Failure is Normal, Don't be alarmed.

We ended an experiment this past weekend. We disconnected television, internet access and our phone about 8 months ago, cutting the cord with Cox Cable and throwing all our eggs in with Verizon wireless and using one of their 4G wireless hotspots to provide connectivity to our home.

That didn't work too well. The connectivity of the hotspot was horrible, and forget 4G speed, we were lucky to get 56K baud rate out of the thing. So we bit the bullet and I ordered up Cox High Speed internet only (no TV or Phone) on line and waited for the install. I received an e-mail two days later stating that my service was on, but there was nothing about when my Broadband modem would show up. I waited two more days and then called them up. After being transferred 3 times and being put on hold for 10 minutes, I was finally told, they have forgotten to ship the modem to me. They offered to overnight it, or I could go pick one up at a local Cox outlet.

I chose to pick it up that day, and went down to pick it up on Saturday. When we got to the store, they stated they didn't have the modem I ordered so they could not give me one. But they could reverse the charges and sell me a different one, which I opted for.

We got the modem home and I hooked it up (which I have done countless times before) and there was no connectivity. Being suspicious, I went outside to check the cable box on the side of the house. Sure enough, while the service was 'on', they had neglected to actually 'connect the coax cable to the house, which I had to do as well. After a delay of 4 days, and about 4 hours of my time (which I won't get reimbursed for), we now have Boardband back in the house. My wife thinks I am a God for being able to make her iPad superfast now.

THEN..........

We went to purchase a new bed at Sleep America on Sunday. We moved up from a Queen to a King and got a memory foam matress....owwww, so firm.....so big, heavenly. Only problem is, they delivered it the next day, and it was the wrong one. Instead of a king, it is a California King, instead of being firm, it is extra firm (like a rock). So now we have to call them up and have them come out and exchange it, after we went through the whole process of setting it up in our bedroom and found out that it didn't fit the frame.

Which brings us to Monday......what do you think is going to happen today?

Starring Vic Morrow.....

Every once in a while I browse through NetFlix and find some old television shows from my youth. I slip them into my que to see if there is still any of that old childhood magic left by re-watching these shows. I have watched 'Fireball XL5' and 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' and was somewhat disappointed. They really didn't regenerate that gee-whiz effect that they had in my youth. Recently, the DVD version of the 60s television show 'Combat!' (starring Vic Morrow and Rick Jason) was dropped in our mailbox and I popped it into the BlueRay player not expecting too much.

I was surprised. This was a really good show. Much better than I remember. As a child in my teens, I only remembered Vic Morrow and the fact that he was super cool and had a Thompson sub-machine gun. As an adult, the dialogue, story lines, lighting, camera work, soundtrack and direction all work very well. These are things I would not have noticed as a child. As adults, we are used to the slick Hollywood glamorization of war. The likes of 'Saving Private Ryan', or 'Red Tails', where everything is based on action and fast pacing. "Combat!" shows a different type of war, the human side of a world in chaos. Sort of like an early version of 'Band of Brothers'. This show might be the NetFlix exception, I actually might add Disc-2 to my que.

Super Sheet

I finished a project at my office last week. It is a statistical spreadsheet that breaks down some of the data that my program collects. This spreadsheet is actually an Excel Workbook that consists of over 30 individual spreadsheets and 150 graphs of the data. The workbook can be loaded with 24 different data pulls, and automatically organizes the data and graphs it. It took me about 40 hours to put this all together. It is so overwhelming that I doubt it will actually be used by my office, but I am glad I made the effort, because if you take the time to read the numbers and graphs, it points the way to the future, whether we like it or not.

Locker Room

Let me give you women a peek into a place you never go. The men's locker room at the YMCA. I go to the 'Y' to relax. I work out, take long showers and sit in the steam room with my thoughts. This is the place where I am alone with all the memories and collected wisdom of my life. It is a place where I think and ponder, where I ask myself questions. However, I often seem alone in this endeavor. Because much to my surprise, my fellow men don't share this mindset. Most of the other male members of the 'Y' are downtown professionals, such as lawyers, judges, managers and the like. Yet, their conversations in the locker room are anything but deep or thought provoking. Most of what I hear is sports talk about recent games, stories about court cases (In my last case I had a juror that was soo fat....) or puns about fellow members abilities or sexual prowess. In essence, it is the high school locker room populated by 55 year old men. As I search for the meaning of life in the swirling clouds of the steam room, I realize just how out of place I am when another member asks his racquetball buddy, "Did you fart?"

Politically Incorrect?

During the course of my employment I get to deal with individuals that have large families that are enrolled in state sponsored services. I have been trained in cultural diversity as a result of having to deal with these individuals. What might be considered a normal family environment for a Caucasian family of 2.5 children is going to be totally different than an Hispanic family of 8.2 children. I get that. What I don't get is the naming conventions that some minorities have regarding their brood. What does it tell you when the names of the children in a family are as follows; Tonisha, Taniqua, Tonosha, Tiquain, Toeneal, Tanque, Timaul? It tells me that the parents (usually the mother) think this is cute, and that they are completing a set or collection of children. The children probably don't really care, because they are individuals, but anyone having to deal with this family as a group is just going to roll their eyes and think to themselves, "Not again.". Then there are the families that name all their children after automobiles...I am just saying, there should be a law against giving out bizarre names to children.

My Space ! ! !

Not the social network site. The area around me. It is a crowded world where I live, but most folks don't seem to understand this. When I am out training my dog to fetch, how often does some moron decide to walk their little poodle right past me, distracting my dog? When I return to my parked car, how often does the idiot who parked next to me leave 2 feet between the vehicles? when I am walking through a crowded grocery store, how many people really have stop right in front of me to check a list or answer their cell phone? Do you really have to cit-chat with the cashier when there are 10 people waiting in line behind you to check out? This may all seem pretty trivial, until you find it happening to you 20 times a day. The allure of the metropolitan lifestyle has definitely lost its luster.

Things Desi Hates............

This is a YouTube video created by my step-grand daughter whose name is Desirae. While some of her past videos have been a little bit on the irritating side (I mean lets face it, I am 40 years older than her and she sees the world totally different than I do), this video is worth watching, if only for the entertainment value. It is funny and I have to agree with most of it. Obviously her frustration is genuine. I can only wonder what she will add to the list over the next 40 years. Most excellent Desi!