Another Comcastic Experience...

I have to give myself props for posting my conversations/frustration with Comcast back in July of 2008. And why is that? Oh, well, you'll have to read further for an explanation.

I recently moved into a basement apartment of my friend Mike's house. He already has Comcast, so as a result, I just called into Comcast to get my account at my in-laws cancelled. Let the rigmarole begin.
First, I called into their toll-free number from my work phone. I went through the prompts to cancel my account. Something like, option 4 for downgrade/cancel, then option 1 for cancel. It then asked me if my account phone number ended with 2252. That isn't my phone number, and I assume that someone else at my company has called comcast from before. I hit option 2 because it wasn't my number. It then asked me to enter my phone number, which I did. It then kicked me out to the main menu again. So I again had to hit option 4 for downgrade/cancel, and this time it said option 2 for cancel, which I hit. About 10 seconds later... Dial tone. Here we go.

So, figuring that the agent answered and accidentally dropped the call, I repeat the process. Same result. That reminds me of a definition that I once heard. To repeat a process that you know the result of expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Call my psychiatrist, I'm sure he'll be happy and mutter something about "I told ya so..."

So, still needing to finish the process, I decided to go in and just hit option 1 to confirm my phone number was what I was calling from instead of going into my phone number. After I hit 1 to confirm, it asked me to confirm the digits of the address where the service was located. Well, since it wasn't for my account, I tried to enter my work's address, but that didn't work. After 3 failed attempts, it sent me to an agent. Finally!

I spoke with an agent who gathered some information about what I was trying to get completed. I told her what was going on, to which she asked for my phone number. Which I had to provide several times before she got it right. Then she asked what city I was calling from. I wasn't sure whether to say the city I worked in, the city of my previous residence, or the city of my current residence. I decided to go with the latter. She then asked what state that was in. Utah, I replied. She then informed me that she couldn't access my account and that she would have to transfer me to an agent in my "market." So.. she transferred me back to the IVR. Le sigh.

So I followed the prompts to cancel my account, then entered my phone number, but instead of hitting option 2, I went with option 1 to downgrade my service, hoping that the individual I spoke to could either help me, or get me to someone who could. It asked me for the last 4 of my SSN (No dial tone! Woot!) which I entered. It then told me 2 times in quick succession that there was high call volume and extended wait times. There was no hold music or anything, so I thought that maybe their IVR had put me into another loop. But, after hearing the message twice, a nice agent answered the call.

The cancellation conversation was fast, thorough and he was sharp as a tack (Cake), which was appreciated. He then said that everything was set, but I would have to return my cable modem to the nearest service center to avoid being charged an equipment charge. *Screech* Hold the phone.... Wha?! "Oh, but sir, I own that modem," I responded. "Ahh, but it says in my system that you don't," he replied. Oh no. Here we go again.

Now, to complete the full circle, you'll have to return to my July 2008 blog posts about how this happened when I first got the account setup, and it took several painful chats/emails/phone conversations to get the situation resolved then. I was able to tell the agent about my previous experience, exact dates, names, etc. Unfortunately, that didn't exactly solve the situation. He opened a ticket with the equipment investigation team to have them figure out whether I owned it or not. The agent guessed that the person who "solved" my problem a couple years ago, likely just took off the charge for the modem lease, but didn't in fact, "solve" my problem.

So. Now we wait. Wish me luck.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

My oldest nephew on my side of the family, Cameron, turned 12 today. Holy macaroni.

Congratulations on the achievement, Cam-dawg...

I'm glad that everyone in the family had the opportunity to test their broken parenting methods on you before their kids came along (including mine)...

How did you turn out to be such a good kid?!

Now... For a little birthday embarrassment. That's Cameron on the right.

Mosquito Tally

I just marked each mosquito bite with a pen mark and counted them as I went.
My left leg has 72 bites.
My right leg has 78 bites.

That's right. 150 effing mosquito bites on my legs/feet. WTF?

Mosquitoes Suck

I went up to my friends brother's house up in Kaysville again to make wands a full week ago. When we were there, there were a couple of mosquitoes flying around, but I decided that they were tolerable, especially since they weren't everywhere. My friend offered me some Off! so I could keep them from bugging me. I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, shorts and flip flops and thought that they would leave me alone, and if I noticed more of them, I would put it on.
These mosquitoes had to have been in ninja mode, because I didn't see or feel a single one bite me, I only saw a couple flying around my face, and trust me, I was constantly checking my legs because I didn't want to be getting bites.
Boy, am I an idiot for not using the off. I have lost HOURS of sleep over this, so I'm tired. They got me on my toes, on my Achilles tendon, all over my feet and calves.

See the pictures below. These pictures are from a FULL WEEK after the bites took place.
I am miserable.

Well, crap...

So, Trisha and I have been trying to do some spring cleaning and de-junking. We never really got our 2nd bedroom set up how we want and stuff kept piling up in there. It's really been a struggle trying to organize that room, especially since Trisha has been sick a lot, and pregnant. Not to mention that I've been lazy.. ;) Well, lazy and really exhausted lately. Hrmm.. We'll get to that...
I decided to take some initiative and clean where I could. I feel as though I'm finally getting into some good habits of cleaning. As a part of this spring cleaning, we decided to move our bedroom furniture around. I was getting ready to move the bed after I vacuumed part of the bedroom floor where we wanted to move the bed. I walked around the edge of the bed and started to lean over. I felt a twinge in my lower back, and I collapsed onto the bed. I felt as though I had been stabbed in my lower back. A few minutes later I worked my way back to my feet, but I knew that something was wrong. I had tweaked my back pretty bad. I continued to move the bed by pushing it into place with my legs.
After I was done with that, I had to lay down for most of the rest of the day because my back hurt so much. I was laid out all day Sunday and Monday as well. Sitting up, standing, walking, or rolling over while laying down was killer. No fun. Trisha, thankfully, has a prescription for Lortab. I took a couple of those to tide me over until I got to the doctor. I was unable to sleep well any of those nights because I move a lot in my sleep and whenever I move, my back screamed at me, and it woke me up. On Monday night, I had a bowl of low carb ice cream shortly after taking my sleeping medicine and another dose of Lortab. I was so tired and drained from the lack of sleep and the narcotics that I fell asleep sitting up on the couch with my hand laying in my unfinished bowl of ice cream. Lovely.
On Tuesday (after another missed day of work), I went to the Doctor to see what could be done about my back. He thinks that I just strained my back, which is not uncommon. I told him that the past few weeks I've been pretty drained before my back problem even came up. I told him that I had a bit of a sore throat as well and was concerned that I had mono. They took a blood test which just came back today (Thursday).
That's right. I have effing mono.
Boo!

That is all for now.

Election time

I'm excited to vote tomorrow, and want to be sure that I vote intelligently, so I am doing some research on each of the candidates for which I can vote for.

Each candidate had the opportunity to write a 200 word synopsis of their "qualifications" for the position they are seeking.

As many of you know, Dell "Superdell" Schanze is running for Governor of Utah. As an informed voter, I read his "qualifications." I have to post them. They are THAT rediculous.

"Qualifications: SUPERDELL is your only choice because YOU didn't file. Huntsman took away your freedoms and raised taxes more than any governor in the history of Utah. Springmeyer has admitted that he doesn't care about the constitution. The definition for the word insane is voting for the same people while expecting change."

"There is no question that Dell Schanze is different. There are only 3 people on the ballot and SUPERDELL is the only one that is NOT socialist. If you are unsure, then fill your heart with love, completely open your mind and pray to God earnestly. You can't afford to get this wrong and will be held accountable for your choice."

WHAT THE EFF?!

For the full kit and caboodle, check out this link: http://elections.utah.gov/racepdf/142740228/Candidate/156975250.pdf