Surviving Wayne: September 2006

A Little Cat Humor

Most of those people who really know me, know that I do not like cats. A friend at work emailed a bunch of us this picture. I thought it was hilarious.

I know I am gonna get some lectures for posting this.... but I will survive.

Wayne @ 9:00 PM v Comments (4) v

Up In Smoke

Well over the past few days, our life has had to adjust a bit. My sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephew have come to live with Paula and me for a little while. Thursday morning there was a fire in the aparment next to theirs. Their apartment suffered a total loss due to smoke and water damage.

We are letting them stay with us until they find another place. It is always a shift in life when two households live under one roof. God has blessed them, however. No one was home so no one was injured. They lost a ton of stuff, but most of it can be replaced or restored. Their insurance plan was a good plan to be on because it is taking care of them quite well.

Here is a picture of the fire...

Here is a picture of the aftermath...

They survived and so did I...

Wayne @ 7:53 PM v Comments (2) v

The Toilet Story

Ok guys, here is the toilet story. I am sorry if I gave the impression that it is better than this, but here goes.

When Paula and I were stationed in New Orleans, the toilet in the guest bathroom went bad. (Paula and I are currently in disagreement about which toilet, but I am so certain it was the guest toilet that I would bet my life on it.)

A plumber came over to diagnose the toilet. He told us that the toilet was so old (it was from the original construction) it needed to be replaced. He quoted me a price for a new toilet and also for replacing the toilet.

I told him that I would definitely purchase a new toilet, but I may want to install it myself to save the corps some money.

I went to discuss it with Paula. She told me to let him install it because he knew what he was doing and I didn't. I was insulted. I am a guy. I can change a toilet! After discussing (actually arguing) this at length, Paula won.

I went back into the guest bathroom (not the master bathroom) where the plumber was waiting to give him the news that he was getting some more money out of us.

He left for about an hour to get the toilet. Keep in mind that this was an emergency call in the evening. He got back between 8:30 and 9:00pm. I watched him intently change the toilet to make sure he was doing it right. You know, because I know how to change a toilet.

He put this wax ring around the hole in the floor before putting the new toilet over it. I was smart enough to put 2 and 2 together. That was for the purpose of being a sealant.

I had no idea you had to put a wax ring under the new toilet! Oh my gosh!! Can you imagine the crap that would have been shootin' out from the bottom of the toilet if I had won that discussion (argument) between Paula and me!!??

Yes indeed!

I survived... and flushed with confidence.

Wayne @ 8:45 PM v Comments (1) v

What Classic Movie Are You?

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Wayne @ 9:38 PM v Comments (6) v

Time Passes

I hate that I sometimes have these spurts of time that I don't post. This time I have a really good excuse. We were busy packing. I think that is a good excuse. If you don't agree with me then you stink.

Anyway, we moved into our new house on 8/31/06. We love it. I have actually already damaged a wall. It is just a small crack. I won't bore you with the details.

The real drama of the move is Time Warner Cable. I hate that company. In advance, as any organized person should, I scheduled the transfer of service. In the notes for the transfer, I stated that the new location for our service is actually a new construction. I did this because I knew that usually they would need to do a pre-bury. That is when they bury a cable line from the pole to your house.

Well, as my mother-in-law and myself waited at the new house for the movers to arrive with our stuff, the Bellsouth tech arrives to hook up our phone and DSL. This guy was great. He even worked in the rain.

About an hour later, the Time Warner Cable tech shows up. He knocked on the door to tell me he was there, then made his way around to the back to proceed in hooking up our cable. About 5 minutes later, he knocks on the front door again. He says, "I can't hook up your cable because you haven't had a pre-bury yet."

"WHAT!!??"

Then he proceeds to tell me it will be about two weeks before anybody can come out to do a pre-bury. I asked him why he can't do the pre-bury. "That's not my job." What a customer service no-no!!

I got on the phone the next day because at that point in time I didn't have time to deal with it. The CSR I got was about as competent to do her job as I would be to install a toilet (toilet story to come soon). She said, "I'm sorry for your inconvenience." I responded, "I am sorry your schedulers and tech people don't read instructions before they come to a work site." I advised her that my inconvenience was because someone there didn't do their job and that was unacceptable.

I have made a few calls since then, but still have not found very competent people. Needless to say, we have decided to go with Direct TV. They will be coming out next Saturday to install service.

The pre-bury by TIme Warner is still scheduled for Wednesday. We are not canceling that. We are just not gonna schedule to have it hooked up. We may decide one day to go back to cable and when we sell the house, we don't want to tell potential buyers that it would be a long drawn out process to get it active.

Paula and I have been able to spend a lot of quality time together without television. Time has passed rather quickly thus far.

I survived.

Wayne @ 12:45 PM v Comments (6) v