I have been trying to get my DSL installed since August 22. It took until August 30 to get my landline moved over, so then I could order DSL, right? So I tried to find a phone number to call. No dice. So I try to just upgrade my service, thinking that would generate an order... (Contact #1).
I accidentally click on something, and a chat pops up. So I ask the guy how to get my service moved.
He evidently could not understand me. He just typed away at his script, providing answers to somebody else's questions. (Contact #2).
On Monday, Labor Day, I call. The tech, who obviously also does not understand what the problem is, tells me that my DSL will be turned on at "precisely 8 o'clock" the next night. (Contact #3).
At 8:22 pm, I call the phone number again, and the smart system tells me that my order would be completed between 8am and 8pm on Wednesday. (Contact #4)
The next evening, after 8, I get no smart system information. Just that they are closed. (Contact #5).
So on Thursday, I call and get a human. I think she said that her name was Kathy (but I would bet money that her mama did not name her that). She told me that my DSL had been on since Tuesday, but since it was not working for me, she open up a trouble ticket and gave me the number. She also said that they needed to run a line test, and someone would call me back in about two hours, but do not use the line for anything for the next 30 minutes. (Contact #6)
About an hour later, I called back, trouble ticket number in hand, ready to hear that I needed a service call, because it was still not working.
Somehow, the heavens heard me, and I got someone who understood English, instead of just speaking it.
So he tells me that my DSL move order was never put in, and he transferred me to sales, who told me that hot places would freeze before I could get a same day hookup. I complained about line noise (fearful that a bad connection would keep the DSL from working once I got it). (Contact #7)
A repair tech shows up at my door at 8:05 on Sunday morning (he did call first). He brought me a filter for my phone-- the noise comes from my (non-working) DSL modem.
This morning, I call yet again, because I still do not have internet. Man (who's English is shaky) tells me that I cannot have DSL-- that all the accounts are taken. Well, first he tells me that it is not available in my area. I told him it was, too. (really adult there). Then he tells me that all the slots are taken. I ask to speak to his supervisor, he hangs up on me. (Contact #8).
So I call back. And this time, I don't talk when the smart alec smart system asks me if the phone number that I am calling from is the phone number I am calling about. Instead, I wait. I wait out the smart alec smart phone system. My reward? A woman who spoke English as a first language. And she understood what I was asking. She answered questions. And when she didn't know, she asked. And she found out. Turns out, the system had down my phone number as being unavailable for DSL, but not my address. So she changed my phone number. And promises me DSL by Thursday. (Contact #9).
I am hopeful, but not exactly holding my breath.
For all intents and purposes, the moving is done.
Well, I said that. I just got an "upset" voice mail from the realtor. We need to clean up the back yard. Which we knew. It was dark outside last night. And she is bringing over cleaners to clean the inside. Which I don't really get. It is way cleaner than the house she sold us. WAY cleaner. We wiped everything down (oh... forgot to clean the toilets again-- we haven't been living there. And I bet I forgot to wipe down the sinks again. Ahhh. People kept using them!) I will grant that I didn't scrub everything, but it is cleaner than any house I have ever moved into.
And, of course, I have never mastered being a clean freak.
I have a headache. Of course, in all fairness, the headache began last night and hasn't really let up yet.
Well, we move anyway. We are moving into our new house tomorrow. We can't paint, or rip up carpet or build walls. But we can move our stuff in.
And just for fun, AT&T is providing fresh hell. I can't get internet service until 8/30.
And I have class on Tuesday & Thursday. Those days are before the 30th.
So I guess I can have class here while we live in the other house.
Fun AND exciting.
I replaced my driver's license today. It disappeared last week when I got pulled over. Why did I get pulled over? As nearly as I can tell, because I pulled out in front of a cop. But the cops seemed to have been thinking that I was that I was drinking with my underage friend (Mea). They were being jerks, generally, and harassing us. But then they got another call. And I think they jacked my driver's license. It was going to have to be renewed in November anyway, and they went ahead and renewed it while they were replacing. So at least I don't have the trauma twice in three months.
Tomorrow, my dad and brother are coming to help us move. Not that we are actually packed, but we are moving the furniture anyway. Oh, and the house will not have water turned on until Monday. So, we will move all our stuff, and sleep here Sunday. And we will move our mattresses on Monday. Cable will be installed on Tuesday. Phones on Friday (along with Internet). Now all I have to take care of is natural gas. I think the hot water heater uses natural gas, which means it can't wait until winter.
I think we have finished most of the work on the exterior. I still have a couple of things to (re)caulk and some paint to touch up. Oh and cleaning up the overspray from the painter.
Now I have to catch up on the laundry I have been neglecting since I got back from Virginia.
I bought a nifty new toy.
This is the size of a Gideon Bible and will hold 250GB of data. (And, yes, mine is cherry red.) It even has a case (purchased separately-- like Barbie accessories) that looks like a Bible case. My university-issued laptop has been making me crazy because it is full, full, full. (I am so tempted to move all my data off and wipe it and reinstall everything.) So, I am moving stuff off-- everything but what I am currently working on. And some music. Let's not go crazy here.
Monday I am orienting our new adjuncts. I have packets for them. I am a great believer in packets. They have all been given sample assignments and a model syllabus already. Now I just have to read what I put together so that I am prepared to talk about it. Tomorrow. On top of the touch-up painting, caulking, and cleaning.
No pressure, right?
So Wednesday afternoon, I came home and the house looked worse than it did when I left. Todd and Mea decided to hook up the other room-sized air conditioner, and they broke a window pane. Then spent all day cleaning it up. So I called my realtor and asked her not to come.
Today, she could have come, even though the house is far from perfect. But she was busy, so is coming in the morning.
So we have told our realtor that she can walk through our house on Wednesday.
That sentence causes my chest to tighten.
We have done some landscaping in our front yard.
We have hauled out several pickup loads full of stuff.
Our house does not look any less full.
Right now, it sounds like a dandy idea to tell her that we need a month. Or three.
We have to empty rooms in order to paint.
We have to paint. No option.
And now Olivia is crying. Dissolved on the floor. And I am not sure I care why. She needs to go to bed.
I need to go to bed. Barring that, I need to do some laundry.
Maybe I should dissolve on the floor crying. But I am pretty sure no one would care why.
We have made an offer on a house-- a nice house in a nice neighborhood that looks like it was decorated by my mother in law. Not that there is anything wrong with that; my mother in law has great taste. Anyway, that means a marathon to getting our house ready for people to see it. Including our Realtor.
In other news, we were approved for the loan we need for the new house. I was a bit worried about that, simply because I forget to pay bills on time occasionally. And we owe too much money to everyone in the world.
We landscaped the front of our house today. We had a couple of flower beds already, but they were kind of empty. So we lit out at the crack of dawn this morning and went to a nursery in El Paso (just past Vilonia) and bought some shrubs. Then we went to Home Depot and bought some huge ferns. Then I painted part of the front of the house (where I am not longer sure we will be able to put scaffolding) with a roller. That takes forever.
Tomorrow, I need to finish tiling my bath tub. And decluttering. And, more decluttering. This does not strike me, right at this moment, as my smartest move ever.
We "showed" the house for the first time on Friday. It went well, but they aren't likely to buy. On the bright side, we proved we could get the house in shape enough to let people see. On the down side, we've been playing "button, button, who's got the button" to find the stuff we shoved "somewhere." One box, bag, and crevice at a time, we have to go through our stuff and decide what we really want to keep.
Yesterday, I went to the family reunion at my aunt Rebecca's. Most of the cousins who are my age (or nearly so) were there. Anyway, I enjoy these when people my age show up. Nothing is worse than a family reunion where everyone in attendance is either 20 years older than I am or 20 years younger. Really, I only want to hear about my cousins' births so many times. (To be fair, that is not at all.)
Today, I cooked and painted. I made roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, mixed vegetables and salad. Then, I painted trim in the girls' rooms and touched up the paint in the hallway. More things to check off on my "to do" list.
