Point collecting

[c9]

• Saw Syriana tonight. Very interesting, and challenging. Liked it. I want to see it again to catch all the stuff I didn't get the first time around. One complaint: the director, possibly on purpose, made it almost impossible to precisely sense time passing throughout the film. I didn't realize it would bug me as much as it did.
  
  
• Today's Toronto Star featured an excellent story and side-by-side comparison (600KB PDF) showing you exactly what effects the food you eat can have on the environment. I saved a copy (600KB PDF) in case they take it down.
  
  
• I want to go see Brokeback Mountain, but it's not playing here yet. I hate living in a 450,000 person backwater. :)
  
  
• Lucky had a serious digestive issue all over the carpet today. These are very rare now. Amusingly, in the mail was a reminder that it's time for their checkups. Maybe he read the mail.
  
  
• I cannot freaking believe that it's December 20th in 98 minutes.
  
  
• New RAM arrived today. I installed it, and my boot time has dropped from 1:32 to 1:04. Then 1:10. Then 2:29, because it spontaneously rebooted right in the middle of a boot I was timing. Hmmm. Memory diagnostic burn-in type software shows no faults. Double-hmmm.
  
  
• eBay shipping is SUCH a scam. I wish I could get in on it. My RAM arrived in a $1.39 padded envelope, with two 50 cent stamps. Actual shipping charged? $14.99 US per item, with 40% discount on second item. Ha!
  
  
• Still cheaper than new RAM, so hey.
  
  
• leapfish's Dad got us a Chapters gift card, and we shopped online with it last week. Today the books arrived! I got Just A Geek, by Wil Wheaton. Can't wait to read it. The book arrived damaged though. I complained. We shall see.
  
  
• Why have more friends tried to persuade us to fly across an ocean than have confirmed they're coming to Vegas? Is it the position of the planets or something?
  
  
• There is no... rule six.

Comments

[mightycodking.livejournal.com]

"eBay shipping is SUCH a scam. I wish I could get in on it. My RAM arrived in a $1.39 padded envelope, with two 50 cent stamps. Actual shipping charged? $14.99 US per item, with 40% discount on second item. Ha!"

He/she may be getting off light with you. For that big a difference I'd be sending a love letter requesting a partial shipping refund or negative feedback.

[c9.livejournal.com]

To be fair (since one of us has to), I did know the shipping costs going in, and I did know the size of the memory (and therefore the likely shipping container) going in. But perhaps.

[mightycodking.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I would probably send the request before bidding, actually. Still, while I usually give the benefit of the doubt on shipping cost discrepancy (hell, I do more selling than buying, so...), this seems really obvious.

By the way, Martin is in town. Not sure if you are in Ottawa this weekend but you guys should hook up.

[c9.livejournal.com]

My parents are no longer in Ottawa, so I have no regular visits any more, sadly. I do want to visit soon -- it's been a year now, actually. Crazy.

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

Remember, it's shipping and handling. Maybe he lives 20 miles from the nearest post office*. Maybe the sight of those little green customs forms gives him the heebeejeebees**. Or maybe he's just scamming, like everyone else on eBay***.

* don't laugh -- Jackie's parents are at *least* a half hour drive away from their nearest post office, if not more. Insanity.

** it appears to. The number of "US shipping only" auctions seems much higher these days than it used to.

*** I officially became an eBay scammer when I sold Jackie's Z71. It worked fine when I shipped it, but the buyer claimed that the battery wouldn't hold a charge. I pointed out that the auction *did* say "as-is". She got a deal on the shipping, too :-)

[c9.livejournal.com]

* It's an eBay business with hundreds of items. In urban Montréal.

But whatever.

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

Well there you go. You can keep your auction prices low if your shipping is sky-high. You make it all up on volume! :)

[miket61.livejournal.com]

I have seen Brokeback Mountain referred to as Bareback Mountain so many times it actually looked strange when you used its correct name.

A very generous coupon from Indigo.ca got me reading the Harry Potter books. I like the smaller, more kid-friendly size of the Canadian editions - the US versions are the same size as The DaVinci Code, for example.

To combine comments on two of your points - I've gotten a torn dust jacket and was sent the US large type edition of Prisoner of Azkaban by mistake, and both times Indigo said that they would not do anything about it because they don't accept returns from outside of Canada.

[rebelprince26.livejournal.com]

i'm coming to vegas! don't worry!

[c9.livejournal.com]

No worries! But seriously, 4-5 people have made suggestions around going across an ocean -- or both oceans!

[socalledeconomy.livejournal.com]

The reviews I have read for Syriana all say it's too complicated and hard to follow- do you agree?

[c9.livejournal.com]

Yes and no. Yes, because it's too complicated for anyone not already versed in the concepts, issues and players of the Middle East. No, because I love movies that force me to concentrate and really figure stuff out. I hate exposition.

"Hello, father! How was your day at the CIA, where you work?"