Dialing In The Big Bad Dodge Ram Truck

So.

I might not be ready for the big time yet.

I had to put my truck in the shop for  yet another post-wreck repair.  The wreck that wasn't ever my fault.  That happened in November. Yeah, the four-car one.  Where the guy hit me going 55 mph while he was eating his burrito.  Thank God noone was seriously injured.  

And my truck was supposedly 100% repaired at the end of February. Right.  Yeah, whatever.

Will they EVER be finished?

But…I digress.

Back to the rental agency.

The SUV I rented wasn’t ready.  Wasn’t going to be ready.  Had not even been turned in yet.  Didn’t know if it was coming in.

So…they gave me a Dodge Ram Crewcab.

No problem.  I used to pull horse trailers.  I can drive a big truck.  Especially one that's pretty.  Powerful.  Pretty powerful.

I get in, stick the key in the ignition.

Nothing happens.   Repeat.  Nothing again.  I put my foot on the brake, wrench the steering wheel, again, nothing.

I look to make sure that it’s in Park. 

That is, when I found the Gear….ummm…shift.  Knob, I mean.

What the heck?

You turn the knob to put your car in REVERSE?  In DRIVE?  In PARK?

RAM TOUGH?  Take your thumb, and your pinkie, place them on the knob, and turn to the right to put the Big Bad Dodge Ram CrewCab in Drive.  YOU CAN DO IT.

What if you wanted to drag race?  (As I dissolve in a paroxysm of giggles, making engine racing noises to myself.) (Okay, so I'm easily entertained.)

And the key?  Is one of the newfangled key FOB thingamajiggies.  That goes to the Dodge Ram Truck that I had to get the Hertz parking lot attendant to help me start.  That same Dodge Ram Truck that belongs to National.

Help me.

Please.

Turn the dial to reverse and lets get the heck outa Dodge, okay?

And quit laughing.  Right now.  

I cannot make this stuff up.

Battery Chomping - iPhone 5S - NomNomNom

My iPhone 5S was eating battery like it was starving and saw a package of Milk Duds.

Okay, wait, that just revealed a personal problem.

Really, the battery.  Stupid short life.  I would walk out of the house at 99%, go to the store, and before I could pop open my grocery list, my phone would die.

So, I came home with all the items my poor overworked brain could remember (I am a list girl) and started researching iPhone battery problems.

The term “plethora” would not begin to cover all the things I could do to my settings to cut down on chiseling away at battery life.

So, I did all those things.

Charged my phone up. To 99%.

We went to the movie.  Ten minutes from the house.  I went in, got our seats, texted my men.

This is what happened.

 

By the way, my son replied with a better smart alec term.  Unpublishable.

So, I came home, offloaded all data, and trekked to the mall, to the Simply Mac store.   Which is a cool alternative, sanctioned by Apple, to having your own Apple store in your own small (though overpopulated) town.

Their diagnostic tool was down due to an Apple upgrade, and wouldn’t be available until Monday.

I came home, did a hard reset on my iPhone 5S, and will see what’s happening next time I venture out of the house for an errand.

Hopefully, the hard reset fixed it.

It has to be due to an iOS7 upgrade or something.

Surely not operator error or anything funky like that.

I’m the most technically savvy senior citizen you know. 

You know?  

Now how do you turn this dang thing off?

Friday "Why Did I Eat That Much?" Post

Proper utilization of "overet":  I dun over et.  I et too much.  My tummy hurts bad.

I think I ate all day.

Starting with Chex party mix for breakfast.  What the HECK?

No fruit.  No veggies.

Well, until Thanksgiving dinner, around 2 p.m. Pennsylvania time.

But up until that time?

I think I snacked all.day.long. while we were preparing everything.

We had lots of laughs, i.e. the time I forgot to mix the pecans in with the butter/flour/brown sugar mixture (to top the sweet potatoes).  (The topping ended up looking like a big pecan praline…but oh, man, did it taste good!)

I'm gonna try to overload on fruit today.

PS - The Infrared Turkey Fryers are the bomb.com.  No grease.  No mess.  Beautiful turkeys.  Amazing.

Okay.  Going to take a nap.  Right after I eat an orange.

Real Vs Fake...Lessons In Profile Pix

I get LinkedIn requests daily.

I know almost none of them.  They're just people wanting to piggyback a connection into my connections.  Which, I guess, is the entire premise of LinkedIn.

I got this request the other day.  I have edited out the name, company, and background to protect the innocent.

But seriously...would you EVER put a profile picture like this on YOUR profile?

Much less accept a request to be a connection?

Shoot me. 

This picture is very scary.  I would have felt better if he'd faked it.  Or put a picture of his dog or something.

Red Pill.

PeaEye Parker Snags A Black Eye

Kind of a laid-back weekend.  Our adopted daughter and our goddaughter came in to spend the night with us, and we had a great time with them.  And we’re babysitting Pea The Wondercowpup.  (Which, I know, totally negates the “laid-back” portion of this story.

Later, our friend Prudie came over for supper.  She’s such a funny lady, she makes me laugh!

We were visiting, and all of a sudden, Pea the Wonder Cowpup starts yelping...in pain.  

We turned, just in time to see Zack the Wonderdog baring his fangs.  Pea came running to me and jumped on the chair with me.

I guess Pea had just stumbled over Zack right when Zack was going into post-dinner carb nap.  And he turned and bit Pea.  In the eye area.

Blood?  Everywhere.

Freak out?  Me.

I ran and got a wet paper towel and once I got Pea settled down, went to work on that eye to try to find the wound.  I could never find it.  But I dang sure knew it was there, somewhere.

Pea acted fine after that, but I just couldn’t determine the extent of the damage.  His eye didn’t swell, until he woke up.  And whoooooeeeeee.  C’mon, 8:30 a.m., I need the vet to open!

So, off Pea and I go this morning to the vet clinic, and everything is fine.  Our vet prescribed an antibiotic drop, which he sweetly takes...when I can get him to be still enough!

It could have been so much worse...

I wish my son would come get his pup!  It’s that time when, like I’ve heard all grandparents talk about, you spoil ‘em rotten, let them get filthy, and THEN send them home to their parents.

I love this pretty pup.  Even though he's too busy wagging his butt to stay still for a picture.

Pea Eye Parker the Wonder Cowpup

Why I Might Rig Down AT&T

Copied from an actual chat session between yours truly and Roxanna from AT&T.

Frustrating, to say the least.

Thank you for your patience! An AT&T customer service representative will be with you shortly.

You are now chatting with 'Roxanna'.

Roxanna: Hello.  Thank you for chatting with AT&T today.  I understand your U-verse account is locked.  Is that correct?

That Janie Girl: Yes. I have been working on this for probably 3 hrs total today. They told me when I had a chance to get back with y'all to ask for Tier 2 support. Can you help me? We have reset, reset, reset our password and now we're even locked out of our yahoo account

That Janie Girl: And I have Safari

Roxanna: I can assist you with this.  Please begin by selecting the 'Forgot your password?' hyperlink or click here.  This will allow you to reset your Password and unlock your account.

That Janie Girl: Even thought I've done this numerous times today, and just tried it 3 times in the last 15 minutes?

Roxanna: Let us try it one more time. I am happy to wait while you complete this process.

That Janie Girl: It will just send it to my home phone. Can you please give me a hard reset and supply me with the password?

That Janie Girl: I went thru the process, but then I'll have to wait another 10 minutes for it to call my home phone.

Roxanna: I will do everything possible to resolve this for you.

Roxanna: Before we get started and for your security, may I please have the U-verse Account Number and the First Name and Last Name on the Account?

That Janie Girl: the Uverse account number is XXXXX. First name on account Janie last name XXXXX. Billing address XXXXXX; actual address of service XXXXX. Phone number associated with account XXXX.  Last four XXXX.

That Janie Girl: The account ends in XXXX

That Janie Girl: The whole reason this happened is I was trying to view my bill and find out why it was over $600.

That Janie Girl: Do I need to call in to get to Tier 2 support or will you be able to help me?

Roxanna: Please bear with me a moment.

Roxanna: Thank you for waiting. I am unable to locate the account with the information above.

Roxanna: Is the First Name and Last Name that you provided the same First Name and Last Name on the account?

That Janie Girl: I believe so. It could be XXXX, but I believe they found it under That Janie Girl

Roxanna: I apologize for the inconvenience. I am still unable to locate your account. However, speaking with one of our Specialists over the phone would best answer your questions and address your concerns.  Would you like that number?

That Janie Girl: Yes please

That Janie Girl: They've found my account three times today….

Roxanna: You may reach one of our Specialists at 877-999-1085, Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM Local Time; Saturday 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Local Time.

That Janie Girl: So are you kidding me?

That Janie Girl: I can't get help right now?

That Janie Girl: How might I get to a Tier 2 support person?

Roxanna: I apologize for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, these are the hours of operation. 

Roxanna: We have three options for technical assistance. You can

1. Browse for common solutions online 24/7,
2. Chat with one of our Technical Support Agents online 24/7 or
3. Call 888-341-1270, Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM Local Time; Saturday 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Local Time.

That Janie Girl: So you don't have access to a Tier 2 Technical Support there at your office?

Roxanna: That is correct.

Roxanna: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?

That Janie Girl: They told me I could call back anytime

That Janie Girl: Yes ma'am. Please note on my account that I called in again and we spent X amount of time trying this. Did you ever find my account?

Roxanna: I am sorry about that.

Roxanna: You will have to call in for further assistance. I will make notes of your account. 

That Janie Girl: Can you please try to find my account? They found it several times today.

That Janie Girl: I would like to have access at least to my email.

That Janie Girl: I've given you all of the answers to the questions they asked me. Name, address, billing address, last 4 of SSN, last 4 of account #

That Janie Girl: and phone number associated w/ account

Roxanna: I am unable to locate the account with the information you have provided.

Roxanna: Can you please verify the telephone number associated with the account?

That Janie Girl: The home number is XXXXX. My cell is XXXXX. But when it asks to send a password, it wants to send it to XXXXX, so that must be the number associated with the account, wouldn't you think?

That Janie Girl: 

Roxanna: Just to clarify, is your service U-verse?

That Janie Girl: Yes ma'am.

That Janie Girl: I have Uverse television service and Uverse internet service

Roxanna: I know it has been an inconvenience and I am sorry. Please call the number above for further assistance. I am unable to locate your account over the chat. 

That Janie Girl: I don't understand why you can't find the account and everyone else has found it all day long.

Roxanna: Mrs. Snelson, I apologize for the inconvenience. Web Assistance Center is only for website navigation. We do not have access to any account specifics. You will have to contact U-verse Customer Care directly.

Roxanna: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?

That Janie Girl: No thank you.

Roxanna: Thank you for chatting with AT&T today.  It has been a pleasure assisting you. Please come back and chat with us again if you need help in the future. We appreciate your business. You may click the “Close” button in the chat window to close this chat.

Chat session has been terminated by the site operator. (as I sit, head hanging down, looking at my computer screen in total disbelief.)

And that, people, is technology for you.