i love mushrooms!

Yes, this blog is called the "Friday Waster". Yes, today is Monday. I'm guilty, but I've got some splainin to do.
+ The blog ate my homework.
+ Everybody else is allowed to go to the party.
+ Sometimes, I just suck.
+ My mom said I had to be home by 9.
+ But truthfully:
The 1130 going-away luncheon at Jimmy's turned into happy hour at Jimmy's turned into meeting my neighbors and some Jager at Jimmys turned into a recap session in Conference Room 9.

Some people claim that there's a woman to blame, but I know...it's all Jimmy's fault.

Anyway, last week was one of the busiest weeks I've had in a long long time. The holiday weekend leading up to it was pretty cool. We had some free time to hang with the kids, and I also had the chance to get a lot done on that network job we've been working on. I didn't start my actual-working-in-the-office week last week until Wednesday. Looks great on paper, but I only had 3 days to do 5 days worth of work. Not such a good idea.

So let me ramble a bit about these past days...

SafeLite sucks. Not the local guys who actually do the work, but the fucktards that work in the corporate office. Recently I caught a rock and got a chip in the windshield of the truck. Under GEICO, this is a free repair.

GEICO calls SafeLite. Jeff Spicoli calls me to set the appointment. I can't wait for this guy's job to be outsourced. He loses all my info while we're talking, so I have to re-provide all the contact and policy info that GEICO already provided. A day or two later I find out that they lost my policy info again, have me scheduled for the wrong service at the wrong time. I escalate the trouble to the elite SafeLite customer support team.

By now, the local guys have contacted my office, gotten my direct number from the receptionist (bc SafeLite lost it a third time!), figured out what I want fixed, and set an appointment. One phone call, 45 seconds.

The morning of the repair, SafeLite Customer-(don't)Care calls me to apologize for having to deliver more bad news: they have to cancel my appointment bc the local shop is booked solid, and can't make it. Since I spent the entire week learning that the Corporate office is staffed by monkeys, I wasn't surprised a bit when the local guy showed up right on time, just like he said he would.

Alan - thanks for the good service. SafeLite corporate - bite my nads. GEICO - You've been good to me until now, but teaming with these idiots is a huge fuck up.

Good customer service...
Over the holiday weekend, I picked up a new LCD from The Big Screen Store. I do know a couple of the guys there (shout out to Corey and Essey!), but they're good to everyone, not just me. The shopping experience is the opposite of visiting one of the big-box stores: These guys know their business and products inside and out, and will take the time to help you find the right set-up for your theatre. All that, and better prices that MarkupCity or BestBox!

We signed the check on Saturday afternoon, of a holiday weekend. The delivery truck was in front of my house Monday morning, 20 minutes ahead of schedule. The guys did all the unpacking, basic assembly, and cleanup in a matter of minutes.(but not installation, although I think you can buy that as an extra)

Kidstuff, and the ongoing college drama:
Kid1 is still at school, but I'm not sure how, exactly.

The school hit me up for payment last THU, including a copy of the latest invoice. I know now that he did register for more classes, so he's officially a full time student and is allowed to keep his FinAid and remain on campus. However, he hasn't paid for anything yet. I dunno how long he can play it out before they change the locks on the dorm room and kick him out of class.

While I really don't like seeing the slow burn, it's a very interesting experiment to me. If he's trying to out-stubborn me, I know the outcome and he'll learn that lesson soon enough. If he's trying to out-wit the school, I really don't know where that will lead.

My buddy Dan just had his first kid Saturday morning. He has no idea....

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Are you old enough to remember Diamond Dave? What about vector-graphics asteroids for 25cents in the game room of the local swimming pool? If so, you will effing LOVE this game. (Many thanks to Joe, who is old enough...)

When Josh sent this in, I played it for a minute and thought it totally sucked. Bad graphics, simple gameplay, easy scoring. But this is a sneaky waster, and after a minute I was hooked. Check out the XGames of the supermarket, Shopping Cart Hero!

Lots of the tards receiving bailout money deserve to be slapped.

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Jules brings back memories of the old-school GDays crew, and all the losers they used to date.

The world's strongest magnets, and lots of nerdy stuff to do with 'em.

Ladies... top 10 "don't ever do this" list. (btw, the comments are just as entertaining)

Much love to Donna for finding a site dedicated to real vanity license plates found in the wild. Some good, some lame. I'm torn between two favorites: top-shelf creativity or creativity with boobies.


(Found on Sand & Cotton (along with a bunch of other fun stuff.)



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