There is a common adage out there amongst those who ponder such things that
we, as humans, take as much as we can get, go as far as we're allowed and
push the limits.

I have proof this concept may have some validity.

Im just about to wrap up my second year with Verizon Wireless. I have a
basic no camera phone that suits my needs perfectly. I'll be renewing my
contract with Verizon later this month, taking advantage of their "New
Every Two" program to get a better phone. Through this whole process, I
doubt seriously I'll feel the need to use PFB to loudly proclaim that
they're ripping me off, misleading me, not living up to their promises or
any of that stuff we see on a regular basis on this site when people deal
with wireless companies. That will likely have something to do with the
fact I'll educate myself as to the terms of the agreement I'll sign and not
have unreasonable expectations about how Verizon should value me as a "long
term" customer.

At any rate, there has been one small glitch along the way. I started out
with insurance on my phone and, at the current time, I dont have insurance.
"Oh Mr. Helpful, you poor man, what did those greedy corporate rat
bastards at Verizon do to you?"

They didnt do anything to me. I did it to me. I somehow managed to lose
two phones in 14 months. Both times, I used the insurance to get a new
phone (yeah it cost me a fifty dollar deductible each time...I guess if I
were a "good" consumer, I woulda bitched about that but I already knew that
was part of the terms of having insurance so I didnt feel the need).

After the second one, I got a nice letter from the insurance company that
basically said "been nice doing business with you but you kinda reached our
limit of how many times you can replace a phone in two years so thanks for
the memories and good luck". I probably shoulda gone ballistic on that too
(DONT THOSE BASTARDS VALUE ME AS A LONG TERM CUSTOMER??!!) but I already
knew they could term my insurance if I made two claims on the phones.

Now, here's the funny thing...I lost two insured phones in the course of 14
months. In the ten months since, I havent lost one yet. Hmmmm....I wonder
if Ive been more careful since I know I'll have to pay full price if I lose
this one?

Of course that shouldnt stop me. As a red blooded consumer, I shouldnt
care if I lose the phone because if I do, I'll just scream at the insurance
company for not allowing me to keep my coverage. And after Im done with
them, I'll scream at the top of my lungs at Verizon for daring to charge me
full price for a replacement phone--DONT THOSE BASTARDS VALUE ME AS A LONG
TIME CUSTOMER?? And in the process, boy, I'd sure take a stand for my
rights as a consumer, BY GOD!

Right?

Right?

Ive spent most of my life doing things different than most people.

That doesnt mean you'll find me out doing wild and wacky things that only
the strangest people alive would do. I do the same things everyone else
does...I just do them differently.

And it's usually the hard way.

For instance, when bowling, most people take five steps or at least four
before releasing the ball. Not me. I stand almost past the ball return and
take three steps...three VERY small steps and on that third step, I nearly
bury my foot into the floor and cut loose. It's a very strange style
however I can routinely throw a 200 game with a house ball.

Or golf. I position the ball far enough in front of my left foot that it's
like I was hitting a baseball. And I use a baseball grip on my clubs. Im
not quite as successful with golf as bowling...I hand in the low 90s.

The worst example is drumming. I play the drums...well, I did. Havent
really sat behind a set in about 8 years. I started when I was 18 and
played in bands for a couple of years before being sucked into the world of
business. Nowadays, you can play any instrument any way you like and no
one cares however in the mid seventies, there were RULES. And a huge rule
for drummers was you had to play right handed (which I was) and you had to
play cross handed (which I didnt). Cross handed means keeping time on the
high hat with your right hand and hitting the snare drum with your left. I
couldnt do it and keep time. The only way I could play was to keep time on
the high hat with my left hand and hit the snare with my right. This would
cause snorts of derision from anyone watching, especially my younger
brother who was the guitar whiz in our band. He used to scream at me to
"PLAY THE RIGHT WAY" and I, never much of a follower, would scream back "IF
YOU DONT SHUT UP IM GONNA SHOVE THIS DRUMSTICK UP YOUR XXX!!!"

Anyways, the whole point of this lengthy post is Ive gone and been
"different" again. In the middle of this massive heat wave, even here in
Seattle, Ive grown a beard.

Heh.

Playing On KHELP radio (where the hits just keep on
coming...bam...bam...BAM!) tonight is:

Remedy--Black Crowes

I don't care for a lot of Black Crowes stuff but that song rules.

So, let's talk music, shall we? As I putter through the work day (and the
rest of the day, for that matter) the underlying foundation is music,
music, music! It's always playing in the background...or foreground when I
have my headphones on.

Im all over the map with my taste in music. About the only genre I dont
like is rap (although I have a few of those songs too). Otherwise, Im
there, dude.

The Mr. Helpful music collection resides on my Windows machine. Ive gone
through and digitzed 250 cds, 400 cassette tapes and 600 albums (geez, can
you tell what era Im from?). Plus Ive bought a fair share of songs online.


This means Ive got just over 6,000 songs on my computer at the current
time. That doesnt represent every song on all that other media...I actually
went through every album, every cassette and every CD and digitized only
the songs I like. The CD's were fairly easy...I just ripped the songs as
they appeared on my screen. But the albums and cassettes were a different
matter altogether. I had to capture every single song in real time.
Needless to say, it took me a LONG time to create this library. Yeah, I
know. I need a life.

Right now Ive got about half of my library on my MP3 player.

So how about you? How do you store and listen to your music?

Where does the time go?

Honest to God, I swear sometimes I dont know where the time goes!

It was just yesterday we were celebrating Cinco De Mayo and now it's almost
the end of June. What in the heck is going on? Did someone put life on
fast forward?

Or maybe it's that the crystal meth just kicked in.

JUST JOKING!!

Heh heh heh....

It's just past midnight and here I sit on my deck, thirty feet up from the
ground, encased in darkness, listening to the rain fall while Im trying to
think of something compelling to type.

These are the peaceful moments even as the peepers begin croaking once
again. In a few minutes, I'll trudge off to bed, tired but relaxed, ready
to get up in seven hours or so and do this PFB thing all over again.

We've got a lot of stuff going on yet, even as we move forward, it's so
exciting to see how the community is coming together. Sure there are bumps
in the road however, overall, we're in a much better place now than we were
a couple of years ago.

We have you, the site users to thank for that. It may not always seem like
your voice is heard but, trust me, it is. We cant do everything all at
once however we are making incremental progress, day by day. That's
exactly how solid foundations are built.

We'd just like to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who finds value
in the experience that PFB offers. With your support, things will only get
better.

The peepers have stopped croaking. It's no longer raining. Time to go
to bed.

So I'm sitting here in the breakfast area of the Marriott Residence Inn in
Portland, Oregon.

I need to give a great big shoutout to the hotel. Free wireless internet.
A very comfortable room with a decent size work area. Very friendly staff.
Heck, make that EXTREMELY friendly staff. There was a maintenance guy
fixing the door closer on a sliding glass door next to where Im sitting.
When he was done, he turned and asked if he could take my dirty plate from
my table. That was kind of amazing, to say the least.

All in all, the Residence Inn did a great job!

That is a great idea for everyone!!
Jennifer Stewart