Trash Day Thursday and the phones are out.....again.

I'm sitting in front of the lap top waiting for our phone service to "recycle." It's a rather funny word to use, "recycle." I know what Comcast is getting at but, recycle? To me, it means give it away or use it for something else. I wonder if we can use the phones for flower vases, or paperweights?

I didn't know I was going to be a telephone repair person. The last time we had a phone problem was March 26th. I was online with a "customer service" rep for almost two hours. It's beautiful here today. It's a great day to sit outside and read, but I need to fix our telephones.

I had to decide on a plan of attack. First the FAQ, which is Frequently, or Foolishly, Asked Questions. I found the section for the lights are out on the eMTA (telephone modem). The first help tip was to take a paper clip and stick it (no not there) in the "recycle or reboot" hole, so I did. All the lights went out then started blinking and eventually stayed on. All except the two labeled telephone, they continued to blink.

Blinking lights is not good, you want your phone lights green. The help tips said this can take up to five minutes, I waited ten. I still have blinking lights and no dial tone. Dial tone? Shouldn't it be called a button tone? I doubt there are any dial phones left in the civilized world. I wonder what young kids that have never seen or used a dial phone, call a dial tone?

A note to myself: Ask a young kid what he, or she, calls a dial tone. Second note to myself: make sure we have enough in the bank if I need bail money.

My next step was going on line for the Comcast "Chat." This was the two hour waste of time I did back in March. I found the link, filled out the appropriate blanks and was connected to customer service rep Richard. He wrote, "Hello, Charles, how are you today?" Now, what the hell can I answer? Oh, Richard, it's a gorgeous morning here, blue sky, mild temps, a slight breeze; and I'm stuck in the house online with you. So, I typed, OK. Thanks.

After a couple of routine questions I wrote about the miserable experience last time. All my effort running back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. All the time I was on with customer service there was a Comcast repair person two blocks away working on a network problem.

I do not want to go through that again, I wrote. Please check the outside network before we do anything. A few minutes later Richard sent me this, "We are currently experiencing an outage in your area. It should be fixed soon but I do not have a time." etc. etc. etc. He gave me a ticket number and noted the account if I need to contact them again.

I know, had not approached it that way, I would still be running through the house, crawling under tables and desks, unplugging cords and sticking paper clips in holes.

She said, "Our contract is up."
He heard, I contacted a duck.

She said, "It's a guy sitting on his porch with his feet up."
He heard, It's a guy sitting on his porch with his cheetah.

Our local Thursday evening car show begins for the season, tonight. Not only is it Trash Day but Date Day too. No cookin' tonight. We'll go downtown, see the cars, walk around and grab something for dinner. I'll talk to you all again soon.

Last Year, Downtown Car Show, Thursday Evenings