minor snafu

i’d like to see these guys live. it would be a great show.

today, i returned from vacation

a couple weeks ago, i ordered some new shoes from zappos.com. short story is that i futzed up the order, but it was saved by one of their awesome customer support reps. anyway… when i unpacked my laptop this morning, i noticed a envelope sitting on my desk. i opened it up, and found a “thank you” card from the same cs rep that fixed my order, letting me know that she had noticed that my order had been delivered successfully, and that if i had any other problems/questions to call. when i finished reading it, i was amazed. their customer support rules.

i did the big k 5k run/walk yesterday. i didn’t really know what to expect going in, since it was a first time for me, but i had a great time and it was a lot of fun. the course was a lot more hilly than my normal walk at winton woods park, but i still managed to cut several minutes from my usual time. i finished right in the middle of the pack for the overall (60/115) and the mens under 30 group (4/7) with at time of 51:39.

walking results are here, everything else is here

got home an evening filled with dvine and potbelly, and proceded to watch the celebrity fit club from my tivo. there was a point when i liked to watch saved by the bell. recently, if i was flipping through channels and saw it on, i might even watch it. one of the main reasons for this was the ’screech’ character, played by dustin diamond. that is, until today.

i have watched several of the previous celebrity fit club seasons and have enjoyed them. for me, it’s the most ‘real’ of the reality shows. i know the battle that they face every time they step on the giant scale, and it’s good to see all of the contestants work pay off in the end. i’ve enjoyed this season as well, with the exception of dustin. every episode he is in, he is disrespectful to the rest of the cast, makes fun of the dieting process, and an ass in general. i’m surprised that he wasn’t punched by another fit-clubber (warren g, da brat, tiffany, maureen mccormick, kimberley locke, ross mathews, cledus t. judd) or even sgt. harvey walden iv. even with all of the ‘dustin drama’, both teams managed to press on, and have awesome weight loss

mr diamond, you have lost a fan.

the weekend server maintenance for work is complete… changed the routine a bit to make it more schedule friendly… now, i stop the database and start the backup procedure before going to bed. that way, when i wake up in the morning everything is ready to go. no more waiting all day (7 hours) while the backup completes. yay. even though it’s easier now, i can’t wait until it goes away for good.

watched a couple of shows on the history channel this morning, including 2 episodes of wild west tech. i wish they were still making new episodes of this show because it is awesome. it’s hosted by david carradine (or sometimes his brother, keith). some of today’s featured topics included six shooters and freak shows. it ruled.

i must have accidentally flipped a bit today, while ordering some new shoes today at zappos.com. the zip code in my shipping address ended up having a 5 in it, where it should have been a 4. i noticed the error 2 hours later, and sent an email to their customer service department, and quickly received an automated reply saying that if the issue was time-sensitive (like an incorrect shipping address) to call the directly. i did that. my phone call was quickly answered by a customer service rep who was awesome. i gave her the information about my order and my problem. she looked everything up and told me that my shoes had already been given to fedex for shipping. then she put me on hold while she gathered some more information. when she returned, she told me that she would write herself a note to check on the status of my order throughout the day, and as soon as it showed up in their system with a tracking number, would make a call to fedex to have the zip code changed. then she told me would call me and let me know the status of what/wasn’t going on. she even asked me where i was located to find out if calling at 7pm (10pm est) was too late. then i thanked her, and she thanked me for being a customer.

i haven’t experienced customer service like that in a while. someone who was friendly, helpful, and willing to go the extra mile. it was really great. i might even write a thank you email.

update: i received the a call from the cs rep and the shoes themselves, as promised, on friday.

watched most of the italian job on fx tonight. i’ve always liked that movie. i like the cool car scenes, the napster references, and charlize theron is always a plus. definitely worthy of a re-watch.

also, this is insane. you must watch it now.

thanks to bragg, i now know the awesomeness of home emporium first hand. i’d heard of this place in the past from a few people (mostly tony hudson), but had never been there. until today, that is. as we walked thought the store (the old sam’s club store on ridge rd.), we saw tons of awesome stuff, most of which would be used in a home remodeling project, a significantly discounted prices. they had tile, hardwood and laminate flooring, sinks, faucets, shower stalls, light fixtures, even plywood and osb. once (if) i get a house somewhere, i will definitely be visiting there more. add lunch at potbelly before, and some hangout time in clifton after, and dvine at the end of it all, and you’ve got a pretty busy sunday.

tetris shelves are becoming a reality. got 2 of them (plus parts of another) constructed on saturday, and now they are 1/2 primed. i made them from mdf, so they may take a little extra paint, but if they work out, they should be cool.

wow. 10th post since i started blogging again… i never thought i could go this long.

i added one of my new favorite sites, instructables, to my rss reader (google reader) this afternoon. and the best part is that two (not one) tetris-related projects were posted today. freaking awesome.

the first one is this sweet tetris shelving unit…

the other, tetris ice cubes…

is it a coincidence that i need both furniture and ice cubes for my apartment? i think not.

zoolander was on tv yesterday afternoon. i watched about 20 minutes of it. that movie still makes me laugh every time i watch it. jerry stiller is a freaking riot. he’s always funny. i’m going to miss seeing him (along with the rest of the cast) on king of queens.