Impossible to find customer service numbers for Amazon.com and others!

Here's some impossible to find customer service numbers for online retailers (as listed in U.S.News Aug 18-25, 2003)
Amazon.com 800-201-7575
Hallmark.com 800-425-5627
Netflix.com 800-585-8131
Sony.com 800-571-7669
Target.com 800-591-3869

Here's a page about issues with Amazon.com customer services and suggestions to resolve them. http://www.clicheideas.com/amazon.htm

Use in good health!

List of Candidates for Governor of California's Recall

Here's the link. You'll need PDFReader installed to view the page. http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/2003_cert_list.pdf

Sailboat Racing

The Spitfire team physically won our first sail boat race on Friday! Woohoo! We didn't get first place in the final standings because handicaps. We did get second place though. It was a lot of fun. The whole team is still stoked. There was a couple of mistakes that prolly cost us the outright official victory, like our very bad start, and almost going around a marker we weren't supposed to be rounding. With even better tacking, and without those mistakes, it is likely we can have more than one first place in the remainder of the racing series! The whole team is pumped for the next race in a couple of weeks.

Trouble with "canidates"

Candidates is spelt with a "d". Just FYI for those of you who are searching on yahoo and google for info about the governor's recall in CA. In some posts below, I've got some brief statements about the recall and some of the people involved with it. I intend on adding a link to the official list of candidates when it is made available, so feel free to visit back soon.

Movies this weekend...

I watched Dirty Pretty Things this weekend, oh, and American Wedding. Dirty Pretty Things is not as much of a thriller that it has been billed as, unless you have a weak stomach. It does have body parts turning up, but under real life type situations. Nothing fanciful, like American thrillers usually do. The movie is very entertaining. It exposes a rather dark underside to life as an illegal immigrant in London. I'm not sure how much of it is poetic license, since I've never been exposed to that topic before. The movie tells its story through character development, and not some flat plot. There are some powerful scenes, and some week scenes too, but over all, it is a great, enjoyable movie.
American Wedding was very funny sep for the very end when the wedding got started...then it got sappy. Watch it for the sight gags, situations and other laughs, but be prepared for a sweet ending when the laughs stop and everyone lives happ...ok, I'll not give away the final joke after the sappy wedding is done, but it is predictable enough for you not to care.

Governor Recall Race

This recall is an insult to California Voters, with the very wealthy slapping us in the face, trying to buy our government from under us. Anyone with a lot of money can come in and pretend to be a politician for a year. It's starting to get pathetic. Isis is like the third guy to come in out of the blue and try to pull something in the pass few years. Now there’s the Terminator pretending too. Note to the very rich newbies: Either be a real politician or just Fuck Off!
This recall has already made California look stupid, and it’s going to be more ridiculous if it passes. I predict that the results of this recall of the governor here in California is going to make Florida (with its hanging chads and false removal of eligible voters) look like a smooth and competent operation. There’s going to be lawsuit after lawsuit disputing the results for a year! Especially if the recall is approved and some marginal and/or nonpartisan player gets the highest number of votes (go Gary Coleman! LOL). That said, the Lt. Governor is supposed to take over if the office of Governor is vacated for any reason according to the CA constitution. Oh well.
Since the law now allows both a no vote on the recall, and a vote for replacement if the recall passes, I am using my back up for Bustamante. I’ve respected him for some time. He is a good man and a respected politician. Of course, it would be great to have Bustamante reporting to Gov. Gary Colemen. :) hmmm…

Flash Mobs, lastest story

Flash Mobs! I love reading about these. Funny-ass shit!

Blog update

I haven't written a blog status update in aeons, mostly cuz well...why? LOL Well, this is pretty cool. I added the picosearch thang to the right side bar menu, and I reconfigured my archives to be weekly instead of monthly, making just a tiny bit easier to find the interesting blog entry once you are on the page where the search as brought you. Anyways, that's that. :)

California Governor Candidates! Search words: 'california governor canidates'

I'm considering casting my vote for Gary Coleman or Larry Flint. They aren't taking this whole mess seriously, thank god! Actually, there may not be any candidates on the ballot when it's time for a vote. The California constitution is clear that the Lt. Governor is to be made Governor is the current Governor is removed for any reason. This means another portion of the Recall law is unconstitutional. Here's the article:

CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE 5 EXECUTIVE

SEC. 10. The Lieutenant Governor shall become Governor when a vacancy occurs in the office of Governor.
The Lieutenant Governor shall act as Governor during the impeachment, absence from the State, or other temporary disability of the Governor or of a Governor-elect who fails to take office.
The Legislature shall provide an order of precedence after the Lieutenant Governor for succession to the office of Governor and for the temporary exercise of the Governor's functions.
The Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction to determine all questions arising under this section.
Standing to raise questions of vacancy or temporary disability is vested exclusively in a body provided by statute.

So that's that, right? LOL No...I'm sure this whole recall thang is going to make Florida's hanging chads look like Saints. BTW, I don't understand the last sentence of the article either.

Have fun, y'all.

Trouble with Gay Priests? Jesus people!

Back when I was a devout Christian, seeing other churches with gay priests would have been confirmation of my own religion's legitimacy over those other churches. After all, how could a church claiming to be worshippers of God accept homosexuals into their ranks. Nowadays, I'm a bit more reasonable. I shed the nonsense of dearly holding onto modern perceptions of ancient, prejudice and convoluted texts like the bible.

 
The whole renewed push by "conservative" religious people against homosexuals is frustrating. It is sad to see fellow Americans openly treating other Americans as inferiors, using their interpretation of ancients texts to justify their prejudice, in the same way they were used to justify prejudice against blacks and other nonwhite races in the past.

 
I believe that a religion has the right to choose its leadership for itself. That's part of freedom of religion. Maybe it would seem like a contraction against the bible to have a gay priest or bishop in many faiths. To reconcile, maybe it's time for religious people to accept the message of their bible while leaving behind its prejudice, as we evolve into a more mature and reasonable society.

 
Final note, this is America, land of the free. How can anyone be free when we choose to oppress one segment of our population? Let's live and let live.

 
P.S., BTW, The bible never once forbids homosexuality between women. It doesn't even hint at it. It only specifically condemns sexual relations between men. So, it could be argued that only sex between men is forbidden in the bible, and not homosexuality itself. This would mean that it is ok to have a gay priest.

Damn, been hella busy

I've been hella busy. Been going from one thang to another for days now, almost not stop sep for what sleep I'm getting. It's not stopping now either. going to need a break...anyways, I got a couple of rants brewing, so there'll be more posts coming soon!

An Ant Cures Antrax in Cabo Tourist Shop!!!

Cure for Antrax found in Cabo tourist shop, and it's an ant! This picture was taken by an associate of mine in Cabo last year. (Photo copyright 2002)

Nessie the Loch Ness Monster is Dead

Sonar was used to prove, once and for all, that Nessie doesn't exist.

Political Opinion...hey, I'm allowed! LOL

I'm neither conservative or liberal. I find the battle between the two amusing. The terms themselves are often misused to apply some stereotypes. Heck, the terms freely are applied backwards when it comes to fiscal policies. Republicans in government want a free market system where money flows freely and let the markets correct themselves (liberal) and Democratics try to regulate the follow of money for perceived stability (conservative). Not to mention the fact that the most hardcore liberals and conversatives are the biggest hypocrates. The "don't tell me what to do, but here's what you should do" nonsense comes from both ends of US politics. How 'bout no one tell me what to do, and I won't tell you what to do! :)

I believe my rights are protected by protecting the rights of others. The more rights we all share, the more free we are as a people. If you have opinions (whether from the bible dogma or liberal social dogma) about human behavior, then live it, but stop trying to force other people to live it with you.

Commuter Theme today:

Get In Front of Matt and Drive Slow Day.

Some days have themes during the commute to work and from work. Today's theme is cars getting in front of me to drive slow. It seems like there was some organized effort. A lane would open up completely, so I'd change lanes only to have someone else get into the lane right in front of me and drive slower than the crowded lane. Once, twice, three, and then four times this morning. The traffic wasn't even heavy. I only got held behind one red light because of this, so it isn't as bad as it has been on other days.

I like it when the commuter theme is more along the lines of Get Out of Matt's Way Day, obviously. :)