Personal Stress Relief from Economic, Environmental Issues

Avoid AOL 9.6

Computer frustrations seem to never end. After an incessant pop-up kept coming up while using AOL software, I finally gave in and upgraded to 9.6, against my better judgment. Every time I upgrade any programs, I hold my breath and rightly so. I did the upgrade and tried to sign on to AOL.
The software began a connectivity search. It ran and ran and ran until I canceled the search, closed the program and tried again. Same result! Figuring that maybe it was having difficulty finding my wireless connection because the signal strength was “low”, I unplugged my laptop, a Dell whose battery refused to hold a charge after a year, and walked the laptop into the room where my modem is located. The signal strength, now being “excellent”, I ran AOL again. Same result!
I continued trying to connect throughout the day, sometimes leaving the search running for an hour at a time. I went into my wireless configurations and the connection configurations on AOL to no avail. Finally, and always only out of desperation, I called AOL technical support.
My first called reached the Philippines where a woman who barely spoke English walked me through a few steps to try to get a connection. Nothing worked and she did tell me at this time that AOL was having difficulties with this upgrade. Nice to let us know now! Her final suggestion was to try to connect using dial up, which entailed hanging up with her, again unplugging my Dell and connecting to the phone line. She assured me that a record of my dilemma would be kept in my file and told me to call back if I was still having a issue. I did as she suggested and I still had an issue, as I expected. I called again.
My second call reached Romania where after entering all my account info and confirming with the tech, he asked me what my issue was. I told him to check the notes. After again establishing the problem, he walked me through another series of tests and configurations and he accessed my computer remotely to see if you could find the problem. He also mentioned to me that they were having major problems with the upgrade to 9.6 and had me uninstall it and go back to 9.5. Same problem. I casually asked him why AOL would issue an update that obviously had not been completely tested and then realized that he really couldn’t care less; this was job security for him.
After two hours on the phone, I was told that he could not solve my issue. He put in an order to have someone with a more extensive technical background call me to resolve the problem I am having. I was told that it would be a couple days since they have been inundated with calls because of this upgrade. Now seriously, does AOL really not have the resources to test these upgrades before offering them to the public? Oh, wait, what do they care?!

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What Has America Become?

Reprinted from Michigan Newspaper Editorial written by Ken Huber, Tawas City

Editor,
Has America become the land of the special interest and home of the double standard?
Lets see: if we lie to the Congress, it’s a felony and if the Congress lies to us its just politics; if we dislike a black person, we’re racist and if a black dislikes whites, it’s their 1st Amendment right; the government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals and they do almost nothing for the victims; in public schools you can teach that homosexuality is OK, but you better not use the word God in the process; you can kill an unborn child, but it’s wrong to execute a mass murderer; we don’t burn books in America, we now rewrite them; we got rid of the communist and socialist threat by renaming them progressives; we are unable to close our border with Mexico, but have no problem protecting the 38th parallel in Korea; if you protest against President Obama’s policies you’re a terrorist, but if you burned an American flag or George Bush in effigy it was your 1st Amendment right.
You can have pornography on TV or the internet, but you better not put a nativity scene in a public park during Christmas; we have eliminated all criminals in America, they are now called sick people; we can use a human fetus for medical research, but it wrong to use an animal.
We take money from those who work hard for it and give it to those who don’t want to work; we all support the Constitution, but only when it supports our political ideology; we still have freedom of speech, but only if we are being politically correct; parenting has been replaced with Ritalin and video games; the land of opportunity is now the lad of hand outs; the similarity between Hurricane Katrina and the gulf oil spill is that neither president did anything to help.
And how do we handle a major crisis today? The government appoints a committee to determine who’s at fault, then threatens them, passes a law, raises our taxes, tells us the problem is solved so they can get back to their re-election campaign.
What has happened to the land of the free and home of the brave?

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Stimulus Package

An interesting summation of how the stimulus package works.

It is a slow day in the small Saskatchewan
town of Pumphandle and streets are deserted.

Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and
everybody is living on credit.

A tourist visiting the area drives through town,
stops at the motel, and lays a $100 bill on the
desk saying he wants to inspect the
rooms upstairs to pick one for the night.

As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner
grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt
to the butcher.

The butcher takes the $100 and runs down
the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads
off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Co-op.

The guy at the Co-op takes the $100 and
runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute,
who has also been facing hard times and has had to
offer her “services” on credit.

The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays
off her room bill with the hotel owner.
The hotel proprietor then places the $100
back on the counter so the traveler will
not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveler comes down
the stairs, states that the rooms are not
satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves.

No one produced anything.

No one earned anything…

However, the whole town is now out of debt
and now looks to the future with a lot more
optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a
“stimulus package” works.

(Reprinted from an email with no credit available to the author. Please let me know who you are so I can thank you!)

Posted in Naming Names, Your Economic Solutions | 1 Comment »

On My Way Back

To everyone that visits and reads my posts, I want to say thank you for hanging in there. They say that moving is one of the most stressful things we do in life. I would whole-heartedly agree. Although, I have been remiss in writing and visiting your blogs, I am finally settled enough to resume my internet ventures. Thanks again for your patience. Have fun and enjoy!

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AT&T…..At It Again!!!

Now that we’ve relocated, it’s opened up a whole new adventure with AT&T and their wonderful service. I wish! Unfortunately, because we are somewhat remote, we have no other option that AT&T.
I have a desktop computer and also a laptop. I require wireless internet on my laptop so that I can actually use it in a room other than where my desktop is. I might be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that the purpose of a laptop is that it’s mobile.
I called AT&T and they said they would send a wireless router right out and that I would receive it within a day or two. Of course, not only do I get to pay through the nose for their services, but they’ll be tacking $100 on my bill.
I have to say, that I did receive the router within two business days. Not bad. The installation went smooth, but to be fair I had the same router at my former residence so I was familiar with the process.
I also was aware that although my router was connected in a room at one end of my former home, an excellent wireless connection was available anywhere in the house as well as outside and across the street. However, although I had an excellent connection on my laptop if it was in the same room as the router, it has low connectivity as soon as I leave the room.
My first phone call to technical support….90 minutes. Of course, the conversation began with the usual AT&T antics. After I already gave my phone number associated with the account, the zip code related to the account and whatever other information they deem necessary to secure my account, I finally explained the situation.
I further explained that I had a connection so that set up was not necessary on my desktop computer. The technician ran the tests from his end to confirm that I had the connection that I had just finished telling him I had.
He suggested going into another room with my laptop. Now, of course, this should be a simple process, but anyone who owns or has ever owned a Dell laptop knows that the batteries refuse to hold a charge pretty soon after you buy one. So, the simple step of relocating my laptop entailed unplugging the power cord from under my desk and running to a new location before it shut down on me. Never-the-less I unplugged and ran only to find that I had low connectivity, just as I had said.
Well, for the balance of the 90 minute phone call, following the technicians instructions, I changed the settings on my desktop and laptop numerous times while unplugging, running and replugging my laptop back and forth more times than I can tell you. The conclusion: the AT&T tech screwed up both my computers to the point where I insisted he get me back to where I was when I initiated the phone call and I not so politely told him that I was done with him and that I wanted a technician to come out to the house and fix my problem. At this point he told me that there would be a fee for that. Let me get this straight. I should pay AT&T $100 for a router and in addition I should pay someone to set it up when it’s not working properly?
I gave up for the day!
The following day, I tried again with another technician who all along told me that wireless connectivity might not work more than 20 feet from the router. I explained the situation in my previous residence to no avail.
I gave up again!
Two hours later, I spent an additional 30 minutes on the phone with yet another technician and insisted that they send me a new router. Ah, success!
Two days later, I received the new router, installed it and checked my laptop in the other room. The connection seemed a bit better. I decided I was tired of arguing and that I would deal with this router.
You would think that would be enough aggravation! Not so!
Upon returning to my desktop I tried connecting to my browser. If it loaded at all, it would take an eternity to bring up another site and in most cases was timed out. Another call to AT&T!
After one hour on the phone, the technician claimed that it was a problem with the settings in my computer. He said that it could have been a virus or another problem, but that the router was fine. Of course, I explained that I had no difficulties browsing before I installed the new router.
For the next three days, any time I could stomach facing my computer again, I tried changing settings, researching fixes (on my laptop which could browse), and asking every computer person I know if they had any ideas. By the end of three days, I was in the same boat.
Out of desperation, I unplugged the router, re-installed the first router and to my extreme pleasure……my browsers were browsing again. After, verbalizing a few choice words to the air around me, I packed up the second router from AT&T and sent it back.
A word to the wise: Only out of desperation should you call an AT&T technician. When you do, prepare yourself for the run-around and possibly more problems than you started with. Research, troubleshoot and don’t go running to a service center with your computer just on the say so of an AT&T technician. And, by all means, if you can find a different company to service your needs…..don’t use AT&T.

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Cell Phone Coverage Challenge

Anyone watching television at any given time is almost sure to be interrupted with a commercial from AT&T or Verizon claiming to have the best cell phone coverage. Every time I see the commercial for AT&T, I want to call the company and ask them who they think they’re kidding.
As mentioned in previous posts, we have a place in northern Florida, close to St. Augustine, in a town called Hastings. When we are there, we have no service. In fact, when we come within 20 miles of there we have no reception. The funny thing is that we do receive and can respond to text messages. I’ve called AT&T to question them about the service and they’ve told me again and again that the signal should be strong and that we should have no problems. Apparently, this is just another “song and a dance,” but I have no choice other than to change services or invest in a cell phone booster, which might or might not work.
Understanding that we are in a somewhat remote area, maybe I shouldn’t expect service. I do however, think, that in St. Augustine, which is a somewhat large populated city, there would be service. Not the case. Last weekend we were on the beach, no interference, densely populated area, NO service. I personally would like to pull up the map that they so proudly display for their coverage areas and challenge anyone in the areas that AT&T claims to have service to prove them wrong.

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How’s Your Postman? You Can Keep Mine!

Apparently, I’m one of the lucky ones that has a postman that doesn’t like to do his job. I know that because I talk to other people that have wonderful mail persons delivering their mail.
I first realized that he was a problem a couple years ago. Some brainiac in our community thought it best to put two mailboxes on one post. Our mailbox is actually closer to my neighbor’s house, which should normally not be an issue. The issue is that she parks a car in front of the mailbox, which should normally not be an issue. This issue is that our postman will not get out of his truck if he can’t reach the mailbox from his truck.
So, a couple years ago, our neighbor was having her driveway repaved. For four days, she parked in front of Our mailboxes. For four days, we received no mail. By the fourth we received a post card in the mailbox. Mind you, just a postcard, no mail. The post card was from the United States Postal Service, (apparently our mail carrier got out of his truck) stating that cars needed to park in a way that the postman can pull up to the mailbox in his truck. It even had a diagram.
Upon receiving the postcard I called the USPS and explained the situation. To which the person I was speaking to replied, “the postman does not have to get out of his truck.” To which I replied, “What about the Postal Creed? “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” His very dry response, “the postman does not have to get out of his truck.” I hung up.
For those of you wondering, there actually is no official “postal creed,” but I thought there was before I looked it up!
Over the years and on numerous occasions, my neighbor has continued to park in front of the mailboxes. Apparently, she is just that inconsiderate or she doesn’t want her mail. I would venture to say; from past experience that it is the first assumption. We don’t exactly speak because of prior altercations.
Most recently, I received a certified letter. For anyone unfamiliar with a certified letter, it needs to be signed for. My mailman actually came to the door to retrieve the signature for the letter and left the rest of the mail…..in my mailbox! I can only presume to walk the twenty feet to the door with three or four envelopes would have been a major strain on him.
Maybe it’s me, but when I have a job to do, I do it to the best of my ability. Have people become so complacent that they take no pride in what they do? So, sad!

I came across an article while doing some research. I found this paragraph of interest. Click the title for the full article.

“About the U.S. Postal Service”
A Very “Business-like” Semi-governmental Agency
By Robert Longley, About.com Guide

“Under federal law, only the Postal Service can handle or charge postage for handling letters. Despite this virtual monopoly worth some $45 billion a year, the law does not require that the Postal Service make a profit — only break even. Still, the US Postal Service has averaged a profit of over $1 billion per year in each of the last five years. Yet, Postal Service officials argue that they must continue to raise postage at regular intervals in order make up for the increased use of email.”

AMAZING!

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Ebay Bidding is a Joke

I would venture to say that Ebay has gotten so big that they have taken to screwing the people that made them what they are.  I personally am so frustrated with the vast amount of underhanded and deceptive practices of these 90% of the companies we deal with,  that I’d like to disconnect from them completely. Between Bank of America, AT&T, Ebay and others, it’s actually become a moot point complaining. They just don’t “give a rat’s ass.”

Here’s the background info to my latest aggravating episode: My grandmother an absolutely wonderful woman passed away at 93 years old in 1999. She was an incredible person, full of life and so much fun to be around. And, she would regularly “mimic with her tongue”, (for lack of a better description), the song “Turkey in the Straw.” It’s a song etched forever in the minds of anyone who knew her.

A couple years ago, my sister’s husband surprised her with an the Animated Animation Cell Steamboat Willie. It’s this adorable animated rendition which also plays the song. A few years later my other sister found one and purchased one on the internet. Each time we are together, we gather in front of this wonderful reminder of grandma, play the song and reminisce; complete with tears and emotion. It’s a touching reminder of a person that will remain forever in our hearts.

My dilemma: I want one. There were 275 pieces made. It’s a collector’s item and they are nowhere to be found. I regularly search the internet via Google and Ebay and any other means available. In the last few years I have come across two for sale. The first was $400 which I did not have at the time. The second was on Ebay this past week with a starting bid of $149.99.

Normally, when I actually search for something on Ebay, I only search the “Buy It Now” category. I never liked bidding on items. When I want to buy something, I would prefer not to play games. A direct purchase suits me fine. Unfortunately, in the case of “Steamboat Willie,” I had no other option than to bid. My plan was to continue to watch the item and sign on and bid at the last minute, not wanting to drive the price up. I decided that the highest amount I would pay would be $200 knowing that I would be negotiating with myself at the last minute to go higher. It would have been nice if I had gotten the opportunity to do that.

With two minutes left on the auction, I place my first bid at $155. From here on in Ebay’s practice is a joke. For anyone that is unfamiliar with the way their auctions actually work, I’ll tell you. When deciding that you’d like to bid on an item, you can enter the maximum amount that you are willing to pay. You place your first bid. During the auction, each time someone bids higher than your bid, Ebay automatically enters additional bids on your behalf. They continue to do this throughout the auction.

My participation in the auction went as follows: As I stated I placed by first bid at $155. I was immediately (automatically) outbid. I was notified and it was stated that I should place my next bid at $157.50 or higher. I entered $157.50 and was immediately (automatically) outbid. I next bid $165.00 and the bidding jumped to $239.00. HUH? As I was ready to bid just above that, the auction ended with an automatic winning bid of $249.39.

Now, maybe I do not understand the concept of an auction. Wouldn’t you think that if you’re bidding on an item and the highest bid is already set at $249.39, that all participants should be apprised of that information? I had no chance what-so-ever of knowing the highest bid and no chance to win the auction. Unless, of course I wanted to play the game and enter an exorbitant amount to secure the item.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s just another scam for another company to cash in. Obviously, the higher the selling price the more Ebay makes. I had wanted that item, as I stated for sentimental reasons and was upset from that perspective because I lost. However, I found myself more upset by the fact that I got played. I can assure you that I for one will never bid on another item on Ebay.

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Bank of America….Crooks!

I know anyone that’s read my earlier posts about problems with Bank of America is going to say it’s my own fault. Well, yes, it is kind of my fault and yes, I should have learned my lesson the first time. I can tell you, most definitely, I’ve learned it now.
Things are extremely tight for us, financially, like it is for most people I talk to. Being out of a job doesn’t help the situation. So, I sometimes make payments to get them in on time knowing that it will take a day or two the clear the bank and then I can “rob from Peter to pay Paul.” One such payment was a truck payment.
Wednesday at 1:00 in the morning, I checked our account. Generally, when a charge is posted to the account it shows as pending. This particular time there was nothing pending so I figured I bought myself another day. Shows you how wrong I can be.
Upon signing on at 7:00 Wednesday morning to balance my accounts, as I do every day, there were three charges debited from the account. They hadn’t been there as pending, but there they were. Not only were they debited to the account in Bank of America’s special order of largest to smallest, but they were dated with Tuesday’s date. A new trick!!! Not good!!!
To clarify, largest to smallest most definitely guarantees BOA that you will overdraw on the first debit so that each subsequent charge is also overdrawn. A practice, by the way which was part of the claim in the lawsuit Closson vs. Bank of America.
So, now I have three charges that have put me in the red. If the debits had been entered smallest to largest there would have been only one item overdrawn. I immediately covered the overdrawn amount, plus enough to cover two additional charges that I knew were coming and put in an extra $80 to cover the overdraft fees that I was correct in assuming that I would be charged. My assumption was partially correct. Bank of America now charges $35 each for overdrawn items. I was back in the red.
To compound things even further, The crooks put through the overdraft charges before the two charges that I had accounted for so although I re-deposited enough to cover the overdraft charges, I was again in the red and now have two additional overdraft charges.
As I was writing this post, I called Bank of America for the second time today. I explained the situation to the BOA customer service representative who stated that by the summer they will no longer be putting through checks or allowing debits that will overdraw the account. I responded that the new policy did not concern me because I will no longer be banking with Bank of America. Her tune changed. I went over the account again asking her if she could do something to reverse the overdraft charges. Lo and behold, because I’m out of work, she offered to reverse three charges. Apparently, the uncooperative representative that I spoke with this morning could have done the same. I guess it really matters who you speak to. Next time I think I’ll hang up and call back until I actually make progress.
I should have done that with the AT&T representative I spoke with today as well. That’s another story…

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AT&T ** What’s the Deal?

AT&T has me thinking and I was wondering if anyone knows the answer and can add input.

The synopsis:  My internet was down on Thursday night.  Now, this is not an odd thing when it comes to the service from AT &T and since it was late my assumption was that it would be back up Friday morning.  I’m still not sure why I even make assumptions when it comes to their service, but I was wrong.
Upon further investigation I realized that my modem power light was solid red rather than green.  Being down this road before I went through the usual steps, unplugging, resetting and powering back up.  Still red so I called AT &T.   In order to avoid the whole process again, I informed the internet service tech that I had already gone through all the steps to see if I could get my modem up and running.  He told me that he would run a series of tests from his end to see if it was a problem with the modem.
To give you some background information; the modem is just over a year old and just out of warranty.  The tech came back on the line and told me that he ran his tests and that there was a problem with the modem and that it needed to be replaced.  He said that he would arrange to have one sent out at which time I told him that I work online and couldn’t afford to be down.  He gave me the nearest AT&T store to pick one up and informed me that it would cost $60.  I responded that I spend way too much money with AT&T and that if they are going to charge me for the modem I am going elsewhere with my business.  He wouldn’t budge so I asked for a manager.
When the manager came on the line she told me that she understood the situation and that since they didn’t want to lose me as a customer, she would send out a modem free of charge.  When I again explained that I could not be without the internet and that I would prefer to pick it up she explained that the only thing she could do in that case was to issue me a credit after I purchased it at a store.  Since my trust in AT&T is so unwavering,  I chose not to believe that I would be issued a credit and she told me that it would be shipped overnight to me at no cost.
That was Friday morning, now Monday afternoon, still waiting.
Now the question I pose.  As I previously stated, my modem is just out of warranty.  Also, I’ve explained that the AT&T service tech was running tests to see whether or not my modem was bad.  I ask you, if they have the capabilities to run tests on my modem from who knows where, wouldn’t they also have the capability to screw up my modem so that it isn’t working correctly and of course requiring me to buy a new modem at my cost?
It’s difficult not to wonder how all that works.  Anybody have any answers?

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Seriously, FPL?!

Well, we woke up Sunday looking forward to another day of relaxing. The plan was to totally “veg” on the couch, watch TV and movies and order in, my favorite meal, pizza. Mike had been pretty sick with a miserable cold for a week and a half so we figured relaxation would be the best thing for him. What is it that is said about the “best laid plans?”

I awoke around 8:00 a.m., quietly got out of bed and came downstairs to put up a pot of coffee. I turned on my laptop and proceeded to do whatever it is that we all do trying to keep up with the incessant emails and such. Having gone quickly through the emails I decided to start painting. Nine months ago we bought a portable school building to be used as a game room (another story) and the building has fourteen florescent lights. I am painting the fourteen lenses to look like stained glass. The reason that this is relevant to my story is that I put a light behind it as I am painting. As I was setting myself up with everything within my reach the AC / heating unit shut down with quite a bang. This was odd but I paid it no mind.

Ready to go, I hit the switch on the light which didn’t go on. Figuring it was the light bulb, I put a new bulb in. Again, it didn’t work so I tried one more bulb. Nothing. The next steps I took were to check the outlet, change the extension cord and run around the house like a madwoman trying to turn things on. Mind you all I really needed to do was to look at the microwave and observe the absence of the clock readout. Establishing now that the downstairs was without power, I ran upstairs to check there. Still no power which finally lead to my first of many calls to FPL (Florida Power & Light).

Upon calling FPL and doing the multi-button response system, I was informed that they were aware of the problem and a technician would be out to assess the problem. Just to make things clear, there were no storms, no hurricanes, no winds and the temperature outside hovered in the mid 30′s, a record low. With the temperature in the house dropping rapidly and no means of warming up, we waited. About one hour later I went through the routine and again called FPL to see if there were any updates. I received good news. A technician would be out and would fix the problem and we would have power back on around 2:30 in the afternoon. We bundled up and patiently waited and by 3 o’clock I was back on the phone. The new time was set to be 5:45, but miraculously the house lit up at 4:00. This was perfect, just in time for the temperatures to really drop with the evening coming. We ordered our pizza!

Well, obviously I wouldn’t be writing if it were all that simple. At 6:00 we would have sworn there was a poltergeist the way lights and appliance were going on and off and flickering and then we were in the dark again. The new information was that 137 people were out of electricity because of a problem with a main line and the latest update for repair was to be at 10:45. At this point we were getting envious of some of our neighbors as we listened to the sound of the incessant hum of their generators. Not much else that we could do other than cuddle and wait.

Mike decided he’d best be under the covers in order to avoid a further chill so he went to bed. I sat with my son, Scott under a blanket, by candlelight anticipating some indication that we would actually get warm nights sleep. By 11:30 p.m., I called again. FPL would have the problem resolved by the end of the day, “tomorrow“. Monday. I do understand that some things take time. I don’t understand how much money we have to keep feeding FPL in order for them to actually come up with a method of prevention or a viable solution to a power outage when the temperatures get cold. So frustrating, so cold, so uncomfortable through the night.

Monday morning we woke to mid 30′s temperatures again. Mike was going to work and for the first time ever, he looked forward to it as he would have heat in his vehicle. I, being currently out of work needed a plan of which I had none. In addition, having originally fended off catching Mike’s cold, now I was sick. My plan was to go to my sister-in-laws until evening to keep warm. What was it I said about the best laid plans? Mary, who normally doesn’t go into work, needed to go in Monday. I picked up my first of many cups of coffee for the day and headed home.

It seemed useless to keep calling FPL, but I made one token call only to receive the same info…the end of the day! I bundled myself and busied myself at one point realizing that it was warmer in the garage than in the house. I took 3 trips to the gas station to buy hot cups of coffee and took my time doing so as the heat in the car was amazingly comforting. As I straightened up in the garage, I listened to the neighbors complaining and when a FPL truck finally showed up around 2:30 I thought somebody would crucify the guys. At 4:00 the power was on.

It had been a long cold one and my phone hadn’t stopped ringing with concerns and offers. I let Mike know we were good to go and I returned all other phone calls, reassuring everyone that the drama was over. I turned on the heat, fired up my laptop, made myself a cup of tea and put my feet up to relax.
Still sitting in the same position at 7:00 I started noticing on my computer screen the reflection of the fluorescent light behind me; it was flickering. This occurred for a while on and off so I figured “better safe than sorry” and I called FPL this time pushing the buttons to eventually reach a live person. I explained that the lights were flickering, but we still had power and the response was that she would have a technician come back and assess the situation. No sooner did I hang up the phone when half the house went dark. It was at that moment that Mike walked in from work rolling his eyes as he came to the realization that we were still at the mercy of FPL.

Mike being a service technician is knowledgeable in a vast amount of technical situations and took it upon himself to check our electric lines coming into the house. His meter read 115 volts and considering it should have read 220 volts we obviously still had a problem. One “leg” was not working coming into the house and thankfully it was FPL’s responsibility and not ours. I made yet another phone call thinking it best to give the technician a heads up as to what he was dealing with. Upon calling I was finally connected to a person to whom I could explain the situation. I informed her that half of our electric had gone out and that we were only receiving limited voltage. Her rude response caught me totally off guard as she replied, “you should be happy that you have some power working, there are still people that don’t have any.” Not the right thing to say to a paying customer who has been without electricity for two days in record low temperatures. I simply hung up.

About one hour later a nice gentleman came to investigate our problem and Mike told him our current situation. He acknowledged the problem and told us that someone would be back before 12:30 p.m. to do the repair. We called again an hour after he left to make sure that the order was in and were told that the electric lines would be repaired by the end of the next day, Tuesday. Frustrated, tired and cold we retired for the second night in a row in mid 30 degree temperatures.

At 3:30 in the morning, Scott was knocking on our door. FPL was at the house; they hooked up a temporary power supply and would be back by the end of the day to do the repair. As long as we had heat and power we could wait. We were however only using one thing at a time that pulled 220 volts. When I turned on the stove, I turned off the heat and when I turned on the dryer, I turned off the stove and so on.

Well, about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday night, just as American Idol had started, the doorbell rang. So silly me I commented to Mike that I didn’t want them to work on it and shut down the power at that time. Yes, we enjoy American Idol because sadly enough watching people make fools of themselves is just about the only thing on TV that you can laugh about and laughter is good. Anyway, Mike answered the door to find the same nice gentleman that had come the night before. He was inquiring as to whether we had power. I guess my husband loves me because he told the man that we were fine and that we had no complaints because he didn’t want them working on the power. Now I ask you, if you had this huge power supply on the side of your house that the electric was running off of and you really weren’t sure if it was sufficient enough to maintain the essentials in your house, would you consider everything fine?

Now it’s Wednesday evening and I have no changes to report. We still have power and with it heat and no sign at all today of FPL. My assumption: American Idol starts again tonight at 8 o’clock. Wanna bet the doorbell rings at 8:15?
I’ll keep you informed.

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