It's 59 degrees and sunny !

THIS is the weather for which schools and businesses should close.

When it's snowy and cold, you have to stay inside anyway, so who cares if you're at work or school?

But, today's the kind of day that it pains one to be stuck inside.

This should really tick off Christopher Hitchens!

The Plenary Indulgence is back!

DSL, FAS, WTF?

I'm sure a blogger like myself should be excited about a DSL "for quickly creating web-applications in Ruby with minimal effort," especially when it's named Sinatra.

The problem is:

1) I have no idea what a DSL is.

2) I really don't know what a web-application is -- although those iPhone commercials about all the available "apps" do make me feel like I'm missing the proverbial boat to the future.

3) The only Ruby I know of is Jack (and DON'T get me started on THAT!)

and finally

4) Nothing worthwhile about the real Francis Albert Sinatra involved haste or "minimal effort."

What's in a name?

What's it say that the budget of M. Jodi Rell, governor of the great state of Connecticut, proposes the elimination of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women?

Permanent: It's the New Temporary!

A Portrait of the President as a Young Man?

Have you heard about the newly discovered painting that some are saying is our new President when he was younger?

Former members of the Bush administration are already criticizing him for not wearing a coat and tie when he posed.

Relatedly, my favorite Presidential portrait of ALL time is that of Richard M. Nixon painted by Norman Rockwell.

Love him or hate him...his portrait is FABULOUS!

Super Bowl Follow-up

I predicted 24-19, the lower score probably resulting from a safety. (See posting from 1/30).

Actual score: 27-23 with a safety.

This game proved once again that the intentional grounding rule needs immediate attention! (See posting from 1/4).

More importantly, as my wife astutely pointed out:

Anyone else think the Boss is lookin' more and more like Tony Bennett (only with a too-tight leather vest)?

It's COMCASTIC!

My introductory year-long bundled cable/internet/phone services offer ends on 2/4/09 (as I knew it would), and the a la carte price is to be almost double (as I knew it would be), so I sought a new bundle with my "provider" (as I was pretty sure I would).

(What a misuse of that word, no?)

Not wanting to wait until the last minute (with three days to spare), I called my provider yesterday and asked what kind of deal I could get.

The price would be a bit higher (as I knew it would be), and I wouldn't get my HBO anymore (a bit disappointing but, now that John Adams is history and my library gets Flight of the Conchords, I won't be needing it anymore really), so I accepted...asking politely

"But I'll keep the HBO until 2/4 when my last payment runs out, correct?"

"Yes, until the 4th," the young man replied.

This morning my lovely wife informed me that our HBO was gone, so I called my provider again.

"Service changes are immediate," I was told.

Grrrr.

The long and short of the exchange (heated on my part, coolly efficient on hers, I must admit) was this: Not only was I not going to be refunded the pro-rated amount of the HBO I lost, I was going to have to pay the pro-rated increased rate of the new higher-priced bundle!?!

Grrrr.

"Service changes are immediate."

To my customer service representative's credit, while she never admitted that her company's policy was asinine (in its encouragement of customers to act only at the very last moment) or disingenuous (if not downright theft in attempting to deny me service already paid for), she did a) give me back my HBO for three more days and b) deduct the additional cost of the new bundled service for the remaining three days of my old bundle.

I'm not saving any money the next three days, but I'm not losing any either.

Life IS Comastic.

(And before anybody tells me "well, switch to ATT," know I've got a story to tell about them, too. That's how I ended up with this provider.)

Oh, how I miss Ma Bell!!!