Stuff of the Day

*ahem*

*tap tap*

“This thing still work?”

I’ve been meaning to start posting at least some token trifle of the Day stuff again for a bit, because there are far too many amusing things in this world, and I find a desire to at least feel like I’m sharing them with others outside of Gtalk. I’ve however found myself rather busy and frustrated with work-related technical issues several times this week, so it’s taken me until today. A reddit post and its accompanying comment thread provided entirely too many amusing moments for me to let it drift by again. Also, I can annoy people on Facebook now too.

Link of the Day: Women: Why do you show cleavage if you don’t want men to look? Every girl gets a disgusted look when they catch me looking at what they’re displaying.

Spam of the Day: “Supersize your tomatoes with Tomato Giant”

Funny of the Day: Nikon camera ad . . . with Face Detection.

Pic of the Day: “Dude, is there something on my cheek?”

Quote of the Day: Billy Mays here!
Are you tired of not being allowed to look at breasts? Then I’ve got just the product for you! My exciting new product Bitch, please! You ain’t all that! will revolutionize your dating life.
The BPYAAT system will teach you such winning techniques as:
Does this rag smell like ether?
I have cancer and I don’t want to die a virgin.
No means yes.
And many more!
All this can be yours, for the low low price of three easy payments of braaaaaains!_Zombie_Billy_Mays_

Stuff of the Day

Update: I’ll be honest, I’m not particularly inspired to write/post right now.  This is pretty much just for Ivy.

Weekend was pretty good.  Spent it with my Kara, we entertained ourselves inexpensively, ate very well (perhaps too well, I need to not be poor again soon so I can afford to get back on my diet), had a lot of fun and many good snuggle times.  Weather most of the weekend was dreary.  I really kinda wanted to see about playing with/test driving some cars Saturday (though Kara really didn’t seem too keen on that idea), but the weather wasn’t cooperative for that.

Entirely too broke right now.  I had to borrow money from a friend until this upcoming payday on Friday so I could afford food to make sure I’d have something other than hamburger and ramen (not the end of the world, I’ve been worse off) and be confident of having enough gas my dad’s van I’m currently driving to be able to get to and from work this week.  Heard from Littlefield Automotive earlier, $350 to get my car from them.  Then haul it to Lubbock this Friday afternoon, and see what the Saab place there says it’ll cost to get things all fixed up.  I’m worried about what they’ll say.  I hope it’s a reasonable figure at all.  Even if I end up in (further) debt to my dad for a year or more, I’d really like my car back in proper working order.  I miss it.  I do like it.  I’d really rather not have to buy something else on the cheap right now.

Link of the DayStudents for an Orwellian Society

Spam of the Day: “Colo Cleanse Plus”

Funny of the Day: Burned by a pharaoh!

Pic of the Day: Irresistable geekette earrings

Quote of the Day: “Sometimes it’s important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it’s essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow.” – Douglas Pagels

Worst Customer Service Ever, and Another GenCon Pic

Bounce Energy has absolutely the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced with any company.  Some of you may have read about my ongoing issues with them, which basically started with them screwing up from the very first day I had service with them.  They billed me for the wrong ESID #, for the wrong address.  Getting that sorted out, my proper ESID added, and getting the charges they tried to lump onto me for fixing THEIR mistake, and simply getting my bill straightened out has taken months of frustration.  I’ve been flat out lied to by Bounce CSRs, I’ve seen them repeatedly ineffectual at following through on what should be relatively simple changes/fixes that I was PROMISED by their supervisors would be handled that day, or the next . . . and I’ve received precisely a total of TWO return phone calls from anyone from Bounce ever.  Yet I’ve been told I’d be called back by someone there (after my issues were resolved, of course) probably a dozen times.

Yesterday, I got home from work, to find my apartment oddly quiet.  Why?  Because my apartment was devoid of power.  They’d frigging disconnected me.  By mistake/accident.  In calling them, on my cell phone, to get this mess sorted out, I got disconnected/hung up on twice.  I was spoken to rudely.  I was berated, accused of lying, and told flat out things that contradict the pink piece of paper I was holding in my hand from Bounce – the one that told me to either call them, or use their web site online to make my payment to avoid disconnection. The final supervisor I talked to was so confused by my bill from Bounce, she ended up arguing with me about what I’d paid and suggested that I was disconnected because I didn’t pay enough.  I quite simply paid what their web site’s billing section for my account said I owed.  Simple enough, right?  My current bill is really amusing.  My current monthly charges, indicated on it?  $-42.99.  Then there’s the amount due for my Next billing cycle, not due until September 8th (Currently, nothing is due – zero balance – as the only semi-intelligent rep I spoke to observed, there’s no reason I should have been disconnected) is $137.01.  Oh, but if I wait until After the due date . . . it’s $134.86.  Wait, what?  I save $2.15 if I pay my bill AFTER the due date?

Lunacy.  Insanity.  Absolute, ludicrous incompetence.  After my power is turned back on, I’m looking for a new energy provider ASAFP.  I’m done with Bounce screwing up with me.

On more amusing notes, here’s something that’s just too awesome not to link:

Automatic Pancake Machine: 200 pancakes per hour

Next up, here’s the next GenCon pic:

[singlepic id=41 w=320 h=240 float=center]

This girl was actually featured on an article on this year’s GenCon in the Indianapolis Star: Despite recession, Gen Con Indy drew 27,900 I ran into her as she was waiting for the elevators on Saturday as I was heading up to grab food before my DM shift, and she was en route to the costume contest.

Stuff of the Day

Update:  So, what do I post for an update.  Weekend.  Weekend was the least active one I’ve had in a couple of months.  I stayed at home.  Pretty much all weekend, except for a short trip to Wal-mart Friday evening with Ivy, so I could grab a couple of things (primarily, more cereal.  Apparently, I’ve -really- missed raisin bran more than I knew).  Otherwise, I stayed in all weekend, slept a lot to catch up on not having enough for a while (I slept in WAY late on Saturday), watched a lot of Top Gear (all of Season 1 and a couple of episodes of Season 2), and drank some wine.  I’m pretty much out of Bota Shiraz now.  I -might- be able to get another half-glass or so out of it.  I didn’t really clean much – I did some dishes, tidied up the kitchen a little, but didn’t do much beyond that.  I really need to vacuum, still haven’t done that.

Was I moping?  Maybe I was just being practical, given that my car is sitting in the shop, with still no prognosis (I’m giving Littlefield until 3ish, and if they haven’t called me by then – which they won’t, of course – I’ll call them for a status update), and I needed some sleep and me time.  I had offers for companionship, which I rejected.  Some of it, genuinely because I didn’t really want anyone to intrude (oh, and Saturday, my left shoulder was sore and aching horribly) on my solo veg time.  Some of it, maybe . . . because I just didn’t really think that being with someone else I didn’t really want to be with when the person I wanted to be with was off with someone else for the weekend would make me feel any better.

Some friends had a poker game Saturday night that I’d have really liked to be able to go to, but I lacked transportation, and they couldn’t find anyone willing to give me a ride to and from their place.  Understandable, I guess, but I really would have liked to have been there.  I could have used the companionship and fun.  Does that seem to be a contradiction of the other offers of companionship I mentioned above?  All I can say is, they’re different sorts of things, really.

I’ve already had a couple of texts from one woman hinting that she wants to do something with me tonight.  I haven’t figured out yet how I’m going to decline.

Link of the Day: Jeremy Clarkson Sound Box video

Spam of the Day: “LUKY JUNE ONLINE CASINO PROMO”

Funny of the Day: “How’s the Magma?”

Pic of the Day: Kermit the Frog + Internet Horror

Quote of the Day: “(757): Shark Week may as well be Shark Weed.” – another gem from TFLN

Stuff of the Day: Lake Drive Edition

Update: This update is late.  A week and a day late, in fact.  I originally intended to post it last Thursday afternoon, after I had started having a fucking terrible day about 2 minutes after I stepped out of the door of my apartment in the morning to head to work.  Last week, things were really busy at work, quite hectic, as we were preparing for the software launch of our new version at work to our sister company (the Home Health Therapy company).  This week has been really busy too, and today is the first time I’ve had spare time enough at work this week to actually write something.  I have this spare time, because this morning, James “pulled the plug” and pushed the release back another 2 weeks.  This probably makes for a better product on launch, and a more prepared, relaxed launch . . . but it kind of bites, because I thought my weekend was mostly figured out: I was working.  For however long it took to get everything done.  Yay Overtime pay.  Now, I’ve got an entirely open weekend, with no money (not -technically- true, I’ve got like $8 left in checking after rent), and no transportation.

No transpo?  Yeah, getting back to the terrible fucking Thursday last week . . . It rained Wednesday night/Thursday morning.  Lots and lots of rain.  Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

[singlepic id=37 w=320 h=240 float=center]

That’s the sort of open field that dips down a little across from my apartment complex, and behind a host of businesses right along on the Loop 250 service road.  It stretches from this paved alley behind them that runs from Midkiff to my apartment complex, up to Caldera.  It was basically a humongous pond, or a shallow lake.  Unfortunately, so was a good stretch of Caldera.  I stepped out of my apartment that morning, greeted by this continuing rain, water all over the parking lot, in a rush to try to make it to work and Not end up a couple of minutes late.  I hopped into my trusty (so I thought) car, and drove across the parking lot, and saw Caldera underwater.  Hmm.

Keep in mind, this was right at pretty much 8:00 a.m., I hadn’t had been awake very long yet, and what little caffeine I had in me thus far had not kicked in yet.  I’m not fond of mornings at the best of times, unless I approach them from the “still awake from being up all night” angle.  This is the only defense I can make for the terrible decisions I made.

I decided I’d try to make it across a bit of Caldera to Crista Lane on my way to work.  This was a bad decision.  The water was really quite a bit deeper than I thought it was initially.  This is something I discovered as I was trying to begin my turn towards Crista Lane on Caldera, as my car’s engine sputtered and died.  Then, being sleepy and stupid and panicked, I tried to restart it.  Only afterwards, reading on the web, did I realize just how terrible of a thing that potentially is.

A City of Midland Transportation Services truck happened to come driving by (though the water – that truck has ground clearance of about up to my windows) right as I was getting stuck.  They radioed for for someone to come get me out.  A couple of police cars, an ambulance, and a fire truck all showed up, with a wrecker supposedly on the way.  Two firemen got out of their truck, put on waders, and pushed my car out of the water up onto Crista Lane – so the tow truck ended up being unnecessary.  Later that morning, Corey pointed out a bit on the CBS7 web site about a water rescue being reported in Midland “near Loop 250 and Midkiff.”  That was probably the host of vehicles with various sorts of flashing lights that showed up for me.

While I was waiting, in the water, I took a couple of pictures.  This one, when, hrm, I felt something wet on my ankle:

[singlepic id=38 w=320 h=240 float=center]

Water was coming up from under the car, through whatever various holes or crevices or whatnot, and filling my floorboards.  It got to being a couple of inches in each of them.  Not fun at all.

Here’s a view from my car while I was stuck in the effing water:

[singlepic id=39 w=320 h=240 float=center]

Tried to do what things I could Thursday afternoon after work, Friday after work, and then Saturday, to get my car driving.  No luck.  Sunday, Kara and Matt came over, and we pushed my car back to my apartment complex, parked right downstairs.  It doesn’t start, and the electrical system is haywire.  I reached out to my dad for help, having no other real alternatives.  Finally got my car towed on a car carrier to Littlefield Automotive Wednesday during lunch.  Haven’t heard anything from them yet, going to call in a bit and see what, if any news, they’ve got for me yet.

I’ve been really severely stressed most of this week and last weekend.  Stressed about my car, about everything going on at work right now in crunch time (well, until this morning anyway), stressed about money being entirely too tight until my next payday.  Having a non-functional vehicle, and that adding unknown added costs to repair it (or possibly end up getting a cheap used vehicle if repair on it is too costly to be considered feasible) and having to work something out with my dad, probably on a payment plan basis, just added heaps of stress for me.  Some of that is why I haven’t posted a damn thing on this site until today.  It was just something that so seriously wasn’t anything of a priority for me.

So, yeah, that’s a bit to catch things up.  All I really feel like writing about it for now anyway.  Linkage commences:

Link of the Day: SDCC 2009 Hot Cosplay Chicks

Spam of the Day: “Time For a New Copier?” – from, of course, Copier King

Funny of the Day: “Try and spell shield that

Pic of the Day: Interesting Top

Quote of the Day: “(760): I wish they had nachos that got you drunk” – another gem from TFLN

Stuff of the Day

Update: Went home after work yesterday, and took an evening of very easy rest, aided by 2 beers.  Tried Shiner Light . . . it was OK.  Stronger taste than most light beers, and a little, to me, unusually yeasty.  Not BAD, but I’d still prefer Shiner’s Bock or Black Lager to it by quite a bit going by sheer taste.  Also tried the Shiner Hefeweizen.  Interesting beer, probably the best Hefeweizen I can remember trying, also very yeasty.  Still not overly a fan of Hefeweizens overall as one of a preferred styles of beer, but I’ve certainly tasted far worse.

Got a text message this morning from Bounce Energy, informing me I had a pending disconnect on my account.  39 minutes on the phone with them again, probably all but about 5 of that on hold, talked to two different people, one of which talked to his boss and the business office.  He read some of my notes back, and said, “Unbelievable.”  I said, “Yeah, unbelieve is a word I’d use for pretty much all of my dealings with anyone there for the last 3 months.”  James piped in with, “I’ll second that.”  After a while, he informed me that he’d make sure it’d get taken care of TODAY, and that someone would call me back to let me know when it had, indeed, been taken care of.  Yeah, we’ll see.

Link of the Day: Artifice Clothing

Spam of the Day: “Scheme of J Lo’s silicon”

Funny of the Day: A Horgy.

Pic of the Day: Underwater Dreams

Quote of the Day: “The phone is vexing me today.  If it continues to vex, i’ll be tempted to hex.” – Kara

Stuff of the Day

Update: Yesterday was a rough start to things for the week.  Did something I haven’t done in quite a bit: managed to go totally zombie and apparently shut off my alarms and oversleep.  Woke up to a text message at 8:18 a.m. from James asking if I was planning on coming in to work.  Eek.  Yes, but late.  *sigh* Symptom of the sleep deficit I was running on from the weekend I guess.  It was a Good weekend, though.

After work yesterday, I ran by HEB to pick up the second half of my Androgel prescription.  They of course didn’t have it ready, despite my calling in on Friday and using their automated system to request the (half) refill.  Which was supposed to be ready by 11 a.m. on Saturday.  I was really not very pleased.  Got it eventually sorted out, got my meds, grabbed some Atkins stuff, some eggs, and got out of there.  I’m a poor, poor boy until payday – and that paycheck is going to have to stretch a whole bunch of different ways already.

Said “yes” to a “want some company” message last night.  Ended up watching Yes Man with Mummy Chick – I was a tad amused, because if I hadn’t said yes to her on a general sort of “sure, might as well” basis, I wouldn’t have seen that surprisingly excellent movie.  I like the core concept the movie is based around a lot.

Link of the Day: My Jello Shocks post made it onto Mancouch – It’s so nice of them to repost my entire article there, but use my bandwidth for the images. :/

Spam of the Day: “Grow Giant Snake in Pants”

Funny of the Day: Hmm.  Maybe some sort of ass-garter system?

Pic of the Day: Uh, maybe not?

Quote of the Day: “My next cast is going to have shag carpeting.” – Kara

Stuff of the Day

Update: So, really scraping by super-tight right now, monetarily.  The 10th just can’t come quick enough for me.  I’m having to delay getting medication prescriptions refilled, and eating until then while trying to stick to my diet will be extra-challenging.  I thought I was going to be ok, but I realized yesterday that I had failed to account for the check to the dermatologist last week – which cleared this morning.  Meh.  Talked to a friend to see if I could borrow a little bit of money until the 10th, but he’s not able to help right now (which wasn’t surprising to me, he’s going on a vacation next week – to Vegas, which I really wish I could manage to join them on).

Tried to be mostly lazy last night.  Semi-succeeded, Mummy Wrap Chick came over, we hung out, watched Vexille, fooled around.  Mixed feelings there.

Chatted online with a good friend until probably slightly too late – I’m tired and cranky this morning.  But it was worth it, very enjoyable chat.

Link of the Day: Fancy Fast Food – via @kpereira

Spam of the Day: “Kelly Clarkson brutally raped”

Funny of the Day: Well, it IS a valid point.

Pic of the Day: Just Plane Awesome.

Quote of the Day: “just fyi, Sneezing while on the phone with TXU’s bill pay system Will get you put into the spanish speaking menu.” – Kara

Stuff of the Day

Update: I had a very good weekend.  Fun times, enoyable time spent with people I like.  Couple of annoyances, like having a headlight on my car go out Friday night, and having to replace it Saturday ($17.51 for the bulb, which isn’t bad, just an unexpected expense with shitty timing), and how freaking HOT it was Friday and Saturday.  Stressing out over money – I’m on stupidly tight funds until July 10th.

Saw The Proposal on Friday night.  It was cute, funny, pretty good.  Despite the whole “chick flick” stigma, it was a solidly enjoyable movie.  I was previously misinformed, however, as to the amount and extent of Sandra Bullock’s nudity in the film – definitely could have used more of that, IMO.  😉

Additionally, saw The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen yesterday afternoon on/as part of Kara’s Birthday celebration.  It was OK.  Some of the Bayhem-isms on the film annoyed me.  The spinning camera around Shia and Megan in one scene was really, really irritating.  It downright made Kara queasy.  The massive, excessive overutilization of Shakycam also bugs the crap out of me.  It’s not limited to this film, or Michael Bay, it seems to be used in practically everything now for action.  Such a horrible blight on the film industry.  That needs to either die entirely, or be relegated to very limited, “special” usage when it’ll actually accentuate a scene and give it more impact due to its rarity.

T2 is worth seeing.  Especially on a matinee if you can.  Does it have flaws, problems?  Oh hell yes.  It also has giant robots fighting, and a few very funny moments (Sam’s mom at college was great).

Link of the Day: Interesting and unusual car paint jobs

Spam of the Day: “Best oil for pork motor” – Seriously, I don’t make any of this stuff up.

Funny of the Day: I’m tempted to try this one, but I am skeptical of the results I’d get.

Pic of the Day: Too soon?

Quote of the Day: “(972): they say celebs die in threes. leave it to billy mays to throw in one extra COMPLETELY FREE!” – Someone from TFLN.

Stuff of the Day

Update: This will be a pretty brief one again.  Sorry for no post again yesterday.  That was just lazy.  It happens.

Had a friend over last night.  Watched a couple of episodes of house.  Had some other fun.  Mixed feelings there on a few points.  Seem like the doubled dosage on the Androgel (which I got a phone call instructing me to start doing that, that my testosterone levels were still a bit low, a few days ago) might be doing some good.  One incident isn’t proof positive, but still . . . good sign.

Ended up feeling kind of worse today.  Maybe . . . exertions last night when I’m still fighting off/getting over this bug wasn’t the wisest call.

Had a very nice and good Wednesday evening.  Hanging out with a good friend, playing on furniture at Ashley, not getting my mind made up there on any option yet, being harassed by a creepy saleslady.  Thai food, yogurt, not-right tarzan smoothie thing.  Lots of talk.  It was good.  I could use more of that in my life.

Link of the Day: Modern Vampires

Spam of the Day: “Suiciders online” (Oh boy, I’m just waiting to see what AdSense makes of that)

Funny of the Day: Seems like sound logic to me.

Pic of the DayChe Guevara’s granddaughter wearing only a Bandolier Of Carrots!

Quote of the Day: “though, “i am not a google samich” might bear repeating just because it is so random. i’m loling at it still.” – Kara