Burp!...

There's only one thing that's better than homemade cooking. And that's Mom's homemade cooking. And even if Mom doesn't do a food job, at least I don't have to cook it. And she even made Spaghetti, so I can commune with The Noodly Master. Ramen.

Nothing to see here. Move along. Again.

So it's time my Shadow was retired. It hasn't died. Yet. But it is showing its age. I'm probably the second or third owner, and it has performed honorably. But dammit I want a new phone, and I'm finally in a position where i can afford a new phone (not used or second-hand). So I got a HTC Touch Pro 2, aka the HTC Rhodium. So far, I'm impressed. We'll see if its a keeper. I've two weeks to return it...

Rob McKenna

Does not represent my wishes, my interest, or my will. As an elected official, he needs to comprehend that he needs to out his constituents before his party's ideology. Unfortunately, this is not to be. He's joined the lawsuit against health care reform...

Why can't republicans just understand that there is a reason that they're the minority party now?

It’s Alive!

My mother had a laptop. An HP Pavilion dv 2000. One of these. Yes, it had issues. Since, I’m her tech support desk, I spent a good deal of time trying to fix it.  Finally, it just died. I tried to restore it, and the display kept going dark, and we were both getting fustrated with it. And she decided to finally replace it. Got a new desktop with Windows 7. And she gave me the laptop. I tried the restore DVDs. And I got them to work. After a half dozen attempts (it kept hanging on me, or it would just die).

So I now have a semi-functioning laptop. With a bunch of known issues and an expired warranty. But a free yet crappy laptop is still a free one. Know I just have to tame Vista… I just don’t trust The Anti-Christ. They shit-canned the one group that didn’t put out crap (and that was the fine people behind the Flight Simulator)…

EDIT: It died today. Attempts at resuscitation have been unsuccessful so far…

A step…

Sometimes a step in the wrong direction is better than no step at all. The House Of Representatives has passed the health care reform bill. A lot of people are up in arms over this, and  I may even disagree with the bill as it is passed….

But the status quo is unacceptable. Take my case. I have type I diabetes. When I first suspected it and went to the doctor to get tested for it, I had health insurance through my employer. Within 24 hours (literally) of my boss finding out I most likely had diabetes, I was fired and out of health insurance. Tad bit on the unethical and possibly illegal side, but that’s what happens. Now this is normally considered a ‘pre-existing’ condition, which means that under the current system, I will never be able to get good health insurance again (let’s think realistically here). The system needs to be reformed.

You can step to the left, or you can step to the right. But you have to step. Just standing there doing nothing and filibustering isn’t going to get things done. Regardless of your respective views, something has to be done.

And it looks like President Obama has finally done it…

UFO sighted!!!

There is this bright, shiny, yellow UFO in the ships of Western Washington today. As you can see, it's casting its own shadow. Some people are calling the extra-terrestrial race behind this phenomenon "The Sun". EVERYBODY PANIC! Some are calling for the military to be deployed, but I've seen Men In Black and Coneheads. We don't need to call out the military. We need to call Immigration…

OK….

I think we may see the Nobel Committee may Jump The Shark. Last year, President Obama won it, IMO more for his campaign (he was nominated less than a month into office). Al Gore has also won it (I think it was for his quest to protect us from ManBearPig)…

And now this, year, one of Al Gore’s creations is being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. If it happens, then I hear next year Ted McGinley and cousin Oliver will get it, too…

Jeff Renner has found his stash!

Jeff Renner has found his stash again. Usually the modus operandi of a weather forecaster in the great Pacific NorthWet is to simply say rain every five minutes. Especially when it’s my day off (he’s in cahoots with my boss. I know it). But we got snow this week. After a couple of weeks of wonderful, sunny weather, too.

I don’t usually mind whatever Jeff is one. But aside form the obvious legal technicalities, I do have one issue: Why isn’t he sharing?

ORCA card = FRAUD!

A little set up. The ORCA card is an electronic, rfid card that Pierce Transit, SoundTransit, King County Metro, and a few other local agencies now use for their passes. On SoundTransit, if you want a transfer now (or if you want to transfer between different bus systems, i.e. Metro or Pierce Transit), you have to use the ORCA card. You can put various products on the ORCA card:

• a regional pass (i.e. the PugetPass)
• an E-purse, which makes it a stored value card (like the bastard child of a debit card).
• Or, you can put both on, which is what I do. I have a monthly Puget Pass at a $1.75 ride value (which is what Pierce Transit’s fare is), and I usually have an E-Purse to cover the occasions when I need to take a bus that charges a higher fare (like the ST Express and/or King County Metro).

Now how it’s supposed to work is when you board your buss, you tap the card on the reader (I don’t even have to take it all of my wallet), and if your pass value is equal or exceeds the fare value, you’re good to go. If the value of the fare exceeds you pass value, then the difference is taken from your E-Purse, or if you don’t have one, you have to make up the difference.

That’s where I have problems. I have an E-Purse with my pass on my card. Whenever I take the ST Express and tap my card, it shows up on the reader as “PASS + .75” (if I take the 574), or if I take the Seattle Express (route 590, 591, 594, etc) it shows up as “PASS + 1.25”, and I see the corresponding reduction on the E-Purse. And yet, I’m still challenged by the drivers on almost a daily basis to pay the difference in cash, even though I’ve already paid this electronically. Sometimes I win the argument, sometimes I pay, and then there’s the time I got kicked off the bus):

It happened February 17th. I attempted to board the 594 (coach 9706) @ the 512 park & ride. I knew I had enough on my ORCA card's e-purse to cover the fare, and I saw it deducted from my balance. The driver still insisted that I owed money, and he refused to let me board. See the proof, a screenshot from my card’s transaction history: Clearly, you can see that the remaining balance on my E-Purse was sufficient to cover the difference, and in fact it was deducted from the card.

 

Clearly, you can see that the remaining balance on my E-Purse was sufficient to cover the difference, and in fact it was deducted from the card. I immediately called Pierce Transit’s customer service line, and to say I was blown off would be an understatement. Pierce Transit really should put something on their website and/or in their literature about how rude and condescending their telephone representatives are. Anyway rather than referring me to management, I was told to call ORCA (the only person I didn’t need to call since the equipment works). I called ORCA, and explained it to their representative, and he tried to contact Pierce Transit himself, and I guess they blew him off. He did say that I was right, and that he would be sending me a free ride voucher, though. That may had settled the matter, had I actually got it (in hindsight, he probably lied to me to get me off my case). I also direct-dialed one of the senior supervisors/assistant managers at Peirce Transit and left a voicemail. I then emailed SoundTransit (the agency that subcontracts Pierce Transit to do this route), and I got essentially the same answer back:

<quote>

Thank you for contacting Sound Transit about your trip on the ST 594 on February 17, 2010 using your ORCA card.

 

The ST 594 is operated by Pierce Transit on behalf of Sound Transit.  Your ORCA account has been verified and had sufficient funds to ride this trip without paying any additional cash fares.  I apologize for the inconvenience.  This will be reported to Pierce Transit for further investigation.  I will be mailing you a complimentary free ride bus ticket for your next trip on a Sound Transit express bus.  We appreciate you riding Sound Transit and

</quote>

Three hours later, a secretary called me, and we conversed on this matter. She looked at my ride history and again said I shouldn’t have been charged extra and referred this to management. The next day I got a call from ‘Jerry’, who said he talked to the driver, and the driver lied to him and said I still owed money. NOTWITHSTANDING THE EVIDENCE ALREADY SHOWN TO ORCA, SOUNDTRANSIT, AND POSTED HERE! I offered to give my card number so he could look it up himself, but he said he doesn’t do that kind of stuff and basically said he believed the driver more than me. Essentially he has no fucking clue what’s going on, and no idea how the ORCA card reader is supposed to work. And this stupidity is the senior management at Pierce Transit!

Through all of this, two of the parties said they would be sending free ride tickets. It’s been two weeks since this happened, and I’ve never received them. Even though they have my address…

Fast forward to this past Saturday. I had to take the 574 to Federal Way. That very morning I had reloaded my ORCA card with the March PugetPass and E-Purse. I boarded the bus, tapped my card, and the driver grabbed my elbow as if to assault me or throw me off the bus. I told him I had an E-purse and he let me go. That was the last time I rode ST Express. I still need to go up to Seattle to look at a computer system that my boss has directed me to set up, but I don’t want to have to fight another losing battle with illiterate bus driver, and I’m now concerned for my safety. I don’t want to be physically accosted, compelled to pay extra or get off the bus. I just want to go to my destination…

The ORCA Card is a crock and a fraud. I’ve had more trouble with it than it’s worth, but I’m forced to use it. I’m sure it’s a valid concept, but when liars and incompetent clods are the ones implementing it, all bets are off.

Technorati Tags: Pierce Transit,ORCA Card,SoundTransit,King County Metro

You can see the sun again…

Because the US Airways pilot with the brass balls that could block the sun is retiring. We have way too few heroes. Although I’d prefer that he not wear his shorts on the outside…