X & Y
As I start to get my clothes together for a trip down to Houston for my grandfather's passing, I can't help but reflect on the past couple of weeks here in Syracuse. Much has happened since I last blogged on the Musings, though, thanks to peanutheads at Time Warner Cable, I haven't had the internet access necessary for me to discuss it all. (More on that in a little bit) For starters, I moved to a new place, which makes my old apartment look like a dump. I registered for some summer classes and for a film project that's going to grant me the credits I need to get out of here in the Fall. I started strengthening some old friendships and started some new ones. And, finally, the big news: I cut my hair. That's right folks. After a little over a year, dating back to May 15, 2004, I finally decided it was time to move on with my life and get a haircut. Few people understood the significance of growing my hair, and as of this moment, I'm not completely ready to discuss the symbolism behind it, but what I will say is that the "phase" is over. Good 'ol Ray is back, people. Halle-fucking-lujah. :-)
So, as far as the new apartment is concerned, it's cool, but it certainly has its growing pains. It's taken me about two weeks to start unpacking everything that i had from the other place. See, after dealing with having a crapload of stuff in my room for the past couple of years, I've decided that for this new place, I want to maintain a minimalist look to it, especially in my bedroom. So, I'm having difficulty finding ways of storing all of the crap I have in such a way that no one will notice its there, but so far, that's proving to be one of the more difficult things I've ever done. As Apple's award-winning designer, Jonathan Ive, always says, "It's so difficult to make something look simple" And that's definitely the case with all my stuff, especially all the computer equipment I have. I have freaking wires up the freaking wazoo in that room, and it just doesn't vibe. So, my task for this summer is to find an inexpensive solution to making my room look airy, simple, and fresh.
One of the cooler developments in this new place is that I got this dishwasher that my landlord simply told me to disregard, to actually work. I've never had a dishwasher before, so this is definitely exciting news. For those of ya'll wondering how the hell I've never had a dishwasher before, please keep in mind that I'm from New York City...we don't have dishwashing machines in our apartments unless we happen to live by Central Park. It was a weird experience operating that thing for the first time. I didn't know what to expect, and was kind of fearing that the machine itself was going to explode and create the Niagara Falls in my kitchen or something, but alas, everything went without a hitch. Plus, in conjunction with my dishwasher, my dear momma got me a new Sony TV to chill in my living room. It's freaking awesome. Now, I can jack people in "Grand Theft Auto" in high-fidelity color. :-)
So, I mentioned before how I hadn't been blogging earlier because of a lack of internet access, right? Well, like I said, blame that all on the tools at Time Warner. Making a long story short, basically, after I was told that my internet service, "would just transfer automatically from (my) old apartment and into the new one, provided ( I ) keep the equipment," I was forced to endure this horrible span of two weeks where Time Warner disconnected my internet service at the new place and forced me to schedule a "reconnection appointment." Two weeks later, they come over hours after they said they would, called me while I was working at the 'Fucks, and asked in a bewildered tone, "Where are you? We're at your front door." What follows is a word for word dialogue while dealing with these pricks.
"Well, I'm not there anymore because I was forced to go to work. You're three hours late for your appointment."
"Well, sir, according to our records, our appointment was in the afternoon and not in the morning. If you're not here, we're going to have to reschedule another appointment for next week."
"Look, whatever. Why can't you just do what you have to do without me being there? You don't need to do any work inside my apartment. I have all the equipment and all the wiring. You just need to connect the cable right at the telephone pole outside of my house on the corner."
"Well, sir, we need your permission."
This is where I start to act like a smart ass.
"You need my permission? Well, I'm giving it to you now. You called me, I'm telling you to connect it."
"Well, we need your signature to operate on the pole."
"So, you need my permission for the pole?"
"Yes sir, that is correct."
"Don't you guys own that pole?"
"Uhh, yes, we do, sir."
"Okay, then, if that's the case, then how can I give YOU permission to operate on something that isn't even mine?"
"Uhh...let me connect you to my supervisor. Hold on."
Some young sounding guy got on the phone and explained to me that despite the sheer stupidity of the situation, it was Time Warner policy to be this way. He told me that I had little choice but to sign some paperwork in their main office to grant the cable people "permission" to do their job. I finally obtained full internet access on Thursday. TWC pro-rated their fees to not include charges from the past 2 and a half weeks in an agreement that I made with them, and they also agreed to cut my monthly rate in half for the rest of the year.
All this crap, just for a simple connection where you plug cable X into slot Y.
Then again, one can argue the same thing about sex. :-)
. . . . . . . . .
I'll be updating over the next couple of days. I leave for Houston on Monday afternoon and come back to Cuse on Sunday evening.
So, as far as the new apartment is concerned, it's cool, but it certainly has its growing pains. It's taken me about two weeks to start unpacking everything that i had from the other place. See, after dealing with having a crapload of stuff in my room for the past couple of years, I've decided that for this new place, I want to maintain a minimalist look to it, especially in my bedroom. So, I'm having difficulty finding ways of storing all of the crap I have in such a way that no one will notice its there, but so far, that's proving to be one of the more difficult things I've ever done. As Apple's award-winning designer, Jonathan Ive, always says, "It's so difficult to make something look simple" And that's definitely the case with all my stuff, especially all the computer equipment I have. I have freaking wires up the freaking wazoo in that room, and it just doesn't vibe. So, my task for this summer is to find an inexpensive solution to making my room look airy, simple, and fresh.
One of the cooler developments in this new place is that I got this dishwasher that my landlord simply told me to disregard, to actually work. I've never had a dishwasher before, so this is definitely exciting news. For those of ya'll wondering how the hell I've never had a dishwasher before, please keep in mind that I'm from New York City...we don't have dishwashing machines in our apartments unless we happen to live by Central Park. It was a weird experience operating that thing for the first time. I didn't know what to expect, and was kind of fearing that the machine itself was going to explode and create the Niagara Falls in my kitchen or something, but alas, everything went without a hitch. Plus, in conjunction with my dishwasher, my dear momma got me a new Sony TV to chill in my living room. It's freaking awesome. Now, I can jack people in "Grand Theft Auto" in high-fidelity color. :-)
So, I mentioned before how I hadn't been blogging earlier because of a lack of internet access, right? Well, like I said, blame that all on the tools at Time Warner. Making a long story short, basically, after I was told that my internet service, "would just transfer automatically from (my) old apartment and into the new one, provided ( I ) keep the equipment," I was forced to endure this horrible span of two weeks where Time Warner disconnected my internet service at the new place and forced me to schedule a "reconnection appointment." Two weeks later, they come over hours after they said they would, called me while I was working at the 'Fucks, and asked in a bewildered tone, "Where are you? We're at your front door." What follows is a word for word dialogue while dealing with these pricks.
"Well, I'm not there anymore because I was forced to go to work. You're three hours late for your appointment."
"Well, sir, according to our records, our appointment was in the afternoon and not in the morning. If you're not here, we're going to have to reschedule another appointment for next week."
"Look, whatever. Why can't you just do what you have to do without me being there? You don't need to do any work inside my apartment. I have all the equipment and all the wiring. You just need to connect the cable right at the telephone pole outside of my house on the corner."
"Well, sir, we need your permission."
This is where I start to act like a smart ass.
"You need my permission? Well, I'm giving it to you now. You called me, I'm telling you to connect it."
"Well, we need your signature to operate on the pole."
"So, you need my permission for the pole?"
"Yes sir, that is correct."
"Don't you guys own that pole?"
"Uhh, yes, we do, sir."
"Okay, then, if that's the case, then how can I give YOU permission to operate on something that isn't even mine?"
"Uhh...let me connect you to my supervisor. Hold on."
Some young sounding guy got on the phone and explained to me that despite the sheer stupidity of the situation, it was Time Warner policy to be this way. He told me that I had little choice but to sign some paperwork in their main office to grant the cable people "permission" to do their job. I finally obtained full internet access on Thursday. TWC pro-rated their fees to not include charges from the past 2 and a half weeks in an agreement that I made with them, and they also agreed to cut my monthly rate in half for the rest of the year.
All this crap, just for a simple connection where you plug cable X into slot Y.
Then again, one can argue the same thing about sex. :-)
. . . . . . . . .
I'll be updating over the next couple of days. I leave for Houston on Monday afternoon and come back to Cuse on Sunday evening.
posted by djkibblesnbits at 11:30 AM
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3 Comments:
"All this crap, just for a simple connection where you plug cable X into slot Y.
Then again, one can argue the same thing about sex. :-)
Oops! Didn't mean to publish that without telling you I think that's hilarious.
I totally get the hair thing. I went without a haircut from 1991-1996. Of course, male pattern baldness set in and I decided balding guys with long hair look rather pathetic so I cut it.
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