's 1991 victory in the Gold Cup (then a tournament with far less respect than it has today,) U.S. soccer has enjoyed a rapidly growing popularity and talent pool. Though the MLS still blows, international soccer is at least picking up support and enjoying more and more success. We even have a vote of confidence from across the pond.

Why the sudden influx in talent and interest? I have two words for you: Soccer mom. The popularity of driving your children around in a gigantic SUV and wearing designer clothes to watch your six year old toddle around the pitch is phenomenal. It became the "thing to do" for the middle to high income housewife during the eighties and nineties. In my experience, being a soccer mom is just as much a social club for parents as it is a sports club for children. Thanks to the growing interest in pastel-colored cardigans, SUVs, and soccer ball window stickers, we now have a national team that is competitive on a world level.