Some tips that seem to make this easier:

• I have found that that it actually hinders my efforts if I buy from big box clubs such as BJ’s or Sams. Reason being, variety. If you have only two or three flavors of soup, you are going to get really tired of them really quickly. Every week a different brand of soup is on sale, go grab a nice varied selection.
• Soup isn’t always healthy, read the labels.  I keep really healthy options on hand for weeks when I’ve been bad at night,  and more flavorful ones for when I’ve been good or going to gym.
• If trying to lose weight, watch out for not only the fat content on the soup, but the crackers.  I try to limit myself to 4 Club crackers per lunch, but that is more of a guideline and sometimes I need to increase it.
• Keep a little TVP (textured vegetable protein) in your magic lunch box too, just a few tablespoons will not only add protein to anything, it will add some texture, which helps cut down on the need for fatty crackers. 
• Give yourself a reward day during the week. Let’s face it, some days you just don’t want soup or leftovers.

On December 10th, 2010 I placed my order, which included an extra $8.00 charge, which I was able to accept as I thought my gift would stand out more to them.

On December 12th it shipped, under the auspice of taking “6-8 business  days” from the Starbucks website and my order email, which has since been changed on the website, not sure about the order emails.

On December 22nd, I email them and explain that it’s now been over 8 business days and the order has not arrived, and inquired if it had been returned or lost.   There is no response for a few days

On December 23rd, I call support, and I’m rudely told that it’s 7-12 business days, and there is nothing they can do since it’s USPS.  Also, it’s “unreasonable to question” why it takes an envelope over week to travel anywhere in this country.   Worse case scenario, Seattle to NJ, will only take a few days at best.  I explain my displeasure with the entire situation to the service rep, who acts like he doesn’t care, but claims he will let his supervisor know of my displeasure with the entire process, per my request.  The CSR did not offer me any type of ticket number.

On December 24th,  get a response to my email sent on the 22nd, they say wait until the 12th business day then contact them again. This time, I get a ticket number.

On December 28th, I respond to the email explaining how I have now been embarrassed in front of my employers, and quite upset with the Starbucks brand.  I request in the same email that the cards be reprinted.

On January 4th, I respond to the same email asking if there is any status change or if anything has happened. All the while keeping the subject line intact with the order info, as well as all ticket numbers.

On January 5th, I get a response saying to call, with yet another ticket number, so I do.  On the phone, all of my existing ticket numbers don’t help her find any real information, so I give her the order string.  She tries to find me in their system, to see if I have a Starbucks card, then gets snippy with me for trying to explain that they are shipping to my office. After about 30 minutes she’s able to tell me that the cards were “signed for, then redeemed”.  I ask her how they could be signed for if they are just plain USPS, and she’s unsure, then ask her when they were used or redeemed. Again, she’s unsure.  I’m now told that this will have to be escalated, however I can’t speak to anyone about the issue, but she’s got a ticket full of the info, and of course a new ticket number, and someone will contact me with the resolution.

On January 19th, since I have not heard a word back from any supervisors I call back, and a very nice woman tells me there is an update to my last ticket I’m to be refunded because they are unable to reprint custom cards.  I explain to her that so far this has been going on for well over a month, and I’ve now spent about two hours of my life on the phone trying to resolve this, she is very apologetic and agrees that the entire thing is a mess.

On January 27th, a week and a day later, I contact my credit card company do charge back the initial charge.

On February 1st, someone calls me back and says “we see you disputed the charges, but we are going to send you coupons for a free coffee”..

I’m not going to sit here and rant and rave any further, but those of you in my office, and anyone in my personal life knows all about how badly this one was botched.  My recommendation is don’t’ bother wasting your time with Starbucks support staff, and especially don’t bother with custom gift cards. In short, thanks for screwing up my office Christmas and making me look like an ass Starbucks.

At least I’ll save a ton of $$ by either buying coffee elsewhere or making my own.  Now enjoy this funny, and freshly updated video:

I only have two complaints, the first it took too long to get he thicker breading to cook all the way, and it was too big! I think I can solve both problems by shrinking down the dough into 3 balls and rolling much thinner. I have half of the dough in the fridge, which I hope to be able to make into a \nice pizza tomorrow. I will of course let you know what happens. I have a TON of food pics to upload at some point.

p.s. Ginger was sniffing the cheese, I think she’s my dog through and through..

p.s.s. I added a few more caps to the Lionshead Puzzle caps page

Nanna drinking a PBR

The Lake at Buehlers Idlewild

Karley and Matty

Chilling with Bacon and Sauasge

The following Saturday was the Mozart Lodge #121 Beef and Beer, which consumed many days of planning, and running around. Which was all worth it, as we managed to have over 80 people come through the door, and after expenses we managed to raise about $500 for the Masonic Charity Foundation, which is how they fund the Masonic HOME in Burlington, NJ. The next day I went to the Camden Rivershark’s game where they did a nice presentation by the Warrior’s Watch , and Sicily sang the National Anthem w/ her class.

The next weekend was pretty quiet as I remember it, I think I worked on my gimlet recipe.  On the 13th I ran all over the state, there was a christening in the AM, then I shot down to Wildwood for the longest DeMolay banquet in history, Congrats Wes!   Followed by a visit to a southern gin joint till the wee hours of the AM. Seriously, it was like 5,  I was tired for all of Flag Day.  Then on the 19th, was the Mozart Lodge trip to the Camden Riversharks. We managed to get 65 people together with very short notice. On account of the iterest of this trip, and the amount of people we had to turn away the day of the game, next time I’m just going to buy out the whole section and fill that.

That is about enough for the broad strokes of social events for the month, I’m sure there were other things I have forgotten or not cared to write about today.

Then there was cooking…. Well lots of cooking, but the only things I have pictures left of or even bothered to take are my crappy donut balls, my awesome french bread, and one of my staple foods, PBR and Pierogies. The donut balls were done on a whim, and I wanted to try something with baking powder instead of yeast. As a result, I was not impressed at all and next time I will be sure to do those with yeast. Now my French Bread was really nice, the best I’ve done yet. Next time, I’m going to add some I-Tai herbs though, cause I’m crazy like that. The last pic is just for me, mmmm.

My Dounut balls kinda sucked

My best French bread yet.

PBR and Pierogies with peppers and onions.

Most recently, there was Father’s Day thrown in the mix there. We had a bbq over at Dave’s and had a good time. I got to spend a few minutes relaxing in the hammock sipping a DFH Midas Touch, which is still one of my favorite beers.

Just chillin in the Hammock, drinking a Dogfish Head

Currently I’m in the midst of planning our annual fishing trip (LMK if you wanna go!) and getting my “term plan” set for my year as WM, pending my election of course.  While I’m thinking of planning, what really gets me is the way no one likes to make a reservation early.  I must admit, it adds a whole new level of complexity to planning large events… Anyhow, that is more than enough for now.