AT&T, A to Z Blogging Challenge, and Catching Up

First of all, I’m back from a forced blogging hiatus.  Our internet wasn’t working for over two weeks.  We currently have AT&T, but are likely going to be changing providers within the next month or two.  I realize I haven’t responded to any comments this month, and for that I apologize.  Thank you very much for taking the time to read, and comment on, what I write.  It is always appreciated. 

Apparently something happened with the DSL lines, which I totally understand, especially given the bad weather and crazy wind we’ve had.  Mother Nature gets mad, stuff happens.  I get it.  But, the reason we are planning to change providers is their rotten attitude about the whole thing. 

Nick called them and explained the problem, and they basically treated him like a blithering idiot who was just too stupid to realize that the internet was working.  Now, I understand that they get a lot of calls from a lot of people who aren’t very technologically savvy.  I’m sure it’s frustrating, and I’m sure there are questions they have to ask to make sure they’re not dealing with someone who has accidentally unplugged something before they send out a technician.  I’m one of those people.  I admit that.  Nick isn’t.  He called and tried to explain what the problem was and what he had tried to fix it (which by the way, if they’d listened, would have told them it was a DSL line problem), but they treated him like an idiot and decided to send a new modem to solve the problem after several days of phone calls.

They sent the new modem (which wasn’t the problem) to the wrong address.  About ten years ago, the county re-numbered our street, and we went from 737 to 718.  This was done long before we moved in, and long before we signed up for AT&T.  All of the other utilities have been able to grasp this change, but not AT&T.  When Nick talked to them, he reminded him of the address issue.  Once again, they didn’t listen, so they sent the modem to 737, which doesn’t exist.  UPS left a notice that they couldn’t deliver the package because it had the wrong address, so we’d have to pick it up from their distribution center.

Nick picked the modem up the following Monday, and (surprise, surprise) it didn’t solve the problem.  He called AT&T on Tuesday and, once again, tried to explain the problem.  They finally said they’d send a technician out on Wednesday afternoon before 4:00.  When no one had arrived by 4:30, Nick called them back and was told that the technician had probably been tied up on another call and would be there by 8:15 Thursday morning. 

Thursday morning turned into Thursday afternoon, with no technician, so Nick called AT&T back and was told that they couldn’t dispatch a technician to 737 on our street.  He explained, once again, about the address change, and they said they’d send someone “soon”. 

That was the point at which I saw red.  I logged into Facebook from work and posted our issue on their wall.  I had a response within an hour asking me to email them with the details, which I did.  They finally forwarded our issues up to the next level, and three technicians later, our internet service was restored on Friday evening.  They’ve said they will credit us for the time we didn’t have service, but given their history, I’m not sure that will happen without a fight. 

On the bright side, we have a lot of other options for internet, and they did get our service restored in time for the A to Z BloggingChallenge. 

I’ve signed up for the A to Z Challenge this year.  I waited until a few weeks ago, but I really, really need and want to get back into a regular blogging schedule, and this seems like a great way to do it.  If you’re not familiar, basically you blog every day, except Sunday, during the month of April following the alphabet (the 1^st is A, the 2^nd is B, etc). 

I completed the challenge in 2012, and really enjoyed it.  I planned to participate in 2013, but life got a little scary and crazy, so I backed out.  But I’m back for 2014.  I’m not doing a theme, but I have written some posts already, though I haven’t done that in any logical order; my W post is written, my A post is not, and I’m super excited about my J post.  Are you participating this year?  Are you going with a theme or more freestyle?

In other catching up news, Emma had some less than great blood work results, and we’re still trying to figure out what’s going on.  I took her to the vet about a week and a half ago because we thought she might have a UTI.  She’d had a few accidents in the house, which is NOT at all normal for her, so I took her for what we thought would be a urine sample and antibiotics, but the urine sample revealed no signs of infection.

She looks great, and seems to feel fine.

Our regular vet was out of town, so we saw the other vet in the practice.  She’s a good vet, and she’s nice, but she’s just not our regular vet.  I know my fellow pet parents will understand this!  She mentioned possibly returning to potty training since Emma is an older dog and there was no infection.  I know Emma, and I knew it wasn’t a potty training issue.  She’s old, but she’s not senile.  The vet then suggested blood work since Emma is a senior dog. 

The blood work showed really high liver enzymes, and slightly high cholesterol.  The vet suspected Cushing’s Disease based on the blood work and Emma’s other symptoms, so we had more blood work done to check for that.  That test ruled out Cushing’s Disease, which is good and bad.  Our next step is an ultrasound of her liver, etc to look for any masses or anything abnormal.  We have that appointment on Tuesday. 

Unfortunately, they don’t do ultrasounds in our vet’s office, so we’ve been referred to an internist for it.  Emma doesn’t always do well seeing a new vet, so I’m a little nervous about that.  I’m also trying really hard not to dwell on the bad things an ultrasound might show.  Emma doesn’t seem to be in any pain; she’s eating and playing normally, and is acting like her usual happy self.  She’s not worried at all, but I would definitely appreciate any good thoughts for her. 

I hope life, pets, the internet, and everything else is well in everyone’s little corner of the blogging world.