Scare Tactics

Meredith and I bought a new Honda Element yesterday. It kinda rocks.

In the process, however, we had to go through the finance department at Honda East. His first mistake was to admit he was friends with the person who sold us our house, with whom we had a months-long dispute over some extra charges.

Then, to sell us extras, he tried a few directions.

First, when trying to convince us to pay for life insurance through him, he said that he knew someone who got cancer after they bought the car, and the insurance covered it. "Not that I'd wish that on anyone", he made sure to add.

Second, when talking about an extended warranty, he offered us a 6 year warranty (3 years is the standard, so really a 3 year extension) for "only" $25 dollars extra per month. When we declined that, he slashed the price all the way to $22 a month. We still declined, and told him that our experience is that Hondas don't often break within that time frame.

His response? "Well, you've never bought a four wheel drive vehicle before." Was he telling us the car he was selling was going to break down? I was dumbfounded by that one.

Despite his best efforts, we escaped with a new car at a good price.

Wal*$%&*Mart

My car dealership is offering a free oil change with a donation of a toy. I decided to take them up on the offer, and stopped by Walmart on the way home from lunch.

I picked up a soccer ball, figuring that's a good active gift for a boy or girl, and there's no other equipment needed to play.

So, I brought it up to the front of the store, and all the lines are super long. Except, that is, for the self-scan lines. I fell in behind a mother and daughter who are scanning their items. They finished the items, and tried swiping their card, to no avail. Unable to continue, they hit the button on the monitor labelled "I Need Help", and the light above the register began to flash.

"Oh, great", I thought. "I'm behind *those* people."

Eventually, they flagged down an employee who came over to help. However, they became irrelevant as another lane opened up, and I was able to sneak past while they continued their struggles.

I scanned my other item and stuck it in a bag, then swiped the soccer ball. Hmm, nothing.

*scan*

Nothing. I examined the packaging, and found no bar code anywhere to be seen. Thinking I must have missed it, I checked again. Nothing. Using my powers of deduction, I decided there must be one on the ball itself. So, I began spinning the ball in the case, while the assembled lines watched me. Finally, I located a small bar code on the ball, and turned back to the register.

*scan*

Nothing.

*scanscan*

Nothing.

*scanscanscanscanscanscanI'm not one of *those* peoplescanscanscanscan*.

Defeated, I pushed the "I Need Help" button and waited. And waited. And waited. They should really rename it to the "I want that light above me to flash and draw attention to my ineptitude" button, because no one ever came to help. I trust the two associates talking to the cashier at the next register over had some very good reasons.

Determined not to give up, I found a "Key Pad" button on the screen. I pressed it, and tried punching in the number under the bar code. Suddenly, "Soccer Ball" appeared on the screen!

Feeling pretty smart, I chose "Credit Card" as my payment type. Up popped a screen that asked me to enter my PIN. Now, I understand that when I swipe a card and it doesn't know how I want to use the card, it needs some instruction. But this register was suffering from short-term memory loss, because I said "Credit Card" not 5 SECONDS AGO.

So, I did the only thing I could. I pushed "Cancel". Naturally, up came the screen asking me to sign. So, I did, approximating something like "DfAS_d N Ga&r*es" on the electronic signing screen. Out came a receipt, and I made a beeline for my car.

And as I walked out the door, the "I Need Help" sign stopped blinking.

37-21

And just like that, a mediocre season turns into a great one.

Not to mention a mediocre weekend. I got rear-ended in my 6-month old car this weekend. The guy smelled like alcohol, but thanks to the rain, the police weren't taking non-injury accident reports. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt to our knowledge, and we think the damage is just to the bumper.

Nothing like this scoreboard to make all that go away for a while.



Photo by Jim Davidson, www.the-ozone.net

Into The Fray

Eve of the game.

Go Bucks.

'nuff said.

Tibia or not Tibia

If you've read Meredith's blog, you know that she is a marathoner. Last year, I made my first attempt to join that world. (And it IS a world of it's own...trust me.) I ran the Capitol City Half Marathon last year, but suffered a stress fracture in my right tibia while training.

I'm the one in the short sleeves.



And, ironically, as I try to make a wry comment about the futility of finding me in that stock picture from their website, I find my father in law smack dab in the front of it. Who knew?

Anyway...I took some time off to heal, and then tried to train for the Columbus Marathon. And soon, I was sidelined again with a *left* tibia stress fracture.

So, I'm starting up the training again. My goal is to train for an unspecified as of yet spring 2005 marathon. And not to break anything in the process.

First post! And stuff...

My name is Dave.

I'm a husband. I've been married two years to a wonderful woman named Meredith. Go read her blog. Right now. Back yet? OK, onward.

I'm a programmer. I do most of my work in Java. Client/Server stuff, mainly, but I enjoy the graphical side of things.

I'm a biologist. Though it takes a slight back seat to my computer work right now, I'm trained in genetics by degree.

I'm a musician. I've played trumpet since fifth grade, and piano on and off since...well, since a long time ago. I enjoy singing, too - if you see someone singing along to the radio in a black Prius...well, that just might be me.

I'm a buckeye. I graduated in 2000 from The Ohio State University with degrees in Computer Science and Molecular Genetics. I played in the Ohio State University Marching Band in the 1995-1997 seasons.

I'm a Christian. I grew up Methodist, and currently attend a Presbyterian Church of America church.

Why do you care?

1. You're family. (Hi family!)
2. You're friends (Hi friends!)
3. You searched and found the site. I just hope it was from keywords I'd be proud of. Hang around if you like. I'll try to entertain.