How can they get away with it?

You think you have problems until you hear someone else’s story. I just found out that my sister has been a victim of fraud. She is getting married in May to a pretty nice guy and she is now in the middle of wedding preparations. She has to worry about all sorts of stuff I wouldn’t even think is important. Basically she is planning an event that is pivotal to her ongoing happiness in life.

Her fiancé bought her a really nice ring that has an estimated value of over 2 thousand dollars. Unfortunately it didn’t fit just right. Naturally she decided to go get it resized. She took it to a reputable jewelry store to take care of this and they sent it away to get altered to fit Michelle’s finger. Imagine her shock when she got it back and a number of the diamonds look like they had been altered. Cloudy, scratched and even just dull looking in comparison to their lustrous brethren.

She took it back to the jewelers’ where she had the work done and brought it to their attention. Expecting a quick response and an understanding ear, she was met with indignation and a “so what” attitude. Nasty. I couldn’t believe it when I heard about this. She was of course – livid. I mean she was pissed! My sister is not a dumb cookie and can be pretty assertive when she wants to be so she didn’t take it sitting down. Of course when Mr. Fiancé found out about the behavior of the jewelry store, he went down there to give em hell.

I think Michelle picked a good one in the guy she is taking up to the alter. He managed to speak with the manager and has finally sorted out the problems. I believe Michelle’s ring is now getting restored to the way it should have been. I don’t imagine the jeweler want’s that kind of blemish to get out to the public. It would be very difficult getting business if many people found out that you were ripping people off and substituting sub par diamonds for the originals on your sparkly stuff.

I was flabbergasted to think a place would try to be so underhanded and then be so indignant about it after. Amazing how they can get away with crap like this. I think if it had been me talking to a clerk in a jewelry store about my fiancé’s ring, someone would have had their lights punched out.

My New Jeep

Do you remember last week some time around Wednesday? I mentioned that I finally had something positive to look forward to? Well, it came true. I managed to swap pieces of paper with the former owner and I took possesion of my new Jeep Liberty Sport (2002) . Yaaaay and there was much rejoicing. I'm totally stoked to have a new ride and not have to walk everywhere anymore. It has plenty of power and only has a couple of minor things that I need to take care of on it to make it solid. I think I managed to get a pretty good deal on it too. I bought it for probably 2 - 3 thousand less than most other Jeep's of this year and mileage. It does, however, go through a bit more fuel than my civic, so I'm going to have to keep an eye on that. It's really a good thing that I only put on about 17000 kms a year to the vehicles that I drive. Less driving of course means less fuel consumption. Still, I like my new grocery wagon. :)

Cinescape Capers

Many of my friends know how much I enjoy playing darts. I play in league 2wice a week, sometimes I'll play in a jitney or tournament on the weekends and on Thursdays at lunch I play cricket over at Cinescape with a bunch of folks. The Thursday lunch escape is really a lot of fun. No one goes there to be really competitive or gets pissed off if they don't do well. We play cricket and play till we run out of time.

So one of the guys from Shell (a regular on Thursdays) has organized a little cricket jitney twice a year. Once in the fall and once in the spring. Ray usually has 15 - 20 spots open and it fills up every time. Cinescape hosts it and provides us with some snack food, some consolation prizes and the grand prize for the winner. They really go out of their way to make us feel at home. Service is always good there too, and you never have to wait long to find a cold frosty one in your hand.

The last couple of times I went to this tourney I didn't do that well but this time I did better than fair. Darren Gunderson took 1st place (he is also ranked in the top 5 in Alberta as far competitive dart players go). My very good friend Christian took 2nd place. Christian is what many consider a dart prodigy. If he puts in the time and wants to go places, I'm sure he could rank in the top 5 in Canada in the next couple of years. We are very competitive with each other and our best games are usually against one another. I really enjoy playing against both Darren and Christian. Well, after placing in the middle of the pack in the last go 'round, I managed to finish 3rd in this event. I am pleased to finish in such good company.

It was a great little Jitney and I think everyone there had a great time. I'm sure that it will fill up again in the spring. I guess I'll have to make sure I keep that Friday afternoon open so I can try to improve my position once again! :)