I hate you Kay (Jewelers that is).

Well I had the delightful experience of dealing with Kay Jeweler's superior custom service. I am astonished how well they handled the situation. If you know me at all, This is my sarcasm.

So my wife purchased a nice watch for me for Father's Day (well slightly late). She had the best of intentions, and we had spoken on many accounts of what watch had suited me. She was actually "gun shy" about purchasing a watch as there were just so many minute details I had specified on (Scratch resistant Sapphire face). She had finally took a dive, she visited a Kay Jewelers in our local area and spoke with the man who we would discover was a classic deceitful, bow-tie thug. Next thing that occurred was, lie after lie. She ended up picking up the watch after speaking with this "sales associate" believing this watch was going to be exactly what I needed.

I finally receive the watch, and it is gorgeous. I check out the back plate to see if it is sapphire, and to my dismay, it is not. My wife had explicitly mentioned that the "associate" had told her it was "scratch resistant". Well I took her word, who in turn to the "associate's" word.

After a few days, a few minor scratches started to appear across the face. I performed no strenuous activity at that time with the exception of removing the watch before going to bed, to only put it back on once again in the morning. So we made a trip up to Kay. I showed them the watch, and I was told "The watch is scratch resistant, NOT scratch proof". I became suspicious about their particular wording that day...

Background: I was given a Seiko for Graduation upon boot camp when I was in the military. I wore that watch EVERYDAY through regular standard days (office environments, clean rooms etc), to environments you would never wear a watch like that (sand, dirt oil, mud etc). I wanted it (the Seiko) to be my everyday watch. The face was Sapphire, so after nearly 8 years, 4 of them being military, The watch band and part of the frame of the face were chipped away, colors fading, yet the Sapphire face was clear as day. Truly remarkable. The watch itself had finally given way which led us to the purchase of this new one.

So I wore the watch for about 3 more months watching the scratches build up considerably day after day. The time was barely visible through all the deep lacerations. This was becoming unreal, I think a cheap little $10 watch from walmart would have survived day to day business better than this! By the end of my "3 month, just deal with it" attitude. I returned the watch to the store. Of course it was too late for a refund or exchange, HOW CONVENIENT for them to push me away until I was outside of their 30 day range.

They had asked me if I would like to send the watch in for "repair" (which I was told would take 4-6 weeks) and put sapphire or some other scratch resistant face in. Of course I obliged to the idea. Sucks all this has happened, but at least in the end, I would be satisfied, right? I wanted to keep the watch as my wife had chose it for me. So off the watch went...

1 month later. I receive a call, "Sir we are unable to replace the "glass" with anything other than "mineral glass". What would you like us to do?" So it took one month to get that far, this is going to be exhilarating! I had asked them to just put that BS mineral glass in place so I could at least read the time. I guess I would just put the watch away since I would not be able to put it on or take it off without severely damaging the fragile window of time.

Another month down the road. I have heard nothing. NOTHING! So I call up good ole Kay, "Have you heard any news on my watch, where is it, is it repaired etc?" They say it shouldn't be but a few more days, as the holidays were current. So again, I give them the benefit of the doubt...

Week and a half later, after the holidays have subsided, The hard working American public is back back full swing working their 9-5s. I make another call for an update of some sort.

ME: Has there been an update on my watch?

Kay: Yes sir, we received word they (the shop) can not change the glass to Sapphire nor any other kind of scratch resistant face. What would you like us to do?

ME: You serious??? I just spoke with you all about a month ago about getting this repair done immediately, I was also told a few day ago, that the watch was still in the shop for the holidays, and it would be a few more days before it is returned!

Kay: Sir, we will let the shop know you want the watch repaired.

So what did I miss? Did two WHOLE conversations go on regarding repair, and wait time not exist. Further on did they just talk to me like I was some delusional idiot? Well at least that's the way it felt.

So I made a trip up to Kays only to speak to the manager who did not budge, and only stood his ground. I guess that's good, but for a legit request, I think it may have been bad timing as this has only dug a deeper hole. After speaking with the manager, and making no progress, I decided to write Kay's "customer support".

The emails:

First one I will not duplicate here, as it just sums up all of the above. Probably could have been written more tactfully though. I agree term like conned, thieves, thugs in suits were probably were probably not the best considering my situation (being at the disadvantage). But what can I say, it's the truth.

Their reply (names changed to protect the guilty):

I received your e-mail regarding your watch crystal. At Kay Jewelers, we are committed to exceeding our customers' expectations. I apologize if you believe we fell short of that commitment.

I spoke with Derek, the store manager. He explained that he trains his staff not to describe a watch crystal as scratch-resistant for the simple reason that nothing in the case is scratch-resistant. Even a sapphire crystal, if we could have obtained one, would scratch under some circumstances.

Unfortunately, our vendors do close over the holidays. I apologize for your inconvenience. However, Derek informed me that he agreed to do the repair at our cost, or $XXX. You are a valued customer and we appreciate your business. I hope you will give us another opportunity to be of service.

"Megan"
Customer Care

Since this email did NOTHING but infuriate me, I sent another reply...Again, maybe I could have been more thoughtful when piecing it all together.

My reply (names changed of course):
Megan,
Thanks for your reply, but I still feel this matter must be addressed in a better matter. But it appears as if no one is willing to take responsibility for the situation.

I have also spoke with Derek, and I understand he trains his staff to with the best intentions. However, he was not present when this transaction took place. So he can not say one way or the other. He will always back his employees, as what a good manager should do. So I have no ill feelings for him doing just that. Yet, I am still going to go months with no watch that we paid a considerable amount of money for, AND does not carry the proper specs in which we were told, being scratch "resistant". I don't expect scratch "proof". I DO know the difference between the two.

So from your current reply, I take it as I will be stiffed with a watch that will scratch on everyday ware and will last no longer than 6 months, unless I turn it over to you for repair and go an additional 3 months with no watch and pay what ever the cost maybe. Is this correct, please let me know so I can understand 100%.
signed ME.

Their Final reply did nothing except apologize for screwing completely over. Thanks KAY!

So this is where I stand currently. I did not post a blog until I realized I was being scammed by Kay's. I wanted to offer them the opportunity to make it right, but I guess that won't happen. Thus here is my story/rant.

So anyone want to buy a watch? ;)

Norway, Santa's homeland, and a dead Rudolph.

Well recently I was lucky enough to make a visit to great old St. Nicks country, Norway! My current job is certainly allowing me many opportunities to only broaden my horizons of work, but culturally as well. Seeing various new places, always enjoyable, trying new foods, drinks, and meeting one of a kind people from various regions. I got to say, I do enjoy it.

So as I was saying, recently I made a trip to Norway of Scandinavia. I went on the “off season”. So there was not much going on for the average tourist. But I was here for work, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from seeing the new land.

We had flown into Amsterdam, Holland. Sadly I was only there long enough to get my passport stamped, and pass through the many layers of security of the airport. So that wasn’t any fun. After all was said and done, I had stripped down the last time for my last security checkpoint to catch my last plane to my final destination of Sandefjord Lufthavn Torp (Airport in Norway). When getting off the small twinjet, we had finally stepped off the craft onto the slush that had covered the runway. The temperature was about 3°C, and the sky was gray. It was not beautiful by any means. We hop onto our transport to our hotel located in Kongsberg. The trip there was one of a kinda. As we traveled for about an hour or so, There were these massive flowing hills of land layered in this soft, fluffy, white snow. The snow had fallen in such a pattern to match the crops that were once harvested in the areas. The homes located on this farm land were something from an old Dutch photo book. The colors varied from reds to yellows. Certainly an unusual color from what we see in America today. They were simply gorgeous.

We had finally arrived at our destination in Kongsberg. This is a small silver mining town, with closely built buildings, narrow streets, and a few small “strips”. As I was given my key to my room, I headed there immediately. It was time for a nap! Once I opened the door to enter my room, I was greeted by a considerably small room with the most amazing site over looking the “town square”. I could see the train station, bus stop, and a shopping center. Beyond that was this massive hill which appeared to be mountain from my perspective. There was this low lying fog, and snow covering everything from my perspective. This view had beat all previous views from any other hotel I had stayed at, as I was so accustomed to seeing the concrete of an adjacent building. Lucky me!

So I had dropped my bags off, and grabbed a short nap. By the time I woke up, it was pitch black outside, and the time was about 5:30pm. I had thought it was midnight. In the upcoming days I would soon find out day light is very limited.

The next day, one of my co-workers had called me around 8 in the morning (waking me up). He had asked if I was interested in going to Oslo, so my quick reply was YES! We had tried to call everyone else in our small group to get ready and head out. I believe we ended up leaving right around 9am. We had caught a bus from the terminal right out front of the hotel. The bus ride was about an hour and fifteen minutes. We finally arrive in Oslo. It’s way too early. The day is once again severely overcast leaving the sky to permit no real sunshine, just a soft light from the sun is able to pierce the thick clouds. Then the rain came. The rain was not that heavy at all, but it was VERY unpleasant as we were not properly dressed for it, nor the true temperature for that matter. We rolled around the city trying to find something of interest, but we found out the hard way that there were no shops or anything open before 2pm! We had arrived right around 10 or so. We were looking for at a long day. We walked around the city and admired it’s history as a majority of the buildings still carried a very particular character to them. This old character did clash with these vivid neon signs posted above them though, but I guess that’s today’s time. History meets present. Eventually 2pm came around and were done walking around the frigid rain. We had walked into a local restaurant and grabbed some food a few beers. The food was delicious, but the variety offered was not different from any restaurant in America. That was slightly disappointing, but we would later find something more original later on. After we had finished our meal and drinks, we took off. Everyone was still suffering from jet lag or lack of sleep. We took the train to return back this time as it saved us a few bucks.




Monday was the start of business. We were to be picked up at 830 am (still a bit dark) and return back to our hotel around 3 or so (becoming dark again). Work was work, not much else to talk about there. We did walk around the local town that evening to try and find a little excitement, but it was quite there, I thing we were the biggest thing going on, and it wasn’t that fun haha!

Tuesday we were graciously invited to attend a dinner. We were all looking forward to this as this was going to be our first and only time to experience true Norway. We were given a print out of a map from map quest and told to meet there at 6 in the evening. Again, it was raining, cold, and dark. We all finally were able to locate the restaurant (most of the streets did not have names, so it was a wee bit difficult to locate the place). The restaurant was in great condition, but obviously had a lot of character. The interior was extremely dim, lit mostly by candlelight. We all sat at our table, and were served a Norway favorite shot. Yes dinner started with a warm shot of what tasted like a sweeter, smoother liquor of some sort. Others referred this to as a “warm shot of used mouth wash”. I have to disagree though. Next the waitress poured us a glass of red wine in one of the two glasses located in front of each person. Then we were served shell fish soup. Everyone devoured the soup and exclaiming it had been the best soup they had ever had in the past. I don’t particularly care for seafood, but I did have the soup, and I have to agree, it was delicious. By this time, the red wine was waxed off, so the waitress and filled the other glass with, yet another top shelf white wine, soon after our main course was brought out. It was two strips of overlapping meat. It was browned on the outside, and the inside was extremely rare. It was partially covered in a light cranberry sauce as well. The presentation was immaculate. But I know it is dinner, so lets dig in! I cut the first piece of meat and it was extremely tender and easy to cut. I have never had such rare meat that was also this tender. So we all had to ask what we were given for our main course. “Santa’s reindeer” we were told. We all laughed, but some people did not believe it. I knew this was no beef I have ever ate, but I can’t say no to some good food! Everyone finished there plated, another successful meal! We were all quite stuffed, but the waitress was far from done serving us. She brought out some glasses of aged cognac, and some sort of cheesecake dessert. The cognac was easy to drink after you ate some of the cold cheese cake, but I wasn’t too impressed by the cognac. Maybe that is not for me. By this time, we were all feeling quite good, and stuffed with food. So we had parted ways.

The next few days we didn’t do quite so much as the jet lag had gotten the best of us, especially me. We soon arrived back in America to where things were a bit more familiar.

Andy’s birthday in proximity equals bad luck.

Well, well… My birthday is right around the corner. I will soon become 26. Slowly getting older, but still haven’t matured much since I turned 15. So, my wife and I had purchased a “new” vehicle last month. Yesterday, when I was heading out to the gym I noticed large hole in the rear passenger’s side window. I was in shock, wasn’t sure what to do. I was thinking, was this personal, was this attack on my home, or was it random vandalism. So of course my first feeling is the fight or flight sequence. After a brief moment to evaluate the situation, I had noticed the grass had been freshly cut. So the logical explanation was, the lawn mower that the “landscapers” were using picked up a rock or some other arch enemy of glass and caused the destruction. Next step was to let the office of my complex know the story so they could contact the “landscaping” company. The office had instructed to notify the police. So I had called the non-emergency police line. They had asked me the specifics about the situation. They also inquired about my date of birth, social security number, height, weight, eye color, hair color etc. Hold up! I thought I was the victim, and here I was being interrogated via the cell phone! Maybe when the cops arrive they will have the truth serum to administer me.



During the phone call, I was instructed not to touch my vehicle, as the police may need to “take prints”. I guess the police in my neighborhood are quite bored since murders are so few and far between. I guess the guys who do prints are looking for a way to justify their employment.

So more talking on the phone, they had asked me if anything was missing. I looked inside and noticed nothing out of the ordinary, again I had nothing of value with the exception of 3 music CDs. I was not concerned about anything else. I also was still not able to enter my vehicle. During this prolonged period of time, the weather was far from nice. It had been raining all morning, clouds rolling through the sky. Just a beautiful day to accompany my morning surprise. So after repeated questions, and same answers on the phone with police. I am finally “let go”. I finally get a call from an officer who is “five minutes away.” He arrived in about 25 minutes. Once this other officer arrived and saw the event, he said he would be unable to get prints because of the rain, then enlightened me on how todays new criminals wear gloves etc. I again repeated myself about this more than likely being a random rock tossed from a lawnmower. It doesn’t appear personal, and there was certainly no theft! During all this time, rainwater has been running off the roof, down the spider webbed piece of glass and in to the vehicle through the gaping hole. My office had given me keys to a garage, so at least I was able to prevent any more destruction from the heavenly elements.
I received a business card from the “landscapers” with another number to call. I called it up and explained the situation. I was told someone would fix it promptly the next morning. WOOO HOOOOO!

Next day, two men arrive to repair/replace the window. I take them to the garage, since the rain still had not stopped. They would then perform the repair inside the garage. I came home during that time to eat lunch, and then soon after would be back out there to check up on them. I get to the garage, and I see my headlights on, and hear the stereo cranked up. I see one of the guys at the back with the newly replaced window pressing the buttons on the armrest to move the window up and down. It appeared VERY sluggish. I checked the corresponding window and it was the same. Something was wrong. After it was all said in done, I go to start up my car, and this terrible screeching sound is heard all around. My car won’t start. The guys, who replaced my window, had just cold-heartedly killed my battery. I do NOT have jumper cables. Better get some I guess. We ended up using two pieces of solid core 14G piece of wire to jump start my car, and wa-la. It started up. Another close one I guess. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for tomorrow!!!!

Satan, and Fire Ants

Well life has been some what stagnant as of late. Nothing real interesting happening. I guess that's due to the lack of alcohol in the local's blood. Maybe we should stir the pot, get the local crowd a little rowdy and then I would have another story to talk about. Hm. Maybe later.

Well yesterday, Fire ants appeared out of the cracks of the sidewalk. I guess the fiery pits of hell lie right below as these ants have a fire burning from within. They attack for no reason, no cause, and they will attack anyone, or anything, no matter the size. My entire family has been mauled by these ants ever since we moved to Texas. Everything else in Texas is nice, with the exception of these hell bent fire ants. What do they do good for the environment? What is their role in the food chain? I bet this is the blood of Satan. I bet with in that creature's very veins, are millions of fire ants running through, biting continuously. I guess I would be pretty pissed off too. So yesterday, I had my vengeance... Well at least a portion of vengeance was dished out. I will continue as long as they do.

So I laid out the napalm and created an ant inferno. Actually is was simple ant pesticide, followed by some raid spray. I would like to believe that this may have put a dent in their population, but I know there are billions more of these demonic vermin in my square block. Impossible battle.

Ground zero:




So, this morning was peaceful. I could walk to the car in flip-flops (or as the country folk say "thongs") and not worry about being tormented by the venomous bites of hell's elusive creatures. I didn't hear my daughter's blood curdling scream as the ants feasted on her petite, tender feet. How can such small 6 legged insects play such a terrifying role in one's life?

Fire ants suck.

Carmax Letter, and basic new car review.

Just recently made a trip out to trade in our vehicle. This blog isn't exactly fun by any means, but to share the experience, I will post it. I had actually sent this letter to the customer service, where I had to send another form explaining my experience.

Names have been changed as common courtesy.

-Begin-
To whom it may concern.

I just wanted to share my experience when I purchased a Murano. Our sales consultant was Mike. He was actually very polite and didn’t treat me “differently” as I was treated at other local dealerships. He treated my family and myself with respect. I know that’s is normally expected, but truly, it’s not common anymore.

We walked through the lot of cars, and we had explained what we were looking for in a vehicle. He pointed out pros and cons of each model to help us narrow it down. Mike gave us honest judgments on each vehicle, which helped us trust his judgment. He was a great person to work with, and I will certainly recommend him to friends of mine who are looking for a new vehicle. When we finally decided on a Murano, he offered to let us test-drive it. We also had our daughter with us, so he let us bring the new Murano around to grab the car seat from our current vehicle. He did not seem the least bit “inconvenienced” by this at all. Other dealerships seem to frown upon the idea of taking your time, bringing family along for the test-drives etc. Not sure why though.

Before we officially made our purchase, I had to make a run home and grab the check book. My wife and daughter stayed at Carmax in the children’s play area. My wife did have to speak with a woman at the “info” desk. The woman was just sitting at the desk, chin on her hand staring off into space, appearing “bored” or “depressed”. My wife had asked her if she could open up the children’s play place (as it had became locked when the last person left). The girl stared at my wife as she hesitated to what to do. She finally picked up a phone and called someone “can you open the door?” in a adverse tone. She then hanged up the phone and stared at my wife again. My wife ended up just walking away feeling awkward in the whole situation. I guess for her to tell my wife what was happening was just too much effort for her. Maybe she was having a bad day? I did ask her name from another employee, but I am not for certain. I do believe her name was Michelle. She was a young (early twenties), blond hair, and obviously a deranged female.

The next step in the process was to trade in our current vehicle, which we were still paying on. Mike did make note that our vehicle had suffered frame damage (we were completely unaware of this), and that would dramatically decrease it’s trade in value, as carmax will just pass it on, and not actually sell it. This was disappointing as we still owed about $**** and offered only $****. We weighed our options and decided to move on to the Nissan Murano despite the trade in value.

The next person we dealt with was MACY. She explained the documents that we were signing. Copies were given to us as well for our records. She always had a smile on her face, and she took her time to go over anything we had questions about. Again, I’m not used to good customer service. She was also a very big help.

Thanks again to everyone who has assisted us with our purchase! We will certainly come again, but hopefully not too soon, as we enjoy our new vehicle.

Sincerly,
Andy
-END-

As for trading in, Our old vehicle was just a terrible gas guzzler. Now we are getting about 10 more MPG and also moved over to the "regular" gas VS the "premium" from before. Of course with newer vehicles, newer options are available. Ours is pretty much topped out. the only accessories I will share are the ones I thought to be the best, or most unusual.

-Memory seats WITH side mirrors. While memory seats are something of the past, I was happy to see the side mirrors rotate along while the seat changed from one position to another. Very nice.

-Auto rear mirror. When driving at night, it automatically dims. How? I don't know, but it's awesome!

-REAL Keyless entry and start. I NEVER put the keys in the door, OR ignition. Keys are always in my pocket. I can unlock by pressing a button on the two front doors or back. I can also press those same buttons to lock the doors. When inside the vehicle, I just turn the ignition and "vroooomm". I did some test on putting the keys outside, while I was inside, and tried to start. No go. I also put the keys inside, and tried to press one of the "unlock buttons" from the outside and it doesn't unlock. so these sensors are well positioned and calibrated! Very nice stuff.

-DVD player in the back, great for kids ;).

-Everything else was standard from before, leather, 7" display, back up cam, adjustable pedals, auto lights, gas mileage, digital this and that.

Car rides much smoother, less road noise, little engine noise, and low resistance in the wind. I guess I could drag this out to be a full on review, but I'm sure I will miss something, and surely I am now bias for the Murano. Another thing to take note of is the it is Front wheel drive. While the previous vehicle we had was rear. The horse power is about the same, but our previous vehicle certainly had a quite a bit more power (on the low end of the transmission). Murano still holds it's own. But I would like some of my old power back, but what do you expect from a family size crossover? I'm happy.

Also received my lens back from Canon's repair facility (that will be another blog ;)) So had to test it out on the new ride.

Mexico... NOT Cancun

Mexico, isn’t it grand?

Well this most recent trip to work led me to Mexico. There are two things that come to mind when I think of Mexico, One being the drug-toting Cartel along with their corrupt law enforcement. The second being a bunch of rich, snobby, white girls completely sloshed and hopping bed to bed with a different man because “it’s spring break”.

Well we flew into Del Carmen on a charted jet. Del Carmen from the air reminded me something from “border town” (starring Jennifer Lopez). It appeared very colorful. The roofs were various colored metals. The streets were a dry sandy dirt texture. The buldings appeared to be concrete with no particular style or purpose. As we came into our landing south of the border, we were told to remain in our seats till “customs” arrived on the airfield. This was not your typical customs that you run through like when entering America or any other civilized country. We waited about 30 minutes in the plane, which was fine by me, as I was making up for a night of no sleep.

After 30 minutes or so, the door opens from our airplane to the new outside world, similar to the moment in that crap movie “the day the earth stood still”. As we all proceeded to exit the aircraft, we grabbed our luggage out of the rear of the plane and set all of our luggage in a straight line. We were also instructed to stand in a parallel line to our luggage via a translator. The translator was a short, chubby Mexican woman, with a heavy accent and a cute face. Her English accent was sweet. But the guys who had given the instructions to use were dressed in full camouflage gear. The were armed with fully automatic weapons, and various handguns. I however do remember one man had a leg holster with a revolver, strange. So here we are, standing in the blistering Mexican heat, hands at our sides, our personal belongings across from us. Another man dressed in camo with a automatic weapon, and a dog comes out. He then “instructs” the dog to “check our bags”. The dog sniffs the first two bags in the lineup then decides to start running around the entire length of the bags. He was having a ball! The man who brought the dog out, grabbed the dog by it’s chain and forced him (or her) to sniff each bag. Nothing was found, I assume the dog was having a rough day. I did ask what they were looking for, and they said “illegal substances”. Isn’t that funny? I always thought we (US) imported drugs FROM Mexico, not TO Mexico. Well I guess I was wrong.

The rest of the security process was a breeze. The paper work portion was all in Spanish. I had no idea what the paper work asked, so I copied off the guy next to me. Before we knew it, we were on our way to the heliport that was located less than 5 minutes away. We all piled into a tiny minivan, luckily we all had our own “seat”, but none the less, it was a bit tight for the average American.

At the heliport, we were given orange coveralls to wear for the helicopter ride…Alright; this is the same stuff as prison! We were also shown a detailed sheet of what is “not allowed”. This list was mostly common sense which most people do not posses. The new rules were like “no hair longer than your collar unless you’re a woman”. “No facial hair, with the exception of a short trimmed mustache”. “No computers, USB devices of any kind allowed” Wow, this was like the navy all over again! Before I know it, I would be writing request chits to wipe my own ass! But thankfully, the unusual rules stopped there.

When I had finally arrived to my work site, a barge in the Gulf of Mexico, I noticed around me were dozens of platforms! I couldn’t believe my eyes! I mean Mexico is not known for the amount of oil they produce, but they seemed to produce quite a bit, way more than America as it appeared. I also noticed the vivid bright lights they produced at night. They had these huge flame booms that produced this massive, hellish fire towering above the platform. You could see the reflection of the fire in the water. It was beautiful, yet detrimental to the green environment. This is probably why I have never seen anything like it in the stateside waters. But I did enjoy the site. But when it was daytime, the sky was covered in black soot. You could, on occasion smell the “rotten egg” smell, which was the H2S that was being burned off. Good stuff.

So this is my 1^st experience in Mexico. Somewhat different than what I had thought it would be. I did not see one single Cartel with a kilo of coke, nor did I see any skanky topless girls running the streets with their Daddy’s money. I guess even I can be wrong.

Broken DS, Lost Camera, and Broken Breast

Well the past few days have been quite entertaining. The title scratches the surface a bit to reveal a little light on the subjects of interest.

Well first it all started with when we noticed our little camera vanished. It had been gone about two days, but the my wife and I had thought it was floating around, lost in our home. We had finally realized it was missing when we turned this place upside down, and no where was it to be to be found. We both start recall the last moment we had saw this camera. We finally declared it LOST.

Later in the evening we had received a package which was a replacement shell (case) for my daughter's Gameboy DS. I started tearing that down to prepare for the electronic transplant. I got about half way, took a break for a much needed dinner (The hotdogs were stupendous!). Then I hop back on my little project. I tighten the last screw, power up the unit, and the touch pad didn't NOT work. AHH! I begin my dis-assembly, found a small little PCB cable that had come loose. This was the problem, right? Re-assemble, Power up, the screen flashes on and off. What the? I got a little depressed and decided, I'm screwed. I broke the DS and it belongs to my daughter whose fault it is not. I'm going to have to get another one. She was so calm even when I had given up at the end. She stood by waiting on me. Bringing me a bottle of water then running her fingers through my hair saying "Daddy, it's okay". Well I started recollecting myself and decided to try it one more time. By this time, my wife was looking at it. She plugged it into the wall, and WA-LA! It was working as advertised! Did I just get stumped on the "battery died" problem? Man I feel like a complete idiot! But my daughter was ecstatic about the results. But, I was more. I congratulated my wife on putting the last piece of that puzzle in place, and making our daughter happy. The problem was solved.

After this was done, I was like "There is a God!" Just kidding, but I was excited now. I was going to find this camera now. It had been gone nearly 3 days, and neither my wife nor myself could recall the last place it was. But I'm determined to find it. It's 11:30pm at the time. I got an early morning too. I head up to the pool where we were a few days ago when we met up with some good friends, I start searching all around with all the hope in the world in finding the little booger. Then I see something, a slight reflection of something metallic under a bush, a thorny bush at that. I reach in, hoping no spiders, snakes or any other violent nocturnal creatures bite me in the darkness. I grab the object, and another success story is told. It's the little camera! It has dirt all over it, looks like trash. Luckily we had a water proof and shock proof version of the camera. I turn it on, and there were the photos of the other day when we had all the kids out, at the pool. A great ending to a potentially terrible day.

Then for the final, and perhaps, most unusual story of all.
I went out to pick up some stuff for a cookout, then went next door to the liquor store for a little something-something. While at the register having friendly conversation with the Cashier who also was previously in the Navy and in Japan, some woman walks in. She looks a little odd... She was a little large, not fat, but large. She obviously had just had a breast augmentation. I wasn't looking but with the revealing dress, and vast size, you couldn't help but notice. This was not a sexual attraction by any means. It was just a very noticeable presence. She walks in, grabs 2 of those little .79 cent UV Vodka bottles, you know the ones you drink before and after work? Well She was a little talkative, boasting about how she had JUST had some "work" done. I just agreed, and listened. She started to go into a little more detail, maybe a little too much...but this was just the tip of the iceberg. After more rambling, about pain, larger breasts, and pain killers. She says "You want to see them?" Before I can even respond, BLAM. I had double D's tossed at me. This was not a strip club, it is a reputable liquor store with a generous variety of fine wines. Of course I am here with a middle aged woman showing me her new purchase to redeem her youth. Wow. She quickly tied up the top portion of her sun dress, grabbed her little 2 little bottles, gave me a doctors name who is apparently the best in Austin. By that time, I had decided I had better get going. Her husband was staring at me through the window. I was kinda like, what do I do. But for that brief moment, I had the view of a fresh, painful looking surgery. Her nipples had appeared to be completely removed, the a implant was inserted, nipple sewn back on. The stitching of the stitches was quite something, better than anything I had seen on real clothes. I guess it had better be. What an interesting painful looking procedure. What a even more odd day!

Is there ever a dull moment in this thing we all call "LIFE"?