Name of Thrones

Disclaimer – I have not watched a single episode of the show, nor have I ever read any of George R Martin’s books. We have HBO in our cable package, so I have glimpsed drips and drabs of the show, including one brief scene that showed some sort of woman warrior, in a weird armored outfit that left one breast exposed, so that a 10 or 12-year old male child could suckle, but it is just not my cup of tea.

But seeing as I am a sucker for a well crafted name (or stripe or book title & plot or advertising slogan or movie genre) generator, how could I resist trying the Game of Thrones Name Generator.

Brian Bogardus = Brlian Arryn

Slow Miata to Texas Day 3

Escape to a tropical paradise like no other–the Isle of Capri Casino – Vicksburg, MS! 1-800-THE ISLE
Bill,
Day 3 of 14 of the "Slow Miata to Texas" tour. Tupelo, MS to Vicksburg, MS. 215 miles. Our original destination was Jackson to see a minor league babseball game. Arrived just in time (2:30pm) to see the last out. Didn’t know it was an afternoon game. Vicksburg has 4 hotel/casinos. The hotel, shops and restaurants are on land, but the casinos are floating on the Mississippi! Tommorow we will see some antebellum homes and tour the battlefield.
Brian & Donna, Aiken, SC		 Bill Kirby
The Augusta Chronicle
P.O. Box 1928
Augusta, GA 30903

Slow Miata to Texas Day 2

NATCHEZ TRACE PARKWAY – SUNKEN TRACE
During the late 1700’s and early 1800’s thousands of trvalers walked the Natchez Trace, a primitive pathway through the Choctaw and Chicasaw Indian Nations. The trip of nearly 500 miles between Natchez and Nashville required as much as four weeks. In places the trailwas eroded deeply into the land giving rise to the term “Sunken Trace.”
Bill,
Day 2 of 14 of the “Slow Miata to Texas” tour. Fort Payne, AL to Tupelo, MS. 280 miles. Would have been shorter, but got to zig-zagging around looking for covered bridges. Found 2 of 4. Arrived too late to get into you know who’s birthplace (Elvis.) Tomorrow we travel the Natchez Trace to Jackson, MS.
Brian & Donna, Aiken, SC		 Bill Kirby
The Augusta Chronicle
P.O. Box 1928
Augusta, GA 30903

Miata World ’99

Twenty years ago today Donna and I got back from a 2 week vacation which consisted of a drive to Dallas, Texas. We were going to a national gathering of the Miata Club of America to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the car. We were going to take 4 days to drive over, spend 4 days in Big D and take our sweet time on the way home. The big draw at this event was they were giving away, to one lucky attendee, a brand new 1999 10th Anniversary Edition Miata (it wasn’t us.)

Bill Kirby, who was the Metro Editor for the Augusta Chronicle, wrote a column for that section 4 times a week. He’d collect postcards from readers when they went on summer vacation. Each year, his goal was to get one from every state and as many different countries as possible. This served three functions: 1) Local folks get their names in the paper with the added bonus of bragging about their travels, 2) Bill got to go on lots of vacations, and 3) Bill got an easy way to fill his column in the summer months. A couple years prior Donna & I had made the paper, because we took a trip to New England and that seems to be a neck of the woods little visited by folks from the CSRA. So I vowed to sent him a postcard every day of our trip.

I had intended to start on May 2nd and post one of those postcards each day until today, but forgot, so better late than never, here is the first, with the rest follow.

LITTLE RIVER CANYON FALLS
Desoto State Park, Fort Payne, Alabama
Bill,
A little early for vacations, but this is ours for the year. Day one of fourteen of the “Slow Miata to Texas” tour. At 300 miles, the Aiken, SC to Fort Payne, AL leg is the longest of the trip. Staying in a lodge in the State Park. Saw Desoto Falls today, this one and others tomorrow.
Brian & Donna, Aiken, SC		 Bill Kirby
The Augusta Chronicle
P.O. Box 1928
Augusta, GA  30903

My 30 Seconds of Internet Fame

My new favorite podcast for morning walks is from the guys at Everyday Driver. Not only is it en-car-taining, but they do 2 a week, so my Tuesday and Friday listening pleasure is taken care of. The format usually consists of 1 or 2, what they call, car debates. Someone writes in and and says I want to buy a car and lists their wants and don’t wants along with what their budget is. Paul and Todd then give suggestions as to what might fit the bill.

They also cover general car news stuff as well. Then the last segment is they answer questions from folks on social media. The day before they record they post on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook what they will be covering to give people a spot to ask questions. Yesterday they posted a photo of the new Toyota Supra they had driven last week at the press launch. They had created a YouTube video of their thoughts, which couldn’t be released until this past Sunday. I watched it yesterday and left a question on Instagram for them.

It made today’s podcast. Here is just my question and their answer.

If you want to hear the whole podcast, or any of their others, go here – Everyday Driver Car Debate

Amazon Help Chat Session

Our Amazon account was hacked and for the last couple of months I have called 4 times to customer service to try and straighten it out. The first time the front line rep took my info. Two days later I got an email from amazon saying things were fixed. They were not. The second time I called and elevated it to the next level. Same email, same results. The third time, with a better understanding of what my problem was, I got bumped up a level to a native English speaker. They seemed to understand and directed me to a third person. Two days later, same email, same results. The forth time, I asked for a refund of my prime membership fee, they don’t do that, but this time I got a different person who directed it to the Fraud Department. A week later I got the same email and still had a problem. Today, not wanting to listen to the crappy music while on hold, I tried a chat session.

Initial Question: I have attempted 4 times to try and clear up an unauthorized access to my account without success. Someone gained access on March 6, 2019 and changed the account email. They promptly created a trade-in order for 3 x-boxes, received an amazon gift card for their value, which they turned right around and spent on ps2 gift cards, leaving me with a bill for the non-existent x-boxes. Every time I get a customer “service” rep on the phone they fill out a form to the fraud department. Two days later I get an email saying my account has been fixed, when in fact it is not.

Mohammad (Amazon): Hello, my name is Mohammad. I’m here to help you today.
Brian: hello
Mohammad: Hello Brian
Brian: Did you read my initial chat text?
Mohammad: Yes Brian
Please allow me 2 minutes to check this for you and assist you with this.
Brian: OK

…3 minutes later…

Mohammad: Thanks for waiting
Brian: OK
Mohammad: I have checked this here and I see that the reps did inform to the accounts team about the unauthorized access in your account to our fraudulent department
and hence they have put all the orders on hold, Disabled the password to your account
as well
Brian: And I received an email overnight saying that everything is fixed…But it is NOT! the trade-in account still shows I owe 3 x-boxes.
Mohammad: Brian do you have the order ID of the trade-in ?
Brian: wait one.
Mohammad: Sure
Brian: TRN-4909xxx-6896xxx
Mohammad: Thanks
Mohammad: Thanks for waiting

…2 minutes later…

Mohammad: I have checked this here and please do not worry as we shall surely take care of this here as I see that the lead has already mentioned on this trade in order that the account was hacked with all the necessary details
Please do not worry as this shall surely be taken care of
Brian: Please don’t take this the wrong way, but you are the 5th person to tell me that in the last 2 months, so I remain skeptical.

…4 minutes later…

Mohammad: Yes I can understand your concern here however and I am sorry about the delay in the process however to speed up the process I request you to please go ahead and dispute the charges with the bank
Brian: The bank (credit card) has never charged me. They recognize it as an unusual purchase and flag it. I tell them I did not approved the charge. And I end up with a new charge card.

…3 minutes later…

Mohammad: Brian in this case I can see that the trade in order from the lead has been marked as unauthorized order as per the information you have provided to us
However I request you to wait for the investigation to be completed from the team here as this has already been forwarded to them and also again I am escalating this issue with them so that this is resolved at the earliest for you
I
Brian: I have been waiting for at least the last month. In the meantime I am unable to purchase items from Amazon with a charge card so I am unable to take full advantage of my Prime Membership.

…3 minutes later…

Mohammad: Yes I can completely understand your concern here
and I am very sorry about the delay in the process however I can see that the order is under investigation and also this has been marked on the order
I request to please wait for the investigation to be completed by the team here as I can clearly see that the trade in order has been marked for you with all the details
Brian: OK, I just hope that it will be completed sometime soon.
Mohammad: I’m forwarding your feedback to the concern department and the right people in my company as well so that they’ll come to know about the problem.
Now they’ll be able to check for the source of the problem and get this resolved at the earliest for you
Mohammad: Brian I’m confident that they’ll check in this issue and resolve for you as soon as possible as the order has been marked with all the details
Brian: Thanks for your time
Mohammad: I highly appreciate your patience, co-operation and understanding in this matter.
You’re welcome. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Brian: nope.
Mohammad: It was a pleasure to assist you with this. Thank you for contacting Amazon.com. We hope to see you again.

This took over thirty minutes, about the same as a phone call to them, but I got to listen to my music. Anyway, I’m not holding my breath this will ever get resolved.

Where’s That Confounded Blimp? Act II

Two weeks ago we missed out on the Goodyear Blimp that was covering the RBC Heritage Golf Tournament in Hilton Head Island because we didn’t know what airport it was based out of. This time we knew exactly which airport it would be at.

Wingfoot 3 was scheduled to provide TV coverage for the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, NC. The official Find the Blimp page didn’t list the golf course like it did for the Hilton Head Island event, it listed the town of Chester, SC. As it happens there is a Chester Catawba Regional Airport just north of town. Donna searched Facebook for “Chester Catawba Regional Airport blimp” and there were pictures of the blimp there in May of 2016 and May of 2018.

We got up this morning, loaded some snacks in a small cooler, had breakfast at Dunkin’ and headed north. We dodged rain showers for most of the 100+ mile drive, even putting the top up for a stretch and arrived at the airport at around 10:30 AM. I pulled up to the spot that was clearly where those Facebook photos were taken and…

…No #%$&ing Blimp!