A minor disaster avoided ...

A really good friend, Jim, recently tied a knot with his long time girl friend, Beth. I was one of his groom's men. I was more than happy to be in his wedding and do my part to make sure things go smoothly. I also did not expect anything would go wrong. It turned out, it could have been a little ugly if not for a little fortunate sequence of events. Let me elaborate.

Dude, where is my kilt?

I took Friday off to attend the rehearsal. Before I started driving to Tucson, I decided to phone Jim, because he talked about me picking up kilts for the wedding party. It's Jim's idea of formal wear. Anyway, I left a message on Beth's phone. I guessed it was too early for Jim.

I finished getting ready to head out to Tucson when I received a call from Beth. There was this slight panic in her voice. This is NO GOOD!!! I mean I don't want to stress out the bride a day before her wedding. Beth relegated our conversation to Jim.

Jim, still not 100% awaken state, came on the phone said, "dude, I left you a message yesterday." I said, "I have not checked my messages yesterday." I worked quite late the day before so I could take the day off. I said in my most reassuring voice, "I got this. I will get the kilts, but will be late to the rehearsal." Jim said, "it's more important."

Got to love the way guys communicate. I figured the message last night would say where I need to go to pick up the kilts. Well, it didn't. I checked all my e-mail from Jim, but to no avail. I wanted to scream in the most disturbing way. I did not want to call the bride again. Can you imagine her level of stress or Beth yelling at Jim? I figured I need to solve this minor problem myself.

I googled kilt rental in Scottsdale, AZ. Luckily, there was only one kilt rental in all of Arizona. That is got to be the place. It was a little too early to call, so I waited about a half hour. I told them I would pick up kilts ASAP. I felt good about doing this in a low key way as not to disturb the bride or groom. I felt like I did a good job as a groom's man.

Hotel room, what hotel room?
I originally planned on staying at a hotel room. A good college friend, Matt, and I was going to share the expense. He backed out a week before on the arrangement. Matt and I both ended up staying with Harley. It turned out pretty well as Harley is a good host always. I did save a few bucks, which was used for a wedding gift.

Wedding went smoothly. People loved the kilts. I won't tell you if we went commando. You have to ask the groom. Their ring bearing dog was a hit. The location was beautiful. It was an open bar. I cannot find anything to complain about really.

Here is to the my newest wedded couple, Jim and Beth.

Fun on Monday night? No way ...

I cannot remember the last time I went to a concert on Monday or going to a concert of an unknown band. Well, I have done both last Monday. I went to see Guster at Marquee Theatre on September 17, 2007.

Pam wanted to go see Guster and invited her friends including me to go. I did not know who Guster is, but I decided to go because I had not seen Pam, Amy, and Colby in sometime.

I checked them out on Guster's myspace. The band sounded very decent. I thought it would be an okay concert. I had no idea how much I would really enjoy the band.

I met up with Pam and Amy around 5:30 at Amy's house. Pam brought dinner. I got to hung out with the little ones, Cam and Aidan. They are so much bigger and more independent. It was great. Cam can now have a real conversation. Aidan is walking and says no. Wow.

We left for Guster around 6:30. It turned out we were there about an hour early. No matter, we got some adult beverages and caught up with each others lives. We really should hang out more often.

Guster started playing round 8. The band has an awesome bongo player. By this fact alone, made the band sound very distinct to me. I only knew one of their songs. I think I heard Satelite from a movie or maybe Scrubs. I really enjoyed this concert very much. Guster is a fantastic live band. I just bought a couple of songs, Amsterdam and Satelite.

Spoofs rule ...

I was reading Woot. It is a daily bargain site. This site is popular not just for one excellent bargain per day, but for humorous ways they describe each bargain/product.

I did not expect what I found today. A spoof of iPhone price drop for Microsoft Zune. It is hilarious.

An Emergency Open Letter

To all Woot customers:

I have received more than three emails from Zune buyers who are upset about Woot dropping the price of the Zune by $20 one month after it went on sale the first time. After reading every one of these emails, or at least scanning their subject lines, I have some observations and conclusions.

First, I need to make a better effort to hide my email address.

Second, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 30GB Zune from $149.99 to $129.99. This confidence is based on more than the holy doctrine of corporate infallibility. The Zune is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to “ride the lightning” and “shoot the curl” this holiday season, not to mention “kill the messenger” and “rock the vote”, further enabling us to “pay the rent” and “keep the lights on”. It benefits both Woot and every Zune user (but especially Woot) to drag as many new victims as possible into the Zune “dungeon”. We strongly believe that misery loves company this holiday season.

Third, being in technology for 1+ years, give or take a year, I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always some idiot changing lanes without signaling, and the potholes never seem to get fixed. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you’ll never buy any technology product. I mean, why should you? Truth is, you don’t really need any of this junk. We’re afraid you’ll catch on to that fact and overpaid frauds like me will have to go back into fields like telemarketing and burrito construction. Fortunately, most of you continue to languish in a consumerist stupor, wallets spread wide for us to plunder as we please. The bad news for us is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service. But we’re hoping you’ll buy from Woot instead.

Third-and-a-half, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of the Zune, and even though the technology road is, like, this total Deathrace 2000-type scene, we need to do a better job taking care of our early Zune customers, at least until we find a private security firm we can afford. For some reason, our early customers trusted us. We must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these, lest you turn off the money spigot that maintains our decadent lifestyles. These peacock-egg omelets and mink-lined Jacuzzis don’t pay for themselves, you know.

Therefore, we have decided to offer every Woot customer who purchased a Zune from us on August 22, 2007 (or in the last Woot-Off) a $10 Woot credit towards any Woot order of $40 or more, before shipping. If that’s you, just enter the coupon code BUMPYROAD while making your purchase, and boo-yah: you’re mayor of Discount City. This discount applies to any Woot site, including Woot.com, Shirt.Woot, Wine.Woot, Sellout.Woot, and Beets.Woot. It doesn't expire, so feel free to check back everyday 'til you find something that will temporarily fill the void in your soul. You may use the coupon as many times as you bought Zunes. So, if you bought one Zune from us back in August, you can use BUMPYROAD once; if you bought two, you can use it twice; and so forth and so on and what-have-you. But you can only use the discount once on any one order. We make this decision with every confidence that most of you will never want any of the crap we sell anyway.

We want to convincingly pretend to do the right thing for our valued Zune customers. We’d apologize for disappointing some of you, but we long ago lost the capacity for sincere remorse. We will continue to do our best to trick you into having high expectations of Woot.

Larry Stalin
Woot CYA Officer

3:10 to Yuma is not great ...

I watched 3:10 to Yuma recently. It is about a ranching family trying to live honestly when everyone seems to be against the family. When a notorious outlaw is captured, the rancher is given a chance to make quick money by escorting the outlaw. Needing the money, rancher takes the job in a heartbeat and the story unfolds.

With great actors, Crowe and Bale, can a movie be bad? Gretchen Mole is not bad either. I don't know who played the older son, but he was quite good, too.

This is why I am disappointed that either the director or producers did something to change the ending. I mean it should be somewhat believable. I don't really want to give away the ending as I still think it is good enough for people to see.

Let the unproductivity begin ...

Just like millions of others, I am useless on Sundays these days. Why? I am watching football. I don't know when this obsession started. I don't particularly like being unproductive. I just cannot seem to help myself.

It was good to see Cardinals win their home opener against divisional foe, Seahawks. I was holding my breath as the game was determined last minute. Cardinals have a way of blowing games.

My fav, Vikings, lost today. Apparently, the new QB is not very good. He seems to be intercept prone. Defense seems to be solid. I hope they have a good season.

Sunday night game between Chargers and Patriots turned out be a dud. Although it was good to see Moss kick butt, however it was not good to watch as a neutral fan.

On the side note, local women basketball team, Mercury, won their first championship. The final game was not carried by any of the local tv stations. Hmm.

Hoping to be more productive next Sunday.