My Thoughts

A summary of my daily thoughts.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

More Positive than Negative?

I am really frustrated. I haven't unpacked my kitchen boxes nor any of
my clothes. I only have the clothes I brought in my small bag from
Beaumont. I did my first load of washing in the new machine last
night. I have clean clothes, but I have no hangers to put them on. I
laid them out on the bench at the foot of my bed.

Yesterday morning the technicians from AT&T and Dish Network showed up
very early. The AT&T man said his work would take almost all day. They
brought in a crew that dug up my new grass and laid fiber cable. I
unboxed the new phones and plugged them in. I read enough of the
manuals to set the time and date and register the satellite handsets.
The handset that did not have all the packing already had the battery
installed. I hate something that is supposed to be brand new and find
it has been used. So far it seems to work just like the others.

The Dish man wanted to put the dish on the side of the house close to
the electric meter so it would be a short run of cable and close to
where he could do the electrical grounding. I told him the homes
owners association rules said the dish had to be on the back of the
house. I looked at how other dishes were being installed and saw that
the rest were being put on the side. I told him to go ahead and put it
on the side. I then talked to Meagan about when they were going to
raise the kitchen cabinet so I could get the refrigerator under it. I
mentioned the dish installation. She told me it was absolutely
mandatory that I get approval from the HOA before installing the dish.
She was really in a snit. Later in the day emails arrived from the
staff about approval for the dishes. The website headline is telling
everybody in very strong terms that they must get approval. I try to
follow rules and now I am in trouble. I thought I would stop by the
sales center this morning and fill out the form, but a couple of the
neighbors are telling me to ignore them.

The Dish man finished around one PM. The phone wasn't working when he
finished. Now I have a $5.95 a month additional charge because they
couldn't verify the phone line. I have to call and let them test the
phone line today and hope they remove the monthly charge.

The AT&T technician must have developed a headache. His pleasant
attitude changed when he got to the DSL installation. He fought it for
a long time and spent a lot of time talking to tech support. The house
has a dedicated fiber line for the DSL. There is no DSL modem just a
router. The router has WiFi built in. He did nothing to setup WiFi on
my pc. I insisted that I try to connect to the WiFi network before he
left. It needed a WEP key. I insisted that he give it to me. I entered
the key and my pc connected immediately. I then asked him about the
server names for setting up my email. He told me wrong. I know more
about WiFi and mail setup than he did. The mail did not work. He left.
I then went in the room where the router is. I had a fit. He left
wires strung across my room instead of asking me where I wanted the
thing plugged in. I unplugged it, got a power strip and prayed that it
would still work. My pc would not connect. I called AT&T tech support.
I got a wonderful woman on the phone. While she was answering my pc
connected. I went ahead and asked her about the email setup and she
straightened it out. She said I could not use the dLink router with
the printer server. I discussed the possibility of buying a print
server made by Linksys that does not have a router. She said that
would work.

The Dish guy left my bookcase pulled out from the wall. They are too
heavy for me to move. I am so frustrated.

The lawn service came by and left an estimate hanging on my door. I
told them to go ahead and start. They are supposed to mow my yard
today.

I called the clock man and told him the clock was still in the crate.
I described the crate, and he said he would be able to handle it. He
was an older man. The uncrating was difficult for him, but he got the
job done. He set the clock up, undid what the Beaumont man had done to
immobilize the movement and then he oiled the clock. All of that cost
$20 less than I was charged in Beaumont.

I called up Wald Mayflower and vented. I told them to send me a claim form.

I unpacked the living room table lamps. I found only one light bulb. I
hate this chaos.

The technician from the alarm company came out around 4 PM. He worked
and worked to try and make the equipment that was installed in my
house to work with their system. He could not do it. Finally he
installed a new panel and a new keypad. That cost me $58, but I will
make up the cost in short order with their lower monthly fee for
monitoring. I talked to my new friend, Shelia, from the street a block
away. She signed a three year contract and is paying almost double the
monthly fee for monitoring. She has been here about two weeks. She
told me people on their streets had water back up in their toilets and
kitchen sinks the first time they used the washing machines. My first
load of laundry was in the new machine at that time. I ran around and
looked. Everything appears to be normal. The dryer does seem to have a
vibration. I think I should call Sears and have them send a serviceman
out. to check it.

This morning I am going to see the doctor. I hope I have a long wait
in his office. It will be good for me to just sit. I have to go my the
Frisco City Hall and drop off my alarm permit application and pay the
fee. I am debating whether to go by the Frisco Lakes sales office and
fill out the form for the dish after the fact. I think it is best to
do it. I have to call my insurance company to finalize getting the
homeowners policy changed to a fire policy on the Beaumont house.
Before they could issue the new policy I have to sign a form
acknowledging the fast they do not provide windstorm coverage and fax
it back to them. I hope my scanner still works. I am about to run out
of paper for the laser printer and have no idea what box my paper is
in. I want to scream.

This afternoon cabinet people are supposed to come in to raise the
cabinet so I can then roll the refrigerator under it. The hot water is
not hot. I told Megan about it. It is a bad procedure to adjust the
water heater. I am no longer calling Meagan the little angel. Shelia
told me about a handyman she has hired. I may contact him about
painting my patio furniture.

The man from the exterminating company came by. I set up an
appointment for them to come out and pump the chemicals into the tubes
in the wall next Monday. I was at the point I need a few days break
from all of this. I need to work uninterrupted on unpacking boxes.

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