#512...on helping hands and lending ears...

and offering support.

 

Please take a moment and visit Pam of  Just One Girls Head Noise- she could really use you right now.

 

 

 

#511...oh yeah, we rock. Ernie is officially saved.

Thank you to everyone who heeded the call!  This just in:

In an unexpected move yesterday afternoon, the House of Representatives approved a measure to restore $100 million of funding for NPR, PBS and local public stations.1 Republican leaders were proposing to slash $200 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but you helped stop them.

Everyone said it was impossible to reverse any of the House cuts with Republicans in control. Yesterday's Washington Post described the divide between Democrats and Republicans like this:

"[O]n Capitol Hill, it's hard to find a Republican with anything nice to say about National Public Radio or the Public Broadcasting Service. Instead, they denounce them as liberal and elitist, when they bother to talk about them at all."2

Public broadcasting shouldn't divide Republicans and Democrats. More Americans trust NPR and PBS for balanced news and children's programming than any commercial network.3 Yet many Republicans have been intent on either gagging or starving public broadcasting.

So why did 87 Republicans break with the majority of their party and vote to restore the funding? In large part, because over 1 million of you signed the petition calling on Congress to reverse course. And over 40,000 of you made phone calls to your elected representatives. There was a surge of public outrage that couldn't be ignored. This victory was possible because we were joined by Free Press, Common Cause and strong allies in the House—Representatives Markey, Obey, Lowey, Dingell, Hinchey, Watson, Schakowsky, Blumenauer, Eshoo, Slaughter, and Leach, a brave Republican.

Despite this incredible progress, the House Republicans did manage to cut over $100 million, including funding for children's programming like "Sesame Street." We'll take our fight to the Senate when it considers the budget later this summer. But yesterday's vote makes it much more likely we can restore every last cent for NPR and PBS by acting together.

Yesterday also brought darker news in the fight for public broadcasting. The Republican-dominated board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) hired a former Republican National Committee chair as the next president, injecting partisanship into the very organization designed to shield public broadcasting from political meddling.4 This is only the latest effort by White House allyand CPB board chair Kenneth Tomlinson to remake public broadcasting as a partisan mouthpiece. Tosave NPR and PBS, we'll need to take on Tomlinson, but today we showed that the public can and will defend public broadcasting from partisan attack.

For now, we have a lot to be thankful for. Our kids can keep learning from PBS' children's programming. We can keep enjoying public broadcasting's in-depth, trustworthy news and cultural offerings. Most of all, we can be thankful for the ability of ordinary people to band together and do extraordinary things.

Thank you, for all you do,

–Noah, Joan, Marika, Wes and the MoveOn.org Team
  Friday, June 24th, 2005

P.S. Your Congressman, Rep. Gerlach, voted the right way on NPR and PBS funding.5 You can call to thank him at 202-225-4315.

Please let us know if you call at:

http://www.moveon.org/call?tg=FHPA_06&cp_id=42&id=5703-6115103-adzUKNraipbvMTAn6m063A

Sources:
1. "House votes to keep most PBS funding intact," USA Today, June 23, 2005
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-06-23-pbs-funding_x.htm

2. "Opponents On Different Wavelengths," Washington Post, June 23, 2005
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202294.html

3. "CPB's 'Secrets and Lies': Why the CPB Board Hid its Polls Revealing Broad Public Support for PBS and NPR," Center for Digital Democracy, April 27, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=746

4. "Public Broadcasting Chief Is Named, Raising Concerns," New York Times, June 24, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/politics/24broadcast.html

5. Roll Call Vote in House of Representatives (An "aye" vote is the right vote.)
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll305.xml

#510...survey says!

and I'm curvy.

take the survey - click it all you crazy curvy people.

#509...on one word

 

Please leave a one word comment that you think best describes me.

It can only be one word.  No more.

 Then copy and paste this into your journal so that I may leave a word about you...

(Stolen from   Secret Garden)

     I borrowed this from jouell113935.  Thought it would be FUN.  Thanks for participating!  Cyndy

and i borrowed it from cyndy....(because she told me to.)

 

#508...on Father's day.

 

                                   

 

simply this.

 

thank you.

for teaching me how to fly, to drive, to swim, to sail, to work, to laugh, to love.

to do.

anything.

Happy Father's Day to all those fathers who teach their children the same.

 

#507...on saving ernie.

sigh - it seems like the world is going to hell in a handbasket...now congress wants to cut funding on Ernie, Big Bird, Oscar, Arthur, Clifford, Reading Rainbow and other childrens shows..

what....the.....heck?!

Please sign the petition telling Congress to save NPR and PBS and email it on to others in your address book...

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/

A House panel has voted to eliminate all public funding for NPR and PBS, starting with "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," and other commercial-free children's shows. If approved, this would be the most severe cut in the history of public broadcasting, threatening to pull the plug on Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Oscar the Grouch.

The cuts would slash 25% of the federal funding this year—$100 million—and end funding altogether within two years. The loss could kill beloved children's shows like "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Arthur," and "Postcards from Buster." Rural stations and those serving low-income communities might not survive. Other stations would have to increase corporate sponsorships.

Already, 300,000 people have signed the petition. Can you help us reach 400,000 signatures today?

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/


Read the Washington Post report on the threat to NPR and PBS at:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=745

 

 

#506....a believable balderdash update...

Okay, so now with the ftp space fixed -

I can now give ya all a little peek at some of the new items over at Believable Balderdash!

Step right up folks and see the brand spankin new Gemstone Bracelets -

     

 

the Beaded Ankle bracelets (which double as a kitty collars - I kid you not..),

    

as well as new additions to the Beaded Garden Florals~

       

 

 and The Beaded Shorelines~

          

and The Beaded Beauties ~

 

   

  Tons of new earrings too ~

  

- and corded leather necklaces.

    

 

Also I'm now doing special orders for Sterling Silver block letter name bracelets - perfect as a Mother's, Grandmother's, or Anyone Bracelet - or as the ones pictured as a Baby gift for special occasions - like Baptisms.  They make great Graduation gifts too - the teens love them!  Be sure to check them out - they're beautiful.

and coming soon! - Hot flash Harriet will introduced her partner - "Worried Walter" to the mix...so now they can defend life's unpleasantries together...

 Wanna see more? well, alrighty then! ---->    www.believablebalderdash.com

 

#505 entries and only 16 hits..

but I don't care.

So a proper Thank you to all who came to the Queen's aid on both sides of the firing line.  My Ftp space is hereby and officially restored, albeit a bit light on files.  But no matter, in time, I can reload them from my end...

uh, I mean..from my hard drive, um...

oh, you know what I mean...

Even Joe - the journal editor over at magic smoke - came to my rescue - even when I was cranky...

and we all know the journal editors are not fond of Floralilialand...but that's another story...

anyway...a humble thank you again to all - color and light have returned to the once bland land of Floralilia. 

The Queen is happy.

amen. alleluia.

    a last correspondence -  

 hi joe - (AOL Journals: Magic Smoke)  

thanks for keeping up with this - forgive me for being so cranky...

but it's not nice to ignore a self-proclaimed Queen of Flimflammery now, is it?  

but...you can stop holding onto your head now Sir - for the day is filled with good news!    Listen to this:  

Much to my delight (and utter surprise), a very nice gentleman of the executive team actually called me this afternoon and we had a very nice long chat.  He told me my ftp space is now working, unfortunately, my files cannot be recovered - But that at least I can add them back in on my own. (I'm okay with that.)  

We discussed a good many things, but the priority being the disturbing trend (at least from the point of view of many of us (we?) veterans here) of increasingly poor customer communications. He was very interested to hear some of the problems that we all have been experiencing from time to time.  

As a customer for 11 years now, and one of the very early journalers here - I can tell you that I've lived through a good many changes with aol, and have stuck it out - because I amloyal, and believed in the product, and still think AOL is very user friendly, despite how big the company has gotten. And I think that AOL creating the journals was a very savvy idea indeed, and has been a big influence as to why I continue to stay here.  

Please know I realize how hard you all work to make it a good community experience, as well as keeping things on the cutting edge here.  And that it must be a great challenge to keep things running smoothly, especially in light of how quickly technology (and how testy) it can be from day to day and some days - minute to minute...   

Still and all, Customer Satisfaction should remain the top priority for all of you - happy customers stay....but more importantly - recommend good products to others; therefore, generating even more business....and in the end, bring security to your own job situations.  

and...as your Queen, I can put that darn old rusty guillotine away now.

Isn't that nice?   

anyway -   my heartfelt thank you for first listening; second, for following up with; and third, for intervening where you could.    Please continue to strive for improved customer relations where you can.  People, you will find, will put up with a lot, if they feel they are at least being heard.  

I royally and really appreciate it.  

really.  

thank you,

Floralilia the not so bland Queen anymore.

freely floralilia

believable balderdash - designs for the light hearted                

#504...on being resiliant.

                                 

                                   i might have been down....  

        

                                          but not out -  

                                    packing myself back up....  

      

                                 just a little worse for the wear...  

                            Sound the bells!  The Queen is back !

                            Allelulia - ah said....the Queen is back!

#503...hearing angels....

                 

In case you haven't noticed....  

                                 I am officially restored.   thanks guys!

                                                  (psst... did you see the pots of gold?)

#502...an example of what I'm dealing with.

So everyday I send an email, and everyday - they write something like this back.

okay, a question:  Which do you think is happening...they're not reading what I write..or they're not reading what they're writing...

Dear Floralilia,

I understand that your FTP Space is still not working. (so far, so good!)

There are several possible causes for this, so I have provided a number of solutions. After trying each solution, check to see if it resolved your issue. If it did not, please try the next solution listed. I recommend you save or print a copy of this e-mail for future reference. ( I don't have to, I've memorized your responses by now...)

A. Delete and restore the Screen Name  (whaaaa!!!)

Note: If the affected screen name is your PRIMARY MASTER SCREEN NAME, please proceed to step B of this e-mail.

    1. Sign on to AOL as you normally would with the Master Screen Name for the account.
    2. Go to AOL Keyword: Names.
    3. Click DELETE A SCREEN NAME.
    4. Read the Are You Sure? notice which appears, then click CONTINUE.
    5. Click the Screen Name, then click DELETE.
    6. Click OK.
    7. Close the AOL Screen Names window by clicking the "X" in the upper right corner.
    8. Sign on to AOL as you normally would with the Master Screen Name, go to AOL Keyword: Names, then select the RESTORE SCREEN NAMES option from the listbox.
    9. Select the deleted screen name from the list, then click RECOVER.

B. Request for an FTP Reset  (uh, already did that, only EVERY DAY....)
Resetting your screen name's FTP may be necessary to make your FTP space accessible again. An FTP reset will delete all files in your FTP space. (no kidding.)

    1. Sign on to AOL as you normally would with the affected screen name.
    2. Please go to the FTP Reset Request by clicking this hyperlink: FTP Reset Request.
    3. Click SEND.

I hope that I have adequately answered your questions. (you haven't.)
á
If you need additional assistance, you can chat online with a technical support specialist. Please go to AOL Keyword: Live Help. My colleagues there are available 24 hours a day to assist you in a secure, one-on-one session. (oh, no they're not...)

Roland P. (ooh, that's a NEW name..)
AOL Customer Care Consultant (wannabe)

----------original message----------
From:  Floralilia@aol.com
To:  AOLHelp@aol.com,PxxxxL@aol.com

okay, I've been to techlive, to aolhelp, and written to pxxxxl to no 
avail. I sent a reset FTP space request many times.

My ftp space is still not working, and I've now lost all my  pictures and all
my homepage info.

No one seems to want to help me get this fixed.

they told me the space is corrupted and that i should delete my  screenname!

that is ridiculous.  I am not willing to lose all my many months of  hard
work and all my files.

someone on your end must be able to reset my FTP space, and recover my 
files, with all of the backup systems you have in place.

please get this fixed immediately.  I have been a customer for over 10 
years, and am reaching my last bit of patience with aol's crappy service.

at the very least, assign ONE PERSON to handle this case.

you really work hard to lose customers.

_freely  floralilia, the official journal of pointless posting._
(http://journals.aol.com/floralilia/ahemtaptaptapisthisthingon/)

BACK THIS UP AOL........

 

do I sound cranky?

#501...welcome to my bland world

nope, still no ftp space.

just found out about this blog - AOL Journals: Magic Smoke

maybe Joe can help...

Tuesday, May 24, 2005
11:38:00 PM EDT

]   Having FTP Image Problems?

Hi...if you're having problems with images from your FTP or Hometown space not showing up in your Journals, please send me an e-mail (with the address of the affected Journal), so I can forward the info to the tech team so they can investigate properly.

Thanks -- Joe

Written by journalseditor . (Link to this entry)

okay, I've written him and Scalzi - lets see if these guys can get it fixed...

keeping my fingers crossed......

#500...and still no ftp space

So today, in honor of my 500th entry...with still no FTP space..

and no customer service, dedication, reliability, and appreciation~

I went looking around for some new digs.

and lo and behold look what I found and set up in a mere 32 seconds - none other than a brand spankin new Floralilia blog over at Eblogger.com.

no glitch, no hitch, no troubles, no rules, no scatology - nope, nothing but
easy, fun, reliable, and FREE service -

wait, did I mention, easy, fun..reliable...and free service?

and they have cute blog backgrounds designs to boot...

check it out:

                        floralilia here...

got 30 seconds? start one yourself.  Aol might just mind...

      

this official service announcement proudly brought to you by: 
"Aolhell - where the product and customer service
just keep getting crappier every day!"

 

 

#499....calling all aol insurgents.

Righto.

that's it.

Here ye! Here Ye! One and all -

let the official records show that the dubious Chump Queen of Pointless Posting is officially and totally

                           .....miffed.

Send the runners to notify my forces that the time is ripe for an AOLJihad. (as Sir Armandt hath dubbed it).

For the queen's FTP space as been violated.

and she is being ignored.

Calling all my knights and ladies in shining armor...

Oh, woe to you AOL...woe to you...

Let the games beginneth.

 

 

#498....on the pot calling the kettle black.

Aolhelp is now telling me that I'm corrupted.

(I beg your pardon!)

and that I should delete my screenname and then try to recover it in order to fix my FTP space....

now, as intuitive as they may be as to my personal character...

I'm still not doing that.