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Illustrator and indesign session with Zaid Mehiar

By: Lars JCEF MFP

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Illustrator and indesign session with Zaid Mehiar - Video

Dear Whomever is in Charge of Customer Service for DirecTV:

All I wanted was to watch the game.

I was back in my hotel room after a long day and I figured, what better way to unwind? Now, the game wasnt available on the hotel channels, but Ive got that League Pass service you offer and one of its perks supposedly is that you can watch the game right on the ol iPad.

So I got out the ol iPad and I fired up the app and I retrieved the password and I tried to sign in and nothing happened, so I called you guys and the robot lady answered and told me to OPRIMA NUMERO DOS if I wanted to conduct my business in Spanish, which I didnt, so I didnt and I said yes when the robot lady asked if I was a subscriber and I gave her my phone number when she asked for it and then she asked me to tell her what I wanted, and I tried to explain twice but she didnt get it, so I told her I had a question about League Pass and she gave me this long spiel about how I could buy League Pass, which I didnt need to do, since I already had it, so I asked the robot lady to connect me with technical support and she said she would and thats about when she hung up on me, so I called again and I went through the whole thing again and this time I got to a human being who listened to my problem and what I had done to solve it, expressed remorse, then told me to do the same things I had done, which had not worked the first time, and when I did and it didnt work again, this person transferred me to another person who also expressed remorse and then, reading from a manual, told me to do the thing I had done, which hadnt worked the first two times, and when I explained this, transferred me to a third person who dutifully expressed remorse and quickly concluded he could not help me and told me to contact the NBA.

By this point, the game was at halftime. I gave up.

So anyway, Mr. or Ms. Whomever is in Charge, heres the thing: Can I talk to a human being next time? Ill pay extra if you simply have the phone answered by someone with a pulse.

Not just you. I make the same offer to my cellphone company, my Internet provider, the electric company and the bank. I am willing to pay more if it means that when I call your company, my call will be answered by an actual, knowledgeable human being who will listen to my problem and solve it.

That doesnt seem much to ask. Once upon a time, it wasnt. But that was before technology made our lives simpler and more convenient. It was before the age turned distant and impersonal and human beings became cost inefficient. It was before someone got the bright idea to let robots answer the phone.

Meaning not just machines that use voice recognition software to misunderstand what youre asking for and route your call to the wrong department, but also those human robots who, once they do get your call, read mechanically from a script that requires them to express remorse for your problem, explain why they cant fix your problem, try to up sell you on some new service that does not address your problem, then ask if you are satisfied with how they have resolved your problem.

Those old movies that told us how machines would take over the world had it wrong. One does not see human skulls crushed beneath robot feet. No, one just sees human spirit crushed beneath robot customer service. One misses the days when companies employed actual people to serve actual people and if they were occasionally surly, clueless or unhelpful, they were at least real -- capable of acknowledging your presence.

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Is it too much to expect a human to answer the phone?

By Rick PedoneSports Editor

Osceola will play Miami Gulliver Prep in a rematch of a Miami Slamfest tournament semifinal two weeks ago. Gulliver Prep won that game, 1-0.

After spotting Marist a 1-0 lead in the first, OHS scored three times in the second inning on a two-run double by Pat Ortiz and an RBI single from Kali Jones.

The Lady Kowboys rode the pitching of Kenya Pereira, who recorded her second straight complete game at the tournament to earn the victory.

Osceola, 18-2, reached the semifinal round at the Klassic for the first time since 1996.

"The thing about this team is that everyone knows their roles," Lady Kowboys Coach George Coffey said. "We don't have any superstars, just a bunch of great kids that get along and are a ball to be around. They've got a little bit of a swagger, but they aren't overconfident by any means."

St. Cloud battled Ida Baker High in the White bracket quarterfinals, scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie, but Baker got the winning run in the top of the seventh to win, 3-2. St. Cloud, 10-7, plays at 10:45 a.m. Saturday in the consolation bracket.

The championship games in both brackets begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Osceola County Softball Complex. Tickets are $10.

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OHS in Klassic semifinals

And you dont have to buy one of those fancy pre-packaged kits either. The basics of egg-dyeing only require a package of multi-color food coloring, vinegar and boiling water.

Just mix one-half cup of boiling water with a tablespoon of vinegar and 10 to 20 drops of food color in a cup, depending on the desired color. Repeat for each color.

If you are feeling more ambitious, you can explore online for other techniques such as sponge painting, crackle color and even tie-dyeing.

For those of you with kids, Kissimmee and St. Cloud both have Easter egg hunts scheduled for today (Saturday).

My friends in the know, like Andrew Sullivan, Osceola News-Gazette staff photographer, brings his daughter to these insanely popular events, despite the bedlam. I guess that is part of the fun.

In St. Cloud, the Eggstravaganza (there should be a law or something forbidding Egg in words like this) will be held today from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. at Stephanie Leigh Rothstein Memorial Park.

St. Clouds event has gotten so large it has been moved from Peghorn Nature Park to the Stephanie Leigh Park at 2701 Missouri Ave. Some 8,000 plastic eggs will be hidden with four age groups hunting for eggs. Three-year-olds kick things off at 9:15 a.m.; 4 to 5-year-olds get their turn at 9:30 a.m.; 6 to 7-years at 9:45 a.m. and 8-9 years is at 10 a.m. Special Easter baskets will go to the child in each group who finds the golden egg.

The cost is $2 per child and it includes the hunt, crafts and face painting. Refreshments and a photo with the Easter Bunny are available for additional cost.

Kissimmees Easter Eggstravaganza kicks off at noon (If you hop to it from St. Cloud, your kid can go to both events) and continues until 3 p.m. at Shingle Creek Regional Park (2491 Babb Road).

The Kissimmee event has a $5 admission but it includes the Easter egg hunt, face painting, bounce houses, games, candy and raffles. Call 407-518-2346 for more information.

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We’re on the bunny trail. Easter events in Central Florida to put a little hop in your step

Italy was in suspense on Saturday ahead of President Giorgio Napolitano's expected proposal for who should lead the eurozone's third-largest economy after elections that left no clear winner.

The latest round of talks aimed at breaking the deadlock ended on Friday with no solution in sight after the three main political forces proposed different visions for a future government.

Pier Luigi Bersani's centre-left coalition, which secured the most votes in the February elections but failed to win a majority, ruled out an alliance with Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right grouping which came a very close second.

Berlusconi has said a cross-party deal is the only viable solution.

The other option outlined by analysts would be a government composed of non-political figures like the outgoing one of Prime Minister Mario Monti, a former European commissioner drafted in after Berlusconi's 2011 ouster.

The anti-establishment Five Star Movement party has said it will not support a government with party politicians but has left open the possibility of backing a technocratic government and backing laws on a case-by-case basis.

Italians fed up with austerity and politicians' perks voted in their millions for the Five Star Movement led by former comedian Beppe Grillo, which won a quarter of the vote and became Italy's single biggest party.

Developments in Italy are being closely watched by European capitals under similar pressures over budget cuts, as well as investors concerned that Italy could plunge back into the turmoil of the eurozone debt crisis.

The budget discipline and economic reforms that Monti has managed to implement have however kept the financial market wolves at bay so far and stocks and bonds have been relatively muted despite the political crisis.

Monti will remain in charge until a new government is formed, although he has been governing with interim powers since December when lawmakers from Berlusconi's People of Freedom party withdrew their parliamentary support.

The rest is here:
Italy awaits president's word to end political impasse