The one where Radio Shack rocks my socks...

So, remember when I broke up with Blockbuster? *sighs, gazes wistfully out the window* Well, I still miss them. I've been seeing Redbox occasionally and I'm hooking up with Netflix as soon as I buy a wireless router so we can stream movies to the TV, but I still miss visiting Blockbuster and strolling the aisles. Just like I love the convenience and free shipping that Amazon offers, yet I miss the Borders and Barnes & Nobles days of touching the books and losing myself in the stacks. But I've developed a new affection.

In the old days, when I first got my cell plan and those first phones, I got them from Radio Shack. Signed my contract there, picked out free phones, ect. And Radio Shack was good to me. The Shack took care of me, so a lot of subsequent upgrades were made through them. They changed sales associates often and managers sometimes, but there was always someone there who really knew their stuff and was eager to help. Then Best Buy moved to town. The array of electronics, the stunning display of cell phones, the quantity~ it was heady stuff. How could I not be taken in by it's absolute star quality? Everything about the store yells "look at me! I have everything! Bigger and better!". And for awhile I lost myself in giddy abandon. I purchased 3 upgrades through them. But I was less than satisfied. One phone had to be replaced 3 times before we got a good one. The lines were long and sometimes you spent an hour there when you just ran in for a quick question. But then I found the phone I wanted for my upgrade. At&t's new Backflip. The At&t rep happened to be there the day I was and completely convinced me it was the phone for me. And also said they'd wave my upgrade fee. Score!

This phone does amazing things. It syncs all of my social networking sites (FaceBook, Twitter, ect.) and gives me updates as they happen. I can enter all of my email addresses and get emails in a universal inbox as I go. It's on the android network so web browsing is fast and the browser window is much bigger than most phones. It has a touch screen, but also a pull out qwerty keyboard. And tons of apps. You can see it here. I call him Raoul. And it was only $49.99 with the upgrade. But alas, I had to wait til mid May for my upgrade. So I eagerly rushed to Best Buy the day my upgrade was available. And *gasp* my phone's price had gone up to $99.99. Plus $30 for the screen protector and $8 for them to put it on for me. WTF? So I told the guy I was going to go to Radio Shack and see which phones they had and what prices they were. He told me he could pull it up on the computer and price match. Sweet! Turns out Radio Shack had my phone for free! But after a quick call he realized they didn't have any in stock at the Shack, so he wouldn't price match. I stormed off dramatically. Grrr...

So I dropped into Radio Shack myself a few days later to see if they had gotten some in stock. No luck. However, the manager said they could still do the upgrade and ship the phone direct to me. Awesome!! I told them the rep said to cancel my upgrade fee as well. We went through the upgrade process (takes forever) but when we got to the price screen...&79.99. WTH? The manager (a cute guy by the name of Jesse Simpson) then realized that the "free" offer was only on the Internet. Not in the stores. (Why do companies do that??!). I told them I was sorry for making them go through all that, but I couldn't do it that day at that price. They started to undo everything. Then they called the rep. She told them to call the district manager and ask him to price override and give it to me for free. They told me not to get my hopes up. But they called him and he came through. So I got my fancy new shiny phone for FREE. It came in the mail two days later. I took it in to the Shack, bought a screen protector for $8 and they put it on for FREE. Take that Best Buy!!

Seriously, this is one of the best examples of customer service I've ever seen. They really went above and beyond to make sure I was happy. And I am very happy! I stopped in yesterday because of an issue with the screen protector and Jesse happily put a whole new one on for me. (Again, for free) Best customer service ever! I would like to thank Jesse, Megan, the other employees and Anna (the AT&T rep) for their commitment to customers. Jesse asked me yesterday if I wouldn't mind telling my friends where I got my phone. I told him I would do him one better- I would tell the world. And better yet, I'll be getting all my upgrades there from now on. Thanks guys. You rocked my socks. I'm sorry I left you Radio Shack. Sometimes bigger isn't better. I'm all yours again.

♥Spot

The one where someone wins pretty things and alcohol speaks...

Yay! It's Wednesday!! I don't know why I'm so happy about that. It's not like anyone in my household has weekends off so it's not really like I'm halfway to two days off. And yet, Wednesday still holds some strange appeal. Maybe it's the fact that Ghost Hunters is on Wednesday nights. Or Happy Town. Although I haven't watched the first one. It's still sitting on my DVR, calling my name. Or maybe I'm excited because my birthday gift to Hildi's oldest is arriving today (she turned ten yesterday...Happy Birthday Madi!) and I sent her some great books. Or maybe it's because it's Cinco de Mayo, which should totally be a holiday in the US. I'm sure someone would come up with a political or socio-cultural (I'm not even sure that's a real word) reason for making it a holiday. But I'm going to go with, what a good excuse to eat Mexican food and drink Tequila!! Who's with me on this??

No, I'm excited because today I get to announce the winner of my giveaway! Woo-hoo! One lucky person gets $60 towards the purchase of some pretties for their house courtesy of CSNstores. And the lucky winner is...Heather! Congratulations girl! Please shoot me an email so I can send you the promo code!! I really wish everyone could have won! Maybe I'll get lucky and someone else will ask me to do a giveaway. *wink wink, nudge nudge advertisers!*

In other news, Lu & Dexter left for Texas last night and I'm already missing her! They should be arriving at their destination right about now. They get to spend a week down there on his Aunt & Uncle's ranch. They went in August and had an awesome time. They even camped on the beach. I wish I was headed to the beach...

We saw the Dr. about Bobby's broken clavicle. They promise in two weeks it will be much improved. The xray looks like someone broke the bone and then tried to build an Indian tee pee with it. They gave him some stronger meds and said he could try school tomorrow. Going back to work depends on how much pain he's in. His manager is being awesome about it though. And obviously no driving for awhile. Looks like Sean and I will be sharing chauffeur duties.

My physical therapist is trying to kill me. I'm pretty sure she lays awake at night trying to think up new tortures. Yesterday's visit ended with me biting my lip and gritting my teeth. The funny thing is it's not the injured knee that hurts...it's the hip. I may have to go get the shot in it after all. Grocery shopping afterward probably didn't help.

I had my first video conference call with one of my clients today. It's a little surreal finally seeing someone you've only chatted with on the phone. Ok, the whole video calling thing is surreal to me. I just got the web cam last week. And I've video called Hildi once too. That was awesome being able to see her and the girls. I guess you get used to it. The funny thing is, I was all nervous, so I got up early; showered, fixed my hair, put on makeup, picked out casual, yet business like clothing and downloaded Skype. Then I waited. And when he called? He was wearing a tshirt. Yes, I overdressed for a conference call. My bad.

Hubby is still majorly busy and so I don't seem him much. Last night, as I was getting ready for bed he was already in bed.

Me: Don't fall asleep yet! I have stuff to tell you.

Hubby: Mrwrmm. Okay. I'll try.

*I go into bathroom, take meds, brush teeth, ect. Finally I emerge*

Me: Are you asleep?

Hubby: No

Me: You looked asleep.

Hubby: No. I'm awake.

Me: Well, okay. Do you want to know how my doctor's visit went?

Hubby: Yeah, of course.

Me: Really, because you didn't even ask?

Hubby: Yeah, I forgot, sorry.

Me: Well Dr. O said he wished all his fibro patients were doing as well as I am. And that almost everyone is getting great results with that medicine. He advised me to avoid surgery at all costs because he's worried about all my allergies to antibiotics. Dr. L is worried about that too. But basically, I don't have to see Dr. O again until next year.

Hubby: Well that's good.

Me: And Dr. L spent like 5 minutes with me. It was one of those times he keeps trying to get up and leave and I keep making him sit back down. Anyway I'm supposed to call them Monday and let them know if I think the kidney infection is cleared up and the swelling is gone. And he's not worried about the BP and Heart rate spikes as long as I feel fine.

Hubby: *who has rolled over, says over his shoulder* So the whiskey didn't tell you anything.

Me: What?

Hubby: So the whiskey didn't tell you anything.

Me: Um. No. The whiskey didn't tell me a damn thing. Was it supposed to?

Hubby: *rolls over and stares as me* What whiskey?

Me: That's what I'd like to know. You said "so the whiskey didn't tell you anything?"

Hubby: No. I said "So basically, he didn't tell you anything."

Me: Well that makes more sense. Especially since I hate whiskey. We really aren't on speaking terms.

Hubby: *shakes head and rolls back over*

Me: Now the tequila, however...


Happy Cinco de Mayo!
♥Spot

PS- I promise to start catching up on all of your blogs. SOON. =]