Posting from: Alamo City
Day 1: Diary of the Madman
The day is Thursday, July 20th 2006. I'm currently sitting atop my new bed in my new home watching Mike Timlin take care of the Texas Rangers in the bottom of the 9th on "FOX 4"... normally, I'd write about how awesome that would be. (catching a Sox game on a day off usually equals "fucking ace")
Today... this week however....
Lets go back one full day and recap what I haven't bitched about.
Woke up on the 19th of July @ 3:00 AM to wrap up some last minute packing at my Sisters apartment before the 4 hour trek to San Antonio.
The drive itself went well... if you're looking into renting a truck - check out Penske. The truck was top notch, I was told that they never let their fleet go more than 3 years old and they have really nice folk working at their pick up/drop off locations.
The only memorable moment to blog about... A Shell gas station in a small town outside of Three Rivers, Texas - had one of the strangest urinals I've ever stood in front of.
In the mens restroom there was 2 stalls. One to a toilet that had no door... The other was to a large concrete wall that had a plastic pipe fixture that dripped little droplets of water down it so that you can pee onto it.
I didn't spend to much time in there... I should have checked to see if there was a glory hole by the sink.
Once in San Antonio... I had to race across town to finish the leasing agreement (signatures what not) and swing by a local "Furniture Row" to pay for the delivery of my new bedroom.
The two above tasks took about 2 hours to take care of... a little longer than I would have liked mainly because I wanted to get as much of the unpacking done before the Texas heat kicked in.
Once I got back to the house, I had a chance to step into the place for the first time and really take in the place I had only heard about through my parents and sister. The house is incredibly spacious... It's on a nice street and I have a quirky view from my backdoor patio. (I'll take and post photos soon)
Unloading a truck always feels a million times easier than loading one, but unloading a 16 foot truck (packed to the BRIM) on a 102 degree day is indescribable pain in the ass.
Adding to that indescribable pain was the stopping every 40 minutes to attend to the pets and discovering little things that desperately need to be fixed in the next 5 days.
1.) The house wasn't properly (pre-cleaned) before our arrival.
2.) There's currently no hot water.
3.) I currently can't get the water in my name because I can't get the builders to clear an outstanding balance they've had at this place since March of 06.
4.) The air conditioner is possibly on the fritz... (its missing a filter and it took an alarming amount of time to actually "cool" the place)
5.) Number of outdoor and indoor quirks that will require me to take time and have addressed. examples: Re-Keying of house (long story behind that), the instillation of a garage door opener (apparently promised by company that leased us the place), a visit by a "lawn lady" whom will take a look at 2 dead trees in my front yard and will address (I hope) some dead spots of grass in the front and back yard.
All that shit aside... my streak of shitty luck continued yesterday through today.
Yesterday, my bedroom set arrived and was assembled as promised. The mattresses (to the bed frame) were however *not* on the delivery truck or delivery order. I was able to have it taken care of... but it was an unneeded bit of stress to tackle.
Had "Time Warner" come out this morning (prompt and on time) to take care of our telephone/fax, television and internet needs. Got a phone call from their dispatch center asking if I was at home to greet the instillation guys... when I said "yes", I stepped out the door and saw that they were bothering a neighbor of mine.
When I explained to the dispatch person that they were at the wrong house... she informed me that my address was incorrect in their billing account.
Now... I know dick about what Time Warner does... but you'd think that the changing of an address (literally 1 fucking number) over the phone would be very easy to do...
Well it absolutely isn't. Upon hearing that the address was wrong the dispatcher informed me that the Telephone would not be installed and got off the phone as fast as humanly possible.
I didn't care all that much... my hope was to have Cable and Internet in the house while I spent 4 relaxing days at the new place - moving in, watching TV and poking around the net.
The guys came in... saw that a great deal of their work was already done and they asked if they could access the attic to take care of some cable issues I wanted addressed in the "home office".
Before the guys split... I was told that the Internet would be down for 2 hours because of a back-log of activations. I knew that very moment that something was very wrong.
I signed the necessary paper work once I confirmed the digital cable worked and wished the guys the best of luck in the demonic Texas heat.
Parents and sisters left back for South Texas an hour or so later... I went out to have my car washed and purchased an "approved" trash can from a local Wal-Mart (incase you're wondering.. you can fit a 32 gallon wastebasket in the back of a 4 door Honda Civic with much ease) and got a small bite to eat before I came back home to plop down in the living room to catch up on some HBO I missed over the weekend.
Fast forward an hour or so... Get back home sit back and relax with the dog and attempt catch up on the HBO "Entourage" episode I missed out on this past Sunday.
"HBO OnDemand" is a lot different than the "OnDemand" I had in the Rio Grande Valley (despite both offerings coming from Time Warner) so I had to navigate a couple of screens before I could finally access the episode.
I hit play... the screen confirms the action and then I begin to wait. And wait... and wait. After 2 minutes or so... I thought I would check in on the Cable Internet. It remained out.
I couldn't get HBO onDemand to work... so I tried CNN onDemand - nothing. Showtime onDemand... nothing.
It occurs to me that I should call to get the Internet and OnDemand issues figured out. I end up spending 2 hours on hold - find out that
a.) the Internet issue solved itself
b.) the onDemand issue is going to be a big issue and will require a TimeWarner guy visit.
c.) the incorrect address... a BIG fucking problem.
So.... to have everything corrected I had to cancel ALL of my services and wait till Sunday for a guy to come by and wave a magical wand around the house so that my billing and the promised phone would work.
Its now Thursday afternoon... and I have little Elliot asleep on my new bed while I fold and tuck away some packed clothes.
I turned on the TV in hopes of watching a DVD (I have 2 to keep me company until I swing by Kathie's to pick up my collection over the weekend. Two I have currently: The Life Aquatic (which happened to be "our movie") and Goodfellas.
I turn on the TV so that I can throw the DVD in when I discover the sets without the digital cable box are currently broadcasting channels 1 through 99!
Finally something goes right for me.
- Alamo City Rollie.
PS : 5:19 PM - Stroll into the home office and notice that my airport signal is receiving and ISP????
More to come.
The day is Thursday, July 20th 2006. I'm currently sitting atop my new bed in my new home watching Mike Timlin take care of the Texas Rangers in the bottom of the 9th on "FOX 4"... normally, I'd write about how awesome that would be. (catching a Sox game on a day off usually equals "fucking ace")
Today... this week however....
Lets go back one full day and recap what I haven't bitched about.
Woke up on the 19th of July @ 3:00 AM to wrap up some last minute packing at my Sisters apartment before the 4 hour trek to San Antonio.
The drive itself went well... if you're looking into renting a truck - check out Penske. The truck was top notch, I was told that they never let their fleet go more than 3 years old and they have really nice folk working at their pick up/drop off locations.
The only memorable moment to blog about... A Shell gas station in a small town outside of Three Rivers, Texas - had one of the strangest urinals I've ever stood in front of.
In the mens restroom there was 2 stalls. One to a toilet that had no door... The other was to a large concrete wall that had a plastic pipe fixture that dripped little droplets of water down it so that you can pee onto it.
I didn't spend to much time in there... I should have checked to see if there was a glory hole by the sink.
Once in San Antonio... I had to race across town to finish the leasing agreement (signatures what not) and swing by a local "Furniture Row" to pay for the delivery of my new bedroom.
The two above tasks took about 2 hours to take care of... a little longer than I would have liked mainly because I wanted to get as much of the unpacking done before the Texas heat kicked in.
Once I got back to the house, I had a chance to step into the place for the first time and really take in the place I had only heard about through my parents and sister. The house is incredibly spacious... It's on a nice street and I have a quirky view from my backdoor patio. (I'll take and post photos soon)
Unloading a truck always feels a million times easier than loading one, but unloading a 16 foot truck (packed to the BRIM) on a 102 degree day is indescribable pain in the ass.
Adding to that indescribable pain was the stopping every 40 minutes to attend to the pets and discovering little things that desperately need to be fixed in the next 5 days.
1.) The house wasn't properly (pre-cleaned) before our arrival.
2.) There's currently no hot water.
3.) I currently can't get the water in my name because I can't get the builders to clear an outstanding balance they've had at this place since March of 06.
4.) The air conditioner is possibly on the fritz... (its missing a filter and it took an alarming amount of time to actually "cool" the place)
5.) Number of outdoor and indoor quirks that will require me to take time and have addressed. examples: Re-Keying of house (long story behind that), the instillation of a garage door opener (apparently promised by company that leased us the place), a visit by a "lawn lady" whom will take a look at 2 dead trees in my front yard and will address (I hope) some dead spots of grass in the front and back yard.
All that shit aside... my streak of shitty luck continued yesterday through today.
Yesterday, my bedroom set arrived and was assembled as promised. The mattresses (to the bed frame) were however *not* on the delivery truck or delivery order. I was able to have it taken care of... but it was an unneeded bit of stress to tackle.
Had "Time Warner" come out this morning (prompt and on time) to take care of our telephone/fax, television and internet needs. Got a phone call from their dispatch center asking if I was at home to greet the instillation guys... when I said "yes", I stepped out the door and saw that they were bothering a neighbor of mine.
When I explained to the dispatch person that they were at the wrong house... she informed me that my address was incorrect in their billing account.
Now... I know dick about what Time Warner does... but you'd think that the changing of an address (literally 1 fucking number) over the phone would be very easy to do...
Well it absolutely isn't. Upon hearing that the address was wrong the dispatcher informed me that the Telephone would not be installed and got off the phone as fast as humanly possible.
I didn't care all that much... my hope was to have Cable and Internet in the house while I spent 4 relaxing days at the new place - moving in, watching TV and poking around the net.
The guys came in... saw that a great deal of their work was already done and they asked if they could access the attic to take care of some cable issues I wanted addressed in the "home office".
Before the guys split... I was told that the Internet would be down for 2 hours because of a back-log of activations. I knew that very moment that something was very wrong.
I signed the necessary paper work once I confirmed the digital cable worked and wished the guys the best of luck in the demonic Texas heat.
Parents and sisters left back for South Texas an hour or so later... I went out to have my car washed and purchased an "approved" trash can from a local Wal-Mart (incase you're wondering.. you can fit a 32 gallon wastebasket in the back of a 4 door Honda Civic with much ease) and got a small bite to eat before I came back home to plop down in the living room to catch up on some HBO I missed over the weekend.
Fast forward an hour or so... Get back home sit back and relax with the dog and attempt catch up on the HBO "Entourage" episode I missed out on this past Sunday.
"HBO OnDemand" is a lot different than the "OnDemand" I had in the Rio Grande Valley (despite both offerings coming from Time Warner) so I had to navigate a couple of screens before I could finally access the episode.
I hit play... the screen confirms the action and then I begin to wait. And wait... and wait. After 2 minutes or so... I thought I would check in on the Cable Internet. It remained out.
I couldn't get HBO onDemand to work... so I tried CNN onDemand - nothing. Showtime onDemand... nothing.
It occurs to me that I should call to get the Internet and OnDemand issues figured out. I end up spending 2 hours on hold - find out that
a.) the Internet issue solved itself
b.) the onDemand issue is going to be a big issue and will require a TimeWarner guy visit.
c.) the incorrect address... a BIG fucking problem.
So.... to have everything corrected I had to cancel ALL of my services and wait till Sunday for a guy to come by and wave a magical wand around the house so that my billing and the promised phone would work.
Its now Thursday afternoon... and I have little Elliot asleep on my new bed while I fold and tuck away some packed clothes.
I turned on the TV in hopes of watching a DVD (I have 2 to keep me company until I swing by Kathie's to pick up my collection over the weekend. Two I have currently: The Life Aquatic (which happened to be "our movie") and Goodfellas.
I turn on the TV so that I can throw the DVD in when I discover the sets without the digital cable box are currently broadcasting channels 1 through 99!
Finally something goes right for me.
- Alamo City Rollie.
PS : 5:19 PM - Stroll into the home office and notice that my airport signal is receiving and ISP????
More to come.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home