Month: November 2011

AT&T Wireless is sneaky

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A cautionary tale for those who upgraded their iPhone and have AT&T. Check your bill because AT&T is trying to pull a fast one!

I received my most recent AT&T wireless bill recently and since the bill was $24 higher than normal I had to investigate. There was an $18 upgrade fee charged for my iPhone 4S, which I expected, but that didn’t explain the additional $4 until I saw that when they changed my data plan from the iPhone 3GS to the 4S they screwed up the math. See, my prior bill covered 10/03-11/02 and I paid the full $30 data plan charge. My current bill covers 11/03-12/02, but in addition there was a data plan charge for $19 covering 10/14-11/02, and underneath was a credit of $15.30 for 10/15-11/02 for the same charge. WTF? The credit should have been for $19 as well from 10/14-11/02 but by them putting the credit in a day later (10/15) they tried to rip me off for $3.70 plus tax.

I understand that they want to show that the data plan changed when I upgraded my phone but since I already pre-paid the full $30 the month before and they were charging me for a full month again, the charge and the subsequent credit for the date the plan changed should cancel one another out.

So I called AT&T and at first the guy was trying to explain away the charge because of the difference in dates, but when I explained that there SHOULDN’T be a difference he agreed to credit me $3.70. I reminded him that I was also charged tax on that $3.70 so I should be credited that as well. He agreed, but didn’t know the tax rate. I told him it’s 8.75% in Illinois, but instead of calculating it and giving me a credit for $4.02 he gave me an even $5. Does the guy not know how to use a calculator or was he just lazy? Not sure, but I’ll take it

That should be a lesson to AT&T not to mess with a Senior Billing Analyst, because I know how to read a bill!

Thanksgiving # 2

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Yesterday was our Thanksgiving with the kids.

Our menu:

Market Pantry turkey breast
Pioneer Woman’s sweet potatos
Jiffy corn muffins
Bush’s collard greens
Del Monte whole-kernal corn
Green bean casserole
Ore Ida steam n’ mash potatos
Stove Top stuffing w/ Campbell’s cream of chicken soup as gravy
Heinz HomeStyle turkey gravy (for the turkey and mashed potatoes)
Velveeta shells & cheese
Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce

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Aside: This is the method we used to cook the turkey this year although we used 350 degrees instead of 325. It took almost four hours to cook but the turkey was juicier than any turkey I’ve had before. While I do not care for hot turkey, I was impressed with the moisture.

Foil Tent Method

The traditional method of roasting turkey uses a foil tent of heavy duty aluminum foil to keep the turkey moist. Slow oven roasting ensures a roasted flavor.

Appearance—even golden brown and crisp exterior.

Advantage—often preferred for carving at the table.

How To:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a roasting pan, at least 2 inches deep, with heavy duty aluminum foil.

Remove neck and giblets from both cavities of defrosted turkey. Rinse turkey, pat dry and brush with vegetable oil. Insert meat thermometer into inner thigh for whole turkey or into thickest part of breast for turkey breast. Place turkey, breast side up, in foil-lined roasting pan.

Make foil tent by tearing off a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil. Crease foil crosswise through center. Place over turkey, leaving 1 inch between top of turkey and foil tent for heat circulation. Crimp foil onto long sides of pan to hold in place.

Roast until meat thermometer reads 180 degrees to 185 degrees F for whole turkey, or 170 degrees to 175 degrees F for turkey breast. For stuffed turkey, add 30 minutes to roasting time. To brown turkey, remove foil tent after the first 1 hour of roasting time. The approximate roasting times are: 2-1/2 to 3 hours for 8 to 12 lb. turkey; 3 to 3-1/2 hours for 12 to 16 lb. turkey; 3-1/2 to 4 hours for 16 to 20 lb. turkey; 4 to 5 hours for 20 to 24 lb. turkey.

For easy slicing, cover turkey with foil and let stand 15 minutes after removing from oven.

Read more: Stuffing a Turkey and Foil Tent Method http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/foodday/fd1197/fd111997.html#tent#ixzz1eq52pqS7

Thanksgiving

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It was just Joe, me, my parents and my brothers for Thanksgiving this year. I brought my green bean casserole and among all the delicious food my mom served super yummy cordon blue appetizers she got from Market Day which I couldn’t stop eating. Is it a surprise that I gained a pound since yesterday and have a stomach ache?

We played a new game we recently acquired – Know It or Blow It. I enjoyed it even though I’m not great at trivia games. We also played our newest favorite – What’s Yours Like? In fact we didn’t have time to play our old standby, Aggravation, but I didn’t mind. And best yet we didn’t work on anyone’s computer problems. It was nice.

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For future self-reference – one can of French’s fried onions is enough for the green bean casserole recipe because even though the can is only 6 oz and the recipe calls for 1 1/3 cups which is more than 6 oz, the can is sold by weight whereas the recipe goes by volume. Needless to say I didn’t need to buy three cans to make two casseroles. Lesson learned for next year.

Every day I’m shufflin’

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I wish Facebook had a feature where you could unsubscribe from follow-up comments other people make on a status update that you commented on unless it’s the person who made the original update. I hate getting updates on crap that doesn’t matter to me. It’s the reason why I don’t comment as much on people’s updates as I otherwise would, especially if they are one of my more “popular” friends who tend to get 20 comments on one update.

Anyway, here’s what’s been going on around these parts since I’m a sucky blogger.

Home

Our garage door started acting funny a week or so ago where it would start to close and then halfway down it would go back up. It was doing it here and there before then but it got to the point where nothing would make it go down all the way. Joe had to open and close it manually to get our cars in at night and out in the morning which sucked since it’s been getting colder around here. Also yours truly didn’t have a nice warm car to get into when I left for work. But hey, at least I didn’t have to mess with the garage door! Joe figured out what was wrong – the plastic (yes, plastic) gear was shredded, so Sunday we went to the Sears parts store. $40 and an hour of Joe’s time later and it’s all fixed. That was our excitement for the week.

Movies

Hmm… what else? We saw Puss in Boots with Joe’s daughter last time she visited (his son couldn’t make it) and I thought it was a pretty good movie which was lucky since I had no idea what it was even about going in. I want to see The Muppets even though I’m not a muppet fan, because I like Jason Segal. Remember the Muppet Babies? I did watch that as a kid but I never liked the regular muppets. Rowlf was my favorite, but I hated Miss Piggy and always will. Someone needs to turn her into a BLT already. Oh, and we saw a 3D movie for the first time in years – A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. It was legend-… wait for it… -dary. So much better than their second movie. Possibly even better than the original.

Kids

I don’t think I wrote about the fact that we got K’s iPod Touch replaced by Apple for $150. They let us purchase a refurbished one. We took the money from K’s account since she broke it, though. Sucked to have to do that, but better than buying her a brand new one. She also broke her Kindle. Well, we aren’t sure if she broke it or if it had something wrong with it, but either way Amazon replaced it at no charge which was good. So when she was over last time it was like Christmas for her getting a new iPod Touch and Kindle.

Speaking of Christmas, I’m glad that the kids are older because instead of buying a ton of little things I only have to buy one or two things which means less time dealing with the crazy shoppers. This year we’re getting E a Kindle Fire (he already knows since he asked for it) and I don’t want to mention what we’re getting for K in case she knows about this site but I think she will find it very useful.

Holidays

We’re both off work Thursday-Monday so it will be a nice extended holiday weekend. I love Thanksgiving! What’s not to love about being encouraged to stuff one’s face? Hopefully all the exercising I’ve been doing lately will lessen the weight gain.

I have no plans on shopping on Black Friday, and didn’t want to go outside at all that day but I have to get a cat scan in the morning and then pick up the kids in the afternoon. I’m staying away from all the stores though!

I don’t even know what I want for Christmas. Nothing, really. I would like an iPad, but not the one that’s out now. I can’t justify spending $500 (and let’s face it, even if it’s a “gift” from Joe it’s all the same moolah) on a device that has a lower quality screen than my phone. Plus if I had it my way I’d prefer a 7″ tablet. Maybe next year they will introduce an iPad 3 mini. I’d be all over that.

I do like opening presents, but I’m so not into buying stuff just for the sake of it. I keep trying to get rid of stuff either by donating to Goodwill or selling on Craigslist and Facebook. I recently sold Dance Dance Revolution 2 to someone I used to work with. Joe got it for me because I asked for it but I ended up hating the game because I have no rhythm; plus the stupid dance pad took up too much space. I’m glad to see it gone. Another thing I need to get rid of already are the Disney souvenirs I bought for my coworkers on my honeymoon six years ago. I’m sure I wrote about this before but I was so pissed when I came back from my honeymoon to learn that essentially nothing was done the entire two weeks I was gone that I never handed them out. They’ve spent the last six years in a hall closet and I get angry all over again whenever I see them so it’s time to let it, and them, go already. I’m going to ask my mom if she wants to wrap them up for our annual game of Crazy Bingo this year. I really don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. I often have a hard time parting with things I’ve spent money on but I’ve come to realize it’s silly to hang onto things you’re never going to use just because you feel like you wasted your money. It’s wasted either way, so you might as well get rid of it and clear some space in your house. It’s been getting easier letting go of stuff once I see how less cluttered the closet looks without it around.

Anyway, I don’t know whether Joe and I will be exchanging gifts this year. He’s a pain to buy for and I can’t think of anything I really want, so we might go small this year. Maybe I’ll have him get me a few CDs or something.

Music

Speaking of music, in case anyone cares, these are the top five songs I’ve been playing lately. Feel free to share yours in the comments. I love discovering new music.

You Make Me Feel – Cobra Starship
Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5
Hello – Martin Solveig feat. Dragonette
Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO
Pumped Up Kicks – Foster the People