Monday, January 28, 2008

Pep Boys can blow me

I had about the worst case of blatant attempted ripoff you can possibly imagine with these guys. They knew they were doing it, I even called them out on it, and they still had the audacity to act like I was being unreasonable. Anyway heres the situation.

The heater on my car had stopped working about a week ago so I brought it in to get fixed the other day. Its there about 2 hours and then they call me back and say "We didn't find anything wrong with your heater". Umm, wtf? I guess I imagined driving to and from work 45 minutes each way for 3 days with ice cold air being pumped through my car. This should have set off some kind of alarm in my head telling me to just take it somewhere else, but I never had problems with these guys before so I just shrugged it off and told them to look again.

About an hour later they call me back and tell me they found a hole in my lower Radiator Hose and they would have to replace it. They also say some dirt and stuff got into my coolant so I would need a flush. They say it will cost $220 so I say no problem fix it.

So finally about 6 hours later they call me back, and expecting them to tell me it done, I was quite shocked at what happened next They tell me, in the process of replacing the Radiator Hose, that they "accidentally" punctured a hole in my Radiator so it had to be replaced. I figure "hey accidents happen, as long as they don't charge me for it its ok". Then they say "To replace it is going to bring the total to $660" WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!! So I calmly say "I'm not paying for that, you broke it not me, its your fault so you have to eat the cost". They say "No you have to pay for it" so I tell them not to do anything till I come talk to them.

So the next morning rolls around and I go there to have a little talk with the manager about this little dilemna. He tries to back pedal off the original statement and say it was like that when I brought it in. So after I yell at him for a while they had the fucking nerve to still charge me for the new hose and coolant flush, and did a half ass job putting my car back together so it ended up overheating on the way home.

I just don't get it, why the hell would you risk losing a loyal customer by not even admitting or making up for your own mistake? Had they simply apologized and not charged me for their mistake, I would have been happy and remained a loyal customer. Instead they shit on me and lose me for life over a simple little problem that in reality would have only cost them less than $100. Fuck Pep Boys, they are on my black list now for life.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Big win for Obama

Today was a huge day for those backing the cause of not allowing Hillary into the White House. In a vote that was more than 50% African American, Obama absolutely crushed Hillary by recieving 55% of the vote to Hillary's 27% today in the South Carolina Primary. This was a particularly important state because it gives a good benchmark to how the African American vote will go throughout the rest of the US. Well the voters have spoken and it looks like Obama has just been pushed up into front runner status.

Here is a picture of him during his victory speech



Look at him, he evens looks Presidential. This is turning out to be one of the most historic elections in our history because it is very likely that we'll either have our first woman or our first minority President. Right now he leads Hillary 63-48 and has all the momentum going into Super Tuesday, where he'll hopefully keep it going.

In FFXI news, well, I didn't do a whole lot this week. I went and did a Promy Vahzl ENM with Soul and Lillalag and won easily. We didn't get a Toreadors Ring but I'm sure we will one day. Once Shay gets far enough into CoP I'll bring her along with us. We also did a KSNM run and none of us got anything worthwhile, but it was fun. My BLU is now level 24 and I'll probably try and level it again this week. Other than that everything is just same as always.

This week looks like it will be pretty uneventful but who knows, something exciting may happen. See you later.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Sports, my other passion

Somehow it took me 12 posts before I decided to talk about this, not sure why to be honest. Well next to FFXI I have one other (inanimate) passion in my life, and that is Sports. I'm pretty much a fan of any sport but there are some I like better than others. As a very young man I was schooled in the wonderful art of Sport, and thanks to my father, was instilled with an intimate knowledge and passion that to this day still burns very strongly.

I played all sorts of sports growing up but the 2 that stuck through till my later adolescence were Baseball and Bowling. Now Baseball I really liked playing, but I fully admit I wasn't terribly good at it. I played mainly in the infield and was a fantastic fielder and I had a strong arm. When it came to hitting, well, that I pretty much sucked at. I never hit for much power and I wasn't a very fast runner, so that didn't leave me much of a spot in the lineup. I typically batted near the bottom and even managed to scrape a few hits here and there, but I was never considered any kind of real threat.

I'm going to be completely honest here. I was a kick ass Bowler. So kick ass that I could have easily been a tour pro had I chose to. Why didn't I chose to you ask? Well truth be told my passion for the sport suddenly died one day. I don't know how or why it happened, but one day I stopped Bowling, and now almost 7 years later I haven't even picked up a ball. Frankly I have no desire to ever pick one up again. I've often thought about why this is, but I think that the answer is that I was just finished with that part of my life and needed to move on.

These days I mostly just watch Sports on TV as opposed to playing them. My favorite one has turned out to be American Football, the NFL to be more precise. My favorite team is of course the Philadelphia Eagles. They were in the Super Bowl a few years ago but sadly lost to an inferior team. It really was a tough pill to swallow since Philly hasn't seen a major sports champion in 25 years, and it doesn't really look like we'll have one any time soon.

Our Hockey team, the Flyers , is looking really good right now but I don't think they are built well to go far in the playoffs. Our Baseball team, the Phillies, made the playoffs for the first time in 14 years this past season. They of course got swept in the first round and haven't done anything in the offseason to make themselves better. If they don't improve somehow they won't be winning anything this year. Our Basketball team, the Sixers, just plain suck and probably will for the next 10 years. I have no hope for them to even be a decent team in the near future.

With all that being said I can't wait for the Super Bowl this year. The Patriots made it and are looking to complete only the second undefeated season in the history of the league. Standing in their way are the surprising upstart Giants, who are 11-0 on the road this year and looking to pull the upset they almost had in Week 17. The Giants match up really well against the Pats and it should be a good game.

Well thats it for now, next post should have more FFXI stuff and probably more Political stuff too.

Later

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Kirin Captivator

Well I finally gave in after 2 years of resisting and joined a Sky linkshell. Soul has been bugging me for God knows how long to join so I figure what the hell and sign up. My first run just so happened to be a Kirin night, hell of a way to pop my cherry. It was pretty fun, got to do some Chi Blasting a little melee, and even got a shiny new title. Now I just need to start collecting some MND gear so I can actually be effective.

Since my last post I've done a few other things in game of note. After doing a bunch of spell hunting I finally leveled my BLU a bit and got it to 21 in a long, long, long party that saw many, many, many replacements. I've also begun the process of collecting Ancient Beastcoins so I can get myself a Brutal Earring, which is the best earring I can get for my 3 melee jobs. So far I have 51/75 coins needed and should have the rest very soon.


http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Brutal_Earring


I also finally got to do some WoTG exploration with Shay which I was happy about. We took a trip to Sandy S and did a few quests and got some Maws along the way. We also did some Campaigning which was a lot of fun. I think she really enjoyed it and we'll probably be doing a lot more in the future. Maybe I'll take her to Windy S too if she wants, it will be fun to explore that too.

Finally the last thing of note is that I finally finished up the Rise of the Zilart missions. I've had these active forever practically but got a few people together and took the last mission down. It was a surprisingly challenging fight but in the end we were too strong.

In Presidential race news my man Obama is still holding a slight lead over Hillary 38-36 despite losing the last 2 states to her. Coming up next is South Carolina where there is a very large African-American voting population which will likely determine whether or not Obama has a serious chance of winning the race. I expect him to win easily but they predicted that in New Hampshire and he lost. Super Tuesday is fast approaching, where 20 states hold their Primaries in one day, in just over 2 weeks on February 5th. Right now both the Republican and Democratic race are too close to call but hopefully after that day it will be much clearer who will win.

The last few months have been really rough for me and I'm happy things are starting to get back to normal. I feel happier right now that I have in quite a while and I hope it keeps getting better. Until next time.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

A new day and a possible regret

Well today is Primary day in Michigan, and what does that mean for my man Obama? Well actually it doesn't mean a damn thing right now lol. There was dispute over the date of the Primary by the Democratic National Convention so they decided to delay it till the day of the real Convention where the "official" vote is cast to nominate their candidate to run for President.

On the Republican side it looks like this should shape up to be a tight race that will probably make the overall race even closer. I honestly think both parties are gonna have very close races to pick their candidates so this should be a fun and interesting election year.

In other news, I think that Shay is either mad at me (doubtful) or really annoyed at me (probable) right now. I sent her a message last night saying hello and that I would be back again Thursday. Well she sent me back a message where she didn't sound very happy >_>. I have probably pushed her a bit too much the last few days so I should probably lay off her for a while. Thats why I've decided not to bother her at all until I log back on on Thursday.

I was on for a while last night but I didn't do too much. I was trying to learn a new BLU spell and had Soul come help me with it but I didn't manage to learn it. I did however level up while trying (only level 19 lol) but I had fun nonetheless. I have all my spells now till 28 so I will probably just grind up through Qufim before trying to learn more. I also switched back to Bastok and did a couple supply quests for Outpost Warps. Bastok owns 6 regions this week so it was a good time to switch.

And I just wanted to say to Shay, if you happen to end up reading this, that I know I'm a pain in the ass and I apologize for that. I just enjoy being with you a lot and I love doing things together with you. You are free to do what you want and I really do understand and encourage it. The last thing I want is to be controlling and overbearing towards you. I live with someone like that and I hate it, and I don't want to do that to you. If I'm ever doing anything wrong please don't hesitate to tell me so I can stop.

I'll see you later then, take care

Monday, January 14, 2008

I'm finally back

Well the time finally arrived for my glorious return to FFXI. It would be a joyous and unforgettable event the likes the world has seldom known.

Except it wasn't anything like that. At all.

Well let me give a little background first. There was a new expansion released in late November but there were lots of problems with shipping and whatnot. So because of this Shay wasn't able to get her copy till after Christmas. During a conversation one day I said something to the effect of "I really wish I could be able to show you around when you first go into the expansion", and she replied "You will". Thus the promise was born that Shay would wait for my return before exploring the expansion so we could do it together.

Fast forward to this past Friday, Shay came onto ICQ and we had a nice talk. I asked her if she was still keeping her promise and she said yes. One of my supposed friends was bugging her to go explore with him, but she told me that she told him she was going to wait for me. I don't know what happened but at some point after that conversation he talked her into going into the expansion with her and basically doing all the things I had planned and was promised would be done.

Now, maybe I was being a bit unreasonable or dramatic, but I was really mad when I found this out. If there is one thing in this world hate more than anything its a broken promise, and that is what happened. I had planned this and had been looking forward to it for over a month, so I can imagine you can understand why I would be upset. I equate it to planning to see your favorite band in concert with someone, but they decide to go with someone else the night before instead.

Even though she broke her promise I find it really hard to get mad at her, or stay mad for long. She has done so much for me and been there for me during some of my tougher times, and I appreciate it so much, probably more than she realizes. She apologized to me, and said that she didn't think I would care if she just went to the city but saved everything else for me. I believe her, I don't think she did it to hurt me because she never has in the past. I felt kind of like an asshole for ripping into her and making such a big deal of the whole thing, but it really meant a lot to me to be able to do it.

Now about the other person involved. Even though they really technically didn't do anything bad, I was still more mad about what he did than Shay. From what she told me he had been bugging her to go with him to explore the expansion for a while now. During this time she had repeatedly told him about her promise to me, yet he still persisted until she finally relented. I don't know about you, but when someone has promised to do something with one of my friends, I do NOT keep bugging them about it and drop it completely. I felt that being friends with him, and basically getting kicked out of a LS I loved defending him, would have warranted enough respect for him to drop it and let her keep her promise. Apparently I was wrong.

To add even more to this he was bragging about taking her through the rest of the expansion knowing full well her promise to me, and he was doing it right in front of my face. I mean seriously, the instant he heard it was me she made a promise to he should have said ok and left it at that. Its not bad enough he steals away the thing I was looking forward to for a month, he's trying to steal even more from me.

I haven't said a word to him since coming back, and he has to be wondering why at this point. I don't think anyone has told him how I feel yet but I intend to soon. It was pretty messed up what he did and he needs to know that one way or another.

Well anyway I haven't talked to Shay since then but she did send me a message and she seemed to be in good spirits about it. I will be on tonight after work and hopefully she'll be on then, and hopefully she'll wait for me this time before going back.

In other FFXI news I learned a couple new BLU spells and also got Rank 10 in Sandy. Now I can switch back to Bastok from that God forsaken hell hole and its annoying bagpipe music.

I'm sure I'll have more to talk about soon, with me back in FFXI and another presidential Primary coming up this week. Until then take care.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Minor setback

Well despite my best hopes and the polls conducted prior to the vote, my man Barack Obama couldn't quite pull out the win yesterday in New Hampshire. It was a very close vote but he ended losing to Hillary Clinton 39% to 36%.

My God that is one scary looking bitch, no wonder Bill cheated on her. She is also the only possible way the Dems can manage to fuck up this election like they did the last two elections. For the love of all things sacred and holy, please please PLEASE Dems don't be stupid and nominate her. She has absolutely NO chance of winning it all. There are a metric shit ton of people that hate her guts in this country, and I am one of them. I would rather have 50 more years of Bush than even one minute of her in the White House.

The good news however is that Obama still leads the race even though he lost New Hampshire 25 delegates to Clintons 24. Obama should also take the next 2 states too which should give him a nice lead and a lot of momentum heading into "Super Tuesday", where 20 states will cast their votes on the same day.

Heres hoping the American people finally wise up and put a decent leader in office. Do the right thing people, vote Obama in '08.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Politics and other stuff

So, today is the official start of the next Presidential election, which will conclude in early November if this year. I must admit that I have been pretty ignorant of the candidates and their campaigns till very recently, but I think I have settled on the person I am gonna support.





I have decided to back Barack Obama for President this upcoming election, and I have a really good feeling he will win. He will be the first minority president in our history and in my opinion will be a very good leader. I like his stance on many issues, and lets face it, I'll take anyone over Hillary Clinton.

As for other stuff, I began playing a new MMO called Maple Story. Its basically a really cute cartoony RPG where you do quests and grind to level and make money. It doesn't have a whole lot of depth but its a fun way to waste an hour here and there. I'll probably forget about it completely when I go back to FFXI but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I guess I should also mention that I have decided to keep this blog. I was debating whether or not to delete it but honestly there isn't really any point. Its a good way to record things I do and to rant and rave a bit too. Once I start playing FFXI again I will probably put more about it in here.

Till next time

Friday, January 4, 2008

Holiday recap

Let me say first off, I don't nor will I ever, intend to use this as a diary or a journal. I'm not gonna sit here and write about every small insignificant thing that happens to me. I hate when people write crap like "I woke up, ate toast for breakfast, and went to the bus stop." I mean seriously, who really gives a shit about crap like that? I think that that is self centered and vain and I'm not that type of person.

That being said, I do intend to record some of the more eventful things in my life here. Partly because they are probably important to me, and partly because I want to have some kind of record since I tend to be forgetful at times. Anyway back to my holiday recap, since it was somewhat eventful.

First thing I did was visit my parents for a week. I didn't do a whole lot there but I did get to drive my brothers new Mustang around because my car broke down. My dad paid to have it fixed and even bought some new tires too. We went to the bar and watched the Eagles game (they won yay!!) then I came home.

On Christmas day I went and visited my grandfather in the morning and then later that night went to see my sister-in-laws and their family. I actually liked their family quite a bit and had a good time there. They even gave me a gift ($25 Red Lobster gift card) which was completely unexpected.

Then came New Years Eve, which I was not looking forward to at all. I ended up going out with a group of people that I didn't particularly like, due mainly to the fact that they are all pretentious pricks who completely disdain anyone outside of their sad little clique. Amazingly enough I actually had a blast at that party. I got there around 9pm and we all played Rock Band till about 11:30. That is a very fun game, especially with other people there. After watching the ball drop we played drinking games till about 3am before having to drag my ass back home. All in all a surprisingly good night.