Rants

A decade ago or so when I used to see a TV show on a rare occasion I saw Chris Rock doing a monologue about giving himself a good jerk. He talked about all the things that can interfere. It was very funny, as he always is.

I am not in the mood for a good jerk, but I do seem to be in the mood for a good rant. This does not mean that I am unhappy. Quite the contrary - lately I am as happy as a clam. Life is good and I am happy to be in it. Even so, I feel an urge to bitch. Care to join me?

My daughter made me a lovely dinner for Mother's Day. She took the day off work, went out and fought the grocery store people for 2.5 hours to get everything for a truly wonderful gourmet meal with Marsala Chicken as the highlight. The child has worked in upscale restaurants for ten years - she has picked up a few tricks. She can cook for me any time :-). She also gave me flowers - and some of them died by morning. I need to get to the store they came from, but I didn't verify with her which store until yesterday. I am probably out of luck. Even so, the rest of them are beautiful and I would not trade that evening for anything.

While I was there for dinner, I had taken along some new clothes I bought. I wanted the child's opinion on how they fit me (bonding time). She decided everything was fine. Somehow she ended up with two of my tops. She also dragged out some heels to show me how nice they would look with one of the dresses. She was right - I need some black and white platform heels for that dress. Do you think I can find any? Nooo, and we don't wear the same size. Her feet are bigger. I want those shoes! (Yes, I am allowed to wear heels as long as I don't try to wear them for a sustained walk.)

Comcast. Do I really need to say more? In October I gave the TV cable box back to them, got a receipt for it, told them I was never really interested in cable TV, did not want it any longer, wanted nothing to do with it. In February, I noticed it was still on my bill. (I admit, I don't read their bills. They make no sense to me. I just send them money online once a month, double what I really owe, and somehow it's never enough.) So, I called in February and explained that not only had they been charging me $3 a month to rent a modem when I own the modem and had reported that the day it was hooked up, but they had been charging me for basic cable (whatever that is) for 4 months.

I was clearly told that the $54 that they owed me for the modem rental would be removed (and it was!) and also that they would forward some form or another to some department I never heard of, but I wrote it all down in great detail. I was assured that someone would call me or write to me about it.

So, today as I went to pay on the account I noticed that I am still paying for basic cable (I still have no idea what that is because I don't even know how to turn the TV on). I was told that is just tough patooties, that I will not get back either the money I paid from October to February or even from February to March. Imagine that. Comcast lied to me. Are you shocked?

The two different guys I spoke to, both of whom I wrote down their names and date and time I called and what was said, did not forward any form or even write down my complaint. As I was talking to the current "helpful" employee, the call just disappeared. Knowing she would never call me back, I called again and after 5 minutes or so of f'ing voice mail (that can raise my blood pressure faster than my child can) I immediately asked for a supervisor.

What was I told? Oh, too bad. Sorry. I will close the cable TV now, but it won't even go back to February. She finally said she could give me a credit of $30. That is 10% of what they owe me. I was not happy. It's not her fault, so I wasn't rude, but I am not happy.

I asked her if she would send me an email to verify that she had discontinued my cable TV this time and had given me the 10% credit. After all, the two males had said they were doing something, and they did not do it. She said she could not do that, but she could send me a letter to verify. So, there will go another week while I have no idea what is going on. I cannot change services unless I get a Verizon card for my laptop or switch to DSL, which would mean $20 extra a month for dry DSL and $30 a month for the service, which is slower than Comcast. I can't win this one.

This is more a lament than a rant. I took both poopers to the vet today at the same time for yearly check ups, blood work, poop checks, pee checks, vaccines, the whole mess. I did not give Molly any Valium because she had not had a seizure at the vet's office in about 2 years.

We barely got in the door, with both dogs having their tails up, heads up, happy faces, dragging me in so they could get to the techs when Molly's face started to contort. I wanted to run - this is the only thing I can't deal with. I wouldn't care if she had diarrhea on my lap, but seizures I haven't been able to handle. I immediately called for help, and dragged Baby to sit down with me. I hate myself for this. Usually the owner comes out and scoops Molly up and takes her to the back room, but today they left her in the waiting room and shuffled Baby and I into an exam room. Of course, I was crying - I didn't even cry through the whole Addison's thing with Molly until she had the grand mal seizures. I swear it won't happen again - if she has another one, I will hold her. My vet has told me that she does not know what has happened afterwards - Molly doesn't know that mom has backed away from her at those times. I am afraid I will hurt her, afraid she will hurt herself, afraid Baby will attack Molly - some dogs will - and just plain utterly afraid that Molly will not survive.

A few minutes later they gave me back my Molly. She could not walk well, but the seizure was done. It only has ever happened at the vet's office - a trigger, for some reason. All those months of having her treated on the sidewalk, slowly re-introducing her to the building - gone.

Both dogs have lost 20% of their weight. They are now classified as "lean." I never had a dog that was considered "lean" before. It's the home cooking - these girls look great! The vet is highly pleased to see them looking so trim :-). This might explain why Molly is always whacking the food bowls around the floor after a meal - she just wants more! But she looks great!

Blood tests were taken, vaccines were given, poop and pee were handed over, the poopers licked all the vets and the techs, ate treats, and my credit card was taken and well used. Due to the seizure, I brought them home and kept them quiet until after dinner. Molly was fine, so we walked with a neighbor and put in a few miles.

There must be something else to rant about? I might go to Florida soon for a short trip, and AZ is still a maybe for June. It's still only spring here, not summer - some nice hot weather would be welcome.

Oh yeah - I had to see an ear specialist for my vertigo. He has no idea what is going on, as far as I can tell. First he was very interested in the book I was reading ("Exile" by Richard North Patterson) and he gave me some history on Palestinians. Then he was even more interested in my medical form where I had filled in "pneumonia vaccine" under "allergies." He asked me a zillion questions about my reaction after the vaccine, and how I responded at the time, and how my issues progressed. He asked why I hadn't gone to emergency at the time and why I hadn't been seen afterwards by a neurologist. (I refused to go the emergency room - I went to my doctor's clinic on a Sunday. The doctor did try to send me in an ambulance to the ER, but I was not willing to leave my car in their parking lot and then get driven home by someone and not have my car available. Plus, who would watch the poopers? I had a high fever - I wasn't exactly running on all cylinders. Plus, I do not remember anyone saying to follow up with a neurologist.)

Why? He said I had vaccine-induced encephalitis, not an allergic reaction that caused ADD. After I got home, somewhat in a fog while trying to digest this, I tried to decide which is worse: ADD or brain damage?

I mention the encephalitis because I am hoping some of you have some stories for me.

Please rant to me about any encephalitis stories you have!

I KNOW I will get some juicy Comcast rants :-)