Hoshnasi

I’m a ball of disappointment today. Which is pretty much the exact opposite of how I was four years ago. With that said mundane items seldom cause me pain. However today they send my mind SEARCHING for reason to oppose, discourage or destroy them. Take for example the pile of leftover Halloween candy someone left in the office kitchen. Half thinking I grabbed some Starburst and a sour apple Charms Blow Pop. I actually remember picking it up and thinking to myself, “why did I hate these for over a decade again?”

Then I remembered, it was this stupid ass commercial.

There are so many things I hate about this commercial. One the off scene asshole whispering lines into the microphone, two the kid who face palms himself, three the fact that this weak ass attempt at a commercial was to make it seem like it was made by kids and that kids I guess suck at making commercials? Four and most importantly the bullshit at the end

<whisper>”Say from Charms”</whisper>

“What”….”Now?”

I saw this damn commercial so much as a child that I just finally had to immediately change the channel and not change back for a good half an hour to full hour stretch of time as though I was some Nielson house and I could subconsciously make the horrible commercial go away FOREVER. So jaded I was by this commercial that I stopped eating all Charms Blow Pops till 8th grade. For the first five years I remembered why I stopped eating them. However the last few years was just a subconscious aversion. It was like they would be sitting on the table but I would just not see them.

EDIT TO ADD:  I forgot I also REALLY hated that reel to reel projector clicking in the background too!  ARGG!!!!!

Its been a recent observation of mine that people don’t want better millage in cars. Instead of taking personal action to improve gas millage most people want technology to work around them. I’m sure plenty of you reading this are shaking your head and saying “No, people want real change in the cars available”.

To you I say think about this. How recent was the last time you were at a stop light that just turned green and saw a Prius speeding off the line. Or some other hybrid doing eighty or more miles an hour on the highways. There is a wash of great cars on the market that delivery impressive MPG, the problem is most of these cars are lacking in one thing… Popularity. The Prius sees record sales because it is popular, because the green movement is the talk of the town. However, few of the Prius owns actually drive the car to conserve gas.

We lost something since the gas crisis of the 70’s, there was a rule -an understanding that any quick motion on the gas pedal will decrease gas millage exponentially. During the crisis, people used to imagine that an egg was behind the gas pedal and used light and slow pressure to keep the imaginary egg from breaking. We can’t say the same for how people drive today.

Today, it is far too common to see a driver of a MPG friendly car smash the gas pedal to achieve some sense of speed or power. Mainly because the MPG friendly engines do not produce much power for the obvious reason that the engine is saving on gas. So now, if you were to compare a situation where one driver is pushing his fuel efficient low power engine at 100% to keep up with a conservative driver in his moderate MPG sedan running his engine at 60% all the strengths of the MPG efficient car are lost.

I look at it this way. Car makers only stand to make more money off car sales when they release cars with better gas millage. This may seem obvious, people will sell their current cars to get the latest and greatest MPG value but I also think there is a double edged sword here. A pretty decent percent of people lured by the MPG will end up selling their new wonder cars for the lack of power they provide. Since again, they are not going to drive like people in the 70’s did.

Sure gas is expensive, but currently its not hard to come by and frankly if nothing is going to stop a driver from driving a certain way -mainly quickly or attempting to keep up with people who drive fast- they would be better off keeping their original car. That is if living green and caring about mpg are truly prime concerns.

I guess I have just seen to many people in California racing around in MPG wonder cars that I had to rant. A little tip for hybrid owners. The electric engine switches over to gas at a certain MPH range (somewhere around 30-40). If you constantly slam the pedal off the line you end up depleating the batteries VERY quickly, so the gas engine runs longer to replenish lost juice. Also, going over 65 MPH on the highway greatly reduces overall MPG. Try and keep the needle at 60.

Customer believes he’s purchased coffee. Instead, receives hot soy sauce.

This isn’t news, but many believe the Incredible Hulk should be rated R for scenes showing the usage of tobacco products .  In fact there is a warning on the trailer that says something along the lines of “Warning this movie contains scenes depicting tobacco usage.”

The American Medical Association (AMA) has come out harshly against the Incredible Hulk.  Basically the main point they are going for here is:

warned parents today of yet another Hollywood film that exposes underage audiences to unnecessary smoking: “The Incredible Hulk.”

“Gratuitous Smoking” is a big problem they comment.  The words spinning in my head reading this is staggering.  I just can’t get over the fervor over tobacco usage.  Sure, cigarettes are dangerous but cigars?  Come on, cigars are no where NEAR as bad as cigarettes.

I   guess this just shows the power of the cultural left in Hollywood, where a director has a warning added ASIDE from the rating of the film about tobacco.

For a differing opinion check out Cigar Pass.

When I lived at home I couldn’t care less about the cable. We always had basic cable and I was quite content. However I did pay for the internet out of my pocket when I lived there since I was the major bandwidth user. Fast forward to my living on my own and I get to pay for cable! FUN! My first experience down this road is with Time Warner cable.

It is clear from spending five minutes on the site that they want to be your one and only for cable, internet and nowcable phone service. Most plans they offer give slight price reductions to the “All The Best” package, which is the phone, internet and cable plan. Verses the prices for just cable or cable and internet (which is what I care about).

Last year I setup a nice little plan for 7mbs cable internet and what I called the “smart” option of digital cable. My choice gave me education channels and discovery, history, TLC (or whatever they call it now). I guess I didn’t realize at the time that the plan I signed up for runs out after a year. Last month my bill shot up from $65.00 to $97.00 a month! Confused and annoyed I contacted Time Warner billing. Turns out the prices got hiked all over the place and since the deal I got a year ago expired I was left with something else which was essentially the same options digital cable and internet. However now, it was $10.00 more expensive! So $75.00 would get me rolling again.

“Forget it” I said. I asked the girl on the other end of the phone “Look, I’m not going to pay inflated prices. Either you give me an attractive option for cheaper cable or I’ll just cancel it and read a book.”

She took a few minutes and said “Well there is broadcast cable.”

“What is that?” I asked?

“Well its channels 2-35, it costs $12.00 a month.” - “SOLD!” I said almost cutting her off.

So I ditched the digital cable, going back to good old analog, and I’m down to 30 channels, which really is fine. We only really watch morning news, Discovery and some others that SHOULD be there. I really can do without Food Network since it makes me eat.

But… Last week I got another bill for $97.00. So I had to call them back and charge the ant hill again. The conversation went something like this.

“I ordered broadcast cable and I got a huge bill again, please fix it now.”

“Ok let me check your account…” (5 minutes of keyboard clicking)

“Hey, out of curiosity, what other options do you have that are cheaper than the cheapest digital cable.”

“Well, there isn’t anything aside from the broadcast cable.”

“So you’re saying there isn’t a basic cable non-digital?”

“Oh, there is, but our digital cable is cheaper at $50-something dollars.”

“Wait, so broadcast is $12.00 and then the next step is $50+ dollars? Isn’t that a bit crazy?”

“I’m sorry thats all we have.”

He helped me out getting my broadcast cable up and fixing my bill, but still it pissed me off. Not having another option for cable other than broadcast is nuts.

Then that same day I learned that next year all cable in California has to be digital cable. Hopefully I won’t be in a Time Warner district by then, because I hate them.

Other people who hate Time Warner:

GearBits

Right Thinking

Assistant/Atlas

This is a short lived opportunity for sure and I’m letting everyone know a little late, but there is still money to be had.

Currently AT&T are selling the 8 ($249.00) and 16 ($349.00) GB iPhone on the refurb site.  Right now you are limited to one, but that doesn’t stop you from pick more up via craigslist.  Once you have acquired a bunch.  Unlock using the ZiPhone tool.

 PROFIT!!! (As long as you make it international shipping, for peeps in Transylvania)

WWDC is coming around the bend June 9th. Get your cash ready to plop down on the new 3G iPhone. When WWDC rolls around I’ll be watching my buddy HLash’s Twitter closely. He’ll be live micro blogging the whole thing for us

Also, I’m back and working both HoshNasi and Twitter, check me out.

Back in August I was hit by a moving truck while riding home on my bicycle. Paramedics came to the scene and checked me out. They bandaged my tore up arm and as I remember it mentioned to me that “Ambulance rides are expensive, the hospital is just down the road a block maybe you should just walk there or get some family to take you.” So I did just that, in my post accident haze I waited till my fiance came and got me. We popped into the hospital and I got five brand new stitches in my arm.

A few weeks later I get a bill for $300.00 from the paramedics who arrived on the scene. I joked saying “Thats alot of money for someone to wrap my arm in gauze.” The next day I called the paramedics billing company and forwarded them my medical insurance info. Fast forward to yesterday I see a bill from my insurance co. that is for $300.00. Very much perplexed I called them this morning. During the call I was informed that my coverage only covers paramedic treatment when after you ride to the hospital in the ambulance. I twirled this info around in my head and it hurt. It was so illogical I almost had to spit. I asked the women from the insurance “So let me get this straight. I got hit by a car. Paramedics came because I was bleeding all over the place and stopped the bleeding. I elected not to ride in the ambulance because the hospital was down the road and I am not covered for that?” - “Correct” she replied. My next question was “Had I taken the block ride in ambulance would the insurance cover my paramedic treatment?” The answer was of course “Yep!”

So, because I didn’t want a spectacle made of myself being put into an ambulance, nor did I want one less ambulance out there helping people hurt far worse than me I get stuck with a $300.00 bill for treatment that I needed regardless of how I made it to the hospital.

After the phone call I sat in amazement and then a morbid thought entered my mind. If I had been hit by car and I died on the scene after paramedic treatment and there was no ambulance ride would they still send the bill for the on-side treatment?

I’m still sitting here in awe of the stupidity of this.

This kid is amazing. In my mind, if it was America I don’t know that this kid would be legally responsible for the party. While yes, the crowd came to his house, I’m not exactly sure he planned on 500. That seems a bit ridiculous. He also seemed to follow the instructions of the police and he stayed inside. However I’m not a lawyer.

Best part is where the new anchor tries to get him to repent and say “KIDS DON’T DO THIS!” instead he gives her the preverbial middle finger and says “Get me to do it for you.”

Outa nowhere, Idol has brought to me the Wing Man

This is awesome. he out Hung William Hung.