Thursday, November 20, 2003

Sprint PCS sucks in the Bay Area

(epinions.com)

Sprint PCS sucks in Los Angeles

(epinions.com)

"Home Depot is good at breaking stuff."

That was the verdict of the first GE Repair Man last week. A piece of plastic had sheared off, leaving the central bin of our washing machine off-center. He popped off the lid, did something and declared it usable. However, he was going to order a part, which arrived a few days later via Fed Ex. And then a second GE Repair Man came and installed it. That seemed odd to me, but there was no charge and now the broken parts are in the shipping box that the new part came in, sitting by the garbage.

As the first guy explained it, there's a shipping rod in the bottom of each machine and that the guys at Home Depot often remove it before loading it onto the truck to save themselves time during installation in the field. That we could not have broken it ourselves, even with heavy lopsided loads, like the dog's pillow. Apparently there's a part in the washer that contains sea-water and provides for counter-balance on unbalanced loads.

The Home Depot destruction theory could also explain the bent runner on the dishwasher. I unbent it as best I could, not knowing if I had done it, or if it had been delivered that way (since it sat in a box for two months). I levelled it and it's been working fine.

I hope nothing's wrong with the hot water heater, still in a box, three months later. That was unceremoniously left outside our gate with no attempts by the delivery guy to actually make contact with us, we just found it sitting outside the same afternoon that different Home Depot guys were to deliver the stove, dishwasher, washer and dryer.

Friday, November 14, 2003

T.G., T.G., T.G.I.F.

I'm glad this week is over. I think my dental surgery is healing, but sometimes it's hard to say. I'm still staying drugged up nearly 24-hours a day, vicodin at night, ibuprofen 800 by day. I refilled the ibu, but not the vico, so I only have 3 or 4 nights of it left, which is downright tragic.

Tonight when I came home, 6 or 7 of my low-voltage lights in front had been pulled from the ground. It was either (a) the mailman tripping over them, (b) kids riding their bikes through our lawn again or (c) an animal pulling on the wire. I haven't yet buried the wire, but will probably do that this weekend. I was able to quickly right them all, good as new.

Separate from the pain in my hand (mostly now down to the pinky, everything else seems normal) and the pain in my mouth, I have a cold. It consists mostly of me being drained of energy and having to blow my nose every 12 seconds. It's not fun. I look forward to the sweet release of sleep. Until 5:30 a.m. when the pain medication wears off at the exact same time that the tiny cat Cash decides it's time to get up and play.

But still, Thank God it's Friday, eh?

Sprint PCS sucks in Ft Lauderdale

(epinions.com)

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

More Pain

Trying to install low-voltage lights (that provide almost no light), I smashed my wrist yesterday night. The pain was new to me, I hadn't done anything like that before. I'm hoping it's only bruised, not broken, but I'm driving one-handed and typing different than before to minimize use of the two smallest fingers on my right hand. Thank God I already had prescriptions for Ibu and Vico for the oral surgery recovery.

More Stuff I Found Interesting...

Sony, BMG to merge music interests (msnbc.com) and
Nickel getting a makeover (msnbc.com)... (When did the U.S. Mint get all trendy?)

Do You Fear Me Now?

A great article on Forbes.com about how Verizon, and specifically Verizon Wireless is just kicking everyone's behind.

Sunday, November 09, 2003

Pain, Heat and Wash

On Thursday I stayed home in the morning so that someone could come check out our heater. We had turned it on for the first time a few days earlier and after an hour of working fine, it shot out a fireball. High enough not to burn the carpet, but low enough that we would have had a flaming cat running around the house had any of them figured out how toasty warm it was at the base of the heater. The guy checked it out, cleaned and replaced a few parts but said he couldn't find anything wrong with it. But it's worked fine since then and it's sure nice having the Home Shield thing. We had forgotten about it and were thinking we were going to have to spend a lot of money to have it replaced, but one $45 check and we were on our way. Glad someone else reminded us about it.

Me, I had hoped never to have to use it. But living in a desert it can get cold and it has. From 100 degree weather one week to probably low 60's and even lower at night the next. No insulation doesn't help. It had been too hot and now we don't have the cash. Plus, I want to do some wiring in the attic and it seems like it would be easier with no insulation in the way.

Then on Friday I had oral surgery. Four teeth removed. One on one side, three on the other. None would ever go into their correct places because my mouth just isn't big enough. Which is incredible irony since I've always been told I had a big mouth. Which makes at least 8 teeth removed now. At least one was a molar in my jawbone. I'm told the bone will grow back. And one had its root extending up into my nasal cavity. I will hopefully breathe better with it gone, but they had to sew the hole shut and it's not yet airtight. Blowing my nose can cause hurt all over the place and the first day my nostril was just plugged and I so I blew it and realized it was all plugged with blood. Yuck. Two of the molars were partially errupted, meaning that they had broken through the skin. But only a little bit. They were still mostly underneath, allowing food to get under the skin. I couldn't properly clean them, and if left, they would decay and cause the teeth next to them to decay as well. So, my whole mouth should be healthier. They were a little concerned after the surgery and made me go back in and they did another suture that they said I wouldn't feel. ha ha ha. I totally felt it. It was not fun nor funny. ow ow ow. I have a bunch of stiches in my mouth that they need to remove in a week or so.

And yesterday Lori realized the washing machine is broken already. I guess the basket is held in place by streches of rubber attached to plastic posts which are screwed to something. One of the plastic posts has sheared off. We had a GE guy scheduled to come out, but who knows if that will be considered as part of the warranty? I hope so.

Sunday, November 02, 2003

Quiet Weekend

It was a nice quiet weekend. I didn't get anything done. I suppose that's both good and bad. David and I jointly purchased the new "Max Payne" game and I spent some time playing it. I'd play it more, but I don't want Lori to yell at me. Plus, for $20, I want to make it last. Fortunately, David's still playing the last game he bought so he hasn't started pestering me to give it to him so he can play. I'm enjoying it, it's really engrossing. They've spent so much time on the story.

We also saw "School of Rock." It was pretty entertaining. It wasn't great, but it was good.

It rained heavily on Halloween. Very few kids came. Some even admitted that they had stopped by before. We gave them a lot of candy and still had a lot left over. And we skipped three parties to stay home for that. Bummer.