The trend in online-enabled software these days is to have some kind of user agreement, generally that spells out if and how you can distribute the software as well as specifics on use. You agree, often by clicking a button, when you install the software or start the software. Usually, if you don’t agree, you’re kicked out of the software or prevented from installing it. That, I have no problem with, because you are prompted to agree or disagree. I also have no problem with this because you haven’t paid for anything at the point where the prompt occurs, or if you have, it’s generally easy enough to get a refund at that point.

My issue is with companies that change the user agreements at a moment’s notice, after the point of purchase, and remove services you previously had if you don’t agree. Specifically, the Nintendo Wii user agreement has been changed with the latest “software feature update” to state that Nintendo can update your system at any time and that the update may delete games or applications from your system at any time to “protect the safety” of the system. I do not want to agree to this, but if I don’t, my Wii will not function in the way that it was promised to function when I bought it.

Furthermore, if I do agree to the update, Nintendo may update their user agreement again at some later date without notifying me, as that is what is specified in the new user agreement. This further undermines the agreement. What’s more, I’m pretty sure that if I took my car to the dealership for maintenance and as part of that maintenance, without my agreement, they removed my custom radio and replaced it with a standard one, I’d have a legal claim. There is no law to protect consumers from that same sort of shenanigan in software, however.

In short, it’s not a user agreement; it’s a user edict. And it pisses me off.

I have not done the Twilight hack. I have not downloaded the Homebrew Channel. I haven’t really planned to do it, because the features I get aren’t worth the trouble to me (yet). So, I’m not the person that they have in mind in making this change. Nonetheless, I’m pissed off by it. Unfortunately, I have no effective way to express my grievance. I could stop buying Nintendo games, but my one purchase means little. I could write a letter, but again, it won’t mean anything. Nintendo has already dismissed my type as “geeks and Otaku.”

What’s worse to me is that the Homebrew Channel is not hurting Nintendo in any way. It is not sapping revenue from them. It doesn’t allow users to do anything that they shouldn’t already be able to do. Yet, Nintendo is going after it with a vengeance…seemingly just because it’s there.

I do not like this trend in user agreements. First, I’d appreciate the honesty of calling it what it is. Second, I want some consumer protection enacted that would protect software users from abuse of so-called agreements.

You’d think the odd scraping noise I heard as I backed up, in the second or two I had before it happened, would have clued me in that something was wrong. Instead, I thought, “Hmm, that’s an odd noise.”

The good news is that it’s a simple part to replace. The part itself runs around $30-40 unpainted on the internet. We’re going to do some research to see if a nearby junkyard recycling center has one in stock in my car’s color and year, so that we can skip the paint job. It looks like something I can do myself, but I have a back-up mechanic in case I fail.

The better news is that the mirror itself is fine; it’s just the plastic frame. This means my car is still legal to drive.

In other news, I got to visit with a dear friend on Saturday! We played Rock Band, and we had lots of meat. Sadly, the neo-futurists sold out before we could get there. But, it was an awesome afternoon nonetheless. And then, on Sunday, we had folks over and we played silly games (mostly) and watched reality TV. So, it was a good weekend.

Still, yay! I’m shooting for valedictorian this time. I’ve never been valedictorian before. I was 4th in my class in high school, and nowhere near the top in undergrad.

I also have my first class rep meeting coming up the Friday before Thanksgiving week. That should be interesting.

Worst part of tonight: DH driving me to train station where I left my car this morning only to find a dead battery due to me leaving the lights on. Also, spending 90 minutes trying to jump start proving to be unsuccessful…likely SUPER dead battery. Bad experience with roadside assistance suckitude. too tired to write more.

Edited at 9:45am to add: Car is fine now. The tow company that came this morning was able to jump it. Took straight to AutoZone for a battery test, and the battery is good. Must have just been really dead and we weren’t able to get enough juice from DH’s car to get the engine to turn over. (Tow company had one of those super-powered battery zappers.)

Before that though, I voted. I need to explain how my polling site works to make the rest of this make sense. First, they sort you by last name into A-C, D-G, H-L, M-P, Q-Z, roughly. There is one worker per grouping, going through a single stack of voter forms. One thing that is immediately apparent is that these aren’t equal groupings as far as the alphabet goes. What isn’t immediately apparent is that these aren’t equal groupings as far as population distribution either. I don’t know how or why they chose the groupings, but I assume there was some kind of thought process involved. Maybe that’s how the stacks came to them? Anyways, after you sign your voter “application” form and the worker verifies that your signature matches, you take that form over to the line for your district (4 districts at our site, with ours being the largest and closest and thus the most likely to vote), and there is one worker per district. The district worker checks to see what voting form you should get, and gives it to you along with a special voting pen and a privacy screen…then you go to a carol and do some bubbling. Finally, you go to the voting machine that matches your district, slide your privacy-shielded form into the machine, wait for it to bleep and assign you a voter ID, and then you get a sticker and you’re done.

I arrived at the voting site at 6:45am. I had a train to catch, 10 minutes away on a normal day, at 7:37am. First, there was a line out into the hall and back toward the door. A poll worker came into the hall and said that if your name began with A-C, you could go ahead in. Woohoo! So, I head into the polls.

They couldn’t find me in the stack. Scott was there, but I was not. Now, the last time I voted, they had me down as my pre-marriage name, despite me correcting my registration right after we got married. But, I had it changed, voted on a provisional ballot due to the name change, and received an updated registration card. So, it seemed like I’d be all set. But, no. I had to go over to the “laptop desk” which has always previously been the ballot judge, but I guess they decided that was too intimidating. So, now it’s the laptop desk. The person there looked me up and discovered that they did update my name, but they left it alphabetized under my previous name. So, I needed to get in the Q-Z line, which was currently combined with the M-P line and was the line that goes out into the hall and was, by now, about twice as long. But, I reminded myself that I’m a citizen here, not a customer, so I dutifully joined the line without griping. Apparently, the Q-Z person had gone away to try to get security to open up an outside door, as the voting site room was a sweatbox. The AC couldn’t be turned on until 9am, when the “tech staff” for the building arrive.

Fortunately, Q-Z person soon came back, and then we were able to form two lines and it went much quicker. Going to the district table meant another line, as my district had 15 people in line, with no people in line for any other district. ::sigh:: At this point, it’s 7:05am, so I’ve given up on the possibility of getting breakfast on the way to the train. I patiently wait for my ballot. In the interim, I chat with a poll worker about how the day is going. I also note that there is a suited lawyer milling about, helping to guide people to the right line, but also dashing over whenever the “laptop table” has a voter at it or when a question is raised at any other location.

Upon getting my ballot, I go to a carol and start bubbling. I hate bubbling. I miss Palatine’s punchcards, dangling chads and all. I always fear that I will bubble a bit too much outside a line, no matter how much my geek half reminds me that we build in tolerances that would far outscope my careful bubbles. I voted straight Democrat, except for one election where there was only one person running. I also voted for the park district and the school both to issue bonds and be given loans to expand. I debated heavily about the school vote, because I generally vote against school things as I have no kids and no plans for kids. But, I decided that if they expand, they might put in facilities that would be useful to me, as the community center events are often held there.

After bubbling in record time, I proceed to the unsurprisingly long line for my district’s machine. I actually got two “I voted” stickers, so go me! That actually worked out well, because I have one for my work dress and one for my Obama t-shirt (which I’ll change into as soon as my work is done). The machine line went fast, thankfully, and I left the voting office at 7:25am. Now, there’s a vague chance that I might make my train at this point, so I get on the road. But, with traffic, it becomes clear that I’m missing it. There was no backup train for me at Great Lakes but there was one at the Lake Bluff station about a mile or two further south, so I headed there. I ended up driving into a parking space (without having paid) as the train pulled up, so I gathered my stuff and hopped on the train. If Lake Bluff tickets me, I deserve it 2-3 times over, so…

My debate today is whether I stay here for the Obamapalooza or head home on one of the (many) early trains and celebrate at somewhere more comfy and close to home.

On another note, a friend of mine had a funnier anecdote to share from the polls. She has a young son, and they got back from a Disney trip a few days ago. He went with her to the polls. Her son was extraordinarily good, considering the 30 minute process. But, apparently, there was some miscommunication:

As we left, we had the following conversation:

“Thanks for being such a good boy.”
“It was my favorite line, Mama, but where’s the boat?”
“The boat?”
“There was no boat, Mama. There’s supposed to be a boat.”

First, I made a big batch of 6 eggs scrambled with stoplight peppers, onions, and bacon. I cheesed up 2/3 of the batch for my DH’s brunch. The remaining 1/3 was set aside in a prep bowl. I swooshed around just enough EVOO to coat the inside of the pan and waited for it to start smoking on a medium-high heat setting. (This didn’t take long, so make sure you have your ingredients ready.) Then, I tossed in some rice, with some more oil, dropped the egg mixture on top, and started stir frying like a mad woman. I added 6 packets of soy sauce from my local Chinese eatery (eateryeateryeatery) while I stir fried. I occasionally added more oil. I also put in a quick pour of tomato bacon vinaigrette dressing, for flavor. Oh, and I did add a bunch of fiber powder as I stir-fried, because I’m on a “try to get more fiber” kick right now.

The result was delicious! I will probably not do the tomato bacon dressing again, as it made it a little too sweet for my tastes. I also want to add more onion, and I need to buy some sesame seeds! I think, with a little tweaking, I’ll be able to make a fried rice that rivals a Japanese steakhouse.