Citizen of the World

I remember that recently kenwoodville posted about his new glasses.  I was so excited that I had an order on its way when he posted cuz I had ordered 6 pairs for less than the price of ONE of the newest pairs that I had gotten.  These are the 6 pairs that I received in the mail yesterday.  They're fun!  I ordered them from Zenni Optical online.  It was a PITA to get my prescription information and optical data that I needed, but I got them within 2-3 hours of calling back and forth and faxing things back and forth. 

A few weeks ago, I ordered some BLAAK cheese. It's an ashed goat cheese produced by the Fabulous Beekman Boys' farm in Sharon Springs, NY. We visited the farm and Sharon Springs for the first time this past spring for their Garden Party.

The cheese arrived about 1.5 weeks ago. We've slowly been savoring it and have even shared it with some friends, one of whom is a friend of one of the Beekman Boys. BLAAK is really, really tasty. It's slightly tart, but has a soft sweetness about it. The texture is not creamy like a brie, but also not as firm as, say, baby Swiss cheese. The edible rind is slightly harder than the inside; it is not smoky, as one might think. If you're not careful, the ash can get EVERYWHERE. It washes off easily, though.

It's really fun to have met and petted the goats whose milk produced the cheese awaiting our knife in front of us. While planning the whole BLAAK cheese experience, we discovered Bearboat's Pinot Noir 2007 vintage and Yellowtail's Shiraz-Cabernet (both delicious reds). Of course, we would be remiss if we didn't have wine with the cheese anyway, but adding a new wine heightened the whole experience.

The BearBoat was an especially wonderful find because it seems that the vineyard is owned and operated by a gay couple in the Russian River Valley. That area is home to one our country's fine gay Meccas, Guerneville, CA. It's not terribly surprising that a gay couple would own and operate a winery, but we were surprised to find the wine here in NJ and no one seems to know it. The primary reason Matt picked it up at the store, certainly, was because of the picture of the two bears rowing a boat. One of the bears is answering the other's question in French, which Matt thought that was funny because it's something I do to him.

The bottle's inscription on the back reads:"This is the story of Mac and Zeke, two inquisitive bears who find themselves on a quest to enjoy life's great curiosities. With no actual destination in mind they prefer to take their surroundings and simply enjoy the journey. You'll find them adrift wherever the current and the occasional row may take them. The Russian River Valley's cool morning fog and moderate afternoon temperatures give this BearBoat Pinot Noir richness and texture with bright acidity that balances beautifully. The aromas are a blend of raspberry and red cherry with a toasty vanilla spice flavor and lingering finish."
WE.HAD.TO.GET.IT.

It's fascinating to consider the build up to this moment of writing up this review of the cheese and the wine. Here's the process:

1. Late 2010 and into early 2011, Matt and I watched the Fabulous Beekman Boys on Planet Green (about 10 hrs).
2. We took the road trip up to Sharon Springs, NY, for the Garden Party.
3. We stayed at the American Hotel and met its two charming owners, Doug Plummer and Garth Roberts (who got married this summer - YAY!).
4. At the Garden Party, we met other wonderful folks, such as Gail Luna and his partner, Drew, who design and make delicious cakes.
5. We took the tour of the Beekman mansion and its grounds, and later visited the store to buy some goat milk soap.
6. We met Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, the two Beekman Boys, and Farmer John Hall and his partner, Jason Paden, who raise and tend the goats. All of these men are beautiful people and very gracious hosts.
7. We even got to hang out with and get to know Doug better at Bear Week in Provincetown this summer, which was a lot of fun.
8. I posted blog entries about Sharon Springs and made scrapbook pages about our trip.
9. I ordered the BLAAK online, posted an entry about it and we shopped for a good wine.
10. Now, I'm posting the finale.

Leading up to this post, it's been almost an entire year and our lives have been enriched. We've learned more about goats and making cheese, experienced another historical American town, and got to know at least 10 wonderful people!  Exhilarating!

Reviewing and describing our unique journeys should enlighten us to how wonderful our lives are. Take a moment sometime to review the process and impact of one of your own journeys.

But, of course! Why would they want to be honest and truthful?

Feds Admit to Saving Body Scans

Most of my Christmas gifts get ordered online anymore. Ordering online, as you know, lessens holiday stress, saves gasoline & mileage, and just makes the whole experience fun in my book.

Speaking of books, one of the presents I got is a book (not revealing which book or for whom because sometimes my family reads my public posts - knowing one of my sisters, though, she'll go filing through their books to see which one it might be. Good luck, Deborah!!). Because the book is now out of print, I looked on eBay and Amazon through their extra sellers.

Well!! This particular extra seller ((DE Books on Amazon)) is located in my hometown of Greenville, NC. I thought, "Wouldn't it be funny to find out that the seller is a high school friend of mine?"

I placed an order with DE Books on Amazon on Dec. 9 for standard shipping, which would mean that the item would arrive at a cost of $7.98. The shipping rates are typically inflated to cover the cost of shipping materials and the time it takes to package up the items. I understand this process because Matt and I do it for eBay items regularly. This time around, though, in comparing $7.98 to online USPS postage pricing, I thought, "The book should arrive by Dec. 16 at the latest!" It arrived yesterday, Dec. 18, which is a day after I'd already packaged up items to send out to NC in time for Christmas; and I didn't spend a lot of money, but everything in the package is wrapped!

I was so livid that the book arrived late and wasn't included in the shipment to NC. Granted, I will be carrying it with me, but as an online seller myself, I take umbrage with the fact that these guys charged me more than twice the media rate and the item arrived late!! If they'd spent a little more (of my money), but still making $1-2, the book would have arrived by Dec. 15!!

Amazon allows you to contact the seller, (DE Books on Amazon), which I've done:

"Hi, On this order, I requested standard shipping, which is (oddly) $7.98, and the item arrived on 12/18. Standard shipping* (3-5 business days) should have helped the package arrive by 12/16 at the latest. On the package, you selected USPS Media Mail for books. While I realize this is a good way to ship books because it's less expensive, Media Mail takes longer to arrive. If you want to make money on the shipping fee during the holidays, resulting in later arrivals of shipments, that is really bad business (and can be reflected in feedback).

However, if you had chosen USPS Priority Mail as the option, the items would have been here in 2 business days (i.e. 12/14 at the latest) instead of 7 at a cost of $5.95. I am writing to request a refund of $4, which I think is fair (and you still make money on your shipping): As a result of your choosing the later shipping, I will not be able to send the package wrapped to its destination by Christmas, which is VERY disappointing.

* Please refer to the posted Amazon Shipping Rates & Policies at the bottom of every page."

I think this is a fair request. I don't really care about $4. It's the principle of the thing. Online sellers try to make extra money on shipping, I get it. Like I said, I've done it, but within reason. If the actual price of shipping items comes to less than half of what the person has already paid, without question, we will refund a split. It might turn out to be $2-3, but it's the giving thing to do. Around the holidays, I like to think (against my better judgment) that people will have a little bigger heart; when they don't, I call them on it.

I doubt this will come to anything and the guy will hang onto that $4 for all it's worth - in this economy. I completely expect that. While writing this whole thing out, I felt it was kind of petty. But, dammit, it's not. My feedback will not be positive, but at least in this little exchange, my voice will have been heard, and ultimately THAT is what's important and what makes me American.

I just donated to Wikimedia to keep the site free of advertising! You can do the same:





If Wikimedia isn't free, think of how awful the site would be to navigate and use. Keep it free! Keep it alive!

Matthew and I have been on a search to find out some of the political and religious slants of Overstock.com. They are an online powerhouse. Though we have purchased things from them in the past, we haven't bought anything from them after realizing that they're based in Utah, home of the Mormon church (The Church of "Jesus Christ" of Latter Day Saints).

We've done searches on the SF Gate database for companies and employees of companies contributed money to the campaigns supporting and opposing California's Proposition 8. Here are the names of the three people on record as working for Overstock.com who helped fund Prop 8. Notice that they weren't afraid of entering their employer on the information; i.e. they didn't stand on their own, but mentioned their employer.



Prop 8, for those who aren't familiar, is the proposition in California a couple of years ago that banned same-sex marriages, although for a short period of time, same-sex marriages in CA were legal. Basically, Prop 8 allowed people to vote to discriminate and deny people their civil rights, which they already had.

Here's an email that Matthew sent them last night and their response:

Matthew: "Is Overstock.com a predominately, Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints owned and operated company? I know that it is a public corporation - but what about the leadership and the board?"

Overstock: "Hello Matthew, Thank you for contacting Overstock.com regarding weather we are a predominately, Morman (spelled wrong!! and they're in Utah!) Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints owned and operated company. I appreciate the opportunity to assist you today. Let me reassure you that we are a diverse company, we are not predominately Morman. Overstock.com does not sponsor, support, or endorse the views and opinions of any political party, organization, personality, or issue. We simply provide a great selection of quality merchandise at deep discounts. It is our desire to allow vendors the opportunity to display items on our site that provide discounted products for the benefit of all our customers. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance on this or any other issue. I hope you will visit us soon for great savings on name-brand products. Sincerely, Lance H.
Customer Care
Overstock.com"

Questions to everyone reading this:

1) Is Overstock.com a Mormon company?

2) Would you buy things from Overstock.com, knowing that at least 3 employees proudly sent in almost $600 toward a hate-driven proposition denying people their civil right and reversing a law?

3) How many companies have you ever boycotted for less? (We boycotted Whole Foods for about 6-9 months because of the CFO's statements against health care reform, and Sonoma County - wine - because of the County's harsh and illegal treatment of the elderly gay couple in nursing homes)

4) What impact does boycotting have ultimately in your opinion?

ATTENTION COLLECTORS!!

If anyone is interested in Department 56 (it's a set of REALLY cute porcelain villages for different seasons), we are selling a TON of things. I'm continuously posting items for sale on eBay.

Check out our items and bookmark our link (or send this along to anyone you might know who collects Department 56).

http://shop.ebay.com/mvecera/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

Our stuff is at seriously DEEP DISCOUNTS!!

We roundly apologize to interested parties outside the US; shipping might well be very cost prohibitive for these items.

For the last few months, I've been getting more and more notes from this site, GayRoughNecks.com. I had no interest - ever - in setting up any kind of contact profile on that site. I am connected plenty already online. I kept sending my email address through their link at the bottom of emails to delete the email. On one of the emails, I actually read through the note and this particular "disclaimer" told me that I had to change email options from my site profile, for which I had none. Sooooo... I created a profile and searched for a way to kill all emails (like I did with Twitter - thinking it would work in similar fashion) and then delete my account. Much to my chagrin, there was no way on my own to kill my profile or all the unwanted emails coming to me.

So, I wrote the following note to the "administrator" of the site within the system:
"Please delete my account and do not contact me any longer. I have removed my email from your system through the link provided in the emails I've received. I hope not to receive any further emails from your servers. Thank you very much."

This is the asshole's response I received today. He must be GayRoughNecks.com's administrator or possibly sole owner (it's kinda long and high-schoolish):
( Read the email response... )

Who does that? Seriously, who would write that sort of thing - knowing full well what people can do with that information. Idiot.

And today - after his email to me - I received another invitational email from their website.

Who do I report this guy to who's in direct violation of Internet privacy and spamming regulations? Anyone know?

My sister just sent across this search engine we'd never heard of before:

http://www.iknowall.com

It's a combo of Google, Yahoo, and MSN all together - so you're using three different search engines simultaneously. Thought I'd pass it along.

This is very similar to:

http://www.dogpile.com

but the interface is better on http://www.iknowall.com./, especially if you have a very wide screen.

My sister put this so astutely: "You know, this really shouldn't surprise me, but it does. I'm actually sitting here, jaw agape. (How often do you get to say that and mean it?)" She wrote me that at work in reference to an article whose text I've copied (and properly acclaimed) below:

( 'Master' and 'slave' computer labels unacceptable, officials say )

My response to the article and her note?

WOW! We are reaching totally unexpected and new dark depths of inconsequence!! What a shame that people (the media) are still, in the face of higher taxes, higher gas prices, lower environmental health, higher health care costs, etc., trying to find ways to waste of time and taxpayer dollars.