To Catch a Cricket

I have heard crickets chirping down in our basement for a few nights in a row. Decided it was time to take action. I bulk purchased a bunch of traps from Amazon. They are just cardboard with sticky glue on one side. They are supposed to be able to be folded into a box. But that proved too tricky.

The first night, my brother and I set the traps all around the basement. We hugged the walls with them. There were some places too tight to put the big cardboard. But I thought we laid some good traps. The next morning, we catch our first cricket. I thought that might be the end of it.

Last night, I was on the main level eating and reading the newspaper. I saw a cricket out of the corner of my eye. Put the newspaper to good use and swatted it. Might have to lay some more cricket traps upstairs now.

Auto Renewal Scam

Last year I subscribed to a bunch of fashion magazines. The subscription rate is heavily discounted compared to the cover price. The only magazine that continues to be a slam dunk is Marie Claire. The other ones are just meh.

Today I got my monthly copy of Elle magazine. They slipped in a notice that I was enrolled in their "continuous service program". That means they automatically renew my subscription each year and charge me. What a scam.

I logged into their customer service web site online. It took a long time to find a way to opt out of their auto-renewal. I actually don't trust them one bit. So I need to try to be vigilant, and reject any future fraudulent charges. I really ought to just cancel my subscription to avoid the hassle.

Magazine, as well as other print media, are on the downward slope. They are losing subscribers. I suspect it is because everything is online these days. Now is not the time to turn to cheap tricks to try to keep readers. I wonder if it would do any good to write the editor.

Arrival of 2 New Gerbils

Kit Kat's friend had two gerbils. But the friend did not have time to take care of them. So she asked Kit Kat if we could take them. We have one old gerbil. The kids were thinking about eventually getting some new gerbils. So we agreed.

Little Kat and Kit Kat got the gerbils yesterday. They came with their own two story cage. There is a metal ladder leading up to the second floor in the cage. However this cage did not fit well on our gerbil book shelf. It was also difficult to get the gerbils out of the cage. So Kit Kat went and bought a new cage.

They gerbils had names. But we renamed them. They seem pretty energetic, as they are about 1 year old. They also seemed to interact fine with our family. Our existing older gerbil Latte was on high alert due to the new gerbils in the house. We keep them in separate cages for Latte's safety.

The new gerbils came with a wheel that they love to run in. Unfortunately the wheel is defective and keeps falling off its stand. Time to purchase a new gerbil wheel I guess.

New Lunch Hangout

I have been receiving really good coupons for Burger King in the mail. They have a sale for a double cheeseburger, fries, and drink for $3. You can't beat that. I actually like their double cheeseburger. The fries are fine as long as I can dip them in Burger King onion ring sauce.

They try to charge you 19 cents for a packet of onion ring sauce. Seems strange as it is a dressing for their side. But I learned from Momoko to just ask for it when you pick up your food. Most of the time, they just hook you up for free.

Today I did not have any great coupons. But I saw online that they have a King Meal for $5. It has two cheeseburgers, a small fry, and a small drink. I just put the 2 burger patties together to make a double cheeseburger. I was pleasantly surprised when the local Burger King only charged $4 for this meal. No coupon required.

Trash Collection Troubles

The other week, we had a lot of trash. It filled up the container from the county. Also filled three other trash cans that I have. I set them all out the night before trash pickup day. When I went to bring the containers back in, I was troubled. The main county container was empty. Every other trash can had one bag in the bottom of the container.

I know our trash men work fast. They are always hustling. So I hoped that this was just an oversight. This has happened before. But usually it is just one can. This time almost all cans had a bag left in the bottom.

The following week we had a bunch of trash. One reason was that we had a lot of leftover trash not collected in the prior week. Luckily, the trash men took all the bags from all containers. Let's hope that trash left behind is not a trend.