Amt Tender

So at del taco, I tender $10 for a $2.17 order.  My change is $2.83.

On the receipt, I see she entered my payment as $5.00.  I point out her error, and she says that she put it in the $5.00 slot, and gives me a $5.00 bill to give me the correct change.

If this was the first time this had happened to me at a particular restaurant, I would chalk it up to human error - anyone can make a mistake.

What I want to know is why this has happened to me three times at this particular Del Taco.  This situation essentially never happens to me at other restaurants, but it happens with alarming frequency at this one particular restaurant.

One other time, I gave a $20.00 and the cashier entered my amount as $10.00, and a different time I gave $10.00 and the cashier entered $5.00 as the amount tendered.  Why this habit of entering half of the amount I actually gave?

I'm talking about the Del Taco at Topanga Canyon Blvd and Lassen - has anyone else experienced this?

Weather Forecasting

So I'm sitting at my computer late Thursday afternoon when I hear thunder coming through my open window.  I glance at the thermometer at my desk and read the temperature and humidity, then peer out the window and look at some clouds gathering to our north-west:  thick white fringes with miles of dark immediately following that.

I think to myself that it's going to rain anytime starting in one to twelve hours, depending on wind.  I decide to check my own accuracy and go to several different weather sites - all show that it's going to be sunny today and sunny tomorrow.  In fact, it says it's going to be sunny for the next week (although the hour-by-hour says it will be "partly cloudy" at one point tomorrow).

I look out the window at the clouds, and refresh all of the sites - weather.com, weather.yahoo.com, etc.  They all show sunny, none say rain.  I figure that we'll see who's better at predicting the weather.

The next morning, it's overcast with thick black clouds, and the humidity has gone up over 10%.  It's drizzled on and off during the night, and ends up raining through the day.

Today the weather reports all show something different:

• weather.cnn.com says it's 50 degrees and thunder storming
• weather.yahoo.com says it's 50 degrees and light rain
• weather.com says it's 52 degrees and mostly cloudy

My ability to predict the weather is based on:

• looking and listening out the window, which costs nothing
• using a thermometer and hygrometer, which cost $14, 4 years ago

My success rate for the last several years has been higher than the meteorologists in the U.S.

I'd have to guess that the expense of putting up a weather satellite system, not to mention the cost of receiving bases and training meteorologists so that they can read satellite imagery, is quite a bit higher than my method of weather detection and prediction - so my question is, why aren't they more accurate than me?

I would bet that the cost ratio would be more than one billion-to-one, when you compare "using a series of satellites in orbit" to "looking at a thermometer."  So, one could expect that they would be what ... a million times more accurate?  A thousand?  A hundred?  How about just as accurate?

Where does this money come from that we spend (I'm guessing) billions of dollars on satellites that are less accurate that looking out the window?  Is any of it from my tax money?  Because if so, can I withhold that and just rely on the more accurate but less expensive method of looking at the sky?

Recommended Old Software

First off, I can't figure out why Amazon.com recommends (through their Recommendation system) old versions of software or why it recommends software for platforms I don't own (like an Xbox 360, a Playstation original, or a Macintosh of any era).

Then we start to wonder about recommendations for things like anti-virus software from 2003!

To make the situation of recommending old software even worse, they will tell you why they make particular recommendations.  In the case of recommending Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Standard Edition [OLD VERSION]  (yes, it actually says [OLD VERSION] in all caps and in brackets, right in the product name), they fully admit that they are recommending it to me because I already own Adobe Acrobat Standard 8.0.

So let me ask you, why would they intentionally recommend the older version of software that they know that I already own.

Read Before Reply

I sent an e-mail to CafePress.com Support Team complaining that I make updates to my store and don't see the updates.

When I sent my initial e-mail, it didn't occur to me that I needed to tell them that I had cleared my cache, tried a different browser, and tried a different computer. So when they give me the standard canned response asking me to clear my cache and try again, I am not upset in the slightest.

I reply to them;

Hello,

The updates did eventually show up several hours later. But now I have made more changes, and those changes are not showing up on the pages I’m changing them on.

I have:

1. Closed my browser
2. Re-opened the browser and cleared my cache
3. Closed my browser again

When that didn’t work, I tried another browser. I was on IE7, I tried Firefox.

When that didn’t work, I cleared cache on both browsers completely, rebooted my computer.

When that didn’t work, I tried viewing it on a different computer, both with IE and Firefox, neither of which had ever previously viewed the store.

I still don’t see the updates I have made today.

Can you please help?

They then reply:

Dear Sean,

If you make a change to your shop and don’t see it right away, your cookies may be caching the old information. Try viewing your storefront in a new browser window or refresh your current browser window every time there is a change made on the page. If you’re using Internet Explorer, please go to “Tools” and select “Internet Options”. Under “Temporary Internet Files” delete your cookies

If there is anything else I can do for you please let me know.

Fortunately there is a survey link in the e-mail. When I rated this response as a 1, it asked me:

>> Please tell us what we can do different next time to receive a score of 10?

Read the e-mail I sent before clicking Reply.

I stated in absolutely clear English in my e-mail submission that I have cleared my cache, tried a different browser, and tried a different computer (which has never been to the store before, so can't possibly have any stored cache about the store), and still don't see the updates.

So why does this representative reply to me and state that I should clear my cache?

Also, I had already been instructed by a previous representative to clear my cache, so this seems like repeating instructions to someone.

amazonmp3 > iTunes

If you haven't downloaded from amazon.com's DRM-Free .mp3 store, then you're buying your music at the wrong place.

This is my article to explain why amazonmp3 is better than iTunes, and other services I have used.

Today I went to play Steppin' Out, a song by Joe Jackson. It's a .m4p file, I legally paid for and downloaded from iTunes. It opens in QuickTime and I get a message that says:
This computer is not authorized to play "05 Steppin' Out.m4p". If you purchased this song you can open iTunes and authorize this computer to play this song by entering your Apple ID and password.

So I click Open iTunes, and then remember that I had uninstalled it a few weeks ago because I don't use it, and don't want extraneous software installed. So, now if I want to hear this song, I will have to install iTunes, enter my Apple ID, prove that I am the rightful owner of this file, and that gives me the permission to play it on this one computer.

What if I want to copy this file to my phone (which can hold an 8gb card and play .mp3s, but is not an iPhone or iPod) and listen to it? Do I have to install special Apple software there and prove my identity?

What if I want to listen to it on my computer at work? Although I can copy songs to my hard drive, they won't let me install iTunes on my work PC, so I guess I'm stuck there.

When I go to amazon.com, I;

• Pay less than I paid at iTunes ($0.89 compared to $0.99)
• Can play the song in Windows Media Player or WinAmp or whatever other program I would like
• Can put the song on my phone and listen to it wherever I like
• Can put the song on my work PC without installing extra software
• Never have to prove myself to my computer

It's just like when I rip an .mp3 from my CD to my hard drive - I don't then have to prove myself to the computer every time I want to listen to the song. No license - I paid for it and I can do what I want with it.

Searching for music and then downloading music is very easy. From their home page, choose MP3 Downloads from their Search menu, type in your music interest, and then click Go.

On the search results page, you'll have a lot of options, including alternative and cover versions by other artists, different versions of the songs on other albums (such as live versions), and other songs, depending on how accurate your search query is.

Use the play button to preview a song before you buy it. You may find that the cover, remakes, or live versions of the songs are more to your liking - I know I have several times in the past.

I have to say one thing that is good about iTunes: They have more music by U2 than Amazon does available for download! This is distressing to me to find only 14 U2 songs on Amazon, when iTunes has hundreds and hundreds...

Overall, I must say that Amazon is the easiest, least expensive, and hassle-free way to get music on the 'net.