Behemoth Droppings

Well, I meant to post this several days ago, but I just haven’t had the time. Last Thursday, a guy rang our doorbell. I went out and started talking with him. He was from a local security installer called Pinnacle. They were hired by ADT to go to new subdivisions and get people to partner with them. To make a long story a lot shorter, they came in and installed a free system for us and then gave us $10 off our monthly surveillance charges. All we have to do is show their sign in our front yard for advertisement. Another cool thing is that they installed their new wireless system. It hasn’t even hit the market yet. I think it will come out next month. It has a lot of cool features, but it does have one drawback. See, we got these wireless keychain remotes. You can arm and disarm your system without being at the keypad. Sounds good doesn’t it? Well, the drawback is the panic button. Yep, panic button. All you have to do is hit it once, and the police will be at your door in 5 minutes (lets not say how I know!!). The bad thing is, disarming the system doesn’t cancel the panic call. I think I may just have to not use the keychain at all. If anyone is interested in getting a system, let me know and I can refer you to them. That way we can both get something out of it.

Well, it finally came. Yep, on Friday night myself, Leslie, Alex, James, and Cheryl went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I had a lot of expectations going into this movie. Tim Burton directed it, Danny Elfman did the music, and Johnny Depp was the star. When these three get together, it always adds up to good movies!! All I have to say is that I wasn’t dissapointed. Do yourself a favor and go watch it. The Oompa Loompas rock!!

Well, Leslie and I received our first piece of rip-off mail today. I had never seen this one before. Luckily, the internet rushed to my aid!!

We received this green car in the mail. On the front, it says “Official Business” and has a telephone number of 1-800-693-9206. On the back, it has “PostGram” with the delivery being first class and a postcard. It has the sender’s zip code as 33764. The message stated “We are trying to reach you. Please call us at the number shown on the reverse of this card. This is a free call. Sincerely – Pat Haines (Sales Representitive)”.

Of course, right away I figured something was up. First off, it didn’t say why this had come. Second, it didn’t give a reason as to why I should call them. Third, it didn’t say who sent it. Rather than wasting my time, and possibly money, by calling the number I resorted to the wonderful world of the internet. I first started off by searching the zip code on Google Maps and found out that it came from Clearwater, Florida. Next, I did several backwards searches on the telephone number. They came up empty. That alone confirmed my suspicions. Any legite company would have their number listed. Then I did a search on Pat Haines. This is where I got the results. I came across a site that has Rip-Off reports. The link below shows what I found out. Notice there are a few differences in the cases reported. You never know when someone is trying to take advantage of you. Bottom line, if something smells fishy then Google it. Chances are, you’ll find out something that you need to know.

Well, I must apologize. I have been horrible about posting new stuff lately. I’ll try to do a better job, but I’m not making any promises. Anyway, today is Kroger’s company picnic at Coney Island. It’ll be the first one I’ve ever attended. The office closes at 12, so even if I wanted to work past then I couldn’t (darn!!). The picnic will go from 1-7pm, but I don’t know if we’ll stay the whole time. It should be a fun though. At least it’s better than working!!