It’s supposed to get all the way up to 25° today! And as punishment, we’re also supposed to get another 6″ of snow. . Since being over three feet below average at the end of January, we have now gotten over four feet of snow in February and we’re now about two inches over our average for the season. And that’s in Syracuse – I have no way to tell what we’ve gotten here, except to say we’re feeling a little claustrophobic.

The dogs are getting pretty bored as well. The snow is well over their heads and they can’t really go anywhere I haven’t shoveled a path for them (which at least keeps them from hopping over the fence). I watched a herd of deer struggle to get through the snow earlier this morning (jumping like crazy just to move a foot or two). I don’t know what they’re finding to eat out there, and I feel terrible for them in all this cold. Them, and all the other critters out there that don’t have the sense to hibernate for the winter (something I truly wish I could do).

I’m trying to decide if I need to go to Costco this week, and I’m thinking that no, no I do not. I’d like to get some gas before it goes up any more (after an 18¢ per gallon jump last week, it’s only gone up another couple of cents this week, so I should probably go). I think I’m pretty much set for food, though, and I should probably quit spending money to save up to pay the heat bill (though to tell you the truth, it’s the damn electric bill that’s killing me).

I guess all the money I’m saving on beer (36 days w/o a beer, and 2,989 days until retirement – I put it in a spreadsheet) is going straight to NYS Gas and Electric. Well, and also to the dentist. Plus I got screwed on coffee mugs.

You’d think it would be fairly easy to find coffee mugs for sale. Specifically, I was looking for black mugs to fit my office decor (ideally either what I have come to find is called “funnel” shape – like my “Car Talk” mug, only black – or, failing that, “bistro” shape). This appears to be something impossible to find in stores. Or at least the stores I go to (which, come to think of it, is basically Costco with an occasional trip to the grocery store – which I frequent very rarely since what I don’t get from Costco I get from Amazon).

So I found something called Discount Mugs online. Let me say right off the bat that I do not recommend them (in fact, for the benefit of the search engines out there: “Discount Mugs Sucks” “don’t buy from discount mugs” “Discount Mugs Blows” “Fuck Discount Mugs” “Discount Mugs Ripoff” “discountmugs.com sucks”).

They had some mugs that looked like what I wanted, and they offered “free” samples (so that I could see if I should order 1,000 of them with my family crest on it for the big family reunion coming up). Free meant free, with $5 per each for shipping. So I ordered three blank sample mugs. I figured five bucks per mug wasn’t a great price, but not terrible either. So after a week or so, they arrived, and as soon as I picked up the box and heard the telltale sound of rattling ceramic, I knew something was wrong.

Yeah. Two out of three were broken (and while I like the way they look, they’re pretty goddamn thin – coffee poured in the one unbroken one cooled off in about ten seconds). So I went to their site where they have a claim form for broken shit that they send you, and I uploaded a photo (‘cuz god forbid they believe me) and they promptly responded with an offer of “store credit.” Well WTF am I gonna do with $10 store credit? I said, “hey, whattya say you send me two more unbroken mugs instead?” To which they responded offering store credit again. To which I responded, “no thanks – I’ll write it off as a bad investment.”

I mean, these things came so poorly packed that there’s no way I’d expect them to ever ship me an intact order. I’m surprised that one mug made it through, and if 67% of every order is going to come broken, there’s no way I’m ordering from them again. Hey, prove to me you can ship one intact order, and then maybe I’ll buy some shit from you. But to give me a credit of $10 that probably wouldn’t even cover the shipping on whatever broken crap you’re gonna send me next? I don’t think so.

Plus the mugs were made in China – probably by slave labor using some kind of lead/melamine poison glaze.

So “fuck you Discount Mugs”. Did I mention that “Discount Mugs Sucks” and that you should “never buy from discountmugs.com”?

Of course, my experience may not be typical (though based on subsequent reviews, they seem to be known for shipping broken shit).

Well, it’s getting late. I guess if I’m gonna make that Costco run, I’d better get going.

Have a good one.