Manny Ramirez...LA Dodger?

When I first heard this rumor, I laughed at it, kinda like when the Shaq for Dirk and Nash "rumor" first came about. Now, according to ESPN, the Dodgers actually have the inside track to make a deal for Man-Ram.

What do I think about Manny possibly becoming an LA Dodger? THIS MUST HAPPEN!!!

I really wanted the Dodgers to pursue the greatest underachiever of all, A-Fraud (E-Rod?), but the Yankees ruined that dream when they announced that A-Rod would remain a Yankee in 07. I guess picking up one of the most feared hitters in the league (when he tries, at least) is a nice consolation prize. If anything, I'd rather see Manny quitting on the team than that former RF we had who showed zero emotion for the two years he spent here in LA, before backstabbing the team by opting out of his contract.

This trade MUST happen. I will forgive GM Ned Colletti for the Juan Pierre contract if he makes this trade.

Random thoughts:
- That overrated, backstabbing RF that formerly donned an LA Dodgers uniform is about to sign a 5 year, $70 million contract to play for Boston. I can't wait to see him crash into the short wall in right field in Boston and shred both knees. By the way, I'm not bitter about his departure.
- The Dodgers' best signing this offseason, so far? Randy Wolf. Not because he's a superstar player, but because he only signed a one year deal, which, in this day and age, is a worthwhile gamble.
- Fantasy football news: I'm in the playoffs! Woot! Another team is in, and two others are a single win away from getting in. I still expect a monumental letdown in the playoffs, though :-P.

Next post: My laptop is a b!tch...

Mini-review: DLink Omni-Directional 7dBi Indoor Antenna

As promised, here's my mini review of the DLink Omni-Directional 7dBi Indoor Antenna, mentioned in my previous blog entry.

I had wireless connectivity issues with my living room desktop--connected to my Linksys WRT54G router via a Zonet(?) Wireless PCI card--and figured, for ~$5 after rebate and Google Checkout, I would give this item a try. The antenna is impressively large, much larger than the pathetic antenna that came with my PCI card. The base is magnetic, which, I suppose, has its uses; just keep the base away from any electronics.

Hooking up the antenna + base to my PCI card, I went from a weak, 2-3 bar, 24-36Mbps connection, to a very stable 5 bar, 54Mbps connection. Part of the reason for this, though, may be due to the fact that the base allows me to extend the antenna away from the computer and allow the antenna a better line of sight to the router. To test this theory, I attached the antenna included with the PCI card to the Dlink base, and got about a 4-5 bar signal strength.

I then tried replacing one of the antennae on my WRT54G with this Dlink antenna. I had certain "dead" spots in my house, most notably in the far corners of the living room, as well as the master bedroom. I ran a crude experiment using my sister's Dell Axim X51, measuring the signal strength in a number of areas. I noticed an improvement of 1-2 bars of signal strength in most of the areas I tested, as well as a weak signal in the "dead" spots. Also, in all the bedrooms, I noticed a more stable, less flaky, internet connection.

For ~$5, I really can't complain, but I'm quite satisfied with the performance of this product.

In other news, my laptop is continuing to act up here at my parents' place. The darn thing has restarted by itself four times, and BSOD'ed twice, in the past hour. I'm still not sure what is causing the problem in this house, and what's really strange is the fact that I was able to use the laptop just fine in the living room for several hours earlier today...

No random thoughts today, as I am still trying to diagnose my laptop's problem.

The Day After Turkey Day

So it's been a full day since I ate way too much food (what else is new?), and I'm still feeling the effects of overeating.

Turkey Day was great, if you don't count the couple of hours after dinner, where I desperately needed an antacid or ten. Deep-fried turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, steamed vegetables, and Grands! biscuits...good stuff all around.

For the second straight year, I did all my Black Friday shopping in the comfort of my own home. It was only about a month ago that I was owed $90 in outstanding rebates; I'm now over $800 and rising. Buy.com, Amazon.com, and Circuit City have been getting most of my business for the past few weeks, and I actually bought some stuff at Staples.com for the first time in years. Unfortunately, I still haven't completed my Christmas shopping yet...

Random thoughts:
- Tony Romo! Tony Romo! 5 TDs! Despite a 49-2 lead, I could still lose this week, since my opponent has LaDainian Tomlinson...
- How did I not end up with a new TV after today? Oh wait, Staples still has the Mag 32" LCD TV in stock for $499.99...
- Green-bean casserole is so awesomely good that it would have to be a side dish on my "Last Meal" menu

For my next blog entry, I will do a mini-review on a product I purchased recently: a D-Link 7dBi Omni-Directional Indoor Antenna.

Korean BBQ Coma

(Disclaimer: Crap...I haven't updated this blog in a couple days! I better post something here to give Krunk something to do.)

So I went to a Korean BBQ place on Saturday with my sisters--it was an all-you-can-eat place in Downtown LA, and the name eludes me at the moment. Somehow we were able to mow down four huge plates of meat; I guess cooking the meat ourselves built up quite the appetite.

About five minutes after the meal was down, I fell into a food-induced coma that brought me back to my High School years. As soon as I got home, I didn't make it two steps into my front door without collapsing on a chair. I was hoping the food coma would allow me to get to sleep quickly; unfortunately, the food coma wore off, and the effects of eating too much kicked in, and I didn't sleep for more than an hour.

That being said, the food coma was so worth it!

Random thoughts:
- I hate you, Time Warner.
- So my Dodgers made a huge signing, picking up...Juan Pierre? For $45 million over 5 years??? Huh?
- Fantasy football update: I won again, beating the league leader. I'm now tied for first, but I play the team that has LaDainian Tomlinson next week, and LT plays Oakland!!! Oh well, I guess my winning streak had to come to an end eventually.
- I hate you, Time Warner.

Is that soda on your pants, or are you just happy to see me?

(Disclaimer: Yeah, I know, the title sucks...)

So I was dining out last night at a Mongolian BBQ restaurant, awaiting the refill on my Pepsi. The waiter placed my glass on the table, and accidentally tipped the glass over, spilling most of the contents on the table, towards me. By the time I was able to react, I wore most of the soda all over my jeans.

Rather than making a big scene over the spill, I started cracking jokes about the entire situation. Some of the gems included:
- Well, I wouldn't mind taking my soda to go.
- I feel the urge to sing the song, "Pour Some [Soda] On Me"
- Can you spill some red wine on me? I hear red wine is great for removing stains.

The poor waiter kept apologizing profusely, and I kept reassuring him that accidents happen. I'll just say...the spilled soda was certainly a chilling experience (groan).

Random thoughts:
- I think Christmas presents should be tax deductable.
- I think I deserve this TV. Screw financial responsibility!
- I stopped by McDonald's to get some Fruit n Yogurt parfaits. We went via drive-thru, and ordered the parfaits, when I had a craving for apple pies. We ordered two apple pies, and I guess the cashier didn't hear us well. He asked, "Would you like the two pies for $1.00, or just one?" That's when I peered at the prices, and noticed that one apple pie was $0.99. I wonder if anyone has ever ordered a single apple pie at that McDonald's. By the way, McDonald's apple pies topped with plain vanilla ice cream is pretty tasty.
- On some rebate forms, there are two check boxes (labeled yes and no) asking if you want to be contacted regarding "special offers" from the manufacturer of the item in question. Does anyone actually want these offers? One day, I'm going to leave those boxes unchecked, and see if a rebate processor rejects my rebate for not checking one of those boxes. My bet is that a rebate mailed to Miami, FL (Parago, aka Para-suck) will be rejected for this reason first. After all, this processor once rejected a rebate of mine because I didn't include the rebate form with my submission...

3 + 1 = 4!!!

(Disclaimer: The title of this blog entry has absolutely nothing to do with the contents of said entry.)

I wonder what the world record is for the most number of self-inflicted injuries in a week. Since this past Sunday, I have done the following to myself:

- Injuring my wrist while falling, extending my arm to break the fall
- Hyperextending my elbow
- Jamming my fingers
- Four, yes, four papercuts
- Tweaking my ankle stepping on a mouse that was on the floor (computer, not animal)

and that doesn't include the eleventy billion times I hit my elbows, knees, toes, or fingers against a wall/bed/door/etc.

Oh yeah, and I'm also practically out of Tylenol.

Random thoughts:
- True story: the LA Clippers' announcer announced on Tuesday that the game that day between the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers was for the best record in the Western Conference...
- So Bob Kraft (NE Patriots' owner) signed Vinny Testaverde to a contract. I heard he was interested in Emmitt Smith too; darn that Dancing With the Stars commitment!
- I must own this football card. This ranks right up there with the Billy Ripken "F**K FACE" baseball card.
- Oh joy! Roughly 20 hours until the next episode of The Office!
- I just realized that this blog has nothing about fantasy sports in it. So here's a quickie: Larry Johnson better run all over the Oakland Raiders' D this weekend.

Fantasy Football Geek-alysis

So I'm bedridden, feeling miserable--I hate the fall/winter months--and so I decided to do something that puts me in the upper 1% of all fantasy sports geeks: I have started on a thorough analysis of one of my Fantasy Football leagues to date.

Records of the eight teams participating can be seen here. I am the Commish of the league.

- Colts4Life is riding the arm of Peyton Manning, and is going to make the playoffs, barring a complete disaster.
- Dasnufus had Shaun Alexander, but still has a very strong team (Holt, Kevin Jones, Steven Jackson, Darrell Jackson, Javon Walker, and Baltimore's D). His team was my preseason pick to win the championship, and I'm sticking with that pick.
- Commish is riding the play of Larry Johnson, and is praying that Chad Johnson is back. I have the toughest remaining schedule (based on remaining opponents' W-L record), and I could easily end up out of the playoffs.
- Crimson's Tidal Wave wins my award for "Most Successful Fantasy Team while Maintaining Team Loyalty." Her draft consisted of a number of NE Patriots, and yet her team is up a game on the 5th place team. Crimson's remaining schedule is brutal, though (second toughest)
- L4ZyPatriots rode Donovan McNabb to a 3-0-1 start. He has since rode McNabb to a 1-5 record.
- ying! started the season 0-6, but thanks to the fantasy football MVP (LDT), he has four straight wins, and a favorable remaining schedule. It is not out of the question for ying! to win it all.
- garsh wins the "Streakiest Team" award; his team started out with 2 losses (one to me, by a stinking point), followed up with 3 wins, then four losses, and then a win).
- I thought The Intimidator had a very strong team, but four straight losses has pretty much ended his playoff hopes.

My fearless predictions (cross-posted in the thread linked above):
- Eight wins, or seven wins and a tie, will be good enough to make the playoffs (7-7 if the tiebreakers fall your way and you get help)
- Ten wins will win the regular season championship.
- Dasnufus over Colts in the championship; I expect Peyton Manning to only play a half in Week 16 against the Texans. Hopefully I did not just jinx Dasnufus.

Random Thoughts, special edition (free of fantasy sports talk!):
- The "Print Preview" option in most programs will be neglected by me no more. I printed out a bunch of Excel docs for my sister, expecting 26 pages to print out. Instead, 104 pages printed out. Of the 104, 3/4 were either blank or had the information of a couple cells printed on it. Print Preview, you shall never be neglected again.
- I do not own a land line, because I don't use the phone enough to warrant paying for one. In fact, I haven't owned a land line in 2 years. Unfortunately, I racked up about 200 minutes of cell phone use yesterday, none of which were personal calls. I will now turn my phone off until the next billing cycle.
- Why can't cough medicine taste better than it does? Actually, if it did taste pretty good, I might become addicted to the stuff. I guess that's why cough medicine tastes like crap.

Back home...

and my laptop thanks me. The darn thing locked up again on Sunday, and my sister's laptop locked up twice (it barely has any issues either). On the plus side, watching football games on HDTV was quite enjoyable.

So I picked up a 160GB Seagate drive from Circuit City to replace the one in my sister's computer, and apparently customer service doesn't exist there. From the "Next!" I got from the clerk--mid 20s woman, by the way--to the way she bagged the hard drive and tossed it in my general direction before uttering "Next!" to the next customer, I'll have to make sure never to return there again. My sister also picked up a drive, and it took about 15-20 minutes for their clerk to locate the drive. At least she was apologetic and looked somewhat sincere...

By the way, it's freaking cold! I think I need a fleece blanket or something similar.

Random thoughts:
- An ungsunghero PSA as well as a note to self: the next time you tell something "It's not that difficult," assume the task is next to impossible to do.
- A $100 rice cooker really does cook rice a heck of a lot better than a $20 rice cooker. The rice doesn't quite taste 5x better, though...
- San Diego and Cincinnati combining for 90 points...was that a pro football game or a game of Tecmo Super Bowl?
- A quick fantasy football update: if my math is correct, I pretty much blew out my opponent this week, and I am looking good in the playoff hunt. Unfortunately, I play the league leader next week, and the hottest team in the league the week following, and I could easily be out of the playoff picture two weeks from now. I intend on boring my entire audience (all one of you) with a thorough analysis of my fantasy football league to date sometime in the near future :-P.

Back in MPK...

So I am visiting my parents in Monterey Park this weekend, and I swear there is something in my sister's room that is causing trouble...

First of all, my laptop locked up twice in the past 24 hours; up until today, my laptop had never locked up. Also, my sister's computer's hard drive started acting up. After running Western Digital's Data Lifeguard Tools, I got this error message:

"Too many errors detected. Please contact technical support."

Hooray...at least lunch (thanks David) and dinner (thanks Nancy) were quite satisfying.

Random thoughts:
- HDTV is awesome! I finally hooked my sister's Samsung HDTV with an HDTV antenna, and promptly tuned to NBC...to see Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin in high-def...
- Battery-operated toothbrushes are garbage.
- I thought dumping 100webspace and coming back to blogspot was the reason for my rapid increase in hits lately. Then I find out Krunk posted a link to here in one of his recent posts. By the way, I take offense in his saying my blog consists of a "bunch [of] random interesting stuff." My blog is full of uninteresting, low-brow, lame crap, and I'm proud of it! Also, notice this post is fantasy sports-free!

People who are hypocritical, stupid, self-centered, redundant, and stupid piss me off...

I really have nothing else to add to the title...though I like how it ties in with the last blog post I made about JD Drew.

By the way, I added a link to a web site entitled "Twenties Retirement." It's a neat little web site with basic information about retirement investments, emphasizing the fact that people shouldn't be thinking about retirement five years before they reach retirement age.

You may notice that I'm no longer using 100webspace. Apparently people were unable to access my blog while I was hosted there. In the four hours after I kicked 100webspace to the curb, my blog hits nearly tripled!

Random thoughts:
- I hate how my electronic toothbrush beeps and vibrates at 30 second intervals (apparently the feature is there to remind you to move the brush to another quadrant of your mouth every 30 seconds). If I want to take 5 minutes to brush my teeth, then I should be allowed to, uninterrupted!
- The message "[a certain operation] may take a few minutes" that occurs when some software is installed annoys me. I think the message should be changed to "if [certain operation] takes a few minutes, upgrade your computer, for heaven's sake!"

JD Drew is now a free agent

So even though JD Drew--the Dodgers' Right Fielder--said he would not become a free agent, ESPN reported that he opted out of his contract (and $33 million) yesterday. I could whine about team loyalty, and going back on one's word, but then it dawned upon me that this is a blessing! Yes, $11 million for a .280+, 25HR, 100RBI guy with good defensive skills is a bargain in this day and age, but this guy is one misstep away from being shelved for the season with his gimpy knees. Also, this isn't the first time Drew has pulled this crap; when he was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies, he refused to sign with them and eventually got signed by the St. Louis Cardinals instead. So I say, good riddance to Drew and his agent, Scott Boras, and bring on the next overpaid, overrated free agent (Carlos Lee? Alfonso Soriano? Aramis Ramirez?)

(By the way, is it bad to wish a season-ending knee injury on Drew in 2007? Not that I'm bitter, or anything...)

So my fantasy football playoff hopes lie in the arm of Jon Kitna, and the hands of Chad Johnson (top 5 fantasy bust?), Donte Stallworth (a guy who has played 2 effective games this year...his first two), and Anthony Thomas (a guy who hasn't started in 2 years). I gotta pray that Donovan McNabb forgets to show up for the game this weekend...

Can't think of any random-ness today, so until then...happy blogging!

It's November, right?

If it's November, then why the heck is it so hot? Not that I'm complaining...I hate cold weather; but for it to be THIS warm this late in the year?

Just wait until the temps drop 20 degrees, and then I'll be blogging about how freakishly cold it is then.

Speaking of which, where the heck did 2006 go? It feels like six months have passed since the year started, and we're already two weeks from Thanksgiving, and less than 2 months from 2007!

K-Fed and Britney broke up for "irreconcilable differences"??? Feel free to file that divorce under the "Water is Wet, The Sky is Blue, and The Dodgers are Underachievers" portfolio.

Random-ness of the day:
- Proof that the entire sports scene in 2006 has been messed up: The Atlanta Hawks are 3-1, The Philadelphia Sixers are 3-2 (they were 3-0), The New Orleans/OK Hornets are 4-0, and the Utah Jazz are 4-1, while the Dallas Mavs, Phoenix Suns, and Detroit Pistons are a combined 3-11. I know we're two weeks into the season, but I wonder how soon these "experts" will change their NBA Finals predictions.
- Everybody should own a powered toothbrush; these things are the greatest dental-hygiene-related invention since minty floss.
- If you buy someone a gift that had a rebate on it, how do you explain the missing UPC? I would always make the purchase, give the gift, volunteer to open it, pretend to toss the packaging, and then remove the UPC when I have the chance. But what if you bought the gift months in advance, and have to remove the UPC before giving the gift away? Oh, well I bought the item off eBay, and the darn seller didn't tell me the UPC was removed! Do you think anyone would buy that excuse?
- Go download FireFox if you are somehow still using Internet Exploder (and, sadly, I still know people that do...)

All Turn-y Button Things Lie...

"...but the only position we're interested in is the position between (holds up fingers) there...and...there. One nano-millimeter between extremely [bleep]ing hot, and fantasticly freezing!" (Eddie Izzard in Glorious)

Does anyone have a shower head that doesn't "lie"? Take my shower, for example. For the first couple minutes, the only way I could get anything close to lukewarm water is by turning the knob all the way to Hot. A couple minutes later, though, the water becomes unbearably hot, and the only way to get back to warm water is to turn the knob all the way to Cold. By then, all the hot water is used up, and I can't get warm water again for a while.

By the way, Krunk notified me that the Turkish lira, which was once so weak that 1,000,000 lira was worth about a buck, is no longer the official currency of Turkey. Apparently they now use a "new" lira, (1 new lira = 1,000,000 old lira). I used to offer people 1,000,000 turkish lira to do favors for me, and I suggested that somebody should tape a Turkish version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" It's a good thing I stopped cracking that joke...

Some more random-ness:
- Did anyone catch that televised Pop Warner football game yesterday? Wait...was that the Raiders??? What's amazing is that, despite their awful performance yesterday, I don't believe the Raiders are even the worst team in the league!
- Further proof that this Fantasy Football season is ridiculous: the team that was in last place in my league--he started the season a whopping 0-6--is all of a sudden tied for 6th, and only two games behind me for the last playoff spot with four to play! What's worse is that his schedule is much more forgiving than mine, and he could theoretically win out while I lose out (case in point, I am depending on Jon Kitna--Lions' QB--and Anthony Thomas--Bills' RB and a non starter for years--to carry my team this week) ! Of course, it helps that he has LaDainian Tomlinson, the LeBron James of Fantasy Football.

Windows XP Pro on a pair of Celerons

So I was working on a pair of computers today. One of them was used by a friend's kid, who uses Limewire (500 points if you see where this is going).

The system was a Celeron D (not too bad, actually), with 256MB of RAM, 16MB of which was shared! Between that and the 400+ spyware instances that I found on the computer, the system slowed to a crawl...upon boot. I gotta dig up an old 256MB stick of RAM to slap into that machine.

The other system I worked on was this friend's business machine...and yet it contained a Celeron 2.8 and 256MB of RAM as well! I didn't have time to service that computer, but I would imagine that system would take minutes to load up Internet Exploder as well.

I know, I know...ranting about WinXP on 256MB of RAM just weeks before Vista? I forgot to mention, the computer had a 14" Packard Bell monitor...and a keyboard with a half-sized backspace key and extra large enter key???

In other news, I crushed my opponent in my Fantasy Football league, but I play the fifth place team next week, who's a half-game behind me and has a pretty strong team. If I win that game, I could just about punch my ticket into the playoffs. A loss, and I'm in pretty big trouble, since I still have to play the top two teams.

Today's random-ness:
- Ok, I was close...Farmar and Cook both scored in double figures, but neither scored 18 as I predicted. Not surprisingly, the Lakers lost. I'm wondering if Vegas has a bet on who the leading scorer would be for the Lakers when the season ends. I'd bet $20 on Lamar Odom, and a $10 longshot bet on Andrew Bynum.
- Raider Karma nearly kicked me in the butt, as I nearly lost to the Raiders in my video football season. Good thing they reverted back to the Raiders before it was too late.
- I defy anyone to tell me a better way to cook a steak than with cracked black pepper, kosher salt, and butter...which reminds me, I gotta get a cast iron skillet. And while you're at it, tell me a better way to cook a turkey than via deep fat frying.
- Trail mix is horribly, horribly addictive. So is sleep. I'd still rather have trail mix, though.

The Self-Rotating Marshmallow Roaster

I know I've heard of this before, but at the Samsonite Factory Store in Camarillo, CA, I finally saw, in person, a self-rotating marshmallow roaster (flame sold separately). What was hilarious was that this device was next to the battery-operated grill brush, and the automatic turning 5-hot-dog cooker (again, flame sold separately).

Now, don't get me wrong. I own an electric razor, and a battery-operated toothbrush, and I think neither idea is a bad one; in fact, I love both inventions. I think the Roomba is a great invention as well. However, a self-rotating marshmallow roaster??? Are we that lazy nowadays to turn our skewers when one side of our roasted marshmallows are done? Or is "even roasting" of marshmallows that important to some people?

Actually...I wonder if anyone's ever tried roasting marshmallows in a Ronco Rotisserie...

In other news, this week could make or break my Bargainshare fantasy football season. At 4-4, a win puts me in great shape to make the playoffs, while a loss puts me in great danger. Even though I'm a St. Louis Rams fan, I gotta cheer for Larry Johnson to run all over my Rams. Either that, or I gotta hope Cincinnati's Carson Palmer gets lost on the way to his game, and Cincy's backup QB goes off for four TDs, all to Chad Johnson or TJH (I'm not even going to try to spell his last name).

Some random-ness for today:
- From the makers of the Self-Rotating Marshmallow Roaster, we bring to you the following innovative products:
- The Restaurant Waiter Tipper
- The Luggage Carrier Pusher
- The Automatic Tie Tier
- The Halloween Candy Giver
- and my personal favorite, The Battery-Powered 4Pc Cutlery Set, featuring a self-scooping spoon, a self-pronging fork, and a self-cutting knife. Set also includes rubber gloves to avoid accidents.
- If these companies are going to make stupid inventions, can they at least make something useful? For instance, if a company made a device called The Telemarketer Telemarketer, a device that could sign up telemarketers for telemarketers, wouldn't you buy one? The company could also make The Spammer Spammer, and make a fortune!
- The Los Angeles Dodgers of Chavez Ravine--not to be mistaken for the Los Angeles Angels Somewhere Near Garden Grove And Santa Ana, Peculiarly Located In Orange County, Not In Los Angeles County, But They Use Los Angeles In Their Team Name Anyway--are interested in signing Jason Schmidt, but they say they may not have the money to re-sign essentially a player-coach in Greg Maddux? Why don't they just trade Chad Billingsley for Ronnie Belliard?
- Am I crazy for thinking that it's 50-50 that Peyton Manning will win a Super Bowl ring before the Los Angeles Clippers win an NBA title?

100webspace?

Yeah, I know...100webspace? Couldn't afford a few bucks a month for legitimate hosting? Exactly! :-P After all, the more I see that Sharp AQUOS HDTV at Best Buy ($1200 on Black Friday), the more I can't resist! I haven't been this tempted to make a foolish, impulse buy since...well, yesterday. You don't know how hard it was for me to resist this $160 Canon Powershot SD600 deal today.

By the way, I added a link to Krunk4Ever's blog on the left. Back in college, I used to read his blog religiously (sad, huh?), so much that I jokingly referred to his blog as my #1 source of daily news.

Time for some random-ness:
- So it wasn't Jordan Farmar today...Luke Walton decided to go off and played like an all-star. I'm going out on a limb here, and I'll say Brian Cook is good for 18 points in the Lakers' next game.
- The next time you play a football video game, and you're on offense, make sure to pause the game before you leave the TV for a while. I was first down and 10 when I went to go fetch my laundry; when I returned, I was first down and 25! Basically, my video game offense was like the real-life Raiders.
- Three blog entries in two days...is that the first step towards blog-addiction?

Citibank's Credit Protector Service

So I used to love Citibank's Credit Protector service. I'd get those $15 checks in the mail practically once a month (for those who don't know what I'm talking about, Citibank sends account holders a $15 check which, when deposited, signs the account holder up for Citibank's Credit Protector service. As long as the service is cancelled within 30 days of depositing the check, the user is not charged, and the $15 is free to keep. The service supposedly covers you from making payments on your account should you lose your job, move, have a death in the family, or some other catastrophic event.) I used to enjoy calling customer service to cancel the Credit Protector service (the Service, from here on), coming up with lame excuses every time. Yeah, I have a sick, perverse addiction to ranting to customer service representatives.

Apparently, the Service is now harder to cancel than AOL!!! I signed up for the Service in September for the $15, which turned out to be a $15 rebate slip. I called Citi in October to cancel the Service, and was offered $50 to stay signed up at a lower cost--the Service initally was $0.85 per $100 statement balance per month, but I was offered a lower tier plan at $0.49 per $100 balance per month. I opted to do that, and, to my horror, was charged this month for the service. I called a Service rep, and apparently the new plan did not offer a 30 day trial; instead, they offered a 30 day money back guarantee. I figured, as long as I had a rep on the phone, I would go ahead and cancel it anyway.

The rep coldly said "the services are worth it, so let's keep you on!" I said no, and the rep then offered me an even lower plan: $0.19 per $100 balance per month! I said no to that, and the rep pointed out how much money I would "save" by keeping the Service active at the lowest price. After refusing four times, I finally said "Look, I want to cancel!" The rep finally gave in, and half-heartedly wished me a good night.

I still think it was worth it for the (possibly) free $65 :-P. The best part is, I have the Service on another card that I don't even use. I signed up for the Service on that card for a $100 rebate on gas purchases, so hopefully I can parlay that into another free $150.

At least the $15 I got from the last Service will pay for the pizza I am going to order in a minute.

Two bits of random-ness:
- Imagine if the NFL used a system like College Football's B(S)CS, and arbitrarily picked two teams to play in the Super Bowl. If they did, Peyton Manning would be the one with three rings, and not Tom Brady. Also, a BCS-like system would reward teams that blow out the really weak teams, so every time LaDainian Tomlinson played a team like the Raiders, he'd have six TDs. That possibility, in itself, might ruin fantasy football for everybody (except those that drafted LT).
- I wonder what the cheapest Citi Credit Protector service is, and what the plan offers. Imagine if they had a $0.01/$100 statement balance/month plan...instead of suspending payments should you lose your job, Citibank will probably send you a "Get Well Soon" card.

One

So I have finally joined the ranks of those online who have their own blog...

I had planned on creating my own blog over a year ago, as a place to rant and rave (mostly rant) about poker hands. Of course, the recent passing of the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) has really curtailed by ability to play any online poker. In fact, I believe I have only $30 in online poker accounts (suffering bad beats at the 0.05/0.10 limit tables don't hurt that much, to tell you the truth).

So what's the purpose of this blog? Who knows? At least it'll give me something to do when I'm not retro-gaming, deal hunting, sleeping, or donking off nickels at UltimateBet.

(By the way, when did these $0.99 bags of chips get so small? I'm munching on some Kettle Cooked Jalapeno chips, and I've gone through half the bag already, and I don't recall eating more than 5 chips!!!)

Some random-ness:
- I can't stand the 167.5 hours between episodes of The Office, and that's assuming there's a new episode next week...I had to wait 335.5 hours for Thursday's episode.
- Andrew Bynum scored 19 points in the Lakers' first game...and Ronny Turiaf scored 23 in their second. If Jordan Farmar scores 20+ in the Lakers' third game, I am declaring the 06-07 Lakers Phil Jackson's best coaching job ever.
- I was trying to figure out if Sony was going to continue naming their PlayStation consoles by numbers, or if they were going to go the route of Intel and start confusing the hell out of consumers. I can't wait for ten years from now, when the Sony Playstation Dual Core gaming console comes out, fresh off the heels of the successful Sony Playstation D. Speaking of which, will the PlayStation 10 be called the PSX? PS10 just sounds stupid.
- To demonstrate how much of a retro-gamer I am, I am waiting for the PS4 (PSIV?) to come up, so I can finally pick up a cheap PS2.
- I can't wait for Daylight Savings to begin again...starting next year, Daylight Savings will begin a month earlier than usual, and end a month later!
- And finally, why didn't schoolyard pick up games require team captains to pick their players like in a fantasy draft? For example, one guy should get to pick first, and the other guy should get to pick the next two players, then the first guy should get to pick the next two, etc.

That's all I've got for now...happy blogging!