Dear world
a.k.a. Why my day has been a tightly-wound ball of fuzzy nutso.
For any of you that might follow me on Twitter or Facebook, I thought I should explain.
We have had an annoying buzzing noise on our phone line for a couple of days. We have also been having our internet service experience drop-outs, and that's the same company. Therefore, I set up an appointment to have a Qwest tech stop by and fix it today. Because it was an external issue, I didn't have to be here and they set the appointment for any time during the day.
Today, about 10 am, I hear banging on the door. I'm upstairs, on the floor, and my knees hate me, so it took me a minute to get to the door. No one in sight. I check the other door. There's not a van parked anywhere nearby either. Whatever.
About 11, the girls and I discover that the internet is out. I check the phone -- no dial tone. I look around, no guy and no van. I grab my cell phone and after the gauntlet of buttons to push, reach a live human in another country (sheer speculation on my part, but....) who tells me that the fellow is here. I look some more and realize that I can see about 1 1/2 feet of ladder sticking up over our garage. Oh! Okay, that's why. I thank her, and get the girls ready to go to class. Ten minutes later we're out the door. There's a ladder, a disconnected cable, and two cones blocking our alleyway. No guy, no truck. Whatever. He'll be done by the time I get back. I manage to do a u-turn in the alleyway and take the girls to class.
I then get the van to the dealership for an hour and 45 minutes of sitting and trying to ignore CNN, which proves irresistably bad. The high point was Fred Thompson trying to sell reverse mortgages to elderly people. (Knox Pooley, anyone?) From there I go to the grocery store. About 3 1/2 hours after I left, I get home. No ladder, no dangling cable. So far, so good.
I get in the house and check the phone. No dial tone. WTF???? There's a tag on the front door from Qwest, but with none of the info filled in. I have no clue. I call the 800 number again, same long process. This time they tell me that he hasn't been here yet. I explain that he was, as I HAVE NO DIAL TONE. They explain that the repair guy hasn't come yet. I explain that I'm really annoyed and they are messing up my day. They stick to the script. The guy hasn't been here yet. I hang up my cell phone, and try to use the AT&T connection on my iPad to get to the Qwest rep that I'm pretty sure is on Twitter. AT&T hates me. I'm in Minneapolis, for heaven's sake! But I have no coverage. I call Paul and cry on his shoulder. He gets on Twitter and finds the right place and vents heavily.
At that point, I figure I have to get out of the house (this is where the sane tweeting came from). I go to (relatively) nearby coffeeshop Sister Sludge, and get myself high-calorie treats. These are sane people. Their seats are comfy. Paul calls and lets me know that he has talked to someone in Iowa (same continent, whoo-hoo!) and that things are looking up. I pick up the girls at 4:30 and head home, secure in the knowledge that if the Qwest guy shows up, at least Paul is home and I won't have to deal with it.
Eventually the guy did show up, and was nice, and explained some of what had happened (although I think the previous guy -- yes, there were two of them -- needs some more training). And best of all, it all was fixed. I'm not sure how much of what had to be fixed was what I had originally called about, but.... And the person covering their Twitter account was good, as was the person in Iowa. But it kinda destroyed my productivity and plans for the afternoon.
I think I'm still recovering. I may also be coming down with a sinus infection. But Paul assures me that there is a sidecar waiting for me in the refrigerator and that he will get it for me whenever I want it, which I think will be right after the girls are in bed. Bleah. Long day.
For any of you that might follow me on Twitter or Facebook, I thought I should explain.
We have had an annoying buzzing noise on our phone line for a couple of days. We have also been having our internet service experience drop-outs, and that's the same company. Therefore, I set up an appointment to have a Qwest tech stop by and fix it today. Because it was an external issue, I didn't have to be here and they set the appointment for any time during the day.
Today, about 10 am, I hear banging on the door. I'm upstairs, on the floor, and my knees hate me, so it took me a minute to get to the door. No one in sight. I check the other door. There's not a van parked anywhere nearby either. Whatever.
About 11, the girls and I discover that the internet is out. I check the phone -- no dial tone. I look around, no guy and no van. I grab my cell phone and after the gauntlet of buttons to push, reach a live human in another country (sheer speculation on my part, but....) who tells me that the fellow is here. I look some more and realize that I can see about 1 1/2 feet of ladder sticking up over our garage. Oh! Okay, that's why. I thank her, and get the girls ready to go to class. Ten minutes later we're out the door. There's a ladder, a disconnected cable, and two cones blocking our alleyway. No guy, no truck. Whatever. He'll be done by the time I get back. I manage to do a u-turn in the alleyway and take the girls to class.
I then get the van to the dealership for an hour and 45 minutes of sitting and trying to ignore CNN, which proves irresistably bad. The high point was Fred Thompson trying to sell reverse mortgages to elderly people. (Knox Pooley, anyone?) From there I go to the grocery store. About 3 1/2 hours after I left, I get home. No ladder, no dangling cable. So far, so good.
I get in the house and check the phone. No dial tone. WTF???? There's a tag on the front door from Qwest, but with none of the info filled in. I have no clue. I call the 800 number again, same long process. This time they tell me that he hasn't been here yet. I explain that he was, as I HAVE NO DIAL TONE. They explain that the repair guy hasn't come yet. I explain that I'm really annoyed and they are messing up my day. They stick to the script. The guy hasn't been here yet. I hang up my cell phone, and try to use the AT&T connection on my iPad to get to the Qwest rep that I'm pretty sure is on Twitter. AT&T hates me. I'm in Minneapolis, for heaven's sake! But I have no coverage. I call Paul and cry on his shoulder. He gets on Twitter and finds the right place and vents heavily.
At that point, I figure I have to get out of the house (this is where the sane tweeting came from). I go to (relatively) nearby coffeeshop Sister Sludge, and get myself high-calorie treats. These are sane people. Their seats are comfy. Paul calls and lets me know that he has talked to someone in Iowa (same continent, whoo-hoo!) and that things are looking up. I pick up the girls at 4:30 and head home, secure in the knowledge that if the Qwest guy shows up, at least Paul is home and I won't have to deal with it.
Eventually the guy did show up, and was nice, and explained some of what had happened (although I think the previous guy -- yes, there were two of them -- needs some more training). And best of all, it all was fixed. I'm not sure how much of what had to be fixed was what I had originally called about, but.... And the person covering their Twitter account was good, as was the person in Iowa. But it kinda destroyed my productivity and plans for the afternoon.
I think I'm still recovering. I may also be coming down with a sinus infection. But Paul assures me that there is a sidecar waiting for me in the refrigerator and that he will get it for me whenever I want it, which I think will be right after the girls are in bed. Bleah. Long day.