Return of the BLM Army

Decent day today at work. Getting home was a trick, though. First, there was a jack-knifed truck at a major interchange. Then there was a multicar pile-up that reduced 5 lanes of traffic to 1. Then there was another accident on the other side of the divided freeway which, for some reason that still defies scientific reasoning, caused a traffic jam and eventual accident on my side of the freeway. It's like people see flashing lights and hear the sirens and simply have no choice but to stop and gawk. After that, there were a few fender-benders on the way home that had been moved off the road, but still caused people to stop.

I'm happy these people Darwin themselves off, but in a city of over 1.5 million, there's a lot of Darwining left to do. And they keep making babies! D:! It would be much simpler if people simply learned how to drive. But people around here seem as averse to that as they do to rain and using complete sentences. Meanwhile, the freeway is a parking lot, traffic is backed up for 10 miles and gas is scraping 3.75. This happens everyday. The city should slap a hefty fine on anyone found at fault in a highway accident. Maybe if some of these lunatics got kicked in the pocketbook, they would be a little more open to learning and using some sense and basic driver's etiquette.

After nearly an hour and a half on the roads, I got to McD's to get dinner. They ran this promotion yesterday for their new Chic-fil-A *erm* I mean Chicken Sandwich. Seriously, it's like they took a Chic-fil-A sandwich and stuck it in a copy machine. Figuratively speaking, 'cause literally would be kinda gross... Picked up a few of those before heading home, and I got home just in time to change clothes, eat and log on for static.

Speaking of the static, I think we lost McLeod. He's on WoW now and enjoying it. I've seen dozens (and I mean dozens) of people leave FFXI over the years, and my advice is the same each time: if you don't enjoy the game, don't play. Life and time is simply too short to dump money into a pastime you don't enjoy. While I'm kinda sorry to see him go, I'm glad to hear he's enjoying himself in a different game, especially with how busy he's been.

Anyway, we all geared up and set out for our typical rat race track. And each armed with a shiny new Anniversary Ring. For those of you that don't know, these rings came out last year during FFXI's 5 year anniversary and give a MASSIVE experience point bonus. Problem is that they only have 10 charges and no way to recharge, so you have to use it wisely. Well, this year they reintroduced the rings, so you can drop (if you haven't already) your spent ring and get a new one. XD Armed with a heavy experience bonus and sanction experience bonus, we started tearing into the rats and raking in the experience. The best part was that there was no competition whatsoever - we had the whole zone to ourselves the whole evening. Emmaline came out with her WHM to leech experience off us for a bit: good times. We went from about 8k from 65 to halfway to 66 and burned through 2 Anniversary Ring charges and an Emperor Ring charge. Awesome experience.

Tomorrow is my last day at my current on-site assignment. I'm thinking I'll bring in donuts or something. I've had a good time there. ^_^

Automated Line Dance

Another day spent in the jungles of the automated service lines. Everyday this week I've had to act as mediator between end users and automated big brand customer service lines, and I've noticed some very striking similarities across the board:

• Every customer service automated line starts with "Please listen carefully, as our menu options have recently changed." They ALL say that. Most of them haven't been updated in years, yet they all have recently changed.


• No line has an option to reach a live representative. You MUST navigate the gauntlet of menu choices and hope to God one of them fits your call. If it doesn't, you run the real risk of having to start over again.


• They are all based in Nepal and staffed by people who studied English under the Swedish Chef.

We got "Miracle of Life" from Blockbuster, so when I got home, I set that to burning, had a beer and grilled up the rest of the burgers. D got some DDR time in while I fished and caught up on some email. Then we swapped places. Made for a very fast evening.

The Returner

So I haven't posted in several days. It's not that I haven't wanted to post, but finding the time to type a complete thought has been a real challenge. You see, I do most of my posting at work the following day. So if work is busy, it becomes difficult to do things like study or blog. Staying busy is a good thing, really, but makes for a rough time blogging.

Aside from saying work is busy, I've had a lot of calls on warranty items lately, requiring me to be on the phone acting as a mediator between the end user and the overwhelming stupidity that is most big name brand customer service lines. This usually translates into nearly hour long calls that start out with me doing basic troubleshooting only to find that its a warranty issue, calling the line with the user on hold, navigating the automated gauntlet to get to someone who will want all the troubleshooting steps to be redone with them on the phone. In the end, they will come to the conclusion that it is, indeed, a warranty issue and make preparations to send replacements. This has been my day the last three days. -.-

At least evenings have been a little easier. I don't have to go clear out of my way to drop off/pick up Clara anymore, so traffic is smoother coming home. On Monday, over lunch, I decided to pick up a replacement fan to help drown out our noisy next door neighbors. Well, after dinner, I tested it and found that it was burned out. I also had another item to take back to WalMart, and the Bluetooth earpiece has been hurting my ear, so I wanted to take that back as well. I gassed up D's car, took all that back and still had enough time to powerlevel Kerith's NIN.

The fan and breathe right strips for DeAnn made a real difference. I ran an air purifier fan for years as kind of a white noise. It helps me sleep. When the old one got really dirty and broke down, I was kinda at a loss. Especially when my neighbors threw loud parties at 3am on a weeknight (morning -.-; ). Now she doesn't snore, and I can't hear the neighbors quite so much. I've slept like a rock the last few nights. ^_^

I bought season tickets to the opera for D and I on Tuesday. I'd been wanting to do that since I moved to this city and realized that they have a civic opera. After I took D to see La Boheme (she absolutely fell in love with opera), I promised her that when we could afford it, we'd get season passes. Well, we can swing it now. :D I also picked up tickets for Tosca, so we have a few dates set in stone starting this summer.

Tuesday evening we had received some inquiries about the baby items we put up on craigslist, and one person wanted to meet up and buy the walker. Aside from that, it was a lazy evening. Kerith used the last charges on her old Anniversary Ring so she could get the new one that just came out, and we called it a night. Hopefully we'll all have our shiny new rings for static on Thursday.

Weekend Intelligence: Happy Mothers' Day!

Mothers' Day weekend at the Cope house, and a great weekend it was! So, in typical weekend intelligence fashion, here are the highlights!

Friday night, DeAnn and I decided to watch Benny and Joon that we had gotten from our Blockbuster queue. I hadn't seen it before, but it was pretty funny and cute - I enjoyed it. It was a romantic comedy of two mentally ill people who meet each other and fall in love. All of this is much to the dismay of the woman's older brother, who has been taking care of her since their parents died in a car crash. I'd suggest it if you haven't already seen it - not sure how I missed it. :P

Despite staying up rather late on Friday, I woke up early on Saturday to take a bite out of the housework that needed to get done. I moved several loads of laundry through, cleaned up the bedroom and loft and got breakfast for Colin and Clara: all while DeAnn slept! :D Once she was awake and properly coffee'd, Colin and I cleaned the living room and did more laundry while D scrubbed the kitchen down. The floor really needed it - old jelly, spilled juice, kitty litter and dog "???" all mixed and mashed into the grout. -.- She got it clean as a whistle, though. Finished our craziness off with a trip to WalMart to pick up the next week's provisions and then some. The 100+ degree heat reminded us that we should start looking into a baby pool for Clara to splash around in.

For dinner, we decided we would try to beat the crowds and celebrate Mothers' Day early. The choice was up to D, and she wanted to go to the Alamo Cafe. Love that place! ^_^ It was still crazy packed as all getout, and the waitstaff looked like they had seen better days. The guy waiting on us messed up my drink order a few times and brought the wrong dessert, but what can you say? He was waiting on, like, 75 people, and each time he was very apologetic. Food was great, as always, and quick, even considering the crowd. Best of all, DeAnn enjoyed herself: that's what mattered most.

Saturday night, we did something we haven't done in ages: dusted off the BST gear and went out to level. It was nice to do something in game with her that the both of us enjoyed. We tried out a new camp in the past, but it was kinda rough. We fell back on Yhoator Jungle; where we were the last time we partied on BST some months back. Experience wasn't stellar, but it was steady and relatively safe.

Again, even with the late night, I woke up early on my own on Sunday and made breakfast for DeAnn in bed. Scrambled eggs with sausage and cinnamon rolls. I also took care of the kids' breakfasts and got them ready for church. By the time we were to head out, DeAnn could tell I was pretty fried, so we decided to skip the crowds and just relax at home. With baby down for a nap and Colin booted out to play, we got a good, long Sunday afternoon nap in. Desperately needed that. I also got a chance to hang up the pagoda wall decor that had been sitting in a box for over a year now. We'll get the walls covered eventually.