Sunday, June 14, 2009

In Check again

Apparently my xbox repairs were completed today....holy shit.

That was effing quick!

Friday, June 12, 2009

In Check...

So, I just got done with my gig tonight (fucking awesome) and have checked the status of the 360....

It has now been received and repairs are underway.....not freaking bad! Microsoft may earn some points with me....or maybe a few bucks.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Keeping your Forbes 500 in check


So, long time, no update...I've been kept busy by my band work/seeking a new job, plus other things that are not so fun that involve other folks...

My Xbox 360 recently got the latest device killing error known as "E74" wherein the ethernet/a.v./ and rear usb ports fail, causing your system to tell you "no, I won't play your games or power on past this warning screen." Which in turn causes me to say "WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK YOU STUPID FUCKING GAME MACHINE, TURN THE FUCK ON AND PLAY MY COPY OF MASS EFFECT BEFORE I THROW YOU OUT THE GOD DAMN THIRD FLOOR FUCKING WINDOW!!!!!!!!"

As you can tell, I handled the situation with a cool head....

So I call the Microsoft help line and they inform me that it needs to be shipped in to the repair centers for (you guessed it) repair. My warranty was long expired on this thing, but the good folks at the house that Gates built, have extended their warranty by three years to cover this problem that their errors have caused....and why shouldn't they? I didn't do this to my console....I make damn sure that thing stays cool and I am not doing anything else to cause a problem such as this. Of course, not all companies will go to this length, hence my myriad of iPods I've owned over the years which now reside in a damn landfill because Apple wants ME to pay THEM $150 to replace THEIR SHITTY HEADPHONE JACK THAT ONLY SENDS OUT ONE SIDE OF THE AUDIO BECAUSE OF THEIR FUCK UP WHEN DESIGNING THE THING!

It should be noted that I take no stance in the Mac vs PC shit....I think if you define yourself by a brand of technology that you use, I suggest running the car in the garage while taking a nap in your back seat. I think both things have their purpose...For example, I would NEVER do any professional photo editing on a PC....just a bad fucking idea....in the same turn, I would never do any office work on a Mac....equally as stupid. Also, I would never edit video on a PC...in the same sense, I will NEVER make music on a Mac...You can hand me all the bullshit about Mac being "the standard" for music production....I've cut over 100 albums in my life....by experience alone, I get to say "blow me...you are wrong."

So anywho...Microsoft sends me a label which arrived a couple days ago that I slap on to the box which my 360 was packed in and bring it to a UPS store...All free of charge.

So, brought it there on the 9th at 6:06 pm in Leominster, MA....and as of 5:41 am on the 10th, it is in transit from Warwick, Rhode Island to Dallas, Texas where I am assuming it will be ground shipped to Mesquite, TX (the place the label said it was going) where the repair will begin...

So, in the interest of seeing how these companies perform when they stand to actually lose a bit of money, I am going to be documenting the process over the next week or so...it's fun to put these companies under the spotlight. Where shall this story go? Only time knows........

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Califuckyou

Dear California:

Please sink into the ocean as quickly as possible so I can feel a bit better about this slab of land.

Thanks,

- ry

Monday, May 25, 2009

Fitchburg Police.....so useless...


I get to hear an awful lot about the crime in this city, especially from the local PD, but how useful are they, really?

I have a story to share that should sum it up for everybody reading this blog:

My girlfriend and I moved into a nice apartment about 6 months ago that is rather close to the police station, and by rather close, I mean, I can almost spit on the damn station. We began seeing lots of people going in and out of the apartment below us, but we didn't want to jump to any conclusions about what is going on without actually knowing a bit about the situation at hand.

Well, soon enough, the evidence became overwhelming that they were in fact, dealing drugs. Lots of people going in and out for only two minutes at a time, sometimes with cash in hand, people looking rather, well, fucked up, a little phrase or two that flat out said "yeah, we have drugs", the smell of drugs, and so on....

And we're not just talking weed....The big stuff....Crack to be rather specific. Now you might ask "how do you really know about crack?" Well, let's get this out of the way...I've done crack many times and have had many friends who loved the rock. A friend of mine also recently died from it.

Also, I saw a man walk out after a woman and throw a very clearly used crackpipe at her. You know the kind, the little plastic rose in a tube things. And that smell...oh that smell...We have also witnessed the woman in question scoring painkillers at a local pizza place from a man who flat out walked in and asked if anyone working there wanted some in front of a woman and her child. I placed my order and followed him back to his truck in the parking lot to wait with my girlfriend, and sure enough, there the woman is in his truck with cash, making the switch. Surprise!

Another bit is that the landlord of this building evicted someone for drug use in the past year, and sure enough, he is good friends with the people I am talking about and she has seen him many times in their apartment and asked him leave.

Very recently, I confronted the woman downstairs and without actually saying it to me in the literal words, she admitted to me what she was doing. And of course, she was angry with me saying "nobody is going to control my life." And then proceded to complain at me for walking around upstairs...well, sorry....I kind of have to walk in order to move around, bitch...if you know how to float, please teach me and I will happily float everywhere...until then, shut your fat fucking mouth.

I don't want to drag out the post, but I will wrap this part up by saying there are many other examples to back up my accusations and every one of which have been reported to the cops on at least ten occasions. What action has been taken? Nothing...not a god damn fucking thing. Even at the pizza place, when it was reported, they didn't bother to even get a description, lisence plate, etc...they just did not care. Each and every time we called, sometimes anonymously, sometimes not, they didn't bother what so ever to take down any info that we offered and just seemed to rush us off the phone.

This afternoon I went out for a cigarette and saw a few very sketchy looking people going in and the smell of weed was just overwhelming...I make my call to the police station and guess what??? NOBODY PICKED UP THE FUCKING PHONE. The phone rang for a good 3 minutes to nothing...there you go. You fuckers always complain about how you want the public's co-operation, but you don't do anything when we do co-coperate. You want to stop all the drug trade in this area, but when I call giving you lots of proof that we have a heavy drug dealer downstairs, you do nothing to respond. We even tried a few different routes to report them...noise, suspicious activity, etc and NOTHING WORKED.

You want people to take you seriously? Really? What's my reasoning to support anything you do or take any kind of pride in what you do for us? From where I stand, I see none.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Thom Yorke can shut up any time now...


Thom Yorke makes an ass of himself on his website.....

an online petition with over a million names.. including President Obama.
currently there is talk of a climate change bill in the US similair to the one we have passed in the UK.
thats a BIG deal.
but i have been reading how the oil industry is investing millions of dollars in a PR campaign against it!
how utterly dumbass is that? how do these people look their children in the eye?

in have now stepped down from todays soapbox. byebye

Hi Thom....can I remind you that you are in Radiohead? Do you know what your tour bus, jet, car, etc are powered by? That's right....oil. So while we're on the subject of environmental damage, can I ask what your guitars are made of? Wood perhaps? With some scary paints and coatings on them that I'm sure could turn a lake into a level 4 biohazard in 10 minutes? So what do you think CDs are made from? Friendly earth smiles and lovely wishes? Dream on....Oh, how about your amps? Cables? Mics? Not exactly the most eco friendly stuff right there....oh, and are you aware of the wattage your PA/amps take up? That's a ton of electricity being sucked up there...especially for your more indulgent, lengthy sets....So listen, Mr. Yorke, until you walk to every gig with instruments made from recycled materials that are destined to be recycled after use and play an acoustic set, I don't want to hear another fucking peep from you.

http://radiohead.com/deadairspace/index.php?a=475

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Virgin Closed Part 3

So let's get right into that whole exclusivity thing I was babbling about...

Right there...it's the reason people don't care enough to buy a CD anymore or pay for it in any way...the record industry has this laughable attitude that says "We're the movers and the shakers, we make things happen...this is what separates the men from the boys, this is us up here, and this is you down there, little man..."

Yep...we're just the petty consumers who just throw ourselves at you, who at 5:30pm make sure we pray in the direction of Universal Records, and then proceed to the CD store to buy the latest craze's opus...

So in actuality, they've forgotten who pays their bills...they seem to forget that we can and basically have shut them down. You keep creating crap because you want it to sell so you push the band aside and hire dime a dozen session musicians and overworked songwriters and some idiot producer to help "smooth things out" which leaves the audience and the band with a sub par record they didn't want in the first place. Do you wonder why people aren't buying the little plastic discs anymore? Do you want to pay for inferior products? How about pay out know those insane profit margins I detailed several posts ago? Didn't think so. God knows these cigar chomping, casino frequenting, Maserati driving idiots won't shell for garbage. Top of the line all around! Well, except for when it comes to what they sell you.

If people want to see where that attitude gets you, look no further than the Playstation 3....Sony took the "we know what you want better than you do" road, and look where it got them! The PS2 is vastly outselling the PS3! Meanwhile, Xbox 360 and Wii continue to rake in the dough. Oh, and don't use the "well, in Japan the PS3 is selling better that the 360!" arguement.

1) The Wii still outsells the PS3 like crazy in Japan, and the only reason the Japanese are still loyal to Sony is because they are weary of American electronics...and given our sparkling history with cars, electronics, weapons (oops), I can understand why.

So, to say the least, the PS3 is a miserable failure due largely in part to the attitude Sony took when approaching the development and marketing of it...the same one used by the record industry.

You can lead a horse to water.....ya know?

I'll wrap this up soon...promise.