Fresh, Hot Wastes of Time

Santa is available at the mall near my house for photo sessions. When I called earlier this afternoon the wait was around 90 minutes. The other mall I called said the line was all the way down the mall. I would rather stick a fork in my eye than stand in a line that long with 2 young children. Last year my kids got sick from some other kids feeding them its cold-infested boogers while waiting for the Claus.

We decided to try first thing tomorrow morning. As we were in the mongo line of traffic to see the Zilker Park trail of lights, I called the mall to find out Santa’s hours. The lady said they opened at 8:30. When I asked what the best time of day was to go, she laughed at me, then said in a musing sort of voice, “Actually, right now our line is only 10 minutes.”

We hauled ass into a U-Turn faster than you can say St. Nick. Hub went the wrong way which turned out to be serendipitous since we discovered A) a shortcut to some B) free parking for the Trail of Lights. Not only did we get Santa pictures, but we also did the lights tonight, and no lines for either. None, as in we waltzed right up to Santa and the kids got to spend a good 5 minutes with him since there wasn’t anyone waiting.

That was cool.

The other day hub started talking to me about Bluetooth headsets and which one I thought he should get for his cellular phone. It’s a bit of a moot point right now, since the number port request that he put in on November 25th still hasn’t gone through. Anyway, he said he did some looking over the reviews and thought he would go with the Sony Ericsson model because it got a good review and it charged with the same plug as his phone.

Not one who has to be smacked over the head more than once with a clue club, I took the hint and ordered one for him.

Last night he mentioned that he doesn’t want that model after all, because it is big and the battery life sucks on it. A tad frustrated, I told him he was getting the one he talked about it, dammit, because I ordered it after he said he wanted it and Merry Damn Christmas.

Hub laughed at me. The reason he kept bringing up the bluetooth headset issue was because he was trying to pick my brain to see which one I wanted for my phone.

My finger, which was bending pretty much ok when I went to see the doctor about it, is now pretty much immobile. Is it because it’s been splinted for a week? Am I ever going to be able to make a fist again? How am I going to flip people off with my left hand if my ring finger’s sticking up too?

Am I really so naive because I want my adult Christmases to have the same magic that my childhood ones had? Am I the only person in the world who doesn’t want to get bitchy during the holidays? Is there something wrong with liking It’s a Wonderful Life? Am I weak because dealing with other peoples’ crappy attitudes is starting to tarnish the joy I have during this time of the year?

Maybe it’s because it’s the time of the year when it’s dark and chilly and doing things takes a disproportionate amount of effort. Maybe it’s that I’ve got so much to do and so little time to do it. We have no tree up yet. I haven’t bought even one present. I’ve got a project that I need to finish before Christmas on penalty of self-beration. Maybe it’s because I don’t have the slightest clue what to get anyone I know for Christmas, and it’s too late to catalog shop, isn’t it? And I still don’t really have any clothes that fit, and I want to bake but I can’t eat the results.

In any event, I’m so unmotivated right now that I’m having a difficult time getting up to go pee, much less do anything else more productive.

Oh, and I need a bath.

Testing out to make sure everything moved to my new server.

I broke my finger. On the dog. Yeah, I feel pretty much like a dogbeater, but I was just trying to keep him from 1) lunging at the door when I tried to open it and 2) wake up the baby and/or run down Jo. He got his revenge, didn’t he?

Ow.

I would like to wish those of you celebrating the holiday today, and even those of you who are not, a very happy Thanksgiving. There are so many things in my life I am thankful for. You are part of my list!

keeping in mind that this is a rough translation from the bare minimum of English this woman actually spoke and understood – will I get fined for asking for someone who actually speaks the frigging language??

Me: Hi, I was calling because my husband signed up for another cell phone provider and accidentally ported his Sprint number rather than signed up for a new number. Is there a way to go back to Sprint and our old rate plan if it doesn’t work out?
SprintPCS: I have that number listed in my system as still active.
Me: Yes, he just did this, it’s still in processing.
SprintPCS: I have that number listed in my system as still active.
Me: Yes, I’m sure it’s still active, it hasn’t gone through yet.
SprintPCS: But I have that number listed in my system as still active.
Me: He just left the other store 10 minutes ago. It hasn’t gone through yet.
SprintPCS: Oh, then he just did it! It would not have gone through yet.
Me: Yes. Is there a way to go back to Sprint and get our old rate plan back if we need to?
SprintPCS: Please hold.

SprintPCS: My manager says that we can’t give you that information. Since you have signed up with another provider you are no longer our customer and it would be illegal for us to tell you if you can come back or not.
Me: Nevermind. We’re not coming back. *click*

Sprint may have a digital signal. They may have near DSL internet speeds. We may have had 2000 minutes and 2 lines and “unlimited internet” (definition keeps changing on this) for under $100.

Nothing is worth being called a liar to my face, or dealing with the absolutely moronic “customer care representatives” there. Being told my account is not valued highly enough to talk to Retention.

Granted, T-Mobile did make a big boo-boo last night and had me seriously considering whether I really wanted service with them. Their web page states:

“Note: plans include two lines of service. Up to three additional lines can be added to the FamilyTime plans for $10 per line, per month. A one-time activation fee of $35 per line applies.”

I called to get hub’s line added to mine and was told I’d have to switch to a special plan that costs more and has less minutes for that. When I told them I didn’t understand why I had to do that when the web page stated differently, the CSR started in on me. “Look, MA’AM, I’m not going to argue with you. I could let you talk to my supervisor, but I guarantee he will say the same thing!”

Dude, I wasn’t arguing with you. I was trying to understand something. You were arguing with me. Thank you for making me feel like an idiot.

And the worst part is that I hate arguing so much that I started freaking crying when I was on the phone with him, then my rosacea kicked in because I was upset and my nose has been bright red since last night, and someone’s going to confuse me with Teddy Kennedy on a Saturday night if it doesn’t die down.

Um, in other news, we bought a popup camper today.