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• 17:26 @dr0idness Welcome back! Sorry to hear L.A. didn’t work out. #
• 17:26 Company is looking for a freelance PHP coder. 10-20 hrs/wk, osCommerce experience is a +. Anyone interested, or know someone who might be? #

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• 19:08 At the Brickstore Pub. Wish you were here! snipurl.com/ai4xz #

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As some may notice, I tend to post sporadically. I could make excuses, give reasons, whatever. Basically what it comes down to is that I blog when I feel like writing in this format, and it’s mostly for myself anyway (it’s not like I have a readership to speak of). Hence why the vast majority of my posts lately have been Twitter repostings. I’m actually going to turn that off, and possibly delete all of those entries. I haven’t decided for sure yet.

Anyway, today I was actually given hope for the world. I’ll do this in a nutshell as best I can. Got a letter from a trash company saying, “Hey, we’re taking over for your current company in 2009. Here’s a bill that will cover your services for a year.” I probably should have checked, but I didn’t — I just paid the bill. Well, I notice the old trash company is still coming. Curious. Then I get a letter in the mail from the old company saying that they are still around, and that if I paid a bill to this other company, I should call and ask for a refund.

So I call and ask for a refund.

Amazingly, I get it, with absolutely no hassle.

The woman on the phone was like, “Yeah, we were originally awarded the contract with the county in 2009, but some other companies have filed in court for their right to continue with service. So it’s sort of in a state of limbo right now. I can issue you a refund if you’d like.” That’s right, they offered a refund before I even mentioned it. This pretty much floored me. I called expecting to have to squeeze it out of them like wringing water from an old rag in the desert, expecting about as much success.

This actually makes me look forward to working with that company in the future, if things get worked out and they do become the service provider. More so, I’ve been amazed by the friendliness and helpfulness of companies that I’ve dealt with recently. Maybe it’s some alignment of the planets or something. I ordered my new bed just before Christmas from a company that does price-matching. I showed them another website that had the same platform bed for about $600 less, including shipping. They looked it up, confirmed, and matched the price with no hassle. If you ever need a bed, I highly recommend Online Store, Inc.  Delivery and setup was included in the price, and the setup was very appreciated. It took two professionals with powertools about an hour and a half to set up that bed. I can only imagine what a hassle it would have been for me. But it is spectacular, and huge, and I love it.

In other news, I’ve been under the weather lately. Nothing serious, just the typical cough/sore throat/stuffiness/headache bug. It was bad enough to cause me to not be able to break in my bed properly, and also to miss out on a party Friday night and two events Saturday night — one of the latter events being attended by a couple that I haven’t seen in almost 6 months. Quite annoying. I spent the time resting… in front of the computer, and playing World of Warcraft enough to get my deathknight his flying mount. This will cure about 90% of my deaths in that game, which are from falling. I tend to do point-to-point marches, and generally dislike moving in anything other than a straight line.  Hence, cliffs are hazardous to my health.

Originally published at Umbral Echoes Blog. You can comment here or there.

• 16:24 With sufficiently cool friends, even grocery shopping is a fun adventure. #

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• 14:26 It’s sort of nice to only have one house to go to instead of three today. Why see 4 Christmases? I’ve lived it! snipurl.com/941g1 #

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• 14:27 Just ordered a platform bed and memory foam mattress. For the first time in about 7 years, I will sleep on an actual bed. #

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• 23:54 Only Chris McDonough can get the strippers to tip him. #

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• 21:17 Drinking at Brickstore Pub with 4 womens! snipurl.com/64uxk #

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• 20:09 Finally found an app for the iPhone that lets me get IMs even when it’s I’m sleep mode. Sis, you are the greatest. #

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• 10:33 Watching the leaves fall in front of my house like so many huge amber and yellow snowflakes. snipurl.com/5cyp3 #
• 00:06 Can’t believe I’m doing this. snipurl.com/5eb0h #

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• 09:33 Rocking the vote. Or something. snipurl.com/532fe #
• 10:02 @dryller Yeah apparently only those over age 75 get a pass to the front of the line. snipurl.com/535af #
• 10:12 @ShadowEyes What, not going out to make the choice between a douchebag and a turd sandwich? Love South Park. #
• 10:20 New idea: water slide after voting, to exit the building. Then it’s like you’re in line for a ride! #

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• 16:26 Sunday afternoon in Piedmont park. snipurl.com/4y5jq #

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• 16:26 Sunday afternoon in Piedmont park. snipurl.com/4y5jq #

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• 12:02 @collegecate Apologies for late response, but yes. No injuries, just $5k in damage to my car. Which I don’t have to pay for. #
• 21:01 Watching Cannibal the Musical stage play. #

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• 10:53 @shadoweyes Here, here. #
• 19:54 Was just in my first wreck ever. Thankfully not my fault though. snipurl.com/4q7dv #

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I haven’t really felt like writing much recently — I suppose I’ve just been preoccupied with too many other things in life.

The big news is that my company has decided to ditch the office, so I am now working remotely full-time.  I’m still doing a weekly face-to-face lunch meeting, because I think face time is important, but other than that I’m chillin’ at home during the workday.  This week has been the first week of that, and it’s definitely taking some mental adjustments, but I’m really happy about this change.

This also means that I will have much more flexibility to visit a lot of my friends.  Aside from those weekly meetings (which I can skip from time to time), it really doesn’t matter whether I’m working from my house or Istanbul, as long as I can keep the same working schedule as the other employees.

In other news, I was invited to a Halloween party at the Playboy mansion.  Sadly, it’s a bit late notice and the person who invited me really didn’t have his ducks in a row, so I’m not going to be able to make it.  Which is a pity, since it looked quite cool — professional set creators had designed a haunted house, actors walking around in zombie makeup, Paul Oakenfold spinning (though I am told by a very reliable source that Oakenfold got pwnt by the DJ Sarah Collins when spinning in a club in Seattle), and of course boobs galore.  I was seriously considering getting a captain’s hat and going as the Motorboat Captain.  Feel free to use that one at your own Halloween parties — so long as it’s not one I’ll be at, in which case I reserve the right to that idea.

On the plus side, this guy pretty much has a standing invite, and the New Years party is looking good.

I’m getting more into World of Warcraft, and will be even more so when Wrath of the Lich King comes out.  When I went to Doug’s wedding in Louisville a few weekends ago, the old gang decided to get back together in an online fashion on the Baelgun server.  I’ll have to roll a Deathknight so I can get a head-start to 55, but I was wanting to do that anyway.  It will be awesome to be in better contact with the guys again.

I hear Fable 2 is the new hotness.  I wish I had more time for gaming.  But when faced with the choice of going out with friends or staying at home and watching a TV screen, I generally take the former.  And in the case of the latter… well, aforementioned Warcrack tends to take up that time.

Anyway, if you’re reading this, and would like me to come visit at some point, toss me an email and I’ll work something out.  Sis, you’re at the top of my list.

Originally published at Umbral Echoes Blog. You can comment here or there.

• 17:57 The presidential race meets You Got Served. tinyurl.com/6azu2b #

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• 17:06 Heading to the woods of KY this weekend for a game, won’t have cell/Internet. #

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• 08:58 Not handling today as well as I’d hoped. Will likely be on radio silence all day. #

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• 19:37 Cincinnati is pretty at night. snipurl.com/498as #

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