Abodes.org

It’s called a new lappy. I bought a refurbished (don’t laugh, the last place I worked we bought a lot of new and refurb Dells and the refurbs had a much lower failure rate) Dell Inspiron 1720. 17″ screen, pretty good graphics card, a moderate amount of RAM that I already upgraded (cheap cheap on Newegg).

So that parts good. But then I had to buy a laptop case. You see, my laptop bag that I held my 12″ PowerBook in was not nearly big enough for the beast that is this lappy (it has a full numeric keypad!). While shopping for lappy bags, I thought to myself, “Self, this lappy is so big that if you carry it in a soft bag you will bash it into everything. Maybe you should look into a hard sided lappy case.”

Thus I purchased a Solo Attachè on Newegg. (God typing the grave mark over a vowel is way more of a pain in Windows). It’s sweet. It’s big. It’s heavy. It’s sweet.

Closed case on my stove.
Case with lappy and accessories
Case with objects to give relative size

Now, before you say “Wait sloth, that looks really bulky for a lappy. Why did you buy that?” let me point out that there is nothing light or easily portable about a 17″ laptop. I bought it for three reasons: 1) my desktop sucks by modern standards, 2) I wanted a new machine to game on, and 3) I wanted a new machine to code on. A big portable desktop that happens to have a battery included was the perfect solution. This case is basically an armored shell to make sure it survives from point A to point B. If point B happens to be on the other side of point IRAQ it had better well make it unscathed.

Also, if you ever need a large amount of money carried somewhere I have the perfect case for it. I only charge 5%.

Something just should not ever be combined. Oil and Water. Ketchup and Eggs. Politics and Science. Religion and Science. Pigeons and Rice. You get the picture.

So, in effort to both illustrate my point and to annoy sloth by providing the elf with all things Hello Kitty, here is a Vader-Hello Kitty tattoo.

I don’t know if any of you care or live near a Meijer but if you do and need some casual shoes (like the kind you would wear with jeans and a t-shirt) I found a good deal tonight. They have 40% off all of their Falls Creek shoes. One of the pairs of shoes is like $34.99 after another markdown and if you bicker with them that means you get the shoes at $20.99.

I did. I hate buying clothes. I feel better about it if I can say that I gamed some store for a good deal. It’s like a hobby of mine. That’s why I’ve managed to have XM radio for almost 6 months for $2 per month.

A guy is walking along the strip in Las Vegas and a knockout looking hooker catches his eye. He strikes up a conversation and eventually asks the hooker, “How much do you charge?”

Hooker replies, “It starts at $500 for a hand-job.”

Guy says, “$500 dollars! For a hand-job! No hand-job is worth that kind of money!”

The hooker says, “Do you see that Denny’s on the corner?”

“Yes.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Hello Kitty, Queen of All Things Pink and Cute, is now featured on a custom AK-47 assault rifle. And at only $1073, it’s a steal compared to the $3450 Hello Kitty Kimora Lee Simmons diamond watch. The gun is also much cuter than the watch.

So who wants to buy me one?

Read the rest of this entry »

Dealing with Sprint is like dealing with a ninja who has decided to shove his hand up your ass to check for any hidden money. The only way to defeat them is to pay careful attention to your phone bill and have stainless steel undergarments.

I have two of the Sprint SERO plans. That’s two plans of 500 minutes each, unlimited data and unlimited text messaging for $30 per phone. Plus some other discounts. This is a good deal. However, it seems like every third bill Sprint does something stupid and charges me extra.

Avast!!!

This time it was charging me for a service the elf added, found to be nonfunctional, and called within 10 minutes to cancel. The CSR I spoke with today even saw the record of that call and acknowledged I should not have been billed. I believe Sprint was trying to ambush me. This did not work since I have written the book on ambush.

Pirates 1 - Ass Ninjas 0

If there were no studies, how would we ever know anything about human health & behavior? Click the link for common sense shocking new scientific findings.

Read the rest of this entry »

So the elf wants some T.V. and I get to shopping. No matter where you go around here T.V. runs you quite a bit of money. With Dish or DirectTV right now it seems I have to spend at least $35/month to get basic cable-ish channels and the local channels. With Comcast I can get a promotion for 6 months and then the price jumps to $350/month plus the sacrifice of one child plus an installation fee of three kidneys. And I only have two and need at least one.

On the bright side though, I called Comcast and spoke with a rep and she was able to waive the installation fee. I will keep this discounted service for 6 months and at that point either cancel or see if they will waive the payment of my T.V.’s weight in gold and the human sacrifice. If I can pull off back to back discount periods then I can justify the silly expense.

More fun and mathy-geeky-nerdiness after the link.

Read the rest of this entry »

As time goes on I slowly continue to collect the entire original DVD release of Cowboy Bebop. I realize that newer versions of the discs are out (and the reviews of the changes between versions are generally good) but I already have most of the original release so I’m sticking with that. The newest versions (to my understanding) have a bit of a brighter color scheme and an improved sound track so it may not be a bad investment if you are just starting out.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. I picked up the first two of my discs for about $8 a piece at Gamestop. Which two isn’t really important. Then a few months later I found one at Target for $7. Now I had 3 of the 6 sessions. Then, probably 5 months later I found that Best Buy had two of the three remaining discs online for $5 each with no shipping. I bought them. One of the discs was cracked and I had to send it back but that’s life.

Today at Big Lots I found the last disc of the series for $3. The only disc I still need is disc 1 which was broken and returned. If the current trend keeps up I think I’m gonna have to find a replacement for disc one for $1 or less.

If you see it for that let me know

I put a bunch of old textbooks and video games on half.com today and already have sold close to $100 of crap I don’t want. I’m gonna start selling random stuff just to see what garbage I can exchange for money. Maybe I should start frequenting garage sales and buying stuff for a quarter just to see if I can sell it