Valentines Dinner at the KEG.

So since I really do not believe in Valentines Day, but my wife does, I told her that we will celebrate by going out for dinner just the 2 of us. At a nice restaurant that we like. Since neither of us is really into the hoidy toidy richie type food, the place for us is "The KEG".

We Dropped Z off at Grandpa's and we were going to try the New Keg across from the Vaughan Mills mall. It was a new branch that just opened on Feb. 13. So we new there would be some bugs to work out. All I know is that I seem to have a magnetic pull for the realllllllly new servers and or bad servers, (honestly I do not go looking for trouble).

The server started off really well coming by our table every 3-5 minutes while we were having our salad. As soon as we finished our salad, our server informed us that our steaks wouldn't be ready for another 1o minutes or so. We were fine with that, but when we got our steaks, my wife's steaks was "SUPER WELL DONE".

Now you might think that the steak being overcooked was the problem, but no when we told our server, she said,

"Well you asked for it well done."

No dear we ALWAYS, ask for our steaks medium rare - medium. She had to look at her notebook where she took our order to see that she told the cook to make it well done.

Now you think that would be the big thing, but its not. We had a fresh steak in our booth within 4 minutes. Now that's quick.

But having a kid, and bing on a specific schedule my wife is not always hungry. But we take advantage of our ALONE TIME as often as possible. SO she wasn't that hungry and only ate about 1/3 of everything. So when we were finished (as always I licked my plate clean), we asked for hers to go. She gave her meal to a busboy and forgot to tell him that the plate was to go. So we had wait over 10 minutes for them to make a new meal.

The owner came to talk to us and we explained the situation and was apologetic for the situation.

So overall I paid for my wife's steak once, and got three steaks in total.

I seem to have the knack for getting deals, when I don't even try.

Doctor Whoooo OOH eh! Doctor Who. Doctor Whoooo OOH eh! The DVDS

Well getting these DVD’s was harder than expected. From now on I will only shop at the Future Shop, located at Yonge & 16th Avenue.

The Doctor Who series on DVD was suppose to come out on February 14, 2006, sadly that was not the case. None of the Future Shops that I had contacted received the DVDs. I figured it was just delayed, no biggie, I waited 5 months for them what’s another couple of days.

So everyday after the 14th, I called and asked if the DVDs had come in yet. My answer was no. That Friday, the 17th I was told that Future Shop was only getting 17 copies for all of Canada.

WHAT!!!!!!!

Well I had a gift card since mid December, (I could not get my money back so they gave me a gift card, which was fine because I knew I would use the card on the DVD set), and it is only good at Future Shop, I felt royally cheesed.

Future Shop’s slogan is “Get it Here FIRST!”

Well, my original inquiries from early December into waiting for the Doctor Who DVDs are as Follows:

(ME) Are you going to get the Doctor Who first series on DVD?

(FS) Yes we are.

(ME) Are you going to have a lot of copies?

(FS) Yes we will have a lot of copies, we normally do.

(ME) Will it come out on time?

(FS) Yes. We always get DVDs when they are released.
So I waited till now to use the gift card. But alas…

-No in getting the DVDs
-No in getting in a lot of copies
-No in getting the DVDs when they were released.
I certainly didn’t get it there first.

I was told to contact the Future Shop Customer service over the phone and explained my frustration. The woman on the phone said that was not their problem. So I casually explained to her the idea of “False Advertising”, you know “Get it Here FIRST!”, when “I DIDN’T GET IT AT ALL” & “I WON’T GET IT FROM THERE DUE TO EXTREMELY LIMITED QUANTITIES”.

So after a brief discussion with the Manager of Yonge & 16th Avenue store and the Future Shop Customer service people on the phone, we came to a compromise.

They would not refund me my money into cash, because it is against company policy, but I got them to put the money back onto my credit card.

I’m not sure what the difference is, but hey I could care less. I got my money back and I went to MUSIC WORLD and got the DVDs for $6 less than Future Shop.

I will still shop at Future Shop, but only if it is a necessity.

As for the DVDs, I have 13 episodes, at 44 minutes a piece. That’s what I’m doing on Sunday. A full day of DOCTOR WHO!!!! Over 10 hours of shows and DVD Extras.

Or an all nighter of DOCTOR WHO!!!!

Either way….

FANTASTIC!!!

Kickin Butt for my PS2

So this is going to be a bit of a longer post due to the nature of the content.

It all started on Valentines Day 2005, when my wife & son gave me a used PS2 with a couple of game. They were great and even though I only played with it a few hours every couple of weeks, it was a lot of fun.

Early October, one night at a friend’s house, we were playing MORTAL KOMBAT II, on his Nintendo Game Cube. I had so much fun with it that I had to have it on my PS2 (and at $20 how could I go wrong). So I buy the game, get home, load it into the system and then...

"DISC READ ERROR"

So I try again be resetting it.

"DISC READ ERROR"

Ok I figured I got a bum disc, Hey it happens. I took the game back to Toys R Us and exchanged the game no problem.

I rush home, load the game into the system, and....

"DISC READ ERROR"

I went to the EB Games at the Promenade Mall, and talked to one of the employees and said that the "DISC READ ERROR" is a common bug, and I should contact SONY and they should be able to fix or replace my system.

BOY WAS THAT GUY WRONG!!!

Sony wanted $100 Just to look at my system.

I called EB Games at Yorkdale and got a huge runaround from them and even was told that I should just come in and buy a new system from them. (Yeah right like I would step into that hellhole and give them my money). I then went back to the EB Games at Promenade and could not get a single answer that matched at any other employee or store. At that point I went home to regroup and figure out my next plan of attack.

Now it is the middle of December and I decide to take the family to Hillcrest Mall to walk around and grab a bite to eat. While I was there, I remembered that the mall has an EB Games. I go in, and since it is close to Christmas it’s a little busy, I wait in line I get to the front and ask politely,

"Can I get the telephone number for the EB Games head office?"

The person working behind the counter was leaving to go get it, when the other employee stops him and says to me.

"You can't have the number; it is against company policy for me to give you that number. The only number I can give you is the customer service 1-200 number".

Getting a little frustrated, but still keeping my cool I explained I find that hard to believe and asked to speak with the manager. To my surprise this little PUTZ was the assistant manager. At this point another customer who was waiting to pay for the item asked me if I am so unhappy here why shop here. My response to her was,

"Could you please mind your own business?"

I asked her politely, at which point the assistant manager forceful stated to me.

"Do not talk to my customers, or I will call Security and have you escorted out of the mall.”

What the hell, all I wanted was a Frackin phone number. I asked for his name and that of the employee (who was trying to help me and being friendly), and was told that he can’t give out names because it is against company policy. I took the 1-800 number and left.

I spent the next 5 days trying to get a hold of customer service person, but ended up spending 30-45 minutes a day on hold. At which point I decided to give up and probably go out and buy a new system.

I told a few people how this was the first time I had ever given up on a challenge/crusade, and was told by friends that I should not give up.

So I let it go for a couple of months.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Vaughan Mills mall to walk around. We stopped for lunch at the food court, and while we were eating, I noticed an EB Games. Hmming and hawwing, I decided to go in and ask simply for the number. If I got any type of grief, I would just walk out.

I walked in and was greeted by a Hey how’re you doing today and can I help you. I politely asked for the head office number, and was told,

“Sure. No problem. Hold on a sec, while I go grab it.”

While waiting, another gentleman asked me why I needed the number. So I told him that I was having problems with EB and wanted to talk with someone with Authority. He asked to know what the problem was. So I explained the WHOLE situation as I have just written it here, and his response was (and I kid you not!)

“Bring in your system here, and we will swap it. No charge.”

My jaw hit the floor.

The guy said even if I could get through to Head office and/or the Customer Service number. The info would have taken a long time to get to him. This guy was a district manager and made me feel great.

So as I get ready to swap my system a few bad things happened (not worth mentioning, but everything is AOK), so I decided to write this guy a letter and tell him about my experience at Hillcrest which he is responsible for. While writing I decided to call up the Hillcrest posing as an Investigator. My luck certainly did change because I was lucky enough to get the SAME assistant manager on the phone who I dealt with originally.

I have never ripped into anyone as badly as I ripped into him, all under my lawyer persona and keeping my cool. I am totally convinced that when I hung up with him, he was going to go in the back and start crying.

Now I am not a vindictive person, but as I now have exchanged my PS2 and have gotten some extra free stuff from the EB Games,

Don’t FRACK with me!!!

I will fight for my rights and the rights of my friends

(Or anyone who asks me).

CHEERS!!!

PS For an abbreviated version of the Phone conversation please send me an email for a copy of it.

Or just ask me when you see me.

CHEERS!!!

Green Lantern V4 Issue 8

Well the last issue of Green Lantern (Issue 7, which I never reviewed cause I had no time) was ok, this series seems to be starting off very slowly.

REGULAR COVER


VARIANT COVER


Out of 8 issues, I really have only enjoyed 1 maybe 2 issues, which were 4&5.

This latest issue was ok with some ok artwork.

The only thing I really liked about this issue is the Variant Cover.

The story was ok, the art average, Green Lantern is a Cosmic Hero.

Don't keep him stuck on a Planet.

So I have come up with a rating system.

Based on Emerald Twighlight, (Where Hal goes insane taking down all the other Green lanterns), I have come up with a rating system of GLRIngs

So this book gets 6.5 rings out of 10






And It got bonus rings for having a NEAL ADAMS Variant Cover.

I need to pay more attention

My friend the Foop! (As I refer to him, to protect his identity) noticed that I misspelled my last postting's title.

So You win my No Prize!

What is that.

I have no idea I just remeber them from the old letters page of my old comics.

But Congratulations anyways.