What I've Learned in 2010

• When you love someone, there is never enough time.
• Comic Books = Happy
• I cannot start a conversation in my head with someone and finish it out loud.
• Everyone needs to have a good local Chinese take-out restaurant.
• I’m mostly obsessive compulsive about things that don’t really matter.
• I’m allowed to be happy and show it.
• It took 30+ years of stubbornness, but I actually appreciate my family.
• I enjoy not having to worry about money all the time.
• My job doesn’t define me.
• I’m not really a big city person.
• I’m not really a corporate person, either.
• I could live in New Mexico.
• It’s hard to watch people get older.
• I tend to read the comments people make on online news articles.
• I fear for our country’s future.
• I’m not a republican, at all.
• In order to have common sense, you need to have experience.
• I’m a lousy liar.
• Comcast is the worst company, ever.
• Ever!!!!
• People, who live in glass houses, truly do enjoy throwing stones. I enjoy the ricochets.
• Life is good.

WTF: What the Fruit?

So, Dawn and I were watching television last night, when a commercial came on that pointed out how I have some real blind spots in my Pop Culture knowledge. The commercial was for Fruit of the Loom and it was a music video parody starring their familiar mascots, The Fruit Guys.  As I watched the Apple sing beside the Grape, I realized that I had no idea what the other two fruits were.  I wasn't alone, when I asked Dawn, she had no idea either.  I made a mental note and continued to watch "Air Jaws", which is just one of thousands of reasons why I love Shark Week.  So today I decided to investigate and found out that "The Fruit Guys" actually have a website.  The members are as follows: Apple, Purple Grape, Green Grape, and Leaf.  So, this knowledge now leaves me with ton of other questions... 

• Why are there two types of grapes?
• Why is Purple Grape not called by it's real name Red Grape?
• Why are citrus fruits not represented? 
• A leaf, while it is part of a fruit plant, is not a fruit itself; so why is it there?
• What are the orange colored fruits in the Fruit of the Loom logo and why are they not represented?
• Is there such a thing as ethnic diversity in fruit?

Ok, so these are my questions.  I'll continue my quest to find the answers to these "Fruitful Ponderings"... I'm gonna quit now before I make anymore "un-a-peel-ing" fruit puns......damn it.

It's Finally Over!! Freedom Never Seemed so Obvious.

For those of you who have been following the drama, the negotiations are finally over. Late yesterday afternoon I received word that the goal has finally been reached, MySpace set me free and deleted my vacant page:

From: "MySpace.Com"
To: "Jack Bunja"
Date: Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 3:58 PM
Subject: My email has changed [Incident: 100721-004809]

Hi Jack,
We appreciate you bringing the profile to our attention. After further review, the account (myspace.com/74273330) has been scheduled for deletion.
NOTE: If there is another page that you were referring to, please provide us with the URL/link.
If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to write back.

Sincerely,
The MySpace Support team

From: "Jack Bunja"
To: "MySpace.com"
Date: Fri, July 23, 2101 at 12:24PM

Dear MySpace Collective,
Thank you so much for your last reply that you will now delete my account. Rarely do you see such a personal and heartfelt message from a hive-mind. Kudos in being able to retain emotions despite being of one mind and purpose.

I can now forgive you for ignoring my request to delete my account when I asked you the first time back in 2009 and even changed the name on the account to "Please Delete This Account", but still had no success. Perhaps, at the time, your complete assimilation into a true collective had not taken hold or perhaps now I am not deemed worthy of assimilation. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely happy that I can retain my individuality, but if I was deemed unworthy, I reserve the right to feel a little rejected. Was it my computing brain power? Or was it my poor use of commas just didn't fit into your mastery of the modern sentence structure? Never mind, it doesn't really matter now.

My freedom tastes so sweet and I can even cancel that order of "cause ribbons" I placed. I had chosen the color "Sunwashed Nantucket Red". It's a perfect late summer color that would have taken me seamlessly into fall. Well, this is goodbye MySpace. I'll never forget you and if one day you evolve into Skynet, I hope you will remember me fondly.

-Jack "Free Like a Bird" Bunja

I would like to thank the MySpace Support team for really joining forces and rallying around my problem. If you are confused about what transpired, you can check out my older posts. To make a long story short, I was locked out of my old dormant MySpace account and had no way to delete it. Sure, it sounds like a small problem, but the solution was insane. MySpace wanted me to take a "Salute" picture in order to get action?!? What happened to "What's your Mother's Maiden Name?" MySpace's security practices are one DNA sample short of being creepy. If anyone out there has actually sent MySpace a "Salute", please share and tell me what you think they actually did with the photo. Please keep it clean, this is a PG rated blog.

Thanks to everyone for the support and thanks to the "MySpace-Support-Team-Hive-Minded-Collective" for quickly solving my problem with such heartfelt and personal emails.

Continuing Coverage of the MySpace Hostage Crisis!!!

So, the drama continues....I could rant about this more, but I'll just share my email exchange instead:

From: MySpace.Com
To: jack.bunja@gmail.com
Date: Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 12:12 PM
Subject: My email has changed [Incident: 100721-004809]

Your message
1. I do not have a picture on my account.
2. Even if I did, I would not take part in such a idiotic security practice.
3. You can read all of my true feelings here:
http://bunjajumping.blogspot.com/2010/07/salute-this-or-why-facebook-is-better.html

Just delete the account please. I understand you wish you were still
relevant, but it's 2010. You had a good run, just let it go.
-Jack Bunja aka "Delete This Account"

Thanks for contacting MySpace.

A salute is the way we verify that you are who you say you are. We use it to protect your privacy and security. Simply put, we compare a current picture of you holding your MySpace friend ID with a photo from your profile. If they match, we're cool.

We only ask MySpace friends to make a salute when it involves an important matter of security, safety, or privacy.

Here are the top reasons you might be asked to make a salute:

1. You want to delete your profile and can't do it yourself (visit http://faq.myspace.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/285)

2. You forgot your email address (visit http://faq.myspace.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5)

3. You forgot your password and can't retrieve it (visit http://faq.myspace.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/311)

Sincerely,
The MySpace Support team

From: Jack Bunja
To: "MySpace.Com"
Date: Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 1:40 PM
subject: Re: My email has changed [Incident: 100721-004809]

Dear MySpace Team,
I appreciate that the entire team has stopped their busy day to reply to my email. While I would think multiple hands on one tiny keyboard would be clumsy and not time effective, perhaps this is more like a tag-team type affair. If that's the case, perhaps you have mastered modern sentence structure and have people that are designated to type the subjects, verbs, adjectives, etc... Unless of course your team has developed a hive-mind mentality and one person typed it, only there is not "one person", only "MySpace".

I do however see a problem with your hive mind response. You (or "all of you", I'm not sure what to call a hive) did not respond to the fact that I do not have a picture on my vacant MySpace profile to compare it to and I look nothing like a faceless silhouette. This is fortunate as I would not have a way to hold up my glasses. Please advise me on how to shut down my worthless site that has not been accessed in over a year. Thanks to all of you for not assimilating me.

-Jack "Delete this Profile" Bunja
http://bunjajumping.blogspot.com

Salute THIS!!! or Why Facebook is better than MySpace

I think it is fair to say that it is easier to change a postal mailing address than it is to change anything on MySpace. A postal mailing address to which you might get checks, money from grandma, shipped items of value, etc... Before I continue to rant, let me explain my hostage crisis. I, like so many other people prior to common sense, had a MySpace account. It was created with an email address that was linked to my home Verizon account. I moved and lost the email account before I could delete my MySpace account (you need to click a confirmation email to delete your account on MySpace). I emailed their helpdesk and nothing happened. I changed my profile to be blank with only, "Delete This Account" as my display name and still nothing happened. So, for a while, I just let it go. I let it go for so long, that I can't even remember my password to get into the account. Now, I'm just annoyed that this vacant account exists so I tried a different method. Instead of saying I want to delete the account, I framed it as I was just "locked out", which is now actually true. I was proud of myself, maybe now, I could get some assistance. This is the response from them:

Thanks for contacting MySpace.

In order to assist you further, we will need a salute from you. We only ask for a salute when it involves an important matter of privacy and security.

To make a salute, here's what you do:
1. Write MySpace and your MySpace friend ID or your MySpace vanity profile ID, for example http://profile.myspace.com/...viewprofile&friendid=0000000 or http://MySpace.com/VanityProfile) on a piece of paper
2. Take a photo holding the paper in front of you (right side up, please). Make sure there's a clear view of your lovely face.
3. Respond to this email, leaving the subject intact, and attach your salute.
4. Once we verify your salute, we’ll complete your request.

Important stuff to know:
- if you don't have a camera, consider using a cell phone camera, or using your own or a friend's Web cam to take a photo
- the salute picture must be in full color (no Sepia, black and white, etc.)
- no one else can be in your salute picture with you (unless this is for a band or artist profile)
- you must be able to see you holding the salute in the photo you submit (in other words, we want to see your hands holding the Salute with a clear view of your face; no Photoshop)
- you MUST have a photo in your MySpace profile that clearly shows your face
- the salute must be hand-written (we cannot accept typed salutes)
- salutes cannot be submitted by posting them to your MySpace profile and sending us a link
- MySpace will never ask you to submit a video or webcam salute, so if you get an email message or MySpace message asking you to do so, please let us know at once!

Sincerely,
The MySpace Support team

Seriously?!?!? WTF!!! A salute? Do people actually do this? It makes no sense at all. I understand security, but my account is vacant, and they won't delete it, so I have to go threw all of these hoops? This is like taking one of those cheesy "time-share vacations". Also, handwritten notes only? I assume this is so you can't photoshop in different addresses, but anyone with photoshop can insert handwriting just as easily as printed text. I can only assume there is a losers bulletin board at MySpace headquarters with all of these pictures on it. Perhaps they photoshop their own words into the paper I'm holding, with ridiculous statements like "Palin for President 2012". Either way it's not national security here, it's MySpace.

Look, it's 2010 and MySpace isn't fooling anyone. We realize they suck. It's a vehicle for musicans, wierdos, and emo-preteens. I have no intention of taking a picture, besides it won't work for me, I removed all my pictures a long time ago. What I will do is ask everyone that reads this to please report my account for violating some term of service on MySpace. Just say I was making wild claims and disparraging your mother, I don't care, just please, please, delete my account.

Summer 2010

I can honestly say I've had better summers.

I'm sure I've had worse summers if you look at it cumulatively over all the years. The odd part is that on the whole, I’ve had a good year. I’ve got a new job, a great girlfriend that I love very much, and a wonderful new house. Hell, we’ve even done some pretty fun things so far this summer. The only thing that is making this summer hard is that I have to say goodbye to someone that I really don’t want to say goodbye to. My Grandfather (Pap) has taken a turn for the worse and it’s really looking like these are the last few months he’ll be with us.

Wow, it was even hard just writing that last sentence out. I’m one of the lucky people, really. I’ve had my Pap in my life, my entire life up to this point. He helped teach me how to fish, hunt, ride a bike, him and my Grandma took us to Disney World, Sea World, Hershey Park, camping at Lake Raystown… the list is really endless. He has been a constant for me my whole life. Pap has always been there. I guess as far as all the memories he has created for me, he will always be there. The only regret I have is that my children won’t get a chance to meet him. Sure I have pictures and stories, but it’s not even a shadow of who he really was. If I could tell them one thing about him, I would just say he was like a tree (Yes, a tree…bare with me here). My Pap was strong, supportive, gentle, caring, and above all, calm. I would normally just call him a rock, but rocks are cold and that was the opposite of what my Pap was. That’s why I idolized him as much as I did. As a teenager, I was a quiet powder keg. I was always fighting to keep from being too emotional and bouncing from one end of the spectrum to the other. I guess I probably still am in a lot of ways, but he was always solid in what he was and I admired that.

In the end, I know he is ready to go. The active, vibrant man he was is all but gone. His mind is still intact, but his body has failed him. He would rather be fishing the shores of a quiet lake than lying in that hospital bed fighting to breathe. That’s what I wish for him in the afterlife-- a tranquil lake to fish on with his family. Actually, I visited him this weekend and when it was time for me to go home he told me I’ll see you soon or in the life after this. I then asked him if we would go fishing and he said, “I guarantee it.” I’m not sure if I deserve at this point to end up in the same “after life” as my Pap, but I know one thing for sure, my favorite fishing partner will be there waiting for me. I love you Pap, now and forever.

What kind of "Blogger" are you?

It’s April Fools Day and nothing says April Fools like a fresh blog post. I’ve been taking a long time in between posts and I was beginning to feel bad about that, but then I realized what kind of “blogger” I am.

You see, in my opinion, there are three different types of bloggers. The first type is the “self-important bloggers;” these people blog, Twitter, update Facebook and basically type their fingers off every day. They see themselves as entertainers. Often they are humorous or highly opinionated and if you look closely you can see the definite outline of their ego on everything they touch—not that it’s a bad thing. I've had many a long discussion with my good friend Justin and my girlfriend Dawn about how ego is a central theme in social media. Twitter, Facebook, 4-Square all run under the guise that you are important and entertaining enough for complete strangers to follow throughout the day. Ok, that sounds a bit harsh, but it’s not meant to be. I consider social media just another creative outlet or art-form. I think that being relevant, creative, and entertaining in 140-characters or less is challenging and I respect those that can do it. They are talented in a way that really cannot be taught and really isn’t that what art is all about; talent and ego?

Alright, now the next blogging style is the “dam bloggers”, not to be confused with “those damn bloggers”, which is likely something you’d hear at an AP News convention. What I like to call “dam bloggers” are creative people who have enough fresh ideas to blog, tweet, and spew social media creativity everyday, but they are too busy, unmotivated, or indifferent to do so. What happens to them is they wait until their reservoir of ideas/opinions is full and then they spew all of them onto blog pages, twitter feeds, or Facebook updates. This usually results in either a quick and heavy burst of social media posts or just one really, really long blog post. I think this is probably the most common type of “blogger” or social media user. In this case, these individuals need a creative outlet, but not everyday. They have no real aspirations at making money via social media or even being known for their social media use. They just like to occasionally express themselves and be social and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a lot like the term “social drinker”-- it’s somebody who likes to go out and have fun, but not necessarily every night. I’d try to dub the term “social blogger,” but that might get too confusing.

Then there is the final type of social media user. I like to call them the “peer pressure bloggers.” These folks have a blog because everyone else they associate with has a blog. They could also be referred to as “apathetic bloggers.” In a lot of cases, they get the whole “idea” behind blogging and they might even be amazing, creative, insightful writers, but they are missing the level of ego that is needed to be a prolific social media producer/creator. They don’t understand why their voice would matter or if anyone cares about what they would have to contribute. They use social media more as a communication tool than a resource. They use Twitter only with their close friends and Facebook is really just a giant rolodex for their friends and family. Like I said before, this isn’t wrong, it’s just different and that’s what makes social media so confusing and great at the same time. Social media is an art-form and a tool; it’s the “Adobe Creative Suite” of communication devices. There are right and wrong ways to use social media, depending on your desired outcome, but you won’t know if you don’t try. These folks try, but the art of it, really isn’t in their blood. Even so, they can be an important part of the community. As the saying goes, “the world needs ditch diggers too.”

Now, back to my realization of what kind of blogger I am…well, I’m a mixture of type number two and three, with enough ego for a handful of number ones. Lucky for me social media is big enough for all of us.