All of this bothers me deeply; however, I think it is the pure lack of communication from Sony, and the uncaring disposition they have towards their customers currently. Not to mention that it is the 7th of May and they still are not being completely forthcoming about this event… Nor is the Playstation network back up. So for all of those gamers out there who thought that they were going to get their Portal 2 or Mortal Combat fixes, they instead got the best gift of all, identity theft straight from Sony. Thanks!

UPDATE: Shortly after I started working on this post it was discovered that Epsilon knew about the vulnerability that led to this hack for four months… Good job getting right on this Epsilon, now we the consumers are the ones to pay for your laziness!

As a Company, Southwest Airlines is going to support ‘Red Fridays.’ Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed One of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen. Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camos. As they began heading to their gate, everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering. When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and Cheered for, it hit me. I’m not alone. I’m not the only red-blooded American who still loves this country and supports our troops and their families.

Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal.

Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our Service men and women, a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old ran up to one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said ‘hi…’

The little girl then asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her…

The young soldier, who didn’t look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.

The mother of the little girl, who said her daughter’s name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her daughter Courtney missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up.

When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second… Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military-looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it..

After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, ‘I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you.’ He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying ‘your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon.’

The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet, he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event.

As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last act of selflessness turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek.

We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it’s good to be an American.

Red Fridays
Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing red every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the ‘silent majority’. We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers.

Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday – and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that.. Every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar will wear something red.

By word of mouth, press, TV — let’s make the United States on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers.

If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family. It will not be long before the USA is covered in RED. The first thing a soldier says when asked ‘What can we do to make things better for you?’ is…We need your support and your prayers.

Let’s get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example.

Facebook is the obvious choice; however, they have little to gain from the Myspace name. There are only two viable options in my opinion. Google or Apple. Google is quick to pickup properties from all over the web, some of which have little to do with the search giant. Remember though, Google has been looking more and more into social, with there instant search for example. There have also been rumors of a Google social network. “Google Me” as it has been rumored would replace there now existing profiles and could use the boost from Myspace.

Apple on the other hand is dark horse in this race. While Apple may have the money to pay cash up front for Myspace, it is unlikely given Apple’s tradition for “perfection”. Apple has a lot to gain from Myspace, there sad attempt at a social network has been anything but a success. Myspace was founded on supporting music and could integrate will into Apple’s Ping.

No matter what happens to Myspace, one thing is for sure, it is quite possible the internet is about to loose one of its biggest icons.

Back in mid December, while at work (that is very important) I strained my back. Now I know proper lifting techniques and I try to take it easy, but back injures are very common and sometimes inevitable. My injury like most others did not display itself until the car ride home. I was off for two days so there was no possible way I could report it. Three days later, half way through my shift I was is so much back pain I filled out an incident report. So far everything seemed like any other work place injury; they sent me to the doctor to determine what the extent of the injury was.

By now it is about a week until Christmas, one of the biggest times of the year for online retailers. The doctor determined my back injury was a sprain and ordered physical therapy. With Christmas right around the corner my number one priority was supporting my family. Like most money has been tight, and with all the overtime at work, I just didn’t have time to make it to physical therapy.

A few days after Christmas I had my follow up appointment with the work doctor; needless to say she was unhappy that I was unable to make physical therapy. I started treatment after the New Year and managed to get to sessions in. Meanwhile the insurance adjuster was trying to get a hold of me, or should I say playing phone tag… Finally several days later I managed to get a hold of her at 8:00 in the morning, at which point she took my statement.

A few more days passed and I got a call from physical therapy (not workers comp.) that my claim has been denied. At that point I didn’t know what to do, so I talked to the risk manager at work (who was less than helpful) and she knew nothing about my claim being denied, recommended I use my own insurance and directed me to go to the doctor for my follow up a whole two weeks early.

That night the doctor was a little suppressed to see me, and after I told her what had happened, she relayed that she was having similar problems with workers comp and my risk manager. She told me that if my claim had indeed been denied, I would not be in there for an office visit. At the end of our roped, she referred me to a specialist who knows how to work with workers comp.

The next day I got a call before work that workers comp denied my claim to see a specialist. So now, almost a month latter, still in pain and with only two physical therapy visits I have to ask… What good is workers comp!?