Wednesday, January 30, 2008

What a way to start a day!

Monday was 46 degrees and sunny. Tuesday was -34 wind chill and snowing with 44 mph winds. They closed down school at noon and we all hunkered down (that is after I came home from the mail route). Last night was blizzard all night long. Only a couple of inches of snow but winds up to almost 50 mph. Good grief, what a mess.

They said that our schools were going to be on a "2 hour delay". I waited and woke up Jake right as they said, we've decided to just close school today. Of course Jake was awake then and he couldn't go back to sleep. Besides it's hard to sleep with a dog and two cats staring at you hoping you will get out of bed and play with them. Actually Pete's was just sleeping with him and wanted him to pet her while she slept. Jake got up and then here comes Jessa a little later. They both love it that there is no school. Boy do I remember those days.

I do some paper work and mess around here at the house, and then I go out to start my car so that it can warm upbefore I leave for work. I'm really looking forward to going to work in this junk. Well, my car said "You want me to what?" and refused to start. My wonderful faithful, loyal car... Laughed at me! I'm not starting.... no way.... no how. You can walk. Great. Now what to do? Our extra cars are either buried in the snow (about 2 feet) or having an issue. Mom and Dad's Tracker is here, but the ignition switch seems to be having problems. It's been too cold to deal with it. It's not like you can drive it to the mechanic when it won't start.

I'm now stranded at home......sigh. I call work. Thankfully Heidi can cover for me. So now there's no work for me today......AWE Darn! Now I know what the kids felt like when they found out they don't have school. Yipeeeeeeeee! My first day off in months that I don't have to go anywhere and couldn't if I wanted to.

Time to light the fireplace, do housework and paper work and in general get caught up on my life. What a concept. Organization!!!!!

Who am I kidding? I'll give it a shot, but I know for a fact that I would have to play hooky for at least a week with no interruptions, working 20 hours a day to get caught up. In fact, I can tell you that the last time that I was actually organized (the whole house) and caught up was October 1996. I was on maternity leave with Jessa and had the time. Of course life was simpler then.

Will is still having issues with the computers. The tech guy from our internet company is coming out later to figure it out. Thankfully, he will come this afternoon and I can get something done before then (like dishes).

Well, time to go and do laundry and clean house. Taxes and paperwork this afternoon with a lot of Cranfest thrown in.

Have a blessed day.
dea

Thursday, January 24, 2008

I'm tired of shoveling!!!

Over the course of the last week or so we have had more than 10 inches of snow and temperatures that reached -46 windchill. I feel like I'm living in Alaska. Although, we at least did not have to deal with it being dark all of the time. It's hard enough for me to deal with the cold let alone dark. Yuck. I'm one of those people that when they have not felt sunshine, they tend to go into a depression type thing. I feel my mood going down on days without sunshine and the longer I go without it, the more bleak I feel. I think that maybe at some point I'm going to try one of those "sun lamps" that simulate the sun's rays in a normal looking light bulbs. They are supposed to work wonders. Anyone ever use one?

Temps are still cold, but they tell us it will get warmer starting tomorrow for a little bit. Of course warmer means more snow. Oh joy...here we go again. I'm still tired of shoveling, which for me is strange. I love to get out in a snow storm and shovel while the flakes are coming down around me. Only this year with my foot it hurts and that is not fair! How can I enjoy something while I'm wincing with every step? Oh well, who ever said that life was fair?

Last Wednesday when I went to read meters in between waiting for the insurance adjuster for the car and also waiting for Will's computer people (who came out twice) Amanda went with me. At one point 5' tall Amanda was standing on a snow drift that was well over 6' tall. I had the tow rope ready in case she went under. Although, I probably would not have been able to find her in all that snow.

Saturday Will went out to start the Tracker to read meters and the key would not turn. I don't mean that it would not start, I mean the key would not turn. We tried "unfreezing it" we tried warming the steering column and about everything we could think of. It still will not turn. We are waiting for the original key to get here from Tennesse so that we can try that. Maybe something happened to the key we were using so that it would not turn the tumblers. If this new key does not work, then we'll try the next step.

So no Tracker.....that means Will's truck (taller tires) EXCEPT.....Will's truck must have been born in Florida....it hates the cold. No starting it. It felt the -34 windchill and said "ARE YOU CRAZY?"
So now what? We have to read meters, no choice, we HAVE to go out. They are due back on Monday. So we are down to my poor little beat up white Lumina. I mean to tell you that car has been through it all.....hail storms, wind storms that broke the door hinge, ditches on the mail route when the snow was so deep you couldn't see the road and then there's the famous snow plow incident.....all in all, you couldn't expect it to start on this bitterly cold day could you? WRONG! Started right up and plowed right through all we asked it to. I was so proud of my little car. Boy is it a trooper! It's earned quite a few purple hearts, but it keeps on ticking..

Will and I had to read meters all day on Sunday. With all of this snow there were quite a few that we had to walk to, well actually Will had to walk to... my foot does not like walking in snow that has uneven ground underneath. It makes it hard to keep from twisting and turning it on the bumps and ridges. We read until dark and still had about 100 to read. Thank God, I had Monday off for Martin L. King day.

So on my holiday that I was supposed to catch up on my paperwork and household stuff......I read meters. Many, many meters. Wouldn't have been too bad, but it started snowing, and snowing and snowing. We were getting snow fall of an inch an hour and I was out dealing with it. Great fun that was.. Then I finished came home to fill out the paperwork and take it down to Oakdale. Left here at 2:45 and arrived at Oakdale at 3:53. It's a 22 mile trip. The snow was so bad that they had closed down the interstate at many, many points and even the not closed parts were stalled shut by traffic jams caused by accidents. Bad stuff to be driving in, but I had no choice and I also had to pick up Jake who stayed after school.

Jake and I headed home and the only thing I could think of was boy my foot hurts and I still have to shovel. Of course, I knew the kids would help me, but it's still a large driveway. LOW AND BEHOLD a miracle had happened at our house while I was gone.....
Jessalyn had come home from school and shoveled the whole driveway. Bless her great big heart! I am so proud of her. Jake and I topped it off (there was another 1 or two since she had shoveled) and then we came inside. All of us kind of sat and staired at each other. We were all tired.
Not much action going on around here that night. I think Jessa even asked to go to bed. Believe me, they earned money for all that work.

Tuesday was one of the heaviest mail days of the year. The Post Office is closed for MLK day, but I think that we are the only ones. Everyone else keeps sending mail. I went to work early on Tuesday and got home about 6:45. Long day. I did my route and a good bit of one other.

Yesterday was catch up day at work. Lots of things get done "just enough" to get the job done and then I have to fix it the next day. Today is more of that and then Will and I have a date tonight.

For Cranfest I get to go and do the public appearance thing and go to a fund raiser. Of course I'm dragging Will along this time. I don't make him come very often, but this is a dinner and of course there is the fun part that Gilbert Brown and Santana Dodson former Green Bay Packer players are the ones putting it on. It's a fund raiser for one of their charities and they are hosting that deal or no deal type game. It should be fun. At least I hope it is or I will never hear the end of it from my hubby. He seems to get great giggles out of making me "pay" for things for years to come.
Well, time to go to work.
Have a blessed and wonderful day!
dea

Saturday, January 19, 2008

The Saga of Broadband part III

The Saga of Broadband part III

So, another local customer service rep calls me to tell me I qualify for something called
“Extended Broadband” and that it will only cost me $39.95 a month!

Okay, this is where I should be ecstatic right? Finally! Something that actually has “broadband” in the name! Whoo Hoo!

Never let me pass by a chance to look for the catch; To give an honest evaluation of what seems a dream come true…

I had to ask.

“Excuse me miss, but your website says it should only cost me $19.95.”

She: “Yes sir, but the website is wrong.”

Me: “Excuse me?”

She: “Yes sir, the website offer is for regular broadband. You don’t qualify for that.”

Me: “Lemme guess. I’m in too remote a location.”

She: “Yes sir. Our records show that you are too far from the remote terminal”

Me: “Here we go again. Excuse me miss, what would it take to get a technician out here to do a double check?”

She: “Well, I could arrange that sir. And call you back.”

Me: “That would be wonderful!” (Why couldn’t my first phone call been like this???)

So, I waited a couple of days and was out reading meters with Deanna, when we got the call from the technician:

He: “ I was really on your side about this sir, but I just checked the cable and you are 400 feet too far for broadband.”

Me: “That is okay. Do what you have to do. Either way I want to upgrade to whatever I can get. Would you do me a favor though?

He: “What’s that?”

Me: “Drive the distance from the terminal to my house. You will see it is in fact less than three miles. It’s okay; I understand that your cable does funny things on the way here. I just hope you understand that what you have told me is my next door neighbor can in fact get broadband and I cannot.”

He: “Yes sir, I am sorry about that.”

Me: “No problem. Thankyou for everything”

When I got home I actually walked the distance from the phone access box to my house: 220feet.
Here’s funny part number one:
The phone access box (that sticks up out of the ground) is past my house.

Past my house. As in the cable that comes from the “remote terminal” and that also comes through my front yard, then makes a “zig” across the middle of my lawn and then “zags” behind my house to pop up in my neighbors yard. (Side note: that neighbor also can’t get broadband. Of course my other neighbor…)

What does all that above mean? If the phone access box were to stop in my yard on the other side of the house I wouldn’t be too far for broadband.

Sigh. As Maxwell Smart used to say: “I missed it by That (I I) much!”

So how does it end? In true Donaldson fashion:

I have extended broadband now. It’s a little slower than the slowest type of broadband
And costs twice as much.

Figures.

But I have suffered for so long with dial up and this is at least 5 times faster! So both Deanna and I are ecstatic! It truly is wonderful.

Oh, guess what came in the mail today?


An advertising flyer.

C*nturytel tells me: “Great news! High-speed Internet is Now available in your area!

Yeah yeah.

I wonder if I should call ‘em?


Nah.

God Bless!

Will.

Update on the rest of the world

There is an update on the rest of the family over on Dea's corner. The link is to the right. I did not want to interrupt Will's saga.
See ya there!
dea

Thursday, January 17, 2008

The Search for Broadband II

And I thought I was weird part two

After I hang up with “Wendy” at Centuryt*l, I got back on-line and went to their website.

And waited for it to load.

And waited for it to load.

(dial up is SO lame!)

The reason I went to the website is that almost all company websites have a “contact us” button.

I found it. I clicked it. It gave me options!

This is too funny. Maybe it’s me and I’m just not looking in the right place. I just went to the website to find the addresses I found last time and guess what? They’re not there!!! But I digress.

I love saying “but I digress” I don’t know why but I do. Oops! I digress again!

Anyway.

I find the contact us button and one of the options is for the customer service VP. I think the VP is supposed to be for Vice President but for all I know it could be Virtual Potentate. Who can say?

Anywhoo they give me a little box and say I have 500 characters including spaces and punctuation to say what’s on my mind.

Right.

Long winded Will is going to say what he needs to say in 500 spaces? Right after he sprouts wings and flys.

Still, I did a creditable job of explaining my beef with “Wendy” and hit the send button.
As I do. I notice they give me said VP’s email address right there on the website. I don’t think I was supposed to notice it.
It was very obvious that they wanted me to use their “form”. Still, What could it hurt?

I copied and pasted the address to a regular email and gave them the whole sordid story but I completely left out “why” I was calling about broadband. Instead I simply said I thought I had a “unique situation” I wanted help with. That’s it. No details about distances or the cable buried in my yard; Nothing. I just mentioned the Unique situation a couple of times and kept the whole email about Wendy.

After all, I was emailing the VP of Customer Service. Not the VP of Broadband. If you know what I mean; Wink wink.

Later that evening The wife notices we have messages on our voice mail. See, when you have dial up you don’t get phone calls on that line. ( I just noticed I say “see” a lot. Hmmm. Oops digressing again!) Anyway a very nice southern lady, complete with accent is calling from their corporate headquarters in LA. (the state not the city) She left a very long message and really wanted to hear all about my “Unique Situation”.

I go to check my emails after checking my voice mail …..

….

…..


(See you hate dial-up too!)

and finally download this very long and official email saying everything on the voice mail complete with phone numbers to call them personally.

Wow.

But hey! I’m busy!

After a couple of days, I get another email from someone else. This is the reply to my “form” letter:

“Our records indicate that Wendy informed you that you are in too remote a location to receive broadband.”

Of course you KNOW I’m going to Hit the “Reply” button!

My reply was “On the contrary! She told me no such thing. She told me it was because there wasn’t enough Government funding but because C*nturytel is in fact an Office of the U.S. Government, I could call my Senator or Representative to get technical help!

Then I called the “Nice Lady” down south.

She apologizes for Wendy and assures me that they will do a thorough investigation into the matter.

She apologizes for the “other lady” that sent the last email.


So as a reward, I start to explain my “Unique Situation”. As I do, she calls up their website which has a place for anyone to enter their phone number to see if they can get broadband. She says:

“Well, I just looked up your number and it says ‘Congratulations! You qualify!’ of course it’s a slow speed of broadband but it does say you qualify!”

I remind her of Wendy. I remind her of the “other email” telling me I’m in too remote a location.

She says “I suppose it could have changed since then…”

Hey that’s great if it’s true! So she tells me they will have someone call me on Monday.

Tuesday comes and I finally get the call.

Sigh.

Sadly, there is more to this story.

Will I Get broadband???

Will a Senator install my Modem???

Will I simply lose my mind and be carried away by the nice gentlemen who have nice white coats? Will they give me a White coat too? Will they tie the sleeves in back??

Tune in next time for the continuing Saga

As the Broadband turns!

Long Winded Will.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Customer Service???

And I thought I was weird!

You know I made a living for over eleven years as a communicator and entertainer. I find it interesting that I am so easily misunderstood and how quickly I can annoy someone to distraction. Often, I will throw a lot of words at a situation in an attempt to more clearly communicate and eliminate as much misunderstanding as possible. Even my mom gets frustrated with how long it takes me to say something. Sorry Mom.

As the song says: Oh Lord! Please don’t let me be misunderstood!

Too late.

Sometimes though, it isn’t entirely my fault.

For instance I called the CenturyT*l customer service phone number to see if I could get a technician to explain why I can’t get broadband and perhaps have this same technician physically check again.

Here is how it went:

She: C*nturytel! This is Wendy how may I help you?

Me: Hi Wendy! I am calling because I need to understand why I can’t get broad band…

She: (interrupting) It’s because there isn’t enough Government Funding for CenturyT*l to have broadband Everywhere. Sir.

Me: I don’t care about Everywhere. I care about here. Listen I need to talk to someone with some authority to handle what I would like to do and perhaps explain….

She: (interrupting again) I can do that. I can do anything.

Me: Well, I would like someone to give me the technical reasons for why I can’t get broad…

She: (still interrupting) Call your Senator or Representative.

Me: (wondering how they got a Senator to be on their tech staff) Centuryt*l is Not a government office!

She: Yes we are.

Me: WHAT???

She: We are government regulated.

Me: (thinking to myself: if she doesn’t know the difference I better use smaller words..)


Let’s start over. See Wendy, my situation is a little Unique. I know where the nearest “Hub” (remote terminal) is. I am less than three miles from it. (the maximum distance you can be from a hub is 18,000 feet, or a little over three miles)
Yet I can’t get broadband.
I know people who live less than three miles from me in all directions who have broadband;
Yet I can’t get broadband.
I have a huge phone cable -several inches thick- that runs through my property;
Yet I …

She (who is very good at interrupting): I can have that line removed if you like sir..

Me (losing it): No. You. Can’t. It’s several inches thick and runs the length of my property! (buried). Listen I need a name of someone in charge and a way to communicate with them. I don’t need the person in charge of the Eastern United States or anything like that just someone who would be the head of this local area and a way to communicate or correspond with this person.

She: I can give you a name but not an address.
)
Me: What?! Okay. (thinking I can get the address myself)

She: Mike ************ (for legal purposes I’m not telling you His name…and I can’t remember)

Me: Who is He?

She: C.E.O. for Centuryt*l.

Me: Ok, you really are not listening! I want a local address for a local district manager!

She: I can give you our address but I don’t think…No. I know they won’t let you in.

Me: What?????!!! I don’t WANT to go In! (to myself: Great! She thinks I’m a psycho!)

Still Me: I just want a way to communicate with someone of Authority. An E-mail address or even a regular mailing address.

She: (nothing)

Me: Okay, how about Your Supervisor? Or Your Supervisors boss? Can you give me a way to contact them?

She: No. I can’t do that sir.

Me: Okay, You can’t answer my questions and you can’t help me find someone who can?

She: That’s right sir.

Me: So basically, as a Customer Service Rep, you’re worthless.

I hang up.


Ok, I know I shouldn't have said that last part. I know I shouldn't have gotten...um....agitated? But,
you know it doesn’t end there right?
That’s enough for today, I will give you part two later….

Will

Monday, January 07, 2008

It's raining, it's pouring

The weather around here is too wierd. Last Monday -Wednesday it was so cold and today we are in the 40's with 90% chance of heavy rain. They are looking for flooding in some areas and ice jams on the rivers. This is too strange. Although, not as strange as a couple of years ago when it was almost 80 for two days in January. That was bizarre!

Had a house full of people yesterday and loved it! Came home from church feeling very challenged by the lesson Bill gave. Vicki and Curt came over and we cooked brats and hotdogs on the fire in the fireplace. Peggy came in for a minute too. Then Skylar and Luke came over and the four kids sat in the blue room playing the video game. Amanda came home from work and joined them. Sure was a lot of laughing going on. It was good to hear. Boy was the blue room full. Especially when Will joined them.

Today it's back to work. The big boss is coming on Friday because our Post Office is getting some National Award or another. Something about coming in second in the Nation in something. Management knows what it's all about. We just nod our heads and smile for the camera.

My foot is feeling better after the shots. I don't have near as many problems, so am hoping that this will take care of it once and for all. I want to get back to my walking.

This next week is full of all kinds of meetings etc. There are none the rest of the month, but this week has lots. Might as well get it over with.

I made a big crock pot full of sauer kraut and kielbasa yesterday. It sure smells good. It's been cooking since yesterday afternoon on low. All the kraut is browner now and all that flavor is ready. I will chill it today and then that can be supper tonight. Of course the kids won't eat it and Will and I will probably get tired of it, but that first meal will be worth it.

Well, time to get Jake up and start back on the rollercoaster that we call life. Days like today, I wish that we were leaving for Disney World. I need a vacation!
Have a great day!
dea

Friday, January 04, 2008

But baby it's cold outside..

Things are chilly here. Let me change that. Things are downright freezing here. Well up until this morning. We have had wind chill factors of -20 and believe me when you are standing outside putting mail into mail slots...that's cold. You pray that people get the right mail because you cannot feel your fingers anymore, so you have no clue.
Today it's supposed to be almost 30 with no wind. Great Day in the Morning-A HEAT WAVE!! Balmy 40's the next two days.

Funny, I don't seem to like snow anymore.

Life goes on here at our house. Spent Sunday at my parent's house. Our annual chili supper with "fry bread". Good stuff. Mom always cooks up a big batch for New Year's Day, but with the weather, Mom and Pop had to leave for Texas New Year's Day to beat some storms. They will now be gone for 3 months. I'm glad for them, but we sure miss them.

Will and I also made the decision that this last Sunday was our last day at Warrens Baptist Church. It is something the Lord has been leading up to for awhile now, but I was dragging my feet. We helped to start the church before Jessa was born. I have played piano there for almost every Sunday since then. Will has been a deacon that long also. It was one of the hardest decisions that we have ever had to make. It's still not easy. The main reason that we left was that our two kids were the only kids there. With Jessalyn starting Middle School next year and Jacob in High School this year, we just feel that we need to find a church with an active youth group so that they can find a place too.

Will knew how hard the decision was for me. It's so funny how that works. We seem to be on the same wave link most of the time, but some decisions are easier for Will than they are me. Must be that man/woman thing. Some decisions are so easy for me.....God says change it so I go for it. Others I groan, complain, argue and dodge. This time, I really had to go the long route and deal with some of the stuff that had been happening. I wanted to make sure that I was leaving at the right time, for the right reasons, so......I played the "what if game for a long time". You know how that one goes... but God, what if I leave and this happens.....but God, what if we leave and there's no one that will do that.... I never could figure out the actual answers to any of the what ifs....

Finally, God stepped in and reminded me not to put him in a box. I had to remember that my God is much bigger than any box that I could put him in. He does not need me to do something. He can always bring someone else in to do something. Kind of like Bill Cosby says......I brought you into this world....I can make another one just like you....humbling, that one.

Who knows, maybe God was just waiting for me to get out of the way for things to really start happening. That old "move, get out of the way, or get it remodeled thing". Of course one of the songs that I had used to help me in all of this says.....God move these problems, move these mountains or move me. Easier said than done. Guess it's time to start walking what I been thinkin and talkin....oh great.... another lesson.... I just wish that I would get better about learning them faster.

New Year's Day, I was walking in the living room (you can smell a "stupid things story here can't you?) and felt a sharp stab of pain in my bad foot. Oh super, what did I do now? I was kind of dragging my bad foot because I did not want to step directly onto the tendon. Guess what was in the carpet? A toothpick. Guess what was in my foot? A toothpick. It went in over an inch, actually almost 1/2 the toothpick went in. It took Will quite a bit of pulling to get it out. So now, I have no place on that foot that does not hurt. *****Note to self: Next year check carpet on hands and knees for toothpicks. Hurts less.***

So what day are we on? Oh, Friday. Well, yesterday went to the Doc again. He and I are seeing each other on a regular basis it seems. Not my normal thing. I'm not big into Doctors unless there is surgery involved, so you know how often I go. Well, yesterday after doing the exam he realized that I had messed everything up worse than I had when I started. I had managed to undo all the good that had been done. To make matters worse, I now have carpel tunnel in my foot. For cryin' out loud... who gets carpel tunnel in their foot?(oh that's funny, I just accidentally typed Carpet tunnel, and I bet that is true too, now that I have a toothpick tunnel, good grief.)

Work is not helping. Couple of weeks off of my foot would help lots, but not heal it. Good thing too, because there is no way that I could manage to stay off my foot for more than an hour let alone weeks.

So........insert one 2 inch needle into about 12 different places ( I stopped counting at 12) in my heel, instep and foot. Oh joy.... on the upside, after the first couple of pokes my foot didn't hurt anymore than when I step down on it. Not too bad. Still swollen and sore this morning, but I can feel some improvement already.

Will asked me how it went and I told him he never would have made it. My hubby is very stoic about pain. He gets cut at work on the glass all the time and just sprays alcohol on it and goes on. Needles are another story. I don't think he minds getting lab work, or at least he can bluff his way through it, but large needles inserted into his body are going to cause a reaction. I'm thinking it's better that this happened to me than to him.

Jessalyn had been sick for a day with a high fever and runny nose. It seemed to be better Wednesday night. All that changed yesterday. She called me at work said her stomach hurt and then said "wait a sec", proceeded to set the phone down on the vanity and throw up. She would come back and say "just a sec" and then throw up some more. Oh the joys of mother hood. She's still pretty worn out this morning, but I'm hoping she'll be better later today. So now tonight I will go through and sanitize everything, what fun.

Well, off to do dishes and start that cleaning stuff again. Not on my list of favorite things, but I am trying to start the 10 minutes in each room thing again. Not easy when you are trying to be quiet so your hubby and daughter can sleep. Kind of leaves out vacuuming etc.

Have a great day and watch out for toothpicks!
dea