Europcar car rental damage scam !

When I was in Australia recently, I needed to rent a car to get around town and such. In the US there is not much difference between car rental places, so I investigated online and made a booking with National.

It turns out National is some how partnered with Europcar. I didn't see a National counter at the Adelaide airport, so I checked with Hertz, Avis, etc. They were all sold out (weird), but I finally figured out that Europcar==National.

Like a good little renter, I declined the obscene insurance offered. I have car insurance and a platinum credit card after all.

Upon returning the car, the guy noted this 'damage' to the left front wheel skirt. Not much all if you ask me. Maybe it was there when I got it. I didn't run into anything while driving !

The Europcar people ask me if I want to wait for the damage assessor to make an evaluation. I say "no thanks" as THIS IS AN AIRPORT AND I HAVE A FLIGHT TO CATCH.

I return home to find a charge of $1180 on my credit card for damages. WTF !?

I call and dispute the claim and then speak to the Visa rental car insurance people. They explain all I need to do, so then I get on the phone to National.

The lady with National was *very* nice and competent. She gave me her name, number, and email address for follow-up. It turns out since I booked through National, they would go ahead and get all the documentation from Europcar.

When I receive it, I notice the only repair bill is $98 for paint touch-up. Hmm. I forward this to the Visa insurance people and they said this means they would only pay out $98. The insurance guy says this is definitely something to pursue with Disputes.

I finally heard back from the Disputes people today. They found in my favor !

I am not the only person who has had this happen. So be careful renting from Europcar !

Dioramas ! What year is it ?

If you are in the 3rd grade, I guess May is diorama month.

But this got me thinking how many dioramas are needed until the hot glue gun and such are mastered. Because I don't think this medium is too educational beyond the craft-skills level.

How about teaching the kids to use Google SketchUp to make a virtual diorama ? Or iStopMotion to make a little educational movie set in a diorama ?

sigh ....

I know it is hot, but get outside !

This is just a quick post to remind you of various great thing you can do outdoors.
And, hey, they are all FREE!

• Yoga in Runyon Canyon
• Shakespeare in Barnsdall Park
• Hiking. Almost. Everywhere.
  
• Grand Performances in Downtown LA
  
• Movies at the cemetery

Skidrow (the movie)

Having lived in downtown LA for several years (in the 90's before it got cool and expensive), in both the Toy Town and Fashion District areas, I know a bit more than the average Angeleno about skidrow.

Skidrow, the homeless, and the addicts are a part of LA that not too many people see. And if they do, they generally try real hard to make sure they don't see it again. Living in the area forced me to observe and deal with the situation.

My primary observation is that most people who stay on skid row are crazy. It is hard to say much more than that, because each person is different. But everyone I ever got to know definitely had some kind of mental, emotional, medical, or addiction issue that effectively made them nuts. They were on the streets because they could not get live any other way.

The best way I found to to deal with the people on skidrow was to treat them like anyone else. I would say 'hi', 'bye', 'excuse me', 'please', and hold doors open just like I do for anyone else. After you see the same person over and over, conversations inevitably occur and you can come to know them as an individual.

I am saying all this to encourage you to watch the documentary 'Skidrow' that came out recently. Hopefully it will raise your awareness and inform your actions regarding the homeless. You can get the movie from Amazon or Netflix.

There is also a special Activist Edition of the DVD available for students and activists that want to raise a group awareness and will help get something done about this growing crisis. You can sign up to host an event at http://skidrow.bravenewtheaters.com. Half of the profits of this Special Edition will go to The Midnight Mission and other homeless shelters.

The Apocalypse begins at BarCamp

I met a guy today who does ground breaking work with digital life. The kind of stuff that could doom the world as we know it. His name was Travis. He seemed nice.

Untitled Burning Man Post

If you recall, I went to Burning Man in 2007. While I was out on the playa, I was interviewed for a as-yet-to-air episode of BURNcast with some other virgins about our experiences.

One of the questions asked was - "How has Burning Man changed you ?". At the time I didn't really have an answer for that. Instead I talked about how a deeply appreciated the art and wonder I found out at Black Rock City combined with the sheer scale of the event.

I have always had the notion that if a thing were completely knowable (like an art museum) that I wanted to know it completely. For example, you can't see all of the Prado or Louvre in a single day. And if I had to leave without seeing everything, I would feel like I had missed out or failed in some way.

Today at BarCampLA, we ran into the host of BURNcast (which was a pleasant surprise). And someone else was giving a talk about Burning Man for people who were interested in going. I sat in the talk mostly to hear what he would say and hear what people would ask. But it all got me thinking about my playa experience again and what it meant to me.

The playa is a vast area where innumerable amazing cool things are happening every single second. It is also scale-free in such a way that its physical boundaries are inconsequential. That amazingly cool thing might be a 600' tower of flame seen by tens of thousands or contained in a small yurt and seen but by a few. It is impossible to see everything, even if you didn't sleep all week. It is the exact opposite of a knowable event.

And in that realization is a certain release and relaxation. Since you can't do everything, you need occasionally make sure you are doing the right thing for you, be willing to change what you are doing at any instant, and revel in the fact that other people are carving their own unique paths in time/space/experience.

Now of course there are people you care about more than others and sharing a path with them for some time is great But so is seeing their path diverge and cross and loop and merge and then go off again in a new direction.

Now off the playa, what the hell does that mean ?

I think I have really started to appreciate that the default world has all these same aspects as the playa. It is just more diffuse. You have to wander longer and through more crap to get to another amazingly cool thing.

And you will miss stuff. Time and space conspire to keep you from doing everything. And it is OK. Somehow knowing that the path I am carving is contained within a giant tangle of paths of the people I care about plus those of complete strangers makes me feel good and mitigates some of the pains of life.

And I need to keep checking in to make sure what I am doing right now is the right thing for me right now, be open to change, seek new experiences, and do what I can to help other people get to their next amazingly cool thing.

A Proud Day

Today at approximately 10:30AM Pacific Standard Time, my 8 year old son decided he wanted his first novel.

340 pages.

No pictures.

Sure, it is based on a video game. But it is a good first book. He can get to A Wrinkle in Time or The Hobbit later.

Tivo Independent Lens Now

Just a quick post to say if you are not Tivo'ing Independent Lens on PBS, do it now. It is great showcase for independent documentaries and dramas.

You won't like every film, but I guarantee you will love some of them.