service rant

I don't know what's going on with companies that do their business online lately, but I haven't gotten proper service from anyone without complaining in over a month. Really, it's ridiculous. We ordered stickers to sell for the movie, and they wouldn't have arrived in time if I hadn't emailed a complaint at how long they were taking (once I complained, they printed and mailed them off overnight that day so that we got them in time). We ordered business cards that were supposed to arrive within 10 days, but they didn't arrive within 20 days and so we didn't have them for the convention. I emailed multiple times with no response, so I called and they printed them and mailed them out within 2 days. I registered a website name for a client on Tuesday, and as of today although my payment had gone through, the info hadn't actually been processed and I still couldn't access the website. I emailed on Thursday and got no response, so today (Saturday) I emailed and said that I had 5 sites with them currently (which I do) and that all further sites would be hosted with someone else if I didn't get an immediate response, and low and behold, the site was up within 2 hours. Really. Ridiculous. I'm having similar trouble with freelance work, where I am not getting paid unless I harass the accountant(s) regularly. I'm starting to get really frustrated with the way things work. Why can't any companies do their job unless I complain that they haven't done their job? Is anyone else experiencing this?

PEZ recap

This should be my last plug about our documentary for a while. Just so you know.

The PEZ convention this past weekend in Cleveland was awesome. Really. I know it sounds strange, but it was great. Even though the three of us drove 13 hours straight overnight getting there, have to wait 5 hours upon arriving at the hotel before we could check into our room, slept very little while we were there, and then drove back 13 hours straight overnight, it was all worth it. We set up a mini studio in our room to film interviews, the guys spent most of the weekend filming rooms or doing interviews, and I spent the bulk of my weekend meeting people, figuring out when people could do interviews with us, and making sure the guys were fed. I walked close to 10 miles during 2 days without even leaving the hotel, and it wasn't that large of a hotel. I didn't even realize it at the time, but looking back, yeah, it was pretty much nonstop walking. But I loved it. I like meeting people, and everyone was so nice and helpful and fun. (Even the older dealers who don't really think we're going to finish this and have a good product were very nice tolerant of us and barely even let on that they weren't taking us seriously.)

The one thing that never ceases to amaze me, though, is the amount of money people sink into their collections. Chris had a (what I thought was reasonable, even generous) $40 allowance on PEZ for the weekend, and then I gave him another $10 on the last day. But he would mention to someone (anyone!) "Yeah, I have a pretty small budget of what I can spend this weekend" they would always reply "Yeah, me too" but it soon became clear that their idea of "small budget" was something like a couple hundred dollars or more. I met an 11 year old who has been collecting for "9 or 10 years" and who must have spent over $500 on PEZ over the weekend, judging by what he told me he had already purchased when we interviewed him on Friday. Intense.

But yes. Much fun. And we have a lot more planned, although there's only one more convention we're going to film, and that's in November. But we have a lot more filming to do, overall.

So yes. That's all the excitement for now. I've actually got quite a few things keeping me busy right now, so it will probably be a while before I can post again. It's good to be busy.

PEZ-a-mania

We're here! Me, Chris, and Chris left Savannah last night at 7:30pm, and we arrived in Cleveland this morning around 9am, slept in the car for an hour, and then started wandering the hotel. We can't check into a room for another 30 minutes or so, so we're killing time in the lobby with their wireless Internet. Looks like it will be a fun weekend, although right now we all just want to take a shower and a nap.

This will probably be my only post from here, but later today we'll start posting photos and updates at our PEZheads - The Movie website, so check there.

Crazy Busy Weekend

Well I had quite a fun weekend. Friday night my friend Angela and I drove to Columbia, SC (a little over 2 hours driving) to see Tiffany and her boyfriend. They were in town just for the weekend, and I haven't seen Tif in almost 2 years, and I've never met her boyfriend, so that's why we drove there. We had sushi and coffee and yakked about college and stuff we did 4 and 5 years ago... it was fun. Then Angela and I drove back home, and I was in my bed by around 1:30am.

Then Saturday, my brother and his girlfriend came up to visit from Jax. We wandered downtown and went to Fort Pulaski and such. I haven't seen them in ages, too (at least 8 - 10 months). We had fun. It was really hot, though, and I think we all baked in the sun. So we spent some time just hanging around in my apartment playing with Google Earth. If you think google maps are fun, you've gotta download Google Earth. We were zipping around the world, looking at my grandparents' house in rural Indiana, visiting the Eiffel Tower and the Colisseum... I love this program. (Chris and Matt's girlfriend were entirely uninterested... those losers). I always sucked at Geography, so I guess this stuff is fascinating to me because I feel like I can see stuff and get a better sense of the layout of things. Especially if I have an aerial view of "That's Grandma's house, and there's the country store we always go to, and that's where they are in relation to each other" and stuff. Much fun.

I think that's about all the excitement for the weekend. Much fun. And this weekend we go to Cleveland for that PEZ convention. Oh, the excitement never stops!

Not much to say

Katie was here over the weekend for a visit, and we had a lot of fun. It was great to just spend time, hanging out with her. And we watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which I was interested in seeing because it has Alexis Bledel (Rory from Gilmore Girls) in it, and I think she rocks. It seems like the movie was filled with TV actors, because another of the main characters was Joan of Arcadia, and some West Wing guy was in it, too. If you check some of the other actors on IMDB, lots of them have at least made TV drama appearances. Anyways. I was expecting it to be pretty lame, but was surprised to find that it actually have a good deal of emotion... I liked it. It was a good sappy girl movie. And I hate sappy girl movies.

My bro and his girlfriend are coming to visit this weekend, so I'll have another weekend of playing tourist and tour guide. Should be fun. The only things I like about Savannah are the things I take people around to when they're visiting, and I don't do those things regularly, so I love company.

Aaand... that's it. I'm out.

I'm a PEZhead

As many of you know (but some may not), Chris and I, along with our film major friend Chris, are making a documentary... about... PEZ. Go figure. Anyways, we're going to Cleveland at the end of the month to film a huge PEZ convention. Should be all kinds of fun. And I've had a website built for our venture for months (literally. Months.) but I just now made it live for the world to see, because I had to wait for a few kinks to be worked out with the Chrises (How DO you pluralize Chris, anyways? Is it Chriss, Chris's, Chrises, or maybe Chreese?). Yeah, this post is getting ridiculously rambly. So anyways.

The point is, go check out our website for PEZheads - The Movie. This month the guys are really getting their butts in gear with it, so there should be semi-frequent updates and such. Hoorah.

Guest(s)

My good friend Katie is coming to visit from Gainesville... she should be here sometime this afternoon. I'm excited. She was supposed to come visit last summer, but the hurricanes kept canceling our plans. Not this time! Dennis will not stop us!

I've only gotten far enough in our plans to know that we're going to Sakura for their sushi lunch special ($4.95 for two rolls, salad with ginger dressing, and tea! You can't beat that!) ... then we'll probably just wander downtown.

Sunday night her husband and father will be staying with us after their Re-Trek a bit north of us, then they'll all head home Monday. Should be fun.

After the weekend

Man, it's hard to return to work after a long weekend. It was a pretty good weekend, too. We spent lots of time with friends, which is the best, in my opinion. Thursday night was Girls' Night at my house... I made my homemade tabouli, and we just hung out for a while. Friday night we met with the other Chris about our PEZ movie (business cards and stickers have been ordered)... Saturday night we went over to Chip and Chris's house, and Angela fed us leftover enchiladas (yum!) ... and then we hung out, and then we watched a strange video-game movie called eXistenZ. Sunday I did work for half the day, and then Angela came over and we hung out forever... and then MONDAY, my Chris made lasagna, and Angela and Robbie came over to eat it... then they left to study and go to work and such, and then Angela and Chip came over that night. We were supposed to go downtown for fireworks, but I wasn't feeling up to it (girl stuff) so we hung out instead. Which, I think, was more fun than standing shoulder-to-shoulder on River Street with 85% humidity to watch some fireworks. I mean, Disney World spoiled me forever from normal fireworks, anyways.

So yes. Good food and good friends makes for good times. Not a bad way to spend the weekend.

But the fun doesn't stop there! This Friday, Katie comes to town for the weekend. It will be the first time she's made it up to Savannah, so I'm looking forward to showing her around. I'm sure it will be more good times.