Mini Dad Rant

Yeah. So stuff like this isn't cool.

CoolDaughters

So something has kind of been bothering me a little bit lately. It's been going on for a while, but the advent of football season in general and the whole Ray Rice thing specifically have kind of brought it to the top of my mind.

This should be obvious; but, quite simply, it is not cool to insult somebody by comparing them to a girl or a woman.

I've seen the Internet memes about Tony Romo being "the first girl to play quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys" or the photoshopped picture of Eli Manning, his pants ripped to reveal that he's actually female below the waist. They aggravate me.

I, of course, am the father of two girls. They're still young, and they love to play with their dolls and play dress-up and everything else. But they are two hard working, competitive, and -- yeah -- tough little people. They're harder working, more competitive, tougher than I ever was or could hope to be. They get that from their mom.

If you're appalled by the way some NFL players -- or any men in our society -- are treating their wives, girlfriends, or kids, then you can start to do something about it by not perpetuating the idea that women are the lesser or weaker of the two sexes. It makes it much easier to treat someone like crap if the idea is out there that they are somehow "less" -- less strong, less valuable, less human -- than others. Take a look at history if you don't believe me.

CoolMom and I work hard to make sure that the cooldaughters understand that they can try to do or to be anything they want to in this world. I can't imagine that it's good for their self-esteem or self-confidence when they see stuff indicating that just being a girl is a handicap.

So stop.

Thanks.

File Under: Easy Listening

More on This Stuff

According to Facebook, this status update is "performing better than 95% of other posts" on the CoolDad Music Facebook page:

Now, the bar isn't insanely high; but it would appear that there are some other people out there thinking about the same stuff I've been thinking about for a while.

For me, some of that sentiment is due, in part, to a simple change in my personal taste. I used to be perfectly happy to sit back, relax and listen to some non-threatening Vampire Weekend, Real Estate, or Beach House. Those are some excellent bands with some excellent (and much-loved by me) songs and albums to their credit. Something in me has changed recently, though. I've just found that, lately, I need something with a little less polish, a little less college campus, a little less "we used to ride our bikes around the Jersey 'burbs."

There's something else, though. Indie rock is changing.

It's a bit of a relief to find out that it isn't all just marketing and hype that's rubbing me the wrong way. After all, I've really been enjoying Perfect Pussy lately even with all of the Brooklyn Vegan / Pitchfork love being showered upon them. I'll stand by that no matter how many basses the band decide to throw off of bridges. That means I'm not a totally contrarian idiot, right? I still like what I like. It's just that -- and this is what I think some of the people who saw that status were feeling -- I can't listen to "indie" radio or (usually) read reviews in big time "indie" music publications to find it anymore. All those big outlets are pushing this mashed up, unified theory of pop in which Haim are considered indie rock.

And I think "big indie" is playing right along, making music that could show up on the Indie station just as easily as the Alt Rock station, the Top 40 station, the Adult Contemporary station, or a car commercial on national TV. More power to 'em, I guess. But it results in kind of this lowest common denominator quality that I'm finding less and less appealing.

I happen to be on a bit of a noise kick lately. That's just me. That's where I happen to be finding that thing, that edge that speaks to me. Noise, anger, and aggression aren't everybody's thing, though. That's fine, and I don't think that "indie rock" even has to be "rock" necessarily. It should, though, take some risks and challenge people in some way. Otherwise it's just the background music you hear in the supermarket.

Lessons in Tech Shopping

I Do These Things So You Don't Have To

Update (7/5/12):  Did a few tweets back and forth with @samsungsupport today.  You can see at least my half of the conversation in the Twitter widget on the right.  I have to say, having someone log onto a database and read the same information back to you that you can read yourself on the web isn't really satisfying.  Phone support does the same thing.  So where things stand now is that Samsung is still waiting for a part.  There is no estimated date for the repair.  Replacement phones "are not covered by the warranty."  And I still have no phone.  I have no phone other than the rock-solid, backed by a real company that cares about its customers and image iPhone 4 that is.

Update (7/1/12):  After I shipped my phone, on June 25th via UPS Ground, to Texas, Samsung finally acknowledged receipt four days later.  Received a note yesterday that my repair is on hold for parts, with an estimated repair date of July 6th.  The phone will be repaired and shipped promptly as soon as the parts come in.  Apparently, just shipping me a working phone isn't an option.  If I didn't have this iPhone 4 lying around here, this would mean I'd have no phone until all of this was done.  Nice job, Samsung!

What good is it, having a blog, if you can't use it for some personal ranting once in a while?  The "Sunday Run Album Review" for this week will have to wait while I get this off my chest.

On May 19th, I received my Galaxy Nexus Android phone from Google.  This was awesome.  I paid not much more than an on-contract iPhone for a phone that would accept the SIM from my two-year-old iPhone 4.  I could let my contract lapse and live the good life of the non-contract mobile phone customer.  The newest Android version measured up nicely to iOS, and I would get to keep my grandfathered, unlimited data plan.

Sure, there were some things I knew I'd miss:  free iMessaging to all of my iPhone-owning friends, a few iPhone-only (or just iPhone-better) apps.  Surely, though, that would be worth it to free myself from contracts, the boredom of the seemingly never-changing iOS interface, and the horrendous piece of junk that is iTunes.

Turns out there were some things I didn't know I'd miss as well:  customer service and quality control.  I've experienced excellent customer service before, so I know it when I see it:

Amazon:  I once ordered a gift for someone on Amazon, and paid extra to have it delivered overnight. They were leaving the next afternoon, you see, and we wanted to hand it to them personally.  UPS then began sending me messages telling me that my object wouldn't be delivered for several days.  I complained to Amazon (though, I'm not sure it was really their fault), and they gave me a $30 credit toward future purchases.  Then the thing showed up on time anyway.  When I tried to give the $30 back (??), they said, "Keep it.  Thanks for being a loyal customer."

Band That I Will Not Identify Publicly (to keep them from getting in trouble):  I was thinking of buying the vinyl release of a particular album, but the packaging didn't indicate whether or not a download code was included.  I contacted the band directly, and they responded that, "No, for various reasons, we couldn't include a download with the album.  Here are the files, though.  Thanks for supporting the band."  I hadn't even bought the record yet!  I went right back to their website, though, and ordered directly from them.  The transaction ended with an email that said something like, "Thank you!  You've done something wonderful for us, our families, and the city in which we live!"

Apple:  This one is most relevant to our discussion.  About a month after I got my iPhone 4, it stopped connecting to the mobile network and said something like "SIM Error."  I called Apple.  The tech on the phone said, "Hmmm.  Your 30 days of free support have lapsed.  Well, let's see what we can do anyway."  Turns out, all he could do was make an appointment for me at the Apple Store.  That's a bit of a drive for me; but when I walked in, the "Genius" on duty swapped my phone for a new one fresh out of the box, no questions asked.  I didn't have AppleCare.  Now I realize that I brought the phone in for a hardware failure, but in a testament to Apple's quality control, that phone was rock-solid for the next two years.  In a further testament to Apple's quality control, the phone I upgraded from was a refurbished iPhone 3g that I passed on to a family member and is still in use to this day.

Now to discuss Google / Samsung.  As I said, I purchased my Samsung Galaxy Nexus directly from the Google Play store a little more than a month ago.  It shipped promptly, and I had it in my hands within two days.  Yesterday, it stopped charging when plugged into the wall and it stopped showing up as a device when connected to my computer.

Google's tech support is available 24/7 and they are very friendly.  All they could do, though, was tell me to pull the battery and, when that didn't work, tell me to perform a factory reset.  When the factory reset didn't work, they connected me to Samsung for warranty service.  Warranty service consists of shipping my phone, via UPS ground, to Texas so that Samsung can diagnose the problem.  If the problem is covered by warranty, they'll fix / replace the phone at no charge.  If not, they'll tell me what it will cost me.  Turnaround time for this is 5-10 days, "not including shipping time."

Who knows?  Maybe everything will turn out fine, and I'll get a working phone back from Samsung in less than two weeks.  Even if that does happen, though, Google has a lot to learn about dealing with customers and standing behind their products.  Their initial customer base may have consisted mostly of people like me -- technophile, early adopters who don't like asking for help.  But if they'd like to make the most of their Motorola acquisition and get into the handset business, then they're going to have to become a little more customer-friendly.  They could learn a lot from Amazon, Apple, and a not-so-small indie rock band.

I won't suffer too much without my Galaxy Nexus, though.  My iPhone 4 still works just fine.