My daughters are growing up. Sure, I’ve noticed the overt differences between their advanced age and their “yute”. But I noticed a subtle one today. Oldest daughter decided to go out to the movies with beau d’ jour. I think they are seeing Deathrace, but I digress. This is the same daughter who refused to wear a dress for most of her life. Today, she put on make-up, did her hair, and chose a breezy sun dress for this afternoon event. The boyfriend is rather lucky.
Preparations for wetness on the Gulf Coast continue apace.
Go do something. We’ve got a three day weekend and I’m going to be attacking honey do projects and trying to keep blogging to a minimum. You may have noticed already. As for what you will do without my pathetic opinions, I’ll offer the following: McCain’s choice Sarah Palin was genius. The race is finally entertaining. And I gotta say, if she was at the top of ticket, I’d be inclined to vote with conviction.
Y’all have fun now…
The storm is likely to be big, dangerous, and deadly. It’s probably gonna hit somewhere between the southern tip of Texas and Florids (wide enough berth for ya?). Fill your tanks, have water, protect yourself and your stuff… and be prepared to scram if ya have to.
Mark Komoroski and DNR Sports Center in Nanticoke, PA are a bunch of ass hats.
As many of you know, I’m in the firearms business. It’s heavily licensed, regulated and scrutinized by many levels of government and bureaucracy. There can also be a significant amount of money involved in the most basic of transactions. Having your back against a wall can make for nervous moments. A customer wanted one of our products built on a specific firearm. We took the order and I really wish we had not. What we did not know is that the rifle had been discontinued. Joy.
I scoured the wholesalers and distributors looking for the rifle. None to be found. After casting about to various retailers in my “network”, I resigned myself to Gun Broker, an eBay type arrangement for firearms and other stuff. Sure enough, there was a seller that had three new ones available. I really should have done some research and ran the other way, but like I said, my back was against the wall and I had to have the rifle. I had been in constant communication with the guy via email and when the auction ended I called him and asked him how he would like to be paid. I arranged to have a certified check sent to him on August 5th. I also sent him my firearms license via email and fax. Almost as if by magic, my emails stopped getting a response and when I called, nobody seemed to know what was going on. I finally got the “guy” on the phone and he told me that he never received anything from me, including the money. My alarms went off.
I then meticulously went through “the routine” without a trace of anger in my voice. “Do you still have the rifle? (yes) How would you like to receive my license? (fax) Hang on because I want to make sure you get it while I am still on the phone with you. (he did)” At that point, I was a bit incredulous with regard to the payment that “wasn’t” received, so I told him I would do a trace at the bank. I did. Not only had he actually received it, but he had endorsed it and it had cleared on the 12th of August. I faxed him a copy of the front and back of the check and called him up. His response was that “they” must have deposited it in the wrong account and not told anyone. I asked if “they didn’t notice the auction number clearly typed on the front of the check. He then said that he’d get the thing out tomorrow. I pointed out that since all of the mistakes were actually his, I’d appreciate it if he would ship it same day and with upgraded delivery… He’d see what he could do. After a week went by with no rifle, I started getting nervous again. I called and faxed pestering for a tracking number. I finally got transferred to “Stanley” who took down my number and said that he’d get back to me because he was busy at the moment. Stanley never called, but I did get an email from the head yahoo saying I gave the shipping guy the wrong number to call. “Well no, I didn’t and I even had Stanley read it back to me to make sure he got it right” was my email response. I then called up the place again and asked the lady who answered to look up the tracking number for me (I begged). She got it, even though she seemed put out by this bit of customer service. The package arrived today (packed like crap and with an open box) and I am glad to be done with these cretins. Here’s what I learned about Mark Komoroski and his little DNR Sports Center operation in Nanticoke, PA:
I wish I had known about all this stuff before I started trying to make my own customer happy. Stay as far away from this ass hat as you possibly can. Me, I’m just hoping that he gets to be Michael Vick’s new pal in federal prison.
I know that I am not the first to comment on the fast balling 9 year old from Connecticut. I also know that I will not be the last. The kid is being told that he cannot pitch in little league because he is too good. Where and when is all this crap gonna stop? Bit by bit, we are removing all forms of competition from our children’s lives. We cannot allow them to play tag or dodge ball. Academic achievement cannot be publicly recognized. Teachers aim for the middle of the bell curve and teach to the test… Okay… I’m painting with broad strokes, but things are way passed being out of hand. There are winners and there are losers. There are those who excel and those who just get by. Are we doing our kids a service by sheltering them from the consequences of competition?
My oldest kid is on the varsity swim team. She’s good enough to make the team, but she rarely wins her events. She was pretty upset last year when she had qualified with one of the relay teams in a finals event. The coach pulled her and substituted a faster swimmer. The upset lasted a day and she now cheers even louder for her team mates. And she’s still on the team. The youngest is a brainiac. And what does she get for her efforts? She started junior high this year with every class in pre-AP or gifted & talented. She falls asleep when she gets home from school because her mind is actually getting stretched. A big, genuine, thank you to the school district for giving her the opportunity to stretch. Now, if they could help me out with the fact that she keeps on walking into walls…
Too good? This youngster from New Haven has a gift. And instead of encouraging him, the powers that be want to hobble him so that the other kids will not feel bad. Let him pitch.
We’re all pretty much aware that the sum total skill set of the booty shakers and boob jigglers on music videos is… booty shaking and boob jiggling. They are there as eye candy. But back in ’43, Frankie knew how to turn ‘em out. He made ‘em work for a spot on his video!
Everyone that lives in hurricane country is keeping an eye on Gustav. Haiti has been pounded by the storm and knocked it down to under hurricane strength… for now. But most of the models point to Gustav becoming the first major storm of this season. Depending on how it gets around, over, through Cuba, it may wind up as a Category 3 or stronger. And now… the tracking models are starting to converge on… New Orleans. Somehow, this will turn out to be a race issue and Bush’s fault.
If you have an email box the chances are nearly 100% that you are receiving spam. And if you are receiving spam, you are undoubtedly receiving 419 “offers”, aka Nigerian scams, or advanced fee fraud. Follow the Wiki link to read more on the history of the con, but realize that all of those lotto notifications, Microsoft drawings, passionate please to help get a jazillion bucks out of corrupt leader’s account or whatever are scams. And most people know they are scams and hit the delete button. Some people do try to turn the tables on the scammers by active flogging. It’s kind of fun. But then I read on TechDirt that according to a Nigerian diplomat in Australia, he’s just as amazed, and thus thinks the victims are equally to blame and deserve jailtime. Interesting take.
At the very foundation of advance fee scams is the notion that the person about to be conned is greedy and has no problem receiving or taking something that they know does not belong to them. Let’s face it, the odds of the existence of some random do-gooder coming into millions of dollars of a dead war lord’s loot and finding you clear out of the blue to help smuggle the booty into a safe haven are, ah, remote. But the enticement of receiving something for nothing overrides your common sense. To add to your greed and sense of “morality” the notion that you are somehow taking the money of a “bad man” is harped upon. Next thing you know, you’ve given up all of your precious details and get strung out like a speckled trout in green water as you get played and your funds vanish. Most folks are aware of the scam, but there are enough dolts who let their greed get in the way that… your email boxes stay full of this crap. If you can send out a couple hundred thousand of these emails a day (easy), and you can get two interested replies per thousand (good scammers do), that equates to twenty “marks” a day. If one of those marks plays out and loses just a $1,000 that works out to quite the tidy living. So do not expect an end to the deluge.
If it seems to good to be true… it is.
The Katy Independant School District opened its doors and classes resumed this morning. Since I work out of my house, this means that I have had a summer full of kids and their associated heathen activities interrupting my days. Not anymore. I have hot water for showering and a little peace and quiet. At least until the afternoon when the boyfriend parade starts.
