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      Tuesday, January 21, 2025


otherstuff
02:18 PM - 01/21/2025

The topic: I may have mentioned in the past

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When I was sixteen we went on a camping trip. I didn't want to go. I wanted to stay home, but the parents said that wasn't an option.

On the way, in our car, with a new trailer, only fifty hours in our possession, three cats in the car, one dog, a drunk in a truck ran a stop sign. Totaled the car and trailer, lost the cats (never to be found), my mom had broken ribs, I had a broken sternum and a broken back. The drunk driver died, leaving behind a wife and young children. No insurance.

I was in the hospital for a while and out of school for months. Life went on.

So, as I've gotten older, arthritis has hit the area of my back that was broken and if I overdo it, it takes a while to feel better. It's hard to take a deep breath when this happens. The kinds of things like making cookies or grating massive amounts of cheese seem to exacerbate the pain. It's a mid-back thing, I'm short, and reaching up to the counters puts my arms in an odd position.

Last week I got a new (refurbished) computer to switch out with the current system I use for Plex. I switched it out this past weekend and it went pretty smoothly. I decided I wanted to change out the power strip behind my work PC, which had many peripherals plugged in. Instead of a wide strip, I got a long strip that would be a cleaner option behind the computers. I started setting that up yesterday morning.

And the stretching woke up my back. I spent yesterday afternoon on a heating pad, last night on a heating pad, this morning was okay, but I did a little paperwork, and sitting at the desk got very uncomfortable.

Back on the heating pad.

I have work to do and it doesn't include the heating pad or ibuprofen or naproxen.

But the new system is worth it! 

 


      Thursday, January 16, 2025


crankypants
10:30 AM - 01/16/2025

The topic: I’m done with Cox Communications

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I'm 71 years old. My parents had Cox for television. I had Cox for television. Then I got married in 1985, moved into our home in 1986 and we had Cox for television. Then the internet started and we had Cox for television and internet.

They had loyalty programs for people who stuck with them. They had an actual phone number where you could pick up the phone, call a phone number, choose what you wanted to discuss (billing, service changes, service problems, internet problems, etc).

No longer. If you have questions, there's a chat. And the people behind that chat are outsourced to different countries. You no longer speak to a representative who actually gives a shit about the person (the customer) on the other end of the line. And last Sunday, I was done. I canceled our Contour Ultimate service. Why?

Because during the previous decade they started having bundles with a set price. There was no longer any kind of discount. What you saw was what you got. Unless there was a promotion going on. And the only way to find out?

Via chat.

Every year, I jump through the hoops. In December 2023, I jumped through the hoop and signed up for a 24-month promotion where the cost for the service would not change. When I checked the account, it was still "processing." On January 8, 2024, I initiated a chat to double-checked that the promotion had taken effect. I was assured it had. I questioned the representative multiple times about the length of the promotion. Twenty-four months it was.

Imagine my surprise to see on Sunday morning, January 12, 2025, that my new price was twenty dollars (plus fees) higher. Uh, nope. My 24 months wasn't up. I initiated a chat. It took hours. I am not exaggerating.

I kept getting transferred from representative to representative. Without warning. The only way I knew it was a different rep was each time, I had to repeat my name, my address, my PIN, my problem.

And each time was met with "do you want to sign up for our mobile service, that will bring down your monthly bundle charge". Here's the thing with mobile. I have Cricket Wireless. I pay $30 a month for unlimited text and talk and get 10GB of data. Cox has a pay-as-you-go plan, $15 for 1GB or a plan for $45 and 20GB. Since I'm pretty much always home, I've rarely even used a full gigabyte in a month. It would be a waste of money. So, thanks, but no thanks.

And not once did anyone address the fact that they were not honoring their promotion. But sure, we can drop your price if you reduce your services. Well, damn. Why didn't I think of that?

Not gonna happen.

So, while I'm in the chat, I have another browser window open, checking for other streaming services. We have antennas, so OTA stations won't be a problem. But we like TBS and TNT and Lifetime and SyFy and History and others. We'd lose access to just three movie channels. So, I'm sitting here, doing the math, comparing what we were getting with Cox compared to the ala carte options for other streaming services (Sling, YouTube, Fubo, Hulu, etc).

When the rep I was chatting with said, "No, your new rate isn't $173 (plus fees); it will be $228 (plus fees)" (!!), I said, "Cancel my Contour, not the internet, but the television service." 

We already paid for a bundle with Hulu and Disney+ (no ads) which was $20 a month. Going with Hulu Live with no ads is $96 a month. Add $28 for the three other channels we were getting through Cox. We will now pay $124 and not that $228 (plus fees).

And a couple of actual WTF moments after this all took place?

I see on the Cox website that they have a 24-month promotion for $10 less for their Gigablast service (which we get). I applied for that promotion. I screenshotted everything. Their website, the date, the specifications and the terms as listed in my account.

Then I get an email "hey, come back! Here's an offer of a nice discount if you come back but it won't last long, click this link!"  Sorry, too little, too late.

I'm gone.

A day after all of this happened, I saw this new lawsuit.

I use an HDHomerun device for the OTA stations and it has a streaming app so the signal goes to all house devices. I bought a cheap antenna on Amazon in 2023 (after one of the networks wanted more money from Cox and shut off that service until Cox cried UNCLE and agreed to pay more). Which I'm happy I did right now. Brian set it up on the roof where the antenna from our BUD (big ugly dish) used to be. I didn't do much with it at the time, because we didn't need it. We do now.

cox   


      Tuesday, January 07, 2025


craftstuff
02:37 PM - 01/07/2025
The current weather is making me crazy!

The topic: Playing with tools!

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I got a Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil machine a while back and I'm trying my hand at using it.

Oh, my goodness.

It's a really fun concept. You use a die or a special hot foil plate, put it on this thingy that has a removable platform that heats up. Then you put a piece of heat-reactive foil over that, put your media (paper) over that, and run it through an embossing machine. Sounds pretty impressive, yes?

In the videos on the interwebs, it sure does.

banghead

Not here. Huh uh. Not even close. Either there's too much pressure running it through the embosser (which has a hand crank, by the way, it is not electronic, you have to work for this) and foil ends up on the media where you don't want it or there's not ENOUGH pressure and the foil isn't completely pressed onto the media.

And it's the SAME DAMNED cardstock and the SAME DAMNED foil! I'd punch it in the face if it had one.

So, on I go. Practice, practice, practice.

I did some research and found that there's an eraser that would probably work for the over-foiling (I read one how-to that said to just use a brush - didn't work). The eraser is called a sand eraser. I've got one on order, should be here by the end of the week.

Something I learned today after having spent money on hot foil plates these past few months was that the dies I already have will work just fine. Oh, well. Live and learn, right?

Oh, the weather? Dry. Cloudy. A Santa Ana breeze. It's supposed to be super windy, but it hasn't hit here in the San Diego area. I have a friend who lives in north of here and she said it was pretty bad last night. And I do NOT like the cold. At all. Let's have us a warm breeze, okay? Thanks.

hot foil    glimmer    crafts   


      Friday, January 03, 2025


otherstuff
07:41 AM - 01/03/2025

The topic: I’m still here

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It's just been a weird journey these past few months. I'm still trying to process things.

We went to the doctor for our annual exams on the sixth of December. While there, Brian went with the nurse to check his memory, the doctor did my exam, then told me that she hadn't seen, until recently, my labs from the previous year.

The other doctor, who had seen them, never acted on what was there.

I'm diabetic. I don't believe I'm diabetic, my A1C was down from last year and is well within the normal range for my age. But, here we are.

I'm on Metformin and I'm at the four pills daily dosage. I take my blood at least twice a day. All within the normal range, well, there was New Year's Eve. I'd been feeling off all day long, then Brian brings home a big soft serve ice cream sundae. The high was two point over normal, but that was an aberration and he will no longer bring me massive amounts of ice cream, where I have to eat it all. Yes, I have to eat it all, that's how it works.

A quick update on what happened with Fury and Jingles last month. Fury's lung cancer, on the left lobe had grown and was pushing on his heart so that he could no longer breathe as much as he should have been. The heart wasn't working. His pulse was in the 130s, when a cat at the vet's pulse should have been over 165. He'd gotten much weaker over the past month and had quit eating that week.

Jingles CHF wasn't being controlled and he started to show signs of dementia. He'd just stop in the living room and pee on the floor. He was starting to stumble when he would walk through the house and it was obvious it was his time.

It was rough losing two so close together.

Our neighbors served us papers from their lawyer to remove our Sweet Gum tree. Walked down our driveway holding hands (I checked our security footage) and handed the papers to Brian outside. This was a complete shock to us. Anyway, the tree is down. It was there when we move in back in 1986. It was a great shade tree. But it was very messy, with a lot of those prickly pods. I'll miss the shade, but honestly, I won't miss the tree. But the neighbors took the nuclear action. They shouldn't have done that and after all the favors we've done for them over the years? Well, that won't happen any longer. They blew that bridge up.

Anyway, we're just plodding along at this point.

jingles    goodbye    fury    diabetes    catstuff   


      Wednesday, December 04, 2024


catstuff
10:58 AM - 12/04/2024

The topic: Sad news

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I don't have much energy right now to post much about it.

We said goodbye to Fury last week, the day before Thanksgiving. (November 27) and goodbye to Jingles on Monday (December 2).

 

jingles    goodbye    fury   


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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

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