SBC/Ameritech—or whatever they're called now—has really pissed me off. I haven't recieved my last two bills—which are supposed to be sent electronically. Anyway, the bills hadn't shown up for the past couple of months (May & June) via e-mail. I didn't notice in May that I hadn't paid the bill. Normally I rely on getting the bill to remind me of it and when it never showed up, it just slipped my mind. Well, I didn't get a June bill electronically either, but I got an invoice-looking envelope (SBC's bills come in a very distinct envelope) from them around the June 20th. I assumed this was my June bill, so put it aside to pay after I get paid this Friday. Granted, I should open all my mail the day it comes in, but the majority of the stuff I get is junk mail and unless the letter jumps out at me that it needs my attention, I'll open everything up later on.
Anyway, SBC decided to disconnect my home phone Monday night because I hadn't paid the bills—which was essentially just one month missed, May (since the June bill isn't due yet.) I can see shutting off service if I've gone months without paying, but the bare minimum that a phone company should do is to call you to warn you of disconnect service.
So, anyway, SBC wants like a $36 service fee to re-activate the account. I told them that while I certainly should have noticed not getting a bill, them not calling me before disconnect was extremely bad customer service. My response from them was "How do we know that a billing problem has occurred if you don't call us?" Well, my answer to that would be, "Well, the fact that a customer under good standings suddenly didn't pay his bills." That's really besides the point, the bare minimum they should have done is called and left a message—a machine calling would have been fine. If it would have been flagged to my attention, I would have called them immediately.
First off, this weekend was awesome! I'm going to back date my entries for each day. So, you'll want to look backwards through the log to find out what happened each day. This may be against "blogging" standards, but this is my blog, and it's the way I want the entries in. (Plus I tend to be long winded, so it makes sense to me to break the entries up.)
I tried to put as many links to the pictures I took as possible. Hopefully each link is to a unique picture. Also make sure to check out the My Photo Album for all the pictures. There are some really good ones that I haven't linked to. I should be getting back the .35mm pictures Jenn took as well, so there's 3 more rolls of film to post! Oh yeah, and there are also some new Quicktime movies that I posted from the trip.
Ok, I got all the pictures (and Quicktime movies) taken with my digital camera posted from our weekend trip. We've got some more pictures getting developed that Jenn took with her 35mm camera. We should have those pictures tomorrow night. I'm writing up the synopsis of the trip and will post it in the next 24 hours.
In the meantime, go see what Jenn had to say about our weekend trip on her blog.
NOTE:Ok, I got my notes on the trip completed. I back-dated the entries so they'll appear under the current entry.
We both slept in on Sunday. I don't think either of us wanted to get up, because then we knew we'd have to pack up to go home. Maddie didn't even want to get out of bed. We ended up getting up just before 9am. We ended up having bagels for breakfast.
After breakfast, I played my GBA for a bit—while Jenn was packing. She was nice enough to get all the packing done—she even ended up packing up most of the car as well. What a girlfriend, huh? :)
Anyway, we took some pictures of the area around the cabin, and then called Dan & Darlene to let them know we were checking out. I think we left the cabin right around 11am.
I ended up waking up about 6:30am on Saturday. I didn't intend to wake up that early, but Maddie had to go to the bathroom and she was afraid of the stairs—not only did she have problems with traction (the stairs were slick,) but they also had no vertical back, so I don't think she could really see the stairs.
I debated going back to bed, but decided I'd make pancake batter now—that way it had time to rise. Maddie and I sat on the couch for a bit after I made the batter. I realized then that I hadn't brought syrup, but fortunately we had plenty of jams & jellies from our trip to Bob Evans the night before. After letting the batter rise for about 20 minutes, I started cooking the sausage and pancakes. Once I got that all cooked, I went upstairs and woke Jenn up. I then made the eggs—Jenn wanted "over easy" and I made scrambled eggs for myself.
After breakfast we decided to head to Cedar Falls. Since the day was supposed to be nice (and the nicest day in a couple of months down in region,) we figured we better get an early start on the day. Since it was still pretty chilly, we put jeans on, packed up the car and headed to Cedar Falls.
Ok, we got to the Log Cabin around 6:30pm. The trip was fairly uneventful, except I turned into the wrong campgrounds at first. (I thought Darlene told me to turn left at the sign, but she told me right, then left. What can I say, I didn't write it down and I talked to her on Monday.) Taking the wrong turn allowed us to get up and personal with a doe that was eating grass in the gravel road. The hills up that driveway were pretty steep to—I bottomed out a couple of times.
When we got to the cabin, Jenn & I unloaded the car and I headed into the City of Logan to find a grocery store—I wanted to pick up some eggs, milk and some alcohol. On the way back, I stopped at Bob Evans and got us dinner. We had planned to pick food up for dinner, and Bob Evans sounded better than fast food.
Maddie spent the remainder of the evening exploring the area around the cabin. I let her run free since there wasn't anything around. She never left view of the cabin, which is why I continued to let her run free all weekend. I think she had a blast exploring.
Ok, this web site really ticks me off. I think I'll hire Johnny Cochron to sue the guy—just like how Spike Lee is suing Spike TV over the use of the name "Spike." I don't know about you, but the first thing I think about when I hear the name "Dan Switzer" is me (or maybe my dad, or grandpa—we all share the same name, but that's besides the point.) I definitely don't think of this dude at all. Johnny Cochron, SHOW ME THE MONEY!
Ok, hopefully you caught on to my sarcasim here. The whole Spike Lee thing is such a stupid lawsuit. He's trying up the court systems for a completely frivious law suit. That really irritates me to no end.
Seriously, I do hate that website, it makes the "Dan Switzer's" of the world not look not so good at web design. :)
Well, today's starting off a beautiful day outside. The skies are blue and clear and it looks like it'll be a warm, sunny day out—a great way to start a weekend vacation! I'm a little sleepy today, I was up until past 1am doing laundry. Any more that's really late for me.
I'm leaving work a little early today to try to finish packing and getting everything ready to go. I'd like to stop and get a pair of shoes for hiking, but I may skip that if time is short. I don't *need* new shoes, but I'd rather not ruin my good tennis shoes walking in the water and mud. Also, I talked to my neighbors and they're keeping a watch on the house for me.
I also finally got to cutting the grass yesterday. In the past 10 days, it's either been raining, to wet to cut, I haven't been home until too late, or Chemlawn showed up to spray the grass. (How come it always seems Chemlawn shows up the day you plan on cutting the grass?)
I was hoping to post this early, but I've been extremely busy at work lately. Anyway, we had band practice again last night. We hadn't played in two weeks, because Todd had a cold. We're definitely getting better by leaps and bounds—but I can definitely tell the difference when we miss a week of practice. I've really got to work on Van Halen's Panama though, that's definitely the tune that gives me the biggest problem.
Well this afternoon I booked a cabin down in the Hocking Hills area (in Logan, OH) at a place called Acorn Acres.
I've never been there—I found the place on the web. The lady I talked to sounded nice enough though, and it had the ammendities Jenn & I were looking for. We've been talking about trying to get away for the weekend and this place seems to fit the bill. The cabin does allow for dogs, so we're taking Maddie. I was hoping to find a cabin right on the water, but Lake Logan is supposed to be just down the road, so hopefully we can take her swimming there. If not, there are several other lakes in the area, including Lake Hope.
The place is supposed to only be a couple of miles from Old Man's Cave—which is a place I've always wanted to visit, but just never gotten around to it. I definitely think we'll get there either Saturday or Sunday—provided the weather isn't horrible. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this weekend. I've been needing a mini-vacation.
Well, another weekend's over—sometimes I wish weekends were longer than 2 days. :) Anyway, didn't do much on Saturday, did a little bit of yard work, but my lawn was drenched, so I didn't want to mow the grass. Just walking through the yard you'd see small splashes of water with each step. Unfortunately, it's crappy outside again, so I doubt I'll be able to cut the grass tonight either. (We're supposed to have band practice tonight, and I wouldn't have to time to cut the grass if we jam anyway, so I guess that's good.) I watched a couple of MLS Soccer games, but that was pretty much the extent of my day. :)
I didn't get much sleep Saturday night. Someone in the neighborhood was having a party and at 4am they were still blasting—let me tell you, it was loud too, way too loud for 4am and being outside. I almost yelled something at them when I let Maddie out to go potty at 4am, and then I realized what an old geezer I'd become and decided just to go inside. The sad part is, I think the lady holding the party is 5-10 years older than I am. I hope I don't become an old miser. :)
Anyway, since I didn't get much sleep I ended up sleeping in too late and missed breakfast w/my parents and grandparents. I was supposed to meet them at Northwood Hill CC in Springfield at 9:30, and didn't wake up until 9:18. Thankfully, Jenn came in the room and woke me up, otherwise who knows when I would have gotten up.
Ok, as you can see in my list of blogs in the nav bar, Jenn's decided she's going to join the blogging world. :) She set her blog up this morning on blog*spot and I tweaked her template a bit this afternoon. So, if you're interest in the world of my girlfriend, make sure to check out Jenn's Blog.
Robi's had a couple of good posts on his blog site as of late (well, he normally has good stuff on there, I recommend reading his blog daily.) Make sure to at least read the following couple of blog entries:
More on the missing 727 from Angola
More Commentary from G (about current life in Baghdad)
MoveOn.org Email Cause Me To Opine
Ok, so yesterday was an interesting day. At 2:42pm I get a call from Jenn. She apparently was walking to ladies bathroom at work and bumped into the fire extinguisher on the wall and fell of and hit her square on the right foot. I took off from work to pick her up and take her to the ER. Fortunately, she works at a medical supply chain, so they were able to lend her some crutches on the spot.
We went from her work straight to St. Anne's ER room. They weren't terribly busy and we only waited like 45 minutes before getting back called back for the exam. The hospital did all there paperwork and then they wheeled her back to take the X-Ray. Fortunately, I had my Gameboy Advance SP with me, so I just played for the couple minutes it took for them to take the X-Ray.
Fortunately it doesn't look like she broke anything, although we've yet to hear back from the radiologist to confirm the ER doctors initial findings. They told Jenn to stay home from work until Tuesday and just to try to stay off of it as much as she can. They also gave her some Percocet to ease the pain. She seemed to be doing ok this afternoon, but the last time I talked to her she had just taking some Percocet, so she sounded pretty tired (and she was getting ready to take a nap.)
Well surfing last night—to see if there's a way to tell how much battery life is left in my GBA SP—I came across this Uncle Clive's website—which is dedicated to gaming, with an emphasis on classic gaming.
I especially got a kick out of this old TV commericial:
I'm
about to show you something new for
Intellivision which will revolutionise the way videogames are played
and compared.
There's also a link to a game called Super Mario Pac—which was developed by Matt Verran of Hermit Games after seeing a spoof game that was on Uncle Clive's website a while back.