I’m not a big on ranting, but the purpose of having a blog is to put thoughts/opinions & experiences, etc., out there so that someone may find it and agree—maybe even find some solace in the fact that someone else experienced the same thing.
And this is really, really nuts and is causing a mini melt down, so I need to rant. I am talking products that list features on the box and even in the manual but it’s no esta aqui on the actual product. It’s never happened to me before, so I figure it must be a new trend for 2011 and Lord have Mercy if it is.
I am reporting on 2 totally different products that I just happen to open on the same day: the Coby cxcd400blk mini hi-fi dual cassette deck stereo system and H&R Block’s (formerly TaxCut, but it will always be taxcut to me) Deluxe home edition for 2010, including DeductionPro.
Exhibit A
The stereo system feature reported online, on the box and even in the manual is a dual cassette deck for recording tape to tape, but there is only one cassette deck. Granted, the picture of the product does show only the one tape deck, but I figured the 2nd one was maybe on the side or something. But noooo. I finally did find one customer report that fact on amazon, so silly me for not doing an advance search for potential problems.
(Side note: I actually got it through Walmart, which was a little cheaper and had free ship to store shipping. Plus, it can be returned to the store—something I find appealing since making an amazon return has turned into a hassle, but that’s another rant...)
Exhibit B
I have been using taxcut for years and every year you get the cd, pop it in and it had installing DeductionPro as a separate option. This year, nada. Okay, I thought, maybe it’s accessed directly in the program as opposed to being installed as a separate software program like before. But noooo! Even though it’s listed on the box as a feature for the deluxe and premium editions, it is no where to be found on the cd or in the program. Oh, wait, it does list importing your deductionpro file as an option.
After trying to find out what the deal is on the H&R Block site and finding nothing, I finally broke down and called the 1800 number. After about 15 minutes of being put on hold while George tries to find the answer to my query, I am told that I can go to deductionpro.com and download it from there. Why is it still listed on the box as being part of the program and doesn’t say anything anywhere about deductionpro.com? That required another 5 minutes on hold before George informed me that they decided not to include it this year, but the boxes had already been printed and released before that decision was made.
(Side note: there is no download option at deductionpro.com. You can run it and use it online (yeah right, like I want all charitable giving on the net on an unsecured site.)
So having gone through all that, I decided to take some of my precious weekend time to rant rather then starting my taxes because, well, I do have this blog and I actually do feel a little—but just a little—better. I got it off my chest and there is some small satisfaction that someday, someone will do an extensive google search for the Coby stereo system and/or taxcut 2010 and know they’re not alone...
~~~
(No product boxes, manuals or purchase receipts were harmed during the production of this post because I might still want to return them.)
~~~I do believe there's no such thing as bad writing—it's all a work in progress waiting for the write expression.~~~
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
"The Man on the Moon Can Sometimes Cry" (poetry)
I watch the tears fall from the sky
The man on the moon can sometimes cry
And the night folds into my soul
The day is gone, having taken its toll
Candle flame
I trace my name
Along the reaches of you heart
Where I knew from the start
I always go for the little things
The tiny bells that barely ring
The hurts you thought no one knew
I can feel too
Any door closed makes me curious
Don't tell me where I can't go—makes me furious
And the darkness can always tell how the candle likes to burn
In every little tear, there's something new to learn
And don't walk away from one more try
The man on the moon can sometimes cry
But no one bothers to stop and see
Except maybe me
(55. twenty-something/collage years, it’s still one of my favorites.)
~~~The entire chronology of poetry (aka the manuscript, “Chronologically Filed Stanzas”) is available as a pdf on my website or you can email me directly.
~~~
(No candles, tiny bells or closed doors were harmed during the production of this post.)
The man on the moon can sometimes cry
And the night folds into my soul
The day is gone, having taken its toll
Candle flame
I trace my name
Along the reaches of you heart
Where I knew from the start
I always go for the little things
The tiny bells that barely ring
The hurts you thought no one knew
I can feel too
Any door closed makes me curious
Don't tell me where I can't go—makes me furious
And the darkness can always tell how the candle likes to burn
In every little tear, there's something new to learn
And don't walk away from one more try
The man on the moon can sometimes cry
But no one bothers to stop and see
Except maybe me
(55. twenty-something/collage years, it’s still one of my favorites.)
~~~The entire chronology of poetry (aka the manuscript, “Chronologically Filed Stanzas”) is available as a pdf on my website or you can email me directly.
~~~
(No candles, tiny bells or closed doors were harmed during the production of this post.)
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Second Chances
(Seal, “People Asking Why” from Seal 2)
Yes indeed, how do you—especially when the garden gate is locked and all you can do is stand there lamenting the damage and hope the person will come around? In other words, especially when all you have is email and you have no idea if they’ve been reading your emails of apology (3 total over several months so as not to be a pest but still trying to make amends) or are they just being automatically deleted without a glance?
Even just a short reply saying, “you’re forgiven," would be great; kind of like a handshake across the gate with nothing more to say, but a second chance would be the ultimate. If I could get back in with them and work to make the garden green again. Of course it would never be the same, but something good—maybe even better—always comes out of second chances.
However, as it stands now, my email inbox feels like a locked gate and the garden is abandoned.
Back to the how: I’d like to believe this is where Mercy and Grace come in. Mercy in that some day you’ll cross electronic paths again (like maybe they’ll stumble upon this blog...?) and Grace that you’re right there ready to make amends at the opportune moment. It’s all I’ve got and I’d like to think God’s Grace is the best thing to have anyway.
Why should I care and keep trying? How could I not? You break something, you pay for it, you hurt someone, you try to make it better—even if it was accidental and you had no clue what you wrote was going to shred the garden to pieces. That’s also why it’s so important to be clear on what you are communicating and how it might be taken (writing rule #3—but that’s for another bloggish muse—and second chances are a part of life rule #3).
Anyway, I will always have my bucket of garden green paint at a hand and will always hope for a second chance...
Okay, gotta go check my inbox again.
~~~
(No Seal CDs, green paint or my inbox were harmed during the production of this post.)
Friday, December 31, 2010
The Who Greatest Hits and Dave March...
I hadn’t even mentioned that I was thinking of maybe possibly getting one, but when I saw Roger and the guys staring up at me through the cellophane after I tore off the green wrapping paper and I saw that it had my 2 fav songs (Love Reign and Eminence Front), I was like yessss—cool! It was from my sister Kaz who bought it on a hunch I might like it.
(Side note: The hesitation in such a purchase came from the fact that there are actually several different releases/collections of “greatest hits” and while it's tempting to buy them all—the redundancy is kind of nuts. And I’ve acquired “Live at Leeds” and “Kids Are Alright”, which is a respectable start for a newbie Who-be. Speaking of LAL, you must check out Mr. Toikkis 40th Anniversary Super-Deluxe Collectors' Edition. He’s got pics of what was in the package as he opened it, which is fun to see.)
And then when I discovered it had pics I had never seen before and read Dave March’s commentary, well then it was like cajun—best present of the year! I don't know who he his, but I liked his perception of the music and his writing style.
I will not bore you with a complete copy of the entire text, but would like to share some of the highlights of his insight into the whole Who journey. It’s not complete because I snipped out a lot the asides* and super long clauses* to get to heart of the matter:
*...the Who’s music now encompasses the sounds of deathless youth and of a wiser old age that looks back upon that early anger and wild energy, not with a sigh or a frown but with a gaze of affection and a knowing laugh. That they did not (all) die before they got old, that in fact their two most important members continue on well into their sixties, is the most ironic triumph—“not enough,” indeed.
*The creation of the semi-preposterous “rock opera” concept makes this persistence less unlikely, as it attempts to shove the whole idea of the Who into a box marked art, with its high end up. That men who might have already been pensioned off in many other kinds of work have sustained past middle age contains enough marvel and mystery to match even the teenage overloads.
*Their earliest records... insist on being art... ...which is a way of describing how the surly sweetness of roger Daltrey’s vocals and the pep-pill mania of Keith Moon’s unique drumming equaled, sometimes surpassed, Pete Townshend’s slicing guitar and John Entwistle’s fluent earthquake bass.
*By the time they got to “Substitute” “Happy Jack” and “Pictures of Lily”, Townshend had become an already great rock n roll songwriter—and by that I do not mean just a lyricist since every one of his songs created credible people... You could take anyone of those songs as a joke, but the way Roger sang the words Pete put in his mouth rubbed your face in it, delivering a sting of authenticity.
*Then came “I Can See for Miles”, which heralded a new world of rock n roll. It was a smash in the guts with Moon’s most audacious and controlled drumming (those perfectly timed cymbal splashes that accented Daltrey’s opening threats!) matched by guitar lines that still define emotional tension. If you didn’t fear what it told you as much as you loved it, you didn’t understand it at all. Even 42 years on, it’s still true that if you think you understand it all, you haven’t been listening close enough.
*...Townshend’s quest for the perfect long-form expression of rock’s creative possibilities—“rock opera” is one way to put it, concept album is another—seems less important then these individual gems. That because, he created a definitive series using the short form, hit singles—whether they all were or not—that summarized a deliriously compacted, impressionistic world view. It helped immensely that Daltrey applied complete commitment and his own peculiar angle on how that post-teenage world operated with vocal power that remains unsurpassed.
*In another mouth, “Magic Bus”, with its Bo Diddley beat driven by acoustic guitar and hand percussion, might have been a merely a novelty. That’s a formula for an Eddie Cochran record, but Daltrey takes it somewhere else, into a place where the eruption of Moon’s drums for the final minute feels both shocking and inevitable...
*On this collection, “Pinball Wizard” feels like a sequel, with the acoustic guitar strums leading into the explosive electric chord and then Daltrey entering, rattling off the words quick as fingers on the flippers.
*I suppose that “Behind Blue Eyes” can be said to open the door to the “mature” Who, if a band sporting Keith Moon could become mature. ... and when the hit the bridge, Daltrey cracks it open with all the thunder at his command: “when my fist clenches, crack it open” sounds not just a prayer for peace, but an acknowledgment that to just keep punching isn’t a valid option anymore.
*...”Love, Reign O’er Me”, the climactic song from Townshend’s elegy for adolescence, “Quadrophenia”, is another prayer to let things cool down long enough to get a breath and figure out how Jimmy, the protagonist, wound up stranded on that rock.
*”Squeeze Box”, believe it or not, ushers in Townshend’s mature or at least married period. Meantime, “Eminence Front” takes the teenage poses perfected in the early days and renders them in adult language with adult insight into pretensions and deceits.
*”Real Good Looking Boy” brings the story full circle. What we get here... is a boy who likes what he sees until his mother tells him he’s ugly. Roger sings it with the conviction he brought to deaf, dumb and blindness (anyone who doubts that Roger is a good actor ought to see him perform this live.) It’s a different band—John and Keith both gone and never coming back—but it’s the same heart, the same soul and the music surges with the same degree of passion, though not at all the same kind. The anger isn’t gone—those guitar licks will never loose that edge, and Rogers sings the quotation from “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in a tone of vengeance, but is had been dissipated into acceptance and reconciled into a forlorn wisdom that we can never see ourselves truly... but if we’re very luck, we find someone who can. This is the greatest love song Pete ever wrote and the best that Roger ever sang. That they pulled this off in their 60s isn’t a miracle, anymore than it is really a surprise that people so smart and talented did not die before they got old.
* “It’s Not Enough” sounds just like the Who, only different and it means what it says. In the end, the Who do what the really great ones do: rage against the dying of the light, and that, for true, is the spirit of rock n roll.
Dave March, “The Who Greatest Hits” c 2009 Geffen Records. The emphasis is mine.
PS: I suppose this post could also be considered a long thank you note to my sister for acting on that hunch. Thank you, darlin!
*Yes, yes, I know—who am I to talk? Well someday someone can snip out all my asides and super long clauses (see first paragraph) if they want...
~~~
(No cellophane, green wrapping paper or the link to the 40th Anniversary Super-Deluxe Collectors' Edition were harmed during the production of this post.)
(Side note: The hesitation in such a purchase came from the fact that there are actually several different releases/collections of “greatest hits” and while it's tempting to buy them all—the redundancy is kind of nuts. And I’ve acquired “Live at Leeds” and “Kids Are Alright”, which is a respectable start for a newbie Who-be. Speaking of LAL, you must check out Mr. Toikkis 40th Anniversary Super-Deluxe Collectors' Edition. He’s got pics of what was in the package as he opened it, which is fun to see.
And then when I discovered it had pics I had never seen before and read Dave March’s commentary, well then it was like cajun—best present of the year! I don't know who he his, but I liked his perception of the music and his writing style.
I will not bore you with a complete copy of the entire text, but would like to share some of the highlights of his insight into the whole Who journey. It’s not complete because I snipped out a lot the asides* and super long clauses* to get to heart of the matter:
*...the Who’s music now encompasses the sounds of deathless youth and of a wiser old age that looks back upon that early anger and wild energy, not with a sigh or a frown but with a gaze of affection and a knowing laugh. That they did not (all) die before they got old, that in fact their two most important members continue on well into their sixties, is the most ironic triumph—“not enough,” indeed.
*The creation of the semi-preposterous “rock opera” concept makes this persistence less unlikely, as it attempts to shove the whole idea of the Who into a box marked art, with its high end up.
*Their earliest records... insist on being art...
*By the time they got to “Substitute” “Happy Jack” and “Pictures of Lily”, Townshend had become an already great rock n roll songwriter—and by that I do not mean just a lyricist since every one of his songs created credible people...
*Then came “I Can See for Miles”, which heralded a new world of rock n roll. It was a smash in the guts with Moon’s most audacious and controlled drumming (those perfectly timed cymbal splashes that accented Daltrey’s opening threats!) matched by guitar lines that still define emotional tension.
*...Townshend’s quest for the perfect long-form expression of rock’s creative possibilities—“rock opera” is one way to put it, concept album is another—seems less important then these individual gems. That because,
*In another mouth, “Magic Bus”, with its Bo Diddley beat driven by acoustic guitar and hand percussion, might have been a merely a novelty. That’s a formula for an Eddie Cochran record, but Daltrey takes it somewhere else, into a place where the eruption of Moon’s drums for the final minute feels both shocking and inevitable...
*On this collection, “Pinball Wizard” feels like a sequel, with the acoustic guitar strums leading into the explosive electric chord and then Daltrey entering, rattling off the words quick as fingers on the flippers.
*I suppose that “Behind Blue Eyes” can be said to open the door to the “mature” Who, if a band sporting Keith Moon could become mature.
*...”Love, Reign O’er Me”, the climactic song from Townshend’s elegy for adolescence, “Quadrophenia”, is another prayer to let things cool down long enough to get a breath and figure out how Jimmy, the protagonist, wound up stranded on that rock.
*”Squeeze Box”, believe it or not, ushers in Townshend’s mature or at least married period.
*”Real Good Looking Boy” brings the story full circle. What we get here... is a boy who likes what he sees until his mother tells him he’s ugly. Roger sings it with the conviction he brought to deaf, dumb and blindness (anyone who doubts that Roger is a good actor ought to see him perform this live.) It’s a different band—John and Keith both gone and never coming back—but it’s the same heart, the same soul and the music surges with the same degree of passion, though not at all the same kind. The anger isn’t gone—those guitar licks will never loose that edge, and Rogers sings the quotation from “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in a tone of vengeance, but is had been dissipated into acceptance and reconciled into a forlorn wisdom that we can never see ourselves truly... but if we’re very luck, we find someone who can. This is the greatest love song Pete ever wrote and the best that Roger ever sang. That they pulled this off in their 60s isn’t a miracle, anymore than it is really a surprise that people so smart and talented did not die before they got old.
*
Dave March, “The Who Greatest Hits” c 2009 Geffen Records. The emphasis is mine.
PS: I suppose this post could also be considered a long thank you note to my sister for acting on that hunch. Thank you, darlin!
*Yes, yes, I know—who am I to talk? Well someday someone can snip out all my asides and super long clauses (see first paragraph) if they want...
~~~
(No cellophane, green wrapping paper or the link to the 40th Anniversary Super-Deluxe Collectors' Edition were harmed during the production of this post.)
Friday, December 24, 2010
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I am truly blessed.
My sister, Kaz, made several batches of cookies with at least an inch of frosting (you can never have enough frosting), candy coated pretzels (my fav= peanut butter) and best of all, Mom’s homemade onion bread for dinner tomorrow. Darlin, we’re not talking add 2 eggs and water to a box mix or to a bread machine. We’re talking sifting flour, yeast (she talks to the “yeasties”, it’s suppose to help—honest) serious kneading (this is where she lets out all the aggression of the year) and molasses kind of baking. And it’s all absolutely ambrosia.
Speaking of inches, we have 28 of them of snow, so there is no doubt whatsoever we’ll have a White Christmas. Yes, believe it or not, there have been some brown Christmases here in Minnesota, but definitely not this year. Yes, you can have enough snow already, enough to cause a mini melt down and winter's just getting started??!!. Wait, this is supposed to be about blessings— okay, ignore the snow—how about I'm still able to work part time and we got Christmas bonuses again this year, which is always a huge blessing in this economy.
Tomorrow we go to Mom’s for Christmas and see some of those relies (aka relatives) and that’s always fun. Naturally, I will need a nap before we go, but I should be okay the rest of the day. We’ll go to Dad’s next weekend and that’s always fun, too.
I don’t know... I suppose I should have written something more sentimental or wise and witty about Christmas, but sometimes the simple things really are good in life. And I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas--God bless us everyone!
~~~
(No snow, relies or bonuses were harmed during the production of this post, however serious harm has been done to the cookies and pretzels as they are just about totally devoured... Wait, what? We were suppose to save some to bring tomorrow? Oops...)
My sister, Kaz, made several batches of cookies with at least an inch of frosting (you can never have enough frosting), candy coated pretzels (my fav= peanut butter) and best of all, Mom’s homemade onion bread for dinner tomorrow. Darlin, we’re not talking add 2 eggs and water to a box mix or to a bread machine. We’re talking sifting flour, yeast (she talks to the “yeasties”, it’s suppose to help—honest) serious kneading (this is where she lets out all the aggression of the year) and molasses kind of baking. And it’s all absolutely ambrosia.
Speaking of inches, we have 28 of them of snow, so there is no doubt whatsoever we’ll have a White Christmas. Yes, believe it or not, there have been some brown Christmases here in Minnesota, but definitely not this year. Yes, you can have enough snow already, enough to cause a mini melt down and winter's just getting started??!!. Wait, this is supposed to be about blessings— okay, ignore the snow—how about I'm still able to work part time and we got Christmas bonuses again this year, which is always a huge blessing in this economy.
Tomorrow we go to Mom’s for Christmas and see some of those relies (aka relatives) and that’s always fun. Naturally, I will need a nap before we go, but I should be okay the rest of the day. We’ll go to Dad’s next weekend and that’s always fun, too.
I don’t know... I suppose I should have written something more sentimental or wise and witty about Christmas, but sometimes the simple things really are good in life. And I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas--God bless us everyone!
~~~
(No snow, relies or bonuses were harmed during the production of this post, however serious harm has been done to the cookies and pretzels as they are just about totally devoured... Wait, what? We were suppose to save some to bring tomorrow? Oops...)
Sunday, December 12, 2010
"My Sanctuary" (poetry)
The sands are still warm heated from the earth
I sit here on my rock, measuring my worth
This is my sanctuary, my own little beach
It settles my soul and puts Him within reach
He paints the sky, blending the sun kissed reds
The colors play a symphony in my head
The diamond peaks of the waves glitter and break
Such is the beauty only God could ever make
I remember the darkness and wanting to escape
Getting so smashed until my mind cried rape
And there’s no real love getting banged in the dorm
The fire keeps burning, but you never get warm
But the Son shines in my heart now, I’ll never be alone
I’m not perfect, but the Seeds have been sown
I only know what is real, how God's changed my life
I’ll never go back to the world’s empty strife
Here I am, a mere speck in His Eternal Sea
But life has meaning because He also made me
So now what do I do, how do I belong?
What’s going to be my life's song?
He plucks the diamonds from the sea and hangs them in the sky
The moon comes alive with a yawn and a sigh
Someday, my starship will fly and I'll be on board
Roll me out over the waves and take me to my Lord
(46. my response to becoming a Christian)
~~~The entire chronology of poetry (aka the manuscript, “Chronologically Filed Stanzas”) is available as a pdf on my website or you can email me directly.
~~~
(No sands, diamonds or starships were harmed during the production of this post.)
I sit here on my rock, measuring my worth
This is my sanctuary, my own little beach
It settles my soul and puts Him within reach
He paints the sky, blending the sun kissed reds
The colors play a symphony in my head
The diamond peaks of the waves glitter and break
Such is the beauty only God could ever make
I remember the darkness and wanting to escape
Getting so smashed until my mind cried rape
And there’s no real love getting banged in the dorm
The fire keeps burning, but you never get warm
But the Son shines in my heart now, I’ll never be alone
I’m not perfect, but the Seeds have been sown
I only know what is real, how God's changed my life
I’ll never go back to the world’s empty strife
Here I am, a mere speck in His Eternal Sea
But life has meaning because He also made me
So now what do I do, how do I belong?
What’s going to be my life's song?
He plucks the diamonds from the sea and hangs them in the sky
The moon comes alive with a yawn and a sigh
Someday, my starship will fly and I'll be on board
Roll me out over the waves and take me to my Lord
(46. my response to becoming a Christian)
~~~The entire chronology of poetry (aka the manuscript, “Chronologically Filed Stanzas”) is available as a pdf on my website or you can email me directly.
~~~
(No sands, diamonds or starships were harmed during the production of this post.)
Friday, November 5, 2010
"Rainwater" (poetry)
Come down from there and play today
I am not out of reach
I want to be drenched
We can sing to the ocean
Salt harmony
Sparkling and wet
Can I teach you about me?
I see you all the time
Then you can go back to the stars
I don’t need a wish
And never mind the rainbow
I have my own
(96. rain as a playmate...? The third—and hopefully not the last—poem to win the contest about 3 years later.)
~~~The entire chronology of poetry (aka the manuscript, “Chronologically Filed Stanzas”) is available as a pdf on my website.
~~~
(No rainwater, stars or rainbows were harmed during the production of this post.)
I am not out of reach
I want to be drenched
We can sing to the ocean
Salt harmony
Sparkling and wet
Can I teach you about me?
I see you all the time
Then you can go back to the stars
I don’t need a wish
And never mind the rainbow
I have my own
(96. rain as a playmate...? The third—and hopefully not the last—poem to win the contest about 3 years later.)
~~~The entire chronology of poetry (aka the manuscript, “Chronologically Filed Stanzas”) is available as a pdf on my website.
~~~
(No rainwater, stars or rainbows were harmed during the production of this post.)
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