This past three-day weekend was a blast. Jenn, Stuart, Tiffany, and I all went up to Seattle on the train.

Three days and two nights of chaos and mayhem. Among other things, we saw Pike Place Market, Experience Music Project, and the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame.

EMP and the Sci-Fi Museum were my favorite stops. The two put together took us pretty much an entire day. EMP sucked us in with the tons of cool exhibits and hands-on demonstrations of musical concepts, and the Sci-Fi Museum was a blast with all sorts of science fiction paraphernalia. From movie props to original novels scripts, they had it all. I even got a picture of myself next to Gort. (For reference, I’m 6’2” tall; Gort dwarfs me.)

Honestly, normally I do the whole play-by-play of all the things we did, but it was so much I don’t even know where to begin. I’ll just say it was a lot of fun and a great weekend to decompress.

Only downside: too much walking. I think the next vacation’s gotta be lying on the beach drinking umbrella drinks. Give these tootsies a rest.

I admit I’m all about merchandising. I mean, I can’t not buy Star Wars toys. But the Star Wars patterned fabric? I think that’s a bit much.

I think Stu says it best, so I’ll just let you check it out over there.

I called NEW (the warranty company servicing my TV extended warranty) since they were supposed to have called me back this past Friday to tell me what’s going on with my TV - as it’s unfixable, are they going to replace it or refund my money?

I talked to Dave over there, who is perhaps the most unhelpful customer service representative ever. Not sure if you’ve talked to a Dave before, but these are the customer service reps who use their position as an excuse NOT to help you.

Dave told me that NEW was waiting to hear form the TV repair place that my TV was not fixable. I asked what could be done to help the process along.

Dave: They need to fax us their report that says the TV can’t be fixed. Me: OK. So can you call them and ask them to fax that or should I do that? Dave: They need to fax us their report that says the TV can’t be fixed. Me: Right. Who needs to tell them that they need to fax you that information? Dave: Normally what happens is they determine the TV to be unfixable, then they fax us their report and tell us that so we can send it to authorization. Me: I’ve got that. Who needs to call the repair firm and tell them to fax that? Can you do it? Dave: I’m sorry, I’m just the customer service rep.

That’s great, Dave. Thanks.

Turns out I called the repair place and they sent in their report like two weeks ago.

Time to get irritated…