O RLY?!

Everything went through on the house without a problem, so we are now the proud owners of a new (actually old) home.  With all the work involved with modifying the house as well as moving, I decided to cancel my World of Warcraft account and devote my time to home improvement.  I’m sure my sister will be disappointed that I chose to abandon the game just as the expansion was released, but someday she’ll get a life and find other ways to occupy her free time

I will try to take before and after pictures of the work we are doing and post updates here about our home improvement endeavors.  We have begun with refinishing the hardwood floors, and I already forgot to take a before picture, so you won’t get to see the condition of the floors before we started.  I should have a completed picture up in a about a week.

Wireless providers have got to be the sneakiest most underhanded service providers on the planet. They have easily overtaken used car lots and are quickly approaching AOL status. That being said, Abbey and I decided to buy new phones today.

My phone from Cingular is about a year and a half old and about to bite the bullet (It randomly shuts off in the middle of a call). Hers is slightly older at a year and nine months. I have never had a phone last for the full two year contract. There is no way these phones are designed to last longer than a year and a half without breaking or malfunctioning from everyday use. My brother is a perfect example, his phones last a month at the most. Maybe if you use the phone once a month for “emergency” situations it will last for two years, but I still think they are programmed to self-destruct as your contract nears its end. This is great for (insert your wireless provider name here) because they will offer to replace your phone at a discounted (or free) price and discreetly sign you up for another two years. If you’re quick enough to catch the contract extension, they will remove it if you buy the phone at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price plus 300% (slight exaggeration). Thats for a phone that was hot three months ago (new cell phones come out every 45 minutes BTW). The suggested retail price is always absurd too, never less than $200.

Note to my parents who always say “These Motorola Startacs have lasted forever!” First off, my parents use about 15 minutes a year of their plan. And second, if your phone is old enough to be listed in an online encyclopedia, its time to get a new one.

We ordered our phones from www.wirefly.com and switched carriers in the process. We will end up paying a cancellation fee to Cingular, but the savings that we get from Verizon will far outweigh the cancellation fees after about 3 months. Switching carriers allows you to take advantage of the extremely great deals that Cell phone providers will give new customers (who cares about the existing ones). We got two LG VX8600 phones for free and switched over to a family plan with two lines. Verizon also offers free txt messaging and calling to members in their network, so with all the people I know with Verizon, I’ll probably never go over my minutes or msg limit.