What was the Question Again?

Well, that was a fun last game of the season and the end result was even better. And Vancouver displayed their amazing car-fire setting skills. Good job, Guys.
Boston wasn't really favoured to win.  At all. I didn't think they'd make it past Tampa but I'm glad I did. This is the most hockey I watched in a long time. Anyways, what I'm rambling about today is basically, good help is hard to find. And it ties in with the Bruins winning the Cup.

I said at the beginning of Game 7, "If the Bruins win the Cup, I'll buy another jersey". They did, and being a good guy that I am went to NHL.com's store to see what I could buy. I'm not big on spending over a certain amount so I remembered seeing a Boston Bruins baseball shirt a couple of months ago. It still showed up in my recently viewed items at the bottom of the page so I thought, "Great, I'll get that."

So when I went to order it, I couldn't. The Choose a Size dropdown box was empty and that wouldn't let me order anything.  Maybe it was my computer?  I had access to another one and same problem.  So I contacted Support:

"Hi,
I tried to order the Boston Bruins "Majestic" baseball jersey
but the Select a Size dropdown doesn't show any options and therefore I
can't proceed with my order.

Please let me know when this has been fixed.
Thanks,
Gregg"

Reading back, I can't believe I used the word "therefore".

So, here's what I got back:

"Dear Gregg,

Thank you for contacting Customer Care at www.shop.nhl.com. We are
always adding new products to our online store; however, due to
manufacturer's schedules, we are unable to provide estimated arrival
times for product replenishments unless otherwise indicated on the website.

We operate a real-time inventory system that updates our web store
catalog according to what is available in our inventory. If an item,
size, or color is not available, we remove it from the Internet store to
avoid any confusion. In addition, we do not have the ability to view
the inventories of other retailers or our land-based stores.

We appreciate your interest in our online store. Please periodically
check back with us to see if we are carrying the product you inquired
about. Do not forget to sign up to be on our mailing list if you want to
be notified about our sales and specials. See details on our homepage.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you, and
thank you again for contacting Customer Care at http://www.shop.nhl.com/.

Sincerely,
Troy H.
Customer Service Representative
Customer Care at www.shop.nhl.com"

So, according to Troy, I shouldn't have been able to see the item on the website. It still didn't explain an empty drop down box. Anyways, like a reply from the government of Ontario (see: May 4th's "Ask and Ye Shall Receive...kind of"), I got a three paragraph response that didn't answer my question.

So what did I do? Simple. I went somewhere else. I picked up this doozy on Amazon: http://www.amazon.ca/Boston-Bruins-Heritage-Sweater-Large/dp/B000CP93D8/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_2 . A little warm for the summer and more that I wanted to spend but I kept my word and now I'm happy.

Special Delivery - New CD Time

It's always a good day when I setup a new CD. That was today. Also my mood's a little better than usual since the Bruins managed to hang on for one more game.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the new CD.  If I didn't own it, I'd probably buy one myself. It's a good follow up to Grows On You and still on my track for The New One's The Best One So Far. For what started as a Blues CD ended up being alright. Most songs are the I-IV-V chord progressions (that was the plan) which doesn't really make for strong songs.  That means the words have to be good. Or listenable. And even though I struggled with some of the lyrics, I think it turned out to be one of the funnier ones. The only non-funny song was the instrumental.

So how does one set up a new Compact Disc? Why, I'll tell you:
For me, once I get the CD mastered from Mark (http://www.sharktankpro.com/), I have a listen and if things are good, it's to CD Baby to set up a new CD.  I used to get extremely nervous setting one up because I didn't want a spelling mistake or anything. After using them for 8 years, it doesn't bother me anymore.

What got me hooked was how it worked.  They basically warehouse the CD for you and send it out if someone orders it.  To make it legit, you can buy bar codes from them.  When I first started making CDs people thought I made my own bar code in Photoshop.  I'm still not sure how to take that.  Once that's setup, you basically have a month to get 5 CDs mailed into them.  What I did new last night was upload wavs to CD Baby after setting the new CD up.  Uploading wavs.  Geeze.  That took a while. It would have been easier to upload mp3 at whatever bit rate they wanted but I don't work there so I don't make those decisions. They used to be really great when Derek Sivers owned it.  When he sold it, it went from being great to pretty good.

What I've been using over the last few years is IndiePool's SMRT CD program for the covers. They do the whole CD setup as well but since I setup my stuff at CD Baby first, they're very accommodating at not having me pay for their whole package.  Also, their support's really good.  And I like the pay-as-you go; there's no way I could unload 1000 of my CDs. I'd love to but I know better. Before I lose my train of thought, I set up a CD with them, sign the agreement, mail them the CD master and upload the artwork to one of the FTP sites. Works great.  Here's their site: http://www.indiepool.com/

The cover I'll finish tonight. It's half done (just the outside). I'll try and think of something halfway funny to put on the inside.
When it's ready to go, I'll make another Blog entry. Over on the right you should be able to hear the new single "In The Bushes."
 
Enjoy.