Dr. Susan J. Batlan

I had an appointment with a new ophthalmologist today. Upon opening the door to the office I was blasted with stale cigarette smell. Strike One. The receptionist insisted that I tell her my social security number. Strike Two. The doctor, herself, told me I needed to give them my social security number in order for insurance to pay.

It wasn’t enough that they had my insurance card and drivers license.

I can’t remember the last time I was asked to give my social security number to a doctor. I never fill it in in the forms and I’ve not been asked for it.

Today I walked out without going through with my appointment. It’s easier for me to find another doctor than to have to worry about identity fraud. It’s cheaper, too. Plus, I’m positive I can find an ophthalmologist whose office doesn’t wreak of cigarette smoke.

Kinetic by Kurt

In December of 2008 I bought a pink Kurt Kinetic Road Machine.  It now has about 15k miles on it.  Maybe more.  Recently I’ve heard a clicking sound which I first thought was a bad hub on my bike.  But I changed bikes and still after a half mile the clicking sounds start in again.

Today I called customer service for Kurt Kinetic to try to troubleshoot the problem.  The customer service rep, Erin, immediately offered to send me a new resistance unit.

How’s that for great customer service?  If you’re in the market for a bike trainer, you can’t go wrong by choosing a Kurt Kinetic.

eaglecrest property management

“cough”  “cough”  I think the name “Eaglecrest Rent Collectors” might be more in line with what they do.  Except evidently they’re not so good at that, either.  Of the eight apartments where I live, aparently 25% of them are in arrears.

If you live in an apartment where you mail your rent check to Eaglecrest, it’s OK for you to pour gasoline all over the property.

pay as you go

Two years ago I got a cell phone that I’ve hated. But I had to use it because of my contract, which ends on May 9th. I went to the Verizon Wireless store today and I asked about their pay as you go plans. Turns out I can use my old phone from 2+ years ago and I won’t have to pay any activation fee. The customer service rep will call me on May 10th to transition me from contract to no-contract.  I like customer service like that.  I guess Verizon Wireless is happy to keep me as a customer.

butts@mhc

The critters around the library found a use for all the litter butts.

leave your sleep

Natalie Merchant’s new CD set is her best work yet, even though she didn’t write the lyrics. The collaboration and compilation together with her deep, gorgeous voice are quite energizing and make me want to forever abandon the idea of sleep. Go buy it so you can hear what I hear.

south hadley

O South Hadley why is fresh air
so rare within your boundary?
Were the so old trees scared rigid and stiff
by the middle-aged ghost of Mary Lyon?
Faint is the wind in South Hadley.
Why do staid birds demand no ruffled feathers,
bully currents into leaving and choke off drafts?
If only Mary Lyon would roll over in-
or stomp upon-
Too few spritely spirits are willing or able to sing
and tear down the fence of unhealthy silence around-
her grave.
Instead the new succumb to the bully that is
South Hadley
in the end.

i did

xfinity: the new comcast

For some reason Comcast thought it could remake its image by renaming itself Xfinity.

Well based upon my experience with Xfinity/Comcast last night, it’s the same craptastic service. The only thing different is the name of the company.

My problem last night: My internet service was out. The tech dude I spoke with tried to sell me phone service. But here’s the thing, if my internet is down, how would phone service possibly work? I quickly refused and asked that he please address the issue I called in about. He then told me to turn my computer off. Why? It was upstairs. Cable modem was downstairs. They were only connected via wireless router. Cable modem lights were blinking. No service was coming through. They had on record that the cable modem was leased, when it’s been mine since 2004. Tech dude had me do all sorts of things that were totally irrelevant because I suspect he was reading from a cheat sheet all of the hoops the customer is supposed to jump through. Never mind that I’m a computer person by trade. Never mind that I probably know more than the tech dude. I did most of what he asked me to. At the end of the call he said my modem was bad and I needed to schedule a maintenance call. I said I was unsatisfied with that answer. He called up a floor supervisor who I had to wait on hold for 15 minutes for. She was rather rude. And she said that was the best they could do. I requested she cancel my service then. We went back and forth and she decided we could do more trouble shooting. Eureka! Turns out it wasn’t my cable modem at all but it was a faulty Xfinity/Comcast-provided splitter. No service call needed.

If there was any other ISP available, I would be that provider’s customer.

No, don’t be confused by the new name. The service (or lack of) is still the same.

buzz off

I don’t know about you, but my trust of Google has worn out. Completely. After the Buzz fiasco, I’ve started the grueling process of changing my email address everywhere I need to use an email address for any sort of account. I want to liberate myself from Google’s services. The last thing I need to find is an adequate RSS reader. Other than that, I’ve found more than adequate replacements for all the Google services I had used. This is the second time, and hopefully the last time I’ll be screwed by Google’s disrespect of my privacy .

crashy, not flashy

Firefox 3.6 has crashed on me 4 times this morning. This is the first time I feel let down by Mozilla. So sad. I’m using Chrome now but really wish I could use the Fox instead. Boo-hoo.