AT&T Proves That Customer Service Is Dead

OMG! WARNING; ANGRY RANT TO FOLLOW: AT&T has the worst customer service on the planet! So, we signed up for UVerse service and they installed it in April. From the very first night we were having problems with the picture pixelating and freezing then turning to blue screen. I called the service tech Humberto the very next day and he tells me that he was afraid that might happen because he placed the UVerse tv modem in a cubby hole on the shelf in my home office. He told me to place it on top of the shelf instead and that should fix it. I did but it didn't. I called him back a few times but he never returned my calls. I have been screaming busy every weekend since then and finally had some free time last night. I call and they run one diagnostic and say we gotta send out a tech. I say fine and they promise to have one out here today between 4pm and 8pm. AWESOME! Josh shows up at 3:30pm (yes, early!) and starts right to work. He notices that a red light is blinking on the internet modem and says that could be the whole problem right there. So he goes outside and is gone for about an hour. He comes back inside and says that he traced the problem to the serving terminal; two of the four wires were disconnected. This whole time I've only been getting half of the signal. So, he turns the tv on and it's working fine. He gives me his 30 day commitment statement (which obviously isn't worth the paper it's written on) and tells me to call/text him if I have any more problems. He'd been gone about 45 minutes when I go over to turn the TV to CNN and bam; it starts doing the exact same freaking thing it's been doing since the day I got the service. So I call Josh and he doesn't answer so I text him. Still nothing 10 minutes later so I call his supervisor Jeremy. To his credit, at least Jeremy answers his phone. But he proceeds to tell me that he has sent all of his technicians home and that he won't have anyone to send out until tomorrow. Uh-uh, sorry, WRONG FREAKING ANSWER! I made my appointment for today and I expect it to get fixed today. In my mind, since my appt was from 4p-8p and the appointment could run up to 4 hours they still have time to get out here and fix it properly. So I call tech support and talk to Jonas who speaks as though he has rocks in his mouth. I wait on hold with him for 20 minutes or so just to be told the same thing; tomorrow. Maybe I'm being a little bit unreasonable: it is just TV service and I really don't watch it much any more (yaay for Ruko!) but it's a service that I'm paying for and the hubby and I already made plans for tomorrow and AT&T sure isn't going to refund my money for those tickets! And it wasn't a "modem not high enough" issue ever; it was a physical problem on their side. The service terminal is in some guy's back yard and the tech said it looked like the wires had been taken apart on purpose; that guy probably went and ripped them apart again right after the tech left! So, it's back to Directv for me and I'll be looking for a new internet service provider too!

End of the Bunches

Ok, that's all I have on the Bunches.  After Judy came back from Egypt the game glitched and all the kids were gone.  I was going to use Darlene as one of my founders for the Legacy Challenge and maybe Malcolm Landgraab or Moritmer Goth for her spouse.  I think Moritmer would have made a great ghost hunter with his family history.  Oh well, I have started another Legacy and am just getting the second gen to teens.  I don't have as much time to play as I wish I did so it's kind of slow going.  Hope to post soon!

When Mom's Away....

Lisa decided to pick up the slack and make some Goopy Carbonara for dinner since Mom was on her working vacation in Al Simhara.

Parker Langerack came over after school with Ethan.  After playing a couple of hours of video games, they decided to head over to the local dive bar to have a drink or two.

 While playing simsball, Parker dropped  little bit of a bomb on Ethan; he's eager to get married immediately after high school.  Marriage isn't even on Ethan's radar and thought this best friend was in the same boat....obviously not.

While at the bar, Ethan received a call from Bebe Hart; she wanted to know if he could meet her at the Bistro.  He happily ditched Parker!

They talked for a while and Ethan ended up inviting Bebe out for a movie on Saturday night.  A date, awesome!

Meanwhile, back at the house, Arlo was working hard on his homework while Darlene finished up a report that was due tomorrow. She had just finished the spell check when the doorbell rang.

Darlene answered the door to find Bella Bachelor.  She invited Bella in; they were in the same grade at school but weren't really close friends.

Darlene was a little puzzled because all Bella wanted to talk about was Arlo!  She wanted to know what his favorite color was, did he have a favorite food, blah blah blah.

Darlene was a little put out by Bella's questioning and told her that if she really wanted to know, she should ask Arlo.  Bella left right after that.....

Darlene was really upset after Bella left and after her bath when to talk to her dad.  He told her not to let her conversation with Bella get her down.  He told Darlene that he was sure once Bella got to know her that she would like her for herself, not for who her brother was.  Darlene thanked him but deep down just wanted her mommy to come home!

After making dinner and cleaning up, Lisa went upstairs to check her FaceSheet account.  As usual, Michael Bachelor had posted  a picture of his latest catch from one of the small ponds at the park.  River McIrish was bragging about the A+ she received in Algebra. Whatever!  Lisa's boyfriend VJ was on too so they messaged back and forth for a while.

VJ was trying to talk Lisa into breaking curfew with him and meeting down at the pier but Lisa just didn't feel like it.  Cooking and cleaning had tired her out and she decided to to have a good soak in the tub.

After her nice, long soak in the bubble bath Lisa felt rejuvenated! She decided to practice her presentation for speech class out of the way while she was feeling so great.

 

But Lisa got kind of carried away and ended up not getting into bed until after midnight!  She set her alarm to wake up extra early the next day to get her homework done before school.  Of course her dad was up when she came down to the kitchen; he was always up at the crack of dawn.

 Lisa finished her homework just as everyone else started to wander downstairs for breakfast.  Today it was cold cereal all around.  Even though dad was up early, you really didn't want to take the chance on eating his cooking on a school day unless you wanted to stay home sick.

Lisa wondered aloud if mom had seen any llamas in Al Simhara.  She had promised to take lots of pictures but hadn't texted any yet.  Knowing mom, she was probably using an old fashioned film-type camera...

As usual, Arlo was the last one done and out the door to school.  He had a habit of doing things on his own schedule and usually didn't let clocks or school bells get in his way.

If Only It Was This Easy....

Dinner just wasn't fun any more; Judy had prepared so many Autumn Salads 

she felt like she could do it in her sleep. After her fourth child Darlene was born, the baby weight just would not come off; and it invited all of it's friends.  Judy ate Autumn Salads for breakfast, lunch and dinner and worked out like a demon. Even though she had her physical skill maxed out to 10 she still couldn't lose the weight!

 Judy had just about given up the fight when one morning over Darlene's favorite meal, waffles, Ethan, (Judy's oldest son) told Judy about a resort he heard about on the radio. They specialized in helping people with weight issues like hers; the only problem was that the resort was in Al Simhara!  When Judy arrived at work, she looked the resort up on the simnet.  It turned out that the name of the resort was Apidem Fundum and it had some very good reviews. It was actually reasonably priced but could take anywhere from one treatment lasting a couple of hours to several treatments spread over a few days.  As luck would have it, Judy received an assignment from work that very day to collect a very rare and endangered species of beetle that is only found in Al Simhara! She arranged to take a few extra personal days off from work and made a reservation at the Apidem Fundum.  

Judy arrived in Al Simhara and went straight from the airport to meet with the director of the resort, Alim Abaur.  Mr. Abaur welcomed Judy and assured her that she would be well taken care of and would be thrilled with the results of their patented procedure.

 After a few more minutes of small talk, Mr. Abaur introduced Judy to her personal physician, Dr. Hammu Dsja-Khons.  

 Dr. Dsja-Khons conducted a brief interview and educated Judy on the complete procedure.  He told her how it worked and what to expect when it was done. Judy was a little skeptical and just a little apprehensive; it sounded too good to be true but at that point she was ready to try just about anything!

Several hours later....

 Judy stood in front of the body sculpting machine in wonder!  You really could not judge a book by it's cover; even though it looked like a normal shower, it accomplished a miracle; the fat had literally melted off of Judy's body!  Judy was very thrilled that the very first treatment seemed to have worked perfectly. The resort even supplied her with a new outfit; her old pants just fell down around her ankles. Judy felt great and decided to get busy finding the insects for the science facility. Warned in advance about the blowing sand, Judy decided to play it safe and wear her glasses for the duration of her stay in Al Simhara.

 Judy headed over to the adventurer base camp to consult the area map but started to feel very light headed and a little dizzy.  Dr. Dsja-Khons had warned her that this might happen and advised her that if it did she should eat a light meal.  She grabbed a bowl of soup from the fridge and sat down to enjoy it. She couldn't actually finish the whole bowl; Judy was going to be very careful in the future and make sure she was never as large as she was when she arrived in Al Simhara.

After she washed her dish, Judy decided she had better call home and check in.  When she heard Jack's voice on the other end of the line, Judy was overcome with emotion and couldn't speak for a moment.  She finally found her voice and told him that she was fine and the procedure worked wonderfully.

They discussed the things that Judy hoped to see in Al Simhara and she promised to take lots of pictures. After the call home, she located the area that the beetles had been spotted in on the map. By that time, Judy was feeling a little weak again and decided to head back over to the resort to get a little rest. Her body had just been through a very traumatic event and she didn't want to overdo it.

Upon arriving back at the resort, Judy chatted a few moments with the very friendly and helpful staff; she told them how pleased she was with the amazing results.  Mrs. Abaur, the director's wife, told Judy that people came to the resort from all over the world and they were happy to have been of assistance.

Chapter 2, More Pictures!

Here is fat Judy; remember, I had her physical skills maxed out to 10. I had the poor thing working out every single chance she got and eating nothing but Autumn Salad…and still had that huge butt. In the storyline I was going to have her go to Egypt to a fat farm to lose weight and get plastic surgery. It’s cheaper over there, don’t you know!

Just another pic of Judy & Arlo fishing. He has the angler trait and loves the outdoors so he’s in hog heaven. He had a wish to be besties with Judy so I thought this may be the best way to get it.

I’m not sure who the kid in the hat is but I think the guy with the white hair is the oldest Bunch kid….I forgot his name already! I don't know how all the Bunch kids turned out with blonde hair; Judy is a brunette and hubby is too. I wonder what color the mailman's hair is.....

Here is crazy Lisa in her pink themed room. She has the anxiety trait and is either mean or a coward; I forget. She was getting into a relationship with AJ; the kid with the mohawk. He will more than likely follow the criminal career path, if he ever gets a job at all. I don't think their kids would be very attractive but I could be wrong = )

Chapter 1, Playing Around

Ok, so I have to do the photos in reverse order, apparently. Each time I add a pic it puts it on top; I didn't notice with the other two cause they were so similar. I'm going to find out if there is a way to reverse that. I read somewere that you can prepare a word document and publish it to the web; I'll try that for my next post and it may solve all my problems. Well, at least I know how to do it without Word. Isn't Darlene soooo cute??? And she loves to read because her mom read so much to her when she was a baby (family trait comes in handy!).


So, I'm learning how to add these things. I guess I have to add all the pictures first then add the narrative and dialog. Good to know. I really enjoyed playing the Bunches but I had to change both Judy and the hubby's body styles with Tawallan's Master Controller. I had both of them maxed out for fitness but everytime I turned around they were fat again! I have to deal with weight issues in real life; I don't want to have to in the Sims!

So, here is a picture from my game that totally disappeared after I sent Judy to Egypt: I sent her to Egypt on a job related task and one of the kids needed a relic for school. When she returned, I couldn't see any of the kids on the home screen nor could I select or play them or make Judy interact with them. I looked all over town and still couldn't select them. I had chosen to play them for a legacy challenge and Darlene was my heir... I searched the web for a solution and tried everything under the sun but no bueno. So, I'm using this one to practice posting on the real one....

Just Starting Out.....

Welcome to the inaugural issue of my blog! I have been lurking in the blogosphere for months now; I had meant to start this one as a tribute to my daughter Samantha who was accepted to the United States Air Force Academy this fall (hence the web address “sam’s mom tx”). Go Sam!!! We are so very proud of her; not many people understand how difficult it is to secure an appointment to any of our military service academies. They select only the best and brightest of our youth; the academies mold them to become our future leaders.
But on further reflection, I have decided that it’s not going to be all about Sam (no embarrassing naked baby pictures, I promise) but more about, well, everything. Sam is entitled to her privacy and can determine on her own what to allow everyone with an internet connection to know about her. I am not going to post every little thing that happens; that’s what twitter is for!!! JK, just like pretty much every other 40-something, I signed up for twitter and now I don’t know what to do with it! My intention (yea, I know, road to Hades and what not) is to just keep in touch with the people that I don’t get to talk to every day (or once a year) and keep them up to date with Sam’s progress. So, once again, welcome!!!