Recently in Personal Category

...it makes you want to sneeze, doesn't it?

Doug shot this video after lunch in Santa Monica over Labor Day weekend. I just got around to posting it today...

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Doug and our friend much less so. David Denby:

The movie was not written for Eastwood, but it still seems to be all about him--his past characters, his myth, his old role as a dispenser of raw justice. Growling and muttering, Eastwood appears to be offering a satirical critique: this hoarse-voiced, glaring, absurdly nasty old man is what Dirty Harry might have become. The movie, which Eastwood directed with his usual vigor, has plenty of violent scenes, but it's mostly a rueful comedy of enlightenment: by degrees, Walt comes to admire his neighbors; he realizes that he has more in common with their quiet self-discipline than with the hollow consumerism of his sons and their grasping kids. Walt's final acts in the neighborhood struggles come as a shock, but, in retrospect, they make perfect sense as Eastwood's personal renunciation of vengeance and also as a kind of down payment on an altered American future.

Christ is Born in Coke Products

I'm guessing Pepsi is the demon devil. :-) Shot with my iPhone. I went back the next day with my camera. It was gone.

Last year I was given a TiVo HD for Christmas. With that came the offer to keep the old second TiVo active for 1 year. I only use 1 TiVo, so gave the second one to my mother-inlaw-equivalent. She was not interested in the service.

I have owned a TiVo since 1999 and have upgraded many times. I have TiVo decals in the window of my car. I am a walking TiVo advertisement. So it is with some serious dismay that I report TiVo has been harassing me for months with threats to my credit score and claims that my account is overdue and will be subject to collection.

Apparently they think this will make me keep the service on the old TiVo, a service I don't want. Right now I am on hold with TiVo customer service. The recording tells me I can wait 20 minutes or I can go to the TiVo website. I have been tot he TiVo website many times. It does not offer me the option to cancel this service (see image above). My option is to wait 20 minutes or to continue to receive their threatening emails.

Here is the email I received from TiVo today:

This email is an administrative email in connection with your TiVo service subscription. This is not a marketing solicitation.

We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we had to turn your TiVo® service off! Your account was overdue and you haven't responded to any of our emails. There is also an early termination fee of up to $200 if you have not fulfilled your original commitment term. If we don't hear from you in the next 15 days, we may have to forward your account to a collection agency. We don't want to do that!

The good news is it's easy to get your service reinstated. Just go to www.tivo.com/manage or call TiVo Customer Support at 1-877-367-8486
today to reactivate service! You'll be charged just for the past due amount, we'll remove any applicable early termination fee, you can start a new contract, and we'll let bygones be bygones.

Or, if you just want to pay your past due amount, go to www.tivo.com/manage or call TiVo Customer Support at 1-877-367-8486 today! You'll be charged just for the past due amount at that time and any applicable early termination fee will be charged separately.

We just want you to have all the great benefits of TiVo back:

- Have a favorite show? TiVo's exclusive Season Pass® feature will make sure you never miss an episode.

- Want to see everything that actor you love is in? Only TiVo WishList® searches let you find and record shows by title, actor, sports team or key word.

- Nothing on TV? You've got a direct connection to the world's largest video store.

- Want the entire family to enjoy that YouTube video? Now you can get Web videos on your TV.

- Forget to set something up to record? Schedule it online from anywhere.

- Heading out before you can watch the latest episode of your favorite show? Take it with you on your laptop, iPod, or other mobile device.

Why lose out on all these great things your TiVo service subscription gives you? Visit www.tivo.com/manage or call us at 1-877-367-8486, and let's get this cleared up.

We want you back as a TiVo subscriber!

Your friends at TiVo -

Please feel free to review our Privacy Policy: www.tivo.com/policies

TiVo is no friend of mine! This post is just a warm-up to the scathing one I intend to write at The Moderate Voice when I have more time and after I've done more research. I have written many posts praising TiVo. Their behavior in this instance is a stupid, offensive indicator of tone-deaf business practices. It has alienated and angered me. This is not the last I have to say on this topic. With that, I will now give up and hang up on their customer service line.

From our family to yours.

Left to right: Baci, Doug, Jake, TJ, me, Pixel in Lockerly Hall

Last week was the first outing of the computer bus, dubbed Bus HOPE by the Parents Council. It was a wonderful success.

My friend, the filmmaker Julie Gustafson, shot video of the workshops for me. I intended to edit the piece this weekend. Procrastination set in. Maybe Wednesday?

The photo above was sent to me by a library friend. It's the Swedish Library Bus of the Year award winner by Peter Thuvander and Martin Hedenstrom of Swedish design group Muungano. Details and more photos.

I changed the sidebar linked text color to make it more readable. Added my email address and Twitter feed as links. My last project for this blog is the biggest -- the interactive timeline of my life. That will take months!

In the meantime, I'm totally consumed these days trying to read up on Palin -- there's so much there that it's an impossible task. As a consequence, blogging has been slow at The Moderate Voice. Even slower here. But I'm still at it!