I'm ignoring all the BS about the throttling down, the limited connections, the awful customer service, the billing problems, and all the other BS because I've decided that no matter how upset I get it makes no difference and they all seem to be the same. However, I had enough today.

Last year, as a matter of fact one year ago THIS MONTH, I changed to Verizon and went with the Droid 2 Global for a variety of reasons. The wifey was getting an iPhone and since we were going to be involved in the app business for both platforms I decided to go the Droid route. I chose the Motorola Droid 2 Global for a variety of reasons that aren't important here.

I like the phone except that 1) it's slow, 2) it has some annoying habits including shutting off in the middle of apps occasionally, and 3) the battery life is worse than awful. 

Today I wanted to buy an extra battery because I'm going to watch the better half run a half marathon tomorrow and my phone went dead last year before it was all over. However, I find out today that none of the Verizon stores carry batteries for the Droid 2 anymore because it is an "old model". This is infuriating! I bought the damn thing a year ago!

I can understand that they changed models, but if I can order a battery online they ought to be able to keep one or two in their stores doe those of us who just bought the damned thing LAST YEAR! 

Wise up people and beware. It is just this kind of thing that causes new companies to come in and wipe out the old ones. A company that remembers they make money because of us the customer will cause us to jump ship because I guarantee you that 1) none of us are that loyal tyo Verizon and 2) we're getting screwed over!

Enough of the rant.

In addition to regular coffee, I have tea, coffee, flavored coffee, hot apple cider, hot chocolate, and even Sweet Tea K-cups (and the Sweet tea ones make a perfect large glass of iced tea) so there is a lot of variety in addition to ease of use. I highly recommend this contraption.

However, my love for this thing isn't the reason for this entry. I want to offer a thumbs up to Amazon.com for their customer service. As a disclosure, my readers know that we are an Amazon affiliate and, in addition, I write and sell books for the Kindle.However, if they were doing something wrong I wouldn't hesitate to blast them.

Since as a part of my nightly ritual of television watching I like to have a glass or cup of something to sip on.  I am trying to switch from drinking caffeinated diet drinks to something else, and my wife had bought me an herbal tea sampler of K-cups. In the sampler was a blend called "Sleepytime" by Celestial Seasonings. Yeah, I know, the name is kid of wussy-ish but I tried it anyway with a spoonful of honey in the bottom of the cup.

The tea is a blend of Chamomile and Spearmint and actually appears to relax you and wind you down just a little bit at the end of a busy day. I soon ran out of that blend and after some research found that Amazon.com had the best price on these and so placed an order.

The packages arrived pretty quickly and the other night I plugged one in and made a cup, then sat down to watch a movie. As I raised the cup to my lips I was a little put off at a musty odor emanating from the cup. Nevertheless, I sipped on it until it was gone. Last night I did the same thing, made the cup and then sat down to watch the second episode of "The River".

I again hit that smell coming from the cup, and was able to identify it as the odor of old gym socks. I'm not sure why this would have been, because the taste was okay, so long as you don't breathe in while you're sipping it. However, the smell of the tea was part of what I enjoyed and so I knew this was a REJECT. I jumped online, fumbled around Amazon until I found a place I could send them an email,  described the problem and asked how I could return the item.

To my surprise, this morning I had an email from Amazon.com waiting for me. They had refunded the money to my credit card, told me they were sorry there was a problem, and told me to just dispose of the tea, no need to return it.

That is good customer service. I still don't have my tea, but I certainly have the warm fuzzies about Amazon. And I also have no worries about ordering more from them because the original sampler was from them and there were no problems, this was just an anomaly.

This past week the ABS show, The Biggest Loser, so infuriated my wife that for us the show is now a "will not watch" EVER.

I'll mention that I have too many pounds on me, so when I refer to someone as "a fat chick" it isn't really referring to their weight. To me, that term describes an attitude more than it describes a physical appearance.  One of the most attractive women I have ever known was a bigger woman but her weight didn't detract from her inner and outer beauty.

Back in the days when I had just graduated law school, one of the pieces of advice I got from a veteran trial lawyer was "never put a fat woman on a jury if you are representing the Plaintiff in a civil case, or the Defendant in a criminal case". While I know it sounds awful, the times I forgot or ignored that piece of advice I invariably regretted it later.

His thinking was that, as a rule, "fat chicks" are mean and show little sympathy for others. 

A couple of the girls on The Biggest Loser are proving this to be correct. A couple of shows ago a brother and sister team won the right to "come to the ranch" by meeting a weight loss goal and immediately the brother was set upon by the others on the team that he went to, just like a bunch of chickens will set on another chicken who has a bit of blood on them. The other chickens eventually peck that one to death.

Almost all of the team members were pretty atrocious, but the worst was a girl named Conda  and a woman named Kim, who used to be a hot wrestler under the stage name "Desire". Kim is intense, I'll give her props for that, but is just not nice and Conda is an absolute bitch. What amazes me is that the people on the team don't seem to realize what a drag a person like that will be on team spirit, since she is continually instigating and causing trouble.

But the reason we are no longer watching the show isn't because of these two people, it's not because there are other doofuses, it's not because the show is unrealistic, and it's not because it is full of BS (Oh Bob! This sprout and broccoli sandwich with a sprinkle of tofu powder tastes just as good as a hamburger or slice of pizza!) We are no longer going to watch the show because they are spending way too much time focusing on the negative aspects of what "the game" causes people to do there and the trainers are either blissfully unaware, choose not to address the issues, just don't care, or are held back from keeping these people from engaging in destructive behavior so that the show has more drama and gets better numbers. It is this kind of reality television that is harmful to us as a while.

So long as the producers allow this to happen, The Biggest Loser is no longer on our menu.

The movie was booked into the local theaters when it got the Academy Award nomination, so my wife and I decided to go and see it when we got a chance.

Was it well written? Yes.

Was the acting good? Yes.

Was it worth seeing? Probably not and definitely not worth wasting the price of even a matinee priced ticket.

The scenes of Hawaii itself are sparse, most of the movie seems to take place indoors. There are few scenes of Hawaiian life, the references to the title are almost non-existent, and overall it's just boring.

There are some bright spots. The character "Sid" can be entertaining at times, George Clooney and the young actress that plays his teenage daughter both do a very good job, and there are some memorable lines from the movie but overall it just doesn't sing. It doesn't even clear its throat to begin singing.

The best scene, to me, is the last one of the movie with George and the girls watching television. It is the only part of the movie that I would say was done well, even though there was minimal talking. It was just a great way to wrap up an otherwise boring, depressing movie.

At least one thumbs down, maybe two.

If you are interested in Hawaii I've put some of my favorites down below. The books are phenomenal, the movies aren't quite as great but they are fun and the scenery is like an extra character in the movie. I have all of these and read or watch them at least once a year.

The show just isn't a "must watch" any more. For the first few seasons it was less obvious that the judging was based on who the producer wants to go on versus who the judges think should advance.

By the way, "my palate" and "needs more acid" have to be the two most overused phrases in reality cooking television. Come on!

I am also very, very tired of people getting ragged on for not naming their dish correctly. This week's dumbass judges's statement… "If he hadn't called it Almond Joy we'd be praising him right now". Really Emeril? Really? To paraphrase Tom Colicchio from one of the earlier seasons, "This is Top Chef, not Top Food Namer." (By the way, all 4 judges were ragging on the chef-testant because of the name).

If the show was on any channel other than Bravo it would be a goner after this season, but with some of the other crap that is on that station it is probably safe.

By the way judges…I've eaten at some of your fancy, high priced restaurants and I hate to tell you that the aren't as good as the show would make you think. In fact, the words overpriced and pretentious come to mind. With the exception of Hubert Keller's Fleur de Lis in Vegas (which was absolutely magnificent and Chef Keller even came by the table to talk to us) I have been very, very disappointed.

I am amazed at the way that certain songs evoke such strong memories. When Queen's Another One Bites the Dust/We are the Champions plays anywhere the smell of coconut oil (from suntan lotion) blasts into my memory as well as the picture of a beautiful blonde girl named Angie that used to ride my bus in high school. I never had the courage to do any more than carry on a brief conversation with her and wonder what would have happened if I had the chops then that I developed later.

In this case, it is Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven that brought the memory of a warm spring/summer night, the smell of popcorn at the skating rink and the feel of a nubile young girl firmly snuggled against me (back in the days before my belly would have prevented the intimate contact) for the first part of the song as we skate danced. Of course, most of us left the floor as soon as the fast part of the song started (I've still never seen anyone dance to that) but for the few minutes before it cranked it was the best song for the up close and personal contact.

It's hard to believe that the music invading the air and internet waves today will cause the same sense of nostalgia for today's teens as they approach the magic 50 number but who knows?

I wonder what Angie Campbell is doing now. If anyone knows her (she lived in Northwest Park in Houston and went to Eisenhower) ask her to drop me a line here and let me know.

We flew out of Shreveport, La and into McCarran on a pretty non-eventful flight. Saved pretty good bucks flying from there instead of DFW so if you're in the area and planning a trip you might want to price it both ways. We flew in at night and the airport was pretty deserted so got the bags and out to the cab line pretty quickly.

We took a cab from the airport and took the freeway. Since we were staying at the Venetian I meant to ask them to take Las Vegas Blvd. instead since I had heard it was cheaper, but forgot to ask and the cab driver did not ask us, as I understand he was supposed to.. The cab ride via freeway cost $25.50 plus a tip, $30 total. LV cabs are soooo expensive compared to other places.

As the last post told you, I'm headed to Vegas and, in prep, have been reading trip reviews and listening to Frank and Dean.

One thing I noticed about the trip reviews is that most of them seem to be done by women drinking girlie drinks. Okay, cool. I enjoy reading about their escapades as well as getting an idea on what estrogen does to people when confronted with the Vegas atmosphere.

BUT another thing I noticed was that a lot of the reviews by men ALSO involved girlie drinks.

I'll be honest, if I'm somewhere tropical I'll drink a Pina Colada or a Rum Punch on the beach or around the pool and once or twice I've even gotten an Appletini to drink with an appetizer at a restaurant but for God's sake, I see pictures of men sitting with steaks in front of them and sipping on some concoction made of chai tea and vanialla vodka!

Men, let's just get this straight, a drink like that lowers the testosterone to a level that it could emasculate you. Men drink alcohol. If you aren't feeling it then you make a cocktail by adding an ice cube or two and, possibly, a piece of lemon peel or olives. That's it.

Red wine is fine, but just remember it ain't really drinking. It's the equivalent of water or a soda on the drinking scale, or you can feel free to consider it another course to the meal.

I remember one trip to New Orleans when we went to a Martini Bar and caught it when they were running two for one specials (a bad, bad idea back in those days). We wouldn't let the waitress clear the empties as we sat there throwing back Maker's Mark on the rocks and occasionally a Vodka Martini while smoking bootleg Cubans. When we finally staggered out the top of the table was completely covered with empty glasses (to be fair there were two of us drinking so I didn't do them all by myself) and there were even a few sitting on top of other empties.

Men, it's time to man up, turn that damn baseball cap forwards, and drink like you mean it or don't drink at all!