IMPORTANT UPDATE: The High and Mighty Oz  Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal loves Magic Jack.

It kills him to admit it, but admit it he does…

To my surprise, it worked pretty much as advertised. It has a few drawbacks, and extra fees for added services, such as vanity phone numbers. But I found magicJack easy to set up and easy to use, and it yielded decent, if not pristine, call quality. I even tested customer support—a source of complaints online—and found it friendly, fast and responsive.

It’s been quite a while ago since I first installed Magic Jack. I use Magic Jack for a couple things: when the other phone line is busy, or when I need to make a long distance call to Bangalore to ask Boompa to help me undisunfigure my .dll or some other silly tech support issue.

The first Magic Jack review got hundreds of comments – running about 50/50 good/bad. I never had a bad experience with Magic Jack.

Here’s a site that describes all the features.

I’ve been through some harrowing times with my computer. I got the Antivirus 2009 trojan virus on my computer and it took me about 36 hours (including all the downloading and restarting) to remove it.

Aside: Use Malwarebytes if you get this virus.

I have installed and uninstalled dozens of applications. My point is that every time I booted the computer, Magic Jack came back and worked like a charm.

St. Todd DeCubbville (my BATV installer) purchased one recently from Radio Shack because of the ease of returning it to the store after the trial period.

He never returned it. He is about to go without a landline entirely.
As soon as he gets Google Voice set up and distributed to everyone, he will depend solely on Magic Jack and Sprint for his phone service.

He’s convinced too.
Magic Jack is still rock solid. And I would tell you differently.

This site offers a second opinion on the Magic Jack and it’s future.

A couple days ago I explained how a bunch of goofball writers bought a bunch of stuff at thrift stores and put it on eBay writing lies about the backstory of each item.

Genius was the term I used. Now, I’m changing my tune.

Liars and spammers is who they are.

We’ll be adding a new story every single weekday, through July and August at least. (We’ve gotten a lot of great early press/blog coverage.) The writers are coming up with amazing stuff: Funny, sad, poignant, weird, perverse. And we have some interesting collaborations in the works that will take the story/object team-up in different directions still.

Not only are they liars, they stole the emblem of the Salvation Army!

Fakers Logo

Unfake Logo

I was kidding around before, but today I got some spam from them. And we all know how we love spam.

So I’m just getting the word out. Bidding aside, I hope you’ll check out some of the stories. (Though obviously I’d be thrilled if you chose to support these writers with a bid.) Leave a comment, tell a friend — or just enjoy some very imaginative new fiction, for free. We think it’s a cool way of thinking about objects and value.

Well guess what? Lying and spamming and stealing a charity logo is not “cool.”

Especially when they didn’t link back.

Losers.

Senior citizen discounts are bad for business for a number of reasons:

• everybody does it.

I’m not talking about the Florida eat-at-4-pm deal. I  understand how that make sense. Get the codgers in early and get them out early so the Xers with ankle-biters can move in and destroy the place.  No, I’m referring to the standard, everyday, defacto “real” price for Seniors!. . . 10% Off! Mayhaps when we are more senior, we will start shopping harder and actually seek the restaurant/liquor store/car wash that offers. . . 10% Off! As it stands now, we go to Lonestar, Toot’s, Red Lobster, etc. etc.  order what we order and at some point during the meal remember we are Senior Citizens and tell the waiter to deduct our 10% Off!

• we keep forgetting to ask and nobody volunteers the discount. This happened a lot on vacation in Boston. We would decide to take a tour, pay the price, and at later back at the hotel room, I would read in the tour book or brochure there was a Senior Citizen’s discount.

I guess this is an acquired habit: Just ask wherever we go, whatever we are doing. But would it kill the merchant to offer us a discount when we forget to ask? I have to show I.D. to buy beer at the ballpark. I wouldn’t mine showing an I.D. to get a Senior Citizen’s discount. I would feel good about that 12 year old working at Dairy Queen for having the kindness to give me a discount. I might even forego the sneer when s/he says “there ya go” instead of “thank you.”

• the Senior Citizen’s discount is usually given to people who were going to be there anyway. Kroger. Kroger has Senior Citizen’s Day the first Wednesday of every month. I guess it’s to get those Social Security check shoppers.

Nancy never shops anywhere but Kroger for groceries. Sometimes she shops on the first Wednesday of the month – and HATES it. She says the place is full of old people who don’t know how to park their cars, can’t maneuver a grocery cart, and pay by check.

• anybody can get the Senior Discount. At some places the age break is fifty-five! I have been missing out on some deals for years!

Here’s the deal business owners:

Instead of offering $9.99 entrees and skimping on portions to increase your bottom line, just stop giving away your profits to Senior Citizens. We won’t quit coming to Waffle House or Denny’s or McDonald’s or Francois’s House of Crepes & BBQ just because you stopped your discount. We don’t eat out because it’s cheap. We eat out because we are
1. too lazy to cook,
2. are social, or
3. want to look at other people, rather than the droopy eyed dogs begging at our feet.

Other hard goods merchants? Like gifts and oil changes and liquor and golfballs. . . shopping at your establishment is not a price deal, everybody price matches these days. We shop at your place because it’s a selection or service deal. We like the stuff you sell or the way you treat us. We won’t stop coming back if you keep that 10% Senior Citizen’s discount.

Senior Citizen Discounts are bad for business. But as long as it’s offered, I’m taking. I’m also asking for it every place I go.

The irony? About the only business that doesn’t offer a Senior Citizen’s discount is the medical business. Now there’s a deal worth shopping for: 10% Off!. . . MRI’s! Tuesdays Only!

The ball game got rained out last night and the golf game got rained out today.

Target has crappy customer service.

J.D. writes about things she does so we don’t have to.

You may be shocked, amused, intrigued, bored, or mystified at the things I do, but you’ll never know what’s coming next. You may find that we have a lot in common. Or you may just pity me.

Like endure the stupidest Target policy in the whole retail universe.

The Target policy that says “no sitting on bar stools.”

I needed one bar stool to put by the grill, so I could linger over the flames without having to stand.

Target advertised one that was a likely candidate.

The display model bar stool at Target was on the second shelf – secured so it wouldn’t fall and kill someone.  It also meant I could not sit on it to see if I wanted the 25 inch or the 30 inch stool.

I asked a Target clerk if it could be unsecured – which involved cutting a plastic zip tie with a pair of scissors.

No, it’s secured, replied Target.

I see that, but I would like to sit on it. Could you please cut the zip tie and then put it right back.

No, if we did that, it might fall and injure someone.

Couldn’t the person that put it up there put it back and secure it again?

No, we are not allowed.

Who is?

Mike, the store manager.

Could you call Mike and tell him a customer requested that it be taken down so the customer could sit on it?

*bzzt* (walkie-talkie) Mike can we take down a stool that has been secured?

*bzzt* No, it’s secured so it doesn’t fall on someone.

No, I can’t take it down.

This is what really honks me off: I bought the damn stool.

Target treats a regular, loyal, valuable customer like a insignificant, inconsequential, incontinent fool.

Because. They. Can.

I’m a Target Idiot So You Don’t Have To Be.

Target’s mission (from their website – emphasis mine):

Our mission is to make Target the preferred shopping destination for our guests by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and an exceptional guest experience by consistently fulfilling our Expect More. Pay Less.^® brand promise.

Which is a complete and utter load of crap, today, July 5th, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. CST.

Right now, I hate Target.

And the sun just came out.

We changed from Dish Network to DirectTV when we had St. Todd DeCubbville install our BATV. I actually made the decision based pretty much on price. We got a good price with some free premium channels for a few months free.

But now that we have it, I’m finding that DirectTV is a lot better than Dish Network. We can’t get HiDef on our local network affiliates. Insight Communications, our cableco, just couldn’t figure out how it could be done via Tivo, DirectTV, or their own damn cable.

Actually, the cable guy didn’t even know what Tivo is. Serious. He. Didn’t. Know.

Anyhoo… when the U.S. Open was on NBC, we lost the chance to see it in HiDef. Once you have seen HiDef you know how I was suffering.

BUT: DirectTV had an interactive channel for the U.S. Open (maybe you have seen the commercials for some tennis tournament coming soon?) So I had a choice of four HiDef options:

• four screens at once
• hole #17
• featured pairing
• golfers in depth (features)

The other advantage is the DirectTV DVR records about a tritillion hours of programming. I think Tivo will only record 8 hours.
Plus I could get the leaderboard anytime I wanted, and some other cool junk.

If you are getting satellite television, or would would dump Dish Network for something better, Direct TV will give you $100 off. If you use my secret passcode: 82408932… then I also get $100.

Help fund the Going Like Sixty Dinking Around Foundation. You get $100, I get $100.
All God’s chillen’ get $100.

Buy Direct TV – use this number 82408932.

Give them your DIRECTV account number and tell them to order online at directv.com/refer or by calling 1-800-507-4045. They must have your DIRECTV account number when they order.

And thank you for your support.