Archive for "Wishlist"
New Brighton Bracelet
Posted on October 24, 2010 by Ching under Wishlist.
Even though I told Brian specifically not to get me anything (because we were already spending so much for the Ponderosa Party), he still got me a gift. He normally follows instructions pretty well, but he’s been a bit of a pain lately. 😉
You guys have all seen my “Ching” bracelet… Well, I’d gotten the letters b, r, i, a, and n some time ago. I normally use the beads/charms on my braided leather necklace because I moved c, h, i, n, and g to the bracelet. Most of the time, though, I just wear my necklace plain with a single “soho” bead so the other beads/charms were just stored in my jewelry cabinet.
For my birthday, Brian got me a second bracelet and a few more beads so that I can create a companion to my “Ching” bracelet. Now I have a “Brian” bracelet also so that I can wear both of our names on my wrist. Besides getting a second starter bracelet, Brian got me another “soho” bead, a couple of braided leather beads, a couple of stopper beads, and a cute little laptop charm.
I laid out the new “Brian” bracelet the same way that I did the “Ching” bracelet so that they kind of match. This way it doesn’t look weird to wear both bracelets together. On the “Ching” bracelet, I have my little camera dangle charm which corresponds to the laptop charm on the “Brian” one. I’m a nerd so both charms are pretty significant.
Anyway, they were doing some kind of special at Wild at Heart when Brian went to purchase my gift because they gave him a colorful Brighton thermos/tumbler thing for free. That pretty much tipped me off about what Brian got me for my birthday. LOL.
Even though I already kinda sorta knew what I was going to get, he still insisted on not letting me open my present until the Ponderosa Party. Since I said I didn’t want any presents, he wanted to make sure I had something to unwrap. He’s sweet that way.
I was a little upset that he didn’t follow my instructions, but it was only for a brief moment. As soon as I saw the present and the Brighton thermos (about a week ago), I was excited to see my new Brighton goodies. The little package, which we just left on the sofa table until the party, taunted me for several days. At least he didn’t make me wait until the 30th!
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Shower Conversation #468
Posted on October 24, 2010 by Ching under Life, Wishlist.
So Brian and I made the mistake of running the dishwasher before our shower yesterday. I was thinking that waiting to shower an hour and a half after starting the dishwasher would be sufficient time, but we still ran out of hot water. Then again, we were probably in there for more than 30 minutes.
BRIAN: When we buy a house, it’ll need to have a tankless water system that way we won’t run out of hot water when we’re showering.
CHING: I agree. A tankless system would be far more energy efficient, specially for people like you who only shower once a week. With a regular hot water tank, you’re wasting energy keeping the hot water hot even when you’re not using it.
BRIAN: Hey! I’ve been showering a lot more lately. Besides, I don’t have to shower everyday because I don’t ever get dirty or sweaty.
CHING: Of course you don’t. You’re a slug and you don’t do any physical activity!
Since it will be at least three years before we’re ready to buy a house and we’re not likely to enjoy the benefits of a tankless water system anytime soon, I guess we’re going to have to start taking shorter showers. Either that or allow several hours between showers and dishwasher cycles. =P
(Click here for the previous shower conversation.)
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I Love Birthdays!
Posted on October 23, 2010 by Ching under Life, Wishlist.
I got five pairs of underpants from Victoria’s Secret for only $15 because they gave me a $10 OFF card for my birthday. I love, love, love birthday freebies. Except I’ve noticed that a lot of stores are cutting back on their birthday swag these days. I was expecting to get more birthday coupons, and I hardly got any this year.
I did receive a special gift offer from Sephora for my birthday. It’s a shame that we don’t have any Sephora stores in town because there’s no purchase necessary if the coupon is redeemed in person. If you redeem it online, then you have to at least purchase something.
What about you guys? What do you think? Which are the best companies to sign up with for birthday freebies and coupons?
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Our New Cellphones Arrived on Friday
Posted on August 26, 2010 by Ching under Toys, Wishlist.
I won’t blog about the whole cellphone saga because it’s a long story and Brian told me that he would blog about it. After all, he is the one who worked super hard to get us our new Samsung Galaxy S/Vibrant phones. T-Mobile wouldn’t give them to us for less than $150 each at first. Even after multiple phone calls and multiple cancellation threats, they wouldn’t do it. We almost switched to Verizon to get HTC Incredibles. Luckily, they ran a special where everyone could get it for $99 so we were able to get in on that deal.
I’m glad we stayed with T-Mobile because our rate plan is unbeatable. We got to keep our grandfathered calling and messaging plans, and simply added unlimited data for $20 per month on each line. Also, I really, really like the Vibrant because I can control our TV with it. I can show pictures and videos stored in my phone on the TV wirelessly through the AllShare app. It is soo neat!
Check out what the phone can do below…
P.S. If you can’t see the video, you need to get out of Facebook for a second and visit my actual blog.
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The War of the Providers!
Posted on August 17, 2010 by Brian under Reviews, Shopping, Wishlist.
Ok, let me start at the beginning.
Several weeks ago (before I left for Germany) my wife decided that she wanted the HTC HD2 that T-Mobile had just released. Unlike me, she did not do her research and find out if the phone was worth the buy. She has liked Windows phones since her first one and she refused to change even though all of the Windows phones that she has owned have failed her in some way.
So we looked and looked and suddenly like a beacon from heaven, Wal-Mart has the HD2 on sale for $50.00! Ching took this as a sign from God that she was meant to have this phone, ok not really but you could see the gears working in her head. I caved and let my baby have what she wanted. I did provide a small protest and point out that all of her other windows phones were crap, she replied with “but this one is different”. So, we made the buy and off we went. She was happy, I was happy that she was happy and for the next few days she set everything up and it looked like all was well.
I get back from Germany and my wife says “Something is wrong with my phone”. I knew this was going to happen. We look at it and then decide to call T-Mo for support. Their first reaction, “let’s do a factory reset, that usually fixes the problem”. I was not keen on this idea. They did this with one of my wife’s other Window’s phones and it screwed it up. We had to reload the whole OS, this was not a good idea. I protested a little but the tech assured me that this was the only solution. I reset the phone and the problem went away. However, a dozen other problems sprung up. After a little over a day, we realized that we were still in the buyers remorse period and we took the phone back, reversed the upgrade and moved on.
We cut to this Sunday. I convinced my wife to stop by the T-Mo store and take a look at the new Vibrant. It’s the latest and greatest that Samsung has produced and is shaping up to be the baddest on the market. The wife absolutely loved it. She was impressed with all of it’s features and was impressed with it’s operation. We left the store and she said. Lets see if we can get it cheaper than 199.99.
This is a great idea since We have been with them since 2000, ever since they were Voicestream. I have never wanted to cancel my service. Hell, everyone I know and talk to is on T-Mobile service. So I called and told them that I was interested in that phone. They quoted me the price and I said. “I’m not on a contract, I get a 12% discount through my company on Verizion, I should just go there”. Like the rep is supposed to I get sent to the retention department.
This rep asks me what I am looking for and I repeat the speech. I basically said, “I am not interested in special rate plans or discounts on service. I simply want a phone cheaper than what I can get from any other provider or from walking down to Wal-Mart” (Wal-Mart currently has the Vibrant for $150.00). She say, “let me see what I can do”. She comes back a few minutes later and says “I can give you that phone for $149.99 on each line but only if that phone stays in service for 30 days. Basically you will pay full price up front and then we will give you the $50.00 after 30 days to each line. Plus, I will lower your Data plan by $10.00 dollars per line for the life time of the account”. I sat there in silence. The rep did not listen to anything I had said. I had already told her about Wal-Mart. I had already told her that I could get two droids for free and that I was not asking for free, I was just asking for something better. Shortly after that, She began to argue with me about the merits of getting the data discount. I advised her that I was just going to go to Verizion (which I still think I am going to do) and she proceeded to tell me how much more it was going to cost me. She did not know that I already looked at the plans, calculated the costs and found that after the 12% discount I was going to actually save $5.00 a month. I pointed this out to her and she just sat in silence. After that I just told her to never mind, I would call back when I had another service provider. Instead of offering me something better, she said “OK, have a nice day” and disconnected.
I know they can offer better, I have a friend that just got one for $99.00 through T-Mo, and he didn’t even have to do anything. I don’t understand what their problem is. I know what they can offer, I know what I can get. Why do they have to play these stupid games with me over this crap.
I think tomorrow I will escalate to a supervisor. I am tired of all of these silly reindeer games. If I cant get satisfaction then it’s time for a change. If they are going to make me pay over $100.00 for a phone then I am going to go someplace else.
Stay tuned tomorrow boys and girls when I reveal who is the best service provider and who sucks big…Ok, I got a little carried away there. But seriously, Stay tuned, there is more.
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