Cingular Update

Okay, I managed to get the whole phone thing straightened out...hopefully, maybe. I called Cingular yesterday, and after about half an hour of being passed around to different offices and customer service people, I finally managed to get things worked out. I found out that they did receive the package that I returned to them, but they just hadn't told their computer (which, of course, sends the bills) that the package had been received. Anyway, they corrected my account, removing the erroneous $212 charge. And then the lady tells me "Just pay the remaining $47.96 of your bill. I'll put a note on your account that your bill has been adjusted so they shouldn't turn off your service." Great, that's reassuring. Now in another month I'll probably be calling Cingular again, from the office this time, to have them reactivate my service, and who knows how long that will take. (In case you can't tell, I don't have much confidence in the company any more. They seem to have mastered the 'hassle and scam' thing, but that seems to be about it....)

Cingular is Yucky.

(I had a different title for this post, but I didn't think it was appropriate. This is a rant continued from the 'My Yucky Phone' post from a few months ago. You've been warned....)

Okay, as you know I had trouble with my cell phone a few months ago. My phone quit working, so I contacted the company and they sent me a new one. After a week and a half, problems with shipping, and all sorts of mess-ups, I finally had a functioning phone again. After more phone calls to the company, I managed to get refunds for the things I had downloaded and credits toward my account for the days that I was without phone service. And I was happy....

Within the last month, I received two voicemail messages from Cingular regarding my replacement phone. The messages were rather vague; they didn't really say anything except that they were calling to check up on my replacement phone. Both messages asked me to return their calls, which I did, only to be transfered directly to voicemail where I left messages letting them know that my replacement phone was working wonderfully and that they should call me if they had questions or needed further information.

And today I checked my phone bill online....and they're trying to charge me $212 for the non-functioning phone that they claimed I didn't return to them! AHHHH! The non-functioning phone was sent back to them only a few days after I received the new phone (which was in late August). It was returned in the same box in which the new phone had arrived, the postage was pre-paid, and the shipping label was included (and it was even shipped USPS). I don't really see how this could have been messed up. Now I guess I'm going to have to spend another few hours, days, weeks trying to sort out this new mess with the phone people.

Like I said last time, Cingular is yucky; I want my AT&T back!!

Spinach

My sister sent me this picture. A little commentary on the whole spinach and e-coli thing.... Poor Popeye.

I Passed!!

I got the results back from my language exam yesterday...and I passed!! That's very much a relief since I didn't feel that I did well on the exam. Now I really need to buckle down and start studying and reading for my qualifying exams, as they're going to be here before I know it....

Engagement Pictures

Jimmy and I had our engagement pictures taken on Tuesday. The whole picture thing was a lot of fun. The photographer took us all over town, taking random pictures in some of the most random places. I put a few of the pictures up here; I'll put more of them online somewhere else. (E-mail me if you'd like the website and the password.) Now Jimmy and I are just trying to figure out which pictures to order, and how many to order, and all that stuff....

Monday Already....

I feel like I should write something today since I haven't blogged since I haven't written anything in a while. (Blogger's guilt, ahhh!!) I'm still waiting on the results of my Spanish exam, I returned papers to my students on Friday, and I cleaned my apartment over the weekend; that pretty much sums up what's happening in my life right now.

I made a trip to the gigantic local used bookstore yesterday. I can usually find almost everything that I need for class there, but I was miserably disappointed yesterday. I was looking for some things that are pretty standard (Hemingway, Carroll, DuBois, Mailer, Capote, Alcott, etc.), but I didn't have much luck. I ended up finding only three of the things on my list, and those were the ones I hadn't expected to find. (One I credit to Oprah; when she puts her logo on a book, it's magically a best seller and back in mainstream circulation again.) Anyway, I ended up making a trip to Borders after striking out at the used bookstore. Unwilling to pay $25 for the only edition of The Sun Also Rises that I could find in the store, I resigned myself to the library, where I found everything that I wanted. (The perk of the library is that it doesn't cost anything, save perhaps a few overdue fines. The drawback is that I can't scribble my notes all over the books since I have to return them in a few months....) I like having my own books; even if I don't ever write my own book, I like being able to write in them.

Spanish, Round 1

I took my required language exam today. (I just finished and my brain is fried.) I spent 1 1/2 hours translating materials from Spanish to English (with the help of my trusty dictionary). At this point, I don't know how well I did (or didn't do). I didn't get through the entire passage, so I don't know if or how much that will hurt me. I guess I'll have to wait and see. It's fairly common to retake the language exams, but I'm just hoping that I don't have to....

Jimmy's English Teacher

Jimmy and I went to visit with a potential wedding photographer last night. I'd visited with this photographer at the second wedding show that I attended; I enjoyed talking with her, and I was pleased with her work. I was also relatively pleased with her prices, so I called her and set up an appointment where I could look at more pictures and chat with her about her approach to photographing weddings and her prices. Jimmy's Monday night class was cancelled, so he went along with me. As soon as we walked in the door, the lady looked at Jimmy and said, 'I know you!' It turns out that she had been an English teacher and the yearbook guru at the high school that Jimmy attended. (I knew that she was a retired English teacher, but I hadn't put two and two together.) When she realized that Jimmy was a former student, she took the original price list away and gave us a new one (with prices that were 20-25% lower); she also sent me home with a book to read....

I like English teachers. :)

Homecoming Weekend

It's Homecoming on campus this weekend. I've never really enjoyed Homecoming, not even as an undergrad. As an undergrad and a residence assistant, I would volunteer to be on duty during a large portion of the festivities so I didn't feel obligated to attend. As a graduate student and instructor, my feelings toward Homecoming haven't changed too much. My students have had 'Homecoming-on-the-brain' for most of the past week. The roads to my house were closed the other night because the university was setting off fireworks to go with the big bonfire. All of the roads to my office are currently blocked because of tailgating and other Homecoming-related traffic and activities...and the game doesn't start until 6. (I might go to the game tonight if Jimmy's up for it when he gets off work. I do actually like football. Also, one of my students this semester is on the football team, and he'll probably make me feel guilty on Monday if I don't go to the game since I missed the last home game.) Ah well, in another 24 hours this whole Homecoming thing will be over....

This Bothers Me....

One of my sisters sent me an e-mail forward, and this picture was at the bottom of it. While I do use my computer to keep in touch with friends and family, and I've even made a few new friends (or at least acquaintances) online, I don't really like to look at my computer as a stand-in for personal communication. I guess I don't quite know what to think of the picture, but it bothers me....

On Being Politically Correct....

I'm not always the most PC, but I thought this was funny. I agree with the philosophy behind politically correctness, but I think the whole PC movement has gotten a little out of control. Also, I generally prefer to be grammatically correct rather than politically correct, and sometimes it's difficult to be both. (Though, as you probably know, grammatical correctness and formal writing styles aren't usually things I'm overly concerned with in my blog.)

Another Wedding Show

Another wedding show today. I went to this one by myself as I wasn't able to find much information about it ahead of time and thus didn't know if boys were invited. (I guess they were, but there weren't many boys there. Jimmy might have felt just a little out of place.) I don't know that I made much progress, but I did get some ideas and some contact information from vendors who weren't at the last wedding show. I found a few people that I'll probably contact within the next week or two. I also won a free set of engagements pictures. I'm excited because we haven't had engagement pictures taken yet, and Jimmy and I currently have a total of about 2 pictures of just the two of us. We're hoping to have the pictures taken sometime next week....

Movie Day

Not movie night, but movie day.... This afternoon we had a little film screening in the department. We've had a few department movie nights when we rent a random movie, order pizza, and just hang out for an evening, but this was a little different. One of the girls in the department is married to a director who has just finished his first feature-length film, and they needed a test audience. Quite a few of us from the department volunteered to be their guinea pigs. We watched the movie, and then we sat around and talked with the director and the producer for a while. The movie, "Four Sheets to the Wind," was pretty good. The New York Times ran a piece about the film a week or so ago. I found some version of it online....

A White Dress

I went shopping yesterday and bought a pretty white dress. It's a girlie-girlie dress, and I'm excited!! (Pictures will not be posted, as a certain boy reads my blog from time to time....)

Mud

And no, it's not someone's middle name....

I went out to the lake with Jimmy and some of his family yesterday. (It was overcast and looked like it was going to rain, but the weather was actually quite nice.) We had a generally nice day; we shot paintball guns, fished (they fished, I watched), and rode 4-wheelers. Jimmy and I took the 4-wheelers out by the water, and we managed to get them stuck in the mud. Jimmy got the first one stuck, and then we tried to use the other one to pull that one out. And then, believe it or not, we managed to get the other one stuck too. With a little help, we finally got both of them unstuck, but that was only after we were both at least partially covered with mud. I ended up with shoes that were covered in mud, and a very muddy backside (long story, don't ask), I guess if a mud mask is really good for the skin, my skin got the royal treatment....