Delta isn't going to budge on this. My only suggestion - if you're taking and expensive bike all around the world you want to get excess insurance on it. It's a hard lesson to learn I'm sure but the insurance is well worth it.

Second point - you do not have to accept the damaged bike. Make loud complaints, if you have to go straight to the top.

I have an easy solution to this. I don't buy anything from BestBuy.

Here is something to keep in mind. Once you leave the store you don't have to stop for anyone. Just keep walking to your car.

My other favorite is when someone gets an email message addressed to those 624 people and then hits reply-all. Talk about an email storm.

He should also check into his state lemon laws. Many states have them on the books for cars and housing but some are so broadly worded they could apply to major purchases too.

What most people don't realize is that most banks aren't actually online all the time. Banks are notoriously cheap about network connections. A lot of times the account info is replicated once or twice a day to in-house System 36 or System 38 type systems, so there's a several hour window when the batch info isn't current.

A thief could exploit this easily.

The banking system was fine when it was just ATM cards. Once they tied it into POS systems the wheels came off and that's the end of it.

Gas is nuts here in RI. In one week it's gone up 15 cents a gallon. We're now at $3.09 or so, and I bet today we're at $3.25.

I do find that Hess is a good ten or more cents cheaper per gallon than all the other stations. I just have slight uneasiness buying gas there since it's Venezuelan oil that goes into it, and Chavez is a dictator.

I've been hung up on by the best of them. It's all about predictive dialing, etc. They'll send the call but the chances of having someone available to help you on the other end are pretty slim.

Why? Because they've outsourced all the people that could potentially help you.

And it isn't just HP, but Dell too. I remember when I bought the SO's laptop the wireless card died after a month. I went through several hours of calls with Dell, had to re-install windows on the damned machine when I knew damned well it was the wireless card.

And then there's Cox. When you have issues with Cox they let you talk to a computer that's more infuriating than ever. I just sit there and scream "AGENT!" at it until it pukes and puts me through to a human.