Well, I’m waiting for several things to be delivered, one of which is my old XBox that had the RROD. Well it’s due in today (the 31st)  however for a few days it’s been listed as sitting in Stanton PA. I decided to check again tonight before heading to bed to see if the delivery date has been changed, but nope, still same day. 

   Obviously that led to me checking the tracking data, and it appears that my Xbox is capable of teleportation. It arrived in Stanton PA, never left there, yet somehow it’s since departed Shrewsbury MA! How did my package get to Mass if it’s still sitting in PA though? 

For proof, see the attached image.

First, this isn’t a rant at those that RUN internet stores, it’s about those that are stupid, lack common sense, and BUY from them then complain about things outside the stores control.

Now for more details, I order things from Amazon.com fairly often, ordered a new headset and mic yesterday, and decided it was finally time to get a decent camera and ordered one about twenty minutes ago. 

After ordering the camera, I was looking through my orders and realized the Camera and headset were coming from independent sellers rather then amazon.com itself. I’m fine with that, but since I could, I decided to read the reviews. Both companies have over a 95% positive review rate, so that comforted me even more, however those that gave BAD ratings just have me shaking my head in amazement…

Here’s the one I read last, an exact copy and paste;

“make sure you read the fine print, when you order a product from galactics. Ordered a game from them and didn’t see fine print that it was for mindows 98. The game would not work with vista, and they would not exchange for updated version.” 

Hey folks, game companies rarely if ever will re-release an updated version of a game for a new OS. They MAY have a patch that will allow it to run on the new OS, but they won’t release a whole new disc. This is not the stores fault. There is nothing wrong with the game, it’s just you. If you wanted to return it, they probably would give you your money back, however, they can’t exchange it for something that doesn’t exist.

There were also several people complaining about the shipping, including one person that complained and gave the company a low rating because the package sat in one city for a week straight. Hey, newsflash, these companies don’t own their own shipping company too, they send it via USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc. Once they ship it out, it’s on the shipping company, they can’t make it get there any faster, blaming them for when it arrives is like blaming a gas station for the MPG your car gets. They sold you the gas, it isn’t their fault your car uses so much of it faster then you’d like.

I also saw one person complain about how they received two of the item and were billed for two. Here’s a thought though, check your cart before going through the order process, and make sure you’re only ordering one. I highly doubt the company misread the 1 for a 2 and their system automatically billed you for 2 to boot. If they sent two, odds are you ORDERED two. 

Of course, there are legitimate complaints, such as some people not getting their packages, difficulty getting a-hold of the company, damaged packaging INSIDE the shipping box, and wrong items shipped. Those people have actual complaints against the company and are using the reviews properly, however those that act like complete idiots, like some of the above, I think should stick to stores.

Got back home around 7:00pm last night, relaxed most of the night, nothing eventful to talk about on the ride home. The trip as a whole was GREAT, and I hope to do it again as soon as I can. We’ll see how things work out though.

Had to take off to run to a class with the friend I’m staying with. Sat through an English Composition and some law class with him. Nothing exciting, just reminds me of highschool, none of it was even overly complicated. Heck the law class was all done out of a text book, how hard could that be?

Back onto the train; for my trip on the Downeaster, business class was at the VERY rear of the train, it was actually half of the dining car. I only had to get up walk past 2 rows of seats and through a doorway to get to the serving area. Was quite nice.

Basically just sat there most of the trip though listening to music, went on my laptop for a bit, but really didn’t feel like doing much, so got off of it fast enough.

Off of the train now, had to wait a bit for my ride to get to the station, but not overly long, and since then been hanging around the college campus. The campus itself isn’t overly large, but it’s pretty nice. Snows all over the place, which is a bit different from Connecticut, I personally don’t mind it that much though, so whatever.

The rest of today is just going to be spent hanging out, he only had the two classes today, so nowhere else we NEED to go. May head into the town in a bit to grab something to eat, but that’s really the biggest thing we’ll be doing.

Barring anything major happening today, I’ll just post another update tomorrow.

Reached Maine without any hitches, except for one potentially crazy, or extremely high woman, the trip was uneventful. Rode the Downeaster all the way from Boston North Station to the Portland Maine station, in a rather spacious business class car, had a row to myself. Ill post another update later, but heading out now.

Sitting in Boston’s north station now, got a bit of a wait for my last train. Fairly easy to get here from back-bay though, just hopped in a cab and a minute later I was there.

Well, tomorrow morning, I’ll be leaving for Maine for a few days.

Going to be in Waterville, travelling by train so it’s going to be a hell of a trip, if you didn’t already know I was going but talk to me every now and then, now ya know. If ya don’t care, well…why the heck are you reading my blog?

Well, as I should hope you all know by now, I enjoy owning and firing firearms. I know, what a shocker! As such, I know a decent amount of things concerning them. I also am not shy about sharing what I DO know. 

I frequently get a chance to do so on a few of the forums I visit, I actually am one of the few people that knows any significant amount of information about firearms on a few of the forums I visit. As such, as times it almost seems like I know more then almost anyone else on the subject no matter how hard I try NOT to think I do!

Well, fortunatly, one of the forums I frequent is TheHighRoad.org, a forum devoted to firearms in many different ways. I cannot go on this forum without learning some new random factoid or tidbit of advice concerning a firearm. I find it helps me remember that while to people that know nothing on the subject I may look like a genious, among my fellow gun owners, I’m just any other person. Heck I’ve seen people that know tons more then I do. I’m actually quite glad I found such a place because it DOES help me stay humble.

As such, a word of advice to anyone that frequents a generic forum, any forum that is just basic generic conversations really. If you start appearing to be real knowledgeable on any subject, look for a forum devoted TO that subject and sign up there. You’ll undoubtedly learn new things, you’ll most likely enjoy it, and you’ll also stay humble.