Donna Djordjevich on *

PS3 has arrived

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:58:00 +0000

... and I'm posting from it now.

Mother to BE!!!

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:30:00 +0000

I'm SO EXCITED!!!

I just placed an order for my PLAYSTATION 3 / Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle!!!

2 controllers
80 Gigs

And Solid Snake...

I think I just swooned.

And, yeah, it is a fact -- Metal Gear Solid is a system selllaaahhhh!!

Stupid Hard Levels!

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:04:00 +0000

I so need a PS3, as if MGS4 wasn't enough of a reason.

Steve Jobs looks like Skeletor

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:14:00 +0000

Someone feed this man. It's sad to watch him hobble around stage with sagging clothing and a rickety frame.

They need to come up with, you know, an Apple to feed people with.

iApple? It grows on trees. Comes in three colors. Canary Yellow. Mustang Red. Vegan Green. Also, it has a GPS transmitter in the seeds so your friends can track your location until the seed passes from your system. Then your friends will just be confused that you're trapped in a bathroom stall, leading some to wonder if you're belimic (or really kinky). You can twitter by farting.

... and I so need work to provide me with an iPhone with 2.0 software. But considering I have to fill out a form to justify the business need for a laptop, I somehow doubt it. I'm surprised I haven't been issued the standard issue slide rule, yet.

This product lackey is trying real hard to have the Jobs pacing in his speech. It comes off a bit pompous. Or is that the standard Apple aire? I sometimes can't tell :)

But it's kind of exciting looking toys, these APIs and such. Now to come up with an app that I feel like making for the iPhone.

I wonder if Steve is eating a cookie while this guy talks.

I have to LOL with his monotone voice wrt Super Monkey Ball. He's so, I'm not a gamer but I'll put up with these dorks, whatever.

Oh look, they have social networking butt-seeds with loopt. Just wrap it in nutrition!..!...?

Pissed off used car salesman is back on stage..

Yeah, TypePad.. I love the subject and content. Way to acknowledge the fact typing on an iPhone is really irritating. WoW. Yum.

The AP guy has a really cool voice. But, in some way, it's kind of eerie.. like.. he could do narrations to horror movies... and the app is so going to feed my news obsession.

Not one.. but TWO games!

Oh, Apple, please stop rubbing it in..

Woo.. water... racing.. hm.. meh..

!!!

'Band' is the shizzle.

!!!

If I was into baseball, the MLB thing looks hawt.

The medical apps are pretty neet, too.

The other game.. eh.. not too bad, either. I think the touch controls would actually be really irritating for an action/platformer.

Skeletor's back!

hmm.. the App store seems cool for devs. hmm....

mobile-me... ehhh.. I never used .mac anyway, so, bleh zzZZzzz... ugh, fast forward.. zzZzz...

iPhone 3G -- close! Too bad it's still AT&T based. I'll stick with Wi-Fi on my iPod touch and not have to worry about crap-ass AT&T "service".

Yay for GPS, brilliant

The reduced price point is getting there.. again, it's the AT&T problem. I can't wait until this goes T-Mobile. I'll wait.

Thank goodness this thing is over. I was sleeping through part of it. I hope next year's is more fun.

So anyway...

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:54:00 +0000

Let's see.. a little update...

In the realm of car drama, the folks finally got around to fixing my sat radio. So it works now, finally. Awesome! However, in the process, they cracked the wood paneling (again). Also... in my sheer stupidity I had them add in an iPod adapter, only to find out the adapter doesn't work with an iPod Touch, thus rendering it basically useless. (I guess I can use my old iPod, but that's a little ghetto). Also.. they drilled a bigger hold in the back of my glove compartment to run the wiring so it just looks like pure ass. I'll have to pick up my own plastic stopper thingie to just make it look right.

All in all, typical shoddy workmanship. Why am I not surprised? There's really no one to blame but myself.

Totally sucks.

Age of Conan has been released.

I played it on beta and couldn't get much past level 10. Mainly because I was so bored out of my friggin' skull and I thought the character animations/look were absolutely terrible. Frankly, I'll keep my abstract lookin' WoW to not even uncanny-valley, just straight up ooooglay avatars.

Yeah, I realize the gameplay is supposed to be different then WoW. And it is. Sort of. But not really to some revolutionary extent that I'm, pardon the pun, "WoW-ed" by it. And for another monthly subscription fee?

Meh.

I'd rather just finish getting my Vindicator set and getting my drood up to MT Kara-spec.

~ddd

My dad's passed away

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:35:00 +0000

In the vein of the internet... I've decided to post it, as the news came in. Perhaps out of therapy, or some such.

But, yea, the title says it all.

The Car

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:13:00 +0000

Ok.

So my Sirrius radio hasn't been working since, what, January? Well, I finally go to the guys in Roseville to have them take a look. As it turns out, they claim it's a manufacturer problem and will be giving me a new device at the end of this month, or next, whenever that firmware update, or what not, comes out.

Cool.

So I point to the passenger-side window roll-down button, and how it's all foobared.. and they're like: oh, sure, we'll fix that too.

And an iPod adapter?

Well, you pay for the hardware, we'll cover labour.

Hm.

So, mental note, bring in all of my invoices from diagnosing the "battery" problem to have them cut me a check for that.

And then yesterday, my Cellphone's out of batteries.. so I whip out my car charger and put it in... and it doesn't light up, or start to charge. Odd... so I put in the cigarette thing.. but it never pops out, so I have to dig it out with my nails.. but it's not even warm -- even after 30 minutes of sitting in..

So now I'm like: WTF???!!!!

I'm assuming this part has to be under a one year warrantee, at least... so back to the dealership in Stockton..

Sigh.

And what's so weird, is that it was working a week ago. And I watched what the guys in Roseville did to check out my car radio and I didn't see them do anything whack, soo...

Double-sigh.

And with my whack travel schedule for the next week...

I guess it'll be another 3-4 weeks until I can get the time to get it fixed.

Quizno's is Gross

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:23:00 +0000

I had a late lunch today and I'm suffering, as a result.

Quizno's is Gross.

I ordered a roast beef sammich with cheddar cheese, no mayo, with mustard. Yes veggies plz.

And for some reason, it came out burnt to a crisp (with blackened edges that cut the inside of my mouth) and just generally had some "quizno's grossness" film to it. You know what it is, that feeling that all Quizno's sammiches, regardless of what you order , manage to taste exactly the same...

Maybe the ovens drop something on them...

Maybe it's the fact the meats lie in some old, rotting, juice all day and just get "soggy" (moldy?)

Regardless. It's gross.

I should've driven the extra 3 blocks to Subway.

Donna D. Dead

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:13:00 +0000

My roller skates have arrived!!!!

They are the Reidell Wickeds.. white.. with blue wheels, of course!

Now to get home, try them on, and burn around the house to break them in. ;)

The team's looking to make me one of their Jammers, which is super cool. Now to pwn n00bs on wheels!

Speaking of wheels...

My car drama continues.

The Mercedes dealership has successfully resolved all outstanding issues. I now have a fantastic interior.. well, insofar as it involves them.

The Roseville sound people, on the other hand, still have things all sorts of F^$%#@ up. The satellite doesn't work (again). And I just noticed that the button that the passenger uses to lower the window is like... really low... that is, it's "sunk" down inside the wood trim that the sound people had to replace (because they broke the previous wood trim. Yes, the only thing that kept me from committing murder was Systema breathing.. and the fact blood would tarnish my car's interior leather).

So I'm conflicted.

Do I go back to them to have them fix things for free... or, do I just go to my Dealership and pay for them to do it? I'm even considering asking them to refer me to a sound person that they recommend, who specializes in Mercedes sound.

Why?

Well, because, I'm very tired of the Roseville people putzing around with my cars electronics and generally making a mess of things.

It's a radio for goodness sake.

A.

RADIO!!!!!!!!!

*breathe*

Ok. I need a massage.

Roller Derby, it begins!

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:26:00 +0000

RARRRR!!! So I did my try-out thingie yesterday and did well -- they're looking forward to seeing me at the next practices. Woo! :D

One of the girls was all, "Donna the Dead?"

And I'm like, "Oh la la..."

And the best part -- it's not taken!!!

So now it's time to get myself some cool-@$$ skates and some indoor (for bouts/training) and outdoor (practice) wheels.

FTW!

P.S. Played past that Phoenix Wright part and I'm insisting that the implication of the cup and what hand he used to pick it up is still faulty. I often don't pick up my coffee cups by the handle. Meh!

Switcher

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:05:00 +0000

Ok, so you might've noticed the Ron Paul widget gone from the side of the blog. Yeah, it's sad, but true... The Republicans now officially, "Scare the living daylights out of me" but I still think Hillary is, "F*kin' Crazy". Sooo... here's rooting for the last states in the Union steppin' up...

For you stalkers out there

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:58:00 +0000

Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 23:59:00 +0000

So I'm playing Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations for the Nintendo DS and I get to a part where I'm stuck.

Very stuck.

Stuck as in, for the past month or so, I haven't been able to get past a part in the trail. It's a comical part -- an old man on the stand and all you have to do is prove that his memory is full of holes, like swiss cheese. Should be trivial, yes?

No.

So I am loathe to do it, but I do it, and I do an FAQ on the game, for that level, and I read:

VICTOR KUDO'S SECOND TESTIMONY: ABOUT THE VICTIM
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
-He was another of those pesky young types, wearing a broken pair of
spectacles.

-He had a newspaper in his right hand, and the noisy brat kept rustling
its pages!

-The young man was listening to the wireless. I remember that well.

-Then the serving girl in question brought over the javaccino.

-The little fidget picked up the cup with his free hand and took a sip.

If he was holding the newspaper in his right hand, then his free hand
would be his left hand. Take a look at the Coffee Cup. The handle is
pointing out to the right: that means that he drank from the cup using
his right hand, not his left hand. Present the Coffee Cup against Kudo's
last statement, the one about the free hand. Kudo will start causing a
fuss and wants to testify, and Godot allows it. Kudo will now start
again.

WTF. The coffee cup? You can't imply what hand the person used to pick up the cup by the coffee cup itself. It makes no difference whatsoever.

HOWEVER, what does make LOGICAL sense is what I kept trying to present an objection with, which is the answer to the NEXT part of the trial:

VICTOR KUDO'S THIRD TESTIMONY: LEFT HAND OR RIGHT HAND
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
-The boy was wearing his earpiece on the same side as the green lens of
his specs.

-He kept fiddling with it all the time.

-He was fiddling with it just before he picked up the cup, too.

-And then he used the same hand to pick up the cup. His left hand!

Kudo's really insistent, isn't he? Time for him to crash and burn.
Present the prescription bag against Kudo's last statement, the one
about his left hand. Wasn't the victim deaf in that ear? Kudo goes
ballistic and starts singing the pidgeon song! Kudo wants to testify one
more time and, again, Godot allows it. Time to face the music.

Very good. He wouldn't be listening to the radio because he was deaf in the ear that the radio ear piece would've been in. Not by some half-baked "the coffee cup handle is on the right side so he picked it up by the right side" bull.

What fantastically terrible game design there. I'm really displeased with that. I must say, this has been the only time something so trite like that has happened so...

... it could be worse. I guess. It could be Assassin's Creed which has little to nothing to do with assassination so much as flamboyant sword play.

Rollerderby

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:13:00 +0000

Ok.

So try-outs are on for this Wednesday. I'm so excited.

However...

I still need a name!!!

Mad donna was taken already. Argh!

The master list is here: http://www.twoevils.org/rollergirls/

The Donna Diet, part 1

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:33:00 +0000

So I have this goal in life that is to be fit, but not too fit that it's unhealthy, to be fat, but not so fat that it's unhealthy, to be strong but not too strong, and limber but not too limber, and fast but not too fast, have fantastic bone density, and fantastic hair and fantastic skin and to look 10 years younger and generally be an all around bad-ass.

To succeed in this, I've begun to develop what I'll modestly refer to as, "The Donna Diet."

Now this is a diet designed for my lifestyle, to suit me. You might find some parts of it worthwhile, or you might not. Either way. See objectives above.

The first thing I have to acknowledge in my life is that I live with my parents. As a result, I simply do not have any choice in what I eat when I'm around them. In theory I do but in practice it's all passive-aggressive nonsense. Much like washing my clothes. I should wash my own clothes and my parents tell me to wash my own clothes but they always go into my room when I'm not around and take all my clothes out of there and wash it for me before I even get home. Then, when I complain, they say I should wash my clothes before they do. In fact, they do it because it makes them selves feel needed. Useful in some way. But they won't admit that. Getting old sucks.

But I digress...

The Donna Diet.

Since I really only control what I eat during work, I have adopted a very strict diet in this regards. In essence, I have to eat ultra-healthy during this time, and work out quite often, because everything I do now must be balanced out by the fact that once I get home, or the weekend hits, I'll be eating like crap.

Breakfast:
- One Eggo waffle. Preferably the Special K ultra healthy version but it doesn't really matter. The point is: One. No butter. No syrup. No jam. Just one, golden brown toasted, Eggo waffle. Don't even think about getting the strawberry ones, or the chocolate ones. Homestyle. Untouched. The point is -- you want flavorless carbohydrate texture. This is not what is supposed to taste good. The next thing is.
- Fruits. I generally have three or more fruits freshly picked from the backyard with whatever is in season. If it's berries, well, I have a small soupbowl of them. When nothing is really "in season", it'll be oranges from the grocery store. The point is, I want to eat so much fruit that I'm "full" but enough Eggo waffle that I'm "satisfied". You can get into organic or not with this debate but, really, with Oranges -- you don't eat the skin, so organic is really moot. You peel off the spray damage. Things like grapes? Yes, go organic. Grapes absorb stuff so even though it's washed you're still eating chemicals. Yum!
- One glass of whole or 2% milk
- One cup of coffee, half filled with boiled milk
- My special mix of morning vitamin pills

Do the commute. One hour later...

Pre-Work Detox:
- One small as possible decaf latte`. Again, boiled milk is key. This heat releases the natural sugar so the coffee won't seem so bitter. Starbuck's generally messes this up because the barrista's will leave the milk out to get to room temperature before steaming (because they're inept). Milk tastes better when it's rapidly steamed from cold to hot very quickly. It just does. Places like Pete's or Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf will add way too much bitter coffee so the latte is "watery". That's just gross.

Lunch:
- One medium bowl of "soup of the day". Now I happen to be a very lucky individual here because there's a "ma-owned" sandwich shop near where I work that makes their soup from scratch every morning. The great thing is, she doesn't add any salt to the soup. So when you get it -- it's "flavorless" except for the natural flavors of the ingredients. This is exactly what you want. You don't need too much salt in your diet and I know I'll get my "due" through all the foods I eat which I have no control over. As such, I'm over compensating here. My "Flavorless Soup" is actually a feature. Why?

Post lunch Detox:
- Fruit. Again, fresh fruit from the backyard. If not that, an apple or an orange. I then couple this with unsalted, and unroasted, nuts. Currently, I use walnuts that I bought from Costco. Every morning just put a palm-full of nuts into a ziplock baggie, and done!

To drink during the day, I'm drinking either decaf coffee or water. Sometimes, I'll buy a carton of milk and microwave it (to boiling) and add that to the coffee. But, generally, I go for 3 milk-based drinks a day. Calcium and protein are good for you. Also, I don't care about growth hormones (big boobs done via milk saves me $10k in plastic surgery later on) so eff organic here, too. Most organic labeled stuff is Whole Paycheck bullshit. Just look for raw, flavorless food in your grocery store isle and you'll be doing great.

Why?

FRUIT!!!

Fruit should be the only thing you look forward to in your day -- outside of boiled milk. If you aren't craving that peach, or pineapple slices, or apple... you're doing something wrong. The natural sugar is key.

Everything else in the world is just necessary texture that serves as the canvas for glorious, glorious fruit.

Then, do Pilates on Monday, Spin on Tuesday, sleep on Wednesday (or Roller Derby whenever that happens), Pilates on Thursday, and Systema on Friday.

On off weeks... it's:

Pilates on Monday, Spin on Tuesday, sleep on Wednesday (or Roller Derby), Systema on Thursday, and sleep on Friday.

Just depends on the travel schedule.

Horror Musical

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:50:00 +0000

I saw Y!: Sweeny Todd this weekend. I get it. Really, I do. I just didn't like it.

Don't get me wrong, I think the plot was fine. It presented the characters, did the story arc, and tied everything neatly in the end. The gore was there and served as a very important plot element. Coupling that with the stark grayscale of the world and, yes, visually... it complimented the plot perfectly. Great.

What really ruined the movie was this:

The music.

And for a musical? When the music is just boring, repetitive, and downright lame... why bother at all?

Which, really, is what amazes me. I love musicals. Really, I do. But this one? Meh.. they needed to do something to the tunes.. jazz them up w/the images or something. Just.. a miss.

As such...

B-

Chumming the Theatre

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 06:37:00 +0000

I just saw Y!: Cloverfield (Pre-order it here: Cloverfield). Total B- rate monster flick.

The gimmick of the shakey-cam was so not worth it, imho. 1 hr and 24 minutes of headache inducing movement. So I get it -- people these days film everything. Sure, ok.

But if I was the writer, instead of following this one group of kids around - I would've rather had some composite from YouTube-caliber cellphone, text messages, some vid. cam, and random news reports. Let the audience play detective. Looking at someone's shoes in the corner of the screen? Really? C'mon. Most cameras these days have shakey detection systems built in anyway so that most of that wouldn't even make the cut.

I guess a romance fits in better when you can see some metro dude play hero. Whatevah.

Oh yeah, the monster? Haven't I seen it before? It reminds me of some generic video game monsters I've seen countless times before.. . .

Take dramamine.

My next car

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:34:00 +0000

Motortrend has a review on the Tesla Roadster.

MotorTrend on Tesla.

I love that car. It is so on my list of things to get.

Winter in Hawaii Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 04:56:00 +0000

So check out some pictures from Hawaii this winter, 2007.

My Flickr Show

Rock Band

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:58:00 +0000

Just because it cracks me up every time I watch it...

Thanks Joystiq

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:09:00 +0000

Welcome to 2008, the Year of the Earth Rat.

Given that I'm a paltry Sheep you can imagine how little I am looking forward to this year. Also, given how it's starting out, perhaps even less so.

Although, I'm not Chinese, so I probably shouldn't pay any attention to that. After all, I'm more on the Greek-ish side. So let's see how I fare there...

Sagittarius.

I love the whole work-a-holic thing both of them reference. Me? Overworked? P'shaw, what nonsense! :P

In other news...

I'm not going to mention car problems because they're so obviously there. The sheer thought of bringing them up again will only make me more irritable. Let's just say, "Broken Black Bird's Eye Maplewood paneling."

To avoid being overworked, I've decided to join a Roller Derby league. The San Joaquin Valley Vixens. Now to dig out my roller skates from my closet and get all dialed in. Try-outs are tomorrow. Wish me luck!

I'm toying between two names: "Mad Donna" (a play on Madonna), or "Killah Knightley" (Keira Knightley). Hm.

Recent travel included a trip to Hawaii for X-mas and another to Vegas for New Years.

At Hawaii, I surfed North Shore. Oh la la. I wish I could say it was like 50 ft over head, but, really, there was no swell and it was blown out. I've seen bigger waves in the Delta when I worked at Fish&Game. The Polynesian cultural center was pretty cool. Mai-tai's are stiff. And the condo at Turtle Bay Resort was pretty darn cool.

Oh yeah, my flight out of Hawaii was cancelled. As such, the airline hooked us up with a hotel and some vouchers for dinner, lunch, breakfast. And, best of all, another round-trip ticket anywhere they fly! Yay!

My Vegas trip? Well... what goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas... as they say.

Glow in the dark kitties

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:19:00 +0000

Glow in the dark cats.

Now that's the type of cat I want!

Women working on Games

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 21:24:00 +0000

So I'm following the Multiplayer blog over at MTV, and they're doing this thing about interviewing women in games. Today is Elspeth Tory [Assassin's Creed].

I really resonated one of her replies to the question:

Multiplayer: You talk about how women should be become more visible. You’ve obviously become more visible by working on “Assassin’s Creed.” Do you feel like you should be a spokesperson for women developers and gamers?

Tory: Well, I don’t know, a spokesperson so much. You just get that feeling that sometimes when people have stereotypes that if you come along and reinforce it, it just makes things infinitely worse. So let’s say that a lot of guys think, “I don’t know if a woman can do that well.” Let’s say that’s what they thought initially. And then you come along and, [they realize] “Hey, you do it well.” So I think that I really felt that pressure to just make sure that every time, if anyone had a stereotype, that I broke it. And that’s something that I think it was important for me to do, just as a personal quest, to make sure that any other woman who came along, that that stereotype wouldn’t be there. At least the last woman they worked with was good at what they do, and they know that it wasn’t going to be an issue. I didn’t want anyone else to face potentially the same stereotype.

And it's very true -- don't read the forums.

Mercedes service people are d!cks

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:44:00 +0000

So I get to the dealership this morning and Christy heels her way outside. Wearing this lovely lamb-skin black trench-coat, shimmery, and with that dishwater brown hair-color I'm convinced she needs to change back to blonde.

"Hi! Do you have an appointment today..?" And then a quirked eyebrow, slight smile forming on her lips.

"Um.. no, actually." And then I uncontrollably giggle, "It's much more absurd then that."

I motion her over, "Come take a look. It's really quite bizarre." and then I spin around to the passenger seat so she can get a real good look. I point to my license plate.

She blinks, "What the-."

And then I go and describe that I think when the service guy installed it, he must not've seen it.. Then I point out the chipped part of my car near the ignition and how it was cheaply painted over. Copious notes are taken on her clipboard but I can see the once welcoming expression turn to a deep seated fear and apprehension.

"I'll need to go bring the Service Director over."

I nod, with a bigger grin, "Oh, please do."

She click-clacks off and I follow her inside, scoring myself a complimentary cup of decaf Flavia House Blend. Something is on the news but I forgot what.

Mark eventually stalks outside and I motion him to the license plate. He's all, "Oh, we'll easily fix that for you. That's not a problem." Then I point to the damage near the ignition. He clumps down into the driver's seat and eyes it irritably.

"I don't know about that. We'd never do something like that."

"So you think I did it? Where would I even get that paint? It's not a nail polish color."

"Well, maybe not you, but someone else."

My stare leveled on him, a slight quirk to my lips, "I don't know. I think you guys did it. I mean, you can even see black spots peeking out from underneath. It's even shimmery. Like, the rest of the plastic is matte, but this one has a sheen. And, heck, there's even hair stuck to it. Like, the hair dropped on it while it was drying. Maybe I need to call Mercedes corporate with this matter."

Without looking at me, "They won't do anything about it." then to me, "You don't think maybe you chipped it with your key when you were trying to put it in the ignition?"

"No. I do think you guys chipped it and tried to paint it over with this white paint."

"I think you chipped it with your key. It's not paint. It's just that the plastic is half-chipped off so it's whiter. The top coat is gone."

Now I just paused. Breathed a little. Sat back in the passenger chair.

"Would you like me to bring in a third-party Mediator to help us come to agreement on this matter?"

Mark sighed, furrowed his brow, "No."

"Hm, I see. Well, I want the part replaced and I want my license plate back."

"I can't sit here and run your car over with a fine tooth comb every time you come in looking for chips and dings that weren't there before you came in. We were very careful this time."

"I understand that. However, are you saying its up to me to inspect the car with great detail every time I come here for a service? Am I supposed to take before and after photos?"

He growls a bit and gets out of the car, muttering, "We'll fix it."

And inside he goes, up to Christy, ordering her to order the parts. I wander up behind him and he looks at me, "We're taking care of it." and so I turn to Christy, "Are you guys ordering the part?" Before she can answer, looking to her clipboard, Mark interjects, "Yes. We'll call you when the part is in to schedule an appointment to have it replaced." and he walks away. Probably back to that Service Director cave he crawled out of.

I nod to Christy then, "Alright, well, thank you!" and smile my way out the door.

I need to call Mercedes Corporate.

But wait, there's more!

noreply@blogger.com (donnad) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:47:00 +0000

It seems that the memories of my life will involve an entire section about my car. My beloved SLK 320. So today, I was feeling a bit lonely and ho-hum, what with the stress of work weighing down on my shoulders. What could be better then an afternoon pick-me-up with some quality time spent driving in my awesome car?

So I get in, and ponder to myself, idly, "I wonder where my front license plate is. ..."

But it was just a stray thought, something to occupy the time in-between what I'll be getting for lunch, or where I'm going for coffee, or if I should change my radio station even though it's really good but couldn't it get that much better, and work blah-blah. Besides, it's probably in the trunk.

Lunch... coffee... computers...

Back in the ride and this time, parked at work, doing that last moment of meditation before I face "the office" once more. It's then that I find my front license plate.

Half of it peeking out from underneath the center console because the top half is...

wait for it

...

.

.

UNDERNEATH the center console.

Oh yes, that fabulous install job? Well, yeah.. the mechanic obviously didn't see the license plate there when he installed the console because he covered it up almost completely.

So there I am, trying to remember to breathe, as I'm desperately trying to pull the plate out from underneath the plastic. It's not budging. It can't go any further down, though, because it's already on the floor of the car. And, well, I obviously can't pull it up and out.

Heavy...

Sigh.

And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, reality proved you wrong.