Pacific Bell, how we loathe thee…

So, we’re starting to move into the new place, and we want to get DSL set up. The landlord had DSL through Pacbell before, so we thought that we could just transfer the account over, without having to have a technician come out and set up the line again.

We thought wrong.

My conversation with Pacbell went like this:

Me: I’d like to transfer the account over to my name.
Them: We can’t do that, he’s signed a contract with us.
Me: Well, can he cancel his contract and we’d sign a new one, but not have to disconnect the line?
Them: No, it doesn’t work that way.
Me: Well, fine then, just make a new account.
Them: Have you set up your new line in the house yet?
Me: No…
Them: You have to have your line set up, then five business days later you can order DSL, once it’s in the system.
Me: Fine, can I do that now.
Them: Yes, let me transfer you.

And then I go and actually transfer my line. Yay. So as of tomorrow morning, if you call me at home, you won’t get me, you’ll get Ken and Luke… heh. But the only people who ever call me at home are my mom and telemarketers, everyone else uses my cell phone.

Now I get to play with getting the Cable service transferred… heh heh heh.

DMV

Well, once again, I went to the AAA to pay for my car’s registration, and once again I forgot that, even though my car has a “May” sticker on it, it’s considered “late” after May 2nd. So once again, I paid a late charge. But not nearly as much as the last two years.

Also, since something has to go wrong every year (two years ago, my insurance wasn’t paid, last year I needed a smog check), I get to the AAA and realize that I hadn’t renewed my membership. Fortunately, this year’s problem was quickly remedied. Also, I’m very lucky, because I just wrote two checks today and they were the last two from the book. I could have sworn that checks came in packs of 75, why did this one just end on an ’80’?

Etc.

So, SGI not only shipped the replacement power adapter right away, it came at 10am the next morning, which basically means that 24 hours after I made the call to customer support, I was up and running again.

But anyway.

I’ve been pondering a lot about my trip to Chicago. It seems that I caught some glimpse of something: there is life outside of California. It’s not just the weather, too. There’s subtle differences that make life in the Midwest unique. Little things that you Midwesterners take for granted that seem so foreign to us West-coasters.

Toll booths. Snow routes. Driving for an hour and actually being in a different state. Vacationing hundreds of miles away in the same place every year. The list goes on and on.

The concepts all mesh together into a feeling that seems to familiar. I could joke that it’s because I was born in Indiana and it’s in my blood, but it’s probably simpler than that. I’m the son of two people who grew up in the Midwest. It’s certain that many of their ideals were imprinted on me, in such a way that when I find myself in a small town in the suburbs of Chicago, I feel almost at home.

I’m not saying that I’d want to move back there. I’d be such a fish out of water it wouldn’t be funny. That, and I was in Indiana in December, so I know how bad it can be. I may have Indiana in my blood, but I can handle 110 degree weather much easier than I can handle -10 degrees. (That’s 110 with zero humidity, for those of you who want to comment that it can get pretty hot in the Midwest, too.)

I don’t think I’ve managed to get down in writing the feeling I have right now, but I think I’ll reiterate/summarize — I’ve started to understand how people can actually manage to live in the Midwest. There is life outside of California.

Meh. I think I’m going to bed now. God, I hope Luke stops snoring… I can’t wait until we move into our new place, at least there I’ll have a wall between me and his snoring.

SGI and Anime Central

So, my nice new flatpanel monitor has been on the fritz recently, after some playing with it, I figured out it’s one of the power supplies that’s broken, not the actual monitor… so I call SGI this morning, and after giving them all my information I hear the following words:

“I’ll just overnight you a new one.”

Man, I am so happy. This is what Customer Support is supposed to be.

On another note, today’s MegaTokyo comic is very cool…. because I was there. You can even see the Vibrating Sheep of Death in my picture.

I love in-jokes that I get. Hee hee.

Also, I gave my 30-day (well, more like 45 day) notice at my apartment today… whee.

New digs

Well, it’s official. Luke, Ken and I signed a lease at a new place…

It’s effective June 1, which means I got a whole month to move. The kicker is, it’s half a mile away, which means I can probably do without a moving van.

Also, funny thing is, Peto lives directly across from us, through some weird cosmic coincidence.

So now I gotta buy a bed and a dresser.

Chicago

I just got back from Chicago for a weekend, for Anime Central and a Bat Miztvah.

And now I need to catch up on sleep.

I’ve got photos online. And yes, the captions were rushed, because people were looking at my page as I was updating it so I just wanted to get something in there.

Whee.

The things that bug me

For some reason, there are things that I’ve done that stick with me.

I think that about a year ago, I gave a person incorrect directions, I think I directed them to the wrong golf course.

And I can’t forget that, it really bothers me.

Feh.

Laa dee dah

I am not some object of amusement put on this Earth for the sole purpose of keeping people entertained.

That’s your job.

Spring Cleaning

So, I just cleaned my bathtub/shower.

The good news is; I’m no longer afraid that I was going to have my security deposit garnished because I left permanent discoloration on in the shower.

The bad news is; I’m going to have to live with the visual memories of cleaning that crap off.

The good news again is; I will never again let a shower get that dirty.

God bless fiberglass. All things considered, it cleans off quite nicely.

I feel dirty. It’s a shame I can’t really take a shower now to clean myself off… that wouldn’t quite work, the psychological damage has been done.