Comings and Goings
Dec. 28th, 2013 02:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captainsblogBack from nearly a week's holiday: our landline phones. First one, then the other, went out of service on Monday and Tuesday. (The third line, used just for that near-extinct beast of a fax machine, apparently never left us.) I reported it and was given an appointment date of Thursday. Next Thursday, the 2nd. Overall, not a bother, other than the constantly blinking lights on my desk phone alerting to the oddness- we use the mobiles far more often now, and I'd forwarded my work calls to that phone rather than the one on this desk.
Next door, though, was a tougher go: Betty has only the one phone, no cell or voice mail, and had out-of-town company coming who couldn't reach her. TPC (aka Verizon) promised her a visit this past Thursday, but then never showed (although the company did get there okay). They also tried to pin it on her as an inside wiring problem (which would be charged to her account) rather than a network issue (which, duh, it usually is when it affects lines in neighboring homes).
Finally, last night the desktop blinkies stopped, and the dial tones resumed. I called over to Betty this morning and confirmed she was back on the grid, as well. (Had she not been, I was going to run to Wal-Mart and buy a $20 burner mobile so she'd have something to communicate with.) She also saw a Verizon guy- not here, but at a nearby store- who said it was a buried cable issue that took out something like 400 homes. Wonder how many of them got charged for inside wire repairs.
Since the cause was likely the sudden snowfall-then-quickmelt of last weekend, and since we're now experiencing the second half of that cycle all over again this weekend, I'm keeping that damn appointment until the last minute.
----
Getting ready to join the choir invisible: any number of Netflix films you might have wanted to see someday.
Netflix is a fickle beast. And the streaming entertainment company is shedding a substantial catalog of good movies as 2013 draws to a close, abandoning titles like Do the Right Thing and Being John Malkovich. Top Gun is getting axed. Top Gun!
It's all about spreading around the licensing money, and some studios have been getting greedier with their back catalogs than others, so quite a few good things will be hitting the skids come the 1st. The whole list is on that link (HT to T, aka![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
onlyonechoice for the heads-up:), but among the lost causes of 2013 is the set of the original 1960s/70s episodes of Dark Shadows. I first met local filmmaker glamberson here by catching one of his posts about being scared to death by this show during his local childhood here, just as Barnabas was spooking me 400 miles to the south and east.
On the bright side, there is a good amount of drek going out with the Netrash, including one I've never seen, but reference all the time in a meme of sorts:
Breakin’ 2: Electric Bugaloo is expiring, so my thoughts and prayers are with you in this difficult time.
----
Coming back to life, ever so slowly: the Buffalo Sabres, yeah, yeah, yeah.
The record still sucks. The only playoff race they're conceivably in is the one for the #1 overall pick in the upcoming draft (awarded by loser's lottery by a weighted draw among the league's worst teams). But they're playing better, even stringing the occasional victory together. Last night in Toronto, they surrendered three quick scores to blow an unusual (for them) two-goal lead- one of them coming from the team's token goon, only the second of his NHL career- but fought back to tie it before losing in shootout.
At least this time no goalies' butts were harmed.
----
And finally, going: me. Gotta return a library book (this one, which I loved, but which Goodreads insists on posting to my timeline as Shock of the Fall) and get some cardio in before returning to the seemingly endless task of transferring Eleanor's essence onto my Android tablet while removing all traces of mine. I'll know I've succeeded when it cries out, "I've got new kidneys!"
Next door, though, was a tougher go: Betty has only the one phone, no cell or voice mail, and had out-of-town company coming who couldn't reach her. TPC (aka Verizon) promised her a visit this past Thursday, but then never showed (although the company did get there okay). They also tried to pin it on her as an inside wiring problem (which would be charged to her account) rather than a network issue (which, duh, it usually is when it affects lines in neighboring homes).
Finally, last night the desktop blinkies stopped, and the dial tones resumed. I called over to Betty this morning and confirmed she was back on the grid, as well. (Had she not been, I was going to run to Wal-Mart and buy a $20 burner mobile so she'd have something to communicate with.) She also saw a Verizon guy- not here, but at a nearby store- who said it was a buried cable issue that took out something like 400 homes. Wonder how many of them got charged for inside wire repairs.
Since the cause was likely the sudden snowfall-then-quickmelt of last weekend, and since we're now experiencing the second half of that cycle all over again this weekend, I'm keeping that damn appointment until the last minute.
----
Getting ready to join the choir invisible: any number of Netflix films you might have wanted to see someday.
Netflix is a fickle beast. And the streaming entertainment company is shedding a substantial catalog of good movies as 2013 draws to a close, abandoning titles like Do the Right Thing and Being John Malkovich. Top Gun is getting axed. Top Gun!
It's all about spreading around the licensing money, and some studios have been getting greedier with their back catalogs than others, so quite a few good things will be hitting the skids come the 1st. The whole list is on that link (HT to T, aka
onlyonechoice for the heads-up:), but among the lost causes of 2013 is the set of the original 1960s/70s episodes of Dark Shadows. I first met local filmmaker glamberson here by catching one of his posts about being scared to death by this show during his local childhood here, just as Barnabas was spooking me 400 miles to the south and east.On the bright side, there is a good amount of drek going out with the Netrash, including one I've never seen, but reference all the time in a meme of sorts:
Breakin’ 2: Electric Bugaloo is expiring, so my thoughts and prayers are with you in this difficult time.
----
Coming back to life, ever so slowly: the Buffalo Sabres, yeah, yeah, yeah.
The record still sucks. The only playoff race they're conceivably in is the one for the #1 overall pick in the upcoming draft (awarded by loser's lottery by a weighted draw among the league's worst teams). But they're playing better, even stringing the occasional victory together. Last night in Toronto, they surrendered three quick scores to blow an unusual (for them) two-goal lead- one of them coming from the team's token goon, only the second of his NHL career- but fought back to tie it before losing in shootout.
At least this time no goalies' butts were harmed.
----
And finally, going: me. Gotta return a library book (this one, which I loved, but which Goodreads insists on posting to my timeline as Shock of the Fall) and get some cardio in before returning to the seemingly endless task of transferring Eleanor's essence onto my Android tablet while removing all traces of mine. I'll know I've succeeded when it cries out, "I've got new kidneys!"