A quick Christmas list

Usually we make Christmas lists for things we want instead of things we've done. However, every year some people write those Christmas letters listing and describing their accomplishments for the past year. Here's my list:
1) Name change
Following my recent adoption I've done most of the name-change stuff.

2) Followed by another Comcastic moment
Changing the name on my power, gas, bank, email, phone and a ton of other stuff that you have to change when your name changes was really pretty easy. Most of them took a phone call and sometimes an email with my old and new drivers license attached and that was that. Comcast took things to a whole new level of annoying and funny. First of all I couldn't just call. I couldn't email or fax them proof of my new name. I had to go to their office. Really? Yes, I had to go to a building so that their crack customer service staff could inspect my documentation and then change the name on my account. In truth, they inspected my documents, called a supervisor who also inspected my documents and then they gave me a form. They typed in a bunch of stuff on a computer and printed a form. They handed it to me to fill out. Most of what I needed to fill out they had typed into the computer, but it didn't appear on the form. Now that's all pretty Comcastic, but did you know that they accomplished all of this Comcastic customer service from behind one-and-a-half inches of bullet-proof glass? Oh yes.
Don't make your customer service so great that they staff gets thank you Christmas fruitcakes from grateful subscribers. No, protect your customer service staff from the so-angry-that-they-might-become-violent customers.
Way to go Comcast!

3) Didn't give anyone a fruitcake

4) Taught some people about RSS

You see here my Google Reader showing my friend Chris' blog. Until just a bit ago - no RSS. Now... RSS and I can subscribe to his blog. I taught Brooke, and she taught Chris.

I think that's how the Gospel is supposed to work too. Please let me know if you want to know what I mean. brianatkinson [at] mirthmobile [dot] com

Merry Christmas.

PS - ** didn't give anyone this kind of stuff.

Christmas for me

Come on you do it too!
You get yourself a little something-something for Christmas don't you? After-all, what's the spirit of giving without making sure you get just what you want.



This year I got myself some direction in life.
It's an older-model very basic GPS for my car. I set it up with the British English voice, so now I have this exotic sounding car-girlfriend. I'm driving the 16 hours to Gulfport, Mississippi this year. I think I will appreciate this gift to myself.



I also had 5000 Tivo points to use before they expired. So I used them to get another remote. My three-year-old remote is just fine. It works like a champ. But this one has flames! Seriously, how senselessly cool is that?