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Off-topic (politics): The Texas Solution

March 6th, 2009

While browsing the internet this past weekend, I came across a little known tidbit that could hold the key to stopping the agenda of President Obama. As shown during the stimulus debate, the Democrats have near complete control of both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. While they do not have the magic filibuster-proof number of 60 in the Senate, they were able to find three RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) to go along with them and there is little doubt they could do the same in the future.

But what if there were 8 more seats in the Senate, all filled by Republicans? While not as well known as the idea that Texas reserves the right to secede from the Union at any point because it was previously a republic (which is just urban legend, btw), there was a provision in the agreement under which Texas was admitted to the Union that allows Texas to at any point divide itself into as many as five different states. As each state is allotted two senators by the Constitution, that would result in 8 additional senators. Assuming that all of those additional senators were Republicans (in Texas, very likely), the make-up of an expanded U.S. Senate would be 58 Democrats, 48 Republicans, and 2 Independents. As Senate rules require a three-fifths supermajority to stop a filibuster, the new magic number would be 64. The result is that Democrats would have to make concessions to the Republicans in order to allow any bill to come to a vote.

Am I saying this is likely to happen? Of course not. Texans are way too prideful to allow their beloved state to be subdivided. I think Texas secession is much more likely than Texas subdividing. But it does make for interesting political theory, doesn’t it?

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Another reason I hate eBay as a buyer!

December 18th, 2008

I posted last week about my horrible eBay buying experiences of late. Well, at the time I wrote that I still had one outstanding transaction to complete. The seller had told me that he was out of town at the time I bought the item, but that the items would ship at the end of the week. Fine, no problem.

Fast forward to the end of the week after the purchase was made (purchase was made on a Monday, so about two weeks later): still no item. The next Monday comes: still no item. So on Monday evening I email the seller asking about the status and noting I am going out of town at the end of the week and need to have it come in ASAP. No response. Follow-up email on Tuesday asking for status and stating I will open a PayPal dispute if I don’t get an update by the next morning. Still nothing, so I file a PayPal dispute this morning. This finally solicits a response:

Sorry, I have been out of town on a family emergency. I can ship this item immediately if the dispute is closed. Until then, paypal will not allow me to access the shipping info.

Seeing as I’m going out of town in less than two days and have been waiting on the items for over two weeks now, I respond back that I will need to have the items sent overnight because I am going out of town, otherwise there will be no one here to accept the shipment. So either overnight them or refund the payment. Easy enough. Crap happens. Well, that gets this response:

I can overnight them, but am not paying the additional shipping charge. I can ship them to another address if it’s paypal confirmed. I am sorry for the delay, but I’ve been out on a family emergency, like I stated in my previous email. I will upgrade your shipping to priority (2-3 days) as an apology, but if I send it overnight, I’ll be loosing money on this transaction and they are now selling on ebay for well over $325 a piece. How would you like to proceed with this?

Um, yeah, did you not just read that I will not be here in 2-3 days? And who has multiple confirmed addresses, anyway? Sorry, but your family emergency shouldn’t cost me more money and I’m certainly not going to pay extra to get something that should have been sent out over a week ago anyway. So I reply again either overnight or refund, which solicits this:

By refunding your item, I’m out a significant amount of money.

Paypal Fee: $19.15

Ebay Listing Fee: $15.20

Ebay Final Value Fee: $32.75

Total: $67.10


Is it not possible to send it elsewhere?

No, moron! The fees you incur aren’t my problem. The problem was of your creation, not mine. I want it sent to my home address. I don’t want to have to track it down while on the road. I just want my money back. So after another email asking I take delivery at a different address and another request for either an overnight or a refund, I get this gem:

Well, I really do not intend to be rude, however I am not going to refund your payment. I will just ship the consoles to the address below and purchase delivery confirmation. If I scan the delivery confirmation receipt to send to paypal, my money will be refunded. Since ebay has no minimum shipping time requirement and I had a family member who was extremely ill, there is no possible retribution other then your negative feedback. I would thoroughly  appreciate us just working out something so that both of us are happy so that we do not have to put ourselves in that predicament. Again, I apologize for being rude, but I do not want incur the nearly $70 extra that refunding your money would cost me.

The hell you will! eBay may not have a shipping time requirement, but your seller protection rules on PayPal dictate 7 days from payment date. It also requires that you get a signature confirmation on items over $250 to be covered, and if no one is here there is no one to sign, meaning you won’t get the signature confirmation. Bluff called! Again, either ship overnight or give me a refund. It isn’t that complicated! Well, it gets more complicated:

I’m at my place in NYC. The Post office is already closed. I can ship it to your hotel tomorrow, or we can not, and I’ll just keep the dispute until paypal refunds it, which will take around 2 weeks. I can EASILY get $350 a piece for these on ebay right now, but that will cost me a little. You need two wii’s and I have 2. It will only cost us each more if we don’t go through with this transaction.

Oh, hell no! By this time you should have figured out you aren’t dealing with a newbie, so you really shouldn’t have done that. In my last attempt to save him from himself, I noted that I can simply dispute the charge with my credit card company and have the charge removed from my account immediately. In the process, he will be dinged for the service fee PayPal charges sellers on chargebacks, which is $10. Plus the negative feedback I will give to add a little insult to injury. Not to mention that there is no way you will get $350 (amazing, three emails ago it was $325) now that eBay has pulled the plug on the Live.com cashback which allowed sellers to inflate their listing prices. When I checked this evening, there were listings at $299.99 with free shipping. Amazingly, this is the response:

You can play it that way if you wish. Please let me know the address to ship it to if you change your mind.

Well, true to my word I called Citi this evening a disputed the charge on the credit card.

What a freaking moron! This guy is so desperate to make this transaction go through, he tries to bully his will on a buyer, and then offers to do things that would disqualify him from the seller protection policy, and then refuses the refund only to be certainly hit with the chargeback fee on his account.

This guy is actually very lucky I am honest, because if I wasn’t after he pissed me off I would have given him an unconfirmed address to ship to and then filed a buyer protection claim with PayPal to get the payment back. The dispute would have been ruled in my favor since the seller didn’t send to the confirmed address or within 7 days of payment, and I would have ended up with two free Wii’s. Oh well, not worth my eternal soul to get a couple of free game consoles and really stick it to a douchebag.

Again, I am done with eBay as a buyer. I’m not sure if it is just a bunch of amateurs are getting into the game reselling stuff they bought with a Live.com cashback rebate, a general decline in the caliber of sellers on eBay, or just bad luck, but eBay buying just isn’t worth the hassle anymore.

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Posted in Customer Service, Off Topic

After a grueling campaign, America has spoken…

November 7th, 2008

A stormy period in our history is now over, and although I’m not pleased with the outcome I am hopeful that we can all move on together for the common good. You have voted, and it is official: “Ghost of Seasons Past” has won the second annual CECK pumpkin carving contest. As a reminder of what you have voted for:

#5 Ghost of Seasons Past – In memory of a fallen hero. Super was your game. Kitten was your name.

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It is uncertain at this point how our winner will govern, or if we will ever see a formal response to the dirty allegations of stencil use that were raised during the campaign. All we know is the following prepared statement from our winner:

“I would just like to thank the Super Kitten Nation for the support.”

For the record, my pumpkin was #7 “President Obama”, and only another four right wing nut jobs voted for my piece of political commentary. Here are the complete results:

1. #5 Ghost of Seasons Past – 17.5 votes

2. #6 Lucky – 6 votes

3T. #3 Mummy – 4 votes

3T. #7 President Obama – 4 votes

5. #2 Boogie Man – 3.5 votes

6T. #9 Bumpkin - 2 votes

6T. #10 Enforcer - 2 votes

6T. #11 Super Spider Pac Bat – 2 votes

9T. #1 Pumpkin Head – 1 vote

9T. #6 The X-Husband – 1 vote

11T. #4 Rocky – 0 votes

11T. #12 Les Smiles – 0 votes

Thanks to everyone for voting and congratulations to our winner!

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2008 CECK Pumpkin Carving Contest – Vote For Your Favorite!

October 19th, 2008

As we did last year, we are sharing our family Halloween tradition with you and asking for your help in deciding who has the best pumpkin of them all. Below you will find the inspired creations of various members of our family (posted anonymously) with a picture and short description. All we ask is that you leave a comment voting for your favorite. We’ll tally the votes received through midnight Halloween night and feature the winner with its own post shortly thereafter.

If you are visiting us for the first time, please take a few minutes and have a look around, laugh at my cheapness, and maybe make a quick $25 by opening an ING online savings or checking account. Enjoy!!!

#1 Mr. Pumpkin Head – I wasn’t carved. I was accessorized. VOTE FOR ME. You know I look like a member of your family.

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#2 Boogie Man – Is anybody scared?

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#3 Mummy – Everyone’s favorite Halloween snack Pumpkin mummy wrap.

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#4 Rocky – “Mr. T ain’t got nothing on me.”

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#5 Ghost of Seasons Past – In memory of a fallen hero. Super was your game. Kitten was your name.

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#6 The X-Husband – Cute but deadly

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#7 President Obama – A political statement on the policies of Barack Obama. “It’s not that I want to punish your success…when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” Welcome to communism, comrades! Vote Obama!

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#8 Lucky – The name’s Lucky. Or maybe Unlucky. I just had a harmless disagreement with my husband and somehow 40 laptops fell right on my head… It’s the weirdest thing…

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#9 – Bumpkin – Call me Bumpkin! Not because of my bad complexion but because I don’t have a job. I’m coming to your house! Not to eat your kids but to sit on your couch! What you got to eat?

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#10 The Enforcer – Does someone own you money, call you names, or just tick you off? Call on me and I’ll take care of it; no questions asked!

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#11 Super Spider-Pac-bat – Inspired by comic books and game systems. P.S. All freehand, no stencil was used.

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And finally, bringing up the rear… 

#12 Les Smiles – This prankster can hardly contain himself.  Why?  Because there’s a full moon tonight!!!

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“I’m mad as hell!”

October 14th, 2008

This guy’s sentiments sum up pretty well my feelings and those of many others out there. We only have to look to the bailout package and the government’s plan to purchase stakes in banks to see that we are definitely marching towards socialism.

This clip was from a McCain campaign rally last week. Sadly I don’t think either candidate turns us around from a socialist march, although McCain probably at least marches it at a slower pace than Obama. If there was ever a time for a third party to rise, this would be it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuSYHnVpYbs

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Posted in News/Trends, Off Topic

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The real aftermath of Hurricane Gustav the media isn’t telling you!

September 4th, 2008

Sorry for the off-topic post, but watching the news coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav (or lack thereof) is really getting under my skin. As a service to my readers, I want to share with you the real story the national media isn’t bothering to tell.

Listening to news coverage, you would believe that there were virtually no effects of Gustav. They are delighting in the fact that damage in New Orleans was minimal. However what they are bothering to tell you is that New Orleans is not the biggest city in Louisiana, and the damage in Baton Rouge (which by the way is Louisiana’s largest city post-Katrina) was extensive. The highest wind speeds ever recorded in Baton Rouge were recorded during this storm, which is impressive considering the city has also taken blows in the past from Hurricanes Andrew and Betsy, just to name a few.

I rode out the storm with my in-laws in Baton Rouge, and can tell you first hand of the damage I saw as my family made our way back home to Houston after the storm. Trees were down – everywhere. Trees blocked roads, demolished homes, and downed power lines throughout the area. Area rivers were rising from the massive amounts of rain the area received, with many rivers cresting well above flood stage. The electric power infrastructure was so badly damaged that 1.2 million Louisiana residents lost power. While about 200,000 had been restored at this point, estimates for others are as long as 4 weeks due to the need to repair transmission lines (think the big cancer-causing lines) as well as distribution lines (lines that go to individual neighborhoods and streets). Lines for necessities such as gasoline are massive and are reported to be several hours long. Essentially the largest city in the state of Louisiana has been thrown back into the dark ages, but I’m glad the national media seems to think this is a non-event.

If you want a true picture of the aftermath of Gustav, I would recommend looking at some of the local media sites such as 2theadvocate.com, wafb.com, and wjbo.com.

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For the British motorist with style: NorthumbriaNumbers.com

August 8th, 2008


Here in the States, we see a lot of personalised license plates. It has even gotten to the point here that states issue specialty plates for specific causes and organizations to help us express our affiliations through the license tags on our automobiles. But did you know that you can have personalised Number Plates in Britain as well? That’s the idea behind http://www.northumbrianumbers.com.

Here’s how NorthumbriaNumbers.com works: you can either search for registrations with a specific character string, or you can search for registrations with specific values. If I do a search for “LSU”, my proud alma mater, I get a long list of registrations I can purchase with the letters “LSU” in them. Once you find a registration you like you simply phone them to complete your purchase and they will take care of all the paperwork.

It is a great service and a very easy to use website. For our British friends who want to express themselves, this could be very handy!

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Posted in Automotive, Off Topic

Happy 4th of July, Job Search Update, and an Anti-Government Rant

July 4th, 2008

I just wanted to take a few moments to wish everyone a happy 4th of July and share an update and some random thoughts. Sorry for the lack of updates this week, as it has been very busy with the job hunt and such. I’m also finding it more difficult to find the time to write now that I only have my desktop in my home office to work from instead of my work laptop where I could write while watching the kids or enjoying an episode of Deadliest Catch.

Today we celebrate our nation’s independence and everything that makes this country great, however it does seem like the celebration is rather subdued this year. The economy it hitting almost everyone hard with more and more people recognizing that although we may have won our independence from the British more than two centuries ago, we are losing a lot of that independence due to our dependence on foreign oil and debt. I do really worry about where this country is headed with the stupid tree-huggers preferring to have our country at the mercy of foreign nations rather than drilling for the oil we have right here in this country and our politicians continuing to spend like drunken sailors. The debt our government has racked up is absolutely astounding, and sadly the Republican Party that many thought would be the ones to bring fiscal responsibility back to government has shown in the last ten years they are little better than the Socialists Democrats. Our choices in the presidential election this year show there will be no change coming soon, as both of the major party candidates are criss-crossing our nation and showing that neither of them are fit for the job, as well as that they are both depriving some village of their idiot. It will be a house of pain whenever the foreigners that hold the vast amounts of debt this country has issued refuse to take any more and want us to actually make good on what we owe.

Anyway, so much for the anti-government rant. To update everyone, the job search is still going. Unfortunately I got word that I could scratch quite a few of the opportunities I have applied and interviewed for off of my list. One didn’t give a reason, but at least finally confirmed my status five weeks after my second interview. Another had me interview and even had me go complete a drug test only to come back and say they wanted someone with more experience, as if they couldn’t have figured out how much experience I had from my resume. Yet another said they liked me and my credentials, but thought I wouldn’t like the job because of the size of the company.

Thankfully I do still have several active opportunities here in Houston, and I also now have two active opportunities back home in Louisiana. One of the Louisiana opportunities I interviewed for yesterday and was told that they would like to schedule time with me next week for me to meet their executives at the main office in Louisiana. The other they are working to schedule a phone interview with the hiring manager for sometime this coming week. We have really been praying to get the family back to Louisiana, so our hope is that the lack of offers so far here in Houston is Heavenly Father’s way of making sure I don’t accept something here when a better opportunity awaits us back home.

Anyway, that’s what is going on around here. I will work on being a bit better with the regularity of my postings, as I have received word from my loyal readers (yes, all three of them) that they have been disappointed on a few recent visits to find no updates. If anyone has suggestions for new blog posting topics, feel free to leave a comment and let me know.

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Off-topic: So long to a special old ballpark

June 10th, 2008

A piece of college baseball history, as well as my life back home in Louisiana, is now officially history. Last night LSU beat UC-Irvine 21-7 in the final game of the Super Regional baseball tournament at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. With the win LSU advances to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. Sadly though, this game was the last game to be held in Alex Box Stadium, which next year will be replaced by an updated Alex Box Stadium on a different site.

Alex Box Stadium has been the home of LSU Baseball since the 1938, and in the 70 years since it opened it has seen a great deal of drama and excitement. The old ballpark hosted 17 NCAA Regional tournaments, 4 Super Regional tournaments, and 4 SEC tournaments. There were plenty of amazing wins, along with a few disappointing defeats. It was the home for the “Program of the Decade” for the 1990s, when LSU teams won national championships in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, and 2000. For a long time, LSU was the premier baseball program in the nation.

The Box, as it was affectionately called, was the perfect setting for this great program. Although it may have lacked many of the modern ammenities some expect from the modern ballparks, the ballpark had a great deal of character. It was simply a great place to watch a baseball game.

I was 13 years old when we got season tickets to LSU baseball in 1992. In the nine seasons between then and my graduation from LSU, many of my days were spent communing with my fellow LSU baseball fans, who are among the most knowledgeable and rabid fans anywhere. Over the years we grew to be close friends with many of the folks with seats around ours. They were like family.

This feeling was evidenced throughout the ballpark over the years as fans organized themselves into groups, usually complete with banners announcing their presence. Our little group was first named “Cooley’s Corner”, after LSU left fielder Chad Cooley. After he graduated, we had to change names and came to be known as “LSU’s Home Run Hecklers”, a tribute to the Gorilla Ball style of LSU Baseball in the 1999s. On our banner we would hang inflatable baseballs, one for each home run during the game. We also had a home run counter, which would be updated after each ball flew over the wall. I remember one game where we ended up with eight inflatable baseballs hanging from our banner! Those baseballs and the counter even made their way into Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha for the College World Series, although we had to sneak back to the gate to steal back the balls after the ticket takers confiscated them upon entry. Back in the day the counter ended one season at 188, which I believe is still an NCAA record.

Of course we weren’t the only fan group. The Bullpen Bullies started the trend, followed by the Left Field Lunatics, then us, and later Coon’s Corner. Other groups would come and go through the years. There was just a certain amount of brotherhood that almost all season ticket holders felt for those seated around them, grounded in our great love for baseball and the Tigers.

The time together wasn’t limited to the nine innings in the stands. We also tailgated for baseball. For each weekend series there would be something cooking before each game. We would hang out before the game enjoying our meal, during the game cheering, and often after the game lounging around discussing the action we just witnessed and the matchup in the upcoming series.

I was lucky enough to get to go to two of the Regional tournament games a couple of weeks ago for one last time in The Box. It has been several years since our last championship, but the program seems to have rebounded and it felt a lot like old times. Many of my old friends still had their same seats. The stadium had changed a little but was still mostly the same. The players were of course different, but the atmosphere was still the same. Almost like old times.

Alex Box was a great place to watch baseball. I feel like a chapter of my life is being closed with the gates to this old ballpark. Things have changed a great deal since I first set foot in that park. I now live in a different state. I’m a college graduate. I’m married with twins. I guess everything changes over time, and this is no different.

So it is an odd feeling I have this morning. I am thrilled that LSU has won and is headed back to the College World Series, but at the same time I am sad that a place where I spent so much time and that was such a big part of my life is officially gone.

Oh well, I guess that is enough of our trip down memory lane. GEAUX TIGERS!

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Rant: Politicians, Taxes, and Gas Prices

March 20th, 2008

Sorry, but this news story just set me off this morning. Rep. John Dingell of Michigan is proposing a 50 cent tax on every gallon of gas sold to discourage consumption with the idea that it will help cut greenhouse gas emissions. What a friggin’ moron!

If the run-up in the price of gasoline has taught us anything it is that the demand for gasoline is pretty static. As prices increase motorist may be more conscious of their driving habits and work harder to consolidate errands into a single trip to slightly reduce consumption, but the bulk of our driving is not discretionary. We must go to work. We must make at least the occasional trip out for groceries, household items, etc. We have to bring the kids to day care. Except for those few who live in a dense urban environment, the automobile is a fact of life. Yes, there is public transit in many areas, but in many areas this just isn’t practical (or safe). Imagine trying to lug an entire cart full of groceries onto the bus for the ride home! We have seen in the last year that although gas prices have skyrocketed consumption has largely stayed the same. Another 50 cent hike per gallon isn’t going to keep Americans off the road and from living their daily lives.

Of course this is from a member of the same party that always cries the loudest when gas prices do go up and likes to threaten the big oil companies with new taxes. If this new tax were enacted the heat would likely be on the oil companies for the increase and not the politicians since most Americans are too politically disinterested to know of all the taxes on gasoline that are already collected, which is typically around 40 cents a gallon.

As a former employee of the refining company of a large oil company, I can tell you that refining company profits aren’t really that impressive. Refining and marketing is considered a necessary evil. Although refining companies are doing reasonably well now, it wasn’t that long ago that many were losing money. Where was the outcry for the refining companies when gas was under $1 a gallon? In the company I worked for, the message was always that our exploration and production arm made a great profit and the expectation for us in refining and marketing was not to lose too much of those profits.

Even to say that the large western oil companies are to blame for the increase in crude oil prices and thus the increase in gas prices is ridiculous. Reserves controlled by the likes of BP, ExxonMobil, and Shell are dwarfed by the vast reserves controlled by companies controlled by governments in Venezuela, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere. Everyone else, including the major western oil companies, are largely at the mercy of these state-owned companies when it comes to the market prices of crude oil.

I’m not going to argue the oil companies are without sin, but they aren’t the source of all evil either.  I just get angry when these stupid politicians start spouting off about the economics of crude oil and gas prices without even an elementary understanding of what they are talking about.

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