That Old Summer Feeling …
Posted on July 1, 2003 at 1:28 pm | No Comments
Here it comes again… same time, one year later. As soon as we hit the solstice, the summer blogging slack-off starts.
I’m trying to fight it, but forces are conspiring to keep me from posting as much as I’d like to. It’s that recurring catch-22… living life a little larger gives me more events to reflect on, more stories to share, more reviews to write… and yet, the very act of living all those things gives me less and less time to blog about ’em.
Combine that with busier workdays, and no after-work computer urges, and well, the words begin to backlog. I’d love to tell you about the day I played hookey from my job, and we spent a near-perfect day up on the north shore. I’d be happy to share tons of photos from that trip, or maybe some shots of the excellent Cinerama and American Analog Set shows at TTs last week. I’d love to talk about how good I thought 28 Days Later was, and how you might want to check it out if you’re hankerin’ for a good, solid scare.
Above everything going on, I need to take time to say farewell to my two friends, Micki and Jason. I’m sort of in denial about their departure to L.A. today… just kind of pretending it’s not really happening and that we’ll be hangin’ again this weekend, seeing a movie, sitting around the livingroom, maybe going out to dinner, or fixin’ Jason’s computer. I’ve never made such close friends so quickly, and the impact of their absence is gonna be pretty tough to take. I wish ’em the best, and if anything is ever going to get Amie on back a plane, it’s the thought of seeing ’em again in a few months…
So, safe travels, you guys. Get on out there and wow the west coast.
“Hey, Don’t Call… You Never Can Call.”
Posted on July 1, 2003 at 11:07 am | No Comments
Now that the initial registration flood has receeded a bit, the brand-spankin’ new National Do Not Call Registry website is fully accessible and ready to receive yo numbah. The servers were just plain overwhelmed (unsurprisingly so) for the first few days, and any attempt to surf there had me pulled down by the undertow. Well, no longer.
The sign-up process is remarkably easy. Enter your number, enter your email addy, click a link in the confirmation email, and away you go. If you register before the end of August, then telemarketers can’t call you after the 1st of October. If you wait until after that, it’s three months from your sign-up date. Not bad at all. The site even has a complaint form if you’re wrongly violated. Finally, the targets strike back. There’s no small sense of satisfaction in that final mouse click.
Telemarketers have single-handedly turned me into a call-screener. I never was before the ever-increasing wave of sneak attacks … I’d just answer for any old number that came up on the caller ID. Now, if it’s “unavailable”, “private caller”, or a number I don’t recognize… I back away slowly and go on about my bizness. It’s gotten so bad that sometimes I don’t even look at the ID box… I’ve been tuning out the ring and figuring if it’s important, they’ll leave a message.
Thing is, my folks use a calling card, and it always comes up “unavailable”, so I’m missing out on the occasional parent-funded family updates. Sure, turn me into a paranoid call-screener, but don’t go getting between me and my ‘rents, ya lousy phone-whores!
I’m very curious to see if this actually works, and if cold-call telemarketers even pay attention. According to the NDNCR site, “you may still receive calls from political organizations, charities, telephone surveyors or companies with which you have an existing business relationship,” so perhaps the flood will just turn into a steady stream. Hey, I’ll take it. So long as the Watertown Tab stops calling me. How many times am I going to have to say … “I live in Allston, you fools!”