I hate my phone company...

...but I shan't be as violent in my desires for them as I normally might, since I know people who work for them and those folks are okay people. For some reason they didn't do the automatic withdrawl from my checking account this past week as I'd been expecting, but I figured sooner or later they would - it had slipped by a few days last month, no big deal, right?

Then I tried to call P and got a recording announcing that my service had been suspended. No warning phone call, no e-mail - WTF??? You can bet the billing rep is goingto get a fine set of blistered ears on Monday. This is service below and beyond my already low expectations of the company formerly known as AT&T. Another reason why I'm switching to Sprint/Nextel next spring when this contract runs out.

Did a little dish washing, a lot of data entry, and now I think I'm going to kick back until the Root comes on.

I hate my phone company...

...but I shan't be as violent in my desires for them as I normally might, since I know people who work for them and those folks are okay people. For some reason they didn't do the automatic withdrawl from my checking account this past week as I'd been expecting, but I figured sooner or later they would - it had slipped by a few days last month, no big deal, right?

Then I tried to call P and got a recording announcing that my service had been suspended. No warning phone call, no e-mail - WTF??? You can bet the billing rep is goingto get a fine set of blistered ears on Monday. This is service below and beyond my already low expectations of the company formerly known as AT&T. Another reason why I'm switching to Sprint/Nextel next spring when this contract runs out.

Did a little dish washing, a lot of data entry, and now I think I'm going to kick back until the Root comes on.

Sunday morning with leaf blowers

Management has some guys out there blowing the leaves off the lawn, Fortunately they didn't start until about 1100, after I was awake and showered; probably would have been really irritating if that's what I woken up to.

For once I didn't screw myself with the Daylight Savings Time change - I got a decent eight hours of sleep despite wasting time on The Sharpe Companion. I'm giving serious thought to recycling that one. It doesn't really tell me anything I need to know about the fictional man and his times that I can't find in Wikipedia or the various online fan sites devoted to the series, and most annoying of all it only covers the India trilogy, Sharpe's Trafalgar, and Sharpe's Prey, the latter of which I just finished last night.
( And how was it? )

The other "new" library book I picked up was a Jack Vance collection, Chateau d'If. This is an interesting collection of short stories with no publication information, but I'm guessing from the relative simplicity of the stories that these are all fairly early works. The title story is pretty good but the remainder aren't that great, though there are some interesting twists to some of them.

Time to pack up and head over to the T-bird for the staff meeting. Later, I might head out to take care of laundry, but we'll see how energetic I'm feeling. If my mood at the moment is any indication, laundry may be postponed until later in the week.

Sunday morning with leaf blowers

Management has some guys out there blowing the leaves off the lawn, Fortunately they didn't start until about 1100, after I was awake and showered; probably would have been really irritating if that's what I woken up to.

For once I didn't screw myself with the Daylight Savings Time change - I got a decent eight hours of sleep despite wasting time on The Sharpe Companion. I'm giving serious thought to recycling that one. It doesn't really tell me anything I need to know about the fictional man and his times that I can't find in Wikipedia or the various online fan sites devoted to the series, and most annoying of all it only covers the India trilogy, Sharpe's Trafalgar, and Sharpe's Prey, the latter of which I just finished last night.
( And how was it? )

The other "new" library book I picked up was a Jack Vance collection, Chateau d'If. This is an interesting collection of short stories with no publication information, but I'm guessing from the relative simplicity of the stories that these are all fairly early works. The title story is pretty good but the remainder aren't that great, though there are some interesting twists to some of them.

Time to pack up and head over to the T-bird for the staff meeting. Later, I might head out to take care of laundry, but we'll see how energetic I'm feeling. If my mood at the moment is any indication, laundry may be postponed until later in the week.

Quality teaser

Baen, God bless them, has put up the entire text of the Retief! collection (edited by Eric Flint, with a foreword by David Drake) online for your reading pleasure. Their nefarious plan has succeeded - I must have this book! ^_^

(Via Instapundit).

Quality teaser

Baen, God bless them, has put up the entire text of the Retief! collection (edited by Eric Flint, with a foreword by David Drake) online for your reading pleasure. Their nefarious plan has succeeded - I must have this book! ^_^

(Via Instapundit).

Hey, kids - It could have been worse

Her Dooceness offers advice to people who think they know how to raise your kids better than you do:

I’m surprised you haven’t been reported to child welfare with how public you are about some of the things you think and do regarding your daughter. Paper towels are very dangerous for your daughter to chew on. She could suffocate. don’t let her be alone with them. I’m amazed at how foolish you can be sometimes.

When you call Child Welfare, PLEASE get the story straight. Not only do I leave her alone with paper towels, I set her in the middle of a flea-infested floor and surround her with sharp objects and porn. Then I turn on a wood-burning stove in the corner of the room and seal all the windows. Before I leave the room and lock the door, I stick a bottle full of vodka in her mouth, you know, to muffle the screaming.

(Indirectly because of Professor Death, who was actually linking to one of her posts about b00bs and the Nobel Prize...)

Hey, kids - It could have been worse

Her Dooceness offers advice to people who think they know how to raise your kids better than you do:

I’m surprised you haven’t been reported to child welfare with how public you are about some of the things you think and do regarding your daughter. Paper towels are very dangerous for your daughter to chew on. She could suffocate. don’t let her be alone with them. I’m amazed at how foolish you can be sometimes.

When you call Child Welfare, PLEASE get the story straight. Not only do I leave her alone with paper towels, I set her in the middle of a flea-infested floor and surround her with sharp objects and porn. Then I turn on a wood-burning stove in the corner of the room and seal all the windows. Before I leave the room and lock the door, I stick a bottle full of vodka in her mouth, you know, to muffle the screaming.

(Indirectly because of Professor Death, who was actually linking to one of her posts about b00bs and the Nobel Prize...)