Unfortunate long time readers (i.e., my dad) would remember that I bought a brand spankin’ new 17″ monitor back in May 2005 — for a wacky price tag of $350 (just because it can pivot, rotate, and have a 8ms response time).

So why buy another monitor, the Samsung 941BW?

Um… because it’s widescreen? And there was a rebate?

$225.35 from Buy.com + $17.47 (tax) - $20 (Google checkout discount) - $40 (Samsung rebate) = $182.85

As if I really need the non-standard 16:10 aspect ratio, the extra screen space from the uncommon 1440 x 900 resolution, and the fast 4 ms response time.

What happened to the old monitor? It’s now set at the vertical portrait view setting, sitting beside the new monitor. Do I really need two monitors? Uh…

At the end, H.264 on widescreen + hypocrisy = yummy.

Been really busy lately so I have been resorting to Jack in the Box for dinner.

I think I’m now dying? Sure feels like it.

At least I get 3% back for using my newly converted Chase Freedom card. That’ll pay for the future heart transplant. Woot!

My PC’s power supply decided to flip me off today and say: I’ll see you in hell, Mr.Douche.

That’s what I get for buying an el cheapo $40 power supply. If you read the Newegg.com customer review, you’ll notice a spike in negative review after the one year period as the power supply starts to fail (mine lasted for two years). Quite funny.

Was about to blow $100+ on a new power supply till I caught up on my hardware knowledge and decided on the Enhance ENP-5140GH, an 80-plus certified 400W bad boy for a fairly low price of $60. Woot!

Argh. I haven’t seen a finance charge in ages.

Looks like I got the ending date for one of my 0% balance transfer off, and thus incurred some finance charges.

If you’re curious about making money via 0% balance transfer, MyMoneyBlog.com has a very good series on “How To Make Money From 0% APR Balance Transfers.”

One key thing on doing these offers is to actually remember when the 0% offer ends. Hah.

Woops, got my Bank-to-Bank transfer service suspended.

Probably because of this:

According to the email, the incomplete transfer was due to insufficient fund—which made me realized that I must have tried to make the transfer from the wrong checking account. Having poor alphanumeric capability is quite a curse.

A quick phone call to the number above got me a service rep, telling me that only a “techie” can un-suspend bank-to-bank transfer, and that they’re only available at 8 AM EST.

Another call at 8:01 AM got me a different service rep, who told me that she’ll forward an inquiry to a techie, who’ll get back to me via e-mail or phone within 4 business days.

In the mean time, a friendly reminder to all who use HSBC Direct, if they ever encounter any problem with a bank-to-bank transfer, you will most likely have your bank-to-bank transfer service suspended immediately without notice. It’s all in the User Agreement.

Reinstatement shouldn’t be an issue. I hope.

In the mean time, the dinero was sent to the new Amboy Direct account instead.

Or so I thought.

Two months ago I placed a 50% deposit on new wheels for the car: big, shinny, spinning wheels. Hah, just kidding. They’re actually 15×6.5, 4×100, +40 offset, and only about 11 pounds each. Somehow convinced myself that I needed these new rims.

Unfortunately (or luckily), I received a refund on the $200 deposit today. The rims have been out of production in Japan for some time now, and the new attempt to get the rims back into production fell through.

Other lightweight 15″ rims are around $400 each. Argh.

“Uh, I bought it for my friend for his birthday but I found out he has it already, so yeah—and turns out its the wrong edition anyway…” I stammer out the pathetic lie as I return the $27 book at Barnes & Nobles.

Couple of things to consider.

1. As the lie gets more complicated and detailed, the fact that it’s a lie becomes even more apparent.
2. The B&N cashier can careless why I’m returning it.
3. The real truth, that it’s buyers remorse, or—it’s too flippin’ expensive—would have been just fine.

Flash black to last week.

“Oh snap, the new book from ____ is out!”

“Ack. The queue at the library is over 10 and there’s only 3 copies.”

Went to buy gift certificate for mommy. Suddenly I’m in front of a B&N. “Hey, do you have a copy of ____? I can’t seem to find it.”

After five minutes of searching. “Ah it’s alright, I’ll just come back another time.” Whew. Good thing they don’t have it in stock. Saved!

No joke here, right before I left, the B&N worker stopped me at the door. “Hey, weren’t you looking for ____?”

“Ah you found it! Sweet! Thanks.” Dammit all.

“That’ll be $27.65,” said the cashier.

• $20.76 + shipping at B&N.com
• $16.35 + shipping at Amazon
• $15.53 + $1.40 at Overstock

Free at the library, if I would just have the patience to wait.

Indiana residents bought flat panel TVs off the street, only to find out they were oven doors.

Investigators in South Bend, Ind., said there has been a rash of oven door thefts recently, and now they know why.

Oh man. When I first read the story, I thought people were crazy (aka stupid). Turns out, there were some level of sophistication involved in the scam. Check out the story over at Wesh.com, and take a look at the slideshow.

I hate doing repost, but yeah this one is too wacky to pass up. Story from the Consumerist.