Marvelous Monday - late

I had been waiting all day to find out where we stood, but I had already shut down the computer by the time they announced it.

We are officially out of the drought.

We are still under watering restrictions because we have to stay out of a drought for at least four months to get those lifted, but Lake Allatoona is full and Lanier is at full winter pool and still rising (with more rain predicted most every day this week).

A Funny for Friday

Excerpts from a Dog's Diary......

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk Bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

Excerpts from a Cat's Diary......

Day 983 of my captivity...

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.

Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am.

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.

The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now ...

Day 983 of my captivity...

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.

Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am.

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.

The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now ...

Marvelous Monday - late

I was so busy with invoicing that I completely forgot to post my optimistic note yesterday, but actually the two are related. My good this for this week is that I finished the March invoicing yesterday afternoon. This is the first time I've finished it that early and, all in all, it went rather smoothly.

Boss even commented on how early it was and asked what was different. I attribute it to two things.

Firstly, I was especially careful in preparing for it.

Secondly, I did a better job of keeping people at bay so I could concentrate on invoicing and invoicing alone.

Now to catch up on everything that had to sit while I invoiced.

TO COMCAST

This is the saga of our experience with Comcast phone and internet. It is also the cancellation letter that accompanied the equipment we returned to them.

On February 10 I went online to see about modifying our Comcast service. I had three things in mind: upgrading to digital cable with one converter box, adding local and long distance phone service, and adding internet service. I eventually found my way to an online chat with Nadia. I explained what I wanted and we scheduled installation for Saturday, February 21 between 8 and 11 am.

At 12:30 pm on the 21st, I called 1-800-COMCAST and asked where the technician was. I was told we had rescheduled the appointment for Tuesday, February 24. Neither my husband nor I talked to anyone about rescheduling, and if we had it would NOT have been for the 24th as we would not be available that day.

That’s one.

Our only option at that point was to reschedule for Saturday, February 28th, between 8 and 11 am and the technician would call when he was on the way to our house. The technician arrived around 9. He did not call when he was on his way. I can overlook that mistake, but his work order said nothing about upgrading the cable service and he had no converter boxes with him.

That’s two.

He got the internet service working and got a dial tone working. After we made sure the phone worked with our alarm system he left. My husband picked up his laptop and booted – and couldn’t get online. Your technician had disconnected our WiFi router.

That’s three.

After looking around a bit more, I discovered that he had also walked off with one of my USB cables.

That’s four.

While we were out on Sunday afternoon, a Miss Manning from Comcast left a message asking that we call her to let her know how the installation went. When I called the number she left, I got a recording saying that number had been disconnected.

That’s five.

Monday she called again and talked to my husband. When he told her that the technician had disconnected our WiFi router, she replied that we had not ordered WiFi and we would have to pay an additional $150 to have our own router reconnected.

That’s six.

My husband told Miss Manning that she would have to talk to me about the digital cable upgrade. Like my husband, I expressed my dissatisfaction with the idea of paying Comcast to reconnect my router and she finally agreed to waive the installation fees for phone and internet hookup. I will NOT pay $150 for my own equipment to be hooked up again. He had no business disconnecting it in the first place. Her attitude was rude at best and totally unacceptable for someone in a position to deal with customers.

That’s seven.

Later that day my husband discovered that we had no dial tone and no internet service.

That’s eight.

He called 1-800-COMCAST on his cell phone and explained the problem. The Comcast employee asked him what antivirus software we were using. When he told her it was Norton 360, she said our security settings were too high. In order to use Comcast internet service we would have to put them on the lowest setting making our computer vulnerable.

That’s nine.

Forget three strikes and you’re out. That’s three up, three down, inning’s over, and you lose.

Cancel all our Comcast services, including cable, effective immediately. That shouldn’t be too hard to do since the phone and internet have been dead since March 2nd. Don’t even THINK about charging us any kind of cancellation fee. After everything you’ve done wrong since the 11th of February, you have no right to demand anything from us. We did our part and then some. We are cancelling because you were unable to provide the agreed upon services.

We are enclosing this letter with one (1) cable modem, and 47’ of coax cable that was installed on the 28th, as well as one (1) converter box that arrived on 03/05/09 via UPS.

Sincerely,

One VERY Dissatisfied FORMER Customer

Our satellite dish was installed on Saturday and we are having all kinds of fun discovering what it has to offer. And we've had no problems with phone or internet since returning to the AT&T/Bellsouth fold.

I GOT VENTED

Instead of looking for new things to tax, why not reduce the size and cost of government? Oh wait - that makes too much sense. Can't do that.


And it got the second highest score of the day!

Marvelous Monday

I helped with a Platform Tent class over the weekend. We had 27 participants (over the posted max for that class and size makes a difference). It rained the whole time and the temperature never got above 46 degrees. Combine the size and the weather and we could have had a terrible training, but the participants were good natured about everything and jumped in with both feet. As a result we had a great time.

And while I was there I got a text message from home letting me know I had a new grand-puppy.

Marvelous Monday - late

Ok. I didn't post on Monday. I'm facing challenges right now. Our home phone and internet connection has been down for the last week so I have access only at work. On Monday this week I was in training all day - same for yesterday - so today was my first chance. Here goes:

Atlanta in spring. Daffodils, camellias, Bradford pear trees, and hyacinths are currently blooming. Cherry trees are about to blossom. But the pine pollen hasn't started flying yet. It's a beautiful time to be in Georgia.

It's Monday again

March is coming in like a lion. After getting a couple inches of rain yesterday, it turned to snow. A lot melted when it landed but we have about 2" on the deck. That leads to my good thing for this week.

A tree at the back of our lot came down yesterday, but it didn't hit the house. When I left for work this morning we hadn't been able to get into it enough to see how much damage there might be, but the only thing it hit was the fence, and that's good thing.