In the continuing saga of my car windows and Nissan, persistence has finally paid off apparently. The gentleman from Nissan's executive offices called me back this morning (35 days after my initial complaint) and let me know that Nissan will cover the replacement of the faulty window regulators on my car.
Of course, over the course of the past 35 days, the Nissan dealer in Ballard that I took my car to originally has shut its doors and turned out the lights permanently. As a result, on Tuesday I will be taking my car up to Edmonds to get the repairs done, but for what it's worth, I don't mind too much. I'm just glad that they're finally going to take some ownership in their product and fix my car
It's nice to know that there ARE people out there who care about the consumer... the irony is that those people are NOT the ones in the consumer affairs department. Though the realization that Nissan does seem to care about having me as a customer afterall restores my faith in them, and I will once again consider getting another Nissan
... after my windows start working again.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Friday, April 07, 2006
As the curling season comes to a close
It's finally happening, curling season is coming to a close. This weekend is the big April Spiel, the last big tournament of the year. There are 53 teams in the spiel this weekend, with games running last night (Thursday), and then every 2-hours from Friday at noon through Sunday at 3. All day, all night. As is only proper, teams that win stay in the good brackets that don't have to play in the middle of the night, but start losing and you quickly end up playing games at 2am, 4am, or anywhere else ridiculous around there.
My team's first game was last night, we won so we are currently staying in the A-bracket and playing tonight at 6pm. Unfortunately due to the luck (or fate, in this case) of the draw, we are playing against 3/4 of the team that won the 2006 US Mixed National Championship. Of course, it's a game and anything could happen... but I suspect we may be a bit outmatched in tonight's game. If we lose, we fall to the C-bracket and play sometime Saturday morning, but if we win things are pretty good, I think.
After this, not too much more curling to do, but it's getting sunny and nice out now so maybe I'll find new and exciting things to do outside.
My team's first game was last night, we won so we are currently staying in the A-bracket and playing tonight at 6pm. Unfortunately due to the luck (or fate, in this case) of the draw, we are playing against 3/4 of the team that won the 2006 US Mixed National Championship. Of course, it's a game and anything could happen... but I suspect we may be a bit outmatched in tonight's game. If we lose, we fall to the C-bracket and play sometime Saturday morning, but if we win things are pretty good, I think.
After this, not too much more curling to do, but it's getting sunny and nice out now so maybe I'll find new and exciting things to do outside.
Another week, another call from Nissan
At least I still seem to be on Nissan's radar, for better or worse. This morning once again I received a call from Nissan, but this time NOT from their Consumer Affairs division, but from their Executive Offices. The gentleman I spoke with called to say that he received my letter, and would be looking into the problem. He just needed to know the dealer I took the car in to be serviced at, and some other contact information. He gave me his direct phone number and said he would call me back next week.
No accusations, no excuses, just a guy who seems to be honestly looking into my complaint. THAT's what I call consumer affairs. Maybe there's a reason this guy is in the Executive Offices. We'll see... at least this guy didn't leave me frustrated when the call was over. Maybe Nissan can save their reputation with me afterall. We'll see.
No accusations, no excuses, just a guy who seems to be honestly looking into my complaint. THAT's what I call consumer affairs. Maybe there's a reason this guy is in the Executive Offices. We'll see... at least this guy didn't leave me frustrated when the call was over. Maybe Nissan can save their reputation with me afterall. We'll see.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Nissan strikes again
I don't know if it's good customer service or not, but Nissan tested my patience today.
As an update to my previous reports regarding the defective windows in my Nissan Altima, after the "consumer affairs specialist" contacted me and told me Nissan would do nothing to resolve my problems, I sent a reasonably lengthy complaint letter to their headquarters in California. I must say, at this point I have resolved that Nissan really doesn't care about my satisfaction and going to do anything about it, my only real purpose is to make sure they know that they've made a thoroughly dis-satisfied customer.
After the frustrations with Nissan are all but out of my mind, what happens today? The SAME rep who called me the first time telling me that Nissan would do nothing about my problems, and had an excuse for everything in an attempt to convince me that my problem was not their problem, calls me again! For a brief moment I thought perhaps they had decided to own up to their problem... not so fast. No, this person had the courtesy to call me back and tell me that she "received my letter", gave me more of the same excuses that she gave me the FIRST time I talked with her, and informed me that Nissan has not changed their decision. My thought? WHY DID YOU EVEN BOTHER CALLING ME TO TELL ME THAT NOTHING HAS CHANGED?! Ridiculous if you ask me. She did say that she would forward my letter on to the "executive" level... which is really what the intent of the letter was in the first place. Put it in the hands of someone who actually should know how customers are satisfied or not.
One more thing to add to my collection of "examples of bad customer service".
As an update to my previous reports regarding the defective windows in my Nissan Altima, after the "consumer affairs specialist" contacted me and told me Nissan would do nothing to resolve my problems, I sent a reasonably lengthy complaint letter to their headquarters in California. I must say, at this point I have resolved that Nissan really doesn't care about my satisfaction and going to do anything about it, my only real purpose is to make sure they know that they've made a thoroughly dis-satisfied customer.
After the frustrations with Nissan are all but out of my mind, what happens today? The SAME rep who called me the first time telling me that Nissan would do nothing about my problems, and had an excuse for everything in an attempt to convince me that my problem was not their problem, calls me again! For a brief moment I thought perhaps they had decided to own up to their problem... not so fast. No, this person had the courtesy to call me back and tell me that she "received my letter", gave me more of the same excuses that she gave me the FIRST time I talked with her, and informed me that Nissan has not changed their decision. My thought? WHY DID YOU EVEN BOTHER CALLING ME TO TELL ME THAT NOTHING HAS CHANGED?! Ridiculous if you ask me. She did say that she would forward my letter on to the "executive" level... which is really what the intent of the letter was in the first place. Put it in the hands of someone who actually should know how customers are satisfied or not.
One more thing to add to my collection of "examples of bad customer service".
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Marketing spin at its finest
Here's one for you consumer advocates out there. Today I receive my monthly statement in the mail from Bank of America, enclosed in which was a notice of updates to my check card. Reading further couldn't help but make me laugh:
CHECK CARD UPDATE
We reviewed our Bank of America Visa Check Card benefits and discovered that while some check card benefits are frequently used by our consumer customers, others are not. In an effort to serve you better, we have streamlined our consumer check card benefits to provide the services you use most.
With this in mind, we want to make sure you are aware of the upcoming changes to your Bank of america Visa Check Card benefits, effective July 1st, 2006. At that time, Bank of America Visa Check Cards will no longer provide: Purchase Security, Warranty Manager, Concierge Services, Price Protection, Purchase Security and Extended Protection, or Travel Accident Insurance. Current consumer benefits provided with your check card depend on your check card type.
Bank of America will continue to provide the popular benefits that mean the most to our customers, including:
[ long list of features they haven't removed ]
To translate and filter through the marketing-speak: "In order to serve you better, we're removing half of the benefits on your check card. Rest assured the remaining benefits will remain unchanged. No new features have been added." It's amazing how all it takes is a positive tone and suddenly a bad thing sounds like a good thing. How would that work in the real world? Let's take a look:
On being fired: "We realize times have been difficult lately, so in an effort to improve the office work environment, we will be providing you an involuntary opportunity to leave the company."
On your car being reposessed: "Thank you for your continued support of our company. We realize you have been unable to make the required payments on your luxury vehicle, and in an effort to help you solve this problem, we are happy to inform you that we will be taking your car off of your hands. Rest assured that you will still have the same access to bus service that you have always enjoyed."
It's nice to know big companies still care about the customer.
CHECK CARD UPDATE
We reviewed our Bank of America Visa Check Card benefits and discovered that while some check card benefits are frequently used by our consumer customers, others are not. In an effort to serve you better, we have streamlined our consumer check card benefits to provide the services you use most.
With this in mind, we want to make sure you are aware of the upcoming changes to your Bank of america Visa Check Card benefits, effective July 1st, 2006. At that time, Bank of America Visa Check Cards will no longer provide: Purchase Security, Warranty Manager, Concierge Services, Price Protection, Purchase Security and Extended Protection, or Travel Accident Insurance. Current consumer benefits provided with your check card depend on your check card type.
Bank of America will continue to provide the popular benefits that mean the most to our customers, including:
[ long list of features they haven't removed ]
To translate and filter through the marketing-speak: "In order to serve you better, we're removing half of the benefits on your check card. Rest assured the remaining benefits will remain unchanged. No new features have been added." It's amazing how all it takes is a positive tone and suddenly a bad thing sounds like a good thing. How would that work in the real world? Let's take a look:
On being fired: "We realize times have been difficult lately, so in an effort to improve the office work environment, we will be providing you an involuntary opportunity to leave the company."
On your car being reposessed: "Thank you for your continued support of our company. We realize you have been unable to make the required payments on your luxury vehicle, and in an effort to help you solve this problem, we are happy to inform you that we will be taking your car off of your hands. Rest assured that you will still have the same access to bus service that you have always enjoyed."
It's nice to know big companies still care about the customer.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Nothing's ever easy when it comes to cars
Well, what I hoped would be a simple fix turns out it will take another day to come to some sort of resolution. Where we're at now is:
I took my car to the Nissan dealership this morning bright and early. Dropped it off, got a courtesy shuttle ride to work, no problem. Plenty of nice people at the North Seattle Nissan dealership's service department.
Got one call from them around noon asking for more details of the problem. Explained in further detail the problem, and all was well.
Then got another call around 3:15pm explaining that they'd looked into the problem, verified that 2 window regulators need to be replaced, but that the almighty Nissan corporate warranty folks are denying coverage (because my car is at 62,000 which is over the 60,000 warranty extension). The dealer tried to negotiate with the corporate folks to get it covered, but got nowhere. However, TJ (the service guy) gave me Nissan's number so I could try to fight it out myself.
A call to Nissan got more nice people, who were rather helpful, or shall I say, as helpful as they could be without actually resolving my issue. The first person updated all of the basics, took all of my information, praised my choice of a Nissan Altima since it's the "most popular passenger car in the world", yadda yadda yadda, gave me a case number, and then passed me off to another "specialist" who really did nothing more than told me that a "specialist" (if everyone's a specialist, doesn't that make nobody one?) would talk to the dealer and I would receive a resolution by the end of the day tomorrow. I got no indication whether or not anything would actually be done about it, nor did I get the feeling that anyone I spoke with had any power to actually do anything to resolve it.
I called the dealer back, who were also surprised that Nissan wasn't going to do anything immediately, but agreed that the corporate people will probably breakdown and cover the replacements. So tonight I'm back to pick up my car, with no repairs done to it at all. Hopefully once I get to a person who can actually resolve my issues, the reason will stand out and they'll stand by their product and fix the defective parts in my car. Then I'll make ANOTHER appointment to get the windows fixed and hopefully have it taken care of. Fortunately I'm in a position where it's not a critical problem that "must be fixed now", so I can fight until the bitter end if necessary. I'll say one thing, the longer and more trouble it takes to get this resolved, the less I'll be looking at buying another Nissan.
I took my car to the Nissan dealership this morning bright and early. Dropped it off, got a courtesy shuttle ride to work, no problem. Plenty of nice people at the North Seattle Nissan dealership's service department.
Got one call from them around noon asking for more details of the problem. Explained in further detail the problem, and all was well.
Then got another call around 3:15pm explaining that they'd looked into the problem, verified that 2 window regulators need to be replaced, but that the almighty Nissan corporate warranty folks are denying coverage (because my car is at 62,000 which is over the 60,000 warranty extension). The dealer tried to negotiate with the corporate folks to get it covered, but got nowhere. However, TJ (the service guy) gave me Nissan's number so I could try to fight it out myself.
A call to Nissan got more nice people, who were rather helpful, or shall I say, as helpful as they could be without actually resolving my issue. The first person updated all of the basics, took all of my information, praised my choice of a Nissan Altima since it's the "most popular passenger car in the world", yadda yadda yadda, gave me a case number, and then passed me off to another "specialist" who really did nothing more than told me that a "specialist" (if everyone's a specialist, doesn't that make nobody one?) would talk to the dealer and I would receive a resolution by the end of the day tomorrow. I got no indication whether or not anything would actually be done about it, nor did I get the feeling that anyone I spoke with had any power to actually do anything to resolve it.
I called the dealer back, who were also surprised that Nissan wasn't going to do anything immediately, but agreed that the corporate people will probably breakdown and cover the replacements. So tonight I'm back to pick up my car, with no repairs done to it at all. Hopefully once I get to a person who can actually resolve my issues, the reason will stand out and they'll stand by their product and fix the defective parts in my car. Then I'll make ANOTHER appointment to get the windows fixed and hopefully have it taken care of. Fortunately I'm in a position where it's not a critical problem that "must be fixed now", so I can fight until the bitter end if necessary. I'll say one thing, the longer and more trouble it takes to get this resolved, the less I'll be looking at buying another Nissan.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Windows... essential feature, or optional?
I suspect that 90% of you who read the title of this entry will assume this is going to be some geeky rant about Microsoft Windows and some buggy feature, or perhaps a dissertation on the merits of Windows versus Linux, or perhaps something completely unrelated to windows at all.
Well you're all wrong. The complaint I have is about the power windows on my 2001 Nissan Altima. As anyone who has ridden in my car with me no doubt knows, sometime last fall, just at the tail end of the Seattle heat waves of 2005, my passenger-side power window stopped working, well, effectively. It went down without any problem at all, but had serious issues rolling back up. Obviously something was broken in the mechanism, which I verified by actually ripping half of the door apart to see if it was anything easily fixable, which it wasn't. My conclusion, "hey, these things happen" and I'd get it fixed in the Spring when I actually cared about having a window that opens again.
Flash forward to February, for some reason I had the need to roll down the rear window on the passenger side, and as I was rolling it back up what happened... it was starting to act just like the front one! One broken window, reasonable accidental breakage... two broken windows, something's definitely not right.
After a little research on the internet last night, I find that there is a known issue with the windows on certain 2001 Altimas, exactly the issue that I am having. So this morning I gave a call up to my local Nissan dealer and talk to their service department. They look up the VIN number of my car in their system, and lo and behold, there's a voluntary recall / replacement program for all 4 window regulators on my car. Though in Nissan's infinite wisdom (or at least their lawyers, no doubt), they were covered under a 5-year/60,000-mile warranty extension, which puts the warranty expiration out to... March 30, 2006. Good thing I called when I did.
Of course, I don't recall ever getting a notice about this impending failure of my window regulators, or I probably would have done something the moment I noticed a problem. The minor caveat is that the mileage on my car is I believe about 61,000 miles. If they disqualify my warranty replacement because of that, just watch me go after Nissan's corporate goons and raise a fuss. I've been 100% satisfied with my car, many times extolled the greatness and trouble-free maintenance of my car, and would definitely consider getting another Nissan next time I buy a car... that should be worth far more to Nissan than angering me over silly window regulators that they know are faulty. I don't expect it to come to that, but I'm ready if it happens because no doubt retail price to fix 4 power window regulators probably runs in the $1000+ range.
Long blog short, I have an appointment to take my car in on Tuesday to get all 4 regulators replaced. Hope for the best.
Well you're all wrong. The complaint I have is about the power windows on my 2001 Nissan Altima. As anyone who has ridden in my car with me no doubt knows, sometime last fall, just at the tail end of the Seattle heat waves of 2005, my passenger-side power window stopped working, well, effectively. It went down without any problem at all, but had serious issues rolling back up. Obviously something was broken in the mechanism, which I verified by actually ripping half of the door apart to see if it was anything easily fixable, which it wasn't. My conclusion, "hey, these things happen" and I'd get it fixed in the Spring when I actually cared about having a window that opens again.
Flash forward to February, for some reason I had the need to roll down the rear window on the passenger side, and as I was rolling it back up what happened... it was starting to act just like the front one! One broken window, reasonable accidental breakage... two broken windows, something's definitely not right.
After a little research on the internet last night, I find that there is a known issue with the windows on certain 2001 Altimas, exactly the issue that I am having. So this morning I gave a call up to my local Nissan dealer and talk to their service department. They look up the VIN number of my car in their system, and lo and behold, there's a voluntary recall / replacement program for all 4 window regulators on my car. Though in Nissan's infinite wisdom (or at least their lawyers, no doubt), they were covered under a 5-year/60,000-mile warranty extension, which puts the warranty expiration out to... March 30, 2006. Good thing I called when I did.
Of course, I don't recall ever getting a notice about this impending failure of my window regulators, or I probably would have done something the moment I noticed a problem. The minor caveat is that the mileage on my car is I believe about 61,000 miles. If they disqualify my warranty replacement because of that, just watch me go after Nissan's corporate goons and raise a fuss. I've been 100% satisfied with my car, many times extolled the greatness and trouble-free maintenance of my car, and would definitely consider getting another Nissan next time I buy a car... that should be worth far more to Nissan than angering me over silly window regulators that they know are faulty. I don't expect it to come to that, but I'm ready if it happens because no doubt retail price to fix 4 power window regulators probably runs in the $1000+ range.
Long blog short, I have an appointment to take my car in on Tuesday to get all 4 regulators replaced. Hope for the best.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Long time no update...
Well it's been close to a month since I actually updated my blog. Several reasons for that I suppose...
1) I was on vacation for the 3rd week of February. Didn't go anywhere, but Andrew came to visit, so there was much fun to be had, along with the Olympics being on TV for what seemed like 24-hours a day. All in all, some much needed time off.
2) Curling has been keeping things busy. This past weekend was the annual "5 and under bonspiel" which is a curling tournament open to all curlers in their 5th year of curling or less. It was quite a fun, yet extremely exhausting weekend. Out of 15 teams, my team was 8th, which by my calculations is about as middle-of-the-pack as you can be. Still, the fun is what matters. Only a little over a month of curling season left before the 6-month hiatus.
Not much else of any significance that I can think of. Some observant blog readers may note that the Amazing Race 9 started last Tuesday, and more importantly that I made no blog of it. There's good reason for that, blogging it is too much work and I'm less than inspired at the moment. However, AR10 might see a resurrection of the blog... we'll have to see.
Now I'll have to keep up more with my blogging. I'll try to have more interesting things to say sooner than later.
1) I was on vacation for the 3rd week of February. Didn't go anywhere, but Andrew came to visit, so there was much fun to be had, along with the Olympics being on TV for what seemed like 24-hours a day. All in all, some much needed time off.
2) Curling has been keeping things busy. This past weekend was the annual "5 and under bonspiel" which is a curling tournament open to all curlers in their 5th year of curling or less. It was quite a fun, yet extremely exhausting weekend. Out of 15 teams, my team was 8th, which by my calculations is about as middle-of-the-pack as you can be. Still, the fun is what matters. Only a little over a month of curling season left before the 6-month hiatus.
Not much else of any significance that I can think of. Some observant blog readers may note that the Amazing Race 9 started last Tuesday, and more importantly that I made no blog of it. There's good reason for that, blogging it is too much work and I'm less than inspired at the moment. However, AR10 might see a resurrection of the blog... we'll have to see.
Now I'll have to keep up more with my blogging. I'll try to have more interesting things to say sooner than later.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Torino 2006
The Olympics are finally upon us. Friday's opening ceremonies were brought to you by the bizarre Italian rendition of Cirque du Soleil, with lots of strange performances, but at least were something to keep your attention.
In the spirit of the Winter Olympics, and my own ignorance about half of the sports, I've compiled my Winter Olympics Event Lingo test. The format is simple, just match the Olympic sport up with the vocabulary term you'd find used in that sport. All of these terms were taken directly from the NBC Olympics website, and as such I take no responsibility for any inaccuracies, nor for any term that may fall into multiple sports. My answer key at the bottom is final. :)
Wanna know what the terms mean? Look them up yourself, it'll give you something to do. :)
Answers: 1.k 2.a 3.b 4.g 5.e 6.d 7.c 8.h 9.j 10.i 11.f
In the spirit of the Winter Olympics, and my own ignorance about half of the sports, I've compiled my Winter Olympics Event Lingo test. The format is simple, just match the Olympic sport up with the vocabulary term you'd find used in that sport. All of these terms were taken directly from the NBC Olympics website, and as such I take no responsibility for any inaccuracies, nor for any term that may fall into multiple sports. My answer key at the bottom is final. :)
| Term | Sport |
| 1. Blocks | a. Alpine Skiing |
| 2. Chicane | b. Bobsled |
| 3. Cowling | c. Curling |
| 4. Crease | d. Figure Skating |
| 5. Death Cookies | e. Freestyle Skiing |
| 6. Death Spiral | f. Ice Dancing |
| 7. Hack | g. Ice Hockey |
| 8. Kufen | h. Luge / Skeleton |
| 9. McTwist | i. Ski Jumping |
| 10. Telemark | j. Snowboarding |
| 11. Twizzle | k. Speed Skating |
Wanna know what the terms mean? Look them up yourself, it'll give you something to do. :)
Answers: 1.k 2.a 3.b 4.g 5.e 6.d 7.c 8.h 9.j 10.i 11.f
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
What can I say?
How quickly time flies when you have nothing productive to say.
Have I had anything profound to say lately? No. Do I have anything profound to say now? No, not really. But I'm blogging anyway just so people know I still exist. Here comes the 30-second recap of everything that's happened in the past week.
Super Bowl - Yes, the Seahawks lost to the NFL Referees in Super Bowl XL. I'd rather have seen them lose on their own merits, but that's how it goes. My super bowl party went well, and I successfully proved that my apartment IS big enough to hold 8 guests with nobody needing to sit on the floor. That was pretty impressive.
Curling - Curling continues as usual. Friday night my team made me skip the game... despite my best resistance. :) [note, "skip" doesn't mean I missed the game, in curling the skip is the head of the team who calls the shots.] It was actually not bad, I curled well, and we won the match. No curling on Sunday due to the super bowl, but on Monday night I curled my normal lead position, and continued my outstanding curling. Going into Monday we were tied with one other team for first place in the league, both teams an undefeated 3-0 record. As luck would have it, we played the other team at the top of the standings. We proceeded to score 6 in the first end, and 3 more in the 2nd end, and went on to win the match by about 10-2, bringing our record to 4-0 and sole posession of 1st place. Of course, the season has I believe 6 or 7 games left, so there's plenty of time for us to fall to the bottom. :)
Work - Work is busy, yet not too bad. Trying to be productive over the course of the week and next before I go on vacation from the 17th to the 24th when Andrew is in town. That should be quite exciting, as the last real vacation I took was probably back in September. Though without a doubt I'll return to the work in a major crunch and have tons of work to catch up with. Makes me wonder how much of a vacation "vacation" really is.
Olympics - The Olympics start on Friday... opening ceremonies Friday night if you watch NBC's delayed coverage... but Friday at 10am if you watch CBC's live coverage. Thank goodness for Canadians and my DVR, I'll be able to watch the coverage in fast forward when I get home from work before I have to go curling. Other more lucky people might not have to work and be able to watch the opening ceremonies live at 10am.
I can't think of anything else important off hand... maybe next time.
Have I had anything profound to say lately? No. Do I have anything profound to say now? No, not really. But I'm blogging anyway just so people know I still exist. Here comes the 30-second recap of everything that's happened in the past week.
Super Bowl - Yes, the Seahawks lost to the NFL Referees in Super Bowl XL. I'd rather have seen them lose on their own merits, but that's how it goes. My super bowl party went well, and I successfully proved that my apartment IS big enough to hold 8 guests with nobody needing to sit on the floor. That was pretty impressive.
Curling - Curling continues as usual. Friday night my team made me skip the game... despite my best resistance. :) [note, "skip" doesn't mean I missed the game, in curling the skip is the head of the team who calls the shots.] It was actually not bad, I curled well, and we won the match. No curling on Sunday due to the super bowl, but on Monday night I curled my normal lead position, and continued my outstanding curling. Going into Monday we were tied with one other team for first place in the league, both teams an undefeated 3-0 record. As luck would have it, we played the other team at the top of the standings. We proceeded to score 6 in the first end, and 3 more in the 2nd end, and went on to win the match by about 10-2, bringing our record to 4-0 and sole posession of 1st place. Of course, the season has I believe 6 or 7 games left, so there's plenty of time for us to fall to the bottom. :)
Work - Work is busy, yet not too bad. Trying to be productive over the course of the week and next before I go on vacation from the 17th to the 24th when Andrew is in town. That should be quite exciting, as the last real vacation I took was probably back in September. Though without a doubt I'll return to the work in a major crunch and have tons of work to catch up with. Makes me wonder how much of a vacation "vacation" really is.
Olympics - The Olympics start on Friday... opening ceremonies Friday night if you watch NBC's delayed coverage... but Friday at 10am if you watch CBC's live coverage. Thank goodness for Canadians and my DVR, I'll be able to watch the coverage in fast forward when I get home from work before I have to go curling. Other more lucky people might not have to work and be able to watch the opening ceremonies live at 10am.
I can't think of anything else important off hand... maybe next time.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Who wants to be evicted?
Arrived home today, checked my mail, and had a letter from my apartment management. The letter states that I am in violation of my lease due to smoking in my apartment, and that the violations must be corrected within 10 days or I will be subject to eviction.
Last time I checked, I've never smoked, nor has anyone who has been in my apartment smoked. Therefore, it's rather surprising I got this letter. After having dinner with my parents at the new pizza place up the street (which was very good, by the way), I got home and went upstairs to visit the apartment managers. The conversation went a bit like this...
"Hi, I live downstairs in apartment 111... I got this letter today in the mail stating that I'm violating my lease by smoking in my apartment."
"Oh, that wasn't you... that's supposed to go to 211. Nevermind, we'll take care of it."
"No problem."
So after that brief 2 minute exchange, it turns out that it's the crazy lady upstairs, who, if you recall from previous blogs [Apartment Living a.k.a. How to be an amateur CSI] both smokes and has cats in an apartment building with a no pets / no smoking policy. I've since learned that the lady in 211 is having a feud with the apartment managers, which no doubt is part of the reason for the drama and the letters. All I know is I'll stay the hell out of it.
Hopefully that concludes the drama for now.
Last time I checked, I've never smoked, nor has anyone who has been in my apartment smoked. Therefore, it's rather surprising I got this letter. After having dinner with my parents at the new pizza place up the street (which was very good, by the way), I got home and went upstairs to visit the apartment managers. The conversation went a bit like this...
"Hi, I live downstairs in apartment 111... I got this letter today in the mail stating that I'm violating my lease by smoking in my apartment."
"Oh, that wasn't you... that's supposed to go to 211. Nevermind, we'll take care of it."
"No problem."
So after that brief 2 minute exchange, it turns out that it's the crazy lady upstairs, who, if you recall from previous blogs [Apartment Living a.k.a. How to be an amateur CSI] both smokes and has cats in an apartment building with a no pets / no smoking policy. I've since learned that the lady in 211 is having a feud with the apartment managers, which no doubt is part of the reason for the drama and the letters. All I know is I'll stay the hell out of it.
Hopefully that concludes the drama for now.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
State of Confusion Address
The pagentry, the mystery, the excitement that is the State of the Union Address. Do I really care what President Bush has to say? No, not really, but it's still fun to watch. In fact, this year I created the Modified State of the Union Applause Scoring system.
The final score of the address:
46 full applause breaks
13 half applauses (12 from only the Republicans, and 1 from only the Democrats)
7 interruptive applauses
1 joke
1 wagging finger
Of course, the wagging finger was in response to the half applause from the Democrats which was actually one of the more entertaining parts of the show (I say "show" because the whole thing is so scripted it's hard to believe it doesn't have theme music).
That's probably about all the time that's worth devoting to this.
The final score of the address:
46 full applause breaks
13 half applauses (12 from only the Republicans, and 1 from only the Democrats)
7 interruptive applauses
1 joke
1 wagging finger
Of course, the wagging finger was in response to the half applause from the Democrats which was actually one of the more entertaining parts of the show (I say "show" because the whole thing is so scripted it's hard to believe it doesn't have theme music).
That's probably about all the time that's worth devoting to this.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Iron Age Technology
At my desk are countless writing implements at my disposal. Several types of pens, in varying colors and styles; a variety of highlighters; permanent markers, in both fine nad broad tip; even mechanical pencils. But despite all the variety, I'm consistently drawn back to the simplicity of the solid #2 pencil. By all accounts, the other options are far superior, no need to sharpen, constant flow of ink, less smearage, bright colors, everything. Yet I still keep pencils around, and actually go through phases where I love writing with them. I don't know what it is. Perhaps it's the simplicity of it... the fine point of a freshly sharpened pencil... the convenience of the eraser when things go awry... or just the distinct feel and sound of the pencil graphite scribbling on the paper. Nothing else is quite like it.
Why does it matter? It doesn't. I just find it interesting that technology can't improve upon it. No doubt the rocket scientists at NASA still keep countless pencils around for the astronauts to use in space, because it's one thing that isn't affected by changes in gravity in the slightest. The only improvement that could be made would be a pencil that never needs sharpening... but still works and feels exactly like a normal graphite pencil. Perhaps someday our space age technology will figure that out... until then, I'll stay back in the iron age.
Why does it matter? It doesn't. I just find it interesting that technology can't improve upon it. No doubt the rocket scientists at NASA still keep countless pencils around for the astronauts to use in space, because it's one thing that isn't affected by changes in gravity in the slightest. The only improvement that could be made would be a pencil that never needs sharpening... but still works and feels exactly like a normal graphite pencil. Perhaps someday our space age technology will figure that out... until then, I'll stay back in the iron age.
Monday, January 23, 2006
The West Wing... dead after 7 seasons
As I was watching The West Wing last night on TV, I thought to myself, "this show will be cancelled at the end of this season". Lo and behold, it was announced that indeed The West Wing will end on May 14th with the inauguration of the new president, still to be determined.
Now I don't think I really became a dedicated watcher of the West Wing until its third season. Fortunately through the miracle of DVD, I've watched straight through the first 3 seasons to catch up on everything I never saw. Unfortunately, my DVD viewing habits are sketchy, and I still haven't completely finished the 3rd season shows... with the complete 4th and 5th seasons sitting on my shelf vastly untouched except to be removed from their Amazon.com packing box. Though I must say, they are excellent for long flights when you need to kill time with some quality DVD viewing. That's how I made it through so much of Season 3.
Why am I not surprised the show was cancelled? While I think the writing was not so good after Aaron Sorkin quit writing the show at the end of Season 4, it seems to have improved vastly this season, especially in the plots surrounding the election of the new president. Perhaps that's just because they found something to write about. But the show itself had one necessary flaw, a president can only serve 8 years... and once that's done, you're out of luck. Could the show survive with an almost completely new cast? Could ANY show survive with a completely new cast? Perhaps, but doubtful. The only way to stay true to a show that prides itself on keeping true to the reality of American politics, is for the show to end and the characters fade off into their post-White House lives where nobody even remembers their names.
Certainly it didn't help that NBC decided to move West Wing out of it's traditional 9pm Wednesday time slot for a cursed 8pm Sunday time slot. The last show I think I ever remember watching on Sunday at 8pm was Murder, She Wrote. It still baffles me why TV executives haven't figured out that moving shows out of their well-established time slots always signals the show's demise. Maybe they know this, and move them to help speed along the process.
Whatever the reasons, at least I'll have my 7-seasons of West Wing DVDs to watch whenever there are terrible new shows on TV that aren't worth watching.
In related television news, a few interesting lineup changes will be coming too:
For the past 14 seasons, Law and Order (the original, not SVU, CI, or the ill-fated Trial by Jury) has been in the Wednesday 10pm timeslot on NBC. But no more... NBC shakes things up by moving it an hour earlier to 9pm. I think this one will be able to survive the minor shift, but I'm no expert. It goes up against Mythbusters, which is the same problem I had when West Wing was on Wednesdays at 9, but fortunately I have a DVR now. Problem averted. :)
Las Vegas continues it's tour of the NBC schedule, after being moved from Sunday to Monday it makes its way down to the Friday night time slot. Might work, since there's nothing else good on Friday nights, but also who watches TV on a Friday night unless you want to see Dateline (which is moving to Saturday) or 20/20?
Las Vegas' move to Friday clears the way for that epic sensation Deal or No Deal to have a permanent spot on the Monday at 8pm timeslot followed by the Donald. I've said my thoughts on Deal or No Deal before... I give the show 10-weeks before it gets the axe and is buried in the gameshow graveyard along with the short-lived revived classic "21" with Maury Povich, and the Weakest Link (which was only entertaining to hear Anne Robinson verbally berating the contestants).
In the meantime, Food Network probably has plenty of episodes of Emeril Live, Good Eats, and Paula Deen stocked up to satisfy your TV viewing needs... with extra butter.
Now I don't think I really became a dedicated watcher of the West Wing until its third season. Fortunately through the miracle of DVD, I've watched straight through the first 3 seasons to catch up on everything I never saw. Unfortunately, my DVD viewing habits are sketchy, and I still haven't completely finished the 3rd season shows... with the complete 4th and 5th seasons sitting on my shelf vastly untouched except to be removed from their Amazon.com packing box. Though I must say, they are excellent for long flights when you need to kill time with some quality DVD viewing. That's how I made it through so much of Season 3.
Why am I not surprised the show was cancelled? While I think the writing was not so good after Aaron Sorkin quit writing the show at the end of Season 4, it seems to have improved vastly this season, especially in the plots surrounding the election of the new president. Perhaps that's just because they found something to write about. But the show itself had one necessary flaw, a president can only serve 8 years... and once that's done, you're out of luck. Could the show survive with an almost completely new cast? Could ANY show survive with a completely new cast? Perhaps, but doubtful. The only way to stay true to a show that prides itself on keeping true to the reality of American politics, is for the show to end and the characters fade off into their post-White House lives where nobody even remembers their names.
Certainly it didn't help that NBC decided to move West Wing out of it's traditional 9pm Wednesday time slot for a cursed 8pm Sunday time slot. The last show I think I ever remember watching on Sunday at 8pm was Murder, She Wrote. It still baffles me why TV executives haven't figured out that moving shows out of their well-established time slots always signals the show's demise. Maybe they know this, and move them to help speed along the process.
Whatever the reasons, at least I'll have my 7-seasons of West Wing DVDs to watch whenever there are terrible new shows on TV that aren't worth watching.
In related television news, a few interesting lineup changes will be coming too:
For the past 14 seasons, Law and Order (the original, not SVU, CI, or the ill-fated Trial by Jury) has been in the Wednesday 10pm timeslot on NBC. But no more... NBC shakes things up by moving it an hour earlier to 9pm. I think this one will be able to survive the minor shift, but I'm no expert. It goes up against Mythbusters, which is the same problem I had when West Wing was on Wednesdays at 9, but fortunately I have a DVR now. Problem averted. :)
Las Vegas continues it's tour of the NBC schedule, after being moved from Sunday to Monday it makes its way down to the Friday night time slot. Might work, since there's nothing else good on Friday nights, but also who watches TV on a Friday night unless you want to see Dateline (which is moving to Saturday) or 20/20?
Las Vegas' move to Friday clears the way for that epic sensation Deal or No Deal to have a permanent spot on the Monday at 8pm timeslot followed by the Donald. I've said my thoughts on Deal or No Deal before... I give the show 10-weeks before it gets the axe and is buried in the gameshow graveyard along with the short-lived revived classic "21" with Maury Povich, and the Weakest Link (which was only entertaining to hear Anne Robinson verbally berating the contestants).
In the meantime, Food Network probably has plenty of episodes of Emeril Live, Good Eats, and Paula Deen stocked up to satisfy your TV viewing needs... with extra butter.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Things you'd never expect to see...
There are a few things you would never expect to see... one of those: the Seahawks going to the Super Bowl. Not only did they win, they beat Carolina hands down. What does this mean? One very important thing... this year I'll watch the Super Bowl for more than just the commercials.
As for my weekend... it was a busy curling weekend. We had a bonspiel (which for you who aren't hip to the lingo, a bonspiel is a curling tournament) with teams from the Evergreen Curling Club down in Portland. It was fun, but as a result over this past weekend I curled 6 games because I had my normal Friday and Sunday games, with 4 games for the bonspiel inbetween. Lots of fun, but equally tired now.
Now I have to go back to work tomorrow... but that's no surprise. Still doesn't mean I have to like it. :) I think every weekend should be a 3-day weekend... that's a better idea.
As for my weekend... it was a busy curling weekend. We had a bonspiel (which for you who aren't hip to the lingo, a bonspiel is a curling tournament) with teams from the Evergreen Curling Club down in Portland. It was fun, but as a result over this past weekend I curled 6 games because I had my normal Friday and Sunday games, with 4 games for the bonspiel inbetween. Lots of fun, but equally tired now.
Now I have to go back to work tomorrow... but that's no surprise. Still doesn't mean I have to like it. :) I think every weekend should be a 3-day weekend... that's a better idea.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Remember to honk... when you drive by Tom Shane
Few people in Seattle can watch television between the hours of midnight and 6am without encountering that shady auto insurance pitchman imploring you to "Remember to honk when you drive by Vern Fonk." Though I know of nobody who actually has purchased insurance from Vern Fonk, most everyone can clearly recognize and remember his obscure, bizarre, yet often entertaining and creative commercials.
Well move over Vern, there's a new resident moving in down the street. The illustrious jeweler whose trademark voice has graced Seattle radio airwaves for decades has made the leap to television with a new series of advertisements and a jingle that puts "Remember to honk..." to shame. Tom Shane, your self-proclaimed "friend in the diamond business," stars as a faceless version of himself in these creative, yet odd commercials for the Shane Co. jewelers. In past radio advertisements, the closest thing to a jingle was the distinctive slogan, address and store hours that concluded each spot. The crossover to television ads seems to have warranted an actual jingle that reinforces the quirkiness of the commercial: "He's dull. But he's brilliant." Short and to the point.
On the bright side, the commercials are highly entertaining. I guess I can't complain too much about that.
And in a brief addendum, a bit more research has shown that much to my surprise the Shane Co is actually not a local company. Despite the fact that they do a very good job of making it seem (at least to me) like Tom Shane is sitting in his Medina mansion extolling the virtues of the Shane Co, he's actually headquartered and originally based in Denver. He now owns over 20 stores nationwide from Washington to Georgia. Fascinating. Still funny commercials.
Well move over Vern, there's a new resident moving in down the street. The illustrious jeweler whose trademark voice has graced Seattle radio airwaves for decades has made the leap to television with a new series of advertisements and a jingle that puts "Remember to honk..." to shame. Tom Shane, your self-proclaimed "friend in the diamond business," stars as a faceless version of himself in these creative, yet odd commercials for the Shane Co. jewelers. In past radio advertisements, the closest thing to a jingle was the distinctive slogan, address and store hours that concluded each spot. The crossover to television ads seems to have warranted an actual jingle that reinforces the quirkiness of the commercial: "He's dull. But he's brilliant." Short and to the point.
On the bright side, the commercials are highly entertaining. I guess I can't complain too much about that.
And in a brief addendum, a bit more research has shown that much to my surprise the Shane Co is actually not a local company. Despite the fact that they do a very good job of making it seem (at least to me) like Tom Shane is sitting in his Medina mansion extolling the virtues of the Shane Co, he's actually headquartered and originally based in Denver. He now owns over 20 stores nationwide from Washington to Georgia. Fascinating. Still funny commercials.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Small annoyances
Isn't it ironic how sometimes the smallest things are the most annoying? I own a 2001 Nissan Altima, which is a great car. I've had the car for nearly 4 years, and have yet to require any major repairs of any sort on the car (I do have a broken power window on the passenger side, but I'll worry about that when the warm weather comes). However, there is one thing that I consider to be a fatal flaw in the design features of this car. There is NO sensor/light on the dash that tells you whether or not the trunk is open.
This seems rather small, I admit. But the trunk is also very well designed (or is it poorly designed?), such that if the trunk is unlatched, it still sits down as if it were closed. You actually have to pull up on the trunk to open it. It's very well balanced so it doesn't really have a preference of up or down. Convenient I guess.
The problem is, on multiple occasions, whether because I just forgot I had unlatched it, or because I had accidentally bumped the trunk release on my keychain, I've driven extended distances before I've noticed that the trunk is open. On several such occasions, I drove down I-5 at about 70mph for 30 miles or so, only to notice in the middle of the freeway that the trunk lid was bobbing up and down as I went over bumps in the road. At that point, it's not like I can do much about it, so I just keep going. But still, is it so much to ask that there be a little light that tells me the trunk is open... that would solve ALL of these problems.
Fortunately, I don't think I've ever lost anything out of the trunk as a result. It's a pretty deep trunk so stuff can't just slide out. At least I don't *think* I've lost anything. Wait, what about that million dollars I had sitting in my trunk last week? Maybe I should call my insurance company about that right away... hmmm.....
This seems rather small, I admit. But the trunk is also very well designed (or is it poorly designed?), such that if the trunk is unlatched, it still sits down as if it were closed. You actually have to pull up on the trunk to open it. It's very well balanced so it doesn't really have a preference of up or down. Convenient I guess.
The problem is, on multiple occasions, whether because I just forgot I had unlatched it, or because I had accidentally bumped the trunk release on my keychain, I've driven extended distances before I've noticed that the trunk is open. On several such occasions, I drove down I-5 at about 70mph for 30 miles or so, only to notice in the middle of the freeway that the trunk lid was bobbing up and down as I went over bumps in the road. At that point, it's not like I can do much about it, so I just keep going. But still, is it so much to ask that there be a little light that tells me the trunk is open... that would solve ALL of these problems.
Fortunately, I don't think I've ever lost anything out of the trunk as a result. It's a pretty deep trunk so stuff can't just slide out. At least I don't *think* I've lost anything. Wait, what about that million dollars I had sitting in my trunk last week? Maybe I should call my insurance company about that right away... hmmm.....
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
And the award goes to...
It's that time of year again... the time of year where we "honor" the best of the best (or the best of the worst) from the previous year. Last night was the People's Choice Awards, apparently the kickoff to the awards show season.
First a recap of last night's People's Choice Awards: ZZZzzzzzzzzzzz. What an action-empty, non entertaining show. Hosted by TV's Craig Ferguson, who I usually find quite funny, he was not at all funny on the show. I blame it on bad writing, but perhaps it's his own lack of humor. Plus, who shows an awards show on a Tuesday night? Isn't that just a blatant declaration that the show is not important enough to even bother to watch? Tuesday night is when you show made-for-TV movies that you don't expect anyone to watch, not award shows.
As far as "award season" goes though, there seems to be a lot of wasted bandwidth there. How many award shows are there that all give away awards for the same things? Obviously they're all given away by different groups of people, but does anyone really pay much attention to which organization is giving the awards away? Probably not. Most people would tell you that the Emmy's are for TV, the Oscars are for movies, the Grammys are for music, and the Tonys are for theatre. Beyond that everyone's mystified. The People's Choice awards are given to nearly all of the above (except theatre, obviously the people's opinion isn't worthy about the theatre). The Golden Globes? both movies and TV. Screen Actors Guild? Also movies and TV (but they actually only have 13 award categories which is nice.) The Emmy's are apparently so important that they break them into two pieces, one for daytime television and one for primetime television. Though I think only people who have no lives care about the daytime awards.
Actually, I think people care far less about the awards themselves, than they do about the celebrities and how they dress and who they're with and... well, it's just a big celebrity paparazzi event if you ask me. But for my own benefit to know which to avoid, or for your benefit if you need to mark your calendars, the major award shows of the year:
32nd Annual People's Choice Awards - Tuesday, January 10th
63rd Annual Golden Globes Awards - Monday, January 16th
12th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards - Sunday, January 29th
48th Annual Grammy Awards - Wednesday, February 8th
78th Annual Academy Awards - Sunday, March 5th
33rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards - Friday, April 28th
60th Annual Tony Awards - Sunday, June 11th
58th Annual Emmy Awards - Sunday, August 27th
Now I'll go back to not caring again.
First a recap of last night's People's Choice Awards: ZZZzzzzzzzzzzz. What an action-empty, non entertaining show. Hosted by TV's Craig Ferguson, who I usually find quite funny, he was not at all funny on the show. I blame it on bad writing, but perhaps it's his own lack of humor. Plus, who shows an awards show on a Tuesday night? Isn't that just a blatant declaration that the show is not important enough to even bother to watch? Tuesday night is when you show made-for-TV movies that you don't expect anyone to watch, not award shows.
As far as "award season" goes though, there seems to be a lot of wasted bandwidth there. How many award shows are there that all give away awards for the same things? Obviously they're all given away by different groups of people, but does anyone really pay much attention to which organization is giving the awards away? Probably not. Most people would tell you that the Emmy's are for TV, the Oscars are for movies, the Grammys are for music, and the Tonys are for theatre. Beyond that everyone's mystified. The People's Choice awards are given to nearly all of the above (except theatre, obviously the people's opinion isn't worthy about the theatre). The Golden Globes? both movies and TV. Screen Actors Guild? Also movies and TV (but they actually only have 13 award categories which is nice.) The Emmy's are apparently so important that they break them into two pieces, one for daytime television and one for primetime television. Though I think only people who have no lives care about the daytime awards.
Actually, I think people care far less about the awards themselves, than they do about the celebrities and how they dress and who they're with and... well, it's just a big celebrity paparazzi event if you ask me. But for my own benefit to know which to avoid, or for your benefit if you need to mark your calendars, the major award shows of the year:
32nd Annual People's Choice Awards - Tuesday, January 10th
63rd Annual Golden Globes Awards - Monday, January 16th
12th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards - Sunday, January 29th
48th Annual Grammy Awards - Wednesday, February 8th
78th Annual Academy Awards - Sunday, March 5th
33rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards - Friday, April 28th
60th Annual Tony Awards - Sunday, June 11th
58th Annual Emmy Awards - Sunday, August 27th
Now I'll go back to not caring again.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Happy New Year!
Well I haven't had much to blog about lately, nor have I had much time to blog lately. Must be the holidays, oh yeah, and work.
Today I must say it took me until after noon to realize it was the last day of the year. For some reason I hadn't associated tomorrow with being New Year's Day. But while we're on the topic... what kind of ridiculous holiday is this?! Somehow just because it's the first day of the year, every country in the world decided that it's a day worth celebrating. This is fine with me, but what about the first day of the month? February 1st, March 1st, September 1st... these should ALL be holidays! Oh well!
I guess today was a productive day of cleaning... so at least I can start the new year with a clean apartment.
I also watched this quality cinematic feature called Men with Brooms. As you might expect, this is probably the only movie ever made that revolves around the sport of curling. It's definitely a comedy, though don't look to see it among the ranks of any Academy Award winning films. First, it's more bizarre than it is funny. There is a lot of subtle curling humor, that you'd only understand if you are a curler, or fully versed in curling lingo and etiquette. As it was, it was nothing more than a fully predictable plot, filled in with a lot of other obscure garbage. Oh yeah, and since it's a Canadian comedy, it takes every opportunity possible to make fun of Americans and portray them as stupid, uptight, pompous, or some permutation thereof. The most famous actor in the film was probably Leslie Nielsen, which makes perfect sense considering he's Canadian and probably has made more terrible comedies than any man alive. (Though I think he is still hilarious, and enjoy even his terrible movies.)
Happy New Year!
Today I must say it took me until after noon to realize it was the last day of the year. For some reason I hadn't associated tomorrow with being New Year's Day. But while we're on the topic... what kind of ridiculous holiday is this?! Somehow just because it's the first day of the year, every country in the world decided that it's a day worth celebrating. This is fine with me, but what about the first day of the month? February 1st, March 1st, September 1st... these should ALL be holidays! Oh well!
I guess today was a productive day of cleaning... so at least I can start the new year with a clean apartment.
I also watched this quality cinematic feature called Men with Brooms. As you might expect, this is probably the only movie ever made that revolves around the sport of curling. It's definitely a comedy, though don't look to see it among the ranks of any Academy Award winning films. First, it's more bizarre than it is funny. There is a lot of subtle curling humor, that you'd only understand if you are a curler, or fully versed in curling lingo and etiquette. As it was, it was nothing more than a fully predictable plot, filled in with a lot of other obscure garbage. Oh yeah, and since it's a Canadian comedy, it takes every opportunity possible to make fun of Americans and portray them as stupid, uptight, pompous, or some permutation thereof. The most famous actor in the film was probably Leslie Nielsen, which makes perfect sense considering he's Canadian and probably has made more terrible comedies than any man alive. (Though I think he is still hilarious, and enjoy even his terrible movies.)
Happy New Year!
Monday, December 19, 2005
Deal... or No Deal?
Tonight began yet another primetime gameshow that we stole from the Brits. The show, Deal or No Deal, is being run as a primetime mini-series-type special that will run each night this week at 8pm on NBC. Reminds me of the original schedule of Who Wants to be a Millionare, before they started running it every night for a month, and then eventually even syndicated it, until people got so sick of it they run away.
I digress... so Deal or No Deal. The premise of this show is so ridiculously simple I feel like I'm sitting back in my STAT 394 class determining the probability and expected value of each decision. Once you filter out all the lights, glitz, and strategically placed commercial breaks, you're left with this:
1) There are 26 numbered briefcases, each containing a value from $.01 to $1,000,000.
2) The contestant selects one of the briefcases.
3) The contestant then selects the remaining briefcases one-by-one, which are opened to reveal the values contained within.
4) At various points throughout the process, the contestant is made an offer to sell the briefcase they selected for a specified amount of money. If they take the offer (Deal) the game is over, otherwise (No Deal) the game continues until they either take a Deal or all of the remaining cases are opened.
That's all there is to it. The fascinating part (to me at least) is how "The Bank" a.k.a. the man upstairs with a yellow legal pad who is supposedly making the offers, though I consider it far more likely that a computer is making all of the calculations, is actually coming up with his offers. Now, I didn't take too close of a look at the values being offered at various points, but I'm pretty sure they're just offering the expected value of their selected briefcase based on the values remaining. For example, when the contestant tonight was down to just 2 briefcases (their own, and one other) the two remaining values were $50,000 and $500. So what is the EV of the case she selected? (50000+500)/2 = 25250. And what was she offered? $25,000 even. Sounds about right to me.
How long is this going to last? My guess is probably, oh... about 5 episodes. :) Why? Because the show has several fatal flaws that are the curse of all bad gameshows:
1) The audience can't play along. Well, they CAN, but really, it's about as much fun as when your friend goes "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 26". "Oooh... sorry, wrong."
2) B-list celebrity turned game show host. The host of this show is Howie Mandel. Name one thing he's done in the past 10 years... yeah, that's what I thought. Now the same might have been said about Regis when he first took on the role as host of Millionaire... but he proved himself nicely... it helps that people knew who he was and he's a likable enough guy. Howie reminds me of when they got John McEnroe to host that failed attempt at a game show called "The Chair" where people were answering trivia questions while strapped into a chair and they lost if their heart rate went up too much. Can we say ridiculous premise?
3) Lack of variety. After about 5 episodes of this, every episode will start to feel the same. It's not like they can change up the questions, or have new celebrity guests, or anything different. See reason #1... how many times can you play "I'm thinking of a number" before it gets old... oh yeah, maybe twice. 'Nuff said.
Now that I've devoted more time than this show deserves, I have a question... what's the deal with America stealing all of our gameshows from the British? Are we not creative enough to create our own incredibly ridiculous premises and pretend to give away exorbitant amounts of money, but in reality give away nothing more than the slimmest chance of winning anything substantial? I have one thing to say: No Deal.
I digress... so Deal or No Deal. The premise of this show is so ridiculously simple I feel like I'm sitting back in my STAT 394 class determining the probability and expected value of each decision. Once you filter out all the lights, glitz, and strategically placed commercial breaks, you're left with this:
1) There are 26 numbered briefcases, each containing a value from $.01 to $1,000,000.
2) The contestant selects one of the briefcases.
3) The contestant then selects the remaining briefcases one-by-one, which are opened to reveal the values contained within.
4) At various points throughout the process, the contestant is made an offer to sell the briefcase they selected for a specified amount of money. If they take the offer (Deal) the game is over, otherwise (No Deal) the game continues until they either take a Deal or all of the remaining cases are opened.
That's all there is to it. The fascinating part (to me at least) is how "The Bank" a.k.a. the man upstairs with a yellow legal pad who is supposedly making the offers, though I consider it far more likely that a computer is making all of the calculations, is actually coming up with his offers. Now, I didn't take too close of a look at the values being offered at various points, but I'm pretty sure they're just offering the expected value of their selected briefcase based on the values remaining. For example, when the contestant tonight was down to just 2 briefcases (their own, and one other) the two remaining values were $50,000 and $500. So what is the EV of the case she selected? (50000+500)/2 = 25250. And what was she offered? $25,000 even. Sounds about right to me.
How long is this going to last? My guess is probably, oh... about 5 episodes. :) Why? Because the show has several fatal flaws that are the curse of all bad gameshows:
1) The audience can't play along. Well, they CAN, but really, it's about as much fun as when your friend goes "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 26". "Oooh... sorry, wrong."
2) B-list celebrity turned game show host. The host of this show is Howie Mandel. Name one thing he's done in the past 10 years... yeah, that's what I thought. Now the same might have been said about Regis when he first took on the role as host of Millionaire... but he proved himself nicely... it helps that people knew who he was and he's a likable enough guy. Howie reminds me of when they got John McEnroe to host that failed attempt at a game show called "The Chair" where people were answering trivia questions while strapped into a chair and they lost if their heart rate went up too much. Can we say ridiculous premise?
3) Lack of variety. After about 5 episodes of this, every episode will start to feel the same. It's not like they can change up the questions, or have new celebrity guests, or anything different. See reason #1... how many times can you play "I'm thinking of a number" before it gets old... oh yeah, maybe twice. 'Nuff said.
Now that I've devoted more time than this show deserves, I have a question... what's the deal with America stealing all of our gameshows from the British? Are we not creative enough to create our own incredibly ridiculous premises and pretend to give away exorbitant amounts of money, but in reality give away nothing more than the slimmest chance of winning anything substantial? I have one thing to say: No Deal.
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