I just added some new swag to my Zazzle store: namely the Cranky Monkey tee shirt! Check it:
He’s my new mascot. I like him very much. Yay, Illustrator doodles!
technorati tags:cranky monkey
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I had this idea yesterday. The idea involved losing twenty pounds, gaining muscle definition and becoming slender and willowy, but the short term version was: ha! I will do my yoga DVD! So what if it’s post-natal yoga? I am post-natal!
My body was not pleased about the whole thing, but gamely played along. My hamstrings might be so tight I could barely sit up with my legs flat on the ground (reach for my toes? Are you kidding?) but I managed to stick it out through all the ab work and most of the upper body strengthening exercises. I did skip some of the standing poses, but I joined back in for the stretching at the end, which was…kind of heavenly. Muscles I haven’t acknowledged in months were greeted and stretched like old friends. My neck admitted a certain amount of separation from my shoulder. The world was good.
Until this morning.
I woke up with an ache in my neck. Nothing horrible, just a pinch and an ache. Except then it grew. It grew and it grew until the pain extended from the base of my skull to my lower back. Seriously – I can feel it in my lower back when I turn my head.
It’s not cool. It’s not fun. And most of all? It’s not willowy.
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BlogHer in Spirit for Saturday:
Workshop Topic #1: Identity and Obligation:
I decided when I started this blog that I wanted it to have a specific focus: parenting and random geekery. While I discuss anxiety issues and depression, I really don’t want this blog to turn into a de facto therapist or a self-pity party. I spend more time on the entries I post here than the ones I’d put in a LiveJournal or a paper journal. I want to give a pretty balanced view of what it’s like in my world.
I also don’t talk much about my extended family or my childhood, and that’s deliberate as well. I say nothing in this blog that I wouldn’t be comfortable saying to someone’s face. I’m not suggesting that snark has no place in the blogosphere; I’m just saying I know my family reads this blog.
Anything else, though, is fair game.
I was uncomfortable about this at first, but the more I used this blog as a sopabox, the more I found myself self-referencing. At that point it seemed silly to be vigilant with the aliases. I still alternate between real names and the ones I made up, but that’s just because I like them. Also, it makes me feel a little like a superhero. That’s not so wrong, is it?
Seriously, Not So (or Matt, if you prefer) and I have discussed at length how comfortable we are with using real names and photographs of ourselves and the kid, and we both pretty much agree that it’s not an issue for us. I think if either of us was not okay with it the aliases would be a lot more important.
I think it’s a little of both. My blog doesn’t get a lot of traffic so I haven’t (yet) had to deal with any personal attacks or judgments, but I’m very aware of that potential every time I post. And that’s a good thing. It makes me more aware of how I present myself, but at the same time forces me to take a certain amount of pride in my own honesty. If I’m posting something, I stand behind it.
Workshop Topic #2: From Here to Autonomy:
I wish I had tips. I suspect it has something to do with ads. So far I’ve managed to maintain a nose-in-the-air disdain for ads on my site, but I have a feeling the siren-song of easy income will eventually wear me down.
I’d love to be able to make money from my writing (in any form – blogging’s just getting the most out of me these days). I miss being published. Getting paid for what I write somehow makes it feel more legitimate.
I actually think that blogging’s great for giving exposure to a business venture. It’s the ultimate word-of-mouth. I’m firmly of the belief that every business should have some form of blog attached to it, if for no other reason than to give a “face” to the relative anonymity of a web site. Have a blog, and then use the blog’s URL whenever you post in a forum or comment on someone else’s entries. If nothing else, it provides a degree of name recognition.
technorati tags:BlogHer, blogher in spirit
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Shannon at Phat Mommy had the world’s greatest idea: posting topics from the workshops at BlogHer so that those of us who couldn’t attend can take part virtually! She calls it BlogHer in Spirit. I love this. I have huge BlogHer envy, and this goes a long way to making me feel like one of the cool kids.
Check out Shannon’s post and participate! If you let her know, she’ll link to you in her sidebar.
technorati tags:blogher, blogher in spirit
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Here’s the reply I got from Best Buy:
I apologize we did not meet your expectations with your order for the desk. Best Buy strives to make each experience you have with us positive and as fun as possible, and we are disappointed if we don’t live up to that expectation. Best Buy relies on feedback, both positive and negative, to help us find areas for improvement.
Well, that fixes everything, doesn’t it? ::eyeroll::
technorati tags:best buy, customer service, suckage
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Thanks to Not So’s suggestion, I sent the following message via the PBS feedback form:
Thumbs down to PBS’ decision to fire Melanie Martinez over some old satirical commercials. The spots were obviously spoofs and had nothing to do with Melanie’s role as a children’s show host. Preschoolers aren’t exactly scouring YouTube for videos. Given the fact that George Carlin has hosted a PBS children’s show in the past, Melanie’s firing seems pointless and hypocritical. My guess is that PBS will lose a lot of viewers over this. I certainly won’t be watching The Goodnight Show without Melanie.
If you’re of the same mind (and really, it’s a good mind), you should do the same. Let PBS know what a mistake it was to fire Melanie over some old videos.
technorati tags:goodnight show, melanie martinez, pbs
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So we ordered a desk for the new office from Best Buy at the end of June. It’s an oversize item, so delivery was scheduled through the Best Buy home delivery service. We’ve dealt with them before (when we got the massive TV of doom in 2003) and I remembered the service as being prompt and easy to deal with.
A lot can change in three years, apparently.
First, we got a call two days before the confirmed delivery date (the 17th of July) from the warehouse. “It’s weird,” said the delivery guy, “but it’s just not here. We’ll call you in a couple of days to reschedule.”
Okay. Well…okay. So we waited a couple of days. No one called. I finally called the customer service line. “I’m just wondering where my desk is,” I said.
“I show that it’s scheduled for delivery for the 19th of August,” said the rep.
I think I may have managed something more articulate than “WHAT?!?” but I can’t guarantee it. “That’s – that’s ridiculous. I didn’t authorize that. No one’s even called me.”
“It looks like I can schedule you for the 25th of July, if that would work better.”
Since this month is sooner than a month from now I said yes, it would work better, and the delivery was rescheduled. I had my reservations, but the day before the delivery date we got a call saying the desk was in and would be delivered on schedule, between the hours of 9 and 11 am. Hooray!
So Happy Fun Baby and I woke up at the crack of dawn (i.e. the same time Not So gets up every morning) and headed over to the office, which was empty except for a desk chair and a printer. It was hot, and it was boring, but we persevered.
And persevered. And…11 o’clock came and went. Happy Fun Baby, who had had enough around 10, was practically inconsolable, and I was righteously annoyed. I called the warehouse directly (all hail Caller ID), where I was told that the driver wanted to speak with me.
“It’s the weirdest thing,” he said. “I show that it’s here on paper, but when we were loading the truck this morning we saw that it hadn’t come in.”
“Why didn’t anyone call me?” I asked.
“Well, you know, it was six o’clock in the morning when we were loading the truck…”
“I’ve been here since nine a.m. In an office with no air conditioning. And a cranky seven month old baby.”
“I’m sorry,” the driver said. “It’s not here.”
So we schlepped furiously home and I furiously called Best Buy customer service, where I was told the following:
1) No no, the desk is being delivered today. You just didn’t wait long enough.
(Um, the desk isn’t there. I could have waited all day; wouldn’t have made a difference.)
2) The order can’t be cancelled, since delivery has already been scheduled, and
3) So sorry, but Best Buy managers don’t speak to customers.
…WTF?
I shouted something to the effect of “THAT’S THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING I’VE EVER HEARD! CANCEL MY ORDER RIGHT NOW!” and hung up. In the most mature, non-temper-tantrum-y way possible, of course.
And then, seething, I sent a bitchy e-mail to their corporate headquarters. And the Better Business Bureau. Because repeatedly failing to deliver goods paid for and scheduled? Really not a good business practice.
It’s too bad, because we’d done a lot of business in the past and undoubtedly would have continued to do business with them in the future had they at least treated us with the slightest bit of respect. They could have been up-front about the availability of the desk. They could have called us when they realized the desk wasn’t going to be there when promised. Refusing to let me speak to a manager (despite my repeated requests), though, was pretty much the last straw. Since when is that not considered a shady business practice?
technorati tags:best buy, customer service, suckage
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