google desktop

Could this be more awesome? I can track my blog feeds with Google Desktop now. I just used it once and I already love the interface. I ::heart:: Google’s products. See “all sizes” from the flickr page to see details.

Read and download here.

difficult, difficult, difficult, then suddenly very easy

I just closed out one of my credit cards. It is the first one I got after college. It had a high interest rate and didn’t really offer much of anything except it racked up AmericaWest frequent flyer miles. I braced myself for an annoying but polite discussion with the customer representative and dialled their services number. After entering my account number and the last four digits of my social security number, I waited to hear the menu options and selected to speak to a representative. Then the service went to the busy tone and disconnected! Arg.

So I called again and repeated the process. This time, it went to a pleasant little waiting music which lulled me into a false sense of security, then suddenly, busy tone and disconnection! Oh noes!

I looked up a different service number and called, but it must have channelled the call to the same place, because it was the same process over again.

I tried one more time, because I’m stubborn like that, and bam! I got a friendly voice. She immediately connected me with an account manager who was exceedingly polite and asked me a couple of simple questions to verify my identity and that was it. No questions as to why I am closing out the account, no tempting offers to try to keep me, nothing. Sweet! Thanks customer representatives*!

*Who are they representing me to? The corporation? Are they watching out for me? Is that what they are paid for? Yeah right. I’ve also heard some places call people “customer advocates”. Weird. Anyway, these people were fantastic and I don’t hold them responsible for what was obviously a phone system error, as frustrating as it was. Good on you, Bank of America, for having a decent process for closing a card without hassle.

insider knowledge*

Oooh, yeah. Insider knowledge*, baby.

Previously, on incite a riot, I brought you In-N-Out’s “secret” menu. Today, I bring you two more little tidbits, which I’m sure the entirety of the world’s population was aware of long before I became aware of them. I ordered a short cappuccino at StarBucks today. Yes, a short. It’s the only reasonable size they have, and it’s not on the menu, but they will serve it to you. And life has not been the same since I learned you can ask for bagels “toasted dark” at Noah’s “Bagels” *cough*. Of course, the last two times resulted in burnt bagels because the local shop’s toaster is busted, but generally, they just pass it through twice and the bagel halves come out awesome.

You know you can get your credit report for free every year, right? AnnualCreditReport brings them to you. If you are worried that it is a bogus site, the FTC says it’s not. The smart thing to do is to get one credit report from one of the three agencies every 4 months, rather than doing them all at the same time, but I didn’t think of that until I saw that tip on LifeHacker. Duh. I check my credit report every two years anyway, but this is better because it’s free and it’s from all three major credit reporting agencies.

*Disclaimer: I am not an insider. It was a misleading phrase designed to lull you into a sense of security and trust in my words. You can trust me. Please email me with your credit card number and expiration date. Don’t forget the security code on the back! kthnxbye!