Things, Stuff & Such

Last night I got a phone call:

Caller: “Hello, I am with the dealership and going through some paper work here I see you forgot to renew your bumper to bumper warranty on your 06 Tacoma.”

Me: “Really?”

Caller: “How many miles do you have…”

Me: “Actually, I got a 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty that I paid for when I bought the truck.”

Caller: <click>

Jerk off!

On the phone he sounded like a kid who was bored with being on the phone.  I did notice that while he was saying “… going through some paper work…” I could clearly hear him deliberately shuffling papers.  It was truely a half-assed attempt and we both knew it.

Then check  out MyBrute.com.  I found the link on Facebook.  I don’t usually play the “games” they have there but this one seemed interesting.  You pick a name and a character and go at it.  You don’t control your character during the fight – it is all automated but as you progress you build up skills.

Check it out.  You can take me on here…

if you feel lucky…

Well, do ya… Punk?!

I called Lauren to see how she was.  Today was to be her first day of classes but they were cancelled due to Fey.  When I talked to her she was walking the campus and I could hear the wind blowing strong.  We talked for a few minutes.  She is enjoying the campus and finding out its history.  Apparently, there are several haunted places about the school.  Tomorrow will be her first day of classes.  Save for loosing her voice, she sounds good.

I took the oportunity of the free day off work to hit the mall and return my POS T-Mobile Shadow and cancel my account.  After two calls to customer service and two to the guy who sold me the phone I figured there was no way I would get a signal at my house.  I tested t-mobile’s rang one last time last night by watching the bars on the Shadow as I drove home.  On the main road I got a strong signal.  When I turned into my subdivision it went down to two bars.  This time, a little more than half way back to my street I got ‘No Service’ displayed.  Instead of turning down my street I decided to head towards the back of my subdivision to see if the signal loss was just around my street.  At the very back of my subdividion I still had no signal. 

When  I returned the phone the sales guy informed me of the $50 restocking fee.  He had obviously been in this situation before and was ready for whatever I was going to say.  I told him I was never told of a restocking fee and he, without missing a beat, told me exactly where I could find the single sentence at the bottom of the page that mentioned the fee.  A $50 restocking fee is outragous.  What if I had gotten one of the 99 cent phones? Still $50?  Bastards!  I argued that the fee should be waived because I was only cancelling their service because I could not recieve their service. 

They failed to provide me the service I agreed to pay for…  I should charge them an annoyance fee!

Anyway,  I made sure the sales guy had T-mobile note that I was cancelling because of lack of signal at my home.  I hope this will help me get the $50 restocking fee waived.  I’m sure I will need to make one or more calls to t-mobile before this if finished.

I got the shutters up well before the bad weather

I left work 90 minutes early yesterday so I could get home and put up storm shutters before the heavy rain started.
  There was a very light rain the whole time which didn’t bother me.  Except when I was standing some place where rain was pouring off the roof right on to my back… that was a little annoying.  It took me an hour and fourty minutes to get them up.  And the heavy rains?  They took much longer.

I really wasn’t unitl 4:30 this morning that things got interesting.  The wind picked up but I didn’t see any thunderstorms or lightning.  We would loose power every few minutes.  It was getting almost comical.  The power would go out - our generator would come on – regular power would come back on a minute or two later – generator would stay on for another minute then shut it’s self off – another few minutes later the

Not much happening at 2 a.m.

power would go off again and the cycle would repeat.  This when on for maybe 20 – 30 minutes.  I was starting to worry about the generator being cycled like that so many times.  Around 4am we lost power ‘for good’, you could say; until about 11am this morning. 

As with the last storm we had, each time we would loose power I would see a flash of blue light fill the sky directly to the east.  From somewhere on the other side of the trees at the end of my street.  I tried to get some pictures of it but it is almost impossible to time it right.  I guess I would have to be continuously taking pictures until it happened and just save the ones that caught it.

With the power out and nothing much happening but unimpressive wind and rain I went to sleep.  Even though the generator was running I had unplugged my TV and computers just to be safe.  I didn’t want to loose anything to a power spike.

I didn’t wake up until a little after 10am.  The generator was still running but the storm was basically over.  There was only slight winds and light rain.  After a little yogurt for breakfast and half a banana I started taking down the shutters. By 12:30 I had the shutters down and everything cleaned up. 

I was surprised to find we had mail delivered today.  Those guys really are not stopped by much.

I think I’ll take a ride and see what’s open and not.

Tropical Storm Fey is heading this way.  Hey, I just rhymed.  So, we have been keeping an eye on the storm all weekend.  Early yesterday I was thinking I should at least put up the shutters on the big front window.  Dad said he didn’t think we’d need it and I rarely turn down a chance to not do something.  By this morning the track had changed yet again so now we are putting up the shutters.  But I can’t do it until after work now.  And it may be rainning after work now.  Oh well, that’s live in the sunshine state.  I enjoy a good storm (as long as no one is hurt).  There is something about nature kicking up a fuss that I find exhilarating.

I have been looking for a used 2G iPhone for some time now.  My plan was to unlock it so I can sign up w/ T-Mobile and talk for free with my children.  Yesterday I found one locally on Craigslist.org.  I contacted the guy around 8am yesteday and we agreed to meet at the apple store at 1pm.  I was excited about jailbreaking and unlocking the phone to use on t-mobile’s network.  I picked up the iPhone and then headed to the mall to sign up with T-Mobile.  I had already talked to one of the guys at a kiosk (who is a friend of Lauren’s)about my plan.  I get there, buy a T-mobile Shadow phone and get my plan. 

I get the phone home and try it out.  I can’t get a signal!  I walk around my house searching for a signal… nothing.  I step outside to the street and still nothing.  My first troubleshooting step is to pull the battery for a few minutes and then replace it.  Still nothing.  I had checked the t-mobile website long before to verify I had service in my area.  This shouldn’t be happening.  Maybe my phone is bad.  I called tech support and told them my problem.  I had to speak with two different ‘techs’ before I was told to return the phone for a replacement.  Crap.

As a last ditch effort I hop in my truck and drive two miles to the grocery store.  In the parking lot I fire up my phone and what do you know… I get a signal.  I nice signal, too.  I’m glad the phone works but a little ticked it won’t work in my house.  I swap the SIM card to the iPhone and fire it up.  After a few seconds of searching I get a signal indicator that says T-Mobile and three bars.  I’m excited to see my jailbreak and unlock worked but now I’m getting even more pissed I didn’t get this signal at home.

After slipping in the store to stock up on soda for the ‘hurricane’ I headed home.  Before pulling out of the parking lot I swapped the SIM back to my Shadow and checked the signal again.  Nice and strong.  I headed home watching the signal meter as I went.  From the parking lot with three bars I hit the main road and got full strength.  As I neared my subdivision it dropped to three bars.  Turning into the subdivision I bounce from three to two bars… not a good sign.  By the time I got to my street it was bouncing between one and two bars.  In my driveway was one bar.  I went in the house and still had one tiny bar hanging on.  I swapped the SIM back to the iPhone and was able to get my one bar.  At this point I figured I was stuck with one bar at home.  As long as I got a signal I would accept it.  I put the iPhone in its cradle and downloaded some free apps to play with.  After this sync I was unable to get a signal on the phone.  I again swapped the SIM to the Shadow and, again, no signal.  I never got a signal again until I brought the phones here to work.  I in the office the signal bounces from full to two bars for no apparent reason.  I think I have to give up on t-mobile and just go with AT&T.

Today is Lauren’s first day of college.  I’m sure she is very busy but I will call her tonight to see how it went.

It’s true…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-Rabbit

I read about it in TechRepublics’s Geek Trivia.

Tonight I am going to take Lauren to a movie and maybe the mall.  Her and Syria are giving me the full court press to switch to T-mobile.  Syria added Lauren to her family plan so now everyone is T-mobile except me.  I understand the reasoning and agree that saving them money is a good enough reason to switch but, I am not sure which phone I want.  I will be paying more per month for this phone so I have to like it or I will get extra grumpy when I have to pay the bill each month.  I am thinking of unlocking a 2G iPhone.  I need to read a little more about it before I decide.

Anyway, I looking forward to hanging out with Lauren.  She leaves for college this weekend.  I am excited for her but will miss her.  I feel we are getting closer each day.

I decided a couple of months ago that I wasn’t going to put any more money into my Sebring.  I have put more money into repairing my car since paying off the loan than the combined total of repairs before.  And it still needed work!  The last straw was the leaking roof. 

It started maybe two months ago.  I was driving home in a hard rain when I saw water drip from the front corner of the roof on to my left leg.  Suddenly, it became more than a drip.  It was a stream of water now.  When I came to a traffic light the water flow would lessen, gradually becoming a drip again… until i started driving.  For the last six years my convertible has not leaked a drop.  Now it wants to wet my pants and the slighest rain. 

Friday I finally bought a new vehicle… a Toyota Tacoma.  It is an ‘06 Double Cab.  I needed the extra room for when the boys are with me (and Lauren, of course).  It is nice having a four door vehicle again (another issue with the Sebring was that one of the passanger seat levers to slide the seat forward was broken due to constant use).  I also like sitting higher.  The view from on high is nice and I feel a bit safer being able to see more of what is ahead of me.

I have always liked Toyota trucks.  After looking at and driving several different cars, trucks and SUV’s I decided on the Tacoma.  Actually, as soon as I drove the truck it was my number one pick but I wanted to have several different options before I made my decision.  I looked at the Dodge Nitro and Caliber, Honda Element, two Tacomas, Pathfinder, Nissan trucks, Ford Escape (inc. Hybrid) and Ranger.  I also looked into a Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic hybrids but they were more money than I was willing to spend this time around. 

Right now I’m diggin the truck and glad I got it.  It came with a 7 year/100k mile powertrain warranty to which I added bumper to bumper so I would not have to worry about major faiures for several years.  All in all, a good decision I think.

Yesterday evening I saw a hawk in my neighbor’s back yard eating a bird.  Initially, we were not sure if it was a bird or one of the bunnies that visit us daily.  All we could see was the trail of white ’stuff’ in the grass.

I quickly went out to my car to grab my camera and was able to snap a few pictures.  The first couple did not turn out well because I was shooting through the lanai’s screen so, I slowly opened the screen door and was able to take a couple more pictures.  I thought for sure he would fly off as soon as he saw me come out side but all he did was give me a good stare and finished eating.

I wanted to get a close up of the hawk so I went back inside to get my other camera that has a 10x optical zoom.  When I returned the hawk had finished it’s meal and flown off.