Here We Go Again

So Monday was designated as a day to run errands.  One of my stops was to hit the local laundromat to get change for the washer and dryer at my apartment.  As I left from there, I started to hear a noise from the engine of my car.  I couldn't figure out what it was at first so I let it go for a moment to see if it would come to me.  As I am down the road a mile later, I realize the noise only happens when I push down on the clutch.  I now know what this means, the clutch is going bad.

Donut Escapades

At the office we hold a monthly birthday celebration, and this month it was my turn.  I talked with the other co-worker who was coordinating for this month and we decided to hold a breakfast; he would get bagels and drinks, and I would get donuts and cake.  Now usually when donuts come in, they're from Dunkin Donuts, and ya know, that can get to be tiresome, so why not go somewhere else, right?  Well after this morning's adventure I learned it's easier not to mess with what works.

I planned on trying the local Safeway to pick up donuts.  It was on my way to work so it would be convenient and they tend to have a good selection.  Well I walk in there around 7 AM and (I should have taken a picture of this) find that there's a few trays of basic glazed, some frosted, and some cinnamon rolls, which only took up 1/3 of the case.  The other 2/3 of the case were completely blank with no trays in them, just labels.  What kind of place does not have their donuts out by 7 AM?

Hopped into the car and fired up the GPS to find the closest Dunkin Donuts by my work.  As I got closer to the place, I saw there was Shoppers nearby, so I went in there.  Now I will give them credit that they had plenty of donuts in their case, and it was somewhat of a variety, but they were all your standard yeast donuts.  Since I was buying for the office (and needed about 2 dozen), I wanted a bit more than just a bunch of different frostings and sprinkles or lack of sprinkles.

So then it was onward to Dunkin Donuts, however, I would get there and learn that their credit card system was down, and of course I don't have cash on me.  I asked where the nearest ATM was, and the one they knew of was in a closed store.  I figured I'd try one more shot at a store and then I'd break and just hit the ATM.  I drove over towards Giant, but along the way was another Safeway.  I decided to take a shot at this  Safeway.

I walk in to find that their donut case has less variety of donuts, and not many of them anyway.  In fact the top row of the case had Easter decorations, so that says to me they don't sell many donuts.

Final shot, the Giant that just opened near my work.  I walked in to find that there was maybe one row of a few donuts, and a bunch of other pastries.  Lesson learned here, supermarkets suck when it comes to finding donuts.

I hit the ATM inside the Giant and drove back to Dunkin Donuts, got my donuts, and got to work.  I mentioned a bit of this on Twitter this morning and someone suggested Krispy Kreme over Dunkin Donuts.  That would be a fine idea except most of them in this area have gone away.  A search found that the closest location for me is in Rockville, and that is about 18 miles the other way from my work route.  Now that I think about it, I haven't had Krispy Kreme in years.

Jacket Hunting

Last Friday, I did go out to take advantage of Black Friday, and one of my places to hit was Macy's because I can usually find some rather insane deals there.  In fact, it has come to where my Mom and I will call one another with "damage reports" to see who bought what, and how much money we saved off of retail.

I'm perusing the racks, and I happen to wander into the sportswear section, and I run across this nice jacket at 50% off.  One problem though, I'm at the Macy's in Marlow Heights, smack dab in the middle of Redskins territory, and I'm a Ravens fan, so no, I was not buying it that morning.

I decided to do a little online hunting to see if there were any online stores selling the jacket for that price.  There weren't any, they were all at the full price.  Now of course it became my mission to obtain said jacket in Ravens colors.  My next step was to try another store, in this case, the thought was to try the Macy's at Columbia Mall since it was between Baltimore and DC.  I ended up meeting with my buds TB and CW to hunt for the jacket and possibly do other shopping as well.  I get to the Macy's and start walking through the men's section...I can't find any team apparel anywhere, so I ask someone.  It turns out that this Macy's doesn't sell team apparel.

Say what?  With the sheer number of folks I saw walking around in team apparel at the mall, there's a market that particular Macy's is not tapping.  We tried looking through JCPenney and Sears for the same item, but they weren't carrying the jacket.  I did run across the jacket at a Foot Locker, but they wanted full price for it.  Screw that, not when I can get it for half off.

My next tactic was to start calling other Macy's (thank you VZ Navigator business search).  I tried the Glen Burnie and the PG Plaza Macy's before I started to look at some of the entries on the list.  It occurred to me that my next call should be to the Owings Mills Macy's.  (Trivia for Ravens fans: Why would I think to call the Owings Mills location?)  I make the call, and sure enough, they report they have a section of Raven's gear.  Half an hour later, I'm pulling into the town center and heading into the Macy's.  I find the jacket in the size I want, confirm it's still at the sale price, and make the payment.  The guy at the register recognized me as the slightly crazed person who had called looking for Ravens gear.  Seriously, the phone call went something like:

Him: [Intro]
Me: Do you carry sports team apparel?
Him: Yes we do
Me: Do you carry Ravens apparel?
Him: We have a big section of that.
Me: I'll be over immediately, I've been searching for this particular jacket all day but I was stuck in Redskins country!

(Yeah, I get crazy when I'm on a mission for a bargain).

So mission accomplished, I got the jacket and I love it, and at a price that no one else had it for, even if it took some work to find it.  Macy's also is not helping me right now by handing me coupons for stuff, because I can think of a few more bargains I wouldn't mind getting my hands on.

Making it too Easy

If you read through my entries about visiting New Mexico, you know that I basically killed my current digital camera because of taking it out to the desert and letting sand get into the lens area.  I've started doing my research on finding a new point and shoot digital camera, and admittedly I am not entirely happy with what I see.

The thing that I loved about my camera (Sony Cybershot DSC-W5) was discovering its full manual mode.  In that mode I had complete control over what I could do with the camera, including the shutter speed and the aperture.  Prior to discovering this mode, I typically used one of the scenes or the fully automatic mode.  The problem with those modes was that when I tried to take pictures of fast action like hockey games, the camera would be so busy trying to get the right light that it would set the shutter speed to be way too slow, resulting in a ton of blurred shots.  It sucks when you take 50 pics, and maybe have 5 of them that are usable.

Anyway, so when I went to look today, it is with dismay that I am finding that most camera manufacturers are dumbing down their point and shoot camera models to the point that they have removed control over things like the aperture and shutter speed.  What I found with nearly every single model was that I could go full-auto, I could pick some scene and it would do its own compensations, or their manual mode allowed me to control the EV value, ISO, white balance, and flash intensity, but no control over the shutter speed or aperture.

I could potentially live with only adjusting the EV value, but it's a pain in the ass to get to the adjustment because they bury it inside the menu.  I really liked being able to press one button and get right to adjusting the aperture and shutter speed.  I certainly needed that when I was taking pictures of the STP concert last month.

So now what do I do from here?  Do I finally take the plunge and get an SLR?  That would be nice, but that's a bit bulky to carry to the Verizon Center every time I want to go to a Caps game.  I would rather stick with a point and shoot if I can.  Does anyone know of a good forum where I can find out from other people about what kind of camera I can get?  Ultimately, if I can't find what I want, perhaps I will just have to hit Ebay or Craigslist for my camera.

Argh, Stupid Archaic Rules!

Nearly 2 years ago, I essentially fired Comcast (AKA Comcrap) as an entertainment and Internet provider when I moved into my own apartment.  I decided to stick with rabbit ears and DSL to get what I need when it came to services.  One of my major moves was not only to use Netflix, but to get a Roku box so I could stream any Watch Instantly movies to my TV.

If you have Netflix and can't already output your computer desktop to your TV, get a Roku box, it is one of the most awesome inventions. Besides the Netflix, you can also stream Amazon Video-On-Demand videos that you have rented or purchased to your TV as well. This week they have just added a new feature. If you subscribe to MLB.tv, you can now stream the games you would watch on your computer through the Roku box. Sounds great, especially if you're say, an Arizona Diamondbacks fan, but you live in Mobile, Alabama. However, there's one problem with the service...

MLB.TV is subject to MLB's blackout rules when it comes to TV broadcasts. What that means is that local TV broadcasters get priority for showing a game, and if another channel would be showing that game or a baseball game for another team, they will be blocked out from showing that game. In this case, it means not being allowed to watch any Baltimore Orioles or Washington Nationals games online.

Here's the stupidity of the blackout rules. I can't see any Orioles or Nationals game as it is because they don't put baseball games on over-the-air broadcast TV anymore. It only comes in via cable, usually through Comcrap's dedicated sports channel, or ESPN. Since I have no cable, I can't watch games as it is, and because of blackout rules, they will not show Orioles or Nationals games on the Internet for me.

So what is the freaking point then to getting streaming games to my Roku box if I can't even see my local team? From what I hear, more and more people are cutting the cable as it is and going completely Internet, but many more say the only reason they keep cable is to watch sports. It would be nice if MLB would realize there is a market for people who want to watch any game at any time, including their local teams live.

I suppose I could mess with running my Internet through a proxy server to trick the MLB servers into thinking I live across the country or something, but then it doesn't give them incentive to change their rules if they're still getting my money for MLB.tv. I'd rather send a message by not subscribing and letting them know that until they lift the blackout rules for MLB.tv, they're not getting a freaking dime out of me.

Six Flags vs Cedar Fair

Over the Memorial Day weekend, I took a trip down to Kings Dominion.  For those who are not aware, KD was owned by Paramount, but 3 years ago, Cedar Fair (CF), the parent company of the famous Cedar Point park bought KD and a number of other properties.  The next closest Cedar Fair owned park around here is Dorney Park up in Allentown, PA.

For the last two summers, I have been in touch with my love of roller coasters.  The first summer, I had a pass to Six Flags (SF) here in MD, and last summer, I had a season pass to both the Six Flags and Kings Dominion Parks, and I have to say that I am beginning to see a large difference in how each of the parks operate.  It has started to give me a preference as to which type of park I would rather go to.  Simply put, I get what I pay for.

I pay more for my pass to KD than SFA ($150 vs $95) with what looks like the same benefits on paper.  I get unlimited admission to my home park, and several other parks owned by the same company, free parking, and various discounts.  Of course, if I was at a different SF, I would actually pay more for my pass because I have seen that other SF locations charge more for their season passes.  That's not entirely the point.

I find that I get a much higher quality of a visit from visiting a Cedar Fair owned park than a Six Flags owned park.  Both of them do have plenty of roller coasters and other thrill rides and such, along with your usual restaurants and shops, so that part is pretty much the same.  However, it's a wildly different experience as to how I am treated as a patron at times.

First and foremost, there is a huge difference in attitudes among the workers at the parks.  At SF, most of the folks look like they're bored, they don't want to be there, and their work reflects it.  Hell, I felt at KD that they wanted me to be there, which is not a feeling I have gotten at any SF park.  I experienced more breakdowns of coasters at SF parks last year; not that there wasn't the occasional mishap at a CF owned park, but it seems that they moved really fast to get things going again and to keep the folks happy.  

One other thing I noticed was more often than not, it would be at an SF owned park that the coaster would run one car at a time when they have the capacity to run 2-3 cars, and the line is approaching an hour.  Very annoying.  At KD I rode Dominator, which is a very popular ride, but the most I waited was about an hour, and that was with the line being all the way back to the entrance, yet because it seems their workers understand that it's important to keep things moving, I had no issue with standing in line.  In fact, at Cedar Point, I don't remember waiting an obscene amount of time to ride their coaster, they kept the line moving. 

Also, while SF has the cheaper season pass, they make up for it by nickel and diming you with fees.  They have taken away the bins next to the rides for people to leave their stuff.  Now you have to pay for a "ride locker" before you can even get in line for a ride.  It's typically $1 for 2 hours, and it's a one-time use locker; once you open it again, it's done.  It makes bringing a backpack very inconvenient, they likely do it so that you don't carry around water bottles and such and instead buy food at the park.  Personally, I'd rather keep my Camelbak with me so I can just drink water as I stand in line and drop it in the bin when I actually ride.  One way I have been able to get around it on occasion is to rent a locker for a flat fee at an SF attached water park since those you can typically get in and out all day.  Any CF owned park I have been to does not have a ride locker, they still have their bins next to the ride itself that you drop your stuff in, and I hope they will keep it that way.  At least I can be happy to report that KD has them this year.

Hell, now that I think about it, CF owned parks don't have to utilize a "fast pass" type of system because they tend to keep their lines moving.  A few times I actually paid extra money at an SF park to be allowed the privilege to line jump using their "flash pass" system, and that was because the lines would get way too long for their own good.  Then again, if their workers actually cared about their job, they might actually move people through the line efficiently.  Of course, if that were to happen, fewer people would buy flash passes, the park wouldn't make as much money off of fees for extras like that, and those workers would probably get fired.

So ultimately, even though I pay a bit more money up front for a season pass to a CF owned park, the quality of my visits make it worth every penny of the extra fee.  Considering how many extra "fees" I would have to pay at an SF park, I probably end up paying for that pass in the end.  This is why I find if I have a choice, I'd rather go to a CF owned park.  It's only the proximity and slightly lower cost of the SF season pass that keeps me buying, but if they ever raise their rates, I wouldn't be as upset to drop buying a pass from them.  

Perhaps I am not the only one that thinks this way about the parks, and perhaps that is why Six Flags is in trouble financially while Cedar Fair is doing just fine for the most part. 

Customization

One of the more interesting aspects of following sports is going to games and seeing the folks who sport jerseys that have some sort of customization.  The typical thing is to get a jersey that has the name of your favorite player on the back, but this is not something everyone does.  Some people don't even bother with a customization.  There is a friend of mine who refuses to put the name or number of a player on the back of any shirt or jersey she buys because she says when she does that, the player ends up injured and out for at least a few weeks, if not the end of the season.  Did I mention that sports fans tend to be a superstitious bunch?  We're just as bad as the players, if not worse.

One other thing I have seen is folks customize a jersey with their name or a nickname.  For the most part it seems to be taken well, but there are those folks who take issue with that, they call it a "jersey foul."  Now there are some jersey fouls I can understand, such as a person wearing the name of a player that never played on the team, or even wearing a current player's name on a retro jersey, and maybe perhaps the OBAMA 08 jerseys that I did see while at a Caps game.  However, I'm not so sure that people should get bitchy about those who customize their jersey with a favorite nickname or name.

One line of thinking about why a person would customize a jersey for themselves is because players come and go and so instead of being stuck with wearing a jersey of your player that moved on to another team or even retirement, you can show support for your team and not have to change your jersey every few years.  The only exception would be if your team changes their style of jersey, but even then, you can still wear the old one, I see plenty of folks who do that.

My thought though is this; customizing a jersey with something like a name or nickname is your way of showing support of your team without necessarily being tied to a player.  It's for when you're emotionally vested in the team, but not quite to the point of sticking with certain players.  Let's be honest, players do move around and the player you like today may not be there tomorrow, and then you feel that you have an obsolete jersey.  Let me also say that jerseys are not cheap, so most folks in that mindset wouldn't want to have to buy a new jersey every year or so.  Using a personal name means you're not switching out jerseys every so often.  Besdes that, if your player is a popular one, then everyone and their mother has a jersey with the same name, and then you look like everyone else in the stands, and who really wants that at times?  Even if the folks that would cry jersey foul over it, it's probably a better idea for those folks all around.

I bring this up because I have been doing some jersey hunting for myself.  I am liking the new Orioles road jerseys this year with Baltimore across the front of them, so I would like to get one, but ya know, I'm not really following the players that closely.  The only one I really pay much attention to is George Sherrill, and I got a free T-shirt last year from one of the T-shirt Tuesdays.  When it comes to the Capitals, I just got into them so I am not that vested in any particular player, so I would rather support the team.

The one exception is the Ravens, I follow them very closely, and I do have a few player jerseys that I would wear, and at this point I would not consider getting a personal jersey because I know I can wear these player jerseys for a while.  If anything though it does make me a bit crazy to see all of these folks sporting Flacco jerseys now because I feel like they're being bandwagoners.  I ordered my Flacco jersey before Flacco was even cool.

Anyway,  so how I'm feeling about this is that I am going to say screw the haters, when it comes to the Orioles and the Caps, I'd rather have a personalized jersey than a players jersey because it gives me more flexibility for now.  From the opinions I gather from some other folks I've talked to, they could care less about seeing so-called jersey fouls.

Now to just find a discount on a jersey since the Baltimore ones are finally in.

Icing on the Cake

I got a letter today from the bank where I had the compromised credit card. Apparently Visa notified them that some of their customers' card numbers (including me) may have been stolen when a third party vendor was hacked into, so they are sending me a new card.

Unless they are sending this as a form letter because I called in and said the card was used for a fraudulent transaction, then this definitely explains how the hell I ended up in this situation. $10 says it was the Heartland data breach. Now to just wait for my dispute forms.

Fraud

I have a routine of checking my bank accounts every day, and my credit card account about once a week because I like to keep tabs on what is going on.  It was a good thing I did yesterday after the discovery I made.

I pulled up my credit card account and there was a charge on there from SegPayEU along with a fee for an international transaction, which was something I didn't recognize.  I googled the company and discovered they were a credit processor for Europe, similar to Paypal.  They had a customer service number and also a live chat function, so I got on the live chat with them.  I asked the agent about the charge, they asked for my name and E-mail address.  He comes back and asks if this mailing address is correct, and lists my current address.  I say it is so he then informs me that I signed up for an account with some website, this is the charge, and it's set to be autobilled every month.  The URL is unfamiliar to me so I tell him it's a fraudulent charge and I want it to be removed immediately.  He says they will refund the charge within a week and put my information into their "negative" database so no more charges go through them.

I googled the website he named.  It was porn, some fuckhead got a hold of my credit card and address and used it to buy porn.  Motherfucker.

I called my bank and immediately told them it was a fraudulent charge and my account had been compromised.  They closed my card, put a block on the number, and are sending me a new one along with dispute forms.  Since I didn't know what else this crook could be doing with my information, or how much more they have on me, I put a fraud alert on my credit reports as well.  From the one that I was allowed to see online, nothing compromised there, but I'm not taking any further chances.

I also have to say this, if I am putting a fraud alert on my credit report, I not want to be prompted multiple times by the bureau's online or phone systems to purchase a credit score for "only $7.95"  I am not calling because I got denied credit, employment, or a mortgage, I am calling because some stupid cumdumpster compromised my information, that was the option I selected.  I could give less of a shit about knowing my score at this time.  Just send me my report.

Whoever stole my CC, hope you enjoyed the porn for the whole day you got to view it, and I hope when you try to use my card again that the merchant calls the cops on your ass.

One Day Sale - Buy Now!

If you're a roller coaster junkie like I am, you're going to want to take advantage of this. For today only, Six flags is offering their season passes for 20% off of the pre-Memorial Day price. This is an awesome deal, especially in my area.

Here's how it breaks down:

If you buy your season pass after Memorial day at Six Flags America, it's $90. If you buy it before Memorial Day, you pay $5o. If you buy it today, it's $40. Consider that the cost of a 1 day ticket is $50, your total savings today off of the regular season pass rate is the same as a 1 day ticket. If you will go to the park at least once, this is an awesome deal!

Here's the further benefit, you can also purchase season parking for another $45, which means being able to park all season long for free. Consider that parking is $15, that's worth it. Oh, and did I mention that your season pass and parking will work at any Six Flags in the country? That's right, you don't just have to stay in Maryland, you can drive 2 hours to New Jersey and go to the Six Flags there with free parking and admission. I may make a trip out to CA to go to Magic Mountain this year on the pass :-D

So if you like the coasters and you'll go to the park at least once...buy now!

Adventures in Cellphones

After two years, my phone has finally bitten the dust, it is kaput. What brought this on was that last night it decided to declare that its charger was an "Unauthorized Charger" and therefore it refuses to charge the battery. However, the phone will still run on the charger by itself. Being tethered to the cord pretty much defeats the purpose of a cell phone, so it was off to the store to have my original phone looked at to see if it could be saved, and to also look at new ones just in case it was done for.

I visited Verizon's website before heading out to see what kind of phones and plans I qualified for since I will have to update my plan if I have to upgrade my phone. I had already pre-decided this in my mind, and after crunching the numbers I have decided to run with getting the Nationwide Select plan and add VZ Navigator to it as well because not only do I get the unlimited text, picture, video, and IM, I also get GPS navigation built into my phone that includes turn by turn directions with voice, traffic updates, and can give pedestrian directions.

I had a list with me of the phones I could get for free, which ended up coming in handy later. After handing over my phone to the tech support folks I started browsing. I looked at the Samsung SCH-u340, SCH-u410, SCH-u-550, and the Gleam. There was also the LG Chocolate 2 and VX5400. Along with that was the Motorola W385, W755, and the V750.

Clearly I checked out a lot of phones, and that was because I had plenty of time since it took the techs almost 60 minutes to figure out that my phone had issues with the charger and could not be fixed. I got to play with the various phones and get a feel for them, along with checking out the sounds and features. The nice thing is that the phones were compatible with VZ Navigator so I was able to test it out on all of them. All of the phones were able to continue to provide directions after being closed, but the better ones show a small display of the current directions as well.

I ended up reviewing the list and checking out some more phones that I hadn't originally known would be free. Ultimately I ended up liking the Motorola Adventure v750 the best and so I figured if my current phone was dead I would look into getting that one. Eventually the tech declared my phone was dead, so it was off to the sales queue.

I don't know if the salesperson was having a bad day or what, but he totally half-assed it with me. I told him what phone I wanted and he simply showed it to me and told me it was $100 and there was a $50 rebate, didn't even look too hard at my account because if he had, he would have noticed I had a $50 credit. So I bailed.

I tried another Verizon store this evening, and the salesman was much nicer, he gave me a better offer than the guy in the first store, but he couldn't beat the website price, so ultimately I placed my order tonight for a new cell phone. Not only did I get the phone for free, but I got 25% off of accessories as well, so it cost way less than buying them from the store. The phone itself is made tougher because it is designed for those who want that walkie talkie capability, such as construction workers or emergency workers. That's good considering how much I beat the shit out of my phones at times.

I think I'll continue to just buy my phones online. Of course now I am locked into another contract for two years, but by then there will be even better phones out there. I had wanted to wait and see what the Blackberry Storm was going to be like, but obviously I couldn't wait. At least in two years the bugs will be worked out of that one.

Mamma Mia!

Since Hanna basically blew through here without major incident in the Greenbelt area, I kept to a backup plan of doing a movie and then dinner with PK this evening. We met in Columbia and went to see Mamma Mia! since I had never seen the movie.

I loved it, and if you haven't seen it yet, try to see it before the theaters make it disappear. Meryl Streep surprised me with how well she can sing. Pierce Brosnan...not so much, he should have had more vocal training, especially with diction. I knew that Christine Baranski could sing since she had a role in Chicago, but she has a lot more vocal time in this movie and so you really get to see what she can do. In an opinion sure to confuse some, she's definitely a GILF.

The movie is cute, the music was done well, there was definitely plenty to look at, and the plot was done well. I remember some talking about it and that you had to ignore some issues with the timeline, but since I am not intimately familiar with Mamma Mia! as a stage show, it seemed to fit to me. I think I'll have to pick this one up on DVD when it is released.

After the movie PK and I went over to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner. We each had the prime rib, and maybe I've just been really spoiled by Annies, but the prime rib was not as tender as I was used to. It was still tasty, so I had no reason to complain to the waitress.

We dropped by the Verizon store so I could look at the Samsung Glyde again. By the end of the time there and a discussion, I realize that I would probably do better with upgrading to a slightly better plan (but not the highest one) and just getting one of the cheap phones, as long as it will do the VZ navigation. As for my other needs, I'd be better off getting a laptop, but that is for a later post.

Dropped by Starbucks, I had a pumpkin spice latte, which was pretty good. I love seasonal flavors. Then PK took me back to my car and I headed back to Greenbelt. It was a good night, I had fun, and I enjoyed my time out.

New Phone? Maybe...

As you probably saw, there are two test entries in my blog referencing some phones. My current contract with Verizon expired in August so they're trying to lure me back with offers on new equipment and such. That's fine considering my phone is over 2 years old now so I am in line for an upgrade if I wish to do so.

I have to admit, I had not wanted an iPhone, until I used one of my friends. Now I would consider getting one. However, I would rather wait until some of the bugs are worked out, including the fact that AT&T seems to have issues with keeping their data network up at the moment. Also, from what I have seen, the iPhones mapping application doesn't do turn-by-turn directions using GPS like Verizon's does, which I have seen in action and it's pretty sweet. Where the iPhone does have their advantage is that it can use Wi-Fi

So in the meantime I tested some of the latest phones from Verizon to see how their phones would feel in my hands, and whether or not the internet worked well on them. I started out with the Samsung Glyde. I liked the wide screen and the touch screen was pretty responsive. It also had the best of the keyboards that I tried out that night. However, I was unable to login to Blogger or Gmail because unless something was wonky with the demo model, I was unable to type anything on the login boxes. So it's nice, but it doesn't quite do what I want.

I tried out the Blackberry 8830 as well, it actually let me login to Blogger and type out the test post. I wasn't quite so impressed with how close the buttons were on the keyboard, but I think I could get used to that if I were to use the device further. However, trying to find the functions in the browser were not so easy. It took me a minute to find the place to type in the URL's. At least it had a decent screen for showing web pages.

Next up was the LG Voyager. Again, nice screen, responsive to my touch, the browser was easier to navigate. This one also let me login to blogger and type out a post. The thing that made me nuts was that I could not find a backspace key, so when I made a typo in typing a URL, instead of the clr button doing the backspacing, it took me out of entering a URL, so I had to start over again. That's not very convenient.

I tried the Env2, and it's basically the same as the voyager, except no touch screen, and the inner screen size is smaller. So it's not the best for web pages, and displaying maps.

If I were to stick with Verizon and make my choice, I would likely go with the LG Voyager as my next phone. However, I think I may wait a while before making my decision and purchase. What I would love to see from Verizon is a phone that is capable of handling Wi-Fi, what makes me nuts is that Blackberry phones are capable of doing Wi-Fi, except that Verizon only takes and sells models that have no Wi-Fi built in. What is Verizon afraid of by letting their phones be Wi-Fi capable? I don't always want to be tethered to their network, especially for mobile web stuff because it is not always the fastest. It took a while to load up failblog.org since it's very graphics intensive, and I know it loads much faster over Wi-Fi on an iPhone. I would love to see Verizon sell a Wi-Fi capable phone, but who knows if that is in the works.

The next thing I want to do is get a friend over here who has an iPhone and see what kind of reception I get, and how well the Wi-Fi would work. Besides that I would also want to test the functionality of using the iPhone, including the on-screen keyboard, which I am a bit leery of because I think I might prefer to have a physical keyboard, but we'll see.

Of course, by the time I'm ready to buy, the prices could come down on any of the phones or plans, so I'll just watch and see what happens. At least I don't have to buy a phone right now because my old one is still working.

Camping Anyone?

Last summer I rediscovered my love of camping...the problem was that I didn't have much equipment, my sleeping bag ended up ruined and had to be thrown away (damn cat!), and I had outgrown my tent.

Well this year I'm much better prepared. I bought a Coleman stove when it went on sale, thanks to the generosity of Brian I obtained a new sleeping bag, and in two weeks, I'll have a tent again!

When I bought my Camelbak last year at REI, I signed up to get E-mail offers. I happened to be looking through my "shopping" E-mail address this week, and their offer was to take 20% off any one item if you ordered before June 12. So I decided to take a peek at the site and see if they had any tents available that were reasonably priced anyway, and get some extra cash off.

I lucked out and found this beauty right here, 35% off already and being able to save another 20% meant that I would be really stupid not to get my hands on it now.

I can't wait to try it out, anyone else interested in a trip this summer?

Why Costco Deserves My Business

If you're a regular reader, you probably think I'm some kind of Costco fanboy since I'm always talking about good experiences with them. The thing is that they consistently prove that they deserve my dollar. I was a Sam's Club member for a few years, but they never really did anything that could draw me in. Essentially I showed them how much I thought of their business by voting with my wallet. I had no regrets when I purchased a Costco membership and sliced up my old Sam's Club card.

So what did Costco do this time? Well I basically got my membership paid for in savings on a new pair of glasses. I had a mishap at Six Flags New England because my glasses had a lens that liked to pop out at random times. I had them in a pocket of my shorts while I was riding the coasters, and when I went to pull my glasses out, the "David Copperfield" lens was gone and could not be found anywhere.

So the following Monday I headed to the local Costco because I had heard from others that they had the best prices on glasses. I ended up picking out a frame that was similar to my current ones. The guy at the counter helped me out tremendously as we discussed my options for lenses. I asked about Transitions lenses, but he actually steered me towards a less expensive option because the problem with Transitions is that they require UV rays to darken properly. I need my glasses to help see when driving, and since most windshields are tinted to reflect UV rays, the glasses would be unlikely to darken enough to be effective sunglasses as well. I ultimately went with polycarbonate lenses since they would offer UV protection and were lighter.

Now let's get down to price: The frames were $40, the lenses were $80 after adding the anti-glare tinting as well. So overall a new pair of glasses ran $120 from Costco, and this was without coupons or promotional pricing.

I dug up the receipt for my old pair of glasses, which had the same style of frame, and the exact same type of lenses and lens treatment. I paid about about $135 for those glasses, but that was after using a coupon. The real price of the glasses was $175, so overall I saved $55 by going to Costco rather than going through the process of finding which glasses store has the best coupons this month.

So once again Costco shows me why they deserve my business, especially when I can save a good chunk of change and not have to wait for a sale to be able to do it.

Something You Will Never See at Wal-Mart

Today as part of my errands I went to Costco to pick up a few things that I am going to need for tomorrow night. Being that it's winter and there are storms, it's raining outside, and that means that shopping carts taken out and left in the parking lot will get wet. Even after they're brought back under the corral outside, they don't dry immediately, so more often than not, you have a wet cart. It happens, that's how it goes, life goes on.

So I go and grab a cart and head in and show my card to the door greeter. She is there with a roll of paper towels and hands me one so that I can wipe off the handle of my cart and not have to use a sleeve or gloves to do so. That is the first time I have ever seen a retail store do that anywhere, and I appreciated the gesture. I am sure all of the customers who came through today appreciated it as well.

I made sure to write a letter to Costco letting them know how nice it was for them to do this. I have to laugh at the Costco website because it clearly tries to be as friendly as their staff. I mark "other" on the form for why I am writing to corporate, and after clicking to submit, it presents me with a few common FAQs to make sure I didn't miss something before I have to write them. The page started out with "We really want to help you today" or something like that, which was kind of cute.

The best part is corporate paid attention as well, within 35 minutes I had a response from them that they were forwarding it to the store manager, and 11 minutes after that, there was a personal response from the manager. More stores, both online and offline could take a lesson from Costco.