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Confound You DST!!!

by Brian Groce on March 14, 2011

in Blue Shotgun,Brian's Blogs

Well, it happened again.  And I’m complaining about it again. Daylight Saving Time (DST) kicked in yesterday and is rearing it’s ugly still head today.

Here’s my take:

  • 1/3 of the year is “standard” time, 2/3 of the year is not. This makes no sense to me.
  • If you want to change it, fine, but do it once and be done with it. Let’s spring ahead forever.
  • Here in Indiana we’re already way off from “sun time” the way it is & now the sun will be up until 10pm in the summer. Which is great…if you don’t have kids that you’re trying to convince that it’s nighttime. How about we switch from the Eastern Time Zone to the Central Time Zone?

That’s the gist of my thoughts on DST & Time Zones.  What are yours?

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Google Gmail Account Lockdown Due To Unusual Activity

by Brian Groce on February 14, 2011

in Blue Shotgun,Brian's Blogs

What an unpleasant surprise from Google’s Gmail service.

I have been using Gmail for YEARS & even paid for the storage upgrade and have never had an isssue.  Tonight while checking my email it suddenly kicked me out for “Unusual Activity”.

Looking at the list, #4 is the only thing it can be because I do not do #1, #2 or #3 and #5 is irrelevant in this case.

My account is open at home (in Chrome & Firefox, same IP address), at my office (in Chrome & Firefox, same IP address) & on my Android phone.  This is how it always is and always has been, so I’m not sure what’s different about tonight.

The strange thing is that everything else works & iGoogle even shows the new messages (but won’t let me view them).

To make matters worse, Google makes it next to impossible to contact them about issues. So since they like new content so much I figured I’d oblige them and write a post about it.

All of this to say, Google is now on my Naughty List.

Has anyone else experienced this before? If so, what was the outcome?

In the meantime, I luckily have everything going to a normal POP3 account which I check with Mozilla Thunderbird.

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The Taco Bell “Taco Meat Filling” Lawsuit

by Brian Groce on January 27, 2011

in Blue Shotgun,Brian's Blogs

If you haven’t heard yet, the news is out that Taco Bell’s “Taco Meat Filling” isn’t 100% beef and there’s a class action lawsuit about it.  The lawsuit claims that this so-called “meat” is actually only 36% beef plus a bunch of other stuff.

So Taco Bell gets upset and decides to launch their own countersuit for false statements (no surprise there of course).

This part of  Taco Bell’s response worries me a bit though: “We start with 100 percent USDA-inspected beef. Then we simmer it in our proprietary blend of seasonings and spices to give our seasoned beef its signature Taco Bell taste and texture.”

What do you mean you “start with”?  What I want to know is what you end with. Even if it turns out to be 60% or even 70% beef, that’s still a whole lot of filler.

Regardless of the outcome of all of this I can say without a doubt, IN MY OPINION, that Taco Bell’s “ground beef” is not that great, and a good 50% of the time it as returned in the form of diarrhea  an hour or so later (I wish I was kidding).  Thus when I do go I normally get a chicken burrito (please, oh, please, I do hope there isn’t a “chicken” lawsuit in the works…if there is, don’t tell me about it).

But food content & quality aside, I think Taco Bell has two much bigger issues at hand: employee competence & customer service.

At the Taco Bell’s in my area they are consistently slow, out of items (especially in the dual & triple branded stores with Pizza Hut & KFC) & it’s truly a crap shot if they get your order correct, especially in the drive thru.

In regards to customer service, I have put up numerous tweets over the past few years and wrote some blog posts in the past. No response.

Sure, I could take the time to go to their website to file a complaint (which I have before), but it’s not worth it if I have to do it every other time. That means the issues are not being addressed and corrected. I don’t complain to get attention or a $5 gift card. I complain to try to get things fixed because I actually want to be a customer.

If I send out a tweet about McDonald’s I get a response back. If I put up a blog post about an issue I had at Cheeseburger in Paradise, I get an email from them and a call from the district manager.  These guys get it and I wish there were more out there like them.

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Go Elf Yourself!

by Brian Groce on November 17, 2010

in Blue Shotgun,Brian's Blogs

Office Max’s Elf Yourself is back this year for another go round.  Have at it and please share your creations.

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Elmo Gets Freaky with Katy Perry

by Brian Groce on September 23, 2010

in Blue Shotgun,Brian's Blogs

When I was a kid the hottest thing on Sesame Street was Maria (i.e. there wasn’t anything remotely “hot” on it). Nowadays there’s Elmo who hangs out with a barely dressed Katy Perry. I must be getting old.

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Design Feedback: Utter Oddness Logo #1

by Brian Groce on September 16, 2010

in Blue Shotgun,Brian's Blogs,Utter Oddcast,Utter Oddness

At Surge Bucket Media we’re currently gearing up for Utter Oddness‘/Utter Oddcast‘s October Oddness 2010 and are in the midst of doing some minor re-branding of everything, including the logo.  As anyone in design knows, it’s best to get opinions, and that’s where you come in.

Utter Oddness Logo: 100px & 200px wide

Utter Oddness Logo: 300px wide


We are looking for any and all feedback regarding this logo concept and here are our specific questions:

  • What did you first think of when you saw this logo?
    • How did it make you feel emotionally?
  • What are your thoughts on the readability of the text?
    • Is the text readable at the smallest size?
    • Is the text readable at the largest size?
    • Were you able to read it at first glance?
  • What are your thoughts on the colors?
  • What would you change about this logo?
  • Would you wear/display this logo on a t-shirt, button or another product?

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. We truly appreciate it. (And we may just send random commenter’s some goodies once the logo is finalized…hint, hint.)

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Hack Your iPhone!

by Brian Groce on July 28, 2010

in Blue Shotgun,Brian's Blogs

Via CNNMoney.com:

IPhone users can now legally hack their phones to download applications that aren’t in Apple’s App Store.

The U.S. Copyright Office, a division of the Library of Congress, has authorized several new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), one of which will allow mobile phone users to “jailbreak” — or hack into — their devices to use apps not authorized by the phone’s manufacturer. The new rules will be published on Tuesday in the Federal Register.

Jailbreaking iPhones in order to download apps that are unavailable in Apple’s App Store had been a legal gray area: Apple technically had the right to request a $2,500 government fine for damages every time a user violated the law that bans “circumvention of technological measures” controlling access to copyrighted works — in this case, the iPhone’s iOS software.

I’m glad that the government made the correct decision.  Sure, the warranty is void if you do so, and they’ll continue to try to prevent it (and spend a lot of money doing so in a losing effort), but that’s a public step in the right direction.  In my opinion, you should be allowed to do whatever you want to with any device that you purchase.

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110 Proof Beer Served In Dead Squirrels

by Brian Groce on July 26, 2010

in Brian's Blogs,Utter Oddness

Via AFP:

LONDON — The strongest and most expensive beer ever created sold out within hours Friday, a Scottish brewery said, as they courted controversy by packaging the bottles inside the bodies of stuffed animals.

BrewDog, the self-described maverick brewery, presented the beer — which contains a record 55 percent alcohol — inside the bodies of dead squirrels and stoats.

Animal rights activists rushed to condemn the stunt.

“It’s pointless and it’s very negative to use dead animals when we should be celebrating live animals,” Advocates for Animals policy director Libby Anderson told BBC Scotland.

“This seems to be a perverse idea.”

BrewDog said the limited edition Belgian ale — made with juniper berries and dubbed “The End of History” — was also the costliest beer ever sold.

The squirrel bottles cost 700 pounds (1,000 dollars, 840 euros) each and the seven stoat bottles went for 500 pounds a pop.

All sold out within four hours of going on sale, BrewDog managing director James Watt told AFP.

Watt said the controversial drink was the last in a line of experimental brews, explaining: “For the final installment in the strong beer series, we wanted to create something epic, something monumental.”

He said there were no plans to come up with a beer to beat this record, insisting: “We’re quite happy at 55 percent.”

As for the taste, Watt described “The End of History” as a “complex” beer with a multitude of flavours including honey, mint and cinnamon.

He recommended sipping the drink “much like you would a malt whiskey”, served up in a spirit glass rather than a pint glass.

I can’t say that sounds appealing at all, but if that’s up your alley I’d love to hear about it.

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Pet Monkey Goes Berserk

by Brian Groce on July 21, 2010

in Brian's Blogs,Utter Oddness

Via WISH TV:

HAMILTON COUNTY (WISH) – A pet monkey went berserk Wednesday morning injuring two people and prompting a family to barricade themselves in a Hamilton County home.

Hamilton County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to a home in the 2900 block of East 276th Street after Eujo, the Patas monkey, got out of his cage.

Deputies called in animal control officer Tom Rogers who was finally able to wrangle the monkey.

The two injured people are said to have minor injuries.

The Patas monkey is said to be one of the fastest primates; it can reach speeds of 34 mph.

A few days ago it was Jungle Cats in Indiana. Today it’s a pet monkey. Seriously people, what are you thinking with your exotic pets?  I know what I’m thinking…I’m thinking that’s kind of funny and want to see a video.  You have fun with your monkey.  I’ll stick with my Zhu Zhu Pets.

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Hardee’s and the Footlong Hamburger

by Brian Groce on July 19, 2010

in Brian's Blogs,Utter Oddness

God Bless Hardee’s…

USA Today – A cheeseburger sold as a foot-long sandwich, with three burgers and three cheese slices, is being tested at 50 Carl’s Jr. restaurants in Southern California and 50 Hardee’s units in Indiana. That’s the same chain that introduced the world to the 1,400-calorie Monster Burger and the Monster Breakfast Sandwich, with 47 grams of fat.

“We live in a society that’s fascinated with all things big,” says Scott Hume, editor of BurgerBusiness.com, an industry trade site. “It’s inherently American to push for something bigger and better than anyone else has.”

The foot-long burger idea was hatched two months ago from a product development chef at Carl’s, says Brad Haley, marketing chief. The chain is especially eager to create products that appeal to its core customers: young men ages 18 to 24. “Obviously, the foot-long sandwich has been very successful at Subway. But we decided to do it the Carl’s way.”

That means big — and controversial. The sandwich has 850 calories with 20 grams of saturated fat. It’s served on a white sub roll, sliced in half and wrapped in butcher paper.

If it’s a hit in testing, it could be sold at all Carl’s and Hardee’s — sister chains in different regions of the country — within three to six months, Haley says.

Responds Haley, “I’d rather have a charbroiled, foot-long cheeseburger than a cold, foot-long deli sandwich any day.”

Say what you will, but I love the fact that Hardee’s is up front about their food not being the most healthy option out there.  But boy, is it tasty.  I love that Indiana is a Hardee’s test market as there is always some sort of odd creation that they’re touting.  I may have to give the footlong burger a whirl…I only wish they had a Mushroom & Swiss option.

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