Getting on the pulpit on this Saturday afternoon while waiting on my new power source...

Was interesting to read about Illinois Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jack Ryan dropping out after parts of his divorce papers were unsealed earlier this week that were, to say the least, quite embarrassing to him. Seems he was married to the actress Jeri Ryan, best known for her roles as the alien crew member Seven of Nine in the sci-fi series "Star Trek: Voyager" (remember the rather tight outfits the producers would have her wear?) and later as a teacher in the FOX series "Boston Public". According to the court papers, he took her to sex clubs in New Orleans, New York and Paris and attempted to pressure her to perform sexual acts in those clubs in from of others. She claims that she resisted such attempts, and that although he promised not to take her to such places again he did so and was angered when she said "No".

I don't blame her. HE'S JUST A FREAK WHO JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT "NO" MEANS! He should have known if he had political aspirations that this stuff would have come out sooner or later. Although it may have been sealed on good grounds origainlly --- to protect their son, now nine years of age --- it's simply not good grounds to maintain the openness of the court system, and the court was proper in unsealing the records. Tough luck, sucker!

Lakeland Electric is not the most customer friendly utility in the area when it comes to an area one would think it would want to be...paying one's bills. Most utilities allow you to pay your current charges online using your credit or debit card without requiring you to switch to an automatic monthly setup. Most customers don't want to go that route because 1) we want to insure the funds are in our account, and 2) we may not be able to pay the full amount and need to make arrangements accordingly. Not Lakeland Electric. The only option they allow online is for automatic monthly payments. Otherwise you've gotta mail it in or head to their offices on U.S. 98 before 5:00 PM or downtown before 6:00 PM. This from a company with a notorious reputation of waste and for the first time in it's history will post a loss. Maybe it's time for a little better customer service.

And on a good note, kudos to the folks at Gateway Customer Service. I posted earlier in the week that my power supply fried on my Gateway computer, forcing me to rely on my backup IBM Aptiva and it's Windows 95 for a few days until Gateway sends me a replacement power supply via UPS. The IBM is three years old and is a bit slower, but at least it allows me to stay online in the meantime. That said, the Gateway CS reps have been very kind, professional, and patient throughout my calls while we went through everything to ascentain the issues and finally determined the problem. If everything runs according to plan, the power supply should arrive Monday or Tuesday and I should be back on the Gateway computer within a day or two of that.

It too bad that the Gateway stores closed. I purchased my 'puter at the store here in Lakeland; it closed last year as most of the Gateway stores were starting to shut down. It's a top notch machine, and the support has been very good as well.