Brainwaves of Sken

I have to admit, my customer service experiences are generally with companies like Comcast or Verizon, where they frankly could care less about your piddling dollar – only recently have they discovered the wreckage a truly offended customer can cause via web-based word-of-mouth.

Last night, in my ire, I stopped at the Buffalo Wild Wings website and filled out a comment form with my experience with their Livonia store. I know it sounds petty, but when you get the same quality issues at the same store from different staff, it sounds like there’s something more going on, and frankly… I want to be able to stop at this wings place on my way home once in awhile. I want them to be good enough that I enjoy it without having to break out my own ranch (which I then threw out ’cause it was expired, of course). I want to not curse myself for not buying an extra sauce bottle because they put on so little that it looked like KFC.

So imagine my surprise when I got an email this morning from the central regional manager. It hit all the right points, thanking me for taking time to send comments on where they needed to improve, expressing great concern over the issues I brought up, saying they will be addressed immediately with appropriate corrective action.

Further, he invited me back “as his personal guest” (heh), saying I should expect a follow-up email with a coupon from the General Manager (who he listed by name), and then giving me his phone number and personal email address (SBCglobal, not office) in case I want to discuss it further or want to speak with him at any time.

He then says that his goal will be to meet or exceed my expectations in the future.

This is just a really surprising attention to detail from a large corporation, and a great deal of concern for an individual issue (even if I think I’m just the only one to complain). If I’d really intended this kind of response, I would have used Consumerist to find a corporate email address or phone number.

Anyway. I can’t say whether anything will change at this point, but this is the kind of care that makes me think really well of a company.

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:D

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Second experience at the Livonia Wild Wings was as unsatisfying as the first. I think this place, with their half-full ranches and their half-covered wings, is a bust.

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I look forward to trying out Captain Forever when it goes public. It’s a flash game, and it’s procedurally generated. Mostly, I love the story – I love the way the game is an interface into a “real” world. What a great idea. Just check out the link and read the first page, even if you aren’t into games, it’s way cool.

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I believe very strongly in civil marriage for all. I believe very strongly in equal protection for all citizens. You cannot be for justice for some, and not justice for all.

No religion can justify discrimination against your fellow neighbor – just as our government does not have the right to tell people how to worship, it does not have the right to create inferior citizens with less human rights than others.

When I have my wedding in May, the first thing I will be thinking about is Lucy, and the commitment and security and safety we will be providing to each other. I will think about the great honor and responsibility that comes with marrying my love.

The second thing will be how some of the most amazing, incredible people I have ever had the honor of being friends with are considered by our government and even some people I know as undeserving of this right.

Not only do I think those rights are necessary for all people, but those responsibilities, those social and economic family ties, are vital for our country to promote.

Abandoning gay people by saying they can have those rights if they simply abandon who they love is wrong. It is wrong from a humanitarian view, and I believe it is not christian, either.

I love my fiancee, but accepting rights that my cherished friends cannot is bittersweet.

I want that to change. I will, and do, vote for that change.

The Equality March on C-SPAN
President Obama addresses Human Right Campaign dinner

“There are still fellow citizens, perhaps neighbors, even loved ones, good and decent people who hold fast to outworn arguments, and old attitudes – who fail to see your families like their families – who would deny you the rights that most americans take for granted. And that’s painful, and it’s heartbreaking.

“Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood.” – Coretta Scott King

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I had a great evening hanging out with my peeps! They picked me up, took me to the local con for an hour or two, and we had good conversations back at the homestead. A good weekend! Also, through regular application of meds and testing my limits, I was able to remain reasonably upright and to keep pace with everyone (in no particular hurry).

So, I think it’s fair to say that I should be ready for work Monday – though I won’t be doing any lifting or weird bending for awhile still.

Meanwhile, I’m trying to track down the problem with my computer and the zappity zap. Two adjustments: the coax cable for my internet is going through my power strip instead of direct, and I’ve hooked a cable up to ground (the center screw on my wall outlet) and both the metal of my desk and my PC case.

Here’s hoping that’s the last I see of it.

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lyrics count
originality counts
tempo counts

Do tell. :)

Also, it doesn’t have to be blatantly a romance song – Time after Time (Cyndi Lauper) isn’t necessarily about romantic love, but it is about love and loyalty. Familial love is good, too. Okay, go!

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I hear clicks coming out of my speakers occasionally when I move across the carpet – even a few feet away from my desk.

It makes my external hard drive restart.

It has been known sometimes to make the entire computer shut down.

Everything else is working swimmingly.

I AM LOOKING FOR SUGGESTIONS FOR MAKING THIS STOP (before my entire computer is fried).

Should I look for one of those goofy plastic mats? Or might that make it worse?

Notes:
Computer and speakers are plugged into a grounded (the light is on) power strip.

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I, too, am not too enthused about Obama winning the Peace Prize so soon after entering office, but people, at least understand that dozens of peace prize winners over the decades have not ACCOMPLISHED their peace goals. They were awarded for their efforts to advance the cause of peace.

I may be unhappy with his lack of concern for privacy, net neutrality, inability to get anything passed with a supermajority, and his hiring of RIAA executives for the justice department (read: Fair Use is effin’ doomed), but it is very true that he has completely changed many of the conversations of conflict in the world. Saying that it is a goal to get rid of nuclear weapons … in the US? That’s new. Saying that Israel needs to man up and stop building on land they’re supposed to be negotiating over? That’s new. Going to the middle east and speaking to them at length about the possibilities of our relationship as well as their responsibilities under the muslim God? That’s not just new, it’s effin’ ballsy.

Before I heard the list of previous contenders, I was all ready to stand up and say “But he hasn’t actually ACCOMPLISHED ANYTHING! No treaty has been signed thanks to him!” It is clear, though, that if Woodrow Wilson can get in for the League of Nations, anyone who puts in the most effort in a given year can get in, whether that effort is successful or not.

Unfortunately, we have no idea who he was being compared to this year, and we won’t for another 50 years.

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