Why You Shouldn’t Trust Wikipedia As Your Source

“Sheffield is the world’s oldest football club.”
“No it isn’t.”
“Yes it is, check Wikipedia.”
“Yeah you probably shouldn’t trust Wikipedia. Look! It now says you’re the manager of Sheffield FC!”

And so was another day in work. Dan had changed Wikipedia page for Sheffield FC to make me as their Manager – unfortunately it never got changed back, and the Grimsby Telegraph said I was Sheffield FC manager.

Marvellous!

It worked out okay. You’re Supposed to Be At Home got mentioned in The Cod Almighty Fanzine, making it a huge traffic day for my blog. Result!

Unfortunately, I lost 2-0.

A Summer Not Wasted

Last weekend I spent the weekend in the Lass o’Gowrie for In Da 80’s, a classic gaming event featuring much alcohol and game playing. As the weekend was wet, I didn’t mind spending it indoors, plus I get to speak to many people I’ve gotten to known in the year or two I’ve spent going to these events. But one thing I’ve yet to do is win a tournament.

This changed last weekend.

You see, when I was the tender age of 10, my favourite item I owned was a Commodore 64. For those who don’t know, the majority of the games came out on cassette tapes, which was played into the machine with a tapedeck. In the summer of that year, my tapedeck’s eject button broke, leaving one game in there – Buggy Boy.

Being my favourite toy, and an alright game stuck in the tapedeck (which I could still play), I played it religiously, getting pretty good. Mum thought she wasted my summer. I proved her wrong this weekend.

You see, one of the games in the 80’s Pentathlon was Buggy Boy. A few pints and large swathes of hogging the system, and this was the result (I use my online handle “retrogarden”).

Winning!

I won a free pint and £20 gift vouchers (in the raffle), and is a rare highlight in what has been a bit of a down month! Damn post holiday blues!

What’s been your best gaming moment?

My American Adventure

I’m home!

Well I came home over a week ago, but after a weekend of chilling and finally kicking the jet lag I can now comprehensively put my thoughts on paper.

America was brilliant! So much happened, so I’m going to share my basic highlights from the trip, as well as a few of my favourite pictures from my jollies.

Highlights for me including:-

  • Conversation with a lady on the train into Chicago, who turned out to be flying back from a film premiere in France.
  • Staving off jet lag by drinking through to midnight, whilst desperately trying to impress the bartender with my Welsh.
  • The hospitality of my mate Nigel, who spending 3 days with was brilliant (even if I was laughing half the time at his comedic American accent.
  • Breakfast on the second day, which was huge, and watching this lady work her magic helping people cross the road (including loud shouts of “GET ACROSS THE ROAD YOU STINKING BRATS!”. Brilliant).
  • Seeing Chicago, and the Bean and all it’s wonderous sights.
  • The Chicago White Sox game at the US Cellular Field. I blogged about it more at You’re Supposed To Be At Home, as there was enough incidents in that game to fill a blog post.
  • Getting in possibly the WORST Taxi in Chicago – he didn’t know where he was going!
  • Finding a “British” pub in Richmond, Virginia. Owned by a Liverpool fan and having (amongst other things), an FC United Scarf on it’s ceiling.
  • Seeing Monday Night Raw live. It was an amazing episode, with Stone Cold Steve Austin & Vince McMahon making an appearance, Booker T wrestling and the first appearance on Raw for Zach Ryder.
  • Subsequently appearing on Zack Ryder’s Youtube Show for my sign! (1:05 minutes in).
  • Seeing the Apollo 11 Space module in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington. I’m a massive space geek, so that was pretty cool.
  • Seeing all the other wonderous things in Washington.
  • Meeting Rob (a long time blogger who’s sadly quit) in Washington for the first time, as well as him buying me lunch. He’s an officer and a gentleman.
  • Boozing in an Irish bar in DC with the vice governors (is that the right word) of Arkansas and Utah.
  • Eating in Katz’ Deli. Famous for that scene in “When Harry Met Sally”.
  • Visiting the Brooklyn Brewery, doing the tour (which was crap, apart from the guide who told us some great stories on the history of the place).
  • Accidentally giving money to the Mafia. They were nice people though.
  • Seeing the worlds most comedic midget in Brooklyn. He was short, had a moustache, a red hat, jumper and blue dungarees. He looked like Super Mario if he had been hit by a goomba & returned to original Mario.
  • Seeing Sara again. Always good hanging out with her and Daniel as well!
  • Going to see the New York Red Bulls play and be suitably impressed by the support.
  • Drinking with New York Red Bulls striker’s (and ex Shrewsbury Town forward) Luke Rodger’s dad.
  • Chilling in central park.
  • Hating the Yankees & Yankee Stadium.
  • Overnight bussing to Toronto, wondering if the girl sat opposite me fancied me or not.
  • Drinking Coolatas and having a huge breakfast in Toronto.
  • Flying back in Business class because JFK & American Airlines both messed up!

And generally having an amazing time! Pictures tell the story of a thousand words, so here’s some of my favourite pictures from the trip:-

So, where’s next? Well depending on how the Olympics debacle plays out, I may not do a huge holiday next year, with that said, I am going to Bulgaria on October with Wales, and then we’ll see what’s next next year!

Greyhound Buses – Why Won’t You Refund Me?

I’ve whinged before about Greyhound Buses before here, but it’s becoming that their refund policy is a joke.

After 2 weeks of hearing nothing, an email dropped into my inbox saying the following:-

Dear Mr. Wynne,

Thank you for contacting our office. We apologize for the delay in responding to your email.

We have received your request for a refund on the ticket with confirmation number 74411661. We need a proof of a new purchase in order to process the refund on the ticket that was purchased wrong. The purchase confirmation you sent was for the same ticket.

At your earliest convenience, pleas forward the proof of purchase of the new ticket and we will proceed with the refund on the wrong ticket.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us or call our department at 214-849-8966 from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm CST Monday to Friday.

Sincerely,

Mr. Lacouture
Customer Care Analyst

So by reading it there appears to say they don’t do refunds unless you buy a new ticket. Which is odd, but fine. I have bought tickets with an alternative provider (Megabus) who were actually sending buses on that day. I forwarded on the tickets to Greyhound and today I heard the following:-

Dear Mr. Wynne,

Thank you for contacting our office. We apologize for the delay in responding to your e-mail.

In order for us to process your refund, we require a proof or receipt of purchase of the new ticket. Since your original tickets are non refundable, they can only be refunded to the original purchaser  by showing a proof of a new purchase.

Please send us an e-mail  with  the original unused ticket(s) attach to the e-mail address below along with the second confirmation number the second ticket you paid. Please refer to the following Customer ID number when contacting our office.

Customer.Service@greyhound.com
We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,
Mr. Ramirez
Customer Assistance Analyst

I beg your pardon? Are you not refunding me because I’m going with an alternative provider? It’s not really a refund, is it?

It’s only about $50, It’s really not much, but it’s the principle!

Am I being daft? Or does it appear that Greyhound Buses have one of the worst customer support systems?