tea berry-blue

So, it is probably one of my worst-kept secrets (and only secrets, this is why I don't keep secrets) that I designed a Tarot deck to sell at MoCCA this year.

About a month ago, I started sending out requests for quotes. I have done printing jobs before, so I know how explicit to be in sending out queries, and what information is needed. One of them was significantly better than the others, but not enough better to set off any serious alarms, and came from a printer recommended by my uncle, who used to work in printing.

I spent two weeks going back and forth with these folks to work out the idiosyncrasies of my order until my files were exactly perfect, during which time, I spoke to many representatives at their company in explicit detail about my project.

I sent them the files, and the next day, one of their reps called me and said that she'd like to change the corner die cut we had been planning to use, since she thought another one looked nicer. I agreed. The next day, someone else called and said that she was still working on my proofs and wouldn't have them till later that evening. I said that was fine, and assured her it would be okay if I got the proofs the next day.

The next day, I didn't hear anything. I didn't hear anything for a week. So today, I gave them a call to find out why I hadn't received my proofs.

I was greeted with the message that "someone grossly underestimated the quote you were given."

Now, this wasn't something where I misled them or gave them the wrong kind of files. The guy on the phone who gave me the quote-- and a second person, who adjusted the quote for me when I asked to order a different quantity than I originally quoted-- BOTH gave me the same number. Which the rep says was the wrong quote for my project.

And we're not talking like a hundred bucks difference. They are claiming the price SHOULD have been triple what I was quoted. Seriously, who makes that kind of mistake?

And unlike, oh, EVERY COMPANY I'VE EVER DEALT WITH, they apologized politely and told me that I would be required to pay the new, "actual" price, when I've been misled for three weeks and have three weeks less time to find an alternative solution.

After being absolutely furious at them for a half an hour, they finally agreed to cut thirty percent off the price... which means it's now double the original price I was quoted.

I am not a happy person. I am looking for new quotes but I've exhausted a lot of options at this point and I'm really angry that I lost three weeks. Especially that no one bothered to contact me to tell me that there was a problem when they decided there was a problem-- what if I had waited another week?

I can't tell if these people are just utterly inept or if I was screwed into a deliberate bait-and-switch. Either way, I'm really pissed off and since I spent so much time working on these cards, I haven't really started anything else to sell at MoCCA yet.

Angry, angry angry.

You all know how I got a new TV for Christmas, right? Well, last week was the first time I watched any significant amount of TV on it, for new Ugly Betty/Grey's/Private Practice, right? All was good! Tuesday, too, I watched AI, and all was good!

But then yesterday I turned on AI, and about ten minutes into it, my cable box freaked out. Like, seriously, freaked out. But I've had that happened before. I thought nothing of it, unplugged it, plugged it back in, and turned TV back on.

Maybe two minutes later, it happens AGAIN. I futz around a bit, change it to a different outlet-- hell, change it to a different CIRCUIT, and it's still fritzing. So around now, I call my cable company. Girl on the phone was very helpful as always, reset my cable box for me, great.

I turned on the news when I got home from work, because of the FREAKING AIRPLANE IN OUR FREAKING RIVER, and watched for like a half-hour. Then TV gets pre-empted for President Bush's farewell address, that even the newscaster seems apologetic about cutting into regular programming for. The second ol' Dubya gets on the screen?

BZZT

Cable out.

And I couldn't get it on the rest of the night. How frustrating. So now I get to go to the cable service place after work tomorrow and turn in my old box for a new one. Which is swell and all, except...tomorrow is the day it's supposed to be six degrees before wind chill. I know, I know, all of you in the Midwest are probably laughing your asses off at me with your balmy negative-twenty-odd temperatures, but SIX. And most of you have probably never been inside anything like a New York City wind tunnel. In the winter, the buildings are so high and the streets are just wide enough and so straight that we get massive wind tunnels that literally pick my little 140-lb self up off the street. Crap.

But at least I don't have to schedule a technician.

I started another picture, but I am not feeling the drawing bug tonight. I am, however, feeling the bug of finally having my Wii set up! So woo!

You all know how I got a new TV for Christmas, right? Well, last week was the first time I watched any significant amount of TV on it, for new Ugly Betty/Grey's/Private Practice, right? All was good! Tuesday, too, I watched AI, and all was good!

But then yesterday I turned on AI, and about ten minutes into it, my cable box freaked out. Like, seriously, freaked out. But I've had that happened before. I thought nothing of it, unplugged it, plugged it back in, and turned TV back on.

Maybe two minutes later, it happens AGAIN. I futz around a bit, change it to a different outlet-- hell, change it to a different CIRCUIT, and it's still fritzing. So around now, I call my cable company. Girl on the phone was very helpful as always, reset my cable box for me, great.

I turned on the news when I got home from work, because of the FREAKING AIRPLANE IN OUR FREAKING RIVER, and watched for like a half-hour. Then TV gets pre-empted for President Bush's farewell address, that even the newscaster seems apologetic about cutting into regular programming for. The second ol' Dubya gets on the screen?

BZZT

Cable out.

And I couldn't get it on the rest of the night. How frustrating. So now I get to go to the cable service place after work tomorrow and turn in my old box for a new one. Which is swell and all, except...tomorrow is the day it's supposed to be six degrees before wind chill. I know, I know, all of you in the Midwest are probably laughing your asses off at me with your balmy negative-twenty-odd temperatures, but SIX. And most of you have probably never been inside anything like a New York City wind tunnel. In the winter, the buildings are so high and the streets are just wide enough and so straight that we get massive wind tunnels that literally pick my little 140-lb self up off the street. Crap.

But at least I don't have to schedule a technician.

I started another picture, but I am not feeling the drawing bug tonight. I am, however, feeling the bug of finally having my Wii set up! So woo!

Guys, I've gotten this from several mailing lists this morning and I'm kind of disgusted. This isn't just people talking at rallies and getting caught up-- this is a mailing being sent out by the RNC. And having been in the publishing-- and promotional-- business for a very large part of my life, I know that things like this don't just "happen" without approval. So at the moment I'm completely sickened. This is not okay. This is not what any political party in the country should be about.




"When you get right down to it, this election is going to be settled by the fact that more Americans hate George Bush than hate black people." -- My dad.

I don't often talk politics in my livejournal, for the very reason that I try not to write persuasively on my opinions. Livejournal for me is a way to make friends, not to proselytize. However, I have been thinking quite a bit about the current presidential campaigns and I feel like I want to talk about it a little bit.

I will start by saying that I am a registered Democrat, but strongly Independent in spirit. In 2000, I would have strongly considered voting for McCain had he gotten the Republican nomination. My one strong concern at that point was his platform on abortion. I also really liked a lot of the things Ron Paul had to say during the Republican primary. I have a great deal of respect for numerous politicians on both sides of the partisan divide and those who fall outside of it.

I am voting for Obama. I have known I would vote for Obama since last summer, when I attended his rally here in New York, in Washington Square Park. At the time, I preferred Hillary Clinton as a candidate, but I had heard Obama's speech in 2004 and had paid attention to his defeated bill on the war in 2006-2007, which would have started bringing troops home a few months ago, and I liked those things about him. I was concerned about his age and experience, but I am one of those people who really tries to educate myself before voting, so I was willing to at least give him a chance to answer my questions about his viability as a candidate.

In the first ten minutes of his speech, he talked about just those concerns-- he admitted outright that he didn't have nearly as much experience in Washington as other candidates, but he put forward his experience in Illinois, and cited other presidents who didn't have a ton of experience. He talked about ways in which he felt he could educate himself or how he could fill his cabinet in order to make up for his own weaknesses. He admitted outright what his weaknesses were, and put out point by point plans for how he would address them.

That's not something I've ever seen a candidate for president do. That was when I decided that I would support him.

Now, I'll get one thing straight: I am not happy about his FISA vote. I really wish he had listened to Keith Olbermann's advice on this one.

On the other hand, I understand the FISA vote in terms of something Senator Obama has spoken about since the beginning of his campaign: the need for compromise to get things done. This was a compromise, and a risky one, one that a lot of his core supporters, including me, don't agree with, although I understand the argument in favor of it. But he has spoken strongly of the need for compromise since the beginning of his campaign.

I have seen a number of people become angry over things Obama has done or said since he became the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party:

His choice not to accept public funds after pledging to accept them (which to me seems like promising to let someone buy you dessert and then saying you're not hungry, especially since the choice was made after McCain pledged to accept public funds and then decided not to, which, oddly enough, got very little news coverage compared to Obama's decision, which was a direct result of McCain's.

The FISA issue, which I mentioned above.

His statement, after review, that limited offshore drilling might be acceptable, which was definitely played up as a flip-flop.

A lot of detractors are seeing these things and saying that he is, underneath it all, just another politician, he's lying to his supporters, etc. But I don't see that at all. I see a man who is doing exactly what he promised to do from the beginning-- be light on his feet, adapt, compromise, and not pick one position and stick to in even in the light of evidence to the contrary, which is what our current President has been doing for eight years. You would think by now that people would get that changing your mind once educated on a subject is a good thing for a President to do.

This is still not politics as usual.

On the subject of offshore drilling: I find it despicable that McCain continued to push this the same week that there was a devastating oil spill in New Orleans. I also find it despicable that a devastating oil spill in Alaska nearly twenty years ago got more attention than a devastating oil spill in a populous city, based on the fact that the one in Alaska involved pristine wildlife and cute duckies, and the one in the Mississippi involved poor black people. But hey, we already left the poor black people to die during Katrina, right?

I think I know why Obama "reversed" his position, which was not so much a reverse as an assurance that he would never make a broad, sweeping ultimatum like other politicians who have come before him. Offshore drilling in the Gulf and in Alaska would so inconsequentially affect the oil supply in this country that if we allow it, it proves even moreso that we are in a crisis as pertains to fuel. As long as we don't drill, those in favor of drilling will be able to accuse those not in favor of drilling of deliberately keeping the gas prices high through stubborn refusal to open up natural resources. In reality, you can read estimates from our own governmental agency that show that offshore drilling isn't really a viable solution to reducing gas prices. But then again, it's online, and McCain doesn't know how to use the internet.

Anyway, there is a larger reason for this post. Being the very open-to-opinions Independent voter that I am, I am on the mailing lists for both campaigns. I also read a lot of news. A lot of news. And I read all the policy information on the candidates' websites.

I am really angry at the emails that the McCain campaign sends out. And it is not because I disagree with their core values-- there are still some things I like about McCain's platform, although he has swung far to the right since he first burst onto the scene with the Straight Talk Express in 2000.

It is not because I disagree. It is because they outright lie. I have received one email saying that Obama's increase of the capital gains tax is a flat double across the board. Obama's proposed capital gains increase is only for people who individually make over $250k a year, or couples filing jointly who make $500k a year. I'm sorry, but my parents are wealthy enough to own the most amazing house I have ever seen, I live in expensive New York City apartments, and I know for a fact that no one in my family would qualify, and we are some of the wealthiest people I know. No one except the insanely, insanely wealthy would ever see this tax, and yet the McCain emails are trying to scare-tactic people into believing Obama is planning to double their taxes. He's also running televised ads that maintain the same.

The email from McCain's campaign that I received today is dredging up stuff from Obama's Berlin appearance (hello, old news!) and stated that Obama's support of the bill to reallocate more funds from our country to help extremely impoverished nations around the world was harmful to Americans. This is at the same time that news about how the Patriot Act has been harming private non-profits aid initiatives in the most impoverished and devastated countries in the world-- and the new bill would make sure that that money could go through the UN since our government has seized the assets of numerous Muslim aid organizations.

I know that things are difficult in our country right now. I know that there are hungry people, people without jobs, people who are getting their homes foreclosed on because of the abuses of a corrupt mortgage practice. But I'm sorry, when, as rainy_day points out, people in Cambodia make 59 cents a day, the problem in this country is not poverty. Most of us at least have access to drinking water. We have systems in place that protect us from a great deal of the extremes of poverty, even if they are still sorely lacking. We would have access to food and homes and a lot of other things if we weren't at the mercy of large corporations acting sans regulation. As opposed to other countries where people are literally dropping dead every day, dying of sicknesses that our pharmaceuticals companies refuse to provide free medication for, but gee, we'd better talk about how re-allocating money that wasn't even being spent on fighting poverty in this country is going to hurt Americans.

I understand negative campaigning. If you really believe that something another candidate is saying is bad, then please, criticize the hell out of it. As much mud was slung during the Democratic primaries, I do believe both Senators Clinton and Obama at least kept it honest and talked about real concerns they had based on the personal histories, platforms and records the opposing candidate had. Lying? Not cool. McCain's pretty much lost all the enormous respect I had for him in 2000.

And to end on one very small note of proselytization, you can get a Free Obama Button here.

I don't often talk politics in my livejournal, for the very reason that I try not to write persuasively on my opinions. Livejournal for me is a way to make friends, not to proselytize. However, I have been thinking quite a bit about the current presidential campaigns and I feel like I want to talk about it a little bit.

I will start by saying that I am a registered Democrat, but strongly Independent in spirit. In 2000, I would have strongly considered voting for McCain had he gotten the Republican nomination. My one strong concern at that point was his platform on abortion. I also really liked a lot of the things Ron Paul had to say during the Republican primary. I have a great deal of respect for numerous politicians on both sides of the partisan divide and those who fall outside of it.

I am voting for Obama. I have known I would vote for Obama since last summer, when I attended his rally here in New York, in Washington Square Park. At the time, I preferred Hillary Clinton as a candidate, but I had heard Obama's speech in 2004 and had paid attention to his defeated bill on the war in 2006-2007, which would have started bringing troops home a few months ago, and I liked those things about him. I was concerned about his age and experience, but I am one of those people who really tries to educate myself before voting, so I was willing to at least give him a chance to answer my questions about his viability as a candidate.

In the first ten minutes of his speech, he talked about just those concerns-- he admitted outright that he didn't have nearly as much experience in Washington as other candidates, but he put forward his experience in Illinois, and cited other presidents who didn't have a ton of experience. He talked about ways in which he felt he could educate himself or how he could fill his cabinet in order to make up for his own weaknesses. He admitted outright what his weaknesses were, and put out point by point plans for how he would address them.

That's not something I've ever seen a candidate for president do. That was when I decided that I would support him.

Now, I'll get one thing straight: I am not happy about his FISA vote. I really wish he had listened to Keith Olbermann's advice on this one.

On the other hand, I understand the FISA vote in terms of something Senator Obama has spoken about since the beginning of his campaign: the need for compromise to get things done. This was a compromise, and a risky one, one that a lot of his core supporters, including me, don't agree with, although I understand the argument in favor of it. But he has spoken strongly of the need for compromise since the beginning of his campaign.

I have seen a number of people become angry over things Obama has done or said since he became the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party:

His choice not to accept public funds after pledging to accept them (which to me seems like promising to let someone buy you dessert and then saying you're not hungry, especially since the choice was made after McCain pledged to accept public funds and then decided not to, which, oddly enough, got very little news coverage compared to Obama's decision, which was a direct result of McCain's.

The FISA issue, which I mentioned above.

His statement, after review, that limited offshore drilling might be acceptable, which was definitely played up as a flip-flop.

A lot of detractors are seeing these things and saying that he is, underneath it all, just another politician, he's lying to his supporters, etc. But I don't see that at all. I see a man who is doing exactly what he promised to do from the beginning-- be light on his feet, adapt, compromise, and not pick one position and stick to in even in the light of evidence to the contrary, which is what our current President has been doing for eight years. You would think by now that people would get that changing your mind once educated on a subject is a good thing for a President to do.

This is still not politics as usual.

On the subject of offshore drilling: I find it despicable that McCain continued to push this the same week that there was a devastating oil spill in New Orleans. I also find it despicable that a devastating oil spill in Alaska nearly twenty years ago got more attention than a devastating oil spill in a populous city, based on the fact that the one in Alaska involved pristine wildlife and cute duckies, and the one in the Mississippi involved poor black people. But hey, we already left the poor black people to die during Katrina, right?

I think I know why Obama "reversed" his position, which was not so much a reverse as an assurance that he would never make a broad, sweeping ultimatum like other politicians who have come before him. Offshore drilling in the Gulf and in Alaska would so inconsequentially affect the oil supply in this country that if we allow it, it proves even moreso that we are in a crisis as pertains to fuel. As long as we don't drill, those in favor of drilling will be able to accuse those not in favor of drilling of deliberately keeping the gas prices high through stubborn refusal to open up natural resources. In reality, you can read estimates from our own governmental agency that show that offshore drilling isn't really a viable solution to reducing gas prices. But then again, it's online, and McCain doesn't know how to use the internet.

Anyway, there is a larger reason for this post. Being the very open-to-opinions Independent voter that I am, I am on the mailing lists for both campaigns. I also read a lot of news. A lot of news. And I read all the policy information on the candidates' websites.

I am really angry at the emails that the McCain campaign sends out. And it is not because I disagree with their core values-- there are still some things I like about McCain's platform, although he has swung far to the right since he first burst onto the scene with the Straight Talk Express in 2000.

It is not because I disagree. It is because they outright lie. I have received one email saying that Obama's increase of the capital gains tax is a flat double across the board. Obama's proposed capital gains increase is only for people who individually make over $250k a year, or couples filing jointly who make $500k a year. I'm sorry, but my parents are wealthy enough to own the most amazing house I have ever seen, I live in expensive New York City apartments, and I know for a fact that no one in my family would qualify, and we are some of the wealthiest people I know. No one except the insanely, insanely wealthy would ever see this tax, and yet the McCain emails are trying to scare-tactic people into believing Obama is planning to double their taxes. He's also running televised ads that maintain the same.

The email from McCain's campaign that I received today is dredging up stuff from Obama's Berlin appearance (hello, old news!) and stated that Obama's support of the bill to reallocate more funds from our country to help extremely impoverished nations around the world was harmful to Americans. This is at the same time that news about how the Patriot Act has been harming private non-profits aid initiatives in the most impoverished and devastated countries in the world-- and the new bill would make sure that that money could go through the UN since our government has seized the assets of numerous Muslim aid organizations.

I know that things are difficult in our country right now. I know that there are hungry people, people without jobs, people who are getting their homes foreclosed on because of the abuses of a corrupt mortgage practice. But I'm sorry, when, as rainy_day points out, people in Cambodia make 59 cents a day, the problem in this country is not poverty. Most of us at least have access to drinking water. We have systems in place that protect us from a great deal of the extremes of poverty, even if they are still sorely lacking. We would have access to food and homes and a lot of other things if we weren't at the mercy of large corporations acting sans regulation. As opposed to other countries where people are literally dropping dead every day, dying of sicknesses that our pharmaceuticals companies refuse to provide free medication for, but gee, we'd better talk about how re-allocating money that wasn't even being spent on fighting poverty in this country is going to hurt Americans.

I understand negative campaigning. If you really believe that something another candidate is saying is bad, then please, criticize the hell out of it. As much mud was slung during the Democratic primaries, I do believe both Senators Clinton and Obama at least kept it honest and talked about real concerns they had based on the personal histories, platforms and records the opposing candidate had. Lying? Not cool. McCain's pretty much lost all the enormous respect I had for him in 2000.

And to end on one very small note of proselytization, you can get a Free Obama Button here.

1) I went to see Stop Loss, a movie directed by Kimberly Peirce, the director behind "Boys Don't Cry," the movie about Brandon Teena's murder.

Guys. If you are a movie watcher, please consider seeing this movie. If you are not a movie watcher, please consider seeing this movie. I think our generation finally got our Deer Hunter,and I would not say that without putting much thought into it. I have so, so much respect for everyone on the team that made this film right now.

If you don't know what it's about, it is about a soldier who gets "Stop Lossed," that is, he leaves the army after serving his final tour, and he is ordered back to Iraq against his will. It was heartbreaking for me to watch this and think about my cousin's last leave from Iraq and the things he told our family about the grim reality of duty under the current conditions in Iraq. The fact that the opening of this movie was so close to the announcement of the death of the 4000th American soldier in Iraq is a sobering coincidence, particularly given the fact that even with the grave depiction of the treatment of the fictional soldier in the movie, nothing could have topped the actual comments made by our Vice President & others last week. Under other circumstances, I might have agreed with our Vice President about the voluntary nature of service in Iraq. I have heard quite my share of stories of soldiers who have gotten indignant when they found out they were going to have to fight, or who've tried to get out of it after going to school on a military scholarship, which is ridiculous, and I have little sympathy for that sort of behavior, but right now, thousands of soldiers are being refused any way out of service even once they've finished the tours they did volunteer for. They volunteered, but they are also being lied to and not provided for to the best of our country's ability. If they were being treated with the respect the men & women of our armed forces deserve, then it would be different. But when the highest branches of our government appear to treat them as cannon fodder, not equip them properly for their missions, and mislead and misdirect soldiers during the recruitment & training process, then, no, they weren't volunteering for what they've been given. Which is a shit job.

That bit of this post went on a bit longer than I expected.

2) Anyway, my intent was to post about the experience I had this morning calling the 311 line for the first time. I went to bed at 4 am after doing a shitload of work-related stuff last night, and I was expecting to sleep till about 11:30.

At 9:20, I was woken up by jackhammering. What, you say, Tea, are you going to rant some more? Why, no! I am not. I opened my window and asked as politely as one can when one is shouting for them to stop. They did not stop. I asked again. They did not stop.

After about a half-hour, I went to look up the noise complaint laws, a bit resigned, because when I lived in Cambridge and tried to dial in noise complaints at 9:30 in the morning, I would get a very snotty attitude from the office that was supposed to handle noise complaints and they would ask me why I wasn't awake at 9 in the morning like normal people. This always pissed me off, because how many types of people necessary to the functioning of society-- nurses, doctors, police officers, electric workers, emergency operators-- have night jobs and need to be asleep in the morning? I understood that it was difficult to do something about the noise, but didn't like the way they treated me like it was something wrong with *me* that I was asleep.

So today, I discovered that in New York City, you can call with a noise complaint no matter what hour of the day-- there are no acceptable hours for disruptive noise. So I called. The lady took my name, number, and gave me a case number. She told me that they would find out who had the jackhammer permit, talk to them, and make sure that they were using the right kind of sound muffling equipment.

What bliss. How nice to have an efficient complaints department that actually sounds like they care about the people complaining. The whole thing took just over five minutes-- no waiting on the line, no being put on hold. It was lovely.

So, yes!

( Today I went out to Flushing, Queens. )

liret and gildedage, expect packages. I mailed them last week.

I want to talk about a subject I brought up above, and that subject is ( catcalling, wolfwhistles, whatever you want to call it )

So, yes!

( Today I went out to Flushing, Queens. )

liret and gildedage, expect packages. I mailed them last week.

I want to talk about a subject I brought up above, and that subject is ( catcalling, wolfwhistles, whatever you want to call it )

I arrived home from my trip to Minnesota and Wisconsin to discover I had no electricity and all the food in my fridge had gone bad.

Why, you ask? Why did this happen?

Because the previous tenants owed the power company $2000 and they had apparently not been informed that the previous tenants had been evicted.

So my power was shut off.

This prompted me to go cry in Kris' office for a bit, at which point he bought me ice cream. I have the best bosses ever, just in case you all don't know this.

In the broiling weather we had yesterday, this amounted to a sheer impossibility of sleeping in the city without AC, so I told my parents I would be on the 6:52 train to Mount Kisco.

Then, at 6:30, my A key on my laptop stopped working.

I restarted my laptop.

Then, all the keys except for bcghos and z stopped working.

Then, all the keys except for S stopped working. And the S key would not stop working. It kept typing and typing and typing away with no assistance from yours truly. It would not stop typing.

So Maciej tried to fix it. Still no luck. So Kris loaned me his old computer. Again with the best bosses ever bit.

Anyway, at this point, I could only catch the 7:52 and I was an hour late to my parents'. Which was fine, because the road was flooded out and I still spent about a half-hour stranded at Starbucks whilst they tried to figure out how to get to me in the rainstorm.

Then I got back to their house and there was a conflict with their network because the landlords put in a wireless network with the same name and IP address. So I had to fix the network. That was a minor problem.

Go to work today. Get set up with another computer (the one I'm on now) and our ops guy is taking care of getting mine fixed. Yay. Go home at lunch, check electricity. On. Yay.

Get home from work.

Electricity, on.

Water? No so much. I now have no water.

What evil, terrible thing did I do in a past life? OR was it walking under a ladder yesterday morning? Was I really, as arielchan seems to think, Hitler? Did I kill babies? Did I wear white after Labor Day? Please, someone tell me!