michaelhong.com

I received an email from Apple today regarding a MobileMe extension. I’m sure all MobileMe members received this email but in case you haven’t checked your mail yet or didn’t receive the email for some reason or another, Apple is offering a 60-day extension to all MobileMe users in addition to the 30-day extension we received earlier. I’ve definitely had some problems with MobileMe service, specifically accessing MobileMe webmail, in the beginning days, but it has been much better in recent weeks.

This is a nice gesture to hopefully appease some of the users who have been more seriously affected by the rocky MobileMe launch.

The Apple Knowledge Base article is located here.

I’ve copied the FAQ after the jump, if you’re feeling lazy.
Read the rest of this entry »

I am flying through Memphis today (thanks to Northwest) and decided I’d make the most of it by trying some Memphis BBQ.

Stopped by Jim Neely’s Interstate BBQ and ordered a chopped pork shoulder sandwich. I thought “pulled” was the way it was supposed to be, but who am I to argue? This place knows BBQ. You can choose to get coleslaw on the side or on the sandwich (I went with on the sandwich.) I was really tempted by the BBQ spaghetti which is apparently pasta topped with chopped pork.

The sandwich was huge. Seriously, it was one of those sandwiches where half the meat falls off the sandwich and you still feel like the sandwich in its half-meated capacity is still hearty enough. The only complaint I had was that the bread had started to soak up some of the BBQ sauce, making it a bit soggy, but maybe I didn’t eat it quickly enough. I would have taken a picture, but I was too hungry. Sorry. Next time. It looked something like this picture from the website, only better.

Neely's Interstate BBQ MMmmMmm

Next time I’m in Memphis (knowing Northwest, it will be too soon), I also plan on stopping by Corky’s, which is also in the airport and supposedly has amazing BBQ as well. Where’s the best BBQ you’ve had?

I buy a crapload of stuff from Amazon. I have an Amazon Prime subscription and most of the stuff that I ship two-day (free with Prime) usually comes the next day. Prices on Amazon fluctuate quite a bit. Only recently did I realize that Amazon has a 30-day price guarantee. The downside is that you have to track the price yourself over the 30-day period. However, there are two sites that will track the price for you. One is RefundPlease, the other is FlamingoWorld’s Amazon Price Drop Tracker.

At both sites, you just enter the ISBN/ASIN number, the price, the date you purchased the item, and your email address. If you’re worried about spam, you can just use a throwaway email address. Just make sure you check it!

Once you receive an email notification that the price has dropped, then go here: Amazon’s Return & Refunds Contact Form.

Log in with your user/pass and your recent orders should pop up. Let’s take my awesome recent purchase, the ice cream maker, as an example. Check the order whose price has dropped then click the Email button under customer service.

Now, under the issue dropdown box, select refund inquiry.

Then in the message box, just explain that the price of your item, <ITEM NAME HERE>, that you purchased on <PURCHASE DATE HERE> has dropped from $XXX.XX to $XX.XX and that you would like a refund of the price difference. You should receive an email from Amazon issuing the refund. I’ve recently used this to recover $20.00 from the price of my A/V receiver.

Easy peasy.

Last week there was a smoking deal on an Xbox 360 Elite from Dell. It included the console, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance/Forza 2 combo and two faceplates for $299. I was lucky enough to get in on the deal thanks to boogi. (My 360 Elite was built on 04-30-2008.)

It appears that the deal has returned, albeit not as good as the last one.

Now you can save $100 from the $449.99 retail price. Still an awesome deal, considering right now the 60GB Xbox 360 Pro is selling for $350. So basically for the same price, you get the black 360, a 120GB HDD vs a 60GB, two games (of questionable value, but hey, they’re free and Forza 2 is great), and two faceplates (also of questionable value, but again, they’re F-R-E-E).

Head over to Dell Home and enter coupon code V8Q199$GCXJWL$ at checkout. The code expires on 8/20. This makes me wonder if the Elites are being cleared out for a new model. Supposedly price cuts are coming in September on all models, but even then, the Elite is rumored to be dropping to $400, which is still $50 more than this deal. Doesn’t matter, if you need a 360 now, this is a sweet deal.

Xbox 360 Elite bundle [Dell Home] via Fatwallet
Use coupon code V8Q199$GCXJWL$ at checkout (EXP 08/20)

For some reason, I have had the bizarre urge to make homemade ice cream recently. So after reading some reviews on Amazon, I settled on the Cuisinart 1 1/2 Quart Ice Cream Maker. I remember when I went to a friend’s house when I was little and having to use the hand-cranked ice/rock salt ice cream maker.

This one is electric and apparently, all you have to do is freeze the container for about a day, then pour your ingredients in and start the machine. My machine just came in yesterday so I’m waiting for it to freeze completely before testing it out.

For recipes, I settled on the highly rated Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book, which has a few recipes for sweet cream (the base on which most ice cream flavors are built upon) as well as some of their more popular recipes, including my favorite, Cherry Garcia. Now I just need to figure out how to make Americone Dream…

I’ll let you know how my ice cream experimentation goes.