Some followups:

Dell finally paid me back for my returned 8500 laptop! No restocking fee, and I'm only out $40 for shipping, plus the three or four hours I spent on hold for customer support. That's with the super cheap shipping plus insurance. It could have been much worse, and now I have a gorgeous new Sony Vaio GRV680, with a beautiful 16" screen plus a keyboard that's a dream to type on.

And being the responsible citizen that I am, I waited until the last possible day to pay bail on my citation for crossing the street against an invisible red light. For this particular indiscretion, I'm out $91 for the fine alone. But, when I went to pay my bail online (you have no idea how weird it feels to type that), www.lasuperiorcourt.org was nowhere to be found. They'll probably be coming to get me soon. If I owe you money or a favor, you better collect it fast.

posted by Lorna Brown at 6:23 AM