This guy just wouldn't stop following me around, him and his hordes from "The Network," so I finally had to shout "NO MORE!" As of yesterday afternoon, I'm now an AT&T customer instead of a Verizon Wireless customer.

If you've already got my cell phone number, you're all set -- it hasn't changed. (If you don't have it, and need to, let me know.) But I figured I should mention the change for the benefit of those who could previously call me for free from their Verizon Wireless phones... or those who can now call me for free from their AT&T phones!

Q. In February 2008, my parents purchased a dream cruise around Europe through a company called Vantage Deluxe World Trave. The Vantage agent encouraged them to buy the company’s “Passenger Protection Plan,” suggesting that if they bought the insurance and had to cancel their trip, they would receive a refund.

One month before the planned departure, my father suffered a heart attack. My mother canceled the trip and requested a refund. However, Vantage Travel responded by sending my parents vouchers for credit for future travel with Vantage. Apparently, in one of the many mailings there was fine print indicating that the “refund” would be in the form of credit.

Full letter and Haggler's response: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/your-money/28haggler.html

Here's my reply:

This seems like a good case of "caveat emptor," and a good reason to ask questions before you buy. Not all "protection" is a scam. My friends and I who've rented a beach house on the Outer Banks a couple of times have done well with the travel insurance we've been offered. Evacuated inland due to approaching hurricanes both times, we were able to get reimbursed for our inland hotel rooms, and received a prorated portion of our week's rent back. Not only wouldn't I visit a hurricane zone without such coverage in future, I'd consider offering my own "travel protection" services. "Hey, North Carolina? For a fee, I'll stay away!"

Impressive Op-Ed piece in the Paper of Record yesterday by Frank Rich.

Like all students caught up in the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s, I was riveted by the violent confrontations between the police and protestors in Selma, 1965, and Chicago, 1968. But I never heard about the several days of riots that rocked Greenwich Village after the police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn in the wee hours of June 28, 1969 — 40 years ago today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/opinion/28rich.html

This is one of the pictures I'm happiest about from Wednesday night's visit to Cornell's Lab of Ornithology for the CAAIA annual meeting and an improbably engaging talk by Dr. Andrew Farnsworth. (Who knew birders could be so interesting?)

Click the pic and poke around my Flickr to see the mama heron nesting her babies!

I think I posted a picture taken from the site of my boss's house a while back, last time I was up there and before the house was actually built. At the time, the house was a chalk outline in the cleared spot where they were going to build, next to the barn they were living in for the time being. :-) The other day, I got to see the house in nearly finished state, and while I didn't take pictures of the house itself, I got a few of the spectacular, almost unspoiled, view. It's really amazing how much of a different feel you get when your living space is simply on the other side of the same hill that my house is on. (Of course, he also doesn't get much cellular signal and he can't get cable unless he wants to pay the cable company's estimated $15,000 cost to run underground cabling up his hill.)

Current Mood: amused

Did you know there's a LiveJournal election going on? You can vote for our representation on the LiveJournal Advisory Board here. I'm heartily endorsing kylecassidy, a longtime user whose posts I've often enjoyed reading. (He's vegan, but manages to photograph stunning food anyway. And he's owned by adorable cats.)

Here's more info about Kyle's candidacy.

The voicemail from Phil early this afternoon sounded awful, so I wasn't surprised when the message eventually got around to telling me that he felt like crap and he might need to ask me to fill in for him hosting tonight's BFG. I called him right back and told him I was already planning to come, so I was happy to fill in, or at least be on hand just in case.

He made it in, and he's up to doing an intro and then handing the show off to me. Tonight's act, Anne Hills playing with Jay Ansill, are wrapping up a sound check, and there won't be much else to worry about until the show starts at 8. We've got most of the prep done. I may try to grab a snack, since I don't think I'll make it until 11:30 without more food.

Thus endeth the relaxing portion of the weekend. :-)

Gary Papa, long-ago WVBR alum and Philadelphia media legend, died today almost six years after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was both news director and sports director at WVBR in the late '70s, and was Action News sports director at WPVI-TV, a Philadelphia station he joined as a weekend sportscaster in 1981. He was 54.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/48626237.html

At 3 p.m. today, a plane carrying 28,000 deep-dish pizzas for the troops is scheduled to take off from John F. Kennedy airport. It won’t get delivered until July 4, when troops in Iraq and Afghanistan will have what organizers of Pizzas 4 Patriots say will be the biggest pizza party ever held. (The Guinness World Book of Records has been notified).

NYT: http://bit.ly/7MTVk