The other Jeff Foxx

For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed the #1 Google spot for "Jeff Foxx". Only today, I discovered that I have been overtaken by my nemesis: the other Jeff Foxx (TOJF). Please don't Google him, because that will only hurt my pagerank. Let me tell you what I know. TOJF is a DJ for an R&B radio station in NYC. I can't link to it, because again, it will only hurt my pagerank. Now Jeff Foxx dot com is sitting at second place and it is a testament to the power of the domain name. The page has no text on it, except for the navigation at the bottom. This blog is currently 4th.

What can you do to help? Google "Jeff Foxx" and click on my website. This will give my site false legitimacy. Don't let TOJF win this crucial battle.

Also, I'm very sorry to say that this is not me.

Barack Obama at my high school alma mater

28April2008_Wilson1
Originally uploaded by Barack Obama

I just found out (after the fact) that Obama spoke at my high school today. Go Bruins!

Adventures in hotel theft -- Part 3

I received a response to my Paypal money request. Unfortunately, it was not the instant money I had hoped for.

From: *****@*********.com
Subject: R: Hotel theft
Date: April 21, 2008 1:25:20 PM EDT
To: ****@**********.***

Dear Mr. Foxx,

Actually I am not familiar with pay pal but I am positive I will be able to manage payment. I’ll confront with the system tomorrow and shall confirm transaction via e-mail.

Thanks again for your friendly conduct in this regrettable circumstance.

Best regards

****** *******

Notice the date (April 21) and the promise to "confront with the system tomorrow."  So far, it appears the system is winning.

My scooter-for-the-week

Obsession advances. Today I rented a scooter from a shop in Raleigh. I have to say I'm lovin' it.

The ride home was fun. A little scary at first but after I got the hang of it, it was a blast.

I got passed once. But other than that I never felt like a hindrance.

This scooter is a SYM euro jet 50cc. Its restricted to 35 mph. I got it up to 42 downhill. Wheeee!

Vote Different

I always loved Apple's original 1984 ad. This is a nice new spin.

Mommy, what's a Mormon?

The Mormon doctrine seems exponentially creepy when animated!

Adventures in hotel theft -- second installment

It seemed appropriate to split this up. So, we last left our hero with a gracious response from the hotel requesting my bank account info, and this is my reply. For some reason, I found myself slipping into a very verbose "Nigerian spam" vernacular:

Mr. ******:

I truly appreciate you contacting me. I had honestly thought my email had been lost. I enjoyed my stay at your hotel, and in Milan, and this incident is the only negative part of the stay. But it has caused me a great deal of concern, so I appreciate your offer to compensate me for the theft.

I am glad to hear that your staff is not responsible, but I am equally concerned that someone who is not a staff member would have access to the rooms. I agree that it is very damaging to your hotel to have someone at large with the ability to enter rooms at will. I would be happy to report the whole incident to the Milan police if that would be helpful to you in catching this criminal. It would be of no use to me to view the video, but the police may be able to use it.

I'm sure you understand that I have not retained reciepts for these personal items. I have no reason to keep recipts for items that are no longer able to be returned to the store. But I am happy to provide links to the items from the stores they were purchased, for a cost demonstration.

The headphones were purchased here for $100:
[link]

And the USB card reader can be found here:
[link]


I do not feel comfortable emailing bank information, so I would prefer an alternate payment method. You may mail me a check or money order to:

Jeff Foxx
**************
**************
******, ** *****
USA

Thanks again for your attention to this matter.

Shortly after, I received this response:

Dear Mr. Foxx,
I truly appreciate your benevolent understanding of the circumstances.
I want to inform you about our reaction to this miserable event. We have taken prompt counter-measures as follows: all the ground floor safety doors have been locked so that now it is virtually impossible to sneak in the hotel unseen. It is only possible to exit through those doors in case of emergency.
Anybody who wants to enter ***** Hotel, from now on, must pass in front of Reception (monitored 24/7)
In addition we have hired security agents who shall guard the entrance area daily in the dangerous hours between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. plus full day on weekends (very costly!!)
As we know who the person is, and have spread pictures to the security Company and to all our staff, we believe that no more robberies can be performed in Hotel *****.
Last but not least we have ordered new doors equipped with state of the art anti-intrusion locks for all our rooms, in case all our filters fail and somebody does succeed in accessing the floors.
We have already spoken to the Police and handled pictures and videos of the crime scene.

Concerning your refund, I have spoken with our account dpt: they do not necessitate your original receipts, your self-declaration is sufficient because the amount involved is limited. The only restriction is that payment must be wired directly to your account. I kindly ask you to forward me your bank details:
a) via regular mail at the following address: **********, ********- Milan (Italy)
b) via fax at +39 02 ******** to my attention
c) via short message on my mobile +39 *** *******

As soon as I get the required information the net amount of US$ 140,00 will be credited to your account.
Thank you again for your cooperation.
Best regards
******** *********

OK.. yeah. I don't feel secure emailing my bank information, but I'm happy to fax it. At this point, I'm starting to think that it's not going to happen. So, I sent him a Paypal money request on Friday, April 18. So far, I haven't heard from him.

Adventures in hotel theft

While I was away in Italy, I had one unfortunate thing happen. A pair of $100 vModa headphones and a $40 USB Flash card reader were stolen from my hotel room. I complained to the front desk, but they didn't seem terribly interested in solving the mystery. So, upon returning I wrote the hotel manager and the ensuing exchange sounds like correspondence with a Nigerian prince. Names have been removed to protect the innocent (or guilty as it may be).

First, my email:

Dear Management:

I recently spent a week in your hotel as part of the ****** group. While there I had 2 items taken from my room by someone on your staff who had access.

The first item was a pair of headphones ($100USD). I first discovered they were missing on Sunday, March 30. I found the rubber tip by the door after I came in late that night having been out all day. I thought it strange, since I hadn' t had them near the door. But when I went to put them back on the headphones, I discovered they were gone. I had left them on the night stand table beside the bed.

The second item that went missing was a USB computer device for viewing camera photos on a computer. This device costs about $40USD.

I would like to be compensated by your hotel for these items. I know that they were not lost by me, but taken from my room. Someone on your staff who has access to the rooms took them, whether with intent or not. I feel it is your responsibility to provide a room safe from theives. Please let me know how I can be compensated for this loss.

Thank you for your help on this matter. I am sure that ******'s Italy office in Milan will be happy to hear that the hotel management worked to resolve this issue in case it chooses to use the hotel again in the future.

Thanks,

Jeff Foxx

This was sent on 4/7. Over a week went by before I heard a reply. Honestly, I had assumed the email was going to be ignored.

From: *******
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 10:27 AM
To: Jeff Foxx
Subject: Hotel theft

Dear Mr. Foxx,

First of all I wish to apologize for the delay in this letter of mine. I was away on business when the theft occurred, then the Furniture Show started, keeping all of us exceedingly busy until late hours.
I have read your mail of April 7th and I would like to express my deepest regret for such a frustrating event. We are literally shocked by such a terrible occurrence.

At the same time I believe that one crucial piece of information must be provided you:
- the thief is not part of our staff. Our video cameras in the Hotel allowed us to recognize the criminal, who in fact had worked here for a short trial period in the past (this is the reason why he knows the premises so well), after which he was released. The videos are available for your vision, in case you desire to watch the criminal action and recognize the robber (of whom we retain I.D. for comparison)
The damage this crook has caused us is immense, because ****** is one of our Prime Clients.

All our staff, the General Manager Mr. **** ***** and myself would like to express again our most sincere distress for this regrettable occasion, and at the same time we would like to fully refund you for the loss of your headphones and USB device. It will be our private contribution, without intervention of the insurance company, in order to reduce the time gap for your total refund to the shortest possible. All that we need are your bank-account data and a copy of your purchase receipts, required to write off the cost of our contribution from our books.

I wish to thank you for your serene evaluation of this dreadful accident and I take this opportunity to remain

Very Truly yours

*********** ********
Sole Director
Hotel *******

Getting the horse before the cart.

The obsession continues, and I came really close this week to renting a scooter. The weather is gorgeous and it would have been a perfect time to do it, but I decided to hold off until I have my own helmet.

So I did order a helmet. Nothing fancy... fairly cheap actually. When it comes to knowing how much to spend on a helmet, the adage is apparently, "well how much is your head worth?" Apparently mine is worth $39.95.

Helmets can get crazy. I saw some as high as $700. I settled on the stylish Zox Alto because it has some pretty slick front vents. Even if the scooter obsession fades and I end up not getting one, I think I'm going to wear this baby around just for general protection. Plus it'll make me look like Ponch.

Design Coding: The SEO Rapper

I have to post this, because this guy is a) Awesome and fun to watch, and b) hitting on all of the points that I try to convince people of daily in my work. As a web designer and a bit of a coding purist, I have often tried to articulate the importance of clean, valid code in the greater business practice. Jeffrey Zeldman does a pretty good job, but I think my new favorite is the SEO Rapper.

In case of fire...

I see this sign everyday but it didn't really register with me before.

This poor guy is taking a leisurely stroll down the stairs and doesn't even realize that he is about to walk right into a big ball of fire!!

He may already be feeling it under his feet as the metal stairs heat up with that ball of fire under them. But his pace is about to get a serious jolt when he rounds the corner and sees what awaits him.

Poor fella.

Zoo trip

This gorilla shattered our naive view of the decency of gorillas.

We shirked off all responsibility yesterday and headed to the Zoo. 

After the field trip crowd cleared and the weather warmed up, it turned out to be a perfect zooday and we had a really good time.  

From the gorilla who committed an unspeakable act (in her defense, probably as an act of protest to being gawked at), to the Yoga Turtle, we saw some of the animal kingdom's greatest hits. 

Check out our zoo photos.

Dollar Falls to Record vs. Euro as EU Inflation Quickens

So, since my return from Italy, I've been holding onto my leftover Euros hoping for news like this. It's kind of sick, but I've been secretly cheering down the US economy. But it looks like EU is helping out by heading up the other direction. Now I'm trying to decide whether to continue to hold or cash in now. It isn't a huge amount of money, but just in the last week I've seen my cash-out increase by $10.

read more | digg story

Scooters

Being in Italy somewhat inspired me. Probably not the way it does most visitors. Being in Italy inspired me to get a scooter. I mean, they're everywhere there. Of course, you don't see the giant trucks and SUVs there that are everywhere here and look like giant boots waiting to squash unsuspecting scooter drivers.

My wife will attest that I've become somewhat obsessed with the idea as of late. I work less than 5 miles from my home and yet I still crank up the ol' Saab daily to make the ~8 minute drive. The temp needle barely gets to warm before I'm there. That can't be good.

So, with weather warming outside, I thought what better time to start obsessing about a scooter. We'll see what happens.

EDIT: I have to admit that I was a little freaked out by the fact that when I went to apply a label to this post, one of the example labels from Blogger was "scooters". Totally coincidental. I think.

What, exactly IS coming, Mike Huckabee?

Mike Huckabee's website was recently converted to a countdown clock pointing to tomorrow. Is it just a reminder to file your taxes? Or does the Huckster have something up his sleeve? Is this another lesson in "Hucka-math"? Only Mike himself (and maybe Chuck Norris) knows. But I guess tomorrow we shall find out.

www.mikehuckabee.com

Man Buys Dinner for his Mugger

When Julio Diaz stepped off the New York City subway platform after work one night, he was simply planning to walk over to his favorite local diner for a meal. But when a teenage boy approached him with a knife blade gleaming in his fist, Diaz, a 31-year-old social worker, knew the evening was about to take a more dramatic turn.

read more | digg story

Uscita (exit)

11:03 Friday morning with a 45 min delay. Sitting in Malpensa airport.
Its not too bad with a brilliant view of the Alps.. But at thus point
I'm really ready to be home. I miss my girls, I miss by wife, I miss
my bed and toilets you dont have to study for a few minutes to figure
out how to flush ( every one is slightly different here.)

Hopefully we'll make up some time on the flight since this could
potentially make me miss my flight in Atlanta.
Arivedierci italia. I'm heading home.

Ciao Varenna

One last look at the mountains that hang over Lake Como.

Lunch in Varenna

Spaghetti pomodoro basilico

Lunch with a view

Enjoying lunch in Varenna with a view of Lake Como.

Slickest scooter ever

Scooter travel is very popular in Milan. There are different types, I
saw one that had two wheels up front and one in the rear like a
reverse tricycle. But this BMW scooter takes the Baddest Scooter prize!

I Puffi

So apparently the Smurfs are still popular over here. Except they are
called I Puffi.

Metro Concerto

There are plenty of opportunities to drop some spare change on the
metro (which in euros, change is as much as 2€ or about $3 per coin).

Whether its a beggar shouting out their current life situation... How
they are sleeping behind the train station and trying to get a doctor
to see their young child (complete with well-worn photo of said
child). Or in the case if this morning an unlikely quartet of 2
violins and 2 accordians broke out into Minuet in D. Sound recording
to follow.