Wow
0015 in the middle of the night, and feels like hell. It’s HOT. Those of you who know me know that I don’t like heat. I don’t like humidity, either, I suppose there aren’t many who do, even though there are some who like heat. I, however, like neither.
The Weather Channel application on my iPhone says that the temperature outside as of this writing is only 70 degrees Fahrenheit, with humidity at 89%. The high humidity I can believe; the low temperature I can’t believe. It also predicts a low for the night of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, but that won’t occur until 0500. With my central air unit currently misbehaving, it looks like I am in for a restless night. Thankfully I can do some typing here for you folks to keep my mind occupied.
I had a couple of small victories over the past couple of days. Saturday night, I found myself once again without an Internet connection. Some of you may remember me writing about this problem in the past. Suffice it to say I don’t take nearly as much crap from them as I did back then. I have since learned that I can bypass HAL, their automated phone answering system, simply by barraging it with “LIVE AGENT” over and over until it stops talking and offers to transfer me. I then spoke with an operative of the company who informed me that there was an Internet outage in the area that was being worked on as we spoke. Satisfied, I hung up.
Three hours later, dealing with heat and boredom, I redialed the company number to find out if any progress was being made. As usual, I had to give my name, phone number, address, firstborn child, favorite soup, and a list of TV shows I refuse to watch in order to confirm my identity. Once that was done, I was then told that there was in fact maintenance being performed in my area, and there would be no service until 0730 the next morning. Okay. I went to bed.
I got up the next morning, and putzed about for a bit, and then at 0830 decided to check my email. Guess what?
No connection whatsoever.
Yes. I called again. Yes. I bypassed HAL again. The tech support guy ran every test he could from his end, and decided to send a technician out to my house to give it a look-see. What happened next took me by complete surprise.
As an apology for my connection problems, the guy on the phone offered to double my Internet speed, without increasing my monthly payment. What’s more, they’re sending somebody out to my house later this afternoon to install TV service, at no addition to my monthly bill either. I haven’t had TV service since February of 2009. I’m kinda excited about it.
Long story short, (yeah, right) I eventually got my Internet connection back. Well, obviously, since this has been posted and you’re reading it on the Internet.
The other victory came Monday morning. I’ve been toying with the idea of taking online classes to help me advance at work. It hinges entirely on whether or not I am able to receive financial aid to pay for it. My biggest fear throughout this process is that my defaulted student loan from 100 years ago will not only prevent me from getting financial aid, but will add another monthly payment to my burden that I can’t afford. I talked yesterday morning to the school’s financial aid department, and was totally honest about the loan. I hadn’t heard about it in over a decade, and had no clue what company even owned it at this time. The woman I was talking to looked me up on her computer, and saw that my loan is listed as “Paid.”
As today’s title says, Wow. Two incredible strokes of luck in as many days. Faithful followers of this blog (both of you) know already that luck doesn’t happen to me in the form of “good.” I wonder if these can be considered harbingers, or flukes? Time shall tell.
It’s now 0111, and I’m tired of the heat. Bella is sleeping at my feet, and I think it’s time to get this posted and go to bed so I can toss and turn in the heat, waiting for sleep that probably won’t arrive until 04 or 0500 or so.
Have as good a week as possible in the upcoming stifling temperatures.
The Weather Channel application on my iPhone says that the temperature outside as of this writing is only 70 degrees Fahrenheit, with humidity at 89%. The high humidity I can believe; the low temperature I can’t believe. It also predicts a low for the night of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, but that won’t occur until 0500. With my central air unit currently misbehaving, it looks like I am in for a restless night. Thankfully I can do some typing here for you folks to keep my mind occupied.
I had a couple of small victories over the past couple of days. Saturday night, I found myself once again without an Internet connection. Some of you may remember me writing about this problem in the past. Suffice it to say I don’t take nearly as much crap from them as I did back then. I have since learned that I can bypass HAL, their automated phone answering system, simply by barraging it with “LIVE AGENT” over and over until it stops talking and offers to transfer me. I then spoke with an operative of the company who informed me that there was an Internet outage in the area that was being worked on as we spoke. Satisfied, I hung up.
Three hours later, dealing with heat and boredom, I redialed the company number to find out if any progress was being made. As usual, I had to give my name, phone number, address, firstborn child, favorite soup, and a list of TV shows I refuse to watch in order to confirm my identity. Once that was done, I was then told that there was in fact maintenance being performed in my area, and there would be no service until 0730 the next morning. Okay. I went to bed.
I got up the next morning, and putzed about for a bit, and then at 0830 decided to check my email. Guess what?
No connection whatsoever.
Yes. I called again. Yes. I bypassed HAL again. The tech support guy ran every test he could from his end, and decided to send a technician out to my house to give it a look-see. What happened next took me by complete surprise.
As an apology for my connection problems, the guy on the phone offered to double my Internet speed, without increasing my monthly payment. What’s more, they’re sending somebody out to my house later this afternoon to install TV service, at no addition to my monthly bill either. I haven’t had TV service since February of 2009. I’m kinda excited about it.
Long story short, (yeah, right) I eventually got my Internet connection back. Well, obviously, since this has been posted and you’re reading it on the Internet.
The other victory came Monday morning. I’ve been toying with the idea of taking online classes to help me advance at work. It hinges entirely on whether or not I am able to receive financial aid to pay for it. My biggest fear throughout this process is that my defaulted student loan from 100 years ago will not only prevent me from getting financial aid, but will add another monthly payment to my burden that I can’t afford. I talked yesterday morning to the school’s financial aid department, and was totally honest about the loan. I hadn’t heard about it in over a decade, and had no clue what company even owned it at this time. The woman I was talking to looked me up on her computer, and saw that my loan is listed as “Paid.”
As today’s title says, Wow. Two incredible strokes of luck in as many days. Faithful followers of this blog (both of you) know already that luck doesn’t happen to me in the form of “good.” I wonder if these can be considered harbingers, or flukes? Time shall tell.
It’s now 0111, and I’m tired of the heat. Bella is sleeping at my feet, and I think it’s time to get this posted and go to bed so I can toss and turn in the heat, waiting for sleep that probably won’t arrive until 04 or 0500 or so.
Have as good a week as possible in the upcoming stifling temperatures.
posted by Bill | 01:22
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