UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

- I opened up the newspaper this morning to see the following deals at Fry’s:

• AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ & ECS K8M890-M motherboard for $99.99
• 300GB Seagate SATA Hard Drive for $79.99
• EVGA 7600GS 256MB PCI-E Graphics Card for $69.99 AR

Somebody needs to remind me that my wallet is still bleeding from the purchase of my laptop.

(Speaking of my laptop, Dell finally completed the build, and it’s going to be shipped Next Business Day via Fedex. Of course, since Fedex doesn’t deliver on the weekends, except in certain situations, I won’t be getting my laptop until Monday, or a full two weeks after I initially placed the order.)

Oh man, the motherboard has two IDE connectors–I no longer need to buy a new HDD–and integrated graphics–I don’t really feel like/can’t afford a graphics card now! With the plumetting prices of DDR2 memory, and the fact that I have a crisp, new 600W power supply en route, I’m having a real tough time passing up this deal. Argh!

- I just stumbled upon this Office fansite, and I gotta say, I love the content! I’ve gone ahead and added a link to this blog in my “Links” section (which has been re-done, for my pleasure). Speaking of The Office, last night’s super-sized episode was, IMHO, the best episode of the season.

(spoiler alert) Michael’s line to Stanley about moving to the back of the bus, and Stanley’s reaction, were both absolutely priceless, as was Stanley’s face when he ran over Jim in the Sumo Wrestling competition. However, nothing beat Toby’s reaction when he handed Pam his sunscreen, and Pam mentioned that she was wearing a two-piece swimsuit. I nearly spit water all over my laptop when I saw Toby’s face!

EDIT 5/13: How the hell did I leave out the scene where Michael is being interviewed, and you can see Andy floating away in the distance?

Now that Jim, Karen, and Michael are all vying for the corporate job, and now that Pam has finally told Jim about what caused Pam to break off her marriage with Roy, I can’t wait for the season finale–an hour long episode, 8pm on Thursday!

(end spoiler alert)

- A 10-year-old boy was convicted of beating up a homeless Army veteran. The kid, another 10-year-old, and a 17-year-old were all involved in injuring the 58-year-old veteran, John D’Amico, with a concrete block and (presumably) punches and kicks. Feel free to chalk this up as example #10,000,000,000 of why our society is going to hell in a handbasket. It’ll be interesting to see what the punishments are for each kid in the attack; it wouldn’t surprise me if the 17-year-old got the worst of it.

- A 20-year-old woman was going to visit her boyfriend, when a satellite navigation system she borrowed from a school mate somehow led her onto train tracks. Quoted from the article:

She was trying to cross the line in the dark when she heard a train horn, realised [sic] she was on the track, and the train smashed into the car.

Fortunately, the woman was not in the car when the train crashed into her car; she had left her car to open a gate to cross the tracks, and got out again to close the gate when the train arrived.

I gotta ask one question: how did the woman not realize she was on train tracks the second she got out of the car to close the gates? I understand that it was probably pitch-black at the time–why wasn’t the railway lit, by the way?–but I would imagine her car would have given off enough light to illuminate the train track that her car was sitting on.

Once again, technology is great, until it screws us over.

- Today’s IMBC Topic of the Day interested me, so I think I will respond to it.

What chore do you absolutely hate?

My least favorite chore is dish washing, and cleaning the bathroom is a distant second. I’m a fairly big and tall guy, and every sink I’ve ever used forces me to lean over quite a bit in order to avoid splashing water all over myself and the countertop. Not to mention, I’m the only one in the family that requires a pair of XL latex gloves to wash dishes; for some reason, everyone else in the family can fit a M-sized pair. So when it’s time to replace the gloves, my family buys M-sized gloves, and I have to go buy my own pair (yeah, I know, I could always wash dishes sans gloves).

I should mention that both of my parents are in the mid-five-feet range in height, and I’m nearly six feet tall. I must have an overacting pituitary gland, or something.

Next time: more Google Analytics fun!

(Hey! I went sports-free without even thinking about it!)

by Peter
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Quick-hitters, the NBA version:

- I really want to see Golden State beat Utah and make it to the Western Conference Finals–Utah is now up 2-0 in their best-of-seven series–but after hearing about Derek Fisher’s ten-month old daughter, who recently underwent emergency surgery to treat Retinoblastoma (a cancer of the retina), I can’t help but root for the Jazz. The crowd’s standing ovation to Fisher, when he entered the game for the first time–after flying from New York Presbyterian Hospital earlier that day–was very cool, as well as the reception he got from not only his teammates, but also the Warriors.

Great article by Adrian Wojnarowski, by the way.

- Cleveland’s up 2-0 on the Nets, and I’m not terribly surprised by that. Detroit being up 2-0 on Chicago? I’m a bit surprised by that. Suns-Spurs tied at one game apiece? I hope that series goes seven games!

- An addendum to my Cordless Desktop MX3200 Laser review, the most popular subject (according to Google Analytics) on my blog: One thing I hated about the Logitech SetPoint software–the driver package for Logitech peripherals–is the fact that I had seemingly lost the ability to open/close new tabs in Mozilla Firefox via a click of the mouse wheel. After a few minutes, I discovered that I could open/close tabs using the mouse wheel only if I double-clicked the wheel. I don’t know about you, but I have enough trouble clicking the mouse-wheel one time, especially with a mouse wheel that tilts.

That’s when I stumbled upon this review on Amazon.com! In order to open/close tabs in Firefox with a single click of the mouse wheel, you have to assign the “generic button” option (the default is Universal Scroll, I believe) to the wheel button in the SetPoint software. No other functionality of the mouse wheel seems to be lost with the “generic button” setting.

Of course, you could also not install the SetPoint software

- So my “lost” USPS package was finally delivered to my buyer today! I’m so glad to finally get the transaction over with!

That being said, I am now 0 for 4 with customer service representatives in the last few days. This time, Parago–a rebate processing company that deals with rebates, mainly from Staples, as well as companies as McAfee and Symantec–has screwed me out of $40. Long story short, their CS promised me that I would qualify for a pair of rebates ($20 and $40)with the purchase of an item, and I found out that I could only qualify for one. Also, since I had already opened the item in question, I could not return it, so I was out $40.

I called Staples to witch about Parago’s misleading me, and it only took about five calls for someone to finally offer me some resolution: a $20 concession coupon. He said he was willing to go up to $30, but then reneged on that offer, so I accepted the $20.

By the way, my laptop is still not complete yet. Looks like I will not get it until next week.

- Some cities in the US, such as Pacific Grove, CA, are employing high-tech parking meters in the hopes of reducing costs related to ticketing of vehicles: reduced number of “meter maids” and increased ticket accuracy. These high-tech parking meters employ GPS capability to determine exactly how long a car has been parked in a given spot. Some also have the capability of charging a higher rate for longer parking stays, and some have remote sensors that reset the parking meter when a car leaves the spot. One could imagine the costs of the meters themselves: “‘Today’s meters are little computers,’ said Ross Hubbard, a former Pacific Grove city councilman who advocated for the switch. The city now leases 100 meters for $45,000 per year from Duncan Parking Technologies Inc.”

And I thought cops hiding behind bushes, billboards, and under freeway overpasses were ridiculous. If a person paid for an hour, and only used half of the time, why shouldn’t the next person be allowed to use those minutes? After all, they have already been paid for!

I would love to see figures as to how much extra revenue these new, high-tech parking meters produce. I wonder if those who pushed for the new parking meters took vandalism and maintenance costs into account.

- A Tennessee man requested, for his last meal, that a vegetarian pizza should be given to a homeless person outside the prison in which he was housed. The prison refused, stating that they do not donate to charities. A woman heard about the request, and proceeded to raise $1,200 between herself and her friends to purchase 150 pizzas for Nashville’s Rescue Mission, a shelter that services more than 800 homeless people per night. Even PETA got involved: “The president of the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals read a news story about the prison denying the inmate’s last request and ordered 15 veggie pizzas sent to the Rescue Mission Wednesday morning.” I must admit that this is a pretty cool story, and props to all those involved with the donations.

Tags: cordless desktop mx3200 laser, daughter, derek fisher, golden state warriors, homeless, logitech, lost usps package, parago, parking meters, pizza donation, rebates, retinoblastoma, setpoint, staples, tennessee, utah jazz by Peter
1 Comment »

It’s too hot to sleep! Time for another blog entry!

Quick-hitters:

- Hey Amy, thank you for providing me with yet another piece of evidence that bowling is not a sport. Bowling can’t possibly be considered a sport if alcohol serves as a performance enhancer

- I’m happy to hear that I’m not the only one getting reamed by Time Warner Cable. Check out this story over at Consumerist.

- Gosh, I missed the last two episodes of Heroes and The Riches! Does that make me no longer a fan of either show?

- Papa John’s is offering a large 1-topping pizza for 99c when you purchase one large specialty pizza at regular menu price! Spinach alfredo, chicken, and tomato pizza + a pepperoni thin crust pizza FTW!

(Did I mention that it was really hot?)

- A bit of an update to my USPS story, from yesterday: after calling back the Lafayette, CA post office a number of times, they were finally able to tell me that the package was “most likely” on its way back to me. It better be “most likely” on its way back, as much as I am “most likely” really upset at USPS for the snafu.

I called USPS’ general hotline about possibly getting my money back for the postage on the misdelivered package. Here’s a transcript of our conversation:

Me: Hi. [spiel about the mess up]. Would it be possible for me to get my money back on the postage, since it was no fault of my own?
CS: Normally, what we do is try to forward the package to the correct address.
Me: Ok. Well, what if the package does, indeed, get sent back to me?
CS: Normally, what we do is try to forward the package to the correct address.
Me: Well, the Lafayette, CA post office said that they returned the package to the sender, and I am the sender!
CS: Normally, what we do is try to forward the package to the correct address.
Me: (at this point I’m seething) You’re not answering the question! Will I be able to get my money back on the shipping, if it comes back to me, as the Lafayette, CA post office said it would?
CS: You can take it up with your local post office! Thank you for calling!

Why didn’t the rep say that at the very beginning???

And no, the first three lines the CS told me were not meant to be a joke. She nearly said all three lines verbatim.

- Check out this video, of a baby playing with a cobra. That video is absolutely sickening; I would never let my child play with a cobra; at least, I wouldn’t let him play with a cobra unarmed. The parents should have given the baby a gun to defend himself, like any responsible parent would do in that situation. Seriously, how the hell is this a good idea? “Most likely,” the parents deserve to be sterilized for this act.

- A man was convicted of a felony for interfering with flight attendants and crew members on a Southwest Airlines flight, and could face up to twenty years in prison. Apparently, he and his girlfriend were getting too affectionate with each other, and that made the other individuals on the plane uncomfortable. The man was asked to stop, and he allegedly threatened a flight attendant twice. On the one hand, twenty years in prison for lots of kissing on a flight? Are you kidding me? Drug trafficking, manslaughter, and assault charges probably don’t add up to twenty years combined! On the other hand, in this post-9/11 world, how stupid can the guy be to threaten flight attendants?

Actually, this story gives me a great idea. The next time a kid throws a major temper tantrum on a flight, and acts threateningly towards a flight attendant (we could be real generous with the definition of “acting threateningly”), he should be eligible for jail time. First of all, I’d much rather deal with an affectionate couple for an entire flight than one PITA brat. More importantly, what if a kid was arrested for such an act, and given jail time? Parents all across the country could threaten their kid, saying “if you keep acting up, you could end up in prison!”

I’m genuinely excited at the (miniscule) possibility of something like this happening. Maybe this is what the country needs for our youths to start shaping up.

“Most likely,” I’m going to bed. Happy blogging!

by Peter
1 Comment »

Yeah, I’m still sick, and it’s HOT!

On to the quick-hitters:

- Gotta love it when your room temperature is 82 degrees…at midnight! I love my place in the winter–I hardly have to turn on the heater to stay warm during the winter months–but I can’t stand the heat of the spring/summer.

(And I don’t want to hear anyone complaining about how cold it gets in the winter where you are. You get to suffer extreme cold in the winter; I get to suffer extreme heat in the summer. So there.)

Temps were in the high 70s-low 80s last week, which were very enjoyable. I fired up Accuweather.com today, and look at what I saw! I should be happy, though; last night, when I went to Accuweather, they said it would be 99.

I should have listened to Krunk and ran down to AM/PM for an Icee, even at midnight.

- I was going to save this blog entry for a quick, “first look” at the Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop that I was supposed to get today. DHL’s website says that my package, which is coming from Sparks, NV, has been in the “shipment acknowledged” phase–basically, Dell printed out a DHL label–and it’s been there since the fourth of May. At the very least, the package should be en route to CA, and not stuck in Nevada!

(At least DHL’s IVR (Interactive Voice Response; those automated menus you hear over the phone where you have to speak to it to navigate through their menu) works quite well.)

- As much as DHL is pissing me off, USPS is pissing me off even more. For some reason, they decided to ship a package that was supposed to go to Lafayette, CO (800xx), to Lafayette, CA (9xxxx)! I called the USPS annex near Lafayette, CA, this morning, and spoke to a woman who was utterly useless. She kept asking where in Lafayette, CA, the package was supposed to go to. I kept telling her that the package wasn’t even supposed to go to CA. She put me on hold, and then explained that the seller probably made a typo on the To: field of the label. Never mind that 1) I’m the seller, 2) I printed out the label electronically, and 3) I had the shipping receipt, with proof of the correct address, right in front of me!

The woman told me to call back within two hours. When I called back, she said that she hadn’t looked into the matter, and gave me the phone # for the Lafayette, CA, post office! She gave me a person’s name that I had to speak to, so I called that number, got the person on the line, and she told me that she couldn’t research the matter today because she had to go to class. However, she would be more than happy to look into the matter on Thursday (???????????).

I told her flatly, “Look. I’ve been calling phone number after phone number. Get someone to research this matter!” She said she would look into it, and call me back within a few minutes.

That was at noon.

(Apparently DHL may not be at fault after all; according to the DHL rep I just spoke to, Dell never handed DHL the package! Now I get to speak to Dell’s CS *shudder*)

- I’m a laptop mouse whore; there’s no other way to say it.

(YAY! The Dell CSR told me that somebody had stolen my laptop from their Nevada plant. A new one is now in-production, and even though Dell was nice enough to upgrade me to next-day delivery, I probably won’t get it until next week, at the earliest. Not to mention, next-day delivery isn’t that much of an upgrade, since the laptop only has to traverse the distance from NV to CA; that would have taken one day via Ground shipping anyway. On top of that, it appears that they removed the 3 year warranty upgrade I ordered. Freaking Dell.)

Anyway, I went ahead and bought this laptop mouse yesterday from Amazon.com. This would make the fourth different laptop mouse I’ve ever owned; the previous three either broke down after a couple months of use, or were given away because they sucked. It’s a good thing that the combined cost of all four mice was somewhere in the $10 range :P.

Hopefully this one works out better than the previous three. It is, after all, a mouse for Macs, so it must be good, right?

Well, Dell decided to be “nice” and give me a $50 concession coupon for my troubles. I guess that’s better than their first offer to me: the rep was going to take “special care” in tracking my shipment for me.

Until next time!

by Peter
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I’m sitting here, sick as a dog, on about five minutes of sleep, and I’ve already downed two Pepto shots (TMI?).

- You’ll remember, in a previous blog entry, that I did a review on the Logitech Cordless Desktop MX3200 Laser. That review seemed to generate quite a bit of traffic to my blog; several visitors found my site, according to Google Analytics, via keyword searches involving the MX3200 keyboard. Primarily, people were looking for the location of the Scroll Lock button (if you search for “scroll lock mx3200″ on Google, my blog is still the first hit).

(Tangent: When is the last time you, or anyone you know, used the Scroll Lock key?)

Anyway, I have updated my review with the location of the Scroll Lock key! Also, I found out that the context-click key hadn’t been removed from the keyboard; it had just been moved elsewhere. For those of you interested in the location of both keys, I’ll refer you to this edit I made in my review:

The context-click key can be accessed by hitting the Fn key and the Print Screen key at the same time. Scroll lock can be accessed by hitting Fn + Pause/Break. I bring up the latter because I have received a lot of hits on my site from people, apparently, looking for the location of the scroll lock key.

- The Chase Freedom Rewards card–”I’m free…to do what I want…”–is awesome! 3% cash back on gas/grocery/fast food, the last of which is the primary reason why I wanted this card (for grocery purchases, I prefer my Chase Cash Back Rewards card, which gives 5%). I also have 250 other reasons why I applied for this card.

(Off topic: WTF is this mouse “for Mac” only, as the title suggests? Last I checked, a USB port is a USB port.)

- No thanks in great part to a person who shall remain nameless, I now have over several hundred dollars in rebates due to me. At the beginning of April, that figure was a manageable $70. Now, it has ballooned to over $600, and rising! Nameless one, thanks a bunch

(Of the $600 or so I’m owed, about $300-400 are coming from Computer Associates rebates alone!)

- Time Warner is funny. I finally got a reply today to the angry email I sent them, after the first phone call I made to their CS that day. Their email was one of the best “nothing” emails I’ve ever seen!

Thank you for your inquiry. We’re committed to providing the highest
quality of products and services to all of our customers, so your
feedback is very important to us. I apologize that you experienced
concerns with our pricing and packaging as well as customer care.

Our records indicate you called to address these issues prior to our
receiving your email. If you need any further assistance, please call
our 24 hour customer service center at 1-888-892-2253. I apologize for
any inconvenience this may cause.

I applaud TW. I don’t recall the last time an email so eloquently said nothing! I plan on sending them another nasty email. Let’s see how little they say when they get around to replying to that message.

- Roger Clemens is now officially the Antichrist, as ESPN went deep into their archives to dig up this article by Bill Simmons. I knew that Clemens was a money-grubbing attention whore, but I didn’t realize how much of one he was, until I read that article. Oh well, I’m looking forward to another Yankee choke this fall; I can’t wait for the “geez, even with Roger Clemens, you can’t win sh!t” taunts from Yankee haters!

Until next time!

Tags: chase freedom rewards, context-click key, cordless desktop mx3200 laser, customer service, logitech, new york yankees, roger clemens, scroll lock, time warner by Peter
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(Disclaimer: The following blog entry may contain sports-like substances)

So I’m sitting at a Texas Hold’em Freeroll tournament with 138 other entrants. The prize pool is $1,000, with a top prize of $260, and even 20th place earns $14. I normally don’t play well in freerolls, because there are always a bunch of nutjobs moving all-in with any two cards, doubling or even tripling up, and then bullying the table with their big stacks.

Hopefully I get some nice hands today. So far I’ve seen T9o (ten-nine offsuit, or of different suits), 82s (eight-two suited), and 63o, not exactly premium hands.

Ooooh…I finally got to see a flop…with a mighty 62s!

- So Roger Clemens is going to be a Yankee, and what a way to announce his “comeback”: by showing up at a Yankees game, during the seventh-inning stretch, and feeding his massive ego by making the announcement from the owner’s box. My thoughts on the story:

1. No freaking duh! Anyone who thought Clemens was going to Boston or the Astros must have been smoking something. Besides, he has (a prorated) twenty-eight million reasons to rejoin the Yankees. Anyone who thinks he’s there for anything else other than the money couldn’t be more wrong. Think about it: if family–his son is a catcher for the Astros, and he lives in Texas–were so important, then the fact that the Astros stink this year wouldn’t have dissuaded him from playing in Houston this year.
2. I love the mudslinging between Yankee fan and BoSox fan. Yeah, as if the cesspool that is NY or the whining babies that make up BoSox Nation (paraphrases, by the way, not my own opinions!) are relevant in the discussion. And if I hear one more suggestion that Roger Clemens and BFF Andy Pettitte should go to San Francisco and get married, along with Derek Jeter and A-Rod, I’m going to puke.
3. What, exactly, are the Yankees getting for their $20+ million? A 45-year-old pitcher who had a very low ERA the last two years–it helps to pitch in the National League, and who still has dominating stuff. They’re also getting a 45-year-old with recurring hamstring problems, whose last memorable pitching performance was one where he had to leave early in the game with an injury. Oh yeah, did I mention this was going to cost the Yankees $20+ million?
4. Then again, what else could the Yankees have done? They certainly didn’t need another bat, and what pitchers are available in the trade market that is of the caliber of Roger Clemens?

Enjoy NY, Clemens. I’m glad you finally chose a team; now I no longer have to see your mug on my TV, as you struggle to decide with which team you are going to join. Just admit that you chased the money, then pack your bags and move quietly to NY, pitch up to your abilities, and let’s see if you were, indeed, the missing piece to get the Yankees back to the World Series. Of course, asking the guy to shut up and NOT feed his massive ego is a tall order, I understand.

I should mention that I’m making this post not as a Yankee hater, but as a “Roger Clemens, GTFOMTV (Get The **** Off My TV)” fan.

(Hey, I actually saw a face card this time! My gosh, I’m so card dead right now!)

(OMG! I actually won a pot! And I won it with J3o!)

- Jason Kidd to the Lakers? Why the Lakers didn’t make the deal for Kidd during the season was puzzling; I just don’t think Andrew Bynum is going to develop into a superstar. Now that there is speculation that Bynum is on the trading block, it begs the question: why weren’t they willing to trade Bynum during the season, but now they’re willing to deal him? I understand the inclusion of overpaid C Jason Collins–actually, the terms “overpaid” and “center” are almost redundant nowadays–was also a big reason for the trade not happening, but Jason Kidd would have been perfect for the Lakers. He’s a big guard, can shoot (not well, but he does shoot well in the clutch), and would fit very well in the triangle.

(I love freerolls. I had QQ and went all-in, and was called by KQ, 87, and AK. The idiot with KQ won with a straight on the turn.)

Not to mention, have you seen the guy in this postseason so far? He’s playing out of his mind! With his family troubles, the pending move of the Nets to Brooklyn, and Wince Carter’s pending free agency, now would be as good as time as any for the Nets to consider rebuilding. The likelihood of a Kidd-to-LA deal looks bad, though, since the Lakers lost one major bargaining chip (Chris Mihm’s expiring contract), and it sounds like they’re going to have to include Lamar Odom in any deal for Kidd. How about Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown, and Andrew Bynum for Kidd, Jason Collins, and a draft pick? No way can the Nets expect to get a draft pick from the Lakers, if the Lakers have to take on Collins’ albatross of a contract. The only other trade, which I can’t see the Nets taking, would be Kwame, Vlad Radmanovic, Bynum, and Evans (or a pick) for Kidd.

Sounds like a third team must get involved for Kidd to join the Lakers.

That’s all for now. Until next time!

by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- Check out this news story, then click on “Read Related Blogs and Articles.”

(Yes, little things like this amuse me.)

- Time Warner continues to piss me off. My connection has gone down twice this morning! I refuse to call them, though, because they’ll probably “fix” my problem and somehow jack up my bill by another $20/month.

- My DOSBox is already giving me problems. Frequent BSODs, auto-restarts, and a whirring noise–sounds like a dying CPU fan–occur virtually every time I fire up the system. Of course, I only invested a grand total of $22 for all the parts, so I could care less if the damn thing stopped working tonight.

(Well, maybe not, since I’m playing Chrono Trigger for the 20,000th time.)

- Lately, there have been a number of great deals on Computer Associates (CA) deals, most of them of the Make Money After Rebate (MMAR) variety.

(Tangent: I gotta find my “me-FAQ,” a collection of terms I frequently use while chatting/emailing/blogging.)

One “fun” thing about CA rebates is that their rebate processor–Parago, aka Parasuck or Paraslow–likes to reject valid rebate submissions for BS reasons: invalid UPC, invalid receipt, invalid email (???), invalid phone number, etc. Lately, I’ve gotten multiple reasons for rejection; case in point, I had a rebate rejected yesterday for “invalid UPC, invalid receipt, and invalid email.”

(One funny thing about the “invalid email” error message is that they are able to email me a rejection notice. How could they do that if my email address is invalid?)

What’s really stupid about Parasuck is that a phone call usually remedies the situation immediately. In fact, here is a transcript of my call to them this morning.

Me: Hi, I’m calling about rebate ID [ID number]
CS: Hi. [spiel about the rebate being rejected for whatever reason] . As a one time courtesy, I went ahead and validated your rebate for you. You will receive the check in 4-6 weeks.
Me: Cool. Thanks.

Why do I continue to deal with Parasuck? How can I pass up MMAR deals?

- How about Jermaine O’Neal possibly going to the Lakers? If you recall, last time, I talked about KG joining the Lakers, and now I’ll talk about the Pacers’ forward. How about Jermaine O’Neal, Jamaal Tinsley + assorted garbage for Odom, Brown, Farmar, Evans, and a #1. Come on, Larry Legend, how can you pass up this deal? So your team becomes total garbage next year! So what? Play Odom at the point-forward, try to trade Jeff Foster’s expiring contract for veteran help, and rebuild the following year! You’ll get a top-15 pick next year, as well as the Lakers’ #1 this year and your own. Hey, it’s not my fault that you accepted that horrible trade with Golden State to get Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy Jr. (Golden State sends many thanks, by the way). Chances of this happening? Not much, unless Indy can couple this deal with another one. Should it happen? I think so. The Pacers need to rebuild, and the Lakers desperately need an established post-scorer while they wait for Bynum to develop. Plus, Tinsley is a decent PG, though his contract is an absolute albatross.

Speaking of PGs, how about Jason Kidd? I’ll save that for next time!

by Peter
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No, the title is not meant to be facetious. It’s the truth.

I had hinted about how much I hated Time Warner in an earlier blog entry, but I never did go into any detail about what happened. And then, the sh!t hit the fan today. But before I get into what happened today, let me discuss what happened on April 3rd. I promise you, this will be relevant to my story today.

(Sorry for the really long rant!)

(Background: A few months ago, my cable bill was a tad under $50/month for cable, Road Runner Basic high speed internet service (HSI), and a digital box rental. Recently, I’ve added HBO to my contract at $15/month, pushing my total bill to about $60-65/month. My basic cable is free of charge; it’s paid for by my landlord as part of his HOA dues).

I had acquired a Motorola SURFBoard cable modem to replace my POS RCA modem that Time Warner gave me. I called in to TW HSI support to get the new modem provisioned. The idiot rep, for the life of her, could not get my modem working. At the end of the call, she told me that my old modem would work just fine.

(FYI, in order to “provision” a new modem, a HSI company needs the MAC address of your modem–a 12 hexadecimal key. You give them the key, they punch it in their computer, and the change is usually quick.)

I asked her, “Wait a second. How would my old modem still work? Didn’t you punch in the new MAC address?”

Her response? Something like “It should work just fine.” Of course, it did, leading me to believe that she never correctly provisioned my modem.

Later in the day, I had another rep provision my modem, and he was able to do it within minutes. I thought I was in the clear, until I noticed that my speeds are pathetically slow. I called TW again the next day, and the rep insisted that slow speeds were perfectly acceptable (I was getting about 1 Mbps, when Road Runner Basic advertises 4-5Mbps). Eventually, the tech found out that one of the earlier techs had provisioned my modem for the Road Runner Lite plan (RR’s low-end plan, providing 1.5Mbps down)! He quickly corrected this, and I had my higher speeds again!

Fast forward to today: I checked my Citibank credit card statement earlier today, only to see an ~$90 charge on it from TW! I understand that companies need to raise their rates every now and then, but a $25 increase in a month???

I checked my TW statement, and spotted a couple extra charges to my bill: a charge of ~$16 for Broadcast Basic (what I’m supposed to get for free, or so I thought), and a “partial month” charge for $5.66. There was also a credit for a cool $0.24!

Mildly ticked off, I called Customer Service and spoke to an individual who insisted that the charges were all correct. When I inquired about the “partial charges,” the rep told me that these partial charges stemmed from a subscription to Road Runner Lite (remember that I was put on the Lite plan for one day). Never mind the fact that I was still being billed for Road Runner Basic–TW’s standard HSI service. I explained that there is clearly a problem here. The rep’s reply? Something to the effect of “oh, yeah, the system can add those [charges] at any time.” You could imagine how happy I was to hear that TW could charge me at random at any time.

Totally livid, I threatened to cancel all my services. The rep coldly told me “ok.” On top of that, he mentioned that there is a $1.99 convenience (read: bullsh!t) fee for each service removed from my’s contract! At that point, I asked him if he really wanted to lose a customer. He replied with “go ahead.” I had him remove HBO from my plan, and incurred the $1.99 charge.

Before I hung up on the guy, I asked him if I was going to be charged $1.99 for this call. In all seriousness, he answered “no, sir, we will never charge you for a phone call.” I told him “you guys probably will next month” and hung up before he could get into his “thank you for letting us rip you off…have a nice day” spiel. I fired off a nasty email to TW’s email support, and have yet to hear a reply.

(Yeah, I know, I can act quite childish at times).

After an hour of cooling off, I decided to call TW again. I got a really nice guy, who looked at the partial charges and thought I was getting screwed himself (insert big grin here). He forwarded me to another department, and I finally got resolution.

The rep agreed with me that I shouldn’t have been doubly charged for the RR Basic + Lite plan, so I got a few cents refunded to my account. I then inquired about the rest of the partial charges, as well as the Broadcast Basic charge of ~$16. The rep put me on hold for a bit, and came back with good news. Apparently, when I was bumped down to Road Runner Lite, that triggered a charge for Broadcast Basic service. It seems that I am supposed to get “sub-Basic” cable service free of charge, which is identical to Broadcast Basic except for the price (~$16, compared to $0). It turns out, that charge + the partial month for Road Runner Lite, added up to $5.66.

The rep credited me for the partial month of Broadcast Basic that I never subscribed for, as well as the $16 I was billed for Broadcast Basic this month. I asked to have HBO re-added on my account, and he did that, but he wouldn’t remove the $1.99 convenience charge. That was ok, though; somehow, he ended up lowering my total bill by $5/month as well!

I can’t wait to get next month’s statement, to see even more bogus charges on my account.

Moral of the story: apparently, I gotta speak to Time Warner twice to get a desired result.

Tags: broadcast basic, cable modem, email support, horrible experience, motorola surfboard, overcharging, retentions, road runner lite, sub-basic cable, sucks, time warner cable by Peter
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How do you call a $40 bet ($20 no limit) with K-9 offsuit, when you and your opponent have each only contributed $2.50 to the pot? When you know you’re going to make a king-high straight!

I don’t have the hand history, but here’s the hand, to the best of my knowledge:

Blinds $0.10 and $0.20.
Psycho raises to $0.60.
Victim raises to $1.50.
Psycho raises to $2.40.
Victim raises all-in to $40.
Psycho calls for $40.

Psycho shows K-9 offsuit; victim shows a pair of eights (the victim will win this hand about 55% of the time).

Board: QJTxx

Psycho ends up with a King-high straight (KQJT9); victim ends up with just his pair of eights.

Online poker…it’s FAN-tastic!

(By the way, if Dirk Nowitzki ends up winning the MVP award, can the award be taken away from him for a piss poor playoff performance? By the way, cool alliteration, no?)

- Sorry, IMBCers, but I just have to give my thoughts about this story on the Los Angeles Lakers. It appears that Kobe finally snapped, demanding changes to the Lakers for next season. This quote sums up Kobe’s feelings quite succinctly:

“Do something,” Bryant told reporters in Phoenix, “and do it now.”

Clearly Kobe is sick of playing with the likes of Smush Parker, Mo Evans, Jordan Farmar, and Andrew Bynum. No disrespect to any of these guys–well, maybe to Smush–but these role players don’t exactly resemble Horry, Fox, and Fisher.

(Tangent: Would anyone have a problem with my lumping Mark Cuban in with the likes of players such as Malone, Stockton, Barkley, et al., and coaches such as Jerry Sloan, in the “won’t ever win one [a championship]” Hall of Shame? To think, the Mavs were six minutes away from winning a championship last year, and now they’re about to be kicked to the curb by former Mav coach Don Nelson and the Golden State Warriors [!!!!!!])

Three marquee names are floating around with regards to the Lakers and trade possibilities in the offseason: Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O’Neal, and Jason Kidd would all make the Lakers better immediately. But at what cost? And would any of the three even make the Lakers contenders?

(Tangent #1: I hope the Warriors play Houston in the next round. I think the Warriors have a good shot at beating the Rockets, and I really want to see a Suns-Warriors Western Conference Finals!)

(Tangent #2: If a sportsbook gave 10:1 odds on Golden State winning the West, I’d have to seriously consider making that bet…that is, if online gambling were legal.)

Kevin Garnett, eh? Despite what T-Wolves GM Kevin McHale says–that he’s not trading KG–could he resist a first round pick or two, Andrew Bynum or Lamar Odom, and a bunch of garbage (Kwame Brown, e.g.)? While we’re at it, McHale could toss Mike James into the mix. Chances of this deal happening? Not much; it’s not likely that Minnesota would give up KG for that package. However, Minnesota has to think about it this way: they get a draft pick or two, expiring contracts, an established star, AND the good publicity that comes with finally allowing KG to leave Minnesota.

I’m sleepy, so next time, I’ll talk about Jermaine and Kidd. Until next time!

by Peter
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(Does anyone know if breaking and entering one’s own house is considered a crime?)

(And no, I will not elaborate.)

(Let’s move on, shall we?)

So my new laptop will be here any day now, and I gotta get rid of this POS HDTV–a Sceptre 32″ LCD HDTV with a couple slight problems, and by slight, you know what I mean. I gotta find a smaller (~26″), and more importantly, a cheaper alternative.

Random thought:

- Krunk and I (well, I, really) talked about what it means to “tangent” from one topic. We agreed that the definition is to change direction about a topic at hand, by switching to a related topic. For example, if I talked about Las Vegas, and then talked about the television show CSI, I would have made a successful tangent; since CSI is based in Las Vegas, there is a connection between the two topics.

Merriam-Webster.com seems to disagree with our definition. It defines a tangent as “an abrupt change of course; a digression (ex: the speaker went off on a tangent)”, which is more severe, in my opinion, than a change to a related topic; in other words, m-w.com seems to define a tangent as an off-topic remark.

I think I’ll continue using “tangent” the way I have it defined, even if it may be incorrect.

Anyway, this blog was going to be titled “Reading Comprehension FTW (For The Win!),” and you shall see why below.

- I’m having printer troubles at the moment, and a friend who shall remain nameless tried to help me out last night. I quit asking him for help after this exchange:

Me: I think my laser printer is having an identity crisis
Him: wth are u using a laser poitner for?
Me: um
Me: i’m using a printer to…um…print
Him: haha
Him: i so misread that ;p

(No prize if you figure out who the friend was).

(Disclaimer: The next topic is not meant to poke fun at the two studies mentioned, nor is it meant to elicit a debate over perceived race-based bias between NBA officials and black players. It is just merely to gloss over how important reading comprehension really is).

- An academic study, published in The New York Times, determined that black players are whistled for fouls more often than white players. The study, “conducted over a 13-season span through 2004, found that the racial makeup of a three-man officiating crew affected calls by up to 4½ percent.” The researchers also found

“Player-performance appears to deteriorate at every margin when officiated by a larger fraction of opposite-race referees,” Wolfers and Price wrote.

But the key finding was in regard to foul calls, saying “black players receive around 0.12-0.20 more fouls per 48 minutes played [an increase of 2½-4½ percent] when the number of white referees officiating a game increases from zero to three.”

(The second paragraph is important to note, for the scope of my discussion below.)

The NBA was quick to denounce the study, pointing out that the study used data collected on officiating teams–each game is refereed by a three-person team–and not on individual referees. Also important to note is that the original study was not yet submitted for peer review as of the date The New York Times published their original article.

What brought my attention to these articles were not the stories themselves, but the comments left by ESPN readers. Take a look at some of these comments:

This article is ludicrous. One of the most idiotic article ever written. They called themselves graduate students? Anyone can figure that there are more black players in the NBA than white, so of course black players get called on more.

You can’t be serious. The NBA is 95% black.

Agreed - Most Rediculous Study EVERS! This study would have some kind of basis in reality if a) the league was 50/50 black/ white; and b) refs were 50/50 black/whiteReality is that the NBA is a “black man’s league”, and without accurate figures, i’d venture to say that over 70% of the STARTERS (ie those who play the most minutes!) are black!

(That last one gave me a headache just copying and pasting it…I might pass out if I cho0se to try to decipher the whole thing).

Anyway, clearly these guys can’t read! Look back at the second paragraph I quoted above, especially this part:

“But the key finding was in regard to foul calls, saying “black players receive around 0.12-0.20 more fouls per 48 minutes played“

This post pretty much sums up my feelings.

Dear Idiots complaining that since the NBA is 95% black…,The percentage of black/white players and black/white referees is factored into the statistics within the study, hence the “greater rate”, not “greater number of fouls”. Please do not focus on the fact that most players are black and instead focus on the fact that this is a ridiculously worthless study REGARDLESS!

Finally! Someone that can actually read! Let’s not focus on the outcry of racism in the NBA. Let’s focus on the fact that this study has little to no merit whatsoever, due to the fact that the study did not take into account individual referee performances. How can people allege a racial bias without knowing if the trio were all black, two and one, or all white? Also, one could argue that any study should also take these factors into account:

• The size of players: bigger players tend to draw more fouls than smaller players. Teams dominated with bigger players should draw fouls at a higher rate than teams that rely on smaller, quicker players.
• Home/road advantages: teams at home generally get the benefit of the doubt more so than the road team. Also, teams on the road have to deal with the hostile crowd, which may cause them to play more sloppily, and potentially incur more fouls.
• Breaks. Some teams just get more breaks than others. Some players (superstars mostly) get the benefit of the doubt more so than others.

Of course, with any statistical analysis, you hope to get a large enough set of data to rid yourself of some errors. On the other hand, one can always try to “mold” their data to fit a desired conclusion. Now, I’m not alleging that either scenario is occurring in this situation, but it’s worth mentioning the problems with statistical tests (especially when the data-gathering methods appear flawed).

By the way, reading comprehension FTW! Also, kettle corn FTW! And sleep too!

by Peter
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