Hawk's Babble-Log

Rant mode ON!

Commission Junction _sucks ass_, deeply.

(By the way, that’s a technical term: sucks ass. Means _blows chucks_.)

I signed up with Commission Junction (CJ) some time ago, back when I was webmaster for Samy’s Camera.

I didn’t have a whole lot of time to work on linking through them, so my account was largely left unused. After I switched jobs, I had lots more time to work on it. So I began setting up links to my favorite items at ThinkGeek (thinkgeek.com), one of my favorite stores.

Then I discovered that I couldn’t log in to my CJ account. I emailed ThinkGeek about this, but Jennifer had no clue what was going on. So I emailed CJ, but never got a response. So I called CJ, waited for a while on hold, then finally spoke to a guy about the problem. He looked up my account and discovered that yes, I had indeed been cancelled.

I asked how come. He said because I had not produced the minimum in a specific timeframe. Well, this was understandable, as I had not really put much work into it.

Now, please note here that there is no problem (yet). All they would have to do is re-activate me.

So, I asked the guy to re-activate me and I’d be on my way to earning some commissions by linking to products at ThinkGeek. He said that he couldn’t do that. I asked to get someone who could. No, he replied that _it’s not possible_. But, I could re-sign up under a different email address.

I’ve got plenty of different email address, but that’s not the point. We can put a man on the moon, but CJ can’t re-activate my account.

Hence: Commission Junction _sucks ass_, deeply. I will never use them and I will never recommend them.

Rant mode OFF.

Rant mode ON!

TicketMaster _sucks ass_.

(By the way, that’s a technical term: sucks ass. Means BAD.)

I was trying to help out my sister get some tickets for a local concert. I waited until they went on sale, then tried numerious times to purchase them via the TicketMaster website.

I tried for over 20 minutes. The only thing I got from the TicketMaster website was an generic error screen. Oh, and frustration. I got lots of frustration.

The error screen was not at all helpful, because it listed about six different things which _may_ be wrong. Errors are supposed to help you figure out the problem. That’s what they’re for. TicketMaster error messagess are designed to frustrate you.

Another thing which is really annoying: I entered the word in the graphic correctly, but the system kicked me back and told me it was incorrect. C’mon, I’m a human and I can read. I entered the word in correctly; their system failed.

So, in short: I’ll _never_ use TicketMaster. Ever. Why? Because they _suck ass_.

Rant mode OFF.

I finally got a good, solid, heavy, big workbench!

This sucker is made of solid oak, and was made back when they knew how to make stuff. It’s very well made, very solid, very high, and big enough for any project I have on my plate currently.

Pictured on the workbench is my little Sherline 2010 Milling Machine and some endmills. More on that later.

Starring Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Maggie Q, Laurence Fishburne, and Keri Russell.

Excellent! I might even go so far as to say “Outstanding!”

Only one thing would I have changed, but more on that later. This movie had it all: action, romance, intrigue, a mystery to solve, obstacles to overcome, exotic locations, fun stunts, and great acting all along the way. These are world-class actors here, and they really pulled through. How can I say this? Let me put it this way: This movie made me sweat.

That’s the mark of an excellent adventure movie. I was interested the whole time, I was into the story, I was following along, and my muscles were tensing up during the fight scenes. Hence the sweat. But it’s all good.

This is the kind of movie I’m glad I saw on the big screen. And I saw it on a very big, slightly curved screen, in DLP, in the fabulous Cinerama Dome / ARC Light theaters in glorious Hollywood. It’s about a mile walk from where I live, so it was easy. Didn’t even cost any gas. That’s important when you consider gas prices these days.

The only thing I would have changed was making the bad guy suffer more. That’s about it. Everything else was excellent.

In summary: I throughly enjoyed it, I highly recommend it, and I’ll definitely be getting it when it comes out on DVD.