Patrick Says

So, people woman are making quite the fuss over the royal wedding between Prince Ross and Lady Rachel. (I’m bad with names.) For the record, I could not care less. I don’t get the fuss or the around-the-clock coverage on actual news stations.

Today, for example, news anchors were discussing what was in mysterious garment bags carried around by people connected with the wedding. Apparently, the dress Kelly or Kate is wearing is such a guarded secret that Julian Assange can’t seem to get a picture of it.

I would rather do pretty much anything rather than watch coverage of this wedding. I could spend hours at http://www.howtoremovepimples.org or catch up reading the back of paint cans or shampoo bottles.

About the only way you could get me to watch this wedding was if the dress looked like this one from a post I wrote back in 2008.

I’ve been a big fan of DIRECTV. Really, I have. I’ve been preaching the gospel of DIRECTV for years, since I jumped on satellite television back in the late 90s. I brought in my friends. I defended them against the BS claims of the cable company about ‘weather problems’. I looked out for them.

Until today, when they screwed me.

Recently, I had decided to try U-verse. I think I covered that on this blog. So, when I called to cancel DIRECTV, I did not realize I was in a contract with a termination fee. Which is fine. I understand how business works and I was fully willing to pay the fee. I was informed that I would receive a final bill and to pay that bill. If I didn’t, they would charge the debit card The Wife had given them when she signed us up. Fine.

On the 25th, I paid the $222 through my bank’s bill pay service electronically to DIRECTV. All settled, right? Nope. Today, I’m going over my bank account and there’s an automatic withdrawal of $222 from account IN ADDITION to what I already paid. I flipped out. I get on the horn to DIRECTV and I ream out the rep who has the displeasure of talking to me. (I feel for her, really. She’ll be trying to find out how to get rid of dark circles after our conversation.) She informs me there is a credit and it will take thirty days to get it back to me. NO. You’ll give it back now. She assures me thirty days is the best I can do. I hang up on her.

I call my bank. They get me. Even though I have a love/hate relationship with them, they get things done. We file a dispute. If it’s not settled in ten days, they will give me provisional credit. It’s not immediate, but it’s better than thirty days.

F**k you DIRECTV.

This is awesome. Seriously, greatest wiring job ever.
Makes me seem like a genius.

H/T to Geekologie.

Holy cow. It’s been almost two weeks since my last post. Wow. This blog is starting to turn into A Sugar-Free Cube. (I kid. I kid.) But seriously, I’ve been extremely busy. The Wife’s medical issues deepened. I lost my daycare provider. Big project coming up at work. You know…April.

But the news isn’t all bad. I did get the chance to review some Green Lantern toys ahead of the movie coming out this summer. I got a Green Lantern action figure and a Green Lantern Colossal Cannon, both made by the fine folks at Mattel.

The Oldest and Steak, of course, were totally stoked. They love toys. The action figure was okay, but its popularity was quickly eclipsed by a toy that shoots things. And the cannon is cool. It features ten plastic discs that launch from it accompanied by the sound of blasting and pow-pow pa-chows. It definitely is a toy that a kid will enjoy playing with.

It’s not, however, without some problems. The discs are green, but clear, which means they get lost really fast and blend in nicely with the carpet. Two weeks later, I think we still have six of them. Also, the power ring that comes with the action figure did not give me or my children any Green Lantern powers.

But overall, they are fun toys. If you’re good with paints, you can repaint the Green Lantern figure and have your own Van Wilder figure. So, that’s a win! Seriously, they are fun. The action figure comes with a gigantic fist that you put over GL’s hand to show him using his power to make a gigantic fist. It’s fun to hit your brother with, according to Steak.

Time for the fine print. I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Dad Central Consulting on behalf of Mattel and received Green Lantern toys to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

If you visit this site directly as opposed to using a reader or through Facebook, you may have noticed a lot of shuffling around in the sidebar. The truth is that I would love to make a little money with this website. I realize I’m not going to get rich with this site, but I have decent traffic numbers and maybe I can cover hosting. But lately, the sidebar has just been getting too large.

So, I’m creating a separate support page. It’s a place where I can post affliate offers like maybe home cell booster thingies or pet medications or stuff. Also, if you’re going to shop Amazon, you can start there and then kick a little money back to the site here (at no cost to you). I may also throw a PayPal donate link in there as well.

All I’m asking is that every once in awhile, you go check out the page and see if anything interests you. I’ll rotate around offers and try to keep it fresh. Thanks.

UPDATE: Deleted. Never mind.