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2006-03-24 - the opposite of Vietnam and Madeline Albright

Normally I avoid polical talk anywhere outside of my own head and with those who I consider close to me. I guess now is an exception to that rule. At some point I heard what I thought was a great analogy about the war in Iraq. I think it might have been in Lewis Black’s “Nothing’s Sacred” book, but I could be wrong.

Nothing's Sacred

I’d also suggest anyone to reead Madeline Albright’s op-ed piece published onlnie by the LA Times here.

We went to war in Vietnam thinking that if South vietnam went Communist after a military takeover that the rest of the countries in that region would follow suit using their example and turn Communist. We went to war for that idea.

This time around, the Bush administration was thinking that if the US turns Afghanistan and Iraq into democracies after military takeover, the rest of the countries in the region would follow suit an turn democratic. I guess President Bush missed that by missing the war completely.


2006-03-22 - cheating death

With the help of a daily intake of 2400 mg of Advil, 2000 mg of Penicillin and 325 mg of Percocet, I’m making it through the week. If you looked at my calendar for last weekend, you’d see “Wisdom Teeth Removed (death in the process)” but I’m still alive somehow.

I had the wisdom teeth on the right side of my mouth removed last Saturday. The ones of the left? They were removed in December of 1999. Why the large gap you ask? I had an allergic reaction to the Valium I was given to knock me out the first time and woke up mid-procedure having what the docs described as a seizure. That pretty much sealed the deal in not getting the other two removed for a while, and life was good.

Then I ran into a bit of a snag. I’ve got a retainer bar cemented behind my bottom teeth from when I got my braces taken off when I was 17 and I want it out. No dentist will take it out until after I get the rest of my wisdom teeth out. So I had Amber schedule me an appointment with a recommended oral surgeon. She handles making my dental appointments because she’s awesome. Case closed.

I went in expecting the worst, which would be hours of agony and pain, death and destruction, and other bad things that can happen to good people like me. The doc wanted to put me under; he got a big N-O from me. The doc wanted to use laughing gas; he got a big N-O from me. He suggested Novocain; fuck yes please. He gave me the shows and left the room.

Originally I was under the impression that Amber could be in the room, based on the impending freak out I was going to have, but she was told she wasn’t allowed to come in. I asked that she be allowed in in-between the shots and the actual removal. I lost it when I saw her because all of my lifelong fear of dentists came running back to me and how my negative reaction to the sedative last time scared the shit out of me.

The dentist came in to the room in the awkward moment of me clutching Amber and tearing and her crying from seeing me so scared. So once the doc walked in and told Amber she had to leave I was doing my best to control my shaking which has only gotten worse since he stepped in the room. I managed to get it under control and he went forward with the procedure. All in all it wasn’t bad except when he told me that there’s always the chance of permanent nerve damage when this is done. Great.

I drove home with Amber, gauze in mouth, on my way to the couch to ice my mug. Not too much pain, but certainly enough discomfort. I’ve still got some pain in my jaw, maybe two inches away from where my teeth were removed and slight pain down along the jaw line. From the doc’s descriptions I think it’s my lingual nerve on the right side of my face getting used to not having the tooth in there.

One more dental appointment down, I think I have about 3 more in 2006.


2006-03-18 - Rob Blatt vs. Charter Communications Round 2

Round 2: First Blood

Apparently Charter Communications was having Marketlink Inc. contact me to offer me their higher speed internet connection (5MBs up from my current 3MBs) for a few extra bucks a month for six months. This would be similar to the few motnsh I got of their DVR service for $1.

The difference is that last time, they didn’t call me 5 times in three days to notify me of the new service. I think I flustered the telemarketer…

“Hi, I’m calling on behalf of Charter Communications. Is this Mr. or Mrs. Blatt? We’re offering you the higher speed connection with almost double upload and download speeds.”

“But you’re not Charter Communications, they’re not based in Des Moines Iowa.”

“Well, yes. The company calling is Marketlink, we handle Charters promotional phone calls.”

“Right, so about the service, is there a guarantee on the speed?”

“It’s twice as fast as your current connection.”

“Right, but is there a minimum speed I can expect.”

“Well, you’re limited by your computer’s speed.”

“That not true, my computer is very capable of recieving and sending much more information that 5MBs, so this would be a provider issue, not an end user issue.”

“Well, there’s no guarantee on the service.”

“Thanks. You know what? I think I want to be removed from your call lists. All of them.”

“But you’ll miss out of promotional offers that way.”

“Yeah, let’s make sure that Marketlink doesn’t call me again.”

“It might take up to 30 days to remove your name from the system.”

So if I get another phone calll after a month from tomorrow it’s onto Round 3.


2006-03-16 - Rob Blatt vs. Charter Communications Round 1

Round 1: Annoyance

I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls lately from area code 515. I don’t know anyone who lives in that part of Iowa. specifically Des Moines. Hell, all I know of Des Moines Iowa is that it’s mentioned in The Anniversary song “The D in Detroit”.

Apparently my cell phone number has been sold to Marketlink Inc. from my cable company, Charter Communications. Now, my cell phone is registered on the national do not call list. And the only company that I currently deal with that I use my cell phone # with is my cable company, Charter Communications. Also, I ran a Google search on the phone number that keeps popping up (515-309-9027) and found a few sites that link Marketlink Inc. to Charter Communications and Cox, another cable provider.

In two days I’ve gotten three calls from this company who very publicly fought against the do not call registry. This guy did too.

5:31, 7:28 and 8:52 pm.

Carter Communications will be getting a phone call from me this evening. I’d like to see them try to deny that they have a relationship with Marketlink Inc. after seeing this document on the FTC website.

And what’s worse is that these people do business with my cable company, which makes them able to skirt the laws that were put in place to stop this kinda bullcrap in the first place.

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