Free In Idaho!

I noticed that a lot of people in the Boise area are very supportive of the two Boise lawyers who will be joining the team that will defend the Gitmo detainees against the eeeevil Bush Administration.  After all, they aren’t like us and they’re just following their Religion of Peace.

I wonder if the same justice minded folks could gin up a little enthusiasm and support for defending those people in Texas that just had their homes raided and their kids taken away from them?   Hmmm…?  But probably not.  After all, they’re not like us, and they’re just following their Religion of Perversion.  Good thing the Sheriff had an armored personel carrier too.  You never know when you’re gonna have another Waco on your hands.

Has anyone else ever tried to renew a PC-cillin subscription?  The software on this Dell laptop expired last week.  I dutifully tried to renew it before it expired, clicking to their very helpful and convenient online renewal page.  Went all the way through the form, hit “submit”, and it coughed me to an error page.  Odd.  Let it sit a couple days to make sure my credit card didn’t get tapped.  And then this morning, it pops up and reminds me that I haven’t renewed yet.  Alright.  Check the credit card statement online and, no, they didn’t tap it.  So I tried again.

Open the virus software; yes, I know I’m expired, that’s why I’m here; click to the handy renewal page; make my selection, read the legal boilerplate, fill in the form, click submit…

Same silly error as last time.  Grrrr.  So I used their handy email link to contact Customer NoService and ask what might be the problem. And they replied thusly,

Thank you for contacting Shop eCommerce for Trend Micro

There could be a couple of reasons why you are receiving an error message while trying to purchase. Please verify you are entering all information accurately:

• The billing name should match that of the credit card you are attempting to use
• If your credit card is not listed as a company credit card, please leave the company name field blank. Entering information into the credit card field that is not associated with the credit card, such as “Home, self, or retired” will cause the transaction to fail. If a name must be entered please enter the billing name of the credit card into the company name field.
• The billing address should match exactly to that of the Credit Card you are trying to use.
• The CSC number must match the Credit Card
• The checkout button should only be clicked once, not multiple times.
• You might have forgotten to choose a shipping method. Please choose the option that best fits your needs.
• Make sure you are filling out all the required fields.  

Kind regards,

Shop eCommerce for Trend Micro

I’m sorry.  I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I HAVE used the internet and my credit card together.  More than once, in fact.  Over the last few months I’ve arranged for hotels, a couple airline flights, purchased a gun, ammo, many books, some clothing, home furnishings, a couple of classes, scheduled a number of professional appointments, and I’ve managed to keep a couple of websites running. I’ve got the internet form routine down pretty well, but you know, maybe I did make a mistake.  So I go through it all again, making doubly sure to spell my name right, put in the right address, and fill in all the little yellow boxes with red asterisks beside them.  Double check it all.  Click submit (only once, because sometimes I’m a fast learner).  And it all coughs up on me again, and gives me the little helpful email link again, so I can confess that I’m a helpless dolt.

I guess they want me to try a different security suite now.  Cool!  Does anyone have a good suggestion for an internet security software suite that might actually work?  I’ve got to tell you, I’m not feeling really “secure” about PC-cillin anymore.  What’s the saying? 

You’re fired!