So recently, as some of you may know, I moved to a new house in Manassas.  It’s such a beautiful place!  However, there was one issue, the house didn’t have cable running to it.  I honestly didn’t want to order Verizon DSL or Satellite television because the price was just too high for me to honestly want to get it.

I’ve been braving out this ‘install’ storm with Comcast.  Lets first start by being fair to the company.  The customer service reps (for the most part) are very helpful and appear to honestly take the time to resolve your problem.  However, either they or some process in between have a serious problem communicating to their techs who actually carry out the install.  Which leads me to another sub issue (and onto the negative)….

These goddamn techs seem to be lazy off their asses!  I had not one, not three, but five attempts at “…installing cable for your house…”.  This generally wouldn’t be a problem aside from the fact that two of these supposed installs required me to leave work a little early.  But when these installs were going to happen no one showed up at my house, gave me a call on my readily available (ringer on high) cell phone….nothing!  After I called back to the call center (I think I’ve made around 15 calls by the way (I have the number memorized..703-368-4227)) apparently the tech had some invisibility suit on or was communicating on an entirely different plane of existence.  He reported back that the install had been completed and/or no one was available at the house (if I knew they were coming I planted my ass at home).

Back to the service center and techs. Finally a tech (around the 5th time) showed up at my place.  He had apparently been looking around the house for a bit trying to find an existing cable to hook up.  Well, since no cable has been installed to the house before, I was sure he wasn’t going to find it.  As it turns out the call center delivered the incorrect work description to their techs.

On a more positive note…apparently a rather beefy line is being run to my house today.  But it isn’t going to be hooked up to the house just yet.  Their just going to run it.  After Christmas I’ll have to call back to get the line (and box) mounted to the house.  I’m not keeping my hopes up that it will happen, but looking for the best.

Hoping to have Internet and T.V. soon….

I recently read this article over at NYTimes.com that talked about the new phenomenon of lawn ornaments. It’s those damned Airblowns…you know..those things that have Santa Clause enclosed behind a plastic hell with pieces of styrofoam serving as snow…crazy stuff. To be quite frank…they’re simply tacky lawn ornaments that really don’t deserve to be in the front-lawn-lineup!

I, personally, really don’t have a problem with anything Christmas. Lights are really nice…especially when there’s actually snow on the ground. Wreaths are even better. But this damned Americanization needs to end. These lawn ornaments are huge! Bigger is not always better. I call for a movement to go back to simplicity in American culture…and it’s all because of these damn ornaments! :p

For those of you who may want to read the New York Times article…head here.

I finally have arrived at my destination…Manassas, VA.  I couldn’t be more happy to be here as getting to this place was quite a ride.  To begin (and I don’t intend this to be a bitch session):

• Packing up the house turned out to be a more tedious chore than ever.  I couldn’t believe how much stuff had accumulated in the place while living there…simply amazing I must say.  I’m going to have to make a few trips back up to the house just to get it in rent-able order.
• Now I had plenty of rental companies to choose from when getting a moving truck…p l e n t y.  Yet, for some reason I chose U-Haul to get my stuff down here.  When I got to the U-Haul rental place, they gave me a circa 1993 or 1994 Ford F-350 moving truck.  This thing had a sound out that muffler like it belonged to a hill-billy driving on country roads!  I decided to tow the Explorer down to save on gas.  This, however, turned out to be a big burden.  First, the truck I had was old…couldn’t keep up speed very well.  Second, that Explorer weighed the living shit out of the U-Haul.  So, I had to keep myself to 50mph – 55mph the entire way down to Manassas.  Let me tell you…I was going f**king insane by the time I got down.

On the less bitchy side of things, the apartment is perfect!  I’ll hopefully have some pictures together so you can all see how the place looks.  It’s nice and spacey, quiet!  I’m turning a new leaf with regard to the apartment.  I’m not going to be the packrat I was before with the old place.  Going to live nice and easy from now on…no unnecessary clutter.

That is all for now.  I must get some sleep as it’s been quite a weekend.

P.S. Don’t ever get a U-Haul (unless it’s new) to move your stuff!

So it’s midweek of finals…and let me say I haven’t study before as much as I have this week. Maybe it’s because I can see an end in site…in fact, yes, that’s what it is. I think I was getting tired in school of rehashing things which I already knew from before. I mean, yea, I did learn some new things but pondering the ratio of learned : not learned, I would say it’s 80/20…

However, I can say that I’m graduating with a degree which is renowned throughout the US as being a good one. I’m graduating as a ‘well-rounded competent character…’. It’s nice to know that, seriously. And with my experience currently already under my belt, I should be pulling down some nice moola out of school. But here’s the point where my mind starts to go in the state of fright…I’M ABOUT TO FUCKING GRADUATE…HOLY SHIT! I’m at the point in life where everything could mean something, and anything might screw me over for the rest of my life.

Well, maybe that’s not the way to look at it. I’m about to graduate and get a good job, somewhere. I am, however, kinda scared about the process. I think I’m mostly scared at the prospect of actually landing myself a job that I like. Secondary to this, performing to my employer’s liking.

Aside from this fear, today I have my first final for INFSCI 1066-Internet Construction. All should go well with the final, but I’m fearful I might be missing some notes that the teacher will be testing on. I can, though, quiz myself on any of the answers and come out with the right one–I guess that’s a good sign .

Here’s my slight rant for the day, just needed to get thoughts out before I head into my first test.

The weekend…a time of relaxation *scratching sound*…no, crazy running around everywhere. I really don’t know where the weekend has gone. It just went poof and had nothing more to say.

My weekend has been one of bittersweet moments.

Work has not exactly been treating me the best lately. It has, rather, been making me feel real down about my status (or as some might say) stigma of being a student. I get absolutely no respect and when something goes wrong, well, hell…I guess its my fault…even though I’m not directly involved. My mind just doesn’t know what it wants to do about this current situation.

The best part to my whole weekend was spending it with Renee. Renee and I have become like two peas in a pod together. We always spend time together and when we do…it really is the best! This weekend Renee and I were going out to a few bars with her friends. All of a sudden she was like “…Crap, I forgot my ID”. Now I didn’t really want her walking back home all alone cause, well, you know, I didn’t want her to get hurt…but I let it go anyway.

Renee’s roommates and I get to the bar to partake in some cheap beers and electronic entertainment stations usually poised in the corners of many bars. All of a sudden I get this call…Renee’s not feeling too hot and has a headache. I was out of there quicker than lickety-split!

Walking home (or back to her place) I was thinking about what I could do to make her feel better. You know, rubbing her back, etc. etc. As I walked up the stairs, I just stopped in my tracks…booom…right in front of me lay a path of roses to her bedroom…all lined up perfectly. Roses are strewn about the bedroom. Well, I don’t think I have to go into too much more detail about what went on…but that made my weekend .

Onto other things. I’ve been working hard on keeping my head above water lately. Work and school are really bringing me down (work, especially, emotionally). I will get through it though.

Next weekend I’m planning on doing some hiking before the weather gets bad…pictures to come later.