You can now click on member's Lifetime Points on their profiles to see a summary.  It's pretty exciting.  Well, I think so (because you can see where they are getting ready to implement the badges)!

I've always been a fan of cars and motorcycles.  Well,  the good (read: European/Japanese) ones.  That's how I wound up doing what I do today.  I'm an assistant manager/techinician/whatever you want to call it at a foreign automotive repair facility.  We always get all kinds of fun/fancy cars in to work on (and test drive!).  Usually the people that own these vehicles are actually pretty cool.  But every now and then, something like this happens...  And this story, is the worst.  Please continue:

A ten year customer of our's brought in his BMW 5-series sport wagon.  He complained about a few things that he wanted repaired, and he also needed an oil change.  After spending time on the car, it was apparent he needed shocks and struts, brake pads and rotors (front & rear), and his oil change (which he always specifies we use Mobil 1 synthetic engine oil). 

I proceeded to call him with the estimate for the repairs.  After giving him the total cost (roughly $1,500... $1100 cheaper than the dealer, but still using OEM parts), he asked if I could break it down individually.  I gave him the price for each repair, and after each one he just said, "No, thanks."  We got down to just the oil change, and he said, "You know, you guys have been getting more and more expensive as I come here.  Over the past ten years, I can't help but notice how your prices have slowly increased.  This is absolutely ridiculous.  Please just do the oil change, and I'll take my business elsewhere."

This man is a geologist for EXXON-MOBIL. 

After I explained everything to him (including how he had paid the exact same amount for an oil change for the past three years and how he works for an oil company and has the audacity to bring up price increases), he decided to go ahead and have the repairs done. 

Granted, we did do the work, but it took a lot more convincing than it should have.  I mean, he drives a BMW.  Some people just don't understand that higher-end cars legitimately cost more to repair, even the people who have owned them for years.  I understand that the automotive industry does have a bad wrap for "ripping people off," but I just ask everyone to compare prices.  In the end, they always realise that we offer the best quality work (better than the dealerships... I mean, it is me we're talking about.  Heh...) and the best price.  I do have to sleep at night, so I can never justify ripping people off.  That's why we have so many loyal customers.

Even ones that work for Exxon-Mobil.

After two days with no power due to Hurricane Ike, we now have power again.  It's weird though because we are the only people I know that have power.  None of my friends do, and they're stuck at home playing Magic: The Gathering and Monopoly (worst game ever) in the dark (or complaining that others are playing Magic).  I told them all to come over, but there is also a curfew from 7 p.m. until 6 a.m.  Yeah, apparently there's martial law now.  Maybe the government planned the storm to get everyone used to the idea of a curfew.  Then, they can rule us all!

At least we're all okay though.  We all had to drink a lot of alcohol to fight off infections.  Bud Light Lime really does work wonders.  The last bad hurricane I was in was Alicia (but I was two years old), so this was interesting.  Staying up late during the storm was fun.  The winds were super hard and really loud.  I've always wanted to experience really high speed winds and try to stand up in them.  I sat on our patio at 4 a.m. contemplating going out into the wind.  After seeing huge pine trees fall over, I changed my mind.  I just figured I would be able to withstand it and didn't need to prove it to myself.

I've been watching the news, and there's a lot of damage around everywhere.  I went driving around and looking at a lot of stuff.   There are 5 million trees down everywhere and most are knocking down power lines.  No one is open.  It's surreal.  I saw one gas station open, and there was a line a mile down the road of people waiting to fill up.

Even with all of that, everything looks like it's turning out okay though.  And, at the end of the day, two fantastic things happened.  One, I don't have to work for a few days.  And, this:

So, my sixth XBOX 360 broke over a week ago.  Yes, sixth.  I don't know what it is.  I mean, I put it in an open place where there is plenty of circulation.  I don't have anything that generates too much heat next to it.  I know they have problems, but this is kind of ridiculous.

At least this time, it didn't happen on Lost Planet: Extreme Condition's release date.  Yeah, that happened to me... TWICE!  Yes, my XBOX 360 had the red ring of death.  So, I went to the store to get another one.  That one did the same right out of the box.

However, my most recent one didn't have the red ring of death.  It just started making really loud noises and froze up.  I could tell it was the fans that were making the noise, but nothing was caught in them.  After that, it would just freeze up upon startup.  It never had any red flashing rings.  I took it apart (for fun).  It was kind of neat. 

So, yesterday, I just purchased an Elite.  Almost everything about it is different.  The power supply is lighter, and it doesn't have a third prong for a ground.  The system is quieter and lighter, too.  All that's left is I have to get a the Data Transfer Kit to transfer all my information to the larger hard drive.  Who knows how long that will take...

THEN, my computer decided to crash.  I just turned it off and didn't bother with it for a few days.  Once I decided to mess with it, I just AdAware scanned it, defragged it, and Norton System Worked it...  It still takes thirty-seven hours to boot up, but once it does, it works fine now.  That was a huge relief.

Sometimes I wonder why I put up with electronic problems.  They don't really happen too often, but when they do, it's always major headaches.  I guess I just like my video games and Capcom-Unity too much... Oh, and the rest of the internet, too.

Or is that shame?  You be the judge!

Adamania Running Wild!