A**hole Brown

Posted by random olio

Last week we had dinner with good friends. Somehow during the conversation Comcast came up. Who has not had a problem with Comcast at some point in their television or internet days? They have a monopoly in most local areas. I know we have had no luck in our area. We either have Frontier (an offshoot of Verizon Fios) and Comcast. Frontier was not any better than Comcast in terms of customer service. If you do not use Frontier or Comcast, you have to go with a television service (like DirectTV) and a different company for high-speed internet.

In any case, my friend shared this hilarious story, about a Comcast customer who received their bill and the name on the bill read: “Asshole Brown.” Crazy! Take a peek at the link for an image of the bill. It makes me laugh because it is what I have wanted to say back to Comcast. While we do online bill pay, I wish I could make the payment to Comcast say: “Asshole Comcast.” We have called every month over the past year because every month our bill is not correct.

If you do an online search for “Comcast customer service issues” you will find over 3 million results. Such as this one where a customer recorded the phone calls he had with Comcast. I wish we would have done the same thing!

At the moment Comcast is trying to purchase Time Warner Cable, which would make the worst cable provider (customer service wise) have that much more control. Hopefully, if the deal goes through, Time Warner has some sort of interest in the customer. In an era where the customer comes first, Comcast has a lot to learn.

Hopefully Comcast figures out how to stop calling their customers assholes. It will not help their already pissed off customers. A few items to note, Comcast, you: 1) need better customer service 2) should not call customer’s assholes 3) should fix their bills, and follow through with what you say you will do. Not too tall of an ask, right?

#comcastsucks

Breathe out the funk, bring on the laughter

Posted by random olio

I was taking a hot salt bath the other day, and closed my eyes and relaxed. Allowing myself to not think about the endless chatter happening in my head, I just soaked and, for the first time in a while, breathed. As I lay in the steaming hot water (I like it scalding) I realized it had been a long time since I had sat quietly and just noticed my own breathing. Yes, far too long. We should be taking moments each day to stop, be quiet, and notice the rhythm of our thoughts.

Things have felt a bit stressful lately, and then I realized there are 2 days left of February. How is that possible? Somehow throughout our crazy ass days life just keeps going on. The question I ask myself is: is it all worth it? Are we enjoying ourselves? Are we getting enough sleep, downtime, and moments (or hours) to be playful? Or is the grind dragging you down? I was feeling uninspired, and that there just is not enough time in the day. And then…

I watched Jimmy Fallon. I was a fan of his show before, and I love that he is now taking over The Tonight Show. He is clever, ingenuous, creative, and not afraid to do anything. You might be thinking: “what does Jimmy Fallon have to do with getting out of the funk?” I will explain. We were watching Jimmy interview and continuously laugh his ass off with Justin Timberlake, and I was transfixed. They were hilarious. They had so much fun, were playing off each other, and it was never in a way of one-upping the other, it was a complete partnership of fun, creative banter, and trying to make the other laugh. We could not stop laughing. I WANT THAT. I want to bring more of that into my life.

While I am not hosting The Tonight Show, I am pondering what I can do in my own life to let go of the funk, be more playful, fun to be around, creative, and try to make others laugh. Life is too short without laughing so hard you cry.

Cheating on our DVR

Posted by random olio

We have been cheating on our DVR this past month.

Not all DVRs are created equal. Some let you record a certain number of hours of television shows. If you decide you have to watch that show in high-definition then that means fewer hours available for other shows. Our current DVR allows us to record two shows at the same time, while also watching an already recorded show. What that means for us? We often have missed out on a good series and did not even know it because we were consistently addicted to season [fill in the number] of [fill in the show name].

Many of you may be fans of Netflix. We have not yet ventured into that avenue of endless hours of shows and movies. We might one day. I tell Chris that when we catch up on our DVR, we can think about Netflix. What is the second best thing to our DVR, and those of your that are Netflix fans? My local library. Call me a dork, but who cares! They are free, and all I have to do is be patient. The time I waited has finally come to fruition, as we have spent the last month watching season One and Two of: The Good Wife. How did I ever miss out on such a great show?

There were times growing up and after college when I thought I would go to law school. Somehow it never happened and I often think I would have been doomed if I forked over the cash, mostly because I hate reading fine print. So law school would have been like the hell of a privacy policy. I wanted to be a lawyer to help, but there was a small part of me that wanted to be a lawyer to duke it out in the courtroom. Which is why I really enjoy The Good Wife. Such good story lines, great courtroom, lawyer, and judge interactions, with a little romance to top it off. I actually think I like watching the episodes back-to-back rather than having to wait a week to find out what happens. Oh, and who does not like watching Chris Noth. (I am a Mr. Big fan).

While waiting for Season Three of The Good Wife to be available at the library, we started watching: The New Girl (Season One). I am not really a Zooey Deschanel fan, so I thought this show would be cheesy. I was wrong. The show is quirky, funny, and clever. I am a fan. I wish I had known about it earlier, as I saw yesterday that Season Two just finished. Guess I will have to wait a while to see it.

We will stop cheating on our DVR…soon.

Ship my baby. Huh?

Posted by random olio

Two viral videos that made me laugh. I could not help but be sure to share them with you. The first reminds me of sixth grade. The video itself does not remind me of school, but the word “ship” does. Ship, huh? A strange word to recollect from my past. It was sixth grade Social Studies, we were studying the 1600’s or some time in that range a few hundred years ago. We were each given a topic to do a report on and then we had to present our findings in front of the class the following week. I was given the topic of: ship building. Boring right? Well I did my research and my report and then it was my turn to present to the class. All I remember is that during my entire presentation every time I said ship building it always sounded to me like shit building. I cannot remember what it sounded like to my classmates, but I was mortified, and I thought it was a little funny.

Which is why Kmart’s recent video: “Ship my pants” made me laugh and remember sixth grade Social Studies. For more background on their video, read this Fast Company article.

It plays to our childhood humor, but it is clever. As is Evian’s “Baby & Me” video. It just launched over the weekend, so you might see it on television (that is if you ever watch commercials). Over 400 babies were cast for this video, and in May they release an app “Baby & Me” where facial recognition will show the user’s baby face.

Happy Monday!

Shut up and write!

Posted by random olio

I love badass writers like Natalie Goldberg. I can remember reading her book: “Writing Down the Bones” in college. I still have it and pick it up every so often. One of the many things I love about Goldberg is her language, and how blunt she is about writing. Shelf Awareness recently had an interview with Goldberg that I wanted to share:

“Tell us a little about the phrase ‘shut up and write.” Oh It’s everything. Shut up and eat. Shut up and live your life. Shut up and run. We have such a monkey mind that goes on and on. I’m having trouble writing; I should hire a psychiatrist to discuss it. I need a really nice studio. I need a comfortable cafe. Finally, stop all this. Just shut up, pick up the pen and get moving. And really, it’s what I have said from the beginning. That’s really the only teaching you need.”

She is so right on. How often do we make excuses for what we are not doing, or why we are not doing it? If you want something badly enough, make it happen. Make the time, shut up and do it. Yes, I will admit that there are often times that we have competing responsibilities, work, home life, family that mean we do not have the same kind of time to focus on what we really want to do, but we can always make the time. How many of you can fit in an extra episode of American Idol, or Breaking Bad (fill in the blank for your guilty TV pleasure)? Yes, I am raising my hand. I often fill my brain-dead moments with some TV each night, but should I? Sometimes yes, but sometimes no. Sometimes I should get quiet and write.

When you start to complain about not having the right computer, desk, environment, etc, then get your head out of your ass and sit your butt down and write. Focus. Let it flow. Be present. Write.

#Shut up and do it.