10:29 AM - HWJD?
Current mood: bitchy

What IS it with people driving like it's the End Of Days or something?
I swear, I have been damn-near run over on my bike at least a dozen times just this past week alone. Doesn't seem to matter how close I swerve towards the right-side curb, they still come close enough to reach out and touch! "Oh, it's just a motorcycle, he's small, I can take up the whole road."

MOST of the time, it's people with huge trucks and SUVs, taking up both lanes, or just "plowing" their way through traffic, trying to "push" you out of their way, because, as we all know, it's THEIR damn road. Some of the near-misses I've had lately have been COPS!

A surprising number of these folks have crosses, fish, or other religious affectations on their vehicles...which begs the question:

HOW WOULD JESUS DRIVE???

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9:10 PM - Death of a Puppy
Current mood: ripped-off

...at the hands of one of our highly-supported American troops.

Killing puppies on MY dime???
Is THIS what we spent bazillions of dollars for???

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12:54 PM - SPD: hitting a kid with a car is Ooo-tay!
Current mood: pissed off

Today the Shreveport Police Department taught me and about 20 neighborhood kids that it's PERFECTLY LEGAL to hit a child with your car, to teach them to stay out of the road!

Read all about it here.

UPDATE: 
An attorney friend of mine says it's an "intentional assault with a deadly weapon".

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11:40 PM - "Comcasticked" for the last time!
Current mood: pissed off

Here's another reason to stay AWAY from Comcast.
(Besides blocking legitimate BitTorrent traffic and horrible customer service...)

About 6 months ago, we disconnected all of Comcast's services -except- the Internet service. That, we still pay for and are current on.

Recently I called and ordered DirectTV.

Thursday morning, Comcast silently came out, without letting us know they were in our yard, and CUT ALL OF OUR INCOMING CABLES in several places, then terminated (locked) the box on the outside of the house, for -no- apparent reason! Remember, I'm a CURRENT PAYING INTERNET customer of theirs, so by doing this, they turned off my -current- and up-to-date Internet service!! And the presence of a terminator on the box means it HAD TO BE Comcast who did this. (I also have several video cameras on my property... )

I got on the phone immediately and found out that Comcast still showed me with a current and active Internet account, and they said they had no idea why someone would cut my lines, that they didn't even have a work order to be at my house that day. "Maybe they got the wrong address" they said, so I told 'em they better damn well find that same wrong address again, and get someone out here NOW and get my Internet service back up! I told them that I make my LIVING on with Internet and I want NEW CABLES run, restored to the same NEW condition they were before Comcast they cut them.

A few hours later, DirectTV came out and hooked up our new satellite service (which we're thrilled with!), and they even had pity on us and 'spliced' our cables back together so I could get my Internet service I was paying for back online. (Thanks Dustin!) It was -very- slow, but at least we were back online and I could resume my business operations. (I run over 60 websites and am a Network Engineer recently moved in from Silicon Valley...they picked the wrong guy to mess with!)

After repeated calls Thursday as the day was winding down, I -finally- saw a Comcast technician, at 4:30 PM. He took a quick glance at the splices DirectTV made and declared it all good, and started to drive off! I complained to him that he didn't do what I asked them to do -run new cables - and that our service was LESS THAN 1 MB speedwise now....but he drove off anyway! I got back on the phone with Comcast as he was leaving, and they promised me that someone would be back out within 30 minutes to run new cables.

Friday was also spent calling Comcast repeatedly, asking WHEN their tech was coming out. "Dustin" promised me a truck was coming that day, and that a District Manager would be in touch with me regarding this mess.

Friday came and went, and nothing happened AGAIN.

Now it is SATURDAY, TWO DAYS LATER and no one has ever shown up! I have called THEM several times, but each time they have given me a different pack of lies about someone coming out, a district manager contacting me, etc, etc. I called them again this morning, and they SWEAR someone is coming out today between 1 and 5 to make this right, but at this point I have zero faith that they will. They have lied to me on every single call I've made yet.

I want NEW cables run, so my speed is back to what it was before they silently SABOTAGED my lines, I want the BitTorrent blocking -removed- so I can download movies and music that I have PAID FOR (actually it's called a "Man in the Middle IP-spoofing attack Comcast is doing, just like a black-hat hacker would!), and I want some COMPENSATION for this 3-day nightmare of lies and endless broken promises and crappy service - a month or two of free service would be a start! I have lost 2 days worth of wages WAITING on Comcast to send someone out, and they have not done anything but LIE TO ME over and over.

They even give me FAKE NAMES when I ask who I'm talking to so I can try to DOCUMENT this mess - when I call back, they "don't have anyone named [Dustin, or Margaret, or whoever] working here"!

My next calls are to the Shreveport City Council for yet another complaint about Comcast's "service", to the LA state Attorney General's office to file a complaint there, to the BBB (which I realize does exactly diddly-squat), and to AT&T for DSL service!

I am sick and tired of being "COMCASTICKED" with horrible customer service and now we have to deal with the childish SABOTAGING of cable lines and equipment when people change services!

Near as I can figure, Comcast got wind of our DirectTV order, and came out and sabotaged our lines...and I'm not the only one this has happened to, BY FAR...check out this post on www.WickedTickle.com to see the others who've had similar experiences! And I've heard from a great many -more- who don't post online. It's apparently a COMMON TACTIC for them to come out and CUT your cable lines when you switch to one of their competitors....

So THIS is what "Comcastic" means, huh??
Childish, arrogant, unprofessional, lying, saboteurs who have the GALL to berate ME and hang up on me for "cursing" at them (I used the word "damn"), after they've repeatedly LIED TO ME and CUT MY CABLES?!?!? I sincerely HOPE those calls were recorded!

Never again...they've seen their last penny from me.
Even if they get my service back up to 3 MB, even if they run new cables, and even if they STOP SPOOFING IP PACKETS, I am still switching to AT&T at my earliest convenience. Enough is enough.

Comcast was awarded the monopoly for cable service in this area, and since then has been censured by the City for their horrible service.
It's not just me. 

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9:33 AM - Why do I bother?
Current mood: annoyed

I'm getting tired of people thinking they're playing me for a fool.
Do these people really think I can't tell what's going on?

It doesn't seem to matter that I just threw a big show with 10 acts, helped a vanue and it's owner re-invent and re-launch itself, helped everyone load and unload their gear, even with a bad back (and even when everyone -else- ran off and left our emcee standing with all of his gear at 2am), or that I do a great deal of advertsiement and promotion for this town's music "scene" out of my own pocket. It doesn't matter that I run a website that gets more traffic than the other 4 local entertainment sites combined, for free and ad-free. It doesn't matter that I'm finally -in- a band (yes, people used to complain that I was't a -real- musician cause I wasn't in a band). It doesn't matter what anyone -says- to my face or how much they seem to be gung-ho about the next event we're throwing or how many bumper stickers they take (and then toss).

I see what's going on. I see the muted whispers that abruptly end when we walk into the room (and the more flagrant ones who scowl). I see people point and stare, then pretend to be friends once we're in their face. I see the backstabbers who can't even look me in the eye anymore...they know what they've done and so do I. News travels fast here, and "friend" is a term of convience.

It's okay, I see what's going on. All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again. Because some people change like the wind. Some people don't want a "unified scene". Some peoeple are only interested in their own damn dramas, and that means more to them than anything lasting and real and true.

Enjoy it while it lasts, because it never does. 

Clickity Clickity Clique...

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5:02 AM - HHS 20-yr reunion fun
Current mood: tired

Went to my Huntington High 20-year reunion this weekend. Paige and I dressed in black sexiness and had alot of fun!  And I learned a few things...

I learned that my memory is truly awful after 20 years in rock bands and moving across 8 states. I (embarrassingly) learned that far more people remember me than I remember them. Fortunately, I had my "analog facial recognition system" (yearbook) onhand! I also learned that maybe I wasn't quite as much an outcast as I thought I was back then - and that there's still some -fine-women (black and white) in my graduating class! Some of the ones I had crushes on back then were there too...some of 'em are -still- hotties.

I learned that most people can be friendly after 20 years, even if they weren't very friendly in high school. I learned that (most) people grow up and get over their dramas.

I also  learned that some people never get past their dramas. I never did learn what it was that I supposedly did 20 years ago to end my 'engagement' (she never told me, just stopped talking to me) but I thoroughly enjoyed not being able to give a shit less! It was funny watching her be so flustered over nothing. Later Paige sortof accidentally got wind of some ladies-room talk, and made me VERY glad it ended way back then! Some people never change, but thank god most of them do.

Bottom line, we both had a BLAST, I got to reconnect with old friends and we made a few new ones along the way!

The strangest twist? One of my female classmates (whom I barely knew back then) attended with her husband, who it turns out I have known since kindergarten!

Now I get to look forward to the Caddo Magnet reunion in 3 more weeks! (I went to Magnet from 83-86, but graduated from Huntington because my folks moved us to Keatchie halfway though my Junior year.) I had alot more friends at Magnet cause I was there longer, but I was much more 'popular' at Huntington. I hope this one goes as well as last night did!

---
"Ain't it funny how your new life didn't change things?
You're still the same old girl you used to be."  - The Eagles

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6:03 PM - Well we movin' on up!
Current mood: jubilant

To a deee-luxe...well, much nicer home, right near Querbes golf course. The neighbors seem like nice and down-to-earth working folk, all within 10-15 years of our ages. Lots of kids of all ages  on our block, next door on both sides, etc. Querbes pool less than a block away.

AND I HAVE A PRACTICE ROOM NOW!!!!
A separate garage, that the landlord said I can soundproof and AC! And the neighbors look like they'd probably jam in the street with us, not call the cops! The ones we've met are already cool with it, and pointed me to their local guitarists.... WOOHOO!!! 

It will be very nice to get out of this 'storied' house...character though it has, it also has electrical dangers, gas leaks, water leaks, saggy floors that you can see ground under, and then there's the recently-released pedphiles, crackheads, and drunks with guns...none of whom we dare approach much less try to meet, not with the downright menacing *glares we get just going to and fro.

This means we'll be staying in Shreveport for the next 1.5 to 2 years or so...long enough to have another baby! We've always wanted a second one, and this is probably our last chance. Then we'll see what happens...

For now, we pack...moving day is June 29th!

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7:18 AM - Falwell Died

And St. Peter said:

"Next."

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7:33 PM - WTF - have you been?
Current mood: accomplished

Anyone who hasn't been by yet, come on by our new site at WickedTickle.com, we've got a new forum up and running with over 1200 posts in just over a week!

Most of the active users from that -other- site have come over and are having a blast...so what's your excuse??  ;)

Visit Wicked Tickle Forums

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9:45 PM - Father's Day
Current mood: appreciated and loved

I awoke to a wonderful day today, with my son and wife giving me gifts from their hearts, each according to their talents.

This is what my wife wrote for me...it had me all choked up!

"Every child requires a father
which any man can be
But a Dad works so much harder
than a Johnny People-Seed

Dad fixes what gets broken
bikes and trains and hearts
He listens when his child has spoken
He's there to guide right from the start.

A Dad is firm yet loving
But he won't put up with flack
He can be mischievous and funny
And he's always got your back

Dad's job is not an easy one
And Life's not an easy ride
But each day is richer and more fun
When your Dad is by your side.

I Love You!"

I don't think I've ever been prouder of who I am than I am right now. ;-)
Thank you hunny, I love you both very much too.

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