We have been discussing how ridiculous our cable bill is for a while now, and thinking about other options, mainly satellite.  The Sky TV satellite in our flat in York (UK) was particularly good by the way.  So when Bruce was approached in Best Buy earlier this week by a Direct TV salesperson, he jumped on the bandwagon.  It was one of the options we were considering, so....why not?  He paid a nominal sign up fee and scheduled installation for this afternoon.  Let me preface this by saying I am not a huge TV kind of person.  There are a very few things that I absolutely will NOT miss....well, ok, since House, MD has ended there is really nothing that I won't miss, or have to tape or whatever.  When I'm bored, or just chillin' I can watch endless hours of HGTV, but if I had to live without it, I absolutely could.  We have Netflix (instant view) and a Blockbuster subscription, so we see all the movies we can handle.  But if Direct TV is cheaper, then yes, whatever.

Anyway, after the appointment was scheduled, meaning AFTER the fact, I did a little research on the company.  And while most people agreed that the picture quality was fantastic, the channel selection some of the best, and only minimal signal interferance during storms.....the customer service and billing complaints were in the thousands.  Maybe more.  Hidden fees, unexplained charges....and they do this autopay billing which allows them to take any arbitrary amount out of your bank account once a month.  Apparently if they take too much for whatever reason, good luck ever getting it back.  There were complaints with the Better Business Bureau, lawsuits, you name it.  I was getting a little apprehensive about the whole thing.  I mean yeah, I felt like we were paying too much for cable, but it was a known evil.  We have never had any problems dealing with Suddenlink. 

Bruce was researching too.  He was not happy about what we were reading online, but decided that we could at least try this and see.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?  But then today, the appointment was cancelled with no real explanation.  Great way to start off with new customers.  They tried to reschedule, but Bruce told them, "No thanks....not gonna happen."  And so our satellite tv adventures were over before they began.  And I am ok with that.  With the accessibility of information on the internet, bad customer service just doesn't cut it.  There are too many other options, and other companies who actually DO try to keep things straight forward and their customers satisfied. 

Anyway, Bruce talked to our cable company and negotiated a better deal.  Apparently, they will do this for you if you are a longstanding customer who might be thinking about going to another service.  They offer continual "deals" for new customers, but regular customers can get the same deals if you suggest you are shopping around.   Our monthly fees were cut by a third, and we did lose some of the channels that we actually didn't even know we had....LOL.  Seriously, we never even watched some of the stuff we were paying for.  It was fine to cut our channel package back to the things we actually watch. And home phone service was included.  So there you have it.  We are letting them install a home phone line because the package was cheaper WITH it than without it.  Go figure.  They will be here on Tuesday and we will have a home number again.  This is after NOT having a landline since the kids were in high school.  We are going to shop for a phone, I guess.  I mean honestly, if I forget and leave my cell phone in my purse, I don't hear it, so there is probably some benefit to having a landline, I suppose.  I will email you all (family members, I mean) our new number after the line is activated. 

Oh and tomorrow our temp is going to be a balmy 103 degrees.  And humid.  And I figure you can guess what I think about that!!!  LOL.  And about British TV (the Sky TV satellite that I mentioned earlier) the thing that amused me most was the commercials.  There were TONS of the very same advertisements that we have here in the states.  Pantene hair products, cleaning products...etc....LOTS of the same stuff.  But all of them were dubbed over in British accents, like just having them speak English in an American accent was unacceptable.  It made me laugh.  Like, if they were dubbed over because the language was completely different, I could understand.  But dubbed just to rid it of that nasty American accent, even though the actual words were the same????  Hilarious. 

I had a small victory today.  A customer on my route had been bugging me, my sub, and our postmaster about moving her mailbox.  Normally I try to work with requests like that, but this time the place where Ms. X wanted to move her box was actually on another route, from another office, in another town.  Seriously.  She lives on a corner. The road in front of her house is served by Gville (and myself), while the road where her driveway is located is served by another town with another zipcode.  I have been repeatedly trying to explain to her that I can't just go into another town's territory, on another carrier's route and serve her box.  The only solution would be to move the box and put in a change of address to the other town.  It would mean a new number, street and zip code, but there is no other way around that. 

Well, Ms. X was not satisfied with my answer.  She has harrassed my postmaster over and over again, citing that her husband was disabled and could not cross the road to get the mail.  Which doesn't really explain why she or her 2 able-bodied teenagers were incapable of retrieving said mail.
But honestly?  I am only bitter because she drove all of us crazy.  I really do try to accomodate requests whenever possible, and IF I had the power to authorize my own delivery in another territory, I really would have, just to shut this woman up.  It wouldn't be that hard to zip around the corner and put her crap in her stupid box in her freaking driveway.  The problem is that I could get into a LOT of trouble doing that, and even potentially lose my job.  And Ms. X ain't worth that. 

So today, after not listening and going to the trouble to have her husband's Dr. write a lengthy "hardship case" explaining that really and truly Mr. X was not physically able to walk across the road to his mailbox (again, no idea why the Mrs or 2 teenagers can't) both postmasters from both towns took it upon themselves to go out and check out the situation in person.  2 postmasters pointed out in detail that I can't cross the delivery line to deliver to a mailbox in her driveway.  She has 3 options:  Keep her box, and address as is and get the mail herself, move the box and put in a change of address to the new zipcode.....get a post office box and go pick up the mail at the office.  Needless to say, none of those were satisfactory.  Oh well.  Too bad Ms. X.  I don't really feel sorry for you.  I do, however, feel most badly for your husband.  He not only has some undetermined physical disability, but he also has to live with someone as unreasonable as you.  Oh, and while I am on the subject, let me say this....while I fully understand that sometimes physical disabilities aren't immediately visible, and I can't say for certain that this man is not disabled, or sick or suffering....the one thing that I DO know is that several weeks back I had a trunk load of parcels for this family.  And HE came out and helped me unload the car....walked right out and moved heavy-ish boxes from my trunk to his porch and didn't seem on the verge of death from the effort.  Just sayin'......He seemed perfectly nice, too, by the way. 

Anyway, I have my orders....if the box is moved, I am NOT to deliver anything to it.  Mail will be held at the office until a change of address is filed, and then you can be the other town's problem child. The sad thing....I actually liked the people who lived there before.  But they recently moved away and instead I got a headache.  I mean, seriously?  How many times and in how many different ways can it be explained that we do not serve the street of her driveway?  I get annoyed with people who want special treatment, to have the rules bent just for them. I have no idea why anyone would be behave like that.  I still don't know why she wasted so much time and effort instead of just walking to the mailbox herself.  Oh well....now watch, just when she is good and pissed off, I will end up having a bunch of stuff requiring signatures that I will have to go to her door for.  LOL.  It never fails. 

Happy Tuesday everybody! Oh, and Happy Anniversary to Jeanne and Calvin, too. I remember your wedding day well. There was an incident involving Calvin's lack of clothing while we were all trying to get ready for the ceremony that makes it stick in my head. LOL. Honestly I can't remember just how long ago that was. That is probably for the best as I am actively forgetting anything that makes me feel old. Anyway, I ran by the kids new place after work today. It really is just around the corner from my office. All of their stuff fit in the place really well. The unpacking is mostly finished. They have gotten a lot done in just a few short days. Thinking about it makes me tired. They still have minor things, like hanging pictures. And they need to buy a few things too...some bookcases, maybe a cute patio set as they have a nice private patio in the back. The main thing is a new bed, although they are still using the old one until they have time to pick something out. Another happy thing? Erica finally got Internet in her new place yesterday. It really did take that long....25 days. I have totally missed seeing her on Skype. But she gave us a Skype tour of her new flat yesterday afternoon and I enjoyed that a lot. The city wall really is just outside and visible from her living room. So cool. Also cool is the combo washer/dryer unit in the kitchen. I know she is happy for that. Dryers aren't all that common in Europe, but with the dampness of the UK air drying stuff is not ideal. Not much else going on. Today was so nice, 78 degrees and sunny. But we are gearing up for some serious scorching heat by the end of the week. Ugh! Not looking forward to that at all......

Between the kids moving, and Bruce taking care of a ton of yardwork, the weekend just got away from us with nary a drop of fun to be had.  I cleaned, did laundry and ran errands.....all stuff that really HAD to be done, but still.  Maybe next weekend will be a little more of a fun break from the monotony of work. 

The kids are completely in now.  There were still a couple of loads that they moved this afternoon.  So while everything might be in the townhouse, I am sure they have days of sorting, organizing and putting away.  Makes me tired just thinking about it.  And what would we do moving this whole house?  The thought of it just make me shudder.  We have way too much stuff.  Honestly, I feel like it would take an act of God to get it all packed and moved.  Not that we are moving anywhere anytime soon.  I dream of living someplace with cooler summers, but until we retire its not going to happen. 

Anyway, everything here is fine.  Just unhappy the weekend was over so quickly.  Where does it go?
Friday afternoon is here and I blink and suddenly its Monday all over again. 

The kids are mostly moved into the new townhouse. The storage unit is empty, all their furniture is in. There are a few odds and ends left here, but it will all get sorted and moved in the next few days. The weird thing is...although the new place is just on the other side of town I'm feeling a wee bit sad. Not devastatingly weepy and depressed like I was when they moved to Indiana, or when Erica moved to UK...but still...I don't do partings well apparently. Anyway, its been a long hot day and everybody is pretty exhausted. I didn't do any of the actual moving but somehow I am sympathetically tired too. It's just so freaking hot outside. It zaps my will to live. Well, ok, not really but it does make things so much more tiring. I have errands to run but it's going to have to wait until tomorrow. I have library books on CD that are due by Tuesday. And to my great annoyance, we are completely out of paper towels. Hope you are all having a good weekend.

June 20th.  First day of my LEAST favorite season.  Seriously, can we just skip this part and pick up in September with cool crisp air, and the hint of sweaters and boots on the horizon?  Oh, who am I kidding, it wasn't cold enough for either sweaters OR boots for more than a handful of days over our entire winter this past year.  September temps hang in the mid-80's.  In fact, we spent a week at the Outer Banks late last October and it was still comfortable to swim.....Apparently, I live in New England in my mind.  LOL. 

On the other hand, even in the death heat, I begrudgingly admit there are a few things to not loathe.  Things like watermelon, and cherries.  And I do like longer days (wish we could just keep daylight savings time ALL year long).  Still, those few things aren't worth the heat and the bugs and snakes and mosquitos.  Yeah, lets just skip over it.  It is SO NOT worth the hassle.

We are barreling towards what is also my least favorite holiday:  July 4th.  Its in the middle of the week this year, and I am probably not going to be taking any time off from work.  No point really.  My husband and I no longer have any desire to travel during that month, particularly that specific week. Traffic, crowds, heat....no thanks.   Its one of the perks of having grown kids and no longer being tied to school schedules.  Spring and autumn vacations are much more comfortable and laid back.  We always have this 4th of July celebration downtown on the Town Commons....we sometimes go to the fireworks at the end, after dark.  There is all this stuff going on, live entertainment, food etc....but it is always just so boiling hot that it is impossible to enjoy the daytime festivities. 

We are breaking our 'no travel in the summer' rule for our anniversary this year though.  We had to.  It will be our 30th Anniversary, and that is an accomplishment we want to celebrate.  Bruce booked a fabulous place on the Canadian side of Niagra falls.  We have always wanted to see the falls, but just never got around to it.  My parents had their honeymoon there so it has a certain significance to me because of that.  I am pretty excited about it.  Our suite is on the upper floors of the Hilton with spectacular fall views.  Its something to look forward to to hopefully get us through the sweat and drudgery of the next month.....

This is where we will be:

I am convinced that this blog isn't being read by anybody besides myself, and maybe my husband on occasion when he wants to see if I have been talking about him again....LOL. My comments are pretty much nonexistent and I have given it all a lot of thought.  I have moments of deciding to just let it go.  I pretty much keep up with everybody through Facebook anyway.  And status updates mean that I can give out the pertainent details, right?  I tend to share pictures mostly through Facebook already.  But the fact is that I enjoy this place, this blog.  It won't change the world, or cure cancer or anything.  But what it is, basically, is a journal of my day to day existence, and the lives of my family.  And so it finally dawned on me in a light bulb moment that the fact is that I really don't care if this is a widely read blog.  I don't advertise, or give out the website because I don't want to.  I want to feel safe here, and that its all fine and dandy the way that it is.  Problem solved. 

Another light bulb moment recently?  I wrote over the weekend about an upsetting incident on Facebook where a person posted some offensive racist picture, and I voiced my opinion about how hateful it was.  And there was a big fiasco of conversatives against liberals and how this idea is wrong, or these people shouldn't be in our country and so forth and so on.  It was ugly and it really upset me.  I unfriended the offender, easy enough...never gave another thought about deleting that kind of garbage from my newsfeed.  But still I seethed.  I was angry about injustice and racism.  And the more that I thought about it, the angrier I got.  Until finally.....light bulb!  I was fully invested in HATING this person, and all the people who agreed with her.  Hating them all for their beliefs, and ideas.  And that?  That brought me right down to the level that was making me sick to begin with. 
I realized just how thin the line is between standing up for what you believe in and crossing over into hatred and persecution because somebody doesn't agree with me.  Anyway, I do believe that hatred will get us nowhere fast.  And while I haven't exactly figured out how to agree to disagree with something I find morally repugnant, still....I have got to figure out how to separate the hateful actions from the actual person.  I'm working on it, but its proving to be harder than it sounds. 

But still, the state of things in this country makes me sad.  We are so far apart...the different political parties.  So far that it feels like there could never be a solution.  And if I allow that thought to stick around for very long I begin to feel so sad and depressed for the way things are.  I have begun to consider taking a break from all of it.  The news, and anything politically related.  I am not sure how helpful that would be, but then again, how much help am I to anybody if I can't get my own thoughts in order? 

The kids signed a lease on a townhouse today.  Its near to the hospital.  That area is growing by leaps and bounds.  In fact, they could walk to the new Indian restaurant that we love.  Its really a good fit for them.  The townhouse has 2 bedrooms, and while its small, it makes a good use of the space, has lots of closets, a fireplace, washer and dryer already hooked up AND a cute little patio.  That area seems to draw young professionals, people who work at the hospital....meaning its NOT full of undergrad college kids, always a problem in this town.  I think they will be happy there.  They are getting the power, water and internet set up this week.  Internet is especially important since they are both working from home, so....yeah.  They have the keys and can move in whenever the utilities are up and running. 

Anyway, they are upgrading to a queen-sized bed this time.  They have been using a double bed since they got married and honestly?  I can't even imagine.  I know we did it.  But when we got a king sized bed it was heaven.  But a new bed means they will need new bedding.  I am trying to convince Hannia she could sleep soundly in this set:

I mean seriously.....zombie apocalypse is the latest thing in the design world.  LOL! 

So, on my Facebook news feed today a picture showed up posted by a woman who runs a local business here in Greenville.  This person is conservative, and this I know for a fact by the continuous stream of liberal-bashing diatribe.  But whatever.  She is not liberal and I am.  So what?  I have non-liberal friends, and they are decent, kind human beings who happen to have a different political view.  But this....this was not just a political view.  This was inflammatory and ugly.  It was racist and ignorant.  It made me feel sick inside and dirty for having seen it. 

My question is this:  Would you want to know this about a place of business before you spend your money there?  Would it matter to you that your dollars are being given to somebody who harbors abject hatred towards specific groups of people?  Or would you just consider money for goods or services rendered a fair trade no matter what lies behind the business transaction? 

I have to think about this for a while.  I KNOW that I would NOT want to do business with people who have racist ideas, and who propagate hatred towards others.  That is not what I need to think about.  But I feel like people NEED to know.  I mean, she posted it on Facebook for God and everybody to see it, so apparently I wouldn't be revealing a deep dark secret.  But I need to figure out the best way....a way to inform people that won't bring out the crazies in droves to tell me why racism is perfectly justifiable. 

The doctor called about the ultrasound today. It's good news, there wasn't anything glaringly wrong. I have 3 months of not taking any medication ( not even ibuprofen), no alcohol, and only healthy foods. They will run another blood panel and hopefully everything will be back to normal. If not then I am facing a liver biopsy, but I prefer to think that things should be fine by then. At least I heard back.

Nothing much is going on around here. I haven't heard back from the ultrasound, which I am taking to be good news. If something scary turned up, they would get back to me in a hurry, right? Seriously....right? But anyway, it's just business as usual here. We are having lots of rain, which is getting a bit tiresome. But it's probably better than drought and water restrictions, so we deal. The kids are out searching for apartments. There seems to be lots to choose from, so it is all a matter of narrowing it down to what they want. It's good that they have the time to make a careful assessment. I wish I had exciting things going on, but then again, it feels good to have things relatively quiet at the moment. I am thinking about how nice a nap might be on this rainy afternoon.

I had the ultra sound done this morning. Of course, I won't know anything for a while. The tech said it could be a week....so? That part is frustrating, but nothing I can do but wait. The scan itself was uncomfortable. Not painful, but certainly not like the gentle sonograms of pregnancy, either. This woman pushed the wand down so hard and for so long on my upper right stomach and side that I feel bruised. She did that for at least 30 minutes straight while I was asked to contort into awkward positions. I am glad it's over. I just pictured a quick running of the wand over my stomach for a few minutes and be done. Oh well, hopefully the pictures turn out, and more importantly, show nothing scary. I really wouldn't want to do that again any time soon. Also? And this made me laugh, not only could I not eat or drink anything after midnight, I was supposed to NOT talk until scan time this morning. LOL. Apparently talking can cause air in the digestive track??? Who knew. It wasn't hard not to talk with Bruce having left for work and the kids working on computers. But it was totally weird for our cats. It made me realize how much I talk to them, and how they noticed something was odd. I fed them breakfast in silence and it was unexpected. LOL! Poor babies, I will have to make up for that now. They are used to a running commentary while being served breakfast along with constant affirmations of how pretty and precious they are. Anyway, nothing else to report. I'm trying to clean up my act to be healthier. This means NO alcohol at ALL or any kind of medications (other than thyroid and blood pressure). Not Tylenol, or allergy meeds or anything else prescription or OTC. If something hurts, then it's just going to have to damn well hurt, doctor's orders. I'm also trying to eat healthier and add in some exercise. It kind of sucked when I overdid the elliptical the other day, and had a throbbing knee that felt like it was on fire. Ibuprofen was sorely missed that night. But it went away in 24 hours and I didn't break down and take anything. I hope everyone has a nice week, or what's left of it.

Well, I might officially be an addict. My new phone is life altering. I made the (extremely HARD) decison to go with the Android platform over the iPhone. I LOVE my iPad. Like totally smitten. So it was something I thought long and hard about. I researched a lot. And I ended up with the Motorola Electrify for a couple of reasons. The first being Apple's insistence on making their batteries unremovable. Smartphones EAT batteries and I want to keep a charged spare, just in case. Also, we have no Apple store nearby. And secondly, I love Androids' customizable features. So....? I am not disappointed. My first forays into the Smartphone arena was an HTC. It was the touch pro 2 and I ended up despising it with a passion. When the hateful thing died (stuck in calling my husband's number repeatedly unless I took out the battery) I went back to a more basic talk and text LG. It had limited Internet meaning I could do anything as long as I didn't go over 50 mbs a month. Honestly, it was so tricky to navigate that I never even came close. Email was easy enough to check, but anything else was click-intensive. Still it sufficed, although I had phone envy a lot of the time. Phone envy with a heaping helping of bad memories of that HTC. The thing that pushed me over the edge towards trying again? Needing a phone that will also work in Europe for when we visit Erica. I borrowed Stephen's phone for this last trip, and we really did need it. The apartment we rented did not have a landline. We texted Erica a lot to coordinate where to meet or have lunch...etc. Plus, when Bruce got sick and I thought I might need a cab to the ER...well, not having a phone puts you at risk. But my 'Droid? Oh my...the apps available. I can use it as a GPS in my car. I can read a book on ANY e-reader platform (I prefer Kindle but there is a Nook app). I can make grocery lists, and to do lists...and all of it can be done by voice command. I just tell it and it will write my lists, emails, texts all with amazing accuracy. Well, my phone apparently can't spell Cilantro and insists on typing out Salantro. But still, I am in awe. I am also pleased with the battery life so far. With a battery-maximizing app, I seem to be able to get 1 and a half days. And that's using the phone a LOT as I am still setting it up and figuring it all out. I ordered a spare though, just in case. Anyway, I am very pleased so far. The sound quality is wonderful, call reception has been flawless. If I have any complaint at all, it might be that it doesn't pick up wifi as well as my iPad or laptop. It will switch back and forth from wifi to data usage in a couple of spots here in our house. A signal booster would help, but I just make sure I have a strong wifi connection before downloading any data hogging apps. I am happy with it. It's a good choice for me. Now, if only I can get my husband to come out of his "phones are for talking only" clinging to the dark ages.....then I could send him to do lists and updated grocery and shopping lists so easily. That might be one reason he is avoiding upgrading...LOL. Resistance is futile!!!