After dinner we had a Cianna's first birthday party for the D.C.-area family. Aunt Sherry and Uncle Davis brought a new sweater and a musical card. Grandma offered a traditional chinese red envelope (cash inside!). Now Cianna is hopped up on the sugar from the cake frosting. Party number two is this Saturday on the official day.

- mike lee -

- mike lee - college park, md

- mike lee - college park, md

- mike lee - college park, md

- mike lee - langley park, md

We were excited when the Regal Gallery Place Stadium 14 movie theater opened in Chinatown a couple weeks ago. Because it's so close to work, we can take in a show at the end of our workday once in a while now that we've cut two hours out of our daily commute. Tonight was our first time out at the movies since July, and The Incredibles was a great welcome back to the cinema. With our imaginations glowing, we headed home after the show to our routine dinner and bath for baby.

- mike lee - washington, dc

60 calendar days (41 business days) after I ordered my first Sidekick II and eight increasingly angry calls later, T-Mobile finally credited me for the cost of the phone that was not delivered but applied to my bill.

Last night, after some sustained screaming that had my wife retreating to the bedroom with our baby, I finally got past the front line customer rep and a supervisor to get the attention of a manager who cleared my screwed up billing in a few hours. After paying the remaining small balance online, my account is blessedly at $0.00.

What I learned from dealing with 16 different T-Mobile call center people:

• YOU the customer will have to drive the issue resolution process because no one ever calls you back or is held accountable for following up behind the scenes.
• Reps will lie to get you off the phone.
• You have to scream to get past the poorly-trained front line reps to at least a supervisor before they will reference your complete call history.
• You will never talk to the same person twice because there are 900 reps in 32 call centers, and you can't request to speak to a specific staff person even though they all recite their first name and employee ID number.
• Take detailed notes throughout because some of the reps don't know how to access the full call log and will claim no knowledge of previous promises.

In contrast to the T-Mobile Call Center Victimization, I ordered a Sidekick II from Amazon during this time, and processed an exchange online with them without ever needing to make a phone call.

Anyway, I hope my bullet points are of help to someone out there. Moving forward, since I work at a powerful lobbying organization, I'm going to contribute anything I can to our growing battle with cell phone carriers. One day they will be slapped down. Hard.

- mike lee - washington, dc

Co-worker Chris and I each picked up this Radio Shack Digital Photo Viewer (stock # 63-1078) for $49.97 tonight at a local store. These were originally listed at $129 and sold elsewhere under the name of GigaPix for $195. Apparently these things have been on closeout for a couple months, and the last ones are on final clearance at stores all across the country. The 3.5" TFT screen image quality is mediocre, but it does read images from CF and SD cards to display as timed slideshows. Good enough for my mom. This discussion board thread at FatWallet.com will answer any questions you might have. There's even a coupon out there that will take another $20 off. Call your local Shack soon, and post here if you find one.

- mike lee - college park, md

As my head cold lingers on, my wife keeps reminding me to use our office's very well stocked medicine cabinet of first aid supplies and over-the-counter drugs. I grabbed some cold/flu pills and delighted in discovering computer screen wipes. This cabinet even helps computers get better!

- mike lee - washington, dc

...for the first time!

- mike lee - columbia, md