NC DOT Sucks

Related to the previous post, it would certainly have helped to have half-decent street signage. Driving across the area, we found that most of the intersections in Wendell and Zebulon lack proper signs, and those that exist are -- as often as not -- oriented opposite to the side from which we were entering the intersection. This I would have to guess is due to the professional incompetence of the NC DOT. After it became evident that we would have to rely heavily upon street signage to find the destination, we gave up and went home.

Google Maps: WTF ???

I've learned to despise Google Maps. Just now it cost me an evening of conversation and two hours of driving in vain.

A friend had invited me over for a cook-out. It was the first time we'd been to her house, so I looked up the address in Google maps and confirmed some of the streets with her. When I set up to print the map, Google provided a field labeled "Notes". Convenient. I inserted the friends' name and phone number, figuring if something was wrong with the map I could call. Off we went.

When we got close, I pulled out the map. Surprise surprise, it had omitted the landmarks. That's a scale issue. Well, no problem -- I'll pull out a road map. My wife informs me that for the n-th time, that she doesn't keep a map in her car. Nice. My truck has a GPS in it, but my truck is at home.

So I'll call. Wait: Google has replaced my note with a note about using Maps on my IPhone. #@$#@!#!!!! GOOGLE, I don't have an IPHone, and if you weren't going to print my #@$#@$@! note, you shouldn't have pretended with an entry field.

WTF Google?

Google's account management sucks Part II

Turns out that signing up for Gmail displaces your primary Google account name with the new Gmail account name. This is not what I expected, and certainly didn't ask for it. Servicethatsucks@gmail.com was just set up to try out adding advertisements to the blog, not to be my primary identity on Google.

And I can't switch back to my original account name, at least not directly on My Account page. That kind of ticks me off, and if it were any other service I'd dump them just for that.

Google's account management sucks

At one time, I played with putting Google AdSense on my company site. I found out quickly that it often wasn't a straightforward process to get things enabled under Google, but hey, they were new, and one can be forgiven for clunkyness in start-up services.

Now Google is the giant, not the new kid on the block. Yet their customer interfaces and procedures barely appear to have been changed. One apparent process design principle that has been a hallmark of their account management is that the user cannot back-out of a failed process, or a set-up that went awry, without waiting for human approvals.

Once you've started using a name or email on a Google service, it is as if it is a barbed hook: you cannot pull it out. Cancel buttons are missing. Roll-up and Confirmation screens are missing. "Terminate My Account" is no where to be found. Apparently once you've used an identity in Google services, Google is committed to it forever even if the process hasn't created any auditable transactions. I was going to set up AdSense for this blog, only to find out that the experimentation I did years ago under a now-defunct email, is still out there under my name, and according to Google policy only one account is allowed per person. At the same time, I also have a Google account unrelated to the AdSense junk. So I can try to link up the accounts or sign-up for a prohibited new account under servicethatsucks@gmail.com, but the whole point is this: the whole process is a mystery and Google's policy of "no undo" when initially setting up is service that sucks.

Time to make the Donuts ???

I like the people at Daylight Donuts here in Rolesville. It is a small town, and you know they are genuinely interested in the community. Still, it is disappointing to see the place (1) out of donuts by the middle of the morning and (2) closed at odd hours.

On the second point, they have been closed on Mondays (do people really buy fewer donuts on first day of the work week?) but as often as not I go to a donut shop to drink good coffee, meet with clients, and do work over Wi-Fi. But when they are closed at random times I cannot use them for that purpose. In point of fact I must plan to avoid them when working with clients: it would be too damaging to show up and find them closed.

This brings up a third point, which is that there aren't any really good coffee shops in Rolesville. Even the local McD's product often tastes burned like someone left the pot on overnight. I'm not holding out hope for the new drive log cabin, whenever that gets built, since it will have no place to sit. Rolesville is where I live, and I don't want the community turned into a drive-through. That's why I hope the donut shop succeeds despite its failings.

Beggars or Scammers at TigerDirect/CompUSA

Former Tiger Direct, now called CompUSA, has a retail site on Capital Blvd (Rt1) north of the 440 beltline. Don't get me wrong -- this post is not about Tiger/CompUSA -- but about the apparent pattern of scammers targeting their parking lot.

I went there yesterday evening, accompanied by my teen-aged son, and for the third time in a few months was approached by a stranger who began in an impassioned tone explaining some vague story about an alternator, something about money -- flashing a wad of bills -- and seeming to want something but not asking it directly. Now, I'd been duped easily when I was my son's age, but nowadays I'm not inclined to open up; I rarely carry cash with me anyways and didn't that night.

So I simply said so. The first hint that something was wrong was, he didn't take no for an answer. Keep in mind my son was with me, and felt a little intimidated by this guy. That was enough to raise my hackles, but something else seemed familiar. Here was a guy, complaining about a car part in the middle of a parking lot at a computer store, when not two blocks up the street were three auto parts stores. There was also that wad of cash, and that for no apparent reason he kept his cell phone out, and it was rather expensive looking.

When he refused to take the soft let-down, I dropped down into a somewhat more tense tone. Not harsh, just irate. I told him matter of factly that, look, this is the third time someone like you has approached me in this parking lot complaining about car trouble and asking for something. He started backing off, quickly replying that "there isn't anyone else like me here". But I remembered clearly the same sort of stories from people approaching me in that lot, as I left the store at dusk. There's a pattern here. I curtly informed him that no, I'm leaving now. He got the message, but he now looked very nervous.

Now, I could be paranoid, but I don't think so. What would someone need from me, when they've got the money to get cell phone that I can't afford? A ride? I've got a pickup truck that seats two, and the auto-parts stores are within easy walking distance. And this is a commercial strip... what are these people doing to get stuck here of all places, taking the bus? No, it smells of a scam of some sort, a course in Advanced Begging at the 300 level, or perhaps some worse form of planned theivery. A lot of people shopping at a computer parts store presumably have disposable income, and I'm thinking they've proven to be good targets.

Be careful when shopping at Tiger/CompUSA.

Long time, no posting

Been in school, university really. Not much business done outside of that, so not much to say.