I promise I'll get back to abusing my ability to formulate thoughts soon on this blog, but for today it's all about National Youth Literacy Day.

the 826 Writing Centers are having a big push for the holiday - you can donate $8.26 on 8/26 by texting "WRITE" to 20222 or just head to http://826on826.org and use paypal.

Also, hey, get off your dicks and spread the word. Today only!

From Paul Graham: (http://www.paulgraham.com/yahoo.html)

"By 1998, Yahoo was the beneficiary of a de facto pyramid scheme. Investors were excited about the Internet. One reason they were excited was Yahoo's revenue growth. So they invested in new Internet startups. The startups then used the money to buy ads on Yahoo to get traffic. Which caused yet more revenue growth for Yahoo, and further convinced investors the Internet was worth investing in. When I realized this one day, sitting in my cubicle, I jumped up like Archimedes in his bathtub, except instead of "Eureka!" I was shouting "Sell!""

I just had my very first experience with Delta Airlines customer service since the merger. First, the new website gave me trouble... I eventually booked my tickets despite the lack of proper tab-field navigation. Seriously, who doesn't map their tabs right on a form? You're a multi-billion dollar company and you're not even to the level of the fine, dragon-statue-peddling, folks at MedievalCollectibles.com.

Now, Delta rocks the wide-body from DTW - LAX and had put me in Seat D. You know, seat D-eadmiddle. Seat D-ont-even-try-to-use-an-arm-rest. Seat D-ya-mind-if-my-three-year-old-watches-daddy-day-care-on-your-laptop?. In other words, I decided to use some miles to upgrade... which, of course, Delta's website doesn't do (Northwest's had a handy "click to use miles to upgrade" button).

So I called Delta... 

Debbie: "Hi, this is Debbie Thank you for calling Detla"

This guy: "Hi Debbie, I just booked a flight and I'd like to use SkyMiles to upgrade"

Debbie: "Okay, well, you can't upgrade the way back. You'd have to pay a $150 change fee."

This Guy: "huh?"

Debbie: "You booked them wrong."

This guy: "What? Wrong? I just booked them on your website, what other way is there?"

Debbie: "Well, on the way back you booked and L ticket. You're fine on the way there, you booked K class, but the L class doesn't upgrade."

This Guy: "uhm... so, how was I supposed to know that?"

Debbie: "You weren't. You don't work here. There's no way for you to know that."

This Guy: "ooookay so..."

Debbie: "I can't even refund them because you didn't book them today."

This Guy: "wait, what? I booked them literally 10 minutes ago."

Debbie: "Oh... hold on."

Debbie: "Okay, I cancelled your tickets you'll be refunded in a few days."

This Guy: "WAIT WHAT?! I don't have tickets anymore?"

Debbie: "Just go on the website and start over and book K class."

This Guy: "huh? How do I know they're K Class? Will the website let me search only K tickets?"

Debbie: "no, it won't."

This Guy: "can I book them through you right now, and then you can upgrade them right away?"

Debbie: "yeah, but it will cost you a $20 direct ticketing fee."

This Guy: "you charge me extra for NOT buying tickets through a distributor?"

Debbie: "yes."

This Guy: "whatever. Do it. Book my tickets. Again. That I just booked and you cancelled. and then upgrade them."

And then punch me in the dick and I'll give you an extra $30.00

NWA Forever (okay, Eazy-E too... but mostly NorthWest Airlines).

...and Calypso / steel drum lessons... not sure which.