Seventeen Days in the Desert.

Today is June 29, 2009. It is 8:50AM (Eastern Daylight Saving Time) and I'm beginning my 17th day without the Internet. I've been assured by the powers that be, that today will be the last day of my exile.

You can be sure that it has not been a self imposed exile. It's been brought about, I think, because of the decline of the United States as a top notch nation and the general incompetence of the American worker.

I've made some mention of the fact that Cathy and I recently purchased a house. The house was build in 2002; the first owner had an FHA loan and like so many, was in over her head. The house was valued way too high in 2002 and the woman had a mortgage she could not afford. The house went into foreclosure and was taken over by HUD.

Cathy and I bought the house from HUD at a very good price.

We had a little bit of remodeling to do before we could move in. Once I was certain of the date we'd be moving, I called Comcast (my cable TV and Internet provider) and told the woman to disconnect the service in the apartment on June 15 and start the service at the house on the same day. I was told the tech would arrive at the house between 8 and 11 AM.

He did not show.

What followed with Comcast was almost Kafkaesque.

The woman I spoke with on the phone said there had not been an appointment scheduled and my street address was not in their data base. She said that there would have to be a survey taken to see if service was even available where I live.

Completely pissed off by now, I went to the local Comcast office where I was met with more BS. The house is in an old neighborhood and no one in the office could explain why the house wasn't in the data base or why it shouldn't be in an area of service.

After more phone calls and a complete runaround, I was told that there was no question whatsoever that there was cable service available and the tech would come by on Thursday, June 18.

Much to my surprise, he arrived early that morning. He did not install the cable, however.
He said the house was too far from the nearest pole and cable could not be run directly to the house. He said he wouldn't be allowed to run in underground from the house next door and I would have to call Georgia Power and have a pole put up on my property.

According to an engineer at Georgia Power, Larry the cable guy didn't know what he was talking about. They did not put up poles as the cable guy said. The engineer also said the cable could be run underground over the Georgia Power easement.

Fed up with Comcast, I called ATT. They had a special package, where I could get landline phone (which I didn't need) DSL and satellite TV service (from Direct TV).

OK fine. The tech would be out on Friday, June 26.

The Direct TV guy arrived early that morning. Someone else would be handling the ATT portion, he told me. When no one from ATT arrived while the TV guy was there, I called ATT from my cellphone. There wouldn't be anyone coming by, the ATT rep said. Their work would be done remotely. The DSL modem was due to arrive by UPS that afternoon.

I went inside to check the landline phone and sure enough, it was working.

About an hour after the Direct TV guy left the door bell rang. I was sure it was the guy from UPS.
I was wrong. The guy at the door was from ATT and he said he was there to connect the phone.
That's already been done, I told him. Impossible, he said. He just turned it on. I told him about my conversation with ATT and that I had tried the phone.

Well then, he said; he just turned it off. He went back across the road and turned the service on again. Yes, he said, the DSL modem would arrive via UPS.

I'm sure you know what did not happen next.

When the modem hadn't arrived Friday night, I called ATT Saturday morning.
I was then told that the scheduled arrival for the modem was Monday (today). She even gave me a tracking number.

So, Monday morning has arrived and I sit here like Di Di waiting for Godot.

We'll see.

SpongeBob SquarePants ...... A Valuable Public Service

In an effort to keep my D'offus of the Big-Doofus blog on the cutting edge, I will scour the Internet every morning in search of any story that might be of some use to me.

Regrettably, finding stories critical of Obama in the main stream media is an exercise in futility. The President has mesmerized the -so called- journalists in the U.S. and for the most part, the stories written by them are simply swoon fests.

It is for that reason that I've taken up glancing over the Jerusalem Post on a regular basis. After all, the Israelis are none too happy mit der wunderkind.

It was while looking for such a story on Obama that I came across a story at the Jerusalem Post that caught my attention. It has absolutely nothing to do with the President.....which is why I'm using it on this blog and not on D'offus of the Big-Doofus.

According to the article, a woman from Tel Aviv, identified only as Anat, decided this past Monday to do something nice for her elderly mother. Seeing that her dear mother's mattress was in miserable condition, Anat surprised the old woman with a new one....having tossed out the old mattress, of course.

After the mattress had been taken away by garbage collectors, Anat learned that her mother had hidden away her life savings inside the mattress. Over one million dollars.

Yitzhak Borba, a garbage dump manager, told reporters that his staff was helping Anat sort through tons of trash.

The first thing to cross my mind, after having read this story, was that it is obvious that SpongeBob SquarePants is not a popular T.V. program in Tel Aviv; or, if it is, Anat isn't a fan. If she were a fan, she would have recalled that a similar situation happened to SpongeBob, Patrick and Squidward in an episode where the boys thought that Mr. Krabbs mattress was lumpy and in need of replacement. They threw out Mr.Krabbs life savings as well.
Had she watched this episode, Anat would have known better than to surprise someone with a new mattress.

It's unlikely that my life savings will ever reach the one million dollar mark. If it does, it's even more unlikely that I will attempt to squirrel it away in a mattress. Of course, you certainly never know. I guess, stranger things have happened.

I am certain of one thing, however. After having watched every episode of SpongeBob SquarePants more than a brazillion times, I know, when the time comes, my son JP will be sure to inspect my mattress before tossing it in the trash.

Update: The link to the story at the Jerusalem Post is not longer active, so I've linked to this.

Israelis sight Big-Foot.

Anyone following Obama in the news knows there is tension between the people of Israel and the Messiah. Followers of my D'offus of the Big-Doofus blog are aware, I'm sure, that I support Israel over Obama.

I have come across a story, however, where I think some in Israel may have become a wee bit extreme in their criticism of the President.

An article from CBS News [Some Israelis Insulted By Obama Picture] has this :

Israeli TV newscasters Tuesday night interpreted a photo taken Monday in the Oval Office of President Obama talking on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an "insult" to Israel.

The reason for the insult? We see Obama's big feet propped up on the desk while he was talking to Netanyahu.

There's always the possibility that CBS may be putting things out of proportion. This story could just be a way for CBS to paint Obama's enemies in Israel as kooks. I haven't seen anything about the uproar on The Jerusalem Post.

Do you Pray the Rosary?

Judging from the title of this video, I'm assuming it's been out for awhile. I guess I'm a bit late posting this today.
I only came across it this morning. I was feeling down and watching this video made me feel better. If it does the same for someone coming across this blog, then, so much the better.

Evan Thomas Finds God.

I came across this story via LarryD's blog [actsoftheapostasy - Oh For Goodness Sake!]

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas made the absolutely asinine statement that ".....in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God."

This is the sort of thing that can't be merely quoted, but must be seen and heard for oneself.

A Word from Joe.

As I've mentioned in an earlier post,[Vacation....What Vacation?] Cathy and I recently bought a new house and I've been much too busy lately to blog.
We're still trying to finish up the painting before we move in. Things are going slowly, but surely.

I wish that I had time to comment on Obama's recent speech in Cairo and his Muslim background becoming more apparent. As I can't do the subject justice right now, I'm recommending everyone take a look at a post by Joe of St. Theresa. [Zero to the Muslim emphasis and comments.]

The only negative thing I can say about Joe's post is his referring to Obama's voters as "cool-aid drinking minions who are blind to the obvious." As fans of D'offus of the Big-Doofus are aware.....and Joe is one.....the correct term is "Kool-aid drinking zombie minions".

Otherwise, Joe makes several valid points.

Another Google Page Rank Post.

As I've written before, [More on Google Page Rank] I don't really understand how Google goes about determining the page rank for any particular blog or website.

During most of the two and a half years this blog has been around, it has pretty much been ranked by Google as 3 for 10. It has just recently gone up to 4 for 10 and of course, I'm happy about that.

My D'offus of the Big-Doofus blog has been a consistent 3 since it's creation six months ago. Now, I see that it has dropped to below zero.

Could it be that the blog has come to someone's attention? Has it pissed off some Kool-aid drinking zombie minion employed at Google?

I don't know; I'm just asking.