As a plus size woman, it pisses me the hell off when plus size stores very rarely venture beyond the size 10/12/maybe 14 model. And even then, I wouldn’t be surprised if they still airbrush the hell out of them to straighten out rolls of flab, smooth out curves, accentuate curves, etc. I’ve seen photos of models modeling shirts on Fashion Bug and Lane Bryant, and some of those photos have been so obviously “re-worked” to create a more flattering appearance. This bugs me, because as a plus size woman it would be nice to see a REAL plus size model — aka size 16 or larger — model clothes, without any “fixing” of rolls and fat-induced indentations.

Lane Bryant recently contacted me regarding Inside Curve and the icon collection. While I appreciate the effort they’re making to reach out to plus size women by modeling their clothes on plus size women, I still think there’s still work to be done.

A online friend of mine recently got a rather snobby and uppity email sent to her on Flickr. It was several paragraphs of tl;dr that basically can be summed up into one sentence: I’m a whiny elitist and deep down I’m jealous of your sexy camera, so to make myself feel better I’m going to insult you.

For what it’s worth, the camera in question was a Canon camera that Caitlin had purchased for herself. Canons are awesome cameras, as are Nikons (which this moron put down by referring to them as “wannabe-Canons”).

Whatever happened to people supporting others who enjoy the same hobby as they do? So what if the photos Caitlin took weren’t worthy of a professional photographer magazine? They were pretty damn kick-ass for someone who is just starting out with her very first DSLR.

Grrr. I hate elitist snobs. We all have to start somewhere, you know? What’s the point of bashing people, especially randomly?

P.S. If you’re interested, you can check out my review of the Nikon D40, based on my firsthand experience.

Google has decided that it can’t take the heat, but doesn’t have the sense to stay out of the kitchen. Instead, it’s bitch slapping everyone else – namely, anyone who uses any type of money paying service that Google feels is somehow a threat. These money paying services include PayPerPost, PayU2Blog, Text Link Ads, and many others, I’m sure.

Over the last few days, thousands of blogs that were previously ranked at 2, 3, 4, even 5 and 6, have been dropped to zero, for no explainable reason, other than Google doesn’t know how to play nice.

For what it’s worth, while right now a huge stink has been kicked up, and bloggers and companies are scrambling to find quick solutions while they work on long term changes, I’m relieved that it’s come to this. I never truly understood why Google should be the end-all be-all decider of what site is worthy and what site isn’t. Google ranks sites in the same way many middle schoolers choose their friends. “Well, you’re friends with A, B and C, so you’re in!” or “Well, you’re friends with those losers X, Y and Z, so you’re out. Here is your zero, or if you’re lucky, a 1, you are the weakest link, goodbye!”

And honestly, I never felt that Google’s assessment of websites was consistent. Take jenn.nu, for example. Despite archives dating back to 2001, blog entries almost every day, commenters, exposure on many websites and message boards, and an average of 1000 unique hits per day, Google decided that it wasn’t worth squat. I have been sporting a big, fat zero for jenn.nu since its registration on January 1st, 2007.
And then there’s kitty.nu. Granted, it is a year older than jenn.nu, but it never had the hits that jenn.nu does (less than half!), nor the exposure, yet, until Google’s latest stunt, it had a page rank of 3.

So, what can you do to help yourself and anyone else who has been hit by Google? First, drop AdSense. Second, quit using their search engine. Third, ditch GMail. Fourth, sell your Google stocks, if you have them. As a matter of fact, stop using ALL of their services! And finally, SPREAD THE WORD.

(In doing my part to SPREAD THE WORD, this post will be cross-posted to all of my blogs.)

Thanks to living in a rural area and Comcast’s monopolizing practices, we are stuck with using Comcast as our cable television provider (unless we want to pay out the ass for satellite) and as our internet service provider (unless we want to use dial-up). I resent being stuck with one particular company, especially since they seem to realize that and thus don’t go out of their way to provide any kind of prompt help or information when something goes wrong.

Every little bit some ugly issue with Comcast rears its head. The most recent one happened last week. On Friday, November 2nd, I called Comcast to find out how much my bill was. I was quoted with X amount by two different representatives, as I was accidentally disconnected during the first phone call and had to call back. Once I confirmed that X amount was indeed the amount owed, I made a payment online. By Monday morning, that payment had cleared out of my account.

So, going on the assumption that our bill was paid, imagine my surprise when, on Wednesday morning, I discovered that we had no cable television service or internet service. And without internet service, we have no phone, since we use Vonage. More than a little annoyed, I went over to my mother’s house to use her phone (we do not get good cell phone reception where we live). I called Comcast, and was told that our service was suspended because there was still money owed on the bill. I was told that while I paid X amount, I really owed Z amount. The phone monkey had no answer as to why I was quoted the same, incorrect amount by not one but TWO other phone monkeys. I was very annoyed, but agreed to pay the difference owed between Z amount and X amount.

Now we move on to payment fun. Comcast has a policy where checks are accepted, but if service is suspended, that check must clear before service will be restored. As I’m sure you know, it can take three to five business days (remember, I was calling on a Friday!) for a check to clear. Now I was pissed, because as I informed the rep, I did not have a credit/debit card for my checking account, because it was a new account and the card had not yet been sent out. I told the rep this, and he blew me off as if I never said anything, yapping on about paying with a credit/debit card. I told him AGAIN, after reprimanding him for not listening, that I did not HAVE a credit/debit card, and would be paying with a check. I also informed the phone monkey that I should NOT have to wait for a check to clear in order for my services to be restored, because it was not my fault in any way, shape or form that I was quoted the same, incorrect amount by TWO different Comcast representatives.

After speaking to a brick wall, excuse me, the Comcast representative, for another five minutes, and getting nowhere, I demanded a supervisor. It was like talking to another brick wall with a different voice. By now I was through being nice, and told her straight out that I was disgusted with her inability to LISTEN, and beyond disgusted with the incompetency of the apparent idiots Comcast hires to man the phones. She finally agreed to take a check and restore our cable services immediately, but would be unable to do anything about the internet service. Go figure. The one service I really want and NEED (for our phone, and also so I can work!), she can’t do anything with. I asked her how she can work at a job that does nothing but infuriate and inconvenience customers, but surprisingly, I didn’t get an answer.

In the end, I got nowhere, except to vent my frustration to two fucking idiots, and had to drive twenty miles each way to the bank and Comcast service center to pay the remainder amount in order to have our services turned back on.

TELL me you wouldn’t be pissed if you had the situation I had to deal with.