There's just something about having to actually pull out our credit card and pay for a meal that Christi and I hate. Don't get me wrong, we're not going to dine and dash or anything ... we're just lazy. With this, we started to play a game every time that we go out to eat. Before the bill comes we will both come up with what we think the total will be. Whoever comes closest does not have to pay.

This has been going on since we lived in Colorado and neither one of us has every guessed a total down to the correct cent. Christi is much better and is usually within fifty cents or so. When you think about guessing prices for drinks, tax, etc., that's pretty amazing. I even had a time where I guessed it perfectly, and then changed my answer at the last second and was kicking myself for being wrong (and actually letting Christi win that one).

So why all the build up? You guessed it ... or I guessed it, rather. We went down to Ikea to buy a kitchen island over the weekend and decided to explore and find a place on the beach to have lunch. We found a nice little cozy place and after a few beers and a few plates of fish and chips, our destiny was staring us in the face. There it was. The same leather folder bulging with a stolen pen in the middle awaiting our signature.

Christi shot low, $32.93, trying to secure the "Price is Right" tiebreaker. I decided to go for it and just shoot out a number: $39.20. I can't say the anticipation was killing us since we usually just want to get it over with and get out of the restaurant, but we opened it up and I couldn't believe it. $39.20. It's such a small thing to get excited about, but the odds of guessing the exact price is pretty tough. Really, it is. Try it out sometime.

The greatest video game that my generation had growing up is finally coming back. In my opinion, there are three video games that everyone needs to play at some point of their life. Punch-Out for NES (either Mike Tyson or Mr. Dream version, I had the latter), Finally Fantasy VII and Goldeneye (multiplayer version only, duh).

This commercial alone is making me want to go out and a buy a Wii just to see if they brought back all of the great fighters like Don Flamenco, King Hippo, Soda Popinski and Super Macho Man.

By "lottery" I mean the lottery to get tickets for the 2010 first round NCAA games in Providence, RI.
By "we" I mean the Wife™, myself, Ben and Steph (obviously Ben has to be there so he doesn't break his streak).
By "won" I mean we have to pay for.
By "finally" I mean that Ben and I got rejected in the intial round and we both qualified for tickets after a few people passed them up.

Here's hoping UCONN is not a #1 seed next year so that it doesn't take us five hours to get to the game.

For the second year in a row, Christi humored the little kid in me as we went to a hibachi restaurant for my birthday. We tried a new place that I see on a billboard every time I travel on I-91 S and decided to give it a shot. It's a half-sushi half-hibachi restaurant and the sushi part is packed while the hibachi section is absolutely dead.

We sit down at a table for eight with only one other person. He apologizes right away saying that he asked to sit on the other end and didn't want to disturb our dinner. We tell him it's no big deal and strike up a quick conversation. After giving him our story of why we're living in Connecticut, he lets us know that he's a huge sports fan and that he's originally from San Diego. So to test the waters, I ask him if he knows of Stephen Strasburg, and the smile on his face grew with the knowledge that I have a background in baseball. The reason he was happy, is because he knew a lot more than me.

We find out that he went to school, and played, with Tony Gwinn. He said he was just recently at a Padres game and sat in front of the announcers, and Tony sat there and spoke to him for a while. Between the clanking of the utensils and setting volcanoes of onions on fire, Christi was pretty sure she heard that he used to date Gwinn's sister. Throughout the night we find out that he's met people like Joe Torre and Pete Rose (letting us know the latter is "dumber than a sack of rocks").

Before the night's over, we find out that he's from Cape Cod, a place we've been meaning to go, and that he told us the best time to visit is right after Labor Day weekend since everyone is back in school and the place is pretty much empty. However, being a huge baseball fan, he said there is nothing like catching the Cape Code league in the summer.

We have his number and his address, so we'll probably take advantage of some insight that we received. The birthday wasn't as crazy as last year, but it was nice to not have to worry about Stan ingesting chocolate again.

Usually the job of an incoming phone operator is considered great ... when comparing it to an external phone operator. However, in these tough times, it's probably not fun when you get the incoming call to cancel a subscription. Now it turns into a bargaining race to see how much free stuff they can give you to keep you on board.

Tough times or not, Christi and were both planning on canceling our XM subscriptions. It was great in western Colorado where we originally bought them because we only had a handful of radio stations that we could hear clearly. Regardless of the situation, I found it humorous to see what lengths someone would go through to keep me on as a customer. Here's the event as it transpired:

Brian: (After being on hold for five minutes). Can I speak to someone about canceling my two subscriptions.
Operator: Sure, I can help you with this (even when she knew she couldn't).
B: I have [radioId 1] and [radioId 2] that I need to cancel. That's all I'm going to need today.
O: Is there something wrong with the service you are receiving?
B: Nothing is wrong. We needed them when we had no reception in Colorado, and now we have no use for them.
O: I see that you enjoy listening to [favorite preset channel1]. What if we could give you a few more free channels that corresponded with this?
B: As I mentioned earlier. I like XM, but I just don't need it anymore. I just need to cancel.
O: Have you thought about the times when you drive to places where you can't get good reception where you are now? You might need it for times like that.
B: I'll be fine with CDs. Plus, my wife drives her car every other month, so we definitely don't need that account.
O: Are you sure there's nothing else we can do?
B: Yes, I just need to cancel.
O: I'm going to transfer you to my manager so that she can get your cancellation started.
*After five to ten more minutes of elevator music, I get transferred to the manager. You'd think they would have a cool way to select an XM station to listen to why you're on hold, but maybe that's why they are losing their customers.
Manager: Hi, my name is [so and so], how can I help you today.
B: I need to cancel my two radio accounts.
M: Can I ask why you are canceling these?
*I go through my entire story saying I don't need them.
M: Well, it says you have been a member since 2007. This makes you eligible for premier account status (I'm sure she just made this up on the spot). With this, we can lock you for next year at 50% of the cost that you paid for the previous year.
B: To be brutally honest with you, if I knew I could have received a deal like this, I would call to cancel every year. However, I just need this transaction to end quickly and I don't need service (How many times can you beat a dead horse?)
M: I'm sorry to hear that. I can make a special exception for you and let you have both of your subscriptions at 50% so you only pay for one of them.
B: Thanks again, but I just need to cancel. Can we move along with this?
M: I have an idea (which obviously has nothing to do with canceling). What if I gave you three free months and then you could decide after that?
B: There have been multiple talks about XM/Sirius going under in the next few months. I don't want to lock in a contract with a company that can't continue giving me service in the future.
M: We do not know the immediate future for XM, we are just focused on keeping our clients happy right now.
B: You didn't know? Come on. Your stock is trading under half a cent.
M: Sir, I don't keep track of our company's stock portfolio.
B: Please cancel my service or send me to someone who can.
M: What if we gave you six free months to try our products to see if you would like to stay?
B: Can I please speak with your manager?

From there she immediately canceled my contract and we both moved on with our days. There's a part of me that was trying to egg them on to see how much more free stuff I could get, but it got to a point where it was pretty sad to see the lengths they would go through. All in all, I'll be sad to not see scores like this in my car in the future.