Sunday, March 20, 2005

I Totally Killed the Odds!

On February 17th Microsoft recalled all of the power cords for Xboxes that were manufactured before October 23, 2003 as every 1 in 10,000 cords has been found to cause the Xbox it is hooked up to to start on fire or have an electronic breakdown within the unit. You can read Microsoft's press release here.

I didn't know about this recall until I received a letter in the mail last week from Microsoft telling me that I needed to replace my power cord. I was really busy at work last week so I never called, but I planned on doing it this week sometime. Friday, after my brothers woke up, I found out about a birthday present that I didn't necessarily want.

While I was at the Quest Thursday night, my brothers were playing DDR2 on the Xbox when all of the sudden there was a snap, the smell of burning PC board, and smoke pouring out of the sides of my Xbox. Apparently, I was one of the lucky winners in Microsoft's "Who Wants a Burning Xbox?" contest.

As I was reading up on the terms of the power cord replacement recall MS has going on, they only cover the cords and anything that happens to your Xbox while using the old cord would only be covered under the original warranty, which is 90 days, which also expired like more than 2 years ago. Either I or my mom is going to call the 800 number in the letter and tell them that we were one of the lucky people to have their Xbox blow up thanks to their faulty cord. I doubt they'll replace it, so I'll have to end up buying a new Xbox with my birthday money. Lame.

You know, I've never won in the lottery. I've never won anything I've signed up for or had my names picked in drawings (except for my high school after prom party, but there just about everyone won something so I don't count that). I have never been one to beat the odds... until now when I'm one of the lucky 1 in 10,000 to have an Xbox start on fire thanks to the power cord. It was funny when I first found out because, hey, I just found out about this problem a few days ago and then I totally kill the odds and have it happen to me. Then I realize I'm going to have to spend $100+ to replace an Xbox that burnt up because of someone else's mistake. Now I'm just pissed.

So if anyone wants to help me finance my replacement Xbox, please click on the Amazon box at the right of the page and donate. Heck, if you donate like $5 or more and email me about it, I'll send you some cds, books, video games, or comics in the mail for free because I'm just that nice of a guy (and I'm sick of listing stuff on ebay and just want to get rid of it). So... won't you please help me out?

Oh, and I'll announce the Daisy Kutter contest winner early this week after I tally the votes and randomly pick the winner. Thanks for everyone's participation!

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