Every time I call Sprint there's an issue...

Another bad review of Sprint's customer service...

A couple hours after the last post I realized what a whiny little brat I must sound like at this point -angry that my latest tech gadget isn't getting here fast enough... Well, it arrived yesterday -a week and a day after the last purchasing issue was ironed out. It's certainly not up to your average web store's standards, but it got here, so I can't really complain...

Of course, as soon as I got home I ripped through the box, powered up the phone, installed a couple apps, and surfed the web a bit. When I checked the voice mail, there was a message from Sprint saying that I should dial *2 to activate the phone. Well, according to what I've heard online you shouldn't call with the phone you are trying to activate (although you can call customer service with it unactivated -I tried), so I dialed the number that the instructions told me to with my regular phone. The auto attendant asked me some questions that I didn't know the answer to, like "are you a new customer?" uh... sorta. I tried both Yes and No, both dropped me into a queue where the wait time was estimated to be between 15 and 25 minutes. I waited for about 5, then hung up.

So, this morning I tried again at 7am CST and I got through to a rep in less than 5 minutes. (Good start!). It was an Indian girl who talked too fast for me to really keep up and she understood me about as well (although I talked clearly and slowly). It turns out that this wasn't going to be easy either. She said she had no record of my request that my number be ported from Virgin Mobile. I tried re-doing the request, but she needed a Virgin Mobile account number, and I couldn't find one, so I told her to skip it -I'd keep the temporary number for now.

She had me go into the phone settings and set up the phone. It went just fine although she spit out the numbers a little fast for me to figure out how to type/dial them in on this phone (Treo 755p), but I figured it out -no biggie. Once it was set up, she said "Ok. Now you need to choose a plan." Here's where the fun begins...

Me: "Uh, I bought the plan when I bought the phone."
Sprint Rep: "Well, it's not showing up, so we have to set it up again."
Me: "I don't want to set it up again, I already chose a plan when I bought the phone."
Sprint Rep: "You do not currently have a plan, how many minutes would you like?"
Me: "I'm not going through this again -I already have a plan"
Sprint Rep: "How many minutes do you want?"
(repeat)
Me: "Look. I signed up for the Sero plan. Can you put me on that plan? It's called Sero, S-E-R-O."
Sprint Rep: (silence)
Sprint Rep: "Yes. How many minutes?"
Me: "500"
Sprint Rep: "Ok"
Me: "How much is the plan?"
Sprint Rep: "$30" (right)
Me: "And how much data do I get with it?"
Sprint Rep: "There is no data on this plan."
Me: "There's supposed to be unlimited data and text messaging on this plan. That's what I signed up for. That's what I already have."
Sprint Rep: "I'm sorry, but that plan is not available."
Me: "What do you mean it's not available? I ALREADY HAVE THAT PLAN! I signed up for it when I bought the phone. You sent me the phone, so I must also have gotten the plan. It's on my invoice!"
Sprint Rep: "I'm sorry, but in order to be eligible for this plan you must have the rep that referred you to Sprint call and..."
Me: "That's not acceptable. I'm not jumping through hoops to get on this plan. I already purchased it and I have proof. If you can't put me back on this plan, transfer me to a manager."
Sprint Rep: "There's nothing anyone can do. You are not eligible for this plan. You must choose a plan you are eligible for."
Me: "Just transfer me to a manager."
(repeat ad nauseum)

I should have timed it. It had to have been 3-5 minutes of solid back and forth going in circles. I even pointed out the fact that we weren't getting anywhere. Finally she transferred me to a manager, who picked up in about a minute. When the manager picked up, all she said was "You've been authorized for the SERO plan". I was like "What!?!" She repeated herself, then I asked for the details -she confirmed both "unlimited data" and "unlimited text messaging".

Now, when I look online it says I'm on the Sero F&F 500 plan or something like that, which is the plan the rep told me about -500 minutes, no data, no text messages. But, the website also says that the details are not available because my plan was recently changed. It says details will be available after the next billing cycle. I'm willing to wait, but not that long. I think I might have to call back tomorrow or the next day in order to confirm that I'm on the correct plan.

GRRR I look forward to the day when this is all settled and I can just be happy using my phone. For now this hassle doesn't even seem worth the deal I got. But, over 2 years, I have to admit it kinda is, although I'm not happy to be giving Sprint ANY money at all at this point. >:P

Sprint's having "technical difficulties" -well, at least they admit it!

I ordered a new phone with service from Sprint on Sunday, July 22nd. On Monday there was an issue with them being able to pull my credit report, but that was resolved on the same day (although it took about 4-5 calls, see the "Sprint review" post from 7/23 for that story). ...My invoice said to expect the phone in 2-4 business days, so I expected the phone sometime between Wednesday and Friday, but Sprint's order tracking page still, to this minute, hasn't given me a tracking number... Today is Monday, July 30th -a week and a day since I put in the order, and one week from when the order was said to be complete. No phone, no tracking number....

So, I called Sprint this morning to find out why their order tracking page is still saying "The order is awaiting fulfillment." After a half hour on hold (yes, I timed it), I get this Indian guy who I can barely understand. He takes my order number and puts me back on hold for another 5 minutes. When he gets back on the line, he tells me something about technical difficulties and to call back on Wednesday. After going back and forth with him trying to figure out what's going on, he says it's not a problem with my order, all I can get out of him is that it's just "technical difficulties" and UPS should have my tracking number on Wednesday... Super.

...I just can't believe that I ordered the phone on Sunday, and then the next day I put in an order with Egghead for memory for the phone, and I opted out of their $2.99 "faster processing" fee, and I still got the memory on Wednesday (2 days after ordering it). I also bought 2 cases for the phone from a Yahoo store on Monday, and I got those on Friday. But I'm still waiting for the phone...

When I ordered my phone from cheap-as-heck, pay-as-you-go Virgin Wireless, I had my phone the very next day! What's up with Sprint? Is it a temporary problem? -It doesn't look like it... Google "The order is awaiting fulfillment." and you get back results from various forums where people are discussing how long it takes to get a phone. The average seems to be a week (which means Sprint's invoice should be updated so their customers aren't expecting it in "2-4 business days"). But some are reporting up to 20 days with no notice of the item being back ordered, etc. Everyone, however, reports terrible wait times when calling Sprint and horrible customer service once they finally get through. With the carriers all being bought up and the market coming down to AT&T vs Sprint, I don't expect we'll see any improvement.

I guess that when you shop by price alone, this is what you get...

A review of my Sprint customer service experience -trying to get a new phone set up with Sprint

Whew. I feel like I just went through some initiation for some super-elite underground organization. But in reality, all I've accomplished was becoming a Sprint customer! Wow... it really shouldn't be that hard!

Here's what happened:

At 9pm last night I ordered a new phone and service plan with Sprint online.

At about 9am I found I had an email from Sprint saying there was a delay in processing my order because of a problem running my credit report. It said they'd call me, but gave a number if I wanted to "expedite the process". I did, so I called. This is call #1...

Call #1:
Nice girl, spoke English well. She said that the order was saying it was "in process" and she couldn't check or alter it -it may be going through just fine. She told me she'd personally keep an eye on it, and if it got held up, she'd call me. She took down my number, and that was that.

At about 11am I got another email from Sprint saying I needed to call them because of a problem running the credit report. Okay, I call again. Call #2...

Call #2:
This girl barely spoke English at all. She took my application # and put me on hold while she talked to the credit department. When she came back on the line she kept saying something about them "not having my credit report". -I asked several times: "Who doesn't have my credit? Sprint or the credit reporting agency?" She didn't understand my question so I tried rewording it, which was hard because it's a 5-word sentence! So, the last couple times I asked the question v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. She still couldn't tell me so we moved on.

Next, she wanted to know who took the credit report in the first place? I repeated that I purchased the phone online. She asked again -"Yes, but did they run a credit report?" I said "Did who run a credit report? The form on the web site asked for the info to run one, but... I don't know, it's YOUR website!?!" Then she says, yes, but someone has to run your credit... I replied that surely I can't be the first person ever to have purchased a phone and a plan off your website... (Silence) So, I added -I can't be expected to know how this works... The website asked for the info to run my credit, I entered it and hit "Purchase"... That's when we somehow got "disconnected".

I called back...

Call #3:
I got another girl who sounded exactly like the last girl. I asked if this was the person I was just speaking to, and gave my name. She did not reply to my question, but asked my order # and then asked me to hold. Again, I somehow got disconnected.

**I want to clarify that I never raised my voice with anyone. Towards the end of call 2 I let the girl know I was frustrated and wanted a resolution, but I was never mean or angry. I'm generally not good at being forceful with people anyway. But I was frustrated that it took half of my day to get this taken care of while I was supposed to be working.**

Call #4:
This time I called Sprint's main number. Probably a mistake if I look back on it. But, this time I got a male who was able to communicate better than the last girl, but still had an accent (no biggie as long as we can understand each other). I told him the whole story up to this point and then he asks for my name, address, phone number, etc. When he gets to my SSN, I ask if he's starting a new application. He says "Yes". I told him that I already had one, I paid for the phone, and I just needed to straighten out the credit report issue.

"Ok" he says, "no problem", I can run the credit report for you right now. I gave him my info, he put me on hold, then came back and said my credit was good, and I was approved. Sweet! But, no. He then said he needed to cancel my previous order and start a new one. I told him I didn't want to do that because I had ordered the phone through the SERO program. He didn't even know what that was. I explained it, and he said he'd transfer me to that department to re-do the order.

So, I get transferred, and a recording says "welcome to the Sprint employee purchase program, please enter a valid sprint phone number to continue". Uh... I enter the phone number I'm trying to get transferred to this new phone, and it's invalid, so it tells me to re-dial the customer service number I used to get there and then hangs up on me.

Call #5:
This time I go back to the number from their email and I get a nice English speaking girl again. She explains that they need to run the credit report in order to process the application. I tell her that the guy I spoke with 5 minutes ago already ran the report. She said she needed to run it again because that one was under a different application number. Great. Whatever, I said, I just want this done. So, she re-ran the credit report. It came back ok (again), and apparently the phone will be on it's way in a day or two.

Wow. It took over 2 hours of calling, recalling, (several times when I dialed either the number from the email or their main number I got a busy signal or "please try again"!?!) They are a PHONE company!!! WTF!?!

If I didn't get such a good deal on this plan, I would have given up. I kinda dread ever having to deal with them again, though. 2 year contract... Yikes.

Why in the he!! is listening to music on the internet so hard!?!

I stumbled upon Yahoo's LAUNCHcast service a few months ago and I absolutely loved it. I spent a good hour searching for and adding artists that I liked to it so it'd play the music I like. Sometimes it'd choose off-the-wall artists to play like the Notorious MSG or this band that plays a song called "Are We Not Horses" that's really odd, but I loved it. So, I endured the ads and the limits on pausing and skipping because I loved how most of what it played was right-on in my book. Then, yesterday, I was rocking out to some Ani Difranco song or something and all of a sudden the music stopped. "Are you still there?" the player asked... I quickly clicked "Yes" so it'd continue the music and it did... but it started a new song. GRRR! That's happened to me before too. I don't want to be forced to rate or re-rate each song that's playing to avoid the player stopping in the middle of a song. And I refuse to pay for a radio service, personalized or not. After all, my entire CD collection is on my computer in mp3 format, so I can listen to my own music for free -I just like mixing it up a little with these online services.

So, I searched for a new customizable internet radio service and I found Slacker.com Awesome! It didn't even ask me to log in before creating my station which I saved as "dsmgirl". Again, it took me quite awhile to build up my preferred artists list -I searched for and added all the artists from my mp3 collection as well as from my LAUNCHcast list. When I was finally done, I played the station and listened to about a half hour of awesome music ad-free. It even tells you what artist they'll be playing next!

But, after about a half hour it told me that if I wanted to continue listening, I needed to create an account. Ok. No biggie. I created an account. I was thrilled with the service, so why not? Afterwards, though, I couldn't seem to find the station I had just created!?! I sent them "feedback" about it, including my email address like it said "so they could get back to me", but so far nothing. I'm music-less. I'm not creating the profile again.

Over dinner I ranted about this to Ed and he told me about Last FM -the service he uses. It's a social site that hooks into Mugshot and has a little program you can download that syncs your Winamp and Windows Media Player playlists with their service. Awesome! I went straight home and signed up, downloaded the program and found out that it doesn't just upload your playlists for you, it uploads them as you listen to the songs. Poop. Okay, well, I just let Winamp play through my music all night. By morning it was only at "F", but what at least it's automatic, right?

Well, I hadn't actually played any music on Last FM last night because I couldn't figure out how to do it. The interface blows. I could barely figure out how to add music to my profile! And even then, you add songs, not artists, so it's super tedious and slow. But, hey, there are no limits on skipping or ads (per Ed), the social aspect is nice, and the fact that it'll hook into my Mugshot page is pretty cool too, right? Wrong. The deal with Last FM is that you can play other people's stations, but not your own unless you pay. Great. I just wasted more time building a profile for a useless service. How hard is this you greedy f#ckers?

Come on. Give me a station I don't have to pay for. I guess I'm going back to Slacker and rebuilding my profile under my own account to see if that works. I think they are my best bet at this point.

Blah

Drama -I'm too old for it.

What is it about some people that makes them hold other people up while they do something insignificant? or be the one person in a group who has a problem with the restaurant that everyone else wants to go to? Does it make them feel superior? -seeing they have the power to determine where the group goes or what they do? Or, perhaps, they just aren't good team players and lack the social skills to negotiate their own needs and wants with those of the group. Either way, these are people I don't wish to be around.

I spent a 4 day weekend with a group of about 12 people, on and off. Every time a decision had to be made personal issues that existed between Mike and Charlotte meant Charlotte threw a fit and either altered our plans, held us up, or otherwise made a scene. ...and if it wasn't her, it was Kris who had an issue with the plan and had to have it altered to suit him. If either of them put forth any effort at all to think about the other ~11 people in the group rather than just themselves, the weekend would have been awesome. Instead, we spent much of the time arguing over where to go and what to do because of a few people who just couldn't put their own selfishness aside for a moment and just go along for the ride.

There was even drama between the men. I actually HEARD someone say "Albert says he'll talk to Mike if Mike comes and talks to him first." PEOPLE! are we in kindergarten here or what!?!

It's a shame. I hope they grow out of it. In the meantime, I'll be limiting the amount of time I spend with them in order to maintain my sanity.

Insurance

I got a $150 bill from my dentist in the mail and freaked out. See, I have dental insurance (from Great West), for free from my employer, so one day I figured that after 13 years since my last visit, maybe I should go to the dentist again. I had 2 cavities, needed a deep cleaning, and had some pockets they wanted to keep an eye on.

"Okay, fine, whatever. Take care of it" says I. -I was here to improve my dental health after all, the most obvious way to do that is to do what the doctor says.

So, I had the cavities filled and went back every 3 months for checkups like they suggested. Then I get this statement in the mail from my dental insurance company stating that they won't cover the entire cost of the resin fillings the dentist used to fill the cavities because they are in the back of my mouth and my checkup isn't covered at all because I'm only allowed a check up every 6 months.

Now, I wasn't given a choice about the material used to fill my cavities. I didn't even know a choice was available! How am I, as a customer, supposed to keep track of which teeth are considered "posterior" and therefore ineligable for resin fillings? I'd love to see a list of things that are or are not covered. How big of a book would that be? How much of it would I understand as a person who's not all that interested in dentistry. -Will I have my teeth for awhile longer? Good.

...And the worst thing is that this same exact thing happened with my Great West medical insurance in June. I had several bills that were denied or only partially covered and I ended up paying around $400 out of pocket. Needless to say, those little suprise bills hurt me that month -I have my money budgeted out pretty tightly.

Without the knowledge (or time) to figure out what's covered and what's not, a trip to the doctor or dentist is like a game of roulette with my money. Will this proceedure be covered? Who knows, spin the wheel, place your bets, and above all -Good Luck!

Ed's response to my rant -we should move to Canada. I'm totally for it at the moment.

The restaurant waiting game.

As I said before, we eat out a lot. When deciding where to go, my top 3 questions are:

• What do I feel like/not feel like?
  
• What area is most convenient?
• What time is it?

The type of food and location are probably normal, and those of you who live in populated areas might be able to figure out where I'm going with the time thing too...

Saturday we were looking for a place to eat. It was 6pm, a borderline time for finding a restaurant with a short (or preferably non-existant) wait. The whole concept of having to wait for a table is annoying to me. I mean, if you're looking for a place to eat at 8pm on a Saturday night, you're hard pressed to find a Denny's without a wait. It's insane! ...So you wait 2 hours for a table at a decent restaurant only to get bad service because your server is as exasperated as you are with the number of hungry people packed into the restaurant tonight. The upside for them -tips. What do I get for my wait? Nothing. The same food I could have gotten Thursday night at the same price, but without the wait. I try to plan accordingly and hit "favorite" places at unpopular times, but like many people it's often easier and more relaxing to go out to nice places on the weekend. Something has to change.

Oh, right, back to Saturday night. As you can guess from the pre-rant above, we selected a restaurant (Texas Roadhouse in Joliet) and there was a wait. 50 minutes to be exact. So, we took a number, then sat down to discuss our options. In the end, Ed and Kris were starving, so we left and went to Panera Bread instead. ...but Kris never told the hostess at the Roadhouse that we were going elsewhere.

When we were finished eating at Panera I noticed that it was about 10min or so until our number would be called at Texas Roadhouse... Hmm... Ed and Kris were disappointed that we didn't go there. They've been wanting to go all week. Who else is in the same position? -It's 7 o'clock now, the wait's probably an hour and half at least. Could we sell our number to a new or recent arrival? I wonder how much someone would pay to get seated immediately? Is there a potential business selling spaces in restaurants? I, for one, would pay $5 to reduce my wait from 45min to 15min. $10 to go from 1hr to 5-10min? Hmm...

What Constitutional Rights?

To put this out there bluntly: OUR CONSITUTIONAL RIGHTS ARE BEING TAKEN AWAY! Each day, little by little, because no one's doing anything about it. How long does it take to write a letter to your representatives? To read the news? To vote?

My previous post was about the government seizing property for private use. That'd be your 4th Amendment right against illegal searches and SEIZURES!

A law prohibiting flag burning just passed the House. -That's your 1st Amendment right to free SPEECH!

Wake up! We are in real danger of loosing our ability to claim this as a "FREE" Country!

Rant. Totally stressed out.

Okay, so we're leaving on vacation in 8 days. My Mom was going to take our dog while we're away, but with my Dad's recent stroke, she can't take him. So, we have no idea who we can get to take care of the dog. I asked everyone at work and no one can take him. All the kennels will most likely be booked because we're going during a popular time (July 4 weekend). -I have no idea what we're going to do.

My Dad is refusing food, meds, and therapy. I think he's giving up. The only hope is that his doctor can get some psychologists in there to see him and work on his anti-depression medication (they've recently switched kinds, so that may have something to do with this).

My Mom's going nuts over this. Especially because my Dad's taking his anger out on her. He pushes her out of his hospital room and slams the door. -Not good.

We have a big upgrade happening this weekend at work, which means extra hours for me (bad timing).

Our paperwork for our wedding ceremony (we've decided to just let RCCL do it) is over due.

My Plymouth Laser is still in pieces; we're waiting on the head and oem parts from Mitch.

We bought a new car on Saturday, it's in the shop today to remove 2 small dents and 2 paint chips, so I'm driving a loaner. I just remembered that Ed was going to drive into work tomorrow to pick up the head and parts, but I'm supposed to return the loaner and pick up our car at lunch tomorrow. -Doh!

DSMs tend to decide their own upgrade paths...

Another post that starts with Grr...

Grr.

I'm happily researching spring rates so that I can buy the shocks and coilover kit that I've been looking at for the last few weeks when I get an instant message from Ed...

(10:01:37) logic_: Got a minute to talk about your head?

And thus all my plans have changed.

See, my car's currently down for a long overdue timing belt change (91,100 miles). -I figured it was about that time since we have a driving vacation coming up in less than 2 months and I doubt Ed's car will be ready in time (we don't have his engine yet). So, we got it up in the air a few days ago, and started on it. We're currently waiting for a timing belt tensioner tool before we can proceed with the actual timing belt change, but in the mean time there are other things that can be started like my balance shaft elimination (to raise the oil pressure). The only problem we've run into so far is a massive oil leak on the driver's side, possibly from something in the vicinity of the front case (we're still tracking it down).

Now all the parts for the timing belt change were bought awhile ago, so barring any suprises we should be good there. I decided I have $1000 to fix my suspension (it's not only sloppy, but getting dangerous at this point). I also just sold an intercooler that I paid about $400 for, for $600. So I have $600 that I planned to use to replace my seat with a "race seat". (It's not as ricey as it sounds, see, I had to put spacers under my seat so I could see over the dash and because of the weird OEM seat bracket, it's a really hacky job. I'm not so sure it'd hold in an accident, so I'm wanting to replace it ASAP).

But, with Ed's IM the plans have changed. Seems he thinks the head gasket might be going (he never mentioned anything about this before today). He talked to Mitch (the guy who's building his engine) and he agrees, given Ed's description of the problem: white smoke coming from exhaust (I never noticed), coolant got low with no visible leaks (we just swapped the radiator, maybe there was air in it?), and it's been sputtering (every once in awhile -we attributed it to a vacuum leak a few days ago...). To even check it, we'd have to take the head off and apparently, when you do that you need to resurface it. Mitch says the exhaust dowels (?) are also probably in need of replacing. "And while he's got it" we may as well think about getting some other things done.

In the end, here's what I'm looking at:
Stage 1 Head Work:
* Bowl Work
* Check valves
* Bronze guides honed to size
* Multi Angle valve job
* Viton Stem Seals
* Resurface on Mill to MLS Gasket standard

Plus:
* Engine Springs (both with Ti retainers) -for the bigger cams in my future
* Titanium Retainers
* Revised Lifters -because the ones I have now tick. Alot.

The list price for the above work is somewhere between $1057-$1118.

Now, we'll be getting together with Mitch and he may be able to come down on price somewhat. He also may tell me that some of the above is unnecessary, but he also might come up with more stuff to do (porting, polishing, etc).

So... My plans for suspension are on hold. I may have to just do the shocks, and do the springs later. I'm also thinking about skipping the seat for now.

Vacation's just around the corner and I'm not taking the Jeep to Canada....

Bleh, stay tuned for the next episode of "If my DSM worked I'd drive it off of a cliff." :-P

Terri Schiavo, the new reality show!

I'm sitting in a restaurant last night watching the Fox News and they're talking about Terri Schiavo. They give a brief history of her case (as if anyone doesn't know by now) and then start talking about her current condition. The screen shows Terri on video looking weak and sickly while in bold letters under her image the words "Day 11" make it even more obvious that this person has turned into a television event before our eyes. Next, a "specialist" explained what, exactly, is going on in Terri Schiavo's body right now: "She's not feeling any hunger, her own body's pain killers have kicked in. Her kidneys are shutting down because of dehydration. Toxins are building up in her system and will soon lead to a heart attack, which will kill her." It is then that I realize that Terri Schiavo is the new hit reality TV show. What will happen next? Who knows? Tune in at 7pm tonight to find out! -Tactless.

Somewhere, lost in the media exploitation, are a few issues that need to be taken care of. One is, when a person is incapacitated, who has the right to decide what happens to him or her? Ideally there's a living will, but how many people have actually bothered to write one up? It's not difficult. Any scrap of paper, a diary or blog entry may have been enough for Terri Schiavo's case to be decided once and for all in court. So, write down what you want to have happen to you if you are incapacitated! Or, if you are unsure (like me), leave it to your loved ones and hope there's not some 15 year fight that ends up with you getting starved to death. (Ew.)

Another thing that this case has pointed out is a need for our legal system to decide once and for all who can make the decision to "pull the plug" on someone? Does the spouse trump the parents? We need to make sure that this doesn't happen again. I don't often call for laws, but in this case it needs to be made clear.

Lastly, and I'm not sure if I'm alone in this, but I'd rather not be starved to death... If it's Terri Schiavo's lot to die, why does her death have to occur in such a long, drawn-out way? I can't imagine how her loved ones must feel watching her slowly dehydrate and starve. Even if they felt that she wouldn't want to live, how could anyone sit by and watch that? No, I'm strongly in favor of leathal injection in a case like this. Spare us the "Day 12" coverage and spare her parents another day of watching her waste away before their eyes. Doctor-prescribed lethal injection (involve a judge, I don't care!) should be made legal. Murderers and rapists sentenced to death are ensured that it will be relativly painfree and humane. So, why is lethal injection not good enough for Terri? Watching her death it's plain to see that it archaic and cruel. -And it certainly shouldn't be broadcast for the world to see.

"Put a flag on your car...it's literally the least you can do."

(The title of today's blog entry is from Bill Maher's 2002 book When You Ride Alone, You Ride With bin Laden.)

All the magnetic ribbons and bumper stickers that have been stuck on cars since 9/11 is astounding! At first they were an okay idea, but it's gotten out of hand. I mean, now they have ribbons for sports teams! -I've seen "Bears" ribbons, "Cubs" ribbons, "White Sox"...
Basically they've become so commercialized that they have lost their meaning.

For educational purposes, here's a list of ribbons (there are others besides yellow, red, and pink!): http://www.craftsnscraps.com/jewelry/ribbons.html

And a link to a great ribbon parody site: http://www.supportourribbons.com/index.php

Which leads me to something I've thought about doing several times now. -Switching magnetic ribbons on people. How funny would it be to take the cammo "Support Our Troops" ribbon off of that big truck and switch it from the "Support a Cure for Breast Cancer" pink ribbon from the VW Beetle next to it? Or, switch the cammo ribbon with the rainbow one? How about the "Cubs" and the "Sox"?
-No, you could get killed over that one...

So go forth and swap ribbons!

Ending hunger. 2 ideas in 1.

Last night we had dinner at Lone Star (a steakhouse/bar). We were seated in a nearly empty dining room (it was very early). The one other table that had been sat was occupied by a mother and 2 children. One of the children was wining and crying non-stop. The mother did little to quiet him/her. Soon another party came in and they were sat behind us. Before they were even seated fights broke out among 3 of the children. "I don't wanna sit by him!" "Mom! Tommy has my toy and won't give it back!" I was ready to kill. If they kept it up, I was prepared to ask to be moved. I was in no mood to deal with this noise. I decided against having kids. Why do I have to deal with everyone else's? We were in a steakhouse/bar for Ghod sakes! As Ed and I were commenting on all the kids, the table infront of us was sat. Another mother and 2 small kids. Luckily, those children were very well behaved and we didn't hear a peep out of them all through our meal. I decided against killing anyone at that table if I went berserk. -It was a possibility at that point... Anyway, we got through the meal, and as we left we figured out why there were so many kids. We parked right infront of a banner that said "Kids eat FREE on Tuesdays!" Great. Cross off Lone Star as a dining choice on Tuesday nights... Still, parents should either teach their kids how to behave in a restaurant or not bring them until they can be quiet enough to not disturb the other patrons. Alternatively, restaurants could creat "family sections" to condense the noise into one central area so the rest of us have a hope of eating in peace.

But that's not what I was really going to write about today. See, a couple of years ago I came up with the answer to hunger in our area, if not in the whole country and I figured I better share! The idea came to me while driving in late spring. It was a familiar scene -a beautiful pond (okay, a retention pond) crammed with Canadian geese. They were wing-to-wing, filling an area roughly the size of a football field. And it isn't a temporary thing! If you live around here you know there's a definite "goose problem". You go out for a walk around our old apartment's grounds and there's goose poop everywhere! They make a mess of everything. Something needs to be done! A-ha! Geese are eatable. Why not allow hunting and/or trapping of geese until the population's under control? The meat could be used to feed the hungry... I think it's a good idea!

My other idea, if the goose thing doesn't work out. Is allowing the eating of noisy kids in restaurants. The world would be a much better (quieter) place. The meat could be used to feed the hungry as well ala "Soylent Green". Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "baby food"...

I hate people...

How to destroy the earth.
...I'm thinking about it.

Stupid Motivational Posters

I saw this in OfficeMax and almost died laughing...

Some people at "Successories" need a history lesson!


My car was broken into last night!

More bad luck...

Ed got the shifter in the Laser working properly (thanks to the magic of WD-40) so we took that to dinner last night. I was so happy that I'd be able to drive it to work the next day! Turns out that wasn't gunna happen...

I got up this morning and went out to start the Laser. I unlocked the door, opened it, and noticed a black plastic piece on the seat. Grr. The gauge pod must have finally fell off. I pick the piece up, no that's the piece that goes over the door... I look at the A-pillar where the gauge pod should be. No. Can't be. Where is it? Maybe Ed took it off... I went inside and asked Ed. Nope. He didn't touch it. We both go back out to the car. The stereo's gone too!

Whoever did it was neat as hell, and I have to admit I'm thankful they didn't rip everything apart. They made off with 2 fairly cheap gauges, a gauge pod that I was hoping to replace anyway, and a stereo worth $99 new. Still, I feel violated, and I'm not sure how we can better protect the cars from future break-ins.

Obviously the person who did this knew what they were doing. They probably saw the gauges from the street and marked it as a target. Our hours are regular as hell, so timing wouldn't be a problem. Due to the fact that all the screws were left neatly on the seat, the frame or whatever you call it for the stereo was neatly left on the floor, and the other plastic piece that goes over the door was neatly left on the driver's seat, I'd say the guy (or girl) responsible was just as organized and careful in selecting the target and following through. It also shows that they have a conscience.

In the end, I'm out a couple hundred dollars -but as Ed said this morning it's a cheap wake-up call before we have both our cars in the driveway full of expensive toys. What makes me the maddest is thinking about how to protect the cars in the future. Car alarms are cheesy and easily gotten around. Ed mentioned motion sensors and possibly a video camera, which would be easy to do and cheap with the cost of webcams these days. I don't know, but we won't sit around and do nothing! We have 2 "race cars" and only 1 will fit in the garage at a time...

The funny thing is I went through some police training and I know at least a little bit about how targets are picked. One of the things I liked about our house is that it's a really bad target for thieves. Our block curves around, and we're actually on the corner of a cul-de-sac, which places our house as the farthest forward on the block. That means that you can see our whole driveway clearly from a great distance away. Not the best place to be breaking into cars! The thing that helped this person not be seen, however, was my Jeep. It was parked next to the Laser providing a perfect sheild from view. Gosh darn it...

Oh yeah, the Laser was locked, the Jeep's always unlocked (no sense locking a Jeep w/ a soft top!), the Jeep had the same stereo in it, but the face plate was locked in the center console. The Jeep's stereo was untouched. I didn't have time to look around and see if anyone went through the Jeep looking for the face plate...

The moral of the story: Car locks mean nothing. Hide your stereo's face plate, and conseal anything (like gauges) that make your car stand out. I'll be mounting my gauges elsewhere next time....

Random Venting

First of all, I'm typing this with a dvorak keyboard layout just, I don't know, to make things more difficult.

Last week I made a commitment to myself that I'd drive the Laser to work every day until April 9, when I go to the "Learning Curve" autocross workshop. That way, I figured, I'd have as much practice at driving stick as possible before learning how to improve my autocross abilities. Well, last Thursday (I think), my radiator hose blew off again -or at least that's all we thought was wrong. Turns out that the pipe from the radiator that the hose attaches to broke off (it's 12 years old, and plastic). We found someone with their original radiator lying around, and it turns out to be free -he was just happy to see it gone! So, cool. I was back on the road on Monday.

Monday, just as I near the train station to pick Ed up, I start finding it really hard to get the car in 3rd gear. After Ed gets in and we start out to go eat, the problem gets worse and I accidentally shift to 1st when I mean to go to 3rd a couple times. Then I figure it out -the shifter is just not returning to center between shifts. After that I'm able to compensate for it, but it takes all the fun out of driving (having to be so careful shifting). 3rd was my favorite gear! We suspect it's just a spring, but I don't want to drive it like this, so I'm back to driving the Jeep to work and worrying that I won't be comfortable enough with the Laser to drive it well at autocross.

Speaking of comfortable driving in the Laser, I'm still sitting on a freaking chair cushion so that I can see over the dash! I'm guessing that that won't fly at autocross, so I'm hoping to put a 1" spacer under the chair rail. Another project to get done before April 9, and guess who's car's in the garage? Not mine...

As far as work goes, we're having a continuous problem with server lockups and it means having to reset the server, sometimes 5 times a day! That's annoying. Plus, my users can't seem to get it through their heads that they really do need to EMAIL me with their problems rather than coming to my door and telling me about them. I'm way too busy to remember that they can't figure out how to open the manual paper tray on the printer or that they wish they had the little cat in their email rather than the light bulb. Bleh.

Back to the Jeep. It has a tranny problem too, I think. The rpm's surge a little before it shifts into... probably 3rd gear? (It's automatic.) So, that has me worried. It has Ed worried too; he wants to get rid of it. Not suprising, he hates my Jeep. It IS slow, but it's awesome off-road. Just wish it saw dirt more often. We could use a towing vehicle, but does that have to mean no more off-roading? And I'm so mad at the Laser's unreliability that I don't want to pick up a car payment on a truck. I'd rather get an S2000, an Evo, or a WRX sti.

Money... Ed and I make a pretty decent buck, but everytime he talks about his car it's a list of parts he needs before his engine arrives, and all the parts come in $1000 increments. It's driving me crazy, his credit card is about maxed. I need exhaust, and intercooler, and shocks. Maybe brakes as well. But instead I'll be buying him a clutch/flywheel, and maybe even wheels and tires! Yay.

And what am I doing hanging out with these car guys anyway? Half the time they treat me like I don't know anything about cars and I want them to stop treating me like a girl. The other half of the time I wonder if they have any interests outside of cars. I mean, there's only so much I can take. Maybe I am really a girl after all. I still know more than the average DSM'er out there, though...

I have a brand new pocket bike that's been sitting in the middle of our front room since Xmas. Sunday was warm enough for me to ride it, but instead I spent the day picking up all the dog droppings from the yard. 3 bags. Yummy. :-P Monday morning I stepped outside to go to work, and guess what was waiting there as a present for me? Poop from the dog down the block (he runs loose all the time). Lovely.

We had dinner with our friend, Kris, last night. He mentioned that he found something embarrassing of mine in one of the MCSE books I lent him, but he wouldn't tell me what it was. Great. Last time I let anyone borrow my books... What the he11 would I have left in there? It's driving me crazy trying to think about which freakish thing about me has been revealed.

So, I'm in a bad mood. I'm this close (imagine my fingers indicating a very small amount of space) to just quitting work, and driving. I'd keep going until there weren't any more people and I'd just stay there for awhile. I hate people. People suck. So does my car when it doesn't work. When it does work, though, it rocks!

Make sure your child doesn't end up gay

A coworker of mine expressed his relief that, although his teenage son was caught looking at inappropriate things on the internet, at least he wasn't looking at naked men...

And I had a thought...

For all of you who feel this way, here's how to make sure you never hear your child say that he or she is gay. -Remind them often that homosexuality is bad. It's a crime against nature. If you're religious at all remind them that God hates gays. Homosexuality is a crime against God! Repeat this often enough that they know how important their "straightness" is to you. Punish them for watching TV shows portraying gays as "normal". Refuse to allow them to hang out with kids who may be gay. Make them know that your pride rests on their sexual prefrence.

That way, if they are gay, maybe they'll kill themselves before your friends find out.

Wedding Cruise Is Chartered!

What's with my luck lately?

On Wednesday I called Fran, our travel agent, but got the receptionist. I left a message asking Fran to give me a call back about the cost of a cabin with 3 lower beds, and saying I had a question about insurance costs.

On Thursday I hadn't received a call back yet, and I wrote her an email outlining my questions and saying that I was disappointed in the lack of communication. I mean, we were still working on cabin pricing and the deadline for the deposit is just over a week away!

Fran called me Thursday afternoon and said she left a Voicemail earlier (I had missed it, whoops!). Turns out our ship's been chartered for the date we had chosen for our wedding cruise, and Fran's been trying to find out what Royal Caribbean was going to do with us. They usually put you on another date and give you some kind of a discount, apparently. So, it's a waiting game. Fran said she'd keep calling to find out what was going to happen, and she said she'd give me an update by Friday.

Friday I had a half-day because of the doctor's appointment in the afternoon, so I emailed Fran before leaving and gave her my home and cell phone numbers. I got no call on Friday. Beemster Travel's open until 1pm (according to their website), but I got no call on Saturday either.

This morning I emailed Fran again asking what was going on and telling her "I'd rather know what's going on then be left in the dark." 'cause that's how I feel. Like I'm in the dark. Here I am, with a wedding to plan, but the date is questionable now. All of my invitations went out with the old date on them, so now I'll have to send out new invitations (or, at least, follow-up letters). I wanted to book a year in advance so we could get all of our cabins right next to each other, but as time passes, that will be harder and harder. I want to tell the people who have said they're coming about the change, but it's silly to notify people when we don't have the new date set yet. It's all a big mess. I wish I could call Royal Caribbean myself just to get this straightened out ASAP. I thought that going through a travel agent would make things easier, but I'm going crazy due to lack of information here!

General Hospital II: My doctor's worse than my disease!

As you recall, in the previous episode, Erica's doctor suspected her hand pain was due to rheumatoid arthritis. He referred her to a rheumatologist who didn't take her insurance. Erica called her insurance company and got the name of a specialist who WOULD take her insurance (and was close to home) but he couldn't fit her into his schedule until a month later.

So, one month later, I show up at Edward's hospital way early for my appointment so I could pick up a copy of my x-rays from the radiology department that the rheumatologist requested I bring along to my appointment. I drive through the parking garage and finally find a spot on the roof. The sign near my car says "Stairs" and points left. I walk in that direction, open the door, and find myself in a pretty nasty looking stairwell. It doesn't look like a public area, but I walk down anyway (the sign told me to!). When I get down to the ground level, I'm in a small corriador with 2 elevators, 2 hallways, and a few offices. I decide to take the hallway that goes left, but there's nothing but offices that way. I go back and take the other hallway, and it looks like it's the same thing. After taking the elevator's up (maybe the lobby is on the 2nd floor?), then back down, and finally finding an odd hallway that went, like, half out-side -I eventually found the lobby.

From there the lady at the Information desk pointed me to radiology, and within 10 minutes I had a copy of my x-rays on CD for the rheumatologist. Next, I went back to the Information desk to find out where the specialist, Dr Munn, was located. The girl looked him up in a big book, then consulted with the other lady about where the office was and how to give me directions to it. After getting about half-way through the instructions, she gave up and walked me to the bank of elevators I saw when I first entered the hospital from that scary stairwell. She left me there, at the elevators, saying that he was on the 3rd floor. I pushed the "up" button while she helped an older woman who was as lost as I was when I first entered the hospital. (The sign that directed me to the stairs in the parking garage was clear enough, why not a sign like that near the elevators that says "LOBBY -->" ?

Anyway, I got off the elevator on the 3rd floor, and walked around looking for an office that said "Dr. Munn" or "Rheumatology" on it, and after finding "Rheumatology", found myself in a line waiting to check in. No biggie. I was over a half-hour early. As I got to the head of the line a man tried cutting infront of me, but I have mad anti-cutting skillz, so I beat the cane-carrying man to the counter (heh, take that!).

"Erica Steeve here for a 2:15 with Dr. Munn" I said. And the receptionist got a confused look on her face.

"Dr Munn is never here on Fridays" she said.

"WHAT!?! I've waited a month in pain and took a half-day off of work to come to this appointment!"

"Sorry, he's not here."

"Well, could you check to see if I'm in the computer? I was told I have an appointment with him today at 2:15pm."

"Well, Dr Munn works out of his Oakbrook office on Fridays. I'll call there and see if they know where he is."

So, I wait. About 5 minutes later she comes out and says that his answering service says that his office is at lunch until 2pm. "Well, what am I supposed to do?" I asked exasperated.

After finally getting her to try reaching the doctor's office directly instead of through his answering service (!?!) she still can't get anyone on the phone that can say where the doctor is or what I should do. I left the office with Dr. Munn's business card and slammed the door behind me on my way out.

As I ride the elevator back down to the first floor (to take the stairs to the 4th floor of the parking garage) I dial the number on the business card. I get a woman on the phone and I tell her my situation. She explains that Dr. Munn is in the Oakbrook office today, he only sees patients in the Naperville office by request.

Again, I explained that I've spent a month IN PAIN waiting for this appointment and ask what I should do. She gives me directions to the Oakbrook office and says I might still be able to make it. I look down at my watch, it's almost 2:00 -time for me to take my medication. I haven't had lunch yet, and I can't eat while I drive 'cause I'm in the Laser (stick-shift). I get in the car and start crying before I get out of the garage...

I pulled in the parking lot of the Oakbrook office at 2:15pm (I love the Laser), and quickly find Dr. Munn's office. The receptionist turns out to be who I talked to on the phone and she re-iterates that Dr. Munn can see me in Naperville if I request that at the time the appointment is made. It takes all I have to not catch her by the throat and tell her that if someone would have told me that my appointment was in Oakbrook I could have avoided this whole mess and saved about 60 miles on the car since I started out from work in Hinsdale, drove to Edward's Hospital in Naperville, then back to Oakbrook for this appointment. But, instead, I take a seat and wait for my name to be called.

When I get into the doctor's office I start to calm down and was suprised that my blood pressure was "normal". Dr. Munn ended up being a great guy. He explained everything well, and didn't seem to be in a hurry. Any questions I had were answered, and he even took the time to tell me about some exercises I could do to help stabilize my "floating patella". Early on in the exam he said he didn't think I have rheumatoid arthritis. He was able to feel nodules in my 2 most painful fingers and diagnosed the problem as "Trigger Finger". My treatment options are: rest and anti-inflammatory medication, a cortisone injection (which he readily admitted was very painful), and surgery (also painful, but very effective). I chose the drugs even though I've been on NSAID's of one sort or the other since November because of this pain and suspected arthritis. After reading up on it, however, I bet I'll eventually give in and go with the injection or surgery. I mean, obviously I'm no good at resting my fingers...