9.14.2007

Jump the Shark

Someone suggested I forget this blogging and all the web sites and get back to my "real writing."


You can't argue with logic like that, now, can you?

I'm thinking of that quote, "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money," by Samuel Johnson, and seeing the truth and beauty in it.

Wasn't it Robert Frost who wrote "Love is beauty and beauty is truth, and that is why in the beauty of a flower we can see the truth..."?

I might update his 'good fences make good neighbors' line to good spyware makes good email, but my hand has gone numb and my pen has fallen to the ground.

I could pick up the pen if only I could jump the shark. But even that seems so far away today.


Jumping the Shark

Jump the Shark

Copyright © 2007 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

9.11.2007

September 11, 2007

It's a Tuesday again this year.

Maybe it will rain all day and spare us the sun and shadows of the empty sky.

My pictures from that day have gone somewhere where they don't want to be found.

No matter how long they are gone, they shall not be forgotten


Copyright © 2007 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

An Un-ordinary Day

Makeshift Memorial

Forget Me Not

Nutley Remembers

Quantum Loop

New Here

9.09.2007

Fine Arts Show in Livingston, I pressume

Copyright © 2007 by Thomas Francisco, all rights reserved, used by permissionDreamcatcher

Copyright © 2007 by Thomas Francisco, all rights reserved, used by permission

Raised in Belleville and Nutley, New Jersey, Thomas Francisco showed artistic talent as a youth and has followed his creative vision through fine arts.

Don't miss your chance to see this photographic series.

Copyright © 2007 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

9.05.2007

Dylan's Baaaathe my bird

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the pubishing of Jack Kerouac's On The Road, here is some improvisational poetry.

9.03.2007

CELLPHONE CONTRACT RENEWAL HELL

Bless me, father, it has been more than two years since I signed my wireless cellphone contract.


The cellphone telemarketer called to say I should sign a new contract or Verizon Wireless could charge me anything they want each month. And that could be a lot more than I'm paying or not, but the company wasn't locked into a rate because my contract expired.

The fellow on the phone said that I couldn't keep my plan for 300 minutes and two lines for about $54 a month.

He said that I had to upgrade to more minutes for more money. It didn't matter that we barely use 10 minutes a month on the two lines we have. The only plan I could get was for about 100 more minutes for more money than I was paying under my expired contract.

I told him I'd like to shop around. I found a T-Mobile plan for two lines for about $49 a month. But I loathed changing over from one carrier to another. I've always found it traumatic to renew the plan I have.

When I started out with a cell phone, many years ago, my Sprint plan was about $25 a month for 30 minutes I never used. Lately, I've been paying for about 300 minutes a month that I never use on two phones with VW.

I was hoping for a plan of 100 minutes for $10 bucks, but that plan, apparently, does not exist.

When I went online with VW, I found I was eligible for $100 towards a free phone with a two-year contract. However, I couldn't find the telephone offer for 100 more minutes for $5 more than my current deal.

What I really wanted was to keep the same two-year old plan and keep everything copacetic without the hassle of going to the store and dealing with sales people and long lines and picking out a phone from racks of phones and tossing the dice at a new plan.

Ultimately, my old phone battery started showing a shorter and shorter life. It was time to face the new ringtones and return to the Verizon store on Route 46 in Totowa, N.J.

READ MORE - PART 2


Copyright © 2007 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Verizon Wireless Survey

Cellphone Contract Renewal Hell, Part 2

Well, I got home with my new VW cellphone and it seemed a bit clumsy to me.


Not that it was hard to handle in my huge and clumsy hands, although it was, but my old VW cellphone had a string on a loop and you could put a finger through the loop to keep the phone from slipping away and crashing into a million little pieces.

I couldn't find the string or a loop to run the string through on this new (free, after sales tax and mail-in rebate) phone.

Verizon Accessories

Perhaps I should have spent more time, and money, in the Verizon store looking at the accesoreies. Surely, there must have been something there that would serve to keep the cellphone in my hand instead of squirming away just when I needed it most.

But I had already left the store, and with the ongoing construction on Route 46, I didn't think it worth the effort to turn around, drive past the store, around the mall, back on the service road, through the construction zone, and turn off at the Dunkin Donuts and drive across several parking lots to pick up a $20 carrying case.

The drive to the store - even without the construction - is a challenge to even the most seasoned drivers. And despite that, I've never been in that store when there weren't scores of customers queued to one sales or service option or the other.

When you walk in the store, you log in to a kiosk and that puts you in the service queue. When you're called, you speak with a sales person (or whatever euphemism they use for sales clerks) and try to figure out what you need and how they can help you.

I have to say that this has always seemed to be a well-organized part of the store. While you wait to be called, you can look at the sale phones and features available on the new phones, the accessories and things you could look at for hours and stil not have any clue of what they do.

The store personnel always seem to know their stuff, they nimbly click through the back alleyways of their computer system and try to help you figure out the best plan for you, with the features you'll need. And they have always been pleasant to deal with.

READ MORE - PART 3

Copyright © 2007 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Verizon Wireless Survey

Cellphone Contract Renewal Hell, Part 3

Quick Reference Guide Jumps Over the Lazy Dog

The phone is a phone is a phone. I didn't sign up for Web access or email which I believe would have been a tad extra. With all my earlier cellphones I always got a little plastic holder so that I could carry the cellphone around on my belt and everybody else would know how important I was. But not with this deal.

Maybe I should have asked how to program this thing, get a few pointers and the like. But frankly, I was so excited to be finished with the cellphone contract renewal dance, I couldn't wait to get out of the store.

Heck, the new Verizon Wireless cellphone must have directions. It did. I worked to read the fine print as best I can. If you open the Quick Reference Guide, you will see that there is tiny artwork that suggests where to find your cellphone buttons and what they do. The print is equally small so that the entire package is the same dimension as a Compact Disk, only thicker to accommodate the charger and phone.

Here's what I think after a day with my new LG VX8300

... This phone keeps beeping in my pocket
... and the battery has to be recharged only one day after being fully charged
... and there's no place for a simple loop to hold a string to hold onto while making a call. I guess they want you to drop it so you have to buy a new one.
... If I had it to do over again, I think I would have gotten a different phone.


I suppose I could go back to the store and see what they could do about the phone, but that trip is such a hassle, I have to force myself to go every two years.

I could tempt fate, without cellphone insurance, and try to use the phone in spite of its clumsiness. After all, it keeps beeping at me from my pants pocket for no apparent reason, so, at least the phone probably likes me.

Or, I could visit the online survey and tell them about my experience.

Read More in Part 4


Copyright © 2007 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Verizon Wireless Survey

Cellphone Contract Renewal Hell, Part 4

HOW TO GET YOUR $50 BACK
Rebate Mumbo Jumbo

When you get home, you take the long, long receipt, fill in your name and some other stuff and then cut out the SKU and put that in an envelope along with your first-born son and (oops, wrong story!), put a stamp on the envelope and mail it to the appropriate place.

Skewered SKU

Be sure to make a photocopy of the rebate form in case the one you mail gets lost on the way to El Paso, Texas. Then, if you read the fine print right, in three weeks you have to log in to the rebate web site and see if they got your fat little envelope. If they did, there's a good chance your rebate is on the move.

You would think that a modern communications company like Verizon would allow you to file for your rebate online - Staples does! - but no. You have to use a stamp. They are probably counting on most people forgetting to file for the rebate and if they file, forgetting whether or not it ever arrived.

Let's call an end to this torture. My head is about to explode.

Copyright © 2007 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Verizon Wireless Survey

9.01.2007

COTTON SWABS IN ITALY

Italy photo copyright © 2007 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved

Italy photo copyright © 2007 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved

When they say 'do not put cotton swab in innner ear,' they really mean it!

Copyright © 2007 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Photos revised 9.2.07