digital retrograde

September, 2005 [Reset]

Yeah, I know, no updates. I'm fine, honest. New job, new living arrangements, it fell off my radar screen. I may try something different.. shortly.

9/29/2005 12:11 PM

Musings

9/14/2005 9:40 AM

Photo

Big Changes

The deafening silence is bad, I know. I started a new job today and had a ton of stuff thrown at me. I moved back in at my parent's house after a couple of years of living on my own. It's going to be an adjustment, if mostly because I can't play Battlefield 2 on the internet connection here. (Can't even use Google maps...) If I can get past that, I think I'll be okay.

Saturday night some friends joined me in celebrating my escape from my previous job. We hit a pub, then a karaoke bar. Drank quite a bit. I ran out of cash and found out my bank doesn't have a branch in town.

I think I'll be okay.

9/12/2005 7:20 AM

Musings

Progress

I've been stricken with "short timer" syndrome. Two work days left at the current job, then I get to start all over on Monday.

In the meantime, if you know who Bolo is (or even if you don't), here's "The Amazing Adventures of Bolo". (It's a text-based adventure game.)

9/8/2005 10:55 AM

Life

9/3/2005 6:04 AM

Photo

Hot Wind

Normally it takes some time for a disaster to sink in and the political finger pointing to begin. Not this time... (From Chrenkoff)

Robert F Kennedy Jr suggests God is punishing those who scuttled the Kyoto Agreement:

"As Hurricane Katrina dismantles Mississippiâ€™s Gulf Coast, itâ€™s worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol and kiboshing President Bushâ€™s iron-clad campaign promise to regulate CO2..."

I'm sure you'll hear more of this in the future.

So why was I thinking of starting a movement against giving aid to the stricken areas?

Because these are red states. They voted for Bush. These ninnies obviously wanted these policies, and they deserve to live with the consequences of their votes.

After this the author decides the victims might be worth helping out after all -- they're poor so they probably voted for Kerry.

Islamic extremists rejoiced in America's misfortune, giving the storm a military rank and declaring in Internet chatter that "Private" Katrina had joined the global jihad, or holy war. With "God's help," they declared, oil prices would hit $100 a barrel this year.

Wow, Katrina doesn't sound like your typical terrorist. Maybe profiling isn't such a good idea after all.

9/2/2005 9:48 AM

Musings

My Adventures With Charter Comm.

So about two months ago I broke down and got cable. Internet, TV, Tivo, whole deal. Not a bad price, they came and hooked it up right away. I gave them my debit card number, had them sign me up for "AutoPay", and figured that was the end of it. Clearly, this was my mistake.

Cable modem works great. Low pings, lots of bandwidth. I'm able to mow down people with my M85A1 like never before. Way better than DSL.

DVR unit broke down a few weeks later, they came and fixed it right away. Still happy with the service. Recording shows makes my life much easier.

Three weeks ago I get a bill saying I was past payment, late charges and all. I called up and got them to take the late charge off this being my first bill and all. I was still signed up for "AutoPay", next billing cycle was Sept 1. They didn't charge when I signed up like they said they would, surely this time around they'll get the whole balance.

Monday the cable went off. I call up, they tell me I'm past due. I already know that, I try to explain, it was because they didn't charge me when they should have. At this point I'm pleading with them to charge my account and I verify that they have my card number. "No problem", they tell me, "it'll charge on Sept. 1" They kindly turn the cable back on.

Yesterday I pull up my bank account. Nothing from Charter. Hmm. Maybe the system takes some time to work.

Today the cable is out again. I call up, they tell me I'm past due. They tell me today is the last day I have to pay my delinquent charge or someone will come and physically unplug the cable.

It turns out that I have to pay "once or twice" before payments start to be made automatically, which fails to alleviate my confusion since my bill proclaims "AutoPay" and gives me a date for billing.

I go to their ponderously slow website to enter my account information and start the signup process so I can give them the money myself. The signup fails with a disconnection -- but better yet there's javascript to keep me from re-submitting my information. I open up a different browser, start over, and this time halfway through the process it fails with a "Enterprise Java Beans Exception -- NORECORDFOUND".

Well, I have to do this today so the one thing left to try is their phone payment system. I dial it up. 1-1-3-1-1-7-9-4-3-#. I tell the system I want to pay with a Visa and I give the exact amount. Press pound.

Then someone answers.

Turns out the system isn't automated at all. We verify I know the billing address and the last 4 digits of my social security number. But even though the account already has my debit card info associated with it, I still have to give that to her.

So there, I managed to accomplish what the rep assured me would happen automatically two months ago. It only took two 'soft' disconnections, 5 calls to customer support, 2 late fees and a boatload of hassle. All because they wouldn't charge me like they said they would.

Through all this, the cable modem didn't miss a beat. Always connected. So there you have it: Charter. When it works, it's great.

It's a shame I'm moving out at the end of next week and have to cancel the service anyways.

Technorati Tags: cable, Charter, service, hassle

9/2/2005 1:45 AM

Musings

Name
URL

Name
URL

Name
URL

Name
URL