Gradin.com » business

Gainesville Revokes Local Business License

Olaf — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:48:14 +0000

I had written about Silver Stars shortly after they had opened, and today I report on another momentous event for Gainesville and its small business community. Silver Stars has been shut down indefinitely for failure to obtain a proper business permit. Funny thing is, they were given a permit to do business originally. After these several months, the City Council’s office has finally over-ruled the original permit granted.

I had originally applauded the city’s apparent progressive attitude towards new business ventures in the likes of adult novelties, though now I see this was a mistake. Silver Stars seemed to be doing well in their inauguration into the Gainesville business community. I know they had many customers, friends, and partners throughout the city. Their website reports that they are still able (and encouraging people) to process online orders. There is some glimmer of hope, I suppose, that they may be able to work out a business license through some loophole. Should that happen, they’ll be back in business until the Council finds some other way to shut them down.

Incidentally, I’m looking through the City Ordinances trying to find the specific violation, but have been unable to do so. If anyone can point me to the specific code, I’d appreciate it.

Silver Stars: A Sensual Boutique

Olaf — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:49:04 +0000

It was about a year ago that I wrote about Gainesville’s decision to close its doors to the occult. If you’re on the business end of the occult, maybe now is a good opportunity to try out your entrepreneurial venture again! Gainesville is now the happy home of one Silver Stars: A Sensual Boutique. This year’s Chamber of Commerce approval board must be a younger, more accepting group, though I haven’t heard of any reversals yet on fortune tellers.

Silver Stars is described as a classier place, targeting primarily women and couples:

Forget venturing into the sleazy adult video store in the seedy part of town. We strive to provide women and couples with a safe, clean, upscale and positive environment that presents all of our products in a fun and intuitive way.

Not for nothing, the store is located just over the city line to avoid some harsher political scrutiny, as well as maintaining a minimum amount of pornographic material. I believe it’s the magazines that can get you shut down in Gainesville, but their videos are described as “educational” just in case. However, if I read quickly through the list of items bulleted on their site, I get the false impression that I might be able to do a lot of my Christmas shopping there too:

Bath Products
Handmade Soaps and Lotions
Educational Books & DVD’s
Party Supplies
T-Shirts
And Lots More…

*There’s a lot to be said for “and lots more…”

*@%! Road Trash

Olaf — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:25:02 +0000

I’m driving to work this morning, minding my own business, when I notice a monstrous bag skulking across the road. It’s one of those clear cellophane bags; the kind you get at the grocery store to hold your vegetables, only this one can probably hold the whole “Fresh Foods” section. Likely a furniture bag, and it looks like it’s up to no good. The bag creature deftly slips through the air, avoiding a near miss with a large truck. Oh, no, the garbage truck is not the target prey of this ruthless, inorganic spirit. I slow so as to go unnoticed by the bag creature, but too late! Just as it nearly passes over my lane entirely, it suddenly curls back in a vicious closing move to engulf my unsuspecting Mazda 3. The hatchback is no match for such a skillful killer.

What a way to start the morning! I was able to pull the bag off, which seemed mostly intact, and throw it away properly at a gas station. However, I’ve been huffing molten plastic bag fumes for about half an hour now. It smells like burning, and I can’t breath so well.

Internet, Spread your Wings and Fly

Olaf — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 17:48:44 +0000

I recently commented on Lorelle’s post about Help pages on blogs. My answer got me thinking about an excellent Internet analogy.

I maintained a “Help” page on my personal blog for a long while. It was a practice in earnest to fight the good fight. I tested browser compatibility and noted errors with specific browsers. It helped me…never my audience. I think I gave up after reading “Don’t Make Me Think.” Ultimately, that is really the mindset and the answer. If I have to provide a help page, perhaps I’m doing something wrong. Perhaps I’m not making that personal connection with people because I’m ostracizing them through some personal elitism. I remember when DHTML was really cool and working with the DOM in unique, arcane methods was more a resemblance to the occult than anything Web 2.0 represents today. We’ve all grown up on this stuff. Internet adolescence is over and it’s time to get a real job; move out of your parent’s basement (no offense to you 30-somethings living in your parent’s basement). So I don’t have a “Help” page anymore. I try to offer help in more constructive ways – ways that a “Help” page can only make excuses for. Besides – who actually takes the time to read a manual, let alone my blog manual?

In many ways, the Internet is like a beloved child which the world is rearing. Sometimes carefully, sometimes irresponsibly. This child of ours is also, at times, a bit unruly. I could dig that further into boredom, but I think you can continue the similes on your own. At any rate, it’s an apt comparison when speaking of the web development practices used on the Internet over time. I used to be one of those elitist programmers that sought out the most obscure uses of the DOM or unknown HTML tags. Hell, I used to only use VBScript, and throw out angry comparisons of my pure VBScript solution to a JavaScript one. I’ve also visited sites where you are completely stumped as to how to use it. You have to mouse over a bunch of slick graphics in order to find out where they go. So you can understand my conclusion that the Internet’s adolescence has come and gone. We all had fun, now it’s time to get serious about [Internet] life and create things that matter. Things that provide value. Things that don’t make other people feel stupid.

Equifax Customer Service is Just Lip Service

Olaf — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:41:31 +0000

In an attempt to make some mid-year resolutions, I am trying to be more diligent about managing finances and monitoring things like my credit report. I wasn’t the victim of an identity theft crime, but then again, how would I know? I just decided that I should take an active interest in things like…er…interest. Finances in general have never been a strong-point for me. I make money, spend money; my financial management program is akin to most people’s attention to filling up their gas tank. When the car turns on its light saying, “here’s the thing, I’m nearly out of gas and we’re in the middle of nowhere. This isn’t just your problem now, it’s mine as well,” I start thinking about when and where I’m going to get more gas. I believe they call this “living paycheck to paycheck.” I don’t know what percentage of the population out there does this, but I would make a guess – based upon the percentage of individuals using credit – that the number is pretty high. I’m not doing so well on the general financial management aspect of things. The notion of a budget is quite advanced for me. It seems to take a considerable amount of time to construct, monitor, and adjust it consistently. On the credit report detail, against my earnest efforts to do this right, I’m being thwarted.

I have just about written off Equifax completely. If it weren’t for their industry reputation and reliance, I would drop them altogether. As it is, I feel like I have to live with the service problems because Equifax is the behemoth and I’m the peon.

Screw that! They pissed me off today for the last time – hence this negative post. I even made up a new word for my discontentment. Flog (fart log). It’s a blog (web log) a la Monty Python. Equifax, I flog in your general direction!

I ordered the Equifax Score Watch (TM) monthly subscription to give myself a way to watch my score as it changes month-to-month and access free and discounted credit reports when it’s appropriate. The ordering process seemed professional enough until the end. It was unable to process my credit card to pay for the service. I thought it a fluke at first and even gave it another card to try. I became concerned that perhaps I was being taken for a ride – giving up credit information to evil hackers at the very place I thought I was safe. I did some digging and couldn’t find any signs of tampering. It seemed that Equifax was just unable to process credit cards. Having returned to place the order in the next day or so, I was met with success – confidence restored – and the order was handled promptly and correctly. The goods were delivered instantly and I was able to enjoy my Score Watch product immediately. After just a short while of playing around with the account features, I started getting pages that indicated that Equifax was having some application problems at the business logic layer. The interface worked perfectly, but most of the account-related functions were no longer working. Frustration. I go away and come back the next day to meet the same type of problems. I discover that I can work around the problem by navigating back into the details from the order summary link. It’s a minor issue to me, but a frustration nonetheless. I assume it’s just related to some heavy-use patterns that Equifax is experiencing.

Then I find a real case for contacting support. The credit report (provided by Score Power within Score Watch) gives you very granular details about your credit history. There’s a summary that effectively tells you what positive and negative factors there are that creditors may use. I try to look into a negative factor and I can’t find it in the details. Maybe it’s there and I’m unable to figure it out, or maybe there’s a problem in the correlation between Score Power and my credit report. That’s what I want to find out. I contact support via email (my preferred avenue to begin things) to ask about the problem. It takes through a form in which it asks some personal information such as your social security number for account verification and such. It seems logical, though I would prefer if it just linked my account number to the contact form. I get an email the next day stating that they can’t find my account and that they need additional information from me. That infuriates me. I’m supposed to be dealing with a professional company. Why am I using a half-assed application unable to facilitate the management of its customers? I give them what they need anyway. How else will my problem ever be solved? Now, five days later they reply with what surely is an automated form response to my inquiry:

Dear Mr. Gradin, …

Our records indicate that you ordered the Equifax Score Watch (TM) monthly subscription. This
subscription includes two free Score Power (TM) reports, one at enrollment and one to be used at
any time during your subscription, and discounts on additional Score Power(R) reports.

Please note, as the Credit Report is a snapshot of your file as of the date you purchased, it will
not be updated during the time is viewable. In order to view your updated credit report, please follow the instructions
listed below

Please visit our website, www.Equifax.com

Click on Customer login.

Enter the User ID and Password and then click “LOGIN”.

Under the heading “Equifax Member Center”, click on “Equifax ScoreWatch (TM)”, your FICO (R) Score is already visible.

Click on ” Score Power (R)” on the menu at the left side of the page

From this point you are able to view your Credit Report or to pull a new Score Power (R) at the
discounted price…

If you need further assistance, please contact us…

Seriously?!? Do you think I would have contacted support to ask about a problem within the application if I couldn’t figure out how to access it? Do you think I would have contacted support to ask how I might purchase additional products? Plan B is to call Equifax support to work through the problem. I’m sure I can get to the bottom of this…eventually, but if you’re a company offering email support, staff it with support personnel.

I replied to the email with an inappropriate remark on the service representative’s ineptitude. I’m reminded of Despair’s apt words of wisdom on motiviation.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Olaf — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 04:26:57 +0000

We’re doing the Harry Potter book release event for book 7 at “Bound to Read” in East Atlanta Village. It’s an exciting venue – it’s the last one as far as we know. We should have hit this market sooner – it’s a blast! The first one for us was in Gainesville at Chapter 13 Books. I think they actually filed chapter 13. “Bound to Read” is a cool little place right on the main drag in EAV. We’re getting quite the crowd of locals here, mostly in costume. The wife has put together a nice display including such props as the Sorting Hat, arcane books, and a large cow’s skull. There’s an interesting story around that last item, but it’s for another time.

Of all the dorks we’ve been associated or formed numbers with, Wizard dorks are some of the more tame. They’re about having fun, dressing up in wizardry garb, and reading books. Nothing too serious. I think a lot of them aren’t even really Harry Potter fans, they’re just interested in going to book parties and having a good time.

The only real problem with the deal was that they sold out of books from pre-orders and we didn’t get a chance to get a copy. That, and it’s like a million miles from Gainesville to East Atlanta Village. But this is good business for Celestial Studios.

*UPDATE Whoa! Just as I wrote that last piece, they wound up with three copies to spare. Sweet!

intacard Looks Like Bad Business

Olaf — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:55:52 +0000

If you’re looking around for an AllofMp3.com replacement, you’ve probably happened across MP3fiesta.com. At first glance, it looks like a good thing. Reading into some of the reviews will give you more hope that MP3fiesta is what we were looking for after the fall of AoM. However, upon a true introduction to the services I found that this service is yet another example of a great front end to the vast collection of MP3′s we will never hear. The payment handler currently is a company called “intacard.” I found very little on the Internet about this company. I mean very little. There were no advertisements to speak of, and no reviews out there. The most suspicious part of the affair is the lack of working links on intacard’s site. The Terms of Service and Legal links are both bad. I believe that the pages are actually written to fail rather than actually disclose anything about the alleged company. All of this falls into line when you look at what happens when you attempt to add money to an MP3fiesta.com account – you are redirected through a POST form to intacard.com to be met with a generic error. I took a look at the POST data from the form and found that the email address I used to create the account was sent to intacard. I call SHENANIGANS!

Charter Communications: “Value of Services”

Olaf — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:36:10 +0000

“Effective with your March billing statement, price adjustments will be made to…reflect the overall value of our services”

Part of the value of services they’re talking about is snowy reception on select digital channels (how is this even possible) and the very real possibility that the digital provisions offered like OnDemand and PPV will probably fail altogether. But where Charter lacks in quality, they more than make up in quantity. Because networks are providing greater lineups of their programs for the coming seasons, it makes sense that the cable companies should be charging more for access to these shows (end sarcasm).

“Also, the price for the Movie View, which includes Showtime, The Movie Channel and Encore channels, will increase five dollars ($5), to $10 per month.”

Just so you know I’m not griping about chump change – the difference is 100%. I don’t actually subscribe to the Movie View, but if I did I’d be pissed that the price doubled while the value remained the same (related to the cable company’s provision therein).

Let me paint a grizzly picture of the future where consumers are happy and cable companies are out of business. The networks are lean (and mean) and the talent is looking for another day job accordingly. Enter the age of reason, a utilitarian Internet, and democratic majority. In the future, consumers will subscribe to the shows they want to see and ignore the rest. 60% of all programs available via traditional television will suddenly disappear. Networks will be forced to push their content in new imaginative ways – ways in which the Internet can facilitate. YouTube and other sites like it may become the new cable conglomerate, pushing vodcast feeds in a multitude of formats and resolutions for the hungry, gadget-happy consumer base to feed on. Prepare to experience the power of a majority effecting our entertainment culture. It’ll cost for those interested in unpopular shows and genres, but there will be a way for everyone to tailor the perfect channel lineup for their interests and pay accordingly.

Scandalous Brassieres Mock Downtown Gainesville

Olaf — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:34:26 +0000

Bella Lingerie has posted their new display cabinet facing Main Street at Main Street Market on downtown Gainesville, Georgia. The display includes three comfortable-looking bras hung without any sort of model or filling to present them. An upstanding member of the Gainesville community has filed some formality of a complaint with Main Street Market owner, Debra, as well as Bella Lingerie proprietor, Krista. There is concern that the brassiere display will disuade patrons from entering the establishment for fear of corruption or perhaps sexual disambiguation for our youth. Mary; Upper Deck owner at Main Street Market, says, “Are you kidding me? I’m going to get so much more business with that display out there…it’ll double my business!” The Upper Deck serves Gainesville’s teenage crowd in all things skating. Bella Lingerie is sensitive to the concerns regarding Gainesville’s ignorance and will seek to ensure better measures to protect virginal minds to the disgusting sites of women’s underwear. By “protect virginal minds” I mean better educate them with a vigorous and flaunting display of sexual acts and genitalia. But the offensive brassieres will be removed so as to save our children. No, not really. In a move of feminine wickèdness, Krista will make no move to please the anti-boob community.

Oh, and some of you might remember my wife – yet another member of the vulgar vixens. She boldly displayed the word “VAGINA” for the world to see outside of her studio. Wickèd I tell you, wickèd.

**UPDATE** Krista received a personal visit by the same (I assume it’s the same, anyway) lady that first complained about her establishment. The woman was fuming and ready to start a personal battle with Bella Lingerie. Unfortunately, she hadn’t counted on Krista to be as strong-willed as she is. Krista listened very well to her complaint…and then unleashed a fury of professional debate like no other. She cited examples of “support for breast cancer victims” and the general need of lingerie in general. Krista is very well prepared for such an attack and she gave her side exceptionally well. So well,in fact, that the woman left in a bit of a huff with nothing more to add or complain about. We hope that she something more to think about rather than the relative “goodness” of women’s lingerie in public sight.

VMWorld 2006

Olaf — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 04:45:44 +0000

I attended VMWorld 2006 for the first time. The show was held in Los Angeles, California. This worked out well because I have family in Pasadena that I could go and see while I was in the neighborhood. It’s been a while since I was in L.A. In fact, the last time I saw it it was smoldering from the L.A. (aka Rodney King) Riots. It looks much better now. I stayed in Little Tokyo in the Miyako Hotel with four co-workers. We each had separate rooms, so don’t even go there. Little Tokyo was a fascinating little area of downtown L.A. We were located right next to the Tokyo Village and a small Buddhist temple. We visited both in our free time. Isi and I also hit the $200 million Catholic cathedral, of our Lady of the Angels. And I found our way into the Mexican district in Old Los Angeles. It was a direct transportation into northern Mexico. All of if was very cool, though L.A. and area still seemed strangely out of touch to us foreigners. I didn’t get the feeling that caters well to those who wish not to be tourists and instead do as the Californians do. I used to live in San Diego and have spent some time in southern California, but I was lost at this new age in my life. Even though I don’t frequent bars or even drink, I still wish to find something to do in the night to entertain me. Especially if I’m on a business trip with no home to go to. Isi introduced me to karaoke, which the Japanese do well as you might understand. Our hotel had a quaint little karaoke bar in it which was mostly attended by Japanese. In these circumstances, my inhibitions were lowered and I was able to perform in front of people that were culturally separate and thousands of miles from my home. We hit a myriad of other sites including Rodeo Drive for some late night walking. It was interesting, but again with the late night activities…we just couldn’t really find anything to do.

The conference itself, on the other hand, was full of things to do. We were innundated with information in some of the classes. There were a host of presentations given by vendors of one sort of the other. These were hit or miss. Some were technology bashing agendas and others were truly valuable “notes from the field.” My role at the conference was to collect as much information as possible about performance metrics and tuning. There was plenty to talk about in regards to performance. I took reams of notes on the classes I could get into and will be able to download session material from those I couldn’t. If you’re interested in virtualization – especially as it pertains to VMware and their products, then you’ll want to hit VMWorld 2007 in San Francisco.