UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

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Joe Torre to LA?, Tons of Stupid Points, And UBMe #3 (”Shopping Cart Obstructions”)

Hello again, loyal readers!

Quick-hitters:

- Current rebate-o-meter: $3000, and dropping fast!

(W00t!)

- Why must oatmeal raisin cookies be so damn tasty??? I baked a batch last Thursday, and thanks to myself, my sister, her co-workers, my mom, etc., I’m down to five cookies.

(Four.)

Next up: a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I’ll put the over/under on how long those cookies will last at three days, and I’ll take the under.

- Trader Joe’s is evil. Costco is evil.

Going to both stores? Wallet homicide.

(I dare anyone to convince me otherwise.)

- OMG! The NBA season starts tomorrow, and I haven’t even signed up for a Fantasy Basketball league!

- So the big news story, which I just heard about a few minutes ago, is the report that the Los Angeles Dodgers (actually of LA!) are going to fire incumbent manager Grady Little and hire former Yankees’ manager Joe Torre!

THIS. MUST. HAPPEN.

Yes, Grady Little got a bum rap for the 2003 Boston Red Sox debacle. Yeah, he’s probably going to be unfairly fired for what happened last year with my Dodgers (the locker room fracturing, I mean). Still, it’s awfully hard to trade in Little for a four-time World Series-winning manager. I’m really looking forward to see who the Dodgers will end up signing, now that Torre appears to be on board?

(No, I’m not going to be myopic enough to believe that Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, et al., will be donning Dodger Blue next year.)

Great statistic mentioned by SportsCenter, by the way: in 2003, Grady Little was fired by Boston; the Red Sox won the World Series the next year. In 1996, Joe Torre was hired by New York; the Yankees won the World Series the next year. Hmmmm…

me *crosses fingers*

- Speaking of fingers…I was filing some rebates about a week ago.

(I’m usually quick when it comes to filing rebates; it helps to use pre-printed address labels.)

(By the way, the squeamish might want to stop reading here.)

Anyway, I was attempting to flatten one tri-folded rebate submission, getting ready to stuff it into an envelope. I ran my hand across the stack, and proceeded to flatten the submission (five 24# sheets of paper are pretty thick!). That’s when I noticed that my hand had quite a bit of blood on it.

Yeah, somehow, while flattening the rebate submission, I had managed to slice my pinky like a Ginzu knife through a tin can. I shook it off immediately, telling myself “eh, just another paper cut.” Ten seconds later, I was screaming and running towards the nearest sink.

I give myself 25,000 Stupid Points.

- It’s time for UBMe #3, aka “Shopping Cart Obstructions.”

While in line at Costco, you realize that you forgot an item on your shopping list! Knowing that the item–no, it was not Mexicoke–was located at the back of the store, you realize that nothing short of a power walk would get you to the back to the registers in time. You proceed to semi-jog to the back of the store, and realize that there are way too many people there for you to be jogging. You slow to a brisk walk, reach the refrigerated section, grab your item, and head back.

Like a running back in football, you keep trying to hit holes between shopping carts and their owners, trying desperately to get to the front of the store as quickly as possible. Halfway on the return trip, you hit a snag: you reach a section where nobody is moving! Out of the corner of your eye, you quickly notice a small gap opening, so you beeline towards it. That’s when some stupid woman pushes her cart through that gap, beating you to the spot. As if that isn’t bad enough, she then proceeds to leave her cart right there in the open, walking away to go check out some items an aisle away!

UBMe! Do you gently push her cart aside, and continue on your way to the front of the store? Do you patiently wait for another opening (which was unlikely, as the obstruction occurred in front of a smoothie display, and there was a big line of people waiting for samples)? Or do you do something more drastic, like walking across an aisle to get to the much less crowded perimeter of the store?

You decide to gently push her cart out of the way. You reach out, and a split second before you come in contact with her cart, you notice some guy coming in the opposite direction with his cart. You immediately realize that he is approaching you with a good deal of speed, and you know something is going to happen. With his cart, he literally swings his cart into hers, hitting the blockade with such force that the offending carts rolls away about 5-10 feet. Eventually, the cart coasts to a stop in front of a display of pillows, as the guy continues through the newly-opened gap. You turn around, and see the woman head back towards her cart, clearly pissed off! You grin in the direction of the guy who cleared your way, and continue towards front of the store.

You reach the registers, just as the cashier starts ringing up your order.

Seriously, that was awesome. The look on the woman’s face was priceless!

Until next time!

Tags: cookies, costco, joe torre, los angeles dodgers, oatmeal, paper cut, raisin, rebates, shopping cart, stupid points, trader joe, UBMe by Peter
7 Comments »

UBMe #2 (”Some Kind of Stupid”), And My Latest Haul (I <3 CVS)

There are a number of reasons why I haven’t blogged lately. You could consider all of them to be lame excuses

I have a lot to talk about, so I have no more excuses to not blog. Expect my next “entry” to be split up into a couple of parts.
(Yeah, right.)

No quick-hitters tonight…let’s get right into it.

- Presenting UBMe #2, aka “Some Kind of Stupid.”

You’re heading out from your parents’ home with your two sisters, your mom, your aunt, and your now-three-year-old nephew (yeah, he’s visiting again). Needing two cars, you send your oldest sister out first, with the nephew and your aunt. As you get ready to head out, you notice a brand spankin’ new Bimmer parked on the edge of a curb, right in front of your driveway! The moron parked his car in such a way that 75% of the driveway was blocked off!

WTF???

Half an hour later, after loading up both cars, you notice that the idiot is still there! Worse, some other jackass double-parked his car on the road as well! Ridiculous!
UBMe! Would you have driven up to the end of the driveway, and honked your horn to holy hell? Would you have tried to drive over the other side of the curb, potentially f**king up your car to holy hell? Would you have rammed his car and cited a drop in your blood sugar level as the cause of your lapse? Or would you do something else?

You instruct your oldest sister to drive up to the car, and honk her horn repeatedly until the ass moved his car. After a minute of non-stop honking, the ass runs out, gets in his car, and drives off. Your sister pulls out of the driveway, and a bit later, you see the motherf**ker come back and block the driveway again!!!!!!!!!!

(Seriously…how freaking stupid do you have to be to do this AGAIN?)

UBMe! What would you do in this situation? Is this a case where murder is justified. Is murder too excessive? How about six torn knee ligaments?

You feel that the best thing to do is to do exactly what your oldest sister did. You instruct your other sister to drive up to the asshole’s car, honk her horn to holy hell, and wait. He comes running out of the house, drives off…and double-parks his car a few feet away! You drive up behind his car, making it clear that you need to pass him. He drives slowly, until he is able to pull off the road, and he decides to stop…right next to a fire hydrant. Out of the rear view mirror, you look to see that he U-turns, and you know exactly where he’s headed. He’s going right back to his parking “spot.”

At this point, would you have gone back to the driveway, pretending to have forgotten something, and honked your horn to holy hell again, forcing the asshole to come back out?

(I would have, had I not thought about doing this right when we hit the freeway.)

But seriously…how freaking stupid do you have to be to illegally park your car THREE TIMES in the SAME PLACE??!?!?!?!?!

This easily tops the psycho woman in the gas station…by a WIDE margin.

- Now, on to a less coma-inducing topic: my latest shopping haul! I bought some Tums, five SoyJoy protein bars (4 for $4 with a $4 ECB + a B2G1 free coupon), some more Beano ($2.99 with a $2.99 ECB + a $1 off coupon), and two bags of Halloween candy (2 for $5, $1 off 2 coupon, $1 ECB). I also got some free after coupon apple juice from Ralphs!

Anyway, back to CVS…the Tums was supposed to be $4.99 with a $2 ECB, but for some reason, it scanned at $5.49. I asked the cashier about this, and she took my item and went to the aisle where the Tums are sold. She came back, told me that the shelf price was $5.49, but she would go correct it (based on the ad price). At that point, I told her that I would accept the $5.49 price, as long as the $2 ECB printed out.

To my bewilderment, the clerk wouldn’t take no for an answer! She said that I deserved the ad price, and finished scanning all my items. After handing her my coupons + ECBs, my total was $0.52. Reaching for a buck in my wallet, I was shocked to hear the cashier tell me “Just give me two pennies.”

(I had to run over to my sister to ask her for two cents, as I didn’t have a single coin on me.)

After handing the cashier the two pennies, she handed me my receipt + newly printed ECBs, and we noticed that the $2 ECB never printed out. She took my receipt, flagged down the manager again, and explained the situation.

(At this point, the transaction was taking over ten minutes, and I didn’t really want the $2 any more ;p).

The manager told the woman to do an override for $2, but as she attempted to do that, the computer rejected the override. You see, since my total was $0.52, the system wouldn’t let her do an override for more than that amount, as the system does not allow negative totals. The manager offered to refund me $0.52, explaining that that was all he could do.

At that point, I was more than happy to tell the manager that the $2 ECB that didn’t print was no big deal. I thanked him and the cashier, apologized to both of them for taking up so much of their time (they were EXTREMELY helpful throughout the situation), and left. Oh well; it’s not often that I could say I spent two measly cents at any store.

I had more to talk about, but I had been moving loads of stuff into my room for the past two hours (long story), and I’m really tired. Until next time!

by Peter
2 Comments »

UBMe, Quick MLB Thoughts, And My (Fantasy) Football Week 7 Thoughts, And The Pats Play With A Chip (of Logic) On Their Shoulders

First of all, prayers go out to everybody affected by the fires here in SoCal, especially those in San Diego County. What’s going on here is eerily reminiscent of the fires of 2003–I was a UCSD student at the time, and one of the fires was burning no more than ten miles south of where we were. I remember waking up that Sunday morning, wondering why I could see bright orange rays of light coming from my window. Although I had a midterm that Tuesday–it was subsequently postponed by a week, as the campus was closed for a couple of days–I remember doing nothing but playing video games all day, just to get my mind off the fires.

When the campus re-opened, I returned to my volunteer position at the Preuss School (a charter school adjacent to UCSD) and I made it a point to ask the students how their families were doing, fully aware that most of the kids lived in areas affected by the fires. Talk about a humbling experience; it made my whining on Sunday look awfully pathetic by comparison.

I noticed that the winds have died down here significantly; hopefully that helps the firefighters out there in controlling these blazes. And as far as the arsonists that caused a couple of these fires are concerned, I think we should use those fire-fighting planes, pick them up by their legs, and drop them head-first into the Pacific Ocean…or an active volcano.

Let’s get on with it.

Quick-hitters:

- Current rebate-o-meter: $3300. That total includes the $150 or so I got in the past few days. Sigh…

- I can’t wait for Halloween!

Well, I can’t wait for the day after Halloween, when Halloween candy is clearanced :D.

- Somebody please remind me to watch the World Series with my TV muted. Between Tim McCarver, John Mellencamp, AT&T (’tis a shame they dumped the name “Cingular”; I can’t call them Crapular any more.), and that XBox 360 commercial with the kids absolutely f**king up Poison’s “Nothin’ But A Good Time,” I’m this close to buying a TiVo.

F**k __________

I’m going to make tonight’s blog entry short and sweet.

F**k Fantasy Football.

F**k Time Warner. F**k Staples.

F**k Symantecrebates.com.

F**k everything else that ruined an otherwise awesome weekend of (college) football.

At least dinner was good (burgers, homemade fries, and a tropical banana milkshake).

I may elaborate on one or more of the above topics another time, or I may ignore them (as usual) altogether.

Until next time.

by Peter
4 Comments »

The Office, Episodes 3 (”Launch Party”) and 4 (”Money”) Reviews

No quick-hitters this time. Let’s go straight into my review.

- Since I forgot to review last week’s episode of The Office, I’ll do so here.

(Note: This review was written before I watched the current week’s episode.)

Last week’s episode was pretty good, but not fantastic, and awfully disappointing for an hour-long episode. There were a few good moments, but overall, I thought the episode was pretty boring. After the first ten minutes, I nearly fell asleep as the episode wore on. When Michael kept the pizza guy hostage, I was seriously considering changing the channel. How he didn’t get arrested for kidnapping is beyond me (oh yeah, that’s because this is TV). Yeah, I understand the parallels between Michael/the pizza guy and Michael/Ryan, but that was some seriously boring crap. The scene with Jim and Pam on the roof saved the second-half of the episode, for sure.

The interaction between Andy and Dwight, though way over the top at times, was pretty damn funny. I can’t wait to see how Andy’s interest in Angela is going to ruin their chemistry. And I was especially happy to see Jim and Pam pulling a prank on Dwight again! Dwight’s facial expressions were priceless! Phyllis’ handling of an increasingly bitchy Angela was quite enjoyable too. I LOL’ed when Phyllis threw the crumpled-up post-its at Angela’s face.

As soon as I saw the DVD player screen saver on the television in the conference room, I knew that everyone was waiting to see if the little box was going to hit the corner of the screen. I will admit that I have done that once or twice before

My favorite moments:

Meredith asking Jim to sign her cast. “Can you write where I can read it?”
Pam: “[Killing Angela’s cat] has caused a lot of unpleasantness between Dwight and Angela…who are both already prone to unpleasantness.”
Jim (to Pam): What would you say if I told you we could pull a prank on Dwight at the same time and not be working?
Dwight: “I did so well last February that Corporate gave me two plaques in lieu of a pay raise.”
Michael: “It’s a club called ‘Chat room’ and there’s a password to get in, which is actually ‘password.’”
Kelly sticking the pizza on the TV screen, followed by the pizza guy’s plea for help.
Andy’s a capella rendition of “Take A Chance on Me” via the speakerphone, followed by Angela realizing the other workers were standing in the room.

- Today’s episode was FAR better than the previous two, even though it was awfully mushy at times. Then again, who didn’t enjoy the last few minutes? From Jim consoling Dwight, to his explaining why he left Scranton, to his never wanting to wish his emotional pains on his worst enemy (”and that includes you”), to Dwight turning towards the space that Jim had occupied, to Jim planting a kiss on Pam, and finally, to the declaration that Jim is very passionate about Italian food, who didn’t find those last few moments enjoyable? I agree with my sister’s comment that many female Office fans just fell (further?) in love with Jim Halpert. And LOL at Dwight turning back into his old self at the very end, knocking over Jim’s pile of stuff hanging over Dwight’s desk.

Speaking of relationships, poor poor Michael. Although it was great to see Jan prove that she values her relationship with Michael, nothing got resolved with regards to his money problems! I was kinda hoping Michael was going to chew her out, pointing out that she is the one sending him to financial hell. Dammit Michael! Grow a pair! And whatever Jan’s psychological disorder is, it must really be serious if she can’t figure out that she is causing Michael’s financial strain. Oh well, it seems that the writers will be dragging this storyline out for the entire season.

(Nice job screwing up the lyrics to “Runaway Train,” by the way!)

Of course, as long as there is a substantial Jim/Dwight interaction in an episode, the episode can’t be awful as a whole, right? And “agro-tourism”??? I didn’t even realize there was such a thing! Oh yeah, any episode that prominently features Mose can’t suck either. And of course, I loved how Michael got bossed around for a change. If only his superiors at Dunder Mifflin would do the same to him.

(Tangent: If I were Jim, Pam’s taking me to Dwight’s non-bed-and-breakfast would be a relationship killer.)

(Tangent #2: The Beets Motel? The Embassy Beets? Radish Inn? HAHAHAHA. Borscht hotel? *groan*)

It’s a damn shame that this was the last hour-long episode for the foreseeable future. I’m still bent over the fact that two not-so-great hour-long episodes were sandwiched in between two excellent episodes.

My favorite moments:

Dwight (answering Pam’s call): “This is a misuse of company phones!” (Pot, meet kettle.)
Dwight’s story about Schrute family members giving males a bag of wild oats when he has sex with a woman.
Kevin’s new band, Scrantonicity II. Of course that’s what it’s named!
Michael taking the bus to his second job…also in sales. LOL!
Jim’s explaining how he dreamed of his and Pam’s first night away together, and how he imagined it to involve less manure.
Michael cold-calling Stanley, and then attempting to disguise his voice to hide his identity, followed by the talking “head” scene with Stanley over the speakerphone (LOL!!!!)
Mose sitting in the room, while Dwight was reading from a Harry Potter book.
Michael’s impromptu presentation, complete with him having to register the new version of PowerPoint and download updates.
Pam: “Now that I think about it, Angela and Andy might actually make a good couple. But I couldn’t do that to Dwight. Or Angela. Or Andy.”
Michael trolling around the office, asking for advice on how to get out of his financial woe, especially when he asked Kevin about how to double his money seven or eight times. I wouldn’t mind doubling the money in my wallet seven or eight times!
Michael: “If I had money problems, would I do this?” followed by him crumpling up a dollar bill, then putting it in his pocket.
Michael literally declaring bankruptcy.

If there’s one good thing about the hour-long episodes ending for now, it’s that these Office reviews will be much shorter

by Peter
No Comments »

Quick Baseball Thoughts, Even Quicker (Fantasy) Football Thoughts, And Time Warner Is Awesome

Sorry, loyal readers (all none of you), but a number of things have kept me away from blogging for the last few days. Being under the weather doesn’t help.

Quick-hitters:

- I think I have found a drink that is more awesome than Mexicoke.

Mexicoke with a wedge of lime!!!

Methinks I have to go back to Costco to get another case of Mexicoke, and some vials of insulin ;p.

- Current rebate-o-meter: ~$3200. And that total comes after receiving about $200 in rebates earlier in the week.

I need help.

- So Kobe Bryant is whining again, eh? What else is new? More on that another time

(Maybe.)

- So with the World Series nearly set, here are my quick thoughts about the MLB playoffs to date:

1) Go Rockies!

2) I was giddy for about five days after the Yankees got knocked out of the playoffs. The Ung-hex lives (more on that later)!

3) Assuming the Indians don’t choke…Cleveland v. Colorado, eh? I wonder what the Vegas odds on that World Series match up was.

4) Hey Boston! How’s that [unnamed RFer who formerly played for the Dodgers] working out for you? Oh, and Julio Lugo too.

5) Should Boston SP Josh Beckett have pitched in Game 4 of the ALCS? Absolutely. Why else was he pulled after 80 pitches in Game 1? Besides, pitching him in Game 4 gives Boston a chance to pitch him in Game 7!

Of course, if Wakefield won Game 4, everybody would have praised Boston manager Terry Francona.

5) Finally, and most importantly, as freaking annoying as Tim McCarver has been, he can’t hold a candle to the sheer number of f**king annoying commercials that Fox has been airing during the playoffs! Those AT&T commercials (Prague-Chicago-whatever???): really really stupid. Those iPhone commercials? Equally stupid. Starburst/Snickers commercials? Absolutely stupid. And don’t get me started with those “This is ouuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrr country” Chevy commercials. A few more of those, and I’m going to stab my ears with a screwdriver. I can’t believe I long for the days of “I’m lovin’ it!”

Yeah, like annoying the holy hell out of me is going to get me to purchase your products. Actually, I think I get it! Maybe these companies are threatening us with these commercials! Buy our stuff, or we’ll be forced to continue playing these really stupid ass commercials!

Sheer genius!

That Taco Bell commercial about the rules of dating is pretty funny, though. Crack that whip!

- Here are my super-quick (Fantasy) Football thoughts for the week:

1) I’m now 1-5 (ugh), 2-4 (thanks LT), 3-3 (bleh), and 3-3 in the BargainShare league (poop).

2) After the Patriots ran over a legitimate opponent in the Dallas Cowboys, running their record up to 6*-0, I guess I can finally admit that the Patriots are far and away the best team in the NFL. That Tom Brady guy is a pretty good QB!

By the way, Patrick Crayton, feel free to be quiet. After the loss, Crayton relished the thought of facing the Pats again this season. Of course, the only way that would happen is on Super Bowl Sunday:

“If they make it to Arizona, we will see them again. Seriously, I’m not backing down from that statement,” receiver Patrick Crayton said Monday, a day after a 48-27 loss to the Patriots.

You do realize you are playing on a team that can’t defend against the pass, is completely under-utilizing the beast that is Marion Barber III, and haven’t won a damn thing since the team was QBed by a guy named Troy Aikman, right? Yeah, you guys are currently the class of the NFC, but is that really saying much? Not to mention, you’re one TO blowup or one Tony Romo “I do realize I’m Tony Romo, right” game from having to watch the Super Bowl at home, right?

(Argh, they just aired another stupid AT&T commercial. And they followed it up with a Dane Cook/playoff baseball commercial!!! Shoot me now!)

I will give Crayton props for one point, though: at least he realizes that the Patriots’ road to the Super Bowl (Colts, Steelers, and maybe Jags and Chargers) will be a heck of a lot harder than the Cowboys’ road (Packers? Giants? Maybe the Seahawks? Please!)

Well, it looks like this blog is going to run a bit long, so I’ll save the Ung-hex story for another time. This time, I swear I’ll remember to blog about it!

- Time Warner is awesome. I love them!

(I’ll allow everybody’s sarcasm-0-meter to cool off before I continue.)

In the past three days, I’ve had eight outages of 5 minutes or less (no cable or internet), and one four-hour long outage. I called in to TW tech support to report the outage, and of course, I got the standard “Sir, we’re looking into it.”

Stupid Time Warner. Well, at least Time Warner lets me use their internet service to talk crap about them, unlike another company I can think of…

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!1111 They are airing a Chevy commercial!!!

*bang*

by Peter
2 Comments »

Exhausting Weekend, My Latest Haul, and Possibly The Best (Worst?) Customer Service-Related Story EVAR

Yeah, yeah, yeah…as usual, I am not going to blog about what I said I was going to. Deal with it

No quick-hitters today; let’s just get to my weekend.

- To call this past weekend an “exhausting”one is quite the understatement. We cleaned most of the house on Saturday. I manned the kitchen, while my sister handled the living room.

(Tangent: The Magic Eraser is the greatest thing ever. Magic Eraser + water + elbow grease, and no grease, dirt, or grime stands a chance! If only the Eraser wasn’t such a mess to use as it wears out.)

After toiling for about two hours, we decided to reward ourselves in about the best way possible: sushi and gelato ice cream! We went to a sushi bar that my sister really likes, and ordered four different rolls: an “Arigato” roll (fried shrimp, soft shell crab, wrapped in various sashimi), a “Firecracker” roll (spicy tuna and spicy scallops), a Spider roll (soft shell crab), and a “Super Philadelphia” roll (salmon, cream cheese, avocado, and asparagus, wrapped in salmon sashimi; Philadelphia rolls generally use cream cheese and smoked salmon, not raw salmon).

Awesome stuff. ‘Nuff said.

After that, we went to get some Gelato. I got a scoop of white chocolate raspberry, and a scoop of strawberry cheesecake (OMG that was awesome!), while my sister ordered a “sampler” of four scoops of ice cream.

We think we deserved it.

- Also on Saturday, we swung by CVS (what else is new?) to pick up a few more deals.

(Yeah, I’m totally addicted.)

I got more toothpaste, more mouthwash, more dish washing liquid, and yeah, yet another box of tampons. I also got (don’t laugh!) four boxes of Beano.

Now, you might be wondering: WTF would I be buying Beano? Well, other than the obvious possibility (:P), I’m getting paid $9 to take this stuff off their hands: $2.99 per, with $2.99 in Extra Care Bucks per item, a $1 coupon for one, and an $8 MIR for buying four. And yes, I’ll be going back some time this week to buy another box, since a $1 coupon showed up in my Sunday paper.

- So back to the exhausting weekend…the entire day was spent running more errands. We had to go to a laundromat today to wash our comforters, and that took a good two hours. That place was packed, and we had to wait about 20 minutes just to get usage of a washer!

After doing our laundry, we went to the grocery store, planning on making some chicken and rice. We bought all the stuff we needed, and then I noticed that it was already 6:30, and the chicken hadn’t even been defrosted yet! That’s when I decided to stop by Sam Woo BBQ and pick up some BBQ pork. Good stuff!

- On the way home from doing all our errands, my sister stopped by the nearby Shell to fuel up. I felt like having a cup of coffee, so I went into the mini-mart.

Big mistake.

I walked in, quickly got my coffee, added my creamer, and headed to the cashier. That’s when I saw what might be the most ridiculous customer-cashier exchange ever. A woman and her young child were at the register, and the woman started going ape-shit on the cashier. Apparently she bought a few items, and the cashier bagged them one at a time. For some reason, this seemingly innocuous act riled up the woman, to the point where she started pointing her finger at the guy, screaming “I’M…NOT…DONE…YET…PUT…IT…ALL…BACK!”

(WTF? And yeah, she paused like that between words.)

She screamed some more, saying “PUT…IT…BACK…I’M…NOT…DONE…YET…GEEZ!”, and then continued to shop around for more crap.

(Tangent: Who actually “shops” around a mini-mart?)

I stood by the register for about thirty whine-filled seconds, and then decided that she wasn’t going to be done shopping any time soon. I went up to the register and got ready to pay for it, and as I did so, I could hear the woman utter “WHAT THE…???” I thought to myself, “Look…I’m not going to wait for you and your kid to finish shopping. Finish your shopping, THEN check out!”

I would have handed the guy my money and walked out of the store, if not for the fact that he overcharged me for my coffee. I pointed out this fact, handed him the correct amount, and high-tailed it out of there. Before I made it to the exit, though, I could hear the woman yelling at the guy again. Her kid needed the bathroom, and rather than politely asking for the bathroom key, the woman screamed “MY…KID…NEEDS…THE…BATHROOM!”

We pulled out of the gas station, drove around a bit, and drove past the station again a few minutes later, and the woman was still there!

As I told my sister, where do you have to be in your sad, pathetic life, to go ape-shit on a mini-mart cashier like that?

I’d like to see anybody top this story. Until next time!

by Peter
3 Comments »

Costco/CVS/Rite Aid Trip, And Weekend At (The) Parents’

Shoot, I can’t believe it has been a week since I last blogged! I’m going to skip the football talk this week, and explain what has kept me away from blogging for so long.

Tomorrow: my Office review, among other things.

Quick-hitters, a really long version:

- I hate stupid buyers. That is all.

- A week ago, I bought a ton of batteries from batteries.com (96 AA and 20 AAA batteries, I believe). I bought them thinking that I was going to go through them quickly; three days after I received them, I’ve only used two AA batteries–they were used in one of my wireless mice.

Silly me forgot that my two LED flashlights use AAA batteries! Oh well, I’ll have a lifetime supply of batteries for my remotes.

(Tangent: Am I the only one out there that “recycles” batteries by using seemingly drained batteries in a remote control? I don’t recall ever replacing the batteries in any of my remotes with a fresh pair. And it’s not like I’m being cheap; I’ve seen drained batteries last a good 3-6 months in one of my remotes! Now, if I had something like a Logitech Harmony remote, I wouldn’t bother with drained batteries; for that, of course I would use a fresh pair when needed.

EDIT: I just found out that Krunk does this too! Cool!)

- If there’s one thing I absolutely love about visiting my parents (more on that later), it’s the fact that I always get to take home free stuff!

(In a way, I’m still living like a college student.)

I was able to pilfer an entire bag of oatmeal, some dish washing sponges, a bottle of Dawn with Bleach Alternative–my mom says it didn’t work well–and a huge Tupperware filled with some soup–my sister will eat that. My aunt also had us take home some steamed banana leaf-wrapped rice, chicken, and Chinese sausage concoction that is absolutely to die for.

I need to get that recipe.

- Hey Hank, have I ever told you how much I dislike you for mentioning Peggle?

- So while in Monterey Park last weekend (more on that later), we swung by Rite Aid, CVS, and (eventually) Costco. Over at Rite Aid, I managed to pick up some MMAR (Make Money After Rebate) toothpaste, and a box of Pepcid AC. My math works out to $6.71 after taxes + coupons, with $8.97 in Rite Aid Rebates, and a $2.49 mail-in rebate on one of the toothpastes.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love MMAR toothpaste?

(Tangent: Boy, was it HOT this past weekend! It was so hot that Rite Aid sold out on about 20 different flavors of their ice cream!)

We hit up CVS next, where I got some free mouthwash, really cheap candy, more dish washing liquid, and yes, a box of tampons. After using a $10 ECB and my coupons, my total was -$0.13. Yes, -$0.13. I was forced to buy a candy bar–I went with Reese’s Pieces–in order to get my balance above negative.

Speaking of CVS, my sister also bought some stuff, but the cashier she dealt with only let her use one ECB! WTF is that? If I were her, I would have had the cashier re-ring every item as a separate transaction, so that I could use each ECB individually.

me <– evil

A day later, we hit up Costco, and in the soda section, I saw something in the distance that caught my eye. I walked closer to it, thinking that it might have been a mirage. As I crept closer, the image seemed more and more true; was that really what I thought it was?

When I approached the cases, I nearly let out a girlish-scream, as I waved my sister over to the display. “I gotta have some!” I exclaimed, as I hurriedly grabbed a case and dropped it in my cart, even though there were at least thirty cases left. What if some guy came by and grabbed all thirty cases?!?

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I got myself a case of Mexicoke! In fact, I’m about ready to enjoy a chilled bottle right about now.

- So why was I AFB (Away From Blog) so long? Well, if you remember, my sister’s computer had been (twice!) fried.

Or so I thought. I hooked up her second, also fried, computer to my LCD monitor, and as soon as I fired it up, I heard a not-out-of-the-ordinary single beep. Soon after, the display lit up, and I figured that my sister did something wrong. Just to make sure, I let the computer boot into Windows, and sure enough, the computer got there just fine. As a precaution, I ran some tests, scanned for viruses, and figured that the computer was working just fine. I replaced the PSU–some cheapy Raidmax 420W PSU–with an Ultra 400W PSU, fired up the computer again, saw that everything was working, and brought the computer home.

At this point, I figured that the power outlet was the problem, so I brought home a brand new surge protector and two power cables. I hooked up the computer to a new outlet, and immediately started running into (software) problems. I figured it was a good time to reformat and reinstall Windows, and that’s when I encountered my next problem. As I was formatting the drive, a very high-pitched sound started coming out of the computer!

I isolated the sound and found that it was coming from the PSU. A quick Google search led me to conclude that a capacitor in the PSU was about ready to fail.

On Monday, we went to Fry’s to pick up a PSU. Fortunately, there was a $10AR Cooler Master PSU, so I picked that up, went home, hooked up the PSU, and found that all was well. I then helped my sister rearrange her entire room–we moved the computer desk so that the computer could be plugged into a new outlet–and went to work installing software. I finally finished the install early Tuesday morning.

Now that I think about it, I might have hurt my knee moving all that furniture around.

Until next time!

by Peter
2 Comments »

The Office “Dunder Mifflin Infinity” Review, Symantec Rebates Are A Scam, And Craigslist Personals Pwnage

Shhhhh…don’t remind me of what I’ve yet to post this week.

(And with the way the week is shaping up, don’t expect it any time soon.)

Quick-hitters:

- I might have mentioned this before, but there is nothing like going to the Post Office, seeing the huge line, and then dropping off your packages in the drop-off box because you were smart enough to pay for postage online :D.

- Somehow, I walked into Costco, and walked out with a sub-$40 bill!

I’m going to get a phone call from AmEx, for sure, asking me if I really made that small of a purchase :P.

(BTW, I bought some Ruby Red Grapefruit juice today. When the heck did they make this stuff so sweet? It was actually quite tasty!)

- (Warning: beware of The Office spoilers!)

I gotta say that I was quite disappointed in tonight’s episode. I understand, unlike some people I know *cough, cough*, that some episodes have to be utilized to continue existing story lines, or create new ones; clearly, this was geared for the latter. That being said, the episode really felt like it was simply dragging on and on. Not much in the episode particularly amused me, and I almost wanted the episode to end about halfway through it (the scene with the supposed Mr. Dunder absolutely bored me to tears). Seriously, if the writers needed a story line-driving episode, why did they waste an hour-long episode to do this? If today’s episode was split into two episodes, I would have been very satisfied with each episode separately.

Also, WTF was with Toby revealing the Jim-Pam relationship so quickly? I figured the writers were going to drag the secret Jim-Pam relationship a bit, and then Toby went and blew everything out of the water?!?!

Fortunately, the episode took off at about 9:48PM, when Michael took that right turn right into the lake! I swear it reminded me of a scene in Fear Factor.

(I ROTFLMAO’ed there, admittedly.)

Even with the scene where Michael and Dwight attempt to reclaim the second-to-last gift basket (which was really annoying, but clearly that was the point), the last twelve minutes definitely saved tonight’s episode. And who didn’t love Jim saying, “I guess he [Ryan] can’t get…any…girl he wants,” followed by that trademark grin of his?

One thing that bothered me about tonight’s episode were the number of “I knew this was coming” moments. For example:

I knew Michael was going to reveal some transgression that happened between him and Jan once the memo was issued.
I knew Angela was going to break up with Dwight as soon as she invited him to dinner that night.
I knew the car was going into the lake as soon as Michael took the wrong turn. I also knew that Michael didn’t buy renter’s insurance.
I knew Ryan was going to ask Pam out as soon as he went up to her, asking for help with the Dunder Mifflin Infinity logo.

These moments are the reason why The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is virtually unwatchable now; I can usually get the punchline to three or four of his jokes during each of his monologues.
My favorite moments:

Dwight releasing the feral cat into the Vance Refrigeration office.
Toby: “Let’s just wait and see what happens.” (The look on his face rivaled the look on his face in “Beach Games” when he found out that Pam was wearing a two-piece bathing suit.)
Phyllis explaining to Pam that she (Pam) should not base who gets new clients on who she’s sleeping with.
Ryan and Jan’s first meeting (”Hello, elephant-in-the-room!”)
Pam: “I now find you…repulsive.”
Michael: “You can’t be on the team. You can’t move on to second grade.” (LOL!!!)
Michael: “I would like to see a web site deliver baskets of food to people.”

Oh yeah…Creed, Kevin, and Andy were great, as usual. The writers need to give Andy more lines!

- The problem with being a rebate-monkey is that you, sometimes, have to deal with rebate centers and their HORRIBLE customer service. Case in point: I filed ten separate rebates on Symantec products over the past few weeks. For each rebate, I made sure to include everything required; I even highlighted any pertinent information on the rebate form and store receipt, to the point where a blind monkey could properly process my rebate.

Apparently Symantec’s rebate processor hired a bunch of dead monkeys, because they found a way to reject NINE of my ten rebate submissions!

(Tangent: Symantec’s rebate processor is Parago, and they’re known for rejecting rebates for no good reason. For every ten rebates I legitimately file with these guys, I expect anywhere from 2-5 rejections. I have never, though, had any more than half of my rebates rejected at one time.)

Now, I don’t want to hear “Well, you’re playing the rebate game, and you crapped out!” or “Well, now you know how rebate companies stay in business!” I’m fully aware of these facts. But, what really is bugging me is the fact that I have sent Parago a bunch of emails, inquiring about these rebates, and they have yet to respond to my inquiries (and it’s been over 72 hours; usually, it takes 24 hours to get a response).

I hope I don’t have to file a claim with the BBB, FTC, or my state Attorney General.

- Finally, if you haven’t seen this fantastic example of intarweb-uber-pwnage, please take the time to read it.

Cliffs: A supposed “spectacularly beautiful” and “articulate and classy” girl wants $500k/yr man to ~~leech off~~ ~~buy her whatever she wants~~ sweep her off her feet. She goes so far as to ask where these guys hang out, and what a girl has to do to find such a guy. Like she says, at least she’s being upfront about it. Guy responds, using a bunch of economic and financial terms, putting the woman in her place. Hilarity ensues.

Best line of the article: “By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn’t need to have this difficult conversation.”

Enjoy!

by Peter
8 Comments »

Quick Hits Galore, Spaghetti-Oh, My!, And Week 4 Fantasy Football Thoughts

Yeah, yeah, yeah…the product review is going to have to wait.

So sue me. Just don’t wish a torn knee ligament (or three) on me.

Quick-hitters:

- Did you know that “aluminum” is spelled and pronounced “aluminium” in Britain?

Krunk pointed that out to me today, but I already knew that, thanks to Eddie Izzard :P.

(Tangent: Why wasn’t the movie Speed called La Vitesse?)

- One of these days, I’m going to figure out what’s wrong with my sister’s fried-again computer.

Not today, though. me <– opens a can of Coke Zero.

- My current rebate-o-meter reads over $3,000 in rebates owed. This figure went up over $700 today alone.

(I should mention that the only reason why this figure jumped so high was because of an error in my rebate Excel spreadsheet. You remember The Simpsons episode where Homer tried to gain weight, and kept getting his gut caught on the towel rack, throwing off his scale’s reading? My miscalculation reminded me of this episode.)

At the rate I’m going, I’m probably going to have to buy myself a free after rebate Christmas gift. Nothing says “Merry Christmas” like Norton Antivirus 2008, right?

- How would one spell out the sound a buzzer makes (you know, like what you hear at the end of a basketball game)?

I could really use that.

- Don’t you hate it when you check out of an store, only to find (moments later) another item you wanted to buy? For reasons other than S&H–not that S&H doesn’t matter–this hurts a heck of a lot more online than at a brick-and-mortar.

- I had some leftover spaghetti sauce that was sitting in my fridge for a couple of days, so I decided to make some baked pasta. I had some round Spaghetti-O-like pasta that I bought from Trader Joe’s (that store is evil, by the way), so I boiled that up, heated the sauce, threw everything into a glass baking dish, topped it with some CoJack cheese–it’s all I had–and threw the whole shebang in the oven until the cheese melted.

Man, that’s some good stuff; it was definitely a heck of a lot better than anything that came out of a can! I added a mixed greens salad and a glass of cranberry juice, and damn, I could go for another helping right now!

- I’m too tired to give my loyal readers my Week 4 NFL thoughts, but here are my Week 4 Fantasy Football rants and raves (mostly the former):

1) Stupid Brian Westbrook. Stupid Rudi Johnson. Stupid Donovan McNabb.

2) I lost in three of my four leagues last week (see #1), and I really lucked out in the BargainShare FFBL league, thanks to a last-minute scratch of Lawrence Maroney. I was up by a mere three points, going into the Monday Night Football game! Hey, I’ll take wins any way I can get them.

Unfortunately, in that league, both of my starting RBs–Rudi Johnson and Travis Henry–are hurt.

I’m screwed.

To recap: I’m now 1-3, 1-3 (in the LT league, and I could very well be 0-4), 2-2, and 3-1 in the BargainShare league.

Fun fact: my sister and I are both 3-1 in the BargainShare league. One GM and his son are each 0-4.

(I hope he doesn’t read this :P)

3) I face LaDainian Tomlinson in two leagues next week, and I have him in one league (though that team is 1-3). It should be pretty obvious which way I will be rooting.

4) Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Fantasy Football?

Until next time!

by Peter
5 Comments »

(Fantasy) sports talk, customer service rants and raves, technology, product reviews, random thoughts, and whatever else I feel like talking about.

Entries Tagged as ''

Joe Torre to LA?, Tons of Stupid Points, And UBMe #3 (”Shopping Cart Obstructions”)

UBMe #2 (”Some Kind of Stupid”), And My Latest Haul (I <3 CVS)

UBMe, Quick MLB Thoughts, And My (Fantasy) Football Week 7 Thoughts, And The Pats Play With A Chip (of Logic) On Their Shoulders

F**k __________

The Office, Episodes 3 (”Launch Party”) and 4 (”Money”) Reviews

Quick Baseball Thoughts, Even Quicker (Fantasy) Football Thoughts, And Time Warner Is Awesome

Exhausting Weekend, My Latest Haul, and Possibly The Best (Worst?) Customer Service-Related Story EVAR

Costco/CVS/Rite Aid Trip, And Weekend At (The) Parents’

The Office “Dunder Mifflin Infinity” Review, Symantec Rebates Are A Scam, And Craigslist Personals Pwnage

Quick Hits Galore, Spaghetti-Oh, My!, And Week 4 Fantasy Football Thoughts

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