Becki and I did a Discover Scuba Diving class at the SoCo Y with Y-kiki Divers last night. It was a $25 program that we got for $10 with a Groupon. I think paying $25 is a great value so $10 was one of the best deals I have ever got.

As you may or may not have known, I have been talking about wanting to get my scuba certification for years.  I love the tropics, snorkeling, fish, and the ocean. Thus why would I not want to scuba. The high cost have been holding me back so far.

The class and out instructor was awesome plus we were the only two in the class. We went through about 15 minutes of training out of water then suited up in shallow water and went through another 15 minutes of training. After that, we basically swam around in the pool. Becki and I both loved it. Becki had never snorkeled before and doesn’t get along too well with confined spaces but had no issue diving.

I only wish we had a camera so you could see us in wet suits with all the gear. It was such a fun time and can’t wait to get our certification in the future.

I am extremely excited to say that I am now engaged to my beautiful fiancée Becki. It is sort of a funny story but I had been carnying the ring in my pocket for the 3 days we were in New York City for vacation. The weather was miserable so all the opportunities I had planned out beforehand just were not the right opportunity. On the last night in the city and right after we just had a conversation at dinner where she thought I was going to propose on this trip and I made some excuses to why I couldn’t this weekend, we went to Times Square one last time in which she was taking some pictures. I surprised her when she wasn’t looking and got done on one need and proposed. The rest is history and I could not be happier.

I had to regretfully switch “brick and motor” banks today after Commerce Bank changed their minimum requirements for a checking account several months ago. First off, I did not even notice that there was a change until I receive a $7 service charge last month. Who reads those notification letters of changes anyway? Commerce said they made the change back in April so no clue why I wasn’t charged other months.  The new rule is “the account has to have at least one $500.00 direct deposit each month or a combined balance of $1,500.00 in checking, savings and money market accounts.” Most would hit this with the direct deposits but I do not since this is not my primary checking account since I switched to an online ING account which gets a lot more interest in my savings and earns interest in my checking with no minimum balance. I went into a branch today to find out that all their accounts had this minimum requirement. I told the bank rep I wanted to cancel it and did so. I thought I was going to do Bank of America but they have a $1000 minimum so I ended up with US Bank (which has an ATM 3 blocks away from my condo) so it is super nice. US Bank has a zero minimum balance on their Free Checking account.

I partially understand why Commerce could target a user like me because I was basically using that account to cash checks then transfer it to my other online account. What I am not sure of is low income people who can not hit the $1000 minimum and not have the ability to have a direct deposit pay check. I could be crazy but I would think that would be a lot of people.

I had been using Commerce Bank since I was 17 so I been a customer for 13 years. Sad to see them go since I knew where all the ATM’s were in St Louis.

So my driver side window in my car as been acting weirdly. Basically it has not been working in the afternoons and nights. I am guess from the heat. Its a big pain when you have to go in and out of a garage where you need to roll down your window to use your keyfob. I took my car in this morning to Plaza Lexus in St Louis. They gave me a loaner car like they always do. I walked out of the service bay with the service writer looking for the loaner car. The porter said it was one of the three cars in front of the building. We couldn’t find it so asked the porter. He said it was the one we were in front of even though my key said 3 and this one was 13. It started right up with the keyless ignition fob in my hand so I didn’t think anything. The gas also matched what my paperwork said which was between 1/2 and a 1/4 so I assumed this was it.  I drove away and hopped on I-270. I noticed that I had a bunch of alerts. The first two being oil change and filter needed. Thought this was pretty weird being its a dealers car. The third one said “no key.” I immediately moved the key closer but assumed that the diagnostic screen was messed up since I was now 5 miles away from the dealer and the car started. I got to my office after a 30 minute drive then tried to lock the car with the key fob. It wouldn’t lock. I then tried to start it and it did not. Looks like I did have the wrong car. So how did the thing start the first time. Either the porter had the key in his pocket or even scarier possibility is that the car was close enough to the office that it picked up the key fob. We were probably 15 or 20 ft away so not sure the range. What is scary about that is what if that was your unlocked car in your driveway. A kid or a thief could go start your car while you were watching TV in the house. Why did the car not shut down once out range of the car? Pretty odd.

Nightlife

I took it easy on Friday since I was so tired from traveling and lack of sleep. I watched the Lakers game then briefly went to Dubliner with Mike and Dave but called it a day after a drink. Saturday was another story. I went to Blueberry Hill for Ryan Ellen’s graduation bash. But before I discuss that, I would like to talk about the possible cab scam that I uncovered. I called number I had in my phone for Laclede Cab to get a ride to the party. The lady that picked up was hard to hear but she told me she was booking a cab. After an hour with no cab, I call again. This time she does answer Laclede Cab and tells me that driver 123 is on his way. After another 30 minutes, I call the number I have in my phone for Yellow Cab. The lady answers the phone Laclede/Yellow Cab. I told her that I called twice but she did not have a reservation for me. She set one up for me and it was here in 10 minutes. The interesting thing about this is that I have used this number in the past many times but I did realized that the last two times I called a cab it did not show up nor did I get a call after we left. The last time being the night we went to Double Ds and we waited for a cab for 30 minutes. Once I finally got there, it was a good time. Everyone was nice and liquored up. The one thing I regret was all the Jager bomb shots. I have a hard time judging my drunkenness when I do shots so I paid for it the next morning.

Shopping

I finally got a night stand filing cabinet. After, I looked everywhere I got this one at Walmart. I am happy with it but it did take forever for me to put together plus I am missing two screws so I can not mount the top drawer. Like the reviews said, the instructions were horrible. It calls out different letters for each piece but there were no markings on the pieces with the matching letters. I also did not realize that it was legal size so I need to take back the letter sized hanging folders I bought. I still would have like two drawers but could not find one anywhere in an expresso finish. I might go buy another one but I am really dreading putting it together.

I also went to the Good Works outlet looking for some accessories. I found two items that I have also been looking for. The first is a magazine rack. Good Works had one with an expresso finish so it matched my coffee table that I also bought at Good Works. The second item was a lamp for my night stand. It is a stacked wood lamp with a big white cloth shade that is also expresso that matches my bedroom furniture. I also switched to all compact fluorescent lightbulbs with natural white light. Wow, what a difference in lighting.

Sports

It was a pretty good weekend for sports. The Lakers wrapped up the series which made me very happy. I was pretty worried. The Cavs did not so Lakers got back home court advantage which is key. One interesting stat that I did not know about the Cavs was their record against the top tier teams like the Lakers, Orlando, and Boston. I believe it was something like 3 wins and 8 losses. Their average margin of defeat was something like 15. I think it comes down to the fact that they do not have enough elite players like the other teams do. They must rely on Lebron way too much. The Detroit vs Pittsburgh series started up this weekend. I thought it was going to be a good series but Detroit has won both hockey games.

In fantasy news, I shutoff my opponent (Matt Smith) for my second consecutive shutout. My team had a slow week but I still pulled off the shutout so I’m happy. I have a big rematch against Rengel’s brother this week. I should be sitting pretty good because I should get a majority of my pitchers twice this week since they only pitched once last week.

Fast Eddie’s, originally uploaded by EricKrassinger.

Out enjoying some cold beers with my group.

Matt, originally uploaded by EricKrassinger.

Matt putting on his shoes