The Restless Mouse

NETFLIX is getting rid of the “profiles” and “profile friends connections”, which I applaud. Profiles was an ill-advised move to try to tap into the whole “social surfing” web thing, but movie renting is to some degree a very personal thing.

I don’t necessarily want my friends being able to see what I have rented, these guys are brutal and when Teresa puts something like “1000 wedding dresses” or “WHO’S THE BOSS - Season Two” on *my* profile (she would never bother with creating her own profile), I would never hear the end of it. I could just hear the guys at work, “How could you rate “Something about Mary” only TWO STARS?? That was the best movie ever!” (Sorry, I don’t care for “discomfort comedy”, Something about Mary, Meet the Fokkers, That stupid Christmas movie where Jamie Lee Curtis’s husband has neighborhood Christmas traditions thrust upon him, geez what if a Jewish family moved there?)

Years ago, we saw a stupid “Brady Bunch” parody at the cineplex, Greg and Marsha were acting like they were going to KISS. You could have heard a pin drop, everybody stopped slurping their sodas and munching popcorn. Teresa put her hand on arm to restrain me for standing up and yelling “FOR GODS SAKE THEY’RE BROTHER AND SISTER!” I know, not blood relatives, but still.
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(Info from NETFLIX SITE below)
What is happening to Profiles?
A:

We will be eliminating Profiles, the feature that allowed you to set up separate DVD Queues under one account.

When? Profiles will be eliminated on September 1, 2008.

Why? While it may be disappointing to see this feature go away, this change will help us to continue to improve the Netflix website for all our customers.

Do I need to do anything? Consider moving all DVD titles in your Profiles Queues to your main account Queue. To do so, log-in and visit this page

How will this impact my account? On September 1, 2008:

* All DVDs currently at home or in transit will be associated with the main account Queue
* All Profiles rental history will be added into the main account rental history
* Your additional Profile Queues will be eliminated. If you would like to keep a copy of each Profile Queue we recommend that you print them out
* Prior to Profiles going away, we will also email you a copy of your Profile Queues
* Profiles movie ratings and Profiles Friends connections will no longer be available
* You will not be able to transfer your Profiles data to a separate new account
* You will be able to set a maturity filter on the main account

I noticed this at the bottom of one of those “My husband died in a plane crash” spams. Considered making it my email signature…

Be also notified that I will no longer be reading my emails or surfing the
internet as I have retired completely from the outside world to my ranch,
at this moment I have nothing to do with cars, emails and other luxuries

I could have had this statue at a local garage sale for a song, I think it was there at the sale they had last year too. But I suspect that Teresa would question the artistic value of this specimen vis-a-vis the aesthetic sensibilities of our abode. All of a sudden she’s a museum curator? Next year, I’m buying it. I hope it doesn’t get ruined by the moist air in the garage.

There was a fire at Universal Studios over the weekend, could they just put it out and move on? No, your tax dollars go further than that….

Concerns for air quality due to the acrid smoke prompted the South Coast Air Quality Management District to send a chemist to take air samples at the scene, said spokesman Sam Atwood. Results were expected Monday morning.

I’m no gubment chemist but I would say the air samples will have SOOT in them and show conclusively that THE FIRE SHOULD BE PUT OUT to improve air quality. Sheesh

My Oh My, and I’m not talking baseball (esp. this year)

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer runs an opinion column that actually has this bit of nonsense in it… I always thought you had to have some sort of edumacashion to write for them big city newspapers…

“…This weekend in my own neighborhood I observed one guy driving a Maserati with his top down. I counted three Hummers and I spied one couple pulling a powerboat behind a Cadillac Escalade. Far as I can tell, if Americans had any common sense, such behavior would have been banned years ago. Either that, or taxed into oblivion…”

Gosh! He had his top down! Personally I don’t care if they are pulling a Cadillac Escalade behind their powerboat… Isn’t this supposed to be a free country?? Do I have to trade in my decrepit Ford Explorer for a motor scooter? It’s got so many miles on it, it’s more of a science project than a truck nowadays… Would than earn me points in her snooty court of public opinion?

P.S. Here’s a link to the PI article in case you think I am making this nonsense up to stir the pot. Turns out she is syndicated out of Washington, D.C. - Has a show called “To the Contrary” - So this must be a big phony shtick like that Dr. Laura. That figures. Back in the day us common people would run her out of town, but hardly anyone has pitchforks handy anymore.

Kudos to Pam W. at handmadecatalog.com - I bought a light box for tracing art from her on ebay, but when it arrived the light bulb was broken- I emailed her about it and got this reply;

Hi John, I am sorry to hear the light box arrived with a broken bulb. It wasn’t broken when it was shipped as I inspected it personally, but that doesn’t help you much does it. I will send you a replacement light bulb in tomorrow’s mail.

How cool is that? it’s when things go wrong that business people show their stuff.

A popular item, we only have a few of these “Giant Knife and Fork” sets left.

The distributor tells me that the word on the street is that the machine is broken and the manufacturer is trying to scrounge up parts. I have the impression that it is a very old, one of a kind machine, perhaps with lots of cast iron, maybe some greasy old glass indicators you can’t hardly read anymore, only an old guy named Henry knows how to make the forks come out perfectly. Alas, Henry’s improvised repairs just aren’t enough to keep the old girl running.

But I digress. I hope they don’t go the way of Gheradelli Flicks candy, I loved those as a kid, but I read that the packaging machine they used finally broke, and wasn’t cost effective to fix. This puzzled me because Flicks were basically giant chocolate chips wrapped in a large cardboard tube with a foil wrapper. How hard is that? Gosh, now I’m hungry.

Anyway, we are in constant contact with the supply chain, utilizing our core competencies or whatever, we’ll keep you posted on new developments.

A third shift worker should *not* volunteer for overtime on a holiday weekend. The weather is just perfect today, and everyone is enjoying it.

I somehow managed to get some sleep anyway, but I think my neighbors are playing cards and watching Nick at Nite. I just woke up from a dream and apparently Danny Bonaduce owes me fifty five dollars.

I’ve noticed some people come to our site via some variation of “get a novelty manufactured” - We don’t make anything, we are just a rusty little link in the gag gift and novelty item supply chain. However, I’ve got a tip for those searchers- http://www.thomasnet.com/ - It’s the online version of those huge green catalogs full of manufacturers of all things, used to be you had to traipse to the public library to look at them, now it’s online and easy to search. Enjoy! If you get a novelty item made that would be a good fit here, email us, we are always looking for new oddities to peddle.

I call this game “Police Blotters we would like to see.”  To wit;

WHAT THE POLICE BLOTTER SAID:

Neighbor Problem -An officer responded to the above apartment for a harassment

complaint. A party reported that she was having problems with her

neighbors swearing at her. The officer explained her options.

WHAT THE POLICE BLOTTER should have SAID:

Neighbor Problem -An officer responded to the above apartment for a harassment

complaint. A party reported that she was having problems with her

neighbors swearing at her. The officer told her to go fuck herself.