A case of the blahgs

Monday, January 21, 2008 at 10:33 am (Writing by Ear)
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A friend of mine recently added Writing by Ear to her “blogroll” — a list of blogs and sites she likes to visit. I’m flattered and have been wanting to return the favor, especially because I read her blog, Melmoirs, all the time. Hers is one of only two blogs I read regularly (the other one, One Woman Show, is by an acquaintance I met once at the writer’s group I belong to).

Since two doesn’t make much of a blogroll, I decided to see if there were others out there I liked enough to visit regularly. First, I searched for topics I’m interested in.

I love cottage decor — and so do lots of other people — but not one of the blogs I looked at made me want to come back again. A couple had music I couldn’t turn off, which turned me off. A couple had pictures of the writer’s 5 or 6 cats — I love cats, we have 2, but not when it borders on crazy-cat-lady-ness. A few had very flowery, victoriana kinds of things, many, many sites about scrapbooking, pictures of various projects around the house; they just didn’t hold my interest.

I tried searching out gardening blogs; still haven’t found a favorite. Sad truth: Seeing other people’s beautiful gardens makes me feel a little jealous, rather than inspired. I need to get mine a little farther along before I can enjoy looking at someone else’s successes.

Speaking of, I know a couple of “professional” sites (HGTV and Better Homes & Gardens) let you upload pictures of your rooms/decor at home and get other viewers’ feedback or ratings. I can’t think of anything I want to do less! Like I don’t get enough critique of my professional work every day, I need perfect strangers critiquing my house too?! I looked at a few of these — nobody ever seems to say, “Beautiful” or “Great job.” It’s always, “The color is wrong,” “The blah-de-blah is too big or small,” “Did you think about doing….” Everyone is a designer/critic. (Thank you sir, may I have another?)

Anyway, back to the blogs. I did a random search next, which my blog host, WordPress, makes really easy: Click a button and it will randomly pull up blogs — one after another, endlessly. Very interesting! Among the randoms…

  • Student blogs, most of which started with, “Yes, I should be studying….”
  • Knitting blogs, lots of ’em. I know this is a hot, hot hobby. My niece makes really beautiful things. But, not something I do, so moving on…
  • A fashion blog from a teen or young 20-something where she showed pictures of herself in her outfit du jour.
  • Japanese animé blogs — I’d see those big-eyed kids and that was enough, so too with the fantasy gamer sites.
  • Moms-wanting-to-connect-blogs (who can blame them!). I can sympathize (I have lots of friends with young kids), but not really something I’d seek out regularly.
  • A woman battling bipolar syndrome (made me say a quick, “thank you, God”).
  • Same with the woman battling cancer.
  • Family blogs, clearly only of interest to a select few, and that’s OK!
  • Blogs I didn’t stay on long enough to find out what they were about because the first sentence or two was peppered with a WTF or other f%#$-ing reference. Get a vocabulary! 
  • A student/aerial performer (I saw pictures of her Cirque du Soleil-like shows).
  • Somthing called “Teen News Network,” which seemed to have regular news stories (not sure what was “teen” about it, except the name. Maybe a case of “know your niche?”)

So, out of my quick, half-hour search, I didn’t find anything. It makes me a little worried. Am I too boring? Too narrow-minded? Too judgmental? Not interested in enough? 

I’ll keep looking. Of the 60 million blogs out there, there has to be something. I just haven’t hit upon any kindred spirits yet.

Or maybe the key is I have to know the person to feel connected (I know the vast majority of the people who read my blog know me). So, friends and family, how ’bout starting up your own blogs, so I can have more favorites to read (and add to my blogroll)!?

After all, when you come right down to it,
how many people speak the same language
even when they speak the same language?
                                     ~ Russell Hoban

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Comcast Rip-off

Friday, January 18, 2008 at 12:17 pm (Writing by Ear)
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 Special Note 2: Happy surprise — when I received my latest bill, it seems I was credited for the entire $51 ($50.96) I was owed. So, in the end, Comcast did the right thing and made good on its error. So I give them kudos for that. I just wish it hadn’t been so difficult to get them to do the right thing.  

Special Note: I was just about to post this when I received a call from a third person at Comcast (Victoria) telling me they are refunding me $33 (11 months of the extra $3 charge). I don’t understand how they arrived at this amount, since I’ve been paying the extra for 19 months, but I guess I’m happier because it’s more than the $18 I was getting back originally. But still, it’s not quite there, is it. So read on, and learn from my mistake.

I’m sad to have to blog about something as mundane as getting ripped off by the cable company (it’s so cliché). But hey, venting is good for the blood pressure, if not actually for the soul.

In yesterday’s bill, I found an extra sheet outlining the current costs for various services and the new costs because, of course, Comcast is raising rates yet again (who can keep track of how often this happens?). Seems I should be paying $42.95 for my high-speed Internet service, but for some reason, my bill lists $45.95. Nothing itemized — just a flat $45.95.

So I call customer service, and they quickly discern that I am being charged a $3 modem rental fee every month. (This $3 fee is listed on the rate sheet in a separate column with many other “High-Speed Internet Installation & Other Services.”) Funny thing, I have never rented a modem from Comcast, I’ve owned my own modem for oh, 8 or 9 years or so, I was not charged this fee by Comcast at my last house, but suddenly it appeared on my bill and has been there for the last year and a half. I didn’t notice it sooner because I had a special “deal” with digital cable for the first 6 months we lived here. When that ended, the $33.95/month I was paying jumped to $45.95. Again, no itemization that the basic charge was $42.95 plus a $3 tack-on for the mystery modem — an extra I would have noticed and called about immediately.

So, here I am, expecting a full credit for 19 months of their mistake and am told by a lovely customer service rep that Comcast is only required to go back 6 months for a refund. I was told the same thing by the supervisor I insisted on speaking with, who actually had the audacity to try to upsell me to get Comcast phone service as well! Good job, Yolanda, I’m sure your bosses are proud of you. I, however, am thinking DSL sounds pretty damn good right now.

I suggested (a bit heatedly) to Yolanda that Comcast itemize these charges so people know what they’re being charged for. She assured me they’d take my suggestion under consideration. (I’m sure she’s tapping out an e-mail to her powers-that-be about that very thing right now — because that’s what people do, right? They listen to their customers, they try to solve problems, they believe the customer is always right? HA HA HA)

Hey, I get it. Having to actually tell customers what you’re charging them for would defeat the whole profit in being able to easily rip them off.

I’m not an ignorant person, I’m pretty vigilant about checking bills and so forth, but somehow I missed this the last time the rate cards came out. So, my $36 loss is Comcast’s $36 gain. Caveat emptor for sure.

Have you checked your cable bill lately? (I hear FIOS is pretty awesome…)

You can fool all the people all the time if
the advertising is right and the budget is big enough. 
                                         ~ Joseph E. Levine

18 Comments

Hands down

Thursday, January 17, 2008 at 11:37 am (Smile Lines, Youngest of Seven)
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lotions1.jpgI’m wondering, why, when I have this many creams and lotions to choose from (including several new additions thanks to Christmas), my hands are still painfully dry. 

Yes, it’s winter, and probably not drinking enough water and too much hand-washing are to blame (drink more, pee more, wash hands more — it’s a vicious circle). But why the heck are they looking so old? They were fine up until a couple years ago and then ugh — lines and wrinkles instead of smooth, firm skin. I read that Zsa-Zsa Gabor (or maybe Eva) always wore a hat and gloves in the sun because the hands and face will give away your age before anything else. Smart lady!

Because my mom was older (45) when I was born, her hands always looked old to me. Broad fingers, thready blue-green veins I loved to squish, never any “nails” to speak of, arthritis already beginning to thicken the joints, loose skin, but always very soft. I can still remember how comforting they were and the smell of the Aquamarine lotion she used. I can remember those hands throwing coats over us in bed on really cold nights (we lived in a big old drafty house — the metal bed actually trembled a little in the wind). And painfully brushing and braiding my long hair until I finally cut it off in 5th grade. And soothing my frequent coughs with Vicks and an old piece of woolen cloth she’d warm up before laying it on my chest. And working, always working — scrubbing, dusting, laundry, cooking, paying bills, praying (lots of that) — just what you’d expect for a mom of 7.

My hands don’t really look like hers — yet — but the first signs are there. Of course, they haven’t seen nearly the work hers have — haven’t raised 7 babies or fed load after load through a wringer washer and hung them outside to dry or washed endless dishes (no dishwasher) or scrubbed second- and third-story windows while perched precariously on the sill (legs inside, body outside) or prayed thousands of rosaries.

Come to think of it, they’re beautiful hands. I should be so lucky.

If evolution really works, how come
mothers only have two hands? 
                      ~ Milton Berle

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