All Good Things...

(I think that actually WAS the title of a TV series finale...)

One of my favorite shows ended its official run on television last Friday evening. Stargate SG-1 ended after an impressive 10-season run. Save two movies that are scheduled to run this fall, the adventures of Jack O'Neill (aka McGyver), Teal'c, Daniel Jackson, Cam Mitchell, General Hammond, General Landry, Vala (what a babe), and Sam Carter (what an even hotter babe), have come to a bittersweet end - although Sam will be starring on Stargate Atlantis starting this fall, for which I am very thankful.

The series finale wasn't impressive. They could have at least given us a two-hour event. Instead they utilized an hour to tweak sci-fi elements of a previously used story (Stargate fans will know what I'm talking about) into another story that resolved almost nothing -- and left many unanswered questions.

Thankfully in Stargate's case, the upcoming movies should bring additional closure to the show. But it seems to be a trend now that when shows are ending, they just end badly. If they know ahead of time the show is ending, they tend to write some lame finale, resolving some questions but leaving many unanswered. If they're just pulled off the air, we don't get any resolution.

And it seems that the biggest offenders are sci-fi and action shows. Threshold, Surface, and Invasion were all pulled with no warning. Star Trek Enterprise's finale was just lame, as was Star Trek Voyager's. JAG's was okay, but still pretty bad.

The Wonder Years, one of my other favorite shows of all-time, ended with perhaps the one of the biggest questions in television history: Did they or didn't they?

Quantum Leap had one of the most frustrating series finales. It was bittersweet, answered many questions, reunited lost loves (Al and Beth -- still one of my favorite television scenes ever), but Sam never got to go home. I've been hoping for years that they would resolve this show with a movie. The lobbying efforts do still continue for this....

Viewers like myself often spend years watching a show evolve and change, and at the end hope for a farewell worthy of their respect. Whatever happened though to putting heart into the end of an era, a chapter in someone's life and in a television show's life? Growing Pains, Family Ties and MASH had excellent finales. My favorite all-time finale is probably that of Cheers.

Here's to Norm, Sammy, Diane, Fraiser, Rebecca, Carla, Cliff, Woody, and Coach.

Unrelated Topics On the Mind

I feel bad I haven't blogged in a few weeks. I have a few things that I want to just mention really quickly though. I may expand on these in the very near future, but for now I just wanted to get these out of my brain and onto paper (or the web, as the case may be)

1. Thomas Ravenel
For those of you who are unfamiliar with who Thomas Ravenel is, he is the (suspended) South Carolina State Treasurer. Earlier this week he was indicted on drug-related charges. This guy seemed sleezy from the get-go. He's just one of those types of people that looks like you can't trust him from the minute he opens his mouth. I am a die-hard, card carrying member of the GOP but this guy just is like nails on chalkboard. In every election since I was 18 I voted a straight Republican ticket - except in 2006. The one non-party line vote I have ever cast in my life was for Ravenel's Democratic opponent, Grady Patterson, who had been in office for years.

People like Ravenel are the reason why most of the nation thinks South Carolinians are an uneducated bunch of inbred hicks. He is an embarassment to the entire state. I don't understand why in the world ANYONE in a position like his would even think of being involved in anything remotely illegal. Yet politicians do it all the time. Again, this is a case of someone of status thinking they are above the law. And, fortunately for the justice system, the law caught up to him, yet unfortunately for the state of South Carolina, it makes us look like a bunch of drugged up rednecks. Thanks Thomas.

2. 9 Heroes
On a sad and tragic note....
Nine Charleston firefighters died earlier this week when the roof of a mattress store collapsed onto them as they were searching the store, which was engulfed in a massive fire, for anyone remaining inside. It was the highest loss of firefighters in a single instance since September 11, 2001. My thoughts and prayers go out to each and every family member and friend of each of these brave men.

3. Get in the game, Fred
Fred Thompson is polling very well right now, despite the fact he is not officially a candidate for president. A lot of people are saying he will bring a return a Reaganesque era to Washington. Frankly, I would like to see that. I think Thompson is really the only true unifying candidate the GOP is going to have and the only one who will be able to topple Hillary. Edwards and Obama are both a joke. The GOP can take them out of this game with relative ease if either survives the primary.

That's it for now.... more to come on Friday.

A Very Touching Tribute

I think every American needs to watch this. This video was made by a 15-year-old girl and was one of the top viewed videos on You Tube last week, and is dedicated to our troops. It is very hard to get through but I think it shows tremendous support, faith, and love for our troops - which I think more people need to show.

This war is being fought for many reasons. We may not fully understand or agree with some of those reasons, but these men and women are away from their families, they are fighting for the freedom of each and every American, and they are giving their lives each day. My only wish is that every American would be as understanding and supportive as the girl who composed this video.

Mom! It's Not Right!

ROTFLMAO!!!!

My hat is off to LA. Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer for throwing Paris Hilton back in jail!

I shook my head in disgust yesterday when she was released from jail for supposedly having some sort of medical condition. Now to see today that pompous, self-righteous Paris Hilton's bubble burst and she wasn't able to circumvent the justice system is a flicker of hope for those who are tired of seeing celebrities get away with things.

Celebrities need to know that acting like a spoiled brat and thinking they can get away with anything they want is not acceptable. What is especially not acceptable is for the justice sytem not to do something about people defying the law three times. One time should be enough for someone to be arrested and charged for their crime. Allowing her to slide through two warnings and only be arrested on the third is completely unacceptable. People, regardless of their status, should have to face the ultimate consequences for every instance of every crime they commit. There should be no leeway for people who commit crimes.

Of course, there have been countless instances where people of status and celebrity have gotten away with infractions, crimes, and the disrespect of the justice system and/or people of lower socioeconomic status. O.J. Simpson is probably one of the most famous examples of this -- a murderer never convicted of the crime just because he could afford the very best attorneys possible.

I am so tired of celebrities and the status in which popular culture holds them. I am tired of wealthy people as a whole thinking they are better than people who don't have much money, of them holding their nose up in the air, of them showing off their money by buying the expensive cars and houses and throwing it in people's face.

I hope this will be a sign to celebrities and wealthy people that there is justice in this country. Having money may help, but thankfully there are judges like Judge Sauer who will put their foot down against celebrities, socialites, and wealthy people who commit crimes and make sure that the rules do apply to them.

People who commit crimes, regardless of the crime and their own personal status, deserve to serve the maximum sentence applicable under the law. There are many cases in which I feel maximum sentences are too light. But as long as law-abiding citizens have the power to influence the judicial system, we need to make sure that we keep judges like this gentleman in office and push for more stringent laws and criminal justice procedures.

Yes, the criminal justice system in America is drastically underfunded. Yes, our prisons are overcrowded. And I understand that those are two of the major reasons why the justice system as a whole lets people slide sometimes. We need to seriously address those respective areas. But at the same time, we need to address rampant leniency in the justice system.

Enjoy being in jail Paris. You deserve it.

Why do I do this?

Ever since probably ninth grade I've tried to test the limits of my ability to stay up late.

It started off basically because I just wanted to stay up late. I wanted to be able to tell my friends "Dude, I was up until 2 a.m. last night." Whoa, cool man, were you like watching the latest heavy metal videos on MTV? Yes, from time to time I was. Or I was still working on homework that I should have done hours before.

In college -- well, staying up late in something that you just do. You go out partying. You're hanging out until 3 in the morning just talking about the latest topic of choice. You're plastering newspaper all over a friend's pickup truck at 3 am with campus police sitting a nearby patrol car watching and laughing their asses off at the situation. You're working on some homework that you should have done hours ago. Or you're on a VAX dial-up account and have discovered the world of BBSing, of GOPHER, of Lynx, of YTALK, and all kinds of really cool text based things you could do on your computer -- and imagining all the possibilities if this technology really takes off. Sooner or later you look at the clock and you're like "Is it really 5 a.m.?" So you grab a few hours of sleep before your 8 o'clock class. When your alarm goes off at 10 til 8, you throw on some deoderant, gargle some mouthwash, grab the closest, cleanest clothes and a baseball cap, and run to class.

Now as an adult, I've turned the past few years into trying to keep up with my younger self. But I do it by bringing my job home. Not that I need to do this -- I just like to stay one step ahead. Okay, so I get distracted by the TV. And chores. And my wife asking me to turn off the computer. So when I get to a point where I can sit down and work on what I wanted to work on, it's 11:30 at night. I wrap up at anywhere from midnight to 1:30 -- depending on how tired I am.

A couple weeks ago, I was falling asleep around 10 o'clock every night for about two weeks. I guess my body was trying to tell me something.

The wife and I went out with a friend of ours to a local bar a couple months ago to hear a really good group called Tokyo Joe (an awesome group). They played basically until the place shut down. I felt like crap for an entire week afterward.

So here I am in the wee hours of the morning and I'm blogging because I feel bad that I haven't posted in several days. I should have gone to bed hours ago. Spent some time watching Deadliest Catch with the wife, burned some CDs, did about 1 hour worth of work, and here I am. I have to be at a meeting for work at 7 am. It will take about 50 minutes to get there. That means I need to be out of bed no later than 5:50 am. Why do I do this?

When Pressing Zero Doesn't Work

I typically don't enjoy confrontation. As a matter of fact, I try to avoid it.

But calling customer service numbers really gets me riled up sometimes. Generally the hold times are enough to anger me. I spend 10, 20, 30 minutes waiting to talk to someone - and when I finally get to talk to someone, in the middle of the conversation they ask if they can put me on hold for no good reason.

NO YOU CANNOT PUT ME ON HOLD - I JUST SPENT 30 MINUTES WAITING TO TALK TO YOU. YOU ARE A MORON. DO YOU THINK I WANT TO WAIT LONGER?

"Sure, fine, go ahead" -- and so I wait for them to come back on the phone. Drumming my fingers on the desk.

So for today's story, I just had a really fun experience that took me nearly an hour to resolve.

This started with a notice I received in the mail a few days ago saying I had not submitted a UPC along with a rebate form for a cell phone I recently purchased. Which I had. I cut it off the box and included it with the rebate application, stapled to it at that, just like the instruactions said, and mailed it off. Then I get this notice.

So I call the phone number listed on the notice. Go through the automated menu -- several dozen times. No obvious way to talk to a rep -- it's all "Press 1 for a FAQ on this", "Press 2 for a FAQ on that." I press "0" repeatedly. With a lot of systems, doing this will put you in touch with an agent. Not this time. It instantly hangs up. So I call the headquarters of the rebate company.

"We're sorry. The only number we can give you is the one you already have," they say.

"A lot of good you are," I say, as I hang up. Then I call my cell phone provider. They give me the same blasted number. So I call it back. Go through every submenu, selecting every option. Finally I get an option to talk to a real person. By this time my blood is boiling and I'm about to go off on someone.

Luckily, this person was pretty understanding. They told me that there IS a record that I submitted a UPC. She didn't know why I was sent the notice that started this whole debacle in the first place, and she authorizes my rebate check. Problem solved.

Sort of.

In my eyes, the problem won't ever be totally solved until they either eliminate automated menus and your call goes directly to a customer service agent -- or they tell you up front on the main menu of their automated system that you can press "0" or whatever to talk to a real person.

What they have in place I wouldn't call customer service at all. Technology and computers are great and all, but sometimes I just wish we could have prevented automated menus from ever being invented. I generally get better customer service from the person behind the speaker at the McDonald's drive thru when they ask me if I want fries with my order.