Angelrose's Journey

[Angelrose]

Thank you 4nana. What a handsome grandson you have! I'm sure he will do great in college.

I've never been to a school reunion. They always have it at some country club and I have no desire to spend that kind of money to see some of my classmates. But I'm so happy that you had a good time.

 

[Angelrose]

And now for the continuing saga of me and Comcast. Well, the man came and "fixed" a fitting that didn't need fixing. I finished watching a movie and turned the Tivo back on and again no signal. So I pick up the phone and......... no phone and no internet! I was not happy.

I called on my cell phone and complained that he fixed it so well that he made it worse. They tell me they will have someone over between two and six.

He was here by1:10. He looked at the fitting and said, "he made it worse". Really?? So he got my phone and internet back on and said I was getting a good signal and they tested my card and it was fine. He was there for about two hours.

Yesterday again, no signal of some channels. They tell me everything is fine with my card, it must be your Tivo. So I call Tivo and they showed me that I was not getting a signal on one of my tuners.

Chuck came over tonight with the kids to check it out and sure enough the fribbling card is bad on the one tuner. I NEED A NEW ONE.

So I call tonight and tell them that my problem is not my splitter or my Tivo or aliens from the planet Zog! I NEED A NEW CARD.

So she puts me on hold to see when they can schedule me. The earliest we can come is FRIDAY. NO way that is acceptable. I have been without tv since the 6th and you're telling me that you can come until Friday?? Well, I will credit your account for a whole $30 for all these days that you've missed. Poor girl I know she was trying but her hands were tied. I can't get anyone here until Friday.

If they had done what I asked from the start we wouldn't be having this conversation. I did apologize for yelling at her. And she apologized to me for not being able to get me anyone sooner.

What can you do? It's Comcast.

On a brighter note, Chuck fixed my pool hose and yesterday I got in to vacuum up the algae, threw in some shock and ph+. Today I got in and it was still cloudy, so I threw in more ph+ and swam for an hour and a half. By 6, the water was starting to look pretty sparkling again. I hope to get in tomorrow before the rains come.

Looks like my day out for pancakes with my cousin is out for this week. I'm getting my hair done on Saturday, so hopefully she will be available to come with me on Sunday. If not I will go by myself. I need to get away.

 

[Angelrose]

I had no idea I was speaking Chinese. Well, I must be to Comcast. The tech guy called to say he was in the area and got done early and would be at my house in a couple of minutes. I said, "wait. If you don't have at least 4 cable cards, don't bother coming." Oh my, then I had to explain that, no I didn't have four Tivo's I just wanted to make sure one card worked. Then he asked me if I had technical knowledge. Why, yes, as a matter of fact, I do. My technical knowledge amounts to being able to turn on my tv, but I didn't tell him that.

A few minutes later he comes and says he found a card in his truck. Then he does a bunch of testing and can't fix it. He even called tech support at Comcast and they couldn't fix it. He couldn't understand that the card has two tuners on it. He thought I would need a space for two cards. I've had this working perfectly for 4 years. I asked him if he put in the new card. No the old one. I don't think he even had a card. Then after telling me it was my Tivo, he walks out the door. I thought he was getting the non existent cable card.

No, he left. I called Comcast right back and finally got to talk with someone that will send out a tech with two new cards. Great! When?? Sunday between 1 and 3. That's the earliest. Chuck will be here then. I have so upset that my stomach is in knots and I'm just shaking.

Then I try and call Chuck and I have no phone or internet again. So I get my cell out and call AGAIN. I get the recorded message that they are having technical difficulties in my area and will be fixed shortly.

I had the vain hope that my problem would be solved also. No such luck. But at least I have my phone and internet back.

I would switch in a moment, but there is nothing here to switch to. If I go back to Dish, they have problems too and I just can't afford that and Comcast for phone and internet too. So I'm stuck.

Sorry to keep venting about this. But my closet is full of my screams and my head is baked nice and crispy from sticking it in my electric oven.

My pool is back to sparkling again. I've had some nice swims. We got some 4 or 5 inches of rain that I had to pump out of the pool, but everything is fine there. Now if it would just get warm enough to get in again. I was too upset to get in the pool today. Maybe tomorrow after I get my hair done.

 

[4nana]

AR, hope the week-end brought you a great pick me up good time w/family .
Really beautiful weather here as summer is winding down. Had a good week-end with dinner outings and grands soccer. DD and family have been in So. Carolina a week vacationing and helping DGS#3 move in dorm, etc. Today is his first day, so we hold him close in heart and prayer for a great semester.

Really sorry to hear about all your Comcast issues and know how frustrating it must be . Hang in there and hope they are resolved once and for all! Wondering how far away are you from an office, situation perhaps warrants a trip to discuss issues w/manager. We live in the country and have had Comcast for TV, internet, and phone, for years. Guess we can be thankful no big problems other than one faulty DVR, which we took to Comcast and traded in. Good luck, you deserve a break on this!

 

[Angelrose]

Thanks 4nana. Glad you had some nice times with family.

Well, Sunday came and I went out with my cousin in the morning for pancakes and a bit of shopping. I really needed those laughs. I was too nervous to stay out too long and was home by 11. Chuck came over around 12:45.

We waited and waited. Around 3 we get a call that he is "running a bit late". OK so Chuck and I have a nice conversation. By 4 the man still hasn't come. I tell Chuck to go home. At 6pm, the tech comes to the door. He is talking to Comcast on the phone. "Do you have cable cards?" Then he laughs into the phone at me and says , "No I don't have any cable cards." I hear the woman from Comcast telling him that, "She doesn't need a cable card." Really?? Laughing at me?? I yelled at him to GET OUT and slammed the door.

I called Chuck and told him what happened. Karen happened to hear how he laughed at me. Now my Karen is the sweetest angel on earth. Except if you cross anyone in her family. In that case, you want to be in a different country.

She called and asked to speak to a supervisor. Supervisor will call you back with 30 minutes to an hour. Sure. She called back and was hung up on twice. LOL UHOH. She got to speak with a supervisor immediately. She told her how he laughed at me because I was a woman and older. He didn't know how much technical knowledge I had. (None, but he didn't know that). Oh she tore a new one. The supervisor was very sympathetic and agreed with her 100%. She told Karen that she would have a high level tech come with at least 5 new cards tomorrow. Wonderful!

Tomorrow comes and this high level tech comes to the door. "I understand you are having trouble with your service." "Do you have cable cards?" "No, I don't have cable cards." GET OUT and I SLAM the door.

I called Chuck and he called the Comcast office near us. They do have cable cards there. He will turn in mine and get a new one and install it tomorrow night with tech support on the phone.

Hopefully he will get a card that actually works. Now tell me, what would happen to a person that doesn't have a Chuck to help them? They would either have to live with just one tuner or break down and get a Comcast dvr instead of the much better Tivo.

It's just a sad commentary. Comcast is just too big to care about their customers. Unfortunately they are the only game in town around here.

 

[Angelrose]

The saga finale.

Chuck came and installed the new card and got it activated. AAAAAAAAnd the same problem. It actually is my Tivo. Now why couldn't Comcast just have shown me that it wasn't their problem with a new card? Why did they have to be so rude and laugh at me. Why couldn't just ONE of those techs shown me a little good manners?

Chuck will order me a new and better Tivo. This new one will let me record three shows and watch a 4th show. It will take two cards but at least I know Chuck will install it properly.

I hope to have it up and running by the end of next week.

On another strange note. (I seem to have a lot of those) I went down the basement to check on things and little toad hopped right in front of me. AWWWWW so cute. But I couldn't catch him. Chuck to the rescue again. LOL He managed to catch the little one and take him outside. I hope he survives. I have no idea how long he was down there. I'm sure he was pretty hungry.

On a brighter note, it's only 527 more days until Disney!

 

[minniecarousel]

I love your sense of humor! 527 days til Disney!!

DH & I had a great time in Disneyland. We don't usually go in the summer & the crowds were pretty heavy. Weather was warm, but we weren't out in the middle of the afternoon. When you stay at one of the Disney hotels, you get Early Entry to one of the two Parks. One of our EEs to California Adventure Park was a bummer because we wanted to ride Toy Story Midway Mania a few times, but they didn't open early -disappointing, but not tragic! Later that morning, we go over to Disneyland & I get several texts that my niece is there! She lives in Louisiana but goes to Dental school in Phoenix. Her cousins drove out with her and they went to San Diego for a few days & decided last minute to go to Disneyland for the day. What a surprise and a day brightener!

I am so excited to have my younger son and daughter-in-law here for a week. They're staying in a hotel until Friday since its a business trip. They'll stay with us on the weekend. DDIL is through her first trimester, so we went shopping at the Outlets for layette items. So far, they say they don't want to know the baby's gender. Since they had to go the IVF route, they'd like something to be a surprise.

Angelrose, I'm sorry to hear you're having so much trouble with Comcast. We're very lucky -that's what we have and we've had very good service for TV, cable & phone. I hope it gets resolved soon!

 

[Angelrose]

It sounds like you had a wonderful time with your family at Disneyland, minniecarousel.

I usually have good service from Comcast too. What bothered me is them being so rude to me. I bet if a man had answered the door, they wouldn't have laughed at him! All I wanted was for them to change the card to show me that wasn't the problem. Would that have been so hard? I'm used to getting respect from the people who come to fix things at my house. I think some of those people need a few lessons on sensitivity. Like that is going to happen. Not around here, that's for sure.

Ron and I had problems with Comcast, ages ago. We would have very poor reception. They had "techs" come to look at the problem and it was always the same answer. It's not our problem. It must be your connections. My husband was an electrical engineer and did all the electrical wiring in our house.

Finally we got a tech who said Comcast is getting ready to upgrade their system so they are not going to try and fix anything. OKAAAYY

That's when we switched to Dish. Never had a problem with that. Ron installed that and did all the wiring for that too.

The reason I switched back to Comcast is because my Dish dvr's were so out of date they were dropping shows or recording them and they would disappear before I could watch them. I couldn't afford to have Dish and Comcast for phone and internet. So I'm stuck with them.

But at least now I have calmed down and can't wait for my new Tivo to be installed. Then I will have to learn how to program all my shows on that one.

 

[Angelrose]

Chuck came and installed my new Tivo this afternoon. Since I had a lifetime subscription to the old one we thought we could transfer it to the new one. Well, they got us. That's only if you return the faulty one and get the new one from them. He bought it from Amazon. Oh well, lesson learned.

It took a couple of hours to get everything downloaded, but I now have a 4 tuner Tivo. It's actually harder to program shows on this new one that it was on the old one. LOL But I managed to get a lot of my shows programmed with a season pass. That means I don't have to think about recording shows. It automatically does it for me year after year. Now I just have to wait for the fall season to begin so I can program those shows in.

I can finally relax! I get to babysit for a couple of hours tomorrow afternoon and probably all day Sunday. Chuck is going to New York and Karen has to work. Again. All weekend. She must have put in 60 hours this week alone.

At least I'll get to see my grandkids again.

 

[minniecarousel]

Glad you finally got that straightened out. How great to see your wonderful grands. They seem like great kids - I feel like I've watched them since infancy!

We're having some of my family over today to see our son & daughter-in-law from NY. Aaaannnnddd to meet BEN! He's already 4 months old. Time flies!

Funny - school starts tomorrow, but that's OK, since I retired!

Big earthquake north of us in the Napa wine country. It was a"roller" that woke us up at 3:20! Lots of damage to roads and old buildings, but haven't heard of any fatalities. The price we pay for living here...

 

[Angelrose]

I heard about the earthquake in the Napa Valley. Glad you are safe, minniecarousel. How great to finally meet Ben. I know you had a great time with him.

I asked Karen to come out with me today to help me pick out a new recliner. My old one was broken and leaning to the left and so was I. LOL

First we went to swim lessons at noon. We didn't get out of there until 1:30. I was starving, but the Lazy Boy store came up first. Who knew it would be so hard to find a chair that actually felt comfy? I am short so a lot of chairs were to tall and the head cushion was too high for me. Just hit me in the back of my neck. I finally found one that was really comfortable, but I didn't like the material or the color. Yeah, that would bring the cost of to $1,000. No thanks!

We had cheese steaks for lunch and YOGO for dessert. Not exactly Weight Watcher friendly today. But it certainly was good.

Next we stopped at Raymour and Flanigan. I tried a lot of chairs and Finally found one I liked. Very comfortable, nice material and color. Cranberry. It was only $400. But it was a floor model, so no delivery or warranty. I didn't know what to do, so Karen called Chuck and he said go for it. As he was ringing me up, he told me it had been ordered by a customer and then when it came in, they didn't like the color. So it hadn't been there long.

The man showed Karen how to take the back off to fit it in the van and wrapped it in plastic. He helped her put it in the van and then we drove to Target and Party City to get things for Zoey's birthday party next Sunday.

We drove to her house and I drove my car home and then she followed. I pushed my old chair out in the hallway and vacuumed up 5 years worth of dust from underneath. Bu that time Karen had driven up and got the back inside first. I helped her wrangle the chair into the house and then she slipped the back on and we got it into place.

I can't tell you how exhausted I am. Both kids were out of control a lot of time and just wouldn't listen. I had to give them both a time out a couple of times. Karen had her "conversations" with each of them.

After they left, I put on my pj's and listened to QUIET for a while. LOL

Next Saturday I will be there to help with the kids while Chuck and Karen get the backyard ready for Zoey's birthday party. I'll probably be there all day on Sunday too. Helping with the kids again while they put the final touches for the party. It's going to be a water fun party. Slip n slide, water balloons, water pistols, some kind of water thingy that the kids play on. Sort of like those bounce things but this is with water.

It sounds like a lot of work and a lot of wet. But I'm game. If it rains we will still all get wet. LOL

 

[Angelrose]

Yesterday was Zoey's 4th birthday party and the weather was hot and humid. Perfect for a water party.

I thought you would like to see some pictures of the party.

Jesse on the "water slide"

Karen's Aunt Karen, her cousin CHristina and her baby, part of Chuck, Jesse's head and all the cupcakes that Karen made.

Zoey and all her presents

Zoey's Barbi Princess set

Zoey's special cupcake

To erase any doubt you may have had as to my sanity

Yes that is Grandmom in the kiddie pool.

 

[minniecarousel]

Grand mom in the kiddie pool! Love it! I can't believe that Zoey is 4!! Looks like a fun party!

I got a new recliner about 6 months ago. It's also a rocker & it'll be fun to rock Ben.

 

[Angelrose]

It was a fun party minniecarousel. EVERY kid at the party just had to throw water on Grandmom! That's why I was laughing so hard. Our little Miss Zoey had her first day at PreK today and did very well.

Thursday, Jesse has his first day at first grade. Where does the time go?

 

[snapppyd]

Wow, looks like I have a lot of reading to do!!

Angel, I love how you love life! That picture in the pool is priceless. I can't believe she is 4 years old already, time really does fly by.

We had a very nice Labor Day weekend, went to the beach, saw a band outdoors by the bay and saw some wonderful fireworks. Great end to summer.

I have to catch up with the thread and then I can comment on everything.

Glad everyone on here is doing well, ciao!

 

[Angelrose]

Thanks snappyd. I loved how all the kids couldn't wait to throw water on the only adult they could. But I did get a few of them back.

Glad you had a good time at the beach. I only have a few more days in the pool. The pool man is coming on Monday to close it up for the winter. Just in time too. It's going to start getting too cold at night to keep up the water temperature even with the solar heaters.

I get to see Jesse home from his first day at first grade tomorrow and then we will take him to Story Book Land for an hour or two and then babysit while Chuck and Karen go to Atlantic City for dinner to celebrate their 10th anniversary.

 

[snapppyd]

Thanks snappyd. I loved how all the kids couldn't wait to throw water on the only adult they could. But I did get a few of them back.

Glad you had a good time at the beach. I only have a few more days in the pool. The pool man is coming on Monday to close it up for the winter. Just in time too. It's going to start getting too cold at night to keep up the water temperature even with the solar heaters.

I get to see Jesse home from his first day at first grade tomorrow and then we will take him to Story Book Land for an hour or two and then babysit while Chuck and Karen go to Atlantic City for dinner to celebrate their 10th anniversary.

Wow, it seems like you just took the cover off! It was not a very hot summer.

Wish them a Happy Anniversary from me! Hope the first day of school and uneventful but fun.

 

[Angelrose]

It was a horrible summer for the pool. Mostly cloudy and cool for most of July. I can usually count on getting in the pool every morning and afternoon in July, but this year. Only the first two weeks and then it got chilly. This week has been the hottest it's been since the beginning of July.

Jesse did fine his first day and the best part was No Homework! LOL He went to play with his friends and I only saw him for a few minutes. Zoey just wanted to watch cartoons. She didn't want much to eat at all. I finally called Jesse home at 6:30. All he wanted was a cheese stick and a yogurt. I think both kids are fighting a cold or something.

Chuck and Karen loved their dinner out and brought home bags of leftovers. I got home around 8. It was good to see both kids again.

Oh I forgot. Both kids have been sorting through all their toys and giving away the ones they don't play with anymore. Well, I saw Zoey's Cabbage Patch doll where I usually sit, so I moved it to the other couch. Zoey brought it over to me and said, "This is for you, Grandmom". She didn't want it anymore. So I gave her home with all my other dolls.

There is something definitely strange about that, isn't there? I never did grow up.

 

[snapppyd]

It was a horrible summer for the pool. Mostly cloudy and cool for most of July. I can usually count on getting in the pool every morning and afternoon in July, but this year. Only the first two weeks and then it got chilly. This week has been the hottest it's been since the beginning of July.

Jesse did fine his first day and the best part was No Homework! LOL He went to play with his friends and I only saw him for a few minutes. Zoey just wanted to watch cartoons. She didn't want much to eat at all. I finally called Jesse home at 6:30. All he wanted was a cheese stick and a yogurt. I think both kids are fighting a cold or something.

Chuck and Karen loved their dinner out and brought home bags of leftovers. I got home around 8. It was good to see both kids again.

Oh I forgot. Both kids have been sorting through all their toys and giving away the ones they don't play with anymore. Well, I saw Zoey's Cabbage Patch doll where I usually sit, so I moved it to the other couch. Zoey brought it over to me and said, "This is for you, Grandmom". She didn't want it anymore. So I gave her home with all my other dolls.

There is something definitely strange about that, isn't there? I never did grow up.

Me too! I collected a couple hundred beanie babies back in the day and I can't seem to part with any of them.

 

[Angelrose]

Oh I collected Beanie Babies too. I had 4 Rubber Made tubs filled with them. I finally gave most of them away to Big Brothers and Sisters. I only kept the holiday ones and a few special ones that I liked. I also kept some of the buddies too.

That's a strange story on how I got interested in them. I saw one in a store, Bones the dog. I loved him and got him home and promptly cut off all the tags. I learned later that that was a no no. I could have picked up all the original ones but I was determined not to start collecting them.

Ron wanted to get me started on the computer. I resisted because I couldn't see what I would DO on it. LOL Well, he found the Ty site for me. He had the computer all day and I had it for two hours at night. Well, I loved the community board they had there and from there followed some links until I found a Beanie club. I joined. It was months before I got up the nerve to post. When I did, I found some friends. That club closed down, but some of the new friends I made started a new Yahoo club. Oh what fun we had. Sadly that club broke up because of some really bad trolls.

But my friends started our own club and we are still friends to this day. We even met for 4 days of laughter at Niagara Falls, where one friend lived. I treasure those four days.

I don't think any of us collect any more but we still keep in touch in our club.

So I have Ron to thank for getting me interested in the computer and meeting my friends. He also found the DIS for me. He was such a thoughtful man.