Dear Verizon Wireless,

I cannot express to you how much I hate your universal phone software. All of your phones have the same ugly dysfunctional user interface, and it makes me want to barf and leave you for a company with better phones. You'll excuse me if I say that it's NOT "all about the network" if every day you have to use a phone with a crappy interface.

Get rid of the ugly red menus! I will never own a phone with them. I appreciate good design, and that, sir or madame, is not good design. Incidentally, my contract ends in August. I have been up for your "new every two" promotion since June, but I have yet to find a phone that I could live with. Don't get me wrong, Motorola and others make many good phones, but you break them all! This makes me sad, because your network is so good and I do want to stay with you, but if I have to go through the red-screen monster, I will reluctantly pass.

Furthermore, what's up with the crippling of the phones? I use Bluetooth OBEX for transferring photos I take. Why would you take that away from me? I will never use your half-baked PixPlace service, and I resent you breaking my phone to prevent full use of it.

By the way, the overly-confident executive who thought that the red interface and removing functionality from user phones were good ideas deserves to lose his post. Perhaps your CEO Dennis Strigl lacks this hubris, I don't know, but given that he's had over six months to turn this misdirected ship around, I sadly don't have much hope.

I hope you decide to improve your phone offerings (stat!) or you will soon miss out on my monthly autopayment.

Thanks, and God Bless America.

Filed under technology

Posted by H. C. Hodges at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back in Texas, our grandmother used to make this really delicious rice casserole dish, and I always loved it as a kid. She made it for us almost every time we came to visit, mostly because we asked her to make it every time we came to visit. She passed away a few years ago, and I haven't had it since, but I remembered a little bit of the recipe so I tried to put it together recently. It came out almost exactly like she made it.

I've modified the recipe to make it a little less Uncle Ben and General Mills, and a little more whole natural foods you can find almost anywhere.

• 2+ cups dry jasmine rice, uncooked
• 1 large chicken breast, 1 deboned chicken thigh
• 1 can diced tomatoes (not petite diced), drained and rinsed
• 1 can cream of mushroom
• 1 can cream of celery
• 2 cans of water
• 3 scoops/cubes of chicken boullion
• 1 teaspoon ground thyme
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground sage
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 fresh large jalepeños

Parboil the rice by cooking for 5 minutes in plenty of excess boiling water, then stop the cooking by draining and rinsing under cold water. Separately, boil the chicken in water for 20+ minutes, until it begins to separate. Keep the water from the boiled chicken around for later. Let cool, then remove any fatty parts and shred the chicken.

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, then add everything together with rice. Mix well. Add enough of the broth from the boiled chicken to make the mixture nice and sloshy. Bake uncovered at 400°F for 45 minutes in a 9"x13" casserole dish.

Enjoy!

Filed under food

Posted by H. C. Hodges at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm ready. I've finally come around to it. Next time I hear of a large organized march or demonstration that's planned by any responsible organization, I will be there. This is the worst, most incompetent and corrupt administration in recent memory, and the United States of America deserves better.

We deserve better now, not in 18 months.

UPDATE: Wow, Keith Olbermann has written that he wants Bush and Cheney to resign. Not sure why this strikes me as big news, but Olbermann does anchor MSNBC's flagship "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." I hope other news leaders (whatever that means) follow suit.

Filed under culture

Posted by H. C. Hodges at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not so sure that this is a good idea:

Among the activities that will be banned are smoking near buildings in commercial areas, lying on the sidewalk, public urination and defecation, drinking in public, possessing a shopping cart and shouting in public.

I'm also not convinced that a city can ban shouting in public; aren't there First Amendment issues with banning loud speech?

UPDATE: More here.

Filed under berkeley · california

Posted by H. C. Hodges at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Feministing.com has a rather disingenuous post about Allan Stokke, father of Alison Stokke:

After we posted a link to the story about Alison Stokke, the high-school track athlete who has been unwillingly turned into an internet sex object, sharp-eyed reader Evan emailed with the observation that Stokke's father is the same guy who earlier this year defended a cop who jerked off on a stripper during a routine traffic stop. “She got what she wanted,” Al Stokke said, of the stripper. “She’s an overtly sexual person.”

I'm not going to defend his words, because I totally disagree with them. But Feministing is entirely unfair to the man. Importantly, he is a defense attorney. He has a job, and his job is to defend people in a court of law. We cannot use his words in the context of defending the accused as a window into his own personal thinking. Defense attorneys are a necessary component of the legal system, as every accused person deserves representation before the courts in our country. Once hired as counsel, he has a moral responsibility to defend his client to the best of his abilities. It is simply not his job to decide the guilt or innocence of his client—rather, this responsibility is given to the juror-peers of the accused in our legal system.

The final few thoughts from the blog are given below:

From his previous comments, he seems to desire a world in which reprehensible treatment of women (sexual assault, harassment, rape) is a-OK. But maybe, just maybe, his views will change now that he is forced to consider the fact that his own flesh and blood -- his wife, his sister, his mother, his daughter -- could be a victim of that violence.

Simply because Allan Stokke has defended criminals in the court doesn't mean that he sides with them. Such a vicious and personal ad hominem attack against a defense attorney shows a sad misunderstanding of the judicial system.

UPDATE: Allison Stokke is a freshman here at Berkeley.

Filed under berkeley · california · culture

Posted by H. C. Hodges at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Matt Taecker, Chief Downtown Planner, Berkeley:

"If you want a cheap diaper, go to Costco," he said. "If you want an authentic urban experience, come to downtown Berkeley."

More here.

UPDATE 2007-05-15: A followup, which includes photos, is here.

Filed under berkeley · california

Posted by H. C. Hodges at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Just made some great chili yesterday in the Crock-Pot. Really fantastic stuff... here goes:

Stir together all of the following in a slow cooker:

• 1 lb chunk steak for stew
• 1/4 lb ground pork (beef also works)
• 1 can diced tomatoes (not petite diced), drained
• 1 can red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 can white beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1/4 cup dried onion flakes
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon chipotle powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke flavor
• 2 pickled hot jalapeños, sliced
• 15-20 grinds of fresh black pepper

Dissolve 3 tablespoons of flour in 1/2 cup water; add this flour/water mixture to the slow cooker and mix. If needed, add enough water until things just start to "slosh." Cook on low for 8+ hours. Stir well and salt to taste. Serve with bread, corn bread, or polenta.

Serves 4-6.

Filed under food · texas

Posted by H. C. Hodges at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)