Ramblings of a Southernbelle

My Year in Charter Hell

slmetcal — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:31:59 +0000

Well what can I say? I have had a great dislike for Charter for the last year. We had their cable service along with their internet up until 9 months ago. My dislike started when our local cable channels on were unwatchable. We called a handful of times they would send someone out and say oh it is your set up or oh it is the one splitter. Not once did they ever look at the cable on the outside of the house. Then we started having problems with the internet dropping for a few minutes and then coming back. Sometimes it would happen multiple times a week or day. It never was predictable. The only thing that would happen is the connection would drop. We could go for a week or two with no problems. Well by now it was October or November of 2008 and we called customer service and they said oh we can send a tech out to look. Again same thing did not look at the connection outside the house only kept saying can you connect directly to the computer without the router and it work. While on hold with customer service utilizing my cell phone because we had no phone service because our internet was out I started to speak with a rep who wanted to go through the same tired routine that we had been doing for 2 months every time we called. This particular call the rep hung up on me. I called back and told the customer service rep that I wanted to get this problem resolved and that I would not be unplugging the modem or router anymore as I had done that on 3 prior occassions that same day. We had tried everything trying to rule out that it was on my end. So here we are in December of 2008 and the cable was unwatchable and the internet was dropping once a day every week for no reason. We made the decision to drop their cable tv and keep the internet as where we live there is no other alternative for high speed not even DSL We returned the cable boxes to Charter at the end of December stating why we were dropping their cable service. We were told that they would have to send a truck out to trap the line at the pole and charge us for rolling the truck so we could not steal cable. Hubby and I were not happy but said okay, I asked specifically if it would affect our internet and I was told no it would not. Well about 6 months ago we were still having the issue of the internet dropping. Again it was an intermittent problem. So we changed out the cable modem thinking that our modem was going bad. Nope the modem was fine. Well yesterday was the last straw the internet was not even usable and this was the second time in a week and the outages were lasting about 30 minutes at a time. I contacted the corporate headquarters I did not even go through customer service because I knew that they would be useless to me. So the tech at the corporate level looked at my modem logs and dispatched a tech to my house today. He tested the signal at the modem it was fine. He went outside and looked at my connection outside not only was the connection loose but it was not even up to code meaning that my cable was not being protected from the elements. So he installed a guard. He also detected that not only did they not trap the pole 9 months ago that I was charged $35 for. Instead they trapped my connection coming into my house which was causing my signal to fluctuate and timeout my modem. Once he removed the trap and put up the guard he tested the signal again and it had improved. So essentially for 3 years my connection has not been hooked up properly until today. So far it is working fine but I will be keeping an eye on it. The tech that came out does not even work for charter they outsource that. He was the first tech that had come to the house and not tried to blame it on my setup or the fact that we use one splitter. He was nice enough to leave his name and number and stated that if I had anymore problems to call him directly.

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A Review of Sweet Peppers Deli In Athens Alabama | Bukisa.com

slmetcal — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:49:25 +0000

A Review of Sweet Peppers Deli In Athens Alabama | Bukisa.com

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Folding table with Handle

slmetcal — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:44:00 +0000

For the last year I have been on the lookout for a folding table with handles. Something that I can carry with me to craft shows. Last year I borrowed one from a family friend and loved it. I know at one time they had them at Sam’s club but they are $85 and could not justify spending that much money on a table that I use only about half a dozen times a year. This morning after breakfast I was speaking with a friend and she said they had what I was looking for at Lowe’s and they were on sale for $40 so I told her I was running out the door to get one as we spoke. Well I get to Lowe’s and find them only you cannot see that they have handles on them. So after a few minutes I get some help and the tables turn out to be exactly what I was looking for. So now I am prepared for my next outdoor craft show with a table. Now if I could only get some more pieces made and photographed.

Posted in General, General Ramblings, Ramblings Tagged: Folding Table, Utility Table

Blogging Anniversary

slmetcal — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:38:09 +0000

It is hard to believe that I have had this blog for the last 7 years. I never thought that I would continue to do it for this long. I have taken breaks here and there but I always come back and post something. Sometimes it is a few weeks or months. I have gone as long as a year but I always come back. Looking through my archives I found how short my posts were and how few and far between they are in some spots as well. When my husband and I set up our blogs all those years ago not many people knew what blogs were. Now everyone has one. Okay, well maybe not everyone my parents do not have one nor do I see either of them getting one anytime soon. It is amazing to see what people blog about. I read a long list of blogs religiously but have never been able to blog what I would call consistently. As much as I enjoy it it seems a lot of people get tired of it after a while, but not me. So for reasons unkown to me I still will ocassionally post something I think is of interest. It may not be daily but based on my patterns from the past something will be posted. For giggles I thought that I would link to my very first blog post.

Posted in activities, Blogging, Fun, Geeky stuff, General, General Ramblings, Ramblings Tagged: Blogging, Fun, Geeky stuff, General, Internet

Technology

slmetcal — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:07:00 +0000

Well where do I begin with this one. It seems like technology has not been my friend this week. I wanted to make some updates to my handmade jewelry store, but the internet had other things in mind for me. Yesterday when our internet connection seemed to be working in my favor I set out to do the updates that I mentioned. Well that did not happen. The network storage device that we have for backup was not accessible all day long. Last night after Art woke up he finally got the device working again. Needless to say we just backed up the device with a portable usb hard drive. I didn’t know everything had to be so redundant. So this morning was spent making updates to my site and getting blog going for my handmade jewelry store. Everything store related will be posted here. I will occasionally mention it on this one but any changes I make or products I add will be posted on my jewelry blog.

Posted in Geeky stuff, General, General Ramblings, Internet, Ramblings, Technology Tagged: General, Internet, Ramblings, Technology

Ticket for going too slow

slmetcal — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:34:00 +0000

How does this happen? I have heard of some crazy things but this takes the cake. I can see a ticket for going over the speed limit but under. From reading the article it does not sound like the driver was endangering anyone by driving slower than the 65mph that the cop claims is the posted limit in that area. Also a stretch of that road is marked as 55mph and according to the article the ticket was given before you get to the posted 65mph limit sign.

Posted in General, General Ramblings, News, Ramblings Tagged: driving, News, tickets, too slow

Social Networking Automated

slmetcal — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:31:09 +0000

I have spent the past few days looking to make myself more productive with my social networking. I have always wondered how people update Twitter, Facebook and MySpace without spending all day on the computer. I have known for a while that you can schedule your blog postings so why not schedule your social network updates. I discovered a little tool called HootSuite it supports multiple twitter accounts. I have been playing around with this tool and find it a very handy tool. Up until today I only had one twitter account but decided that it might be best to separate my personal tweets from my business related tweets. Now that I have played around with this application I wished that I had discovered it long before I did. Now if only I can make a habit of scheduling some sort of content regularly on my blog. I have been doing well scheduling content on my food blog but need to do so with my handmadejewelry blog as well.

Posted in Geeky stuff, General, General Ramblings, Internet, Ramblings, Social Networking, Twitter Tagged: Facebook, HootSuite, Myspace, Scheduling, Social Networking, Twitter, Updating

Monday Night Concert in the Park

slmetcal — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:22:24 +0000

Well it is Monday once again and that means concerts in the park. I remember going to the concerts with friends way back in high school. Tonight is Old Town Brass and the Huntsville Concert Band. I always enjoy hearing the local talent that we have here in the area. If you are in the Huntsville area concerts start at 6:30 pm. Bring a picnic dinner and a blanket or chair and enjoy the music.

Posted in activities, Concerts, Fun, General Ramblings, Ramblings Tagged: Arts Council, Concerts, Family, Fun, park, Summer

Concerts In the Park

slmetcal — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:15:53 +0000

It is Monday and that means concerts in the park http://ow.ly/hIr4

Posted in Concerts, Family, Fun, General Ramblings

Concert in the Park and Dinner

slmetcal — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:05:00 +0000

So we had a good time at the concert in the park. Headed out to a new Greek Place in Huntsville called Taziki’s. Will absolutely be going back again. It is fast food Greek Style. The first group that performed was called Ashleigh Marie and the High Tech Rednecks. I was amazed to find out she is only 13 but very talented.

Posted in Concerts, General Ramblings, Ramblings Tagged: Concerts, Entertainment, events, Fun, General, Local