Monday, November 14, 2005

Tie Me Up

At last month's poker tournament, Bluto finally won. It's so funny because he usually plays much better than me in online multitable tournaments, but he gets cold feet in live games. My flush got outhoused by Nat on the river, but I still finished out better than Tightass. We both couldn't catch a break. Tightass accused me of not finishing my blog stories, but that's because many of my loose ends are still loose. But, for at least his benefit, I promise to post at least once a week. I billed over 2200 hours last year (2350 counting "non-billable firm service"), so I can at least afford to post once a week. Deal?

First, let me tie up that HDTV story. Click here if you need a refresher. And here if you want to here me whine like a little bitch. Finally, after much wrangling with the manufacturer, they agreed to give me a discount on a new set. The repair shop also agreed to refund my repair costs ($370), but not the diagnostic/estimate fee ($135). I found a 42" HDTV, but it was actually smaller due to the 16:9 screen & I would have received only a $400 discount. Since I paid $1400 for the original TV, I decided that wasn't good enough and rejected their offer. After consulting with Bluto, I chose a 56" DLP, which listed for $3500. I haggled and got the manufacturer to give me the set for $2200. I sent them a certified check, and exactly one month later (a couple of days ago), they shipped the set to the repair shop, who delivered it to my home. Let me tell you folks, this is one FAT TV. I bet even Fresh wishes he had one in his mom's basement. So, once again, the lesson is, if you're persistent, persuasive and aware of your rights, you can capitalize on your misfortune.

As for my insurance flooding story, that's still an open issue. The adjuster finally came to my house, but I haven't heard from her yet. She went into my crawl space, but I have no idea what she thinks. I'll post again to update you.

Finally, more poker news. I entered a tournament this weekend and qualified for a satellite tournament to win a Ferrari. I finished in the top 200 of a field of 3500. I probably could have won the whole tournament, but there was no other prize, so I let little G finish out the tournament, much to Bluto's chagrin. I'm training little G to become the next Annie Duke. She already knows the list of ten premium hands and can bluff.

That's all until next week. I promise.

Regards,

G-man