The Raging Tech

This Frog Kicks Your Bull’s Ass

Even if you get a healthy amount of sleep every day, everyone has those afternoons when you need a little jolt to keep you going. Some people exercise, some eat a low- or no-fat snack, some binge on sugar, others on caffeine. Then there are the segment of people who love their energy drinks! There’s nothing wrong with having an energy drink, but of course, everything in moderation. The major downside to drinking your everyday average energy drink is that’s all you really get – energy. And then you crash, and hard. Not to mention all the sugar, and even for all the sugar they taste like raw piss.

A new challenger has entered the arena!

BluFrog Energy is “insanely healthy energy” – basically, the Limu vitamin supplement turned into a lean, mean, energy drink. It also has the tasty flavor of pears and mangos, not urine. Instead of a “monster” amount of sugar, it boasts a meager 17g of natural sugars. The Limu product has lots of documented health benefits as well. And don’t tell anyone, but if you mix it with Vodka (insiders call this the “Blu Bomb”) it’s quite delicious.

I was thankful to receive some Blu Frog with my Postie Pack from IZEA at St. Patrick’s Day. Not because I had never tried it, but because it was free! I had purchased a case of 24 directly from Blu Frog’s web site a while back and loved it, I just couldn’t afford the autoshipment option. But if I could, you bet I would have started one. The neat thing is, once you get setup with a 2-case monthly autoshipment, you can start earning commisions sharing Blu Frog with other people.

Right now, over at ItsABluWorld.com, you can enter to win several different amazing prize packages. I’m hoping to win the Happy Blu-Year prize package – a trip for two to New York for New Year’s Eve to watch the big ball drop that includes airfare, transportation, hotel stay, and a helicopter ride over NYC! That’d be pretty awesome, and I’ve always wanted to experience New Year’s Eve in Times Square.

Verizon DSL Struggles Again

I really like the functional service level of my DSL. When it’s not working right though, it’s irritating as can be. I’ve had intermittant problems with them since I moved into this house last June. It may not make any technical sense, but apparently every time the weather changes, my internet stops working right at home. For this season, it seems like during the day the uplink is almost non-functional and download works great. Then as the weather cools down at night I completely lose service until I reboot a few times.

I’ve called Verizon technical support enough times I know all the basic troubleshooting steps, and I do them before calling. I’ve been instructed now by a “Tier 3″ technical support person to just ignore whatever “Tier 1″ wants and just ask straightaway for Tier 3. If they want to do the basic troubleshooting stuff, I just get fed up until they transfer me. I hate to be that way, but it’s the game you have to play since Verizon is too ignorant to open an American, English-as-a-first-language call center. They have one for business users, but consumer accounts have to speak to “Paul” or “Anna” in the Phillipines, Mexico, or Brazil.

To make matters worse, I called from work on Friday because I have terrible cell signal at my house (it’s Verizon Wireless, go figure) and blessed out a Tier 1 agent until I got retention, who got me a Tier 3 person, who scheduled a new modem and ran a 24 hour line test. The next day, Saturday, I got a phone call that I missed. My voicemail said it was Verizon tech support and I should call them back if I’m still having the same problem. I called, they had closed my ticket because I didn’t immediately answer their call. I cried BS on that and the tech opened a new ticket referencing the old one. I asked for him to send me to Tier 3, and instead he kept me on hold for about 15 minutes (taking their required two-minute check-in to tell me to continue to hold) while he spoke with a “Network Specialist” and finally figured out I wasn’t just pulling his leg about having a signal problem.

Tier 1/2 techs run a line test, and apparently it’s not nearly as detailed or comprehensive as the next level’s line test, because he said I had a “good connection” and should be fine, but I was still having the issue. I said “Look, I didn’t just call you for $#!ts and giggles, I’m not bull$#!tting you here. Your test seems inaccurate, because it’s definitely having uplink problems.” Finally he came back from hold to say they were having technical difficulties with the line test with the Network Specialist, and then they did discover a problem. I got tired of waiting and just asked if there was anything else they’d need for me today, and they finally acquiesced they didn’t really need me to wait on hold while they resubmitted my request to the central office.

Today I got a phone call that I answered right away. I’m so nervous about answering unknown numbers from outside my area code. It was Verizon, sounded like probably a Tier 3, he was at least a non-accented english speaker. We confirmed an 8am – 12 noon time on Friday when I’m off work for a tech to come out. My modem should be in Monday or Tuesday and maybe that will resolve the issue.

However, I’ve inspected my modem’s status page, and what I see is that my attenuation is fine, SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) for download is fine, but SNR for upload is 5 (not sure what the unit is, maybe dB?) – which I looked up and that is supposed to cause sync issues and connectivity problems, which is exactly what I’m seeing. I’m going to try moving the DSL modem to another room and a shorter phone cable to see if that fixes anything.

Anyone else pissed off by the random outages, signal issues, service issues, and the really ridiculous foreign call centers? You shouldn’t have to learn another language or play some sort of game to get real technical support and timely customer service. Also, remember when you’re a business and you upset one customer, that customer goes and tells at least 5 other friends. Well what happens when that customer is a blogger? Hundreds of people find out just how much you suck. Fight back, friends.

Music Fiend? Check out EMI Artists Online

Today I was out surfing the tubes, realized it’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog. I had written last with renewed enthusiasm for getting back into the regular habit of writing, and human laziness / a busy schedule kept me from sticking to that. I’ve also had a lot of personal developments in my life recently. For example, Mom got married! Exactly one year and a week after Dad passed, I threw a bachelor party for my new “bonus dad” Chris and then Saturday, June 13th, Chris and my mom got married.

So I found out, a great deal of popular artists I like are part of the EMI group. There are these big representative groups, most a little friendlier than the RIAA, that most radio stations pay royalties to once or twice a year so that they can play just about any artist’s songs without worrying about being sued. These groups usually take a cut and then make sure the artists interests are protected and they get royalties. Also, they get promoted. So, if you wanted a pretty nifty resource to learn stuff about artists or find more artists you’ve never heard about – EMI has a new web site that showcases their artists. It currently has auto-playing samples of their music – some of which is uncensored, so you might want to keep the volume down if you’re at work or have kids.

The home page has a neat CoverFlow-esque album cover viewer, and I was very pleased to see artists like Jet represented there.

The “Discover” Tab of the website is supposed to let you search for artists and find similar EMI music to what you searched for and build your “perfect playlist.” This actually worked pretty well as long as I stuck to fairly popular bands. I didn’t get any results from “Flobots” but “Hollywood Undead” found me EMI artist From First to Last. The only complaint I have is that I had to go to another website it linked to in order to hear the artists’ music if they didn’t have a sample on the EMI site. Jet seemed to be there and addable to the playlist, but for the new band I had to go to 7Digital through a new tab. 7digital is the online music store EMI’s site seems to be connected to where you can hear and buy the recommended artists’ music.

One thing I didn’t know that was neat is that several big-name Christian artists are EMI members, and some of their samples play on the EMI web site as well. I’m not as heavy into the Christian music as I used to be in college, but it’s still neat to see they aren’t just stuck in little independent groups not being treated like real artists.

EMI’s web site is also a great place to see a conglomeration of EMI artists news, fairly easily accessible from the site’s home page at the bottom. While the overall design is very snazzy, it also left you wanting more. I guess that’s sort of the intention – I just wish everything wasn’t a partial clip of the audio of songs. I’m not going to spend time building a playlist of 30-45 second samples. But it does make me want to go out and buy some more music – my collection is getting a little stale.

Check out EMI for yourself and let us know what you think in the comments.

Amazing New SeaWorld Coaster “Manta” Opens in 22 Days

SeaWorld, the family-friendly and awesome oceanic life theme park, is opening a brand new roller coaster called Manta just 22 Days from now in May. You might remember a while back an ad that ran on this site and a contest I wrote about for “Manta Mania,” – well here it is, folks! Manta Mania is coming to a rolling boil, and the pressure is unbelievable. This unique roller coaster experience will thrill you and your family by combining a thrill ride flying coaster with “all up in yo’ grill” sea life exhibits. As if SeaWorld and Shamu weren’t really cool already!

If you’re like me, maybe you’ve never been to SeaWorld. So here’s what I recommend: Go to SeaWorld now, before Manta opens. Check out the park, watch the shows, see the awesome creatures of the sea. Theeeeeeeeen, when the park opens Manta on May 22nd, go back and see it all again! Now you’ll have a good, recent comparison to judge by. And from the looks of it, it’s going to be awesome!

Now, you have a chance to win some cool prizes from SeaWorld while you wait, just by completing some activities (Don’t worry, they’re all easy and a lot of fun. You may already be having fun, so what’s there to lose?):

• Take the Manta Quiz (No, I won’t help you cheat)
• Submit to Flickr (Show some love!)
• Fill your Row (Get some friends in on the action)
• Submit to YouTube (Video your love for Manta)
• Make a Manta Mask (You know you want to.)
• Follow and Tweet.

If you complete some steps, you’ll get complimentary photographs of your ride on Manta. If you complete all six steps, you’ll get a free front-of-the-line pass when Manta opens. These are all pretty easy things to do for you tech-saavy folks who use the Youtubes and the Facebooks and Flickrs and Twitters and all of that.

School and Sick and Other Fun Real-Life Stuff

It seems I haven’t updated for a bit here, and I apologize. Just wanted to remind everyone that my contest ends here at Midnight on Thursday, April 30th, and I’ll be choosing a winner on Friday morning. One lucky winner is going to be getting $20 USD PayPal, while another gets a mystery prize!

There’s been lots of entries so far, I’m really excited about all the coverage this contest has gotten from all of your blogs and tweets. Be sure to keep tweeting right up until the very last minute. Who knows, your crazy creative tweet may be the one that ends up winning a mystery prize! It’s going to be a pretty sweet mystery prize! It’s so great I’m probably going to order an extra one for myself. Check it out if you still haven’t entered the contest yet.

I’ve been sick all day yesterday and still feel a little queezy today. I’m pretty sure I got food poisoning from a restaurant I ate at on Sunday. Whatever it was, it pretty much ruined me. I’ve pretty much had toast, half a peanut butter sandwich, a pop-tart, and half a package of crackers. I don’t think I have much of a stomach for eating right now, but I’ve been bit-by-bit keeping stuff down. I no longer feel as much like dying. Woo!

School is over for the semester. I emailed in my final exam Sunday night and now I’m done for a few weeks while I wait on the summer semester to begin. It’ll be good to have a break, but it’ll be sad to see my student friends leave who won’t be staying over the summer. Oh well, three months later and we’ll have them back again. Last summer flew by, and I’m sure this one will too. It’s a weird sort of opposite thing, to be excited for summer to be over and for the school year to come around again.

Got an Itch for HDTV? Scratch it With Charter

If you’re only recently aware that the 21st century has brought people into current technologies like HDTV, high-speed internet and internet-based phone service (VOIP, or voice-over-internet-protocol), you probably have been wondering what all the fuss is about. Perhaps you’ve just been confused, and not really been sure what you want, but you know that you want the latest and greatest to get you up with the times.

Charter has a new contest going on, giving customers a chance every day in April to win a NEW 22″ flat screen HDTV (new or upgrading customers only)! There is a growing demand for HD programming, and Charter is bringing new HD content to it’s programming line-up all the time now. See your television in amazing quality high definition video and surround sound (where available)!

Visit Charter online to step-by-step custom configure a package that works for you. Bundling services together can help you save money and get the services you need without paying a bill to three different companies. Less hassle, less money. It’s that simple. If you’re a new customer or an existing customer who is upgrading to an HD bundle, do so during April and you’re automatically entered to win upon installation.

Charter is also offering one grand prize of a 52-inch LCD flatscreen HD television, a Home Theater system, and one year of Charter Digital Cable Service with HD programming. Charter has recently become known for trying to show customers that think cable companies are all rotten that they’re different. The revolution in cable companies, Charter is seeking to let customers know they are friendly, fun, and provide quality services. Last year Charter gave away laptops, Xboxes, and one customer even drove away in a new 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid! You could be a winner, too – just enter today by ordering or upgrading Charter HD programming.

Weekend Update: Ides of March

That’s right my fateful brethren, it’s March 15th, the Ides of March. I’ve successfully avoided this fated day by sleeping most of the way through it. I woke up today (the final time) around 2pm. I got up and got some microwavable breakfast and then tooled away at the computer the rest of the day. My roommate came home from his day around 8 or 9, I’m not sure. I wasn’t paying that much attention.

This weekend, in a recap:

• Friday night Game Night as usual – had Huddle House for dinner (Big House Breakfast, plus a delicious waffle). Returned to the Estate, where some people played DDR on Alan’s super-fantastic arcade-style heavy wooden DDR pads. The rest of us hooked up some Rock Band 2 and decided to take on the Unending Setlist 2, a super marathon of 84 songs. We finished that up around 3 or 4am. I called it a night then. Micah, Theresa, and James all returned with me and crashed at my place. Brad (what Twitter account should I link to?) stayed at the Estate.
• Sometime Saturday morning, Theresa left with Brad to get a ride back to campus to work on homework. Later in the afternoon around 12:30 or so, I woke up and Micah and James and I went to a nearby city for Bojangles, then to Michael’s apartment to watch Short Circuit, then back to the Estate where I did homework while watching the gang play Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition. I changed my laptop’s default shell (explorer.exe) to LiteStep, a lighter-weight shell that consumes less memory. Also played with Rainmeter and this 10-Foot HUD skin some. Oh, and it was Pi day (3/14, whereas Pi Approximation Day is 7/22 – also March 14th is Albert Einstein’s birthday) so we had some pie to celebrate.

That’s really about it. I might post more on LiteStep and shell replacement later. See you guys tomorrow.