Reasons Why Wachovia Rocks

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So I got the dreaded Terms & Conditions Update letter for one of my credit cards yesterday and given all of the craziness that the banks have seen over the last two years, I was expecting the absolute worst. That said, here are the particular changes that stood out to me…


Yeah, so whereas Chase has been jerking me around with insane APRs after taking my promo rate away some time ago, Wachovia is actually reducing the potential for fees and making it easier to pay off my balances by targeting the highest APRs first! This is fantastic news because on this particular card we have a little bit of money that was getting charged 11.99% while the majority is at a sweet 3.25% for the life of the balance. Chase actually did something similar to me many years ago when I bought a car because I was stupid and took out a cash advance to cover the taxes on it … I think I probably paid for that $700 two or three times over with the 24% interest because it was the very last thing to get paid off on the balance.

Next year is going to be a big year for finally settling up the bulk of our credit card debts as we prepare to take the next big step in life, so it’s refreshing to see a bank actually trying to work with us to make those kinds of things happen. It’s this kind of attitude that makes me want to continue banking with Wachovia in the future, not just until I stop owing them money.

Creative Inspiration

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So I’ve kinda been in a real business-oriented frame of mind lately. With the new year right around the corner and all, I’ve been looking at where I currently am with writing after my first official year back on the horse and what the next steps are that I need to take to get where I really want to be, and one of the things that I came across last week that was particularly inspiring towards those efforts was this new web series that Penny Arcade is putting out that goes behind the scenes of their business to show what their office environment is like, what goes into their big projects like PAX and (eventually) Child’s Play, and also just a lot of insight into their views about being creative professionals.

It’s stuff like this and also everything that the Halfpixel guys did over the last year or two with Webcomics Weekly that I think have been really beneficial to me both from a creative standpoint as well as an inspirational standpoint because ultimately, these guys represent where I want to be. The majority of them are working full-time on their creative efforts making a decent living in the process, and even more so in the case of the Penny Arcade guys, their success has really just been staggering. I mean, I don’t necessarily have any desire to host a convention that attracts 60,000 people, although the charity that raises over a million dollars a year to help sick kids would be pretty cool. It’s still a huge goal that I’ve got a long ways to go towards, but at the same time it’s somewhat refreshing to hear the tales of at least a few people who are already making it happen.

VERY slow news day…

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This is actually from a couple of weeks ago, but apparently pretty much anything passes for “news” at the BBC these days:

Brown’s Young Son Behind Twitter Gobbledegook
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8389286.stm

The “story” is that this lady’s kid got ahold of her computer and sent this junk tweet out to her million-ish followers. Subsequently it was explained that the rogue tweet was actually from her son randomly banging on the keyboard in her absence … I guess I’m just confused as to how this became a “story.”

Sarah Brown’s Twitter followers were baffled earlier when the PM’s wife “tweeted” a random set of letters.

Sure they were.

Further Research & Realization: Apparently this lady is the wife of the Prime Minister of the UK … still not sure if that makes her toddler’s banging on a keyboard “newsworthy,” though…

Daily Tweets from Twitter…

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TEST???

  • 16:32 So I guess Superman’s cooler than Batman? (tinyurl.com/5n5cez) #
  • 15:33 So Dollhouse is officially cancelled after this season … bummer, although admittedly I am about 6 eps behind. (tinyurl.com/yh67c9w) #
  • 12:29 @rickiep00h Probably an obvious one, but "Luke, I am your father…" #notsogreatstarwarsquotesduringsex #
  • 18:46 @lorisaurus You might be a redneck? #
  • 14:38 …stood for. (hard to see the character limit when sending picture mail…)
    #
  • 14:22 twitpic.com/p0rfz – This is not my lunch. This is an abomination towards General Tso and all that he #
  • 13:32 Why does my "Healthy Choice" for lunch also have to be the "Inedible Choice"? What are my healthy options that DON’T involve starvation? #
  • 12:52 Is Disney TRYING to make their new online dining reservation website as non-user-friendly as possible??? Jeeesh… #
  • 12:51 I just spent 2 hours worrying about where the camera was, then found it in my pocket. Is this a sign of great sinility to come??? #
  • 11:06 &quo
    t;Most important test SO FAR!" – thanks, Homer! #
  • 11:04 Getting ready to take the wife to Disney World in an attempt to distract her from having just taken the most important test of her career… #
  • 02:05 Just looked up to see talking Frosted Mini-Wheats boxing on TV … I think it’s time to go to bed. #
  • 22:57 …like there’s some sort of wild animal inside, desperate to get out. Slightly concerned, I am. #
  • 22:57 I’m sitting next to the refrigerator in our hotel room and about every 30 minutes, it makes this horrible grinding sound… #
  • 20:34
    twitpic.com/otyir     – Italian Sausage Sub and Ham & Cheddar Pizza … quite the dinner! #
  • 20:21 Why is it that I always get excited passing a Toys ‘R Us when we’re visiting another city, yet I almost never shop at the ones in Tampa? #
  • 17:08 The Icy Queen falls … from the evil demon that WASN’T us! Success via diplomacy! #lfr #dnd #
  • 15:47 Two encounters in with a party of almost all strikers, we’re all still alive! Bring on the Icy Queen! #lfr #dnd #
  • 12:13 twitpic.com/ors3r – It’s Game Day again – let’s do this! #lfr #dnd #
  • 20:30 twitpic.com/op282 – Old School Epcot #

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Disney Discount Distress

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You know, call me a cynic, but it always seems to rub me the wrong way when Disney puts out a special offer for discounts, only to be followed by twenty lines of legalese regarding what the offer isn’t applicable to:


Here’s a thought – how’s about you just list the places where I can use the discount and we’ll call it a day?! It’s probably a shorter list, anyways…

And another thing! I get why the discount may not be applicable at locations on property that aren’t technically owned by Disney (i.e. most of the specialty stores at Downtown Disney), but what really burns me is the list of all of their own merchandise that they’re also unwilling to discount. Videos, DVDs, CDs, magazines, film, “other collectibles” … I’ll even give you a Not applicable for park admission, gift certificates, or Disney Dollars clause, but the other stuff? I’d love to hear the logic behind those because it honestly makes me not care about this promotion if I have to think about every purchase and whether it’s on the list or not.

AT&T – Leading the technological revolution…by turning people away from it…

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704541004574600381410694794.html

I enjoyed this story for a couple of reasons: a) I enjoy hearing executives talk like morons; b) I’m not an AT&T customer!

I mean, really, what better way to embrace this exciting, always-connected world than by saying, “Hey guys, we’ll make it worth your while if you could just go play in the park or something…” Not for nothing, but how can you be in a pissing match with Verizon right now about who has better coverage and the best network when you’re also asking people not to use yours?!

I guess this shouldn’t be too surprising because in the same quotes they’re also vehemently denying tiered pricing while simultaneously mentioning “incentives” for customers to use less data. Unless they’re giving away kittens to anyone use stays under 500 MB, regular pricing less discounts for minimal usage is the exact same thing as tiered pricing in my book.

P.S. Bonus points to the Wall Street Journal for having the most asinine filtering methods ever – I just love how clicking the link above will take you to a preview / Subscribe Today! page, while typing “AT&T to Urge Customers to Take Data Traffic Off Wireless Network” into Google and following that link gives you the full article. But Rupert hates him some Google for stealing his revenuez…

Also, I just can’t help but laugh at this concept…

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https://www.superletter.com/english/help.cfm?id=24

So basically you e-mail this service your letter, then they print it out and deliver it by hand to someone else.

I can’t help but notice that a huge part of their “business” seems to be in delivery to military personnel overseas … maybe I’m just stupid, but is computer access still a big issue over there??? I’ve known a few people who’ve gone over there and they’ve never had issues staying connected with their own personal laptops – is that not necessarily always the case across all of the ranks?

Regardless, this just seems so backwards – all it’s missing are the first steps where you write the letter by hand and then fax it into a system that uses OCR to convert your letter into an “electronic message.”

Welcome to 1985.

Do parents not actually USE parental controls?

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Just a quick thought: I saw an article today that had an offhand comment about students still texting and using their phones during school, which lead me to wonder two things – A) why can’t these phones just be locked down to only call essential numbers during school hours (i.e. 911, Mom & Dad), and B) if this kind of software does already exist, is the real issue then that parents simply don’t actually use them?

I know that all of the major carriers at this point offer parental controls to some degree and I guess I would just think that it would be a given when your kid actually gets old enough to have their own phone, just like you would keep an eye on his or her internet usage once they start going online on their own. Sure, you can always ease it back once they show some responsibility, but otherwise specifically to address the whole texting during class thing, it really just seems like a no-brainer to me.