Today I finally canceled my subscription to Sirius/XM Radio. In hindsight, its a really sad thing I had to do.
I can't recall when, exactly, I got the radio, but I think it was 2006. I was excited, and I enjoyed having a chance to listen to the latest metal and punk whenever I wanted to on the thing. Throw in having my own personal radio station, and times were good.
I refused to pay for a lifetime subscription since I already had a feeling it wouldn't last too long, so I never actually went for it.
Over the years, my love affair for Sirius went south. They eliminated the Punk channel I loved, starting to play more and more of the same songs over and over again on the metal and hard rock stations, and the entire thing got monotonous. Throw in not being able to access your radio stations on the computer without paying an extra fee, and you can see why $45 every 4 months wasn't a deal.
I basically stopped listening to it over the last 3 months, and its just gathering dust now.
Its sad, really... really, it is. I also have the failed Portable Sirius Radio that never delivered on the promise of portable satellite radio in the form of a radio in your pocket. If I get one, I'll go back to them since I would actually use that. I don't drive so I don't have it for my car, either. Right now, its simply obsolete to me.
Philadelphia Artist Larry West (OK, that's me) is having a sale on all his artwork that ends today though Zazzle.com! This includes 40% off all posters, 25% off all mousepads, and 15% off all t-shirts!
According to an eyewitness, a D.C. Police detective went nuts after kids pelted his Hummer with snowballs at 14th and U Streets NW this afternoon. The veteran detective got out of his car and eventually grabbed for his gun, displaying it to the crowd. He did not immediately identify himself as a police officer. He calmed down once his fellow uniformed cop arrived. Apparently, someone called 911 to report a man with gun. The snowball fight had been well hyped on Twitter. The news of the incident first broke there.
...
"An hour ago, we showed up to see a snowball fight already in progress. Two factions along 14th Street along the intersection. It was pretty friendly, mostly OK. At one point, there was one interaction with the police that I saw. A cop got stuck in the snow. People stopped and helped him out. A couple moments later, at the intersection, heading west along U was this big maroon Hummer. A small faction of people decided to target it with snowballs. They're throwing snowballs at the Hummer. It turns out the driver of the Hummer is a detective. He gets out. He's waving a walkie talkie. It's not going well. Then he starts waving a gun. He hadn't identified himself at this point. There was a point where things cooled off a bit, more police showed up, and he identified himself at that point. The name was Det. Baylor. My guess was B-A-Y-L-O-R."
A few years ago I signed up for a Amazon Visa Credit Card. Whenever I ran up debt on it, I would pay it off the next month with no problem. This went on for a few months and even a full year, and all was right with the world. Then, I hit hard times. It got harder and harder to make payments and I soon fell behind. It even got to a point where I had maxed out the card. I decided then and there that I would do everything I could to fix the card and straighten out my finances! With a new job, more money, and a fresh start, what could go wrong?
That was back in April of 2008. Today, things are worse.
Starting April of 2008, I was put on a plan to pay off my then $700 Chase Card bill. The plan was simple: In exchange for making $50 a month payments, Chase would in turn not raise my interest rate or charge me an over-limit fee of $35 a month. My limit was only $400. The agreement was to get it back below $400 and work from there. To me, that was more than fair, so I complied. I still received statements but rarely opened them since, to me, there was nothing to see since the money was being taken from my account every month.
So imagine my shock when, April 2009, I took a look at my statement and saw that, once again, my bill was $700!!!!
HOW did this happen, you ask? It turns out that a check had bounced. Not only had it bounced, but Chase STILL got the money anyway and then dropped me from the plan because I had "missed a payment"! I found that out after calling them to find out what was going on. I never got a letter, never got a phone call, I was just dropped off their plan!
In April of 2009 I called Chase Card Services back to get onto a new payment plan. There was still some time left to pay off the card and still use it (about 5-6 months), so I asked the person if the money I had been paying on the plan could go towards the current bill since I was taken off the plan without ANY notice. They said no. Without much of a choice, I took the hit and agreed to a new plan with the same terms: $50 a month, no fee, and we pay off the entire debt.
There was a new twist: MY CARD HAD BEEN CANCELED!
I repeat: My Credit Card was CANCELED! WITHOUT ANY NOTICE AT ALL my card was canceled! Never got a letter, never got a call, it was CANCELED FIVE MONTHS EARLY! I was informed of THIS when I said I was willing to cut up my card to make sure nothing like this happened again.
So, let me sum up what happened within a year:
Put on a payment plan to pay off debt
Taken off payment plan without notice
Not allowed to put past payments toward current debt
Credit Card Canceled without ANY notification 5 months early
The solution? I did the only thing I could: Get on the same plan as before and hope for the best.
Fast-forward to November 2009.
I'm looking over the finances as November comes to a close and am living on the edge. Knowing that I owed Chase their $50 payment for the month, I did what I could to ensure the money was in the account. Sadly, it didn't work, and here's why:
The agreement with Chase says the money will be deducted from my account on the 20th of the month. Sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it's deducted late. Or, sometimes, even earlier. Either way, they get their money. In this case, the money wasn't taken from the account until THE 25TH OF THE MONTH. Is it Chase's fault? According to them it isn't. Is it the bank I do business with? Possibly, but I doubt it.
So, the payment is missed and, ironically enough, this is the one that would have gotten me to my below-the-limit amount. It would have put me at $375.77.
IF I went down to $375.77, guess what would happen? If you said I would be under the limit and thus stuck with all the problems associated with it... you're right.
This means I would rack up more debt as my plan would expire. No matter what, the $50 payment would never be enough as I would be hit with $35 in return, plus whatever interest would occur on the account.
So far, over the last year and half, CHASE BANK has gotten $800 DOLLARS from me on a $700 DEBT!
Today was the last straw!
Today is Sunday. A day of rest.
I've gotten 10, count them, TEN calls from their Debt Collection Department! Every single time I answered the phone, NO ONE answered, no one said anything, and no one told me WHO they were are WHY they were calling! TEN GOD-DAMN TIMES ON A FUCKING SUNDAY! TWO OF THEM AFTER 8PM!
Finally, I had enough.
I called the number back and spoke to an agent. I told the person what I told you, and in the end, I got nothing. No apologies for the calls, no apologies for calling so late, and nothing towards just settling this entire thing.
For the last week, I've gotten a call or two from Chase and I've told them the simple fact that I was sick for the last week and a half and I can't work. I told someone calling to collect the debt the first time that I was sorry about the payment but I wanted to just work out a settlement on the account and pay it off. Granted, I couldn't do it all at once or soon since I was sick, but I wanted to pay them off and be done with it. They said I would get a call in a few days with a possible offer or a reason why it would be decline.
After today... I don't know. I have no idea where to go from here.
Here's what I want: I want to not owe you anything, and I don't want to keep getting calls from you to collect this debt. Either make a settlement offer and I'll do my best to pay it, or don't bother calling because it isn't going to go anywhere at all! Personally, I think I've been pretty fair about this. Again, I've paid you over $800 on a $700 debt, and I've done what I can to hold up my end the agreement.
IF you don't agree.... WELL, I'M WITH HER!!!!!!!!!
So we got our first real snow fall in a long time... in fact, I do believe its the most snow we've gotten at once in about 4 years! AWESOME! Nearly 2 feet of the white stuff over the weekend and right before Christmas!
Well, enjoy the song, the snow, and I hope you have a great day!
I won't say much, but I think my headline says too much and yet everything at once.
There was a memo leaked of classified TSA procedures. The TSA says it's outdated from last year.
As I write this, Good Morning America is reporting about this story and giving anyone who's dumb or crazy enough to want to attack America every possible bit of information in the memo. Now, the memo, as I said, is leaked and anyone wanting to read it now can. Its likely that the people who wanted to know it already do and can, quite easily, make their own sick, fucked-up plans.
But not everyone knew about the leak, and not everyone was ready to run out and download it, even the crazies on the right and the left of this country. I think the way this story was, and very well could, is a problem and not a good idea. You know, like talking about the couple that crashed the White House dinner and how they could have hurt the President.
Municipal Waste, for the uninitiated, is a crossover thrash metal band from the great state of Virgina. For years, they have built a loyal and dedicated fan base here in Philadelphia, and have played at the First Unitarian Church to countless applause and moshpits!
Thursday, December 10th at 7:30PM, they will take the stage yet again at the First Unitarian Church and destroy all in their way!
A month ago, I went out with a few friends on First Friday to walk around. I decided to hold off displaying art this time around and instead focus on seeing what was going on at the galleries for a change. On 3rd Street, we walked by a store front that looked incredibly interesting, especially for Old City, filled with concert posters that I had never seen before.
I walked in and was greeted to a massive space only 1/4th filled with some posters, the rest empty and gutted. The walls were covered in massive English Subway Posters from yesteryear, and the man who ran the place was as jolly as Santa Clause! I found rare Iron Maiden and Metallica posters, and tons of movie posters.
I asked if it would be possible to show some of my stuff there down the line, and I signed a already half-filled piece of paper with other artists with the same idea.
Currently, the artwork of Cal Schenkel, long-time artist for Frank Zappa, is hanging in this store. It is worth checking out!
The store is located at 43 N. 3rd Street, and is open sporadically, although they are aiming for Fridays - Sundays in the afternoon.
