Ari Jonathan Katz's Blog

New Computer is finally here!

Got my new IBM-LENOVO desktop today… it’s amazing how much faster and quieter it is than my old HP (which had decent speed but was super LOUD). I was willing to spend the money on a new desktop because I am on it so often and I know how much more efficient I will be with this new speedy system.

eBay Savings / Microsoft Cash Back Program

I bought a new computer on eBay last week (it’s one of the only ways to still get Windows XP). In the process, I remembered seeing a blog post about a Cash Back program Windows was doing. Sure enough, after following the instructions (which can be found here) I saved $100 off of my purchase (which represented a 25% discount).

Of course this morning I got a 10% coupon from eBay which needs to be used by the end of the month… I wish it woulda come last week!

Busy Weekend

Had a very busy weekend as my entire family was in town. Shari cooked a delicious meal for Friday night dinner and my sister Tova hosted everyone for Saturday lunch.

Saturday night we went to see the Angelina Jolie movie “Changling” - an excellent movie but very scary (crazy to think that the torture depicted in the movie used to happen on American soil!!).

Yesterday we spent the day at Shari’s grandmother’s 97th birthday, then off to a wedding in NJ, capped with a late night visit to my cousins who just gave birth to a baby girl last week. Needless to say, by the time I hit the pillow last night I was WIPED.

This week figures to be a busy week as well as I have several meetings on tap, as well as Nets-Cavs (King LeBron) tix for tomorrow night… already looking forward to the weekend, :).

1 hour and 51¢ later…

For the last few weeks my DTV box in my bedroom has not been working. Back on 11/3 I called DTV to trouble shoot the problem, and they determined that my receiver was defective and offered to ship me out a new box (under warranty) for free. On 11/5 I received the new box, and after properly installing it, I was suprised that the problem from the first box seemed to have carried over to the new box. Needless to say (despite what my Uncle Neil might say) I have not had the time or the chance to call DTV since then in order to trouble shoot the issue again. Until last night.

I spent about 1 hour on the phone with DTV trying to get the issue resolved, and after finally figuring out what the problem was, I requested a credit for the amount of time that my system was down (from 11/3 until today, 10 days in total). After being placed on hold, the representative came back and let me know that since I still had service in my living room, I was only eligible to a fraction of credit, amounting to a grand total of… 51 cents! What a joke.

Anyways, after some bickering back and forth about what a lousy customer service experience this was, I got the rep to up the credit to $30 total. I think the rep finally caved in when I said instead of DTV’s “Good TV, Better TV, Direct TV” campaign they should use “Bad Customer Service, Worst Customer Service, Direct TV Customer Service.” LOL.

Anyways - at least everything will be up and running for tonight’s Pats-Jets game on the NFL Network. Let’s go Pats! (www.LetsGoPats.com).

Starbucks - still my favorite.

Starbucks has been getting a lot of bad press lately - that’s part of the reason they re-hired their founder Howard Schultz (author of a great book, “Pour Your Heart Into It”) to come back inside and start running the business again. He says he plans to close down lots of their lowest revenue stores (they are, afterall, EVERYWHERE) and I think this will help build the brand back up to where it was 5-7 years as an upscale society of coffee addicts. Less food, more coffee.

Anyways, I just got out of a meeting at the local Stbx here @ 93rd and Broadway, and about 10 minutes after I walked out of the store, my blackberry rang. It was a Stbx employee calling to tell me I had left my notebook on the table (it had my phone number on the front). I was very impressed with this level of customer service.

The reason I am willing to shell out $3+ for coffee/tea is because of this customer service. Can anyone honestly tell me had I left my notebook at the D&D around the corner that I would have ever seen it again?

Politically Incorrect?

Saw Gov. Sarah Palin on TODAY this AM - it was like the Katie Couric interview part II. She looked awful - never gave a straight answer, and just rambled on and on… It was also the first time I actually heard her husband Todd speak - up until now i actually thought he was a mute. Seems like a nice guy, but there’s no questions who wears the pants in that family.

I just can’t shake the feeling i get from Palin - I hate that she can’t give a straight answer - it’s never black and white with her (no pun intended), she always just starts blabbering about some cliche…

ON THE OTHER HAND, tonight I saw Sen. McCain on Jay Leno - he was AMAZING. best line ever - Jay asked him how he’s doing only a week removed from the election - McCain replies: “I’ve been sleeping like a baby… sleep for 2 hours, get up and cry, sleep for 2 hours get up and cry…”… LOL. The truth is (and Jay Leno said this), it’s too bad we didn’t see more of this side of McCain during the campaigns - Shari and I both agree that we like him more and more in the last few weeks after seeing him do some of these more candid interviews (the one at halftime of last week’s MNF game on ESPN was claaaaasic).

Oh well, time to move forward in unity and support President elect Obama - I really do like McCain though… who knows, maybe he’ll run one more time when he’s 76… =)