Brindle Media

(Photo courtesy of Daniel Alexander/FramesMedia.com)

I first met John C. Havens at one of my friend, Bill Sobel’s NY:MIEG (NY Media Information Exchange Group) monthly networking breakfasts in Manhattan. John is a very likeable and knowledgeable guy on the social media scene who hosts a podcast on BlogTalkRadio. Recently he’s been doing a series about a subject I’d never heard of before, “augmented reality”. To be honest, I still don’t quite understand it but you can listen to John’s “Tactical Transparency” podcast about it here:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/search/augmented-reality/

“The Official Michael Jackson Opus” biography which is now available at www.michaeljacksonopus.com is 400 pages, weighs 26 pounds and features “augmented reality” that will allow you to integrate both video and music so that you can watch and listen through your computer (webcam required). It will cost you $ 249 at www.michaeljacksonopus.com

You can watch Al Roker’s TODAY SHOW interview about the book and see an example of how it will integrate “augmented reality” here:

Any thoughts about how you might be incorporating “augmented reality” into your daily life in the next few years?

In his book The Greatest Minds and Ideas Of All Time, Will Durant wrote that the Christian Age “seems to be approaching its close” while the Islamic religion is “still growing in numbers and strength”. I recall when the Soviet Union collapsed back in the early 1990s thinking that it seemed likely that the rivalry which replaced Democracy vs. Communism would be Christianity vs. Islam: western culture vs. eastern culture. It just seemed logical. Of course, the problems aren’t caused by the vast majority of those who follow the prophet Mohammed nor with the followers of Jesus Christ. It’s the whack job fanatics who create the crises we face today.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, the U.S. faces some tough decisions. Do we commit more troops and possibly follow in the footsteps of the Russians and the British failures? Current polls indicate that the majority of Americans oppose sending in more troops. But as the world’s defender of freedom, do we have a moral responsibility to stayand help Afghanistan’s people thwart the Taliban?

Scott Simon, who was a journalist in Afghanistan eight years ago when the Taliban was in power and al Qaeda (or al-Qaida) used the country as its base of operations, makes some relevant points in this commentary http://bit.ly/SSimon

Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden and his cronies remain just over the border in Pakistan and remain a factor in the Afghanistan equation. In this interview with U.S. News & World Report, Howard Clark talks about How You Can Kill al Qaeda (in 3 easy steps) http://bit.ly/HClark

It seems pretty obvious that we should be cautious about committing too many American troops in Afghanistan and that the troops who are deployed there should be focused on thwarting the Taliban while building trust and credibility to win the hearts and minds of the people. Some of us will question if we can afford to do this but can we afford not to?

How trusted do you feel by your employees, colleagues, clients?

How much do you trust them?

Dov Seidman, the author of “How: Why How we Do Anything Means Everything…in Business (And In Life)” makes some interesting points in this recent BusinessWeek article http://bit.ly/CR2rT

Meanwhile, at a recent TED (Technology-Entertainment-Design) event, Daniel Pink shared some eye-opening findings about how to motivate people. You can watch it here: http://bit.ly/PinkTED
(Thanks to Jerry Del Calliano for making me aware of this)

To be fair, Michael from Home Depot’s customer care department contacted me within minutes of my blog posting explaining my recent adventure. Another customer care rep, Stephanie from the corporate office, has been working to try and resolve the situation but her efforts to connect me with the regional Home Depot people here in the Saratoga area have not yet been successful. I appreciate her efforts but I wanted to share some of the comments I received to my initial posting:

Peter wrote: “When I renovated my home in Rockville years ago, I bought the appliances and most stuff from Lowe’s. However, since Lowe’s was farther away, I opted to hire a contractor recommended by Home Depot (after buying some more things from them). Home Depot is the worst. The Lowe’s contractor finally straightened out what the Home Depot contractor did wrong/failed to do. One of the best examples? I asked the Home Depot supplied electrician to connect a dimmer switch to the chandelier in my dining room. They did, and it didn’t dim the chandelier, but rather caused the lights to go off and on in a bizarre pattern, with some bulbs popping like in a bad movie, smoke to issue from the chandelier, and the circuit breaker to blow. Guess they didn’t teach the Home Depot ‘partner’ what ‘ground’ and ‘hot’ mean in electrician school… apparently, I was lucky not to have lost the whole house to an inferno...”

Lynn wrote: “I have been on a mission for quite some time to let everyone know NOT to hire people whom Home Depot employs(or suggests)as subcontractors. I have yet to see one job completed by any of these subs that has come up to the standards of most LICENSED, INSURED contractors.The best thing you can do in the future is NOT hire anyone from a home store like that until you have properly checked out their credentials and/or referrals, as you would do with anyone working in a trade. It sounds to me like your plumbers might not be properly insured, as they should have had NO problem in correcting THEIR mistake. As for Home Cheapo…keep on them too, especially to report the plumbers as ‘Sub’ standard in their quality of work .”

Jeff wrote: “Been there done that with Home Depot. We use Lowe’s now (in our experience, much better customer service). Like you, we bought an expensive product from Home Depot and they farmed out the installation. When things did not go right (which, of course, they didn’t), Home Depot would not take any responsibility. And neither would the contractor. It was not a fun situation. We have not had a similar scenario with Lowe’s”

The adventure continues….

Addendum added on 9/17/09:

Home Depot has connected me with their insurance company and I’ve been asked to provide estimates for the project so that we can resolve this matter. I can’t say they I envy the customer service reps
their jobs but at least dealing with them has been a positive experience.

On July 27th, I purchased a water heater at the Home Depot in Saratoga who subcontracted with a Glens Falls plumbing company, Goldentouch Plumbin & Heating to do the installation. Due to negligence on the part of the installers, which they readily admit, our laundry room was flooded soaking the wallboard on several walls and some of the carpeting in the adjoining family room.

Goldentouch arranged for a restoration company to come in and do some emergency work using industrial dehumidifiers and removing the damaged wallboard. But the plumber balked at paying for phase two of the project: replacing and repainting the wallboard which had been removed, reattaching the wall and door moldings, cleaning the mud off the laundry room floor which had been tracked in the by the restoration team and cleaning the carpet which was dirty from muddy shoes and soggy boxes of books that had been stored in a laundry closet. Instead, Goldentouch opted to replace the wallboard themselves but refused to take any responsibility for the rest of the cleanup.



I complained to Home Depot who contacted Goldentouch about the problem. Goldentouch accused me of trying to take advantage of them. I explained that I just wanted to have my laundry and family rooms restored to the conditions that they had been in prior to the installation of the water heater. Goldentouch’s attitude was that they were the victims and I was the victimizer. They inferred that it was suspicious that I didn’t want to simply make a claim with my insurance company. I explained that it didn’t make sense for my homeowner’s insurance policy to pay for their mistake. I was told that Goldentouch planned to turn the situation over to their attorney.

I returned to Home Depot to recap the latest developments. The customer service rep informed me that it wasn’t a Home Depot problem and that I would need to resolve the issue myself with Goldentouch. I disagreed and suggested that it was, indeed, Home Depot’s problem since they had sold me the water heater and hired the installer. I was told that the district manager would then contact me about the problem. That was a week ago. I’ve heard from no one since.

At this point, I can’t give high marks for customer service to either Home Depot or Goldentouch Plumbing & Heating in Glens Falls.

A couple of weeks ago, New York Times writer Stuart Elliot had a column about the significance of the side-by-side bathtubs in Cialis ads. Here’s an insight from a person who does research in the field of semiotics:

“…those bathtubs…represent female sex organs.”

Hmmm.

Is there a Georgia O’Keefe reference here?

You can read the rest of the reader’s perspective here:

http://tinyurl.com/StuartElliot

I received this info from voice over talent Lance DeBock and thought I’d pass it along.

It’s a scam that’s been around for awhile, but has just recently been applied to voice talent and the talent sites they are listed on.

Here’s the scam. The voiceover talent is contacted via email for a project (scammer claims to have found you thru an online voiceover talent service). Script is sent to you for a price quote. Once quote is given, scammer wants to pay with ‘cashiers check’ or Western Union and asks for more detailed mailing information about you.

You then receive what looks like a legitimate check for a $1,000.00 or more than your quote. Scammer then claims that his client made an overpayment to you and asks you to cash the check and send him or her, the balance due via Western Union.

If the bank cashes the check and later discovers that it is counterfeit, they will hold you responsible! So the scammer gets paid and you get caught ‘holding the bag’.

Here are some of the ‘Red Flags’ to look out for.

Scammer is from United Kingdom or somewhere out of the United States.

Scammer doesn’t seem to have a grasp of voiceover terminology, but they do have enough terminology to make you believe there might be a language or translation problem.

Counterfeit check is from a ‘legitimate looking’ company here in the United States.

Western Union and/or Cashiers check should always be a warning.

Here’s an attaching a link to this email which will give you more information about what to look out for. This scam has been around for awhile now but has just recently been applied to voice talent and the talent sites they are listed on.

http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

If you watched the Triple Crown races this year, you may remember the story about a nice older gentleman who bred a filly and named her after his granddaughter, Rachel Alexandra. He later sold the horse to billionaire Jess Jackson, of Kendall-Jackson Wines fame, who is a controversial figure in the horse racing industry because he believes that the way horses have been bred over the past decade have led to more injuries.

Calvin Borel, who became America’s jockey after riding Street Sense to victory in the 2007 Kentucky Derby, is her jockey.

(Rachel & Calvin at Saratoga Race Course)

http://tinyurl.com/nx8oks

Just when I’m getting ready to get into a summer frame of mind, it’s all over.

So, this afternoon while the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the temperature hovered near 80, I took some time off to spend an hour at one of my favorite spots in Saratoga Springs, Victoria Pool in Spa State Park and as I listened to Toby Keith warming up in the distance for tonight’s show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center said farewell to Summer 2009.

And I don’t feel guilty!

If you’ve ever enjoyed singing along with the Ronette’s “Be My Baby” or “Baby, I Love You”, Neil Diamond’s “Cherry, Cherry” or “Kentucky Woman”, the Dixie Cups’ “Chapel Of Love”, the Shangri-La’s “Leader Of The Pack”, Manfred Mann’s “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”, Tommy James & The Shondells’ “Hanky Panky”, the Crystals’ “Then He Kissed Me” or “Da Doo Ron Ron”, Ike & Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountains High”, the Raindrops “(He’s) The Kind Of Boy I Can’t Forget” or the Beach Boys’ “I Can Hear Music”, take a moment today to remember the woman who gave you that pleasure as co-writer all of those songs, Ellie Greenwich who died of a heart attack last Wednesday in New York at the age of 68.

Read more about this remarkable woman’s life:

http://tinyurl.com/lx9oun

http://tinyurl.com/l2r799

See pictures here:

http://tinyurl.com/EllieGreenwichpix