thomascochran.com

I have a had a yearlong dispute with Comcast due their overwhelming incompetence and inability to communicate effectively. This speaks volumes to the fact that they have the worst possible customer service I have ever had the privilege of experiencing.

I discontinued my cable TV service with them at the end of March 2007. It is now the middle of May 2008, 400+ days later and I still have unresolved billing issues. At the closing of my account I asked if there was anything I needed to do (including returning the cable box) and they stated that I was all set. This seemed strange to me, but nevertheless, I followed their advice and assumed the account was closed.

Fast forward to the fall of 2007, I receive a notice from a Credit Protection Associtaion, a collections agency in Dallas, TX stating that I owed $420 due to a delinquent account with Comcast. They were claiming that I stole their equipment, so I quickly dug the cable box out of storage, took an afternoon off work and drove it to the Comcast office in DC.

I finally returned the equipment that, 8 months prior, they were uninterested in reclaiming. Explaining my situation, I told her that I needed the issue to be resolved with the collection agency in Dallas because I no longer owed Comcast anything and my account was cleared. I took the equipment return receipt and with a couple clicks of the keyboard she confirmed that I was good to go.

Fast forward another several months and my cell phone rings. It’s a representative from Credit Protection Association saying that my deliquent account with Comcast has been reported to national credit agencies and my credit score has been negatively impacted. At this point, I want to reach through the phone and punch the customer service agent in the face because I’ve been taken for a yearlong ride with these two companies and neither of them seems to know what’s going on.

Three more calls to Comcast, two to Credit Protection Association, followed by faxing the equipment return receipt and I still don’t have this ding on my credit report fixed. It’s un-fucking-believable how many hoops you have to jump through to clean up a mess like this. How many incompetent, unmotivated, temp-employees do I have to talk to before I get this resolved?

Mark my words, once I have a grudge against a company, it’s a lifetime ban. There will never be Comcast in my home as long as I live.

Well, I’m sitting in Kowloon City, Hong Kong, preparing for New Year’s festivities and I can’t help but reflect back on a wild 2007. With the perspective of time, I look back and can say with certainty that after a little rocky ride in the summer, I have had a series of incredibly fun experiences since my 30th birthday in August.

I saw the Black Crowes on my birthday and then went to see the Counting Crows, Live, and Collective Soul later that week. Lawrence and I threw a big celebratory party at my house and had maybe 80 people and an ice luge in the basement. I visited my sister and her kids down in Charleston. I took a trip up to Burlington to see old friends from Exeter that I hadn’t seen in a while. I took a brief visit up to Exeter with my sister Anne, her husband Colby, and their little boy Mac. I had a great conversation with Mr. Weatherspoon reflecting on my life and he had some very insightful advice. The next day Colby and I decided it was well worth it, and pretty much imperative, that we attend game 7 of the ALCS at Fenway, so of course we went.

Shortly thereafter I took a trip across the pond to reconnect with old friends in Dundee, Scotland. It was fantastic to see them all again after ten years, and I hope to make that a regular trip now. Lawrence and I threw a sequel party and had even more people this time and yet another ice luge, but this time it didn’t melt all over the basement floor.

Now to close out the year, I’m currently in Hong Kong visiting my buddy Mike after spending several days in Vietnam and Cambodia with my dad. This has certainly been the crowning experience of the last five months.

I try to make a few lists here and there in my daily life and I think it’s important to list the things that I’ve learned in 2007. The first is that nothing can replace strong relationships with family and friends. They are extremely important to me and will always be. Second is everyone should strive to live their lives with dignity, respect, and above all, honesty. The third is that I don’t like tattoos. I never really have, because I think they’re a tacky form of self-expression. Lastly, the most important thing is reinforcing something I learned when I was five: follow the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you. A simple rule to follow, yet it has such a profound impact on how you live your life.

Here’s to a fantastic 2008. Happy New Year’s everyone!

You’re not running for President of Canada (er, Prime Minister)...Stephen Harper has got that job locked up. So why are you joining a Facebook group called British Columbia for John Edwards. Vancouver is supposed to be cool…kind of like Hollywood for the north…and Whistler has great skiing. But, uh…Canadians can’t vote for you. I also saw a group called Eritreans for Edwards and Velociraptors for Edwards. For those of you that remember Jurassic Park, you’re well aware that you should always stay on a velociraptors good side, so Edwards, you should pander to those two groups as well.

I’ve been addicted to social networking sites since Friendster circa 2003. First there was Friendster, then Myspace, followed by Facebook, and LinkedIn. I’d even go way back to Classmates.com back when I was in college in the late 90s.

What do I have to show for my intense interest in these sites? Zero. I have frittered away sometimes up to two or three hours of my day searching for the most obscure friend from my past, like the guy that played third base on my baseball team in the 8th grade (the Giants). Or whatever happened to my buddy Phil from 2nd grade…I wonder if I can track him down. Most of the time I come up empty handed, but once in a while I’ll stumble across a gold mine of old friends. I’m amazed at how easy it is to track people down and read the wealth of information they’re willing to share about themselves. I’m glad that you went to Pomona and studying salamanders, spending your summers on the Oregon coast…seriously, very interesting.

The thing that boggles my mind is all the college kids posting pictures of their boozin’ shenanigans from each of the last four weekends for all the world to see, then they wonder why they were turned down for that internship they applied for. Lack of common sense. Don’t pose next to a bong with two thumbs up if you’re looking to work at Morgan Stanley.

So, what have I gained from my estimated 1,000+ hours spent surfing these damn sites, tracking down and friending people I haven’t seen in 10+ years. Not much really, but it’s certainly an interesting opportunity to see where people from your past end up (at least according to what they write in their Myspace profile). Are you really a traveling cowboy performing with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show? Wow, what major do you need for that?

No more wasting time writing this post…time to check out who uploaded some new pictures to Facebook.

Well, probably not according to her political views, however this interview on JamBands.com might lead one to believe that she isn’t ice cold. She has a good taste in music at least.

Are you kidding me? Mugshot Delay is in negotiations to head back to Washington as a lobbyist for the American Conservative Union .

DECEMBER 15—Former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio was arrested early this morning on a driving while intoxicated rap and New York cops found the musician in possession of a variety of medications prescribed to another person. Anastasio, who is pictured in the below mug shot snapped by the Whitehall Police Department, was nabbed at around 3:30 AM following a traffic stop by Patrolman Andrew Mija. He failed field sobriety tests and was found to be carrying Xanax, Percocet, and Hydrocodone. The 42-year-old Anastasio, whose first name is Ernest, was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, DWI-drugs, and driving without a license. Whitehall is located in upstate New York, just miles from Vermont, where Phish was spawned.

The Smoking Gun

Booyah Bush Republicans…see ya Rumsfeld. Winds of Change…

I can’t stand Limbaugh . How can he have the audacity to insult and accuse Michael J. Fox (aka, Marty McFly, aka, Alex P Keaton) of faking it or intentionally not taking his Parkinson’s medication. That brash RepubLimbaugh attitude just pisses me off so much. Long live Marty McFly.

I just cast my vote in the DC Democratic primary and the only thing I was required to do to prove my identity was sign next to my name. Well, ok then, I probably should have voted twice, or at least signed in under a cooler name. “That’s Bon Jovi…Jon…it’s under ‘B’”. I asked the woman behind the desk if she needed any sort of verification, to which she replied, “this is who you said you were right?” pointing to my name. Unbelievable.

A man was shot during a brazen daylight robbery in the heart of Georgetown. Are you kidding me? Check out the recent crime around 1265 Wisconsin Ave thanks to CrimeinDC.org. Craigslist rants and raves for DC were running hot today in response to this crime.

Dude, suck it up and move to left field. You’re new in town, we’re not just going to roll out the red carpet for you to play second base. We already have Vidro, who’s an all-star. You are quickly becoming persona non grata in this town and if you don’t start doing this for the team you’ll be hearing nothing but a chorus of boos each time you’re up at the plate.

Now in my chosen profession as a software developer I often am confronted with the trickiest, and often the most unfixable bug—user error. Sometimes it’s the result of a poor user interface, unintuitive design, but more often than not, it’s just the user giving up after one failed attempt at using the software and claiming “it doesn’t work.” Usability experts would probably scream at me and say the issue is almost always an interface that doesn’t comply with HCI best practices.

Are you crazy? Publicly stating that the future of New Orleans is as a “Chocolate City” and that New Orleans should be a predominantly African-American city. Mayor Nagin…you’ve just tanked any future political aspirations you may have.

Flexcar (as well as it’s competitor Zipcar) is one of the best business innovations to come along in recent years. The whole idea of flexible car sharing is something that really makes a whole lot of sense, especially in an urban environment.