So I called AT&T/Cingular’s toll free number, 866-293-4634 and told their automated system I have a billing question. And everytime I do that, to speak to a real person, they disconnect me automatically.

EVERYTIME.

Not a very good customer service experience.

Who is that in this blurry picture?

Why, it’s Mark Jen.

Who is Mark Jen? Well… there are some news stories about him.

*HINT* A sample headline reads ‘Blogger Mark Jen Fired from Google’

Here’s his old business card:

Mark’s an interesting guy. Sounds like he’s learned a lot about life in the last few days. And his story just goes to show that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

Here’s a picture of Scoble who was also there:

I’ve met Scoble before, even been interviewed – but I hadn’t been to a geek dinner before. Now I have!

UPDATE: Scoble has posted more about meeting with Mark Jen.

Salon.com Technology | How Bill Gates cured my PMS

Then I realized that Entourage, Microsoft’s information-management program for Mac users, had a “monthly reminder” feature, and I thought my problems were solved. I’d send a reminder message to myself and one to my husband. The monthly fights I picked with him, I imagined, would all be forgiven if he knew the real reason for my hypersensitivity and dismal self-absorption. If hell week came and I attacked him, he’d either ignore me or sweetly put his arms around my shoulders and say, “Here, honey, I think you might need some time to yourself and this bag of chocolate-covered pretzels.”

This is quite possibly the most interesting use of Entourage I’ve heard of yet. Thanks for the mention L. J. Williamson!

Too many choices?

Social psychologists Sheena Iyengar, PhD, a management professor at Columbia University Business School, and Mark Lepper, PhD, a psychology professor at Stanford University, were the first to empirically demonstrate the downside of excessive choice. In a 2000 paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JPSP, Vol. 79, No. 6), the team showed that when shoppers are given the option of choosing among smaller and larger assortments of jam, they show more interest in the larger assortment. But when it comes time to pick just one, they’re 10 times more likely to make a purchase if they choose among six rather than among 24 flavors of jam.

I’ve probably posted this in the past, but it’s still just as interesting.

It’s midnight exactly, and I pounce on OpenTable to try and get a reservation at Per Se for April 9th. And already it says that no tables are available.

I mean, granted there are only 16 tables… but this is ridiculous.

So tonight I stayed tune to watch American Dad following the SuperBowl and the Simpsons.

Mildly put, I was not entertained.

I did not find the show funny.

Usually I laugh out loud at The Family Guy. In fact, lately, in my limited free time, I watch them with great amusement. But American Dad – good grief! I don’t see this show lasting.

Problems:
1. The German goldfish bit is just ridiculous. It seems like a manic version of Brian the dog.

2. The alien that gushes stuff out – is that supposed to be funny? Because, well… it’s not.

3. The Dad – I guess watching someone try to hard just isn’t funny, versus watching someone try not to do anything.

4. Visual gags just aren’t cutting it. Is Osama on an eraser really that funny?

I hope the future episodes get better, but let’s just say that I’m not expecting much.

On the other hand, The Shield returns next month! Woot!

Uh oh. I have a sore throat and a mild headache.

Is this a cold coming on?

It must be Alaska Airline’s fault in some way.

Here’s a random picture I took today onboard the airplane.

You know? I like MD-80’s. I’ll write about this some other time.

Here’s a picture from a freeway heading towards Microsoft: