The oddest things get me thinking…

In case you hadn’t noticed, Technical Support is often not technical and rarely supportive.

Buckle up Buttercup, It’s only going to get worse.

Companies are still outsourcing and as has been the subject of many jokes, often the person at the other end of the phone is barely proficient in English and not technical.

Case in point. Sxm logo

I needed to make a change to my SiriusXM plan. I figured, “No worries, I’ll head out to their handy website, spend 2 minutes and boom! I’ll be done.” 

WRONG!

I tried to log into their website but couldn’t. I know I had the right username and was 90% sure that I had the right password. (After all, I hadn’t changed that password in at least a couple of years.) I couldn’t log in, so I asked for a password reset.

Not a big deal, or so you’d think. I get the obligatory email, follow the link change the password (The website said I’d been successful) go back to the login page and still can’t login. I tried several times. Each time with the same result.

UGGGHHH, Now I have to call it in. I get on the phone and explain the situation to someone somewhere other than here No joy!

This person has me go back to the password reset page and request another password reset, I comply. Then this person transfers me to someone “more advanced” they have me request another password reset and again we go through the process. Again, the same result. Then there’s the inevitable, “Please hold…”

Then the second person comes back on the line and asks me yet again if I’m doing this from a computer. “Yes, I’m looking at your website on my laptop,” I reply. We’ve already confirmed this several times. The person keeps repeating everything I’ve said, over and over. Including my user name and we’re getting nowhere. Once again she sends me a password reset email and once again I tell her what I’m seeing on my screen. No error message on the login page, no indication that the password or username is wrong, just that I’m being looped back to the login page.

Now she wants to change my user name. “OH GOD!” I think, “REALLY???” 

I’m annoyed at having to deal with this at all. But I’m saved by the timer for my laundry going off. Forty Seven minutes have gotten by me and we’re no closer to solving the problem than when I began the call.

I tell the lady, I’m out of time and cannot continue to deal with this, then disconnect.

As I’m walking out to the laundry room, I’m thinking what do I actually listen to on SiriusXM? For that matter what do I listen to on the actual Radio? What do I watch on TV?

On Sirius, I primarily listen to Spa, I don’t listen to the news channels. I’m over all the Trump investigations and scandals. I don’t watch the news channels on TV. Hell, I don’t do anything other than skim Twitter and haven’t read the news on my computer, phone or iPad in months. 

I subscribe to Apple Music and could easily just listen to streaming music or podcasts while I’m driving somewhere.

This leads me to think that perhaps it’s time for me to disconnect from Sirius completely. There is nothing I can’t get from them, that I can’t get from Apple Music and it would be one less “Service” I have to manage or maintain.

I’m thinking that the next billing cycle will see me saying, “Bye Bye” to Satellite Radio.

I suspect that I’m not alone in this. 

When you consider all the usernames and passwords and “Helpful” websites that we have to keep track of, it begs the question, “Just who is working for whom?

This is especially true if you are completely and utterly disinterested in what passes for “News” in this day and age.

I’m not disinterested in what’s happening around me. But I’m tired of the constant Spin. How about journalists getting back to being journalists and simply reporting what the hell actually happened.

Let me make up my own damn mind about it!

It’s funny how a little thing like a password reset can get you thinking.

Perhaps if the concepts of journalistic integrity actually had meaning, Television, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, and yes, Satellite radio would be in a lot better shape financially.

I guess it’s another example of unintended consequences in an overly connected world.

This is why many conservative gay folks…

sandyrios

… are still in the conservative closet. Yeah they’re out about their sexuality, but not about their philosophy, or politics.

All I can say after reading and listening to what this woman said is, “ARE YOU F&$KING KIDDING ME?”

Sandy Rios of Sandy Rios In The Morning said ON AIR that she’s wondering if the sexuality of the Amtrak Engineer in Tuesday’s train derailment was a factor in the accident.

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She goes to great lengths and is obviously choosing her words carefully to say she’s not inferring the accident happened because Bostian is gay…

Then goes on to infer exactly that! (Yeah and some of your best friends are gay too!)

Here’s a link to the article in the Huffington Post

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This is the same as me saying, “I’m not inferring that because her last name is hispanic that she’s likely to leave the scene of an auto accident but well sometimes being hispanic is a factor in hit & run accidents… I was once in an accident where a hispanic lady left the scene. I mean she just abandoned her car and a friend picked her up before the cops came.“

True story, The lady did abandon her car on the freeway, left behind one hell of a mess for the CHP to clean up. 

For years gays have been accused of having larger amounts of disposable income than their straight counterparts. Additionally, they’re supposed to be more into taking care of themselves, they’re supposed to drive nicer cars, have nicer homes and apartments, they’re typically well educated, well insured, and well just awesome in every way.

Were you describing a straight person with all those same traits, you’d say they’re responsible & reliable.

gayborhood

Yet when you preface those same traits with “They’re gay…” somehow these traits lose their blush and now all that responsibility & training counts for nothing with conservative assholes like Rios.

I’m a mostly conservative asshole, and I know a lot of really conservative gay men. We’re not obvious about our conservative beliefs for two reasons.

1) Lots of gays are totally Democratic, progressive liberal dip shits.

2) People like this ‘gash in a sundress’, (Thank you Pam from TrueBlood, that is a great line!)

Pam

When you say you’re a conservative gay person you’re treated badly, and people identify you with Perry, Santorum, Rush Limbaugh, or crazed bible thumpers from Westboro Baptist Church.  Obviously, none of my conservative gay friends are anything like these examples, and by the way we don’t hate ourselves either.

Generally we’re thinkers who tend to prefer common sense practicality over “theory”. We don’t tend to buy into social engineering and are more about people deciding what’s best for themselves. We realize we don’t have to agree on every point with someone else and can hold discussions with folks who have different opinions without resorting to name calling. After we’ve had even “spirited” discussions, we can still be friends, have a beer and even sex, and feel great about life and how lucky we are.

WestboroBaptistchurch

Thank goodness this lady isn’t mainstream.

Next, people like Rios would be claiming that gays shouldn’t operate heavy machinery, drive cars, or fly planes, for fear of a gay person “getting the Vapors” and losing control.

[After all it only takes one despondent faggot, and planes get crashed into the ground.

Oh wait the German pilot was straight… oh wait the Islamic terrorists that crashed into Pennsylvania were straight, and it was a gay man that was one of the leaders of the rebellion against the terrorists on flight 93.]

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The same line of reasoning was, ironically enough, used to deny women the vote and briefly the ability to drive in this country.

That line of “Less than” reasoning is STILL used in some countries in the Middle East to deny women’s rights.

So Ms. Rios, YA might want to think for just a moment about all the privileges and rights you have, which would have been denied simply because you’re a woman and therefore “Less Capable”.

Then for just a moment think about the fact that you’re suggesting a “Less Than Capable” status because someone is gay. Then after that…

selfiedriving

Do us ALL a favor and shut your pie hole!

Allow me to spell this out using small words so you can understand the meaning.

Gay people are just like everyone else.

Give gay people ALL the rights of being a US citizen and you’ll see just how normal, and dare I say it, “Average” they are.

Oh and by the way, we’re better drivers than you straights…

We do have nicer cars and therefore have to be better drivers, just to avoid accidents with distracted soccer moms like you!

I watched The Birdcage last night

NewImage

It’d been a while and as always, I laughed through it. 

The Birdcage was released in 1996. Yep almost 20 years ago.

What caught my attention was the reference to Al Sharpton.

I can’t find the exact quote but it’s something like;

“The Reverend Al Sharpton said today that Senator Jackson’s last words ‘Your money’s on the nightstand chocolate,’ was racist…”

I just about choked!

Twenty Years ago Al Sharpton was already worthy of parody and today nothing has changed, he’s still race baiting. I guess the good really do die young and the evil fuckers continue to be a plague on us all.

And lest we forget, the overarching backdrop of the movie is politics.

If you haven’t seen The Birdcage in a while, grab a copy, make some popcorn, and have a nice movie night. 

Every single person in that cast was simply awesome.

Even though Robin is gone, his gift for making us laugh remains.

Peace