Category: Rants

I’ve been using Blockbuster.com for movies for a while now, and until recently have always had pretty decent turnaround times with their TotalAccess plan. With movies going back to Columbia SC, I’d usually get notification that the movie was received the day after dropping it in the mail, and another notification later on that day or the next day that the next movie had been sent. Sometimes that movie would arrive the same day I received the notification, but usually I found it in my mailbox the next day.

The TotalAccess plan includes the option of stopping by a B&M (brick and mortar) Blockbuster to exchange movies there, instead of by mail. Since that was something I never found myself doing, I decided to switch to Blockbuster.com’s vanilla Blockbuster by Mail plan instead.

That’s when I noticed a drastic change in turn-around times. Now it’s maybe 2-3 days before I receive notification that a movie has been received after dropping it in the mail, and another 2-3 days before I receive notification that the next one is on the way. Considering they advertise 1-2 business day delivery, I’m starting to feel I’ve ended up on the slow end of their service. With DVDs going back to Columbia (and presumably coming from there too), I should definitely be within a 1 day delivery zone. Considering the 1-day turn around time I used to have with the TotalAccess plan, the only reason I can see for the decline in service is the switch to the vanilla Blockbuster by Mail plan.

Is this surprising? Not really I suppose. Since you’re paying more with the TotalAccess plans, naturally you expect a higher level of service and convenience (in the form of instant turn around with in-store exchanges along with a few other perks). According to this informal analysis of Netflix performed a few years ago, they also throttle movie rentals to give new subscribers a higher level of service.

Is turn-around time a big deal? While it was nice having a 3-4 day turn around cycle (time between movie return and receipt of a new one), many times that movie would end up sitting on the shelf for a week or two (sometimes more) before I got around to watching it. Sure, there were periods where I’d go into burst mode watching movies (watch them the day they arrived, send them back the next day) so the quick turn around was handy. Most of the time though, it’s a few days before I get around to watching the movie. In the grand scheme of things, an extra 2 days on that turn around cycle isn’t really a big deal (at least for me anyway). YMMV. If you’re a constant burst mode watcher, that quick turn around might be important for you, so stick with the TotalAccess plan. If not, save a few bucks a month and go with the vanilla BbM plan.

I would be more than happy to take the bus to and from work, but your Route 31 – Folly Road bus only goes past my house once. You can take me home from work, but you can’t get me to work unless I want to walk a couple of miles to the nearest bus stop.

Please fix.

kthxbai

Here’s something that crosses my mind every time I drive over a bridge around here.

Is there some kind of law or requirement on the SC books that specifically requires bridges to have sidewalks? There are lots of bridges around here that have sidewalks on them, which is very nice.

The only problem is that for a lot of these sidewalked bridges, there are no sidewalks that lead up to the bridge.

So you can walk the bridges in relative comfort. You just have to rough it or put on your hiking boots to get there though.

What’s up with that?

Yeah, you there on the Ashley River Bridge.

Here’s a smart little tip. Next time you want to cut across three freaking lanes, you might want to make sure the other two aren’t occupied before yanking the wheel over, ok?

It’s a good thing my highly honed defensive driving skills (drive like everybody else on the road is an idiot) kicked in because otherwise you would have ended up changing lanes into my engine, rather than ending up a foot off my front bumper.

There’s stupidity in the news every day, but I usually don’t see it in what little news I read. Yesterday seemed to be a day for me to encounter an unusual amount of it.

Just to show that idiocy in the legal system isn’t the sole purview of the US legal system, there’s this headline from Quebec: Court quashes dad’s grounding of 12-year-old daughter.

A father plans to appeal after a Quebec court ruled that he didn’t have the right to punish his 12-year-old daughter by barring her from a school trip.

And if that’s not enough, Senators approve anti-spanking bill.

Bill S-209, which needs House approval to be made into law, proposes to eliminate Section 43 of Canada’s Criminal Code, which allows parents, teachers and caregivers to use reasonable force to discipline a child and correct their behaviour.

Srsly. W. T. F.

And in my home town of Edmonton, city councillors are, IMO, making some very short sighted decisions about the iconic electric trolley buses that have ferried people through Edmonton’s downtown for decades.

After gliding quietly along Edmonton streets for 70 years, the city’s fleet of trolley buses will be taken off the road for good, city council has decided.

Why are they going away? Because a bean counter somewhere has projected that over the next 18 years, the fleet of electric buses will cost $100M more to maintain than replacing them with diesel or hybrid buses. That’s a little less than $5.6M/year. City Council probably fritters away twice that much on other things. The trolley buses are efficient, quiet and non-polluting (yes, their electricity comes from a fossil-fuel burning power plant, but it’s also generating the power that goes to your house at the same time) compared to diesel hybrids which, while producing less emissions than a regular diesel bus are still nonetheless spitting out pollution.

Where do you suppose gas/diesel prices are going in the next 18 years?