We are packing things up, as we get ready to head out of town for the weekend for the annual reunion in TN. We'll head down there Friday afternoon, get back Sunday afternoon, and then Monday night, Aunt Nancy will come pick up Alex. Tuesday morning, Mike, the girls, Honey & I will head to the airport to begin quite an adventure. :)
Thankfully for us, Hurricane Bertha has decided to head towards Bermuda and not Florida. Hopefully there won't be residual rain from it though, but we are going prepared with some ponchos for the girls and an umbrella for us.
Doubt I'll be around much in the next couple of days as I continue to pack for both trips.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Well,
The appt went as well as could be expected. I walked in and missed the check in computer, since they'd had a number tab pull the last time I was there. The security guard came over and asked what exactly I was there for today and asked how much I could see, and I told her only what was right in front of me. She directed me back to my right to the computer to check in and was very nice and showed me the keypad to punch in the last 4 digits of my ssn. Then the little paper ticket printed that said I was checked in and the guard said that they'd call out my name. I told her that I was hard of hearing too and that I probably wouldnt hear the name. She took my last name and said she'd let me know if I didn't hear it. Then she showed me to an empty seat.
I waited for maybe 20 minutes and a deep voiced gentleman called my name. I heard it, since he had a deep voice. I got up and Honey jumped up and I told her forward. He looked at me and was like uh how do we do this. I said if you will lead, I'll tell her to follow and she'll follow you to where you want me to be. So we did and on the way back to his desk, he asked if my dog got anxious or nervous around people, as we could do the application online or over the phone if we needed to. I was like no, she'll be just fine, noticing that he was uneasy around her. But he went on and showed us to our seat, the last cubical in the corner. Honey immediately plopped down and in true style, sprawled out on her side as she likes to do, and thus putting herself under the guys desk a bit. He noticed, as she bumped him and I asked if he wanted me to move her, that it wouldnt be a problem. He half jokingly replied, "No, as long as we are housetrained, thenshe's fine." I said well, then there's no problem there!
So we started out by the guy asking me my name, SSN, an then took a bit to pull up my information in the computer. Once he got it pulled up, he said it looked like I'd applied in 2005, and I confirmed that with an affirmative. He then began to ask about our income information, which I then gave him the copies of our taxes from the prior year and the adult worksheet that I was asked to fill out and bring in. Apparently I could have done this online and it would have automatically populated for him, but the lady on the phone had said to print it and bring it with, so that's what I did.
The guy was very nice and while he did have a deep voice, I did have to ask him to repeat himself quite a bit, as he didn't speak super clearly. But it made it apparent of the difficulties that I had with hearing. We moved on then to pretty much confirming the stuff that I'd written on the worksheet, which was who my dr's were, what medications I was on, and so forth. I was very surprised, as I was really nervous that he'd ask all kinds of questions like what was on the online application, asking you to fill out to the letter, how my disability impacted me in my travels, how it kept me from working, how it kept me from doing day to day living and so forth. He didn't ask any of these questions. Then I gave him the medical records that I had that were new from the last time, though he did explain that while I could submit these, they had to request originals from the dr's that I listed. He also explained that the drs prior to my last claim, if I hadn't seen them again, are usually not considered in the new claim.
I asked what to expect from here, and he said that basically I could expect to wait, but that thier office heard about the same time I would hear if there is an approval or a denial. He then quickly said too, that if there is a denial and if I didn't agree with it, that I'd need to come back in to the office within the 60 day time window to file the appeal.
So we went from there, and he returned both of my id's, my state ID and my Guide Dog Foundation ID, and said ok, we are done, you have a great day! I then asked if he could please lead us back to the lobby, where Honey could then find the door for me. He jumped up immediately and was like Sure! He lead us to the lobby, through the crowd, and went on to the door to hold it open for us and told us to have a Great day! on the way out. So hope and pray that doing it in person, he made some notes or something, and that it did some good and I'll be approved. The wait begins and I'm praying that we can avoid the appeals process, as we JUST had an article in the front page of the Indianapolis Star talking about SSDI and the appeals process. Apparently in IN, it takes 3 YEARS to get a hearing date for an appeal. *sigh* But the process is started!
The appt went as well as could be expected. I walked in and missed the check in computer, since they'd had a number tab pull the last time I was there. The security guard came over and asked what exactly I was there for today and asked how much I could see, and I told her only what was right in front of me. She directed me back to my right to the computer to check in and was very nice and showed me the keypad to punch in the last 4 digits of my ssn. Then the little paper ticket printed that said I was checked in and the guard said that they'd call out my name. I told her that I was hard of hearing too and that I probably wouldnt hear the name. She took my last name and said she'd let me know if I didn't hear it. Then she showed me to an empty seat.
I waited for maybe 20 minutes and a deep voiced gentleman called my name. I heard it, since he had a deep voice. I got up and Honey jumped up and I told her forward. He looked at me and was like uh how do we do this. I said if you will lead, I'll tell her to follow and she'll follow you to where you want me to be. So we did and on the way back to his desk, he asked if my dog got anxious or nervous around people, as we could do the application online or over the phone if we needed to. I was like no, she'll be just fine, noticing that he was uneasy around her. But he went on and showed us to our seat, the last cubical in the corner. Honey immediately plopped down and in true style, sprawled out on her side as she likes to do, and thus putting herself under the guys desk a bit. He noticed, as she bumped him and I asked if he wanted me to move her, that it wouldnt be a problem. He half jokingly replied, "No, as long as we are housetrained, thenshe's fine." I said well, then there's no problem there!
So we started out by the guy asking me my name, SSN, an then took a bit to pull up my information in the computer. Once he got it pulled up, he said it looked like I'd applied in 2005, and I confirmed that with an affirmative. He then began to ask about our income information, which I then gave him the copies of our taxes from the prior year and the adult worksheet that I was asked to fill out and bring in. Apparently I could have done this online and it would have automatically populated for him, but the lady on the phone had said to print it and bring it with, so that's what I did.
The guy was very nice and while he did have a deep voice, I did have to ask him to repeat himself quite a bit, as he didn't speak super clearly. But it made it apparent of the difficulties that I had with hearing. We moved on then to pretty much confirming the stuff that I'd written on the worksheet, which was who my dr's were, what medications I was on, and so forth. I was very surprised, as I was really nervous that he'd ask all kinds of questions like what was on the online application, asking you to fill out to the letter, how my disability impacted me in my travels, how it kept me from working, how it kept me from doing day to day living and so forth. He didn't ask any of these questions. Then I gave him the medical records that I had that were new from the last time, though he did explain that while I could submit these, they had to request originals from the dr's that I listed. He also explained that the drs prior to my last claim, if I hadn't seen them again, are usually not considered in the new claim.
I asked what to expect from here, and he said that basically I could expect to wait, but that thier office heard about the same time I would hear if there is an approval or a denial. He then quickly said too, that if there is a denial and if I didn't agree with it, that I'd need to come back in to the office within the 60 day time window to file the appeal.
So we went from there, and he returned both of my id's, my state ID and my Guide Dog Foundation ID, and said ok, we are done, you have a great day! I then asked if he could please lead us back to the lobby, where Honey could then find the door for me. He jumped up immediately and was like Sure! He lead us to the lobby, through the crowd, and went on to the door to hold it open for us and told us to have a Great day! on the way out. So hope and pray that doing it in person, he made some notes or something, and that it did some good and I'll be approved. The wait begins and I'm praying that we can avoid the appeals process, as we JUST had an article in the front page of the Indianapolis Star talking about SSDI and the appeals process. Apparently in IN, it takes 3 YEARS to get a hearing date for an appeal. *sigh* But the process is started!
Monday, July 7, 2008
It's the night before the big day- The SSDI appt.
Hello all,
Well tomorrow is the day... my SSDI application appointment. I'll be honest, I'm a nervous wreck. Really, really uptight about things, as I'm not one to go in and do things on the fly and really worried I won't say what I need to as they fill out that app for me. But by the same token, I hope that it will truly show the difficulties I have nowadays with going out and trying to function in the real world.
Mike is working 2nd shift tonight and it's good. Giving me a chance to type here and talk to you all a bit. I've been in a bit of denial, kinda dropping hints to him here and there, but as silly as this sounds, having done this time and time again already, I'm rattled. I've gone to the gym and the grocery store with a friend, a first in quite some time. With having Honey, I'm doing more on my own, which is what I wanted, but because Mike HAS been doing it, I'm getting quite a slap in the face at how hard it is for me to follow things, function in the real world now. Honestly it's scary. I feel like things are almost swirling around me because they are moving faster and I'm not in tune, able to keep up with it, if that makes sense? And it bothers me. Really bad.
So I've been compiling all of this stuff for my application. I came across the audiogram that *I* got when we went through this rigamarole last time in Dec. 2005, and it had speech recognition percentages on there.
Here's what it said:
Right earspeech reception threshhold: 75 decibels
speech discrimination score 36% at 85 decibels.
Most comfortable level: 80-85 decibels
Left ear
speech reception threshhold: 75 decibels
speech discrimination scoorse 60% at 85 decibels.
Most comfortable level: 85 decibels
Which from what I've heard, isn't too far from Cochlear Implant requirement levels and I know I've lost more since this exam. *sigh*
Sue told me tonight about the front page article in the Indianapolis star yesterday, how fitting with all of this, yet depressing too. :(
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008807060375
But on a better note, I did get my app for Partners in Policymaking filled out, scanned and emailed in today, the last day for the deadline! Mike said yes!!! whoo hoo! I hope I'll be accepted. :)
I'm off for bed, hopefully I can sleep tonight, unlike last night, as I was up several times, with nerves getting the better of me I think, with the stuff for this appt. and with the planning for our disney trip in a week. :) I can't wait! :D
Well tomorrow is the day... my SSDI application appointment. I'll be honest, I'm a nervous wreck. Really, really uptight about things, as I'm not one to go in and do things on the fly and really worried I won't say what I need to as they fill out that app for me. But by the same token, I hope that it will truly show the difficulties I have nowadays with going out and trying to function in the real world.
Mike is working 2nd shift tonight and it's good. Giving me a chance to type here and talk to you all a bit. I've been in a bit of denial, kinda dropping hints to him here and there, but as silly as this sounds, having done this time and time again already, I'm rattled. I've gone to the gym and the grocery store with a friend, a first in quite some time. With having Honey, I'm doing more on my own, which is what I wanted, but because Mike HAS been doing it, I'm getting quite a slap in the face at how hard it is for me to follow things, function in the real world now. Honestly it's scary. I feel like things are almost swirling around me because they are moving faster and I'm not in tune, able to keep up with it, if that makes sense? And it bothers me. Really bad.
So I've been compiling all of this stuff for my application. I came across the audiogram that *I* got when we went through this rigamarole last time in Dec. 2005, and it had speech recognition percentages on there.
Here's what it said:
Right earspeech reception threshhold: 75 decibels
speech discrimination score 36% at 85 decibels.
Most comfortable level: 80-85 decibels
Left ear
speech reception threshhold: 75 decibels
speech discrimination scoorse 60% at 85 decibels.
Most comfortable level: 85 decibels
Which from what I've heard, isn't too far from Cochlear Implant requirement levels and I know I've lost more since this exam. *sigh*
Sue told me tonight about the front page article in the Indianapolis star yesterday, how fitting with all of this, yet depressing too. :(
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008807060375
But on a better note, I did get my app for Partners in Policymaking filled out, scanned and emailed in today, the last day for the deadline! Mike said yes!!! whoo hoo! I hope I'll be accepted. :)
I'm off for bed, hopefully I can sleep tonight, unlike last night, as I was up several times, with nerves getting the better of me I think, with the stuff for this appt. and with the planning for our disney trip in a week. :) I can't wait! :D
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Over There- A writing by Cathy Anne Murtha
While I do not have complete blindness, I face quite a bit of the challenges that Cathy mentions here in her writing, and maybe it'll bring to light some of the frustrations that a person with visual impairment faces each day, as they miss the hand gestures many times and try to decipher where "over there" is. ;)
Over There
By Cathy Anne Murtha
As my guide dog and I stood in line at the checkout of the River City Marketat CSUS, I asked the cashier what I considered a simple question. "Where arethe napkins please?" Her response was hurried, but sincere, "over there."
Emerging from the light rail for the first time, I managed to catch the attention of a passerby, "Please sir, can you tell me where I might catch bus 63?" A kind voice offered a pleasant response before disappearing into to the cacophony of the early afternoon, "You can catch it over there."
So many things reside over there-napkins, bus stops, pencils, pens, clothing racks, department stores and even my shoes! A never-ending supply of important and indispensable items and locales all reside in this place whichis shrouded in mystery and intrigue. I stand in perplexed silence after learning that something is over there. It is a place I have never been and have no hope of finding on my own. My guide dog is quite skilled in finding chairs, stairs, elevators, escalators, helping me cross streets, and can even find me the Diet Pepsi display atFood Town; however, when I tell her to find "over there" her little bottom hits the floor and a small whimper tells me that she is as confused as I. We will not be going "over there" today.
Over there has caused me a bit of vexation, a lot of confusion, and, on occasion, made my heart race. I have discovered that "over there" can be a dangerous place. One day, while crossing a street, I heard a driver's irritated voice shout out a warning of a truck bearing down on me from over there. Shadow artfully dodged the oncoming vehicle and pulled me to the safety of the curb. Our hearts were both racing as we took a few moments to compose ourselves. Close encounters with "over there"can be frightening experiences. Although many blind people have wondered as to the exact location of "over there," few have dared to venture forth in an actual exploration of the mysterious place.
One day, while standing in line at the supermarket, I asked the clerk whereI might find the aspirin. With a cheery smile in her voice, she informed me that the aspirin was located "over there." With a weary sigh, I decided that I would take the extra step that would unravel the mystery, which had vexed my compatriots since the beginning of time. Taking a deep breath, and attempting to look nonchalant, I smiled at the clerk, "Where," I asked, "is over there?" I imagined the girl's shocked expression. I felt her sharing condescending and concerned looks with her fellows in the store.The silence grew palpable as they mulled the possibility of allowing a blind person access to the forbidden land. She had no choice; she would have to tell me how to find "over there!" I had won! Exhilaration swept through me as I waited in breathless anticipation. A victorious smile crept to my lips, my hand tightened on the handle of Shadow's harness; we would soon be going"over there!" The clerk's voice reeked with resignation as the decision was made.
"That way," she said...
Over There
By Cathy Anne Murtha
As my guide dog and I stood in line at the checkout of the River City Marketat CSUS, I asked the cashier what I considered a simple question. "Where arethe napkins please?" Her response was hurried, but sincere, "over there."
Emerging from the light rail for the first time, I managed to catch the attention of a passerby, "Please sir, can you tell me where I might catch bus 63?" A kind voice offered a pleasant response before disappearing into to the cacophony of the early afternoon, "You can catch it over there."
So many things reside over there-napkins, bus stops, pencils, pens, clothing racks, department stores and even my shoes! A never-ending supply of important and indispensable items and locales all reside in this place whichis shrouded in mystery and intrigue. I stand in perplexed silence after learning that something is over there. It is a place I have never been and have no hope of finding on my own. My guide dog is quite skilled in finding chairs, stairs, elevators, escalators, helping me cross streets, and can even find me the Diet Pepsi display atFood Town; however, when I tell her to find "over there" her little bottom hits the floor and a small whimper tells me that she is as confused as I. We will not be going "over there" today.
Over there has caused me a bit of vexation, a lot of confusion, and, on occasion, made my heart race. I have discovered that "over there" can be a dangerous place. One day, while crossing a street, I heard a driver's irritated voice shout out a warning of a truck bearing down on me from over there. Shadow artfully dodged the oncoming vehicle and pulled me to the safety of the curb. Our hearts were both racing as we took a few moments to compose ourselves. Close encounters with "over there"can be frightening experiences. Although many blind people have wondered as to the exact location of "over there," few have dared to venture forth in an actual exploration of the mysterious place.
One day, while standing in line at the supermarket, I asked the clerk whereI might find the aspirin. With a cheery smile in her voice, she informed me that the aspirin was located "over there." With a weary sigh, I decided that I would take the extra step that would unravel the mystery, which had vexed my compatriots since the beginning of time. Taking a deep breath, and attempting to look nonchalant, I smiled at the clerk, "Where," I asked, "is over there?" I imagined the girl's shocked expression. I felt her sharing condescending and concerned looks with her fellows in the store.The silence grew palpable as they mulled the possibility of allowing a blind person access to the forbidden land. She had no choice; she would have to tell me how to find "over there!" I had won! Exhilaration swept through me as I waited in breathless anticipation. A victorious smile crept to my lips, my hand tightened on the handle of Shadow's harness; we would soon be going"over there!" The clerk's voice reeked with resignation as the decision was made.
"That way," she said...
We have phones again!!!
They finally called Mike on his cell phone yesterday about 10:30am, after we'd been going back and forth at each other on IM about how to deal with it, and said they'd be out in 20 minutes.
The guy came to the door and said "Having phone trouble?" I just looked at him and said "Yep." Trying to keep the tongue lashing from spewing out of my mouth that so wanted to occur. He replies that he'll go around back and take a look at what's up. I simply said, "Have at it." And he took off around the house. Checked the box on the back as Mike had done, then moved on out to the junction box where the troubles had started to begin with.
He was out there for a good 30 mins or so, back and forth multiple times from his van that he'd parked out front to the junction box well back behind our house, moreso behind the neighbor behind us in the eavesment. He was carrying stuff back and forth, and ultimately pulled out this large tan metal box and took it back there too. A half hour later he came to the door and said I have to check another line on down the street, I'll be back in a bit.
He may have, but I'm just thinking, ok, how stupid do you think I am. It's 11:30 and lunch time. Just tell me you are going to lunch and will be back afterwards. Sure enough, he came back at 12pm on the dot and went back out to the box for maybe 30 seconds and came back up and had me sign the ticket saying, "All Set!" Nothing about crediting our bill or anything. I'm trying to decide if I should call and request that, as I'm pretty sure they won't voluntarily offer it. Then the guy sat out in front of our house chatting on a phone for the next 20 minutes in his van, before pulling off.
But I had working phones and internet, so I am at least content now. LOL!
The guy came to the door and said "Having phone trouble?" I just looked at him and said "Yep." Trying to keep the tongue lashing from spewing out of my mouth that so wanted to occur. He replies that he'll go around back and take a look at what's up. I simply said, "Have at it." And he took off around the house. Checked the box on the back as Mike had done, then moved on out to the junction box where the troubles had started to begin with.
He was out there for a good 30 mins or so, back and forth multiple times from his van that he'd parked out front to the junction box well back behind our house, moreso behind the neighbor behind us in the eavesment. He was carrying stuff back and forth, and ultimately pulled out this large tan metal box and took it back there too. A half hour later he came to the door and said I have to check another line on down the street, I'll be back in a bit.
He may have, but I'm just thinking, ok, how stupid do you think I am. It's 11:30 and lunch time. Just tell me you are going to lunch and will be back afterwards. Sure enough, he came back at 12pm on the dot and went back out to the box for maybe 30 seconds and came back up and had me sign the ticket saying, "All Set!" Nothing about crediting our bill or anything. I'm trying to decide if I should call and request that, as I'm pretty sure they won't voluntarily offer it. Then the guy sat out in front of our house chatting on a phone for the next 20 minutes in his van, before pulling off.
But I had working phones and internet, so I am at least content now. LOL!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
AT & T STINKS!!!!!
Ok, I'm not normally one to publicly complain about companies and all, but this one has me FUMING.
First off, we had been SBC before all the merger stuff. We started out with our phone and our DSL being with SBC. All was happy, we paid our one bill a month for both and no problems and for a good price that was ok in the budget.
So then AT&T buys out SBC. It's been downhill since. My bills have gone up and down some months they charge for the DSL, other months they didn't, to double bill for those months the next month or better yet, they'd double bill 2 months in advance too. Then all of a sudden we started getting a separate statement for long distance. Now mind you we have Mike's cell phone that has national coverage. As we'd dropped all long distance service, other than local long distance with the plan we had for our phone. So after this merger, we start getting a separate bill for around $15 for long distance around the first of the year I think. Which then our main phone bill drops by that amount. So now we have 2 bills to pay each month and make sure we remember to pay. Grumble, Grumble..... Then that long distance bill starts creeping up. it went up to 18, then 21, and we are now up to over $25 a month for long distance that we didn't even ask for and seriously need to call and cancel. We just haven't done so because we are still trying to figure out what we are doing as far as cell phones- I'm really of the mind of just dropping the land line and going with cell phones at this point and just finding a DSL provider for our internet. We pretty much need to have DSL for Mike to be able to work from home and for on calls, which are going to increase here soon with all the staffing cuts that has occurred.
Then there's the whole U-verse thing. We'd looked into it with the possibility of doing a package deal and saving a little bit here and there that way. Well for starters, you can check the addresses all around us, and it's available for those houses. For ours, it is NOT. What the heck? Then with talking to other U-verse customers, it's quite a rip as they start you out on the everything stuff for three months, then should you decide to drop down your service package, the company starts to nickel and dime you with fees for every piece of equipment, each addt'l service you receive and so forth, which wasn't charged when you had the "everything" package. So we've not gone that route for obvious reasons.
Now for the last straw. Last week, on Friday afternoon, while Katie and Alex were down for naps, I got a call from the neighbor behind us. She had been doing something in the yard and disturbed a nest of bees back by thier back fence. She was stung several times and called to warn me not to let the kids go out back, because they were swarming and mad. So I think nothing of it and hang up. Mike comes home a couple of hours later, razzing me because he'd been calling and calling and no one answered the phone. I was like well, I was in the tub with Alex but Katie didn't say anything about anyone calling, which was odd. Normally Katie will at least let me know that someone had called, so I can check the caller ID that came on my Captel phone. So we didn't think anything about it, just chalked it up to my not hearing well.
Saturday morning, we get up and since we are leaving for Disney in two weeks, and next weekend is the 4th of July holiday, we thought we'd give our groomer a call and see if there's any chance of getting Honey in for a bath, nails trimmed and the works before my appts, trip to the family reunion in TN, and Disney. Well, No Dice.... I pick up the phone and no dial tone. I try again, hit some buttons thinking there's something with my captel phone, as it's been funky a couple of times before, but nothing like this. Mike goes in the living room and picks up the cordless- same thing, DEAD. We try the phone in the bedroom, just to see and same thing. Mike then calls on his cell phone and it just rings and rings and rings, but nothing is happening on our end here in the house. He then goes out to the 1960's box on the outside of the house and plugs in a desktop phone and it's dead, so the wire coming into the house from the junction box is DEAD. So that means it's not our problem to figure out, we have to deal with AT&T.
Well, Mike comes and like ok, since the DSL works, we'll file a claim ticket of needing a repair online. This was 09:27 AM Saturday, June 28, 2008 (straight from the work ticket we've submitted) and ever so nicely it sends a confirmation stating that the ticket was pending and that someone would be out by 8pm on Tuesday, July 1st, Four days later, here I am sitting here typing this up, ticked as all get out, because it's 9pm and not one soul has been out here, called us, knocked on our door, and when we checked the claim status online at 4pm it said that there was ongoing testing and that it was pending a technician's arrival. I still don't have any freaking phone!
No mind you this wouldnt be such a big deal if I had a cell phone, but I'm home all day with my fearless almost 3 yr old and almost 8 yr old. I've been able to use sprintiprelay.com to call out via the computer, but that takes a good several minutes to connect up, for the operater to start the system, dial in and so forth. If I had an emergency I'd have been running for a neighbors house! It makes me mad because I've paid my bill and I should have service.
Last night, I talked with the neighbor that had called us about the bees to see if she was ok after her stings and to see if she knew of a groomer that could do Honey, since our normal groomer wasn't available. I asked if they had phone problems and they were like no, and I told her that her phone call the prior Friday was the last phone call we've received. Her hubby yelled from across the yard that there had been an AT&T guy working on the junction box Friday night. He remembered it because right after she had called me, he'd gotten home and went to the hardware store to get the spray to kill the bees and was doing so when the guy walks up. The other neighbor's dog was growling and barking at the service man, and he'd yelled at the dog to knock it off. And that the guy continued on about his business and worked in the box, which since that point, we've been w/o phones and nothing has been done about it.
Ugh, guess we'll have to waste cell phone minutes now to call and chew them out to get out here and do something! Grrrrrr.......
First off, we had been SBC before all the merger stuff. We started out with our phone and our DSL being with SBC. All was happy, we paid our one bill a month for both and no problems and for a good price that was ok in the budget.
So then AT&T buys out SBC. It's been downhill since. My bills have gone up and down some months they charge for the DSL, other months they didn't, to double bill for those months the next month or better yet, they'd double bill 2 months in advance too. Then all of a sudden we started getting a separate statement for long distance. Now mind you we have Mike's cell phone that has national coverage. As we'd dropped all long distance service, other than local long distance with the plan we had for our phone. So after this merger, we start getting a separate bill for around $15 for long distance around the first of the year I think. Which then our main phone bill drops by that amount. So now we have 2 bills to pay each month and make sure we remember to pay. Grumble, Grumble..... Then that long distance bill starts creeping up. it went up to 18, then 21, and we are now up to over $25 a month for long distance that we didn't even ask for and seriously need to call and cancel. We just haven't done so because we are still trying to figure out what we are doing as far as cell phones- I'm really of the mind of just dropping the land line and going with cell phones at this point and just finding a DSL provider for our internet. We pretty much need to have DSL for Mike to be able to work from home and for on calls, which are going to increase here soon with all the staffing cuts that has occurred.
Then there's the whole U-verse thing. We'd looked into it with the possibility of doing a package deal and saving a little bit here and there that way. Well for starters, you can check the addresses all around us, and it's available for those houses. For ours, it is NOT. What the heck? Then with talking to other U-verse customers, it's quite a rip as they start you out on the everything stuff for three months, then should you decide to drop down your service package, the company starts to nickel and dime you with fees for every piece of equipment, each addt'l service you receive and so forth, which wasn't charged when you had the "everything" package. So we've not gone that route for obvious reasons.
Now for the last straw. Last week, on Friday afternoon, while Katie and Alex were down for naps, I got a call from the neighbor behind us. She had been doing something in the yard and disturbed a nest of bees back by thier back fence. She was stung several times and called to warn me not to let the kids go out back, because they were swarming and mad. So I think nothing of it and hang up. Mike comes home a couple of hours later, razzing me because he'd been calling and calling and no one answered the phone. I was like well, I was in the tub with Alex but Katie didn't say anything about anyone calling, which was odd. Normally Katie will at least let me know that someone had called, so I can check the caller ID that came on my Captel phone. So we didn't think anything about it, just chalked it up to my not hearing well.
Saturday morning, we get up and since we are leaving for Disney in two weeks, and next weekend is the 4th of July holiday, we thought we'd give our groomer a call and see if there's any chance of getting Honey in for a bath, nails trimmed and the works before my appts, trip to the family reunion in TN, and Disney. Well, No Dice.... I pick up the phone and no dial tone. I try again, hit some buttons thinking there's something with my captel phone, as it's been funky a couple of times before, but nothing like this. Mike goes in the living room and picks up the cordless- same thing, DEAD. We try the phone in the bedroom, just to see and same thing. Mike then calls on his cell phone and it just rings and rings and rings, but nothing is happening on our end here in the house. He then goes out to the 1960's box on the outside of the house and plugs in a desktop phone and it's dead, so the wire coming into the house from the junction box is DEAD. So that means it's not our problem to figure out, we have to deal with AT&T.
Well, Mike comes and like ok, since the DSL works, we'll file a claim ticket of needing a repair online. This was 09:27 AM Saturday, June 28, 2008 (straight from the work ticket we've submitted) and ever so nicely it sends a confirmation stating that the ticket was pending and that someone would be out by 8pm on Tuesday, July 1st, Four days later, here I am sitting here typing this up, ticked as all get out, because it's 9pm and not one soul has been out here, called us, knocked on our door, and when we checked the claim status online at 4pm it said that there was ongoing testing and that it was pending a technician's arrival. I still don't have any freaking phone!
No mind you this wouldnt be such a big deal if I had a cell phone, but I'm home all day with my fearless almost 3 yr old and almost 8 yr old. I've been able to use sprintiprelay.com to call out via the computer, but that takes a good several minutes to connect up, for the operater to start the system, dial in and so forth. If I had an emergency I'd have been running for a neighbors house! It makes me mad because I've paid my bill and I should have service.
Last night, I talked with the neighbor that had called us about the bees to see if she was ok after her stings and to see if she knew of a groomer that could do Honey, since our normal groomer wasn't available. I asked if they had phone problems and they were like no, and I told her that her phone call the prior Friday was the last phone call we've received. Her hubby yelled from across the yard that there had been an AT&T guy working on the junction box Friday night. He remembered it because right after she had called me, he'd gotten home and went to the hardware store to get the spray to kill the bees and was doing so when the guy walks up. The other neighbor's dog was growling and barking at the service man, and he'd yelled at the dog to knock it off. And that the guy continued on about his business and worked in the box, which since that point, we've been w/o phones and nothing has been done about it.
Ugh, guess we'll have to waste cell phone minutes now to call and chew them out to get out here and do something! Grrrrrr.......
My first doll knitting project. :D
American Girl Shell Lace Nightgown/Dress
Pattern: http://www.3gcs.com/adcock/free%20patterns/ag%20doll%20nightgown.htm
I'm planning to make the girls some stuff for thier dolls, at a fraction of the cost of buying it from American Girl, so here was my first attempt at knitting the night gown. Hadn't planned on doing it in a verigated, but I started this last weekend when we'd went up to Aleatha and Joe's. I'd only taken one size of needles with me, the starting circ size the pattern called for, and the verigated yarn to make dish rags for our kitchen.
So I'd finished the dish rag I was working and wanted to do something different, so asked Aleatha if I could hop on the puter and pull up the link that I have here on the blog to this pattern and give it a shot. Here's what we came up with. :) Needless to say, I've started dress #2 so both girls will have one though! LOL!
Mel just linked me to a another cute outfit, so gonna add that to my links below. :)
Pattern: http://www.3gcs.com/adcock/free%20patterns/ag%20doll%20nightgown.htm
I'm planning to make the girls some stuff for thier dolls, at a fraction of the cost of buying it from American Girl, so here was my first attempt at knitting the night gown. Hadn't planned on doing it in a verigated, but I started this last weekend when we'd went up to Aleatha and Joe's. I'd only taken one size of needles with me, the starting circ size the pattern called for, and the verigated yarn to make dish rags for our kitchen.
So I'd finished the dish rag I was working and wanted to do something different, so asked Aleatha if I could hop on the puter and pull up the link that I have here on the blog to this pattern and give it a shot. Here's what we came up with. :) Needless to say, I've started dress #2 so both girls will have one though! LOL!
Mel just linked me to a another cute outfit, so gonna add that to my links below. :)
http://sockpixie.blogspot.com/2007/05/18-doll-summer-fun-ensemble-free.html
I am still working on Mike's sweater, going down one of the sleeves yet, need to take some pics of it too and that progress.
Hasta!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
