Mr Mahatma--who is a Mr in real life--lives in the valleys of Southern California with his wife, a herd of Dears, and an impressive collection of books. Pnorny!
He is reachable at:
littlemrmahatma@yahoo.com

All writings are copyrighted 2003-2008 and trademarked: Little Mr. Mahatma

tBlog Mirror

Some fun links:
Little Miss Attila - polar opposite and origin of LMM.

Critical Sites:
Dr. Forbush Thinks
Slashdot
Games Slashdot
UserFriendly
James Randi
Snopes
Home of the Underdogs
The Sun Online

For those generous in spirit, heart, and wallet:

Anyway. My wife and I were shopping for a VCR to DVD conversion package and my youngest son wanted an MP3 player like his older brother. Looking online, Frys had an MP3 player - 1 gb, white - for $20. My youngest had saved up his money and he had just that amount. So off we went.

Frys Failure #1: Poor Inventory Management. We found the VCR / DVD Conversion packages in the software department. Usually these packages have a hardware component that sits between your VCR and PC, plus software. That's exactly what we were looking for. Unfortunately I kept looking and found more packages - different packages - in the graphics card section of hardware. Same type of hardware / software solutions located in two different departments.

It gets better.

We collected the packages that looked like they may do the trick and asked an employee for help. Did this package have all the cables? DId that package have a certain type of cable? [Insert sounds of crickets. Hello?!?] We asked if they had a computer that had Net access so we could look up the specs. "Sure," they said, "in the Service Department." So off went to the Service Department.

The Service Department is incorrectly named because it's the last thing you'll get there. The person helping us said that they did have a computer with Net access - the one right behind him. But because some of the packages we wanted to look up were from the software department we'd have to get an employee from that department to stand with us while we used that machine.

Frys Failure #2: Clueless Customer Service Read that last paragraph again. The Service Department employee wanted us to get another employee to come stand with us while we looked online for a review?!? Un - freaking - believable.

Scrap getting the conversion package until we do more homework. Now for the Mp3 player and I have to say right off that my youngest kid showed the heart of a lion. As I will soon relate, he got disappointed not once but thrice and proved the better between us.

As I mentioned earlier we had found online an MP3 player - 1 gb, white - $20. We found it in stock in the flash drive hardware aisle, for $30. Same exact item - $10 more. That was the first disappointment. An employee came to help and I asked about the pricing discrepancy, he said that the online prices differed from the store prices because when you buy online you have to return it online instead of to a store. Huh?!?

Frys Failure #3: Poor Business Model Between Store and Online - that's all I'll say about that.

We noted that directly above the plethora of the $30 MP3 players the exact same model in black for $20, except they were out. The employee went to the back to see if they had any more but no. Sold out and no more expected, and - no - he couldn't sell us the white model for $20. My kid did the big eyes and quivering lips but to no avail. Second disappointment yet with a barb back. My kid said loudly that he'll find what he wants online from another store.

Frys Failure #4: Powerless Employees.

My wife had wandered off. She was in the radio aisle where she found - lo! and behold - MP3 players. On sale they had a 2 gb MP3 player/flash drive for $20. My kid was thrilled.

Frys Failure #5: Employees Who Don't Know What's On Sale. It's bad enough when you have the same items in two different departments but the problem gets compounded when your employees don't know that much less what's on sale.

We got the MP3 player and plugged it into the computer to download songs. Uh-oh! Norton says there's a virus on it but that it's been quarantined. Still, it comes right up as a flash drive and we copy some MP3s to it. Now insert a new battery and...nothing. It won't play or light up. Try another new battery and same result. Insert it back into the computer and nothing. Piece of junk and the final disappointment for my brave-hearted kid.

So today after work I suffered the hell that is the Frys Return. Honestly it wasn't too bad a wait but when I mentioned that I really wanted the $30 MP3 player and explained the whole scenario, I could hear those crickets chirping. I asked about whether they price match (they do) but they won't match their own online prices.

What an aggravating, pain-in-the-ass store. I was there when they opened in Woodland Hills. They had horrible service then and they still have horrible service.

Hello Frys! It's more than having the employees smile, it's about doing the right thing by the customer, about having your inventory ass-ets together, about getting past the nonsensical and illogical policies. You may be profitable but how much more so if you only had your collective crap together.

Meanwhile there's a disappointed 8-year boy who smiled throughout the ordeal. He will be shopping elsewhere.

And I know why it happened and when and how and I couldn't stop it, couldn't avoid draining my life's worth untila ll was empty.

It started with "God of War". This Playstation 2 has garnered a million awards and sold 10 times more copies. I had bought a copy of the game a year ago and never played it. It sat in a drawer with a few other games that I knew someday I'd get around to...someday.

And about a month ago someday happened. A free weekend with a few hours to fill and out came the stack. I decided to give each game a solid 1/2 hour of play, figuring that'd be plenty of time to determine whether the game was a keeper or not.

Let me confess now that I had little hopes for any of the games because frankly I'm a computer gamer, not a PS2 gamer. I grew up with computers and was in gaming from the early days of the Apple 2. For me, computer games peaked with Doom, Diablo 2, Warlords 2, Starcraft, and Duke Nukem. Everything after that was more of the same. Worse, I couldn't "get" console controllers. They're harder than a keyboard and mouse. You can't twiddle with console files as easily as with computer files. Consoles are for kids.

So I thought. I started through the pile and one game after another fell by the wayside. Then "God of War". I loaded it and started playing, thinking that I wouldn't like the control but it was OK. Hmmm, mythology, hack 'n' slash, naked bosoms, hidden chests - I played games kind of like this before but not like this. This was freaking awesome!

I finished "God of War" in about a week and passed it on to my kids.

A quick aside. "God of War" is rated "M for Mature" because of the gore and naked bosoms. Yet, I let my kids watch me play. They saw the gore and the bosoms, adn didn't care. They were captivated by the puzzles, the play, and the theme. If anything they now know that war is not clean or heroic or fun but gross, scary, and not to be taken lightly. I didn't make a fuss over the bosoms and they didn't get fixated. Maybe something there to be learned.

Anyway. I finished "God of War" and went right out and got "God of War 2". Same thrill and involvement - pure escapism. I couldn't and didn't want to stop playing. I finished it in even less time than "God of War" and felt...drained, lost. I wanted more. I wanted "God of War 3" NOW!!! But that game doesn't exist.

That was last week.

I thought I was getting over "God of War" until last Saturday. That's when the family went to the local mall, to the bookstore, and I got "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". I started reading the book that night - 200 pages down. Sunday I told the family to leave me alone. 550 pages later I was done. The series was over and...now what?!?

No more "God of War". No more Harry Potter. Life feels so bleak and empty now. I don't know if I can make it until Friday the 27th when The Simpsons Movie and what will happen when that series ends?

And when he said that he kept looking around like he expected us to side with him. Dude, welcome to America! We do enjoy the Freedom fo Speech but it doesn't mean we should act like braying jackasses or treat our spouses like servants.

3 Democrats - 1 Office
I think it's safe and fair to say that there are only three viable Democratic candidates for 2008: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. I don't like HIllary because she's too political. Everything she says and does is measured in political brownie points. She, the person, doesn't come through. For her, though, is that she has the most political experience of the three. If she won the candidacy, how long before jokes about blue dresses or blue jeans popped up?

Obama is a ray of light. He speaks well and has undeniable charisma. He doesn't have the political experience of the other two. The one time on TV I heard him speak, he impressed me with his eloquence but lost me when he brought religion into his speech.

Edwards is an intelligent speaker though not as eloquent as Obama. He was on one of those Sunday morning news shows and he laid out a plan for Iraq that was insightful. He gave details and reasons for actions. My problem with him is, simply, he doesn't have the Presidential Stature. Hillary and Barack have the composure. Edwards is more VP material.

Maybe an Obama/Edwards or Clinton/Edwards ticket would do it. What I'd like to see in any case is a candidate who doesn't drag religion into politics. Better would be a candidate who declares that religion shouldn't be a part of politics and acts accordingly. I'd like a candidate who recognizes that our Government is not beholden to Corporate America but to the Real America, the ordinary people who put them in power. I'd like a candidate with the intelligence to weigh decisions, not act from the gut like our current President. I'd like a candidate who can speak in complete sentences, without sound bites or pre-written material. I'd like a candidate who has the guts to admit mistakes and not slough off past errors as childish mistakes. I'd like a candidate who understands that our country, great as it is, doesn't rule the world nor should it try to - Diplomacy has to be a vital tool in the political kit.

I'd like a candidate, a President, who doesn't make me feel like I need to bathe after seeing him or her, someone for whom we don't have to apologize.

But as always, I get sidetracked so easily.

Bush is now provoking Iran with subtly threats of "Do as I say or face the consequences". This is the Bush family tactic, by the way, and while it works one way in business, it doesn't work quite the same way on the International political scene. If I were Iran and heard these types of threats I wouldn't be very scared. Considering that Bush has our military quagmired in Iraq and Afghanistan, and working in Somalia - they know we're spread too thin. They also know that America gets sick of war real fast and we're sick of it now. For us, it's a weakness and strength.

The Middle East is a mess and America in too many ways isn't far behind. Unless you're in the Oil Biz you may not be doing too well. What really hurts is that the billions wasted in Iraq could've have been well spent in the U.S.. If you are in the Oil Biz, you are daily blessing Saint Dubya. This past week saw yet another quarter of record oil profits.

Quiz question: What do Unocal, Exxon, Dubya Bush, Dick Cheney, and Iraq have in common?

But both logics are twisted and dangerous.

Taking the latter idea first that it's better to fight a (perceived) enemy now rather than later is an insane basis for a foreign policy much less any other type of social policy. Are we too fight anyone who disagrees with us? We'd be fighting half the world. Is our enemy based on potential economic threat? Then China should be our next target. Military threat? China's right there. By all logic, we should be gearing for war against China. It sure looks like they're doing the same for us.

But we're in the Middle East. Why? 9/11 was an attack from al Qaeda. Yet the War on Terror has expanded to nearly all groups of Islamic origin that, well, disagree with what we think. That's the same attitude from Wordl War II that all Germans were Nazis and vice versa. It isn't true. Where Bush has failed is keeping the focus on the target. He didn't finish the job with Osama. Iraq not only distracted from that pursuit but split our forces, wasted billions, emboldened Iran, strenghtened the "Islamo-fascists"...

If you're going to fight, isn't it better to fight an enemy one at a time, rather than all at once? But looks at Bush has brought us to: Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia. And those are the fights we know about. The War on Drugs (remember that one?) is still being waged. Yet THAT War is being cannabilized for for the War on Terror. So now you have a War on Drugs where, before we moved in to Afghanistan, there was little Opium being produced to now it's the major world supplier. And arguably we're behind it.

All because of...what?...will we ever now the real reason Bush dragged us into Iraq? It's wasn't al Qaeda or WMDs or Hussein being a threat to our National Security. But Iraq shoudl have taught us that fighting an imaginary enemy can turn real in a very ugly way.

For most of the life of the U.S. there has been this notion that we must spread Democracy to the rest of the world, that somehow our political system is so inherently superior that it must grow, not natural, but forcefully. Who sez?

We do have a great political system albeit one that is quickly being undermined by corrupt and self-serving politicians. But however great our system is its greatness should spread by example not by force. Our way of life should be an illustration of what Freedom entails. That illustration should market and merit itself. By forcing our system on other countries is wasteful, disrespectful, dangerous, and potentially self-defeating. Some call it Imperialism. But however called Freedom must be gained from the inside not forced from the outside.

Look at North Korea. The people are in terrible straights while their Leader has all his Western toys. How long before the discrepancy drives the populace to revolt? It's a matter of time. (Of course, if North Korea has any oil reserves we'd be more attentive.)

The point of this rant is that America's greatness should come by example not by force and our current leaders don't see or understand this. Our greatness can't shine through with a President who can't distinguish between your average Islamic follower and one who's burying the mine trap. But then again our President isn't know for his powers of reasoning or diplomacy.

So I took a break that went on longer than expected.

Am I back? I don't know though, politically, there's plenty to gripe about. On the positive side it looks like - finally - the other half of America is beginning to get an inkle of just how incompetent our current Administration has been and will be. Iraq is a shambles without much hope of getting better. Afghanistan is sinking quickly and bin Laden (remember him?) still runs loose. Castro is dying but that's due to old age, not to any action by Bush.

But what I originally planned to write about was the show "American Idol". I made the mistake of watching some of it this past week and have regretted the loss of time. What a piece of garbage! The good singers all sound the same with their cookie-cutter belting out of a musical phrase after musical phrase. There was no singing! It was all blast-and-warble. Or, to put it another way, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Neil Young, and others who are not vocally perfect but are musically gifted wouldn't have made the cut to Hollywood.

Even more painful were the other shows. "Beauty and the Geek", "Armed and Famous"...what utter trash. And, no, I'm not going to pay for cable. That'll just get me 900 channels of more trash. Of course, I'll get movies, great movies, CLASSIC movies, like "Jackass 2" or other attitude-loaded crap.

No thanks.