I started out by heading to WalMart and buying my phone (you can only use a phone purchased specifically through their service) and the phone service card. Then I set about activating it. My first issue was with the fact that the company does not tell you that it is a prepaid phone plan. Yes, they say “no contracts,” (by which they mean no time commitments although you are still required to agree to a contract) but there are certain month to month plans through actual cell phone companies that don’t have time commitments either. Personally, I hate the idea of a pre-paid 30 day contract because that means if you forget to pay your bill, you lose phone service immediately. I had to subscribe to their auto-pay system to ensure I wouldn’t lose service, which also meant that I risked forgetting the bill was coming and over drafting my bank account at the end of every month.

Then came the terrible customer service. When I registered, my T-Mobile phone number was supposed to transfer over to my new phone…but it didn’t. Instead, my phone number stopped working, but I could still somehow make calls from my new Straight Talk phone. When I called the outsourced customer support, they used my phone number as the account number, which meant that they couldn’t find my account. When they finally did look it up using a bunch of wonky work arounds, they finally got my phone to receive incoming calls, but the internet still didn’t work on the device, which was supposed to be included in the plan. I ignored this problem because I didn’t really need the internet, but I still find it odd that no one could help me to get the internet working, nor did they even care.

Later on, I couldn’t access my account on their website because you can only log in with your phone number. I called support again (went through the complex work around to get them to find my account without the phone number) and found out the number was still somehow not in their system. Until the number was in their system, I couldn’t get online with my account –even though I had originally signed up to the service online with that phone number!

Within a month, I found out that I still had a few months left on my T-Mobile contract and I wasn’t particularly impressed with Straight Talk, so I opted to switch back. Enter nightmare ordeal #2. To keep my old number (which was fairly important since I just sent out a bunch of resumes with the number on it), I had to have Straight Talk release my number. Big problem.

Remember how they couldn’t transfer my number at first? Yeah, it turns out they never actually fixed that. Somehow my phone number was sitting in limbo and although I received calls, they never actually activated the number. So in order to get my number back, they had to release it, but they couldn’t find it in the system to do so.

The representative at the T-Mobile store spent an hour on the phone with them trying to get them to figure this out and fix the problem and eventually I was instructed to “call back next week and we should have it fixed.” So I do, and the woman who answers the phone has no idea what I’m talking about, even when I tell her from the beginning “I need to speak to your elevated level of customer service.” Finally, after the eighth explanation, she says “ok, let me put you through to the elevated level of customer service.” When I get through to someone who actually knows what they’re talking about, they tell me “call again next week.” A week later, the phone number just transfers on its own.

After the whole experience, I decide to sell my Straight Talk phone because I obviously had no intention of ever working with the company again. So I sell it on Craigslist, thinking the people can just activate it and that will be the end of it. Unfortunately, Straight Talk won’t activate it for someone else without all of my personal info, so the strangers I sell it to have to keep calling me back asking for my old address, my mother’s maiden name and my birthday. If I had known that selling my phone could have opened me up to identity theft, I would have just sent the phone to the recycler.

Every single step of the way my experience with Straight Talk has been horrendous and I hope that sharing my story will at least dissuade a few people from ever trying their service, at least until they improve things dramatically.

It’s been years since I stopped by BJ’s in La Mesa, but I always knew they had a great happy hour, so we headed out there yesterday to see if it was still around. As luck would have it, the restaurant’s happy hour hasn’t changed a bit. All of their mini pizzas are half price, drinks are a dollar off and appetizers are two dollars off. Of course, the prices for everything are rather pricey, so this just means everything is reasonable instead of inflated.

We went ahead and ordered the piranha nachos as an appetizer and I ordered their Irish Root Beer. The nachos were good, but a few chips were burned and their salsa has always been a bit strange. The smokey chipotle flavor is just a bit off when paired with the sweetness of the rest of the flavors. Unfortunately, you can’t have nachos without salsa, so we just tried to go light on the salsa. While the chili, cheese, olives, sour cream, tomatoes and other toppings were tasty, I think I’d skip this $9.25 appetizer ($7.25 during happy hour) in the future, unless they get a new salsa.

As for my drink, the Irish Root Beer was pure heaven. With the restaurant’s own root beer, Baileys, BOLS butterscotch schnapps and Jameson whiskey, it was the perfect blend of sweet and bitter. Over all, it had a taste of a root beer float, but the sweet bite of the Jameson made it all the more delightful. At $7.75 per glass ($6.75 during happy hour) it’s a little on the pricey side, but the size and flavor made it worth the expense.

For dinner, we went for the mini pizzas. BJ’s specialties are its beers and pizzas, so I knew we’d be in for a treat no matter what we ordered, so we went for the exotic and tried the Mediterranean, with Kalmata olives, grilled chicken, tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, pesto, feta cheese, pepperchinis and garlic, and the bacon cheeseburger, with ground beef, red onions, bacon, pickles, tomatoes, cheddar cheese and thousand island dressing. Both of the pizzas were tasty, but the Mediterranean had quite a few less toppings than appeared on the pizza, although the taste was still an excellent blend of all the ingredients. The cheeseburger pizza was a treat for the tongue as the flavors of the pickles and dressing were unexpected, but entirely pleasant. I would highly recommend either pizza, particularly for the happy hour price of $5 each during the happy hour special.

I ended up with enough left overs to have lunch the next day, which meant I was too stuffed to try the pizzokie, which looked quite tasty. But, to correct that omission in our meal, I’ll be making home made pizzokies later and then sharing the recipe with you all soon. And if you run by a BJ’s, give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.

While the menu options are the exact same, even the trademark Buenos Dias burrito with potatoes, beans and eggs, the prices have risen as much as a dollar per item. You can even see the old prices shining through the menu board, mocking you for having spent more than you really should have.

For me though, the real disappointment was the food. While the restaurant was once one of the rare taco shops that wasn’t too greasy and cooked everything to perfection, the food has taken a nosedive. The carne asada was chewy; the beans, flavorless and greasy; the tortillas, stale; and, worst of all the potatoes in my once-beloved Buenos Dias burrito were crunchy and undercooked.

If you had once enjoyed the restaurant, it’s best to leave your memories the way they were and simply avoid the location at all costs.

In one day, my opinion of marshmallows has changed forever. Prior to trying to Plush Puffs I thought of mallows as merely a tool for making certain desserts, like s’mores and rice squares. With Plush Puffs though, the marshmallow is all you need for dessert.

These light, fluffy bits of heaven are sweet and flavorful. The brand has six standard flavors, including Simply S’mores and Peppi-Mint, and claims they are willing to custom make flavors as well.

I tried the Caramel Swirl, Luscious Lemon Meringue and the Chocolate Chippetta and found each flavor to have its own magical kick. The caramel was bursting with light, sweet caramel, just hovering short of the delicate line of too sweet. The lemon had a delightful tang reminiscent of my mother’s lemon bars. The chocolate was dusted in cocoa powder and fitted with a sprinkling of chocolate chips making it a perfect after dinner snack.

Best of all, these tiny indulgences are incredibly healthy considering how delectable they are. Five mallows will land you only 70 calories and 0 grams of fat. For those of you looking to fight processed foods, they contain no corn syrup or artificial preservatives either.

If you ever get the chance to try these wonderful goodies, don’t pass it up. I assure you, they are worth the price.

They have great to go options. Their food is inexpensive and you get a good quantity. So it’s awesome to run over and pick up some Mimi’s on the run rather than hitting a drive thru and it’s way healthier.
Mimi’s cafe
Assorted locations across the country
Price: $$$ (Each $ represents a $5 increment)
Rating: 4.5

The muffins, French onion soup and fruity bread are fantastic. They are all exceptionally rich and flavorful.

My favorite dinner dish is the scallop ratatouille ravioli. It has a few huge scallops, salmon, multi-colored ravioli with an excellent ratatouille filling of tomatoes, eggplant and other yumminess.

For breakfast, they have a mind-blowingly awesome stuffed French toast with a cream cheese and orange marmalade filling. The whole thing is covered in a selection of fresh berries and powdered sugar.

Considering most of items are under $15 a person, this is a good safe bet for lunch or dinner whatever metropolitan city you are in.

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