Try out piotter.us/weddingphotos for all of the official ones, plus a set my 2nd cousin so graciously did for us.

Also a few family/friends have posted a few to Facebook, which I now have a nifty link to facebook.com/mpiotter

All the wedding can also be seen at the wedding website: michaelpiotter.com/wedding as well!

Enjoy!

I don’t think I’m very proud of this, but given the hoax I was pulled into in the sake of a deal being too good to be true, I must out a horrible company and it’s crooked, deceitful, and down right pathetic attempts to literally steal your ‘wedding money’.

The bozos are Associated Consultants Inc, supposedly out of Minneapolis, Mn. What they do is try and bilk young engaged couples into a crooked ponzi scheme idea that by spending $2400 on there average cookware. They use all the tricks in the book to con you into thinking you must buy there product then and there, no questions asked.

Associated Consultants Inc supposedly sponsored a bridal fair in St Cloud, from there they steal your information and while probably selling it off to marketing firms all while letting you know if you visit with them for 2 hours (not the 3.5 it turned into) that you could win all these fabulous prizes and get a chance to purchase a one of a kind product.

The lure was a free camera (film, not digital mind you) and a trip to Carribean destination. Plus throw in a meal (just happen to run this fraud from 5 pm on).

Slick sales guy goes into his mode describing his companies shit and then comparing in every way possible to the competitors all while relentlessly accentuating the positives on his comany’s crap and making the competitors look negatively bad in every possible light, both from the way it’s sold, the way it’s made, what county it may be made in and on and on till you are bludgeoned with negativity about everything but…. the shit they are trying to sell you.

Does some fancy tricks like standing on china cup and throwing plate on floor (reinforced props, no doubt). Cutting away pots and pans to show best of everything in Associated Consultants shit, and worst in all others.

Oh and no water used in cooking system, but when we are cooked up our ‘meal’, which consisted of a few pieces each of chicken, and under cooked carrots/broccoli; water is generously ’sprinkled’ on everything? Odd system. Indeed.

Sorry suckers that stayed at the end got the opportunity to waste their money on this overpriced crap. Out of the 7 couples attending, only 2 left immediately (we took ‘crystal’ glasses instead of trip to crime ridden Carribean…. er Mexico) What a sham, and the dufus/ his company easily got $10,000 that night from the suckers that stayed and bought outrageously priced crapware.

I could go on and on about how shitty this deal was/ wasn’t and how it was a 3.5 hour waste of time. But I don’t want to waste more of my time on such a piece of shit company ~ Associated Consultants Inc.

While Associated Consultants Inc tried to play to every letter of the law, it’s despicable that a company would scam people in such a way to make a buck. As one of my co-workers said after I told her and she had been to something similar, why can’t these people get a real job for a living, instead of suckering fools out of cash?

Obviously there’s enough fools to milk.

By all indications, Federal law states that tax documents should be mailed out by January 31 for previous year (bumped to February 2 due to 31st falling on a Saturday). Well giving WF the benefit of doubt, I should have had my documents as of this post.

I called WF last night and they stated that 1099s would not be mailed out until the end of February. So I decided to call the IRS to get their take on this discovery. Seems that IRS is already swamped, as it took them a full 15 minutes to get a person on the phone to talk about this. Not real stellar, but I have heard that’s what the government does ~ make you wait. They say I have to wait until the 15th before ‘worrying’ about it. We’ll see.

Personally, I would like to stick it to WF. I had liked them for a while, but they are starting to wear on me. Their policies are wishy-washy and every person you talk to, gives you a different answer.

The bozos are rescinding their executive retreats as tax-payers don’t appreciate giving the poor bastards gobs of bail-out money and all the while the big-shots enjoy the good life.

Good grief.

The biggest reason I am miffed, is that due to the home buyer credit, I am entitled to a fairly hefty refund, which would come in nice for home improvements and/or a upcoming wedding.

Plus the whole fact that we live in a digital world where computers do the banking work for them, it’s stupid that they would get any kind of reprieve.

Plus, they’re screwing with the feds, so you know they are so toast. Probably has something to do with the bailout $$. It makes everything slow to a government like snail’s pace.

Screw you Wells Fargo!

It is kind of odd too, because that Jan 2009 edition of PC Magazine is the last print copy of the magazine. They are going totally digital after that edition. So, I guess it’s a milestone edition and I got published in it. Maybe it could be a collector’s item?

Read my submission:

Way to piss on the customer. And it reinforces why I have since moved all my domain names away from this company. Hosting may well be next…

Dear Customer,

1and1 Internet appreciates your business, and we hope that you are
happy with our services.

In order to stay competitive and continue to offer you excellent services,
we have made changes to our pricing structure in accordance with the
changes in the industry. This change affects new domain registrations
and domain renewals.

Since November 3, 2008, the following domain rates apply:
.com, .net, .us, .org, .info, .name, and .biz domains have been increased
to
$8.99 per year

1and1 is committed to offering very competitive prices and professional
services in the domain environment and we hope to continue to meet and
surpass your service expectations.

I’ve lost my buddy. Jake was probably the best dog I ever had. He also was the dog I’ve had the longest as well. We debate for how long we had Jake, but it was roughly 10 years (getting him in 1998). He got him at a time when I previous dog ~ Spot had died. So there was a farm place without a dog. At that time we would go to Hutch Sales Barn to find deals on small poultry and knew they had at the time free kitten/ puppies to give away as well. We got Jake from a family that lived in New Auburn, but not much else for background/ information. We always had fun describing what breed Jake really was. We think it was Golden Lab/Golden Retriever with possibly German Shepard mixed in as well, but nothing for certain. His name was in reference to the song by Pirates Of The Mississippi – Feed Jake . Always thought after I heard that song, I’d wanna name my dog that. That song summed up much about my dog too.

Although he wasn’t a born hunter, he always loved to roam the farm, occasionally scaring up a rabbit or his specialty, squirrels. While they utterly fascinated him, he only caught one once and he didn’t hang onto it for long after. He spent more than a few hours treeing a squirrel and wondering in barks and yelps why they didn’t come down. He always loved going for a bike ride or walk and would always be checking things out a few hundred yards ahead at most times. He also loved car or truck rides, although with car rides, he usually jumped in and usually kicked out immediately.

He was a very loyal dog. He often knew the visitor to the farm before they set foot out of their ride. He had a special sense for guys and whether they were good or not.

In the last few years, Jake even learned to ’shake’ his paw at his advanced age, no doubt being jealous of his companion Max (our Black Lab). Although Jake never loved to shake, he would do it on ocasion if it meant he would be getting a meal or a pat on the head.

Although we are not sure what ultimately happened to our friend, he did get loose on one of his occasional runs with Max and never came back. We can only assume the worst.

I think the following pictures capture his spirit best, that of a happy dog, enjoying the world around him. I’ll miss my buddy. Bye Jake.

From Jake

None the less, McCain didn’t win. I think he was screwed over since his initial presidential run in 2000 when his campaign stalled as a frat-boy from Texas noodled his way into the White House. McCain never really recovered from that. His form in the campaign was off, and the administration sure didn’t do him a single favor for torpedoing his run in 2000. Ah, time for a change.

As for the US Senate race in Mn, it was ridiculous. Why didn’t the two main idiots just say they were gonna bash the other in so many ways that it would look more like a sissy fight than a run for elected office. These two took pride,it looked like, in hating the other guy and finding new ‘campaign’ ways to do so. Yuck.

Al Franken got what he deserved. After losing outstate Mn in the primaries to his DFL competitor, he was blase enough to admit that his real opponent was Norm Coleman the whole time. I sure that statement and attitude were enough to convince some couple hundred voters to switch to GOP or even Independence Party, which fared better than may have been expected. It is of note that the Independence Party did play a spoiler of sorts in this election as well. Just goes to show that 3rd party politics may liven up the electoral scene.

As for the citizens of Minnesota, the majority of them took it upon themselves to raise their taxes via a sales tax increase. They bit this propaganda hook, line, and sinker (or art piece, I forget). Little did anyone mention that the arts and parks would greatly benefit from a good chunk of this amendments ‘great outdoors’ improvement plea. Little did the state government have to worry about, because with it’s passage, they passed the buck (no pun intended) and get to bask in squandering my generations taxes on whatever they have to money to.

Where did all that ’state lottery’ money go we Minnesotans were promised a decade or so ago? All I have heard was embezzlement charges against the big shots running that gig. Yuck.

These taxes tend to stay on the books too. Mankato for one, is a city around the area that has had implemented an extra sales tax to pay for a ‘regional’ project in the Civic Center, but now after the initial taxing period has expired, they conveniently found numerous other ‘priorities’ that needed funding. Yuck.

Almost can’t wait for another even numbered year. Yuck.

Enjoy!