Unbelievable

So something has been going on for a while now that I don't believe I have shared with you all on here. It originally was no big concern to me because so much was happening at the time, but now, it make my blood boil thinking about it.

Ever bought anything on Ebay? Sure, most of us have, and for me it has always been a pleasant experience with no difficulties. Well its a whole new ballgame now.

Back in July of 2004, yes that right, almost 7 months ago, I bid on an ipod cover on ebay. I won the bid, was notified by the seller and was then directed to a internet "storefront" where I could complete/track the order since it was actually a business that was the seller. I went to the storefront, got their mailing address, and mailed by check to them. Keep in mind this was all in the time that I was moving out of my Orlando apt, moving back to Melbourne for 2 weeks, and then moving to NYC- there was a lot of shit going on. Anyways, it was about 3 weeks after I moved here (mid September) that I realized I had never received the ipod cover. I went back to the site, looked for a phone number (there was none), and then saw an email address. I emailed the company asking them what was going on. I received an email back from someone named "Ellen" saying they were sorry, that it was sent to the wrong address and they would resend it. Ok, so I gave them my new address and thouht all would be fine. Two weeks later- nothing. I emailed again. "Ellen" responds again saying, "oh sorry, we will send it". Seriously, her emails are that casual. By late October I was getting pissed and I was like forget it, just refund my money, I don't want your fucking product anymore. This is when the fun started. I get an email back from her saying "I will notify the refund department". More time goes by, more emails just like the previous are exchanged. It is now almost December and due to midterms and finals and all that shit I never got around to really putting a lot of time into this matter. I would just get emails back saying "I will personally notify the refund department"- and then of course, you guessed it, nothing! So now I am livid and I begin my "investigation" into this company. I can't find shit on them. Their company name is so general, everything in the world comes up under a search. I went back to their "storefront" and there is still just that address...which results in nothing on a search as well. They aren't listed anywhere, not in the yellow pages, not online, nowhere. I tried emailing back the original seller name off ebay- and of course everything comes back as "undeliverable".

Ok, I'll try to sum up the rest quickly. Long story short, I found the name of the company that provides their interner storefront and I put in a complaint with the fraud/investigation department. I also filed with the IFCC and will be filing with Ebay as well as the Better Business Bureau. I emailed this Ellen chick back a few weeks ago and told her that if they can send me my product I will drop the complaints (no of course I wouldn't). Since then Ive changed my mind because I dont want their stupid product, I just want my money back- not that it's even about money anymore. Anyways, I just got her email this morning and it honestly read:

Ok, its a deal.

We will send your cover.

Ellen

What the fuck is that? A deal? Yea, so you can imagine the email I wrote back to her, explaining that in noncorrupt businesses, a customer pays and the seller delivers, there is no "deal making" as to if either party should actually receive their end.

I know they are thinking I will eventually give up but they are sooooorely mistaken. I am royally pissed off, and I told them that if I have to notify every freaking bureau or complaint department I can, I will. If I know that for just 2 minutes they get a tad scared it will be all worth it. I seriously can't believe this crap though.

Phew, ok that was it, thats the whole story in a nutshell. For those of you who are wondering, the supposed name of the company is all of the following: "The Emporium 2 Company Store", "Emporium 2", and "Indiigo Emporium". They are also supposedly located in Scottsdale, AZ.

I'll keep you updated with what occurs with these bitches. Until then, happy weekend :)

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Well I had my first blizzard last night and I have to say I enjoyed it immensely. Of course I didn't have to be anywhere, so I just stayed nestled up in my apartment with good movies, candles, and hot chocolate. At around 1am my roommate and I threw on all the layers of clothes and ventured out onto our street to snap some photos. Everything looks so cool.

Here is a pic of our street:


And yes, I did go out and make a snow angel. Hey I'm from Florida, I'm allowed to act silly in the snow :)

Holy Moley

Woman Gives Birth to Giant Baby in Brazil


17 lbs of baby

Inside you

I think my Christmas Turkey was 17lbs, have fun with those stretch marks!

Man I love 4 day work weeks

You know, there are actually a good deal of companies now that have made their work week into four 12 hour days or something like that. Off the bat it sounds great, but I don't know, 12 hours?

Anyways, it's Thursday and we all know what that means...The O.C tonight, woohoo! It's also the Apprentice premiere- hopefully it will be good. I saw a couple of boardroom clips yesterday, but not enough to make a judgement on whether or not it will be a good season.

Thank the Lord it is back in the 30's today. Maybe I will make the dreaded trip to the grocery store now. I tell ya, it gets far too easy to just order in or go out when it gets this cold- not to mention pricey. However, my dilemma is this. I have a half-size refridgerator. Yea. Actually..its probably not even half-size, but its bigger than those portable ones you buy for dorm rooms. One of the many perks of an old West Village apartment. Anyways, the actual refridgerator part is small of course, but the freezer is super small. It can probably fit maybe 3 lean cuisines and an ice cube tray. So needless to say its not like I can prepare a lot of meals and keep them on hand- and trust me. I am so sick of salads and sandwiches. Not to mention I am sharing this refridgerator with a roommate, so its not like all the space is mine. Most of the time my day is from 9am to 8:30pm and by the time I get home there is no way in hell I want to cook. I need to brainstorm on some good/easy dinners and lunches I could make- any suggestions?

Wow, that was about one paragraph too many about my refridgerator.

Well it's getting close to Inauguration time so I'm going to get some stuff done before I tune in. That's another NBC perk- they encourage having the tv on in every office. Works for me.

Freeeeezing...literally

So my long awaited "look out my window and see my first New York snow" has finally come. It looked so pretty all over the ground and I found myself constantly looking around and smiling while I was outside. This could be because my face was frozen that way.

So I know I've been neglecting this blog bigtime lately, but with school and work and all the other stuff going on something has got to give and it was this blog among other things. You didn't miss too much though. I was pretty sick all week and am still fighting the remnants of this cold/flu thing. Work has been crazy busy, but super interesting as always. School has been ok too- I did fall asleep in one class last week though. I'm pretty sure someone noticed because I did one of those all of the sudden shakes when you wake yourself up...then I tried to play it off like I was brushing something off me. Yea, it was pretty transparent.

Oh and this was pretty cool...
Brian, Ann, and I were walking back to my apartment from a movie on Tuesday night and guess who we passed walking right by my street? None other than Martin Scorcese. Brian noticed him first because he had made eye contact with him. Pretty neato ehh?

Oh, and for those of you who are thinking, "What can I get for Laura since I was a little bitch and didn't get her anything for Christmas?"....well here is your answer: A San Francisco artist did a cool painting of the street I live on and I want it! Check it out here.

Bing Laden

.....or so he has been dubbed by the BBC.

Maybe off and on you've heard little bits and pieces about Stephen Bing, a "sometimes" Hollywood Producer known for being a Playboy and living off his $400-600 million inheritance. He was probably most reluctantly thrown into the media during his disputes with Elizabeth Hurley who had gotten pregnant with Bing's baby. Bing publicy denied this saying the relationship wasn't serious, blah blah blah until tests came back in that the child was his. There is rumor that after he found out he was the father he asked Hurley to terminate the pregnancy. She refused. During the pregnancy it is said that he made no effort to be in touch with Elizabeth. He apparently has another kid out of wedlock with tennis player Lisa Bonder.

So far it doesn't sound like more than some usual Hollywood drama right? Well here is what I don't get. Stephen Bing has not only been romantically linked to Elizabeth Hurley, but also to Sharon Stone, Brooke Burns, and various others including many models like Gisele Bundchen. Of course, most notably, his most recent conquest has been Nicole Kidman, who is reported to be ready to get serious with him...and possibly get married? These women are all gorgeous.....so, what's going on here? I've never been one to be very superficial, but with this guy's background I would think he would have to be dashing to get some of the women he has had. However, handsome he is not, at least in my opinion. Ok, so maybe he is a great romancer right? Well judging by the poem he apparently wrote for Nicole Kidman, I'm guessing not so much:

"I know we'll be jolly, stuff turkey and wave mistletoe. Even better with friends than flying it solo. Me? I'll do it with this seasonal chick. She's a cool cat. Untie the bow and welcome the other Saint Nic"

Ok, well he has to be doing something right to be getting all these women. It takes a lot more than an amazing bedroom performance to keep a solid relationship with a man. What's your secret Mr. Bing?

In other news....Brad & Jen = separated. I don't know about anyone else, but I had high hopes for these two. It seems like marriage in bigtime Hollywood is impossible. Before you could always look to Tom and Nicole and say, well some make it work. Then there was Brad and Jen, another hopeful couple. Now both couples are gone, what a shame. So who do we have remaining, Antonio and Melanie? Eek.

Get a load of this crap

Just when you think some people have hit an all-time high on the stupidity scale...something pops up to prove you wrong.

Case in point: http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0106fearfactor06-ON.html

Change the channel you dumbass!

ps- I'm starting to think Brian Williams is very attractive. Is that wrong?

I heart NBC

Ok, so I am exhausted and I imagine this will be the way I feel all semester. The good news is that my job roccckkkss! Seriously, in just the two days I have been there I have seen so much. We do all the promo clips and teasers for the affiliate networks...mainly for the Today show, Nightly News, and Dateline. Its cool because I get to review these scripts and preview the clips on the edit machines and then take them down to the satellite control area and broadcast them. Its alot more involved than it sounds, but I am way too tired for any detail.

Another cool thing is that we film with Brian Williams everyday. We do the promo clips that precede the Nightly News with him every night so yesterday I was on the Nightly News set. I didn't get to meet Brian yet though because he is in Indonesia. Maybe next week.
I also was on the set of Dateline, NBC Sports, Last Call with Carson Daly, and then backstage at SNL....all very cool.

My NYC boy came and took me out to lunch today because thats the kind of sweetie he is. It really sucks that he's already flying back to Cali tomorrow :( First day of school was today too. The class was cool though, its "The Television Industry". My teacher seems really cool and we are using the book he wrote as our textbook so thats kinda neat...not to mention it was only $30, thank God.

Alrighty, Im exhausted so Im out. Nighty poo.

And so it begins

Well here it is, the first day of a new year. I have to say that last year was quite life altering in a multitude of ways. Since most of it was documented here, those faithful readers I have had since the beginning know exactly what I mean.

Looking back at the many things that happened it pretty much leaves anything and everything as a possibility for what this year could entail. I like that. I like that life is so unpredicatable. I like that at age 25 I am still learning things I thought I had already figured out. John Lennon once said "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans", how right he was. Sometimes I really need to step outside myself to be able to take in everything going on around me. Sometimes I forget that I am living in the greatest city because it has oddly given me a very "at home" feeling that I wasn't expecting so soon. Of course nothing can replace my real home. I've only been back in NYC for one day and I already miss it, not the place so much as the people.

As far as a new year's resolution, I can't say I really have one yet. It seems like this year it needs to be much more than some cliche resolution like losing weight or whatever. Something that actually has meaning. I'll let you know when I figure it out, if I do. I guess if I were to hope for anything in the following year it would be a wish of health and happiness for everyone I know and love. What more do you need than that right?

Last night I had my first NYE kiss in wow, maybe 5 years? Not just an NYE kiss, I mean like one with someone you.....love. Yikes, did I just type that? My NYC turned LA guy rang in the new year with me and I must say it was a terrific time. Unfortunately he leaves again in a few days, and I guess my world goes on.

So in conclusion and in celebration of 2004, a year of change, here is what I learned:

-Time alone is good, and living alone is actually quite wonderful
-Hard work does reap great rewards, although sometimes not immediately
-Ben & Jerry's "Primary Berry Graham" is what I imagine sex with Chris Carrabba to be like, delicious
-Sometimes taking a chance and making the first move can be quite rewarding
-Nothing replaces the feeling of "home"
-Ann and I are capable of driving a 15ft truck pretty much anywhere
-standardized tests are bullshit
-when you love someone, you tell them
-never settle


Happy New Year.