My silence has been broken today by the of the biggest evils of modern age, the cable company. Specifically, the evil empire known as Comcast.

Here’s my story…

I’m a Comcast customer in Fort Lauderdale (Broward County) Florida. I haven’t seen any comments about this office in the thread, but here’s my story…

I bought my TiVoHD just after New Year’s and called Comcast for installation of CCs after reading a lot of the horror stories in this thread.

When I set up the appointment, I was very explicit and asked for 1 MS or 2 SS cards and to have the tech bring extras just in case. The tech arrived today at 3pm for my 2-5pm appointment. He even called about 20 min before to confirm directions to my house. When he arrived, I asked if he had done these before–he said yes! My heart skipped a beat!

In his hand I saw one CC. I asked if it was a MS and he said no. His work order told him to install one CC. We plugged it in and TiVo recognized the SS card. The next words out of his mouth were “Do you already have one card”? Of course I said no and that I had asked for 1 MS or 2 SS cards. He then told me that he knew that TiVo required two cards from other installs he had done. I asked him why he didn’t bring two? His response was the work order only said install one. (I can’t blame him too much for following his work order, but come on folks, how about some common sense!!) I began to pound my fist into my head at that point. I kept my cool cause i knew arguing with him would only make me madder and would serve no other purpose.

So, he left and I called my local office to schedule another appointment. The nice lady on the phone then asked if I wanted to come and pick up the cards myself. D’oh! I told here I’d love to, but to please verify if I could do that. She came back and said “no, you’re right, the tech has to do it”. The next appointment was two weeks off, but she said she’d send an email and see if the supervisor could get something earlier. Once she got a response, she said she call me back.

So now I sit and wait broken hearted for a call I feel will never come. Please, dear gods of Comcast, let me not wait in vein.

Originally uploaded by ekrubmj

Over Labor Day weekend we went to Disney again. Is was kind of crowded on Sunday, but Epcot was somewhat deserted on Monday. We did have an wonderful dinner at Jiku inside the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It has a South African-themed menu with an extensive list of South African wines, too. I took this picture at the opening of Epcot right after Minnie gave me a kiss!

A few weeks back I slipped getting into the shower and fell on my ass. My forearms took the brunt of the fall although my lower back landed on the hump at the bottom of the shower door. Only my arms hurt from the original fall. About a week later while at work, I was moving some cases of wine when I turned and felt a bolt of pain. I tried some Aleve for a few days, but then at Todd’s urging, I went to see a chiropractor. I’ve been seeing Dr. Bruce a few times a week for a couple weeks now and I must say that I feel a lot better. I am now a firm believer in the power of chiropractors. I still can’t get used to the crrraaaacccckkk of my back and other assorted body parts each time I visit. The sound drives me crazy. But I an glad that after a few weeks I feel great again without having had to pump drugs into my body.

Steps I’ve taken to help reduce my carbon footprint:

• 95% of the bulbs in my home are CFLs
• I have been usin CFLs for years
• I bought a Honda Civic Hybrid this year
• My home HVAC has a programmable thermostat
• I recycle most of the glass, aluminum, plastic, cardboard and paper I use
• My computer monitor is a low-power LCD
• I use the power-saving options on my computer and turn it off when I’m not using it

Frosted KustyO’s

Originally uploaded by ekrubmj
In honor of The Simpsons Movie, 7-Eleven is selling a number of Simpsons themed products like these KrustyO’s. As soon as I saw all this stuff I had to run out to the 7-11 around the corner and buy it all. I’m such a geek sometimes.