for those of you who have been trying to get a hold of me....i finally got a new phone. i could not stand my ppc 6700 anymore. it didn't hold a charge anymore, even though i just got a replacement phone a few months ago, it was so bulky and ugly and slow that i felt like i was using a cell phone from 1995. also, i was ready for windows mobile 6.0. it just seems like 5.0 was so outdated and old. i heard that the upgrades they added to it were pretty nice.

i wanted a new phone for a while now, but i was locked into a contract with sprint until october. i did not know how i was going to get through the summer without a phone, because i refused to use my phone anymore. it's been laying at the bottom of my purse, turned off, for months now. so i went to sprint to see how much a new phone would cost me.

apparently i was only able to get a $75 discount, and had to wait for a $150 discount come august. so, unfortunately, if i wanted a smart phone, i would have to pay full price which was around $500 - $75. um...no.

if i was going to pay $500 for a phone, i might as well get an iphone. but i couldn't even do that, because i was still locked into that contract, and i was not about to pay sprint even more of my hard earned cash so that they'd release me. so i went up to the customer service agent and asked if there was anything they could do for me.

no. they couldn't.

they did say that if i called customer service, maybe they could do something for me, but there was nothing they could do for me in the store.

ok, fine.

i called customer service and told them that i've been a sprint customer for the past 8 years. i have 4 lines with them, and have never, ever paid a bill late. i explained how much i hated my present phone, and how i needed a new phone now, because i was not able to use my piece of shit phone anymore. (you turn it on, it dies after an hour or two) (the same thing happened with my other ppc 6700, which is why i had it replaced) i was not about to go through the hassle of having it repaired/replaced again. this phone was done. i was done with this phone. i didn't want to touch or look at it anymore. i was prepared to go phoneless until my contract ran out if it meant having to deal with this craptastic piece of junk.

but i also said, that if i had to wait unitl august to get the new customer pricing, i would just wait out the duration of my contract and go over to AT&T and buy an iphone. i said that if they could not do anything for me, a loyal customer that has spent a shit load of money every month for the past 8 years, then i was no longer going to be a customer, and i would wait until all the contracts on all 4 of my lines expired and i would no longer do business with them. i said that i was really not trying to be a bitch (and i swear (e:fellyconnelly) i wasn't) and i wasn't bluffing. i was just being honest. i gave them a choice of either giving me the new customer pricing on a new phone early, or having me move to another carrier.

so the girl i was on the phone with, came up with an offer, saying that she could not give me new customer pricing on a phone, but she would give me a $50 credit on all 4 lines, if i extended the contract for an additional 2 years on those lines.

i was like "yeah, riiiiight, GOOD ONE! but NO THANKS"

so i said no deal and was ready to hang up, and the chick transfered me to the cancellation department, saying maybe they could do something for me.

so the woman in the cancellation department said she was the customer retention specialist, or something like that and said that she was told that i was thinking about leaving sprint. i told her that yes, i was going to let my contract expire and would get an iphone, because i wanted a new phone now and since i couldn't get a deal with sprint, i would take my business elsewhere.

so without any further discussion or deal pleading, she said she'd be happy to offer me the new customer pricing on any phone i wanted. so i told her that i was thinking about the HTC Touch, and within about 5 minutes, it was all done and over with. i should be getting my new phone on tuesday. it costs $250, which is about $250 less than what they wanted me to pay.

i am super stoked. now i will have a new, sweet phone, that is kind of, sort of like the iphone, AND i don't have to wait until august to get it!

here is a pic of what it looks like.





here is their website


here are some quick specs

Key Features
+ TouchFLO� screen technology
+ Windows Mobile� 6 Professional
+ Direct Push Outlook� email
+ Compact at H: 99.9mm, W: 58mm,
D: 13.9mm and lightweight at only
+ Tri-band GSM with GPRS/EDGE
+ 2.0 mega-pixel camera
+ Stereo Bluetooth� 2.0 and Wi-Fi
+ HTC ExtUSB� cable for PC

i'm excited that this has the option for stereo bluetooth headphones. my old phone did not, and it sucked.

on the con side, this doesn't have a qwerty keyboard, but rather a touch screen one like the iphone, that isn't as user friendly as the iphone's.

Oh my god, this is out of hand, adorable. I can't take it!

paul, even you can't say that is not the cutest thing you've ever seen, right?

Has anyone seen this will ferrell video with the baby? no? omg, it's soooooo funny!

i went to help marvin pick out a new iMac yesterday and he got the top of the line model, with 2 gigs of ram and 2.8 processor and the price with apple care and tax and other crap was damn near 3000 dollars. but then he turns around and asks "do you want anything?" i was like...um...well...an ipod?

and so he bought me an ipod! out of no where, for no reason. i almost feel as if i should return the favor with a favor???? hee hee.

he's so super sweet though. i love you marcinek!

but the ipod won't work because i have 10.3 not 10.5 installed on my computer.

so my question is, can install leopard on my computer from his back up cd that comes with the computer?

I found this super fun website that does a really good job of transforming your face into different ages, ethnicities and art styles.



Just upload a face shot. I used this one of (e:ladycroft) and I the day of our Amazing Race audition taping.



My favorite is the baby. Faben was on the floor laughing hilariously.

This is me as a baby




This is me in 30 years



This is me on testosterone (doesn't look much different than i do now)



The Afto-Carribean me



East Asian me



West Asian me



Mucha inspired me



Modigliani me



Botticielli me



Anime me



Drunk me (and apparently fat me)



Cave woman/Half Chimp me

we went to dinner at the new restaurant that some nba guy, leonard stokes, opened up. since this was a last minute decision, we couldn't get reservations at my fav restaurant, hutch's until 10, so we had to settle for this place instead.

it was rather disappointing. firstly, the wait from the time we sat down, until the waiter came to introduce himself, was unacceptable. seriously, we sat there for about 15 minutes, without a wine list, picking our noses, for what seemed like eons.

second, the tables were made of plywood or something, so they felt wobbly and weird. it felt as if the thing was going to break in half if you leaned on it too hard.

third, there were no candles on any of the tables. first of all, the restaurant is very dimly lit so in order to see your menu, you definitely needed some additional lighting, plus it was FUCKING VALENTINES DAY! you are supposed to have a romantic dinner at a romantic restaurant. how do you have an upscale restaurant with no fucking candles on any of the tables on valentines day!? i asked the waiter about the missing candles and he said that because they added additional tables to accommodate the big crowd they were anticipating for valentines day, they realized that they didn’t have enough candles for all of the tables, so they decided to scrap them all and not put ANY out on ANY of the tables. being as picky as i am, i said that i absolutely could not eat dinner here if there was no candle on my table. i felt as if i was eating in some back alley restaurant that couldn't afford a simple tea light candle. i mean seriously, rite aid is right across the street. if you morons ran out of candles, have someone run there and buy some. it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. and if you're too fucking cheap to do that, then you do not belong in the restaurant business.

fourth, the menu was a special limited valentines day menu. that sucked. if i'm shelling out (well, not me, but if someone is shelling out) a ton of money for a nice dinner, i expect to have the normal selection of the shit you usually have on your dinner menu, instead of some cheap, shortened, menu that has about a third of the normal entree choices of the dinner menu.

fifth, the entrees were waaaaaay over priced. the amount of money they were charging for the quality of the food was ridiculous. the appetizer was good, and the crème' brulee was good, but the filet and lobster were too expensive. i mean, $45 for a lobster dinner with, what seemed like instant mashed potatoes and plain green beans was just embarrassing.

on the plus side, our waiter was very, very nice and accommodating and he was so terribly cute that i wished i could have sucked face with him in the bathroom. i mean, this guy was hot. my date was not happy. however, my date seemed to forget that a couple of nights prior, he was all hot and bothered by the waitress at mother's and was drooling all over her. so short our selective memories are.

anyway, because he was so nice, and cute, i convinced my date to give him an decent tip. although he did that pretty reluctantly. i must say that had i been paying for this dinner, i would be in a great depression right about now. i don't mind spending money on food, but i hate spending money on bad food or bad service when i know that there are tons of other great restaurants in buffalo that deserve my business instead. i am very thankful however, for the wonderful company i had and the generosity of my date, regardless of the crappy, overpriced food. i still had a great night.

all in all, he spent entirely too much money on a below average meal. we had 2 bottles of wine, one appetizer, two entrees (one lobster tail, one filet and crab legs) and one dessert. with a generous tip, the underwhelming meal was a grand total of $270 bucks.

that's like an ipod or an apple tv, or a smart phone, isn't it? i wish i could shit all of that out and ask for the money back. i've never felt so cheated.

this brings new meaning to "threesome"

ok, i have a new favorite artist. adele. she's from london and oh so freaking cool.

ok everyone, all of the secret santa notifications have been sent out. i sent everyone an email to the account you have attached to estrip. everyone seem like they got their emails, except for (e:flacidness). your email was undeliverable, so i sent you a post-it instead. if you didn't get an email, let me know.

this is the list of people that are participating in secret santa. if you are not on here, it is because you either didn't want to participate or i didn't hear from you regarding participation, or if i did hear from you, you didn't give me a definitive answer as to whether you are or aren't participating. if there is anyone i am accidentally missing, i am terribly sorry. just email me and i'll take care of it. if you change your mind and decide to participate don't hesitate to let me know, i will most definitely find you a partner, even if it means i have to buy you a present myself.

(e:libertad)
(e:jenks)
(e:ladycroft)
(e:mrmike)
(e:flacidness)
(e:paul)
(e:matthew)
(e:terry)
(e:jim)
(e:james)
(e:drew)
(e:janelle)
(e:mike)
(e:hodown)
(e:museumchick)
(e:imk2)


i'm kind of sad that so many people decided not to participate this year. i wrote post it's to so many of you and so many of you didn't respond. i wonder if you guys are just not checking your estrip email. :(

i know that there are many reasons why some of you cannot participate, and i certainly understand that some of you really can't, but i just think that giving gifts to each other during the holidays reinforces how close of a community we really are and makes us (well, me at least) seem that we really, truly are, somewhat of a family. I know, I know, I am being waaaay overly emotional right now.

nevertheless, remember that there is still plenty of time if you change your mind. Just shoot me an email and I'll get back to you in a jiffy.