I'm soliciting quotes to have a chimney repair done. Of the four places I called, two came over promptly. One hasn't called back yet (though to be fair it's only been a few hours). And one called back promptly, but...he wants to charge me $85 to produce a quote.

File this under "Ill Considered" and "Misconfiguration"

Okay, here's one that defies all logic and explanation.

At 2:00 AM, Spike broadcasts Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (DS9). This is an hour-long show including commercials. Comcast in Boston airs Spike on channel 33.

Comcast in Boston also airs EWTN (religious programming) on channel 33.

Cleaning out one of my mailboxes, I noticed a notification from US Airways informing me that, due to the cost of fuel, they have implemented a $25 charge for a second piece of checked baggage.

Since it's weight that causes more fuel to be used, they ought to be charging passengers by pounds of baggage times number of miles traveled rather than by the piece. Clearly they're just trying to extract more money from passengers, using fuel as the scapegoat.

US Airways, the contempt you hold your customers in is one of the reasons I avoid flying you anywhere.