An Geek-Fu is mighty!

I have fixed the laptop. Replaced the CPU fan and the entire LCD casing.

I rock!

Happy Birthday, treetracer!!!

So, the flowers showed up last night after all.

Interesting, that. K. thinks that UPS might have figured out what was going on and sent them over special. I can’t say for sure. I’m still pissed, though, as the surprise was ruined. Going back to FTD, Methinks.

R.? The issue that sent him to the hospital was an ulcer. The cancer has actually shrunk. He was in bad shape because he hadn’t been eating. Mixed with the ulcer the situation was creating a large amount of bile in his stomach. He’s going to be in the hospital until Wednesday to get his fluids and what not back up, but he should be coming home after that.

Death Watch cancelled.

I’m still nervous as hell about the show.

Everyone who has seen it says we’re doing great, and as a general rule they aren’t the type to blow smoke up someone’s ass just to make them feel better (a behavior that just hurts the show in the long run). So, I guess we’re going to be OK.

And on that note….The paid preview is tomorrow (Wednesday) night. Tickets are only $10, so if you’re on a limited budget and want to see the show tomorrow night is the night to do it. netgoth, frith_lord and xanyboi should be in attendance (not that it will be the only time that netgoth sees it, I’m sure).

Speaking of xanyboi, it occurs to me yet again how in my adult life I have continued traditions that were started by those who influenced me growing up. I sometimes wonder how many people Anne housed in all the years she was alive…especially after buying her house in St. Petersburg? Just off the top of my head I can think of ross_winn, billified, Bartlett, Ed, spud, the Jewish guy with the really big mustache that was part of the Holodeck Experience (can’t remember his name), Luke, Logan…I think maybe satyrkat might have ended up there for a while as well…and the list goes on.

Lots of lives touched.

I miss her.

Hrm…maudalin thoughts for a morning…time to move on beyond that.

A big, silly, happy birthday to our favorite teenaged PITA…frith_lord! I started the day of torture off right by banging on his door and yelling “HappyBirthday!HappyBirthday!HappyBirthday!”

Ahhh, being a parent is so much fun sometimes.

As a general rule, I give the companies I spend my money with some latitude to make mistakes. I’ve worked retail, and I know that sometimes people fuck up. I generally gauge my reaction to the situation on how they handle the situation. Take Home Depot, for advantage. As most of you are well aware I have had several major problems with the installation services from Home Depot. The store associates, however, have been stellar (and the one who wasn’t was fired after I complained about him). While I may never purchase an installation from Home Depot again, I will continue to do business with them because of the quality of their store-level employees.

Some services, however, leave very little room for forgiveness when an error occurs. Services like, oh I don’t know, flower delivery.

I’ve used Proflowers.com on several occasions in the past, and I have been happy with the results every time. Being a loyal customer in that regard, I ordered a dozen roses and some chocolate to be delivered to K. today. They were supposed to be the finishing touches on a series of little gifts and surprises that I left around the house for her today. The icing on the cake, as it were.

Well, some cheap bastard in Jacksonville thought they could save money by shipping both my package and one being delivered to ORLANDO using the same tracking number. The packages were labeled correctly. The names and addresses were recorded and put on the boxes. The problem is that UPS doesn’t pay attention to any of that when they deliver something. It’s all done by bar code.

Number of Packages : 2. Number of Bar Codes : 1.

Guess which package had the bar code?

K’s flowers are now in the possession of one Candace Stewart of Altamonte Springs, FL. If she is the jealous type I feel sorry for the person who sent her the other package, and I hope for his sake they were equal to or better than the ones I purchased, because he’s going to have a hard time explaining who “Gekko” is and why he wants to be with her until starlight’s end (and no, there was no signature…no need for one).

To say that I’m pissed is an understatement. I’m getting my money back, but they can’t turn back the clock and deliver the flowers that I ordered on the correct day. As of midnight tonight it is gone for another year.

So…We have an incompetent shipper and very little effort to make me happy beyond giving me a refund that will take 3-5 days to process. What does that add up to, class? Anyone? Anyone?

One customer who is done with Proflowers, and a post in his blog discouraging any of his readers from using their service as well.

Schmucks!

Depite the fact that the circumstances of the day have been largely crappy, the fact that I got to kiss a very silly half-awake netgoth this morning and see how happy she was to find the little presents I hid around the house for her keep me from being completely irate. In fact, to tell the truth, I’m downright happy right now.

Amazing how someone can have that effect on you.

Mom took R. to the hospital at 1:00 this morning. I’m not going to go into the particulars, but he’s in really bad shape and they are taking CAT scans and what not to determine if he is bloated or if the tumor in his stomach has grown to gigantic proportions.

Right now we’re waiting to hear more. Hopefully after lunch.

This, of course, has to go down during Hell Week for The Boys Next Door, seriously impeding my ability to be there for my family.

sigh

In order to spare those of you who are currently residing firmly in the “Worst. Holiday. Evar” camp, I will keep this short and to the point.

Happy Valentine’s Day, netgoth.

I love you.

Lyrics!

Any of you freaks out there want to try City of Heroes?

I’ve got a code that gets you the software and a 14 day trial – Free! No software to buy! No obligations!

First come, first serve!

Ok, this one if fun…and pretty well guaranteed to be drama free!!