Adventures in Consumerism

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I had a crap time at an independent business in my town where the restaurant owner had the audacity to throw a 55 cent surcharge on credit card purchases without letting the customers know in advance.

I could understand for a small business that credit card fees eat into profits, and you want to make up for the interchange fees the merchant bank and the credit card companies charge.

I should of just refused to pay for my food and if they called the police I could of said the merchant had deceitful marketing practices. If the merchant had a fee for the credit card payment I would of likely not shopped with them.

However the merchant should of done something nice and said here is a small drink or an egg roll to make up for what we did.

I did let people know on Foursquare that if you want to eat at their establishment it is strongly recommended that you pay in cash.

I told the merchant if you don’t want more angry customers, they need to put a sign stating that there is a 55 cent surcharge. Either next to the logo on the window or near the menu above the food they prepare would be very appreciated.

Incommunicado with the California Republican Party

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Here is a letter I sent back to the party from their 2012 fundraising solicitation.

Hello Chairman,

I am sorry to say that this envelope will be delivered with NO FUNDS at this time.

I would like to complain that your office failed to communicate back to me about maybe running in a Democratic Party dominated area so we could have a race challenged. I called your front desk and they sent me to the communications guy instead of your political director and never got a reply back.

Then I asked your convention organizer about how does the party select its venues. I was curious to see if my home town could be considered for the Fall 2013 convention, but I got no answer. But I know you are busy planning the convention. But at least your representative could of said we are busy, but we will talk to you later.

Until then have a good day.

And at least this envelope will be used to give the postal service some much needed revenue since your front desk consumed my mobile phone minutes with no answers. If your staff had better customer service maybe it would lead to me buying an associate membership.

Congrats To Tanya

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Tanya Brandon of Phelan has helped get 58 animals adopted this year. Many of these animals came from very high kill animal control centers in our area. By adopting one of these animals these individuals did something very special.

The good thing is she took a few more dogs and cats in to make up for having her current residents adopted.

She also has some long term residents who would appreciate a home.

Here are links to some of them.

Sweet elderly dogs

Diamond and Pearl (be adopted as a pair)

She does regular visits at a local Petco if you are looking for a dog or cat to call your own.

Update

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The stiches are not fun, but one more week until I can get them removed. Having a scar is slightly better than having a flat mole that itches and might grow and get more unsightly.

Skin cancer awareness is a good thing. Check yourself at least monthly if possible.

I also got mentioned on a radio station in Manchester England today helping to talk about notable baby making celebrities. Since Take That singer Gary Barlow made over four children, the presenter was talking about other notable action stars who might of made children. I sent a twitter comment and it got mentioned on the air. That was cool.

Choose The Proper Direct Action

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Direct Action is great for activists, but the wrong type of direct action can set us back. Disturbing the peace is one charge that is acceptable if you want an arrest record, but assault could hurt you more in the long run.

I previously wrote on this issue. But since the secret service is going to be used for most of the campaigns now, I strongly recommend people abandoning the glitter bomb.

There are ways we can overcome Santorum and Romney big time. Here are some ideas.

Overpower them like how Chicago union members took over a Scott Walker luncheon.

 

Sing songs like ‘I Want it All’ or ‘A Little Respect’ and make sure to bring a massive number of people to make it hard to get thrown out of the ballroom or event area.

Or do what OWS did to President Obama.

Robin Bertolucci Jumps the Shark

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2/16/12

Hello Robin,

I know you are one of the most highly rated program directors in the United States, but your decision about suspending John and Ken from your station was one instance of jumping the shark. Learning how to give up KFI will be hard, but I am giving your competition a chance until you apologize to the listeners of your station.

There is a double standard where you can be politically incorrect about a white deceased singer, but when you make politically incorrect jokes about a black deceased singer all fire and brimstone is laid upon your employees. How about uniform standards Ms.Beterlucci!

I am considering other options instead of other Clear Channel stations, I am listening to KABC, and I have rdio.com instead of local radio stations that Clear Channel owns because they don’t do free form radio and it’s the same old playlists.

John and Ken are equal opportunity offenders and they will offend anyone no matter what ethnicity, religion or sexuality the individual may be.

Best,

Matthew Munson

P.S If you want to send a message visit this site for a petition.

Mole Watch

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It stinks when getting a haircut could cost you 250 bucks. I thought I had a sore, but it was actually a mole. I thought it was going to be healed with antibiotic cream, but I end up looking like Harry Potter with an interesting feature on my forehead for the next two weeks.

I was worried after realizing something strange grew on me in the last month. I knew I had to get it looked at and I visited the local dermatologist in Montclair CA. Dr. Woll is located on Central Avenue just south of the 10 freeway. Her building is not exactly on Central, but you will need to enter via a side driveway to enter. She may not be cheap for being uninsured, but she does a good job for what you pay her.

At least I got 40 minutes of service time for the money I paid for.

I thought Laurie was going to say, you will need some prescription cream and after five minutes it would be minus 125 bucks, but after my first visit the minimum cover charge will be 95 dollars so I am relieved after any future visits with her practice. At least I am getting more results than my 350 dollar visit to the ear nose and throat doctor in 2007. Continue reading →

An Appeal For Common Sense Public Pension Reform

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To my state legislators,

I implore you to support legislation written by Governor Brown’s staff to strip pensions from felons whose crimes are job related. It is only right to support this portion of the public pension reform bill that will likely be in the budget committee.

If you embezzle money from a government agency, molest children or run a motorcycle gang dealing drugs while being a university professor then it should be justified to eliminate the benefits.

To be fair, the benefits should be removed ONLY when the individual is convicted in a court of law.

Deadliest Budget Cut Ahead for Pets

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California has a massive budget crisis and since our state is in a state of gridlock where Democrats refuse to concede cuts to their pet causes and Republicans failing to fund the expansive state budget, our Governor is trying to find so many small items to cut to help to provide substantive fiscal relief. The issue that has gotten thousands of animal welfare advocates mobilized is the movement to repeal the Hayden Law for shelter animals that was passed in 1998 and signed by Governor Wilson. Hayden’s legislation was intended to help reunite pets with their owners in the instance they may have become lost and also to encourage animal shelters to focus on working on adoptions instead of putting animals down.

In an effort to trim costs, the governor’s budgetary staff has stricken out particular parts of the law in their trailer bill that will likely be part of the next state budget. First, animal shelters will not be mandated to provide necessary and prompt care when an animal needs medical assistance so if an animal is in needed for treatment it will either suffer in pain or be the first one to be put down. Second, animals that are not traditionally dog or cat will not be guaranteed the new 72 hour hold period, if the shelter is in danger of running out of space they will likely be put down. Third, regulations that require accountability in our animal shelters will be repealed so we will not find out the status of any animal medically treated or impounded. Four, there will not be a six business day holding period if your animal runs out of your home. If you are on vacation and your pet is impounded on a weekend expect your animal to not see Monday. The new rule will be 72 hours from the date of impoundment including days animal control may be closed to the public.

The Hayden Law is still needed, and repealing the Hayden Law is very drastic when we can suspend relevant clauses until our state is in better fiscal health. Even so, shelters in various parts of our state have violated the Hayden Law for shelter animals and without the law expect it to happen across the state. We should be able to provide dignity and respect for the companion animals that many of us value. We should keep the law on the books to further the cause of adoption and reduce the instance of putting animals down. We need to clamp down on animal shelters that deny volunteers, refuse the acceptance of blankets to help keep animals comfortable in concrete or outdoor kennels and refuse to cooperate with rescue organizations that want to save animals from being put down due to crowded kennels.

Budget analysis’s claim that these changes will save 46 million dollars, but there are much bigger fish to fry for the state of California to have meaningful budget reform such as dealing with the looming public employee pension crisis or curtailing the spiraling costs of high speed rail. However the thousands of shelter animals do not have a lobby as viable as the SEIU or the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Organization. That is why people like you and me who live in our state are encouraged to lobby their state legislators and our governor to reject this misguided proposal. First, look up your state legislator and find out if they are a member of the state budget committee for the assembly or senate. If they are then it’s strongly encouraged to lobby them because they are able to kill the proposal before it gets to a full vote. Even if your legislator is not on the budget committee, if the misguided proposal passes, we need them to defeat it at the full floor vote.

Crossposted from Orange Juice blog.

Reflecting on being an re-entry student

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UPDATE: It seems neither one of my essays qualified for a prize from the Chaffey College Student government scholarship contest.

In this economy, having any job is something to be proud of,  however the company I work for does not have any chances for advancement and it does seem like a dead end job when many of the full-time positions got consolidated and the redundant employees got demoted. Working part-time and living with family cannot go on forever due to my father retiring from his job in the next few years. For the last two years I have become motivated to work on my goal to become an educator for the Social Sciences for the 7th through 12th grades.

I did not expect to return to Chaffey College. I graduated in 2001, transferred to UC Riverside and earned a BA in Political Science in 2003. I have flirted with the idea of becoming an educator for a few years, but never did anything about my goal until now because I was confused about the steps required to start the process. I took most of the tests needed to be eligible to enter a teacher preparation program, but each school I wanted to attend had its own criteria for admission. Cal Poly Pomona wanted me to have experience working with children, but if I wanted that experience most of the organizations already want people already experienced so there was no way I was going to get my foot in the door to meet the prerequisites they wanted, however the school I eventually considered, Western Governor’s University said what I have done is great, but I still needed more classes to complete to be eligible for admission.

I was anxious to start as soon as possible so I could start my credential program. However with five classes needed to finish I was in a state of panic. I realized that the place I began my higher education would be the place where I could complete my goals and transfer so I could finally make good use from my education from Chaffey College and UC Riverside.  It was way past the registration date to get several classes to sign up for, but something did catch my eye when I saw an advertisement for Fast Track classes were added that semester and I raced to get admitted into one of them so I could get ready for completing my goal. Sociology was my first class and I did have some minor issues in juggling work and school at the same time. Sadly there was no online classes to take advantage of where I could work my assignments at my own time, but my employer ignored my schedule change  the first week and I was worried that I was going to be dropped from class. With this unfortunate economy we are all suffering its effects and I was worried that I was going to lose my seat due to not showing up; however I was one lucky individual because my instructor had to go to the hospital on the first day and there was no worry about being dropped from the roll sheet. Later, after talking to the corporate office of my company they fixed my schedule for the week ahead and things did go smoothly where I ended up passing the class with flying colors.

I thought taking these five classes was going to be redundant, but I learned more from these classes that would help me do better in my future studies academically and professionally. Right now I am working on my final class to transfer to Western Governor’s University, and I am using my experience and wisdom to help me through the finish line. I was a C student when I was at Chaffey a decade ago, but my grades have turned for the better in the last year where I have earned A and A minus grades mainly. Education is indeed a terrible thing to waste, when I was a student a decade ago I did not take school as seriously as I have done today. With higher tuition and lack of available classes, I have been driven to succeed at the first moment so I do not prolong my journey any longer.