March 21, 2007
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A New Day
Apologies for the fact that I kept adding to that last post. I thought it important to keep those entries all together in the same stream of consciousness for a while. I know it was a lot to digest, but when I look back at it years from now, I will be glad that all of those random thoughts seem cohesive. I have several little things to mention today.
First, because I admire his work so much as a young photographer, kudos to Blake for posting some great photographs of the protests last weekend to mark the fourth anniversary of this unjust war (which were barely covered in the mainstream press by the way). Few people his age have the passion, talent and drive to take such consistently good photos. On top of that, he is able to articulate through his chosen art forms, the chaos and the beauty that abounds in the world today. Check his work out at: http://www.pbase.com/blaketake
Mika and I finally went to see “300” tonight at The Grove. It really was the “feel good movie of the year” LOL. It definitely was a visual smorgasbord. The TV commercials make the effects look more unpleasant and dark than they actually were, but they definitely worked, especially for bringing a graphic novel to the movie screen (think Sin City meets Kill Bill) This is definitely not your mother’s Spartacus (or Gladiator for that matter)! It was a guilty pleasure though if you look at it as a graphic novel brought to the screen and not an epic historical drama. It didn’t take itself too seriously and was actually quite campy. Xerxes, looked liked many of the drag queens you might see out in West Hollywood on any given night
And although the Spartans were truly known as great warriors who raised their sons for military and physical dominance starting at age 7, I’ve never seen a statue of Leonidis that showed the Spartan King with abs of steel! I imagine most history scholars would bristle at some of the liberties taken in regards to ancient Sparta (I hardly think they referred to their women as “M’ Lady”, though they were know to have the best manners of anyone in Ancient Greece), but the story/legend in the movie was fairly/loosely historically accurate. The Battle of Thermopylae is often cited as the first of the “Last Great Stands”.
Mika brought up the inevitable comparison to what’s happening in today’s political climate and it is apropos. I read this on MSNBC and I thought it was an interesting observation:Is the Greek hero, King Leonidas of Sparta, intended to carry echoes ofPresident Bush, or does that distinction belong to his enemy, thePersian emperor Xerxes? Could it be that the Greeks, who pridethemselves on their fighting skills and their knowledge of theirterrain, correspond to Afghanistan’s fighters? Do the Persians suggestan invading force lost in a quagmire partly of their own making?Oh, and by the way, if you didn’t know, the actor who played Xerxes is none other than the Brazilian soap star/actor Rodrigo Santoro who’s currently starring on Lost. Quite the transformation, don’t you think?
(ed: my vote goes to Bush as Xerxes! )
Finally tonight, I’ll end with something I thought was pretty funny. Again, I’m still trying to figure out how to control my temper while mainly doing 2 things: driving in LA, and calling up any corporate entity bigger than my local video store. I have a hard time tolerating stupidity, and being Italian I tend speak loudly and authoritatively. You may have remembered a letter I emailed recently to one of the banks that holds the mortgage on my investment properties. The letter was vicious, but accurate and authoritative (though in hindsight the dishonest criminals who rape people… part may have been a bit over the top, LOL).
After writing the email and getting a form letter response, I had to call them today. Practicing my best “anger management” skills, I called, and after navigating through the obligatory satanic phone tree, a customer service representative answered; for the sake of anonymity, we’ll call him Mark. (I suspect he might read this, and I wish him no ill will.) As soon as he answered I politely asked to speak to a supervisor. He told me he would see if one was available. When he came back, he said that they were all tied up, but he could have someone give me a call back or he could try to help me. I asked how long it would take for a supervisor to call me back and he said 48 to 72 hours, at which point I laughed.
He said he would try to help me, and I said, “Are you sure you want to do that?” He said he could try. I said, “OK, but here are the ground rules:”- I am going to read you a letter I wrote to your company. It is a long letter and I would like you to listen without commenting
- I will then read you your company’s canned response to said letter
- I will next read a letter you sent me in the mail contradicting what your website is telling me
- Once all this is done, you can let me know if you can help me
When we were through, I told him that although I trusted him to make all of these changes; I had no way of holding him accountable if the changes did not end being made as promised. I asked him to write me an email detailing everything he did (expecting the canned response, “We don’t have access to email”, which I hear 99.9% of the time; and I usually respond, “Then send it to me from your Yahoo when you get home tonight, you Yahoo!”). Again to my amazement he told me he would send me an email.
The customer service gods were clearly smiling on me today, and “Mark” wasn’t even in India! I thanked him, and we hung up. A few minutes later I received the following email:
From: Mark
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 5:07 PM
To: Carey
Subject: 3/20 Phone Conversation Overview of Loan #xxxxxxx
Carey,
I spoke with you today concerning your loan with XXXX. I resubmitted the draft for $xxxx.xx to make the payment due on 3/15/07. I also setup your ACH draft for the 30th of the month starting on 4/30/07 in the amount of $xxxx.xx. This amount was to accommodate the daily interest (DSI) which your loan payment is based on. I also checked our credit reporting dept. and can confirm that there has been no negative reporting done byus on this loan. There will also be no fees assessed on your account and no
fees associated with your ACH draft. Thank you for your patience with this situation.
To which I replied:
From: Carey
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 5:35 PM
To: Mark
Subject: RE: 3/20 Phone Conversation Overview of Loan #xxxxxxx
Thanks Mark, I appreciate your help.
Now, you’d think that would have been the end of it, right? But if you know me, you know there has to be more to the story! About an hour later, I received another email from “Mark”. It read as follows:
From: Mark
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 5:49 PM
To: Carey
Subject: RE: 3/20 Phone Conversation Overview of Loan #xxxxxxx
I apologize for contacting you for non-business reasons but I have a question for you. I have been looking into attending the ____ ____ ____ on Sunset Blvd which I see is just a few miles from your house. My question is about the neighborhood in that area and if you could recommend any locations for me to look into as far as living arrangements. Once again sorry for contacting you on a non-business matter.
Mark
Customer Care Agent
To which I replied:
From: Carey
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 5:56 PM
To: Mark
Subject: RE: 3/20 Phone Conversation Overview of Loan #xxxxxxx
No problem. How long will you be staying? There are some short term rentals available, but they are rather pricey. Depending on your price range I might be able to make some suggestions for accommodations. Let me know. Thanks –Carey
To which he replied:
From: Mark
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 6:02 PM
To: Carey
Subject: FW: 3/20 Phone Conversation Overview of Loan #xxxxxxx
The stay would be for a year. My budget is not large at all. I don’t need much more that a bed and a shower and somewhere to set a microwave, I’m just not having a lot of luck with online searching for places to live so I thought I would contact someone from the area.
Mark
Customer Care Agent
I don’t think I need to continue, but you get the idea, LOL. Now I should tell you that I told “Mark” that I had already posted my vicious complaint letter on my blog, naming his company, and putting it in the public domain that they were a terrible company to deal with. He also knew the name of my blog, because it was in my email signature. So, long story long, I have decided to remove his company’s name from the blog posting in question Ai’nt I sweet?? LOL. I have been asked however to keep the complaint letter in the “public domain” as a template for future complaint letters, which I’m more than happy to oblige. Note: I have not removed United Airline’s name from my last complaint letter!
So now you know why I’m up until 5 in the morning most nights. Crazy.
