I've been meaning to rework my site for quite a while.

For Chris Hill

...In related news you might have known that Auburn Alabama did not win a National title this year.  Alabama's season was successful, but not the same level of success the The University of Alabama Auburn University.  They proved too good for the rest of the NCAA and brought the BCS title and trophy home recently.  So what do you do with a BCS National Title and a pretty glass trophy?

One of the first places the BCS trophy was delivered to was ... wait for it... WalMart.

Fun kinetic type video from Al Yankovic. Pretty well-done, but with a couple of kerning problems early on (that's the designer in me).

There have been more than than a few co-workers I would've loved to have sent this to over the years. :-) 

Last night on the local news they ran a story about a Murfreesboro woman who was shocked when her custom license plate was rejected by the state of Tennessee.

Her requested customized plate: ILVTOFU

Depending on your mindset that either reads I love tofu or I love to know you in a Biblical sense.

In the video piece on WMCTV, we are supposed to believe that the woman is naive enough to not know what FU means, she just innocently loves PETA and thinks we should eat tofu instead of tasty animals.

Immediately, my BS detector went off and a Google search confirms it.

This is a PETA stunt that was first tried in 2009 in Colorado. Expect to see this pop up in other states. It lead the news last night, it’s currently the lead news item on WMCTV, The Memphis Business Journal has it on their site so it apparently worked in Tennessee.

It’s brilliant marketing because it’s the kind of thing that’ll get tossed around at the proverbial water cooler, but it’s completely a fake story being reported as news. Textbook propaganda.

One of the factors that limits the amount of times I blog these days is the amount of time it takes me to write a regular entry. Our headmaster at school can write a 12 page blog entry in his sleep, but it takes me a bit longer.

I always wanted a way to quick-share the things I find interesting in my Google Reader feeds. For a long time, I used their share feature where you can share with other Google Reader users. Only about 2 people are actually using that feature, it would seem. I have included that stuff here on my blog at the bottom of the home page as well, but with the news that major changes are coming to Google Reader, which will do away with shared items in favor of Google+, with increases the number of people actually using that feature from 2 to 3—nearly no one is using Google+ as far as I can tell—it’s time for a new strategy.

So expect to see more short-style links here about politics, technology, and what-not.

We signed a contract with Window Wizard of Southaven, MS to install new windows in late March.

Our final color decision was made and final measurements were made in mid-May. From that point, we were told installation was no more than 3 weeks away.

It is now September 20, and we have had numerous canceled installation appointments, and we can't get our calls answered.

In retrospect, after looking at several "don't get ripped off by contractor" postings online, we were suckers.

We paid a $2800 deposit upfront. "To purchase the windows," we were told by Walt Holcomb (also operating as Superior Window and Door Co. of Adamsville, TN). "Now that you have signed a contract, you're the boss. You tell us what to do and when to do it."

At best that was a gross distortion and at worst that was a lie.

I work at a school, and though I am a 12 month employee, my schedule is more flexible in the summer, making it much easier for me to be around for a couple of days while windows were installed. We went to the whole summer with delay after delay and excuse after excuse.

We should have known better. The company had no rating with the Better Business Bureau. I know that the BBB is on one level a scam, but you should probably pay attention when a company has multiple negative reports. Since March, Window Wizard LLC, (operated by Richard Dean Holcomb, and Walt Holcomb) has 3 negative reports.

I found evidence of some other online negative reviews that were cached, but removed. So we're obviously not alone here.

If you've ever heard Dave Ramsey talk about paying "stupid tax," that's us. We just paid it. I don't believe the company ever has any intention of installing our windows, nor would I want them to at this point. I don't trust them anymore. We asked for our money back by today. Never heard back from them.