Month: December 2009

December 30, 2009 miscellaneous debris, richie 2 Comments

I want my two dollars!

I feel like I am getting into a lot of controversial topics lately and I promise to get back to the regular nonsense after this…If there is one thing I HATE, it’s contacting technical support. It raises my blood pressure just thinking about it. So, I want to share my one positive experience — and it just so happens to have been with my beloved Apple. I bought an iPhone app the other day that turned out to be a complete waste of money. So, I reported a problem to iTunes. I got a message immediately that said it was forwarded to the makers of the app — not exactly what I wanted. I sent another message saying I want my money back. I got this reply within an hour or two:

Good morning Richard,

Mikey here, from the iTunes Store. I understand you wrote in a few days ago about your application “GoDocs” that doesn’t work and asking for a refund. I also see that you haven’t received a reply from that email and would like to know why. I can certainly see how eager you are to have this resolved and, I apologize for the email not getting to you. Richard, I will be happy to assist you with this today.

I have reversed the charge for the purchase. A credit of $1.99 should be posted within five business days to your store credit and credit card.

As a goodwill gesture and for the delays, I have issued 3 replacement song credits to your account. You can use the credits to buy songs of your choice from the iTunes Store.

When you sign in to the iTunes Store with this account, the song credits will appear by your account name in the upper-right corner of the iTunes window. The next time you buy a song from the iTunes Store, one song credit will be used to pay for the purchase. Please note that song credits cannot be used for purchasing songs that are listed as “Album Only.”

If you don’t see the credits, choose Sign Out from the Store pull-down menu at the top. Then choose Sign In from the Store menu, enter your account name and password, and click Sign In. Your song credits should now appear next to your account name.

I thank you for giving me the opportunity to assist you today, should you have any further questions don’t hesitate to reply to this email.

Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,

Mikey
iTunes Store Customer Support

It’s a small thing, but it surprised me enough that I wanted to publicly thank them for not being punks over $2. I’m sure PC makers would have been jerks. PCs…boo!

December 29, 2009 drunken midgets, Good Ju-Ju, King Con, Wild West'n Post a Comment

KISS

juliakiss
Julia’s friend had a birthday party and everyone was supposed to dress up like rockstars. The whole idea was inspired by Hannah Montana and Julia is not a fan. So, I suggested we paint her face like the band KISS. She, of course, has no idea who KISS is, but went along with the idea anyway. I asked Julia what her friends thought of her face painting and she said, “Well, the adults all seemed to like it.”

The boys felt left out, so we painted their faces as well. Conrad wanted a blonde beard. We couldn’t talk him out of it.
paintedfaces

December 21, 2009 drunken midgets, King Con Post a Comment

Mixed Up Little Dude

IMG_0090
I walk by as Claire is helping Conrad put his shoes on…

Claire: “That shoe goes on the other foot.”

Conrad: “No, it doesn’t!”

I assume this all got resolved until, later in the day, I notice Conrad’s shoes are on the wrong foot. The problem is, last time Conrad was over at his friend’s house with his shoes on the wrong foot, the friend’s parents teased me for it. So, this post is to let them know that I’m not to blame this time.

…a few hours later…

Claire: “Conrad, are your pants on backwards?”

Conrad: “No, they’re not!”

His little pockets were inside out (as they always are) and sticking out his rear end. So, just a little wrap up: The kid’s shoes were on the wrong foot, his pants were on backwards, and his pockets were inside out. It’s a good thing he’s funny.

December 18, 2009 rich and beautiful 7 Comments

Cracker

claireMouth
I get a message from Claire asking me to pick up a small flashlight on my way home. I write back asking what kind of small flashlight. She responds that she got a “cracker stuck in her gums.” I assume she’s drunk and seek clarification with, “What are you talking about?” She explains that a cracker got stuck in her gums and she can’t see well enough to take it out. Having never had a cracker get stuck anywhere for very long, I stop asking questions and follow orders.

On my way home, I stop at a little store and ask if they have tiny flashlights. The guy asks me what it’s for. Hmm…I can’t think of anything so I tell the truth, “to help my wife get a cracker out of her gums.” The guy looks at me weird and tells me he doesn’t think he has anything.

As it turns out, it wasn’t a cracker, but a tiny piece of the insoluble part of popcorn. It had embedded itself into her gums somehow. Claire threatens to just go to the dentist. Motivated by unneccessary dental bills, the sinking economy, and rising healthcare costs, I jab at it until it breaks free.

I think this is the weirdest post yet.

December 14, 2009 miscellaneous debris 2 Comments

Spamalot

So, I was scanning some of the comments on the blog that were correctly marked as spam. I especially liked the ones that tried to be so vague that they apply to any blog — any blog except ours…

Good work, I wish my site had as much information as yours does.

…information? Really???

Useful information, thanks for taking the time to write it.

…sorry, no useful information on this blog.

Thanks for posting this, reading your blog I’m amazed how much time you have put into it.

You reading this, Heather?

I think this much merrily.

This was a tough one to detect.

I think this merrily.

An obvious attempt to correct the previous comment.

I much liked Your description.

I much like your comment.

But as, all exactly so.

True enough.

December 11, 2009 drunken midgets, King Con 2 Comments

Santa

We stop at a light and Conrad says, “I see Santa’s car.” Claire and I look at each other, completely puzzled….then we look at the car next to us. It’s a silver sedan — doesn’t make any sense. Then we look at the driver in the car next to us — an older gentleman with a big white beard. Claire thought it would be rude to take a picture of him. Sorry.

December 7, 2009 drunken midgets, rich and beautiful Post a Comment

3 in NYC

con-bigbro

All this reminiscing and comparing our New York baby experience with our Oregon baby experience reminded me of a common occurrence when Claire was pregnant with Con Man…

When Claire was finally starting to show, we would get mixed reactions from people on the street in New York. On the rare occasion that Claire and I were out by ourselves on a date night, we would have strangers get visibly excited and tell us how wonderful it is to have a child. Now, if the two of us were accompanied by Julia and Weston, strangers would give looks of pity because we obviously didn’t know where babies came from, anger because we were contributing to the overpopulation of Manhattan island, or plain disbelief. Luckily, Julia and Weston are real charmers, so it didn’t take long for people to grow to love our kids and understand why we keep having them.