The Richter Scale^®

I received an e-mail today from Best Buy telling me that I had been welcomed to the “Premier Black” level of the Best Buy Reward Zone program, telling me I was one of Best Buy’s best customers. I was surprised as I had not shopped at Best Buy for some months (Amazon.com is my go-to place for most gadgets and games these days), but I know I had spent a fair bit at Best Buy over the last year or two, so maybe that counted.

Turns out my surprise was justified. When I clicked on the link to “Locate Your Premier Black Concierge” I ended up at a username/password prompt which obviously did not work properly. And when I clicked on the link to get into the Best Buy Reward Zone Premier site, I found that I was a mere Premier Silver member.

Talk about a tease. The promise was that my Best Buy Premier Black Concierge could help me get out-of-stock items - and I’ve been looking for a third Wii Fit without success (this one’s for my neighbor). Guess I’ll have to try more ordinary routes.

Turns out I’m not the only one to get this bait-and-switch e-mail. Apparently it was mailed out to all of Best Buys Reward Zone members - see Best Buy’s Premier Black Service For All - Oops.

I must say they really blew their roll out of this service. They certainly are not inspiring me with faith in the quality of their Premier service when they make mistakes this massive. What’s next? Accidentally sending out client confidential information? Sheesh.

I’m not really wild about social networks like MySpace and Facebook. Just about the only communications I have ever received via MySpace have been “friend” invites to see naked women on webcams - not that I’m averse to that, but there’s always some catch, like them wanting money for the viewing. And my nephew is on MySpace too - he’s just about the only real person I know on MySpace and that I’m friends with.

Facebook has been far better in terms of real friend invites - people I actually know from elsewhere have accounts there and occasionally even invite me to be their friend. How about that?

However, this morning, in processing another friend request (this one from my sister-in-law), I happened to click through to a link to find other people with whom I graduated from college back in, gulp...., 1985. There are a fair number of them on Facebook. And most of them have supplied photos with their profiles.

Imagine my surprise and disappointment as I’m scrolling through the list of 1985 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduates to find that most of them look old. Some are balding, some have white hair, others look a fair bit older than “distinguished”, and a couple downright geriatric. Granted, we all graduated 23 years ago, but still… we’re all only in our mid-40s, right?

I know I have more gray and white hair than blonde these days, but I am still young at heart, but these profile photos brought back the harsh reality that people age, often more rapidly than expected. That reminder is not the best way to start a day.