Vanilla

My dad loved vanilla and lemon. Not together. But he always had those hard lemon drop candies in the house and he always burned vanilla candles at Christmas. When my brother and I were kids we'd all go to the local drug store to get fountain drinks from the local soda fountain. I'd get either a green river or a cherry Coke. My brother always got a chocolate Coke, and my dad got either a lemon Coke or a vanilla Coke.

(For the record, the local soda fountain still exists with the original bar, stool, and soda fountain. Last time I was there [five years ago], I got a cherry Coke with my food and ordered a chocolate Coke to go.)

Anyway... Vanilla and vanilla candles. Dad loved the smell. Vanilla-scented stuff takes me back to my dad's house when it was still a bachelor pad (i.e., still furnished with run-down furniture and card tables). My brother and I would put up the Christmas tree, Dad burned multiple vanilla candles in every room of the house. It was Christmas.

So, earlier this week I went to the dentist for a cleaning and check up. At the end, my hygienist (who is awesome) went through the drawer of stuff asking me what I wanted: Toothpaste? Floss? (Yes) Toothbrush? (No) And then she asked, "Do you want some chapstick?"

Yes!

I'm kind of addicted to any form of lip balm. I am constantly applying it, and I'm miserable when I run out, and I had just run out. So, my hygienist gave me some with my dentist's name, number, etc. on it.

I kept forgetting to pick up more at the store so, you know, awesome.

And then I put it on and all of a sudden I was ten years old, back in my dad's bachelor pad house, putting up Christmas decorations. My new dentist lip balm is vanilla flavored/scented.

I'm kind of loving it.

Conversation I had at the reference desk yesterday afternoon, the last day of finals

Me: So, how many sources do you need? When do you need them?

Student: Probably two, and as soon as possible.

Me: This isn't for an assignment due today, is it?

Student: Well.... yeah.

Me: Seriously? C'mon, man...




Yes, yesterday was the last day of the quarter. Thank god. I have never been so happy to see something end before in my life. Ever.

Comcast, Take II

The Comcast tech came by on Sunday. Turns out I was being billed for two DVRs--a standard and an HD DVR. He fixed that. The box I had was in fact a DVR, but the code had been messed with so much it was easier to swap it out for a new one. The tech got it all set up.

Then I tried to program the DVR. Nothing. Okay, I'll wait. Next day? I set some recordings and went to work. After working late I got home to find out nothing had recorded. I tried again to record. Nothing.

So... tonight, I called. Again. I was explaining what went wrong, the Comcast person on the phone reset it, and then we were cut off. I don't know if I was hung up on or if my phone dropped the call. I was not yelling. I was not getting mad.

I called back.

I calmly (seriously) explained how many times I had talked to someone at Comcast and all the back and forth. The guy on the phone told me I was calmer than he would be. I told him this wasn't the norm. After resetting the DVR three or four times the Comcast dude said, "I hate to tell you this...." And a tech would have to come out. There was a chance, he said, that the DVR might work in fifteen minutes or so (after it reloaded) but wasn't holding his breath. Neither was I.

More bitching on Twitter and the Comcast Twitter people wanted the full story so they could investigate.

And then my DVR began to work.

Honestly, dear reader, I do have other things, other going on in my life other than my freaking cable TV, but they're things I can't really go into detail about on a blog. So... this is it.

Comcast Sucks

My Comcast On Demand service has been acting weird for a few weeks. It would work and then not work. The payback would catch. Or I'd get audio but no video. I eventually got sick of it and got in touch with customer service. I'm not a fan of their chat service, but I didn't feel like talking to anyone, so I did the chat thing. The tech "person" (because part of me thinks it's nothing more than a machine is on the other end spitting out random crap) tried to reset the signal but it didn't work. I was told to unplug it and then plug it back in. Didn't fix anything. And... I guess that meant the box was broken.

So, I had the choice of picking up a new box or waiting for a tech. I said neither--I wasn't doing a damn thing or altering my schedule to sit around and wait for a cable dude. I was told I was shit out of luck.

What do I do? Go to Twitter. Within a few minutes a Comcast guy said they'd ship me a new DVR.

Excellent!

It arrives. I set it up. I activate it. I let it do it's thing, and I run some errands. When I get home 2.5 hours later it still isn't working. I call customer service. This person tells me I was sent the wrong kind of DVR and that my account won't work with it. If I want to use it I will have to pay more each month. Oh, and she thinks my original problem wasn't the DVR but the signal. I kind of lose my shit. She tells me she can set up a temporary fix but eventually I will still need to swap out this machine. We set up an appointment for a tech to come to my house. I'm still not happy about having them visit. Last time they were here my tv broke. And I don't like giving up my time for the cable dude. But, I don't have a choice, whatever she did to my account meant that when their system refreshed my service would stop working.

Jesus.

So, I head back to Twitter. I am told the tech I spoke to was wrong. After some back and forth, the Comcast Twitter dude called me and we straightened out my request, the tech visit on Sunday, and we got it worked out. Excellent.

But one thing: My DVR still doesn't work. I ask Twitter dude about this. Oh, oops... you weren't sent a DVR, it's a box used for some other Comcast service.

Are you fucking kidding me? I pay how much a month for this bullshit?

Yeah, people are starving in this world and people are homeless and here I am complaining about my DVR. I know. I know. In the big scheme of things this is ridiculous. But c'mon... is one person at Comcast competent? At all?

Supposedly I have HBO free for three months because of all this. I don't care, honestly. I just want the shit I pay for to work.

30 Days of Thanks: Days 27-30

Day 27: Music. I don't listen to music like I used to, but to say that music influenced my life a little is an understatement.

Day 28: The last day of class.

Day 29: The interwebs because of things like Texts from Bennet, Ugly Renaissance Babies, and Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore Yet to Confirm Who WIll Take Custody of J Mascis.