We have a beautiful son named Mario Derek (Jeter) Ferreira.
He’s now 15 months old and an avid toddler.
He is the most amazing thing that’s ever happened in my life and in more than one way, I feel like I won the lottery:
I’m lucky to have a beautiful, healthy and happy son. I’m also lucky that I didn’t have to spend a penny of the $50k-$75k that I had ear-marked for fertility treatments. :)
Cable Franchise Authority
County of Missoula
200 W. Broadway
Missoula, MT 59802
Aug. 14, 2008
RE: Deceptive business practices by Bresnan Cable in Missoula County
Dear Local Franchise Authority,
I would like to bring to your attention the deceptive business practices of Bresnan Cable.
Today, Aug. 14, 2008, I received my Bresnan cable bill to find that Bresnan had raised my rates by over 17% with no prior warning whatsoever.
Conveniently for Bresnan the new billing period would start on Aug. 15, allowing me virtually no opportunity to terminate my service before incurring their new, higher rates.
In order to avoid tacitly accepting the new rates, I immediately called Bresnan to cancel my service.
I was told by the Bresnan sales person that I could not terminate my service until I returned the Bresnan equipment. She simply REFUSED to accept my request to terminate my service. It should be noted here that this equipment was installed by Bresnan.
This is a CLASSIC deceptive business practice on three counts:
1. Raising rates without notifying the consumer
2. Not allowing the consumer to reject the new
rates (before they go into effect)
3. Creating obstacles to termination of service
I place this complaint in your hands as the authority that oversees cable TV in Missoula county. I trust this complaint will not go unrecorded and that Bresnan will not be allowed to continue such dirty business practices.
Sincerely,
David Ferreira
xxxxxxxxx, MT
Governor Brian Schweitzer
Office of the Governor
Montana State Capitol Bldg.
P.O. Box 200801
Helena MT 59620-0801
Aug. 10, 2008
RE: Thank you.
Dear Governor Schweitzer,
On July 23 I wrote to you with several questions about Montana’s election process and driver licensing issues.
Thank you for taking the time to respond in detail to each of my questions. Your response was exemplary.
I will follow up with the contacts you recommended.
Sincerely,
David Ferreira
xxxxxxxxxxxxx, MT (USA)
I am a single player collector. That means that my collection revolves around a one or more individual players (as opposed to teams or entire series).
I collect Topps Derek Jeter cards. That may sound narrow, but we are talking about a breadth of about 60-90 cards and my intention is to collect from 5-10 deep (duplicates).
I may also add A-Rod or some other player like Billy Martin or Joe Torre.
I think it may be a bit late to collect Yogi Berra, although kudos to those who have amassed cards of the greatest living Yankee player.
I welcome suggestions.
What’s with people who post pictures of beautiful / handsome celebrities as their MAIN profile picture?
Isn’t that a little fake? Isn’t that just a transparent ploy to get people to notice your profile?
I mean … it’s one thing to have “a” picture of someone you admire in your collection of pictures.
But really.
Oh yeah, I know, people tell you you look like her.
But c’mon. How about a reality check?
People tell me I look like that famous (handsome) actor all the time. But I don’t post his picture on you profile!
How about being real? It’s SO much more attractive.
Alaska Airlines
P.O. Box 68900
Seattle, WA 98168
June 14, 2008
RE: Our dog left unsecured on arrival in Newark, NJ.
Dear Sir or Madam,
On July 11, 2008, my wife and I travelled on Alaska Airlines from xxxx, MT to Newark, NJ. We paid $100 to have our dog placed in the hold and we were assured that our dog would be safe and secure until it was returned to us.
Having paid the $100 fee, I logically expected that our dog would be treated more securely than common checked luggage (since checked luggage has a much lower price).
On arrival in Newark, we found our dog, outside the baggage office and unattended. In addition to being unattended, she was left out in the open where any one of the hundreds of travelers, family and friends could have absconded with our dog.
MOREVER, when the baggage office attendant actually returned to her post, she made no effort whatsoever to check our baggage claim tickets or verify our identity. She simply watched us walk away with our dog, not knowing who we were.
Our dog was left for anyone to abduct by your airline in Newark, NJ.
Since your airline grossly neglected its responsibilities to secure our pet, I must insist on a complete refund of the $100 fee that we paid for said service between Missoula, MT and Newark, NJ. In addition to the refund, other substantial consideration is in order.
Thank you. This letter will be published until I receive a satisfactory response.
Sincerely,
David Ferreira
xxxxxxxxx, MT (USA)
Tomorrow I interview in a group that I had contact with while I was in the Peace Corps. I’ve been CHOMPING to work in this group but didn’t get anywhere with the HR person who had contacted me originally … rather, they didn’t work there by the time I got back and my resume got no traction.
But by shere luck, my best friend now works in that group. It’s my DREAM to work there.
It involves cryptography, programming and some REALLY cool stuff. I HAVE TO work there.
I’m on the airport right now on my way to Seattle.
I interview tomorrow.
For those who don’t know what an Enigma Machine is, it was a cipher machine used by the German forces during WWII to encrypt / decrypt messages.
It was very sophisticated for it’s time and its ciphers were nearly impossible to break. But it was finally broken by Polish mathematicians and confirmed with captured machines (see movies “Bletchley Park” & “U571”).
My objective has been to create a software version to add to my own software that demonstrates a variety of encryption techniques dating back to the Spartans and the Kama Sutra. (Yes, the Kama Sutra describes an encryption scheme for lovers to use.)
I’ve been working on this literally for years.
It’s a 2 week task that, for confusing information on the Internet, has dragged out for 3 years.
We are looking to get individuals involved in selling our soap.
We have an excellent, flexible reseller program.
Big resellers can get a 50% discount on product simply by placing an order of $150 or more. They can then re-sell at whatever price they choose.
Smaller resellers can register with us and recieve a 30% rebate after buying $300 worth of products (at MSRP) in a one-month period.
This is the perfect oportunity for stay-at-home moms, eBay sellers, etc.
Send us an e-mail at sales@pbsoap.com to get started RIGHT NOW!
In 2004, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear an appeal of an earlier federal court ruling that declared WA’s open primary system UNCONSTITUTIONAL. This created a de facto ruling by the Supreme Court that open primaries are unconstitutional.
The WA case, in turn, was preceded by a ruling on CA’s open primeries of 1996.
So WTF is going on here in Montana.
I went to vote today (first time in MT) and I was shocked to see open primaries.
I was allowed to choose either party to vote in.
Tonight I shot a panorama with both ends of the rainbow visible.
Unfortunately, the top / middle portion of the rainbow was obscured by cloud cover.
I recently learned how to collect distilled spirits from wine here in my own kitchen.
From leftover wine sitting around, I distilled a few ounces of rock-solid, crystal clear alcohol (about 18%-22% pure).
The red wine that I have made here has about 9% – 11% alcohol.
IN THEORY, I could distill a few bottles and pour the distilled liquor back into a bottle of our red wine, THUSLY making a Port-style wine.
(Actual Port wine comes from the Douro valley of Portugal—usually made in Oporto. If your “Port wine” didn’t come from there, it shouldn’t be labeled as “Port wine”.)
Pisco is a Peruvian liquor made by distilling wine. It’s crystal clear, between 40-45 proof and has some subtle residual wine flavors that make it somewhat different from vodka, gin or rum.
In Italy, it’s called ‘grappa’ and in Portugual, where my folks are from, it’s called ‘aguardiente’ (fire water).
(Not to be confused with Peruvian ‘aguardiente’, which is made from sugarcane.)
I LOVE pisco and have recently learned how to make it at home here by distilling wine with basic kitchen implements. :D
I forgot to mention in my earlier report that we came across a GIGANTIC, purplish-black scat that I believed to be residue of a Grizzly Bear.
It was HUGE … like it would fill a dinner plate. With a vaguely cylindrical form, but really without a lot of form.
After returning home and investigating, it turns out the state of Montana has tracked sightings of a Grizzly in this area.
Well, we very nearly made it to the first peak, but an injury forced us to turn the bikes around literally a quarter mile from the first peak.
It would have been another 2 hours of ups and downs and my wife had apparently pulled a thigh muscle and was describing strained tendons at both ends of her quad.
So we turned around before committing to more hours of ups and downs.
we’ll try again next week. :D
Well, we DID NOT get up early today to do the loop. But it turns out it’s much shorter than I planned for last night. Soooo … we’re gonna have a late start (2.00 pm) and do it anyway.
Nightfall here is about 9:15 now. So we should be fine. I’ve planned a couple Escape Routes (emergency shortcuts) just in case we get WAY behind schedule.
We’re on our way out the door now. :D
Wish us luck.
I only became aware of this route toward the end of last season. By the time I ramped up and had an opportunity to do this, it was already snowy.
so I’ve been waiting about 8 months for the snow to clear from this route.
Tomorrow is the day. My wife says we’re ready to pull the trigger on this goal and she is so confident, that she is going to come along and bring the puppy in the puppy pack. hahaha.
We’ll see how it goes. The weather looks moderately cooperative. It’s not gonna be CAVU weather, but partly cloudy, chance of showers in the afternoon. I think that means that there is about a 10% chance we will get slightly damp during the ride.
So I think it’s a “GO” for tomorrow morning, early.
I’ll keep you all posted.
I must say that playing Halo 2 online against other actual players is addictive and exciting. And I continue to enjoy playing.
But there is one major defect that various prongs: The culture of online play is HORRIBLE.
SPORTSMANSHIP is virtually non-existent. In fact, the concept really doesn’t exist. People gloat, insult and taunt and think that these things are fine because, after all, it’s Halo.
SOCIAL SKILLS are sorely lacking in the online community. I have made some friends that are genuinely cool, but there is a large problem with people having 0 social skills.
The FRENETIC PACE of Halo 2 online is also a HUGE bummer. One can barely survive 1 second after being spawned without someone killing you again.
Some might say that’s part of the game and to “buck up and get over it”. But I say it’s part of a frenetic mentality of suicidal soldiers.
ANYONE can be a fatal killer if they don’t expect to survive more than 30 seconds.
But if they scored based on average life expectancy, these HUGELY SUCCESSFUL players would be abysmal failures.
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents.
Hope to see you online—and kill you. ;)
