Kristel's Blog

Best Buy decided to give me a little birthday present today! Okay, so it wasn’t really a birthday present… it wasn’t really a present at all actually. Not the point. So they called around 4:30, and after arguing with mum that they were open until 6, and not 5, and therefore we’d have the time to drive all the way to Kitchener to get my iPod tonight (instead of Wed. the next avail night) we were on our way! We get there, customer service lady gets the iPod and says “We’ve replaced the battery, you should be set to go!” We reply “What? You’ve now wasted two batteries… you put a new one in two and a half weeks ago, and it was only used for the half week…” She goes “Oh” and passes it to us. We think, “Weird. It wasn’t sealed in any plastic casing last time. Let’s open it now to check it out before we leave.” I open it. This time, not bumpy at the top. Sealed all around, no gaps between the white and the blue. I think, “Oh good, it should still be good.” I notice the hold is on. I go to turn it off and on again. Why? Well, that’s where the plastic was popping off, above the moving part, so if the plastic looks good, well, how’s that hold button doing? The answer: not so good. In fact, to get it off, you have to HOLD it off. The instant you let go, it springs back to on. I tell her “This is unacceptable” She tells me, “hold on, I will get the repair guy.” I tell her, “No. This is the third time it’s gone in, and screwed up on your [best buy's] behalf. I want to speak to [insert manager's name here... the one who gave me the guarantee that if it's not repaired, he will replace it.]” So we speak to him, he’s shocked that we’d only had it under a week before we had to send it in again, and we got it back and it still wasn’t happy. Bottom line is, he replaced it, with whatever they could give me for the equivalent of the time. I decided to upgrade, fine, so i would get credit for the price of the equivalent to put towards the new iPod. Meaning, I just bought at 16g ipod for $50. Sweet. If the price doesn’t do anything for you, it’s also big enough to handle all my music & podcasts… unless I get some new ones, I don’t have to sync again for a while. He also honoured my psp… and gave me credit towards buying the new product replacement plan (they don’t have the psp anymore) since it’s aparently non transferable. So all in all, I got the iPod & prp for just under $70. I’m thinking though that it might not have been worth it. But the manager was good. It’s just the repair dudes that were pissing me off. (Which is why I bought a new one there, instead of just taking the store credit and buying things that I would never return.) The good news is, with the PRP, i don’t have to deal with them. I jsut call the 800#, they tell me how to fix it, whether I should bring it in to best buy to fix, or to just throw it out. First way option is obviously because of an ID 10 T error; second is most likely a dead battery; third is because I’m cleaning the toilet & dropped it in (or insert other stupid stupid physical/water damaged caused by me here). On a final note regarding my iPod, my docking station isn’t capatible, so I’m going to need to go buy a new one. (Or I can kill the battery on my notebook by constantly charging the damn thing.)

Tried to make fudge last night. Key word there is “tried”. Now I’m going to have to add to my list of things I can’t make is “fudge”. (okay, I can make the cheating kind, which involves no candy thermometors or a soft ball stage) Almost turned out as badly as my experiences with fruit pies & fire. I definately cooked it too long, and it cooled so quickly, it was crumbly… but those crumbs are soooooo hard, you couldn’t chew them if you tried. And if they set together, you can’t get a knife into it. Worse yet, I can’t get my pot, or my $25 new thermometer clean. (and worser (is that a word… okay, “even more worse”) I am far toooo stubborn to throw either out.) The pumpkin puree turned out just perfect though. I have enough left to try a second batch… but I’m not sure I’m feeling that enthusiastic. Maybe I’ll try pumpkin cookies.

Birthday went well. Well, minus Joanna slipping that it was my birthday infront of the server at Montana’s on Sat, and my having to stand up with the giant hat (did I mention I have this horrible fear of wearing other people’s hats?) with the horns while they got everyone else’s attention to say “Yee Haw” to me… great. Just because I embarrass myself infront of strangers all the time, doesn’t mean I actually want/like to. Went to Moxies with my parents tonight. Thankfully, they [Moxie's] do none of that crap, they just bring me free dessert. (It was a warm blondie, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream… oh man, I’m going to need to work out extra hard now.)

oh man. ugliest bug EVER in my solarium last Sunday! worse than the cicada. Seriously. I think it was a centipede. Think furry, lots of legs, and roughly two inches long… and fast. Oh, and by the way, when you smash it with a certain text book with dinosaurs on it… it still twitches for two minutes afterwords. Even the dismembered legs. Gross doesn’t even cover it. Picked it up with way tooo much paper towel just so I didn’t have to feel it, and then realized, midway to the bathroom, that I can’t flush that much down. So had to see it once more as I had to shake it in! ewww. will upload a photo when I dump the images off my camera.

Speaking of Sunday, took Grandma up to see Great Grandma in the home. She’s certainly not the woman she used to be. Calling my grandma (her daughter) a liar, and seeing asian men coming out of her tv to get her (okay, she used slightly different terms regarding “asian” and “men”), oh, and that she has an appointment with the curator at 4 to get her injection (that’s a lethal injection btw…) She’s absolutely convinced she’s going to die all the time, and when she does, that all her stuff will be stolen, and there will be nothing left to give Glenice (my grandma’s younger sister) who could really use her things. Good grief. she never would intentially hurt my grandma before, and she certainly was never seeing men in her tv before (that weren’t hockey announcers anyways)… wasn’t pretty. I got home and told mum that if she ever acts like that, I really am putting her in the nursing home in Churchill (play on an inside joke. If you don’t get it, you’re outside.)

Thanksgiving, Auntie Trev picked Great Grandma up (not an easy feat.) And we got to have thanksgiving. She complained a bit, and I know Auntie Trev turned the car around at least once to bring her back, but they made it. Would’ve been perfect if Dick wasn’t there. Think my dad, but less German, more Dutch, more brash, more crude, more crude without the c (RUDE) and ugh. He’s obviously been named for his personality. He also looks like Dr. Evil. So very easy to make fun of, without him knowing we’re making fun of him. Mum says he’s coming to Christmas. Oh well. At least he makes Haley happy, and is willing to help her out. (if he wasn’t, there’s no way she could live on her own) Other than that though, I had a good time. Bananagrams for hours, good food, good company, etc. Happy Belated Turkey Day!

Anyways, after midnight, birthday’s over, and I can’t get away with sleeping in tomorrow. Hey, it’s after midnight and my other Grandma hasn’t called me yet!!! She is old. Well, she forgot Dad’s birthday too, so I’m not alone. And at least I won this bet.