Frustrations

1/25/2009 - I'm very upset with Israel's Gaza campaign and their apparent indiscriminate, and often murderous, attacks on civilians. I've been watching and listening to reports from the conflict and I spent the morning reading reports from various sources and it is so difficult to sort out the facts from the propaganda. However, it seems pretty clear that the Israelis have been using white-phosphorus artillery shells on populated areas and while technically not a "war-crime" because Israel has not signed the international conventions banning such use, I have no doubt that if an "enemy" of the USA was caught using white-phosphorus on populated civilian areas we would instantly jump on the "war-crimes" bandwagon. I also can't help but wonder if the attacks on Gaza were timed to coincide with the last days of the Bush regime, who were presumably more tolerant of Israel's policy of violent repression than the Obama regime will be. I also read with interest the rabid attacks on the ISM, equating the ISM with neo-nazis! It seems pretty clear from the ISM's website that they are committed to non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation and oppression. They are the sanest voices in this conflict. If it turns out that Israel did commit "war-crimes" in the 2008/2009 Gaza conflict I am going to have to think seriously about renouncing my right of return to Israel(Alliyah) as a diaspora jew. Maybe someone will take notice if more American jews speak out against these policies of the Israeli government. Don't get me wrong, I am no friend and have absolutely no sympathy for Hamas or any other terrorists. I just can't help but apply the term "terrorist" equally.

12/14/08 - Bought a refurbished Sansa C250 MP 3? player from Buy.com. Realized in about two weeks that the built-in rechargeable battery was not holding a full charge. Only lasted about 20 minutes. Sent email to Sansa customer service. No reply.

12/20/08 - Found an RMA request form on the Sansa website. Submitted form with request for new battery or unit.

1/3/09 - Still no reply from Sansa

12/1/08 Every time this headset is turned on and connects to the laptop, it connects in mono mode. Will not switch back to stereo. Have to delete the bluetooth device and re-add it and then it connects in stereo. My motorola headset doesn't do this. Jabra has replaced the headset already because of defective battery and the new one is the same. I suspect this is a Vista/Dell bluetooth driver issue. Very frustrating.

1/3/09 Found a slightly easier workaround. Open Bluetooth devices in Vista. Click into "Properties" of the headset. Click Services tab. Uncheck all services. Click apply. Wait for everything to calm down. About 1 minute. Close the services windows. Open the properties/services window again. Check all the services. Click apply. The headset repairs in stereo.

11/28/08 - I received an envelope from the Ski Maine Association that should have contained my 2008/2009 Ski Passbook. However, the envelope contained brochures and a letter, but no passbook. I contact Greg Sweetser via email (he was listed as the director) and he quickly replied from his Blackberry that they had some problems with the Post Office and they would reissue the passbook. I called the next Monday and left a message at their office with Bo Bigelow.

12/6/08 - I have not yet received a new passbook or a phone call. I would hope that I would have heard something more concrete from Ski Maine about when I can expect a replacement passbook.

12/9/08 - Left a message for Greg Sweetser. He called me back within a few hours and explained that Bo Bigelow may not have realized I wanted a call back. In any event, Greg reported that the new passbook would be mailed the next day.

12/11/08 Received the new passbook today, Thanks Greg!