Last night my cable went out. Not all the way- there's still a sort of picture, but it's covered with static and moves up and down constantly. And the sound is crazy.

ALSO since it was installed there has been an "HD technology" fee on my bill. I don't have anything HD. At all. For a TV, I have a giant boulder-like remnant of the days when television sets were three dimensional. It does not have HD picture. Anyways, you know me, and it took me a while to call them to actually remedy the billing issue. The person I spoke to recognized that that charge is bogus and shouldn't be there and offered to credit it to my account for the past three months. I've had Comcast for four months now. So what about the charge from the first month? "I'm sorry ma'am, it's just our policy not to go back further than that, and plus, you could have told us about it earlier." True, BUT.

I will explain to you why this ticked me off so much. First, don't tell me it's "just policy". Explain to me please the reason for this policy. Tell me your computer system locks out refunds past three months. Anything, give me a good reason. The claim that "it's just policy" is just a way for you to sound official when you really have no idea why things are the way they are. Second, it REALLY chapped my hide (or cooked my grits) that he would place the blame on me. REALLY, it's my fault that you've been over-charging me for four months? It's my fault that, even though I told the woman I spoke to when first setting up the account that I DID NOT WANT HD service, because I don't have anything that can show HD picture, the man who came to install the box etc... installed the *wrong* box, which caused me to be charged the wrong fee?


Yes, I waited a while to call and rectify the issue because I AM BUSY. But it is not my fault that there is a breakdown of communication within your organization, nor that your personnel are somehow simultaneously incompetent AND patronizing.

UGH. I wish there was something I could type (or, like, a font size or something) that could adequately express the depth of my frustration.

Anyways, his solution for the billing issue was that I have the wrong box, so I need to take it to the office and exchange it. Which thing I cannot do ASAP because someone is coming tomorrow night to hopefully solve the reception issues. (at least, I can't take it because then I would have to hook up a new box and if the issue persisted what if it was because of something I did? I want the technician to take a look at it and see it exactly as it was when it went out, and as it has been since then.)

Now that THAT'S over with...

Fail

So I'm confused by this. I was looking for a definition of ectomorph, and the Merriam-Webster site came up as one of the results. "Well, that's a well-known name in the field of dictionaries" I thought to myself, and clicked. But there is a problem. Could someone PLEASE tell me where the definition is on this page (and no, it wasn't in the scrolldown, i promise)?

OMG.

To quote a very wise young man, "Why is this happening to me?! Is this real life???"

Please, visit this website to find out why I am SO concerned. And it's a very real, appalled and stunned kind of concerned. Not fake concern.

Bored.

So I just started reading Brisingr, the third installment in Cristopher Paolini's cracked out "Inheritance Trilogy."

Yes, I have a penchant for silly fantasy books, and a weird compulsive aspect to my personality that demands that I finish every book I begin, no matter how terrible. In this case, that also extends to subsequent books in a series.

Anyways, my first complaint is that the book is much to large. I don't need 748 pages of Tolkien larceny. Mostly because it doesn't fit very well in my bag. It fits so poorly, in fact, that when I'm carrying it on my shoulder, the book stabs my shoulder blade. and no alternate arrangement of purse contents alleviates the pain.

Secondly, "grimstnzborith" is not a word, nor is it feasible as a word in any made up language. Ever. You are not Tolkien (who is still recognized as the pre-eminent linguist and philologist of his day) so stop trying to be.

And my last complaint- I've only made it through the first 5 pages so far...but there's something horribly Chronicles of Riddick about the opening pages (i.e. people who mutilate themselves as an act of worship...to some crazy, dark being). It's creepy. And still not even written well at all. I think one of the things that has kept me reading this series was the hope that as he aged, Paolini's writing would as well- become more mature, and much more subtle. Alas, it has not happened. I still feel as though I'm reading a fanfic by some 15 year old obsessed with Robert Jordan, Raymond E. Feist, and Tad Williams. And Tolkien. Ostensibly.