Despite my best intentions, it's been nearly three weeks since I've posted here. It's not that I didn't mean to - I have several times, but something always seems to come up. As I sit here now late at night (early in the morning?), I have some time and thought I'd get back to it.
First off a rant about Charter Communications. When we moved to our current home it was a new development and we could not get Charter to our dismay so we used Centurytel for phone/Internet and DirecTV for television. We were reasonably happy with both; we had a fiber run (either FTTP or FTTH I forget) and got good speed 20mb/768; which was enough to keep us happy but the upload speed became an issue with what we do. Once Charter became available we switched the phone/Internet to them and all was good. Well about six months ago I got a call one evening with them offering to add cable. I explained that we had tried fairly recently and as we have 6 HD DVR's for DirecTV (that we've purchased over time) that the local office couldn't/wouldn't match that setup. Our current bill was about $140/month give or take ($90 for the 100mb/5mb Internet and the balance for two phone lines), and they could give us 6 HD DVR's and their top of the line package for $252 give or take including taxes, etc. I jumped at that as we were paying about $140 for DirecTV so we'd save $30/month, get some premium channels, the NFL Red Zone, etc. We'd lose the Multi-room DVR; but we also would have TV when the weather was bad.
Well the install was a fiasco, they missed two appointments. They finally get an installer out here about 5pm one night and when he realized he couldn't splice into the DirecTV cables since we were going to keep it for a couple of months due to our "commitment" (and to protect ourselves in case Charter didn't work out) he was less than friendly. Most of the rooms had an existing cable run anyway as we had gotten basic cable when we first switched; but one of the TV's in the basement didn't, the one in the living room didn't, and our daughter's room didn't. Our daughter's room is on the second floor and he didn't want to go outside and run cable. We had a stand off for about five minutes and he decided to do it. Well we ended up helping run the cables inside for him, but that was fine; but what wasn't is that he was short a DVR. So somebody else had to come out the next day (which they did) to swap it.
The next issue came the next day when I realized they had downgraded our 100mb/5mb to 30mb/? which was NOT what we had agreed to. In the process of getting that fixed they disconnected my work phone line and it took hours to get these two things fixed. Our next issue came with our first bill after the installation - we were getting charged about $20 more than they had promised. I assumed it was over the two extra DVR's as they had issues getting it into the system the night I had agreed to add the TV. I was a bit miffed, but we accepted it. Well now fast forward three more months out; suddenly our bill is over $300 (about 20% higher than what they promised me). By now I'm beyond agitated, their excuse was that we weren't being charged for the second phone line. Enough was enough, I wasn't going to pay 20% more than their quote, so M went to their office to see what if anything they could/would do. As usual they weren't much of any help so we've now cancelled the TV and I just finished disconnecting their six DVR's to go back tomorrow. I'm so glad we kept DirecTV during the interim. This will supposedly take our bill back down to $12x which I find amazing since the Internet alone is $90 per my last bill so two phone lines, unlimited long distance, an advanced feature pack on my work phone line, taxes, and fees are only $3x total? So when M and J return the boxes tomorrow I really hope she confirms everything as I'm not up for another hassle.
I did call Charter Business and they can give me the two phone lines and 60mb/4mb for $142 give or take plus taxes so figure $150. While it's a speed cut, that also includes a static IP which holds appeal and NO cap. They normally don't enforce those from what I read but I can't take the chance with 5 of us streaming things, all of my work stuff, etc. That's why we're on the 100mb/5mb now as from a speed perspective we could drop down a level (I believe it's 60mb/? - 4mb or maybe 5mb), but the cap on that is currently 250GB (it's 500GB on the level we're on) and we normally use 350GB-450GB. Enough ranting about Charter
though.
On a personal note I did speak with Dr. Arnkoff in Michigan today about an Orchiectomy. Sounds like it's a go in the next few weeks pending J and I getting time off which I don't think is an issue. We're going to drive up the day before and spend a day or two after in the relative peace and quiet and maybe look around a bit since we really haven't ever had a vacation together. Not that this is a vacation per se, but it's the closest we've had in 7+ years. The procedure itself is minor; although still surgery. It's done in his office on a Saturday and he said it takes 30-60 minutes. He said there's pain afterwards, but it's not like I'll be bedridden so I think I can handle that. While the courts have ruled me legally female as it sits; I'd like to actually get this done in the (unlikely) event that it became an issue I'll be able to say I've had surgery (and I believe Dr. Arnkoff provides a letter to that effect for this purpose). Obviously long term I'd like to have the Vaginoplasty; but at my age, and at the expense, I'm not sure when/if that will happen and I think this is enough to make me happy since I should be able to lower or get rid of part of my hormones and from a vanity perspective not has an issue with any unsightly bulges since the remaining part has become a real non-issue since going on the hormones. Probably TMI there, and with that I'll bid you adieu.
As always thanks for reading.
- M
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