Hmm. I didn't get that. Did you mean: Caveat Emptor?

If you've got AT&T, get rid of them. Banish them from your lives and walk into the light. They bill themselves as this great company with a tradition of customer service. My friends, let me tell you, the truth is that they are nothing of the kind. They're a bunch of creeps there who wouldn't give you the time of day if you worked in a watch factory.

"Hmm. I didn't get that. Did you mean: Bite Me?"

As frequent readers know, I've had some problems getting internet access in my new house. It's frustrating to not be able to access the internet. Oh sure, we've got a dial-up connection, but after years of high-speed, there's no way to go back. A dial-up connection now is like trying to live on a trickle of water when you can hear a river behind some inaccessible wall. You know there's more, so it's torture to try to subsist on what you can have.

"Hmm. I didn't get that. Did you mean: Sucker?"

Well, I finally called up AT&T today to scream and shout at them to fix my internet connection when I got Caitlin on the phone (after, of course, numerous voice prompts. And AT&T doesn't have the prompts where you 'Press One' or 'Press Two'. No, they have actual VOICE prompts. You SAY the option you wish to use. That's the most annoying thing because you can't even talk while you're trying to reach a live person. You have to stay quiet or the computerized woman's voice says something patronizing.

"Hmm. I didn't get that. Did you mean: Go to hell and die?"

Anyway, back to Caitlin. When I got to her I was prepared to scream at her, but she solved the problem instantly. When you disconnect service at one address, you have to call in to AT&T to re-register your service. It would have been nice to know this when I set up the move, rather than having to call in and listen to... HER:

"Hmm. I didn't get that. Did you mean: Spawn of Satan?"

Well, I'm going home tonight to set that up and it's going to be the last time I listen to that terrible AT&T woman. There has to be a better option than dealing with a company that has such obvious contempt for it's customers.

"Hmm. I didn't get that. Did you mean: Cable Modem?"

Exactly.

New Home

The wife and myself bought ourselves a new place to flop:

It's a good little place, about 100 years old and it shows in lots of little places. But, more importantly, it's the place that we can have our dog come live with us. He's been in foster care for the past few months while we've been looking for a house. Now we've got it, and he's going to be our puppy! It's very exciting!

Of course, the home search process was excruciating. We'd been looking since March of this year for a home that suited us. We had exacting standards; so much room, so many amenitites, this neighborhood but not that neighborhood. Not in the suburbs.

Honestly, that was my primary concern. I just didn't want to have to look for homes in Kansas or Independence or one of those other places that's so far from the city. I crave that excitement of being in the thick of things. I know a couple who bought a house way East. They don't come in to the city except when they absolutley cannot avoid it. Their horizons are trammelled, these formerly exciting people are now wholly different type of people: suburbanites!

Not that the suburbs are that bad, but I know that I wouldn't have any fun out there. We live in Hyde Park South, very near the Nelson and the Art Institute and the theatres on Main and the KC Rep. The cultural heart of the city is mere blocks away. When you get used to that, it'd be difficult to think about moving away. At least, for me.

Anyway, we got the house and after a few weeks of preparation, we're now moved in. It has been a rough couple of weeks before we moved, however. When you've lived in a place for six years, you accumulate quite a few things. When we packed up the apartment, there was a mountain of boxes in the living room and dining room; floor to ceiling, 10 x 8 feet square. That was something to see. I'd go to bed at night and listen to them groaning downstairs. We tiptoed around during the day in case we caused a boxalanche. That may not be a word to you, but when you live in fear of being buried in boxes, you get to make up a word for that fear.

The other issue that is bothering me about this move is the phone company. They are our provider of DSL access, a service that I've had for years. When I informed them of our impending move two weeks before we were supposed to move, they told me that everything would be ready on the day we moved. The phone and the DSL would be set up for us that day. Well, the phone was set up, but the DSL was nowhere to be found. When I contacted AT&T to find out what happened, they informed me that they had screwed up and not put through the transfers for both the phone and the DSL. It would be 10 days before we would have internet. This was just stupid! It's the press of a button! 10 days to get someone to push a button is just the most idiotic thing I'd ever heard. Well, after three phone calls I couldn't get them to push up the date, but I did get a free month of DSL. I'd rather have had the access at home all week, but it's better than nothing. The worst thing is that those three phone calls each took about an hour each. Why is it that companies that have these voice menus? All they do is make it harder to get service. I think the companies rely on people hanging up and not complaining for their profit margins. The worst thing is that I would have handled it via email, but without internet, there's no damn email! Ugh, the tech on the phone tried to tell me that I could still use dial-up internet. I told her I had no modem and she tried to tell me what a damn modem looks like. Here's my recommendation: if you have AT&T, get rid of them. They've got a dead technology that can't last too much longer. Get Time Warner Cable Modem. It's faster and you'll get more value and much easier tech support. Screw AT&T.