Oh GOD I've been unbundled

How can a person be nearly comatose and catatonic before 9 am on a Saturday? Well, try to unravel the mysetery of who you are and what your phone number is with ATT and the Dish Network.

ATT and the Dish network aren't sure who I am STILL. I am only sure I've been sending hundreds of dollars to someone on a regular basis and my satellite won't get animal planet. And frankly, I don't remember my phone number in Dallas-I am struggling with getting my NEW number right. I do know my social, but Dish is proud of the fact that they don't track it.

Finally we resolved the mystery of who I was by getting the serial number off the sattellite receiver. Apparently if I have a receiver box I can prove that I exist. Hey, it's something to work with.


I did win one debate. The dish guy said "m'am, there is no need to cuss" and I said "are you getting paid by DISH network?" and he said "Yes" and I said "Well, if you are getting paid by Dish Network, who is currently frustrating me beyond belief for the past 4 months, YOU are going to act as their agent and be cussed at whether or not YOU did the foul up personally yourself or not. Someone is going to be accountable and listen to me."

He finally unloaded me to ATT and I cussed at them a little bit-with the same disclaimer, but they when they sent me back to DISH to pay the DISH people they had no record of me again. So I hung up. I need to regroup and refocus and figure out who I am again.

But this whole-It wasn't ME thing-isn't going to fly. Give me the head of the person in charge, please!

Who am I today?

In a nutshell, I couldn't use my wireless router that is connected to my DSL because it didn't recognize me. I've been connecting with the internet using a Merlin Card from Sprint, and I procrastinated so long that the ATT address was deactivated, permanently and irrevocably. So, I had to assume a new ID so my wireless router would recognize my computer and me.

Of course, Yahoo is having trouble recognizing the new me-but I usually sign in to Yahoo anyway, so truly, I don't care. I just need add the new id to the current list of possible me's.

So, Merlin is over in the corner cooling off a bit and I am using my dusty old wireless router for which I've been paying for several months unused now. I don't really think Merlin is a viable full time access method-it gets pretty hot.

Later on I am going to introduce the Printer to the Router and see if they recognize each other. Then I'm going to introduce Laptop 2 to the router-wouldn't that be great if they could talk? Then the two laptops and the router could have a little menage a trois, but the printer would probably want to take pictures and distribute them via the fax.

I was going to figure out why I keep getting billed for a phone number I haven't had in months-but that e-mail has disappeared from all known in boxes, so I guess that will have to wait for another day.

Downpour

If the rain keeps up I may have to take the kayak, put it under the Scotty, and build an ark. Then I will sail away with my 4 dogs, 1 cat, 4 gerbils (at last count and 13 snakes.

One of my study interests in grad school (remember, I am the world's best educated highschool drop out) was how the "new" communication mediums affected us-meaning humanity and society. It seems like we need more "exposure"....for instance, I blog instead of journaling. Some of that is ok-we are sharing more-but some of it makes me wonder. Oh, god, here I go sounding old, but I've noticed especially young women seem to feel a need to be the center of attention always and at any cost. People who I KNOW work for an hourly wage and struggle to make ends meet walk around with bluetooth sets hanging out of their ears so they can talk to anyone at any time.

Now if you are shopping for the best bargain on soap and beans, why on earth do you have a $300 THING in your ear? And why on earth would you want one?

I'm one of those weirdos-I love my technology, but I use it for ME. My cell phone is for my convenience, not so you can contact me 24/7 because you have my number and want to talk. Hell, I don't even answer my home phone if I don't feel like talking (or it's my mother). Some of my friends take exception to that, and we are not so close any more. Others are just like me.

Please, if I call you at a bad time, do not feel obligated to answer the phone, and then make us both feel bad because you are trying to get off as quickly as possible. Just let voicemail pick up...I'll tell you if there is something you need to know, I'll tell you if I need just to talk when you have a moment, or I'll tell you I was just thinking of you.

I did hang up on my parent's voicemail today. Yes, my parent's got voicemail, but they didn't tell me (and they didn't record a private message) so I just assumed I had the wrong number.

This whole life in a fishbowl thing just isn't for me. I'm on call at work 8 hours a day-I get paid to answer the phone and answer people's questions. At home, everyone else is subject to caller ID.

It doesn't mean I don't love the caller if I don't answer, it just means I am busy, maybe driving, maybe handling a 10ft python, maybe just following a thought on my blog.