bogen.org

SBC is taking revenge upon us for actually almost doing something right for a change. When we moved into our house in July, we had a temporary telephone number for a week or two until our old telephone number could be transferred to the new address.  Strangely enough, the switch between the two appeared to come off without a hitch.  Ahh, were we ever mistaken.  In typical telephone company fashion, SBC started billing us twice for our DSL service.  One bill for the number we had for a short period of time, and another bill for our old number.  Sarah spent the better part of two hours on the telephone speaking with numerous people to get all of that straightened out (we think).  Well, yesterday, SBC decided to, essentially, disconnect our DSL service in retaliation.  What they really did in reality is hard to understand.  Their service people like to mumble about "central office" and "remote terminal" while muttering about paperwork gone awry.  Other SBC people tell me that they have never seen anything like was done to our account.  Others just rock back and forth making the sign of the cross at the way in which our account has apparently been possessed by some sort of Satanic force.  The long and short of it all is that even though SBC admits the problem is on their end and caused by their incompetance, they can do nothing to fix it in less than seven calendar days from today.  Of course, Labor Day is thrown in there which means that everything takes at least two days longer than it otherwise would.  The problem is that SBC apparently uses a "computer" that takes three days (!) to process an order.  Maybe they need to get the hampsters that power that computer to take in a bit of caffiene with their food every day.  Of course, that three days assumes that our account’s billing period doesn’t begin sometime during that three days.  If our account’s billing period begins during that three days, the clock stops while a separate five-day billing period lock-down is in effect.  Once that lock-down expires, the three-day clock can start running again.  Of course, the "computer" just disconnects our service so that it can be reconnected again.  The reconnection takes at least three more days.  Oh, and all of these days are, of course, working days.  So, through no fault of our own, we will be without DSL service for the next week at an absolute minimum.  Oh, and of course, we’ll be paying for this service we cannot use.  The service people can do nothing about billing, of course, which is what got us into this mess in the first place.  You can probably imagine why we will be exploring other options tonight and trying to cancel our service tomorrow.

At work today, MCI (SBC’s partner in sheer stupidity) explained to me that the high-speed data line the company wanted was installed on the second floor of building in which the company is located.  Of course, the company for which I work is on the seventh floor.  MCI told me that they would be happy to send out a technician that could extend the line from the second floor (where we have no offices) to the third floor (where we have no offices).  If we actually wanted the circuit in our offices, we would have to extend it.  Essentially, MCI was saying, “Hey, consider yourself lucky we got it into the right building.  If you actually want it in the right suite, that’s well beyond us."

Seeing as how I spent all day arguing with two telephone companies, can you imagine why I came home and immediately grabbed a beer out of the fridge?

The heat index for my bike ride home tonight was 98 degrees.

This morning, Sarah and I were riding to work together.  When we got near the pharmacy school at the UW, an old man swung his cane and both Sarah and I.  I not so politely asked him if he was off his rocker, and if he needed mental help.  Cranky Old Man responded that he didn’t like the fact we were riding on the sidewalk (for fifty feet of a five+ mile ride).  I asked him, “Who says I can’t ride on the sidewalk."  Cranky Old Man’s response, "I did."  Right.  Keep walking, buddy, and keep that cane to yourself before you actually hit someone with it and end up facing assault charges.

On my ride home tonight, only two cars would have hit and killed me if I hadn’t taken the driver’s general lack of awareness into account.

Sarah thinks I ought to start a game.  Whenever I confront someone who would have run me down on my bike if I hadn’t been looking out for them, they almost invariably say, "I didn’t see you" at some point during the conversation.  She thinks I ought to try and bait people into saying that every time I confront people about their idiocy behind the wheel of a car.

Oh, I’m writing this via dial-up.  Welcome to 1998.

We visited friends in Minnesota this weekend.  That was our first trip out of town since we bought our house June or since Sarah hurt her knee in May.  For us, that is quite a long, dry spell.

Speaking of long, dry spells, it has been so long since we got measureable precipitation, I don’t even remember when our last rain was.  The birch tree in our front yard is getting ready to drop its last few leaves.  We started watering it weeks ago, but despite our best efforts, it continues to drop leaves.  I can’t remember the last time I mowed the lawn.  The whole lawn is almost completely brown and dormant.  Only a couple of spots that are always in the shade have any sort of green grass.  If you believe the long-term forecast, we aren’t supposed to get any rain until the beginning of September, at the earliest.  Madison usually received 3.25 inches of rain between 01 August and 24 August.  So far this year, Madison has gotten 0.35 inches of rain in the same time period.  Year-to-date we are over seven inches of rain below normal.

Sarah and I could have written the travel section in the Star Tribune today.  The headline article was about what to see and do in Wisconsin.  The article below the fold on the front page was what to see and do in San Francisco.  One of the few interior articles was about traveling to Plymouth, MA to see Plymouth Rock.

We put Dalla up at a kennel (euphemistically called "doggy camp") while we were gone this weekend.  She was nearly a literal ball of furry energy when we picked her up.  She must have thought we were sending her back to the pound.

Why is it that everything has to have oranges in it these days?  When did we, as a nation, become obsessed with installing a particular citrus fruit into nearly everything we purchase.  Our dishwasher soap has orange in it.  You can buy Comet cleanser with orange in it.  There is a variety of Pledge furniture polish with orange in it.  Orange Plus non-abrasive cleaning towels.  Orangle Glo wood cleanser.  Easy Orange clean products.  Orangle-Sol (a solvent).  All of these products clog the aisles at my local grocery store.  It’s no wonder that plain old orange juice is so expensive.  The vast majority of the orange crop is being used by Americans to dust their coffee tables.  What makes the orange so attractive in cleansers, anyway?  Why not use cheaper, fruits like crab apples?  How about using a larger citrus fruit like a grapefruit?  Why shouldn’t I just wipe down my furniture with a mango, cleanse my toilet by tossing a handful of grapes into it, and dissolve a few oil spots through careful application of banana peels?

Are your kids dogs or are your dogs kids?  At the grocery store tonight, I noticed that there are two separate products sold with ten feet of each other that both claim to be Scooby Snacks.  One is a foil bag full of dog treats that has a big picture of Scooby Doo on the front.  The other is a box with a big picture of Scooby Doo on the front.  Are we, as a nation, feeding our dogs too well if they get the same branded treats as our kids?

Perhaps the most interesting comment I can make about current news coverage is that the two most interesting and truthful news outlets currently operating in the US today are The Onion and the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Sarah got good news the other day.  She will be employed by the National Park Service for the next year in their Madison office.  This will be a pleasant change from serving as a Zoology TA at the University.  She is really excited about the new job and the benefits and flexibility it will give her.

Easily the best headline (courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) I’ve seen over a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger entering the CA governor’s race:

The Governator?

The birch tree in front of our house is dropping leaves like the date is sometime in November, rather than early August.  Sarah brought a sample in to the Entomology department at the University, to see if the tree had any sort of insect infestation.  As it turns out, the tree needs more water than we’ve been getting of late, and it has some Japanese Beetle damage.  So, now we have to water a tree that lives in our yard, but doesn’t particularly like our climate.

Dalla continues to get me out of bed sometime between 05:45 and 06:30 every day.  She likes her morning walk, so when she has determined that I’ve slept enough, she starts smacking me with her front paws until I get out of bed and take her for a walk.  The joys of dog ownership know no bounds…

From a Madison Police Department Newsletter:

Officers recently responded to a fight in progress outside an East side residence. Upon arrival they found 2 men wrestling on the ground, but they were smiling and didn’t appear angry. One was bleeding from scratches on his arms. They explained that they were brothers and they were arguing over whether to use bottled water or tap water to water the garden. They stated that from the time they were kids, they have settled disagreements by wrestling. That’s been a long time since their ages are 59 and 63.

The walls in the office are now a color that I call "Shocking Yellow."  The folks at the paint store would like you to believe the color is named "Lemon Zest."  They are wrong.  However, even Shocking Yellow is better than cream walls covered with a Noah’s Ark motif.

In addition to painting the office we’ve been unpacking boxes, getting rid of boxes, installing telephone extensions, trimming bushes, weeding gardens, putting up more towel-bars, installing pulleys in the garage, etc., etc., etc.  Sometime around the year 2015 we ought to take a break and enjoy our house, it seems.

We finally got some pictures of Dalla on-line for interested parties.