Two years ago I was getting ready to go to London and at that time AT&T (then called Cingular) was one of the few wireless companies whose phones would work in England as well as here in the U.S. I periodically make trips abroad and thought it would be a good idea to have a phone that works in both North America and Europe. We previously had bad experiences with Verizon Wireless–not their network coverage, but their customer service. Very poor customer service at the local Verizon Wireless storefront on the Vestal Parkway. I did not do my homework and assumed (wrongly as it turns out) that Cingular’s network would be equivalent to Verizon’s. Wrong!

So I signed my family up for Cingular (now AT&T) thinking that was the solution. And if you sign up for a two-year plan, they virtually give you the phones for free. Free? Wrong again. It’s built into the cost of the monthly charges, but only now do I know that.

The phones we purchased are now failing. Two of them don’t work properly and you can’t make calls with them. We don’t want to buy new phones and didn’t buy the exorbitant insurance originally offered to replace them. So now only two of the four phones we bought are functioning correctly. If we cancel two of the four lines before the expiration of our contract in December, we get charged $175 per line. Welcome to the “gotcha” land of cell phones. Buy a new phone for $175, or cancel the line for $175. Those are your two “choices.”

When our contract does expire, I’ll be looking for a prepaid plan or a plan with no annual contract. Can anyone who reads this blog offer me a suggestion? Are you on a no-commitment plan that you like, and has good coverage in Binghamton and the surrounding hillsides? Let me know in the comments.

Technorati Tags: Greater Binghamton, cell phones, cell phone providers, wireless providers, AT&T Wireless, customer service

Locating a store in Johnson City, as proposed, will relieve congestion at the current store. Maybe I won’t have to park a quarter of a mile away anymore! However, I do think a better location would be somewhere on upper Front Street or State Route 12–on the northern end of Broome County. Apparently there’s not a big enough parcel of land to be had in that area. The only negative I can think of for the proposed site in JC are traffic tie-ups along Airport Road…hopefully the planners will figure that out and devise a clever way to handle the increased numbers.

I do not subscribe to the philosophy that Wal-Mart kills local businesses. The same could be said for Lowes, Home Depot, Target, Sears, J.C. Penny or any large retailer. For some reason Wal-Mart is always singled out as the whipping boy for killing local business. Let me remind you–this is America–not the USSR (as fond of that failed utopia as many local leftists are). Wal-Mart has the right to build. We have the right to shop there–or not! I choose to shop there sometimes, just not very much.

Neither do I subscribe to the nutty local conspiracy theory that Wal-Mart is building a new store some 6-7 miles from the existing store just to close the doors of the existing one. The new store is going to be smaller! I’m not quite sure how that logic works, but you know how conspiracy theories work. Logic isn’t a requirement.

In my humble opinion, Greater Binghamton could use 2-3 more Wal-Marts scattered around. Now if we can just get them to sell more American-made products…

How about you? Do you think it’s a good idea? Bad idea? Leave me a comment.

Technorati Tags: Binghamton, Wal-Mart

Lately, the darling of the atheistic movement has been Richard Dawkins, a British evolutionary biologist and author of a number of books, including the recent The God Delusion. I won’t slip into an extended discussion of atheism (no God) versus theism (some sort of God). I just want to point out that atheism is a religion. The tenants of atheism, I would argue, are not based in science but faith, as they are not “provable” in the same sense that God is not “provable.” No human was alive at the beginning of time. No one can go back and observe “the Big Bang.” There are no records from “millions of years ago” to aide us. Instead, we must deal with the evidence around us that exists in the here and now. And so, what we are left with, is an interpretation of the evidence. Atheists and creationists both have the same fossil record, the same stars, the same “facts” about science. It all comes down to how one interprets the facts. The facts are the facts! But interpretation of the facts differs widely.

Which brings me back to the point that atheism is not a valueless, clinical “scientific” view. It is full of faith–faith about what “likely” happened so long ago. Faith about man’s beginning. And faith about man’s destiny. I would call it a blind faith–as there is little if any evidence to support it! One of the most damning arguments against atheism is the logical outcome from such beliefs…such faith. If man is a product of cosmic goo from long ago, and man is in the center of his own universe, life becomes meaningless. I think it was rather well said in a recent American Thinker article titled, The Godless Delusion:

One might think that those who worship science would wake up. Knowing much beyond what we already know about the universe is increasingly improbable. No serious person today can think that material benefits will make us happier - not in a society in which the greatest health problem is obesity and the greatest emotional problem is boredom.

And how do we sate our boredom? Increasingly, our entertainment is horrific and perverse. Our obsession with violence, promiscuous sex and dangerous drugs is as obvious as the cure to those sicknesses: God. Without God, we cannot even imagine anything good (if you doubt that, try to imagine Heaven.)  Those who reject God suffer from the Godless Delusion.

And so what does this have to do with Greater Binghamton? I was visiting our local Barnes & Noble last week, one of my favorite local destinations. And I found it interesting there was a large display of books about atheism, including a number of books by Dawkins. I’m not knocking B&N–hey, they want to make money. But I did find myself thinking, “When was the last time I saw a prominent display of books about Christianity on display in here?”

Technorati Tags: Binghamton, atheism, American Thinker, Rex Stout, Isaac Asimov, Richard Dawkins, Barnes & Noble

My gripe is this: My son and I stopped in to purchase a car converter/recharger for my son’s iPod. He was due to go on a long trip with his school and wanted the ability to recharge the iPod in the van. We got one, a Maxell, for $49. My son tried it out at home in our vehicle, and it immediately came apart in the cigarette lighter outlet. I had to dig it out. The thing simply fell apart. So it never went on the trip. I took it back to Micro World a few days ago, figuring even though it was a tad over 30 days since we purchased it, they would at least replace it if not provide a full refund. No dice. No refunds or replacements after 7 days–period. OK, that’s the policy and I guess I missed the small type on the receipt (although they neglected to mention it when we made the purchase).

But here’s the thing. When I stopped by the store at 11:15a on a Tuesday, they weren’t open yet, even though posted hours say they open at 11a. So I stopped back an hour later. I had to wait while the female co-owner (not sure if she’s a co-owner but it seemed so to me) gave a Mac lesson to a customer having trouble with a hard drive filling up too fast. Wait a minute…I thought Macs are so easy to use, no one needs lessons! But I digress. I stood around waiting for over 15 minutes according to my watch. She never looked at me nor even acknowledged me. Finally, she took a break and looked up to see this nuisance standing there (me). I explained my plight, and her response was curt and her attitude somewhat caustic. It is a 7-day return policy and “you’ll need to contact the manufacturer to have it replaced.” End of story. The male co-owner arrived at that point, looked at it, and told me the same thing. His attitude was better, but the upshot was and is, “you’re outta luck.” Needless to say I’m not impressed with the customer service ethic of the owners of Micro World.

What’s your experience with Micro World? Do you agree with me? Disagree? Let me know in the comments.

Technorati Tags: Apple Computer, Binghamton, customer service, iPod