Eddie Bauer sucks...

I'm gonna start with the good- I like Eddie Bauer clothes. They're usually cut bigger than most places, the quality is good and I can get clothes for relatively cheap at the outlets.  But their credit card sucks ass. It used to be that you'd save 10% by letting them charge you 18% interest on your account when you made a purchase. Not anymore.  Then I got a letter informing me that my interest rate was going to go to 24.99%.  What the what?! I just received my December statement yesterday, 12/14. Guess when my payment is due- This Friday, 12/19 at 2PM.  How is that even legal? The worst part is that if I wanted the payment to be applied to my account today there would have been a $10 upcharge.
I'd heard that these clowns were going bankrupt, and I hope it's true.  I don't have a problem with paying exorbitant interest, but I do have a problem with these guys putting customers in a position to not be able to pay their bill on time.  I made the payment online- what if I didn't have that option?  What if I didn't get paid until Friday? Then my best case scenario would be that $10 upcharge. Worst case would be that I'm late with the payment and I get dinged all manner of extra fees and an even higher interest rate (if that's possible).

So the upshot is, this is the last time I'll be using my EB card (and it was only for $200 to begin with so it's not like it's gonna kill me to pay it for two more months). And the way things are going with the credit card industry, I'm probably not going to use my Visa card very much anymore, either.  I wonder how credit (for mortgages and car loans) is going to be calculated when people stop using their credit cards to avoid BS fees and ridiculous interest rates...

EDIT to add... see how ahead of the curve I am?  From an article on Yahoo today (12/16): http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/108397/dumbest-moments-in-business-2009?mod=career-leadership

Credit Card Reform Falls Short
When President Obama signed sweeping credit card reform legislation into law in May, a resounding victory was declared for consumers: Finally, some of the most abusive industry practices like arbitrary interest-rate hikes would be outlawed.
Just one small problem: Lawmakers gave issuers till February 2010 to fully comply with the new law. Meanwhile, issuers have rushed to raise interest rates, impose new fees and cut credit limits.
The median rate on credit cards surged 13% to 23% from December 2008 to July 2009, according to a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Meanwhile, a bill to expedite the credit card reforms, the Credit Card Rate Freeze Act, has gone nowhere. When the new law kicks in next year, consumers will have more protection. But for now, more consumers may be hurt than helped.

college recruiting...

Not to take anything away from star highschool athletes, but it's really irritating to read about colleges falling all over themselves to get these guys to sign up for a free education. They play a game. On the other hand, I have a near perfect GPA (3.98/4.0), GRE scorces that aren't horrible (I -did- have swine flu the week leading up to my test), do volunteer work and am considered a minority (registered with the Cowlitz tribe)... Plus I work 40 hours per week, am married and still find time (on occasion) to be social.    How many offers have I had for free education? Zero.  In fact, I signed up for a mailing list aimed at minority students who want to go to grad school, and though I've had about 10 responses they've all been within two or three weeks of each school's deadline- which makes it all but imposible to complete the admissions packet in time.   I'm just saying, it would be nice to have even one school- even a not really good school- contact me first and offer me a free ride just for being a genuis and motivated enough to do everything that I do.

Banning guns makes you less safe.

I'm not going to make any emotionally charged arguments.  Rather, I'll let the fine folks at Gallup do the talking:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/21346/crime-rate-lower-united-states-canada-than-britain.aspx

PRINCETON, NJ -- The United States is often seen from abroad as a relatively lawless society, with murders and gun-related crimes aplenty. But a recent series of Gallup surveys in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States suggests that the image may be somewhat distorted. According to the surveys, the overall crime rate in the United States is lower than in Britain and about the same as in Canada. The polls also show that, among citizens in the three countries, Britons appear to have the least confidence in their police, while Canadians have the most. Britons are also the most likely to say that they live near an area where they would be afraid to walk alone at night.

The crime rate in each country is measured by people's responses to eight questions that ask whether a particular crime happened to the respondents, or to anyone in their households, in the past year. Overall, 32% of U.S. respondents mention some type of crime occurring to someone in their households, compared with 33% of Canadians and 36% of Britons. Three of the eight items ask about violent crime, and the responses reveal that 5% each of U.S. and Canadian households have been the victims of such crime, compared with 8% of British households.

I'll keep my guns, thank you. I'll continue to respect their capability and I'll continue practicing with them. You don't have to, and I'll respect your decision.

Global Warming... WTF

Another WTF here at constant contrarian:

From http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091209/wl_asia_afp/unclimatewarmingaustraliaantarctica/print

A monster iceberg has been spotted drifting towards Australia in what scientists Wednesday called a once-in-a-century event.Australian glaciologist Neal Young pinpointed the slab, which is some 19 kilometres (12 miles) long, about 1,700 kilometres south of the country, using satellite imagery.He said he was not aware of such a large iceberg being found in the area since the days when 19th century clipper ships plied the trade route between Britain and Australia.

Followed by

Young described the icebergs as uncommon, but said they could become more frequent if sea temperatures rise through global warming

So where the hell did the giant icebergs come from during the days of clipper ships? Too much pipe smoke onboard? And if there WERE giant icebergs of this size back then, what caused them to become so uncommon that they're described as once in a century?
Between horseshit logic like that which is presented in this article and climatgate, I'm gonna say this entire global warming/climate change debate is suspect. At best.

WTF is this world coming to?

From http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091207/ap_en_tv/eu_britain_eating_a_rat/print Chef Gino D'Acampo and actor Stuart Manning have been charged with animal cruelty after preparing and eating rat risotto on the wilderness show "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here" last month. They were charged after complaints by animal welfare activists in Australia, where the show is filmed. The maximum penalty is three years in prison. Wait- Australia? Don't they have better fucking things to do than bitch about a couple of rats being killed? I thought these people were supposed to be all gangsta-hard with their Australian Rules Football, and crocodile killing mofos... Who gives a shit, really? Really?! It was two rats and I'll bet they didn't suffer any more than any animal in an abbatoir. They better not get wind of my aquerne idea from one of my other blogs, or I'm fuxored...

Paint protection- you need this....

From:
http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1201/5-car-dealer-extras-you-dont-need/

5. Ding Protection

Buyers who are worried about cosmetic scratches on their new car might be inclined to opt for Ding Protection. It covers the cost of fixing small dents and scratches (often less than four inches long) for a set period of time. The price varies, but a three-year plan can cost as much as $650.

I've been known to pay extra for an extended warranty (though I probably won't do that ever again after a recent experience with our new couches). And this is the kind of protection I would definitely pay $650 for- provided we were very clear, in writing, what was and was not covered. See, when I bought my Mitsubishi in 2002 I was told that the bumper to bumper warranty covered EVERYTHING- including paint. The salesman specifically told me if I leave the lot and a rock gets thrown up into my hood and leaves a chip, scratch, etc. it would be covered.

Guess what happened less than two weeks later. Now, the warranty apparently didn't actually cover this, but I bitched enough that they had my hood repainted for free- to Mitsubishi specifications. Which, of course, meant that within a month I had another chip. I currently have about a dozen chips (the hood was repainted in 2004 after an accident- so that's about 3 a year). Plus, the way the car's body is designed, rocks reeeallly like to hit just behind the rear doors.
To have the front fender repainted (after it got scraped by another driver) it cost $743. Yes, I got the check from the insurance company and yes I had the work done- Artemis is my baby. The scratch was about 2" long, but to get it done RIGHT the whole thing had to be stripped and reshot. So if I could get this kind of stuff covered for three years at $650, you bet I'd pay it, and I'd use it. It'd be like having a new car every year (or six months, or however long I decided to wait).

The only problem is that it took about two weeks to have just the fender reshot... now that I think about it, it might just be cheaper and easier to get the 3M clear bra vinyl adhesive.

Changing wireless carriers is expensive...

Loyal readers know that I changed cell carriers last month... and damn, it's been pricey. AT&T charged me for my first month already: $40 for 450 rollover minutes, $30 for data, $36 for activation, $5.33 for "prorated voice days" (because Amazon activated my phone the day I bought it, so I was paying for service while it was in transit) and the rest was in taxes and fees (the total was like $135).  Yesterday I got a bill from TMobile.  I know for a fact I went through the same BS with VoiceStream when I got my phone (that I paid the first month's service in advance)... so I think I'm paying twice for this service.  And they certainly had no problem charging me the difference when I went from a lower-minute plan to a higher one.   I guess the silver lining is that I got the phone for half of what I would have if I'd gone through AT&T.  If I look at it that way, I still have the money I saved to pay off these little sundry charges, etc.