Chris Benard

My stupid Motorola Q died, so I had to send it off to Motorola, since it’s still under warranty from them and I didn’t buy Sprint’s stupid warranty.  It wasn’t really that big of a deal, and I wasn’t even that upset to pay them shipping.  They said in the instructions to send no accessories, including batteries, headsets, etc, so I made sure not to do so.  Apparently, however, the battery cover is an accessory, and they deemed it unnecessary to send it back to me.  I now hate Motorola.

In the absence of the Motorola Q smart device, I switched back to using a non-smart Samsung A900M.  I’ve grown to appreciate the feel of a tiny little phone that has all the functionality I need.  I think I’m going to sell the Moto Q on eBay when I get a battery cover back from them.  I’ve yet to call them, because I hate dealing with Moto Customer Service, and I’m sure I’m going to end up having to buy a new one or something.  The lesson of that story is to buy Sprint’s ripoff insurance when you get an expensive phone.

That would be the end of the story, except tonight, I dropped my phone on the ground outside when I went to my parents house, spent a while there, left, and then realized that I didn’t have my phone.  Driving up to my parents driveway again, I saw my phone blinking there in the driveway (SMS and Voicemail alert).  It had been raining the whole night, so my phone had gotten a good drenching, and the thing just kept on working.  I just can’t believe how many times I’ve dropped that little phone and gotten it wet, and it just stands up to my unwarranted abuse.  Good job, Samsung.  Motorola, tsk tsk.

I normally don’t post “Dear blag, here’s how my life is going” posts, but I haven’t posted in a while, so I suppose one of those is better than none at all. Last weekend was pretty busy, so here goes.

On Friday (10/19/2007), I helped Jenny move a bunch of heavy stuff from her old apartment to her new apartment. Marcos and Jordan are moving to Arizona or something, and so she is moving to a one bedroom loft type apartment. It’s two stories with a circular staircase thing like you only see in movies or TV shows. Anyway, we moved a couch from her stepdad and mom’s house, and it was a big jigsaw puzzle. I think it took us an hour and a half, four people, and several catastrophic wall gashes to get the thing out of the house.

Getting it into the new apartment was a snap, though. Moving everything else was pretty easy, and I found out Jenny’s stepdad is a huge nerd! We so nerded out a bit about HDTVs, Linux, amperage, voltage, and some other stuff. I think Jenny might have been a bit embarassed. Later that night, we ate at Chili’s with Rachel and Mallory. I couldn’t order a drink because I had left my wallet, and thus ID, at home that day. Lame! I did see Rachel Hull there that night as well. She works as a waitress there on the weekend. I didn’t say anything to her because I hadn’t seen her since high school and I wasn’t sure if it was her. She Facebooked me though and she had recognized me as well, but didn’t say anything because I lost a bunch of weight since high school and she wasn’t sure if it was me. It’s not often I’m reminded I used to be a fattie, so that’s always nice.

Later that night, we went to Jenny’s apartment to pick up a hoodie, Rachel’s apartment to get Jurassic Park and we went over to other Rachel and Emily‘s apartment and I met them. I was going to watch JP with Jenny and Rachel, but I would have just fallen asleep during the movie, as they apparently did, so I went home and went to sleep.

Saturday, Courtney came to town, and we ate lunch after I finally woke up and did my English class reading journals at the last minute. Moe‘s nachos are great, fyi. Courtney went birthday gift shopping with Jenny and I for Brooke and Ashley‘s birthdays. I drove him back to my house, where his truck was, and then back to Macaroni Grill for the birthday dinner. I ordered a Bellini and a Tartini, but the waiter guy kept trying to get me to buy more drinks. I’m not sure why he wanted to get me drunk, except a larger tip, I suppose.

After the dinner, we went to the corn maze! We got lost in it completely. We started off in one maze (Phase I) and ended up in another (Phase II). A corn cop we found finally rescued us. He seemed offended when I told him I was just bored after all that time. We waited about 40 minutes just to pay for a ticket, and it was cold outside! I was glad I wore a long sleeve shirt that night, even though I wore shorts. Ugh!

After all the corn mazing, a bunch of us stopped for daiquiris at the place by What’s On Tap and we went back to Brooke and Ashley’s house to watch the end of the LSU/Auburn game (which LSU totally won although with great risk) and hang out. That was pretty fun, and afterward, I blew .043 on Jenny’s breathalyzer, from just one daiquiri! It was the Hurricane, in case anyone wonders.

The best day was Sunday! Jenny, Rachel, Rachel, Emily, and I all went to Dallas in a Ford Focus and spent all day at Six Flags. I really really really really love roller coasters. I won’t bore the reader with other descriptions of the day at six flags, but I really love roller coasters. Have I mentioned that? Also, the teacups are awesome. Jenny might post pictures on her MySpace at some point and I’ll steal them then for mine.

And, there you have the most trivial blog post I’ve ever made.

Tonight was Joey‘s birthday dinner. He and a friend, who I will mention later, were celebrating the same night at a Japanese restaurant named Kobe. After the food and tip, it cost me $30. Chris and Jen went with me. Jen has already written a blog post about the night. I knew it would be pretty expensive before I went, but it was Joey’s birthday, so I reluctantly went. However, I was very pleasantly surprised. I wouldn’t go there very often because of the price, but it was definitely worth it. The performance was spectacular and our chef, Patrick, was very entertaining. I was disappointed when the show ended. It seemed like it went too quickly, but he made a lot of food.

He even gave us pieces of all the different types of food, even food we didn’t order. As a result, I got to sample pretty much everything on their menu, including the chicken, shrimp, steak, sliced sirloin steak, vegetables, sauces, tea, and the excellent fried rice. The tea was gross, but the food was really good.

Courtney had told me that sake was gross, so I didn’t order any when Joey and Graham asked if I was going to get some. However, they got a little bottle and Graham offered me some, so I tried it. Sake is very potent. It tasted like slightly flavored alcohol. It didn’t taste “gross” or even bad really; it just didn’t taste that great. It was nice to try, but I doubt I’d ever order it.

One interesting thing did happen, though. We had a very nice waitress that was waiting on us and filling our drinks, but then about an hour and a half into the meal, this very weird man came over, and instead of asking us what our drinks were to refill them, he seemed like he was trying to intuit it. I nicknamed him “The Drink Psychic” because he seemed like he was trying to read our minds or something. He was a very odd individual, and without a recording, I don’t think I could quite describe him in words. Suffice it to say, he was very odd.

That was the first time I have ever been to one of those showy Japanese restaurants where they make the food in front of you. The food itself isn’t worth the money, but the show is, if you only go every once in a while.

Today, Chris Leon, Bill Porter, and I took Jenny Roe shooting. I think Bill put it well when he said that taking someone else shooting is one of the most fun things you can do in shooting.

I took a bunch of pictures since it was Jenny’s first time and put them on facebook and myspace. The videos of her shooting a .45 and a 20 gauge shotgun are below.

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This has been the best summer ever. Summer usually sucks because it’s so hot and walking outside makes me feel like I’m melting. However, last month (July 2007), it rained 18 out of the 31 days and all the other days it was cloudy. This has to be the coolest July I’ve ever experienced in Shreveport, Louisiana.

It’s made my front yard, which has always consisted of a majority of dirt and a minority of grass, reverse its trend and make it look like I pay attention to it. The mild temperature has also been very good for my power bill. Normally this time of year, it’s over $100, but I’ve been paying around $80 (average plan). I can only hope the weather stays this nice, but I don’t think the low pressure system that’s been hanging around will last forever; today was quite warm.

[Update: Now (8/4/2007), it’s as hot as hell would be if it existed. I guess I should have known nice weather wouldn’t last in Louisiana.]

In other news, I’ve been going to Fitness World and exercising for the past month. It made my muscles really sore at first, but only marginally sore now. I don’t know why I decided to exercise, but I guess it’ll make me live longer or something, and it just seems like a good thing to do. Fitness World’s website is their phone number. Who thought that was a good idea?

I also plan on going skydiving the weekend after next. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions regarding that?

New Television Shows I’m Watching

Traveler

I suggest everyone download and watch the only eight episodes ABC released of Traveler. They canceled it before I had even heard about it, but the eight episodes out there make for awesome television. Traveler is about two roommates framed for a terrorist act they didn’t commit. It has lots of twists in it, and you’ll be hooked 15 minutes into the pilot. My coworker points out how he’d do things differently and complains about how they don’t run away well enough and other little shallow points instead of just enjoying the show. If you decide to watch it, suspend your disbelief, sit back, and enjoy the suspense and thrill instead of trying to analyze every frame and pick it apart. You’ll be glad you did.

Damages

Also, I’m watching another show that’s not quite as awesome, but looks like it has some promise. It’s called Damages and it features a “do whatever it takes” lawyer lady, and she really does whatever it takes. I don’t want to say more, because it would ruin it, but it’s definitely worth it to watch the pilot of that. I’m going to watch the second episode tonight.

Don’t forget to comment on the skydiving idea.

I have had intermittent allergy problems since I was a child. I knew that I was allergic to cats, dust, and feathers, since that’s what my parents told me, and I knew from experience with cats. I’ve never had an adverse reaction to Chris Leon‘s cat, however, and Darwin rubs all on me when I used to go over to Chris’ apartment, including my face. I had been considering getting a cat of my own, but I wanted to what I was still allergic, so I contacted Courtney‘s former allergist and a doctor I used to work with at Highland Clinic.

They stuck me in the back 62 times, did a pulmonary function test on me, and Dr. Washburne listened to my breathing from all around my body. It’s going to end up costing me a whole lot of money, since I have a high deductible, but I did get instant results: I’m allergic to everything… with the exception of like 5 or 6 things.

Obviously, my reactions to cat and dust mites were far higher than everything else, but I really am allergic to a lot of things, some more severe than others. Dr. Washburne said “You’re a very allergic person.” You can look at the results for yourself. The first number is the bump on my back and the second part is the redness. 34 is the max number and that means my dust mite reaction went outside the bounds it was given so they had to use “34+”.

Today, I realized that I haven’t replaced my air filter in a long time, and given my newly discovered severe dust mite allergy, I thought it might be a good idea to do so. I pulled away the couch from the intake and the entire metal vent cover was covered in dust. I vacuumed all of that off and then unlatched the metal. The filter was coated in dust and the vacuum pressure created by the air intake was so powerful that it ripped off a corner of the filter. So for some unknown period of time, the air in my house has been circulating sans filtration. I bought a bunch of ultra-super-duper-hypo-allergenic filters from Lowe’s today and install one. I’ll keep a better eye on that, especially since my fancy touchscreen thermostat has a “FILTER” warning that has been constantly flashing.