Self Portraits

Time flies when you're... migrating to a new computer! I've had some computer woes, to say the least. I got a new Dell computer over a month ago. That one turned out to be a total lemon. The Bluescreen of Death would show up every couple of hours, or when the CPU got taxed. Finally Dell agreed to send me a brand-new computer and take that lemon back. Since then, I've been migrating and setting up. Who knew it takes so long to get your computer "just how you like it"?? I'm still not there yet, but every hour I spend on it gets me closer, LOL. Anyways, I do have several things to update. First is we did go to the Ohio State Buckeye game versus the USC Trojans a week ago. Yes, we lost big time. I'll save the photos and recap for another post. Secondly, Todd and I went to the Taste of Downtown and ate lots of good stuff! That'll be a separate post as well, with a LIST of all the stuff we eat even! This past Saturday, my dear sweet husband decided that it was time for another photo shoot of the two of us. I know many of you are jealous out there of the willingness of my husband to pose for photos. He is the BEST about it. He understands the scrapbooking rut that I get into when I feel like I've run out of good photos. So we took our point-and-shoot camera with the self-timer and a tripod and headed to the beach at Encinitas. We've taken so many good photos with just the tripod and the point and shoot. I highly recommend a good steady tripod. The below photos were processed in Adobe Lightroom 2 with various presets by Candice Wong, Matt Kloskowski (free!), and WOW Presets designed by Jack Davis (free!) Candice is my friend and I CT for her. I highly recommend her Lightroom Presets, they're fabulous and gorgeous! I'm really happy with the photos! After the photo shoot, we had dinner at Vigilucci's Trattoria Italiana. I got a Restaurant.com gift certificate for there for $25 off of $35. I used my United Airlines Mileage Plus miles to get it for free. The service was good but the food was only decent. I had Linguine Fradiavolo, which was tiger shrimp and rock shrimp sautéed in a spicy marinara sauce. Todd had Pollo e Salsiccia, which was chicken breast and Italian sausage grilled and topped with a rosemary and garlic sauce. After dinner we strolled down the block and shared a strawberry ice cream cone at Roxy's. It was a perfect evening capping off a great day of watching college football. In particular, the Buckeyes beat Troy 28-10.

Unacceptable Customer Service

I bought a dress online from Newport News back in July. This was what the online photo advertised it looked like. When I received it, it was dingy gray and shapeless. I looked like Cinderella cleaning the chimney in that dress, prior to her transformation. So I returned the dress last month, via UPS. With the tracking number, I knew that it got delivered back to Newport News on 8/22. So yesterday, after checking my credit card and it was still not credited, I emailed their customer service... ME: I returned my order via the enclosed UPS label. UPS tracking says you received it on 8/22/08, but I still have not received the refund on my credit card yet. Customer Number: 053159**** Invoice No: 00074**** The UPS tracking number was 1Z 023 Y24 90 0741 **** Please check and issue my refund as soon as possible. Thanks. Newport-News Customer Service Response #1: We want to take this opportunity to let you know that you should allow 4-6 weeks for your return to be processed. Your credit should appear on your next or following statement. We appreciate your patience in this matter and hope this information has been helpful. If 4-6 weeks have already passed please let us know the date your package was returned and also the method used to return to us. If you need further assistance, please reply to this email and one of our Internet Customer Service Representatives will be happy to assist you or visit us on the web at http://www.newport-news.com. We appreciate your business and look forward to hearing from you again soon. Sincerely, Gail G. Newport News Internet Customer Service ME again: OK yea. You were NOT so helpful with the copy and paste answer. I ALREADY TOLD YOU in my original email that I shipped it back via the UPS label that Newport News provided to me, and I even gave you the tracking number, which UPS says was delivered back to you on August 22nd. It would REALLY help if you actually READ the customer service emails prior to copying and pasting in your pat answers. I find the 4-6 weeks to process the return unacceptable. It took you one day to process my original order and charge my credit card, but when I return something to you it takes 4-6 WEEKS to credit my credit card???? If this is really the case, I will NEVER shop with you again. I have never returned anything to any online merchant that it took 4-6 weeks to credit my credit card. That is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE. Newport-News Customer Service Response #2: We are very sorry you feel this way. However as Gail did say, it does take up to 4 to 6 weeks to process and issue a credit for returned merchandise. Since this time as not yet passed, please allow some additional time to complete your return. If you need further assistance, please reply to this email and one of our Internet Customer Service Representatives will be happy to assist you or visit us on the web at http://www.newport-news.com. We appreciate your business and look forward to hearing from you again soon. Sincerely, Lloyd D. Newport News Internet Customer Service ************ Needless to say, I'll NEVER shop there again. I've never returned anything I've purchased online and had to wait 4-6 weeks for the refund to my cc after they've received it. NEVER.