Boycott Donato's

I ordered a pizza last week from Donato's online. I ordered one of their online specials and entered the code.

When the pizza arrived, we paid and the driver left. But then he came back.

"I need the coupon," he said.

"It was an online special. There is no coupon," I said.

"If you don't have the coupon, you have to pay the full price," he said.

That wasn't going to happen and I told him so. He called his manager and she said that I needed to pay the difference or give the driver the coupon. I told him I'd need to talk to the manager myself.

I called Sarah and we discussed the matter. She told me that Donato's is cracking down on coupons and that, if they don't turn in the paper coupons, then corporate won't honor the discount and someone has to pay for it.

I explained that I had used online coupons before without incident and that it didn't make sense that I would be responsible to validate an online special from their own website. She told me that's just how it is.

She asked me to print the coupon. I refused. I didn't have any ink, but I told her there was no way I'd print it under any circumstances.

Sarah told me she'd let it side this time, but next time...

I told her not to worry about the next time; there wouldn't be one.

Here's why:

When the customer fails to turn in a coupon, Donato's corporate won't honor the coupon. They take the money from the DRIVER.

The driver. Of all the links in the chain the driver is the one who pays the price.

Not to put it lightly, but I don't like that policy. I don't want to do business with a company like that. There are too many other (better) pizza companies that don't screw their drivers.

What's Going On Here?

Before I went off the grid for a few weeks, I was thinking about the direction of 13Months - from where have I come, where am I now, where am I going, were do I want to go blog-relatedly?

If you remember, this blog was created for a trip to Iraq. The outer limits of which would have been thirteen months. Almost four years, three trips to Iraq, a marriage and a baby later 13Months is still here.

But for what?

The original purpose was to keep people up-to-date while I was out of the country. It's been more than that over its life. I've shared my thoughts on a variety of topics, but I've always been able to fall back on the basic idea that this blog is about sharing something about which you, the reader, might read otherwise.

Now, though, I'm home for a while. No more trips across the globe.

I don't know how to keep this blog exciting to me and be entertaining without becoming just a blog about everything (or nothing).

Lately, I feel that the blog has become a bunch of nonsense.

I'll figure it out somehow.

An Open Letter to President Obama

Dear Mr. President,

Congratulations on your inauguration.

I got my new power cord yesterday, so we both had a pretty good day.

I am trying to be positive about your presidency. It's not really related to you. I had a dream during the election circus in which I was stuck at a 7-11 without a ride home. You gave me a ride. You were very pleasant.

I've never had a dream about a president or even a candidate before and it made me feel good about you. Like maybe it was a good omen.

But that only lasted until I turned on the tv. Maybe I have a contrary nature, but I can't believe that, if the media tells me you're the nation's savior, it's true. Your supporters are kind of nuts. Today, Oprah called you the Light of the New Age, or something crazy like that.

That woman has lost her mind.

The day before the inauguration, she interviewed Ashton Kutcher. No one understands the magnitude of swearing in the first black president like Ashton Kutcher.

And the Ashton Kutchers make me nervous. They're telling me that now is a time to come together and forget about party affiliation or ideological differences. Why couldn't we do that when you didn't agree with the president?

They're telling me that now is the time for us to serve our country. It's funny to me because Bush said the same thing after 9/11. If we had truly done it then, we wouldn't be in the position we're in now.

I think the difference is that you use the rhetoric of hope and change rather than Bush's focus on security and war. I get that.

I want to wish you good luck with your presidency and I promise to do my best not to judge you by the giant cloud of morons that have made you their messiah. I just ask you not to fall for your own myth.

Best Regards,

rdmeeker

Hang in There

You may have noticed that there's not been any new material here for a while.

Sorry.

I am having computer power supply issues which I hope to rectify within the next week.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

9Q to KYDM: Q9

What did you see as the two things which were repeated over and over in your previous eight questions?

Cultures/International Issues/Kurds
Efficiency/Appropriateness

I cheated and combined some categories.

I'm wild!

9Q to KYDM: Q8

What topic do you think you could write about every day, knowing that there will be no reward?

Cultures other than my own and my perspective of that.

It is hard to narrow that down. I've posted like 8 things on the Glad Lady and I barely care about that!

Why You Gotta Break Stuff?

Last year - maybe March - I broke my laptop's power cable and I had to search all over Iraq for a new one.

In June or July, I broke that one and had to order a new one online. I was at home, so it was easier.

In late November, I broke that one.

Since then, I've been using Angie's.

Yesterday, I broke that one, too.

Now, I blame shoddy construction. I mean, really. My old laptop (which I also broke) never had any issues with its power cord. I've had three different cords and Angie has had two - one of which I had no hand in breaking.

The point of this story is that both of our laptops are out of commission and they will stay this way until around the 19th of this month.

Until then, we're borrowing mom's laptop so Angie can do her school work. I don't expect to blog much during this period, but there will be some.

Just pray I don't break mom's power cord, too.

Shop Here!

Introducing the 13Months Store!

I added a link to the header, too.

Right now I'm selling Glade products and items related to Kurdistan. I plan to expand my offerings, but it's 1:25 am and I am WAY past my bedtime.

Light Glade Lady Drama

Ever now and again I go through my stats to see how people are getting to 13Months.

The answer 90% of the time these days is a google search for Dori Kelly or something else Glade-related.

Last month, I noticed links from something called the FlyLadyForum. This meant nothing to me, so I checked it out.

Turns out that a blogger there had plagiarized portions of my original Glade Lady post without giving me any credit. Someone noticed and busted her out on the forum. It was all fairly humorous.

I was a little offended and a little flattered at the same time. I mean, it's not every day that someone thinks my work is good enough to... let's say borrow.

I checked out the blog in question, too and sure enough there were my words in someone else's post. The strangest thing was that we seemed to be living parallel lives. I am a stay-at-home dad, she's a stay-at-home mom. I have issues with the Glade Lady, she has issues with the Glade Lady. It's possible that we have parallel thoughts. I commented on the post and then didn't give it another thought.

Today, I noticed a couple more visitors from the FlyLadyForum, so I checked it out.

Turns out someone busted her again in a different thread. Click here and scroll down to Post #13.

It's nice to know that someone is sticking up for me out there.

But I also feel kind of bad. It seems that she's been away from the forum for some amount of time due to unspecified personal issues and, now when she ventured back in, someone points out her past mistakes.

I wasn't even going to mention it, but I realized I haven't posted about Glade in a long time.

Viva la Glade

9Q to KYDM: Q7

What do you think your natural talents are?

I learn quickly
I can organize well
I can recognize processes and make them better
I see how things work
I write well

9Q to KYDM: Q6

What kind of topics do you like researching or finding out about more, without being forced to do it?

Chinese history (Mao and post-Mao)
British Empire
Kurdish culture and history
Web applications

I like to research many things. I do it all the time, so I just made a list of the most recent and the most frequent.

9Q to KYDM: Q5

What topics can you talk to someone else about for hours on end without getting tired or bored of it?

Iraq
Kurdistan
Kurdish Issues
Languages
My family
American church vs. Biblical church
Music
International affairs

9Q to KYDM: Q4

What things, when you do them, you totally lose track of time, and before you know it, a few hours have gone past without you even realising it?

Reading
Talking about things I enjoy
Laughing and talking with family and friends
Being a guest at someone's home
Sleeping!

9Q to KYDM: Q3

What things do you normally excel in without it seeming to be much effort at all?

Standardized tests
Knowing when something won't work
Public speaking
Acting appropriately

I have fallen behind Angie, so I will post a few questions now to make up for it.