That Old Familiar Feeling

CafePress announced that it will be changing the way it pays its contributors. As you may have guessed, the change is not in favor of its contributors. Some of you may remember that I worked on a project that the IRS projected would save them seven million dollars its first year, for which I received a $900 bonus. Before taxes.

I can't help but have flashbacks. The people doing the work that enables the site to exist are getting screwed seven ways from Sunday, and they're only pulling in $50 million or so. My heart bleeds.

Oh, and through all of this we were finally treated to words straight from the fingers of the CEO. (By that I mean typing, not the finger that I'm currently pointing at him.) The man can't spell. At all. You know I judge people by their usage of the language. Moreso when it's the only thing I have to judge. After reading his words, I can only hope that his lackeys have an education greater than fourth grade. That way, they've got a good four more grades' worth of intelligence to bank on.

In case the subtleties were lost on anyone, I'm downright fucking pissed off.

You've Heard of Money Laundering?

Here's a quiz: Do you know what happens to a cell phone when you leave it in your pocket? What's that? Nothing? Oh, did I mention that the pocket was on a pair of shorts that had just been in the wash? (Not the dryer, though. That would just be stupid.)

So, yeah, I wrecked the cell phone. Or the only phone, as the case may be. I'm sure the calls were just a-rollin' in in the interim. (The phone rings maybe four times per month.) (Yesterday was probably the day we got that call informing us we had one a kajillion dollars.)

We took a trip to the Verizon store today. The phone was officially declared dead. The ceremony was lovely. Luckily, we still have our old cell phone. Gorto the giant tech-who-can't-keep-his-gum-in-his-mouth reactivated it, and we're ready to make and receive calls once more. A hell of a lot cheaper than buying a new phone, too.

Next week, I'm going to take a power washer to my computer. We'll see how that goes.

For My Better Half

Happy Anniversary to the best person ever! (It's as simple as that.)

For those of you buying gifts, the traditional gift for five years of marriage is wood. So I guess... toothpicks, cedar chips, tongue depressors, scrap lumber you have lying around, and an end table. Mix and match, or glue it all together!

Logic in Advertising

You know those commercials informing the panicked citizenry of these United States about the impending switch to cable-only TV in 2009? You know how the whole point of the commercial is that there will no longer be TV signals broadcast over the air, right? And if you've already got cable TV or satellite, you won't even notice the change?

So... why do they run those adverts on cable-only channels?