Monthly Archives: July 2011

Jackass meet the Stupid human trick

Posted on by
Reply

When I was a kid I loved to skateboard and I was kinda dumb also. I would skate down Hanson lane until my parents caught me. My skateboard would be confiscated but I’d get another one and or rescue mine from the trash. One dumb day I decided it was a good idea to slalom skate on a tow line behind a car. This was before good equipment was designed so I had sneakers on and gloves I think. I won’t mention the driver, but after about mile into our stupid human trick we had the cops chasing us. My friend thought it was a good idea to drive off and ended up speeding down the soap box derby hill on quaker ridge, forgetting that I was now on a skate board doing about 60 right behind him. When the siren came on he pulled over and I rode down the off ramp to Pine brook boulevard. I thought I was clear until another cop came and got me. I remember not getting my skateboard back that day and also talking my way out of a JD card. I think New Rochelle was the last city to stop issuing them. It was the 70’s, the JD cards were so 1950’s but more importantly lost in all this was the first ever jackass meets the stupid human trick.

So Apple, where exactly did my pictures go?

Posted on by
Reply
Overview_herobox_20101020

I renewed my flickr account yesterday for Skip Bensley aka Brilliant Video. I noticed however that lots of pictures were missing.
I had shot 100’s of pictures for MITX, Social Media Club Boston, and at other social events and the pictures were gone. It wasn’t that they
were not visible because of the lapsed account mind you they were gone baby gone. It appears that when I transferred all my data
off of my old editing Machine to the new one that the pictures did not all transfer. It also appears that Iphoto 11 overrides your settings for
Iphoto 09. It might have been good to note before I linked my accounts, but that part was done automatically.

Ahhhh the sweet irony in convenience programming is astounding sometimes. Fortunately I backed up these pictures and I will be uploading them again.
So if you see tweets about pictures that are old, or some pictures that you have seen flash by on friend feed don’t despair you are not in a time warp.
My new Apple computer is.

Cheers

Skip Bensley
http://about.me/SkipBensley

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field I’ll meet you there” – Rumi

Please consider the environment when forwarding, responding to or printing this email.

Bye Bye Netflix

Posted on by
Reply
Logo
Netflix has decided to double their initial offering, making me pay twice as much for the streaming movies and one at a time DVD’s. 
Here is the nice letter I got from Netflix today.
Dear ROBERT, ( I hate that,  nobody calls me Robert btw except people with badges that say Robert do you know how fast you were going?)

We are separating unlimited DVDs by mail and unlimited streaming into two separate plans to better reflect the costs of each. Now our members have a choice: a streaming only plan, a DVD only plan, or both.

Your current $9.99 a month membership for unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs will be split into 2 distinct plans:

   Plan 1: Unlimited Streaming (no DVDs) for $7.99 a month
   Plan 2: Unlimited DVDs, 1 out at-a-time (no streaming) for $7.99 a month

Your price for getting both of these plans will be $15.98 a month ($7.99 + $7.99). You don’t need to do anything to continue your memberships for both unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs.

These prices will start for charges on or after September 1, 2011.

You can easily change or cancel your unlimited streaming plan, unlimited DVD plan, or both, by going to the Plan Change page in Your Account.

We realize you have many choices for home entertainment, and we thank you for your business. As always, if you have questions, please feel free to call us at 1-888-357-1516.

–The Netflix Team

Dear Netflix team  I don’t want to change, and I don’t want to pay you more money for the privilege to make that choice. Its nice that you pull this crap after most of your
competition has died off, that’s very cable TV of you to do. I suspect I am not the only customer you have angered with this change, and I certainly won’t be the last.
Good Luck with everything.
Skip

Geneva Illinois

Posted on by
Reply

I was born in Chicago but I lived in Geneva Illinois growing up until I was 6. I had a few pals Steve lemon, Mark ST Pierre, and John folk. I was a bit younger but I was brave. When they made a club house in the attic of a garage I climbed the ladder with the big kids. I learned to ride a big bike by accident when I stole my sisters new bike and my grand mother called me to get home. Riding the bike back home was my first ride. Geneva has grown lots since I lived there but it still maintains a small town atmosphere. In the winter all the shops have Christmas lights and it’s like a Norman Rockwell painting. I did not live in Geneva long, but I have fond memories of the stores, the store owners and that the people were all very nice. Everyone knew everybody else and you went to Benson’s for boys stuff and to Marilyn Michaels for girls stuff. You bought gifts at the little traveler, and you browsed the 5&10 like everyone else in town on Saturday’s. I imagine they are all still pretty nice today. I will have to go back sometime and find out.
(Photo from coolkayaker1 )

Is social media making you a lazy real friend?

Posted on by
Reply
I find that social media is getting in the way of getting to know people better. I have had many people on Facebook that I have had almost no connection with. Ideally I thought I would get to know that person better personally but the opposite happened. I lost contact with a few people I really wanted to get to know better. Life is funny that way. I trimmed my list again recently. I deleted people I had no contact with at all and people who never responded to emails I sent them. Rude might be fashionable in some circles but not mine.