Au Revoir and Thanks for Reading

It is with great gratitude we leave our ever faithful friends and family readers, and thank you for all your support. Mystery Dinner Guest and Claude have had quite an enjoyable run at this blog but we collectively think the time has come for us to bid tout le monde au revoir and move on to brighter, bigger and better things. Next stop the great wide open. Thanks for reading.

Peace.
Mystery Dinner Guest and Claude
9/22/2008

Introducing the Intuos Tablet...

"Martha's Vineyard Red Night" by MDG

Ok, it is a rare and dangerous day when we actually praise a product on this blog. But, we think we have just stumbled upon what might just be our next favorite gadget of all things technological. At least for the next New York Minute...

Introducing the Intuos 3 Tablet, by Wacom, which by it's branding advertises it's "for the serious photographer, designer, and artist". MDG was looking for a gadget to buy over the recent MA tax holiday weekend. Sadly, they were out of the Wii and the big flat screen seemed a bit overzealous we reached for the next best thing, we think. Check it, check it, check it out. Holy Batman, we like it.

It comes with a tablet, wireless pen and mouse you connect to your laptop/desktop. Installation is easy, guided step by step through their tutorial wizard. All connects well and you're off. Several graphic editing programs support the Intuos functionality with some of it's tools. For example, Photoshop brushes work with the pen and you can control width during the drawing line with the pen on the tablet. There's some pretty neat sh()t we've been discovering and we've just opened the cover. Double guns thumbs up from us!

Peace Out,
Mystery Dinner Guest & Claude

Good Luck configuring your Belkin Wireless Router

This post will fall into the "rant" category, which last we polled our fabulous audience was the number one area you wanted more.

So backin it up a few days, Mystery Dinner Guest was busy like a bee painting away when the ladder rungs caught in the modem and wireless router wires and kaboom! Toppling off the bookshelf and crashing onto the wood floor below went the lil devices. Now, the Comcast modem faired just fine, still working, in shape and ready to rock. The Belkin wireless router device not so much. Maybe something to do with its delicate little antennae. We don't really know or care other than to determine it no longer connected us to the internet. Seemed simple enough to fix.

Purchasing a new Belkin wireless router, we thought setting it back up would be a walk on the beach. Five days later, and several clumps of hair missing, we are back online with the router. Though no thanks to the phone conversation we had last night with Belkin technical support.

Dang we wish we had the transcript to share. We shall try our best to recreate the conversation which started after ten minutes on hold, with a helpful message about having your Product ID number ready or to hang up and call back with it... playing at the eleventh hour of hold time. Mad scramble to run downstairs, write down the id and run back to the computer still not connecting to the internet.

Ray: Hi my name is Ray. Is this an existing case or a new one?
MDG: Hi, yes this is a new issue.
Ray: Can I have your phone number?
MDG: Um, can I give you my cell number? I'm calling from a LAN line I really don't use.
Ray: Fine mam, I just need a number to call you at in case this call gets disconnected.
MDG: Ok, great. It's xxx.xxx.xxxx.
Ray: Can I have your email address?
MDG: Do you need it to take this call? I'd prefer not to give it out.
Ray: Ok, we'll revisit that at the end of the call. Alright and can I get your name?
MDG: MDG
Ray: Ok, and what's your product ID?
MDG: It's F5D9230-4
Ray: And what's the model number?
MDG: Is that on the bottom of the router?
Ray: Yes.
MDG: Ok, hang on I have to run downstairs to get it for you.
*** runs downstairs to get model id, wonders why this wasn't part of the sweet message in the eleventh hour on hold ***
MDG: Ok, it's 3001.
Ray: What operating system are you on?
MDG: Well, there are two computers. One is running on Windows XP and one is running on Vista.
Ray: There are two computers?
MDG: Yes. That isn't a problem, is it?
*** long pause ***
Ray: No. Who is your internet provider?
MDG: Comcast.
Ray: So what's the problem you're having?
MDG: Well, I'm trying to install the Belkin wireless router. I have one of the computers seeing the wireless network fine and surfing the internet. The other computer will see the wireless network, but will not surf out to the internet.
Ray: So where are the two computers?
MDG: One is upstairs and is connecting wirelessly, and the second is also upstairs and is the one having the problem.
Ray: Wait, you're trying to connect to them both wirelessly?
MDG: Yes, that's why I got the router.
*** wtf? ***
Ray: You don't have one of the computers hardwired to the router?
MDG: Nooo... I have both of them in a different room than the router and am trying to connect from there.
*** seriously dude, the concept of having a wireless router at your home is not to hardwire your computer to the router ***
Ray: Ok mam, the problem is not with the Belkin wireless router in this case.
MDG: Well, what is the problem then?
Ray: The problem is with your computer. You need to call the manufacturer of your computer and ask them for support with fixing your computer.
MDG: But why can't you help me when it's having a problem connecting to your device?
Ray: Mam I cannot help you any further at this point. You need to contact the manufacturer and they are going to tell you you need to call Belkin support and what you really need to do is figure out the problem with your computer.
*** did I just get bitch slapped by this guy or what? ***
MDG: Ok, well seriously, I think you need to have a conversation with your Manager and tell them that they should be providing you with some kind of additional resources to give people like me when they call with this kind of a problem. You can't tell me that I'm the first person to call in with this kind of a problem?
Ray: No.
MDG: And so you're giving me no information on how to resolve this?
Ray: The problem is not the wireless router. The router is working fine. You just told me that one computer is surfing the internet with it. You need to fix your computer. The router is working.
MDG: Ok, well I still think that you should tell your Manager that I'm an unsatisfied customer with your technical support and they should consider providing some more resources. You didn't help me at all. You didn't give me any information I didn't have before this call, and now you're telling me it's my problem. How are you offering technical support? *** huge exhale *** MDG: I hope you have a good night.
*** disconnects the line and heads downstairs for the Vodka ***

Now all I'm left to wonder is what would Claude have done? Would he have handled it differently? Would he have been able to sweet talk Ray Ray into giving it up, telling him the precious piece of information to connect to the internet?

Peace Y'All + Our 50th Post!

First off, DazzlinDonna over at SEO Scoop developed a brilliant web site, ForPeaceNow.com where you can get and place these awesome kick ass badges to display on your blog/web site/whatever. Donna wrote a really interesting post here about getting back to Peace, and the web site is a spin off from there (at least I think that's the correct sequence of events). We thank you Donna for such an inspirational idea, and we support the effort!

Note from Claude: So my only problem is that while supporting Peace overall, I still have a really foul mouth and like to call some sh*t out from time to time. Ok, so maybe sometimes more frequent than that metric, but still. So I hope this is not an inherent conflict, becuz we like to rant sometimes and hope that that part is still cool-n-the gang?

Side Note from Claude: So my other complaint I'd like to lodge here is with current Facebook makers of Scrabble game. Yo! What the F is going on with your SH*T?!?!? Could you PLEASE for the love of the big "G" spend some time going through all of your user feedback forums, throw a sh*tload of $$ at this application ASAP and make it happen?! I heard it through the grapevine, that you're app is WHACK right now. Get your reputation management PANTS ON!

Ok, so back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Right and so the one last thing we wanted to mention is we just celebrated our 5oth Mystery Dinner Guest blog post! A huge thank you to our parents, our siblings, and our loyal rock star fans out there for all your eyes and time. We hope you keep on rockin' the next 50 posts with us.

Peace Out,
Mystery Dinner Guest & Claude

Reasons for Cuil's Less than Stellar Launch Include Strawberries and Muffins, Oh My!

This just in, we now have some factual information to back up what may have triggered the series of most unfortunate events with the recent launch of wanna be Google killer "Cuil". According to a few online sources, Cuil whittled away their $33 million dollar VC backing on strawberries and muffins, free lunches every day, uber-flexible work schedules, and extravagent first class plane tickets.

According to UK based The Register, more recent issues with the new search engine include exposing people to excessive amounts of unsolicited porn, a result they say which was caused by some "serious file corruption". Things are not rolling along smoothly for launch week.

But, they have one ace up their sleeve... online super hero Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land and now Editor-at-Large for Sphinn, turns out to be friends of one of the people involved in launching Cuil. Is it coincidence then his reviews of the product are mainly positive, upbeat, and he seems to be spear heading up the Cuil reputation management defense?

It's amazing what little $33 million can buy you some days.

Peace Out,
Mystery Dinner Guest & Claude

Bye Bye Manny and Good Luck!

Well maybe that explains Manny's jog the other night. And possibly the overall less than stellar team performance. We just heard the news last night a little past 5pm that Manny is leaving the Red Sox! At first, it felt like shock and awe. We're really going to miss:

• the tremendous amount of tar he managed to fit on his helmet
• the patented toss of the helmet, passing 2nd or 3rd base on a home run hit
• manny being manny
• manny's hair
• manny's smile
• manny's sense of humor
  

Good luck to you Manny in your new digs. And we hope that your real reason for you leaving us isn't the US Dollar, cuz that would just be, like, tremendously sad and incredibly vacuous.

Game back on! Let's go Red Sox, Let's Go!!!

Peace out,
Claude + MDG

Scrabble, Get your Game On!

So in case you have not got a Facebook account, and had the recent displeasure of attempting to make the switch to the Scrabble Beta application, let us assure you that it is not a pretty picture you are missing out on. But don't take our word for it, no, let us present you with the screenshot to the right. Taken from the Discussion Board for the Scrabble Beta application. We'll refer to this as "Exhibit A".

So, if you read the post titles shown in blue from Exhibit A, you will see that Scrabble Beta is not getting very favorable user feedback at this point. Not so much!

While we would like to add a more personal twist to this product review, we are sadly unable to join a game we've been invited to attend. :: super sad, super sad ::

Our recommendation is we hope you throw some serious developer and hardware super powers at that sh*t STAT Hasbro! First impressions count. 

Peace out yo,

Mystery Dinner Guest & Claude

Personal note from Claude:

So I just want to add that I am also pissed off right now about the recent Red Sox games. I mean, Manny's jog to first base the other night was just bullcr*p! Manny, you better get your game on too mister! We're watching you.

Not Cuil Enough for School

Ex-Googlers launched the new search engine cuil on Monday, what was touted to possibly be the "next google killer". C'mon now, really?

How many search engines have we seen try and enter the market to chip away at Google? And out of those, how many have actually been able to put a dent into Google's market share? Ok, just wanted to recap on that. 

cuil, pronounced "cool", is sadly another example of a product launch before it's time. From this launch, I have the following three cents:

• PLEASE, for the love of GOD, STOP USING WEB 2. 0 NAMING CONVENTIONS WHEN INTRODUCING NEW PRODUCTS. I can't STAND IT. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE and it makes me THINK YOU'RE A TWENTY-SOMETHING SHOULD BE ATTENDING COLLEGE BUT TURNED YOUR DORM INTO A WEB SERVING MORASS.
• Can people please put more emphasis on stress testing and application QA before these gigantic go-lives? It only spells disaster when you don't, and reinforces that you come across looking like a 20-something skipping your calc and algebra classes. 
• Could you please just accept that Google is here to stay? You can't compete with it, Microsoft can't compete with it, and Yahoo! certainly can't compete with it, so just call it a day and spend the money you are sinking down the toilet on some nice Gucci sunglasses, a villa in Tuscany, and bring all your friends along for the biggest and baddest bash you can throw. It'll still be cheaper than trying to fight this fight.

[MDG side note: Ok, so the third point I kinda disagree with, in theory, but still like to daydream about a fabulous party in Tuscany with all my entourage]

And, for those of you who think I'm being too harsh on the new cuil, here's a random sampling of AP headlines on their launch:

• Why Cuil Is No Threat to Google
  
• Cuil is cold
  
• Cuil? Not So Much

What do you think?

Firefox for your Computer's Health

In case you didn't get the memo, Firefox web browser by Mozilla is the best computer protection you can use when surfing the internet. Period.

Recent AP reports are saying that malware is undeniably on the rise; the sheer volume of computers being compromised by viruses, spam, botnets and malware is going through the roof.

But what can you, the innocent and unsuspecting web surfer do? You can start by ditching Internet Explorer as your web browser and using Firefox by Mozilla instead. Firefox is a free web browser, easy to install, and a gazillion times less likely to expose your computer to the crap that IE is all about.

So what are you waiting for? For heaven's sake, run *don't walk* to this URL address and download free Firefox today:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox

Peace Out,

Mystery Dinner Guest & Claude

p.s. For those of you who recently signed onto your Facebook account and found Claude missing from your Friends and Entourage, you can read about what went down in our last post. Now Claude Rolls with 1.

RIP Claude 7-10-2008

It's a very sad day in Claude's life. Today he got kicked out of Facebook. Yes, we're sorry to report this news but it is in fact the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help us G*d. Upon trying to login to Facebook this morning, instead of his Facebook profile, he got the not so nice message "Your account has been disabled by an administrator. If you have any questions or concerns, you can visit our FAQ page here."

Well, zoinks!!! We are just flabbergasted, in shock and awe, more disturbed by this than the Reverend Jesse Jackson comment about wanting to cut Barack Obama's nuts off. Or however he phrased it.

So kids, when you login to your Facebook accounts and are scratching your head wondering why your Friends count is minus one, this is why.

RIP Claude's Facebook Account ~ Wiped clean from the virtual world on 7-10-2008.

Top 10 Reasons Converse Rocks The House, Y'All

As a little sidebar intro, so we admit that at first we were a little bit sweatin' it, wondering if we were gonna catch any heat from Verizon... you know, from our postings on their lack of environmental concern. However, thank our lucky stars, we came across this recent article available on Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim blog "New Survey: 55% of Companies Not Prepared for Online Reputation Crisis". Big sigh of relief. Moving on, we feel much better about posting rants, raves, or anything in between. Oh, and perhaps the occasional restaurant review for Cape Cod.

So without further ado, here are our Top 10 Reasons Why Converse Rocks The House, Y'all...

1. check the sweet logo design
   
2. they're an American company
3. they bring back vintage in mad style
4. they're in vogue every decade
5. converse chucks
6. their attention to detail
7. their cool factor is off the charts
8. they keep their advertising clean (***cough, Facebook, cough***)
9. their sneakers look good with everything
10. Target sells them
    

All this being said, we must admit that upon visiting the Converse web site, we might suggest a few minor tweaks for a better user experience: more obvious navigation, faster loading pages (suggestion: nix the song launching by default), and a more obvious way to turn volume down or off on "My Drive Thru". While the song is catchy and all, it's early here yet and I'm trying not to wake the neighbors. THANKS!

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!

Peace out,
Claude & Mystery Dinner Guest

What's That, Verizon? We Can't Hear You Now.

Status check for our faithful blog followers, as of today, July 3rd, no response has been communicated by Verizon regarding our "Open Letter" dated back on June 26th. We guess that maybe like the government, Verizon takes the month of July off and didn't have time to prepare an AP Press Release statement before break. Yah, that's gotta be it.

We just want you to take a more leadership role in putting our environment first. Actions speak louder than words, and we really look forward to hearing about your new eco-friendly missions.

Peace Out.
Claude & Mystery Dinner Guest

Citizen Cope - this song is dope!

So we got another great beat for your consideration. If you haven't heard them before, we are totally grovin' to Citizen Cope these days. Check out "Let The Drummer Kick"



Good beats y'all.
Peace Out.
Claude & MDG

David Cook's version of MJ's Billie Jean

In case you didn't watch American Idol, and, yes I am aware that there are people out there who downright refuse to, take a listen to this version of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, performed by the amazingly talented 2008 winner David Cook...





We heart you David Cook, you really rock the house and we're psyched you won!

Peace Out,
Mystery Dinner Guest & Claude

Open Letter to Verizon

Hey Verizon!
We're glad you're reading this, as you likely have (one would hope) in place mechanisms to scan for stories with the name "Verizon", to monitor your online reputation? Yes? Good.

Moving on, we wanted to bring to your attention the fact that we, Mystery Dinner Guest and Claude, are rather surprised... a little bit of 'shock and awe' feeling actually with your seemingly lack of environmental concerns. We put forth for exhibit A, your recent advertising mailing for "$19.99 per month unlimited calling for 12 months". Now, we are no English Professor or expert, but were just wondering. Doesn't the second part of that sentence negate the "unlimited" part? But, I guess that's mincing words. Anyway, we found it beyond peculiar you chose to use a a very large and heavy weight "Priority Delivery" envelope to mail your single piece of paper in. *** Are you serious??? ***

Here are our questions on this campaign, in no particular order:

Why the big ass, unwarranted envelope?

Why not think about being green?

Why not think about the freakin' environment?

Why not start using recyclable materials for your advertisement mailings?

We'd like a response, you can post it to our blog here. Thanks.
Mystery Dinner Guest and Claude

What to do for Scrabulous Addiction?

MDG is strangely afflicted with a new found addiction in Facebook, Scrabulous, which we heard rumors of getting slapped with a big-ass lawsuit by Hasbro for infringing upon their trademarked game. Those poor brothers Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla, these gonna need to hire some big guns to fight this battle. But... on the other hand, we haven't really heard much on this news since recently. Is it just caught up in the legal system, or are we gonna get our games pulled from our facebooks?

It is a tad bit addicting to play Scrabble online, though being an off-line avid Scrabbler, maybe this should come as no surprise?

And what makes Scrabulous so fantastic? Well, for starters if you like to entertain the idea of cheating it couldn't be any easier to do so. Built right into the game is a "Look it up" search field where you can instantly check whether a word is legit or not. Yah, they have that in the real game, right? Second, there's this news flash concept of tabbed browser windows, which make it real easy to surf and query sources like Google when in doubt on two letter Scrabble words.

I'm not quite certain whether Scrabulous is going by the Scrabble dictionary, or using some random third party online dictionary. If I had to guess, I'd go with the latter.

And just to poll everyone who's reading this... everyone who is sick of hearing about twenty something billionaires raise your right hand.

Thought so.
Peace out.
MDG & Claude

Facebook : Thems Some Pretty Racy Ads...:

In keeping with the Facebook theme we seem to have goin' on, Claude decided to review and share some findings on advertisements displayed prominently in Facebook. Yes, that same Facebook application Mark Zuckerberg founded at Harvard and which Microsoft purchased for $246 million. Riiiggght. Just so we are on the same page here.

Advertising, hmmm yes. It is an interesting and amazing industry, that advertising, that. And it looks like the online medium isn't all that different from print or late night television advertising. Just wondering though, is it really appropriate advertising like this for teens and tweens hooked on Facebook like a bunch of crack monkeys? Ok, maybe crack isn't the best analogy to be using here, but you get the picture. Anyways, Claude's findings are that advertising on Facebook is surprisingly racy, and even makes Claude blush.

Some examples for your consideration...


I don't know, maybe we are just downright dumb with our concept of what appropriate online advertising is. Plus, as you can read in the Preppy Ass ad, this ad is Ok'd to run by Google, so it must be OK for the tweens. I mean, afterall, isn't the driving force of Google to do no evil?

Things that make you go hmmmm.
Peace Out,
Claude

Happy Father's Day!!!

Too all you father's out there, just want to wish you a very HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! Hope you have a wonderful and enjoyable day!
XOXO
MDG & Claude

Joe's Beach Road Bar & Grille Rocks the House

If you haven't been there recently, the updates at Joe's Beach Road Bar & Grille in Orleans are worth the trip! Some very happy changes indeed... Christian (formerly of Christian's in Chatham) is cooking there now and the menu has some fantastic updates. The haddock with lobster served with jasmine rice and asparagus is out of this world delicious. The tuna sashimi appetizer is yummy and great for sharing.

They extended the bar wrap around style, opening up some nice new seating configurations. The drinks are still rock solid, with a nice wine selection. We dig it. Rated "One of the ten best restaurants on Cape Cod" by Yankee Traveler. If you're on Cape Cod, check it out!!!

MGD & Claude

Know of any good gardening websites?

Mystery Dinner Guest is:

a) hoping for a sunny & warm weekend here on the Cape

b) hoping to get some gardening in

c) trying to get some tips for the gardening

d) feeling like lazy way out of blogging right now and this seems to fit the bill... oh, wait. was that part out loud?

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not the greenest thumb out there I know. While I like to pride myself on my multifarious other ways of being green, I have been known to kill a plant or two. So, we were hoping that someone might be kind enough to share their knowledge on any good online gardening web sites. Preferably ones that give you good ideas, with a good balance of pictures and instructions. Actually, lots of good pictures would be preferable. Nothing overly scientific, I get lost and confused in the academia angle. 

So, yah. that's pretty much my lame ass post for the day here... looking for ideas on gardening sites? Anyone? Buueeelller?!

Peace Out, 

MDG