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ostarellaFirst, the Mediacom fiasco. I last spoke to them on May 10. I offered to pay what had been owed before the disconnect, plus that infamous $25 service charge. In return, they would reconnect my service and we'd go on as if nothing had happened. Well, they were willing to drop the reconnect charge, but not the month in advance. When I reminded them that the only reason there had been a disconnect was their failure to let me know about the service charge, I was told I should have called them to find out what it was.
Silly me. I thought businesses called the customer, not the other way around.
So after I told the woman to tell her supervisor to stick it up his ass, she told me they would be at the house on May 12, between 8 AM and noon, to pick up their $400-plus equipment.
As of today, their equipment is still sitting in a box on the porch. Waiting. And getting quite dusty.
So - next on the agenda was to find a new source for the internet and television. Frankly, I could do without the television part but my brother insisted, so... I'd talked to several people in town over the past couple of weeks and they all said, go with CenturyLink. High-speed DSL for the internet (same as I had with cable) and DishNetwork for television. (And all had the same expression when they mentioned Mediacom - they are not a favorite in my town.) Called CenturyLink, very very helpful people - all set up for connection. The DishNetwork installer showed up on Friday.
We have, as I'm sure most of you know by now, a lot of trees. I mean, a LOT of trees. Which is a problem for satellite dishes. And I knew that going into it - so my son (the techno genius) and I had determined that the best place for the dish would either be the second story porch or the toolhouse (which would mean running a cable to the house). Both places had unobstructed views of the sky where their satellite is.
The installer had other ideas - I think from the moment he saw the trees. He didn't even look at "our" locations, but instead climbed his ladder to the roof, saw the moss (which he told me would be 'very dangerous' to the installer) and declared that there was no way they could put up a dish.
So, he called his people and explained that he couldn't put up a dish and his supervisor wanted to talk to me. He asked if I wanted a second opinion and I said sure. What could it hurt, right? So Monday the super showed up, took one look at the house, the trees and the yard in general, and then pointed to the toolhouse, asking if that was ours. I won't claim to know more than the experts, but he decided right then and there that that was the place to put the dish and run an underground cable from there to the house. Like, I know that! So they came yesterday morning to put up the dish.
That whole thing was pretty uneventful. Other than freaking the installer out when he saw the rifle next to the door. Oh, and Fang got totally freaked out by having a strange person in the house and spent all day (long after the guy left) under the bed upstairs. Poor little girl...
The internet connection was a whole 'nother story, being DSL and I having no house phone, just my cell. But lo and behold, it seems that the underground phone line had never been taken out - all I had to do was plug the computer into the phone jack and I would be all set.
Except that my son and I had disconnected the phone jack a couple years ago...
See, we'd had a dial phone for decades - and my mom never saw any reason to switch to a touch tone. Then when my mom went downhill, we had a new phone put in and they'd just wired a new jack into the old one. So there was this long phone cord running from the old jack to the new one - two rooms away. (Don't ask me why they did it that way - somebody's driveway didn't go all the way to the street.) So, since we didn't need the house phone, we took out the wiring and new jack.
Enter high-speed DSL...
Now, anyone who knows me well knows that I procrastinate. Not deliberately - it just seems like there's nothing terribly important about getting things done RIGHT NOW. Later will generally suffice. So the phone cord which was supposed to go to recycling had never quite gotten there. Rummaging a bit through the box of equally ancient electronics destined (at some point) for the recyclers, I found (along with several nasty-looking spiders and sundry other unknown things) the phone cord. Not the old jack, but a quick run to the store took care of that.
Installation complete.
So I am back. With 200 TV channels (of which we will probably watch four or five consistently) and DSL at the same speed as the cable had been and a $50/month savings over The Inept Mediacom...
For the rest of my experiences over the last OMG month away from you-all, continue reading at your own risk...
I hurt my hip a couple weeks ago. I don't know how, but I did a number on it. Sharp stabbing pain any time I put weight on it or took weight off it - or moved it. Or didn't move it. If I sat, stood, walked or lay down. And only being on the job a month, one doesn't call in and say, I'm going to be off indefinitely until this thing works itself out (since I still don't have insurance and have more pressing things to put my hard-earned money into - like food). So I was going to work filled with painkillers and covered in Icy Hot - and not having either do much good.
So I'm pulling heavy pallets and stretching and lifting and standing and walking and finally developed a kind of sailor's gait to move without fainting. Of course, it just happened that this included the week I had to work 38 hours instead of my usual 32... And then I'd get home, crawl out of the truck and lay on the couch, groaning for sympathy from the menagerie. And they were very sympathetic, let me tell you. Ever seen an animal wrinkle their nose? That's what mentholated cream does for them...
Last Sunday morning I got home and slept off and on most of the day. That night my brother said I suddenly got up from the computer, went over to the couch and passed out. He tried to wake me several times and couldn't (he was actually getting concerned that I was truly passed out and not just sleeping). But I slept from sometime around 5 Sunday afternoon until nearly 8 Monday morning. Woke up and my hip was almost normal for most of the day. That lasted until I went to work Tuesday. Had last night off but now have to work three nights in a row again. God only knows...
And, last but not least, I'm still trying to get the city to repair the lawn from the snowplow damage. I've only been trying for the last two months. A week and a half ago I actually talked to the man in charge, who said, depending on rain, they would get it done that week. Well, we've had rain and sun (and 90 degree heat) and it still isn't done.
I called the clerk (again) and said I was now past frustration and was thoroughly into annoyed. Very difficult to mow when there's an 8 foot long, 9 inch wide, 7 inch deep divot in the lawn - and that's only one of four. I figure it gets done this week or I'm going to start harassing the mayor. And man, I know how to harass politicians!
But there is good news - my son will be home June 5 for his birthday visit!!!! A whole 8 days of getting to be Mom again! Made sure I asked for the 12th off - that's his birthday plus the night before he heads back to the coast. Definitely don't want to work that night!
Oh, and I am writing - just finished Chapter 71 of Covenant so will be shooting that off to my betas. Took a bit longer as I couldn't sit for very long at the computer (see hip above :p) Can't remember if I mentioned this before but I have actually done a general outline of the remainder of the story so I know what has to be covered (generally) in which chapters. At this point it looks like 80 total chapters and a short epilogue. So the end is definitely in sight - FINALLY!
I'm also looking at a camper at one of the local car dealers. Not the greatest shape, but it's a possible. Hell of a lot closer to possible now that I have an income, too :D And since my brother is now talking about giving up his "local" law practice and just working federal cases (and thus would be able to give up his office, sell his house in the Cities and move to Spring Valley), it's probably a good thing if I can find a way to get away from the house. Not that he and I don't get along - but I can't smoke in the house when he's there. How's that for a radical solution? LOL
And last - in the month since I started working, I've lost 10 pounds! I thought my belt had just stretched out (being one of those loosely woven things) along with my jeans but stepped on the scale the other day and WOW!
OMG - look how long this thing has gotten! Gawd. Well, anyway, have a ton of emails to get through and catch up with my boards and sites and... everything!!!!
Finally...
Silly me. I thought businesses called the customer, not the other way around.
So after I told the woman to tell her supervisor to stick it up his ass, she told me they would be at the house on May 12, between 8 AM and noon, to pick up their $400-plus equipment.
As of today, their equipment is still sitting in a box on the porch. Waiting. And getting quite dusty.
So - next on the agenda was to find a new source for the internet and television. Frankly, I could do without the television part but my brother insisted, so... I'd talked to several people in town over the past couple of weeks and they all said, go with CenturyLink. High-speed DSL for the internet (same as I had with cable) and DishNetwork for television. (And all had the same expression when they mentioned Mediacom - they are not a favorite in my town.) Called CenturyLink, very very helpful people - all set up for connection. The DishNetwork installer showed up on Friday.
We have, as I'm sure most of you know by now, a lot of trees. I mean, a LOT of trees. Which is a problem for satellite dishes. And I knew that going into it - so my son (the techno genius) and I had determined that the best place for the dish would either be the second story porch or the toolhouse (which would mean running a cable to the house). Both places had unobstructed views of the sky where their satellite is.
The installer had other ideas - I think from the moment he saw the trees. He didn't even look at "our" locations, but instead climbed his ladder to the roof, saw the moss (which he told me would be 'very dangerous' to the installer) and declared that there was no way they could put up a dish.
So, he called his people and explained that he couldn't put up a dish and his supervisor wanted to talk to me. He asked if I wanted a second opinion and I said sure. What could it hurt, right? So Monday the super showed up, took one look at the house, the trees and the yard in general, and then pointed to the toolhouse, asking if that was ours. I won't claim to know more than the experts, but he decided right then and there that that was the place to put the dish and run an underground cable from there to the house. Like, I know that! So they came yesterday morning to put up the dish.
That whole thing was pretty uneventful. Other than freaking the installer out when he saw the rifle next to the door. Oh, and Fang got totally freaked out by having a strange person in the house and spent all day (long after the guy left) under the bed upstairs. Poor little girl...
The internet connection was a whole 'nother story, being DSL and I having no house phone, just my cell. But lo and behold, it seems that the underground phone line had never been taken out - all I had to do was plug the computer into the phone jack and I would be all set.
Except that my son and I had disconnected the phone jack a couple years ago...
See, we'd had a dial phone for decades - and my mom never saw any reason to switch to a touch tone. Then when my mom went downhill, we had a new phone put in and they'd just wired a new jack into the old one. So there was this long phone cord running from the old jack to the new one - two rooms away. (Don't ask me why they did it that way - somebody's driveway didn't go all the way to the street.) So, since we didn't need the house phone, we took out the wiring and new jack.
Enter high-speed DSL...
Now, anyone who knows me well knows that I procrastinate. Not deliberately - it just seems like there's nothing terribly important about getting things done RIGHT NOW. Later will generally suffice. So the phone cord which was supposed to go to recycling had never quite gotten there. Rummaging a bit through the box of equally ancient electronics destined (at some point) for the recyclers, I found (along with several nasty-looking spiders and sundry other unknown things) the phone cord. Not the old jack, but a quick run to the store took care of that.
Installation complete.
So I am back. With 200 TV channels (of which we will probably watch four or five consistently) and DSL at the same speed as the cable had been and a $50/month savings over The Inept Mediacom...
For the rest of my experiences over the last OMG month away from you-all, continue reading at your own risk...
I hurt my hip a couple weeks ago. I don't know how, but I did a number on it. Sharp stabbing pain any time I put weight on it or took weight off it - or moved it. Or didn't move it. If I sat, stood, walked or lay down. And only being on the job a month, one doesn't call in and say, I'm going to be off indefinitely until this thing works itself out (since I still don't have insurance and have more pressing things to put my hard-earned money into - like food). So I was going to work filled with painkillers and covered in Icy Hot - and not having either do much good.
So I'm pulling heavy pallets and stretching and lifting and standing and walking and finally developed a kind of sailor's gait to move without fainting. Of course, it just happened that this included the week I had to work 38 hours instead of my usual 32... And then I'd get home, crawl out of the truck and lay on the couch, groaning for sympathy from the menagerie. And they were very sympathetic, let me tell you. Ever seen an animal wrinkle their nose? That's what mentholated cream does for them...
Last Sunday morning I got home and slept off and on most of the day. That night my brother said I suddenly got up from the computer, went over to the couch and passed out. He tried to wake me several times and couldn't (he was actually getting concerned that I was truly passed out and not just sleeping). But I slept from sometime around 5 Sunday afternoon until nearly 8 Monday morning. Woke up and my hip was almost normal for most of the day. That lasted until I went to work Tuesday. Had last night off but now have to work three nights in a row again. God only knows...
And, last but not least, I'm still trying to get the city to repair the lawn from the snowplow damage. I've only been trying for the last two months. A week and a half ago I actually talked to the man in charge, who said, depending on rain, they would get it done that week. Well, we've had rain and sun (and 90 degree heat) and it still isn't done.
I called the clerk (again) and said I was now past frustration and was thoroughly into annoyed. Very difficult to mow when there's an 8 foot long, 9 inch wide, 7 inch deep divot in the lawn - and that's only one of four. I figure it gets done this week or I'm going to start harassing the mayor. And man, I know how to harass politicians!
But there is good news - my son will be home June 5 for his birthday visit!!!! A whole 8 days of getting to be Mom again! Made sure I asked for the 12th off - that's his birthday plus the night before he heads back to the coast. Definitely don't want to work that night!
Oh, and I am writing - just finished Chapter 71 of Covenant so will be shooting that off to my betas. Took a bit longer as I couldn't sit for very long at the computer (see hip above :p) Can't remember if I mentioned this before but I have actually done a general outline of the remainder of the story so I know what has to be covered (generally) in which chapters. At this point it looks like 80 total chapters and a short epilogue. So the end is definitely in sight - FINALLY!
I'm also looking at a camper at one of the local car dealers. Not the greatest shape, but it's a possible. Hell of a lot closer to possible now that I have an income, too :D And since my brother is now talking about giving up his "local" law practice and just working federal cases (and thus would be able to give up his office, sell his house in the Cities and move to Spring Valley), it's probably a good thing if I can find a way to get away from the house. Not that he and I don't get along - but I can't smoke in the house when he's there. How's that for a radical solution? LOL
And last - in the month since I started working, I've lost 10 pounds! I thought my belt had just stretched out (being one of those loosely woven things) along with my jeans but stepped on the scale the other day and WOW!
OMG - look how long this thing has gotten! Gawd. Well, anyway, have a ton of emails to get through and catch up with my boards and sites and... everything!!!!
Finally...
no subject
Date: 2010-05-27 08:02 pm (UTC)Sorry to hear about the hip. Naturally these things happen when you can't take the time off to heal!
I'll take a look at that Covenant chapter tomorrow. Heh, I thought you'd come back with five or six of them, but if like Billy you haven't been able to sit in front of the PC that's understandable.