*Insert Name Here* Dislikes This

Sometime yesterday I opened up iGoogle and visited Google Reader. I noticed that you can now "Like" articles. As a regular user of Facebook, I like this. :) (Groan.) It's fun to see how many people are interested in the same things that you are. And when you can "follow" these people and see what else they're reading, you can get turned on to some new and interesting things. Granted, it's also possible to end up clicking on a whole lot of crap, but it's easy enough to filter stuff out.

Well, I want to DISLIKE things. And it's not because I'm a contrary bitch. Well, that's part of it, but I think it could be a good thing...

In the context of Facebook: When a friend has a bad day or if something really crappy happens to them, you can either "Like" their status or comment on it. I don't like it when my friends get hurt, but I may not want to make a comment, either. Being able to "Dislike" their status would be a nice way to acknowledge their post in a more subtle way. Sort of like a digital hug or smile sent their way. Certainly it can be argued that this would allow people to be absolute jerks on your wall. If your friends are really your friends, I doubt this would happen. And if it did, well, you'd know who your real friends were, wouldn't you? Friends can already say whatever they want on your wall (assuming you have it set that way), so letting them "Dislike" things wouldn't change things much. And you can delete stuff you don't like, anyway.

In the context of Google Reader RSS feeds: A lot of news is BAD. I don't want to "Like" something because I find it interesting or important if it's about some disaster or a murder or something. However, readers may want to acknowledge something important like a shooting and its effects on a community or an industry without saying they "Like" it. Again, this would give people the ability to show any biases or bigotry, but the ability to comment on most news sites these days allows that to an even greater extent, so what's the difference? I also think it would be useful to be able to "Dislike" something if you think it's something that isn't worth the broadband being used to host it. It would give people more insight about what their website's readers like to read about and what they don't. They can utilize this information as much or as little as they want. And for users, it would allow them again to be able to follow someone with similar dislikes, thus possibly being turned on to something new and interesting.

It's okay to dislike things. It's part of human nature. They say it takes all kinds, right? ;-)

International Shipping

So there's this new, free online service that helps you stay on top of buying your household goods like toilet paper and razors. They apparently search the internet for the best price for your preferred brand and you can order it through them and they'll send it to you. It's called Alice.com and it looks pretty cool. It's still in beta stage and only offers their service to US customers within the continental United States. Since I live in Hawaii, I can't use their service. I'm not surprised or annoyed by this, really. I'm used to it. They had a contact form, though, so I sent them an e-mail asking if they were planning on extending their service to Hawaii. Just curious, you know? I received the following reply:

Hello,

We currently do not ship internationally. We only ship to the Continental U.S. Our team is working hard to provide the service internationally and will keep the public posted when changes occur via our blogs & the alice.com homepage.

Thank You.

Internationally? Are you kidding me? You work on the internet, which has flattened the world, and you think shipping to Hawaii is international shipping? I could have accepted a response like that if I had called a 1-800 number 10 years ago or something. This was the first time in a LONG time that I actually encountered one of those misconceptions about Hawaii. It used to be pretty common. You know, stuff like people being surprised that I speak English or wear clothes. But it has been YEARS since I encountered anything like that. So, being the snippy bitch that I am, I e-mailed a reply:

Hawaii is NOT international shipping. =/ Just because we're not part of the continental US does not mean that we're "international."

Anyway, thank you for your reply.

Mean? Yeah, probably a little. Still, I couldn't help myself. I wouldn't want their customer service department to remain under a bizarre delusion that Hawaii is a foreign country.

On a side note, however, Hawaii really can FEEL like you're outside of the United States. Sadly, and much to the chagrin of many Hawaii residents, we are becoming more "mainland" every day. I hope we can keep our other-worldliness.

ST:TOS on bluray

OH MY GOD.

Star Trek: The Original Series on bluray is AWESOME. Buy it. Buy a bluray player. Watch it.

Period.

Final Fantasy XIII Demo

My Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete finally arrived in the mail on Saturday. It had shipped on the 15th of April! I was beginning to think that someone stole it from my mail box just to deprive me of FF... Okay, not really. I'm exaggerating a little...

Still, I'm happy I finally got to try the FFXIII demo. It seemed a bit short, but it could be because I'm such a Final Fantasy fangirl. Who knows. I certainly enjoyed it, but from what I've read, the real battle system has a lot more going on and is much more complex. So it's impossible to tell from playing the demo whether the new battle system is any good.

The game is certainly pretty and there was a little baby chocobo. I love chocobos. I love cute things. I enjoyed playing the demo and I look forward to playing the game. However, I don't feel that I really got a taste of what's to come.

Oh well. Honestly, it doesn't matter. I'll play it anyway. I'm a FF fangirl, remember? =P

Is Hawaii really that far away? I guess it is...

It's a rare day that you read any gaming news that has anything to do with Hawaii. We're not exactly known to be a mecca of video games or anything like that. We're known for white sand beaches, sunshine, and rainbows.

So today I read on a couple of sites about the fact that Mayor Mufi Hannemann will be signing a law that prohibits handheld device use while operating a motor vehicle. Smart, really. I don't know how many times I've seen some idiot on their cellphone run a stop sign or something. With the new law, people can still use hands-free devices, so it's not THAT big of a deal.

Anyway, one website stood out to me: Joystiq. And I swear, I'm not picking on them. Here's the link to their post:

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/06/honolulu-mayor-bans-mobile-electronic-devices-while-driving/

Now here's the part that stood out to me:

So, if you're looking to game and drive to the beach, head on over to Kailua. The beaches are better and there are far fewer tourists to inattentively run over.

Yes, I realize the author is being sarcastic, facetious, or whatever. That's not the issue. But if he's going to make a funny like that, he needs to use a different city. It's true that Kailua is a separate city from Honolulu. It's also true that it has nicer beaches and fewer tourists. Only one problem: Mayor Hannemann is the chief executive officer of the City & County of Honolulu. The ENTIRE island of Oahu (which is where Kailua is located) is the County of Honolulu.

I'm not complaining that the author didn't do their homework or anything. I just never really thought about how far away we are. Oahu being the County of Honolulu seemed so obvious to me, but it's actually not obvious at all. I think the point that I'm trying to make is that although the internet has shrunk the world to the point where someone halfway across the world is accessible as though they were next door, we are still so very far away.

I've really grown accustomed to this internet technology. It's brought me closer to things that were so out of reach when I was a kid 30 years go. So sometimes I forget how far away people really are.

I guess it was just a shock to me that I had adapted so much to the internet that I actually forgot about reality.

George Takei, Adolf Hitler, and Me

So I turned 35 today. For some reason, today just doesn't feel like a birthday. I don't really have a problem with my age. No one thinks I'm this old, anyway. ^_^

I've always really liked the date of my birth because it's an interesting day. Adolf Hitler was born on this day in 1889. Not that this is someone I like or respect in ANY WAY, but no one can argue that he left an indelible mark on the history of the world. Kotaku has a post today about game where you can kill him:

Celebrate Hitler's Birthday By Killing Him In These Games

I was amused. =) It's interesting to read the comments, though. I often get the impression that people are trying to erase his existence in a way instead of remembering what he did so that we don't ever do the same thing in the future.

But enough serious crap...

Today in 1937, George Takei, famous for being Sulu in the original Star Trek series, was born. I love the original series. It's absolutely my favorite. Oooh...that reminds me. The bluray for season one comes out next week! Need money...lol.

MMO Bitterness

I haven't played original EQ in a few years. I just don't have time. I enjoyed it quite a bit and still consider going back to it. But none of my friends play it. They all play WoW. And they almost all play Alliance. Yuck. So maybe I should go back to EQ. I'd be by myself either way, right? ;-P

Anyway, today on Kotaku, they ran a very short news bit letting the gaming community that today is the 10th anniversary of EQ and there was much celebrating. It was very short:

So I Guess Everquest Turns 10 Today [Kotaku]

Here's the part that irked me:

EverQuest went live March 16, 1999 and rose to gamer fame over the next decade, spawning 15 expansions and a full-blown sequel that still feeds on the souls of the unwary MMO gamer.

What's with the bitterness? Seriously. When I played, I maintained a healthy relationship, was able to parent my child, and even went out with my friends. EQ never had the subscription base that World of Warcraft has now. But articles written about just about any MMO often ring with this same sentiment. But being so into Halo that you paint your game room green is totally fine. Or decorating your bathroom walls with Mario. Or painting the entire Legend of Zelda world map on your car. Those people's souls seem to be unsucked and just fine. That's such a double standard.

MMO gamers are not all pimply losers anymore. MILLIONS of people play them, but I don't see society going to complete shit because people aren't showing up for their jobs in order to raid. Yes, there are exceptions: people who play so much that they have seizures or flunk out of school, for example. Most of the people I know who play MMO's are working, responsible adults. Sure, they spend a lot of their free time in front of their computers, questing, raiding, or whatever. But I really don't see how that's SOOOO different than some guy sitting in front of his TV and Street Fighter IV, trying to master all the special moves for all the characters so he can kick ass online. When I see my friends doing that, I actually think their souls have been sucked far deeper than mine. I take breaks. I do other things. I work. I go to school.

So, yeah, I'd really appreciate it if journalists would stop stereotyping us. Especially the gamer ones. They should know better.

OMG a Human~!

I pre-ordered the Resident Evil 5 Collector's Edition from Gamestop. I really hate Gamestop, but I'm one of those people that simply won't wait for games to be shipped to me. I want to be able to pick it up THAT DAY. I can't help it. It's just how I am...

So when you pre-order something from Gamestop, you get a phone call reminding you that the game is coming out. I think I wrote a post once before about the dead chick calling me, right? They had a recording who always identified herself as Aeris. You know, the girl in pink that Sephiroth kills in Final Fantasy VII. And if you get all pissy at me for giving you spoilers, tough shit. If you're a gamer, you know about this already. It's one of those "holy shit, omg" moments of video gaming. And if you didn't already know about it, then you probably were never going to play the game anyway, so who cares? Sorry... Tangent. But yeah, it totally creeped me out that a dead chick was calling me.

Eventually, she was replaced by a voice who identified herself as Ashley. Although she doesn't creep me out, I think I hate her just as much. She sounds like one of those really bouncy cheerleaders that you just want to punch. Super happy, annoying, and ohmigod-flipping-the-hair bouncy.

This evening, an ACTUAL EMPLOYEE of the store I pre-ordered from called me. And he was calling me from the store. (Cell phone caller ID FTW...) He said all the same stuff that Ashley normally does: that they're having a midnight launch tomorrow night and that I should bring in games to trade in toward my purchase because I'll get an extra 20% of trade in value. Honestly, I was so stunned that a HUMAN called me that I forgot to give him a hard time. I give all Gamestop employees a hard time...lol. :-) They know me there, so I can. I'm not mean or anything. Just rascally... Anyway, I just said "Okay" a few times and "Thank you." Yeah, that was really weird. A human...

Dell Customer Service [RANT]

This isn't my week. Seriously.

I need a laptop for school. I saw the VAIO P and considered buying it, but I'm choosing to wait for the less processor-hungry Windows 7. So in the mean time, since we have almost $800 of credit with Dell, we decided that we'd buy a Dell and if/when I buy the VAIO P, I'll just give the Dell to my husband.

On January 24th, I went to Dell's website and customized a laptop. Including tax, shipping, and all that, it came out to $929.84. So I told it to put it on my Dell account and it told me there wasn't enough space, at which point I specified that I wanted to put $750 on the Dell account and the remaining $179.84 on my debit card for my checking account. The computer I was on was not connected to the printer, so I didn't print out my confirmation page. We had split payment up like that before without issues and I have to admit I don't always print out confirmation pages, especially when they send e-mail confirmation to your e-mail address. Dell's confirmation e-mails do not include any payment details, though, but I didn't really think about that at the time. My laptop was supposed to arrive around February 4th, but it got delayed 3 times. Three times we got an e-mail, explaining that there was a back-ordered part and they had to ask us if we still wanted the laptop. Three times we said yes. Two days ago, on the 22nd, we received an e-mail saying that it shipped. Yay! I was very happy.

Then yesterday late afternoon, I was talking to my husband about money. I don't remember what it was that he wanted, but I told him I had to look at the account to see where we were at. So I logged into my checking account and found a negative balance. When I clicked on the details, I saw that Dell had charged my debit card all $929.84! I was furious, not to mention totally panicked because there were still items that hadn't cleared the bank, which meant that for each thing that hit my account, I was going to get a $26 overdraft fee.

We tried calling customer service, but they were closed already. We called the bank and explained the problem and they said that as long as Dell was willing to fix the billing and the bank saw that they refunded the money, then any fees incurred would be waived. I was somewhat relieved since I thought Dell wouldn't give me any trouble with that. I took several deep breaths and tried to keep myself from having a total meltdown. It worked. But...

I WAS WRONG.

After almost an hour on the phone with Dell Customer Care in Bangalore, India, being transferred from person to person, they told us that there was nothing they could do. According to their records, we didn't use our Dell Preferred Account and since I didn't print out the confirmation page, I have no proof to show them otherwise. The laptop is scheduled to be delivered by FedEx today. I'm not even going to open it. My only option is to return it and according to their website, they may deduct up to a 15% restocking fee and they won't refund the original shipping and handling.

I have so far incurred 9 overdraft fees. My checking account is somewhere around -$550. Since we're returning the item and Dell isn't FIXING things, I don't know if the bank will waive my fees now or not. This was the first time in my life that I had more than just what I barely needed in the bank. Not like it was a huge amount, but a few hundred dollars is a major improvement over living check to check. Now it's gone and I honestly don't know what to do about it. I found the snail mail address for Dell's headquarters in Texas and I can look for the names and titles of the executives on their website, but I wonder if writing to them is going to do me any good at all. And now, not only am I going to be out a lot of money. I still won't have my fucking laptop.

You know, I almost never cry anymore, but I feel so defeated, frustrated, and upset that I just can't help it.

Edit: I forgot to add. There are still two outstanding items that haven't cleared my checking account. So, my balance should be decreasing by another $80 or so. Obviously I can't use my debit card now. Nor can I buy anything. I have some space on my credit cards, but if you think I'm going to use those now, you're CRAZY! lol