AVOID COMCAST at ALL COST!!!

For three years, off and on we have had trouble - MAJOR TROUBLE with COMCAST - our local cable service provider in West Chicago. We have had a good 15 or more people out here, each one claiming he has fixed it. Usually he just undoes what the previous guy did and pronounces it fixed.
On Thanksgiving day, we went down at 4:00. No internet. That sucked. So, when it hadn't returned by eight, we called service. They set up an appointment for Monday, the 26th. The internet remained down on Friday and on Saturday.
On Sunday they called us (computer, not live) and said a problem in our area had been resolved, and we should be fine. If not, press 1.
Which I did. And got sent into cyberspace purgatory. Elevator music and annoying announcements for a half hour. At which time it promptly hung up. I called dispatch and sure enough, we no longer had an appointment for Monday, but they could reschedule me. For Wednesday.
On Monday night we got a call from Comcast - just like before: said a problem in our area had been resolved, and we should be fine. If not, press 1.
And, silly me, I did.
Same results.
Really angry I called service, insisted on talking to a supervisor, and went through 3 years of stories. He, BTW, was very nice, and very helpful. That's all he can be from Canada......
He set up an appointment for 1:00 pm on Tuesday. This time the cancellation had worked in our favor.
Until the technician showed up at 10. I was at work. I rushed home and to this guys credit he was wonderful, and he replaced the cable to our house, and reconfigured the inside to with a heavier duty cable. When he left our throughput was 17,000. Not the 1,000 it had been earlier when it had arbitrarily chosen to work.
Yeah!
By 4:00 through-put was 3,000. I chalked it up to Internet congestion. Cuz a tech had just been there. Oh - and I forgot to say, they STILL attempted to keep the 1-3 appointment and blasted me on the phone for not being there after the third attempt to reach me. How was I to know that when Roy was there in the morning he didn't cancel the afternoon call - that was the same call.....duh.
By 9:00 pm, we were down. DOWN. Hubby spent an hour with service. No luck. Scheduled an appointment for today between 4 and 6 after I said if I missed anymore work I'd lose my job....
Well, you guessed it. This morning we got a call from COMCAST: a problem in our area had been resolved, and we should be fine. If not, press 1.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!!
I immediately hung up and called Comcast. Sure enough we no longer have an open ticket. After pitching a royal fit (because they said all they can do is reschedule....) and two supervisors later they are supposedly investigating this whole situation, and are going to get back to me. Sure.
I'm not holding my breath.
But at $129.00 a month I think I deserve better than this!
IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE.....DO NOT CHOOSE COMCAST!
BTW - the service center actually had the gall to ask if I wanted to switch my phone service to Comcast.......


EDIT - I just sent letters to the City of West Chicago, as well as my alderman, and Rick Germano, Senior VP of customer operations at Comcast....
good luck to me.

EDIT #2 After emailing Rick Germano I got good results. Lots of help, both on the phone and at my house. My internet is now working like a dream. I guess you just have to get to the right person at Comcast. Thank you Rick, Anita, Ron and Dean. I appreciate all your help!!

This is cool too!

This is another example of why I am thrilled with Gordon college and their faculty and staff. Every time we have been on campus we have come away more and more impressed. They put their actions where their mouth is. They walk the talk.... Social Justice is a big deal at Gordon. I love to see events like this.....

Gordon Features Faculty and Alumni Artists In "To The Least of These"

If it's Wednesday, it must be Prince Spaghetti Day!

I need some inspiration. Serious inspiration. I need some wonderful recipes that I will enjoy cooking. I'm tired of eating the same old stuff. But, where to start? Trying to find recipes on line just gives me a headache. And how inspiring is the Food Network when all they show is road tripping around the world eating in places I will never get to? Suddenly instead of food I get travel? Huh. I want to eat healthier and more responsibly. Good luck with that. Where are the ideas? The recipes? HELP!!
Interesting vegetarian? Hearty stews? Exotic twists on chicken?
I can't face the grocery aisle one more day without some inspiration.
Ideas?

Christmas is for sharing.....

I like THIS.
I like the fact that this wonderful college where my daughter goes, shares.
With the whole North Shore.
Instead of turning inward and celebrating as a closed community of specific members, they open their doors and arms wide and bring blessing to an entire community.
They offer a tree lighting, an evening of caroling and story telling. And two different concerts - something for everyone. Family friendly. Some events are free. And not only that, they invite participants to bring gifts, gifts that will be taken to five service organizations in the community of Lynn, MA.
They are specifically requesting toys for children, warm winter clothing for children and their parents, art supplies and school supplies. What a neat opportunity to bless their community - as well as an opportunity for parents to teach children about sharing.....

Here's what they are offering:

"Christmas at Gordon" Schedule Of Events:

Christmas Tree Lighting:Thursday, December 6, 6 p.m. Pedestrian Mall. *Free

Christmas Film: Elf, Thursday, December 6, 7 p.m. in the A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel. *Free

"Come All Ye and Sing": A first-ever North Shore community carol-sing interwoven with story-telling by Jan Carlberg, Friday, December 7, 7:30 p.m. in the A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel. *Free

Holiday Bookstore Sale: 20% off clothing, gifts, supplies and trade publications, Friday, December 7 and Saturday, December 8, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. in the Lane Student Center.

Family Christmas Concert: A special Christmas celebration for children and families with a special visit from Saint Nicholas and other popular Christmas characters. Saturday, December 8, 4 p.m. in the A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel. Tickets: $16; $10 group rate (four or more)

The Christmas Gala: A festival of Christmas featuring music of the season performed by the Gordon Wind Ensemble, College Choir and Women's Choir, Saturday, December 8, 7:30 p.m., in the A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel. Tickets:$16

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pink Elephant!!

For all two of you that were waiting....
Dana posted day 4 of our trip. Enjoy!

The old grey donkey, Eeyore stood by himself in a thistly corner of the Forest, his front feet well apart, his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes he thought sadly to himself, "Why?" and sometimes he thought, "Wherefore?" and sometimes he thought, "Inasmuch as which?" and sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about...

Knot today....

Well, thanks for continuing to stop by despite my lack of meaningful posts. It's one of those cycles. Sorry. Lots of stuff whirling in my brain, but nothing that my fingers seem to want to type. It's like there's a block between brain and fingertips. Besides, the stuff I am processing is so random and I'm not sure how I feel, or what I think, or what I can even say that won't frustrate me more... It's just that there are a multitude of things to deal with - and I can't seem to sort them out, because they all seem to be knotted together. It's much easier not to deal with them at all. And we all know how that works; the more you ignore a snarl, the knottier it becomes....
I'll do it tomorrow.

A couple Quizzes for fun......

Your Personality Profile

The Big Five Personality Test

Discuss this Feature

The Big Five Traits Explained

Answer More Questions

Trait		Percentage
Openness		94%
Conscientiousness		63%
Extraversion		13%
Agreeableness		63%
Neuroticism		56%

Trait Explanations

Openness

You are much more intellectually curious and sensitive to beauty than most. Your beliefs tend to be individualistic and frequently drift towards the unconventional. You enjoy your imagination and the exciting places it takes you!

Conscientiousness

You avoid forseeable trouble through purposefully planning and achieve success through persistence. You are reliable and in control of your life.

Extraversion

You are quiet and somewhat withdrawn. You don`t need lots of other people to have fun, and frankly people can be tiring.

Agreeableness

People get along with you easily. You are considerate and friendly, and think that other people are generally honest and decent.

Neuroticism

You are generally calm. Although some situations can make you feel emotional, your feelings tend to be warranted.

What's your Ecological Footprint???

CATEGORY ACRES FOOD 5.9 MOBILITY 2 SHELTER 3.5 GOODS/SERVICES 4.9 TOTAL FOOTPRINT 16
IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON. WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.
IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 3.7 PLANETS.

Take the Quiz

Come ye Thankful People, Come - it's time for Santa!!

I realize this is seriously close to rant status, but it just really, really bugs me that Christmas is EVERYWHERE. Store displays were up before Halloween. Christmas music has hit the airwaves. Christmas commercials are all ready merrily enticing our children. And my own town, for Pete's sake, has all the Christmas decorations up.
Have we forgotten we have an important holiday in November? A holiday that isn't a boon to stores and marketers and CEO's stretching out greedy hands to gather the windfall to be sure. But a holiday in which we count our blessings, give thanks for all we are and have; a holiday to share good food, good conversation and memories with family and friends. To relax and enjoy the moment, to slow down and unwind - well, until we rush out the door at 5:30 am on the day after Thanksgiving to grab and shove, selfishly forgetting love and kindness to take advantage of those wonderful "early" Christmas bargains.....

The best laid plans

So, tonight I came home from work with an hour to spare before I had to take Carissa to the airport. Yes, she had to go back to school...
Anyway, I came home to finish up a few things, make sure she was packed and just have a calm few minutes before we headed out. Jess's mom came by to bring a few things for Carissa to take to Jess at Gordon, and Cairo, as usual, turned into a scaredy cat. Nothing new. Then for some reason he started tearing around - I think he was still scared, but wanted to play, and his adreneline must have been pretty high.
So much for relaxing. All hell broke loose, and amidst the melee we suddenly saw blood. MOM! How did Cairo get hurt? - So I look and he has a gash on his left leg. I mean a hole. Like a good 2 inches long and bleeding. We still don't know what happened. Did he catch it on his crate? A drawer handle? My ring when I tried to catch him? So, now, we have to leave in fifteen minutes for the airport and Cairo is dripping blood and obviously needs stitches. Chris isn't home and Kelsey has to go babysit. So Linda (Jess's mom) and I bandage Cai up, Carissa quickly prints out her boarding pass, throws her suitcase in the car, I bundle up Cairo, and off we go. First stop, the vet. Yep. Stitches. "How in the world did he do that?" Yeah, I wanna know too...... so, after assuring me he is ok, and that he will be ready to pick up when I get back from the airport we jump in the car and off we go. Traffic is miserable. Just horrible. I finally get to Franklin Park so Kim can take Carissa to the airport and I can go back and get Cai. Phew. Kelsey calls, she doesn't have the IPASS transponder and has to take the Tollway to Wendy's. Just pretend like you have it. We'll deal with it later. Traffic is worse, if that is possible. The guy in front of me can't just drive slow and steady, no, he has to speed up and slam on the breaks. Twenty five times in a mile. Grrrrr.
Finally, I get back and pick up the pup. Several stitches. He was a good patient. Just a local anesthetic was all he needed. Shaved leg. It looks pretty gross. But he is comical in his Elizabethean Collar. Just call him reverse cone head. He doesn't get that he can't fit through small spaces now. He keeps running into things. It would be funnier if I didn't feel so badly for him. And my wallet. $200.00 bucks later - which included said collar and antibiotics - we are on our way home. Carissa calls. Her flight has been delayed for an hour and a half. For this I fought traffic and drove like crazy to get her there???? She won't get home now until 12:30. AM. Oh, shoot, I forgot my sheets are in the washer. The ones Cairo bled all over. No big deal I guess. I can't go to work tomorrow, I have to babysit the dog.....

BOS/ORD

Sorry, for the lack of blogging lately. I have a GOOD excuse. Really. Carissa came home for a visit on Thursday and she is here until tomorrow....It was fun to have her home, and to finally get caught up on life at Gordon. She got to spend time with her boyfriend, as well as several other friends over the weekend. We took Carissa and Andy out to dinner on Friday, and she got to surprise her Via Christus friends on Sunday. Plus she did get to stop by the high school and see rehearsal for the fall play since she won't be home next weekend to see it. We managed to sneak in a little shopping - for long sleeved shirts and boots - on Saturday. So it has been fun, but busy and tiring. And I haven't been reading, or thinking any deep thoughts..... so I have nothing to write about. She's leaving tomorrow, and the house will be quiet again and back to normal - whatever that is....