More of the Same

So, the saga continues with the ring. I received a call yesterday evening from the jewelry store manager (I had lodged a complaint on the company's website on Tuesday). What he basically had to say was that this time they've secured the center stone as much as they can without causing damage to the stone but that given the nature of the ring, the size and type of stone used for the centerpiece, we should expect more frequent maintenance issues (though not at the rate we have been experiencing) with this ring than with a more traditional engagement ring.

We're going to the jeweler's today to meet with the manager and inspect the ring. He's also given us a few alternatives--he will ask the person who made the repairs if we could add additional prongs to the setting (I don't like this option as is fundamentally changes the ring), we could exchange the ring for the purchase of something else, or he could refund the full purchase price of the ring.

I have a feeling that the manager will want to tie up the loose ends today, but Sweetie is going to want to sit on the decision for a while.

In other news, I have not been getting up at 5am for a while now. I had been getting up at 6am and was fine with that for about a week. Then it became 6:30, then 7, and now I'm back to my old ways of rolling out of bed around 8am to get ready for work during the week. This does not leave enough time for yoga or posting to the blog in the morning. I need to get back to getting up earlier.

It could also have something to do with the fact that I've been working late all this week. I'm under a lot of pressure to get more content ready faster for the Jan. 1 launch of our new website at work, so it's not at all uncommon for me to be at work until 7 or 7:30pm. Which then pushes back dinner and the rest of our evening activities. But I am fitting in 15 - 30 minutes on the elliptical machine most nights.

Some things I've seen in my internet surfing that have stuck with me this week.

Well, I really just spotted this item today. I posted a couple weeks ago about some college students hanging an Obama effigy from a tree as a protest (here) , but today I see this video of a man in Ohio, one Mike Lunsford, who has done the same thing, only he specifically states he intends it as a racist display, not a political statement! There's also a clip in the video of the display (McCain in KKK robes chasing Obama) that inspired Lunsford to make his own. (No, I don't feel at all conflicted about using the man's real name here. It's already been reported by his local news outlet and he doesn't seem to feel the need to remain anonymous.)

It's beyond me how people can still think this way. This and some of the interview clips I see of McCain/Palin supporters coming out of Ohio just scare the living bejeebees out of me. (Questions asked by the interviewer are obviously left-leaning, but the answers are downright scary.) I don't think I'll be planning to visit Ohio anytime soon.

On to better news, Major League Baseball and FOX have agreed to push back the start time of World Series Game 6 so that Obama can address the American people. Granted, they're only pushing it back by 6 - 8 minutes, but the fact that they agreed to it just blows my mind, especially for FOX. To me (and I am biased), it almost seems like an implicit endorsement.

I spotted this on one of the tech blogs I read. What started as a comic strip has been developed and implemented. I love this idea of having to listen to your comments before you can post them to an open forum. I hope it'll be made available beyond YouTube. Not that crazy commenters are a problem here.

Lastly, this just made me laugh. Uncontrollably.