Monthly Archives: July 2012

Voting with Your Wallet…Even if You’re in the Minority

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I’m a big proponent of voting with your wallet. No, I don’t care if it will take a particular business down or not. I’m just talking about you, your money, and your opinions.

Don’t like the way a company does business? Vote with your wallet. Crappy customer service? Vote with your wallet.

Look, it’s YOUR money. Spend it in places you like – don’t be a sheep. I have several places I’m boycotting at the moment for various reasons. They will not see ONE DIME of my money.

That said, if you want to spend your money on a particular place – go right ahead. Last time I checked this was America and you could spend your cash where you wanted to.

The beauty of voting with your wallet is this: if enough people are as annoyed as you are, the business in question will either a) have to change its ways or b) go under. If enough people still patronize it…well, there you go.

I know, how very Libertarian of me.

YOUR wallet, YOUR choice. You may not be able to bring a business down all by yourself, but consistently spending your hard earned dollars in places that are in line with your beliefs is a good start. Once again, the Libertarian in me says let the majority rule.

No one is forcing you to support business you don’t like. But if enough people do, you have to respect their decisions, even if you don’t agree with them. It’s called Libertarianism. Welcome to the club.

By the same token, the supporters of business you don’t like need to STFU and stop trying to convert everyone, already. If I like Burger King, for example, stop trying to convert me to the Cult of McDonald’s. Gah.

Apartment Etiquette, Part I

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I spent 11 of my 16 years in Colorado as a renter. Last year I sold my condo and went from renter to homeowner to renter again.

My thoughts.

1) As you can see based on the math, I was a renter a LOT longer than I was an owner. You can also see that I basically went from apartment renter to condo owner to apartment renter. So, as you can see, since I moved here in 1993, I have ALWAYS lived in what is lovingly known as “high-density housing”.

2) You get loud neighbors and LOUD neighbors. I generally have always tried to live on the top floor of an apartment complex because my “upstairs” neighbors ALWAYS seem to either a) weigh 300 lbs. or b) jumprope in the livingroom or c) have kids they have never taught not to RUN AND JUMP in the apartment (which I have never understood, because my parents raised me with manners). Because it’s all about THEM, yanno. *queue eyeroll*.

3) You can complain until you’re blue in the face, but at some point, ANY rental agency is going to say, “I don’t care that you’ve STFU and paid your rent for 15 years, we FINALLY rented the place above you! STFU!

They really think two rents is a win. Is it? If you really think my 7 year-rental-as-a-single-woman-with-a-cat who bothered nobody is better than your new-couple-with-three-screaming-brats who are annoying the entire neighborhood is better, take your money and run. Because my stable, rent-paying ass it out of here. RIGHT FREAKING MEOW.

For now, I’m working on a top floor apartment. And trust me, no one will ever know I was ever up there. Because I have consideration for my fellow apartment dwellers, unlike the idiots that live upstairs from me. God, I miss the days when that apartment was empty…

Kill Your Cable, Part Deux

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Some of you (I’d say many, but yeah, I’m not THAT popular) have read Kill Your Cable. This is the next iteration, based on my move to Loveland and having to work out a few changes.

First of all, sad to say, I’m in a high rise in downtown Loveland in which my apartment is too low and faces the “wrong” way and I can no longer use an antenna to get free local HD channels. Yeah, I cried for about ten minutes. It is what it is, but I think I’m going to have to move to the fourth floor now, because my upstairs neighbors are going to turn me into Jack Torrance from The Shining. I’m just sayin’.

ANYWAY, I needed a workaround. I already had Netflix, which I love (even though I was more than a little upset at their “let’s split streaming and DVD” policy – I got over it – I disc + streaming is STILL cheaper than cable).

I discovered Hulu+.

So, rounded, $17/month for Netflix one disc at a time plus unlimited streaming and Hulu+ at $8/month is $25/month. When I was paying for basic analog Comcast, it was $50/month, at least. Yes, I still pay Comcast around $60/month for Internet but I was doing that anyway.

Also, NOW I’m not subject to 57 Hispanic/Religious/Shopping channels that I a) don’t want b) don’t care about and c) dont need OR want to pay for.

WHEN will cable companies figure out that a la carte is the way to go? I’d LOVE to get HBO and would be willing to pay for the privilege, if they didn’t make me subsidize the crap channels I don’t want in the process.

Libertarianism needs to come to cable, and right freaking now. PAY ATTENTION, COMCAST!!!!!!

Whatcha Readin’ 2012 Edition

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So, June is officially over, so it’s time for…drumroll please…the half-year reading list! Here’s what I’ve read so far this year:

Dead Beat – Jim Butcher
Rose Madder – Stephen King (reread)
All the Rage – F. Paul Wilson
Why We Get Fat (and What to Do About It) – Gary Taubes
Night Shift – Stephen King (reread)
High Deryni – Katherine Kurtz
God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything – Christopher Hitchens
Proven Guilty – Jim Butcher
Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother’s Boyfriend – Barbara A. Oakley
‘salem’s Lot – Stephen King (reread)
White Knight – Jim Butcher
Small Favor – Jim Butcher
Turn Coat – Jim Butcher
Changes – Jim Butcher
Side Jobs – Jim Butcher
Ghost Story – Jim Butcher
Hosts – F. Paul Wilson
Dracula’s Guest: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories – Michael Sims
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation – Lynne Truss
The Haunted Air – F. Paul Wilson
H.P. Lovecraft: Complete and Unabridged – H.P. Lovecraft
The Wind Through the Keyhole – Stephen King
Something from the Nightside – Simon R. Green
Deadlocked – Charlaine Harris
Agents of Light and Darkness – Simon R. Green
Too Good to Leave, too Bad to Stay – Mira Kirchenbaum
Brothers to the Death – Darren Shan
The Shining – Stephen King (reread)
Nightengale’s Lament – Simon R. Green
Gateways – F. Paul Wilson
Hex and the City – Simon R. Green

What are YOU reading? Post in the comments – I’m always looking for good books.