How about Stanford v. Appalachian State for the National Championship?

For anyone that has been following, this has been a crazy year for college football. First, there was Appalachian State beating Michigan, then half the top 10 losing in one week and now, USC losing to Stanford! LSU is the undisputed #1 but not through their own doing since they did not make a very good showing against Florida - only winning in the last seconds after trailing the entire game. It is more like they are #1 because no one else is stepping up to claim the position. Congrats to Cal on making #2 and hope they can go all the way. In the meantime, maybe we should consider a National Championship game with Appalachian State and Stanford. Could be very entertaining. And as meaningful as anything else at this point.





And, on another topic, for anyone keeping track, I AM NOT HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH THE CABLE GUY! I know that it looks that way and almost feels that way to me. Comcast's continuing ineptness continues to plague me. After the grand debacle on the 14th which caused me to miss the start of my yoga retreat weekend, it turns out that Comcast was not even supposed to put in two cable cards (since they are both multistream cards) and therefore, I should not be charged for the extra service (an additional service fee for the extra card). I was so disgusted at that point that I unplugged the digital box and took it down to Comcast on Terra Bella and turned it in, asking for a refund of all of the associated charges for the period since I had purchased the new TV. I wanted to take out the additional digital card and return that to them also but that "required" another visit from the cable guy so that he could take the card out (since he allegedly knows what he is doing). Of course, that required another 4 hour window in which I had to sit in my house for 3 hours and 55 minutes to wait for him to come and then another 2 hours while he fumbled around trying to figure out what he was doing! This involved him checking my cable box in the bedroom (why???!!!??? - the problem wasn't there), checking the connection at the box outside and stepping on my plants in the process despite the presence of stepping stones at the box and my pointing him towards them, he stepped everywhere but on the stepping stones - aarghhh - do these guys have to go to school to learn how to be morons or does it just come naturally? Of course, all of the mucking around had little effect on the true problem. He took away the extra cable card for which Comcast charged me a "removal of service" charge that took 3 weeks to get off of my bill but did not fix the problem of the 1.Out of Sync sound/video on the non-HD channels, 2. gray screens and freezing of video/sound feet, 3. breakup of video and/or sound. For those, I was on the phone with Comcast for another 2 weeks, nearly every day. Signals were sent to my box but little else. What is worse is that no one from Comcast seems to know what TIVO is or how their cards relate to the box. They keep referring to the Comcast dvr at which point I have to bring them back to reality and the fact that I have a TIVO box. On Saturday, I finally got TIVO on the phone and they placed a 3-way call to Comcast to try to resolve the problem. The TIVO tech explained the problem to Comcast who several times asked about the Comcast dvr and had to be reminded he was talking to TIVO about the TIVO dvr. Then Comcast hung up and we had to start all over again. The TIVO rep was very patient and went through Comcast's dial tree again to get a new rep on the phone. The only solution that rep had was to send another tech out to my house this morning. In the meantime, I took the TIVO back to Best Buy and exchanged it for a new one on the off chance that the problem might be with the TIVO box and not with the Cable Card. I took the Cable Card out myself (not a difficult process), took the TIVO down, exchanged it, installed the new one, put the Cable Card back in and proceeded to watch TV. The problem was not resolved leading me to believe that, indeed, it was a cable card problem. This morning, I planned on being late to work in order to wait for the Comcast guy who was supposed to come between 8 - 10 this morning. I got a call at 8:45 from the C office asking me if I still had an appt. I said yes and asked when the guy would be out. The girl told me that I was first on the schedule so he should be out there soon. At 9:48 he finally showed up. He looked at the TIVO box and asked where the Comcast dvr was. I explained that it was a TIVO. Then he asked what the problem was. I explained and then said he was only supposed to replace the Cable Card. He asked where the cable card was supposed to go. I had to show him. So.............if I am showing him what to do, why couldn't I just go down to the C office and pick up a new card and put it in instead of wasting my time waiting for a guy who didn't know what he was doing???? Next he unplugged the cable and began testing the signal. It was obvious I had a signal. The TV was on and playing! The "testing" took 20 minutes. Then he opened the cable card, looked at it and went out to his truck for 10 minutes. Was he taking a nap?? Who knows. He came back in and put the card in. I ran it through all of the diagnostics since he didn't know how (I was an expert by this time). 45 minutes later, he was gone, having done nothing but I did get a new cable card. Hopefully, it will work but I won't know until the next time I try to watch a show. All told, I have spent 17 hours either waiting for the Cable Guy or with him at my house over the last 3 weeks. I have also spent about 10 - 15 hours on the phone with them. None of them seem to know what TIVO is or how their cards are supposed to work with it. So much for that relationship. 32 hours of my time for which I was not paid and indeed even lost time from work. Comcast really sucks - wish there were an alternative. Unfortunately, AT&T also sucks leaving satellite out. There would be a good opportunity here for a third company if it could only get over the entry cost barrier. I truly hope that when I get home this evening all works well and I am done with this whole episode. Fingers crossed!





Didn't mean to write so much on the Cable Guy but guess 32 hours of effort do add up to a lot. Anyway, being already late to work this morn, I decided to stop off at Starbuck's on the way and ran into my sis and the twins. What a surprise! Sat down with them for a nice mocha and snack before finally heading off to work.





And a quick review of the other things that have been going on the last 3 weeks (yes, I did other things besides work and seeing Cable Guy!):





Saw Emma at the Mountain View Performing Arts Center - Awesome theater, awesome show. Great evening.





Raced in the Treasure Island Dragon Boat race and came in second! Only 4 seconds behind first place. The first time that we have not come in last AND we beat one of the teams that beat us last year! We were ecstatic and all had to take photos with the trophy. Here I am:









Went to my friend Diane's 50th birthday campout in Big Basin. Beautiful day, great drive, yummy food - especially the somemore's.

Got the results on my bone scan - all negative - all good - no visible cancer.

Had surgery to remove my mediport which has been in for 2 years. The nurse tried an IV in my hand but could not get a vein. Had to resort to my wrist. Was awake during surgery which was interesting but there was a sheet over my face. I asked for a mirror to watch but was denied. Oh well.

Did lots more work on my garden which continues to come along and look better and better all the time. Planted an eggplant which has a nice eggplant ripening on it now.

Resumed painting after a one month hiatus (Teached teaching on a cruise).

Went to a CABI party and bought some new fall clothes for work. I desperately needed them and it is getting colder.

Still at a gain of 25 - 30 pounds and have set a definite intent and goal to drop those and get back to my pre-work weight before things get even more out of hand.

Got to meet my friend Sue who had been an internet breast cancer friend. She is the sister of a friend of mine and the first breast cancer person I could talk to after being diagnosed. We swapped many emails and personal feelings during that time. She lives in Chicago and was out here visiting her sister and I got to meet her face to face over ice tea and coke. It was great to finally meet her.

I guess that hits all of the highlights. Hopefully, October will calm down a bit from this point. This going at high speed for so many weeks on end gets really wearing. I need to settle down to a normal pace for a little while.

And, finally, Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October). Hope the pink doesn't overwhelm you!