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Oct. 22nd, 2002 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7zobar is charmingly incoherent in the morning. when we were camping, i came running in, exclaiming "I just saw a bear!" and he was like "zzmurflethat'snicezz"... This morning being no exception.
I am composing this in Microsoft Word. Guess why?
Well. The Internet stopped responding yesterday at twoish. I was in the middle, the middle i tell you, of researching passport locations and places to get my passport photo taken. I need to renew my passport, which expired in 1999 (sheesh), because my parents want my sister Katy to have some company over the holidays. Thanksgiving would be cheaper, and then they'd have more of the family for Christmas. So Fiona and I may get to go to Germany for Thanksgiving. Anyhow. I need to renew my passport pronto.
But. The Internet broke. Confused, I tried restarting, I inspected all the little colored lights and blinky things. I started up Dave's computer. No dice; there was no Internet. Brilliantly I surmised that the internal network was working, but just didn't go anywhere. Hmmmm. So I called Zobar at work. He was busy dealing with an amusing crisis that involved Microsoft's sales department being screwed over by a bug in IE 6. (Ask him about it sometime. It's freakin' hilarious.) Aww, Bob's awake and has just started chirping. The sun's on him and I think that has him kinda excited, I don't know why. Anyhow, Zobar shrugged and gave me the number for OpCenter, his DSL company. I called them and they were for some unknown reason astonished that I'd called. But they didn't know what to do, except to tell me to unplug their router (the one that connects to the telephone cord) and then plug it back in. Of course that didn't do anything. They said they'd call back. So they did. It was Dave, the company veep. "We think it's Verizon's problem," he said, which led me to the radical step of picking up the telephone. The telephone on the landline that Verizon administers, and for which Dave pays $16/mo. for the privelege of not using it at all.
It was dead. Completely dead. No dial tone, no stuttering dial tone, no clicks, no static, no hissing, no pops. Dead. As if... hmm... disconnected.
Now, Zobar paid his phone bill. On time, even.
I'm guessing this is kind of similar to when they hooked up his phone, and I sat waiting by the door for two days and they never showed up and said "oh we activated it and didn't need access to your apartment". And it was dead. And I called them. And they said (after another day's delay) "Oh, we never connected it." Well thanks, that was useful. Did you think I wouldn't be needing it to be connected? Activating it does a fat lot of good to anyone, Bub. And what the hell would I do if i didn't have a cellphone here? Sheesh.
So I called Verizon's automated repair line, and followed all their touch-tone menus, and they were disapproving (automatedly) when I declined to go through their step-by-step problem-determining process to make sure that the problem didn't lie in my phone being unplugged ("we must tell you that if we do send a representative to make a repair and the problem lies in your telephone equipment, we cannot repair the problem, and we will have to bill you for the visit." No Shit, sherlock. However I really am pretty fuckin' sure that I don't need to try another goddamn phone on the line. Give me some credit for intellect) and eventually promised to send someone "tomorrow between ... eight... am... and twelve... pm..."
So, I gotta sit here and wait. So much for getting my passport renewed. I tried yesterday to find a place in the phone book, but I need photos taken, and in the online search form, it would tell me whether they had photographic facilities on-site or nearby... etc... and by the time I sorted out the telephone repair arrangements, it was well after 4, and most of those places close at 5 and want you to be there an hour early at least. So...
pain in my ass, and yet more confirmation that Verizon are fucks.
See, I've been halfheartedly shopping for a cellphone for eight or more months now. I realized upon graduation that all the numbers I'd put on my resumes were wrong now, and I'd have to put different ones on. But which different ones? So I've been putting my parents' number on, but I'm never there, but if I put Dave's number on, it's his voice on the answering machine and they assume it's a wrong number.
But, I can't afford a cell phone. They're ridiculously expensive. I'd use it, and I'd use it a lot, but $30/mo.? No, I can't really afford it. Sigh, that's what i need for christmas; a phone and someone to pay for it.
Anyhow.
My point is, Fiona had a terrible experience with AT&T's landline service, and so went with Verizon for her wireless. However. She pays insurance monthly so that if her phone is broken or lost, she can have a new one. But when she was on vacation and lost her phone, they refused to give her a new one, and in fact made her pay an exorbitant fee for a really crappy one. Hm. She eventually sorted that out, but only by being an absolute pest to them. Now she has one of those chic new Motorola flip phones, the kind that you see people wearing as jewelry because they're so trendy and cute. But she still has some trouble with them now and again, and I'm deeply unimpressed with her reception in general.
On the other hand, Zobar is having terrible troubles with Verizon's landline services, and has an AT&T cellphone.
Sigh.
Oh, the Verizon people called and a guy is on his way... called at 8:40, and he's here at 9:00. Not too shabby. He was smoking, and now the whole apartment smells faintly of smoke, and the truck is a diesel truck, and it's making a terrible racket... but, hey. I don't think I'll complain.
We'll see about once the phone line is fixed. If it is, I won't complain at all. He says he thinks it's probably that they were doing work out in that big connections box on the street yesterday and that probably knocked my service out. He fiddled around out there, then came in here and put a thing on the jack, told me not to touch it, and then went down into the basement. In the meantime, the truck stopped making that terrible racket. I haven't any idea what's going on and it's been like ten minutes. Sigh.
Ooh he's back. I went to see him out the door as he left, and then came running back into the bedroom to see if the DSL was back up too or if I'd have to have the DSL company in too, but before I even got here Corey IM'd me and I heard the noise. Exciting! Very!
Ew. I keep seeing what looks like a flea on me. I think I have a flea, somewhere in this bed. That's really gross. If I get a good look at it and it is a flea, I'm going to take all the sheets to a laundromat today and wash them on the hottest setting. At home our cats used to have fleas; maybe they've got a few again and the kitten got some into my afghan, which I brought with me. I could swear I just washed that afghan, though. Ew. So it's not like I've never seen a flea before. It's not that gross; people used to live with fleas all the time. I'm just not particularly prepared to deal with them here.
The debate is moot unless I see the bug/ fleck again (it was tiny, but looked like a flea to my paranoid eye). I'm all itchy but that's psychosomatic. I know. I've been attacked by fleas before and it's not this itchy.
OK, enough silliness. I have a passport to renew!!!!
I am composing this in Microsoft Word. Guess why?
Well. The Internet stopped responding yesterday at twoish. I was in the middle, the middle i tell you, of researching passport locations and places to get my passport photo taken. I need to renew my passport, which expired in 1999 (sheesh), because my parents want my sister Katy to have some company over the holidays. Thanksgiving would be cheaper, and then they'd have more of the family for Christmas. So Fiona and I may get to go to Germany for Thanksgiving. Anyhow. I need to renew my passport pronto.
But. The Internet broke. Confused, I tried restarting, I inspected all the little colored lights and blinky things. I started up Dave's computer. No dice; there was no Internet. Brilliantly I surmised that the internal network was working, but just didn't go anywhere. Hmmmm. So I called Zobar at work. He was busy dealing with an amusing crisis that involved Microsoft's sales department being screwed over by a bug in IE 6. (Ask him about it sometime. It's freakin' hilarious.) Aww, Bob's awake and has just started chirping. The sun's on him and I think that has him kinda excited, I don't know why. Anyhow, Zobar shrugged and gave me the number for OpCenter, his DSL company. I called them and they were for some unknown reason astonished that I'd called. But they didn't know what to do, except to tell me to unplug their router (the one that connects to the telephone cord) and then plug it back in. Of course that didn't do anything. They said they'd call back. So they did. It was Dave, the company veep. "We think it's Verizon's problem," he said, which led me to the radical step of picking up the telephone. The telephone on the landline that Verizon administers, and for which Dave pays $16/mo. for the privelege of not using it at all.
It was dead. Completely dead. No dial tone, no stuttering dial tone, no clicks, no static, no hissing, no pops. Dead. As if... hmm... disconnected.
Now, Zobar paid his phone bill. On time, even.
I'm guessing this is kind of similar to when they hooked up his phone, and I sat waiting by the door for two days and they never showed up and said "oh we activated it and didn't need access to your apartment". And it was dead. And I called them. And they said (after another day's delay) "Oh, we never connected it." Well thanks, that was useful. Did you think I wouldn't be needing it to be connected? Activating it does a fat lot of good to anyone, Bub. And what the hell would I do if i didn't have a cellphone here? Sheesh.
So I called Verizon's automated repair line, and followed all their touch-tone menus, and they were disapproving (automatedly) when I declined to go through their step-by-step problem-determining process to make sure that the problem didn't lie in my phone being unplugged ("we must tell you that if we do send a representative to make a repair and the problem lies in your telephone equipment, we cannot repair the problem, and we will have to bill you for the visit." No Shit, sherlock. However I really am pretty fuckin' sure that I don't need to try another goddamn phone on the line. Give me some credit for intellect) and eventually promised to send someone "tomorrow between ... eight... am... and twelve... pm..."
So, I gotta sit here and wait. So much for getting my passport renewed. I tried yesterday to find a place in the phone book, but I need photos taken, and in the online search form, it would tell me whether they had photographic facilities on-site or nearby... etc... and by the time I sorted out the telephone repair arrangements, it was well after 4, and most of those places close at 5 and want you to be there an hour early at least. So...
pain in my ass, and yet more confirmation that Verizon are fucks.
See, I've been halfheartedly shopping for a cellphone for eight or more months now. I realized upon graduation that all the numbers I'd put on my resumes were wrong now, and I'd have to put different ones on. But which different ones? So I've been putting my parents' number on, but I'm never there, but if I put Dave's number on, it's his voice on the answering machine and they assume it's a wrong number.
But, I can't afford a cell phone. They're ridiculously expensive. I'd use it, and I'd use it a lot, but $30/mo.? No, I can't really afford it. Sigh, that's what i need for christmas; a phone and someone to pay for it.
Anyhow.
My point is, Fiona had a terrible experience with AT&T's landline service, and so went with Verizon for her wireless. However. She pays insurance monthly so that if her phone is broken or lost, she can have a new one. But when she was on vacation and lost her phone, they refused to give her a new one, and in fact made her pay an exorbitant fee for a really crappy one. Hm. She eventually sorted that out, but only by being an absolute pest to them. Now she has one of those chic new Motorola flip phones, the kind that you see people wearing as jewelry because they're so trendy and cute. But she still has some trouble with them now and again, and I'm deeply unimpressed with her reception in general.
On the other hand, Zobar is having terrible troubles with Verizon's landline services, and has an AT&T cellphone.
Sigh.
Oh, the Verizon people called and a guy is on his way... called at 8:40, and he's here at 9:00. Not too shabby. He was smoking, and now the whole apartment smells faintly of smoke, and the truck is a diesel truck, and it's making a terrible racket... but, hey. I don't think I'll complain.
We'll see about once the phone line is fixed. If it is, I won't complain at all. He says he thinks it's probably that they were doing work out in that big connections box on the street yesterday and that probably knocked my service out. He fiddled around out there, then came in here and put a thing on the jack, told me not to touch it, and then went down into the basement. In the meantime, the truck stopped making that terrible racket. I haven't any idea what's going on and it's been like ten minutes. Sigh.
Ooh he's back. I went to see him out the door as he left, and then came running back into the bedroom to see if the DSL was back up too or if I'd have to have the DSL company in too, but before I even got here Corey IM'd me and I heard the noise. Exciting! Very!
Ew. I keep seeing what looks like a flea on me. I think I have a flea, somewhere in this bed. That's really gross. If I get a good look at it and it is a flea, I'm going to take all the sheets to a laundromat today and wash them on the hottest setting. At home our cats used to have fleas; maybe they've got a few again and the kitten got some into my afghan, which I brought with me. I could swear I just washed that afghan, though. Ew. So it's not like I've never seen a flea before. It's not that gross; people used to live with fleas all the time. I'm just not particularly prepared to deal with them here.
The debate is moot unless I see the bug/ fleck again (it was tiny, but looked like a flea to my paranoid eye). I'm all itchy but that's psychosomatic. I know. I've been attacked by fleas before and it's not this itchy.
OK, enough silliness. I have a passport to renew!!!!
