I will admit that I have a small problem when it comes to new gadgets and amenities.  For example, it wasn’t long after I purchased a brand new television that I had to have HD cable to go along with it.  That being said, I have had a hell of a time dealing with a couple of major companies in the past couple of months.

First, let me just say that if you are currently looking for a cell phone company or are looking to switch from your current carrier, DO NOT USE SPRINT. They do not listen to one word of your complaints, they constantly put you on hold when trying to voice concern about your service, they steal money from you and use a “refund” service that charges you $25 per transaction and then expect you to wait 2-6 weeks for your check rather than just placing the money directly back into the account that they originally stole it from!! In other words, they are horrible.

Then there is Comcast.  Our local cable company was recently bought out by the devil…excuse me, Comcast.  Some of you may have nothing but sunshine and lollipops inside of you when you hear that name, but not I. They take my bandwidth, they make cable boxes that don’t work with my TV and they “can’t figure out why your internet isn’t working properly. It looks to me like you are hooked up and should be able to surf at your earliest convenience.  Click…”  That’s right, they hung up on me when they had exhausted all but one more option, taking the blame.

As it turns out, my money should be back into my account in 1-3 business days from Sprint.  I don’t care, I am now going online to find a way out of my contract.  Also, I fixed my internet problem myself. The problem actually was on my end but, that doesn’t mean a thing to me when I get hung up on by someone I am paying each month to be a SERVICE.  Ha!  That word has lost all of its meaning to Sprint and Comcast.

Seriously - if you’re going to try and con me, at least change the date of your year end report. This is my first spam/con that has made it into my work email inbox. I hate deuche bags.

 

Hi, 

 

Pardon me for not having the pleasure of knowing your mindset before making you this offer and it is utterly confidential and genuine by virtue of its nature. I write to solicit your assistance in a funds transfer deal involving US$3.5M.This fund has been stashed out of the excess profit made last year by my branch office the International Commercial Bank which I

am the manager. 

 

I have already submitted an approved end of the year report for the year 2005 to my head office here in Accra-Ghana and they will never know of this excess. I have since then, placed this amount on a Non-Investment Account without a beneficiary.

 

Upon your response, I will configure your name on our database as holder of the Non-Investment Account. I will then guide you on how to apply to my head office for the Account Closure/ bank-to-bank remittance of the funds to your designated bank account.

 

If you concur with this proposal, I intend for you to retain 30% of the funds while 70% shall be for me.

 

Kindly forward your response to: ton101icb@aol.com

 

Mobile: +233-24-828-0259 

 

With Regards, 

 

Anthony Aka

After hearing all the talk about how much money oil companies make, and believing that a free and open economy is good, I am taking personal steps to reduce the demand for oil. I fully understand that my actions are going to have little effect on gas prices, but at least it should decrease the amount that I put in my tank.

I do believe that economics is a science and that it is constantly changing as trends change. Simple, basic principles tell us about supply and demand. In order for gas price to go down, there must be an increase in supply or a decrease in demand. However, I don’t think an increase in supply will do anything because demand is so darn high. Honestly, if gas was $6 a gallon, and you needed gas to get to work you’d pay it. You don’t have a choice.

You can choose to decrease your driving, go out less, run all your errands at once, etc. You can downsize your car, syphon gas from a neighbor, car pool.

I live 3.6 miles from work. That isn’t that much. So my work commute isn’t exactly breaking the bank in terms of gas. However, because I live 3.6 miles form work I usually come home for lunch, 7.2 miles, then back to work - 10.8 miles, then home again 14.4 miles. That car is also the one we use for all our running. We take it to dinner, to run to the store, it feeds my starbucks addiction. So, I bought a bike, not a motorcycle, a bicycle. Tonight I did a test run to see how bad it will be (on my end of town it is all hills). I rode 4 miles, up and downhills in 18 minutes. So, it looks like it’ll take me about 10 minutes longer to ride a bike instead of drive. I’ll also be getting some good exercise - 7 1/2 miles a day on a bike. Estimated time for the bike to pay for itself - 5 weeks. So, weather permitting, I’ll be rolling a Schwinn to work.