A friend just sent me a video I've mentioned here before - Rejected. Now it's on YouTube, so I thought I better put it up. One of the greatest cartoons ever.

Posted by James at 09:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Spotted this at a restaurant in the Poble Nou neighborhood in Barcelona.

Posted by James at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This week all of the Formula 1 racing teams are preparing for the first ever race at night. The venue, the city of Singapore.

I think I speak for every F1 fan in saying that this weekend's race should be unbelievable.

So how are the teams preparing for racing under the stars? Here's a funny little video from the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team that pokes fun of what not to do to a multi-million dollar, aerodynamically hyper-sensitive racing car....

Well done boys.

[via AutoBlog]

Posted by James at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I ran across The Search Engine Rap Battle today and all I got to say is WOW. Hilarious concept, great execution. I'm loving the fact that some of these jokes are so nerd-o-riific. Here they are:

Google vs. MSN

MSN vs. Yahoo!

Yahoo! vs. Google

And as a special bonus, a friend in Spain turned me on to Flight of the Conchords this past week when I was in BCN, and here is a little taste of the greatness of Bret and Jermaine...

Posted by James at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just had an interesting conversation with a customer service representative at Verizon. You know, America’s most reliable network. It turns out that “the network,” famously represented by a hoard of Verizon employees in their advertisements, are more outdoor cats than indoor cats, so to speak.

Let me explain.

I made a call to Verizon today because, since we moved to this apartment a few months back, we’ve not been able to have any clear conversations on our mobiles without having to stand next to a window or going outside on the balcony. If we don’t, our conversations cut out and sometimes our calls drop. Also, strangely, Verizon to Verizon calls seem to be the worst, and with both of our families exclusively on Verizon, that’s an issue.

Obviously, the reception here isn’t good, and conversations with others in the building confirm that this is a bad spot for Verizon, and a number of people have dropped Verizon when they got here.

No biggie, I thought. If there isn’t reliable service here, Verizon will understand, apologize and let us out of our contract without fees. I mean, if you can’t service a customer properly, you’re not going to force them to keep your service or pay a fee, right?

Wrong.

After quickly getting through to a customer service representative and explaining my problem (including the part about this being my only phone and that I work from home) I was told that not getting reception was not really their problem and that they don’t guarantee that any of their customers will actually get service inside any building.

Let me say that again, because it bears repeating, Verizon, America’s most reliable network, does not guarantee any service once you are inside of a structure.

I was a bit shocked by this statement, and strangely, the customer service rep went from nice to defensive. I’m guessing she gets to have this conversation a lot, and was not looking forward to another customer getting unhappy when they find out that they have the choice to either stick with a service that doesn’t work or pay a hefty cancellation fee.

So, now I have to pay $245 to Verizon to get out of Kristi and my contract, just so we can get a carrier who actually will have reception in our area. Seems pretty stupid, huh?

I might try to call Lisa Williams of Verizon Executive Customer Relations and see if she can do anything. In case you have a similar problem, the number for Lisa is (as found on The Consumerist) is 910-794-6232 or call the main Executive Office at 908-306-6750.

Whatever the outcome, this did make me think of one thing…are all of the Verizon ads shot outside? I think they may be. Now I know why.

Posted by James at 07:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)