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SpiilWay receives a lesson in humility.
Tuesday this week I went to the mailbox and there was a beautiful silver coin addressed to me. Huh?
Inside was the eBay auction information, stating I was the winner? Huh? I remembered looking at the coin, and I also remembered bidding on it, but I honestly thought I had been outbid.
But after more research, sure enough I had won the auction and then COMPLETELY and TOTALLY forgotten about it. Yet the seller went ahead and mailed the coin to me, anyway. Mind you, both the seller and I have 100% positive feedback.
Also from last Sunday was an email in my email account I use strictly for eBay from the seller, saying I hope you like the coin, and was wondering if you would mind paying me for it.
Lord, I could've died. I wanted to crawl under something. But I quickly went to PayPal and paid for it, along with an apology attached to the little note box in PayPal that you can send the seller.
I also sent the seller an apologetic email explaining that I had just forgotten, I was extremely sorry, and I was very, very grateful that he had not posted negative feedback, or worse, posted me as a non-paying bidder.
Today his positive feedback for me showed up on my eBay account, saying I was a great eBay'er and was also a very HONEST person.
Now this guy (his name is Howard) is kind and patient and understanding beyond anything that was called for in that situation.
And I feel very, very humble. And also pretty lucky that happened to me with such a nice person.
So I have learned a great lesson here and I'm grateful for it. Let ME be so patient and kind with others, not only today, but every day.
How very true. Unfortunately, I'm trading with my SEP-IRA account and Ameritrade won't let me short stocks in that account. I don't know if that's just a quirk with Ameritrade, or if it is some sort of Federal reg.
In any event, I'd like to move to Freetrade, but they won't have the likes of me (IRA).
My spouse uses Freetrade, with an Alphatrade chaser, and does very well with that combo. But she's using real money.
There's the crucial phrase for all of us, right there.
...if the market is cooperating.
It very seldom cooperates for me. I have to beat it and bludgeon it for every penny I can squeeze out of it, and even then it fights back like hell trying to get those (and more) pennies back.
Especially right now, where, if you are going to make a dime in this market, you work your arse off for it.
What I mean by working hard is that you have to look at more charts, you have to do more DD, and you have to be a heck of a lot more careful in your trades, just as you said you did with that short position. Very good reality trading on your part.
The easy money is gone for a while. Nose to the grindstone boys. And you could probably teach me a lot about that.
It was a fantastic day! And to make it even better, I got to drive my nice shiny, clean car with the tire shine applied just right to work on a gorgeous Monday.
It rained buckets all day today, and I had to run all over town gathering up my x-rays and MRI pictures to take to the orthopod next Monday.
MRI pics are cool. They're on CD. Took them back to work this afternoon and looked at them. Then I made a copy for myself and used the CD label-maker software to create a funny CD label. I pretended it was a movie and put on the label "Rated R for full fontal nudity" among other things. At the top I put a text block that says "New Release - 2 Day Rental".
That's the one I'm going to hand to the Doc next Monday :=))
Surely you jest. Fear factor Miss USA. You made that up!
...oh please, Lord, let that be made up...
I'm sorry?
Thanks for the support on the new board. The problem is that I have to work a 42½hr a week job and cannot devote any time to it during the working day Monday-Friday.
Sideways had one too many boring parts in it. When it wasn't boring, it was good. But too many boring segments for me.
Sorry I was out of pocket all day yesterday, it was beautiful weather here and I spent the entire weekend outside, working in the yard and washing cars.
I washed my car, my sister-in-law's car, my wife's car, and my hot-rod Malibu. They were all nasty beyond belief, it had rained here last week Monday-Friday non stop.
Then Saturday dawned warm, clear & sunny and I hit the driveway at a run (well, at a fast walk).
I hope the rest of you had a nice weekend. Anyone do anything interesting? C'mon, tell us all what you did over the weekend!
Well, if you guys think it's something I should do, then I'll do it. I can do this without Matt's approval?
I honestly believe there should be a place where we can report good and bad customer service. I mean, if people use it, then you could scan the reports for a company that you're thinking about doing business with to see if the stand behind their service or products.
I'm considering buying an appliance from Best Buy. I'd sure like to know what kind of experience other people have had there.
And I regularly do business with a few companies that are nation-wide that I could write about.
...gotta stop being so long-winded....
BnB, would I have to "tend to it"? I mean, would I have to moderate and take off offensive posts and stuff like that? Or could folks just post what they wanted to say?
What do I need to do? Do I have to send a PM to Matt telling him I want to start a new board?
I'll be more than happy to start one.
Customer service: Who is good at it and who is terrible? Is there an I-Hub board where we can post our customer service experiences?
I have dealt with several companies lately I would like to say good things about, and a couple I'd like to roast. There oughta be a forum for such things, so we can share with each other the good, bad, and the ugly.
Remember back in the late 90's when business was booming so much that companies didn't devote one ounce of energy or one dollar to CS? Then the crash started right after the turn of the century, and I told my wife that only the businesses that had had just a tiny bit of good CS were the ones that were going to survive, and sooner or later the customer would be king again.
My words were prophetic. The only predicition I've ever made that actually came true.
Now companies (for the most part) are bending over backwards to give good CS both before and after the sale. More and more I find that I'm being treated like I was was the CEO of the company, not just a customer.
And I like it! I'll just give you one example, and that is Crutchfield Electronics. Without boring you with the details, their CS is so excellent that I actually look forward to buying something from them, and talking to their well-trained sales and support people on the phone. Everyone you speak with gives you their extension number and asks that you please call them back directly if you have any questions or problems. And that extends to tech support, also.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is Dell Computers tech support, which they have moved to Asia. The word "horrible" doesn't even begin to describe it. When friends would ask me about what brand of computer to buy, I would usually recommend Dell, one because they do make good computers, and two because their sales and support staff was so good. Not anymore. Now I just tell people to go to Best Buy and get the cheapest thing available, because they were going to have identical problems and nightmares regardless of how much they spent or what brand they bought. And don't call me at eight o'clock when your NIC shoots craps.
Whew... I'm sorry I get so long winded. We need an I-hub borad for this subject.
Over and out.
I sent it to the corner for a 10-minute timeout. That usually does it.
No, I wouldn't want to mess with them either.
That exactly what I was thinking. Some wacko pulls out a gun, 12,303 people jump right smack on top of him.
An explosive device would be horrible, though. But regardless of what extremist group you were with, would you want every Catholic in the world after your butt? Not hardly.
Didn't Fatima have seven veils, too?
I'm reading a blog put up by an army guy in Iraq, and this interesting little bit of info floated up on it yesterday. This is from The Army Times. Link at the bottom will take you to the full article.
April 05, 2005
Officer promotions to be linked to foreign-language proficiency
By Andrew Scutro
Times staff writer
All junior officers will soon be required to undergo foreign-language training and foreign-language skills will be tied to flag and general-officer advancement, according to a sweeping plan recently released by the Defense Department.
With forces operating in regions where few, if any, service members arrive able to communicate directly with locals, the goal of the initiative will be expertise in certain regions and languages throughout the ranks of military and civilian personnel.
The Defense Language Transformation Roadmap, ordered by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, lays out specific milestones that cover a gamut of actions, from calling back language-skilled retirees to setting up a reserve corps of civilian linguists for use in national emergencies. Familiarization training will be provided for deploying forces.
In December 2005 there will be a survey across the services to find out what skills already exist in the ranks. The Defense Department counts 84,000 members with some foreign-language proficiency and 1,900 with some proficiency in Arabic.
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-766976.php
LOL !!
"Third Secret of Fatima"... now that sound mysterious. That is until you read the explanation.
By the way, anyone know the First and Second secrets?
Oh, I blame Churak for almost everything anyway. I actually think the FBI should question Churak about Jimmy Hoffa.
OK, cintrix, I'll try it again. But if I get the feeling I need to go pour bleach in my eyes again, I'm not watching it any more!
Well, it would certainly get your attention. I got mine, anyway.
(Pay no attention to the man behind the smokestack!)
U.S. destroyers need a water depth of 31 feet. But the frigate, which is just as capable, needs just 22 feet.
OK, I'm off my high horse now. Who cares what kind of damn ship it is?
Boy, I sure get the stupids every now and then.....
I got this from FAS.ORG. Ten mile range.
MK 75 76mm/3-inch gun
The Mark 75 three-inch gun is a capable gun in between the Mark 45 and Mark 38. Range is 10 nautical miles and is rated at 80 rounds per minute. Because of performance, lightweight and low manning requirements, the the lightweight, rapid-fire MK 75 is suited for installation on small combat vessels.
Specifications
Primary Function Single barrel, lightweight, water-cooled, rapid fire, remote controlled, dual purpose automatic enclosed naval gun
Contractor Designed by OTO Melara, Italy
Manufactured by FMC Naval Systems Division and OTO Melara
Range 10 nautical miles (11.5 statue miles, 18.4 km)
Guidance System Remotely controlled
Type of Fire 80 rounds per minute automatic
Caliber 76 mm (3 inch)
A small frigate? A gunboat? Heck, those 5" guns on the destroyers and cruisers have a range of what, 6 or 7 miles?
Maybe the USS Missouri is out there in the Med somewhere. It could shoot the 16" guns over 21 miles.
That is just amazing. No wonder he was so popular. The Pope, that is.
CMKX, a legend in its own time. Who among us hasn't said, "If only I'd bought more CMKX..."
/set sarcasm mode=off
'night everyone.
Microsoft closed within spitting distance of the 50 day MA. I'm looking for a down day tomorrow, but next week might provide the opportunity for a quick scalp for the astute trader, LOL.
I watched two episodes of "Desperate" and gave it up. ABC must be desperate, too. It's a pop phenomenon; here today, forgotten tomorrow.
Sad to say that I don't remember that comic strip, and during the 50's I read all the comics every day. Guess the Daily Oklahoman and the Oklahoma City Times didn't run it.
To this day I credit my love of reading to the comic strips. My parents refused to read them to me, and I had to learn to read them myself. I eagerly awaited reading lessons in the 1st grade so I could run home and read the comic strips (as best I could.) From there, it was an easy step to The Hardy Boys.
BTW I'm 58.
LOL, ½ mile off course and you'd get a Sidewinder missile up your booty.
Do you think it's possible that they just gave up on tight security? I mean with that many people, what are you going to do?
"Here you go, just line up right here to go through this metal detector."
Undercover agents milling amongst 5 million people? I'd hate to take that task on.
No, I didn't see that, but I'll bet it is interesting reading.
Do you know where I can find it?
John Paul II became the Pope in 1978!??! Twenty-seven years. To put that into perspective, I had only been married 11 years in 1978, my youngest daughter was only 7 years old, and now she has a 5 year-old daughter of her own.
My oldest daughter was only 9, and now she has a 13 year old daughter and and an 11 year old daughter.
And I was only 31 years old, LOL. Just a spring chicken, relatively speaking.
Oh, I knew it had to be something.
*checks bottled water supply*
Churak, I saw some photos of that on Yahoo. It's beyond anything I can understand. Just completely beyond me. And it looked painful as all heck.
But hey, at least we live in a place where they can do that if they want to...
Astounding. He sure witnessed a lot while he was Pope, not the least of which was the fall of the Soviet Union.
And evidently a very popular Pope within the Catholic community and world leaders in general. Although he did take GW to task for the war in Iraq, and rightly so. I'm not saying we should or should not have gone to war there, but that is the position I think any Pope should have taken, based on the flimsy evidence of WMD in that country.
XM Radio update... Mounted the tiny antenna on the trunk lid last night, just aft of the leading edge of the lid. Ran the wire through the back of the back seat and then under the passenger's side trim piece that covers up the edge of the carpet. Under the dash and into the console and I was all set. No wire visible and the little antenna has an extremely powerful magnet that holds it in place. Total time: 15 minutes.
Also unpacked the remote control and tested it out. Much better than fumbling with the receiver itself. Controls on the remote are very intuitive and I like it a lot. Some pretty serious thought went into the design of the whole thing to make so easy to use that even I can figure it out in less than 10 minutes.
That's as far as I got last night. Tonight will be the attachment of the mount to the back of the console. Right now the receiver is just sitting there on top of the console, sliding around in the turns and falling in the floor at stop lights.
The mount will allow me to see the front panel and know what's playing and who the artist is. It's a slip on mount, so I can remove the receiver and take it in the house or put it in a boom box if I ever get one.
I really like XM radio so far. Right now my favorite stations are #6 (the 60's) and #8 (the 80's). There are nine country stations, but if you like country you'll have to find another reviewer because I don't listen to it.
They have a salsa station that I like, too. Even though my high school Spanish is just a fond memory and I can't grok the lyrics, the music is good, especially when you're crusing down the freeway at 75mph.
Haven't explored the talk, news, or sports stations yet.
Oh, one thing that really annoyed me! I went on-line to activate my subscription to XM (12.95 a month) and they charge you a one-time activation fee of 9.99. That seems like a cheap shot to me. I came very close to just packing the receiver up and sending it back to Crutchfield over a 10 dollar bill. But then I went ahead and paid it, and returned peacefully to the flock of sheep I associate with.
Film at 11:00.
I see now that officials are thinking about cutting off the line of people waiting to view the Pope. That must've been a hard decision, but you've got to end it somewhere, I guess. One report on Yahoo said that if you are at the end of the line right now, you've got a 24-hour wait in front of you.
Civil defense folks were passing out water and blankets as some in line prepared to just lie down where they were for the night.
I also read on CNN that the number of people that have come to view the Pope exceeds the population of Rome itself. How can that be? It just seems impossible to an old country goober like me.
Geez, parking must be a real headache....
I would really love to go to Rome someday. Check out this fantastic pic courtesy of Yahoo...