Loathing of the Phone

After receiving numerous voicemails saying "I don't know why I bother, you never answer." I have come to a realization: I despise talking on the phone. Let me clarify, I don't like talking on the phone for long periods. Now, I know I sound like an asshole, but let me explain.

First off, if there needs to be a lengthy conversation about life and such it should be done in person. Still assholey? Ok, in person I am there one hundred percent for you. I am not thinking, what could I be doing instead of holding this god damn phone up to my ear. I am reading your body language and truly feeling what you say and how you act.

To put it simply the phone bores me...

So I do not mean offense to those of you who call me. And yes my voicemail does say I will get back to you soon, but I may have forgotten to add in "as long as you don't call me out for not answering" and "leave a specific enough message (which not nearly enough people do) so I know what the hell you want". These are my [quite simple if you ask me] criteria for getting (depending on the situation) a QUICK call back or a text.

And that my friends is why I loathe the phone talking. I do not mean to sound like a meanie, but ,as a lot of wonderful women would say, I cannot help how I feel.

ARK

ARK's Town

There is a quaint satisfaction of growing up in a town where nothing really ever happens, then going to college where it seems as though everything happens every day. And when I come back to this town after being at school for breaks I realize how boring it truly is, and yet I am satisfied by the biggest thing happening being the convenience store I rode my bike to with my childhood friends closing, or the local grocery finally getting a liquor license. Why am I satisfied by a convenience store where I have so many memories closing you ask? Because it shows me that in a boring town where nothing changes or happens, the small things actually do have an impact on everyone. That to me is just very cool.

ARK

Just Business

Two times in the past 2 weeks I have been told how refreshing my attitude towards life is. By this I mean the way I deal with certain situations. For example, my Best Buy story. My friend and I went to see Life of Pi on Saturday night and went to target to get some reasonably priced snacks. He asked me where we were gonna put them to sneak them in. "Dude I am just gonna walk in with them." I said.
"What if we get caught?" He asked.
"I will ask them if they want my business or if they are willing to throw me out just cause I brought food," I said calmly, "and if that doesn't work I will tell them I have food allergies, we will be fine."
"I love your attitude in these situations man." And he wasn't mocking me! I then proceeded to tell him my Best Buy story, which he found hilarious.

The other instance where this happened is when I was told that one of our roommates in our apartment would be moving out, he is from China and wanted to live with an American family before he went back. I completely understood his reasoning, but he told me he would only pay a quarter of the share of rent he originally agreed to pay. Well, I got upset by this so I talked to his roommate (lets call him Jeff) because I didn't want to start anything before I talked to Jeff. Jeff is truly an amazing friend and my best friend at school. He proceeded to tell me how he did indeed feel betrayed, but he didn't want to end on bad terms with the roommate who was leaving. I told him to let me handle it cause I wanted Jeff to not be the middle man. It was just business to me, our roommate signed a contract and sought to make sure he followed through with it. I kept pushing him (cause I am a persistent asshole at times), he told me I was scaring him. At this point he told me "You are a little man, but you have a huge presence and a big personality, I am glad we are going into business together."

So, 2 times in the past 2 weeks 2 of the closest people to me have appreciated my persistent assholiness. Feels pretty good. Pretty good. All it is though is just business.

ARK

Earbud Escapade: The Best Buy Story

This is a continuation from the Earbud Escapade Blog I posted 2 days ago.

Best Buy Update: Best Buy was a pain in the ass, here is the story:

I walk in, go straight to the returns counter, see a guy in a white button down shirt and think "he must be a manager!" There is a girl about my age to his left so I am praying to the heavens (this is one of the few cases where I turn religious) that I get the manager. Sure enough he finishes with his customer first and I step up to greet him. I tell him, "This is my second time exchanging these, I want to exchange them for a different brand that I am guaranteed works."

"No Problem!" He exclaims, "Just go browse around and bring me the pair you choose!"

"What a pleasant dude!" I think to myself. "Wonderful!" I say to this beautiful redheaded man.

I got the green pair, but the orange is sexy too!

I wander over to the headphones section, look at the multiple pairs of Bose buds that I have been researching. Then I see a pair of Bluetooth workout buds (Brand Name: JayBirds) and start looking on Amazon. The reviews seem pretty solid, but I just don't know how much I trust Bluetooth sound quality wise and connection wis as well. I Decide to go with the Bose SIE2i's even though I have an Android phone, I figure the mic will still work.

I take them up to customer service, and sure enough right when I get to the front of the line the manager leaves and I am stuck to deal with a guy my age, Bryan his name-tag reads, who is clearly not a manager. I explain the situation carefully and tell him the manager said it was all right. Bryan proceeds to inspect the receipt, then the headphones, and comes to the conclusion that the receipt is for the S4A's and the box I brought in is for the S4's.

I say "Oh I must have grabbed the wrong pair when I returned the A's, you know they all look the same."

Bryan then starts looking on the computer. I wait for about 2 minutes while he looks on his computer. "What are you looking for?" I demand.

"I am just looking to see if there was another transaction where you purchased these headphones."

"As I said, I grabbed the wrong pair so there will not be a transaction. Let me speak to a manager." I said trying to keep my cool.

Bryan then asks the girl next to him (also no older than me) which managers are working today, and if she could contact one of them. Bryan then takes my box and my receipt without saying a word to me. I start getting a little panicky, because for all I know he could just rip up my receipt and say I never purchased those headphones. He comes back about 3 minutes later to tell me the manager authorized the exchange and then rambled with a bunch of technical store mumbo jumbo. "Fine." I say obviously annoyed.

The final price comes up on the screen and I notice it seems to be $10 off. "What are the charges?" I ask.

"Oh, my manager told me to give you the money back for the boxed item." He says coyly. (He was expecting that I wasn't going to catch it.)

"What does that receipt say?" I say to him.

"You don't have the item that this receipt is for."

"As I have said to you for the 3rd time now, I grabbed the wrong item by mistake. So I ask you again, what does that receipt say."

"69.99." Bryan reads to me.

"Meaning I paid 69.99 so give me the money I paid, get me your manager."

"He's busy attending to a problem over there," pointing to the registers. "I'll go talk to him again."

He leaves. At this point the pretty girl who was next to him asks me what the problem is seeming like she wasn't a fan of my man Bryan. I explain to her the situation and she says "Oh." Maybe she was trying to calm me down, or just curious. She's pretty so whatever she could have any motive in the book.

Now Bryan returns telling me I will finally get what I want. "I can either close out this transaction and start from scratch or it would be easier for me and quicker if we continue and I refund you the $10."

"I want you to close out." I say, not trying to be a dick I just want 1 receipt not 3.

As he starts scanning and typing I tell him, "I know you are just doing your job and I respect that, I just don't like being interrogated and scrutinized for my purchases."

"Oh I wasn't interrogating you blah blah blah...."

Dude I apologized to you in the best way I could just say thanks and continue.

I will end with a question "what ever happened to the customer is always right?"

ARK

The Bose ended up not working, so I figured it is a problem with my phone. I will have to post a Sprint Update now with my happenings in the Sprint Store.

PS I would love to hear your customer service nightmares!

Earbud Escapade

Note I will provide links to all products mentioned even though I highly advise (given the details below) you against purchasing the Klipsch S4's.

Klipsch S4's

New Years day 2013, my dad and I went to Best Buy so he could get himself a screen protector which I had been telling him to get since he got his phone a year ago. I went to the headphone section cause I'd been looking for a new pair of earbuds for a while. Sure enough, my dad offered to buy me a pair. I got the Klipsch S4A's, they got great reviews on both Cnet and Amazon.

Audio jack with mic (3 lines)

As soon as we got home I ripped open the box, plugged them into my Android (which is what the A in S4A stands for) and noticed the left earbud didn't work. I twisted the input jack around and found that the left earbud would go in and out of sound. I plugged them into my iPod and they seemed to work fine. For earbuds the sound quality was great and I truly loved the snug fit. I figured it must be a problem with my phone, but decided to try a different pair. So I immediately rushed back to Best Buy and exchanged them for the S4's (no mic input, no buttons), I was thinking it was a problem with the type of jack associated with the mic inputs cause there are 3 black lines as opposed to 2 on regular headphones with no microphone (pics to the right).

I didn't even wait till I got home to open them I wanted to see if they worked. Plugged them into my phone and still same problem. The margin of twisting was much smaller, but still I am going to be shoving my phone in my pocket and the cable doesn't just naturally stay in one position, that is why it is a circle it rotates.

V-Moda Crossfade LP's

Audio jack no mic (2 lines)

I didn't return the headphones. I should have but I didn't. After a few weeks (last night) I factory reset my phone thinking it could have been a software issue, and I was planning on taking it to the sprint store for repair anyway (I thought the charging port was messed up as well). I made the mistake of not testing other headphones with my phone before this reset. I also made the mistake of not testing other cables with my phone. I bought a new cable yesterday that worked perfectly, so I have now come to the conclusion that the charging port is fine, but back to the headphones. After factory resetting my phone I decided to plug in other headphones to my phone, specifically my V-MODA Crossfade LP's (picture to the left), and my samsung earbuds (came with my Galaxy SIII) that I have been using with my iPod in the meantime. Needless to say, both worked flawlessly. I twisted the jack, pulled it a bit, and did my whole jig. No problems. But was I so wrong to think that I couldn't have possibly bought 2 bad pairs of earbuds? And was I so wrong to think that there is no way the micro usb cables I have been using couldn't have worn out all at the same time? Well, I was to think such things.

So, I will be going to Best Buy today to exchange these rubbish Klipsch earbuds for maybe some Bose or Monster one's which I am guaranteed work. After doing more research about the Klipsch I have found that people have had the same problem as mine, but theirs have worn out after 6 months to a year! I guess it is a blessing in disguise that they didn't work right out the box because I am at liberty to exchange to Best Buy within 30 days.

If you want to look at any of these products here are the links or click the pictures above:

Also, the V-Moda headphones are the best  headphones I have ever owned. So comfortable, incredible sound. My girlfriend even asked for them for Christmas after listening to mine. I have tested out Beats, Sennheiser, Sony, Phillips, etc. and can truly say these are the best out of all of them. Anyway if you want a more in depth review I cannot rave enough about those things so drop a comment if that would interest you.

I will possibly update this after my purchase of the new earbuds with the end result.

Thanks for reading and my word of advice: Try with your own device before you buy (or make sure the store has a good policy reguarding returns/exchanges).

ARK

Django Unchained Review

Django Unchained is the new Tarantino film about a bounty hunter who frees a slave to help track down and kill 3 brothers. Along the way the freed slave, Django (Jamie Foxx), is trained by the bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), and becomes the fastest shot in the US. After the brothers are killed Django tells Dr. Schultz how he was separated from his wife, and the two strike a deal to get Django's wife back.

Django Unchained in my opinion is up there with Inglorious Basterds (also by Tarantino). It is a true Western, and one that deals with some very heavy subjects and showed what the brutality (much of what Tarantino is known for) of slavery could have actually been like. It doesn't sugar coat things, it in no way was glorifying slavery, it showed how sick and twisted people could be. Mainly how twisted Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) could be.

The greatest thing I found about DU is the acting. The performances given by Waltz, DiCaprio, Samuel  L. Jackson, and Foxx were amazing. I have loved every performance I have seen of Christoph Waltz and I think he is beyond deserving of any award he receives. I was impressed with Jamie Foxx, going in to watch the movie I was very skeptical of him, even though I saw him in Ray and yes he was great, I just haven't really seen him since, nor have I been interested to. I had no idea DiCaprio could play such a fantastic villain, it's not that I didn't think he had it in him I just would not have thought of him to play a villain. He frightened me by his horrific ideas about how slaves brains work.

There were a few problems I had with DU. As I said above it was a real Western, I loved it for that. It features old style western music and amazing sets. However, about 30 minutes into the movie rap music starts playing and it felt so out of place with the scene that it took me out of the movie. I would forgive this if it had been the only time, but it happened numerous times, almost every time I got sucked back in to the action and plot, rap would tear me away. Maybe what the rappers were rapping about fit what was going on, but I didn't listen that closely cause all I could focus on was how out of place it was.

Then there was a very minor problem, that most people wouldn't care about, but I did because Tarantino claims he never wants to make a bad movie and wants to leave a legacy of only good films behind. There was a scene where Django walks up to Candie's bar orders a drink and whips out a self rolled white cigarette. Tarantino seemed to focus on how the smoke looked coming out of Django's mouth, with the swirls and the thickness of it. It did look very cool. Meanwhile it kept cutting back and forth to Dr. Schultz and Candie talking, then back to Django. Although when it cut back to Django one time the cigarette was no longer white, it was brown. Now with any director, be it Darren Aronofsky, PT Anderson, the Coen Bros, whoever.... I would not care at all. I would have overlooked it, but a guy like Tarantino who cares so much about his legacy and is only going to make like 3 or 4 more movies ever I just would think he would want to be more careful. Not saying I would dock him points for this, I'm not that guy, just pointing it out.

I am a huge fan of this film and of Tarantino, and if it sounds like you would enjoy it too check it out, tell me what you think!

ARK

Argo Review

I go back and forth a lot with Ben Affleck (the director and star of Argo), sometimes I love his work and sometimes a really don't.

The premise of Argo is that the US Embassy in Iran is taken over by rebels, but 6 out of 66 people escape to the Ambassidor of Canada's home. This ended up putting the 6 in more danger because if the Iranian's found out, they would not even capture the 6, they would simply kill on site. The other 60 were being tortured and held for ransom, but they still had their lives and were technically safe. This is where Ben Affleck's character comes in - he specializes in sneaking into countries and getting people out. So, he hatches an idea to do so and proceeds to set that idea in motion.

Overall the best thing I found about the movie was that the tension slowly builds to the heart wrenching climax, very much like the movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The acting was top notch, with a cast that really can't be matched. With Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), John Goodman (Big Lebowski), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), and Titus Welliver (who played the man in black in Lost). So many familiar faces filled the cast that you are bound to say "oh hey it's that guy!" at some point.

Really the one thing I would have to complain about would be Ben Affleck's acting. As much as I like how he directs, he just doesn't have a wide array of emotions and acting choices. I think he's realized this and this is why he plays such straight, cool guy roles. It just somewhat takes away from knowing that he could have gotten almost any actor he wanted to play the part.

Overall, Argo was a great movie, worthy of the nominations its received.

So there you have it, a short but sweet review on Argo.
If you think this is a movie you would like check it out, then drop a comment.

Peace,

ARK