Why feeling better is not always better, Wordless Wednesday

Dear Mr. Comcast

On , Feb 21, I wrote this post about our cable company merge with Comcast, which is supposed to be 'Comcastic' for us. Well, apparently when you vent about Comcast and other service giants on your blog, you sometimes get comments from the actual corporation like the one I got that day from Comcastcares. Thanks for you kind words, Mr. Comcastcares. Your response to my blog when I am not actually trying to reach your company is impressive. Maybe you could trickle down your human resource clout to the people who answer your phones.



When we signed up with Insight in July, I bundled our new package to include phone, Internet and HD TV with DVR service. I got an introductory rate for a year and was told after the year, each service would increase by $5 ot $15/month. I figured by the time the year rolled around, it would be more like $6-7 with the rate at which service providers increase their rates for a total increase of more like $18-20/month.



We got our first bill from Comcast the other day that was surprisingly $10 lower than our regular Insight monthly bill, but had some alarming adjustments on it. Numbers like this: (28.75) for cable service (4.95) for Internet and (10.00) for unlimited long distance and (10.00) for phone service. I didn't think anything of it. Well, I did, but thought not to worry, they are just trying to make it look like they adjust prices for bundles that make it worth your while. Then I got a notice in the mail today stating that in order to give us the incredible service only Comcast can give, they have to raise rates. The numbers on the paper coincide with the adjustments on our last bill. I am under a contract agreement until June, so I should not be affected by this rate hike effective in April, but I wanted to understand what this may mean to us after our contract. Do we get a discount for our bundled services? When will this rate hike affect us exactly? Are we going to get like 500 new channels and some shares of stock to make this rate hike worth our while? etc?



After 30 minutes and 18 seconds of being on hold and never actually talking to a live person, which is an eternity when you are feeling like dung and want to be curled up in bed but can't because you are responsible for two other human being who can't pour their own milk without spilling, I hung up the phone and now I have some advice for Mr. Comcastcares.

• On days when you send out a notice about rate hikes taking effect in 4 weeks, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH COMMON SENSE TO STAFF YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES TO COVER THE LARGE INFLUX OF CALLS YOU WILL UNDOUBTEDLY RECEIVE ON SUCH A DAY!!! Freaking technology geniuses that you are!

• Secondly, since you specialize in the phone, TV and Internet industries, do you think it possible someone in your brain tank of human resources could figure out a way to convert old email addresses with a different ending than comcast dot com so the little people of the world (like me) don't have to change our email addresses? FREAKING TECHNOLOGY GENIUSES THAT YOU ARE!

• If you are going to attempt to make my half hour of phone wait time tolerable by playing smooth jazz and new age zen music, please not not interrupt it EVERY 27.8 seconds to REMIND ME THAT ALL OF YOUR AGENTS ARE STILL BUSY WITH OTHER CUSTOMERS BUT MY PHONE CALL IS IMPORTANT TO YOU AND WILL BE ANSWERED IN THE ORDER IT WAS RECEIVED!!!!!!!!!!

• Please tell me that I am unjustified in this worry and trouble and that my bill is NOT going to increase by $53.70 up to nearly $200/month for Internet, phone, and cable service with no premium channels and only 10 HD channels, and I will write a full retraction. Pretty Please. I don't want to switch to satellite, but I will.

• Lastly, at the very least, please answer your PHONES.

To the person behind me in the cue. You're welcome.



KEEP BELIEVING

Less discussed symptoms

As part of the flu/bug/sickness the boys and I have been fighting, I have noticed a symptom that none of the websites/blogs I frequent mention. We must have an unusual strand of this flu. Along with fever, stuffy and runny nose, aches, chills and earaches, Grant and I have experienced a similar strange symptom.

This morning, in my church Mom's group, I was overcome with an inexplicable urge to cry and shake. So, I did what any mature mother who is trying to keep together a house falling apart with 7 days of laundry piling up, while tending to sick feverish, fussy children and recouping from her own bout of the sleep-depriving illness would do - I broke down and cried for 10 minutes. Thanks to my amazing supportive group. Did I mention I am hormonal on top of all this?

Grant, while impatiently lounging in his back seat booster at the drive-thru pharmacy (CAN I GET AN AMEN FOR THE INVENTION OF THE DRIVE-THRU PHARMACY!!!) today, started to uncontrollably sob.
"Buddy, does your ear hurt that badly?"
"No."
"Then what's the matter?"
"It's just that I'm worried they are trying to kill me."
"Who?"
"Those people in there."
"Oh, Bud, why would you think that?"
"Because this is taking so long. They must want to kill me."


No one told me to expect illogical melt-downs as a symptom of this illness. Hopefully, this melt-down stage means we are on the mend.

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Boy Meets Girl, Miracle Monday 1

Considering the vast number of unique individuals alive on this planet at any given moment, anytime two of those individuals meet, fall in love and decide to spend their entire mortal lives together, it is nothing short of miraculous. My first Miracle Monday post is about how Brian and I, out of billions options, came to meet.

In March of 1972, a little girl named Angie was born in Texas to two people originally from Missouri with a nearly 3-year-old son. Within three months, her family moved to Indiana JUST outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Two years later, they moved again to Muscatine, Iowa.

Here, the two originally from Missouri had their third and final child – another girl. Five years after moving to Muscatine, Iowa, the family of 5 moved to St. Louis, Missouri where they would hang their hats until their youngest graduated from college. College. College is very relevant in this miracle love story. Angie rarely considered any other college than the one her dad and her brother attended. A small engineering school in the middle of Missouri called the University of Missouri – Rolla (UMR). It would be here that she would meet her soul mate – the man God had created and intended for her.

In November of 1972, a baby boy named Brian was born in HONG KONG to two people originally from Illinois with a 5 year old son. The circumstances behind Brian’s birth were very joyous, for just a short time before his conception, Brian’s parents had lost a baby due to a condition not yet discovered, yet treatable, in Brian’s mom with respect to child-bearing. The birth of another son without complications was a miracle for Brian’s family as is any birth to any family. For the first 5 years of Brian’s life, his family lived in various parts of the Far East – Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong until they were transferred to Illinois.

In Illinois, the family welcomed their third and final child – another son. When it was time for Brian to decide upon college, he had difficult choices. He was an excellent hockey player and had some offers to play hockey with some tuition subsidy at various universities. However, his parents knew Brian had a knack for math and encouraged an engineering program. The decision for the University of Missouri – Rolla would prove to be difficult for Brian as it is a very small town with no ice rink for miles. In the end, education over recreation was prioritized and Brian would attend UMR. It would be here that he would meet his soul mate – the girl God had created and intended for him.

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These circumstances are miraculous as they are for any individuals coming together because the most extreme or the slightest circumstance change would have prevented us from meeting. For instance, if Brian’s mom and dad hadn’t lost the baby, they would have had a son a couple years older than Brian and Brian would not be. Brian and I would not be. Our family would not be. God had a plan. If Brian had chosen to play hockey in college as he sometimes regrets, Brian and I would not have met and once again, Brian and I would not be. If. If. If. There are so many ifs in one’s life that can change its entire course, the fact that we take the path we do can be described as nothing short of miraculous – a divine hand guiding us, leading us, shaping us, molding us along the way. There are MANY Ifs I wish I could change in my life. Many paths I chose to follow I wish I hadn’t. Many decisions I would change. That doesn’t discount the divine hand of God in my life. That shows He is willing to let me have free will, make mistakes, find my way to Him and rely on His grace to lead me, especially in that time of meeting my spouse – a time that neither of us knew the Lord much at all. My Miracle Monday this Monday is the fact that we two lost souls born on opposite sides of the planet could find each other out of all the billions of people in this world on this small campus in this small town in the middle of Missouri.

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To check out other Miracle Monday posts, visit Beth at A Mom's Life.

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Sick and Tired

Snotty-nosed,
Irritable,
Cranky
Kids.

Adults
Now
Diseased,

Too.
Ibuprofren.
Rest.
Empty tissue boxes.
Decongestants.

KEEP BELIEVING

Leap of Faith Friday, February 29, 2008

Jim at Busy Dad Blog and Christine at Chicken Fried Therapy and Piper at Bliss in Bloom birthed a concept for Friday posts in February – Leap of Faith Friday . The idea is to do something in your life that you would not ordinarily do, something that is out of your comfort zone and then post about it on Fridays. This Leap of Faith Friday, I am not cheating with a silly photo of myself or a cute story about the kids getting scared easily. I am leaping with this one. Leaping for me anyway.

For my first leap, I am going to change my blogging M.O. a bit. I am excited about this because I think it will be freeing for me. I am finding that I am somewhat obsessing with this blog – trying to get in a post every day, stressing to some extent over how to be creative with an idea without appearing to be knocking off others’ hard work, ensuring that I comment on other’s so they know I read their hard work, etc. I comment because as a blogger I know that comments are like narcotics. I can’t get enough of them. I love to see who read and who thought to say a word or two. I LOVE IT! (So comment if you have been lurking without revealing yourself) However, I find myself stopping at the computer (no laptop here) every time I walk by and even when I am NOT walking by to check for comments. It is taking large amounts of time away from my family. AND if history serves, global warming activists are correct and God willing, the weather IS GOING TO WARM UP HERE IN THE NEXT MONTH, and I want to be outside weeding tending to the planted beds around the house, playing with my kids, taking the kids to the park, bike riding, walking, watering, reading, whatever, OUTSIDE. I want to be able to enjoy the outdoors without feeling like I HAVE to be blogging because of some expectation I feel from the world, but I have actually put upon myself. I mean really, if I decide to blog 3-5 times a week instead of 5-7 times a week, who cares? It’s not as though I make a living off the blog or ever could. It is a hobby. Its time prioritization in my life needs to be treated as the hobby it is. So, I am going to skip a day here and there and I am going to try not to turn the computer on at least one day a week. This is big for me folks. Grant thinks when he grows up and gets to be a mom (don't ask) he will do mom things like spend lots of time on the computer, if that gives you any indication of where my time is spent.

Secondly, I am going to be taking part in Beth’s new idea of Miracle Mondays at A Mom’s Life. I am going to use this forum to start to recapture some of the events Brian and I have been through - the hardships, the trials, the tribulations, the uncertainties, the pain and the suffering and how God has brought us out of every one of those times and blessed us with the richest form of blessings. From how we met and started dating, to how we lasted, and how we got engaged and married in a long distance relationship; how we handled his diagnosis, his treatments, surgeries, hospital stays; how we grew in our faith; how we handled our infertility, our adoptions, our moves; how we handled his recurrence, his deficits, our new life. I have really wanted to do this for a while and I hope to get Brian’s input as we get going. I am very excited about trying to recapture what I believe to be our most blessed life enriched by God’s molding us through our heartaches, hardships, and His provision. I hope you stay tuned on Mondays for our recaps. It is a wild ride. Other than Mondays I will continue to write about Brian’s progress and anything else that floats my boat a few other days a week.


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Things I've learned today

In addition to the multitude of statistics I spewed earlier, here is some more trivia.

1)Refrigerators can fart. Seriously. Every time I open the fridge today, I smell a flatulent-like odor, but I cannot find the culprit. I have searched the whole thing. If the door is open long enough the smell goes away. When it is open again an hour later, it comes back. While Brian insists that flatulence is funny, it is NOT when it comes from the item housing your food. I think I am going to put some Bean-O in its filter. Gavin insists it is probably raw meat or raw cheese. I didn't know there was a different kind of cheese. He is so smart!

2) When you hear coughing noises coming from the other room with a sick child, GO RUNNING! You just may be surprised the to find the sick child crying and exclaiming, "My brother threw up!" This would be accurate and you would find yourself in the middle of TWO sick children and a floor full of vomit and oddly enough consoling the one who DIDN'T VOMIT while wanting to ring the one who DID VOMIT's neck for not attempting to reach a toilet. Deep breath. Patience. Deep breath. Patience.

3) Milk makes amazing transformations and solidifies in the stomach.

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Do you like statistics?

If you are a statistics and numbers person like me, here are a few from the last two days here in our house:

104.3 = top thermometer reading of Grant’s temperature for the last two days.
4:30 = what time the thermometer reading occurred for the last two nights (a.m.)
6.2 = hours I have slept total in last 2 nights.
4= times I tried to sneak back into my own bed so I didn’t have to listen to stuffed-up, thumb-sucking Grant make both Homer and Maggie Simpson noises while I TRIED to drift into slumberland.
4 = times Grant came to my bed and asked me to come lay with him.
3= times in past two days Star Wars Episode III has aired in our basement for Grant.
1-2 = inches of FRESH STINKING SNOW ON THE GROUND THIS MORNING!!! Oh Spring, will you never reveal your face again? Why do you spite me so?
1 = cups of coffee spilt on new carpet by ME this morning. Can’t even blame a child and believe me, my crabby mommy powers are in FULL SWING ready to POUNCE!
0 = cups of coffee left in pot after Brian filled his to-go mug and left.
4 = people in this house
3 = people in this house affected by this high temp, sinus virus/flu epidemic thus far.
10 = fingers of remaining unaffected person (me) crossed praying I do not get this bug.
-1 = days remaining until last gallon of milk expires
7 = cups of milk my family goes through each day
1 = babysitters and nights out with husband I have to cancel due to sick child.

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