Yankee Tag Blog

Well, it’s not $800, but I talked those Mexicana jerks into sending me an extra $140 over their previous offer. The thing is, I still feel like they’re trying to rip me off. The worst part is, it would only take them $160 to make this right, at this point. Here’s what I got from Jaime:

Dear Nathan:

My last and up authorization is $540USD in a check plus $100USD you received in Cancun, total $640USD, MAXIMUM AUTHORIZATION FOR THESE CASES.

I need your information about your address for to send you this check, before I need the papers and info. I asked you, It is neceesary you will be contact a serius company for the reception (to my attention), after I will ask for the ckeck (aprox time for reception is 20 days in labor not included sat & sun).

I will hope your reply, best regards,
Jaime Suárez López
Atención a Clientes
Cía. Mexicana de Aviación, S.A. de C.V.

Well, I will accept (since $640 > $0) but I will not go quietly. I’ve started a petition to let Mexicana know how much business they’re losing by saving $160. Please go sign my petition at http://www.petitionspot.com/signature/nomexicana to vow to never fly on Mexicana!

I’m moving.

I have these fantastic 90-year-old, Japanese landlords who are multi-millionaires and who refuse to ever buy anything new. Not anything, ever. And I know, I know, that they are going to keep my $1000 deposit unless I clean everything in my apartment so well that it looks exactly like it did in 1932 when they bought it.

So, like I said, I’m moving. And packing, and cleaning, and basically repairing their craphole apartment now that I’m not going to live in it anymore. Below is a Venn diagram I created which illustrates in graphic detail (I love puns) the parts of moving that I do (and don’t) like.

Very funny video from YouTube.

I mentioned earlier the new Spamoscope project I’m working on with St.Ofle. The project entails publishing a gibberish spam message every day on our Spamoscope.com site. To offset the cost, we included a Google AdSense bar on the side of the page. AdSense works by “reading” the content on the site and trying to match ads to that content. For example, if you made a site about something called a “Yankee Tag” and wrote about Mexicana losing your luggage, you might see ads for luggage tags, Mexicana flights, and Yankee-themed products. While the algorithm isn’t perfect, I think it pairs ads to sites pretty intelligently.

The beauty of the Spamoscope site is that the content is extremely random. Which makes the ads extremely random and (although odd) typically well-targeted to the site. Today I looked at the site and noticed that the predominate themes in the Spamoscope were violence and aggression. Care to see what the ads were? (Note: not for the easily offended)

See it here: Spamusement

I received the following:

Hello,My names is Debra and I am working for Mexicana Airlines. I am have

writing to you for so you can talks to me more about your lost

luggage. The problems is that always Mexicana offer you less than you

worth so that you can accept. You are a poker player? Same thing. You

give me your number lost claim number and I'll do what I can ok?

Are you having receipts for your lost luggage?

- Debora

Unfortunately, “Debora” is St.Ofle. Nice try Ashton.

I find that I’m quickly getting high in the rankings for the term “mexicana lost luggage” on Google thanks to my post about how they lost my luggage and are taking forever and a day to compensate me. (To catch up new readers: It all started when…) The update is they offered me $400, even though they lost over $800 worth of luggage and clothes, ruined my trip (ok, not really, I had a blast), and cost me over $1100 to replace it all. I told them that wasn’t acceptable at all. They’ve yet to write me back. Now it’s time to play hardball.

Dear Mexicana,

I hope you like bad publicity.

Sincerely,

Yankee Tag

Do you work at Mexicana? Fix my problem by offering me the full $800 that I claimed on my lost luggage form by e-mailing me at mexicanablows@yankeetag.com

I’m working on a new project with St.Ofle called Spamoscope. The idea stems from a blog by St.Ofle describing his use of those garbled, gibberish spam messages we all get. You know the ones that don’t even seem to be selling anything? The idea is that they are, in fact, useful as a horoscope of sorts. A Spamoscope. Check daily.

So it seems like it’s taking forever for 24 to resume. Come November/December I’m usually chomping at the bit, but even more so this year, since last season basically sucked. I spent this morning searching google for Jack Bauer pictures (which I find myself doing more often than I should for a straight male…). I stumbled across one of those surveys like “Which Power Ranger are you?” or “Which LOTR character are you?” etc. This one was which 24 character are you? I ended up being the best character second only to Jack Bauer himself:

George Mason, what a guy. Speaking of which, I really need to brush up on seasons one and two.

I just found out I’m ranked number 1 on Yahoo! for the phrase: “sexy cop lingo” now, too. Check it out: me on Yahoo!

I’ve really begun to question the practicality of search engine placement logic.

I just heard back from my pal Jaime at Mexicana. Only four days late! He says…

Mr Nathan Kagey:

Tomorrow across the day you will be receiving my answer.

Best regards,

Jaime Suárez López
Atención a Clientes
Cía. Mexicana de Aviación, S.A. de C.V.

Call me a sucker, but I really want to believe him this time. Mainly because I can’t wait to be receiving his answer across the day. Tomorrow.