Hodge podge

There have been seven fires in Carrboro this week, five of which involved apartments. There was one day before yesterday that displaced 26 people, though, as it took place in the early evening (6:30 p.m.), many folks weren’t home, no residents were injured, and all the animals were rescued and accounted for.

I was in the Daily Tar Heel this morning talking about the recovery after my apartment fire.

The fire day before yesterday was the third or fourth major fire in Carrboro apartments in the last two months.

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I ended up going to Kohl’s at 4 a.m. on Black Friday. I didn’t buy much, but waited for an hour to purchase what I did buy. Then I went to Target, which was opening at 6 a.m., but the line was around the building, so I left. I drove by Best Buy at about 6 a.m., which was an hour after they opened, and there was still a line of people outside! I didn’t even slow down. I went and got breakfast at Chick-fil-a and headed back to Target, which was open by that time and no longer had a line. I took my time shopping (they don’t do early bird specials, just a two-day sale, so no rush for me to check out), and got a number of good deals on things that I probably, certainly, didn’t need and on a couple of gifts for others. When I first got there, around 7 a.m., the line for the registers was snaked through the main aisles in the store. By 9 a.m., there were no long lines at the registers, and all registers were still open. I didn’t see the point in waiting in line earlier when I could just keep walking and looking and then check out when the lines died down some, so that’s what I did.

Ah commercialism.

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I enjoyed my long Thanksgiving weekend in Wilmington for the most part, except that I was sick and ended up having to buy a vaporizer in order to sleep at night. I’ve been sick for about a month now, and I finally seem to be getting better, maybe, knock on wood. I got a cold a month ago, it lasted for about a week and started easing up, and then came back full force and worse than before. I can’t seem to shake it, and I’m not the only one having that experience right now. But I’m not coughing nearly as much today as I was earlier this week.

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I’m heading to Wilmington again this weekend for my extended family Christmas party. My mom and dad are coming, but just to the party, not staying at my grandmothers. Last year’s party had light attendance. I’m hoping that this year, since the party’s in the afternoon instead of the evening, and since the party’s at my aunt and uncle’s house instead of at a somewhat remote location, more folks will come. But, only time will tell. I’m supposed to take a dessert, so I’m going to make a pound cake (cherry pound cake, from scratch – yum) and then, um, I’m not sure. Maybe a magic lemon pie. Or perhaps an orange chocolate pie.

What to do, what to do…

I’m feeling ambivalent about a lot of things in my life right now…

1 – Do I stay up all night to get the best Black Friday deals? Or would I be better off shopping around online for good deals on things that would probably be better quality (I’m thinking tech stuff, here)? Not shopping on Black Friday is not an option – even if I don’t buy any techie stuff, I’ll still go looking for gifts and clothing.

2 -  Do I get a formerly live Christmas tree this year, or a fake one? Or a fake one that is prelit? Or no tree at all, considering I won’t actually be home on Christmas?

3 – Do I buy gifts for my entire family, as I usually would? Do I make them gifts, and am I crazy for thinking that I could even begin to do that with only a month or so to go before Christmas? Do I give them a card saying, “I bought your gift, but it burned up with everything else in the fire. Sorry ’bout that. Have a Merry Christmas.” Cause, um, that would be true – I had done the majority of my Christmas shopping just after Christmas last year.

4 – Better yet, do I wait until Christmas Eve to do most of my shopping, with the understanding that there won’t be a huge selection of items, so my decisions about what to buy will be easier to make? Hey, that’s what my uncle does.

5 – Do I even attempt to take classes in the spring, or do I follow my gut and wait until Fall 08, knowing that puts me another year later in reaching my goal? Do I even want to be a doctor anymore? Am I ever going to feel passionate about anything career-wise ever again?

6 – Do I continue to shop around for television and internet services that would meet my wants/needs, knowing that Time Warner Cable has a stronghold on the area, or do I cave in to the pressure of wanting cable TV so I can watch Carolina basketball with a clear picture (and Law and Order SVU, and Grey’s Anatomy, and, oh yeah, Discovery Health), and have high speed internet access with wireless all for one *LOW* monthly price? Does it matter that my temporary “boycott” of TWC doesn’t hurt them in the slightest and that it’s more the principle of the thing?

Okay, perhaps that’s enough ambivalence for one post. Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Time Warner Cable Sucks – but you already knew that.

Since I couldn’t get a straight answer from Time Warner Cable over the phone, and because I got much rudeness, I decided I would send them an email and see how they responded. I sent the email explaining the situation, and finally got a reply today:

Response: Thank you for contacting us. While we do understand that this presents an additional hardship during this difficult time we do apologize however we are unable to reverse this charge for the equipment. Please note that this charge can be claimed on your renter’s insurance or other aid claims.

Please let us know if we can be of any additional assistance.

Thank you for using Time Warner Cable.
Michael
Time Warner Cable Support
Raleigh, NC

I’m sure they are very sorry and apologetic. Is there no way to fight a monopoly? And is there a real reason that antitrust laws don’t apply to a company like TWC, or do they but the FTC isn’t regulating them?

I don’t even have another choice for high speed internet where I live. Regardless of the carrier, if it goes through the cable lines, you have to deal with TWC. With school (hopefully starting again in the spring) and sometimes bringing work home, having a high speed connection is a must. I don’t have a home telephone, so dial up isn’t an option anyway.

This is bullshit.

UNC’s going green.

Okay – first I must mention that I couldn’t resist taking the below pictures. I took them with my camera phone, which explains the poor quality.

Second – this comes on the heels of a “flushing” debate among some of the women in my department. Let’s just say it got a little out of hand.

These were installed today:

In case you can’t read the sign, here’s a close up:

That’s up for #1 and down for #2. The fine print at the bottom says you should use whichever one “best suits your needs.”

I’m glad to see that UNC is taking an additional effort to conserve water, considering we’re going through one of the worst droughts (the worst?) the state has ever seen.  But I still think the signs are hilarious.

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On another note, after the flushing fiasco at work, I’ve wondered if some folks need a copy of this:

Perhaps it will be my contribution to this year’s holiday gift exchange…

The evils of the cable company

So, apparently I am liable for the loss of the Time Warner Cable modem that I was using (for all of one month) for my internet access, even though the loss was through no fault of my own.

I called TWC early on to cancel my service and to see what to do about the modem. The woman actually asked me, “So you no longer have the modem?” I wanted to say, “Sure! That was the first thing I grabbed on my way out of my burning apartment…”

She said I should take a copy of the police report to the local TWC office so that they wouldn’t charge me for the modem.

They charged me for the modem anyway. So I called today and the woman I spoke with said that I was liable for the equipment not returned to them, regardless of how it was destroyed. Had I had renter’s insurance, it wouldn’t have been an issue – it would have been covered by the insurance – but since I didn’t, I now owe them something like $68 for the modem that I only got to use for a month.

With all the money that Time Warner Cable pulls in through their exorbitant prices for cable television, they claim that charging people for damaged equipment due to circumstances beyond their control is necessary due to the problem of cable service theft, and an apparent “black market” for selling TWC equipment. The below is from their Residential Services Subscriber Agreement:

(g) I agree to pay TWC liquidated damages in the amount demanded by TWC, but not to exceed that specified in the then-current price list, for the replacement cost of the TWC Equipment without any deduction for depreciation, wear and tear or physical condition of such TWC Equipment if (i) I tamper with, or permit others to tamper with, TWC Equipment, (ii) the TWC Equipment is destroyed, lost, or stolen, whether or not due to circumstances beyond my reasonable control, and even if I exercised due care to prevent such destruction, loss, or theft, or (iii) the TWC Equipment is damaged (excluding equipment malfunction through no fault of my own) while in my possession, whether or not due to circumstances beyond my reasonable control, and even if I exercised due care to prevent such damage. I agree that these liquidated damages are reasonable in light of the problem of theft of cable Services; the existence of a “black market” in TWC Equipment; the ability of third parties to steal Services with unlawfully obtained TWC Equipment, causing loss of revenues for installation and service fees; and the difficulty in determining the actual damages that arise from the unauthorized tampering with, loss, destruction, or theft of TWC Equipment. I agree to return any damaged TWC Equipment to TWC. (emphasis mine) 

I’m sure that melted modem would fetch a huge price on the black market.

I doubt that I will win this battle with the evil cable conglomerate, but that doesn’t mean I won’t let them know how shitty it is that they have such a policy. I could understand charging people for equipment that was merely lost or damaged through negligence, but, especially if someone has a police report showing evidence of a disaster that resulted in the equipment’s destruction, I can’t understand not waiving such fees. Clearly their argument about “black market” sales of equipment doesn’t apply in the case of a melted modem due to an apartment fire.

Wishing things could just get back to normal

I would prefer to spend my weekends walking the dogs, working on crafts, even vegging out in front of the TV…not furniture shopping! Argh!!!

I’ve been scouring the local thrift and used furniture stores to try to find something that is (a) affordable, (b) comfortable, and (c) at least moderately to my liking as far as color and appearance goes. Heh.

I found a great chair this weekend, but the place where it was didn’t have a couch that really went with it, and, as they charge the same for delivery whether you buy one piece of furniture or three, I didn’t buy it. I know I could have gotten someone to help me get it rather than having it delivered, but they also charge for storage (not much, but still…) and I didn’t want to deal with all that either. Plus, apparently most of their furniture is 50% off on Fridays from 5-7 p.m. The man working there said that if I didn’t need furniture right now, I should consider coming back on Friday. I think I will…

Then there’s the conundrum of accepting things that are being offered to me. I’m not a particularly picky person when it comes to household furnishings, but I also know that I’m not likely to get rid of something once I own it just because it doesn’t look that great, so I’m trying really hard to find furniture that I like rather than just find furniture. I can afford, thanks to my generous friends and coworkers, to pay a little something for some furniture, so I’ve been checking out Craigslist as well…

but then someone has offered me an older hide-a-bed couch that has been clawed by cats but that has a slipcover…do I accept it, or do I find a way to politely say that I’m looking for something a bit different? I really don’t want to have to slipcover something – those things never fit right and are annoying to have to keep straight and looking decent. If I can get some pretty inexpensive furniture that looks good and is sans cat clawing, shouldn’t I?

I dunno…I, of all people, should realize that what it looks like really doesn’t matter, because it could all be gone in a flash anyway. As long as it’s functional – it’s not like dogs (and maybe cats, at some point) and small children aren’t going to be climbing all over it.

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Anyway, the therapist and I are doing official “trauma” work, spending ~20 – 30 minutes per session talking about the fire, the cats, etc. I look forward to the day that I can spend therapy sessions on other things. And to think that I was only recently thinking that I might be able to cut back on my sessions! Now I’m seeing her twice a week!