What's In A Reputation?

As I type this my Pistons are losing big time, and will probably have lost the series with the Heat by the time I am done. Of course, my Pistons, is a very relative term, I don't really care about basketball and only watch during the playoffs and only if the Pistons are playing. But they are the home town team and like my kids I love 'em win or lose, good or bad. I've encountered a lot of smack at the office this week as the Pistons reputation of "Bad Boys" is not as beloved as it was in the nineties. "They think they are so good" "They lose a game and still act as if it doesn't matter" that's the reputation they have. But then again that is who they are they are so good and since 2003 they have had 14 (including tonight) win or go home playoff games, they've won 11 of them so far (after tonight the number will probably still be 11 - they are down by 17 with 5 minutes left in the game).

So this blog was not to be about the Pistons so here is the true reputation I wanted to talk about. The store where I buy my tobacco is also the outlet for hostess products in this area, so if they ever have any $1 boxes I usually pick up a few (those who know Gordon can come to their own conclusions about the term "few"). Today they did not have any but the girl behind the counter said "Aren't you the guys who buy the HoHos?" "yes" "we got some donuts this morning that didn't sell, I'm just going to throw them out, do you want them? There's over a dozen, but don't feel bad if you can't eat them all." Not eat them all? Maybe other people can never truly know someone based just on their reputation. Pistons are down by 18 with 3 minutes left, funny there are 3 donuts left also.

It's A Date

If things went smoothly while trying to book this Vegas thing then it wouldn't seem like a real vacation. Last night we went on line and changed the dates to accommodate Melody and added high speed internet for Robin and YIKES, the cost went up to $500+ per person. I tried putting back in the same dates that I had used last week and it was still over five hundred per person. The flight had changed too from a Northwest flight to a Spirit flight. There were only two hotel choices and they were not any of the ones on my previous lists. So I went to the Sam's Town website and they don't list internet connectivity, I check out the rates for the room packages and they have a birthday special during the month of your birthday they don't go all the way to October but September is $35 and $75 a night, I then called Sam's Town and asked them about internet connection. They said that they did not have high speed connection in rooms they date data/modem ports. But that there was high speed connection within the hotel. So back to the selection removing high speed internet from my requirements. This accomplished (I had to delete cookies and temp files since I could not get back to the screen where I listed my hotel preferences, I could change my dates but for my convenience they remembered my preferences) the rates were back down to the $350 range. They still had the Spirit flight though and I wanted to get Melody on the same flight to Vegas as us. So I opened a new window and went to Orbitz to check on the flight for her, the cheapest flight was on Spirit and included the same flight to Vegas, I booked it. Went back to the Vegas packages and attempted to book us with the Sam's Town package. The page had timed out and I had to reenter. Good the same flight came up, select Sam's Town (I keep wanting to type Sam's Club), "Sorry our system in unavailable right now please try again later" later, what if I don't get the same flight!? Going back to Orbitz I look for 4 tickets to Vegas for the dates I want and the cost with the birthday rate for the rooms is slightly less than the package deal on the other web site. So I book the flights. So we have tickets but no room. Melody leaves LA on 10/12/06 at noon and arrives in DTW at 7:25pm, we all leave DTW on 10/25/06 at 9:15 and arrive in Las Vegas at 10:35, 4 of us leave Las Vegas on 10/28/06 at 11:05pm arriving back at DTW the next morning at 6:00am. I figure we have a few months to see what room deals are available. I'm getting real excited.

Where Was I?

Off to California that is where I was. This will not be a long post as I have a house full of small children. But I figured if I did not post at all some might get upset.

I had a wonderfully productive conference. As it was the first conference in Nar-Anon's 40 year history there was a lot to be done, and we did it. It was an incredible experience, but there is still a of work to be done. I volunteered for the events committee, and applied for and was voted onto the Board of Trustees. This program has done so much for me it is important to me that it continues to be available for those that need it.

It was great seeing everyone out in California again, Caitlyn's pictures do not do her justice at all. She is an truly beautiful baby with a very sweet disposition. She has a beautiful smile and smiles alot. We got together for dinner often, and Melody and I got some shopping time in where I finally found a purse, we didn't even look for brown shoes.

I am back home now and not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Although, as much as I missed these kids I am ready for them to all go back to their parents.

Almost There

Well my bags are packed and I’m ready to go. My flight leaves Detroit at 10:15 and with a short stop and change in Chicago I arrive in LA at 1:42. I have meetings and stuff all weekend, although I have already said that I don’t want the Chicken Teriyaki or the vegetarian platter for Friday’s dinner, and I forget what other wonderfully sounding entrées I declined for Sunday’s. Monday I am done and on my way to family time.

Not much else is going on. I still do not have a pair of brown shoes, but that has been eclipsed by the impossibility of finding a purse I like. One would think that my simple requirements would not be hard to fulfill. Unfortunately one requirement is that it isn’t extremely ugly.

My divorce from my previous internet provider apparently was not as successful as I thought. About a month ago I received a past due notice from them and sent a detailed letter as to why I did not owe them $150. I received a call this past Saturday with CoreComm willing to accept a settlement of $100 on my account. I explained that I had sent a letter detailing my attempts to cancel my account. The rep said that they had received the letter but the $150 charge was for early cancellation. I said no I paid through my contract end in November, but was told that “you renewed on 11/28/05” “no, no I didn’t CoreCom chose to renew without my consent.” That was why according to the rep they were willing to offer me a settlement of only $100. I offered my own settlement, and wrote another letter. Oh well.

I checked out the Waiter’s Rant blog linked on Tim’s blog, and I think I could definitely do a consumer’s rant. Why do I always get the idiot to deal with, or are there only idiots?

Brown Shoes

“Why is it so hard to find a pair of brown shoes?” Who would have ever thought those words overheard in a hallway would cause me to pause and want to join in the conversation? Certainly not me. But I have been having a hard time finding a pair of brown shoes that fit all of my criteria. But to discuss it, at work? To think that I actually considered commenting makes me laugh.

I’ve heard that blogs are supposed to be short and frequent, as opposed to my style - long and rare. But I guess you guys will just take what you can get.

I have tickets, not in my hand so I will not swear to the information, but I arrive at LAX on Thursday, April 27th sometime in the afternoon. I will take either a shuttle or some other transportation arranged locally to the hotel where the conference is being held in San Pedro. The conference ends Monday around noon or so and I have reservations with Za Transport Service to pick me up and bring me to Chez Dad. I depart LA on Thursday around 11:00am or so.

Work is getting boring, I’ve told them that I would like to take on an additional office but I just had a review and I although I only have two offices they are very busy offices and I currently process more timecards than anyone else and almost twice as many timecard lines. I have cleaned up as much of the old stuff that could be cleaned up and the rest will need to be written off when the dust settles and they decide how they want to do it. So where I was constantly busy I am now bored, as can be evidenced by my increased activity in the blogging world.

I am spending a lot of time talking to stupid people for example when trying to collect on an insurance claim that was short paid.
Rep: What type of services do you provide?
Me: Home Health Care
Rep: I see, since the services were provided in Michigan you are out of the Ohio Medical Mutual Network.
Me: The services were not provided in Michigan they were provided in Ohio. Michigan is the billing address.
Rep: What is the address for your facility in Ohio where the services were performed?
Me: I can give you the Ohio office address, but the services were performed in the home.
Rep: The office is located out of a home?
Me: No, the office address is--------, but the services were provided in the client’s home.
Rep: Isn’t that unusual to perform the services in the client’s home?
Me: YES, YES IT IS, THAT’S WHAT SETS US ABOVE OTHER HOME HEALTH CARE COMPANIES, THE OTHER COMPANIES THEY MAKE THEIR CLIENTS COME IN TO THE OFFICE FOR BATHING AND TOILETRY ASSISTANCE.

Then just today I get a voice mail from an employee, she has questions on Medicare and needs to talk to me before she goes to a meeting for Medicare. I was little reluctant to return the call since, well since reading Tim’s blog I know way more about lathes than I do about Medicare, but I figured I could find out her questions and then send them to the right person.
Emp: Yea, I’m a diabetic and I want to get diabetic shoes and there’s a meeting this afternoon but they told me I needed to bring my Medicare number, and I wasn’t sure what my Medicare number was.
Me: Your Medicare number?
Emp: yea, I see here on my check where I’m paying for Medicare each week but I never got a card, so I don’t know my number.
Me: YOU NEVER GOT A MEDICARE CARD THAT SHOULD HAVE CAME WITH YOUR FICA CARD, YEA YOUR FICA CARD IT’S LIKE AN ATM CARD, YOU DIDN’T GET ONE, CALL YOUR SENATOR.

Of course I did not say anything in all caps, but man I do think it.

As the snow melts and I look out at what appears to be a wonderful day I realize we are quickly approaching orange barrel season here and I need to gear up for the frustration. I just don’t understand why most people read “right lane ends in 2 miles” and do not comprehend that this means the lane is available for 2 more miles. Last year there was a lengthy construction on I-75 up at Bay City, took them forever and the left lane was closed while they expanded the freeway with an additional lane. Of course they closed the lane before the construction began and put up signs 2 miles before the lane was going to close slowing everyone down for at least an additional 2 miles. Now mind you the new lane lasts less than 2 miles, and yet there is no sign at the beginning of the lane that says “left lane ends in 2 miles” I just don’t understand. I guess then that it is fortunate that our legislature does as they have made it a ticketable offense to wait until the end of a construction lane closure to merge. Good thing I have my FICA card to pay the fines with.

4 Things

4 Jobs:

Papergirl
Drug Store Clerk
Data Entry
Administrative Assistant

4 Movies:




4 Homes:

Detroit
North Hollywood
Dearborn Heights
West Branch

4 TV Shows

Trading Spaces
While You Were Out
American Idol
Injustice

Vacation

New Hampshire
Canada
New Jersey
Colorado

4 Wesbsites

Yahoo
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
Shiftwise
Ohio Employee Health Partnership

4 Foods:

Hamburger
Potatoes
Cheese
Bacon

4 Other Places

Home
Any Waterfall
Any Casino
Concert

Not Eggsactly as Planned

Ever made eggs with these? It all started by watching Food Network. There was a show (I think it was Sugar Rush) that showed a guy making a cake to look like a fried egg. He used white fondant for the base and then a cake which he cut out a cone on filled with yellow colored cream stuck the cone back in and covered with yellow fondant. When you cut into the cake the cream poured out like the yolk of an egg. It was very cool and something I knew Megan would like as she loves fried eggs. And with her birthday coming up I started planning. Never having worked with fondant I immediately threw that out of the design, and figured I could start with a jelly roll size cake baked in a cookie sheet as the base, I have a great shaped frying pan (not so great for frying burgers) that I could use for the yolk. As I progressed in my thinking I wanted to go smaller to individual eggs, so I came up with sugar cookies for the egg whites and ice cream scoops for the yolks. The inside of the yolks could be cool whip. All properly dyed to the appropriate colors. So while Megan was taking the ACT's yesterday I baked sugar cookies, I tried pattying them out into different shapes but they all kind of formed into ovals while cooking. I colored the ice cream yellow and put it into mini muffin pans to form into yolks and put into the freezer to refreeze solid. I colored the cool whip yellow and put it into a different bowl in the frig so she would not see it.

I picked her up from her morning of testing and we went down to Saginaw for a day of shopping, we had a great time and each got some new clothes and discounted calendars. You may all see some of the questions from the daily calendars start appearing on her blog. After a late lunch at Long John Silvers we came home and I made her make her own cake.
She decided on brownies instead of cake and I had her make it in 8" round pans so it could be a layer brownie. She also saw some individual silicone mini muffin cups that I had picked up because I could not remember if I had mini muffin pans at home or not. She decided she wanted to make Reese cups in them. We used the extra chocolate to spread between the layers of the brownies and will dust the top with powder sugar using the decorative stencils that Kathy gave me. A picture will probably go in here was I have that part done.

This morning I ran to Wal-Mart to pick up a can of air. One thing I had not fully considered was how to stick the ice cream on the cookie. I thought a blast of cold air should do it. I sent Megan to her room while I prepared the surprise. First mistake was I should have sprayed the muffin pans so the ice cream would come out. Second mistake I should have hollowed out the formed ice cream while it was still soft. Third mistake was not considering that the compressed air would blow the ice cream and cool whip across the room. But all in all I don't think they came out too bad. Now I have to go start dinner.

What's wrong with the lamp

Megan happens to love her lamp.

Okay so it's been a while, Mom just mentioned that even Adam is more current than I. But what can I say my life is totally boring. Work is work, nothing exciting, unless Aged Debt reports turn you on. In which case I'll let you know my Medicaid Aged Debt report is currently 11 pages, it was 40 when I started.

The weather has been incredible for Michigan winter. We are going through a cold spell where the temperatures are actually hovering around normal. I don't recall a single day so far when it was below zero, even for a wind chill. I'm certainly not going to complain about that, although I have met some people who do. When we were having 20 degrees one day and 50 the next some fools were saying, "I wish Mother Nature would make up her mind" I on the other hand knew that when Mother Nature made up her mind it wouldn't be on 50 degree temperatures, so I was willing to take them whenever I could.

I think I have finally manged to actually cancel my voyager (corecomm) account. Getting a divorce was easier (but then again I remarried the same guy so maybe that doesn't count) and I mentioned that (not the remarriage part) to them in the last of many communications with them. It started when I received an email stating that my account was up for renewal and since they had a credit card on file all I had to do was nothing unless I wanted to change something in which case I could call there customer support 24/7. I knew the credit card number they had was no longer valid and I did not want to continue my account since I was getting the DSL, so I called the customer support and told them I wished to cancel my account. I was told that I could only cancel an account M-F 8-5. I explained that those were exactly the same hours I worked (ok so I fudged a little) and that I was not available to call during those hours, I also explained that the credit card number they had was no good and since they couldn't get any money they would just cancel it then. Little did I know. I continued to get email from the voyager account, nothing but spam, but it was still coming so I knew the account was still active. I sent them an email to cancel my account, which I knew they did not do since I had asked this on my first phone call. The reply I received said "we do now accept cancelations by email" I replied with if you do "now" (which I knew to be a typo of "not) then take this as my cancellation. The reply told my to call customer service 24/7. I then received a dunning notice from them that they would turn my account over to collections if I did not call and give them a current credit card. Of course I could call 24/7, and since I received the card on Saturday when I was home to get the mail I called then. Again I was told that I could only cancel on M-F 8-5, again I explained that I was not available then. The kid then told me I could designate someone else to call for me, I asked his name and he replied JR, I then designated him to close my account. He said that he was not authorized to do that, and I explained that I had just authorized him. Not trusting him to do this I did call on Monday, after talking to the first rep I had to hold for someone else, and expain all over again. I then received an email again asking for a current credit card to use. I replied to the email asking what more I could do I called their customer support during their appointed hours. The reply was that I could fax my request so I printed the email and faxed it. This weekend when I pulled in my email there was no voyager spam. I really like the DSL and as I type this at Mommy's I am again reminded of why.

Hopefull there will be pictures this weekend of Megan's birthday cake. I saw the perfect one on the Food TV show Sugar Rush and have been perfecting it in my mind for weeks. It will be so cool if it turns out right, almost better than the lamp. Look down there it is again.

Long Time No Hear From

Here is the gift that caused Megan to go geeky, it is a floor lamp that fits under her bed. It has furry pink shades and wiggles.

Christmas was fun, we had dinner at Tonia's and spending time with Gordon's family is much more enjoyable with Tonia's new husband. They are all doing well and Tonya's grandson (Dawn's son) is adorable. It took a while for him to warm up but there were a lot of new faces in the crowd.

Moving Mommy was made so much better with all of the able bodies that showed up. I've only spent a couple of nights there, but will be going back in the morning and going back to full time at work, yuk.

We had a normal new year's, stayed home and had milkshakes at midnight. It was sad to see how old Dick Clark got all of a sudden. But I guess it is better to be young well into old age than to be old while still in your youth.

That's it for here.

Stick a fork in me

I took Friday off from work, and since Gordon had the day off also we decided to go to Bay City and do some Christmas shopping. I charged him with going through what we already had and making a list of what we still needed. Well, ever since I got my new Saturn (December 2003) I have had a problem starting it on really cold mornings. I would go to start it and it would just click, I had to wait ten minutes (not nine and 1/2) and try again and it would start just fine. Not a huge problem but not one I like either. I considered taking it into the dealer but was sure I would hear "It starts just fine for us) which of course it would unless I was able to determine that the morning would be really cold and was willing to spend the night in the parking lot. So I just lived with it. Not working continually last winter helped, there wasn't that many really cold mornings that I needed to start the car. This year however not so much. It was really cold every morning last week. Tuesday I just did the cold morning ritua and it started just fine. Wednesday after my ten minutes it started and died, but then after a couple minutes started okay. I called Gordon and told him to make an appointment at the Saginaw Saturn dealer for Friday morning. Thursday, after my ten minutes it started and died and then started and died and then started and died, until finally after a 1/2 hour or so it started. Gordon had an appointment for 8:00am Friday. This is even earlier than I start work, and a much further drive. So much for a day off. Friday morning was of course not as cold and the car started just fine for Gordon. Doubling my doubt that the Saturn dealer would be able to help me. One of the reasons it was not as cold was because it was snowing and the roads were horrible. Schools that were in session that day (Megan was not it was a teacher in service and her Girl Scout leader was taking the girls to the mall in Saginaw to do their Christmas shopping) were closed due to snow. (this later factored into the crowds of teenagers hanging out at the malls) But we made the drive to the dealer and as I explained the problem he nodded his head like he had heard this before. So I said, "have you heard this before?" "Many times" was his reply, this was reassuring in that they could fix it, but disconcerting in that if they knew they had a problem why didn't they tell me so I wouldn't have dealt with it for so long. This disconcertion (is that a word?) was compounded when he said "Well, your factory warranty is up I'll have to check with your extended warranty to see if this is covered." I told him that I didn't understand those words, of course it was covered it was a full warranty, and what do you mean check with my extended warrantly is was a Saturn warranty. He explained that he would first have to determine what was wrong and even though I bought my warranty from Saturn at the time of purchase that does not make it a Saturn warranty and different warranties cover different things. I told him to do what he needed to do and let me know, I did need to fight the battle right then, I would wait to see what the result was. Luckily the problem was exactly what he thought it was and it was fully covered under my warranty. It took them about and hour to fix, and I guess I'll find out if it works the next really cold morning.

I had planned on filling up my gas tank in Saginaw since I had thought the gas would be cheaper than in West Branch but it was $2.35 a gallon, so I waited. We drove to Bay City and I saw a couple of places at $2.16 and then a few at $2.14 so I incorrectly assumed that in town would be cheaper when we got to Big Lots the gas station there (for the Kroger's that is also in the strip mall) was changing their sign to $2.35 so I drove back a couple of miles and filled up at $2.14. I'm hoping it will be cheaper by Mom's, so I am going to wait to fill up again until I get down there.

From that point forward we shopped until we dropped, and then got up and did some more. We found one thing for Megan that is going to have her completely nutty on Christmas morning, I have told her this and it is driving her crazy. And as soon as I finish this I am going to get some wrapping done while she is at a cookie booth. (poor baby it is freezing out) But I am so done with shopping, got some major wrapping to do. But I enjoy that part. Now I just have to wait for the stuff I ordered on line and shipped to Melody on accident. Oh, well everything can not go smoothly or I get confused.

Drastic Times Call For Drastic Measures

Daddy called today and is working on a plan to get the Lions into the SuperBowl as players and not visitors in there home field. The plan includes the Avian Flu, a couple of plane crashes, and possible Al-Queda. Even with all of that I do believe the Lions would find a way to lose.

Work is extremely busy, but I like that. I am guessing that it will slow down some after the new year, after I have had a chance to fix all of the old stuff and only have to keep up with the everyday stuff.

Thanksgiving was tons of fun, even the driving in the snow. I can't imagine doing that with any other group of people without tempers rising and fingers pointing, and everyone being completely miserable. The casino's were the icing on a very fine cake. Yes, we enjoy our casinos, but we can have just as much fun just about anywhere.

Plans are progressing for Christmas, I have some vacation time that I have to take or I lose (like that is ever a viable option.) So I am taking off the last two days of the year, that Monday (the 26th) is our Christmas holiday so I can bring the family down to help with the physical moving of Mommy (and me) into the new house and then we can come back to West Branch Wednesday night so Gordon can go back to work.

I have no idea of what is going on with this band thing and Megan, talking to her gets no further information than what is in her blog, so I guess I will have to wait t0 hear from the dreaded band teacher.

What happened to the time/date stamp on the bottom of where we edit the posts, I used to be able to change that?

Has It Been A Week Already?

Boy how the time does fly. As you can tell from the picture it is that time of year again. Gordon started on November 1st, and everything was up and done when I came home on Friday. I love these decorations. Today was our Thanksgiving, as we are going to support the Indian side of the holiday on Thursday by leaving money at the casinos, we did the pilgrim thing today with ham instead of turkey. Why ham, when we have a perfectly good turkey in the freezer? Because I like ham leftovers better for the casino. The snacks are a crucial ingrediant in successful casino trips. We are so ready.

All is well on the job front. I am officially employed with bennies and a nice raise. I will send everyone an email from my work address so you will have it. I can get email I just can't go to any links sent for the internet. I have negotiated flex hours and instead of 8:30 to 5:30 M-F I work until 6:30 M-TH giving me 4 hours extra so I can come in two hours late on Monday and leave 2 hours early on Friday. There is no shortage of stuff to do so that is nice. When I think about trying to have done this at the construction company the thought of having to sit there until 6:30 makes me want to cry. My plan is too clean up everything with the two offices I have now and learn everything there is to know about Ohio government programs, and then switch to new offices and learn everything there.

There's nothing else new here, there was snow on the ground when I got here on Friday but it is gone now. The Lions were very disappointing today, but the Colts-Bengals game was a great game to watch. If KC wins tonight Gordon is guaranteed either first or second in the football pool, that would make 6 wins in 11 weeks. He's on a streak, good thing we're going to a casino!

More in a week or so.....

The Nitty Gritty

I now have SBC Yahoo DSL. It is $14.95/month which is cheaper than my internet service was before ($209 annually). It is billed monthly on my phone bill as an additional service such as caller ID, or call forwarding. I was also able to drop my second phone line as DSL is connected to a phone line but shares it, I am still able to make and receive calls while connected, in fact I think I am always connected. I paid $50 (which I have a rebate for and will get back) for the equipment needed to connect my computer, I would also have needed to purchase an ethernet card if I did not have the one Lyle gave me, but I have no idea what an ethernet card costs. I paid SBC $30 for the wireless adapter card for Megan's computer (which I am returning for a refund) and ended up paying about the same ($26.99) at Wal-Mart for the USB Wireless Adapter. I can have up to ten computers connected to the internet at the same time from any where in the house. My computer is the only one connected to the phone line, Megan's is a totally wireless connection. I have the basic service, they also have a high speed available, but even in the basic the speed is incredible compared to dial up. I merged my account with my existing Yahoo account and can view my mail through yahoo or when I am at home it pulls it into Outlook. I am still trying to figure out if I have web space like I did with voyager where I can load movies.

All in all I am pretty happy with it, but it has only been a weekend.

Jonathan Carter Kennedy

If a name is all it takes then this kid will be president someday. I'm sure he's have more going for him in that direction as time goes on, but for right now he has a lot of other stuff going for him. He is exactly the right size and weight for my arms. Holding him is an absolute delight. He hasn't opened his eyes all the way for me yet, but he hasn't cried or even wimpered either.

He helped me cook and even put the football scores into the computer (another card win for Gordon first if Pittsburgh wins on Monday second if they lose - this will be his fourth win this year 2 firsts and 1 second already. Second place gets a free play the following week ($5 value), first place gets the rest.) But dinner is done and I need to eat.

Do You Yahoo?

The installation CD warned that this could take up to 30 minutes to install. HA! Minutes, hours really what is the difference. The first problem arose when it came time to connect the DSL boxy thingy to the computer, on the phone they told me it was a USB connection, the installation cd gave me the option of Ethernet (recommended), USB, or wireless. I selected USB and got to some instructions that made no sense. I don't even remember what they were, but I took advantage of the 24/7 support offered. When I read the instructions to the tech he said, "oh, you don't have to worry about that" I then asked how I was supposed to connect the boxy thingy to my cpu, it said with the "Ethernet cable supplied." I asked what I was supposed to connect it to, and he replied "the ethernet card in your computer" I explained that would be great if I had an ethernet card, but since I didn't and I was told that it was a USB connection what was the plan. He said, "oh you can connect it through a USB port" with what I asked, "a USB cable" was the simple answer. "And where in this box of stuff you sent me would I find the USB cable?" "We don't supply those you need to get one on your own." Luckily, I remember that when Lyle gave us the computer he said, "I threw an Ethernet card in the box, just in case you go wireless someday" Yea right, was my thought....Thank you Lyle! So I installed the ethernet card, and had to restart the installation from the very beginning. The longest part is when the are copying the files, I thought this should go pretty fast the second time, wrong. Wrong again the third, fourth, fifth. But an hour in (about eleven) my computer was all connected and I was on DSL. Now all we had to do was Megan's. I had purchased from SBC a wireless adapter card to connect Megan's PC and while I was doing mine, I had her turn off and disconnect her pc. We dropped the card in, put the installation cd in and progressed. Until we got to the part about actually connecting, First they asked me how I was connecting and gave me three pictures none of which looked like what I had. There was one that said Wireless Adapter but it had a long thing sticking out of the back that mine did not have, I selected it anyway and went on. The cd then instructed me to go to section F of the installation guide, there was no Section F, there was no section, A, B, C, D, E, G,H, ... either. I hit next and pretended to have read Section F. It said sorry I cannot connect, is the power on on the boxy thingy - they didn't use the term, boxy thingy, but I knew what they meant anyway. The cd then told me I was going to have to connect manually and where to find the information on the boxy thingy. I got this and plugged the numbers in and they said "sorry I cannot connect, is the power on on the boxy thingy" I said yes, and was told where to find the numbers and how to plug them in. While getting the numbers off the boxy thingy Gordon found a stick that connected to the back of the card we had put in so we attached that and still no luck. I rebooted thinking maybe since we had just attached the stick maybe a reboot would help. Not so much. We had to start the installation all over and couldn't get past putting in the numbers. Back on the phone with tech support. I explained that I did not do whatever was in section F since the manual they had sent had no sections, nor any information other than drop the card in and follow the cd. Again I was told that I did not need to worry about that. Walking through it with support helped none so I was bumped up to second level. In their defense I was never on hold for more than 30 seconds, so I never had to wait for them not to tell me anything. Second level walked me through opening the device manager and attempting to load the driver. The computer however was not able to locate a driver, talking to me as if I had never seen a computer before the tech was getting very impatient when the driver was not found since it was apparent to him that I was not pointing the wizard to look on the CD. (Luckily for him not only have I seen a computer before, but have worked support and understand the average level of intelligence dealt with) The tech went up one level and came back and said that the driver for that particular card is not included on the CD and we would need to download it off of the internet. My patience level was not at a good point by then. Why would you sell me a card and not include the driver, why would you tell me it was a USB connection and send me an Ethernet cable, why, oh why, do I attempt to change things, why can't I ever just be happy with what I have, why I ask you why! Fortunately the last half went on only in my head. I came back to my newly connected PC and downloaded the driver and burned it onto a CD to take to Megan's computer. Opened the zip files on Megan's went to load the driver and nope, the device manager said no driver, the card software said no device, always blaming the other guy. Tech supported decided I had a bad slot on the computer and told me to move the card, and then it would work just fine. I said I doubted that, but I would move the card and call them back. So I took the modem out and switched places with the wireless adapter, I was able to dial into the internet with the modem in the slot just recently vacated by the adapter, and was still not able to connect the adapter in the modem's old home. Back to tech support, "probably a bad card, those cards are not real reliable" "probably why you don't include a driver for them, huh?" "we can send you a new card" "nope not interested, I want to return this card, just tell me what I need to buy at Best Buy to get this computer running" He suggested a USB wireless adapter and instructed me to call billing on Monday to arrange the return of the original card. So we were done for the night, it was only 2:00 in the morning, three hours of effort and Megan's computer was still not connected.

This morning after the laundrymat and the library we went to Wal-Mart and bought a USB wireless adapter. I was able to load the software that came with it and plug it in getting the computer to recognize it, however it did not recognize mycomputer. Back to tech support. I gave him my case number and he read all the notes, I explained that I had a USB connector and that the computer was recognizing it but I needed to tell it how to find the boxy thingy that they had sent me. He explained that since I had chose to go with a third party connector he might not be able to help me. Totally out of patience I explained that I hoped the call was being monitored and this not being my first, second, or third call to their technical support I was fully aware that the chances of him being able to help me were slim and none, that SBC had given me little option but to go with a third party vendor, and that he had better listen to what I was telling him since I understood the concepts but needed to know the particulars of where everything went. I explained that I was able to get into the software to where the profile needed to be loaded but that I did not know what information to put in where. Walking through it with him led absolutely no where. He kept saying "where it says WEP put in your serial number" It doesn't say WEP. Finally, he gave me the codes that I would need to call Belkin (the third party vendor) and hopefully they would be able to help me. And they were, it took a while, I was on hold for about 40 minutes waiting for the next available operator, finally I decided to take the phone into the office and play poker while I waited, sure enough that brought about the next available operator. Within minutes, I professed my undying love, and Megan's computer was on line on DSL.

My email is changing from ggerth@voyager.net to gretchengerth@sbcglobal.net. Voyager is still active until 11/17 when my contract is up. But I signed up for something called trueswitch which is supposed to notify all of you and forward mail for up to thirty days.

That's all the news that's fit to print.

Here is the promised more

Bry's party was very loud. We counted 11 kids and 14 adults (Megan is in the adult category for this one.) For those of you who haven't been there Robin's house is pretty small. But everyone had fun. At one point Bryan couldn't get something he wanted and he said "Oh yeah, happy birthday to me" with just the right amount of sarcasm to confirm that he really is 7.

On the job front although they have told me that I would become a full time employee with benefits as of 11/10 they have not told me what those said benefits are. I did find out through talking with others that the day after Thanksgiving is not a holiday (and to think I listed that as my favorite day.) So I asked my manager and she told me that she would get HR to give me the packet explaining the benefits. When this did not happen I asked again. She then told me that HR had informed her that I would get this once I was an official employee. I told her that this was not okay, that it would be foolish to commit to an offer without knowing what the offer was. She went back to HR and was again told no. I then sweetened the pot by saying that I was expecting a job offer from a company that I had temped for last year within the next week, and that if I did not know what Arcadia had to offer I might have to assume the other offer was better. This brought about a flurry of activity, including me being called into the HR office. Where I was told that it was common practice to not divulge benefit information until after an employee had been hired. I explained that it was common practice for me to discuss this information in the interview, as it is a key component of compensation. HR would not budge stating that they could not treat me any differently than any other potential employee. I agreed that I did not expect preferential treatment but I would have to take that into consideration. My manager then called me into the office of the director of our department where the director gave me her benefit package explaining the different options available and the costs for each. She then told me that I would recieve 2 floating holidays that needed to be used by the end of the year and would have accrued just over 20 vacation hours based on the 90 days I will have worked prior to becoming an official employee (although I am not official until 11/10, my hire date will be 8/12.) She also told me that I would receive a $2/hour raise and should the offer from the other (phantom) company be more than that to let her know and she would see what she could do. Wow, this is alot like playing poker, I have the nuts and I want to get called, if I raise too little I won't get the best payout, if I raise too much I might not get called. Not sure yet how to play it.

I posted the "answers" to last week's post. This week the game is encore. As I am driving I often hear a word in a song that gets me to thinking what other songs have that word in it. This week I did a lot on "bottle" what can you guys come up with? Bonus points if you come up with the song that inspired this train of thought.

Until Later

Happy Birthday Bryan

Yes, those are glasses on his face, he needs them for reading, tv, and using the computer. Will post more later.

Chillin' on a Saturday

THEY WERE ROBBED. Now I don't profess to be a fan of baseball, and have nothing against those that have chosen (is it a choice or are you born that way?) that lifestyle, but I was flipping channels the other night and what I saw was nothing short of robbery. If the White Sox end up winning the series I am officially boycotting baseball. (As opposed to just not watching it.)

I WANT TO BE AN ENVIRONMENTALIST WHEN I GROW UP. Well not as soon as I grow up I'll wait until after I've already taken everything I want. Again flipping channels, I caught a city council show from Westland, someone is asking to reopen Nankin Tavern and build two additional restaurants on the property (a pizza shop and an unnamed fast food drive through.) This is the corner of Hines and Ann Arbor Trail. Many residents of the area were there to complain stating how that area is full of nature and one of the main reasons they chose to build their homes there was because of all the nature in the area. These homes have not been there since the beginning of time and most of them have gone up in the last few years. One guy actually said that he was a devout environmentalist and chose to build his home there last year because of all of the trees and animals in the area, and how the proposed development of the area would destroy such. Of course the development of his property was necessary and of no consequence to nature. If this doesn't go through I am officially boycotting nature.

OVER THE RIVER THE MIGHTY RIVER. Crossing the Zilwuakee bridge last night I wrote down all of the songs I heard on the radio for a trivia game for you guys. How can I write and drive you ask? Don't worry I did put my book down while I wrote down the songs. As you can see from the impressive list I was on the bridge for a loooong time. Apparently there was an overturned semi, however all I know was we went no where and then we did. There was a AAA report on while I was waiting but instead of traffic it gave an update on the leaves changing (the UP is at 75%, northern lower at 50% with peak to hit in two weeks in case you're interested.) So here is a random line from a song, what song is it? Answers will be posted in comments later in the week. Keep in mind I was listening to the "Great songs of yesteryear" station and flipping with "70's, 80's, 90's, whatever we want" station.

1. Roll me in designer sheets
2. Not much, how 'bout you
3. You know that's a game I hate to lose
4. Although I lose a friend, in the end you'll know
5. The beauty is there but the beast is in her heart
6. Just let it go, don't be afraid to lose control
7. You know it's just your foolish pride
8. Now you don't care a thing about me You're just using me
9. That kind of love is mythical She's anything but typical
10.But I'll be lonely without you
11. I only smile when I lie, then I tell them why
12. Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight
13. They keep their boyfriends warm at night
14. Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace.
15. Hoping you'll seeWhat your love means to me
16. You and me been finding each other for so long
17. When the skies of November turn gloomy
18. Well, we're scared, but we ain't shakin'
19. And talk is cheap when the story is good
20. young and sweet, only seventeen
21. Take my arms that I might reach you
22. You ain't seen the best of me yet

WE WOULD HAVE PUT IT IN THE FINE PRINT IF YOU KNEW YOU READ IT. My internet service is expiring in November and I received an email that they would be charging my credit card for another year of service if I did not respond that I know longer wanted it. I thought this would be a good time to explore other options. Fortutiously I received a brochure from SBC detailing their plans for bundling services. Phone, mobile phone (through Cingular), tv service (through Dish Network), and internet (through Yahoo DSL). I currently have SBC for phone, Dish for tv, and have thought many times about changing my cell phone. So I had Gordon make the preliminary call to check out all of this. Yes, DSL does not use a separate phone line so I can discontinue paying for a second line. Yes, I can connect more than one computer - even at the same time. No, I cannot bundle my Dish with it since I am a loyal customer and not a new customer. You have to call a different number to sign up for Cingular. By this time he had worked out for the customer service rep to call me on Saturday. So she did and I worked through what I needed to understand and everything was good. They were sending out the software and equipment I needed to set everything up, we scheduled the shut off of my additional phone line......and then the stopper. "I see you do not have SBC as your long distance carrier" "No, I do not have a long distance carrier, I use my cell for all long distance calls" "Well, as a requirement for the DSL service you must use SBC as your long distance carrier, this way you will have the ability to make long distance calls from your phone at a charge of ten cents per minute" "Is there any monthly charge?" "Just two dollars per month" reading as I am talking "so, what you're saying is the DSL will cost me $16.95/month instead of $14.95" still considerably cheaper than internet service and an additional phone line, "no, the DSL is $14.95, the long distance is $2.00" "come on, you've seemed intelligent don't go stupid on me" "well, I guess you could look at it that way, but it is still considerably cheaper than even just the additional phone line" "Yes, it is but I really hate this kind of thing thrown in at the end, I'm looking at your brochure and I do see on the bottom where it says I have to have SBC local service, but it does not mention anything about long distance service" "well, ma'am since you have a brochure and it does not mention it, I'll just go ahead and waive this long distance service." So it looks like it is going to happen, the new service starts on the 25th, I don't have an email address yet but I will let you know when I do. The old service (voyager) is still there until the 17th.

The time stamp on this post is 12:27 and the clock on my computer reads 2:48, so I guess I have spent enough time on this. I'll talk to you all soon.

Happy Birthday Melody

Hopefully your present got there by now, it's coming from Overstock.com probably addressed to me. Click on the video to see how much we miss you.

Another Embarrassment at Ford Field

Amazingly it wasn't the Lions who were embarrassed. It wasn't so much that the Lions won but the Ravens lost the game and their composure today. It was a great game to watch. Josh is quite a Lions fan and yells "Go Lions" (video attached the second part was a Lions Touchdown) with the best of us. (Us being me and Sean, the other people in the house took Baltimore to win - fools). The most amazing in all is that it is week 5 of the season and the Lions are in sole possession of first place in their division.

In other interesting news Patti (the office manager for the construction company I was working at until she hired someone with a little more knowledge than I) called me last week to offer me a job. Turns out she has been through 4 people (one of which was her daughter) since I left at the end of July. It was with great pleasure that I could tell her I had found a position that I am challenged at. Of course I first asked what they were offering and it was as I thought no medical benefits at all. I do miss wearing jeans and the drives around town but I really enjoy what I am doing now. The team I work with is improving as the two girls I least liked (one I could not stand, and one that was tolerable) are gone and I have moved to a much better desk position.

Since I have the boys here today we are celebrating Melody's birthday, it would be better if she was here too. But sometimes you just have to make do with what you have.