For the first time in my life I’m buying a bicycle that actually represents what I feel/who I am, rather than what is left on the department store floor. That is to say, I’m not buying a department store bike.

I checked out several stores from South Eastern Massachusetts to Providence, Rhode Island. These were not department stores, although I did check out Dick’s Sporting Goods, but rather bicycle specialty shops. They carried a higher class of bicycle, thus the higher prices. I was delighted to see some innovative new designs. Obviously, bicycle technology has come a long way since my bike riding days.

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My contract is about to expire in a couple months, and I’m really not thrilled with my AT&T cell phone service. I wouldn’t even be with AT&T if not for their exclusive contract with Apple for the iPhone.

So, I’m writing to give them one last chance to keep me as a customer by offering me something worth my while to keep my account. Do I think they will even read my letter? Maybe. Do I think they will accept my terms? Probably not. But that’s OK because I’ll be going to my closest T-Mobile store and signing back with them come October, 2009.

I’m posting my letter to AT&T below. I’ll write back if they ever respond.

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Yeah, happy birthday… And what could be the best present this country could hope for? Why, Sarah Palin leaving politics forever! Yay! Well, we can only hope she’s gone for good, although her running for higher office in 2012 would make for some great television.

Seriously, what a quitter. Her resignation speech was just as convoluted and brain twisting as her interviews with Katie Couric. This woman has all the qualifications of a “hockey mom” and none of what it takes to be a leader. If ever a government post is created that involves a lot of eye winking and acting like a middle-America type moron, I’m sure she’ll be the first person they call to fill it.

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So I got a credit card application earlier this month. I looked it over just as I would any other offer. It looked good, so I decided to apply online. The offer already said I was pre-approved, and all I had to do was verify my information. That’s pretty easy. And since it was CapitalOne, I didn’t think twice.

I went through the the online process, very simple and easy. After three screens, I was done. My new card was on it’s way. Then something hit me. Were my eyes deceiving me? I just applied for a CapitalOne credit card right? Wait a minute, no! This is another credit card company trying to spoof CapitalOne’s identity. And it worked!

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Before I say anything, I just want to give props to SouthParkStudios.com. You can watch every episode of South Park, even current episodes, just a day after they air on Comedy Central. Also, South Park, up to season 9, has been added to the Netflix streaming service. Why would anyone buy South Park in the iTunes Music Store? Anyway, the video quality of the latest shows on the South Park Studios website is awesome!

The latest episode, Margaritaville, pokes fun at the economy, specifically the state of Wall Street and banking, and the spending habits of ordinary people. The first five minutes are some of the funniest I’ve ever seen in South Park. I probably watched it 10 times and laughed as hard the last time as the first.

Click on the button below and go watch it, you’ll be glad you did.

We have all seen it– merchants imposing minimum purchase requirements on items paid for with credit and debit cards. Although this is common, it is against the merchant agreement of both Visa and MasterCard.

I received a phone call from my mother today asking if it was legal for store owners to impose these minimums for credit/debit cards. I told her I didn’t know the answer to that, but I said I would visit the MasterCard and Visa website to find out.

I first did a Google search and found out that although it’s not illegal to impose minimums per se, it is indeed against the merchant agreement of both Visa and MasterCard. Now I was intrigued. Why do some merchants do it? Do they know it’s breaking their agreement? Do they care? Do they think the public doesn’t know the guidelines? Whatever, it’s wrong.

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I switched my auto insurance company today to Progressive. I got a tip that I might be able to save some money, so I went online and used their calculator to determine what my premium would be. It took about 6 minutes to complete and in that time I saved 30% on my current premium with another company, Commerce.

Once I got my premium amount, I proceeded to sign up online. Everything is done online, including signing the forms. The only form that they must mail to me is the contract. Unlike my current provider, you can edit/update your policy online and don’t have to waste time speaking with an agent. It all looks pretty efficient, except one thing.

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Way back in 2002, August 8, 2002 to be exact, I had my lunch box website, Lunch Box Pad, featured on the home page of the AOL service. They were doing a “Back To School” feature and I provided some lunch box history and pictures for them to use. Yes, that’s my Superman (1954) lunch box there, valued at $1,500.00 in 2002.

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I’m running Photoshop on my cloned drive. Adobe doesn’t let you do this without authorizing the software, as you can only use it on one machine at a time. Sighs… So I authorized it. Then I went to open an image and got this message.

To continue using Photoshop, I have to reinstall the entire suite? What? At least they were polite and said sorry. For the record, I’m using CS2, so it’s not the latest and greatest, but it still works worked.

Just kidding. It still works.

So I just got a Juniper credit card which gives me iTunes points for redemption in the Apple iTunes Store. I’ve used it about 3 times thus far. Yesterday I’m shopping and it comes time to do what I’ve done a million times with dozens of other credit cards– I hand the card to the cashier.

This started out like any other transaction, but it ended with the strangest compliment I ever received. As the cashier handed my credit card back, she said, “you’ve got a cool card.” I do? It’s really cool?

So I guess some cards are just more cool than others. I just happen to have a cool card. Actually, the card is pretty cool looking. It’s matte black with a glossy “JUNIPER” title. That stupid hologram bird that they put on the front of cards, Juniper relegated that thing to the back. I’m a minimalist at heart, so this card perfectly suits my taste.

BTW… I did not steal this credit card. It’s a complete Photoshop creation. It came out pretty good.