do the right things

Things are finally going right this week.

- I bought a new Tivo Premiere machine and needed a cablecard to make it work with Comcast. They said I couldn't just pick it up from the Comcast service center, and that I needed to have someone come out to install it. Of course, the installation would cost me $30. Ok whatev. The scheduled appointment was last Sunday. Well, after the technician left, certain channels went missing. I called and scheduled a follow-up appointment for Monday. Monday the guy showed up and spent an hour and a half fixing the connectors to all my coaxial cable lines even though I said I think I just have a bad cablecard and need it replaced. He kept saying you never know what it really is. Well after all that fuzzing the channels were still missing. He spent another twenty minutes on the phone with Comcast command center somewhere, and the person at the other end kept questioning whether I am even supposed to have those channels. I was like, come on, I get those channels on all my other tv's. Finally he relented and said he will switch out my card. He went to his truck and brought up a new card, only to realize he has only a single-tuner card, instead of the multi-stream card that I need (and specifically requested when I made the appointment). He said I would need to make another appointment for Tues. Tues came, and nobody showed up during the scheduled time. I called fifteen minutes later and was told something happened to the technician and he cannot come any longer. I went into a little tirade (as much of a tirade as I can muster anyway - I am not a yelling sort of guy). They scheduled an appointment then for Wed, between 6-8pm. I got home at 5:55pm Wed, and a Comcast truck was already at the door. Two guys showed up. The older guy said, "You are lucky. We are about to leave." I thought to myself, "Oh shit - here we go again." But as it turned out, the older guy was some cablecard Yoda. As soon as he pulled out my card, he knew they had given me the wrong card. He said for Tivo Premieres, you need a gold-tipped cablecard. The card that I had gotten would only work one out of twenty times. So as soon as he put in the new, gold-tipped card, the clouds parted and the angels sang. I got all my channels. I shook the guy's hand as if he had just given me an iPad and a trip to Australia.

- I had opened up a Bank Of The West checking account just to get a free iPod Touch. Not sure why I want an iPod Touch since I already got a few iPods and an iPhone. I'll likely sell it on eBay. Anyways, coworkers of mine checked their accounts a few weeks back and saw that their iPods were being shipped out. I saw nothing in my account, so I called last week. I was told I did not qualify. I went through the qualifying criteria, including setting up direct deposits of at least $500 a month by 10/31, and told the lady on the phone I met every single requirement. She said I have to go down to a branch to show proof that I set up the direct deposit. I said, "Why do I need to go down to a branch, when you can see clearly from the online activities that I had direct deposits of $500 going into the account?" She had me on hold and then came back and said, "You had to have the direct deposits in effect by 10/31, and your direct deposits did not begin until September." I went, "Uh...okay...September is before October, so what's your point?" She thought for a moment and then said, "Okay, I'll write up a dispute for you." Well, after waiting about a week, I got an email that I did qualify and that my iPod is on its way. Woohoo.

- My kitchen light has been dead for almost a month now. I bought a new one in the same model for over $100, but I ultimately decided to just keep the original light but buy a replacement ballast. I looked online and found a place in Florida that sold the ballast for less than $20 with shipping. It came this week, and I got help putting the light back up with the new ballast. It didn't go without a hitch though. When I first turned on the light, one of the two bulbs didn't work. I was like, crap - what now? But it turned out that the bulb was cracked. So as soon as I made my way to Home Depot and rebought the bulb, everything works. For the first time in a month, I have a working kitchen ceiling light.

- I also replaced my dying microwave, with a Sharp from Costco. I got it on sale for $80. It's stainless steel just like my old one. By old, I mean it's only less than two years old. Hope the Sharp lives longer than the Panasonic.

- The Patriots beat the Jets in the AFC showdown of the season. 45-3!!! 'Nuff said. I don't even care now if Tom Brady cuts his hair or not.

- For months now, I've been carrying around my iPhone with unsightly bubbles in my screen protector. It was a crying shame. Lisa found some new screen protectors that didn't bubble on her, so she kindly gave me a set and even helped me put them on. She did such a good job that you can't even tell there are protectors on the front or the back. She is awesome. And now finally my iPhone is the beauty she deserved to be. Actually, to be honest, I don't really think of my iPhone as a girl. So I should say, my iPhone is as handsome as he was meant to be. (Hmm...do you guys think of your phone as a boy or girl? I should ask the French, since they always have to decide whether an object is male or female - le or la.)