Sunday, March 14, 2010

NHL Management - 2 Tickets to . . . nowhere

I see this facebook sidebar advertisement,
"Get 2 free tickets to a NJ Devils game when you purchase a Devils retro jersey at Modell's (see participating NJ locations)." 
And  I think, "Which one of these two, the jersey or the seats, is way over-priced?" (Shhhh,  It's a trick question, the answer is C - all of the above)

In NHL Pro rinks across North America, the affordable seats are certainly not family-friendly (think nosebleed section OR picture the drunken hoser sloshing about). And the seats where a father or mother might pass on a passion for the game are certainly NOT affordable. I recognize and applaud the gestures made here and there - the New Jersey Devils, for instance, host a family night package on selected games that includes 4 tickets, 4 fountain drinks, and a pizza for one more modest fee.

I'm not asking for the elite, glass-banging first row seats*, and I am not directing this to all those wonderful individual players who are helping out with so many charities, not for the publicity but because they care. But surely, SURELY the National Hockey League takes in enough through endorsement deals, franchise fees, and contracts with the various broadcast media to let a little hockey love trickle down to the have nots.

I'd like to see the NHL, the owner/management of each individual franchises, TicketMaster, and season ticket holders stop trying to extract every last dollar from those unused, cushy seats up front and instead use them in a continental program to let the have-nots experience professional hockey in all its glass-banging, life-size, heart-pounding glory.

*turns out I WAS asking for the elite, glass-banging first row seats, but not ALL of them ALL of the time. And I have found row 6 pretty special, too, although it was on the visitor's side. This special treat still set us back, just for my son and  me, one-third the cost of a decent used car.

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

One-Liners

I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.

I married my wife for her looks... but not the ones she's been giving me lately!

Time flies whether or not you're having fun.

Skydivers: good to the last drop.

We can learn a lot from people who keep their mouth shut.

Marriage means commitment. Of course, so does insanity.If God wanted us to be thin, food wouldn't taste so good.

Many of our ambitions are nipped in the budget.

A great many people confuse their lack of planning with an emergency.

If you're doing the speed limit, you're in the way.

Forget the whales, save the cowboy.

He's one person who would make a perfect stranger.

The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

The only people truly under the weather are buried.


Source: http://www.crosswalk.com

Monday, March 08, 2010

Now I know STAMPS.COM REALLY SUCKS!

Well, it was just exactly a year ago today that I told you my ridiculous tale of customer service crap dished out by Stamps.com to fraudulently bilk me out of money I do not owe them. The basics are this: I had Stamps.com service at $4.99/month. I stopped using their service and sent their customer service reps an email stating I was done with their service. They emailed back that for "security reasons" they couldn't close my account be email. Yeah, right, sounds like they want to put the thumb screws on to continue. So I wrote back that there is no reason why I should have to do anything but notify them through my registered company email address that I am canceling my account. And they spouted some fine print in some agreement somewhere.

Time went on. Every month or so I would get another bill via email saying I owed them an ever-increasing balance, and I would reply to that email address and their customer service email address that sorry, I canceled my service. PLEASE STOP SENDING ME INVOICES.

And then a bill would come just randomly show up. Finally, no bills for two or three months.

TODAY, I get an Collections Notice, saying they have canceled my account per my request. However, the credit card on file did not work on the near $100 they wanted to charge me for NOT using their service since December 2008! HA!

So, here is how it all ended. I called the toll-free number on the "Collections  Notice." I was referred to another toll-free number by a recorded message. I was placed on hold for over 10 minutes of the WORST and LOWEST FIDELITY hold music I have ever had to experience.

Finally, a non-native American from India and I tried to figure out what we were saying to each other. At last, it became clear that this was the phone line used exclusively for their ridiculous fake collections notices and I was quickly issued a confirmation code and could then disregard the bill.

THANKFULLY, over these past two years, I had discontinued use of the credit card I had set up for that Stamps.com account at the same time I stopped using stamps.com. Otherwise, they would have happily charged me $4.95 a month forever - or until I figured it out.

So, Moral is, always check your credit card bill. And, frankly, if you don't want to fricking call when an email will do, stick by your guns! Damn the torpedoes.

And, I STILL SAY (in my opinion) STAMPS.COM SUCKS!

Reference Post March 9, 2009 - Stamps.com - A REAL Pain in the Ass! - http://cedareden.blogspot.com/2009/03/stampscom-real-pain-in-ass.html (one year  into this madness)

Magical Mystery House

I don't want to live in a house where messes get made,
yet nobody made them;
Things get lost,
yet nobody lost them;
Other things get broken,
yet nobody broke them,
Tools get used and left out,
yet nobody used them.

I don't want to live in a house
where the last one to use it is the last one to clean it,
And the one who emptied it isn't the one to refill it.

And if all of that means
I am destined to live
in a house by myself, then so be it.
Because I will fill it with plants,
and friends, and music, and love.
The doors will always be open,
a bed or a futon or a spot in the corner always free.

But the saddest thing might be
if I can only fill that magical mystery house
with me.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Fat Skinny Kid

Getting ready for church, my last performance for a month or so while CAN/AM Hockey is in town, since I schedule the "videotaping" (dvding?) Of up to 100 games Thursday through Sunday.

I stepped on scale to see I've ballooned up to a chart-topping 225 pounds, which is pretty fat for the skinny guy I was in HS. There is no hiding it, that is for sure.

It looks like it is time for diet & exercise. The thing of it is, I don't eat all that much in a day. Unfortunately, 80 percent of all the meds I take have weight gain as a side effect, so I feel like an overstuffed teddy bear.

But I haven't been moving around much either. So its time to cut out the candy & occasional bowls of ice cream, and the pistachios I munch on while watching TV & start doing my sit ups & push ups.

When I was 42 or so, I just started doing sit ups and push ups, then leg raises and leg bicycles and I got ripped. If I can do it at 40, maybe I can do it at 50. I don't have much time and I'm starting at a significant disadvantage.

And,
Exercise now gives me migraines.
So, we shall see.
I got to run, time to blow them away with music at the Praise Service,
Again!
(I say with complete humility, Christ)

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Sunrise

Sunrise.
Another day.
Another chance to love.
Another chance to do right by someone.

Why do we get angry with those we love
When they could be taken from us art any time?
Who knows how long anyone has?

Sunrise.
Another day.
A chance to love the ones we love.
Another chance
To do right by someone.
Another chance
For a random act of kindness.

Love.
It is all God wants from any of us.
Love yourselves.
Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
And Love your enemies even more.
Love.

Love. Love Lost.

Love
Is the desire for closeness,
Longing for that next touch,
Skin on skin.
Love
Is aching for that next touch,
Desire that grows, day by day.
It is not the kind of love
Some people can sustain.

I've had that kind of love.
I've had that kind of love
Wither.
I've had that kind of love
Fade.
I've had that kind of love
Lost.

And after all the love I've had,
The loves brief, the loves long,
After all the love lost,
I still believe in love.
Hopelessly romantic.
Only because I know
You are out there,
A love that could have been,
In other times, other situations.
A love that could be,
Now,
If you would only let it be so.

One hopeless romantic,
Burned by love & burned by lovers,
Still looking for that one love
That fits like a key in a lock,
That perfect embrace,
Head to toe,
Heart to heart.


fb "It's complicated"

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

My Favorite Third-Party BlackBerry Apps

My five favorite 3rd Party BlackBerry Apps:
• BerryWeather
• UberTwitter
• SplashID
• Beiks Bible Study
• QuickLaunch

Rounding out top 10 3rd party BB apps:
• MeterBerry
• Beiks Dictionary
• Google Maps
• Google Sync
• Vlingo

My least favorite BlackBerry app that I use the most:
• facebook

sent via UberTwitter
On Twitter: http://twitter.com/CedarEden/