Not So Famous…

To begin, the Sunday after my last update, the T1 at my work went out.  Functionally, this meant that my office had no Internet.  Now, this has a LOT of ramifications that are not instantly apparent, but suffice it to say, it caused lots of problems, and AT&T was less-than-speedy in getting the problem resolved.  On Monday, they determined the problem was their router installed in our office, which was not delivered until Tuesday, at which time it was determined that there was more than the initially diagnosed problem present, which AT&T so unhelpfully determined was my internal wiring (read: Not AT&T’s problem, so sorry), and inisisted on testing the circuit continually until finally admitting on Wednesday that there was an outage in the circuit and that they had to rewire it.  Oh, and they called me at 5am on Wednesday to let me know that…….everything was still not working.  THANKS A LOT!!!  Anyway, on Wednesday everything was up and running again.

Many of you know that we were hoping that escrow on our house would close on Friday, the 21st.  It didn’t, of course.  I still don’t know what caused the delay, or why it was insisted upon that we rush to sign the Brazilian Rainforest-sized stack of papers just so we could wait almost a week for things to close, but ultimately, the house closed on Wednesday…just before Thanksgiving.  Happily, Kim decided to buy paint on the off-chance that we would close Wednesday, so we had a lot of paint.  Our door shopping was less-than-fruitful, but we went to Home Depot on Wednesday night and bought a door, which we planned to install on Friday.

Thanksgiving was Thanksgiving.  A little quieter this year, which was nice, since the storm approaches with house-preparing, and little Iain coming.

Friday was a tremendous pain in my sizeable butt.  MANY thanks to the people from church who came to help out.  We can’t thank you enough for all the help painting!!!!  And uber-thanks to Gabe, who fumed with me at the stupid door we finally got up by the end of the stinkin’ day.  Also for helping me figure out how to install the toilet-flushing mechanics in the front bathroom.

Saturday was much the same as Friday, with the painting.  The difference was that instead of farting around with a stupid door, we were attempting to repair what has come to be known as “Satan’s Toilet”. Seriously, I cannot believe how much of a pain this stupid toilet was to repair.  Here is a list of what had to be done, and what went wrong:

1. To begin, we knew we needed to replace the wax ring at the base of the toilet.  “No problem”, we were told. “Just buy a nice wax ring with a cone in it, and everything will be fine.”  So we started to take the stupid toilet apart Friday night.  Right bolt of the tank came off just fine.  Left bolt…….not so much.  It was rusted completely immovable. We were already seeing how this toilet was going to behave, so we got dinner and watched The Illusionist to close out the night on a good note.
2. We ended up trying a bunch of different ways to get the stupid toilet bolt undone, and ended up using a grinding drill attachment that we used to finagle the stupid door the day before to actually grind THROUGH the stupid nut.  Yay.  Tank came off.  Now for the wax ring.
3. The wax ring was completely obliterated, along with the mounting collar thing.  We couldn’t even see how the heck the thing was ever attached.  Finding the right collar was about 5-6 trips to the stupid hardware store, where we were sold a collar that was too small, an insert that was too high to set the toilet down, and told that we needed to drill holes in the concrete floor despite there not being any  from the last time.
4. We finally got a mounting ring that would work, and got the toilet put together.
5. We dubbed the toilet Satan’s Toilet, and it took us nearly all day to get the stupid thing done.

We got most of the painting done, got the door mostly up and functioning, and now have two working toilets.

Black Widow death toll: 3

Swearing in front of a member of our church: 1

Sanity Lost: 2 (Gabe and Me)

Still, we got a lot of work done, and all the fussing and arguing with inanimate objects made Kim very happy with me.  Also, I know how to put up a door now…the next one will be much easier.  And toilets hold no mystery for me any longer.

These thoughts are not organized collectively.  They may not even make sense, as they may refer to a subject which has not been defined.  Regardless, I feel like writing them.

What will he look like?  Will he like what I like?  Will I be able to communicate with him effectively? Will he love us?

The considerations of Faster-Than-Light travel with all its relativity paradoxes and theoretical proofs pale in comparison to the day-to-day worries such as, “How am I going to get the washer, dryer, and refrigerator to the new house this weekend when I may not own the house yet?”  I have my own causality violations to deal with.

There is no accounting for Daniel’s taste in movies.

Movement seems to me to be physically impossible.  To cross from point A to point B, you must cross an infinite number of points in a finite period of time. This is why I have a sedentary career. Why fool with physics?

The satisfaction of one’s life is measured in small chunks of contentment. Reaching for the seemingly unattainable is a good way to get places, but if you’re never satisfied with the small things, you will arrive at the end of your life having felt like you have gone nowhere.

I wonder if my inability to retain information about cars and how they work is really a defense mechanism. I don’t bother trying to understand that stuff because I actually would be completely unable to do so. It’s possible, I suppose.  I hope that’s not true of why I am unable to do handiman repairs, as I’ve got a boatload of those coming up soon.

When I was a child, I behaved as a child.  Now that I am a man…I wish I could behave like a child again.

Ok, it’s not bad enough that when you call a company, they put you on hold as they try and figure out how to get you the information you need.  It’s not bad enough that customer service these days has been relegated to computerized systems.  I was the recipient today of some seriously annoying customer service.

One of my co-workers has been trying like heck to find out some information about our account from AT&T.  Many of you cringed just hearing those three letters, knowing that AT&T’s service is famed for being BAD.  Well, this co-worker has called at least twice and left messages asking to be called back with some information.  Today, they called me back.

…and put me on hold for 15 minutes.

Actually, it’s worse than that.  We were trying to find out how much time was left on our contract for our T1 line.  That’s all.  I’m not saying we’re going to switch to another provider, though I know that’s the immediate reaction.  However, if I’m thinking about switching, PROVIDING ME WITH CRAPPY CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NOT THE WAY TO KEEP ME AS A CUSTOMER!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first call I got this morning already annoyed me:

AT&T: “Hello sir, I received a message indicating that you were wanting to make some changes to your service?”
Me: “No, I actually just wanted to know how much time we have left on our contract.”
AT&T: “Well, would you like to change your plan, or add some services to your account?”
Me: “No, I actually just wanted to know how much time we have left on our contract.”
AT&T: “Ohhhh.  Well, I will have someone call you back with that information, ok?

So I get the call back about 25 minutes ago.

AT&T: “Hey Chris, how you doin’?” (Cue the annoyance…Pretty sure whoever he is, this guy is not one of my best buds.)
Me: “Hi.”
AT&T: “Hey man, this is <whoever>, and I got a note that you want to renew your contract?”
Me: (More than slightly annoyed, because this is pretty much the opposite of what I want to do.) “No….I want to see how much time we’ve got on our contract.”
AT&T: “OH!  Ok.  Hang on a sec and let me get that information for you….”

And this is where I waited on hold for around 15 minutes.  That’s right…it’s not enough that you call them and wait on hold forever.  Now they might return your call (indicating that they have all their crap together to handle your situation), and make you wait on hold just as if you’d called them!!!

Finally, I get a lady conferenced in to answer my (very simple) question.  But this is how she chooses to answer it:

AT&T chick: “Hello, this is <whoever, female variety>.”
AT&T Best Bud: “Hey, <whoever, female variety>, I got Chris here on the phone.  Chris, this is <whoever, female variety>.”
Me: “Hi.”
AT&T chick: “Hi, Chris.  Is there anything I can do for you?”  (Nope, pretty sure I’m just here for the wonderful on-hold experience.)
Me: “Yeah…I wanted to know how much time we have on our contract.”
AT&T Chick: “Is there anything we can change on your account, or a different service we can add that would make your service fit you better?”  (Now I’m getting really annoyed, because I feel like we have no contract, and they’re trying like heck to not lose us.  I’m not saying they’re going to lose me as a customer, but the likelihood of THAT happening is growing by the SECOND!)
Me: “Nope.  Just want to know how much time we have on our contract.”
AT&T Chick: “You’ve got contract until April of ‘09.”

(And now I’m definitely angry, because there is nothing I can do to leave them without paying a LOT of money, so they have me by the short hairs.  Their dilly-ing and dally-ing has merely wasted my time, and there is nothing I can do until April of 2009.  Way to go, AT&T.  The T’s in AT&T stand for ‘Tard’.)

Apart from the post I just made a couple minutes ago, I’ve been delinquent in updating my blog.  I’ve started about 5 posts in the last week, but just haven’t felt like completing them.  I don’t really know why.

Part of it is that this whole “economy plus Obama” thing has gotten me down.  I hear some encouraging things from his fledgling administration about how we’re no longer going to be torturing detainees, and that he’s wanting to shut down Guantanamo Bay (though I’m not sure entirely how I feel about that.)  I like that his focus is going to be peace through diplomacy, rather than military action against anyone who feels that they want to govern their country without our “guidance”.

Obama, however, wants to raise taxes, and this is not a good thing.  He claims that he doesn’t want to raise taxes for the middle class, but he’s been slowly eating away at his initial “$250,000 a year” figure throughout his campaign.  Last I heard, it was at $150,000/year and dropping.  Ultimately, he doesn’t appear to want anyone to be TOO successful.  Because success is apparently ALWAYS gained by exploitation.  Regardless, when we create a society where we punish success and reward apathy, we create a society where mediocrity is king, and no one will strive for the highest.

That kind of thing worries me.  I know a lot of people think that Obama’s Newer New Deal is just what we need to pull us out of this economy, and I don’t agree.  A lot of people say “Roosevelt got us out of the first Depression, and now Obama will get us out of this one.”  I REALLY don’t agree.  It’s going to be painful, but the free market will swing up again.  It would have swung up again in the 30’s, and it will swing up again now.

Anyway, I originally wanted this to be an apology for not updating, but it’s turned into another rant.  :)  Looks like I had something to say after all.

Many of you know that my wife and I have been in the process of buying a house for the last couple of months.  In the way of a brief update, we’ve found the house we want to buy, and are currently in the last half of the escrow process for the home. Things appear to be going well.

However, in the process, I’ve been informed several times that if I held the title of the home in thus and such certain way, or if I filed this paperwork in this certain way, etc. that it would make things easier in the event that my wife and I divorce. When I inform those advising me, “no thank you.  That won’t happen.”  *I* am greeted with incredulity.  I’ve been told, “well, you never know”, and other such statements.

I’m sure this blog post will annoy some, but I’d like to state that I will not take it down.  If you have a problem, complain somewhere else.

No, people, I *DO* know.  Kim is the only woman for me, and there will be no divorce.  That’s how I’m going to live my life, and that’s how I’m going to plan.

“Yeah, but, what if…”

No, there are no “what if’s” when it comes to your marriage.  If there are what if’s, then you’d be better off not getting married.  If you’re not going to commit your entire being to the marriage, then you shouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t work out!

What’s more, I look around at the world, and I see more and more people who are more and more enamored with…themselves.  They are more interested in gratifying their own lusts than they are in creating a healthy marriage.  That isn’t my point, however.

My point is that creating contingencies assumes that divorce is always an option if things get rough.  In my case, divorce is NOT an option, and I’m not going to create situations that will make a divorce easier on us if we fail.  Divorces ought to be long and messy.  Divorces OUGHT to be painful.  A divorce, though the Lord is sovereign, is always hated by God.  (Read Malachi, if you don’t believe me.) The pain and difficulty of going through a divorce when contingencies are NOT in place act as deterrents to the divorce itself.  (As though the health and well-being of children weren’t enough.)

Now, I’m not talking about a woman staying in an abusive relationship.  I’m not talking about a man having to put up with his wife’s infidelities.  There are allowable instances for divorce, though working things out and returning to building a healthy marriage is always preferable.

In the case of abusive husbands, there is a case for abandonment.  The husband is to love his wife like Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.  That involves protecting her, being tender, etc.  If there is physical or emotional abuse, see the governing board of elders of your church.  They can walk you through the godly course of action in this situation.  They’ll likely recommend many meetings with the two of you, etc, but in no case do you have to stay in a marriage where you’re being abused.  HOWEVER…that doesn’t mean divorce should be painless.

Divorce ought to have the same feel to it as murder, to be honest. When you get married, the two have become one flesh.  It cannot be separated.  If your right half were to be separated from your left half, there would be pain, and there would be death involved.  That is what divorce is, to be honest.

But divorce no longer has that kind of stigma associated with it.  No one seems to care much about their attempts to destroy the God-ordained order of things.  The divorce rate among Christians is at least the same as with non-Christians, and I’ve even heard that it’s higher.  That is (or ought to be) unacceptable to the Church.

I know, I know, I’m not being politically-correct. I just don’t understand your particular situation.  No, I don’t.  But it doesn’t matter.  The Bible allows for 2 situations in which divorce is possible: Adultery, and abandonment.  In both of those cases, it would be better if you could work through it and come out stronger as a couple.  But not everyone can, I know.  However, in both of those cases, divorce ought to be a cause for bitter weeping.

On a personal level, I’m not creating contingencies for Kim and I.  We are not going to live in such a way that will make things easier for us if things “don’t work out”.

First off…I don’t like Obama.  I don’t like his policies.  I don’t like his emphasis on vapid change with nothing of substance.  However…

I don’t think the world will come to an end with Obama in the White House.  Apart from stupid, worthless comments like “Obama is going to change the White House into the Black House”, Obama’s presidency is going to be filled with a great deal of what other presidencies have been filled with:  Striving with the checks and balances in place to get things done.

Obama will not accomplish everything he wants to accomplish.  The world rarely sits still long enough for a president to work on every domestic policy he promised to the American people. Obama’s first term will not be the best for America, no.  But I do think there are some good things that could come of this.

For one, the Republicans might want to look around and see what their pseudo-conservative movement has gotten them over the last 8 years.  Bush gained a lot of power for the government, and the office of President of the United States in particular, and now a member of the opposition party is in power.  Smooth move, Ex-Lax.  Republicans lost this race by forgetting their conservative roots.  However, even if the GOP continues to try to out-Socialist the Democrats, there could still be some good.

If the Republicans stop being conservative, they will outlive their usefulness, and could possibly begin fading away from the political scene.  This will set the stage for a 3rd party to gain some power, and I truly think this is where positive change will come from in America.

With Barack Obama as President, we might actually stand a chance in getting out of Iraq, and getting back to rebuilding our nation.  Granted, with Obama taxing the rich as much as possible, that rebuilding will slow to a crawl, but if he angers enough people, he won’t be back for a second term.

I won’t change anyone’s mind, I know.  I’ve heard the rants about Obama being the antichrist. I’ve heard about him not being a U.S. citizen.  I’ve heard about Obama and his plan to destroy America.  It’s not going to happen, people.  And we won’t likely be able to prove this for sure, because I don’t think McCain will be a viable candidate for president in 4 years, but a McCain presidency carried its own serious dangers.

During Bush’s tenure, he moved us closer to the government having supreme power over all.  He gained more power for the Executive Branch than nearly any other president in the last few decades.  He was NOT good for America.  And while McCain rejected some of these policies, he affirmed others, such as his position on the unnecessary wars, his position on the Patriot Act, and his position on these stupid bailouts.  People, McCain was not the savior, as Obama was not the antichrist.

When Obama fades from the political scene without having brought about Armageddon, however, you zealots for the cause will not remember how terrified you were when he was elected.  You’ll be too preoccupied with the current Big Thing, and you’ll pooh pooh the doom you foretold.  And on it goes….