Logbook: Money
Phone Fun .. Katana LX mini-review
I was on a Pay as you go plan for AT&T and it worked out well if you made next to no calls. but then again there were times you were forced to make calls. That got expensive quick, the silly rounding rules for minutes killed off money faster than anything. After signing up to sprint on there low plan 29.99 for 200 minutes.
The Katana lx is decent looking phone but looks do not make up for its problems. the problem maybe more from my point of view, but moreso they tend to be things I look for in a phone and i have basic requirements for a phone.
1. to make calls
2. that the phone is somewhat configurable
3. can add/make own ringtones.
4. Durable
well the phone right out of the box passes only on #1 and #4. I had started with a bluetooth connector the phone connected right up but after that the phone really as far as accessing data and such was worthless, the best that could be done is a tether if you had a DataPlan.
Another issue i have with sprint is the fact that the phones dont use Sim cards which makes programing your phonebook a pain in the ass and you look like an ass doing it with 2 phones in hand. As Far as a Dead basic phone the Katana LX is just that.
After the bluetooth try i figured maybe the USB Cable would be more fruitful in getting the phone to be somewhat responsive , I was wrong, as Far as drivers from Sanyo – Good luck with that. It took me two days of looking and when i finally did get it working , the phone did Even less than when connected to bluetooth.
But for being a basic phone it does have its pluses , You can hear it ring from jupiter on its loudest setting. The T9 texting was decent.. but overall it was not what I would personally want in a phone.
So after talking to the rep at the sprint store I ended up returning the Katana after a good weeks use and learning its up and downs.
The phone would be good for someone who just wants to have a phone with not many bells and whistles.
The banking crisis and how it seems to stand now.
Well right now with banks shuting down because of bank runs , Subprime Mortgages, and Idoits running the whole thing we are currently in an economic clusterfuck. Indy Mac and Fanny mae just got Picked up by the FDIC. I’ve been passively watching other banks and noticed that wacovia bank has lost over 72% of its value in the last 9 months. My bank which i have a savings account through Has lost over 63% of its value in the same time.
It bothers me that you turn on the news and the financial news says “Everythings great! the housing market is up .5% , when year to date its actually down ALOT! If you go to sites that are out of the US basically you get the message of Hold on to your ass cuz your going for ride
The US needs to stop trying to save the banks and try to save the people. As far as i see it they have been screwing off and making inflation go batshit.
Every time we bail out a bank we are just setting up for a higher fall, every time the Interest rate is cut we are getting higher up. We are going to be up shits creek if we keep on saving banks. Unfortunatly at this time we keep doing this we if a major closure happens that we cant control , we are just going to go into freefall from all the propping up of the econimy , Its better off to slowly Fix the issues at hand , irony has it when i was a kid there was a cartoon that perfectly made sense of inflation . Its like a balloon, for every time you cause inflation the balloon inflates. cause too much inflation and it burst. we need to figure out how to slowly deflate the econimy and defuse the banking crisis. which Rather than gov bail out . they should fix it for themselves.
Sure jobs will be lost, but in the end by not keep bailing them out the landing will not be like jumping off a skyscraper
but overall the banks are to blame on this one. they are the ones that went out and offered dirtcheap mortgages that were effectively poisoned from the start. the ARM… will literaly cost you an arm and leg.
The US gov wants to give money to the banks. Why not do the more sound thing.. give the money to the people to save there houses, or at least give them an option to get out free if they can not prove a sound economic stance. Its really bad that people loose there houses and yet the banks profit by getting huge bail outs.
Times are tough… even myself i’ve cut down on coffee =p
StarSucks Closings
Been too long since i’ve last updated but i caught this little bit in the new, From the boston globe that Starbucks isn’t doing so well.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – One coffee drinker’s bad news is another coffee drinker’s good news, it seems.
Financial woes at Starbucks Corp <SBUX.O>, which is planning to close 600 underperforming U.S. stores, is evoking glee and little sympathy from aficionados who say they resent the coffee shop giant and favor small independent cafes.
Its sad to see coffee places close but as far as starbucks goes.. I cant really give any sympathy myself for this. There expansion was at breakneck speed and in the end it was there own fault. I’ve been in Starbucks on Occasion , When theres no other coffee within miles. But you can see why Starbucks fucked up, google maps shows it perfectly.
Like why the hell are there 3 starbucks within 2000 feet of each other. Its like someone went on a bombing run of Providence with Starbucks all in a straight line.
seriously there cant be that many uppity people in providence that need there starbucks that bad. but there way of putting up stores is just bad.
I’d hate to say it but if you look at dunkin donuts its much more logical than starbucks…
MovieStop makes things right.
After what had gone on with movie stop in this post, I Sent out an email about what went down that day.
Would you pay $15 dollars for a coffee? Not me..
I have my limits on coffee but $15 dollars is way out of my limit , for that price the coffee better do something like cure diseases. while not as expensive as cat shit coffee its still too damn expensive.
From WFMY News 2 :
Some people in Washington are paying $15 a cup for a rare and expensive cup of coffee.
Vancouver, WA — It’s said to be some of the best coffee in the world, but its $15 a cup price tag may be a bit hard to swallow for some drinkers.
The brew is called Panama Esmerelda is made from a very rare coffee bean. They only get 8 cups of coffee from a half pound bag. And the half pound bag costs $100. The coffee shop in Portland is the only shop in the nation to bid on the expensive coffee beans.
Drinkers say it has a different type of taste that it worth the money.
that last line gets me.. It has a different taste, sure why not have a little crack with your coffee that would have a different taste too..
MovieStop is just strange…
I decided to pick up the new rambo movie at MovieStop, when i was looking through the DVD’s i noticed that there was Rambo for $19.99 and Rambo: The Complete Set Collectors edition at $39.99, So 4 movies was the better deal.
click for more.
Games: Guitar ____, Rock_____ (insert random word in blank space)
First guitar hero… that wasn’t so bad. Than rock band… Now Rock revolution, And so it begins.. the Rock____(fill in blank with something Cool sounding) Wars.
Whats next Rock Philharmonic, *You need 45 Controllers to play, a small loan , your first born and a contract for 3 years. it maybe just me but i have no damn interest in a simulator simulator (your simulating someone simulating playing a song). I just cant stand games that you do not truly play – It would be like playing Unreal Tournament by playing the player that controls the character thats boring as hell. After all doesn’t violate some sort of paradox rule? Just imagine playing Mario brothers by the Guitar hero method .. red red green green and you screaming the whole time GO RIGHT DAMNIT.
Sure its *new* to gaming … NOT SO MUCH, Cue: NES power pad(wait thats more fun).. Dance Dance revolution, Or for that matter any sports game where you Can only play by simulating the seasons. Sure Maybe the first time around its fun but after that i’d see it getting boring as hell.
But what i find Is the silliest fucking thing to this is with the DLC + Need to buy 74 Plastic toy instruments its getting ridiculous. This is all falling into the horrible black hole of your typical EA game.. Rather than improve on the game structure and make it better, Redo the whole came and complicate the fuck out of the Interface and controls, Guitar Hero has your guitar, Rockband has Drums + 2 guitars, Rock Revolution has a Even more complicated 7 button drum set plus who the hell knows what.. Perhaps the Special Kazoo controller, guitar Hero IV not to be outdone will have also a six button drum Annoying taping banging sound kit.
If you have ever walked into a big box store you can normally hear the rock band drum set from across the store and normally you want to kill the person on the drums because they pound away at the things like a Drunken steroid Infused gorilla. Honestly I cant stand this type of game because its a horrid step backwards, Now if the companies making these games would let you plug in a REAL Instrument to the game and actually play the song, I’d likely not have to say a word about this crap. But, Since this crap is turning into a monster its going to be horrid.
This game type is mutating at such a fast rate its getting scary. Rockband I think will have the most room for mutation since its evil EA overlords will probably whip there slaves into making some awful brain feasting zombie game, where in order to run it you must buy the all the options.. Wait there already doing that, Rock band wants you to bend over and take it a little harder with the Light and smoke Stage kit for 99$
Whats next, The Rock Band bender washout years kit, Complete with 9 tons of blow and acid with optional hookers, (Groupies sold separately).
I know these companies want to make a buck, but hell come up with something innovative will ya?
like, why not add some actual gaming to these games, add a part where you have to manage your band, A TRUE career mode. manage the band , or hire a manager that could quite possibly rip you off, fend off fights in the venue? Add some Extreme personalization by having your own true “rock band” by each player that plays has there gamertag(xbox) to each part of the band creating a true (even tho simulated simulated) band – with the possibility of offline gaming where all people don’t have to be there at once. One guy does the guitar part, you get a notification that your “bandmember” has attempted a song and You have to do your part. that would lead to better online multiplayer gaming. with this setup You could have Bands that play against each other and Have a Fame rating or something to that effect. If your “rock band” breaks up you also get a penalty or a bonus depending on how that player was.
(note: Rock Band has a mode like this but it seems more linear, see wiki Entry)
It just gets to me on how a game with such a lack of depth is so popular. Drives me completely nuts when i hear people that say “OH YEAH I CAN PLAY THAT SONG” and you finish the sentence with “on your Console….”. but these games need more depth more options than *Red green yellow yellow etc etc*
with the idea I have… you could have battle of the bands …. rather than single ratings or how many “fans” you have..
Hopefully in the future, these games will not be the clusterfuck they are coming out to be right now by adding all the craptastic accessories and needing them all to “play” the game, and game that requires you to buy stuff thats twice the cost of the game is kind of ridiculous in my opinion. I am sure some people enjoy these games but… till they come up with a saner method, instead of flooding the market with 90 tons of crap your going to forget about after you get bored and Have a load of plastic instruments floating around, I think I’ll stay away from these genre….
Just a side note… Strangely interesting that the publisher is listed as MTV GAMES for most versions of Rock Band at Gamestop.com ..
Makes me wonder if they are trying to hide there name in order to stop people that go “EA SUCKS ASS” which they do in 99% of cases.
Honey Dew Donuts… STOP CHANGING Damnit.
Usually when bluesteel and I go for coffee we goto honey dew donuts , which until recently was fairly consistent. but Recently they have pulled certain flavors of coffee that are more popular. Firs they went from flavored coffee to flavored shots, which to there defense was not as bad as dunkin donuts version but still it makes a big difference in coffee taste. Than they pulled one of there more popular flavors for the iced mudslide coffee crap. more over the shots of espresso have gone from 50cents to 1$ , That kind of pissed me off, its bait and switch . get people buying your product than jam the price up when you realize its fairly popular.
the problem here is with each change they are taking the dunkin donuts method of things. automate the fuck outta EVERYTHING , to the point you can NEVER get your coffee right. if you even try to get a coffee thats anything but regular there is a 99% chance that dunkin donuts will fuck it up because its hit a button for regular hit a button for extra , which to different people mean different things. plus having the whole process machined and automated takes away from your coffee.
Honey Dew donuts is slowly following the line that Dunkin Donuts took and thats a dangerous path. Bluesteel and I avoid Dunkin like the plague.
The latest change is the iced capachino, they went from making the mix to a machine , the machine version taste like coco puffs, its rather terrible.
Hopefully more people will notice and Actually complain about it because this is really starting to make some bad coffee there.
Rant: Gaming and DLC/unlocks for money crap
Back in the day most addons or mods for games were created for users by users to extend a games life , but now it seems that the big 3 have taken the idea. Nintendo, sony and Microsoft are all making room on there plates for these DLC micro transactions for content. Usually I’d not write about these things but in the last year or so its caught on to such a point where its bugging the hell outta me. if you want to know why this bugs the hell outta me click read more to continue.
Capital One… What was in your wallet….
How to start this…
Back on November 5th , I called about inquiring on changing a payment due to capitol one making my payment date change. Since i am on Social Security, I normally pay all my bills at the beginning of the month. due to the Oddness of capitol ones business I’d often pay on the 4th to have the payment applied on the 2nd of the month which made no sense to me what so ever. Anyways, I was given Assurances that the pay date would change and the current payment would apply for the month. After that call feeling everything was taken care of I felt everything was going to be OK.. And how wrong i was.
The next month .. I goto pay my bills and i find my account has a few charges and fees I was not expecting, One fee for being put over the limit than another fee for late payment that I was assured would not happen, So i made my payment again, to which the payment for this month was applied to the last months payment that i supposedly did not make but was assured it was all set. So i call capitol one again (12/5/07) asking what has happened. after talking to the first person i get transfered to another person. speaking to them with the whole situation , fees/requesting payment change day (Again)/ and about current months payment which was much higher than previous months payment.
First i was told they would remove the fees assessed for the second time, than after a bit i was told the fees were declined from being removed. I explained i have been calling since October with these problems and I told the person to note these things in the computer, not sure if they were just passing me off. Capitol one representative than Said they would issue you me a courtesy -50$ off my account for my problems.
(12/21/07) i call back and notice that they have not given my fees back nor have they applied the current months payment , instead they apply it to November to which i was told, that also fees were also declined from being removed from my account. at this point i am starting to panic . at this point my mother also speaks to the person and she pays my bill . she gives her account info for her savings, and pays 75 dollars on my bill which brings me up to date with current.
(12/26/07) I go out in the morning to get something using a gift card i received for Christmas, got some lunch, figured I’d go get a coffee but i got a feeling to check my savings account, I was aware of what the balance should of been since i have a piece of paper in my wallet and keep a fairly accurate mental balance in my head but i just wanted to be sure, I goto a local ATM , put in the pin, than proceed to get my account balance to which i lost my mind to, on the paper it said (236.53)- . Me immediately sensing trouble went to the branch and tell the person working that there’s a fairly big problem with my account an that there is money missing, looks it up and says " sir your quite over drawn". I hold my self steady and ask . how in the world could i be over drawn , show the piece of paper and pretty much rattle off the balance that i knew was correct, thinking i ask could you print up the last transactions from the account.
Looking at the paper i immediately spot the problem
### Phone authorization/Capitol One 75.00 12/24/07
I point that out , explain that i never had authorized this and asked if there could be anything done about the fees that were building on the point of capitol ones fault, since they never were given permission to take from the account.
He has me fill out an affidavit to which say i never authorized this , and that it will be investigated , if Proven the fees will be reversed along with the 75 dollars they removed from my account. I head home thinking what to do.
I get home immediatly call Capitol One and ask what the hell they did to my account and they never had authorization to remove funds from my banking account, and the funds that should of been withdrawn was from my mothers account. I get immediatly transfered up the line. I repeat the whole sitaution asking why funds that were taken from my account were , the fact they never had authorization and also that i had my bank investigating this as well. I get put on hold while he "checks out what has happened" about 5 minutes later he comes back from the hold and his demenor has changed , almost every sentence starts with "sorry" or "we are sorry" . I tell him that due to the situation my savings account is completely trashed *at the time of the call -331.80*. My mother also is on the line asking what has happened and the fact im on socail security and more than half my income for the next month is already gone due to there fuckup. at this point he says sorry again and tells me to have my bank send a copy of the funds taken from my account + fees taken because of this .
I have a real feeling they fucked up here but the matter is do i trust them to right a wrong when they have not come through 2 other times in a row?