I find myself posting micro-status updates on Facebook much more frequently than I end up posting thoughtful blog posts these days (although a quick look through my old blog posts would likely reveal that they are, on balance, far from “thoughtful”).  Oh well, c’est la vie.

If I am seized by a good idea that needs a more thorough treatment, I promise I’ll post it here.  Meantime, you can move along…there’s (really!) nothing to see here.

Perhaps you recall that back in 2005 Blockbuster made a big deal out of their new “No Late Fees” policy.  They had to do something; even at that point Netflix was already eating their lunch with a business model that included the ability to hang on to a movie for as long as you wanted to, but no new movies for you until you return it.  Of course, despite Blockbuster’s flashy ads, “No Late Fees” didn’t REALLY mean “NO late fees”.  It actually meant something more like “a ten day grace period before we start dinging your credit card and/or simply charge you the full retail price of the movie.”

If you recall that, do you remember the big campaign that they rolled out to let you know that they decided to start charging late fees again?

No?  That’s probably because there was no such campaign.

In fact, if my experience is any guide, not only did they start charging late fees again, but they decided to do so without telling anybody about it.

We rented a couple of movies on New Year’s Eve.  For reasons that don’t need to be detailed here (suffice it to say that my attention has been focused elsewhere for good reason), I didn’t return the movie until tonight.  ”No problem,” thought I, “they don’t charge a late fee unless it’s crazy late, so we should be fine.”

Not so much.

Six days late times two movies plus tax equals $12.60 (on top of the $7 or so we had paid for the original rental).  That’s about FOUR MONTHS of my Netflix service, which allows me to have one movie at a time, no more than two in a month, and keep them as long as I want to.

“Yeah, we started charging late fees again.  Nobody was bringing back their movies,” said the guy behind the counter.

“Too bad for you,” I replied.  ”From now on, I’ll just get my movies from Netflix.”

“Oh, you should use our online service.”

Yeah, right.  You already poked me in the eye over the movie I rented in the store.  Like I’m going to give you an opportunity to do it online, too.

No wonder Blockbuster is in bankruptcy.  I can pretty much guarantee that treating customers like this won’t help their situation even a little bit.

They’re also having a special limited-time sale on their Mac and PC base packages and upgrades. Check it out!

(And yes, this post is a shameless promotion and gains me an entry into the giveaway described above, but I can say honestly that the Logos software is outstanding.)

In the US, more children die of childhood cancer than any other disease. Please make a donation on my behalf to support childhood cancer research so that all children diagnosed with cancer will have a better chance for a cure.

To make a donation, visit my page at http://bit.ly/d6hDu3 and click on “Make A Donation” or donate by mail or phone.

Thank you for your support!

By the way: my son Christopher is going to shave his head, too! You can donate under his name at http://bit.ly/ckWzhi.

(NOTE: The links changed on Wednesday afternoon, 3/3/10, so if you made note of the old links, you may want to update!)

There’s another interesting simulation available, with a little less radio chatter and a clearer view of what it looked like from the plane.  Click here to view it.

One of my clients has been having trouble with ColdFusion on his server.  I’m not a CF guy, so I can’t solve it for him, but he ran across a company with a bunch of very smart CF guys whom he contracted to dig into it.

Today he forwards an email from the consultant with a fantastic, well-researched explanation that got almost exactly to the heart of what was going on.  With just a little more insight about the server configuration (which I was able to provide) all of the pieces fell into place and it looks like we’ve found the root cause.

That’s all well and good, but the name of the consultant — Steven Erat — looked vaguely familiar to me.  Try as I might, I couldn’t place it, and there was no obvious connection (he’s in a completely different state, even). 

But a few minutes with Google revealed all.  Turns out that SIX YEARS AGO we had exchanged comments on each other’s blogs.  In fact, I just noticed that his blog still appears in my Blogroll, bookmarked lo those many years ago. 

It’s amazing how small the world really is.

Christopher seems excited about the new camera.

This gas shortage seems to be fairly specific to metro Atlanta and Nashville, TN, from what I can tell, and apparently was due to a confluence of factors including Hurricane Ike (which caused the pipeline that primarily supplies Atlanta’s gas to shut down temporarily) and the EPA’s requirement that we use some special kind of low-sulfur gas because of our pollution problems.

What’s odd is that the EPA temporarily rescinded the fuel restrictions earlier in the week, but the shortages have only gotten worse, and I can’t understand that.  To my knowledge, all but five of the refineries that were damaged in Hurricane Ike are back online, and since we can use whatever fuel we can get, presumably everybody should be resupplied. 

I just feel lucky to have a full tank of gas again.  When I was at half a tank, I considered filling up but decided against it since I didn’t want to exacerbate the problem (some have speculated that part of the problem is that people are panicking and filling up earlier than they normally would).  So I waited until the low fuel light came on, and then started to get really nervous as I passed station after station after station that simply had no gas.  Honestly, only about 1 in 10 stations has ANYTHING.

Anyway, it is what it is.  I’ve got another 320 miles worth of gas in the tank, so I should be OK for another week or so.  Hopefully, by then the shortage will have eased a bit.

• Fundamental Greek Grammar by James W. Voelz
• Greek Grammar – Supplementary Exercises by Mark Sell (optional, for more practice)
• Novum Testamentum Graece (although the ESV English-Greek Reverse Interlinear New Testament looks interesting)

This was a gift (really) from Fleming's Steakhouse.  They were doing a joint promotion with Maserati, and offered a $100 gift certificate if you just test drive a Maserati Quattroporte.  Now, the folks at the Maserati dealership had no allusions about the fact that many people were going to walk through the door who had no intention of buying one of these fantastic machines.  Nonetheless, they were exceedingly friendly, welcoming, and kind.  We had a great time.  And when I asked if they had sold even one car through the promotion, I was told that they have at least two customers that they’re negotiating with.  So maybe it was worth it after all.  I got to drive a dream car, and they may have generated about a quarter-million in revenue.

To top it all off, they sent us away after our test drive with a wonderful goodie bag, including a Maserati ball cap, the finest travel mug I’ve ever seen (complete with embossed Maserati logo), a brushed-steel Maserati keychain, and a bunch of literature.

Classy folks.

Now, as far as the car is concerned, well, let’s just say that it’s remarkable.  VERY comfortable (wonderful soft leather seats with just the right level of support for twisties).  VERY fast (0–6 in a staggering 5.1 seconds, but the most composed rush you can imagine).  SPECTACULAR handling (the suspension was a perfect marriage of compliancy and tautness).  Fit and finish was perfect, with neat carbon-fiber inserts in the dash (other trim levels have woodgrain or piano black, but we were driving the Sport GT), and all of the right materials throughout the cabin.  And the engine SOUND!  Let’s just say that your Nissan Maxima never sounded like this, and I say that knowing full well that the Nissan Maxima has one of the finest engines available in a four-door sedan.  Don’t think sedan…think Ferrari.  The engine is actually the same engine that’s now used in the Ferrari F-430.  THAT’S what it sounded like, and it was S-W-E-E-T. 

Anyway, fun day.  Great car.  Too bad I won’t have one in my garage anytime soon.  But hey, it’s something to aspire to.  Oh, and $100 toward a great steak dinner should arrive just in time for our anniversary! 

By the way, there was a 2006 Ferrari F-430 Convertible at the dealership (surprisingly, they sell used Ferrari’s on consignment) that had an original sticker price of a measly $227,000.  The shocker:  This used car is now selling for $327,000.  That’s right, a car that has APPRECIATED by nearly 50% in only a year.  Our salesman said that it’s due to the long waiting list for new Ferraris.  Apparently the folks who can afford to buy them are willing to bid up the price to get one rather than waiting for three years to take delivery of a brand new one.