Amazon Is As Good As Gone

Alright so Amazon is probably not going anywhere but Amazon is gone to me.  As one who rarely buys anything online it was nice to have free shipping when I did buy something.  That was about all it was good for and I only used it because I was on the student prime membership.  For those who don't know the student membership cost is $35 a year which, according to what they tried to charge me the other day for a new year of the non-student membership, is about a third the price of the regular prime membership.  So because I barely got the use out of it at $35 a year there was no way I was going to pay $99 a year for the same services.  A couple weeks ago I received an email stating that my annual membership was coming up and the card on file was expired so they wanted me to go update that.  Needless to say since I did not want the service to renew I did not go and update my credit card information.  Well did you know that Amazon will perform magic and charge a card that they do not have a legitimate expiration date for.  This happened to me and some of the blame should probably be put on my card carrier as well but I was not happy.  I called up Amazon customer service and the only thing the man on the other end was helpful in doing was closing my account and refunding the $99.  There was no answer as to what happened and he wasn't even able to tell me the date he showed as an expiration.  My guess is because they had updated it with out my permission.

Because of my experience I will not be using Amazon any longer.  Heck I won't even look up products on their website any more.  Amazon I have some advise for you.  If your system is smart enough to send out an email telling a customer that their card will be expired by the time a new membership fee is due then it is probably smart enough to not charge that card so don't do it.  So do us a favor and don't charge cards that you know are bad.  The End

I summon my inner geek

Have you ever listened to a group of people playing Magic The Gathering or any other similar "geek" game?  In case you have never heard or watched one of these games here is a great video to watch.
I am not normally one to sit and talk about wizards or spells but for some reason my interest has been peeked in Magic The Gathering.  Maybe it is just my inner geek trying to get out or maybe it is the fact that the game is a combination of skill and luck.  Either way it is pretty fun to play.
The only complaint I have about Magic The Gathering is if you do not have somebody that knows how to play teaching you then enjoy figuring it out.  I believe my friend and I were able to get a pretty good idea of how to play by reading the instructions ourselves and playing a few games step by step to get the hang out of it but I would highly recommend finding a local planeswalker (player of Magic the Gathering) that can explain it to you.
Oh and for anybody that says playing is a waste of time the only answer I have to that is look at the dollar amount on the checks that the individuals are holding at the beginning of the video.  I only stopped on a couple but the checks were reading $40,000 for winning a tournament.  Not to bad for playing a game.
Also whoever came up with this game is quite honestly a genius.  Not only is there always new cards being created but there are currently thousands of cards that can be played.  And one needs to mention how fantastic the artwork on each card is.
All in all if your looking for a new game to play definitely pick up an intro pack and try playing.  Just beware it can become addicting.

A True Inspiration

Somebody recently that I have learned about and have found to be an inspiration is Commander Chris Hadfield.  He was the Commander for expedition 35 at the International Space Station as of just a day or two ago.  Him and the rest of his three man crew returned to earth yesterday morning leaving behind the International Space Station that they called home for 5 months.  During Chris’ expedition he was able to record and demonstrate many things that one could be interested about how it works in space.  This includes anything from how things move in space to how astronauts sleep.  Not only are the videos educational but they are very entertaining. 

Another reason why I have become so impressed with Chris is because of the video on Youtube entitled “Chris Hadfield on how to become theperson you want to be”.  I love this video because it makes sense.  Live one day at a time and enjoy the ride.  If you want to be inspired then sit back and watch.

Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet

I was given a Nook Tablet yesterday for Fathers Day and I just have to say I am a fan.  I have only done a little research as to the different tablets that are out there and I am glad I got the Nook.  It has the 7" screen which makes it more portable than the bigger tablets and it has a memory extension port that you can add up to 32 gigs of memory using a miniSD card.  I do wish it had a camera but I always have my phone that I can use if I need to.  I do like some of the security features I have been able to find so far and for the little amount of time that I have been able to spend with it so far I look forward to using it more.

The only other tablet I have used and only for a brief amount of time was the ipad.  It was cool but I did not like the size but that is just my personal opinion.  Until I get my hands on more tablets I am going to continue to recommend the Nook Tablet because as far as I am concerned it has everything I need.