Happy 40th Dr Blondie!

10.13.2008

Today Dr Blondie is the first of my friends to hit the 40 year old mark. I don't see this as a negative, as many people might (especially since I've still got another 5 months before I hit 40), but it is a milestone nonetheless. Last I heard, Dr Blondie was going to venture into the far north of Montreal to celebrate. I hope she made it, those French Canadians are a fearsome bunch.

I generally get a post card form Dr Blondie as she gallivants around the world. In the past month I've gotten cards from Italy and San Diego. With the help of my post cards, I can track her global movements over the past few years - I've got one from London sent in 2000. Mayhap a card will appear from Montreal which I can add to the collection?

As an unrelated bonus, I found part of the following pic on one of those sites I look at on occasion that I probably shouldn't share:

After looking at the picture hard enough, I learned that Koss introduced the first stereo headphones in 1958. I did not know that before today. And knowing is half the battle.

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You're Goin' Down, Brother

10.04.2008

Hulk Hogan Celebrity Wrestling. I.... don't know what to say. Perhaps we should check Hell for snowballs? Are Horsemen of the Apocalypse galloping about?

It's going to be bad. It has to be bad.

But I hope Matt DVRs it so we can watch a whole season in an hour or so. I've gotten hooked watching Danny Bonaduce and Dustin Diamond when they pop up in reality shows, so pitting them against each other is something I've got to watch once.

I just hope I survive.

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Longing for long term cooperation

09.28.2008

Not since my Japanese-English translated eBay seller have I had so many laughs from following a Spam-link. This morning, deftly gliding past the spam filters with ninja like ability, I was taken to www.eleabc.com with a promise of "You can get a PS3(20GB) for free if your order is over 660$". That's such a good offer I've got to check it out!

After waiting an eternity for their home page to load, I saw that this Chinese company sold everything. Digital cameras, phones, motorcycles, televisions. To confuse me even more, all the prices were in Euros. There's just so many things for sale here that it boggles the mind. Then I noticed some scrolling text at the top of the page:

They are longing for long term cooperation with me! That makes.... so little sense! I quickly visited their About Us page and found out ELEABC is China Ding Hao International Trade Co., Ltd. Of course, it makes so much more sense now! Except farther down in the page they state "At Kicks On Fire we stand behind every product we sell." Kicks On Fire? What about China Ding Hao International Trade Co., Ltd? Oh well, that's not important. I went on to look at their customer service rules:

The situations below are not in the free maintenance scope:
1.water rans into.
I may have peed myself a little when I read that. I wonder if pee rans into is covered?

Oh special note, if you take the time to visit their About Us page there are 2 pictures of warehouses, one of which is watermarked with "do not copy". That image comes from another Chinese shopping site. They may be partners, I just thought it funny the image is hosted elsewhere.

My time of laughing at ELEABC/China Ding Hao International Trade Co., Ltd/Kicks On Fire was drawing to a close. I'm not sure which link I hit, but I found a little FAQ about their shipping terms.

I think Jerry and I actually talk like that at times.

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Unsanctioned Widgey II

09.24.2008

This past Friday there was a follow up to our last unsanctioned widgey as we met at Stately Ford Manor to continue our D&D quest. It was the same group as before, but this time with a little more playing experience, and hopefully a little more of a clue as to what we should be doing.

Our game consisted of the final 2 rooms in the basic DM guide adventure. Room 1 found myself and Brady at deaths door as a tag team of Kobolds and a giant rolling boulder from the first Indiana Jones movie pummeled us. Jer whipped out his magic whammy and managed to dispatch most of the bad guys, followed by a lenient Keith allowing the use of the Heal skill to preform CPR. This brought us to room 2, which had a dragon.

This is our first adventure. We're still a group of level 1 guys. Against a level 3 dragon.

Somehow we managed to work together and get some strategy going after surviving the first salvo from the dragon. Thanks in part to our DM forgetting some of the extra attacks the dragon had available, along with secretly re-rolling some of our bad attack scores, we managed to defeat the dragon handily.

But still, it was a freakin' dragon on our first adventure.

We're now (supposedly) heading back to town to turn in our quest, level up, and start Adventure #2.

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Nu Tars

09.17.2008

With all of my driving, I found that another 5000 miles had passed and it was once again time for an oil change and tire rotation. After 45 months the Explorer has amassed 70,000 miles. 45 months of not having any major, or really even minor, problems. I've been taking it back to the dealership service department for tune-ups, oil changes, tire rotations, etc. since buying it. They probably charge more than the generic mechanic I could track down, but I like Dave the Service Dept. Manager at the dealership. He's the kind of guy that will tell you "the book says you need XXX, but you're ok for another 10,000 miles".

Monday I went to see Dave and told him "my usual old and rotate the tires" followed by a little chit-chat. Afterwards I went to the waiting area and listened to my iPod while reading a comic. After 15 minutes Dave popped in and said "We got the oil changed but we're not rotating the tires. You need the tread." About 20,000 miles ago I asked Dave about tires, and after some investigation he told me Ford was proud of their tires and that I should find some elsewhere. Anywhere. He mentioned Costco, in fact. But now it was time to get tires, so I went down the street to Gina's tire guy and told him I needed tires, like what was on the car now. "Ok, I can have 'em here tomorrow." Fine, I'll see you Thursday!

Thursday comes along and I find myself with new tires.

I don't know why, but I was amazed at how smooth they rode. I originally got the same type of tire because they had low road noise for a truck tire. Now I feel like I'm driving atop a cloud of gossamer. Well, maybe not gossamer, but it's smooth!

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