Posted by Derek Lee-Wo on August 2nd, 2008 in Rants, Running
Antonio Pettigrew admitted to doping earlier this year and now the IOC has stripped the US 4×400m relay team of their Sydney 2000 gold medal. As much as the spectators may feel cheated when this occurs, I think the people the cheaters lets down the most are their teammates. As spectators, we are just watching the sports and enjoying it, but their teammates are their peers. Their teammates are going through the same rigorous training. And on a relay team, it if the only chance for some of these runners to get a gold medal and then to find themselves stripped of it is saddening.
The situation is the same for cycling where a single cyclist can bring down the destruction of an entire team.
Posted by Derek Lee-Wo on July 10th, 2006 in Rants
I know I’m just one among the millions and millions of fans around the world that watched the 2006 World Cup final on Sunday and watched in shock as the replays showed Zidane head butting an Italian player.
I spent a fair amount of time searching the various news outlets and Google to see if Zidane gave any kind of explanation, but none was to be found.
I found various blogs and comments where people are actually excusing Zidane’s behaviour, speculating that the Italian must have used a racial slur. Give me a break!!! Is Zidane such a baby that he can’t handle a racial slur or any kind of taunting. Whether we like it ot not, verbal assaults go on all the time. I can’t believe any footballer out there hasn’t been exposed to the worst of the worst in terms of verbal assaults.
It truly is a shamefull end to a spectacular career. I hope Zidane comes out and apologizes for his behaviour. Untill then, we can only speculate as to what was going though his head at the time that it made contact with the Italian players chest.
Posted by Derek Lee-Wo on April 1st, 2006 in Rants
My wife and I recently bought a new house in Texas and we are in the process of buying furniture for it. One thing we wanted was a black leather sofa set for the media room.
I saw some great deals at a store called Jennifer Leather. We went to one of their outlets last night and found a sofa set we liked. We asked the sales man for the price of 2 sofas and a chair. He ended up quoting us a price that seemed rather high. Upon further digging, we found that it inlcuded their “warranty” protection. I proceeded to tell him that we weren’t interested in that and we just wanted to buy the furniture. To my surprise, his response was “I don’t feel right about selling you the furniture without the protection and I won’t do it”. I was shocked…..here I was, prepared to spend about $1,500 (after already spending over $3,000 at 2 other furniture stores and he was declining my business.
I guess business must be excellent at Jennifer Leather for them to be turning away customers.
At that point, I just walked out and headed straight to Rooms To Go where we bought a leather sofa set for just over $2,000. Rooms To Go did try to convince us to buy their warranty plan, but we declined. Sensibly, their didn’t refuse our business.
The particular outlet where this occurred was their Lauderhill, FL outlet and clearance center.
This will be the very last time I ever walk into a Jennifer leather or Jennifer Convertibles store. They don’t want my business and I’m not inclined to give it to them anymore.
Posted by Derek Lee-Wo on December 5th, 2005 in Rants
It not uncommon to see mobile phone providers offering phones for free, or at a substantial cost reduction once you agree to sign a one or two year contract. Why is it that this can’ t be offered to existing customers whose current contract has ended and who are prepared to sign a new contract? After all, it is cheaper for a company to keep a customer than to try and earn a new one.
I was a T-Mobile customer for the last year and my contract was due to expire in 3 weeks time. I decided that I wanted to get a new phone with both Bluetooth and a camera. I checked the T-Mobile website and they were offering such a phone for free to new customers with a 1-year contract.
Armed with this information, I called T-Mobile to find out if I can get this same deal by signing a new contract. I was told I couldn’t and the best they could do was sell me the phone for about $70 and I would have to sign a 2-year contract. This is despite the fact that new customers would only be required to sign a 1-yr contract. Also, I would have had to buy 2 phones since I had a family plan and I wanted to upgrade the second phone on that plan as well. This was even going though their retentions department and they knowing that I was prepared to change providers. Maybe they figured they could call my bluff?
Well, because of T-Mobile’s policy, I was forced to move and I’m now a Cingular customer. I got 2 phones with the features I wanted and for free, and with the number portability, I was able to keep my phone numbers from T-Mobile, so there would be no disruption for people trying to call me.
When will these companies learn…or maybe T-Mobile has enough customers and they are willing to lose me as a customer. When my Cingular contract is up, I may well go back to T-Mobile, assuming they offer me a great deal, but for now, I get to enjoy my free Bluetooth and camera phone.
