From toilet flushing, to meter reading

It’s one of those controversial topics between privacy and commodity, courtesy of Information Systems and Technology. Are electric and water consumptions readings public information? How about sewer charges?

My roommates and I have been paying close attention to our flushing habits. To our surprise the Tallahassee Government provides nice graphs on their site of this same information:

Note: If you would like to keep and updated record of this information you can access this page here

Comcastic!

There it is again. Is that time of the month when the white envelope from Comcast waits for my attention in my mailbox next to a Bed Bath & Beyond 20% off coupon. (5th one of the month…100%! I must be buying too many comforters or fancy Turkey roasters )

I wish Comcast would be more like Bed Bath & Beyond… they seem to make things cheaper for me every time. On the other hand, Comcast’s bill comes in average increments of $17. The following graph represents what Comcast has done to my time and my wallet continuum, it’s Comcastic!

Bad! bad! you KMS, you!

So I was supposed to receive one of those juicy checks from Citi, from the Dividend returns on some stupid reward program I’m in… . It turns out I haven’t. I go on their site and try to find my way around it where I can contact customer service (yay!) And I send the following message:

You wrote:

I claimed my dividend check a while back and have not received it yet.

Please advice.

Thank you,

Then I get this liberating reply where my check is not mentioned, but I will be receiving a new card (WTF?)

Customer Service Wrote:

Your new card will be mailed in 2-3 days. Please allow up to 1 week for delivery.

For international orders, please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. Note: The delivery time is not guaranteed. Delivery times can vary depending on the destination.
Thank you for using our website.

Anyway… I think it’s pretty funny, but regardless I do not think is anyone’s fault in Citi’s customer service offices in Bangalore, Delhi or Jaipur per say. I think is just a plain fuck up on the Knowledge Management System…

Targeted Markets

Sex:	Male
Interested In:	Women
Relationship Status:	Single

Wow… I guess I’m one of those. It only takes 3 lines of information for Facebook to spam you with a bunch of ads with chicks wearing underwear/bathing suit/silicone fake breasts. In other words… should I thank Facebook for finding a solution to my sex/relationship/marital/patriarchal life? Hm… not sure. In the mean time, I’m going to chat with Thousands of sexy singles in my area. Sign up free on Singles Net today! [here]:s

Harrahs bCODE

Monday afternoon and it’s been almost a month since we were in New Orleans. The beauty of Harrah’s Customer Relationship Management system just keeps reminding me on how fun it was. Alcohol widely available and free! Harrah’s had these nifty little stations where we could put our phones against and a neat little receipt will display our pass to a free drink! So today it reads:

From: 427724
Sent: Apr 7, 2008 16:03
Subject: Harrahs bCODE

Harrahs bCODE
=MEBUV=ZQXZZ=
=MPEQP=O9P3O=
=MCNNA=9SZSY=

Apr 11,8-11pm@Masquerade! 3 Free Gentleman Jack cocktails! Enter by 10:30pm to Win a Vegas trip!

…Ben must be thrilled. He loves Mr. Gentleman Jack so much. Anyway, got to get back to my Monday routine. No booze today… at least I don’t think.