Here are the pictures of the jack-o-lanterns on my porch for Halloween this year. Don’t know if they’ll last all the way to halloween – we’ve had some damp, warm weather – but they are pretty cool now.
Category: Uncategorized Page 61 of 157
My afternoon sucked. Worked my brain off to get a project done and I was the only one left in the office so I couldn’t even vent about how annoyed I was that it came down to the wire like it did. Ugh. It was literally a two keystroke problem from years ago that got me to that point and my head will figuratively explode if I don’t let it go. So, here’s me letting it go – and on to a much better story.
I get home a little later than usual and I’ve skipped my swim. So, I’m cranky and annoyed – even more so because I have to switch over my internet provider. The university used to have a deal for discounted internet service with TWC – via payroll deduction. Which was very handy and convenient. And of course had to be stopped. If I don’t get it switched over by the end of the month, I don’t get “the deal” of $29.99 per month for a year. And by “switched over”, it’s just a billing thing. I already have service with TWC, I just need to get billed once a month instead of payroll deduction.
Never one to let “insult to injury” pass me by – even if it’s directed at myself – I call TWC and mentally gird my loins. Which I think means put on my big boy pants.
Now, I’ve got a set of instructions in front of me on how to get to a local sales rep – which is important because only the local folks know about the deal. I’m sorry – “the deal”.
I get past the voice prompts and the “hold commercials” that they were playing and finally talk to a dude. I’m going to call him Skippy – partly because I didn’t write down his name and partly so I’m not tempted to try and track him down and egg his house. (Oh, yeah, I could do it – don’t push me.)
So, Skippy is a local guy and knows what I’m talking about when I mention OBEN (Ohio Broadband Educational [yeah, right] Network). Yea!
And here’s where it starts to get ugly. I mean, it’s a slam dunk for him – there’s no sales pitch needed. If I’m calling about switching over, I’ve already made a commitment to get/continue the service. And, apparently, the shaft.
He tries to get me to sign up for cable TV and is so astonished that I don’t want it that I have to repeat myself. He also wants me to sign up for internet phone. I tell him “that my cell phone is sufficient” . To which Skippy’s response is to offer to transfer me over to Verizon when we’re done to sign up for cell phone service. Apparently, “sufficient” did not make his vocab-list and I have to explain to him that I’m actually calling him from a Verizon cell phone.
And now we’re both getting snippy. He asks me how many computers I have in the house – I tell him a computer and an iPad. He asks what I do on the internet; video games, downloading movies, etc.. I know where this is going – he’s going to try and push for “beyond the standard” package. I explain that I use it for surfing the web and skip the fact that my PS3 is online. He then asks me to verify my information and wants my social security number.
Really? Really.
Finally, he’s rolling on to his closing script and wanting my credit card number to charge me for the first month’s service. And the number is way too high. I interrupt him several times before he finally stops talking and I explain that this is an OBEN switch and that the deal is for $29.99 a month. He tells me that he knows that. I ask what the extra charge is for and he asks ‘what extra charge?” It takes a couple of tries before I can convince him to do math and discover that the number he wants to charge me is not the same as $29.99 and it is, in fact, higher. “Oh, he says,”That’s for the wireless setup”.
“What wireless set up? I already have a wireless router,”
“Well,” he huffs, “you said you had an iPad,”
“Yes, and it works with my wireless router,”
He goes away and comes back with a new number – also not correct and still higher than it should be.
I ask why it is still not the $29.99. He patiently explains to me as though I am an idiot that this is – of course – the modem rental fee.
I explain that I already have a modem and he gets all defensive. “This is the first he has heard about this,” he insists and goes away again. He comes back and now needs the serial number, the model number, and the MAC address of the modem – which was not in my notes. So, I unplug the modem and carefully read him a great honking pile of numbers, which seems to satisfy him for the moment.
Now, it’s time for him to schedule an appointment for the installation and he’s got me down for 8:00am on Freaking SATURDAY morning. I force my way into his script again to interrupt him and finally get him stopped. “Why do I need an installation?” I ask, with desperation in my voice, “It is already working,”
“Well,” he counters, “We have to have a technician make sure,”
For just a moment, just a moment, I consider running through the facts with him in a summary.
OBEN is simply a billing option through TWC. I’ve already had the service for nearly a year with no problems. I use my own router, my own modem, and it already works – and is in fact working while I was talking to him. (I could literally see the data pumping through my re-plugged in modem). He already has all my information because I’m already a customer. There’s no installation needed because it was already done by TWC.
And then I just gave up. Accepted the appointment. Thanked him for his help. Hung up the phone. And wept. I was beaten, bloodied, and bruised. The stupid won today. Not that I’m saying that Skippy was stupid – though I am implying that. No, the Stupid in this case refers to an inflexible process.
So, early on Saturday morning I need to be awake and ready to somehow explain to the technician that everything is still working that he doesn’t even need to get out his ladder. I’m guessing that sometime between now and then, my service will be shut off for no damn reason. That would be almost deliciously ironic. And all I’ll be able to say to that is, ‘Well played, Skippy, well played,”
Made a couple of updates to my site – mostly from my Hilton Head trip – but also added the photo I submitted for my major award.
My folks came up for visit this past Saturday. We met up with one of my friends and took his dogs for a nice long walk in a nearby state park, then headed back to my place to carve pumpkins.
I had already bought the pumpkins and a carving kit that included some tools and some patterns. Since I was the host, I did a simple design on mine so that I could help out if anyone needed anything.
The other three used the patterns provided – with varying degrees of success. My friend did well with his pumpkin and the little carving saws. Dad requested another small knife and I found a pocket knife for him to finish up his.
Mom ran into trouble with hers and we later discovered she had picked one of the “advanced” patterns. So, we all pitched in to help out – with Dad doing much of the work, me getting additional tools and supplies, and my friend sharing some ideas.
Our list of tools used:
1. Steak knives
2. A pocket knife
3. Two mini-saws
4. plastic pinwheel for marking the patterns.
5. plastic punch for knocking out sections.
6. a mallet and chisel
7. Toothpicks to repair loose sections of the design.
8. Sharpie markers.
9. plastic pumpkin guts scraper
The design mom did had mini jack-o-lanterns with tiny features. And the mini saws just weren’t up to the task. After struggling with this for a while, Dad turned to me and asked, “Do you have a drill?”
10. Drill
So, back to the basement I went and returned with a drill. We found a three prong outlet, plugged in the extension cord, and Dad drilled out the eyes of the mini jack-o-lanterns – enough that light would show through once we cleaned up the edges.
We got everything cleaned up, went out to dinner, and had pumpkin pie when we got back. Dad took his jack-o-lantern with him when they went home – the rest are sitting on my front porch waiting for a good night to light them up and get some photos.
Took myself to Kohl’s recently, found the clearance rack, and picked up 4 shirts for about $30. I’m always a little distrustful of the “sales hype” of Kohl’s but with a little luck there are some deals to be found.
In other shirt news, I went to the Rubber City Clothing company as part of the Akron Art Walk. Got the Route 8 sign printed in blue on a blue shirt. Very cool and subtle. The woman working at the shop (she called everyone “babe”, but I didn’t catch her name) – thought I made a good choice and commended me for thinking outside the box while she made up the shirt.
The Akron Art walk was a mixed bag. Some of the galleries were crazy over-priced and pretentious, but there were some really cool things too. The cool stuff included pottery with QR codes on them – and the codes pointed to Wikipedia entries on the types of pottery.
One area has a show that wasn’t meant to last – all the pieces were intended to be destroyed when the exhibit was done. And one of the pieces there had a bunch of objects that you were encouraged to use to make your own artwork. When done, we took a picture with the attached digital camera and left it for the next person to redo.
There was also an art contest and some really cool pieces to vote on. We voted on the guy shamelessly self-promoting himself with free samples.
Next up was a glass blowing demonstration. Very cool. Well, actually extra-fiery hot. But neat, yeah, that’s the word.
In my own art news… I’ve been working hard on my Halloween costume and having a lot of success. I completed one of the more complicated steps and was so excited I jumped up and down in place – much like a very excitable 3 year old I know.
I got to see that 3 year old on Sunday as his parents had us over for some freaking amazing home-made pizza. I helped the little dude assemble a plastic car and got to see his excited jumping again.
So, the costume should be wrapped up by the middle of this week – just two more steps to complete. Which puts me way ahead of schedule. Sorry, though, no hints in advance.
So, I’m at work earlier this week and on the phone with a user when the message light comes on my phone. Since the phone hadn’t rung, I assumed that someone – presumably my boss – had transferred a voice-mail to me. When I got off the phone I checked my voicemail and the sender was Broadcast box. That got me worried – this function is normally reserved as a Reverse-911 in an emergency. I log in and bring up the message.
And it’s a commercial.
From the head football coach.
He was encouraging all the faculty and staff to attend the Appreciation day and to get our “dagum season tickets”.
I lasted only a few second myself before I deleted the message – I heard the rest when my boss played the message on his speaker phone.
Really? This is a good use of our time and resources? And it gets worse.
Today, I got a call from the ticket office. Since I help this group with an online registration for sports camps, I picked up the call and mentally shifted into “online registration mode” since this system has some fairly complex rules.
The guy on the phone asked if I had plans to attend homecoming weekend and before I could answer, indicated that they are very excited about the basketball team. He then asked if how many basketball games I planned to attend. I replied that “I’m not really a fan”.
“Oh, ” he said, “Why not?”
At this point, my side of the conversation split into three tracks:
1. What I said, “I’m not really into sports,”
2. What I was thinking, “It’s boring and a waste of time,”
3. What I would have said if I’d had more time to think about it, “I’d rather play video games,” or, if I really wanted to mess with him, “I NEVER LEARNED HOW TO READ!”
He replied, “Why is that? Don’t like the atmosphere…?”
1. What I said, “You know, I’m at work and I really need to get back to that. I think we should just end this call,”
2. What I was thinking, “You are annoying the shit out of me,”
3. What I would have said if I’d had more time to think about it, “I really just hate other people and can’t stand to be around them,” or “I’m deathly afraid of kangaroos,”
I managed to hang up without being a total jerk-face – though I really wish it was in my nature to do that every so often. Yes, I know it’s his job and he’s supposed to try to forcibly extract a season ticket from me. Yes, I know I should give a damn about the sports teams here or at least pretend better.
But, really, I just couldn’t care less. I just want to put in my 8 hours and then get the hell out of here.
Two times in the same week – I got telemarketed by my own employer.
I got a call on my cell phone yesterday from “unavailable”, but there was no one there after I said hello several times. I’m guessing that this was notification that the work was done. When I got home, everything was working again. Would have been nice to know what caused the line to go out in the first place, but at least it’s working again. All that’s left to do is restock the freezer with frozen french bread pizza and I’ll be good to go. I learned a lot about how my house works from this experience – and consider myself pretty lucky that it wasn’t any worse.
Saturday morning, I discovered water on my kitchen floor. My stand-alone freezer had stopped working. I figured I’d need to be making some calls so I plugged in my phone to charge while I did some clean up. The little food I had in there was a loss and it took me a bit to get the water cleaned up. I also started a load of laundry in the washer in the basement. Went upstairs and noticed that the alarm clock in my room wasn’t working. Back downstairs and noticed that my phone wasn’t charging. Did more investigation and found:
1. Most of of the kitchen, including the microwave and fridge were fine. One of the lights, an outlet, and the freezer were not.
2. The rest of the first floor (including the playstation and internet, thankfully) and the basement were fine, except for the dryer. (note that I had already stared a load of laundry in the washer).
3. There’s a centipede the size of a gopher next to the washer.
4. The second floor, except for a few outlets here and there, was dark. My closet light still worked, but not my overhead light or the outlet with my alarm clock. The bathroom was also dark.
5. No breakers were thrown – though I reset them just in case, including the main. The problems were on both sides of the panel and didn’t seem to have a pattern. I also checked the meter outside and it was still spinning.
So, I called the home warranty company and the automated system promised to dispatch a technician – within 24-48 hours. I took some showers in the dark by flashlight and had my alarm clock in the other room.
This morning, the Total Tech Electric contacted me and set up an appointment. The technician was very helpful and checked things out – and found that the problem was not in my house. Instead he said that it was one of the lines coming into my house and that it feed every other breaker. So, it only looked like an inside problem without a pattern.
They charged me $55 for the service call and suggested I call the power company. I used the automated system to report a partial lose of power and they estimated a repair time by 1:30 today.
So, I got off pretty easy on this one. Hopefully, I should have full power back on when I get home.
Last evening, I attended the 10th Annual Office of Multicultural Diversity Scholarship and Awards dinner. The office wanted to recognize me for the help I’ve given them over the years and they named me a Campus Partner. Which was pretty cool.
The evening started with pictures of the recipients, snacks, and a silent auction. The dinner was pretty good and the company at the table was a little… off-beat. 🙂
There were awards for outstanding students, scholarship recipients, community leaders. Most of the students did not have speeches prepared – though nearly all of the adults were prepared. I took the middle ground of writing some notes on a small piece of a paper, leaving that paper at the table when I got up to get my plaque, and then winging it.
One funny note. I’m friends with the event organizer and she is a big fan of my Halloween costumes and considered using them in the powerpoint. She decided not to at the last minute and didn’t tell the presenter. He directed everyone’s attention to the screen – and there were no photos to see. A little awkward – I then mentioned that I had submitted a zombie photo, but thought the dress shirt and tie was a little more appropriate.
So, I got a free dinner and a nice plaque out of it. Think I may hang that up in my office.
1. So, a big thank you to my Former Co-Worker and his family for the invite. My friend and I had a great time with them and I think we all got along really well.
2. I got a great tan from the trip and decided to grow a beard. Pictures of these and a few beefcake (sort of) speedo pics of me will be forthcoming. I also helped my FCW and his family get some beach photos – looking forward to seeing those.
3. The drive back was really really long, but I had loaded up my flash drives with music and it made things go a little faster.
4. The final dinner out was at Aunt Chileta’s – a restaurant my friend had been trying to go to for years and always missed out on. After all the hype, the food was “just okay”.
5. I didn’t buy any HHI merchandise, though I was tempted a few times by a sweet hat.
6. It was great to get away for a week and though we didn’t do much except hang out on the beach, it was so relaxing that I’m not really dreading going back to work. My friends remarked that I was unusually friendly to strangers on the beach, guess time will tell if that lasts.
So, there’s my beach trip. I’ll get some photos posted soon once I do a little editing. Time to get these posted and enjoy the cool Ohio day. Maybe wash my car, maybe play some video games, maybe do a little cleaning. In any case, I’m going to enjoy the peace and quiet before heading back to work.