Beautiful USA

I jumped on the vonage band wagon earlier this year and up until a few weeks ago,I was genuinely happy with my service.Okay maybe I grumbled a little when my monthly fee totalled up to $32 instead of the $24 I signed up for but I can live with that.Anyway,a few weeks ago,I started experiencing lots of static that made making phone calls a nightmare.Those issues mysteriously resolved themselves.Then last sunday my vonage device suddenly decided it didn’t feel like working anymore.I spent all day monday on the phone with vonage reps trying to troubleshoot and nothing helped until an independent tech looked at the device and informed me it was useless.I had to get a new one.

I got back on the phone with vonage and told them what the tech had said.The rep I spoke with was nice and assured me that since my old device was still under warranty,she was going to order a replacement for me.She didn’t order the replacement.A week went by and all my calls were being forwarded to my cell phone but I still had no device and no actual functioning phone despite the fact that my account and phone number were still active.So long story short,last sunday,I called vonage back really frustrated,they decided to overnight me a device and in the process managed to screw up my card by charging me for the new device.This was an error on their part that took 2 more phone calls on my part to fix.Anyway,today I finally got my vonage device in the mail and instead of a reconditioned device,they actually sent me the rather cute upgraded version with the LCD display and they gave me a credit for the 10 days I was without a functioning device.It sucks though that they are making me pay shipping to return their faulty device to them but I wont fight with them about that.Its just not worth the stress.I am just glad my phone is working again!

This is a screenshot of my inbox I took awhile back.This is just a tiny,tiny,tiny,tiny portion of the 1000s of spam emails I get daily.

Spammers just don’t get.

I’m not interested in sexually explicit material.

I don’t care so much for viagra

I’m not trying to get some prescriptions filled by some shady online pharmacy

And I definitely don’t have a penis so I have absolutely no use for penis enlargement products.

The media had a field day with this story so I won’t bore you with the details..simply google the 2 words you see next to the word color in the picture below and you’ll see what all the fuss is about…

I’ve never understood why anyone in their right mind would resort to using the “N” word.

I’m not comfortable with that word.

I don’t use it and I certainly don’t want anyone around me using it.

It doesn’t matter if you’re white,black or green..just don’t use the “N” word around me.

Its ignorant.

I wonder how much money this woman and her family will get if they decide to sue…

People amaze me.Seriously.If you’ve got a brain and you spot this sign,you know it means no cell phone use allowed in that area.Surprisingly very,very few people actually pay attention to signs like this one…

I was at the courthouse in Dekalb county and this “no cell phone use allowed” sign was posted on the door…right on the door.The bailiff even went as far as giving us a “talk” about how we should all turn off our cell phones.The courtroom rules are simple-no cell phone allowed,not even on vibrate.All cell phones must be turned completely off before you enter the courtroom.If you don’t turn your phone off and it rings or beeps,you not only get thrown out of the courtroom but your cell phone gets confisticated and never returned.

This one lady apparently felt like she was above the law because she decided to enter the courtroom without turning off her cell phone.Halfway through the proceedings,her cell phone started ringing..ofcourse the bailiff walked over to her and confisticated the phone and what does this lady say?”Give me back my phone..thats my phone…you have no right to take it from me”.She then went on to claim racial profiling.

I hate when people use race as an excuse for their stupidity but thats a whole different topic I’ll spare for some other time.I just wanted to grab that woman by her hand,march her to the door of the courtroom,point to the sign on the door and tell her…this sign means no cell phone use allowed you dummy……

I took this picture on 10-04-2006 at my local Ingles back when gas prices were really low.Back then I recall thinking to myself “there is a God and I have the proof”…now gas is up to $3.06 and even $3.25 in some areas…so maybe there is no God afterall.

I have an on going bet with someone as to whether gas prices will ever be this low again..I think they will.She doesn’t.I’m so going to enjoy spending her money when I win this bet!

My friend “itchy” (I know,strange nickname but he’s really a nice fella who’d totally give his right kidney to you if you asked politely..) posted the cartoon above on a forum we both frequent and I thought it was way too cute especially seeing as it accurately describes my experience at IHOP this past Wednesday night…

If you’re not familiar with IHOP (International House of Pancakes),its a restaurant that sells what appears to be good food at an affordable price.Their speciality is pancakes but they do have a whole bunch of other stuff from steaks to salads to chicken…anyway,I’d never been to an IHOP before so this past Wednesday night when I was out with my family,we decided to give IHOP a try.We got there,got seated by the hostess,got our menus,the kids got their crayons and then the drama began…

For starters usually when a hostess gets you all settled into your booth or at your table,your server comes and asks you what you want to drink while you wait to order.No server showed up at our table.Now I know you’re thinking the place was busy and all the servers were attending to other customers but no,the place was “dead”,there were very few customers and what were the servers doing?Standing in the kitchen talking.Yes,you read that right..the IHOP servers were standing in the kitchen gossiping with each other instead of attending to us.

No one came to our table to ask if we at least wanted drinks.No one came to ask if we were ready to order.No one even bothered to come and tell us of any specials..I hate when restaurants try and force their “special of the day” on you right before you order but on Wednesday night I would have appreciated it if someone had tried to at least force the special of the day on me!But these people did NOT even acknowledge our presence.It was like we were invisible.My son even tried to get the waitresses’ attention by waving his hands but they looked at him and went right back to their gossiping!To say we got frustrated would be the understatement of the year.We ended up walking out of the restaurant.

Clearly these people don’t like their jobs because their customer service sucks.They don’t understand that they have jobs because of customers like us.They don’t get it that without customers going to IHOP,they wouldn’t get any tips or their weekly pay cheque.They are just lucky we were so pissed off we just walked out and didn’t file a report with their manager.

I do know one thing for sure…I’ll never eat at an IHOP ever.I’ve never eaten at one and after my experience at the IHOP on Panola Road in Lithonia,Georgia,I’ll never even set foot in another IHOP again.