Ahh... Message

I just got back from Glen Ivy (a day spa chain in So Cal) with The Boyfriend. He got a coupon last week from them that gives both him and a friend 50% off their services. It was a great deal for the price. For the price that you regularly pay for a mediocre massage at a run-down spa, you get a professional (supposedly) one and you have access to the steam room and jacuzzi. My massage was EXCELLENT. My back has been bothering me lately, and my masseur took care of it. Now the soreness and pain on my back are ALL gone. I feel like I am floating in the air right now. Ahh... the bliss of a massage. I wish I could afford to get one regularly. In case you are wondering... No, we didn't get a couple's massage.

The weather in Southern California was really hot 2 weekends ago. The Boyfriend's laptop broke because he left it in his trunk for just 5 minutes when he was picking up his dry-cleaned clothes. The plastic frame around the monitor split and the laptop wouldn't close. It's a piece of crap made by HP. So anyway, that gave him an excuse to get a new one. He ordered a new one from Dell immediately the next day. As a good boyfriend, I could not allow him to throw away his money like this. The laptop still works. The only problem with it is that you can't close it and travel with it. The cheap Asian smart consumer in me screamed and asked him if he bought it with his American Express credit card. Luckily he did. The reason that I asked was that I knew AmEx doubles your manufacturer's warranty for up to 1 year. I asked him to call them, and they were very happy to help. They offered several options. Either he can get a written estimate, which they would pay for, from a local electronics store (like Best Buy) and get it fixed, and AmEx would reimburse the repair charge. Or he can ship it to them and they will get it repaired for him. They would send him a pre-paid box to send it, too. If they think it would cost more than how much the laptop's worth to fix it, they would just ship it back to him and give him the cash (equivalent to the current value of the laptop). They were very nice on the phone, and even called him back a day later to follow up. Such nice customer service... I am REALLY impressed by AmEx!!