Trygve, fresh from a recent molt, now measures a good 2.5 inches long. Ain't he a cutie?
photo by A. Graf
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Back from the Northern Peninsula
We just returned from a family reunion up north and it was great. We spent way too much money and ate way too much good food, but seeing family again was worth it. My daughter and I rode our bikes up, leaving two days earlier than the rest of the family in the van. We rode about 155 miles to the town of Sturgeon Bay, WI where we finally found the local Wal-Mart and called my husband up at the hotel to come and get us. This is the second time my daughter and I have done this ride, though the first time we took six days to do it and wound our way further up the peninsula. Because of my summer job we had to cram the ride into three days, but it worked. The last day was spent almost entirely on the Ahnapee State Bike Trail and it was lovely. On over 30 miles of trail we met only one other cyclist. Hopefully more folks use these trails on weekends because that was a little disturbing, not seeing this wonderful state asset being taken advantage of, but in a selfish way it was so peaceful for us to have it to ourselves. Two photos are above and more will probably follow.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Making a Pass or Passing By?
In the hallway at work today I overheard a casual conversation between a lawyer and his assistant in which he said that he would be in her "nape of the neck" this weekend. Do their respective spouses know this?
Monday, July 11, 2005
Subjective Objectivity
We have all fallen short of the glory of God.
Today I could have helped one of God's children take one small step closer, but instead we both fell slightly farther down. One of the lawyers dictated a letter today and in closing asked his client, "If you have any questions, please give Mr. Smith or I a call." Without hesitation I typed this out as, ". . . please give Mr. Smith or me a call." (All names have been changed to protect the illiterate) I finished it off, printed it out and gave it to the lawyer. He returned it to me with a few minor changes and the "me" crossed out of the above-mentioned clause and changed to "I" - with emphasis. I was in a hurry to catch the last Freeway Flyer home and just didn't take the time to give my boss a lesson on proper objective behaviour. I changed the "me" to "I", added my initials to the bottom of the letter and mailed it off with his signature on it.
I feel I could almost hear his thoughts as he proofed that letter, finding his secretary's mistake. Ho-ho, we've all been lectured on the proper use of the English language and some of us were paying attention and others of us weren't. "Joe and me are going to the store," should always be "Joe and I are going to the store." You're not going to catch me using "me" when I should be using "I"!
My problem is that me put my initials on that letter, a mark that links I forever to the error.
Today I could have helped one of God's children take one small step closer, but instead we both fell slightly farther down. One of the lawyers dictated a letter today and in closing asked his client, "If you have any questions, please give Mr. Smith or I a call." Without hesitation I typed this out as, ". . . please give Mr. Smith or me a call." (All names have been changed to protect the illiterate) I finished it off, printed it out and gave it to the lawyer. He returned it to me with a few minor changes and the "me" crossed out of the above-mentioned clause and changed to "I" - with emphasis. I was in a hurry to catch the last Freeway Flyer home and just didn't take the time to give my boss a lesson on proper objective behaviour. I changed the "me" to "I", added my initials to the bottom of the letter and mailed it off with his signature on it.
I feel I could almost hear his thoughts as he proofed that letter, finding his secretary's mistake. Ho-ho, we've all been lectured on the proper use of the English language and some of us were paying attention and others of us weren't. "Joe and me are going to the store," should always be "Joe and I are going to the store." You're not going to catch me using "me" when I should be using "I"!
My problem is that me put my initials on that letter, a mark that links I forever to the error.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
The Pursuit of Happiness, Basically
Oh, I want to walk to Sentry and get me a box of Banquet Fried Chicken, extra crispy. I want that fried chicken so bad. It would not be good for me, not how my stomach's been reacting lately. Those fried onion rings last week nearly did me in, but oh, how I want some fried chicken right now. I would buy the skinless kind, the kind with less fat. That couldn't be that bad. It won't help me lose those last 15 pounds, that's for sure, but how much could it really hurt?
Sigh. Maybe I'll just heat up that leftover chicken broth that has thickened in the refrigerator. Maybe I'll make a pot of brown rice and soak that in the broth with a little salt.
It's a short walk to Sentry. Do we even have any brown rice? How good would a vegetable taste right now?
I have life, liberty and the ability to pursue my own happiness. The latter is spelled f-r-i-e-d c-h-i-c-k-e-n. I gotta go.
Sigh. Maybe I'll just heat up that leftover chicken broth that has thickened in the refrigerator. Maybe I'll make a pot of brown rice and soak that in the broth with a little salt.
It's a short walk to Sentry. Do we even have any brown rice? How good would a vegetable taste right now?
I have life, liberty and the ability to pursue my own happiness. The latter is spelled f-r-i-e-d c-h-i-c-k-e-n. I gotta go.
Friday, July 08, 2005
It Gets Even Worse . . .
I never imagined we would see even more destruction from our local Time Warner technicians, but it must be tornado season in Cableland. Our Internet service disappeared at some point today. My husband called me at work to ask if I knew what had happened. I didn't. He called back 15 minutes later to say that Mike from TW had called to set up an appointment to come out and pick up our wireless cable modem. We don't have a wireless cable modem because TW never got one to work in our house. My husband asked why our service was no longer working and Mike explained that our service had been disconnected and cancelled retroactively to June 9 so that we wouldn't owe anything. Oh, really?
I didn't hear anything further until I got home around 6pm and by then we were reconnected, but all our email accounts were gone and had to be set up all over again. We don't know how much mail we've lost due to the interruption and we'll probably never know. I called Ralph back at TW and left a courteous voicemail message, asking whom I should call next, the Cable Commissioner or the Consumer Protection Agency? It's easier to say what you're really thinking to an answering machine than it is to confront a live human. Even better is the written word when you have time to craft it just right. It's the on-the-spot, in-person stuff that I don't do well. I spurt, sputter, say nothing, then say what I never intended to. I did mention in my phone message that a year of free Road Runner service would not be at all inappropriate after what we had been through at Time Warner's hands.
I wish this were the end of it, but it looks as though there will be TW blog-fodder for a while to come.
I didn't hear anything further until I got home around 6pm and by then we were reconnected, but all our email accounts were gone and had to be set up all over again. We don't know how much mail we've lost due to the interruption and we'll probably never know. I called Ralph back at TW and left a courteous voicemail message, asking whom I should call next, the Cable Commissioner or the Consumer Protection Agency? It's easier to say what you're really thinking to an answering machine than it is to confront a live human. Even better is the written word when you have time to craft it just right. It's the on-the-spot, in-person stuff that I don't do well. I spurt, sputter, say nothing, then say what I never intended to. I did mention in my phone message that a year of free Road Runner service would not be at all inappropriate after what we had been through at Time Warner's hands.
I wish this were the end of it, but it looks as though there will be TW blog-fodder for a while to come.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Broadband Curriculum Broadens
Tonight I received a phone call from Ralph Newcomb, VP of Technical Operations at Time Warner Cable here in Milwaukee. He said he had received my letter today in which I detailed the abominable service I had received during the installation of our home broadband service and a copy of our first month's bill, grossly overcharging us by adding in all our credits due us instead of taking them off. The letter was four pages long. He actually read it. He went on to apologize for our cartoon-like service (his choice of words) and assured me that he had a complete copy of our service history and would be following it back through all its twists and turns to its doomed beginning to deal with all the human error and messed up protocol that made our lives hell for a couple weeks back in June. He would erase our entire bill thus far (as he most certainly should) and would use my letter as a teaching tool to represent each and every possible thing that could go wrong with a Time Warner Road Runner home installation and hopefully prevent this comedy of errors (my choice of words) from playing out again in a home near you.
He gave me his direct office phone number, which I will keep on file for future reference should action ever be required. He said he would personally come out to my house to right any wrongs still unresolved. He said he would research my service record and speak with the technicians and the billing department. He would have departmental debriefings. I think free Road Runner for a year or two would do the trick.
I wish to thank my neighbor, Russ, who came to our house more than once to look at our broadband setup and who was the one to actually get it up and running after three Time Warner technicians could not or would not. He also gave me Mr. Newcomb's name so that I could send him a carbon copy of my letter to Billing and Customer Service. You may have this large corporation coming out and promising you all sorts of stuff, but it's the friend down the block who really gets things working. Don't ever forget that. Don't ever forget the power of the pen either. I originally wrote a six-page letter, full of sarcasm and vituperation, but after calming down, pared the thing down to the barest of chronological details - four pages, single-spaced. I removed the nasty words and phrases and acted nice. That probably helped. "You'll attract more flies with honey than with vinegar," it is said, though I wouldn't want to clean my windows with honey-water. There's a time for vinegar, though this wasn't it.
He gave me his direct office phone number, which I will keep on file for future reference should action ever be required. He said he would personally come out to my house to right any wrongs still unresolved. He said he would research my service record and speak with the technicians and the billing department. He would have departmental debriefings. I think free Road Runner for a year or two would do the trick.
I wish to thank my neighbor, Russ, who came to our house more than once to look at our broadband setup and who was the one to actually get it up and running after three Time Warner technicians could not or would not. He also gave me Mr. Newcomb's name so that I could send him a carbon copy of my letter to Billing and Customer Service. You may have this large corporation coming out and promising you all sorts of stuff, but it's the friend down the block who really gets things working. Don't ever forget that. Don't ever forget the power of the pen either. I originally wrote a six-page letter, full of sarcasm and vituperation, but after calming down, pared the thing down to the barest of chronological details - four pages, single-spaced. I removed the nasty words and phrases and acted nice. That probably helped. "You'll attract more flies with honey than with vinegar," it is said, though I wouldn't want to clean my windows with honey-water. There's a time for vinegar, though this wasn't it.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
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