Can You Hear Me NOW!?

I’ve been working hard on my New Year’s Resolutions (from here on out, they will be referred to as NYRs) so I will update you guys on that. But before I do that, I’m going to stick to the points I listed in last week’s Sneak Peek! Which I misspelled as “Peak!” I hope no one noticed.

PHONE REPRESENTATIVES. Sorry, but I love/hate you guys. I love you because I hate robots. I hate calling Verizon and having to repeat myself over and over saying “WHY DOES MY DSL SUCK” to some automated agent.

“Did you mean, ‘Payment’?”
”NO, WHY DOES MY DSL SUCK”
”Did you mean, ‘Cancel Subscription?’”

“What? NO. Representative. I want to speak to a representative!”
”Sorry, we do not have that option available at this time. Please call back later.”

*click*

But once I finally get a human representative on the line, one of two things happen. Option 1: They pick up right away and talk as if they are stuck on 10x Fast Forward. Today, my Fios just stopped working (finally upgraded, what up!) so I called Verizon. After about 8 minutes of getting transferred around, I had a conversation that went something like this.

“Hi, my Fios just stopped working and its saying that my subscription has been put on a temporary halt. I was wondering what that was about?”

“Doyoueverfeellikeaplasticbagdriftingthroughtthewind?”
“Excuse me?”

Okay, so she obviously didn’t sing “Firework”, but she might as well have. Never has understanding English been so difficult. It turned out that I needed to call Verizon back and inform them that I was keeping my service. LOL, what?

“Hello, Verizon? Yeah, remember that thing I signed a 2-year contract for? Yeah…just wanted to let you know that we’re still on and things are going great. Okay, have a nice day.”

http://tinyurl.com/4gjvo7r
Verizon – Insecure significant other.

So the other option of what happens. You get put on hold for about “Five minutes” which if you do the math…equals about 30 in real time. But it’s okay because your call is very important to them.

A few weeks ago, I had to call PayPal about a mix up. I was informed that my call would be answered in the order that they received it. After about 10 minutes, I started to feel the rumble in my belly. I put my phone on speaker and went ahead with taking care of business. Of course, just then the representative came on the line and asked how he could help me.

Awkward. There was a lot of rushing and me saying “Hold on, one sec”, but in the end everything worked out. I hate calling customer service.

So moving on. My NYRs. The 90-Day Bible thing has been going swell. In fact, I’ve been writing some notes as I read and I’m considering starting up Blog #2 just so I could expand on that. Honestly, it’d be nice to have a journal where I can just write my thoughts down and share it. We’ll see.

As for my weight loss one, so far so good! Since I started roughly 1.5-2 weeks ago, I’ve lost about 7-8 pounds. I know most of this is probably water weight, so this figure is not 100% accurate. No celebrations yet, although it’s good to see some results! Seriously though, trying to cut down your caloric intake is painful. I get more cravings than a pregnant woman and sometimes I feel drained for no reason. This is a picture of me on Day 1.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57611108@N02/5350596776/
PIZZA!!!

However, something I read recently was encouraging. Newark NJ Mayor Cory Booker is also trying to lose weight for his NYR! His goal of 40 pounds over four months is similar to mine, and I wish him the best of luck. Here’s a link to the article where you can find more information about it.

http://www.eurweb.com/?p=75437
Hahahaha, look at that amazing lead.

“Newark New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker had a lot on his plate in 2010 – both figuratively and literally.” -Journalism.

I also promised last week that I would showcase a friend’s blog. My good friend Satchell is an amazing graphic/web designer as well as a gifted writer. Although his love for tech far exceeds mine, his writing is still easy to read and very noob-friendly (as I can attest). Feel free to check out his blog at:

http://polygrafik.com/ (should have been pauleegrafik lololol. Joking.)

You can also visit his website below. Seriously, amazing work. Check it out!
http://www.satchelldrakes.com/home/

No Sneak Peeks this week but here’s a question of the week!

A few friends and I saw a sign the other day at a pharmacy that said, “Free Pick-Ups!”. I’m not really sure how that’s nothing more than stating the obvious – how many pharmacies CHARGE people to come pick up their medication?

So what are some other completely obvious signs that stores could advertise?

The list of what we came up with in the car:
”Free self-parking!”
”Free napkins”

Leave any comments and answers below!

I leave you with a funny picture that I took at the new H-Mart in Edison(?)!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/57611108@N02/5349984537/

The World is Probably Coming to an End

The first post of 2011. I hope everybody had a great holiday and New Year! Let’s all hope that we really live it up in 2011 because everybody knows that the world is coming to an end in 2012. How unfortunate for us.

The first week of 2011 has been a mixed bag for me. It started off with a great New Year where I got to meet and hang out with old friends. Then, I found my favorite “Wriststrong” bracelet – which I haven’t seen in years. After that, it was all downhill. The Phoenix Suns lost to the Sacramento Kings. If you don’t follow basketball, this is essentially like Justin Bieber losing a hair competition to Lex Luthor. Then, in an ironic turn of events, my Wriststrong bracelet snapped as I tried to put it on. If this isn’t a sign of our impending doom, you are a clearly not a belieber. Or believer.

http://tinyurl.com/2dno33r
Ironic

So I decided to make 2011 a year of resolutions. I’ve never been a big fan of them because well…they’re sort of stupid. How many people have actually kept their resolutions for more than a few short weeks? HOWEVER, I figured, by announcing it to this blog and the internets, maybe it will help keep me accountable. So before I divulge my inner most insecurities and resolutions, how about a story.

I couldn’t find a good picture for story time. Sorry.

Something I realized at church this week is that I always seem to come away with a message, but rarely the one that the speaker intended. For example, I was browsing my notes and this is a serious comment that I wrote down: “flexing spiritual muscles”. I have no idea what the sermon was about or what I exactly meant by that, but I’m pretty sure working out or muscles had nothing to do with it. Anyway, so with this in mind:

I forget what the sermon was about last Sunday (I didn’t fall asleep, seriously – for those that go to RCCC with me this may be hard to believe) but I do remember coming out feeling like I needed to make a change. College – and probably me -- has not been good to my body. I blame RU Grill (seriously, try the Fat RU Grill one day. O-MAH-GUD) and Yummy, Yummy (it’s Yummy x2). I’ve tried my best this past semester to work out everyday, but once I stopped my routine, it became near impossible to start up again. Then there’s the constant barrage of bubble tea, Mickey D’s runs, and other delicious nomnom’s.

http://tinyurl.com/2cwyarb
Not me

I am a firm believer in “better late than never.” So I have decided on two goals over the next 100 days. My first will be to lose 30 pounds in 100 days. I know from my past attempts that this will not be easy, but it’s something I want to do. My next goal, which I have already started, is to read the Bible in 90 days. Now, I understand that these resolutions aren’t New Year’s resolutions, more like New 1/4th Year’s resolutions. Well, after those 100 days are over, I will find something else to resolute about and together we will make 2011 the year of fulfilled resolutions.

http://tinyurl.com/2u5wojf
“I JUST FARTED” is what he said. Probably.

So those are a few things that will be keeping me occupied for the next 3-4 months. One thing that I definitely have realized during this break is that…I am bored. For something I looked forward to for so long, I find myself bored a lot.

So in order to help me fight that boredom, let me know what your New Year’s resolutions are! If you don’t have any, then uh…watch an Asian Kill Bill in an oddly addicting Japanese commercial. Then, comment and let me know what you think about my resolutions! Or what you thought about that awesome video.

http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=cusuewkl0w
I can’t stop watching it. Damn you.

So to keep me accountable to my next post, here’s a sneak peak!

1. I will be talking about my embarrassing experience with a phone representative.
2. I will link you to a friend’s blog – I’ve been reading this blog for a while now and it’s really cool. He/she has no idea this is coming, but I know you’re a reader!
3. I have come across some interesting pictures during my time at Rutgers and so I will reveal my first one!

Until then, here are some door lasers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57611108@N02/5328401535/

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Stay warm.