Ella Enchanted

Posted: January 25, 2008 | Author: Mika | Filed under: Romgi the Enigma | 3 Comments

When I first bought my own copy of Ella Enchanted, the Romgi was on his mission in Korea. Our communication with each other was limited to writing letters. Although it was frustrating at times to not be able to talk with him in person, or even in real time by phone or instant messaging, I really think it did us good to have delayed communication. It meant that each letter was thoughtful, carefully worded, important.

Tonight I read Ella Enchanted again before bed. I love Char’s letters to Ella and the way she describes wanting to tell him jokes and send him recipes, to have him there as a friend. At the risk of sounding a little too sappy, I’d like to say how glad I am that the Romgi and I got to be such close friends by writing letters, and how wonderful it is to be married now.

Especially when I can’t sleep because the stereo in the other room is making weird noises that sound like a burglar in the house, and the Romgi loves me enough to get up in the middle of the night to turn it off. What a husband.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that you can combine all of the literary men I always thought would be wonderful husbands (Prince Char, Taran, Adaon), and they don’t compare to my real-life best friend.

I think that satisfies my monthly sappy post quota…

Bad Scam or Just a Bad Idea

Posted: January 14, 2008 | Author: Jarom | Filed under: Bed-Knob and Broomstick | Leave a comment

Some of you may recall my brilliant idea of getting a Zune through the Live Search Club sponsored by Microsoft. You may also recall that I earned enough points through their system to cash them in for a Zune.

Though I did earn the points required, and spent nearly six hours a day for a month earning those points, it now seems that I may never get the promised product. The Zune was supposedly to ship from Club Live on, or around, November 5. Well, when November 5th came and went without so much as a peep from Club Live, I figured I would wait a little longer. After all, it did say that it could take up to 12 months for the Zune to arrive at my house.

By the time 12 weeks had passed, and I still had no news about the Zune, I figured I would investigate the matter a little further. It turns out that I was supposed to get an email from club live when the Zune shipped. I contacted the lovely people at club live to see what the deal was with my order. I was greeted with an automated response to my inquiry.

Now, I really started to get a little suspicious. So I googled it, and it turns out that a lot of people have had the same thing happen to them. A lot of people legitimately earned the points required, and ordered the prize they had been hoping for. When these people emailed Club Live asking about the status of the order, they got an email that basically said, “Thank you for your interest in the Live Search Club games. Your order has been canceled because you cheated to get the points.”

How lame is that? I was really worried that I would get a similar email as a response. A few days ago, I noticed that I had an email from Club Live in my email inbox. I opened it, fully expecting to be notified that my order had been canceled.

Dear Live Search Club Participant,

Thank you for contacting Live Search Club Support. At this time, we are contacting our supplier for the status of your order. Your patience is appreciated as we will get back to you as soon as possible. In some instances, this may take up to 10 business days.

Please note, after your order is processed and is found to be in compliance with our Terms and Conditions (http://club.live.com/TermsAndConditions.htm) for fair game play as well as no duplicate software or hardware order, you will receive a confirmation email with any relevant shipping information. Upon review, all orders that are not in compliance with our Terms and Conditions, are cancelled. As noted in our Terms and Conditions, please allow 12 weeks for delivery of any prize order.

Kind Regards,

Live Search Club Support

I guess that my order isn’t completely hopeless after all. But it still seems a little bit shady to me. I’m not going to get my hopes up until I get that email from them confirming that they have shipped my Zune. To me it seems as if they are saying, “We haven’t found a reason to cancel your order yet, but we are trying to find a reason. Give us about 10 days and we will get back to you.”