Let us tell you something…

Thank you Bright House.

Thanks to your Great Customer Service and Fast Responding Technicians I only spent 5 days concerned for the well being of my wife and two small children and aging parents. Who had limited means of communications, no access to 911 emergency services, and felt no sense of security because my home monitoring system works through a telephone system that was rendered useless for no discernible reason.

Thank you for taking your time in responding to an “outage” that was reported by me at 5:30 pm on a Friday. I was told by the telephone representative that a technician would be out that evening, and I never heard from you again until I called back at 11 pm to find out the next available appointment would be Sunday afternoon.

Thank you for finally sending the a technician who was able to diagnose in under 5 minutes and that the problem I had reported 72 hours prior had nothing to do with my in-home system, but was in-fact an external ‘maintenance” issue. That technician informed me he would open a service ticket to maintenance, but made no commitments or estimates on when they could come out because “it was a Sunday.”

Thank you to the customer service representative who informed me on Monday, June 15th, that “Maintenance” was scheduled to come out to our neighborhood on June 30th. And that she would gladly send another technician out to my house to confirm that this problem was indeed a signal issue; never taking into consideration that I was already informed that by the technician who was in my home less then 24 hours prior.

Thank you to the repeated customer service representatives and supervisors who continued to put up with my concerns that I was without any services, for over 2 hours of call-center phone calls that ultimately lead up to someone figuring out that maintenance needed to come sooner then 20 days from the reported outage date.

And most of all, thank you Bright House Networks and their sales representatives that ensured me that having all of my services “on one bill” would be such an advantage. And telling me that “one service is not dependent upon another.”

Thank you for lying to me. I expressed my concerns about having the 911 emergency services reliant upon a Voice Over IP Network that is more susceptible to outages, and I was told that is was a “Bright House Policy” that no phone outages (barring natural disasters) would exceed a 24 hour period because of potential emergency situations.

Oh Yes! Thank you for quantifying my hardship to $24.05.

• Over 100 hours without emergency contact services or home alarm monitoring for over 120 hours.
• Over 4 hours of telephone conversations regurgitating my story to no-less-then 6 customer service representatives and technicians
• Over 5 days without access to information or communications via internet, telephone or television.

I’d say that justifies the $24.05. After-all, I would hate to cause any further inconveniences for you.

Thank you “Bright House Networks” for instilling that confidence in me that makes me question my own judgement as a consumer.

Leonardo Fontes

Bright House Customer? you decide.

http://www.lenfontes.com

CC: Jim Phillips c/o Real Radio 104.1
Greg Dawson c/o Orlando Sentinel

Dear Friends, 

I don’t make a habit of soliciting for donations; however, this year is an exception because it’s personal. We are all going through difficult times, some of us worse then others. I’m taking this opportunity to offer my time and services to support a cause that I believe in, and I’m asking you to do the same.

I am participating in the Disney – Helping Kids Shine Bowl-A-Thon supporting Junior Achievement of Central Florida! The mission of Junior Achievement is to reach students in grades K-12 with economic programs and real world knowledge. The Bowl-A-Thon is Junior Achievement’s largest fundraiser and is vital to the continuing success of the organization. 

Last year, Junior Achievement volunteers touched the lives of more than 101,000 children. This school year, Junior Achievement’s goal is to provide innovative programs to even more children across Central Florida. In order to reach this important goal, bowlers must raise the funds to support the programs that volunteers teach. 

Your donation is an investment in an organization that is committed to insuring that our young people stay in school and have the skills necessary to be employed after graduation. 

Thank you for your consideration and please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have. Your support will make a difference in the lives of Central Florida’s youth! 

I’m not asking for much; a few dollars will go a long way. It’s easy to do. Please click the link below to learn more about Junior Achievement and make a donation to help me reach my goal! 

https://fundraising.intelis.com/jacf/?A=73716�

Thank you in advance for your donation! 

Lenny Fontes

P.S. It’s Tax Deductible

So I was Pinged on Facebook to do these “25 things”

Here goes nothing:

1. I left New York in 1992, and since I’ve lived in Florida, New York and Texas.

2. Throughout the course of my freelance career, I’ve visited over 25 of our 50 states, most within a two-year period. (AL, AZ, CA, CO, DE, DC, FL, GA, IL, LA, MA, ME, MI, MS, NC, NJ, NV, NY, NM, OH, OR, PA, RI, TN, WA, WV)

3. I’ve been hit by a car twice, and never broken a bone.

4. I’ve been married twice. (Never broken a bone.) 

5. I was a virgin until I met my first wife. 

6. Of all the friends and family that have passed on, I still miss my Grandfather the most. 

7. I should have been a social worker, because it seems I’m always finding other people jobs.

8. In the past 12 years, I’ve gone from a “Sandwich Artist” to an I.T. Programmer Analyst, with no official “education.”

9. “If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it all over you.” Is one of my favorite lines from the classic Benny Hill Show, and no one ever thinks it’s funny.

10. I try to be the funniest guy in the room, more often then I should.

11. My wife doesn’t get my sense of … humor, style, smell, taste, family…

12. My mother-in-law is from the town of Brantley Alabama, where there is only 1 street light, and it’s on Main Street. 

13. I’ve always had a low self-esteem; and in moment’s of clarity I realize how stupid and idiotic I am, and then I feel worse.. it’s a never-ending loop.

14. I’m PROUD to say that I met my FIRST and BEST friend in Kindergarten, and he’s still actively in my life even though we’re 1,100 miles away! – Shout out to my Bro Eric (aka Vern)

15. When I moved to Orlando, in 1992, I applied to work for Disney; however, without any marketable skills I was turned down for every position, including “Security Guard” because I didn’t fit the “costume.” {{hint: I was fat.}}

16. I was diagnosed with Bladder Cancer in February of 2006;

17. I quit smoking in 2006.

18. My wife and I have matching Cesarian scars. (Mine was from the partial removal of my bladder.)

19. I miss singing… 

20. I have a hard time separating fantasy from reality; and often find myself lost in thoughts of fancy. Especially after seeing a movie, or playing a video game. 

21. Until I was 18 I wanted to be a roman-catholic priest. (But I didn’t like little boys.)

22. I no longer consider myself an Active New Yorker, now that I’ve officially not been a resident for 18+ years; however, 10 minutes in JFK, LGA or EWR — forgeddaboudid!

23. I’m so disorganized; I never get to do what I want, because I’m always cleaning up after myself.

24. I need to be more creative, and paint, draw, sculpt, sing again.

25. I have an obscene memory for theme-songs and jingles from the 70’s and 80’s, yet I can’t remember what I ate for lunch today.

Ok, I’ve been researching an issue I’m faced with in Flex and I’ve gotten some seriously confusing information. My issue; I have a text field with htmlText that can contain links, and when an end user clicks this link I need it to launch the link in the browser. However, when I first started programming this component, I read that Flex DOES NOT allow you to link within a text field without handling the TextEvent.

So I code for the linkHandler and TextEvent, and still NO Luck.

Then I learn this tid-bit. The text field’s “selectable” property MUST be set to true. So I did that, and Tada! I can click the link and it launched a browser; however, it DID NOT FIRE the link TextEvent.

So what’s changed? Apparently in Flex 2.0 there was this restriction on text fields that REQUIRED you to have a link handler; however, as of release 3 or 3.2 of the Flex framework, if you want the link event to be fired you have to prefix your url in href=”http://my.url” with an event:

here’s the code:

<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" applicationComplete="init()" >
<mx:Text id="displayText" link="linkHandler(event)"  selectable="true" />

<mx:Script>
     <![CDATA[
           private function init():void{
                displayText.htmlText = '<a href="event:http://google.com">Link to Google</a>';
           }

           private function linkHandler(e:TextEvent):void{
                navigateToURL(new URLRequest(e.text), "_blank")
            }

     ]]>
</mx:Script>
</mx:Application>

So why did I have to do this? Because I wanted to track the links that users are following; so I needed to capture the link click event.

Note: The great new added functionality in Flex where you can RIGHT-CLICK a text link and “open in new window” does NOT work on Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Camino or Safari; because of this “event:” notion. Sorry.

in light of the holiday, I thought I’d share some humorous signs, good for a chuckle.

Sign over a Gynecologist’s Office:
“Dr. Jones, at your cervix.”
**************************
In a Podiatrist’s office:
“Time wounds all heels.”
**************************
On a Septic Tank Truck :
Yesterday’s Meals on Wheels
**************************
At a Proctologist’s door:
“To expedite your visit please back in.”
**************************
On a Plumber’s truck:
“We repair what your husband fixed.”
**************************
On another Plumber’s truck:
“Don’t sleep with a drip. Call your plumber..”
**************************
On a Church’s Billboard:
“7 days without God makes one weak.”
**************************
At a Tire Shop in Milwaukee :
“Invite us to your next blowout.”
**************************
At a Towing company:
“We don’t charge an arm and a leg. We want tows.”
**************************
On an Electrician’s truck:
“Let us remove your shorts.”
**************************
In a Nonsmoking Area:
“If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action.”
**************************
On a Maternity Room door:
“Push. Push. Push.”
**************************
At an Optometrist’s Office :
“If you don’t see what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place.”
**************************
On a Taxidermist’s window:
“We really know our stuff.”
**************************
On a Fence:
“Salesmen welcome! Dog food is expensive!”
**************************
At a Car Dealership:
“The best way to get back on your feet – miss a car payment.”
**************************
Outside a Muffler Shop:
“No appointment necessary. We hear you coming.”
**************************
In a Veterinarian’s waiting room:
“Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!”
**************************
At the Electric Company:
“We would be delighted if you send in your payment.
However, if you don’t, you will be.”
**************************
In a Restaurant window:
“Don’t stand there and be hungry, Come on in and get fed up.”
**************************
In the front yard of a Funeral Home:
“Drive carefully. We’ll wait.”
**************************
At a Propane Filling Station ,
“Thank heaven for little grills.”
**************************
the sign at a Chicago Radiator Shop:
“Best place in town to take a leak.”

–Lenny