Dale Miller

I hate cellular providers.
I hate cellular providers.
I hate cellular providers.
I hate cellular providers.
I hate cellular providers.
I hate cellular providers.
I hate cellular providers.
I hate cellular providers.
I hate cellular providers.
I hate cellular providers.

Have I mentioned that I hate cellular providers?

Mark called to see if his Austin number change could be processed over the phone rather than having to wait until he was in Austin at the store. He was told that not only could it not be done over the phone, but to do it in the store they would have to change him from a “Little Rock” plan to an “Austin” plan, which would not have the Arkansas state employee discount attached. GRRRRRRR!

I think we may be returning our Cingular phones tomorrow and just staying with Sprint (after I get them to change my number back). I may not have cell service at the house, but at least their billing system is messed up in a way that is marginally understandable.

Why do they make it so difficult?

Okay, back to watching anime.

I’m watching “Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu”. I recommend it.

Mark also brought me “Last Exile”. That is a very good series. As with many of the better science fiction anime series, it starts with no explanation and leaves you with many questions.

I had two things on my agenda to accomplish today, and I eventually managed both of them.

First was to take my car into the body shop to have the damage repaired that I caused back in October. That was interesting enough to accomplish, because the roads are still not clear from all the snow. Today was he first time I have even tried to move my car since last Tuesday. I dropped the car off and then went to Enterprise to pick up my rental. I had, as usual, asked for the cheapest car they have, because I don’t really care what sort of rental I drive, but I do care how much it costs. Due to the snow and ice, they hadn’t had the returns they were expecting. The only thing on the lot was a Mitsubishi Endeavor, which is this great big SUV. Not exactly what I was expecting, but they let me have it for the compact car rate, since that is what I had reserved.

If only the other plan had gone that well. Last week Mark convinced his mother and grandparents to switch from their old AT&T wireless plan to a new Cingular plan which will benefit them greatly. It would only make sense for he nad I to also switch, so he could call his mother with free minutes, and since Cingular actually works at my house, he could do the same for me. Simple enough, I thought, we’ll just go in and sign up for a “Family Talk” plan for the two of us and have our existing Sprint numbers moved over. That was apparently too much for Cingular, since I have a Little Rock, Arkansas number and he has an Austin, Texas number. It’s apparently just not possible to have phones in two different states on a Cingular account. Why this should be so hard, I have no idea, but after talking to several people, and having Cingular customer service on the phone for nearly 30 minutes, it was determined that it simply can’t be done. After quite a bit of hemming, hawing, and gnashing of teeth, I finally decided to just get us each a cell plan, even though I’m paying more, and we can’t share minutes. This is truly annoying. I moved my number over to my new phone, and Mark has a temporary Little Rock number. He can’t have his 512 number moved while he is in Arkansas, so we’re going to have to wait until he goes back to Austin, have the phone changed to a 512 number, and then he can move his existing number over. Arrrrrrgh. Oh, and to top it off, apparently Cingular won’t sell you service unless you have an official “Cingular” phone. It’s not that it won’t work on any unlocked GSM phone, it’s just their policy. So Mark now has two GSM phones, where he really only needed one.

I can’t decide if cell phone companies or car dealerships are more evil.

Hey, at least I have cell phone coverage at my house now, which I never had with Sprint. Maybe I’ll get rid of my landline and only use the cell. That could help make up the difference in cost.

I miss the Bell system.

I woke up early this morning, wandered around the house accomplishing mostly nothing, and decided to climb back in bed. As is not terribly unusual at those times, I had strange dreams. The only thing I now remember was trying to read information on a “metaforum”. I have since decided that must be a discussion group about discussion groups. :)

Among the Anime that Mark has provided is “Last Exile”. I’m about 7 episodes into it, and it’s fairly interesting.

There are ladybugs crawling all over one of my windows. Ashley has been watching them for several minutes now.

It’s 26° and snowing at the cathouse. It’s very pretty to watch, so long as I’m on the inside and it’s on the outside. I’m hoping that it doesn’t build up on the satellite dish like it did last year. I can’t stay shut in the house without my Internet access. The idea of having to climb out on the roof with a broom so I can get an uplink isn’t very appealing, though.

Since I’m one of those people who read labels, and I’m currently trying to count calories, I decided to see just how bad some things were for me. I knew several things were bad, but I didn’t realize just how bad.

Notes:
2 – serving size 1 cookie?? You’ve got to be kidding.
4 – You know it’s bad when three of the products in my house have more Calories by weight than sugar!
8 – I definately need to be filling up on soup (without crackers — see number 3)

Oreo went to the vet this morning for her annual check up. She was a good kitty, even if she did complain about it most of the trip there and back. Everything checked out okay. I’m always glad when my vet tells me that I take good care of my cats. It helps to know I can do something right.

I had planned to stay home Saturday night, but Mark convinced me to get out. We didn’t go to dinner, but to buy his mother a Christmas present. Yes, the one Christmas present I bought this year was for my ex-wife. She is now the proud owner of a 27-inch television and a DVD player. They are both towards the lower end of the spectrum, but so very much better than what she had. I then sat with her and Mark and watched “Peter Pan”.

The cold weather is not helping my weight-loss program. It’s simply been too cold to get outside and do much of anything. Yes, I know some people are quite willing to get out and exercise in 40° weather, but I’m a wimp. The thing that bothers me most is that (with the exception of more exercise) there is nothing I can do to make myself lose weight. It’s a matter of what I don’t do — eat. Like most people, I want a quick fix. I don’t want to have to wait for weeks and months to take weight off, even though it took weeks to put it on. I’ve dropped five pounds since last Wednesday. I must keep it up.

It’s time for the traditional two weeks off for Christmas. Actually, I haven’t been in the office this week either. I’ve spent three days at a Microsoft Exchange class and took two days vacation. This may actually be the longest I’ve ever been out of the office at one stretch. For the next fortnight I’m going to have to fight off my typical holiday problems — eating/spending money because I’m bored/depressed. I can barely fasten my jeans now, I don’t need to put on any more weight. In fact, I need to lose it. I don’t know how well a diet will work when I’m home all the time, but it’s worth a try. Yesterday was a 600 calorie day, and I think I can manage that today as well. If I can keep that up the rest of the time, and get some exercise, then I might be able to fit into my clothes again by New Years. I know that starving myself isn’t healthy, but neither is being 30 pounds overweight.

It’s distinctly possible I’m becoming addicted to anime. I watched 17 episodes of Juuni Kokki yesterday, along with 2 episodes of Ghost in the Shell. That might be considered excessive.

Oh yeah, I also worked in the yard for a bit.

… you see someone drive up to a house with a front-end loader, another person climbs in the scoop, and the first raises the scoop and drives slowly around the house so the second can hang the Christmas lights.

I thought it was one of the better ways I’ve ever seen it done.