The Michael Swayne Story V: King of his Castle

Today's main focus has been on my bike. I filed a claim this morning, and I will be reimbursed the price of the bike and the tax. So, I will be getting $140.12 as soon as everything goes through. I first thought I had to send the whole bike back, which would be a real pain because I don't have the box it came in anymore. Who keeps a giant box in the chance that they will actually need it to ship what was inside it back? Not me. Well, I still have the box my computer came in. And the box my PS3 came in. And I use the box my black PS2 came in for storing all of my envelopes and office supplies because my desk drawers are a mess. But I don't have the bicycle box at all.

Anyway, when I was sent the email with the shipping instructions I learned that all they need is the receipt of the purchase. And that is something I did keep. Also, I was able to go online and get the order details as well. So I printed it out and now all I have to do is seal the envelope and find a UPS pickup place. My brother said the hardware store in town is one.

I think the only bad thing about this is that I will be reimbursed with an electronic gift card. I guess it's not that bad, considering Wal-Mart sells nearly everything; but it would be better if I didn't have to limit it to something from Wal-Mart or Sam's Club. The obvious choice is to get a new bike. I looked online, and they have the bike I bought in Burgundy. I know what you might be thinking. Michael, why would you want the same model bike, since it broke on you the first time. Well, I don't think it broke because of normal circumstances. I think the crankarm (which I learned today is what broke because of the diagram I saw online) broke because of it being so cold. Now that I keep my bikes in the garage, it is generally colder than normal. And then to ride it in colder temperatures put too much strain on it. My brother even said that they don't normally break as it did. Usually, they just bend.

But I shouldn't really complain because I get to keep a broken bicycle instead of sending it back. It would really difficult to send it back when the shipping label says it weighs three pounds. It definitely doesn't weigh three pounds. It's nearly as heavy as the big bags of dog food I buy for Luca. I can use the good parts for other bikes, and my brother said that once everything is taken care of with the situation, he will try and weld it together. Though he doesn't know how long it would hold.

Anyway, things are looking up with that bike situation. Now, I was busy dealing with that today, and the weather wasn't being cooperative; so I didn't go to Sinking Spring and deliver. Plus, I didn't really want to ride the substitute bike. Oh well. I will do it tomorrow morning.

The burn on my hand is healing. Now it just looks like I tried branding myself with the curved part of a paperclip. It only hurts when I touch it, otherwise it's like a normal wound that I happen to get occasionally.

I finished Grand Theft Auto III today. And then I completed the story in The King of Fighters XI. So now the random number generator chose to either play one of the Demo Discs I have for XBox, or Luigi's Mansion. I am going to play the Demo Disc, because it is quicker. I think. The other choice when The King of Fighters XI was chosen was Xenosaga Episode II. I would have chosen that one, but I knew KoF was a quick game. It isn't hard to get through the story.

Things with the new gaming blog are going great. On average, there have been 50 pageviews per post, and that's higher than the 6-Month Gaming Challenge's average. I think it's because there is more of a variety of topics, like gaming news, reviews, and my game playing updates; but also because it isn't something that's updated every day. With the old blog, there were days when I wouldn't play at all and still make a post. And I doubt people would want to read about a five minute gaming session. With 3³ Gaming, there's always detailed stories about experiences.

Anyway, that's all for now. I hope to see you around the forums, and until then...

Later!

Michael