Cornucopia

Since I detest talking on the phone to customer service, I found out that our Internet satellite provider has an on-line instant "chat". So I signed into it and here is the result (abbreviated for brevity & hilarity). B4 you sign into your account, you have to provide ALL account information and the problem you are having. Then, the chat starts with the Customer Service Agent. CSA-Can I have Name on the Account, Phone number, Site Id and Email address to pullup your Account information. Please. Since when is pullup a word? Pullup diapers? Wouldn't it have been more accurate or acceptable to say..."so that I may assist you"...or "so that I may locate your account". CSA-So as I understand you are not able to login with your username, correct? So as I understand?... Hmmmm. Customer service is obviously based in India, huh? CSA-have you tried to login with all lowercase? Yes. All lowercase, All uppercase. First letter uppercase, all the rest lowercase…I am unable to login…Didn’t I already state that b4 I logged into chat and the first thing when this chat started? Me-Perhaps it needs to be re-set? CSA-Do you want me to reset it? DUH CSA-So here is your new username and password. Me-the system is not accepting the password. CSA-Login again. Me-OK it worked. CSA-Further to our conversation… You mean “in regards to our on-line chat” we would have to be conversing with our voices to have a conversation. CSA-You will be getting a form by email, blah, blah, blah…This survey form is related to the service provided on this contact and NOT the overall Direcway experience. Huh? I thought I had service with HughesNet. CSA-I’ll be really glad if you could take out some time to fill up the form. Take some time out of what? Out of my busy schedule? And Fill Up the form? You mean fill out? Wouldn’t it behoove customer service in India to have at least ONE person whose native language was English to at least align their interpretation of English? CSA-and also it would let us know how satisfied are you with the service provided to you today. How satisfied are you? Gee. Wouldn’t it behoove customer service in India to have at least ONE person whose native language was English to at least align their interpretation of English? I am not very satisified with HughesNet overall, underall, and sideall. And I am intensely irritated with companies that have Customer Service Agents based in India. CSA-Thank you for contacting HughesNet Technical Support. Take care and Have A Great Day Ahead. As opposed to a Great Day BEHIND?

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HUMMINGBIRD We have a hummingbird caught in the house again. It keeps beating itself against the highest window in the front, so that I am unable to reach it. HOW do they manage to get in the screen door when I leave it open about 8 inches for the dog to pass in and out when she has to "do her business" in the mornings?

WHY can't the hummingbirds go OUT the same way they came in? Is that small 8" by 6 foot opening a flight pattern for the local hummingbirds?

TREE On Wednesday night, the 26th of July at about 9pm...Greg decided that he had to "roll out" Kevin Reese's truck from the shop. It does not run, and usually Greg will let it roll as he attempts to push it. But somehow he got wedged between the driver's door and the tree at the edge of the shop. So...there he is, being crushed with a 2 ton vehicle against a tree, no cell phone on his body (how many times have I told him to carry his cell phone ON HIM at all times?) and he thinks his arm is broke, the truck is slowly crushing his ribs. He can feel himself going into shock.

All the while, I am oblivious to what is going on down there, that my husband is nearly dying...and I just go on cooking dinner. I probably would not have gone down to investigate why he had not come home until about 10:30.

He calmed himself down and somehow got the strength to push it out a little, so he could squeeze out of it. The door of Kevin's truck is severely damaged now. Oh, well. It was an old vehicle, and Kevin was in the process of restoring it. Greg has had the body shop guy already out to assess it. This is ALL YOUR FAULT, Kevin! JK.

So on Thursday, with Dwayne's help, Greg cut down the tree. Poor tree. Poor naked shop.

WATERLINE & LEAK We walked the waterline cut last night with the "listening device" from the local town water district and I swear, that thing is useless. We believe that the leak might be at the meter where the line starts at a 2" and drops to 1". Greg said that they dug it up twice when it was first installed. There is so much pressure from the drop in size, that it tends to break there. So probably this weekend, we will ask the nice backhoe guy to come out and dig up there.

ROCKS Because the local ATV, motorcycle snowmobile, and runners/walkers population have worn a two-track in front of our property and then dangerously cross our driveway without observing if a vehicle is exiting, we are forced to put rocks along the property line and out to the road. Hopefully a 1-2 ton boulder the size of a VW will deter them from racing along at 60-80 miles an hour.