y.st./source/pages/en/weblog/2017/04-April/07.xhtml

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$xhtml = array(
	'title' => "A \$5 $a[USD] gift card",
	'body' => <<<END
<section id="general">
	<h2>General news</h2>
	<p>
		I stopped at a yard sale on the way to claim my \$5 $a[USD] gift card.
		They didn&apos;t have anything I needed, but their gratis box had a couple coaxial cables in it.
		I don&apos;t really need those now, but they could come in handy in the future, so I grabbed those.
	</p>
	<p>
		I arrived at the parking lot where the gift card claiming (and car peddling) was supposed to happen, but I couldn&apos;t see where I was supposed to go.
		A stranger saw me staring at the provided map, and told me the giveaway&apos;s a sham.
		They&apos;d just come back from there with a \$5 $a[USD] gift card, but had gone in expecting the big prize.
		Why would they expect the big prize!?
		Of course they didn&apos;t win that!
		Taking a look at the flyer, I guess the winning number is kind of close to the image of the big prize, but at the same time, there are less numbers there than prizes.
		It seems like anyone with any power of observation would&apos;ve noticed the numbers didn&apos;t correspond with any of the provided images, and that the images were just to show off the possible prizes.
		I guess this was probably well-planned though to sucker idiots into getting excited.
		I explained I already knew I was only getting a \$5 $a[USD] gift card, and asked for directions to the claim area.
		It turns out the map was completely useless, aside from making sure I was at the right lot to begin with.
		It also showed the placement of a few local businesses, so I knew what lot to go to even without knowing the address of the lot in question.
	</p>
	<p>
		At the lot, I told the salesperson I&apos;d received a flyer in the mail saying I&apos;d won a five-dollar gift card, and they right then tried to get my hopes up further, saying there were also other prizes.
		Ha.
		Yeah.
		Right.
		There&apos;s a less than one percent chance of winning another prize, and a greater than ninety-nine percent chance of getting the low-value gift card.
		Probably for legal reasons, they put the odd right there on the flyer.
		They checked the flyer against their prize board (as they <strong>*should*</strong> do, just in case I was wrong about getting the low prize), then checked the flyer of a teenager that showed up as well.
		As expected, we both won the consolation prize.
		We talked a bit while the salesperson went inside their temporary building to retrieve the cards, and it sounds like the teenager also ran into the same disgruntled consolation-prize-winner that I did.
		They didn&apos;t seem too upset themself though, so I expect they knew they hadn&apos;t won any big prizes before coming by either.
		Personally, I&apos;m happy with the consolation prize, seeing as I didn&apos;t even pay to enter the contest, and might very well go back tomorrow to claim another.
		I wonder what the salesperson will say.
	</p>
	<p>
		Google locked me out of my account again.
		I wrote to them twice about it, but they refuse to let me back into it and they refuse to tell me what more they want from me.
		I&apos;m done with this.
		I set up that account to deal with my mother.
		My mother insisted on reaching me via telephone $a[SMS] instead of basic email, despite the fact that their device/carrier (like most) allows them to send messages that are $a[SMS] messages on their end and emails on mine.
		They insisted upon sending to a blasted telephone number and not an email address.
		Furthermore, they were always peeved by the fact that my number is unstable.
		When I switch carriers, my number changes.
		I don&apos;t identify as a particular number though, using a telephone number is identical to using a number as one&apos;s chat handle.
		It&apos;s like using $a[IP] addresses directly instead of domain names.
		It&apos;s idiotic.
		In any case, the Google Voice number allowed me to maintain a stable telephone number for my mother without resorting to drastic measures, such as telephone number porting or staying with the same carrier even when better deals come along.
		However, starting a new account doesn&apos;t allow me to keep the same number, so if Google&apos;s going to keep locking me out like this, a Google Voice number serves me no purpose.
		As of today, I&apos;m done with Google Voice.
	</p>
	<p>
		My knees were sore on my way to, at, and on my way from work.
		Riding around town all the time wears me out.
		Only nine more days though, then the giveaway ends.
	</p>
	<p>
		When I got home from work, my doorknob was locked.
		Here&apos;s the thing though: I never bother to lock my doorknob from the outside.
		When I&apos;m in my apartment, I lock the deadbolt, and sometimes, I let my hand fall a little lower and lock the doorknob too.
		But when I go out, I don&apos;t even bother to stick the key into the second keyhole.
		Someone with a key&apos;s been in my apartment and locked up when they were done.
		I suspect it was the property manager.
		What were they doing in my home without giving me notice first?
		This isn&apos;t the first time this has happened, either, though previously, it was only when I hadn&apos;t really moved my stuff in yet, so I was less concerned; it wasn&apos;t yet truly my home.
	</p>
	<p>
		Yesterday, or perhaps the day before, I received a change-of-address sticker from the $a[DMV] in the mail.
		Today, I received another.
		Why is the $a[DMV] sending me two?
		Upon closer examination, one is for my non-driving $a[ID] card that the <a href="/en/weblog/2016/07-July/11.xhtml">$a[DMV] voided</a> when I got the learner&apos;s permit my mother pressured me into, and the other is for the active permit.
		I <strong>*wish*</strong> I could just discard the permit and go back to the basic $a[ID] card, but it doesn&apos;t work that way.
		Only the permit is currently valid.
		So why did the $a[DMV] send me a change-of-address sticker for my old $a[ID] card?
		It must still be active in their system, somehow.
	</p>
	<p>
		My <a href="/a/canary.txt">canary</a> still sings the tune of freedom and transparency.
	</p>
</section>
<section id="university">
	<h2>University life</h2>
	<p>
		Like yesterday, I didn&apos;t stay on task well, and didn&apos;t get as much coursework done as I&apos;d like to have.
		I did make progress though.
	</p>
	<p>
		My program advisor wrote to me today asking why I haven&apos;t started my coursework yet.
		Strange!
		It seems there&apos;s no indication that I&apos;ve even logged into the university website this term.
		It&apos;s true I haven&apos;t submitted anything yet, but my advisor specifically mentioned a lack of log ins as well.
	</p>
</section>
END
);