Middledawn

Or maybe some sort of flak pants…..

Was washing dishes, and dropped a plate. I have never seen so many pieces of a dish get launched. The entire kitchen floor was covered in teeny tiny pieces of Corelle.

On the bright side, I may have a new puzzle……

I’ve decided to get a fresh start, and change the theme a bit. I have a few widgits I’d like to try out, but the old theme just wouldn’t do.

I am absolutely disgusted with November thus far. More to come……

In light of the recent flight cancellations and dissolution of several airlines, I have decided to post my prediction for the airline industry.

I have the feeling that within 3 months, all of the minor airlines will have gone bankrupt and disappeared into the realm of forgotten memories, and only the major airlines (AA, UA, Delta, etc.) will remain behind. That being said, American Airlines will probably be on very shaky ground, with one foot well into the door of despair.

Now for the waiting game. Anybody have some chips, soda, and a comfy couch?

You Belong in 1953

You’re fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

(Via Dustbury)

I’m starting a search for a new car stereo. So far, I haven’t seen any new products that peak my interest, so I am posing this question: Does anyone know of a reliable source for discontinued car stereos? Preferably still in the box, or even a refurbished unit. In particular, I’m looking in the direction of a black panel display. Sony discontinued them about 2 years ago.

Please let me know if you can help!

Well, I’m rounding out week two of an AT&T-free life. Fortunately it was fairly simple to get out of my contract. I simply called customer service, asked to cancel my account, explained calmly why I wanted out, gave my account of all of the issues with their company, and waited patiently. After a few minutes on hold, I was free without an early termination fee, even though I still had a year to go on my contract.

So I go and get Verizon, and let me tell you, this has been the best phone experience that I’ve ever had! Every time I have called customer service, I have reached a real human, speaking in a very clear, easy to understand accent, in 2 minutes or less. The average phone call has lasted about 5 minutes, and they had answered all of my questions. I am paying about the same amount as my AT&T line (I opted for their ultimate package), and it has already paid for itself. GPS service is built into the plan, which came in handy in Tulsa when I was trying to find a way around an accident. Thus far, I’ve had no dropped calls, and better signal than I ever did with AT&T.

I ended up with the Samsung Alias phone, which is a cornucopia of fun.

AT&T is still trying to remain a thorn in my side, however. I received 2 letters from them yesterday: my bill (all 22 pages), and a letter stating that my bill was late. Apparently I’m not the only one with that issue. I’m tempted to send a notice back in their prepaid envelope reminding them that they are late on providing the service agreed upon in my contract, so they can expect that final payment when I get around to it.

As I am writing this, it is 10:24 p.m., my blood pressure is finally coming down and a headache is mounting. I’ve decided that I’m done fighting with AT&T. It isn’t worth it. Granted, they are the largest cellular phone provider in the nation, and pretty much the only “large” company that is worth it in the area, although T-Mobile seems to be gaining some ground.

The straw that broke the camel’s back:

This evening, I have had 7 calls fade out to nothing, 6 call failed errors when retrying the party I was talking to, 1 text message tell me the system is busy, try again later, and 6 disconnects when trying to talk to AT&T tech support. All of this, and I still had full signal on my phone, even 3G at times (which is difficult to maintain in my domicile). The calls that were successful all lasted under 10 minutes. I attempted to talk to AT&T online tech support, but ran into this issue:

Click for image

Today isn’t the first time I’ve had issues with AT&T. In the last 8 months, I have had my phone replaced twice, once within two weeks of purchasing it, and once in the last month. They were going to try to replace the phone yet again, but I got disconnected. I have had my SIM card replaced 4 or 5 times as well. The last phone call this evening to AT&T was to get my tech support history (which I know for a fact is incomplete).

To date, they have the following calls:

12-28-06
07-22-07
07-26-07
07-30-07
08-09-07
11-13-07
11-20-07
11-21-07
11-23-07
12-27-07
01-07-08
01-24-08
02-21-08
03-17-08

Notice the start date of the heavy call volume. Seems to fall awfully close to the end of the AT&T brand roll out. I actually had several calls placed in May and June of 2007, but they aren’t on record for some reason. I had to sign a new contract on July 23, 2007 to get a new phone. According to tech support, my previous phone was the reason I was having so many dropped calls. Being out of contract, all they could do was, conveniently, sell me a new contract and phone.

After tonight, I’m done. I already called another company to get a quote, and plan on switching within the week. I’ve decided to pick up a Tulsa phone number and go with Verizon wireless. They have a plan that will encompass all that I have and more, for a little less than AT&T is charging. Downside – I have to get a new phone. Upside – they have the Razr for $9.99 and the Krazr for $19.99, where I spent $100 (at least) on my Razr. All I have to do is activate the phone while I’m in Tulsa, and then I can use it anywhere in the US, including OKC. An hour and a half drive is worth it to get away from the scumsuckers at AT&T.

So the plan for tomorrow – Write up my EECB, request that my ETF be waived due to them not upholding my contract, see about my 2500+ rollover minutes being refunded to me in the form of my last bill being paid and a visa with the rest (I paid for the minutes, so might as well try), attempt to have my number released for portability, forward my EECB to Consumerist and the BBB, post the letter here for all of you to enjoy, and start planning my switch over.

Any recommendations on CDMA phones?

So, I hopped into my car this afternoon to go get some lunch, and apparently had left my radio sitting on Sirius Faction (channel 28 for those who are interested). Their playlist for the next 20 minutes or so was a perfect mix, and a little humorous as well.

It went like this:

Miss Murder – AFI
Sorrow – Bad Religion
No More Sorrow – Linkin Park
I Hope You Die – Bloodhound Gang
Lie – Black Light Burns

It makes me think that someone may have just been dumped…..

According to Sitemeter, I have now hit the 1000 visitor mark! Visit 1000 came in at 7:26 on February 7th. Thanks to all of my readers!