I loathe scammers; or how I learned my lesson

Having sold some useless and some not-so-unless stuff on Craigslist myself, I assume that most people who sell on there are like me and describe their products honestly and don't try to scam. I was wrong.

The last few months I've been trying to get my hands on the Sony Ericsson W880i phone (there's nothing wrong with my old one, except that it's not new anymore), which is pretty price here since it was only released overseas. The price finally came down low enough where it was fathomable to buy one. Current price is about $300. I found a guy on Craigslist that listed it for $300 but after some sweet talking, I got him to give it to me for $280...if no one else offered him more.

Long story short, I bought the phone. I tried to import my address book via Bluetooth and that's when my troubles began. I called Sony Ericsson and they said that it would be free for the original owner, but if I couldn't show them proof that I was, it would cost $100 just for them to inspect it, and then another $200 for them to fix the problem. I laughed, said "That's absurd!" and hung up.

So I called the guy and said that the phone is not working properly and I'd like to give it back in exchange for my money. Obviously, this idea was as ridiculous to him as Sony Ericsson's price quote was to me. "What am I going to do with a broken phone?!" he asked rhetorically. "No one's going to want it when it's broken. How do I know that it was broken before I sold it to you? You probably put a virus on it!" I wanted nothing more than to reach through the phone and smash his face in with something large. After many more lies and accusations that I was responsible for the phone, I told him I just wanted my money back, that as a seller it is his responsibility to give me my money back for a faulty product.

In the end, he gave me back all but $40 of the money I paid for it, saying that he didn't feel right giving me back al my money since the phone doesn't work correctly. If I had ever had to hurt anyone physcially, it was this guy.

Goodbye, Rossa Jean (or Ross Goodman)

Today marks the last day of Ross Goodman, web author of Gyro International. It also marks the first day of Ross Goodman, a man who enjoys spending time with his wife. He's been an exceptional co-worker, in-house computer expert, cubicle neighbor, and unconditional friend (except the times when he doesn't want to speak to me). I wish him success with his upcoming endeavors. I'll see you on the courts, my friend.


Ross passes webbie-type knowledge on to Lucie.

Baby Bella is a year old

Bella's first birthday bash was fantastic super fun times. She was smiling the whole time and only cried for a brief second when she realized the wrong Asian (read: me) was holding her. Once she got a taste of the sugary strawberry lemonade I had, you couldn't pry her away.

Becky and Ziad did a great job organizing/hosting the party/BBQ for the 30+ guests, babies, dogs, etc. It's hard to believe, but I haven't eaten that much in a while. The tofu and veggie kebabs were amazing!! The other culinary highlights included Sarah's tofu pate and Becky's chocolate chip cookies. My belly thanks you.


Guests vs. Ziad and Bella.


Becky takes a break from running around to pose for me.


Bella with second favortie Auntie Lark.


Peace.


Brent and the girl that kept following him around.

I officially love Victoria Beckham

It's not a secret that I'm a fan of reality shows; Project Runway, Top Chef, and now, the Beckhams (I don't know what it's called). Victoria Beckham is kind of sweet and charming. I love that she has to put on her "miserable face" to take the paparazzi head-on. She refuses to smile or look like she's having a good time in public. It's so absurd that it's perfect for reality TV.

Project Runway, come back...PLEASE!!!

It's been too long, old friend. I miss Heidi's funny accent, Michael Kors' bloated orange face, and Tim Gunn's carefully tailored words of advice (get it? ha!). Most of all, I miss the inspired/inspiring creativity the contestants bring to the table. It's mind-blowing how quickly each designer can come up with a concept and design then execute them, usually exceptionally well. Sometimes, though, I'd rather focus on the designers than the designs themselves. I mean, come on—it was fun to hate Jeffrey and his chinlessness. Remember when he made Angela's mom cry? That bastard.

Today Ross sent me a link to the Castro Theatre's upcoming events. If you scroll down to July 27th, you have a chance to attend a meet & greet with the "Bad Boys of Runway," aka, Santino and Jeffrey. I must admit, it does sound kind of fun. I can imagine myself asking, "Jeffster, how'd it feel to make that lady cry? You feel like a man? Huh, big guy?" I think it might be worth it.

Not so smooth move

If you ever decide to take an herbal tea laxative, make sure you drink lots of water afterwards and only drink one bag's worth of the tea at a time. It started when I was feeling a little bit blocked, if you know what I mean. After a couple days of being...um, blocked, I thought it was time to make good use of the Smooth Move laxative tea left over from my Master Cleanse days. Instead of steeping just one bag, I thought it would work twice as fast if I used two bags. There's an 8 to 12 hours wait, the box said.

Trouble started the next day when I couldn't stop visiting the throne. It's a good idea to keep your whole day free if you're going to take this tea. Nature will call often. As I sit here writing this blog (two days after the fact), Nature is still tugging at my sleeve...ever so slightly.

Cheap Polaroids, digitally

Polaroid photography is gratifying...instantly and long-term. There's a comforting quality to the vintagey color palette and the blurriness of the photo. And best of all, it's already framed. After seeing Audrey's newly posted Polaroids, I was sure that I could find a quick Photoshop filter online that would give me the results I wanted. To my surprise, there were plenty of tutorials on how to fake the white Polaroid border, but nothing that would actually change the image quality.

After a couple hours of tinkering with color balance, saturation, density, constrast, levels, etc., I came up with a decent Photoshop action that mimics a Polaroid. Here are the before and after files (special thanks to the guy I stole the original photo from on Flickr).



Original:


I'll post the Photoshop action soon for anyone who's intersted.

iPhone mania finds it way to San Francisco

During lunch, Stephanie takes time out to mimic/make fun of the people who have been waiting for their chance to grab a brand new iPhone. Poor guy under the blanket. He'll never know the ridicule he was subjected to while he was asleep.


Ross tries to use the iPhone's new multi-touch screen. I hear it's scratch resistant.

Camera phone review (March - June 2007)

Chicken feet at Super Buffet in the South Bay.


Lunch from Julie's...a meat (and tofu) extravaganza.


Things you find while helping Pooh move rooms.


Horrible ad campaign for an even worse operating system in the Bart station. Nice job, McCann.


I had no idea these guys were still around, though it was at a discount shoe store in San Jose.


My first monte cristo. The words "too much" would sufficiently describe this sandwich...or the concept of this sandwich.


Ross and I shared one of these bottles and I got wired.


Shoreline revisited to see Björk.


Steinhart Aquarium/Academy of Sciences from observation deck of the De Young. Oooh, I can't wait. It's gonna be good.


And finally...what the fuck. A cell phone mouse??

Text wars

I felt like a retaliatory blog was in order to prove just how hypocritical Blahdrey and her blogs are. She recently had to pay and extra $15 because her text-happy fingers couldn't keep themselves off the keypad. So what does she do? She blames me for sending too many trifling texts. So what if I happen to be indiscriminate when it comes to texting?

Jump to tonight. I check my phone and what do I get? A text from Text Nazi herself with two words: "White power!" Nice waste of ten cents. I hope Timmy Von Trimble drops into your rain gutter tonight! Also, stop drawing Hitler on my memo board! You and Ross should get your Fred Perry's and Doc Marten's ready for the "rally."

Here is her diabolical dry-erase drawing:



In an unrelated story, I was hoping this video would be a lot funnier, but it wasn't.