T-Mobile, You Make Me Sad

I just sent a long and rambling e-mail to T-Mobile's customer support. I doubt I'll get a response, but we'll see.

I have been using a phone that I got in 2003. I had briefly switched to a Razr that a friend unlocked for me, but it stopped getting software updates and was getting buggy. I switched back and am generally happy with the old phone, but the call quality is not as good as I would like it to be and I am eligible for an upgrade, so I started looking for new phones.

I finally found one I liked and went to order it online. That's when I discovered that T-Mobile has instituted an $18 upgrade fee. This is not new news, but it was new to me. T-Mobile support says that the fee is for shipping and handling, which they advertise as free, but that first link indicated that it is really to offset the cost of subsidized phones for new customers.

I like to get myself all worked up over things like this. I am a firm believer that customer service is more important than saving a few bucks. I have no idea if T-Mobile is the best carrier, has the best network, or the cheapest prices. They did have very reasonable prices when I signed up, but that was in 2001 and might not be true anymore. I stayed with them because of their customer service. Now, I'm annoyed. Here's my complaint:

I have been a loyal T-Mobile customer since 2001. In 2005, I convinced my husband to switch to T-Mobile. I have stayed with T-Mobile, and recommended you to others, because of your customer service.

I haven't upgraded my phone in at least two years, and was surprised when I went to checkout and saw the $18 upgrade fee.

Your website says the fee is for the administrative costs of an upgrade - shipping and handling. But choosing the express shipping, which is not “free,” doesn’t eliminate the charge. Shipping UPS ground from Albuquerque, NM to Des Plaines, IL (where I live) is $10.03. Since I'm ordering online, and not on the phone with a person whose salary you have to pay, it is clear this is not a handling charge.

After some searching, I see that the fee was established in November, 2007, and is generally assumed to offset the cost of subsidized phones for new customers. This is poor business planning on your part. I am willing to sign up for a new, two-year contract to get a new phone. My contract costs should cover the cost of the phone over time and, given my history of staying with one phone for much longer than my contract time and rarely using even half of my plan minutes, I think you are getting a pretty good deal with me as a customer. I pay my bills on time, use less of your services than I pay for, and rarely ask for new phones.

Since my contract has expired, there is no reason for me not to look for another carrier, where I won't have to pay an extra fee for a new phone. This fee shows disrespect for your customer and erases all of the goodwill my previous experiences have created. It is easy to charge the same fees your competitors are charging, but, by joining them, you’ve eliminated what distinguished T-Mobile from the others in the first place. I hope someone over there comes to their senses and eliminates this fee. Until then, I’ll stick with my old phone and start shopping around for another network.

We'll see if I hear anything from them, but I doubt it.

Random Thoughts

1. Can someone tell me why Hanes decided to go with a campaign filled with homo-erotic undertones? I never got Kevin Bacon & Micheal Jordan playing grab-ass, and I really don't get Cuba Gooding Jr. "inadvertently" yelling embarrassing, easily-misinterpreted things like "I'm wearing your underwear!"

2. I have planted a ton of seeds this year. My miscalculation was that a) I might remember where I planted them, b) that I might remember what I planted and c) that I have the patience to wait for seeds to grow. Now I just want to go buy more flowers and plant them because waiting for seeds BLOWS.

3. This American Life is on-demand with WOW cable. Season 1 stops being available today. :(

4. WOW's DVR sucks ass. Way worse than Dish Network's. But I hated Dish Networks DVR so much, that it almost makes the craptastic WOW one ok. Like, if I can't have Tivo, I REALLY can't have it.

5. Our old Tivo died this weekend. :( RIP Barry. (I named my Tivo Barry. I don't know why. Possibly because we got the Tivo not long after we got Hank and Barry was one of the names I considered for Hank).

An Open Letter to Steve Jobs

Dear Steve,

Can we talk?  I have some issues with the iPod.  I think you are missing the mark with what the average consumer wants and needs in a portable audio device.  I am an avid music fan, and I think I have a good perspective on what your customers are looking for.  My current iPod, which is about three years old, is a fourth-generation 'pod - 20G, click wheel, no color screen.  It's still trucking along, but it will soon need to be replaced.  Speaking of which: kudos on the recycling program.  I would normally buy any electronics from Crutchfield, but I'm going to an Apple store instead. 

Here's my issue: the current iPod lineup doesn't fit my listening needs.  I would guess that my iTunes library is on the high-side of average.  I have just over 17G of music in my library and just over 1G of podcasts.  On my iPod, I keep about 16G of stuff - nearly the whole library, but not quite.  

The "small" iPod classic has 80G of memory.  This is insane, nearly the same amount of memory as my MacBook.  The nano, at just $50 less, has only 8G of memory.  The small size is very appealing and, at just under $200, the price is perfect.  However, I can't quite carry all that I want to have with me.  It doesn't make sense to buy the 8G nano when for an extra $50, I can have ten times the memory.  But the iPod classic seems like over-kill.  Don't even get me started on the 160G model.  Who has the capacity to have all of that music on one computer?  Who is the target customer there?  Even if that is designed to hold movies and TV shows, who has the space on a hard drive to store it at home?

The perfect iPod is only available in the iPod Touch - 32G.  But, at $500, that's a little too rich for my blood.  Plus, I have no desire to go online or check my email with an iPod.  I just want to keep myself occupied on the commute to and from work, and on vacation. 

The problem, I think, is in the plan for the nano.  Just because people want something small, doesn't mean they want less capacity.  If they wanted just a few songs, they'd go for a Shuffle.  I want something small, that I can put in my purse without adding too much weight to what I carry around.  

Here's my vision for the product line: Shuffle: 2G & 4G; Nano: 10G & 32G; Classic: 80G, & 160G; Touch - do whatever you want.  The people who buy this just want an iPhone but for whatever reason don't want AT&T.

Girl's Guide: Home Repair

When we moved in to our house, as I was reveling at the glory of a whole laundry room (as opposed to the laundry closet we used to have), I noticed that our washing machine had been rigged in some way. Usually, if you open a washing machine during the spin cycle, it will stop spinning. This is because it would be dangerous to reach in there , and people are dumb. I didn't think much of it at the time.

Then, I decided to wash a blanket. The machine stopped right before the spin cycle. I went down and saw my blanket sitting in a lot of water, and soapy. I tried just starting the machine over again, and the same thing happened. So I tried it again.

Because I'm brilliant.

I figured I had broken the machine because our addition was finished, and the bathroom was finished, and we were thinking about maybe, someday, having some spare cash to buy a couch, so it would make sense that now I would do something stupid and break the machine and cost us basically another grand.

Because being a home owner has taught me to be an optimist.

Thankfully, I was wrong. The rigging for the lid switch had broken. This is what had been making my washing machine work:
A lid switch basically functions like this: There is a little tab on the washer lid that fits into a hole on the machine. When you close the lid, the tab hits a lever, which closes the circuit to the wiring in the machine, that tells it that it is ok to spin.

Of course, I did not know that it was a lid switch problem, or what a lid switch was, until I did some searching on the internet. The internet told me that it would cost about $15 to replace the part and that I (yes! Me!) could fix it myself. Getting a guy out to replace the $15 part would cost about $100 plus parts plus labor. That's more plus than I'm looking for, so I found directions for taking the washing machine apart and got to work fixing it my damn self.

First, obviously, I had to get a new lid switch. Thankfully, Sears Service Centers are conveniently located near you (or my husband's office). They had one lid switch for our model washing machine. It's more like $25, but still ok with me. Of course, Mr kept forgetting to go pick it up, so it was a week later (and now a desperate laundry situation) that I finally went my damn self.

Naturally, being a week later, they do not have the part. But lo! A new Sears has opened a mere two minutes from my house (as opposed to the 30 it took to drive to the first one) and it seems they have it in stock. I drove over there, and, naturally, they do not have it in stock. A snotty saleswoman informs me that they just recently moved to that location, so their inventory is "all messed up." She offers to order it for me, but I won't get it for three years. I decline, and order it myself at home, because Sears will feel my wrath and lose my $25 sale.

However, now we need clothes. I can't even just buy new ones because I prefer to wash my clothes before I wear them. So I soldier on, determined to fix it temporarily until I get the part.

First step: pry off the side caps. They look like they're permanent, and it feels like you're breaking your washing machine, but you aren't. Just get a screw driver (preferably a flat head) and wedge it under one of the corners of the end caps and pop it off.

Take off both end caps and unscrew the screws that they were hiding. Then, you just have to flip that control panel part up. Only it isn't just an easy flip. The next picture is a bit fuzzy. It is also on its side. The left-hand side is actually the top. See the little white thingy poking out of the black metal part? That is basically a hinge. Once you pop the end caps off, you have to work the whole control panel up until the white thingies on both sides move up that groove and into the top part, where they will have room to move.

Then it will just flip up:
Pretty cool, right?

Ok, next, you pop out those gold doo-dads, which connect the cover to the back and base. Again, just use the screw driver to pry them out. This takes a little bit of muscle, but isn't as nerve-wracking because those gold doo-dads clearly work on tension, so you don't have to worry about breaking them. They tend to really pop out though, so make sure you don't lose them when they go flying.
(Look how gross it gets under the console. Who knew?) The next part is a little scary, but also fun. If you go up to the picture with the control panel flipped back, you'll see a bundle of wires leading to a clear-ish white tab heading into the cover. You have to disconnect them by taking the screw driver again and prying the tab on the big tab up.


Then, you walk the cover off of your washing machine. Once the cover is no longer secured to the back, washing machines are really, really flimsy. In reality, a washing machine is a big barrel with a thin metal box around it. Without some reinforcements, they wiggle a lot.

To replace the lid switch, you have to basically get inside the washing machine cover.

In the next picture, you can see the switch. It's the gray plastic thingy. See the little white plastic post? That is supposed to be pushing down a little lever, which broke off, which is when the previous owners used a zip tie to hold down the broken tab, which eventually broke off.
It is connected by the screw on the right-hand side, which is also grounding the wires. Everything else is in clips that you can just pull out. It's surprisingly simple. If your machine is broken, I highly recommend the site I linked to above - they have pretty good instructions. Plus, it never occurred to me to take a picture of the new switch. Oops. Anyway, since I didn't have a new switch when I did the first fix, this is how I solved the problem:

Electrical tape is good, because it is stretchy, so you can really get a tight fit. Sadly, this worked for only a short time, but long enough to get a few loads of laundry done and carry us through until the replacement switch arrived.

Check it out:

Cell Phones Upset Me

When it comes to high-tech gadgets, I have something of a split personality. While I love the newest, latest, most high-tech things, I don't have the uncontrollable urge to get them for myself. I usually know what's out there, but it takes me a while to get them myself. I just got the Shuffle, which I'm loving, but I didn't buy an iPod until they'd been out for a couple of years, and when I did buy it, I waited until the color-screen version was just released, and then I bought the old two-tone screen one on sale.

When it comes to cell phones, I want something new and fancy, and I'm jealous of friends who get new fancy stuff. However, I myself just want something that I think looks cool and has good sound quality. I like having a camera, because then I can have a picture of Hank on my phone, but all the other bells and whistles tend to not tempt me.

I have been using the Samsung t509 from T-Mobile, and I hate it. At first, I really liked it. It is very slim and everything about it was good. Except that, when the keys were locked it would sometimes dial SOS, and I would take it out of my purse to discover that it was dialing an emergency call. T-Mobile couldn't fix it, so they sent me a replacement. The replacement is... not good. I almost always have trouble hearing the people I'm talking to, and I've heard that my voice breaks up, too. This isn't really something they can fix since, technically, it works. It just isn't as good as the first one I got. Plus, though it is skinny, it is really tall and frequently, it pokes out of my pocket. Part of this is the fact that clothing manufacturers seem to think that pockets are for decoration on women's clothes, but that is a topic for a different rant.

The point is: I don't like the phone. But, I paid for it - actually called them up and paid them money for a phone, when I had one that worked perfectly (which I also bought instead of waiting until my contract could be renewed and getting a low-tech phone for free).

Which made my friend giving me the free Razr he got from At&t perfect - cool, new phone, completely free.

Except that it is locked to at&t's network. T-Mobile said they could unlock it, but they can't. At&t probably won't help me - I'm not their customer, and carriers are notoriously stingy about unlocking phones because then you could use them for anything you want! You could keep your phone and switch networks! The horror! They also will be unlikely to help my friend who is new to them, and therefore has no pull. He thinks because he just spend $600 on the iPhone, they should, but he gave that money to Apple, not them, and I think they won't care.

I have another friend who has been with Cingular for over ten years, and I'm hoping that she'll call for me, but who knows.

Right now, I think I'm going to go back to my old phone, which works fine and is very cute. I just wish I never bought the stupid Samsung to begin with.

*Edited to add: If anyone is interested in my Samsung - when I got it, people seemed to think it was cool - drop me an email, and we can work something out. I would be happy to find it a new home. The guilt of paying for something and not using it would be alleviated if someone else was going to use it. If you're already on T-Mobile, this could be very easy indeed. Drop me a line at: recordstorerita at hotmail dot com

iCraziness

I went at lunch with a friend from work to the Apple store on Michigan Avenue. He was going to wait in line for the iPhone, and I wanted to get a shuffle. I've wanted a shuffle for a while and figured I should get it before the whole world went nuts for the iPhone.

I have an iPod, but it is a really old one - huge by today's standards, two-color screen - and I want one I can run with easily without dropping it. Hence, the shuffle.

All Apple stores are closed today from 2-6 in preparation for the release of the iPhone at 6. We tried to leave earlier but got stuck with work, and I didn't get to the store until 1:45. The line was already out of site and an Apple employee and a security guard were manning the door. So, we walk up, and she tells us they're already closing. I told her I knew what I wanted, and was hoping to beat the crowd, and she just said they were already shut down. Instantly, I'm f'ing pissed. Now, I know that's a little ridiculous. My timing sucks. But I didn't want to go to any Apple store this weekend, and I really wanted the damned thing. My friend repeats that I know what I want - just a shuffle (which I had left out) - and a manager overhears. They call me back. I get the shuffle. The Apple employee apologizes.

*phew* for a minute there? I was afraid that my love of Apple might be tainted. I mean, I have never really had a negative customer experience there, and I have always loved any product they've produced. It would stink if their Next Big Thing ruined my love of them. It would have made pining over my friend's new iPhone really tough.

The upside of him getting an iPhone is that I will be getting a new Razor. True, everyone on the planet has had one for like two years, but I haven't, I hate my phone and I really didn't want to give T-Mobile any more money. He got a free Razor for switching to AT&T, and won't need it after he gets his new toy, so I get it (I'm paying him a little something, though he is so nice he wouldn't take much). So, I'm happy. Woo-hoo! New toys for me!

He's currently waiting in a line that, when I left him at the back of it, stretched from the front door, around the corner, down the block, around that corner, and about 1/2 way down the next block. Granted, they have parts blocked off, so no one is blocking streets or alleys, but man. I couldn't do that. Of course, I'm happy with a new phone that is two years old.

Hi, I'm a Mac

I did it. I switched. I have to admit, it was those damn commercials. I fell for it. I mean, it isn't that I want to be that kid from Dodgeball or that I didn't want to be the guy in the suit. I just like the look of the commercials. Plus, my Macbook is totally sexy. It's sleek and white and it is just so pretty.

There are some downsides. I now have to consider if stuff is available for Mac. Boo. I was going to get a new computer game - some fun little treat for my birthday- and went to Best Buy. They don't carry games for Mac. Boo.

But, I was able to use iPhoto to put together a truly awesome slide show comparing my uncle to Tom Selleck, and then I used iTunes so that the whole thing could be set to the theme song from Magnum P.I.

That alone was worth it, I think.

Switching to Mac

So, I'm thinking of switching to a mac and getting a new MacBook. My desktop computer is slightly old - about four years - and it has some issues. I had a bad virus experience last year and the thing has never really recovered (I think I have already posted about that, so I won't get into details).

I have always been sort of intrigued with Macs because, let's face it, they're kinda sexy. Plus, they seem to be somewhat virus-proof which, after my old laptop and my current desktop, I would really appreciate. However, in college, the iMacs in the computer lab sucked. I'm sure it was my fault for being mac-ignorant, but I could never really figure out how to use them. I only tried when all the PCs were in use (and I know that PC means personal computer and that Macs are, technically PCs. Shut up). Anyway, I would try to check my email and all I could ever do was look at one old email that I had somehow read when it was new on a mac. I couldn't figure out how to read new emails and I couldn't check old ones that I knew were saved somewhere. It was weird and I'm sure I'm just a moron. I'm hoping I won't have those problems this time.

Basically, my iPod has converted me. I love my 'pod, and I don't want it to be alone. Plus, the aforementioned virus somehow messed with my musicmatch software and whenever I try to load a cd onto my iPod, I get all sorts of error messages from musicmatch.

It seems like a Mac will do everything I need it to - I can get Office for Mac and use word for my papers for school, which is the only thing I really NEED my computer to do. The rest is all for my own entertainment and it looks like I'll be able to do that stuff, too. I'm a little nervous though because I've read that on the new Intel Macs the Office programs run super-sluggishly because they're made for the PowerPC. This worries me. Has anyone used this suite on the new Intel Macs? Hello? Anyone?

I'm A Nerd

Seriously, I'm pretty much the biggest dork ever.

So, I have a little thing for The Sims. And by "little" I mean that, were it possible, my real life would be virtually replaced by the Sims. I have ADD and, while I manage to deal with it quite handily the majority of the time, when it comes to computer games I just zone out and play for hours on end, usually until I beat the game. I have more or less beaten Insanaquarium, Zuma, Feeding Frenzy2 and just about anything else that PopCap Games has made.

None of this compares to my love of the Sims.

It all started a couple of years ago when I was babysitting my cousins. They had The Sims and it was kind of fun, so I played for a while. I mean, I was out in the suburbs, miles from my friends (who don't have cars) and stuck with a 12 year old and a 14 year old. What else was I going to do?

Then, I got a new computer and the computer came with a choice of free games. Hey, the Sims was all I knew. So, I got a little obsessed and played religiously for several months. Then, I met some people, dated a little more, and slowly weaned myself off of my addiction.

Now, though I really am too busy to play, I can't stop. AND I've moved on from the simple cheat codes that my cousin taught me. Last night, to my complete and utter, nerdy joy, I discovered what I believe is a new cheat.

Ok. So, if you push Ctrl+Shift+C, the cheat code box opens up. If you put in 'move_objects on' you can, in buy or build mode, click on stuff and delete it or move it. This is not new. It comes in handy when you can no longer afford a maid (or they refuse to come to your house because, for once, you weren't going to use the 'rosebud' cheat and actually go to work and earn money to buy things and you upgraded the bed so your sim could stop being depressed and the maid had to be paid before you got home from work, and you didn't have enough to cover it, so the bitch stole your alarm clock, which is just annoying). ANYWAY. This move objects is a useful cheat. Well, last night, I used this cheat to delete a swarm of roaches - this happens sometimes whether the house is filthy or not, if you don't have a maid. Well, when I deleted the roaches I discovered that you actually get like $450 for selling back the "Virtual Reality Kit" or something like that. Cool! Because, playing honestly is tough, man.

Oh, also, my Sim drank a potion (all on her own - I didn't tell her to), and it made another Sim fall in love with her. He isn't the one I've been working on, but doing things the right way takes too long, so... I'm going to try and make them fall in love. I have the "hot date" expansion pack and I hear that, if they fall in love, they will have sex and get married (I'm not sure what order this happens). Since, A) this particular Sim is one of the pre-established ones who has a wife and B) I've never seen Sim-sex, I am very curious to see what will happen. So - orange potion = love yellow = complete personality reversal (my Sim has drank this twice, which I think makes her the original Sim I created again) Green = turning into a monster or invisible, I can't remember.

Random Computer Crap

A couple of months ago, my computer freaked out.  I turned it off one day, and the next day, it wouldn’t turn on.  It gave me a crazy warning screen and shut itself off.  I was totally confused.  I’ve had it for a little over three years, and I’ve never really had a problem with it before.  First, I talked to the IT guy at work, who basically told me that I was an idiot for buying a Gateway.  Whatever, people have their preferences.  He’s a big fan of Dell and has a friend who got a total lemon from Gateway.  Like I said, I’ve never really had a problem.  He didn’t really think there was much I could do without completely wiping my hard drive clean and starting over.  I didn’t want to do that since I never learned my lesson from my previous laptop cashing out and I hadn’t saved a lot of the information that was on the computer.  

So, I called Gateway.  Naturally, I never bought an extended warranty or anything, so I was essentially SOL.  I gave the tech a frustrated sigh and said that I expected as much and told him what IT Guy had said about Gateway Customer Service.  Thankfully, this worked.  Dude was awesome.  He stayed on the phone with me for about three hours and got my computer straightened out.  Basically, I had gotten some sort of virus – even though I have virus protection.  

This is all a long way of saying that, on the recommendation of IT Guy, I have started using a new internet browser, called Mozilla Firefox.  So far, I like it.  It’s different from Internet Explorer, but it is Netscape-based, and I used to use Netscape instead of IE.  I generally distrust Microsoft.  Mozilla is supposedly better protected that IE.  Unfortunately, MSN.com and some of their features, like video clips and stuff, don’t work on Mozilla.  This has actually worked to my benefit and helped me break my addiction to msn gamezone.  I could play Zuma for hours.  Plus, hotmail works fine.  I do like hotmail.  I used to use a yahoo account, but I hate the way yahoo is constructed.  You have to click on your new messages notification like three times to actually get to your inbox.  I hate that.  And something about the layout just blows.

Anywho.  Yesterday, while at work, I got a message saying that I had been selected to use the Windows Live Mail Beta.  While I generally distrust Microsoft and would like to break my addiction to them, I can’t resist being “the first” to test a new something.  I’m sure they’re offering this to anyone, but I was left out of the gmail loop.  Leave me some glory.

Windows Live Mail is essentially Outlook online.  Which is ok.  I used Outlook at my old job and I used to use it at home when I used my internet provider’s email address.  It’s certainly more user-friendly than the “classic” hotmail.  However, it doesn’t work on Mozilla.  This blows because it means I have to choose between the two and, quite frankly, I like my computer to be up and running.  So, I am technically still beta-testing it, but I can’t use the Outlook view, only the “classic” which sort of defeats the purpose.

I don’t really have a point here.  Except maybe that, I dislike Microsoft for their world-domination combined with a lazy attitude towards security.  You can’t really avoid using their stuff.  I want free internet-based email.  I don’t want Google to store every email I ever send or receive, no matter how much they claim they won’t pass that information on to the government.  I hate Yahoo’s whole deal.  They’re too cluttered.  I’m sure there are other options out there, but this is all I know.  Maybe someday, when I finally make the switch to a Mac (this is will be shortly after I win the lottery and have lots of money to spend on replacing stuff that isn’t broken), I’ll have the time to invest in finding replacements for every windows-based application that I’m currently hooked on.  In the meantime, I’ll just have to deal.

The Digital Age and Hank

I have officially entered the digital age. My wonderful boyfriend bought me a digital camera for Christmas. This is a big deal for many reasons. A). I have never really used a digital camera. 2). Though I love taking pictures, I have a hard time keeping track of my camera. I lost it (my old Olympus, not the new one), found it again, lost it again and now I have the case, but no idea where the camera is. How is that even possible? D). I'm a klutz and I have a tendency to break anything that I really like and really don't want to break. Then I cry and beat myself up. It isn't pretty.

But I am determined to break these bad habits with my New Fancy Digital Camera. Mostly though, I've just taken pictures of my dog, Hank. I'm going to try and post some. We'll see what happens. Hank is a wonderful mutt. I found him at the Anti-Cruelty Society here in Chicago. My office is nearby and I used to wander over sometimes on my lunch break and look at the doggies. Then, one day, there was Hank. He was so cute and little - about 4 months old - that I had to have him. So, I called Boyfriend and told him to meet me there after work. Then, I raced over as soon as the end of the day came and I took Hank out to play so that no one else could take him home. Puppies don't last long at shelters. Every one wants a puppy. It's the poor dogs over a year old that sit there forever.

But I digress. Boyfriend finally shows up, and we play with Hank (who, at this point was not Hank - they were calling him "Flip" - but I had decided after lunch that his name was Hank. It is never a good idea to name a dog before you adopt him. It just makes it harder if you decide you can't have him). We played too long to adopt him that day, so we went home. We discuss the merits of dogs in apartments. How much exercise he'll need, what will happen to him during the day. What breed he might be. Boyfriend thought he might be an English Pointer - which need a ton of exercise and can become "destructive" if they don't get enough exercise. We decide Hank would not be happy here and we can't have him. But, now the dog-fever is in and we want one. We decide to go to some adoption events that weekend. The dogs we see suck. They're aggressive or abused or too big. Generally, they are not Hank. "Maybe we should check the Anti-Cruelty Society" I say. "Maybe they have some new dogs in. I'm sure Hank is gone." Hank is not gone. He is there. He wants to say hello. We play with him. We talk to the volunteers who tell us that any home - no matter how small - is better than a shelter. We adopt Hank. Yay! My first Dog! Now Hank is almost a year old. He is wonderful. At the moment, he is sleeping next to me, as he does most days when I am home and supposed to be writing a paper or doing research.

He isn't perfect though - he does need a lot of exercise. At the moment, I'm trying to find a good daycare place - he had a good place, but it isn't really convenient anymore. He needs to run around with other doggies and get tired. Unfortunately, most places charge an arm and a leg to let your dog play with other city dogs and I don't have an arm and a leg to spare. I need mine.

Wha' Happen?

A friend of mine has a blog and I wanted to comment on one of her postings. The next thing I knew, I was establishing my own blog. This is a bit odd. I thoroughly enjoy reading other blogs, and had thought a little bit about what I would say, if I had a blog, but I never really planned on having one. I mean, it seems a little odd - putting my thoughts, random musings out into the universe for anyone to stumble upon and read. So, here it is. We'll see what happens. Maybe I'll never update. Maybe I'll become compulsive about it. Either way, I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be doing this at work.