I am one of those people that tries to do this every day, but in case you didn’t know - this has been declared “International Blog Comment Week - Say something because you were there.”

So if you’re here - say something. It is an international holiday of sorts, after all. Come on, don’t be shy. It’s ok to jump in and speak up!

[via Bloggie Broad]

I love my TiVo. I really, really love my TiVo. I think everyone should have a TiVo (I have converted at least 10 people that I can think of to being TiVottes so far.) TiVo rocks.

The point of all of this? I am just giddy with glee to see that you can buy a refurbished 40 hour TiVo for $99 after rebate. The 80 hour TiVo is only $199.

TiVo rocks. Now you can have one too.

My life seems to revolve around appointments for service calls lately. The cable guy, the delivery of the fridge & the washing machine, the dryer delivery (they were backordered), the cable guy (who no-showed), the cable guy (who arrived between 2-4 as scheduled. Yeah!), and the delivery of a new fridge.

Yes, a new fridge. The first one had some relatively minor scratches on the front, but I knew they would bug me every time I looked at the fridge. Originally, they offered us a refund or a new fridge. We considered the refund, but then I realized just how much it would bug me, and the delivery of the new fridge was set up. We discovered later that the one we currently have has a tendency to turn off the fridge side every once in awhile - you will open up the door and the light won’t come on and you can tell it’s not running - so it seems we made the best decision after all.

Last night was yet another night of being wide awake way too late. Weeks on end now - I just can’t take it any more. I finally fell asleep somewhere around 4 am. At 8:30 am, the Best Buy delivery guys called to say they would be here in about 20 minutes. I was, of course, sound asleep. I ran around, got dressed, and emptied out the entire refrigerator, just in time for their arrival.

The delivery guy moved the current fridge away from the wall. He turned off the water line for the icemaker. He started to unscrew the water … and it started to spray everywhere. The water valve won’t turn off. Gah! I brought him towels, and he tried one more time - just in case he didn’t get it turned all the way off. No go. It still started to spray.

So the old fridge is still here, and now I have to wait for yet another service call - a plumber to put in a new valve! Then they will bring me back a new fridge. Really, does the fun ever end?

Last week I had to call information to get the phone number for the Newman Center where I was baptized at NDSU in Fargo, North Dakota. Now, I realize that Fargo is not a huge tourist attraction or anything like that. But the operator that I got had no clue at all.

Her: “What city please?”
Me: “Hi! Fargo, North Dakota. I need the number for the Newman Center at North Dakota State University.”
Her: “What city?”
Me: “Fargo, North Dakota.”
Her: “What city? (With an increasingly confused tone to her voice.)”
Me: “FAR-go. Fargo. F-a-r-g-o. North Dakota.”

She never had a clue what I was saying. She gave me the number for a Newman Center in some other state. Great, real help there. Fargo. There was even a movie named “Fargo,” so how hard can it be?

Last night was the big Tiara Happy Hour celebration to bring in Emily’s birthday today. As a very special treat, Mac came all the way to Houston to see Sarah and to celebrate with us in our shiny, sparkly tiaras.

It wasn’t as large of a turnout as we have had in the past, but I’m the type that likes that - I had more quality time to visit with everyone. It was a simply fabulous good time, and now it’s Emily’s birthday - we even had a countdown for her at midnight!

I’m still giddy about finally getting to meet Mac in person. Way, way giddy. And now I get to head to Austin for Julie’s wedding, which will be wonderful! I can’t wait!

We all have words that trip us up every time we go to use them. For me, it is definitely. I have to stop and think about it every time - it always seems like it should be “definately”. But I work hard to remember to spell it correctly.

That is the driving force behind my need to clear this up. Ridiculous. The word is not spelled “rediculous” - it is ridiculous. This drives me batty every time I see it, and I see it spelled incorrectly a lot.

Ridiculous.

You may turn red when you feel ridiculous, but there is no “red” in the word.

Thank you. That concludes this public service announcement.

Natalie will forever be my hero. My own personal rock star. My … oh, whatever. I can’t even gush adequately enough. She knew I was having so much fun moving that she was crazy kind enough to offer to help. Never one to pass up a good deal, and knowing that she has a minivan with a ton-o-room, I took her up on it. She came over twice yesterday to help. Twice! Once while the kids were at school, and later last night after she put them to bed. I thought Mike was going to cry when he saw how large the van was and how easy it was to load it up! If she ever needs anything, I am *SO* there!

So now the apartment is almost empty. There is trash to haul to the dumpster and a few items left in the fridge that I need to clear out. (Maybe two shopping bags worth, nothing major.) I need to give a good Windex shine to everything before I turn in the keys.

Then it’s over.

I feel like I am finishing the process of closing one chapter of my life and moving on to better things. It’s a good feeling…

I just reread the hang tag the cable guy so kindly left on my door yesterday while I was home. It says right there on the last line:

“Calls received before 3 p.m. may be rescheduled for the same day.”

What?!? Ok, so why couldn’t they get him back out here yesterday? They thought I was mad then… just wait until they hear me now! (Ok, ok, I’ll try not to flip out on them.) But I am calling. If you say you can do it, then do it! I called at 1:45 - well before 3:00!

Last night, while moving some bags full of stuff out of my apartment, I noticed that my neighbor walking past me had a smirk on his face. I was amused because I’m sure I looked odd carrying no less than six bags at one time.

Then I got in the car and looked in my rearview mirror. I had placed my tiara on my head because I wanted to leave it in the car so it wouldn’t get lost before Friday’s Tiara Happy Hour, plus I didn’t want to risk smooshing it by packing it in a bag.

No wonder the guy was smirking. I guess you don’t see tiara-wearing women just any day of the week normally. Oops.

However, it did make moving more fun. I think that I will wear it as I finish cleaning the place out. Wearing a tiara always makes life better. Try it someday - you’ll know what I mean!

The cable guy was supposed to be back today between 10 and 12. They came last week, but the work order was missing an outlet that we had requested be installed - so I had to book a second appointment to get the rest of the work done, and there would be no charge for the outlet. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy about having to wait again (the first guy was over an hour late), but I decided I would get some boxes unpacked while I waited, so it would work out ok.

Noon came and went, with no cable guy. I called about 12:15, and they apologized and said he would be here within the hour. 1:46 - an hour and a half later - I called again. I had not left the house, and by this point in time I had waited close to four hours. I was ready to snap.

Then I was told that the cable guy had been here, but there was no one home at 1:36 so he put a tag on the door and moved on to his next job.

I went carnival freak crazy on the poor customer service guy.

I had waited four hours, I have an apartment to finish cleaning out, I have things to do today, I haven’t been able to do anything because I am here waiting for them, and why on earth would I call the cable company 10 minutes later asking where he was if he had been here?!?

All I can figure out is that he knocked on the door and didn’t ring the doorbell. I was in the bedroom (maybe 20 feet from the front door) unpacking boxes, and I was definitely here. I wanted a refund.

The customer service guy pointed out that it was already being done for free. I pointed out that the original install wasn’t free, plus there is monthly service - I wanted a credit for the four hours of my time that was wasted. Or I wanted someone out here - TODAY. There is no way the dispatcher couldn’t get anyone back out here. I ended up crying, I was so irritated.

He put me on hold forever as he went to talk to his supervisor. He probably has a blog too and was posting about the freaked out customer on the line that was wigging out on him. It’s all different when you think about it in those terms, isn’t it?

He came back to the line, and apologized for putting me on hold for so long. Before he could say anything else, I profusely apologized for freaking out on him. I mean, he’s just the nice guy on the other end of the phone - none of this is his fault, right? He thanked me for that, pointing out that he understood how stressful it is when you’re trying to move and there is a lot to do and that waiting that long was probably pretty frustrating for me. He was quite sweet, actually. I told him that I hoped he would remove the blacklisting from my account - I don’t normally freak out like that.

In the end, there is a $20 credit on the account and the cable guy will be here on Friday between 10 and 12.

Now I get to go and clean out the old apartment. Ugh. I guess I got a nice little four hour break thanks to the cable guy - now it’s time to get busy. Anyone want to come and help?

I’ve been working on this for awhile, but with everything else going on I haven’t been working on it enough. I need to find a new home for my cat. I’m heartbroken and sad, and neither Jason nor I could handle taking him to the Humane Society. I just can’t do it.

Jason’s allergies are to the point where they have said he is so sensitive to everything the cats must go. We actually have two cats, but at this time I can’t give up Mona too. Baby steps here.

We picked a pretty “allergy-proof” house - hardwood floors and tile downstairs, except the master bedroom, so the dust mites can’t survive. We have leather furniture in the living room right now, and will probably replace that with leather someday. The cats are not allowed in Jason’s room - to help cut down on the dander. But it’s still not enough.

I got him from the VAP group here in Houston, and I am going to try to contact them to see if they will adopt him out again. I just have to know that he has a good home. If they can’t help, I don’t know what I will do.

So, if you live in Houston and would like to have a sweet, adorable, fun fat cat - PLEASE let me know. He’s all yours. I just want to save him from the Humane Society. I refuse to take him there…

I wasn’t without a computer due to the lost cables - my computer of choice is actually the Dell Latitude, which I moved in my car and had all the pieces handy for it. The other computer is the one that Jason uses for games, and I use for the web when I don’t feel like powering up the laptop to get online.

Tonight, in a flash of brilliance, I glanced at the large box in the gameroom marked “Games”. It was one of the last boxes to be packed. It occurred to me that that one didn’t get checked last night - so I cut open the tape, unpacked a few games, and there were the ziploc bags that Mike had so carefully packed with all of the computer cables. Yeah!

On a separate but equally frustrating note, I have finally - after hours of stress - gotten my Tivo and stereo system hooked back up. I had it hooked up earlier, but I couldn’t get a live TV picture. I could see things I had previously recorded just fine (Ohhhh… new Queer Eyes AND Average Joe: Adam Returns!), but I couldn’t see The Apprentice! Gah! I finally gave up, plugged the cable from the wall jack straight in to the TV, and watched the show. Afterwards, I tried about 83 more configuration changes (well, no, not really - but it feels like that!) and I *finally* found the problem - I had the Tivo configured to use S Video, and I was using one of the red/white/yellow audio-video cable thingies. Ah ha! After I made the configuration change, everything is working smoothly!

It still feels strange. Good, but strange. Our house. Our new fridge (it’s soooo pretty!), our new washing machine. Our new dryer is coming on Saturday (they were all out of gas ones so it is being delivered later for free). Ours. It doesn’t belong to an apartment complex. It belongs to us. That still amazes me.

The cable man just left - and of course, before I even plugged in the Tivo, I had to check and see if the cable modem was working ok! Whoo hoo! I’m back online! I survived the 36 hours offline without getting the shakes or anything. Amazing!

The move went well, the apartment still needs to be cleaned up and a few things are left to move out. I’ve unpacked a bunch of kitchen boxes this morning while waiting for the cable guy. So far the only thing I have lost is the cables for the computer - and along with those the cord to plug in the router. Oops! They will show up soon though, I am sure of that. For now I am just tethered to the wall in the study. I’m online - so I don’t care!

The closing went really well. Quite smooth, after some of the horror stories I had heard about them. Afterwards we went and bought the essentials - a washer, dryer and fridge. They will be delivered on Thursday. The cable will be turned on on Thursday too. We should have power tomorrow at the house, and I believe the phone was turned on today - I have to check that tomorrow.

Now the packing is nearly done, and it’s time to take the computer system offline. I probably won’t be online again until Thursday when the cable modem is set back up. That works out ok - with the movers coming tomorrow morning, there isn’t time to be online anyways.

Wow. Just think - the next time I get online, I’ll be at the new house. Amazing! See you there!