Dear Noel....next time could you send us a Limo??

Last Friday night Crystal, Jon and myself went to Chicago to see Dear Noel play at the House of Blues. We left in plenty of time, but somewhere along the way we began to run out of time. The last time we went to see them at the Metro we ended up missing the entire show. Got there just after they finished...so this time I took the afternoon off, and we left earlier.

Jon was tired so I drove. We had no problem finding the venue, however parking was a little more challenging. Actually we ended up parking at a garage just two blocks south (I think) of the House of Blues. We parked okay, got into the venue in good shape, but it all went south (literally I think) when the gal wanted to check in my bag and saw my camera. I hadn't planned to use it, but I dropped it into my bag for the baby shower in Crystal's honor the next morning. I didn't want to forget it, so it made sense to just put it in before we left. Well....it didn't make for a good entrance. The gal informed me that camera's are not allowed and I would have to check it at the coat check. Of course, I knew that meant a charge....only $5...but it was the principal of the matter. I wasn't about to pay them $5 to hold my camera for about an hour and a half.....so I quickly marched myself back down to the lobby....informed the lady I needed to leave for a moment....and she proceeded to tell me that once my ticket had been torn I couldn't leave. Well.....one spark of luck....my ticket hadn't been torn....because I never made it into the show. So Jon and I left to head back to the car to drop off my camera. Crystal had forgotten her ID as well...so it was a good opportunity to get that too. She didn't need it, but if she went into certain areas she would need just to walk through....I didn't know where we would end up catching up with everyone else so I thought it best to just grab that while at the car. We quickly headed to the garage, well after we figured out how to get back to the street since we exited out of a different door then where we came in.....we had plenty of time....it was just about 7:00 and the guys were playing third so we still had at least one band's worth of time to get to the car and back...or so we thought. It appears that either they got moved up in the line up or a band didn't show up...either way they ended up next.
We hurried as fast as we could go....even used the elevator closer to the corner....unfortunately we didn't realize that it was going to come out a level higher on that end so we couldn't find the car right away. We ended up going to the elevator we had come down on in the first place and going down a level. We found the car.....and I quickly dropped my camera into the console, grabbed Crystal's ID, my ID, my debit card and some cash. I figured why take a heavy bag in when I can travel much lighter without it. We hurried back to the elevator...this time we would benefit from the one closer to the corner. We got in and headed down to the lobby and on the way down I realized I forgotten my ticket in my bag. We took the elevator back up to the car..this time we found the correct level...and I literally ran to the car and grabbed my ticket. All the while we were gone Crystal kept texting me....."The guys are going on next!"......."They are warming up!" "Getting ready to start!" I couldn't text back very easily due to the running we had to do to get there. We managed to get back in a good time, only to get behind some teenagers that didn't seem to know where they were going.....they were looking for the door and didn't seem to want to move to let us around. So...we had to get in line behind them just to get through security again. Of course, they had to pat everyone down and check in bags etc. So it was taking way longer than it should have....but we finally got there. Crystal met us and said she had spoken with someone and they had gotten us a place to sit down..which she would really need. It ended up being right behind the sound board and there was no one in front of us to block our view. It was perfect! We had a great view, heard the show just fine and they even played my favorite song "Jets to Carolina!" I sang along with everyone else and thoroughly enjoyed the show! We met up with Lisa and Jason and the others right after the show. We didn't get to see Josh (our Josh) though. Not sure where he was....!

We left shortly after the show and headed home. I drove home as well....so Jon could rest. We ran into some nasty weather...but we just took it easy and all was well. However, there was this little Honda Civic that didn't seem to want to pass this Semi to get around him and get into the other lane which was clearer...so we were stuck behind them....that is until this other semi came flying around us. I could tell he wanted to get over in our lane...so I backed off and let him in. It seemed like the smartest thing to do. Little Honda Civic didn't seem to want him on their tail either and they actually sped up and got into the other lane. I guess we weren't as much of threat in our Escape as Mr. Semi!!! Ha!

I do have to say that driving in Chicago gives one this overwhelming urge to pull up behind a Taxi.....moving or not...and lay on the horn....I just want to follow one around the city with my horn blowing at him the whole time!!! Too bad Mr. Semi can't get behind him and lay on his horn.......that would be wonderful!!! I might even pay $5 to see that!!!

Digital Migration final round.....at least I hope so...I have my doubts!!!

So...I decided once again to call Comcast and this time I used the customer service number....! Imagine my surprise when Shaq answered the phone. I was taken aback a bit, but then I remembered that he was a spokes person for Comcast and wasn't actually on the phone. After he finished whatever it was he said...(I truly do not remember...I was on a mission), I got that all too familiar voice activated prompt. You know if these calls really are recorded for monitoring purposes...I sure hope someone actually monitors them and has to listen to all the frustration in the voices of their customers. I know that I am not alone in this! Once again I get someone who asks me the same questions all over again...I go through the entire story for the umteenth time.....and I now sound like a broken record. Even I am tired of me repeating it...but once again I do...only to hear her tell me...."Your account does not support On Demand!" To which I reply........in a less than cheerful voice; "It most certainly does. I have been over this with everyone I have spoken to, I have a letter, I have exchanged my digital box....I have changed my account to digital starter...I have had several people tell me it should work....Yes my account does support On Demand!" To which she replies..."I can let you talk to someone in Billing if you would like!" To which I now reply; "Fine, just get me someone because this is getting ridiculous!" The guy on the other end felt the frustration as well.....but at least this time, This Time I got someone who actually knew what to do!!! It only took over a week and a half....several phone calls...a trip to the store...more phone calls and a tech to come and boost our signal! At any rate....at first I thought it wasn't going to work as he tried to send the signal once again and it still didn't work...but he said he would try one more thing....and there it was....just a moment later and we were up and running....! The thing is...he told me that the people on the troubleshooting end....the ones I always ended up dealing with....only know certain things. They are not actually Comcast employees....they are contracted with another company to work for Comcast doing troubleshooting...and answer billing questions..they can't change anything...and it doesn't sound like they have any authority so I have to wonder why they even hold this contract. Wouldn't it be better to just have Comcast employess field the calls? I mean they are sitting there reading their little manuals (like I suspected) and giving people the run around making them not only frustrated, but angry....at who?? Comcast!!! Why risk that people will turn to AT&T out of frustration??? He did tell me that if I ask to speak to a Comcast employee they have to transfer me. Really?? And how many people know this??? I didn't know they weren't Comcast employees....the only thing I knew for sure is that they didn't know squat and that's exactly what they were giving....less than squat!!!

Okay....seriously.....though...after finally solving this problem the guy asked me if I wanted to upgrade to the next package for an exra 15 a month. I would get a gift card for $25 to do so....and if I only kept it a month and then canceled I would be $10 ahead.....! I told him I wasn't making any decisions on any upgrades or anything right now...that I would be weighing all the options (I just hope he knew I meant with them as well as AT&T) before I make any decisions! Of course, I had just upgraded our internet in December and was supposed to get a $20 gift card from them.....haven't seen it yet!!! I guess the department that did the upgrade to my internet....a communications service....forgot to communicate with the department handing out the gift cards!!! So....right now...I am waiting for the best deal that won't cost me more...promise me more or give me more squat!!! I think I will be waiting for a long long time!!! Till then I will watch on demand movies...(if I can find any I want to watch) and let everyone I know who is going through the digital migration to ask for a Comcast employee right away. It will be interesting how this whole digital migration thing plays out!!!

Digital Migration Round 2, 3 or 4....truly I have lost track!

So...the saga of the cable continues. I have exchanged the digital box, I have called them numerous times and we still do not have On Demand and now our channel guide doesn't seem to know what's on. On most channels it just reads "To be announced!" Yeah...like they are going to announce it later.......I am pretty sure I can just go to the channel myself and find out what's on before any announcement will be made! At any rate....I never subscribed to digital cable because I never wanted to deal with that box in the first place, but due to digital migration I will be forced to use this annoying contraption in order to receive service. So....I think it's only fair that if Comcast wants to force this on us.....then they ought to be getting their ducks in a row and get the bugs worked out of this stuff....and if enough people complain...maybe they will actually do something about it before the digital migration is complete. Let's see.....one lady told me we didn't have On Demand capability in our area.....this week end a guy told me it could take up to 24 hours to complete the programming on the box....(just his way of not dealing with it) and today....the lady I spoke with thought I was located in Beverly Hills California.....maybe that's why they can't get it right....they don't even know where we are calling from....how can they fix the problem??? Any way.....they can't and didn't! While she did what she was "programmed" to do it became obvious that nothing she knew to do was going to work....! So...she put me on hold for a second time and went to talk to someone else in another dept. Now I ask you...if there is someone else who knows more than these so called customer service techies with the little manual in front of them....why not just have them field the calls in the first place???? It may have actually gotten taken care of....before we got disconnected! No I didn't call them back...they have my phone number and if they have anything new to tell me....they could have called me back! I will be calling them again...but this time instead of calling their troubleshooting hot line....I will call customer service and see if they know anything more!!! I doubt it, but from what I've experienced....they can't possibly know less!!!!!