Discover a Reason

        I just read my brother’s latest post in which he mentions paying fees towards a park that he never uses.  It is annoying paying fees for something in which you don’t feel a part.  For example there are many paying taxes for schools when they have no children.  Those who reside in Myrtle Creek pay taxes on a small airport.  I remember a man complaining about it. At the time I didn’t even realize there was an airport in Myrtle Creek.  And though it’s true that no commercial planes will ever land here, and I will never personally train to fly, I do reap benefits of having an airport so close to my house as I had mentioned in this post.

        My brother took a picture of himself at the park – I don’t know from the photo how big the park is or if there is a playground or walking trail available.  If so, I would think that it has the potential of being a good source of giving children or walkers a place away from traffic – more importantly a place away from mischief.  If the park didn’t exist, what would become of those who attend?  I have been to Las Vegas.  There is no way on God’s green earth that I would ever think of driving there!  I might not even feel safe as a pedestrian.  But I would be willing to take a stroll in the park.

        There are still a handful of children who can have fun without electronics.  I would rather have them playing at a designated playground than wandering in my yard out of curiosity.  I’m not saying having the park there will protect them from acts of crime, but think about it.  There is a reason.  Perhaps it isn’t as popular as it was when it was initially proposed . . . but still . . . just a thought really.

        Some drivers have complained about traffic lights and sharing the road with buses or trains or trolleys or whatever.  And yet, what if we didn’t have them?  How much heavier the traffic or more accidents as suggested in this post?

        If we didn’t have an airport in Myrtle Creek, where would the helicopters park during fire season? The heat gets unreal in the summertime – but not as bad as Las Vegas.  I have suggested to Steven several times that he and Isaias should move to Ashland.  I am certain that both could get jobs there and he would be more comfortable than in Vegas – though I don’t know if Isaias would feel the same way.  He would rather do the city driving than the country.  I’m sure he’d find his niche though.

It’s Backwards – Welcome to My Laundry Room

               Often when we have been out walking Bonnie we will generally walk the same four streets.  Occasionally, we will allow her to lead.  She likes to go up where the new houses are being built.  Some are stick houses and some are manufactured – like this one.  

          It was in the street for a while as the equipment that was supposed to move it went out of commission – I don’t remember how long it had been in the street before it was moved – unfortunately with the front facing the backside (maybe a yard though that part doesn’t appear to be promising right now) and the backside facing the street.   

          It is understandable why they did it that way.  Not totally, but the mistake may have been in the awning.  After all there is an arch over the backdoor and two lamps at what should be the front.  Big windows – living room.  That is where the front door should lead, right?  But all that is visible to the neighbors below – not that either view is rather spectacular.  The home owner has a view of houses either way.  No checking out the living room window to see who might be in the driveway though.

          The way the house sets right now may have one saying, “Welcome to my house.  Here is the laundry room – right next to the door – just in case you would like to remove your clothes and come into the kitchen . . .”

          Roland and I had actually looked at a house that was closer to the high school.  It was turned around so that we had entered the back – oh, and there are my appliances right next to the door.  Hello.  Oh, if it’s spaciousness you want, continue to the back of the house which is really the front.  You will have a view of a rock from your living room.  What the heck?  Roland didn’t want to move there because the house was backwards.  I didn’t want to move there because of the shared driveway.  That can get annoying when the neighbors seem to have more vehicles than drivers.

          I think all housing came to a halt when it snowed followed by rain. There have been several popping up and mailboxes going in.  Thus far the mailboxes haven’t been assigned numbers. Further up the road is an unfinished stick house.  The roof had been outlined but not completed.  Must have been murder on those building the house, but from mine and Jenna’s point of view it appeared as a gingerbread house the way the snow covered the beams. 

          Weather has warmed up enough for the crew to fix the damage and continue with their work.  But I still think the other house should be turned around.

I Don’t Get It

                I think there are gremlins bugging the social media right now – or some aspects of it anyway.  I have noticed it on facebook and YouTube, but I don’t know which order – probably facebook.  Each time they try to improve the site, there are millions of bugs that cause havoc for the user.

            Lately facebook has ignored my requests of who I would like notifications from and have been throwing in notifications at random.  Just the other day I received a notification for someone I wasn’t even aware I was facebook friends with (which goes to show how close we are) and so I have been typing in the names of family members just so I am updated about their latest thoughts.

            As I have mentioned in at least two other posts, I created a Relief Society page for the ward that I currently attend.  Each of the wards I have attended have communication pages, but I did not see one for this ward and thus almost five years ago I took it upon myself to create one.  I did not have permission nor did it occur to me to seek it.  But nearly everybody loved the idea and requested that I keep it (even if I had to change the name).  Thus I am the administrator. I now come up as an administrator of our newest ward page.  What the heck?

            Another member of the group has tried to add pictures of thoughts to the group, but evidently access has been denied.  Thus I took it upon myself to repost her thoughts and received “badge” for joining the administration.  Say what now?  Why am I getting this “badge”?  Why do I all the sudden have this title of “founding member’?  I did not have anything to do with creating the ward group – but as I look into again, it appears that anyone who has posted anything receives a “founding member” except for the one who initially invited me in.  I don’t see next to her name.  Weird.

            The bishop, who did start the page, cannot open private messages which I had sent to him in facebook.  Three examples of facebook’s current gremlins.  Now let’s move on to YouTube, shall we?  Allthough the bugs may have been worked out now – but I haven’t completed this post.

            Viewers are given the option of not having to view ads for those who can afford the fee.  Although ten dollars a month may not seem like a big deal to some, I am not readily on YouTube enough that it is worth it. I can skip the ads  if I am near the computer, but if I’m across the room . . . well that’s a different story.  I brought YouTube up because I wanted to listen to the music to help me fall asleep.  I once had a computer that came with a remote.  I wondered why a person would ever need a remote to work the computer.  As I sat up in bed annoyed – not by the ads but the repeated plays (though I would rather hear the same song two or three times than any ads) I finally figured out why a remote would be handy.

            When I was taking accounting and other classes I was on YouTube all the time.  Because I would look for accounting and business videos, the ads would be geared toward such.  That was annoying.  However, YouTube's latest glitch was repeating the song that just played.  It wasn’t just my device or personal playlist.  Jenna was getting the same thing.  And although they are songs that we like, we like and would like to listen to others as well.  I have not experienced that problem at all while I type this. It has actually been quite enjoyable.

            As I did not have a remote to work while I was in bed I finally changed the position of YouTube coming through my computer to an alternate through the TV.  Our bedroom is not that far from our living room.  It’s not like we live in a mansion or anything that the two televisions or computers would have to be on different signals, and yet they seem so distant from one another as far as signal goes when theoretically it is less than 30 walking steps from one devise to the other.  Thus I don’t think the living room YouTube would cut out like the bedroom YouTube does.  Neither play an entire ad.  Both cut out, which I find amusing.  Both will make its own playlist.  The one in the living room will play until we stop it.  I have always fallen asleep in the bedroom except recently to see that after only six or seven songs it will freeze for several minutes before it kicks back to the regular station.  Gremlins.  Bedroom Gremlins.  Computer gremlins.  Facebook gremlins.

            Technology.  Fascinating but definitely imperfect.

Quality Customer Service? A thing of the past

          I'm actually quite impressed with Roland's phone skills.  I got rid of cable as we were paying outrageous amounts each month.  We have been able to pick up six stations with an antenna we purchased, but there was a day when I'm assuming the weather had interfered and we were only down to two.

          As mentioned previously, Jenna and I could live without the TV or cable.   We watch it because it's there, but would not miss it if it wasn't.  But Roland likes having the TV and had called another company to see how much cable would run.

          So our internet was with Charter.  We NEED the Internet.  Roland works from home online.  We both go to school online.  We need the Internet.  We do not need the cable.  Nevertheless, Roland found a great deal in which Frontier promised a cable and Internet package for the same amount that we were paying Charter for Internet only.  The first call placed was answered by a young guy from California who was living in Salt Lake.

          Why the heck would we be calling Salt Lake?  I had never even heard of Frontier until we got to Oregon.  The guy was friendly and after the information was exchange, we got a little personal (which I know is how he's from California) and he told us some jokes before he hung up.

          Our cable contract is through Dish and NOT Frontier.  And of course we are locked into it now because apparently Roland's electronic signature proves that.  The cable box was sent - but Roland wasn't sure how to connect it.  Someone came out to connect it and we had a SLOW connection.  Not even 12 full hours. Fortunately we had not cancelled Charter.

  

          I don't know how many times Roland has been on the phone with Frontier - asking employees for their first and last name and employee identification (because thus far none of the employees have been willing to give his or her last name - which I don't blame them.  Most have been good to give their employee number - or a number anyway (how do we really know) as Roland explains for the umpteenth time that "I need this for work . . . I was very clear about that from the beginning"  He always tells the employees to make notes on file and asks for the supervisor and that supervisor's supervisor.

          He is calm.  Although he is frustrated, he doesn't express anger.  But he does become more irritated with each call explaining himself again and again.  We still have the box.  We have asked for a box to return it in.  I have even taken it to the two locations here in Myrtle Creek - a warehouse downtown and the communication center? in Tri-City.  It was closed.  I wonder if it ever opens.  Or why it's there. 

          Frontier will probably go out of business.  We heard that from an employee.  No kidding.  I don't guess their exceptional customer service would have anything to do with it.

          I've been dealing with crisis of my own.  We're doing our taxes.  Need I say more?  No matter how prepared we believe we are, we're always missing forms.  At least three 1099s.  And so I've been trying to make contacts with each of the companies getting nowhere fast. 

          Actually, I did make progress with one company.  I've listened to at least 7 different recordings for another.  I finally left my phone # when I was given the option to leave with a promise of a call back within 24 hours.  Oh, they did call back alright.  But it was the WRONG company.  I was contacted this morning by one who received my phone number.  It took us a few minutes to realize that the number I retrieved from the other website had been connected to the other at one time, but was no longer a part of them - therefore she couldn't help me.  (Ugh)

          And the one human I get has an accent so thick that she had to slow down when pronouncing "Annual Summary" because I was hearing "Animal Movie" and I knew that is not what she was saying.

          I wish I had the patience and control that Roland does when he is speaking over the phone.  I am just too dang emotional.  Customer Satisfaction really hasn't seemed very satisfying this century.   

       I told Roland that one of the things I really like about living in Oregon is that I feel like a person and not just a statistic.  When I am calling corporations I feel even less than a statistic.