holiday hangovers

Someone is finally trying to answer the age old question of why our family makes us crazy during the holidays. I am to the point of not celebrating anything ever again because of the stress that comes with being around these people. I tried really hard to not fight with my mom this year and thought I had successfully made it though this year without a scrape. Oh no, she called me shortly after we left and managed to piss me off so much I could barely talk to her. Many people have this problem, which surprised me because no one ever talks about it. I thought I was one of the few.

"Visiting -- or even just viewing photos of family members -- prompts brain activity that affects how you feel about them, your friends, and even yourself, a new study suggests.

The study is the first to compare brain activity associated with seeing relatives with that linked to seeing friends and strangers. It suggests our feelings about biological relatives are at least somewhat primal.

The findings may help explain everything from why our family can get on our nerves to why people who look like us can spark immediate feelings of trust, "but not lust," said Steven Platek, who co-authored the study with Shelly Kemp.

"We like to be around people that look more like us, but we do not find them as sexually attractive," added Platek, editor-in-chief of the journal Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience. "I think it is linked to our subconscious ability to detect facial resemblances so we avoid lusting after those that may be related to us."Link

Movie Review: Uzumaki

This film is based on a Japanese manga of the same name. Unfortunately, the film was finished before the manga, which is why I believe the end of the film wasn't very good. Uzumaki the film was a bit of a disappointment. Uzumaki means spiral. The film leads you through things appearing in the village to people that have spirals occuring naturally in them. A snail's shell, hurricanes, smoke, and water in a drain all display this pattern naturally. I really thought it was an interesting plot and the story was plugging along nicely until it just... ended. No resolution. No explanation of why this town was affected by a spiral sickness. The audience is just left with nothing. It had pretty interesting art direction and so-so graphics. I really wanted it to "wow" me. There are some similarities in the story to the book "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski. Would I recommend watching it? Probably not, unless you are really interested in Japanese horror films. The most interesting part of this film experience is that my dog found a large snail climbing up the outside of my house the day after we watched the movie. I had never one by my house until that day. Coincidence? Hmmm.

Shooting Zombies in the Face

We bought "Left 4 Dead" for XBOX 360 a while ago but I haven't had the opportunity to review it here yet. Ummm. It fucking rules! I have never considered myself a 1st person shooter fan but with the introduction to this game, I'm totally sold. The controls are instinctive and to the delight of M, you can crouch and walk at the same time. I usually play as the female character, Zoe who, for once is a fully clothed, fully capable woman in a video game. I haven't ever used the online player co-op mode of any game until we picked up this beauty. J and I play side by side and team up online with one of his coworkers. Our headsets insure that all our teammates can hear us browbeat those damn dirty zombies as we shoot them in the face. The graphics are great, the gameplay is seamless, it even shows stats at each chapter to heighten the competition. J usually dies the most and I usually take the most damage. I look forward to playing this game all day. It's something that helps me take out the aggression of work. Although if I play too close to bedtime I have zombie dreams. Really, what more could you ask for?As far as I'm concened, this game helps us prepare for the coming apocalypse.

Would wearing this body scent just make me hungry?

Burger King has just released a body spray that makes you smell like meat. Here is the description:

The WHOPPER® sandwich is America’s Favorite burger. FLAME™ by BK® captures the essence of that love and gives it to you. Behold the scent of seduction, with a hint of flame-broiled meat.

I bet J would love it.
Here's where you can buy it online - Link

A vindictive etsy vendor

Here's the situation:
I bought a present for someone on etsy.com. I love shopping on it because everything is made by hand and it supports individuals instead of corporate conglomerates. Little did I know I had found one seller who needs a straight jacket. When you purchase an item the site requests feedback on the seller and item you purchased. I gave this particular purchase neutral feedback because she shipped it late and the seller freaked out about it.
Let me display her emails and representation of customer service.

November 21st.
I placed the order.

November 26th
This is before I received the item:
"hi...i wanted to let you know that your item shipped a couple of days ago -- i apologize for not writing sooner but i had family issues and i got behind on my correspondence. paypal sent you notification of the shipment along with the tracking number for your package. i appreciate your purchase and hope you will visit again -- ot was a pleasure. happy thanksgiving! all the best, (name omitted)"

December 4th
I received the package.
December 9th
Bring on the craziness!
Here is the first email I received from the seller:

"not a word from you regarding any dis-satisfaction with yur purchase, and yet you eave me neutral feedback. do you have any idea how that damages a seller's reputation on etsy. this is the way i make my living. that was VERY unfair of you to NOT contact me and explain your dis-satisfaction FIRST, ALLOWING ME TO FIX WHATEVER WAS WRONG. i would GLADLY give you a refund or an exchange, or fix any problem perceived. i would like you to return the necklace to me. i can provide you with a prepaid addressed mailing label for this purpose. i would like to ask you to change your feedback based on my willingness to resolve any problems you might have. i excell at customer service but i cannot help you unless you COMMUNICATE. (please read the last part of my shop announcement which asks buyers to contact me first...) i will wait to hear from you before i leave feedback for you. this puts a very negative spin on this transaction and i am very sad and hurt by this. please, may i hear from you."

My reply:
I gave you NEUTRAL feedback because it shipped later then you stated. You sent me an email apologizing for the delay, which is fine but that doesn't constitute a great rating. Sending me a nasty email is not the way to provide great customer service. I suggest not being so sensitive about your ratings, the more customers you have the more your rating will vary.

Seller:
my email to you was not nasty. i questioned why you didn't contact me first and that question stands. i ship within 24 hours of receipt of payment, emergencies not withstanding. i cannot recall when your item shipped, but if it was delayed when i lost vision in my eyemm i am sorry. you receive notification from paypal when your item goes out. i cannot be responsible for delays by the USPS. read my feedback -- EVERYONE sapeaks of fast shipping. i will leave your feedback based on how this was handled. i had hoped we could have worked this out in an easy fashion. i am sorry you are so disappointed and i hope that this does not leave you not wanting to wear your ____, remembering this sad transaction.


Seller:
hi,,,i went ahead and left feedback for you. like yourself, i felt i had the right to leave feedback based on how the situation was ahndled. however, if you wish to use the "kiss and make up" feature offered by etsy, allowing us to change our mutual feedback to positive, i would be willing to participate in that with you. if not, then i will live with your neutral. perhaps you don't understand the importance of feedback on etsy. people judge you by the feedback left. saying i shouldn'be so sensitive when it comes to my feedback is like telling me not to care about my business or my reputation. i care very much about both. all i ask is that a buyer contact me if they are unhappy for any reason. i don't think that is unreasonable.

Here's the feedback she left for me with a negative rating:
"buyer faulted me for slow shipping by the post office. i am well known for my quick shipping within 24 hours of payment. buyer did not attempt to contact me first before leaving less than stellar feedback. i would be careful about dealing with this buyer because she will not communicate with a seller to express her feelings and allow a seller to offer anything to fix a situation -- she simply expresses herself in feedback. this was a very negative transaction for these reasons. i am quite saddened by this situation -- saddened and disappointed."

Me:
Why would you attack me like this? I looked at your feedback and it's 100% positive. My neutral rating isn't affecting you at all! Then you give me a negative rating. You are vindictive and very unprofessional. Grow up.

Seller:
"i considered your feedback an attack on me and my business. i felt your negative was deserved because you would not communiucate your issues with me before leaving feedback. you know nothing about me, who i am or how professional i am. think what you wish. bottom line here is this. i live with the neutral is you want to live with the negative. if you want to use the kiss and make up feature BOTH of those feedback can be changed to positive. if you do not wish to do that, that is your perogative. i will participate if you take the iniative. this is totally out of control. if you had just contacted me when you felt the shipping was slow and allowed me to present facts re. shipping (i should not be blamed for the post office's negligence...give them neutral feedback) -- none of this would have happened. we can fix this or we can leave it as is. that is up to you."

Me:
"You are trying to bully me into giving you good feedback. If I could, I would now change it to a negative review because of this email exchange you are having with me. This isn't the way to treat people whom you hope to do business with. I will not kiss and make up with you.(this is a way to resolve negative feedback through etsy) I don't care if I have negative feedback. People will read what you wrote and see how completely disrespectful your exchange with me was."

Seller:
let peope think what they wish. the subject is closed. please do not contact me again. there is nothing left to say.

Am I the crazy one?

The Truth Behind The Auto Bailout

Game Day!

No silly, not football. Board games, or card games whichever comes first.
A couple of friends are coming to play board games on sunday and I am way excited! We will probably play a couple rounds of Munchkin. My friends, being the coolest on the planet, have most of the different versions of the card game between us. The best part is that you can intermix the cards of 2 of the games to come up with varying facets of play.
Another game we might play is Gloom. We bought it a while ago but have yet to play it with more then 2 players. I'm so excited! Now I should come up with some snacky stuff to make for my guests.

Have you heard of the power of Bacon, my lord and savior?

Baconlightenment.

The Five Baconic Laws

• Thou shalt not consider Bacon on the same level as any other food, as it is above all.
• Thou shalt not consume imitation Bacon.
• Thou shalt not stop pursuing Baconlightenment until it is reached.
• Thou shalt not forget to consume Bacon for ten days.
• Thou shalt spread the word of Bacon to all.

Finally! A religion I can get into.

Rehab for CNN

Are you wondering why the economic crisis hasn't really been a focus for the media. It's because it's not a visual story and they can't explain it in under 4 minutes. Here's and article on Boing Boing that I found really interesting because I used to work in local television. Link