Thursday, February 12, 2009

"Do I want too much? ..."


And a Happy Friday to you.

Just so you'll know, I sent my phone number to our Charter friend, Eric a few minutes ago. I have little hope that he'll actually be able to lower our cable/Internet bill, and still allow me to watch "The Real Housewives (Hookers) Of Orange County" every week. But I'll let you know.

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This week my "check engine" light came on. Don't you love when that happens? I'll be taking the old car in to the dealership on Monday for some new oxygen sensors, whatever that means. Oh yeah, it means $500.

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I've had the sinus funk happening this week ... really felt quite lousy for most of the days since I was here last. But I lived to tell the tale, and every day I feel slightly better.

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FINALLY got my ring back from the repair shop. I took my emerald ring in right after the holidays to have a stone replaced ... I looked down at my hand on Christmas and it looked like a child who had lost a tooth. One of the emeralds was gone. The repair guy said it might take 2 weeks, but instead it took over a month. But really I suspect it's been sitting in the store, and they just neglected to call me and tell me it was in. Whatever ... they cleaned it, too and MAN it looked pretty when I picked it up.

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And that's about it for my week.
Today, Miss Squish was dancing when I peeked through the door at daycare. She's a really good dancer, too. She has music in her bones. Once here, she was sweet as sugar, and got reeeealy sleepy in the late afternoon. She sat in my lap and watched a Baby Einstein DVD, all cuddled up with her blanket. Cozy! She ate dinner, including some practice time with a spoon when she ate her applesauce. She took a bath, and sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" a few times, complete with applause and a "Yay!" at the end.

The best part of today: When I asked her for a kiss during dinner, she leaned forward and actually gave me one! A first!

The first video from today will make her Papa smile. She's been working at this toy since we bought it months and months ago. And today she got two, all by herself!

(She actually got three in yesterday, just not on this video.)

She practiced her piano playing ...


And then told me some stuff during bath-time ...

And finally, around Christmas she found my Daddy's old pitchpipe that he used to use when he was singing in a Barbershop Quartet. When I was little, I used to want to play with that thing in a BAD way. He would always say no ... "It's NOT a toy!" Well, unless we let Miss Squish play with it now, there's not much use for it. Somehow, I think my Dad approves.

Last month she couldn't seem to figure out how to make the sound happen. I showed her over and over, and she'd just smile and hold it to her mouth. Then she'd give it back to me again. That all changed today. She'd hold it in her mouth and start to sing and hum ... and every time she got enough breath through the pitchpipe to make it sound, she was SO proud of herself. I bet her Grandpa Stark is proud too ...

Relaxin' with Nana ...

Saturday, February 07, 2009

"No complaints ..."

From the comments:

Hello Dawn,

My name is Eric Ketzer. I am a Communications Manager with Charter, and I would be happy to look at your account to see what the issue is. If you could e-mail me your account information to Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com, I will get it fixed.

Thanks, Eric


Wow. Eric, you are really on top of things, I'll have to give you that. (And by the way, I Googled you back, since you were asking for my "account information" and all.)

But it turns out that there's really no issue here. The nice cable guy came in, took one look at things, and pronounced it his "easiest call of the day". Seems my dear husband, in the pursuit of a simpler life, had removed all the channels we weren't receiving (or didn't want to receive) from our channel lineup, using the handy "check the box" deal on the Moxie.

I didn't even know that option existed, so when HBO was turned on at Charter's end, and didn't show up at my end ... well, the problem HAD to be Charter, right? Oh well, live and learn.

But if you're REALLY concerned about my issues with Charter, Eric, here they are:

The cost is out of control. And in our area, you're our only choice in cable providers. I can't get our monthly bill for cable and Internet service under $100 no matter how I try with your "customer service" people. And for folks who really don't watch that much TV, that's highway robbery.

Can you fix that for me, Eric? (Seriously though, thanks for offering.)

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Now. Let's see if by mentioning my gripes with OTHER companies if I can get such an immediate and helpful response ...

Verizon SUCKS! The new little phone we got to replace our land line (Buhbye Charter phone!) has a battery life of approximately 45 minutes. No really. I charged it on Thursday around noon, talked on it about an hour total, and on Friday evening, it still looked to be at least half-charged, maybe more. Friday night, I got home around midnight, laid down in bed, and heard the "low battery" beep. By the time I picked it up and looked at it, it was flat lining. Dead. That can't be right, can it? I'm taking it back to Verizon on Monday. UNLESS some helpful Verizon guy wants to fix it from here. Verizon doesn't really suck, but that little battery really does.

Phillips Magnavox SUCKS! The 31-inch television in my bedroom has the MOST annoying, high-pitched hum.

Toyota SUCKS! Not really ... my car is just very, very old.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

"Give me a sign ..."

Eh, I'm getting sick. Drippy nose, sinus headache, achy muscles. *yay*

It's been almost 2 weeks since I was here, guess what you missed? NOT MUCH!

Jimmy came home last weekend, and we kept Squish here on Friday night. Nothin' but sweetness, that one. We ate dinner with her Mom and Dad on Saturday night. January ended, February began. Jimmy watched the Super Bowl, I didn't.
Some pictures from last Saturday ...

He was back in Puerto Rico on Monday night, and this week has flown on by. I spent a lot of it on the phone with Charter Communications. Those bastards. In order for me to get our bill DOWN, I had to ADD services. Only in Charterville. So now we have HBO and Cinemax.

Only we don't. So the next day I had to call again to tell them there's no HBO.

"Ma'am, put your television on channel 701."

"I did that already, it won't go to 701, it goes to 345."

"Well, 701 is HBO, ma'am."

*sigh*

I will wait tomorrow morning for a cable guy to come and look at my TV to decide why there's no HBO. I don't even WANT HBO.

Yeah, Charter ... hate.

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Here's the Squishy Thursday update for Jimmy ... can't believe that on Saturday, she'll be 15 months old.
First things first: "Eat, eat, eat!"