AT&T vs Verizon – The Clash of Titans

Since the iPhone’s creation and launch users have flocked to AT&T to get on board the iPhone craze and phenom. With the ever increasing Features and Apps you can pretty much do anything with the iPhone. Thus, “There’s an App for That” was born. In the widely popular “App for That” commercials to boast the abundance of apps available to do this, that, and the next thing while on “the World’s fastest 3G Network” just by purchasing and using the iPhone, popularity continued to soar and it seems like everyone had an iPhone.

Then, as it seems, Verizon had an epiphany. What good is the “World’s Fastest 3G Network” if you can’t connect to 3G because it is not available in your area. And so it begins. “There’s a Map for That” commercials begin. Verizon picked at the open wound of AT&T and the fact that they do have a small 3G network compared to that of Verizon. While this is only half true [read this for the technical hoopla], it resulted in a lawsuit filed by AT&T against Verizon, a counter-suit from Verizon and then the dropping of both lawsuits.

As if that sore was not sore enough Consumer Reports ranked AT&T dead last in Customer Satisfaction. Ouch. One thing is for sure, AT&T’s iPhone Exclusivity contract will be coming to an end, probably sometime in 2010, and if their act (and network) isn’t cleaned up and iPhone plans revised to be competitive instead of more expensive, we will see a mass exodus of iPhone users to competitors for network coverage, satisfaction, and/or price of plans.

Now, enough of AT&T, Verizon is not without its woes. Currently, the FCC is investigating Verizon’s sudden increase of their early termination fee for “advanced devices” from $175 to $350 and the FCC is also investigating whether Verizon is guilty of some shady charging practices. Apparently Verizon is charging a $1.99 fee for users who accidentally access Verizon Mobile Web without a data plan. $1.99 doesn’t seem like much but multiply that by thousands of users who inadvertently press it and they’ve made themselves some free money! Read more about this at The Register.

So basically we have a choice regarding the top two Wireless Giants. One that ranks poorly in customer satisfaction or one that has some shady money making agendas.

T-Mobile anyone?

This Week in Fails.

Tiger Woods

In a testament to show how much the world has become addicted to knowing the private lives of others, the Tiger Woods “transgression” has been a hot bed of speculation, gossip, and privacy infringement. According to many local citizens of Central Florida reports and news media have actually flocked to known hang out places of Mr. Woods to talk to folks who may or may not of seen anything, to get an idea of what Mr. Woods was like out of the spotlight and if they’ve witnessed any of these infidelities or flirtations.

Can the media get any more pathetic? This all started with a story running in some super market tabloid reporting that Mr. Woods engaged in extra marital affairs with some VIP Club Hostess and then a few days later poor Tiger crashed his car in the weeee hours of the morning. And then from there, speculation swirled, privacy was invaded, all these women are coming out saying they too have had intimate relations with Mr. Woods.

Let me break for a second to send a message to those women -
First of all, your 15 minutes of ‘fame’ are for all the wrong reasons. Not only are you happy to “Kiss and Tell” (when you think it will benefit you), you are telling the world and other possible mates, famous or not, that you do not respect the privacy of the other party. You’re showing the world that you’re quite happy with sleeping with a married man (or just showing your shallowness by only sleeping with a RICH married man thinking you’ll get something from it) .
Second, it does take two to tango. You were just as wrong and just as at fault as Mr. Woods for the consent to any intimate or extra flirtatious relations.

Ok, what was I saying? Oh yes, the media on a rampage. Ever since the accident it’s been non-stop gossip and prying into the life and history of Mr. Woods and he said she said. Last time I checked Tiger Woods was human, he was a man, and he is not perfect. Am I saying this was right or something for his wife to brush off? Definitely not, my husband cheats on me and he’s gone. However, this matter is for the Woods family to deal with PRIVATELY. It is none of our business and it is not helping that we find it necessary or tasteful to print, write, talk, about any of this. Gee, Keleigh, why are you writing about it then? Why? Because I’m not fueling the rumors or the fire, I am simply telling you people to shut up and let the Woods family deal with this in privacy.

Mr. Woods has already lost a lot of respect from a lot of people and I can’t say that he wasn’t asking for it but he already has to face his wife, his children, mother, and his close friends and provide them with answers. Those are the people that he needs to be answering to, not us.

Black Screen of Death

On November 27, 2009 a dingleberry of a security “professional” from a computer security company that will go unnamed because they suck published a report that a Windows 7 security update was causing computers to crash and display the “Black Screen of Death” rendering them “useless” but of course, NO ONE CONTACTED MICROSOFT!

According to Ed Bott, who covered this story thoroughly, the original blog post went unnoticed until November 30, 2009 when it was picked up by the IDG News Service and from there it just spiraled out of control with a plethora of blogs and articles written and published on this supposed Microsoft F-up with no one actually doing any fact checking.

Now, I am by far not a journalist or professional writer, but it seems to me that when publishing something such as a security related article you would want to have the facts. Of course we can have our opinions about things and interpret things differently but this was not that article. With the blame placed directly on Microsoft, and quite blatantly too, the only interpretation of this article was that Microsoft caused this, they are fault for the millions of users who may encounter this “Black Screen of Death”.
And then we have the kicker. After all is said and done, this BSoD is of no error of Windows 7 and the company retracted that information and said…

“Having narrowed down a specific trigger for this condition we’ve done quite a bit of testing and retesting on the recent Windows patches including KB976098 and KB915597 as referred to in our previous blog. Since more specifically narrowing down the cause we have been able to exonerate these patches from being a contributory factor.

“We apologise to Microsoft for any inconvenience our blog may have caused. This has been a challenging issue to identify. Users who have the black screen issue referred to can still safely use our free fix tool to restore their desktop icons and task bar.”

Not only was that a lame attempt at an apology, I mean, come on, inconvenience? A challenging issue to identify? It wasn’t too challenging for you to quickly blame Microsoft. And what’s with the plug? Use our “free tool to restore…” Why would I want to use a tool from a company who cannot properly diagnose a problem and where it comes from? No thanks!

Christmas is almost here.

Ohhh myyy gawwdd!! It’s Thanksgiving already and then Christmas follows! Where did the time go? Really? It seems like I just moved moved to Orlando, moved again, and then moved again! Lose me? I lost me too! BUT all that matters is that I am finally back in my permanent home and I really hope I don’t have to move again for awhile. This weekend will be spent putting away the final details of the move and organizing the closets and cabinets. I also have a gazillion and one pictures to hang. w00t!

Now, Thanksgiving is next week and I will be back in Tampa. We’re going to have a FULL house of at least 28 people. (WOWZA) And that’s just immediate family and a few relatives. I have a huge family.

Haven’t decided what I want to do for Black Friday yet…. Maybe go grab some good deals with money I don’t have. Maybe stay in and decorate a Christmas tree, hang some lights… and drink some Eggnog!

This weekend I will have to find all the Thanksgiving deals and sales and prep for them. Just in case I go shoopppinngg!!!

What is everyone else doing for Turkey day? (Or Tofurkey Day for the Vegetarians).

A pain in my ear.

I grew up swimming in pools and all of a sudden I get earaches EVERY TIME I go swimming now, it’s ridiculous really. Yesterday the pain was so bad, inside my ear, down my neck which was a bit swollen. Totally sucky and a pain in my EAR! I will either have to give up swimming or look goofy with earplugs. Maybe I will get some pink ear plugs… look all cool. :)

In other news, I am dogsitting this weekend for my friend Kia. She is taking a break from her mutt, lol. I am happy to have the little munchkin/hellian. She’ll be busy all weekend and won’t be able to give Kizi the lovin’ she needs so I’m substituting. :-) WIN! We’re going to go for a lot of walks, that’s fo sure! I’ll have to take and post pictures later… she’s a cute little devil. :-) Just like her mom *cough* haha.

Also, I had plans to go back to school to further my edumacation, that’s not happening at the moment. For some awful reason I do not qualify for any, NADA, NONE, ZILCH, financial aid. All they want to give me is loans… I do not do loans, especially these days. Who knows what strings will be attached to them. SOoooooOOoo, I will wait and see what happens.

Big Thanks to those who shared their opinions in my previous rant. I appreciate the difference of opinions, however, please refrain from name calling or bashing any specific political party. Each have their flaws and their problems. If we didn’t have two opposing sides we really wouldn’t be where we are today.

Testing the iphone wordpress app.

Just testing the wordpress iPhone app. I like how it goes horizontal so that is a plus. Anyone else use it? Or am I the only one? Lol.

HAPPY SYS Admin Day!

Happy Day to all the System Admins out there! That would include my wonderful significant other and his staff and my wonderful co-workers!

Love you guys!

That is all.

Oh! I’m ill, I’m ill!

Not really.

So apparently a woman in a Bank of America call center sprayed some perfume (which still remains unknown) and two people reported feeling dizzy, at first fire marshals thought it was carbon monoxide or something but nope… just perfume. Of course when an announcement is made of a possible airborne toxic fume everyone suddenly started feeling the same symptoms. 34 people went to the hospital and 12 went by ambulance (good luck paying that bill!) and 110 treated at the scene.

What’s going to happen next: Bank of America is going to prohibit any sort of scented spray/perfume. The “sickened” employees are going to try and sue BoA and/or the perfume sprayer to pay for their hospital bills and restitution for their “mental trauma” experienced during the ordeal. #FAIL

Gosh, so mean today. Need to go find something better to blog about…

Those Visiting from Twitter…

Are probably looking for this post…

http://keleigh.net/2009/06/seriously-wtf-re-virginize-me-uh-no/

FYI. :)

The Days of Summer

Oh how I’ve enjoyed the days of summer thus far…. hot and humid, storms every afternoon, my building including the buildings surrounding me getting struck my lightning. Makes me love Florida. Sort of. I like the storms, I like the sunshine but I could really go without the humidity. Don’t you agree?

Enough of the weather and on to actual happenings. This summer has been pleasantly busy if I do say so myself. Work at a fantabulous company that has been keeping me busy doing what I enjoy and I am also going to back to college. :-) I am super excited about this, really. :-) Except all the paper, not so excited about that. Why isn’t everything electronic yet? We’re wasting so much paper! Paper = TREES! And snail mail takes soooo much longer. *sigh* oh well. I have patience.

Next weekend I am going camping near some springs. Should be super fun. Hopefully I am not kidnapped by the boogie man, or Big Foot… or aliens and have my perfectly proportioned body and delicate milky skin experimented on and studied… LoL. JAY KAY!!!!

That seems to be all the excitement as of late…. coming up next… my opinions…. O_o Not for the narrow-minded!

Seriously, WTF? Re-Virginize Me? Uh, no.

Welcome to the opinion part of my blog. :-)

I was reading through various news articles across the web and I come across this one “Woman in Intensive Care after ‘Restoring Virginity’ for 6th time”. Uhhh…really? Are you kidding me? Nope… read on!

From FoxNews.com:

The woman, identified only as Natalia K., had her first hymenoplasty operation six years ago before getting married, the Russian Web site Life.ru reports.

Hymenoplasty, also known as hymenorrhaphy or hymen reconstruction surgery, is a type of plastic surgery that involves the restoration of the hymen. The aim of this surgery is to ensure bleeding during sexual intercourse, giving the appearance that the woman is a virgin.

Natalie K. had the surgery before her wedding because her husband was upset that she had already lost her virginity to another man. However, he apparently liked the results of the surgery so much, he asked his wife to have the surgery each year following their wedding.

Doctors warned Natalie K. that having the surgery for the sixth time posed risks, however she chose to go through with it. She caught a “minor infection” after the surgery and is now in intensive care.

[Read more...]