And it’s working perfectly.
I always thought things happen for a reason. And in this case I’m pretty sure I know why.
The service appears a lot faster, and I couldn’t be happier!
Apr 302008
Apr 292008
As if my experience with American Express wasn’t bad enough, now I can’t believe Verizon is just as intransigent.
Lately I’ve been having problems with my wireless connection. It seems anytime I get more than 10 feet away from the router, my internet connection fades out, and connectivity is hit or miss. Mostly miss.
So I contact Verizon, and discover my wireless connection is only guaranteed for 10 feet or line of sight from the router.
THAT’S RIDICULOUS!
What’s the point of having a wireless connection, if you can’t get a connection anywhere in the house. Besides this has only been a problem for the past one or two months. I never had a problem connecting before. Incidentally this is on 3 different computers (including a brand new MAC), so I know it’s not a computer problem.
So anywaze, I contact Verizon, and I also discovered that the router is only warranted for one year.
SAY WHAT?
I never bought the router in the first place. It was included with the installation, which was free. But if I want another one, because this one is bad, it will cost $139 + tax.
What’s even more amazing is, I’m only 5 days past the warranty. So you would think Verizon would cut me some slack, and send out a new one at no charge, just to be nice guys, but noooooooooo, that is not the case.
I could cancel the service, and then sign up again, and they’ll install new service, including a new router, for no charge, costing them money and time. So why not just send me a new router, rather than piss off a valued customer.
That just was not to be. No amount of cajoling, begging, or even threatening to discontinue service would change anyone’s mind (and I talked to 4 different people).
So I just got off the phone with Charter Cable, and they are coming to install my new cable internet service tomorrow. How’s that for service?
And it’s half the price of my Verizon FIOS for the first six months, with no minimum time commitment. So after 6 months if I’m not happy with Charter, I’ll just switch back to Verizon.
I guess I’ll just never understand big business.
Apr 282008
I’m not sure if it’s the warmer weather we’re experiencing, the fact I had a great bike ride yesterday, or something else I can’t exactly put my finger on right now, but whatever the case, I didn’t experience the malaise, I have been experiencing for the past several months, this morning when I woke up.
When it was time to get up, I just got out of bed, and was pretty much ready to go.
Now I can only hope it will last!
Apr 272008
That was my intake of water on todays bike ride, and how much weight I lost after the ride was over.
That’s the most water I’ve drank, and weight I’ve lost on any 55 mile ride I can remember doing.
And here I was worried about a 4 pound weight loss in two days last week.
At least this time I know the reason. It was freakin’ hot, and the ride was exceptionally tough. I just never would have guessed I had that much excess water in me.
And now it’s time for a nap.
Apr 252008
And so far it’s mostly good news.
My creatinine (kidney function) and platelets are well within the normal range, as they always been, my LDH (Lactate Dehydrogenase) dropped to 112, which is about 20% lower than it has been for better than a year, and my hemoglobin has pretty much remained where it has been for the last two years, hovering around 12 g/dl.
My CBC (complete blood count) though is another story, and a bit confusing. My WBC (White Blood Cell) count was up [which is bad], and my absolute lymphocytes were down [which is good], but my monocytes were up [which is bad].
It seems, whenever an AUTO CBC (the machine does all the counting) is performed, the machine likes to count some of the lymphocytes as monocytes. At least that’s my opinion, because if my monocytes were really as high as indicated, I would be dealing with other issues, which I’m not.
But it doesn’t really matter so much anyways, since in either case, at worst my MCL is stable [which is a good thing].
So I think I’ve got a few good months [hopefully years] still left in me.
Apr 252008
It didn’t even take 5 days, for me to receive my first offer for a new American Express (AMEX) Starwood Preferred Guest credit card, since canceling the identical card Monday, because AMEX refused to give me a good will credit for the annual fee.
And not only is there no annual fee for the first year with this offer, they’re even going to give me 10,000 bonus points for signing up.
I only wish someone would explain to me why AMEX would do this? The logic certainly escapes me, but then again I’m only a metallurgical engineer, and not trained in the world of high finance.
I actually almost took the bait, but then I figured, why bother? Besides I’m sure I’ll get another offer in the mail again shortly.
Maybe they’ll even up the ante the next time. 
