Home, where my heart is

[detlef]

It's raining here again in Madison. We've had some enormous thunderclaps in the past half-hour, and while the rain isn't coming down with the typhoonish intensity of last week, I wonder how much the ground will be able to soak up. According to my little Doppler extension on Firefox, it looks like we'll have rain for most of the morning

Comments

[detlef]

Refresh my memory. Isn't the cable company in Winona part of Charter as well? I never heard anyone complain about it there (though we never had cable, so it's possible I was oblivious). I've never actually had cable TV before as an adult, so how craptastic they are really is a new, frustrating experience.

As for finding a new place for next year, I suspect that will be a top priority. I actually went to a gathering at a house on the southeastern side of the isthmus on Friday, and the couple who were hosting had a wonderful apartment (which they just moved into on the first). Kinda sad to know that it came on the market just after we signed our present lease, because it would have been just about perfect.

Thanks for commiserating with me. I know you both are much happier in your new surroundings, so hopefully we have that us ahead of us as well.

*hugs back*

[detlef]

You are so incredibly sweet, dear. I'll keep my eye on the stoop looking for it.

If you ever are out in our area again and need a place to stay, I promise we'll have improvements in accommodations since your last stop.

[doraphilia]

thank you for saying that... I really liked you guys so instantly. Such a shame we only lived in the same city for a day! Norman and I will probably make an overnight trip up to Madison before the winter, since he has some other friends there too.

[detlef]

I've told Norman many times - anytime you guys want to stop over, you've got a place to stay. We should have guest accommodations in decent order in a week or two.

[detlef]

Ours is a Motorola model, though I see our other option was a Scientific Atlanta box. I've never been particularly impressed with Motorola products either, but you've got a good point about googling it. If our only option is a box you've found to be just as crappy, though, I guess we're just stuck.

Do you guys have Time Warner Cable out there?

[detlef]

I know nothing about satellite TV, but my experience with satellite radio was awesome. I'd lose signal occasionally, but Sirius was such a massive upgrade over the Clear Channel-dominated terrestrial radio that I didn't mind the occasional 30-second dead air. I think I'd be a bit more annoyed with TV outages, but if it was a big improvement over the cable monopoly, I might be induced to try it.

You don't happen to know how the cable monopolies were started, do you?

[anonymous]

You have my sympathies in dealing with Charter -- I have their service for both cable and internet. I've always had relatively good luck with customer service, though. When I call from here in Fairmont, I get someone in Rochester. My folks in Winona, on the advice of Bro, switched from Charter to HCBI a few years back too.
(Kootch)

[detlef]

Rochester must be an island in the storm, then. The one good rep I talked to was located in Rochester, but he couldn't help me because apparently Minnesota and Wisconsin are on different billing systems. He couldn't even access my account, which tells me Charter must be really cutting corners (and costs) in how they run their operation. We actually chatted for a few minutes about the flooding in the area once I mentioned I was from Winona, and it was really nice because I got the impression he tries to do the right thing. After a bit he transferred my call, and then I got stuck with another person just punching a clock.