I'm still here

Well, it's been eight days since I shut down.  It's been very hard to maintain radio silence.  I need to write.  I have a lot of things to say.

I have fooled around a bit with other blogging sites.  I'm not too fond of any of them.  I don't want to change.  I feel like I am running out of options.

I still cannot believe that no one from AOL has had the cajones to speak up and let us know what the hell is going on.  Unbelievable.  I've done some research on the state of AOL since this whole thing started, and frankly, the end is nigh.  I won't have to worry about having to choose to leave AOL soon, I fear.  I think the choice is going to be made for me.

Still, it would be nice to be acknowledged by someone there.  Instead the company hides behind two of its spokespeople, who I am sure have been chugging aspirin left and right for the last week.  What a stand up company.

There are supposed to be disclaimers that appear beneath the ads saying that they are not an endorsement of the author.  Not good enough.  I don't want them.  My wife works for a major cell phone company, and every other time I go to my journal page, I see an ad for Verizon.  That is not the company she works for.  I don't want that ad on my page.  Bank of America?  Don't know 'em, therefore don't trust 'em.  Don't want them on my page.

Today I see some message disguised as a call-out to support World Aids Day, but it's really just an ad for a drug company.  Disgusting.  Don't want their ad on my page.

Quizno's?  Hate 'em.  Sorry, but it's true.  Their sandwiches taste like crap, plus those commercials with the hand rats or whatever the hell they were supposed to be left me scarred for life.  Don't want their ad on my page.

Don't currently own a home.  If I did, I wouldn't choose to refinance my mortgage from a pop-up ad banner.  Don't want the ad on my page.

I don't want ads on my page from companies that contribute to the GOP, just like I am sure that my fellow conservative bloggers don't want ads from companies that contribute to the Democrats.

A few months ago, I was up late at night flipping through the channels, when I came across "Terminator 3" on one of the 57 HBO channels on our digital system.  I watched for a while.  Near the end (I think, I really don't remember much about the flow of the movie), Tim Stahl, Claire Danes and Ah-nold are escaping from one of the bad guys when there is a wreck involving a full-sized semi that jackknifes in the road.  On the side of the truck, you can clearly see a HUGE ad for Xenadraine, one of those quick weight loss pills.  I laughed out loud.  What slim credibility the movie had disappeared quickly.

So for this last week, when I have gone to my journal page, I have felt like a truck just slid across the top of it.  I hate it.  I am so beyond the initial feelings of disgust, anger, and overall sadness that just when I was getting large amounts of readers, AOL decided to relieve themselves all over my journal.

By the time I finish this, it will be Thanksgiving.  I have so much to be thankful for this year, so much that this inconvenience is minor, but still, it's just isn't right.  And the worst thing about it is the continued silence.

The silence of this page.

The silence of the higher-ups at AOL, whose continued refusal to give us any explanation speaks louder than any word they could ever speak.