apparently intelligent life is hard to find on this planet too...

Chris Williams — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:13:05 GMT

I was at Borders tonight, after my guitar lesson, picking up some chai before heading home to do more tech-editing.

A quick detour through the RPG section and I spy sealed boxes of Yu-Gi-Oh! Strike of Neos (1st Edition) boosters. I don't normally see those in that section, and I know Borders occasionally screws up the price on stuff they don't quite understand. So, I flip over the box and sure enough, it's marked $3.99. This is the price of ONE booster. A sealed box of 24 boosters goes for around $96.00 retail.

Honestly, I don't give a damn about Yu-Gi-Oh! but the former game store in me knows a good value when I see one, and I do enjoy making a quick profit on Ebay... so I grabbed a box and headed to the register. Being a basically ethical person, I even made an honest attempt to inform the person about the pricing error. (Of course, had the price been corrected... I probably would have passed on the purchase... not such a great deal anymore.)

The clerk didn't care. That might even be an understatement, if possible. So, I figured if their own people can't be bothered by it, why should I be? So I went back and cleared the shelf... and bought them all. $23.94 plus tax, for roughly $576 worth of cards.

Further info... these boxes go on ebay for between $48 and $62 per box. So while I won't get the full retail value, it's still quite a markup from $4 each.

Unethical? Fair Capitalism? I'm interested in your opinions.

Congratulations, you've learned how to Copy & Paste

Chris Williams — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:38:54 GMT

Congratulations Mr. Copy & Paste Blogger Guy

I'm awarding this clipboard barf blogger with our 3rd More On Alert: http://geekswithblogs.net/Gaurav/Default.aspx

What has he done to deserve such an honor? Allow me to list his qualifications...

Not posting a single original thought in nearly 2 years. Even the blog tagline is an unattributed quote.
Blatantly ripping off other people's content (CTRL-C, CTRL-V) without giving any credit ANYWHERE.
Vomiting all over the GeeksWithBlogs main feed with miles of uncredited JavaScript code!

This one's for you, Mr. Copy & Paste Blogger Guy!
(does any one have the Real American Heroes mp3?)

edit: I think the term "Clipboard Barf Blogger" should be entered into our lexicon. Yes?

Option Strict

Chris Williams — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:17:05 GMT

This may be the funniest thing I've heard in ages...

"option strict? No way, we don't use that here. It causes too many errors."

See, it's funny because it's.... oh nevermind. If I have to explain it, you still won't get it.

;)

Somebody's getting a More On Alert.

I'm sorry did he just say Microsoft WORD?!?

Chris Williams — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 01:47:07 GMT

"Microsoft will start offering the XNA Game Studio 2.0 development tool kit for free, which lets people develop software games. While anybody can do it, Satchell acknowledged that you will need some expertise in writing software code. The games can be written in Microsoft Word and then migrated to Xbox."

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/innovation/article/innovation-create-xbox-360-games_491079_57.html

Start offering XNA for free? Start?

Microsoft... Word... W.T.F?!?

There's so much wrong with this, where do I start? I think we found our second More On Alert...

Tablet troubles revisited

Chris Williams — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:51:11 GMT

As I mentioned before, I've been anxiously waiting for the return of my beloved Gateway Tablet.

I got an email this morning indicating it had been delivered at 9:15am. Shortly after I got a phone call from MPC letting me know that my laptop had been delivered. Pretty good service and follow-up honestly. Except for the fact that I'm at work, and the FedEx driver left my tablet sitting on the front porch in -15 degree weather.

Now obviously, I don't blame MPC for this, but HELLO?!? FedEx you really screwed the pooch on this one. First of all, the package was sent "signature required" for a reason. Second, it's NEGATIVE FIFTEEN DEGREES FAHRENHEIT outside. Third, your driver left it on my front porch. (see above, #1 & #2)

Don't get me wrong, I live in a pretty decent neighborhood, but seriously... I work at least 30 minutes away (when there's no traffic) so it's not like I can just pop on over and pick it up. It wouldn't take much for that laptop to just vanish without a trace by the time I got home from work.

update: After raising a lot of hell with MPC, and they in turn with FedEx, they are attempting to have the package picked up again and delivered to a local FedEx Kinkos. We'll see.

update: The "good" news: After leaving my tablet outside for several hours, they came back and picked it up, and will be dropping it off at the FedEx Kinkos. The "bad" news: it won't be there until tomorrow. maybe.

*sigh* I can't even get mad at MPC over this, other than shipping it to the wrong place to begin with. They have gone above and beyond on this one, trying to track down my laptop and get it to me. FedEx has seriously failed to impress me this time around. Of course, I've always been partial to UPS anyway.

Now having said that, if my tablet shows up broken/dead/etc... well that's a different matter. There will be hell.

More On Alerts

Chris Williams — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:30:24 GMT

I'm adding a new category to my blog, called More On Alerts. This category will be for people I see here and there around the internet that deserve a little extra attention. The first entry in this new category is none other than fellow GWBer Randy Walker, who describes how Chris Farley just might be an inspirational model that could save us all from recession.

Nice One Randy!! You're our first, but certainly not last, blogger on More On Alerts!