I'll Be Damned

Yesterday it seemed I had more than one occasion that called for the old expression "I'll be damned". Since I know you're dying to hear about them, let me get right to it.

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They Actually Gave Me My Money

Back in the beginning of December I made the switch from Sprint PCS to Verizon Wireless for a number of reasons. I didn't like the smug look of the Sprint commercials, my phone was about to die, nobody I know uses Sprint anymore, and the phones Sprint had to offer sucked.

A quick poll of the people I call (nobody) told me that I should be moving my business over to Verizon Wireless. Their plans are about the same as those I found with Sprint, but we get almost 20% discount through work. I test drove some phones at the local Sprint store (conveniently located next to Starbucks) and decided on my new phone. The next step was to find someone willing to sell me the phone for the low, low price of free. If I'm gonna shell out $600-700 a year to not use the phone, I don't want to pay for the hardware too.

Enter WireFly, an online cell store who set me up with a brand spanking new phone, a plan, and rebates equalling the price of the brand spanking new phone. The catch of course, is that most rebates are a scam. These were hardly an exception. I had to employ the supercomputers at MIT and a couple of Poindexters to determine how to fill out the two rebates (which were different), what to send where, when to send it, etc. I waited the appropriate number of days, mailed in my rebates and crossed my fingers.

Folks, WireFly has a nice website where you can check the status of your rebates. They don't give you details down to the gnat's ass, but it's reassuring to know where you are in the approval/rejection process.


Well, yesterday I opened my mailbox to find rebate check #1, made out in my name for the whopping amount of (Exactly) $30. YESSS! I like how they clarified that I should be given exactly $30.00, as if banks typically use the number you write as an approximation and just kind of ballpark it for you.

Never you mind that they've been holding my money for the last 268 days without interest, and never you mind the mental anguish of the rebate process and postage needed to mail in all of the required paperwork; I consider this a victory in the world of rebates. Within the next month I should have my second check in hand, made out for (Exactly) $70.00.

I'll be damned.

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Them Are Big Boxes

As I walked from the mailbox to the door, I noticed two large boxes on my porch. I'm expecting some tires for my bike, but I don't think they've shipped and they'll be coming in something the size of a shoe box. The boxes on my porch were humongous. As it turns out they were not the tires at all, but rather two outdoor recliners. I knew right away that my dear mother had sent them, so I set myself up in the yard with a cool drink and called her to say thanks. She said she bought two because she has two children, but then decided that she loved me the most so I got them both. Sorry Ab, I'm the favorite.



She told me she wanted to get me these chairs, but I figured it was a passing thought and would never happen. I'll be damned.

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Who'da Thunk It?

For a little while now I've been experiencing some less-than-comforting effects of long bike rides. Nope I'm not talking about numb 'bits', as the British put it. I asked around a bit and came to the conclusion that I might be slightly anemic. The most logical suggestion I receieved was to start eating red meat again. When I stopped eating red meat it was for no reason other than I just felt like it, so picking it back up seemed like a fairly viable option.

Last week after my Thursday Night Run, I had a big ass hamburger with fries at The Heritage in Lenox, MA. The food there is pretty good, but service can be slow because they always seem to have one waiter/waitress for the whole place. Nevertheless, the burger was awesome!


Last night I took the night off from running/biking/yakking to mow the lawn. Some time around sunset I finished, put everything away and fired up the grill to cook myself a steak. I tend to overcook steaks, so I bought a thick steak, cranked the grill up, preheated the hell out of it and tried to just sear the meat on either side. This didn't work exactly as planned, but when I sat down to eat I was in heaven.

Red meat is delicious, I'll be damned.

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Over and Out,
Old Coot