It's amazing how much spare time you have...
... when you don't have a television or an internet connection to waste away on during the evenings.
The move is now 50% complete. The bed's in and set up. So is the dining room table and computer. The Bowflex has been reassembled and I've already used started up a workout schedule - ow, I've got sore muscles all over. The housewares are clean and put away. However, I don't have a fridge installed yet so I haven't started cooking yet. I haven't moved the dresser in or the sofa love seats, the coffee table, and end tables. I've assembled only one of the the three bookcases, but haven't begun to shelve things yet. It'll probably be another month or so before I'm all the way set up.
Moving, in general, sucks. The physical part isn't so bad as the task is well defined. The packing and unpacking is oddly fulfilling. There's something to be said about taking on well defined goals and completing them. The non-physical tasks of moving, however, are the pits.
Electricity and Gas were easily enough to setup. SoCal Edison has a nifty website where you can put in a work order for electrical services. It took me all of 5 minutes to get that set up for a "day after tomorrow" service start. The Socal Gas Company also has online service applications. However, the online submission requires 7 working days to process. As I was going to be moving in two days, I had to endure 80 minutes of scratchy hold music punctuated by a courteous message apologizing for the wait and that calls would be answered in the order received. Fortunately, everything was set up quickly once I got a live person on the phone. Gosh, I love the speaker phone.
Trying to get high speed internet set up has been an entirely trying ordeal. I was planning to go with Verizon's new Fiberoptic services to get a real high speed connection so that I could host a server. However, due to the way local utility monopolies work, I'm out of Verizon's service area and subject to the whims of the local AT&T sub-tier entity. Ok, if it was only phone service that I needed, this wouldn't be a problem, but I wanted to be able to bundle my phone/internet services together for simplicity sakes. Much to my dismay, I discover that AT&T offers a maximum d/l & u/l bandwidth of 1.5/512. I asked the service rep whether she knew when upgrades to services were expected. She didn't know.
So instead, I looked into setting up a cable modem through Time Warner Cable. I've used TW for 5 years already and have been satisfied with the overall quality of service. While browsing their website, I saw that they also offered digital phone services and while a tad bit expensive, I could use it. So I put in a call to order services. Great! I'm told that there's free installation and the first year at a reduced rate on the cable modem. Unfortunately, I discover that digital phone service isn't available in my area yet. Oh well. So I set up an installation appointment for the first available slot and it happens to be a week later...
... a week goes by and I spent the evenings assembling furniture, watching movies on DVD's, and reading a couple books...
I'm scheduled for a 3-5 PM installation window on Wednesday. I leave work early and pull into my parking space at 2:59 PM. Being home so early, I set to with house work - cleaning, more furniture installation, etc. 3:30 comes and goes. 4:00 passes. 4:30 arrives and still no show. At 4:59 PM, my cell phone rings and the contractor informs me that he's running late and would call me when he is on his way. At 6:19 he calls to say that he's on his way. He finally arrives on location at around 6:25. I should him my in house jack. He uses the restroom and says that he'll be right back. 6:35 rolls around. Then 6:45. Then 6:55. WTF is this guy? I head outside and see him rummaging around in his car.
"Something wrong?" I ask.
"I'm really sorry man, but I don't have any more working cable modems." He responds.
I sigh. "You're kidding me." I retort.
"No. I used up the last good one at the call before you.... I'm trying to look for my clipboard to check..." is his lame reply.
I pause for a few seconds, collecting myself, else I launch a verbal tirade
"So what's the plan?" I ask.
"I'm sorry man, but we're going to have to reschedule."
This is messed up on so many levels. After the guy leaves, I went to the office to do some research on what other options I had available. Like the phone companies, the cable services also have local monopolies. While I could go for satellite connections, the installation and monthly service fees were through the roof. In the end, I had no choice by to reschedule the cable installation or go with a stunted DSL connection.
I'm going to see if I can wrangle 3-6 months of cable tv from them as compensation because the contractor's competency and behavior did not reflect well on TW Cable.
Laugh... if I do get cable TV installed, I'll probably start wondering what happened to all my spare time.
Anyhow... more later.
The move is now 50% complete. The bed's in and set up. So is the dining room table and computer. The Bowflex has been reassembled and I've already used started up a workout schedule - ow, I've got sore muscles all over. The housewares are clean and put away. However, I don't have a fridge installed yet so I haven't started cooking yet. I haven't moved the dresser in or the sofa love seats, the coffee table, and end tables. I've assembled only one of the the three bookcases, but haven't begun to shelve things yet. It'll probably be another month or so before I'm all the way set up.
Moving, in general, sucks. The physical part isn't so bad as the task is well defined. The packing and unpacking is oddly fulfilling. There's something to be said about taking on well defined goals and completing them. The non-physical tasks of moving, however, are the pits.
Electricity and Gas were easily enough to setup. SoCal Edison has a nifty website where you can put in a work order for electrical services. It took me all of 5 minutes to get that set up for a "day after tomorrow" service start. The Socal Gas Company also has online service applications. However, the online submission requires 7 working days to process. As I was going to be moving in two days, I had to endure 80 minutes of scratchy hold music punctuated by a courteous message apologizing for the wait and that calls would be answered in the order received. Fortunately, everything was set up quickly once I got a live person on the phone. Gosh, I love the speaker phone.
Trying to get high speed internet set up has been an entirely trying ordeal. I was planning to go with Verizon's new Fiberoptic services to get a real high speed connection so that I could host a server. However, due to the way local utility monopolies work, I'm out of Verizon's service area and subject to the whims of the local AT&T sub-tier entity. Ok, if it was only phone service that I needed, this wouldn't be a problem, but I wanted to be able to bundle my phone/internet services together for simplicity sakes. Much to my dismay, I discover that AT&T offers a maximum d/l & u/l bandwidth of 1.5/512. I asked the service rep whether she knew when upgrades to services were expected. She didn't know.
So instead, I looked into setting up a cable modem through Time Warner Cable. I've used TW for 5 years already and have been satisfied with the overall quality of service. While browsing their website, I saw that they also offered digital phone services and while a tad bit expensive, I could use it. So I put in a call to order services. Great! I'm told that there's free installation and the first year at a reduced rate on the cable modem. Unfortunately, I discover that digital phone service isn't available in my area yet. Oh well. So I set up an installation appointment for the first available slot and it happens to be a week later...
... a week goes by and I spent the evenings assembling furniture, watching movies on DVD's, and reading a couple books...
I'm scheduled for a 3-5 PM installation window on Wednesday. I leave work early and pull into my parking space at 2:59 PM. Being home so early, I set to with house work - cleaning, more furniture installation, etc. 3:30 comes and goes. 4:00 passes. 4:30 arrives and still no show. At 4:59 PM, my cell phone rings and the contractor informs me that he's running late and would call me when he is on his way. At 6:19 he calls to say that he's on his way. He finally arrives on location at around 6:25. I should him my in house jack. He uses the restroom and says that he'll be right back. 6:35 rolls around. Then 6:45. Then 6:55. WTF is this guy? I head outside and see him rummaging around in his car.
"Something wrong?" I ask.
"I'm really sorry man, but I don't have any more working cable modems." He responds.
I sigh. "You're kidding me." I retort.
"No. I used up the last good one at the call before you.... I'm trying to look for my clipboard to check..." is his lame reply.
I pause for a few seconds, collecting myself, else I launch a verbal tirade
"So what's the plan?" I ask.
"I'm sorry man, but we're going to have to reschedule."
This is messed up on so many levels. After the guy leaves, I went to the office to do some research on what other options I had available. Like the phone companies, the cable services also have local monopolies. While I could go for satellite connections, the installation and monthly service fees were through the roof. In the end, I had no choice by to reschedule the cable installation or go with a stunted DSL connection.
I'm going to see if I can wrangle 3-6 months of cable tv from them as compensation because the contractor's competency and behavior did not reflect well on TW Cable.
Laugh... if I do get cable TV installed, I'll probably start wondering what happened to all my spare time.
Anyhow... more later.