Listen to the full discussion about genetics, weaving, software development, democracy, risk management, and a process that encourages the inclusion of multiple points of views when making a decision. With Denise Caruso, Jesse Simons, Travis Meinolf and other guests.

The Heather Gold Show: Process Over Outcome, May 12, 2008 (mp3 file, 34 MB)

(Subscribe to the audio feed)

An historic day. One of the happiest of my life.

Hope is good. Equality is best.

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

our wedding!, originally uploaded by subvert.com.

My Canadian wife and California fiancee Stacey. We will be *LEGALLY* married in San Francisco like every other couple can now be in the State.

My first call was to my Canadian wife/ California fiancee, my second to the caterer.

Free! Don't need permission! So overoyed!

The Wedding FAQ I wrote after Wedding 1.0 in Canada explaining how I feel about it all and why we are getting married twice.

20 Lesbian Wedding Etiquette tips (jokes) I wrote for Curve.

VOTE this November to ensure the constitutional amendment to save my marriage and stop the anti-gay proposition from amending the California constitution.

rian Maier works at the genius bar at the SF Apple Store.

He accomplished in 1 call and 8 minutes what I couldn't in twelve calls, 2 divisions and 2 supervisors with the dreaded at&t: a refund of the obnoxious $1300 at&t billed me *after* I'd called them before travel to Canada to find out how to avoid heavy travel charges.

I'll spare you the gory details of my weeks and dozen calls to a&t which included a bevy of incompetence /possible lying, promised refunds, "policy" etc. But when I was at the Apple Genius Bar to have my hard drive replaced I told my epic saga of customer service horror to Brian who agreed to help me call at&t and see if they could do something. At the very least, he'd be proof that another company, at&t's partner company agrees that I did the right things and that at&t should refund the insane charges (stemming from email auto-checking in the background).

I returned the next day and it worked!

Please give Brian props and dj gigs.

This was truly the most spectacular customer service I've ever received: for another company's services!

Can someone photoshop a cape on him in this pic?

I've learned from this whole thing:

•The margin you pay a truly service oriented company is often made up for in time saved.
•People act differently when they know a third party is watching/hearing them.
•People act differently when a dude with a low voice calls them asking for something.
•Anything is possible

The greatest changes are found in the mundane.

No financial cost to make this change. Huge time investment to change the consciousness that led to it.

Result: some peoples' existence is publicly reflected where it was once invisible.

Imagine you are transgender (or perhaps you don't have to imagine) and how remarkable it would feel to finally have this box to check.

What follows is a story of one chick whose been on the receiving end of some bad bad customer "service." I wish I hadn't called. If you can help me pay the insane bill (paypal nosh [at]subvert[dot]com) I shouldn't have to pay (since I didn't knowingly order or use these services)  or have the email of a Sr VP of  customer service at Apple or at&t, that would be great. (If I can get the credit from at&t I deserve,  I will return every paypall-ed dollar to you).

I went to visit my family for Passover last month in Toronto. I called at&t while still in the U.S. to ask if there was a way to use my iPhone as a PDA/camera only in Canada. I should place my iPhone on airplane mode so as not to incur charges. He said no.

Let me warn you now, iPhone travelers, that the correct answer is yes.

Read the rest of this entry »

What's wrong with this picture?, originally uploaded by subvert.com.

Guess where this is?

Oprah just announced at the end of her 10 weeks with Eckhart Tolle that she'll be continuing the Monday night webcasts as her Soul Series. This is the name of her weekly XM Radio broadcasts covering the spiritual stuff she's most passionate about, but that she doesn't feel the TV audience is ready for. I've heard her say so on the Radio show.

This is powerful stuff for the web and connecting people through talk shows online which is at the heart of the Heather Gold Show (tHGS) mission. She even used the Ghandi quote about "being the change you wish to see in the world" which I used for the first few shows.

If you want people to connect, the web is really much more the right medium than pure television.

Read the rest of this entry »

I'll be hosting tHGS today at Maker Faire. The theme is: DIY Relationship. How does problem solving differ from making stuff together to being a couple? Streaming live at 4:00 PDT today.

I'll also be having a laugh at Out Loud, a queer radio show owned by Clear Channel. The official Republican line is not homo-friendly but that business/money love makes for entertaining bedfellows.

I can promise it will be funny.

Listen at 960AM KKGN in SF or online from 8-8:30pm PDT tonight.