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UngsungBlog, Random Thoughts Edition: Froot Loops, Cash Back on eBay

Oh man, I got sunburned pretty good yesterday! Where’s my aloe-vera-anti-sunburn lotion?

- I mentioned to Krunk a couple weeks ago about how I only recently–a few years back, maybe–was informed that Froot Loops were spelled with four O’s instead of two. It was during a grocery store trip in college that I realized that “Froot” was spelled as such.

To my surprise, Krunk didn’t realize this at all, until I pointed it out! In fact, he told me early this morning that a couple of his friends weren’t aware of that fact either! LOL!

I’m snacking on some right now, and I forgot how ridiculously sweet these things are!

- So I noticed that FatWallet Cash Back now offers 1% cash back at eBay (1% taken from the final bid price before S&H). I don’t buy much on eBay anymore, but I think that’s pretty cool.

Earlier today, I stumbled upon BigCrumbs.com, another Ebates/FW Cash Back clone, it appears. One thing quickly caught my eye about this place: they offered 36% cash back on eBay purchases!

I looked further, and sure enough, it was too good to be true. BigCrumbs pays back 36% of the seller’s fees for any auction you win. That is just slightly better than FW’s 1% cash back, if you do the math:

  • If you buy an item that costs between $0.01 and $25, the seller’s fees will be 5.25% of the final price. By buying through BigCrumbs, you’ll be getting 5.25% * 36% = 1.89% back. On a $25 item, your cash back would be ~$0.47.
  • If you buy an item that costs between $25 and $1,000, the seller’s fees will be $1.31 (5.25% of $25) + 3.25% of the excess. For example, a $100 final bid results in seller’s fees of $1.31 + 3.25% of $75 = $3.75, and your cash back would be ~$1.35 (1.35%).
  • I won’t bother going into items that are over $1,000, as I’ve never spent more than $150 on a single eBay transaction.

(I know, I know…all this for what will probably amount to be a few cents here and there.)

Anyway, these guys have a pretty decent selection of stores as well, seen here.

I’m going to go ahead and give these guys a try. (Warning: the following may contain a shameless self-promotion!) If you’re going to sign up for this service as well, please sign up using this link.

I’ve got lots more to talk about (surprisingly, not about sports), but I’ll save them for another day.

UngsungBlog: SoS Edition: Father’s Day Cookout Fun

Ok, Hank, I’ll try to go sports-free today :P

(BTW, “SoS” = “Sick of Sports,” because I’m kinda tired of blogging about this whole LA Lakers ordeal too.)

Oh crap…fifty-five minutes, and I haven’t even started on this blog entry! Let’s hope I make it!

(Being in a food coma, and researching the effects of a bee sting on WebMD.com at the same time can’t help, either.)

- Our Father’s Day BBQ had so much food, we had to refill the BBQ with additional coals! And since we were using Match Light charcoal, we couldn’t have just added the coals as we were cooking. I know some people out there think that Match Light coals are blasphemous, and only original Kingsford charcoal is acceptable. To that, I say shush. It still grills a damn fine piece of cow.

(I should point out, if I hadn’t mentioned it in an earlier blog entry, that my weapon of choice is a Weber 18.5″ One-Touch Silver charcoal grill. We were cooking for six people with big appetites, so I wasn’t that surprised to have to use a second load of charcoal to finish all the cooking.)

We grilled spare ribs, chicken wings, and drumsticks with both a simple marinade–soy sauce, garlic, green onion, and a bit of sugar–as well as some cheapo BBQ sauce. I’m not really a fan of liquid marinades–I prefer dry rubs, and good ol’ kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper over liquids–but you really can’t go wrong with such a simple marinade as soy sauce. And you really can’t go wrong with barbecuing meat; even a steak cooked to the consistency of shoe leather still tastes OK when cooked on a grill.

We also had beef short ribs marinated in teriyaki sauce, beef meatballs, and BBQed corn. Because we had to change the coals once, I ended up in front of the grill for almost three hours, sneaking a bite of meat, salad, or a quick sip of Diet Sierra Mist every now and then.

(Tangent: Diet Sierra Mist is pretty damn good! In fact, there are a number of diet sodas I can drink that taste close enough to the original to satisfy me: diet root bear [diet root beer floats FTW], diet citrus sodas, and Coke Zero, which is tremendous.)

By the time most of the meat was cooked, and we were ready to sit down and eat, we were all stuffed!

We started cooking at around 6PM, and didn’t finish until nearly 9:30. And yeah, we were pretty much eating the whole time; hence the food coma.

I’ve got enough leftovers to last two or three more meals, and I took only about 25% of the leftovers. I can’t wait for next-day BBQ; it tastes almost as good as fresh-off-the-grill meat, IMO.

Sorry, Hank…no pictures :(.

(praying that this blog contains over 300 words)