When a Want Becomes a Need

On Friday, I was flipping through a Sears catalog when a sale on a LCD TV caught my eye. It seemed like a pretty good deal and seeing how I have been envying a flat screen TV for a couple years now, I thought that I would just go out and buy it. So I walked over to the Sears by my office and checked it out. After seeing it sitting over its price tag, I was sold. I couldn't buy it right there since I had no real way of getting it home. So I headed back home and made arrangements to get a ride to the Sears nearer to my house. But before I went I wanted to get some packing done for my move. As I worked I started to think, "maybe I should just wait, other deals will come along, what's the rush?" Then as I was backing out of my closet I bumped into my current TV and it came crashing into the floor. I picked it up and to my astonishment the screen was not cracked. Then I tried to turn it on. That's when I decided I should go out that night and buy my new TV.

Armed with my new buying motive, I headed out to Sears. I was approached by a salesman, to whom I told that I wanted to buy a TV and pointed out the one I saw in the ad. Understandalby they have been selling pretty well and he wanted to make sure they still had them in stock. He checked came back and told me they did still have some, so after a few more questions, I told him I wanted to take it. He went into the back again and returned with news that they were in fact sold out. Dissapointed I left the store. But then I decided to head to Circuit City thinking that maybe there was another deal out there. After browsing for a little while I came upon the same TV for $100 more. I told one of the sales clerks about Sears and they said they would match the price for me. I find it interesting that you really can barter with huge corporations. After turning down the extended warrentee, I headed out of the store with my new TV in hand and was happy.

Getting Sued

I found out today I was being sued for a car accident that occurred over two years ago. Technically I am not being sued but rather my insurance company is. I find it amazing that after two years later the woman I hit is suddenly having adverse health effects from the accident. Everything is so obscure in a case like this. How much should you be compensated for a headache that you develop two years after an event? Is there some sort of sliding scale of headaches at the insurance companies if your head hurts this much you are entitled to this much. The United States is a funny place because you can basically sue anyone for anything at anytime. My roommate commented that a suit like this one would be laughed at in Canada. I just find it disturbing that people so often abuse our legal system to take full advantage of situations. And the only people that really win are the lawyers who get paid for anything.

Stoop Night Returns

Stoop Night was once a proud tradition at our house, but because of social, political, economic, and sleeping issues, it is not what it used to be. One of the main factors that has contributed to the decline of stoop night is the lack of foot traffic caused by the closure of the train stop next to our house. Not only have the commuters been eliminated, but also the construction has blocked off the sidewalk in front of our house garanteeing slow people-watching conditions. But I have found a new activity that makes stoop night fun again (other than the drinking) and it is all thanks to the IDOT. For the last hour or so I have been watching cars get pummeled on a deceptively deep pothole in the street in front of my house. Obviously not all the cars hit the hole, but many inevitably hit one of the many hubcaps lining the street. I don't think the pothole is making people too happy, and I don't think I am helping by heckling the people shortly after they go over it. One guy did tell me that I am a funny guy, but I think perhaps he was being derisive.

Suspended Continued...

In a week when two NFL players were suspended for a total of 24 games for somthing like 15 incidents involving the police, I was handed an extension on my rugby suspension. Sure I stepped on a guy's head, but in the second game I sat out much stomping went on. In a sport that is suppose to be physical and tough, throwing me out for something that didn't even make the other player bleed was just plain whimpy. This is just one example of how pathetic the US Rugby Super League is. I lost my playing privilege after losing in a vote of the disciplinary committee. The vote was 2 to 1. What kind of a committe has three members. A three member committee is just one person away from being a couple of guys. I don't quite understand what they want me to do: be nice? use my words? I say if you don't like violence you should stay away from the rugby pitch and certainly out of rugby disciplinary committees.

Payback

Whoever said 'payback is a bitch' must have had several meanings on their mind. I have found getting paid back is much more difficult than it should be. Two instances quickly come to mind. The first is with taxes. This year I am getting a federal return and have to pay state taxes. You'd think that I could just offset the two, but you'd be wrong. I have to mail my payment in right away, but have to wait 6 to 8 weeks to get my return. The second example is my security deposits. For my new apartment I have to tender payment right away, but as for my current place I have to wait to get it back, assuming I will get it back at all. I am just tired of having to pay people first and get paid whenever my lendee feels like paying me back. I know it's not a big deal waiting to get money that I am owed, it just annoys me. For once I would like to be the one that collects when he wants and pays out when he feels like it.

My Brithday

This was the first year that Easter Sunday fell on my birthday, and it really did steal some of my thunder. On the plus side we really did have a reason to celebrate all day long. We started with Easter mass, but after that the fun really started. We had our traditional Easter brunch complete with beers. I started drinking a little after 11 and ended up staying up until about 1 in the morning. The Easter dinner slash birthday party included a sampling of many special beers that we bought from the local fancy beer store. Although I had a very good birthday, I think that birthday's in general are becoming less fun. Last year we had a party at a bar and it was a good wild time. I really didn't feel like celebrating as publicly this year. I know that I am still really young, but getting older just does not excite like it used to. From what I understand this trend only gets worse (my mom just turned 50). But I spent some time (while pretty intoxicated) thinking about where I have been, where I am, and where I want to go. I think a birthday is a good time to do it because it creates a set time interval. 'I have been around this long, I have done that, now I want to do this,' sort of thought. Perhaps this type of reflection is usually associated with a mid-life chrisis, but in some degree or another we do it much of the time. I just want to use this self reflection constructively and not do something stupid, like buy an expensive car, in a futile attempt to recapture some lost youth.

The Hunt

What a wild ride apartment hunting has been this year. We have seen upwards of 19 places in the last two weeks and nothing seemed quite perfect, but I suppose that is expected when you set a price limitation. We used two different apartment finder services, one which showed us two houses that weren't even close, and another that in the same time showed us 8, any of which we could have settled with. Then when we went off on our own, the tension started to build. I scheduled 9 apartments on one Friday afternoon, and the last of them fit every criteria. It was close to the train, offered a bigger living space, new kitchen, new bathroom, deck, basement storage, free laundry, off a quite street, and even had a free garage parking spot. All this for only one hundred dollars more than we are currently paying. The only catch was that one of the bedrooms was pretty small and I even offered to take the small one. I thought the place was great, but my roommate needed 'time to think.' In that time, which turned out to be over two days, I was trying to get the whole process going. As I called to ensure that our application was received, I was informed that someone took it out from under us during the thinking time. At this point I was done with the whole process. I had worked quite hard and was ready to just stay put. Then the very next day, my roommate took the initiative. He scheduled a couple of appointments, most in an area that I had no interest in living. But then something less than amazing happened. He found a place very similar to one I had liked. Except the small bedroom was smaller, the location was not as good, coin laundry in the basement, no deck, and the rent was $45 more. Somehow he got the first 'good feeling' since we went hunting. I like the place but I remain perplexed how he loved this place, which clearly had more drawbacks, and snubbed the other one. I think perhaps it was because he found it and we are more inclined to favor the results of our own work. Whatever the reason, I hope that we will not have to relive the hunting experience anytime soon. Now on to the moving. More blogs to come...

A Bad Trade

As I am planning on moving in the next month, I have been looking for ways to lighten my load. I know I can just throw my unwanted stuff away, but I have a problem pitching things that are still functional. So I gave an old TV, a lamp, and my old computer screen to the local thrift shop. I also have several old textbooks sitting on my bookshelf, so I opened an Amazon sellers account to see if I could get rid of them and make a little money. One of my books was out of edition and offered for about ten bucks by the lowest seller. Just so I could get rid of it I offered mine for $2.50. About a week later I got an email informing me that my book had been sold. As a scrolled down the message I saw that Amazon had charged me a fee of $2.57. At that point I had sold my book for a 7 cent loss. I would have been better throwing the book away had it not been for the shipping credit of $3.49. I took the book to the post office and got a special media mail rate of $3.03, to leave me with a net gain of 39 cents that I used to buy a stamp to mail my tax return. In the end I basically traded a textbook I probably paid upwards of $70 for to get a single stamp. Pretty embarrassing for a person who works to make profitable trades as a profession.

Am I Too Violent?

Yesterday I served my suspension from rugby for getting a red card in last week's game. I find it hard to believe that I am too violent for one of the most violent sports people currently play. Here is what happened. In a game where our team was lacking aggressiveness, I felt more pressure to be aggressive myself. I put on some big hits early in the game, but was having problems with my footing. So at half time I changed from my molded rubber cleats to my metal stud cleats. No more than five minutes into the second half, an opposing player jumped into the middle of one of our mauls and tried to collapse all of our players. Before he had a chance I pulled him to the ground and started stomping on him. I know that it seems harsh but it is part of the game. Anyway, my metal studs happened to find the back of the player's head and neck. Before I knew it I was being grabbed from behind around my arm and neck. I was in this vulnerable situation for several seconds with no help coming from my teammates. So I forced myself to the ground to get out of the hold. After a short discussion and a lot of bitching by the other team, I was ejected from the game and handed a suspension. The one saving grace, for me at least, was that I did change my cleats to the more painful studs. Had I been thrown out for stepping on a guy with molded cleats, I would have been very upset. But I learned a lot from the experience. I think from now on I will use my words when playing rugby. For example I can ask an opposing runner to go to the ground instead of actually tackling him. And if he refuses I can tell on him to the referee.