SoapBoxRants - Latest Comments

Re: I Cannot Call Myself A Frugalista

JacksonFrugalGal — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:44:17 -0000

I am now the Artist Formerly Known as Jackson Frugalista.

I caved and changed the name — my “buy cool stuff cheap” blog is now http://frugalmississippi.blogspot.com. I ma looking forward to posting info about garage sales in Pelahatchie, MS, without the threat of a lawsuit.

THAT SAID — I am not willing to let the issue die. So I created a second new blog, “Really Dumb Trademarks.” Its address is http://reallydumbtrademark.blogspot.com.

I CAN’T believe I am the only person this has happened to — other people have had their online freedom of speech cut off because of some ridiculous trademark filing. I’d like us all to have a place to go and vent.

I also want to post resources for site visitors who wish to fight the fight.

Ideally, this new blog will catch the attention of some organization that works to protect individuals’ rights online. If I can get someone like that interested, I’d like to see all the people who offered ME money to help in a fight against Trademark Girl in Miami direct those funds to a larger effort to make trademarks work fairly for everyone.

Those of you who have spoken out on the plain craziness of this trademark, I hope you’ll stay interested in the topic. Maybe we can continue to make some noise, get some things changed, and then I CAN CHANGE MY NAME BACK. And laugh maniacally towards the general direction of Miami.

Re: I Cannot Call Myself A Frugalista

jarek91 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:48:35 -0000

Honestly, the tool-that-shall-not-be-named needs to get a clue and drop this idiocy. I'm really hoping this thing gets enough media attention that she pretty much has to let the mark go.

Re: I Don’t Own Words Like Frugalista

jarek91 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:16:44 -0000

Well you have a friend in this fight. I can't abide stupidity and this is the biggest I've seen lately. I mentioned it on your latest blog post but I'll say it here as well...don't just throw in the towel. See if you can stall for more time...it's what a lawyer would do while researching things. Meanwhile, keep trying to get in touch with people and groups that might be able to help.

I'll see if I can get any advice from my lawyer friends and I'll drop you a note if I get anything.

Re: I Cannot Call Myself A Frugalista

jacksonfrugalista — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:11:30 -0000

Thanks much for the support. The post is great, I needed that!

Re: I Don’t Own Words Like Frugalista

jacksonfrugalista — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:32:37 -0000

Thanks for the commentary. This whole thing has been ridiculous. I can't afford the cost of fighting this via the courts or the Trademark Office, but I hope that people talking about it will give the trademark people cause to think the next time something like this comes before them.

I have NO HOPE that the markholder will change her tune, so JacksonFrugalista will become JacksonSomethingElse by the end of the month.

If you want to read my objections to the mark, based on my reading of trademark law, please go to the blog -- http://jacksonfrugalista.wordpress.com/ -- and see it. I think the argument is sound, as do the attorneys I have shown it to. Maybe someone will take it and do something useful with it!

Re: AT&T Tilt Software

jarek91 — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:57:42 -0000

You can't. Sprint uses a CDMA network while AT&T uses a GSM network. These technologies are not compatible with one another. The only other carrier in the USA to use GSM is T-Mobile so that would be the only place you could move to with your Tilt.

On a side note, CDMA is pretty much only used in the USA. The majority of the world uses GSM.

Re: AT&T Tilt Software

Ronald — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:18:24 -0000

I want to change my tilt over to sprint how can I do that?

Re: How to Reboot a Franchise

Urlaub in Spanien — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:16:43 -0000

This post really make laugh. At first I find it very serious and suddenly I realize how he describe some actors like Quinto "Sylar of Heroes". I never notice that he has a pointed ears.

Re: MacGyver Phone?

jarek91 — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:33:32 -0000

With a HardSPL'd WinMo phone you can do much more than with a stock WinMo phone as well. The article is old...pre 2nd gen iPhone as a matter of fact and you have to admit that OS 1.x and the original hardware was terrible for business use (not to mention the lack of the app store). I actually have a 2nd gen iPhone and have given up the TyTNII. The point of the article at the time was that the WinMo phone offered much more to business users than the original iPhone. And let's be honest, how many people are going to hack the OS on their business supplied phone?

Re: MacGyver Phone?

HTC sucks — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:09:14 -0000

Actually an Iphone can open microsoft documents,apps, and if you are jailbroken you can download torrents and do waaay more. HTC sucks!

Re: Tech Support - We’re People Too

jarek91 — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:02:10 -0000

I've been on both sides and I can't say that one side has it worse than the other. While it's true we get a lot of calls, not all of them are bad. While on the other side of the coin, if you are calling it's probably because something bad has happened. I think it kind of balances out.

Re: Tech Support - We’re People Too

Finca Mallorca — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:49:13 -0000

So true, we customers should show / practice some courtesy when calling CSR or TSRs because they are human too :) these people answer hundred of calls daily making them tired and stressed too.

Re: Castigations and Plagues

Elexa — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:42:07 -0000

Morality is not related to believe a god or not, but deal with what we do.

Re: AT&T Tilt Software

Josh — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:21:44 -0000

how did you get rid of it?

Re: iMac - First Impressions (updated)

mapls — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:38:11 -0000

Imacs Rock

Re: Mac Pro vs Dell Precision

jarek91 — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:59:32 -0000

Now that I have done a new comparison, change the video card on both systems above to the 1.5GB nVidia Quadro-FX 5600 and both systems have three 500GB hard drives. Now change the totals as follows:

Mac Pro - $6348.00
Dell Precision T5400 - $7475.00

I'd like to know the exact hardware specs you used to get such disparate numbers between the Dell and the Mac. Anyone can just throw some random options together and call out the totals to skew the results any way they wanted, that is why I give a listing of which options I chose...to show I'm getting the systems built as close to identical as possible.

Re: Mac Pro vs Dell Precision

jarek91 — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:40:11 -0000

I'd like to point out you built a system that has a single Core2 processor, not a system using dual Xeon processors. So yes, you built a far cheaper system. It is also nowhere near the specs of the Mac Pro I used in my comparison. You will need to go at least to the T5400 line to have dusl Xeon processors for a more accurate comparison.

FYI - the Harpertown CPU that is standard on the Mac Pro is the E5440, so make sure you configure your Dell correctly. I hit over $4,000 before I got past the memory options on the Dell where the Mac Pro was still at $2999...and that was today. As for software, I haven't found much that is PC only these days in the realms of software that I could conceivably use. However, after saving over $1,100 by getting the Mac Pro, I think I could afford a copy of Windows and VMWare Fusion and still put money in my pocket.

Re: Mac Pro vs Dell Precision

Loraine — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:41:27 -0000

really well i just did a compare myself to see if it was right with a dell precision T3400 that came up to 2,325 and the mac pro that came up to 4, 717.31. Now the Dell system had more features than the mac pro and hardware also. it runs more and so i have to argue with your comparison. If your going for high tech i would definatley choose the Dell, because your gonna like put software unto the pc and there are lots of software to go with the dell while at moment there arent as much options with the mac....

Re: Home Media Makeover Part One: DVD Library

jarek91 — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:28:52 -0000

I'm actually still working on Part 2: Internet Television. I hope to have that finished this month. It's taking so long because I'm experimenting with some of the different ways to do it so I can find the simplest solution.

Re: Home Media Makeover Part One: DVD Library

BusbyTest — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 04:10:48 -0000

Home Media Makeover Part One: DVD Library.......I like this idea.

Re: AT&T Business Care(less)

ultima online gold — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 05:48:54 -0000

Congratulation! Best Wishes and thank you for your interest, it is much appreciated. But I didn't have an idea of who my rep was and then when I finally got notice from the newly assigned rep, they had several shuffles that left me wondering from month to month who to call.

Re: Acumen and Affection

mister nice 1 — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:09:30 -0000

A nice one.

Re: Home Media Makeover Part One: DVD Library

jarek91 — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:10:19 -0000

This is true, but the ability to watch any movie, television series, or anime series without digging through shelves of cases is well worth the time. Besides, once you start the rip you can just ignore it and do other things until it's done.

Re: Home Media Makeover Part One: DVD Library

Artificial — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:20:29 -0000

You will easily spend a couple of weeks working on rips if you have a large library. I have about 400 or so DVDs from movies to anime and television series

Re: Why Does Comcast Fail?

jarek91 — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:28:52 -0000

Mark,
I know you have to be politically correct in your correspondence with customers but I think you misunderstand. To say this simply "did not meet" my satisfaction is a gross understatement. I despise this interface and I find it insulting that Comcast would dare to call this a system upgrade when the features are quite obviously vastly inferior to what we had just a few short days ago.

Frank's team has been a huge help over the past year with getting my problems resolved. I don't think that you'll be able to fix this since it is apparently your software for all of your systems in the market. I know you aren't responsible for corporate being a bunch of idiots. But please...if you are going to relay this complaint, relay it without editing it. It takes work to articulate my feelings accurately through text and I'd prefer to not have it sanitized before it gets to the people that really need to see it.