Shoulder pads are back?

Bret Michaels is wearing shoulder pads. I’m watching Lopez Tonight, (which I’ve actually never seen) and he’s got BM on the show, who is recovering from some serious medical problems. I give him credit for doing the show, but really, consider resting a little. He’s had about 3 major medical issues back to back. Somebody or something is trying to tell you something. I’m guessing he’s feeling self conscious about his body, and he obviously has taken great pains to make it look like he still has the long blond hair of his glory “hair band” days with the wig or weave or whatever it is he wears and covers with his “trademark” bandanna. I know I know you have to keep up the public image, but people will understand. Ditch the shoulder pads, try to rock the aging thing gracefully and take it easy.

Poison was the 2nd concert I ever saw. I loved Poison back in the late 80′s/early 90′s. They played at the Miami Arena with Danger Danger and someone else I can’t remember, I think it was Slaughter. Unskinny Bop, oh yeah, I luhuhuhuved that song! I remember there were green lasers and purple neon. Funny that’s about all I remember of that night. Guess the rest of it wasn’t all that memorable.

JVM Error 513

My blackberry nightmare. I screwed up. I wanted to synch my BB Pearl to my new computer. I forgot my password. Three failed attempts later, everything wiped clean. And I realized this about 15 seconds left into the wiping out process, stupidly thought if I unplugged and pulled the battery out, I could stop the process. Nope. Now I have this error message and have tried everything I can think of. I’ve reinstalled software, to the computer at least to try to load back into the phone. No go. I need some help ! Anyone ??

I can’t believe there is an entire hour dedicated to “flameless” candles on QVC

I have a wisdom tooth coming in. It hurts. I have newfound empathy for babies when they are screaming, crying and don’t want to eat. It’s painful. For the most part as long as I don’t bite down on the side where the tooth is coming in, I’m able to eat. Each day I see more of the gum receeding and more of the surface of the wisdom tooth. It’s like a new friend in a strange kind of way.

Some food for thought.

I think it’s funny that  as an adult I like most foods that I dislike as a child. Examples: olives, fish, brussel sprouts . . . .I realized as I tried these foods prepared differently and by different people, that it wasn’t necessarily the fault of the food itself sometimes, but the preparer and how they prepared it.

I’ve lost my taste for some things I enjoyed as a child. I don’t eat as many sweets as I did as a kid. I have small indulgences now and I’m satisfied.

I’m watching Jon and Kate Plus Eight on The Learning Channel and watching the mom and the daughter’s make something and the girls want to lick the bowl and the spoon. I flash backed to happy memories of my grandmother making all sorts of homemade yummies and her letting me lick the spoon and the bowl. My grandmother was a great cook. She made a lot of traditional Jewish recipes that I’m guessing she learned from her mother who learned from her mother. The kitchen was a great place to grow up. Always full of wonderful smells and interesting ingredients. If the stove wasn’t on, then the oven was.  Holidays were filled with bustling in the kitchen. The same holiday specials came out of the kitchen and there was something comforting in the familiarity of it.

He hit the ground running . . .into a wall.

So a few months ago, I finally ended things with the younger guy that I’d been dating. I’m really not too interested in dating anyone right now, I’ve got too much on the horizon that just doesn’t put me in a good place to start anything new.

A few weeks ago, I had some family in town for the day and they wanted to check out South Beach. We went to dinner on Lincoln Road, and walked around a little, stopping at the Britto gallery. Not so long story short, I wound up chatting with one of the sales guys there and he asked for my number to go get coffee. Now again, I’m not looking to start any new relationships but I figure hey, it would be fun still to go out. Next day he texts me that it was nice to meet me and he’d love to get together soon (his words). (Good start with the next day response) He throws out a day, but it doesn’t work, because when I get off of work, he goes on. We try for another day, but that won’t work either. No biggie. He texts me again, (okay now I’m a little dismayed in him at this point, pick up the phone and talk already!) he’ll call me over the weekend and maybe we can get together then. Okay, great. Friday evening comes along, oh and it’s Halloween, and around 7 I get another text. It reads, “Are you working tonight? More to the point, are you wearing something naughty? Hehe…” Now, I am in no way a prude or anything like that, but c’mon !!! We’re not there yet where he should be feeling comfortable telling me that. We haven’t even met up since that one night when we met. Shit! we haven’t even spoken on the phone in person !! So that’s about when he slammed into the wall. I never responded to that text. And I’m guessing he realized that was a shmucky thing to say, because I haven’t heard from him since.

A new day dawned.

So the elections are over. Yes, I voted. I proudly wore my sticker all day long. Didn’t take advantage of all the freebies that were out there thought. (Ben & Jerry’s, Krispy Kreme, Starbucks). I am breathing a sigh of relief at the outcome. 8 years of our (soon to be) past presidency has not left us in a proud state of country. It has come to the point where citizens are said to be embarassed to be Americans. We are considered the folly and fodder of other nations. A once proud and mighty country has taken a blow.

But enough about that. The people have spoken and they have asked for CHANGE.

Ok, I fibbed

I fibbed in my last post, when I said I was back. I’m going to try getting back to blogging. I’ve missed it a little. This is what would happen whenever I would start a diary. I’d do it for a while and then  . . . .

I am on the verge of what could be a very major change in my life. I already feel I’ve mentioned it to too many people (and honestly it hasn’t been many), but I don’t want to jinx it any further or get my hopes up to much.

Halloween is tomorrow. Boo ! I wasn’t planning on doing anything, don’t have a costume. Today my friend told me about something so if I decide to go I have to rummage through parts of costumes of Halloween pasts and throw something together.

I might go to a Munch tonight. It would be my first. I’m curious so but a little intimidated to go alone. I did finally break up with the young guy I was dating. We had dinner last night and he asked me to go to a swingers club with him. I thought about asking him to the Munch, but I think it would be too inviting to him to try to keep continuing a relationship. I’ll have to think about the swinger’s club thing too. I’d like to go cause I’m really really curious to see what it’s like, but again the same issue will be there. And what if I see someone else that I might like to play around with? It would probably be hurtful to him. I guess I’ll mention these things to him and see what his thoughts are.

So that’s it for now. Hopefully I’ll be back soon.

what turned into a 3 page short story

I recently purchased a new computer, a laptop. It was a decision that took me quite some time and research. (it took me 3 days of research just to figure out which rollerblades I wanted to buy). Sometimes I am very meticulous. I like to be an informed and educated consumer and not have the experience of buyer’s remorse.

I had sent out an email to some friends, a forward of something funny someone had sent me, and at the bottom I asked for everyone’s opinions on laptops: dell v hp. I received a few responses. A week later I received a text message from Troy (remember him from a previous post?) asking me which one I had decided on. What was going to be a small paragraph explainig my experience, turned into a 3 page short story/rant.

And now I am sharing it with you.

so here’s the story with my laptop woes . . . .

 

Back in May (yes May) I was checking out an email from Costco that had some Dell laptops on sale. I looked at them and narrowed it down to a couple. I had Michael (the little computer genius that he is) take a look at them and tell me his opinion before I decided to finalize the purchase. He said it was a good deal, so I ordered it. By this time when I went to select my computer, it said that there were no more available.  I was so disappointed as I’ve been looking for a laptop for quite some time now, but hadn’t been able to come to a decision, and I was so excited that I finally made a decision and was ready to commit to it. So I decided to get the next laptop that I was looking at and when I went to my cart to check out . . . .low and behold there was the original computer I had wanted sitting in it little cart space waiting for me!!!  Oh happy day! I thought maybe it was a fluke or something, but fed them my cc number before anything else could appear or disappear.  I called a few hours later, waited on hold with Costco for 35 minutes! to confirm that yes, indeed the original laptop I wanted and was showing up in my cart had been ordered and purchased.

 

So . . . .

I wait and I wait, and I wait .. . .The ship time has now come and I have yet to receive any confirmation email that yes my computer has been built and shipped. Some more emails and phone calls and about nearly 2 hours of hold time with Costco, finds me out that yes finally my laptop has shipped (via DHL), and late after the ship date I had been told. Ok, fine, I’m excited again because it’s on it’s way and it’s only coming from Tennessee (don’t think I spelled that right), so it can’t take that long to get here ( I naively think). Every few hours I’m on the DHL site, tracking “the golden package,” watching for even the tiniest update and for days nothing! Then, oh my god, it’s here in Florida, it’s in Del Ray. Del Ray? huh? it was sent to that hub by accident but is “supposedly” on a truck down to the Miami hub so it can be delivered to me, or so the fucktard rude ass bitch I spoke with tells me. I ask her if we can expedite this and have it overnighted now so I can be assured it will be here as I have already taken a day and a half off to be here when it arrives, (not too comfy knowing it will be left at my doorstep if noone is here and my neighbors aren’t around during the day to receive it for me either – I already asked). The fucktard rude ass  bitch tells me, well it’s on the truck already and I can’t pull the truck over and get it out. Turns out later, according to the one nice DHL person I spoke to, the golden package, never even made it onto the truck. 3 days later DHL confirms to me that, what I have known already, indeed the computer is (stolen) lost !!! It made it all the way to the Del Ray hub where it was last physically handled and scanned and then disappeared into thin air. It never made it onto any truck further than that as the fucktard rude ass bitch had tried to nasty assily convince me. DHL will continue to look for it for a few more days and then, it is essentially tough luck for you. Talk to the shipper, Dell.

 

So . . . .

I am now on the phone with and emailing with Dell and Costco trying to get this straightened out. Costco tells me that since DHL has “officially” called it as lost that they will refund me my money. I don’t want my money I tell them, I want my computer !!! which I’m sure at this point is sitting on someone DHL bumpkin’s bed as he jerks off to internet porn, drinking his Natty Light and smoking his Bronco discount cigarettes. Costco tells me basically it’s me against Dell at this point to have them reissue me a computer. Thanks for the help, you’re customer service is astounding . . no that’s okay, let me. So I try to contact Dell and reach Chopra (who I’m pretty sure is not local – the accent gave it away) and is of no help in working outside the box of possible helpful ways to fix this, tells me I need the order number. I give them all the numbers I have including the tracking number which they (Dell) should have in their system as they sent the stupid thing out and be able to do some sort of backtracking to find the original order, and am told, sorry none of those numbers work and we can’t help you, talk to Costco . . . . .you can see where this is going. I get in touch with Costco again and ask them for their order number with Dell, and am again given a number which guess what, doesn’t work !!! I am begging (via email) Costco via email, to please please please help me, but to no avail. Finally after pulling 1/3 of my hair out, which you can’t really tell as you may remember, I have a lot of hair, I decide . . . .Fuck It! Fuck You! Fuck Them! Just give me my Fucking money back and I’ll take my business elsewhere! Within a week, I have my money back and around 6 weeks have passed and I have still have nothing to show but hair loss and frustration and a desire to find the fucktard rude ass DHL bitch and put a tack on her chair for the next time she sits down on it.

 

Stilll with me . . ?

I finally bring myself out of my cyber-depression over the loss of my laptop never to be and decide to get back up on the horse and find a new laptop. I have decided I’m going with HP. I spent about 6 hours that night online, doing comparisons, and reading reviews and forums. I’m narrowing in and I’m seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. I save a couple of the laptops that I’ve decided to review again, when my brain isn’t overloaded with cyber-knowledge of RAM, SATA, and DIMMs.  The next day being pretty well self educated and knowledgeable in what the components consist of and what I want in my computer, I spend about another 2 hours online finalizing my choices and call Michael, the little computer genius that he is, and get his opinion. He says it’s good, so it’s a go. I’m filling out my billing information and decide, wait a minute, I’ve had pretty good luck with discount codes before, let’s take a little look around before I spend what is now $1500 on a laptop (MS office included). 3 minutes of searching and I find a $500 off discount code. I return back to my order and insert the code, crossing my fingers, toes and eyes that it will be accepted, and . . . . voila !!! My new $1500 HP laptop with MS office software ($280) is now$1077 (tax included) !!! (about $10 more than the original Dell with lesser components was going to cost me).  Oh happy day !! I rejoice with a little yelp of pleasure and a childlike clapping of my hands. To put the cherry on top, I had an estimated ship date of July 29 and received an email yesterday that my laptop had shipped (4 days early) via FedEx and has an estimated delivery date of July 30 by 10:30 a.m. Now I’m not about to get my hopes up too far, just yet, as I’m still a little scarred from my last shipping nightmare. But I’m getting a little excited!

 

So, what have I learned from all this. DHL and Dell are companies not to be used again or referred to highly in their customer service or customer satisfaction skills. Costco, not too far behind them. HP and FedEx are looking pretty good at this point, and that yes, very possibly, yes, things happen for a reason.

I’m baaaccckkk . . . .

I know, I know, I disappeared off the face of the cyber earth. It happens, it’s me, it’s who I am . . . sometimes. But I’m back with a brand new computer, that won’t give me headaches everytime I’m on it, because the screen is 3,000 + hours over it’s estimated expiration and shakes and seizes like an old man in an earthquake.

Since I’ve been gone . . . gas has gone up and up and up, George Carlin died, My brother did a road trip down here to visit, I went to my first and second Miami Marlins games, I’m reading again, I gained a little weight, but started rollerblading again, finally saw Batman: The Dark Knight, adopted a duckling, and a bunch of other stuff.

I wanted to dip my toes back into the blogging waters, I’ll be back later.

 

Hey!! where’d my widgets go?

phonezoo . . . . any information?

So I was at work the other day and I kept hearing different ringtones through the wall.  I realized my boss was enjoying selecting some new ringtones. I asked him about it later and he told me about a site, http://www.phonezoo.com/Welcome.do. Apparently you can get (some) free ringtones from them. I also did a “phonezoo scam” search, because I’m sorry, if it sounds too good to be true . . .it usually is. I’m thinking it must be some kind of phishing thing or you get slammed with $12/month charges for crap you never wanted. Nothing bad came up . . . So now I’m wondering if anyone else has had any experience with them or heard anything about them. Free ringtones . . . doesn’t sound right. It would be nice, but . . I’m skeptical. I’d like to know a little more from other users before I decided to try it out.