Sens vs Sabres (aka Slugs), February 22, 2007

Great fights last night. :)



Although, Lindy Ruff should be penalized and/or fined for sending out 3 goons to take out our guys.

Mystery package -- revealed

We paid the $9.87 and picked up the package today. It was in fact from the Space Services company that I ordered the star certificate from. The fee was for tax and handling. (aka Customs fees)

The reason for the stupid charge was because on the customs declaration sticker, they wrote that they shipped software (valued at $19.95) along with the certificate (value $9.95), for a total value of $29.90 USD.

When I first saw it I thought, "They sent another copy of the software with the certificate... perhaps they re-sent the entire package that I ordered previously?"

We opened it up, only to find just the replacement certificate. No software. Nothing else. That's what I expected. But why on earth would they write that software was included and then not send any?

So basically I paid taxes and handling fees on an incorrect value of the package. Had they just listed the certificate, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have had to pay anything.

Anyway, I sent them an email when I got home. We'll see what they have to say. Hopefully they'll do the right thing and refund me the $9.87 on my credit card.

It's rather funny that I never had to pay anything on the first package, despite the accurate values written on the sticker. Go figure.

2008 Ford Escape

My wife and I lease a 2005 Ford Escape and our lease will be up in December. We've been talking about it for a while, and decided that we will probably get another Escape when the lease is up, except that we plan to buy it rather than lease. Our primary reason is because we don't want to tied down with a mileage limit. As it stands, we're either going to exceed or be very close to exceeding the 60,000km limit that we got with this one. Blah.

My wife took the truck in for it's regular oil change last night and came home with a brochure for the 2008 Ford Escape. My initial reaction was, "BLEH!".

First, it seems that they have done away with the unpainted cladding. We actually like the unpainted cladding. It takes a beating quite well. (i.e. doesn't scratch as easily as painted body parts, or chip from stones)

The chrome on the front looks out of place too. It looks cheap. The wheel wells also seem to flare out further.

I realize that the Escape isn't a big, nasty, 4x4, bush whacking vehicle to begin with, but the 2008 looks less like they could survive out in the wild. Like they belong only on paved roads. The 2007's and earlier at least look like they could survive a little easy off-roading.

I keep looking at pictures of it and it has started growing on me, a little. I guess I'd have to take one out for a spin to see what it feels like. And if we decide not to go for it, we'll hopefully still be able to pick up a 2007 with little or no mileage on it. Maybe even a little cheaper?

Mystery package

When I got home from work today, there was a notice from Canada Post that they tried to deliver a package when nobody was home.

The only "package" that I am expecting is the replacement star certificate that I talked about last week.

The kicker, though, is that there is a fee due on this package. A fee of $9.95 or something like that, for taxes and/or duty I assume. Why there would be a fee on a piece of paper in an envelope is puzzling. I honestly can't see that being the case because the original package I received from them certainly had a greater value and I never had to pay anything for it when it arrived.

What did cross my mind is that perhaps the company that I ordered the star certificate from decided to send me something else along with the certificate to make up for their error. While that would be a thoughtful gesture, I'm not too pleased with having to pay $10 for whatever it is they sent.

I don't recall ordering anything else that would require a delivery. I sometimes order software online, but it's usually registering shareware, where there's no need to send a physical product.

I'm stumped, and a little anxious to find out what it could be.

Traffic Line Jumpers

I have to rant, because this really pisses me off.

When I drive my wife to work in the morning, we have to take a major highway and exit on the road where her work place is located. On some mornings, that exit ramp can be quite backed up, sometimes to the point where most of the traffic is sitting on the paved shoulder of the highway as everyone waits their turn to exit. Well, almost everyone.

Some people seem to think that they're special. So special, in fact, that they are allowed to drive past the long line-up of cars and then butt in right at the exit. It's not like they can't see that there's a long line of cars waiting to exit the highway.

And there are repeat offenders too! On a few occasions, we've seen the same cars doing this time and time again.

These assholes should consider themselves lucky. I'm just waiting for the morning that I'm right at the exit, and one of them tries to butt into the line ahead of me. So far, I haven't been so fortunate.

Then there are those who feel that they've waited in line long enough. This is a single lane exit ramp with a rather large paved shoulder. Once in a while other assholes will drive up along the shoulder, past everyone waiting and they'll do one of two things.

1. Try to merge further up the line where most of the vehicles are turning right along a right bend.
2. Drive up the left turn lane and make an illegal right turn.

#2 appears to be the most popular. Click the picture to see what I mean.

I pray for the morning where there's a cop sitting in his/her car on the small paved island, unseen by the oncoming a-holes, and then lets see if they have the balls to make that illegal right turn.

WTF makes these people think that they're so special? I'm sure that everyone is in rush to get to work. All these assholes are doing is slowing down the rest of us who are patiently waiting our turn.

Wrong Time. Wrong Place. Wrong Number.

Lucky Number Slevin was on one of the free digital movie channels the other night. I had been wanting to see it since a co-worker told me about it. She warned me that it starts off rather confusing but the pieces will eventually fall into to place.

She was right.

There are some movies where you can guess the outcome about three-quarters of the way through the movie. This one stays well hidden right up until about 15 minutes before the end.

My kingdom for a regular band-aid!

One of the side-effects of having kids is that you'll never find a regular band-aid anywhere in the house.

There are Sponge Bob band-aids, Barbie band-aids, Scooby-Doo band-aids, and other assorted cartoon character band-aids.

But not ONE regular, flesh-coloured band-aid. At least not one that is suitable for whatever wound you wish to cover or protect. Sure, there are plenty of those big-ass band-aids for sucking chest wounds, but not a simple, regular-size band-aid.

Wearing SpongeBob on your toe, or other hidden body part is fine. But I'm sorry -- on a finger, or hand just doesn't do it for me.