Looking at My Own Mice Type

I have a hectic schedule and an intense job.  With all sincerity, my job takes up most of the time I spend on the Internet, and the only reason I keep up with Facebook is because I use it as a 'family' tool.  This blog is my luxury, and I enjoy it.  I wish I could dedicate more time towards writing, but right now, my talents are spread quite thin at the moment.

I have a career, not a job.  I strive for clarity in this statement. The word job feels weasel-like on my tongue and cheapens my importance to the whole picture.  I will not tolerate a negative debasement of my passionate dedication by those stuck within the confines of their own system of what makes a person worth something.  I have a BA, a ton of experience and training but I STILL have to keep up to cover everything, because the demands put upon me challenge daily.  There is no guide out there for businesses and customer service, maintaining a cost conscious diligence, keeping up with rebates and warranties, calling and updating home services on top of cleanliness.

I am a housewife.  And it is a career.  I am not about to get on a soapbox and complain about what I should be paid.  That is a moot point for me.  My husband and I run this home together, manage a small business, keep up our properties, are parents to a beautiful child and we hold it down together.  To me, my role in my household contains an overwhelming amount of responsibility, productivity and effort that my husband reflects.  Its the rest of the world I want to shake my fists at.  I have it. Yes.  My own little business.   A career.  A big part of a complex organization.  If there was ever a theoretical mission statement or about us thing... it would include all the below items.

AND I savored writing this.

Twotablesnotime

Owner/CEO

The American Dream

a Division of the Hall Corporation

Stokesdale, NC 27357

HOME OFFICE

Customer Service:  Contact twotables for all household related concerns

Sales:  No one offers better pricing on hand chosen housewares

Technical Support:  Contact twotables [Emergency contact information]

Operations:  contact twotables for department allocation within HOME OFFICE

Security Clearance:  must be approved by BOTH owners of The American Dream

Warranty/Replacement:  The American Dream by the Hall Corporation offers an exclusive warranty for as long as you retain contact with our services.

Independents:  The American Dream offers limited programs and associations and maintain the right to deny or change agreements without notice.   Failure to maintain an account with The American Dream and misappropriate use of our Brands or Logo is punishable in accordance with any way we deem fit.  Violation of Company policy will not be tolerated.  Proper phone protocol is to be observed at all times.  The American Dream does not affiliate with John Hall Guttering employees, however HOME OFFICE is open to accept paperwork and Issues as directed by John Hall.  In the event of a Natural Disaster or Act of John, The American Dream has the right to dictate to any and all affiliates.   If The American Dream is out of the office, you must WAIT.  Approval from *Latter Halls is UNACCEPTABLE.  This includes Security Clearance to HOME OFFICE.

The American Dream retains the right to deny services to anyone.  Any attempts by outside parties to solicit CEO/Owners twotables or John Hall shall be handled by *ANY means necessary.  *ANY means may include/not limited to:  intense scrutiny, background check, formal complaints, and if necessary; use of force.  We are a privately owned and operated corporation and any means to gain unwanted access shall be considered a serious threat to operations**.

**in the event of Latter Halls or Nareaus contract involvement, The American Dream must approve in advance.  Infractions or complaints by an Independent about Latter Halls or Nareaus are to be handled by  The American Dream.  Latter Halls and Nareaus have warranties and insurance through The American Dream.   Any outside consultation by Independents to these parties without authorization is embezzlement/misuse of company resources.  Anything you say and do to them will be used against you.

SHOP

Transportation:  Contact John Hall

Deliveries with more than 3 axles must use Lower Entrance

Questions about an Invoice?  Contact John and leave a message.

Operations:  Contact John with job questions and concerns.

Interested in delivering material?  John is the person to give a quote to.  And don't waste his time.

JHG, Inc.does not accept credit cards or financing; so if you have received an invoice, pay it on time.

Interested in becoming an Associate?  The American Dream currently has no positions offered.

However The Hall Corporation encourages Applicants to inquire directly to John Hall Guttering.  If hired by our company, be on time and be *dependable.

Employees report to John Hall Guttering, however HOME OFFICE has your information on file.  You must be Key holder to enter Home Office.

*Dependable is all inclusive - call with questions, do it right the first time,  be safe, and manage your own money and personal life.  Everyone has unexpected emergencies, and we understand, but we also have a business to run and lives of our own.

Continuance of Keeping On

Where was I?  Oh Yes.  I was wanting to hit a guy.  The whole time I am thinking to myself, you can't make this man mad at you.  Do you realize this?  What if he just makes his own door into your home and sacks the whole place.  The very idea was scary beyond all means.  We call AT&T for another home visit.  This time they send someone a little nicer.. more personable.  

And I stepped into the pile of poo of asking for help outside the box.  Golly Gee Whiz.  My Vostro gets a graphics card, some ram and more space.  Meanwhile, technology meets marriage and on some days there is still acid rain.

I decided to can AT&T.  Not because they were bad really.  It was more because the service didn't meet my growing needs.  I will say they are diligent and kind and willing to work with you, but after two home calls, I just wanted something else.  [the guy that updated my computer was such a jerk that he mailed me my laptop cord... MAILED]

Sooooo.  I start having different problems ... much of it keeping up with all these computers.  As well as frustration at not being educated enough to ask the correct questions.

Our router was giving us trouble needing constant resets.  I had to call Time Warner.  I had a man there accuse me of stealing wifi service and then lecture me on his job.  I interrupted him and told him I paid him to do his job, and if I wanted to go to school I'd take a class.  He sent me down the circular drainage phone system because of my supposed theft.  When I finally talked to someone with brains I asked how did I convince a Time Warner employee to drill holes in my wall and install cable boxes in my basement just so I could steal Internet?  Why did this guy say this?  After carefully adjusting my billing and agreeing with the impossibility of me masterminding theft of Internet service I had been overpaying for I was sent a new router.  I was joyous.  Who wouldn't be?

Time moves on.  Speed did not.  So I looked into finding someone to work on my network.  Yeah.  I had to admit I was a network now.

To the Internet.  Epiphany.

Why not talk to Dell?  I was trying to update my three stock laptops and debug them, plus figure out how to use a network drive and sort out bugs in my beloved desktop.

Dell took a week of my life.  You can read about it in past entries.  Needless to say, they gave me a full refund for the service they were supposed to provide to me.  That took three hours and a refusal to let them into my computer period.

I still had the same problems.  I tried one more company.  They at least got some bugs worked out and helped with backup.  The sad thing was:  I had been watching people in my computer so long I knew what they were doing.

to be continued some more.

Keeping on Keeping on

I'm finally here.  Fitfully resting my laurels on my blog.  Triage seems to be the best word I can come up with to explain the absence of words and my usual anecdotes of sarcasm.  Has anyone missed me?  Hell if I know.  Have I missed being here.  With the fierceness of a thousand burning suns.  I sit down in my man cave with such a sense of relief.  *SIGH*  My place is whole again.  I didn't understand just how much 350 square feet make a difference in my life.  I have felt like all the creativity I possess had been drained out of me.  What was left has felt extremely useless.  Volatile, angry, putrid and festering...but with no purpose or creative way to lob itself at the world in general.  I have much to report on.  Many loose ends to contemplate.  My biggest feeling of the moment is:  Hell YES.  I AM HERE.  DOING WHAT I DO.  WRITING.  

I have kept a journal since 1990.  Handwritten in crazy handwriting.  Tomes of feelings.  Then I moved into online and over time, I have migrated here.  I plan on moving this who kit and caboodle over to my own web address at some point.  I've been on a learning journey that isn't over yet.  The beauty of having this blog is the fact its still here.  For that, I am grateful.  I am getting to where I understand technology a little bit better, and I know that I have more to do.  I want to share my experience with fellow bloggers, because I believe I might make a few people feel a bit better about themselves.  Who knows?  Some of the companies I name off might want to pay attention.  Either way, I am going to set this down.  This shackle of technological tragedy that will probably read as being pretty funny.

I am writing the world from my very first custom built computer.  Yeah.  Up until now, every computer I've ever purchased myself was a Dell.  My defense for choosing Dell came from using other computers and from the only computer I've owned that I didn't pick out:  a Toshiba Satellite.  That thing came loaded with software that was impossible to uninstall and be rid of.  That said, I still own it, and it still works.  My first desktop came to be in 2008.  A Vostro 200.  Oh I loved my computer.  I did.  I still do.  My paid professional is going to help me convert it into a huge storage hub for my home.  I'm sad to say that after too many people, too many companies and too many idiots my Vostro clattered to its death December 8, 2013.

So what happened?  People throw things away all the time!  That Vostro is a Dinosaur you say!  True. Had it not been upgraded.  But I am getting ahead.  Let me finish setting things out.  My little Dell family grew.  My husband needed a laptop, as his Dimension has a case of dementia.  Enter the Latitude.  It took three Latititudes to get one to work.  That was a late night email to Michael Dell that got results.  Then with further ado enter the Vostro 1720 laptop and much later my Inspiron.  That is a bunch of laptops and computers.  How do you keep up with them all?  Somewhere in there, we decided to change cable companies.  Enter me.

Southern Bell was our phone company, and well paying separate for AT&T Internet stunk.  However, they had this great little program, where they put a toolbox on your computer and you could call them for anything.  You know, this was kind of cool and they were nice people I could understand.  However, when two optical drives one on a laptop and the other my coveted desktop decided they either didn't exist or that they simply didn't work.... AT&T could not fix it.  Soooo.  They sent somebody out to my house.

After much deliberation, representative said that iTunes ate my laptop optical drive.  WHAT!  Oh yeah, and your desktop optical drive never did what you said it was supposed to.  DEAR GOD.  I wanted to hit him.

to be continued....

Blowing a Fuse and Not Waking Backup: Really

Lucky #20.  The magical breaker supplying power to the outlets in my cave.  It took much patience not to throw my battery backup across the room to make it shut up while I shut down two computers, and my music equipment shaking from the sound of blowing a light bulb combined with the unmistakable smell of electrical discharge.  I almost feel sorry for the camel cricket that jumped across my slippers as I groped with my cell phone as a flashlight in a corner of my basement.  I said almost... I screamed.. but didn't drop the phone.  Cricket just had to jump back within two feet of me.  I am sure parts of that bug are between the fibers of my sock I jumped so hard. 

Delegation: When Things Get Too Big

So I've decided to find someone to sell some of my stuff for me.  I don't have the time or the energy to do it all.

 

I found a perspective person to do this.

 

I'm just scared I'll end up with that sandwich my blog refers to all the time.

 

Here's to NOT wishing, but making things happen.

 

And not having a clutch of chickens in the midst of it all.

 

Then recovering from shock and coughing feathers for a year.

 

BLAH

About what the Dell I'm Doing

What the Hall is up?  I FINALLY know what the Dell I'm doing.  That's right!  Get out the Gold STARS and plant one on me!

 

I love Dell in terms of Hardware.  I do.  I like getting a computer that has exactly the items I ordered included.  Right out of the box.  That said, I really dislike thinking I need technical support from them.  No. No. No.

 

Not again.  No more toilet tank phone systems that thank me and hang up.  No more transfers to departments like Business, Technical, Customer Care, Customer Loyalty, Business Support, Home Support (!) 

 

No more repeating myself and staying awake and losing days of my life.

 

I am so glad that is behind me.  Again, I love the computer, but 50+ people all calling me Marsha and expressing how sorry they are for all my troubles began to get old and I theorized I aged during that process and I think most people give up and that is what they count on.

 

Keep me on hold for more than an hour and it is annoying.  Keep me awake 48 hours straight and it becomes personal.

 

It took three hours to get a complete refund for an extended warranty service.  I was hung up on three times and bounced into four departments.  Finally, resolution.

 

Every single penny is important and I don't like things falling through the cracks.  I am glad I was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Dell, I'll stick to hardware.  Honestly, I think you should too.  You're good at hardware.  I believe in the hardware.  As for service, if you're looking for a pack of well trained, certified professional Weasels, give them a call.

 

Especially if you like hearing your first name.

 

I will throw them a bone and say I am glad a refund only took three hours, and it was in full.  I didn't have to say anything drastic ... a month long list of names and dates took care of that.  Plus the Weasel that tried to tell me the words 'pro-rated' stopped immediately when I told him that I don't mind writing Michael Dell again, and I have the home office number (maybe the shaky asthmatic voice won him over too).

 

What's this about Michael Dell?  The year before at 3 in the morning I wrote a letter to him.  I thought this was a self therapy to at least feel a little better about having to send a laptop back twice as defective.  I received a phone call the very next day.  That blew my mind.

 

I got my third and final computer days later, discounted.  Again, amazed.  This is not an exaggeration.  Sometimes a heartfelt letter really makes the difference.  This time, I didn't feel so helpless, and they came through.

 

And no one was ugly.   I did all the ugly and crying back at the beginning of the year.  So with a light heart and pretty much no loss of money on finding a new source of Tech Support, I can move on to other projects.

 

YAH!

 

Never Assume Upgrading Nintendo Should be Like Getting A New Phone

The title to this post has been in the draft folder since Wednesday of last week.  I have passionately wished for the time to voice (quite loudly) a few shortcomings in the digital world.  I consider myself to quite conservative when it comes to purchasing new technology.  I tend to say oooh and ahh like the rest of the world when some new tech-toy greets the world market.  I do not camp outside of stores to be the first person to own something white with an '' i' in the front of it.  I am also not chomping at the bit to go and purchase a new television so I can don dorky glasses and have things jump out at me.  Nevertheless, I do know way too much about the plugs on the back of my televisions.  I also realize that not being able to navigate some of these toys will be detrimental to my child.  We live in an age where everything is on the Internet, and to NOT be savvy, leads our peers to rating our intelligence on our pocketbooks, not on actual brains.  Where this philosophy of one must own or one is ignorant mystifies me, and I can only fight the machine so much.  So, here I am, mother of one.  Owner of Nintendo, two short years ago.  Yes, I grew up without any video game in my life.  Did I want one?  Of course.  When opportunity arose, eating was more important.  I digress.

My daughter has faced the computer age stoically, and only school has made her branch out to want to play with anything other than the TV itself.  That said, this year, she went from zero to wanting the whole enchilada.  I've had to take my phone away and remind her we have a land line.  She went from hitting buttons on the Nintendo DS XL to really playing with it, and using some of the features I had no use for like the recorder.  I feel I have to put in this background before I launch my reasoning that lies behind the title of this entry.

I was at a loss to find my child another gift for her birthday other than the record player, and the answer came to me via email from Gamestop.  Oh happy day!  Finally Nintendo decided to make the screen on the 3DS the size of the DS XL!  What this means:  A handheld game larger than my Smart phone, and easy to see.  I knew I just had to wait.  I liked Nintendo for this simple fact:  There are not a bunch of buttons.  I know there are lots of systems out there, but when you have a kid playing with it, the more buttons there are, the harder it is to explain.  You also have to factor in parents that did not grow up with video games.  I will also insert here that we own a Nintendo wii and to my frustration and disappointment, my child has not been enthralled.  Moving on.

Gamestop is nifty in that one can buy and trade their games.  So being a member, I boxed up both my own 3DS and the DSXL, a bunch of accessories and games my daughter has outgrown.  I managed to use member benefits and current sales to purchase two new 3DS XL systems.  I was so excited to have two handheld systems that she could play with me and her friends.  I assumed when I reminded the Gamestop employee that I needed the SD cards from the old systems that putting my DSiware purchased from the eShop in gaming system I would be able to redownload my software.  I assumed it would be like buying a new phone and moving my information from one to the other would be no problem.  I was so wrong.

A little voice inside me said, open the new system and set it up, so my daughter could just hug me and go in her room and play.  I am so glad I listen to the little voice.  Here is where the drama begins. I will continue this in another post.

Serious XM Vent

I believe nothing vents frustration better than being able to write SiriusXM and explain with all the proper gutter mouth I could muster at midnight that Howard Stern should not be training their employees.  (And he's sort of outdated and overpaid ... because Howard Stern seems to be kind of a lapdog these days compared to a lot of other comedians or radio personalities.)

I usually blush at saying so many curses, much less writing them, but I told them I was just doing them the same favor by trying to force me to listen and PAY for something useless.

I took on Dell and won, XM, meet your match.

DING, DING.  Baby's on the decks. (music reference)

I opened my mail at midnight thinking it was junk, and it was a collection notice from SiriusXM on the car I had wrecked and completely replaced.  I blew a gasket because when I was changing all the information the lady I talked to was horrible to me and abrasive and I CALLED THEM to purchase satellite radio.  Not good sales strategy.  Then, months later, lets not send any mail except the new car and treat me like a criminal.  They draft that monthly.  Thank goodness I keep receipts... but ooh I was MAD.  Aging occurs on hold.  Keep me on hold for a long time and be mean, it gets personal.

Luckily they fixed everything because I caught it in time.

Seriously.

And I'm not the radio station.