jenniferbrola.com

#1 - Read this a few days ago in the hometown paper. Laughed my butt off. They made such a big deal of releasing this sketch of a suspected robber. Then you see it. Ummm...why did they bother?

Sketch released in June robbery of Rock Hill post office. One suspect in the June 20 robbery of the Rock Hill post office on South Wilson Street. He is described as a black male about 6-foot, 2-inches tall, weighing 220 pounds with dark skin. If you have information about this suspect, please call 877-876-2455. Provided by U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Original article...

#2 - Perfect example of why I don't really consider myself a homeowner. I'm about the fifth person in line of ownership for this place, behind the bank, federal, state, and local governments. It's sad that true ownership doesn't exist, and a home you've paid for and lived in all your life can be taken from you. But it happens all the time up here. Another measure by which to confirm our erosion of freedom. You're free to pay on a mortgage for 30 years. And free to lose it all (or be forced back into bank servitude) when the town raises taxes by 60% in one year.

"A woman there was trying to be nice. She said, Mr. Tallo, why don't you move someplace where you could pay the tax?" Frank said. "I asked her, how long have you lived in Stamford? She said nine years. I said, do you like it? She said I love it. I said, would you move? She said no. I said I have lived here 50 years. This is my town." Full article...

#3 - Probably goes along with the article above. We were doing some housekeeping and pulled apart the jacuzzi tub. I went under there to vacuum, inspect, and disinfect...and what do I find? A dead animal? No. Seriously, you wouldn't guess what was snuggled alongside the air pump. But give it a try and then click here. I guess we aren't the first people to live in this house and be stretched like a rubberband to make a life here.

You know, things come up, etc., and then another month passes without a post. This is why I don't get paid to blog. :) In any event, let's see - you missed July 4th. That was a nice, long weekend. The parents came up with a Penske truck full of goodies from home. Mostly kid's toys, but they also brought our remaining pieces of furniture. The entire shipment filled our living room when the truck was first unloaded. A couple of days later, I had weeded through the pile and 'binned the gems, bagged the trash, and tagged the items headed to Salvation army. I think the folks were a little disappointed that I let any of it go (three boxes of condemned stuff ended up being shipped back to them). However, in the past five address changes, I've come to realize that items with no significant value, monetary or historical, become emotional and physical baggage. Not to say that I fully let go, but I am a little lighter now.

Speaking of being a little lighter, my mom and I started doing Nutrisystem together right after they got back home. I figured it wouldn't hurt me to lose 10lbs. (or try to) plus Nutrisystem meals are cheaper than eating out. So the more I hold to their rations, the more I'd save per month. Although, my mom quit after nine days (didn't like the food they send in their "favorites" sampler). I don't mind the food as much...except for what they call "blueberry muffins" - they smelled like rotten bad breath. And they tasted worse. The split pea soup didn't sit too well with me, either.

To round out this somewhat random home life update, a (long) story for you about Cablevision aka Optimum iO TV. When we first moved to NY, we set up DiSH Network. The installer half-assed the job, but the service was good. Upon moving to our second apartment, we switched to DirecTV. The dish was already installed, so it was just easier. DirecTV was more expensive than DiSH, but that was pretty much our only beef with it. Fast forward and we're looking at what service provider we should use at the house. The previous owners used Optimum, and we were wary of another corner-cutting satellite installer, so we agreed to try try out cable. What a mistake.

If iO/Cablevision is an option in your area, you should learn from our mistake...or at least prepare yourself for it:

1. It may be free for standard satellite installation, but this isn't the case for cable. Even if they don't tell you there's a cost, there's a cost. We were never informed of an installation fee; when the bill came, it was a $120 line item. They absolutely refused to waive more than $15 of it.


2. When one of our sets stopped working, I called and was instructed to uncable the box for that set and bring it to one of their stores for a swap. I do this and it fixes nothing. When I call back, I'm told that I wasted my time - I shouldn't have been told to drive out to the store. I'm asked when is a good time to host a service person, and an appointment is set for someone to come out. I'm thinking, "Yay! They're going to fix it!" Later, as I getting wise to the ways of Cablevision, I call back and ask if this is a fee for the service call (which wasn't relayed to me before). They respond that all in-person service calls will cost $46.95. I ask them to cancel it. We manage to get it working on our own.


3. Our original installer could not get all the HD channels to come in. Many of them said, "Channel not available, please try again later." He apologized profusely and told us to wait and if the channels don't come in, call Cablevision. It was an issue on their end, not ours. A month or so later, we still don't get all HD channels. I call to inform them that their end still had a problem. After waiting an hour on hold, the "HD specialist" insisted it was our wiring and that a service person must be dispatched...again. Oh yes, and expect a bill for $46.95 (I was pissed). The guy comes out, apparently he's a line supervisor, and says he must essentially reinstall everything. He moves furniture around in nearly every room of our house, clips ends off things, disrupts our entire morning, and guess what...comes to the conclusion that maybe he should call the local Stamford office about those missing channels. Apparently, the guys in the office can't see those channels, either! Ugh. He requests that "an email be sent to corporate", apologizes that he can't fix the problem, and suggests I call the customer service hotline again for followup. I do that, and they say they have to "troubleshoot my issue" again. I get into a heated conversation about how this is pointless. He says my line's signal strength is too low and he must dispatch a serviceperson. I tell him to transfer me to a supervisor or come up with a different story. Eventually he decides to actually read the notes on my account and says the issue has been escalated to engineering. When I ask about a credit on the channels I've never seen, he responds in a condescending tone, "well, you actually aren't being charged for HD - we provide HD and the HD hardware upgrade for FREE." Um, no. I wouldn't have signed up for iO if you didn't have HD, I am paying for a cable box, and all your literature says these channels are included in my subscription. He supposedly gives me a $10 credit. I'll believe it when I see it.


4. Our HD box explodes. Yes, you read that correctly. We have our theories as to what happened, but essentially the line supervisor screwed with our box in his attempt to find a non-existant problem, and when it started to heat up (due to our watching television), it shot up a little blue flame and some smoke and BAM! A capacitor blew apart inside. Needless to say, that meant another trip to the Cablevision store for us (the husband made the journey this time).


5. On top of everything else, their on-screen guide is aliased and slow. And they use a portion of the bandwidth to show ads like I don't already pay into the service. It's ridiculously antiquated compared to the satellite guides and I hate it.


6. If there's a storm outside or, for whatever reason, a box freezes or stops loading the guide, then it must be rebooted. Rebooting a box can take up to 15 minutes. If you were watching a show when it happened, think of how much you'll have missed in that time. It's stupid.


7. They don't have nearly as many SD or HD channels as DirecTV, even before you factor in premiums such as Starz and HBO. Really, the only redeeming factor for Cablevision is that they don't require a one-year contract. Taking everything else into account, though, that's little consolation.