Hands-down, the winner is the Wendy’s commercials with the red-haired pony-tailed men (mimicking Wendy), especially the Baconator one. Something so stupid required a response: I stopped eating at Wendy’s. It has been a year since my boycott began, and I’ve not looked back. Thank you, Wendy’s!

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

Many people don’t realize how much of what we use, buy and then discard in our normal trash is considered hazardous waste. Meaning, the stuff needs special handling for disposal and shouldn’t be lumped in with your normal trash and simply dumped at the local landfill. Things like unused paint, motor oil, antifreeze, flourescent bulbs, batteries, mercury switches, drain cleaners, insecticides, bug-sprays, asphalt sealers, disinfectants, lighter fluid and aerosol cans need special hazardous waste disposal handling.

In the spirit of being green (and it being the month of Earth Day), please consider recycling your hazardous waste at your local recycling station. If you think it’ll take too much time or be too much of a hassle, don’t be! At least in Bergen County, it was smooth as silk.

I just got back from one of Bergen County Utilities Authority’s many hazardous waste collection events (held 8 times this year in several locations in Bergen County). It was a cinch. It opened at 9:00 AM and I was there by 9:20. There were already 2 lines of cars stretching about 75-100, but the line ran smoothly. I queued for about 20 minutes until I got to the drop-off point. You simply pop open your trunk or car door and they take everything out of the car for you. It went so fast. 20-30 minutes (depending on your drive to the location) on a Sunday morning is nothing compared to the good you’ll be doing for the environment.

NJ has programs per county (look it up). I’m sure your state has the same. See you at the next hazardous waste recycling event!

The Federal Reserve are going to give Bear Stearns (via the JPMorgan Deal) $29 billion—that’s $29,000,000,000—so that Bear Stearns does not collapse. Bear Stearns was going to collapse because of the risky investment deals (not all of it legal) which it perpetrated over the last few years. The Fed defended it’s decision today before a hearing of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee Rightfully cautious senators questioned the legitimacy of such an action.

Why is our federal government giving away taxpayer money to an investment bank that lost taxpayer money? While all of us are struggling with this economy, our tax dollars are going to bail out an investment bank.

I cannot wait for a new administration to kick these Federal Reserve Board of Governors out.

Does it show that I am no where enchanted with our illustrious government lately?

I need to get back to photography and stop thinking about these things.

EDIT: 4/3/08 @ 4:48 p.m. — Okay, here’s an uplifting story. Marathon runner Anna Mahlum stopped running past all the homeless in her early morning runs and instead started a training program to get the homeless into running and preparing them to get their lives on track. Now, how many times do you walk past the homeless each day? And, would you do anything for them?

I was never a fan of FB. And only after many people encouraged me to log on so that I could see the photos they’ve posted there did I venture to try it out; and I’ve used it sparingly as a networking tool.

I couldn’t believe how much time people spend on FB, updating every single thing they were doing. I mean, couldn’t you just hang out with your friends instead of “hanging out” with them via FB? Give me a break.

One thing I’ve never done is accept invitations via those third-party applications (basically all of them, from “what books you’ve read” to “what color is your heart”). Why? To use those applications, you have to allow the creators of those third-party applications access to your personal profile information, everything personal you put on your FB account. Do you know who authors these third-party applications? Exactly! You don’t! It’s not FB. The writers of these cute little innocuous programs that allow you to sling ninja shots at people or send them Easter eggs are not FB employees. They’re random programmers or companies (for those who’ve incorporated themselves) out there. Do you want them to have your personal information? For what? There is no restriction as to how they use that information.

The kicker to all this—and which will cause me to delete my account—is Beacon, a FB application that mines your cookies even after you’ve logged off. The program allows FB to track where you’ve gone afterwards (like Barnes & Noble or Blockbuster, etc.) and even tracks what items you’ve purchased or put into your Wish Lists. Not only is this information valuable for marketing purposes (which FB can sell to companies), but it is a freaking invasion of privacy!!! Read this CA article here.

That’s it, no more FB, I’m outta here! And, I suggest you do the same too!

As a friend of mine said, “that’s what happens when the owner of the company is a 23-year old.”

On another note, I’ve been rediscovering Friendster.

I miss this place. I miss you Xangans I call friends. This place is more real and way cooler (hate the term but it seems that’s what people identify with) than that clutterbomb FB. And, Xanga is not just a place to sell your souls and your body (unlike MySpace). Love it!

I’ve been slowly getting our new home ready for moving in: painting (with lots of help from friends), cleaning and some renovation work (contractors). And, as of Friday, March 14, we’ve moved (again, with the help of a very determined friend) and have been busy with unpacking and getting settled. This has been exhausting and has taken a long time. I can’t believe we have so much stuff. No internet access yet; so I’ve had to improvise [wink, wink]. So, I’m not online often.

Herewith, a scattershot of thoughts of recent days...

¶ This photo is from a few moons ago, on a visit to a not-too-distant place of familiarity to my wife. Some of you regulars here will (should) definitely recognize this. Or maybe not.

¶ This seems like such a long time ago...and it was!

¶ Is anyone as disillusioned with what amounts to campaigning in this year’s presidential election? Every day, it’s another tabloid story. Where is the discussion of issues? The debates? What debates? What a joke! They’ve been nothing more than additional tabloid fodder with the incessant personal attacks!

EDIT: 3/27/08 @ 11:16 a.m. — Thanks for all the guesses, I was hoping for one of my wife’s friends to pipe up, but alas no. The image is a classroom in Taylor Hall at Bryn Mawr.

I was late in my student loan repayment this past month...for 25 DAYS. They immediately requested wage garnishment from my employer. So, my next paycheck will have 15% automatically deducted and submitted to the U.S. Government.

In the news today, President Bush will sign a measure that will lend money (at low to no interest) to the banks and investment institutions to bolster the economy.

How do you bolster the economy if you keep on taking from the poor and giving to the rich (see below P.P.P.S.)? Isn’t it taught in basic economics that you bolster the economy by providing consumers with the ability to spend?

I have a billion expletives for our Federal Government, Bush, the investment institutions, banks, etc. I HATE YOU! And in case you didn’t understand that—may *many curses* rain down upon all your ancestors and decendants (sorry, can’t help it, but the Cantonese side of me comes out when I’m this mad)!

I am extremely unhappy right now.

Just as it is better to live here than in a hundred other places on this earth, there are just as many (hundreds) better—and much fairer—places to live other than here in the United States of “We Will Screw Our Own People, Especially The Common Man” America. This makes me sick to my stomach.

P.S. — Did I mention that this is the first month of my mortgage payments? We just bought a place. I was counting on every cent of that money. Way to go $h1th34d$!

P.P.S. — Don’t get me wrong. I know that I missed my payment for 25 days, but seriously can we have the punishment justify the crime? Don’t penalize me this much when you’re willing to dole out millions and billions to foreign countries and large financial institutions. There is no fairness to the U.S. Government’s policies and tactics when it comes to going after people who don’t have the “extra” money or who don’t have the big-bucks to have the proper “influence.” Yes, I am calling the goverment corrupt. Who in this world thinks it’s not? Seriously.

P.P.P.S. — What about the millions of dollars worth of “real estate backed investment securities” that were sold to investors by these so-called financial institutions? They first sold questionable home low-no interest home loans to people who couldn’t really afford them and then repackaged them into these securities to various investors around the world. Because of falling home prices and outrageous interest rates (ballooned after the initial 1 year no-interest provisions), people started defaulting left-and-right. What about all these financial officers of companies who did all this—knowing they were duping people along the way? Not even a slap on the wrist!

Thrown out at 2nd base by 30 feet, Duncan nevertheless slid in with spikes up, spiking Rays 2B Akinori Iwamura on the inside of his right knee. A photo at another angle shows just how dangerously Duncan came to tearing Iwamura’s ACL with this slide.

Here, Duncan looks on in disbelief as the umpire throws him out of the game
before he even got a chance to get up from the play.

Shelly Duncan showed off “the new breed of Yankees” Wednesday afternoon, the Joe Girardi Yankees.

Yes, this came during the first game the teams have seen each other since last Saturday’s game when a Rays player broke the finger of a Yankee catcher with a slide into home plate, barreling into the catcher who had been blocking home plate; a play which has been talked about all week on sports radio.

Today, though, Duncan’s actions showed us that the Girardi Yankees are just a bunch of punks. If this is what the 2008 Yankees are going to be like, it’ll be an interesting, but tasteless season to watch.

Regarding my Home Depot Experience, their customer service responded the following morning (at around 2AM via the email address I provided). They apologized for my experience and stressed that customer service was the most important thing for them. They then offered me a $75 gift card for my inconveniences.

I was taken by surprise. Should I have been? What do you think?

Herewith, a letter to Home Depot Customer Service:

Dear Customer Service:

“You Can Do It, We CAN'T Help”

That was the proper slogan from our 4-hour experience on Sunday, March 9.

I went to the Parsippany store to buy a Bootz bathtub (right hand, white), knowing that the American Standard Americast Princeton model wasn't available in that store (although that was my initial first choice).

The salespeople helped convince me that the American Standard model was really the one to go for. They searched the database and came up with 2 available in Totawa and she even called the store for me (just to check because she knew that what’s in the system may not always actually reflect actual availability). The man at the Totawa store said, “yes, we have 2, come in.” The salesperson at the Parsippany store specifically told the Totawa person that she had a customer coming that afternoon.

We drove over to the Totowa store, but stopped at the Montville store because it was closer. Not only did the Montville store not have the American Standard, the 4 people sitting behind the computers at the tile section were incredulous that we asked them for help (there were no sales people in the tub section). The woman there (I wish I got her name) told me to go back there and press one of the “help buttons,” and did not want to be bothered further. I went around the store near the tub section and finally found someone to come and tell me that they did not have the American Standard model.

My wife insisted we ask for directions to the Totowa store, but unfortunately the only person available was the same woman behind the computers in tiles. She reluctantly answered my wife’s question but could not be more vague or look more inconvenienced (“do I look like the ‘information desk’ to you?”).

It gets worse.

At the Totowa store, we found no American Standard on the floor. But there were several on the top of the shelves. We spent 20 minutes walking in and around that section asking for a sales associate to check availability up there for us. FIVE different people said “I don't work in tub, get someone in tubs” and “I'll get someone in tubs for you.” Twenty minutes pass by. No one came by. Nothing.

In the end, we drove back to the Parsippany store where there was actually people willing to assist in question, answers (granted those answers based on other stores' personnel), could not be trusted. We finally get the Bootz model. It wasn't what I really wanted. After being mislead into thinking that we’d get help from Home Depot in finding what I wanted; then going on a “wild-goose” chase for it; then having to deal with absolutely no assistance from anyone in the Montville or Totowa stores (except some attitude).

Lesson 1 and my conclusion: at Home Depot, “you can do it, we can’t help,” except for you to spend your money at our stores. Truth be told, our journey yesterday went from “we’d like to help, but can’t because even our own people lie to us” (in Parsippany), to “we just don’t like to help” (in Montville) and “we won’t help” (in Totowa).

Regardless, Home Depot’s current slogan is completely erroneous and—like their computer systems telling them what’s in stock—should be corrected to reflect reality.

Lesson 2: I should have just gone to Lowes, as my brother told me from the beginning. No wonder I keep on hearing good things about Lowes.

Sincerely,
Tony, a disgruntled absolutely dissatisfied customer

I hate Home Depot.

Strange, do you ever feel the murkiness of the future?

Taken more than a year ago, on a drive up the Palisades Parkway on a Saturday morning, this photo nevertheless is the perfect depiction of today’s weather in the Tri-State Area.

On Sunday morning, while lamenting certain things about church, I looked down in front of me and, at the top of the page of Simone’s opened Bible was:

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.
1 PETER 2:18 (NASB)

Damn.