Month: January 2003

I don’t want to say I told you so, but man, the story in today’s Worcester Telegram about AT&T breaking the terms of their contract to upgrade everyone’s cable service does NOT surprise me. AT ALL. First it was Continental Cablevision, which was bad enough. I hated dealing with them with a passion. Then AT&T acquired Cablevision (and a first round draft pick) and I got my hopes up. Finally, a company who would appreciate the over 30,000 people living here! But they said it would be years before they would start the process that would allow customers to have the proper lines for high speed cable and cable modems.

At that point I threw up my hands and bought a DirecTV dish. And then a few months ago, Verizon called to tell me DSL was finally available in my area. Boom, I’m ready to speed off into the future. AND I don’t have to deal with that horrible awful terrible AT&T office on North Main Street in Leominster. No parking, hostile employees, and the place gives off the vibe of the part of the police station where you go to pick up your personal effects. NOBODY can pick up equipment except the person on the bill. AND the office closes at either 5 or 6 during the week. Excuse me? I have to take time off from work to pick up a new cable box? Are you out of your freaking minds? Why are the people of Leominster putting up with this kind of treatment???? They have a monopoly on cable service in this town, and you get better treatment at the unemployment office, or the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

And today’s article (I’d link but the Telegram decided not to let people read anything for free…pity) says they aren’t starting on the upgrades. Yet. They had three YEARS to plan this out…they knew the lines sucked…and yet NOW they’re boo-hooing about it. Well this is just soooo typical. Some little rinky dink town like Lancaster (no offense, I love Lancaster, but what, 300 people live there?) have had digital cable modems for YEARS now. At least FOUR.

If this opens the door for some other company to come in, I hope they do things right, bulldoze that dammed AT&T office and start fresh with everyone who lives in this town. We deserve it.

Boy, it’s a nasty one! Windy? You better believe that I didn’t spend a lot of time outside today. We did wave to the guy driving the recycling truck today! We happened to be standing near the car when he drove up. Man, I had a lot of boxes this week. It made me feel like maybe we eat a little too many prepared foods, but I also remembered that it included boxes from Junior’s birthday presents too, which increased the bulk.

It hasn’t gotten above freezing in weeks, as far as I can tell, and that’s no exaggeration. It’s not going to get above 28 for most of this week. I can’t wait until it goes up to 40 and we all run around in shorts.

Okay, so the “great day” part of the title just refers to the amount of stuff I got done today…I’ve been unusually productive. I LIKE THAT! I want to be this productive EVERY day!!!!!

Eventually I’m going to have to figure out how Dr. John Henry Burchsted got here in 1657, and I’m wondering if Burchsted would be the way it was spelled in Germany. He was apparently from Silesia, if that matters.

And why didn’t people keep better records, huh?

I want to take a day trip to the North Shore to pretend it’s 1657 and I’m living there.

Man it’s cold here! Junior asked for McDonald’s for supper and I pointed out that we’d have to go out to get it and he changed his mind. THAT is cold, my friends.

So instead I’m eating appetizers for dinner. Yes, some of the stuff I didn’t eat New Year’s Eve. I’ve got the TGIF Buffalo Wings and another serving of their Spinach and Artichoke dip. We all know how much I love that, so no need for details here.

The wings…well, they aren’t bad. A little gamey tasting, but not bad. I happened to have blue cheese dressing in the fridge, so no worries there. Well, they were easy enough to make, 17 minutes in the oven. But I don’t think I can give them a rave review. 3 out of 5 stars, maybe. I mean, if that’s all you have, go ahead. But don’t buy them special.