R.I.P. Rocky

On the day that the rest of the world was mourning Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, our family was mourning the passing of our hamster, Rocky.

Rocky was young - only about 8 months old - but had very recently exhibited signs of illness, including lethargy, bloating and constipation. We believe he did not suffer long.

Nine-year old Molly clearly was the most devastated as Rocky belonged to her and although she knows people who have died, this was her first experience with death on a more personal level. I give her a lot of credit. Initially she did not want to see Rocky's body, but she eventually changed her mind and actually petted him one last time. As one might imagine, there has been a lot of crying in our home the last couple of days.

He died on Thursday and that evening I wrapped him in white Bounty paper towels and he lay in state overnight in a Kenneth Cole shoe box. On Friday afternoon, we held a brief service in which we all spoke about how much we loved Rocky and what he meant to us. I read a poem we had found on the web written by another young girl who had lost her hamster. Rocky then had a burial at sea (or at least, at Hudson River).

We were all affected by this cute little fellow whom everyone that met him adored. As much as a hamster can have a personality, he certainly had one, and even though all the books we read said that they don't like to be handled closely, he was most comfortable in Molly's cupped hands and sometimes even fell asleep in her lap while she watched TV.

Molly asked if we could get another hamster in the fall. My first question was, "Do we name him Rocky 2?" And will the next ones be 3, 4 and 5 - or should we start calling them Rambo?

Rest in Peace Rocky. We will miss you.

When Did I Become a Follower?

I noticed it some time within the last year, when one person said it to me. Then it happened a few more times. Now, I seem to be hearing it an awful lot, including twice today before 11AM.

When standing in line waiting - for a cashier at the store, at Starbucks, to check-in at a hotel - I used to be called up, hearing "Next customer," or "Next guest." Now, all I seem to hear is "Following customer."

I am sure that some marketing guru published a paper on this since it seems to have become a trend. The problem is that I really don't like it.

Being "next" has a connotation that you are now going to be taken care of. You waited for your turn and now you are the next one who will be served. It has a sense of achievement, a sense of finality. You have made it to the head of the line. You have won something - even if it's only the right to have your purchases rung up.

Do people (not you - other people) watch "America's Following Top Model" or "Star Trek: The Following Generation"? Does the teaser at 10:59PM say "Coming up following on Eyewitness News?" Does the announcer say, "Caitlin Bree, come on down! You're the following contestant on The Price Is Right?" Do you ship things "Following Day Air?"

No. Of course not. You're not the following customer, you're the next customer. Let's suppose you approach the panel of tellers at an otherwise empty bank, but the two that are open are busy and looking down. You wait until one of them is ready and usually, they say "Next." If they say "I can help the following customer," who are you following? There's no one else there.

To make matters worse, I'm more of a leader rather than a follower. I don't follow. I don't want to follow. I want to be next.

So to all the stores, hotels, restaurants, banks, etc - just cut it out. No more following. In your best Johnny Olsen or Don Pardo voice just say "Matthew Grob, come on down. You're the next customer to order a latte!" And sound like you mean it.

Cellular Abroad

I was ordering an unlocked GSM phone and SIM card for France from Cellular Abroad for my wife and daughter who will be there next month. It’s a pretty neat concept and all told, a good value – especially since we can use the phone back here in the US once they return as it is unlocked.

I placed my order on their website and after providing all the required demographic and payment information and hitting “Submit”, I received an error message that there was a problem with my order and to please call them, which I did. I spoke with a nice young man who looked at the order and initially said that everything looked okay, but then said “Uh-oh. Here’s the problem. You’re not accessing our website from the same area where the phone is being shipped.”

I was doing this from my work laptop through a VPN connection and our corporate data center is located in the Midwest, so the IP address that was read by their website showed that I was in Minnesota, and not New York where the phone was being shipped.

I was told that since there is big business in fraud related to no-contract phones, their website has numerous fraud prevention methods built in, including matching IP address and shipping location.

The geek in me thought this was the coolest thing ever, and I told him so. This elicited an interesting response – he was very thankful. Apparently, others who get caught by these and other fraud prevention tactics are often annoyed and angry, and he has to deal with these folks. It was an apparent ray of sunshine for him to speak with someone who not only appreciated their efforts, but found them to be cool.

I really am a geek at heart.

So if you’re traveling abroad and need a local cell phone with great rates for calling back to the US, check out Cellular Abroad.