Cheap ass

I tell you, society is at the mercies of the fat cat corporations. Check your monthly bills! Do NOT throw them away; use online banking; check your credit balance online before the monthly statement so you're aware of what these mofo's are charging you!

I bought my SD600 for $335 + tax. However, this price was a result of negotiation and a little stress. Originally, Staples charged $399.94 + tax. I priced matched it with Dell.ca, which was selling it for $359.10 so the price I'm suppose to pay is $355.02, according to Staples' 110% price match "guarantee." So, I was expecting $44.92 in credit. Their initial price match email said they would honor this price match. However, they only credited me $32.10. Staples said that Dell.ca charged for shipping, so they added $15 to the Dell.ca price, which resulted in a price match with $374.10. I bitched at them, calling them on their error, and they gave me additional credit to correct their error; I got $44.92 back in total. Plus I had a coupon for $20, so that was nice.

Fido is another corporate fat dog who can't count. I think PWC or EY need to step in and drag them in the mud because of the way they overcharge. I've been charged twice for text messages sent to Fido subscribers, even though I have the Fido2Fido package. They never credit me back. When I called them, they said it's a known issue. But where's the apology? I had to call them twice to sort out this fiasco and was credit $18 for 2 months of erronous charging.

Mad Greek in Richmond (a place for good food and good times) charged me $62 when I only authorized $33. I had to fax over my receipt 3 times before they got it and call them 4 times to make sure they got it. Some Chinese lady called me (from their accounting dept.) and told me they'll give me back the amount I didn't owe.

Call me a cheap ass, but I don't like to pay for what I don't have to.

Voice Services

So here is a picture of where I work @ UBC: ITServices Voice Services. I bascially...do nothing all day. I've spent the most part of my few weeks gathering names and contacting voice administrators. The rest of the time I study or look for deals on RedFlagDeals.com. The LCD monitor is a new addition; I use to use an ancient eye-frying 17" NEC. Horrible. When I traded it for this 19" Dell LCD monitor, I discovered 2 leaves and a box of Strepsils behind the monitor. I didn't dare open the box...



The CRT monitor also made a brown circular footprint where I sat. Nasty. The keyboard I use is of a brownish tint with food crumbs scattered throughout its insides and on the keyboard holder thingy. The mouse sits on a ghetto slideout which slides out of the keyboard holder. Ghettofabulous!

SD600

I received my new camera yesterday - the wonderful Canon SD600. I still have not tried it; the battery is still charging. I'm quite excited though.

Why this camera? you say. Well, the SD450 is $30 less, so I might as well get a newer released camera for $30 more. The SD630 is ridiculously expensive - it is identical to the SD600 but the screen is 0.5" bigger. AND because of that, there's no viewfinder, so if I want to save battery...well, I can't. The SD550 is an old model plus it's a bit heavier. AND the SD600 fits in my budget. Ah, so after constantly monitoring RedFlagDeals.com, I price matched it with Dell, AND I got a $20 Staples coupon.

I like the widescreen feature of the camera. Yeah it may be a cropping illusion, but it's still nice.

Next weekedn I'm off to Whistler for 3 days, 2 night, so I can use it well there. And when I go to NYC. I'll probably be keeping a journal here on my trip. I'll bring it to summer conference too, if I go.

SCHOOL IS OVER! Yes...finally! Had my exam last night. My hand was aching from all the writing. I could feel my hand go numb and my writing starting to become unreadable. Shame, really, because my writing is unreadable to being with. Ah, freedom. Don't feel free though for some reason. It's the post-exam syndrome - the stress of waiting for results! I'm sure I passed, but well? We'll see in 5 days. The prof was awesome though. He's laid back and easy going and understands that we as student hate being cooped up in a hot room for 3 hours, so he often dismisses us with "Get out of here - enjoy the sun." I went into the exam with an 82%. I hope my paper will boost my mark. Good thing about arts courses is that if you fail the final you don't necessarily fail the course. Good times! Damn Science is the opposite, however.

Update: I acquired a B+ in my religious studies course. Whew. (8/4/06)

Right now I'm bloggin on an iBook G4. It's nice! The display is beautiful, and it's nice a compact. AND it has BT! I never knew Macs had BT back in the day :)

We're going to sushi tomorrow after fellowship @ the place on Broadway and Oak. Tamakaka or something like that.

Update: Sushi was good times. Food was average to below average, and we didn't get our worth of sashimi! :( We were allowed max. 2 orders/person, and there were 7 of us, but we only ordered 10 salmon orders. Darn! I love raw salmon. It's best. We talked about racism and cars and how Dora is Tim's voice activiated navigation system with a unique automatic volume increaes feature if you stray from your destination. Good times.

New song to listen to - Nelly Furtado feat. Chris Martin - All Good Things (Come To An End) (No LP Version)

Gackass

That's right. A gackass.

I turn left onto 54th and start to accelerate, and this gackass starts to tailgate. At the next stop light, he cuts me off. Funny thing is at the next stop light he's heading straight, while I need to make a right turn, so at the redlight, I made a rigth while he's stuck waiting. Gackass.

Crap!

So I go to the washroom (whom some describe as a gas chamber) and notice one of the stall doors is closed. Ok, I think, someone's in there. Not that it matters or anything.

Anyways, I go into my stall, and the toilet seat is up. Not wanting to place my clean hands on the filthy seat, I use my foot to bring it down. I don't guide it down gently, but give it a nudge so it falls down. It then comes crashing down with a loud BANG that resonates throughout the whole carpet-free bathroom for about 3 seconds.

Then a hear a muffled "Shit..." from a few stalls down.

...I think I literally scared the crap out of him.

Organics

What is that by the fridge?



Why, it's UBC Waste Management's Organics program!



Wait. By the fridge?



Oh gross. So UBC's idea of waste management is having a plastic box planted on a stool beside the fridge in the kitchen that we can dump our leftover food in. Who's bright idea was this?

Chocolate moose cake? Blueberry cake?

At 3? More food?


Noooo!

We just had a potluck.

I'm stuffed! Must...not...eat....

Oh what the heck.

Mmmm. Donut.

I've been part of a training session on an application I've been working for the past few weeks. One big perk of being a part of this training is the food. Oh, the food! Muffins and donuts! Control yourself...must not get fatter! Funny thing is there's always excess food after the sessions so my collegue and I haul back a box full of muffins, donuts, and juice everytime.

Good times. Free food.

Jackass

The mofo in the red van gave me the finger for changing lanes in the early morning.

I changed to the right lane because someone was making a left turn. As I shoulder checked the red van was a good 50 feet away. 50 feet. That's how large the gap in the highway was in Speed. As I'm changing back into the left lane, I hear a car horn. Once I was fully in my lane a man who was probably tortured as a kid drives by in his P.O.S. van and give me the one finger salute.

How low can I go to insult this guy? Pretty low. This original post actually contained some suggestive stuff. Even though I'm still steamed by the incident, I've gotta let it go. It happened and now I must move on.

Good ol' trusty camera phone...!