a few weeks ago, my favorite rss service, squeet was having a holiday itself.  ordinarily i'd be okay with that but i felt lost on the information super-highway and have to have my feeds.  i thought about using the ie7 and outlook rss model, but i just still haven't adopted to that paradigm...i honestly don't know why, but i just haven't succombed yet.

so someone was telling me about google reader and i thought i'd check it out.  yes, another beta product from google.  i imported my opml and it took me a bit to understand the features of what the terms meant for viewing and how to best view the feeds, etc...but eventually i got it. 

squeet is back up now and i'm happy, but i've kept reader going just to compare for now.  the one thing i don't like is the refresh.  in gmail, when a new message comes in, the titlebar is changed as is the actual page -- the message is there.  in google reader i've noticed that as new feeds are there, the title bar updates with the infamous (#) format indicating new items, but the view pane is always empty...i have to click refresh again.  so much for the functionality.  ooh, just as i was typing this i saw it update -- the subscription list on the left updated with new items (even flashed a nice yellow color) and the title bar updated...my all items view? blank.

just something odd i thought.  i think i'll give the outlook one a new try -- if i'm happy with google reader, there is no reason i shouldn't be happy with the IE7 rss subscription format...or at least that is what i keep telling myself.

for december only, here's my spam folder:

over 7,000 messages alone in december -- on average it is about 5,000 messages a month for me -- so let's be conservative and say 55,000 messages of spam a year...arg.

well now that the holiday season is over (well to some it is, i'm officially writing it off -- santa came and stayed up very late putting things together in my..er...um his garage), let the red ink for the retail industry fly.  i'm talking about the "other" season that is hitting the stores...returns/exchanges.

i'm taking some time off this week and had no other better excuse so my i accompanied my wife to the mall to return some items (note to self: don't buy women clothes).  i was extremely hesitant as i'm a terribly impatient person and completely selfish...but i went...2 kids in tow as well.

the mall actually wasn't that bad -- we got there at the beginning to seemingly avoid the rush (and we did, we left at 1pm and it was a friggin madhouse in the parking lots).  this year i managed to do most of my shopping online, and was grateful for that.  in return, however, i learned a valuable lesson -- pay attention.  yes that's right, the simple lesson.  you see, when i shopped online, i only purchased from stores that had a brick/mortar presence.  my inner voice was telling me that was the safest thing to do in the event of a return/exchange -- simply go to the store and do it there.  i stuck with only big names and recognizable stores to do this.  i simply didn't question that there would be any issue.  alas, there is my naivety.

one of the places i shopped was victoria's secret (yes, i'm married -- but even if i wasn't, and had a lady friend...mucho points with the ladies :-)).  i went online shopped for some things and purchased (remember, my wife even pointed me to the pajamas she wanted).  so that was the first store we went to.  i am guessing you can see where this is going.  the clerk told her "oh, i'm sorry the online store is completely different than our stores.  you have to return it through them."

completely different?  maybe this story should be on thisisbroken.com!  let's see, i went to victoriassecret.com -- and the name on the store says victoria's secret...heck the branding looks the same to me.  as a consumer, this WAS BROKEN.  i was furious -- as was the wife.  how could such a large retailer not "get it" when it came to purchasing online?  (note: every single other place allowed the returns: sport chalet, tillys, best buy, etc.)  they lost a customer that day.  the online was a convenience sure, but i also payed for that (i.e., shipping).  even if the actual business entities are set up differently, places like that (and that are that recognizable) should have some process set up...call them charge backs, whatever...don't make the consumer suffer.  in our eyes, there is no difference...the store is the store, whether it was online or not. 

that was my only bad experience this season -- but it left a lasting mark -- hey victoria, your thong might be a little too tight -- pull it out and figure out what consumers want, not what is easiest to you...

heard on some gaming discussion boards:

Personally, I think it is terrible that people who would gladly wait in line for days to get a new PS3 probably complained when they had to wait an hour or so to vote in the elections.

at the phoenix barcamp i had an opportunity to look at the new nintendo wii console.  the facility has just about every console (except an xbox 360...hmmm).  some of the guys from integrum technologies had one in their office and were raving about it so they showed me the ropes.

i have to say, i was quite impressed.  the graphics looked...hmmm...like nintendo if that makes sense...i still felt i was in super mario land versus some street in project gotham...but i guess it is a different target audience.

playing around with the remote was different...it's a mouse essentially communicating with an infrared bar you put somewhere near your television.  then it sense motion for certain games (we were playing the wii sports: tennis, boxing, golf) and makes the players do whatever.  it worked remarkably well and in the boxing game could give you a bit of a workout even.

the integrum guys commented about making sure we attached the remote to our wrists using the safety tether.  and apparently looking at this site: http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com/show_cat.php?cat=2 that needs to be stressed :-)

it's no xbox 360 in terms of graphics quality or depth of games i don't think, but it is a different audience.