A Simple Thank You Goes a Long Way :)

About a month ago, I'd written a postcard to Starbucks Customer Relations.  It was around the time that I'd gotten my shipment of Vistaprint postcards and was in the mood to send them out.  I can't remember exactly what I'd written, but the gist of it involved thanking the people working there for all of their hard work and mentioning that because Starbucks sends out postcard (coupons) to their customers each and every day, it's high time they'd received one instead.

Fast forward to the present, I'd received a package from Starbucks a couple of days ago.  I didn't open it until today, Christmas day, though.  For what reason, I don't know.  I just wasn't in a rush to open it.  Within the package, I found a ceramic mug that read, "fa la la la la" all over it, 2 cute little ornaments, as well as a letter from one of the Customer Relations representatives.  Keeping his/her name anonymous, it read that they loved my letter and to please excuse their tardiness, as they wanted to show my postcard to everyone.  Upon looking up my account, they'd realized that my birthday was just around the corner and while shopping, had bought me the aforementioned gifts.

My simple thank you resulted in a great gift package from Starbucks.  They will be receiving another thank you letter from me once the holiday season dies down.  :)

This isn't the first time I'd received a gift from corporate.  I think most large businesses truly appreciate genuine thanks from the people they serve.  <3

Dollar Tree Finds - 13 December 2011

I'm getting really addicted to going to Dollar Tree at this point.  I'd stopped by after class yesterday to grab a stocking for my brother.  During this trip, here are the things I'd found interesting:

Holy cow.  1.0L of margarita mix.  Nice.  :)  I didn't try it though.  But margarita mix typically comes fairly cheap anyway, so I wouldn't think it'd be that bad.  

I found these by the cash register while checking out.  They were right next to the Junior Mints, and rightly so.  This is the first time I'd seen any other flavor other than the usual mint and caramel (Junior Caramels).  They're about the size of the theater candy boxes (4.0 ounces).  How weird though, I can't even find it on their site as a product.  The box doesn't state it as being limited edition, nor is it decorated as a seasonal item.  There's no expiration date that I could find on the box either.  Regardless, it's pretty good stuff.  I'm a big fan of those raspberry creme/chocolate items.  Yum.  :)  Same family as the Junior Mints, so it's got the same consistency and all.  Good stuff.  I may stock up on a few more, even though I'm not much of a major sweets person.

I randomly decided to pick up a bag of chips and have been in the mindset of trying "generic" items lately.  These aren't bad.  They're not the most flavorful, but they are quite crispy, as kettle cooked chips ought to be.  The flavor is indeed barbecue... but I think it's somewhere in between mesquite and sweet 'cause it's not really one or the other.  There are a few pieces here and there that I find to be too oily though.  But only a couple out of the entire 5.0 ounce bag (actually, of all the ones I'd eaten so far.  5.0 ounces is a lot).  Not bad.  Though, I'm not sure if I'd ever actually get a craving for these though.  I quite like the design of the packaging though.  :P  Generics that try to mimic name brands make me giggle inside.

This was probably my favorite purchase all night.  I'd picked up a giant stocking (over a meter long) for my brother and friend.  Not bad considering that all of their normal sized stockings go for $1.00 as well as their two-pack of the miniature stockings.  Imagine how many of those you'd have to put together to even come close tot his size.  I've only ever seen one stocking bigger than this one and it was from CVS - but that one costs about $10.00.  I'll stick with this one, thank you.

The stocking is actually filled with more junk I'd found in the "Stocking Stuffers" section.  We've never actually used our stockings in this household so I thought it'd be fun to give my brother a stuffed stocking this year with things he'd remember from when he was younger.  Apparently the same toys that he and I had used to play with when we were little (I'm the child of the 90's! - born in '89, baby~!) are making a come back.  Those toys are starting to pop up everywhere.

Dollar Tree Finds (07 December 2011)

Oh, the Dollar Tree... there's always something interesting to be found there.  This time around, I went to the "nicer" one by campus during lunch time.  This one's great because they've always got stock of everything and all of their products are very neatly organised.

Anyway, I think the first aisle I'd looked at was the toy aisle, just to see if there were any props I could use for my upcoming party, wherein I'll be setting up a "photo booth" for my friends to enjoy.  There, I found a deck of Tarot cards.  I've never done Tarot, but it just seemed like an interesting find.  I guess for a dollar and change, it'd be interesting to look into it.  But I passed.

Next up, I'd gone to the glassware/dishware aisle.  I was looking for some glass mugs to etch for Christmas gifts.  Instead, I happened upon some new Coca-Cola glasses.  I'm sure we've all seen these green ones at both the Dollar Tree and the 99 Cents Only store:

Your choice of 2 smaller ones OR 1 larger one for of course, $1.00.

But they'd just gotten some new stock, I suppose, for I've found 3 more styles that I've never seen before:

Neat huh?  But take note of the middle one.  It's my favorite!

How awesome is that?  It's a glass cup... in the shape of a Coca-Cola 12 ounce can! 

I ended up picking up one of these for myself, but gave it to my brother when I'd come home since he liked it.  I'll probably pick up another on the way home from school so long as they've still got them in stock.  There didn't seem to be very many.  I don't even see it on their site.  Though one of the other three can be found there.

Not shown, since I'd forgotten to take a picture... there's a whole end cap dedicated to Betty Crocker baking supplies at my local Dollar Tree too.  It's pretty hard to miss considering that everything's red.  But anyway, there's some good quality silicon gear to be had if you have a need for some new baking supplies.  The mixing bowls and such I can do without - they're all plastic and I have a preference for metal.

Happy hunting.  :)

Dollar Tree Saved My Heels

The other night, I found myself lying in bed, wide awake, but not wanting to do much more than browse the interwebz on my Atrix.  However, I didn't even know what I wanted to browse for.  Having bought a laundry bag from the Dollar Tree a couple of days ago, I'd eventually, I ended up on the Dollar Tree landing page.

I looked through almost all of the categories they had possible and eventually found myself looking at the "Health and Personal Care," and eventually the Medicine Cabinet > First Aid Supplies sub-categories.  There, I found Premier brand Heel Grippers.  There was only one review there which stated that they loved the product and gave it 5 stars.  The day prior, I had gone hiking with the members of DooyuwannaHike and G.I. Joe Search and Rescue in boots that hadn't been broken in yet.  And my heels hurt!  I figured for $1.00 I could give it a shot.

The next morning, I'd gone to the Dollar Tree with my shopping buddy and picked up a set.  They are a spongy rubber material and the adhesive on the backside is pretty tough, though not as strong as moleskin (I think the ones I'd used prior were from Dr. Scholl's).  At first look I thought they were too thin, but again, I'd only be out $1.00.

The package stated to wait 15 minutes after putting in the grippers before putting the shoes back on.  I did so and after waiting the allotted time, was surprised at how well they worked and how strongly the stuff stuck to my boots!  My heels couldn't have been happier.  Gone are the days that I have to uncomfortably wear two pairs of socks with these boots just to make them fit decent.

Thank you, Dollar Tree.  :P

AT&T Customer Service

Good job, AT&T.  This is the second time I've called them with any problems and they'd resolved it within minutes.  Better yet, I was not put on hold nor was I in a queue to speak to a customer service provider.

This time around, I'd called because at 1228 today, I'd gotten an update on my data plan saying that I'd used up 199.7MB of my allotted 200MB for the month.  I immediately turned off all data usage and background data, only to receive a text at 1324 informing me that I'd gone over my data allottment and would be billed another $15.00 for an extra 200MB for the rest of the month.

That's just wrong.  There's only 2 more days left in this month and it already takes me a whole month to use up 200MB.  At 1542, I'd gotten another update on my data and said that I'd gone over by 0.1MB.  I  was flustered!  There was no way I was going to pay an overage fee for the next two days' use nor for such a small overage.

Within minutes of calling customer service and explaining my situation, I was given $15.00 credit on next month's bill.  Good job.  :) I'm not quite sure whether or not I can still continue using the data considering I've already got an extra $15.00 credit, but to be on the safe side and a good customer, I'll keep it off unless I really need it.

Thanks, AT&T.

Black Friday + Rubbermaid

What have these two got in common?  A LOT.

During Black Friday weekend, Wal-Mart had a sale on 30 piece Rubbermaid container sets at the cost of $6.88 + tax, which included the following (shown in the picture below):

I had come to the Wal-Mart in the "nicer" part of town and the store had TWO whole WALLS built of these things.  I picked up one set for my mom late afternoon on the first day of the sale.  Because there were plenty left, I didn't think to "have" to pick up any more, though I was sure that my mom's friends would want some too.

That night, my mom asked her friends and I was told to pick up 3 more sets of these things.  Because the stores were filled with walls and walls of these, I figured it'd be okay to come back the following day.  Boy, was I wrong!  All of the stores in the surrounding area, within a 50 mile radius, AND online at walmart.com had sold out completely.  DANG.

Seriously.  The stores were filled with these and sold out within a day.  Crazy.  Then again, at that price, I wouldn't blame them; the 20-ish piece sets already sell for $10.00+.

I wasn't kidding when I said there were walls of these.  Yes, I did stop and have my shopping buddy take a picture of the wall for me.  I was decked out in my fuzzy hat (it was a chilly) and combat boots to battle my way through the crowd!  :P

Are Holiday Cards Still a Big Deal?

Or has the role of social media (i.e. Facebook) taken over?

I was never big on sending cards until this year, to be honest.  After I started sending postcards, and later, handmade cards out to friends and family, I realised it was something I just really enjoyed to do.  The act of writing out my thoughts and using pen/paper rather than just typing a message to my recipients is a whole lot more rewarding.  Or something.  It's just nice.

But with Facebook and all that becoming such a big part of our lives and photo sharing being easier than ever, will the holiday cards (with annual family portraits and all that) slowly die out?  I've personally never had a family portrait, but I've seen people take the time and make the effort to do so for the holiday season.  I've read about it plenty.  And of course, it's portrayed in the media as being a big deal for lots of families.

Cost must play a big role as well.  This year, I'm sending out postcards to most friends/family to wish them a great holiday season (postage is about half the price for postcards compared to regular letters).  For closer friends/family (sorry!) they'll be getting handmade cards.