klyjen.blog

I renewed my subscription to Reason Magazine today. I had a hard-copy notice in the mail, but I renewed the subscription online because it just seemed like it would be easier.

It was not.

The online renewal form wanted my subscription ID, but it only showed me that information as it would appear on the magazine shipping label. Privacy nut that I am, the first thing I do with magazines is tear off the mailing label and shred it. (I know.) I managed to figure out, through trial and error, which series of numbers from the hard-copy renewal request would bring up my subscription.

I renewed the subscription for three years...as Nick Gillespie's (I type that as if I know him in person, although I do not believe I have ever met the man) cheery letter with the renewal form in the mail told me, it's like getting 7 issues FREE!

Except, not really, because the confirmation e-mail I received after renewing the subscription told me that, by paying online, I paid $2.44 more that what Mr. Gillespie's (so to speak) letter quoted. Not a big deal, of course, as I am quite capable of eating that $2.44, but it irks me just the same.

Posted by Jen at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am happy to report that my company's website lists both a general and support phone number, right on the Contact Us page where you'd expect to find it, rather than hiding it as the companies described in Customer Service: The Hunt for a Human, by Katie Hafner in today's NYT. Hafner describes a series of scenarios wherein website customers are unable to find customer service phone numbers, or who upon finding a number are still unable to get through to a person. The article is an entertaining-by-association read; I too have struggled with Amazon's site, trying to find a phone number for a customer service representative. (I am happy to report that my company lists both a general and support phone number, right on the Contact Us page where you'd expect to find it.)

Thanks to beSpacific for the reference.

Posted by Jen at 02:09 PM | Permalink

A few people have received a plethora of virus files (with various zipped attachments) purporting to be from the "klyjen.net management team" today.

Please be advised that THERE IS NO KLYJEN.NET MANAGEMENT TEAM, and that these are virus messages that did not originate from me. You should not, under any circumstances, open those zip files. Instead, update the virus definitions on your computer and delete the files.

Thanks, and sorry for any inconvenience.

Posted by Jen at 10:07 AM | Permalink

The Economist published an article today about sex discrimination lawsuits and the debate about whether the law is the best way of making the workplace fair.

One could argue back and forth about the lawsuits, but I shall not endeavor to make an argument one way or the other. Instead, I merely point you to the sentence in the article that made me chuckle:

America’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which took the case on, had alleged that the Wall Street investment bank had systematically denied promotion and pay increases to women, and allowed male staff to take clients to strip-clubs and to make crude comments...

This is simply the latest in a long line of sex-bias settlements in the financial-services industry, which is still dominated by white males, some of whom have a less-than-sophisticated sense of humour. [Emphasis added.]

Sometimes you have to just love Brittish humo(u)r.

As a side note, I want to express my appreciation to The Economist for providing links of interest with their articles online. It shows their respect for their readers to acknowledge that other places on the internet (gasp!) might have information about the topics in the article.

Posted by Jen at 05:32 PM | Permalink

Every couple of months, I receive a brochure advertising the works of Edward Tufte, author of Visual Explanations, Envisioning Information, and The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. (Side note: he has seiminars in the DC area on May 11, 12, and 13, 2004.) Included in the brochure is a brief advertisement for The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint, with an absolutely fabulous companion photograph/poster.

My favorite quote from the poster? Comrade, why are we having this meeting? The rate of information transfer is asymptotically approaching zero!

I hate hate HATE almost ALL Powerpoint presentations. They have reduced professionals to five-year olds with crayons: ooh! Add some color here! Add a swirly bullet point there! The rare, useful Powerpoint presentation tends to involve pictures and processes--things like mapping out the steps of a workflow process, for example, where the ability to move forward and backward through the process is important and something like a chalkboard or whiteboard would involve a lot of re-creating of the wheel.

See also: The Making of the Gettysburg Address using the Auto-Content Wizard

Posted by Jen at 03:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)