Priceless

My daily commute is on Alamden Expwy, 101, 87 and Lawrence Expressway. Once in a while I use Central Expressway and San Tomas Expwy (it also turns into Camden and Hillsdale). You will be hearing these names a lot here.

The title says it all. I did not ride to work today. I was too lazy to put on all the gear and ride. So, I decided to drive. I was on Almaden Expwy about 1/4 mile from the 87 on ramp. I need to turn left to get onto 87. During the normal commute hours, it is very common to have a lot of cars waiting to get onto 87. It wasn't any different this morning except that I was in the front of the pack. It is also common to see a lot of dickwads who just cut infront of cars waiting to turn left.

As I was approaching the signal, i noticed something bright in my rear view mirror. It was a bright yellow Honda S2000 zooming past all the cars . I knew this was just another dickwad. I decided to not let him cut in front of me and i was successful in doing so. He got behind me. As we get to the signal, the left turn lane splits into 2 left turn lanes. He moved into the lane next to me to turn onto 87. I can see that he was mad and once the signal turned green, he floored the gas turning left. Thats when he lost traction and fish tailed almost hitting the on ramp guardrail.

He panicked and hit his brakes and somehow managed not to hit anything but swerved into my lane. I have already stopped and he was lucky that I wasn't stupid like him to floor the gas. If I had done the same thing i would have ran over his ass with my jeep. He stopped there shaking and shivering. I rolled my window down and drove past him pointing my hand towards laughing out loud so that he could hear me. The look on his face was priceless.

Another Friday Morning Commute

I was already late for a 10:00 AM meeting. It would normally take me 18 minutes to drive vs. 20 minutes to ride (i need 5 minutes to put on the gear and warm up the engine) after the rush hour traffic. I decided to ride as I didn't want to get stuck in the Friday evening traffic and it is a beautiful day (pleasant, sunny 65-70F) to ride.

I jumped on my SV650 and got on the road. No hiccups on Almaden Expressway and as I was merging onto 87 I saw a white corolla in #2 lane. I have a programmed a "Stupid Driver Alarm" into my brain. As soon as I saw the white corolla, the "Stupid Driver Alarm" was ringing ant it never stopped. I knew I had to be careful around that car and I planned the escape route of all the scenarios possible. As I was passing the car, I noticed that the car was drifting into my lane. She changed lanes into me without even using her turn signals. Since I have already planned my escape route, I moved on to the shoulder and accelerated past her. That's when she saw me and she was shocked. I went past her shaking my head.

It was only because of my accident 5 years ago that I was able to plan ahead and look for an escape route and didn't go down.

Riding Blog

I am going to convert this into my daily riding blog.

I have been driving this whole week and today finally decided to ride to work to beat the traffic. It was a little more exciting than my regular ride.

I was riding in my lane on Almaden Expwy and she just flew by me in her white E320. I caught up with her at the next stop light. I lane split my way to the front while she was stuck behind 3 cars. I was going my regular chill pace and was watching my mirrors, and suddenly i see the E320 behind me in the next lane. She managed to dodge the 2 or 3 cars in front of her again going very fast and then decides to cut me off as soon as she passed me. There is no reason for her to do that as the road in front of us was completely empty. I kinda expected her to make a bone head move and once she cut me off, i just smiled. I caught up with her at the light to 87 on ramp. I used the carpool lane to merge into the traffic while she was stuck behind the cars in the regular lanes. I had a smooth ride onto the highway while she disappeared in the mirrors behind the cars she was trying to dodge. There was a smirk on my face again.

Ride on 87 was smooth except for the slowest cars in the #1 and #2 lanes (from left) while i used to #3 lane to go past all of them and merge onto 101. I was surprised that i didn't have to slow down even a little bit to merge on to 101. I decided to go right at the speed limit and I chose to do it in the right most lane with a few cars in front of me. I usually use the #1 lane and stick to the left part of the lane which gives me time to react to any asshat moves pulled by other drivers. So, was in the right most lane doing 60-65mph, following the cars in front of me at a safe distance, and I see a pair of head lights closing in on me. I keep my eyes on the head lights and see that they are getting dangerously closer. I tap my brakes and no use. He follows me for almost a mile during which I decided to increase the distance between me and the car in the front for an escape route. I wasn't sure if this agitated the driver or if the driver was completely clueless as the car was only a few feet behind me. If s/he really wanted to go fast why is s/he in the slowest lane tailgating???? it didn't make any sense. I was a little annoyed and the turned back and looked at him for a split second to make sure s/he gets the message that was dangerously close to me. That did the trick and the driver backed off. S/He took the same exit and again I split to the front of the pack while he/she was stuck behind the cars.

As I split to the front, I saw a yellow corvette at the front. One of my colleagues/friends has the same car and I looked at the driver to see if it was my friend. I couldn't see his face properly so, I had to lean a little bit more to find a middle aged white guy ( my friend is young and asian). The driver saw me the extra effort from me to look at him and I didn't realize that he got the wrong message. He was slowly creeping to the front with the intent of racing me. Once the light turned green, he roared past me just to stop at the next signal which was barely 100 yards away. I was again smiling. Both of us were the first ones in our lanes and again as the signal turned green he roared away just to see me turn right at the next signal which was only another 150 yards away. I just laughed really loud again. It made my day.

A hot young asian chick and a middle aged white guy wanted to race me today. Too bad, I am already past that period where you can't instigate me when I am on my motorcycle. If I really wanted to race you, I wouldn't have sold my R1 and riding my SV650. Even if I did race you, I would have still smoked your ass on the SV650.

Dish Network - What a scam!!!!

My in-laws were coming to visit us and we thought it would be nice for them to watch some Indian programs esp. Gemini TV. We thought I would be great to get Dish Network since we have a direct line to the satellite and my wife was really excited about it. I put it off for a few days and she was very persistent and finally, I made a call and signed up for Dish network.

First I was told that I need the permission from my landlord and need the proof on before they can install it. I was also told that there is a mail in rebate for $100. After I submit the forms, I should be getting $10 off my bill for the next 10 months. I was happy about the reabte.

I got off the phone and I sent my landlord an e-mail. He being a very nice guy, said it was ok to install the dish.

I didn't foresee the number of headaches it would cause me going forward.

A very friendly technician came to install the dish. He was a really nice guy, he even used booties (not the booty you are thinking about), white things that can be worn on the shoes to prevent your carpet from getting dirty. He went into the patio and looked outside and told me that there are trees in the line of sight for the satellite and he cannot place the dish in my patio. My wife was very disappointed. Seeing the disappointment on my wife's face, he said that he can install it on the wall and the I needed my landlord's permission. So I called my landlord and he again said it should be OK. Finally the dish was installed with vey clear reception.

A few days after the dish was installed, I mailed the rebate forms for "$10 off for 10 months". I did not hear anything from dish network for 2 months and my bill did not reflect the $10 MIR.

I decided to give them a call.

Call#1 after 2 months.

DN Rep1: Thank you for calling DN how can I help you
Me: I sent my MIR forms 2 months ago and my bill does not show any rebate.
DN Rep1: It will takes 3 months ti process the MOR forms. Please call us after a month.

So I waited for a month and my monthly bill was the same, no $10 rebate.



Call#2 after 3 months.

DN Rep2: We received your forms and you should see your rebate in the next billing cycle.

I trusted the words of the DN Rep and was happy to thing that I will be getting $10 off for the next 10 months. I completely forgot about this the 8-9 months. When I was checking my bank statement, I found out that Dish Network was still billing me the original amount.




Call#3 after 10-11 months. I got a friendly DN rep online and explained the whole thing to the rep.

DN Rep3: We never received your MIR forms. We cannot give you any rebates.
Me: Why did you tell me, you received my forms the last 2 times I called you?
DN Rep3: Sorry sir, we never received your forms, you cannot get any rebates
Me: Please cancel my service
DN Rep3: I can give you the rebate going forward for the next 10 months.
Me: Give me the rebate for the previous months’ service or cancel my service.
DN Rep3: I can give you rebates going forward
Me: How can I trust you? I was lied to twice by your reps that you received my MIR forms.
DN Rep3: I understand that, but I can only give you $100 off going forward.
Me: Please cancel my service.
DN Rep3: Sorry for what has happened, I can still give you the rebate going forward.
(I guess they are trained to ignore whatever the customer says and repeat that sentence.)
Me: No
DN Rep3: I can cancel you service and you need to send your equipment back in 30 days. We will send you the boxes to pack the equipment to ship it back to us. If we don’t receive the equipment in 30 days, we will have to bill you $300.00.
Me: Thank you, I will ship the equipment once I receive the boxes.

They promptly sent me the boxes by UPS in 2 days, I was a little lazy to disconnect all their crap and I shipped the boxes after 15 days.




Call#4: 20 days after call#3, DN Rep4 called me.

DN Rep4: Sir looks like you are cancelling your service, would you like to tell us why?

I told her the whole story and she started all over again.

DN Rep4: Sorry about that, but since you haven't sent back the equipment, I can restart your service and give you the rebate for the next 10months of service

I was thinking, “No!!! not the same story again. Did you hear what I have said. Don’t you understand why I closed my account? Why will I get your service again, if you are not going to offer me anything different? does she pay attention to what the customer says? Why is she a customer service rep??”

Me: No, you need to give me my previous rebate, before I can come back

She was very persistent. I need to give those DN Reps some kudos for being so stubborn. I guess working for dish network and getting beat up by the customers everyday make their skin thick.
DN Rep4: I can give you rebate for the next 10 months.
“WOW AGAIN”
Me: No, please don't waste my time. I am not going restart your service unless I get my $100 you already owe me.
DN Rep4: Ok sir, I will give you $100 instant rebate and we can turn your service immediately.
(I couldn’t believe my ears. I was satisfied with her response.)
Me: Ok thank you.
DN Rep4: Sir, we will send you a new receiver and the equipment and all you have to do is to reconnect the box and we will turn on your service for you.



So they turn on my service and next month I get my bill.

Summary of the bill.
Equipment/Installation charge : $299
(wtf????? I installed the equipment and the now they charge me $300 for that sh*t????)
Discount: -$199
Customer Instant Discount: -$100
(this is supposed to be the $100 they were giving me back)
So they billed me $300 for the equipment that was already installed in my house and supposedly gave me a discount.



Call#5:

Me: Please cancel me service
DN rep5 : Why sir.
I tell her the whole story again.

DN Rep5: Let me check you account. I see there is $100 instant discount on your account. So everything is correct.
Me: But there was no installation that was done.
DN Rep5: I see that you got your $100 instant rebate. I don't understand what your problem is?
Me: There was no installation that was performed.
DN Rep5: But you got your instant rebate.
Me: Did Dish Network perform any installation.
DN Rep5: No.
Me: So why was I charged $299? You charged me $299 for doing nothing?
DN Rep5: We gave you back 199.
Me: You charged me $299 and gave back $199, where are the remaining $100?
DN Rep5: We gave you back as instant discount.
Me: Then where is the $100 rebate I was supposed to receive.
DN Rep5: You see on your bill that says Customer Instant discount. It is your discount.
Me: There is no point arguing with you. So please cancel my service.
(I couldn’t believe what I heard after that.)
DN Rep5: Sir, I can give you discount for the next 10 months.
(WTF AGAIN!!!!!!! .... I wished she heard what ever i was thinking.)
Me: NOOOOO. CANCEL MY SERVICE. I WILL NEVER COME BACK TO DISH NETWORK AGAIN"
DN Rep: OK sir, your account will be closed immediately.

Can I be a regular blogger

i am going to publish some of my ridiculous/funny experiences. These are not in any particular order. Just random experiences which i find interesting.