Birthday Cake

My birthday cake, a carrot cake and it was delicious. Big Daddy said the people at work almost tramped each other for the left overs. Do you do that, send food to the office so you don't eat it at home?

An old friend of mine made the cake and I am so glad I found her again.

The Comcast equipment arrived today and I am sure BD will spend the weekend trying to fix the TV sets scattered around the house.

BD ordered a crap duvet from Costco for 200 bucks and it was ugly and not soft and not staying. Nope, going back.

Need to try my recipes for Thanksgiving and possibly for gift baskets. Yea, yea, yea, I am no cook. I think I can do this with BD's help and everyone will think I am a genius.

Comcast is worse than ever

The horseradish is almost ready to be dug up. This stuff is great, no muss and no fuss and great food.

So Comcast is once again the nemesis from Hades and Big Daddy has a Customer Service Rep on the phone trying to help him fix the fact that we cannot turn on our TV when she breaks down and confesses, she has to wait for her husband to come home and fix the TV. WTF. Let me say that one more time. WTF. You are the person on the phone telling us how to fix the TV and you cannot fix your own shit?

Without your husband who does not work for Comcast?

Today BD spent some time on the phone with Comcast and they are sending all new boxes and remotes, these are the new ones that are not messed up. There is also a 39.00 installation fee even though BD is installing them. Thieving bastards.The reason the guy last week that came out here and worked his ass off did not do this . . .is because . . . the new superior equipment is not at the Comcast Service Centers, it is only available from the magic Comcast person that you will probably never get on the phone. This is why I drink lots of wine some days.

On a sober note, I Ubered a friend on Sunday morning and found something new in Macomb county. Round-a-bouts. I did not like them in England and I do not like them now. There is no rhyme nor reason for how they work. At least in England there were signs giving you a clue where the turn offs might take you.

The Uber thing is working out well for now, Monday I only took one ride, to the airport-nice guy going to Seattle. Turned the app off when I left him as it is not acceptable here to operate at DTW and when I was thinking to turn it back on I had to pee. Enough driving for that day.

The Italians were here today to do the masonry and I must go out and check. See ya later.

Comcast is worse than ever.

During the neighborhood walk.

Well, I have had the day from hell and so has Big Daddy.

Once again we are at war with Comcast. Our TV remote would not turn the TV on without numerous attempts and multiple pressing of various buttons;in no particular order. It finally got so bad that BD called Comcast, hereafter known as the asshats, and they of course told him to bring various items into the location and everything would be great. We cannot of course get the new box to work. BD is on the phone constantly with the asshats this afternoon and they keep telling him he is not a Comcast service guy and is doing a piss poor job of hooking up his cable. Comcast no longer has cable guys that come to your house. The trip from India is too far.

On the other hand, looks funny to see it spelled out right?, all I had to do was drive around a few folks. The first ride was not bad, just had a huge dog jump on my car and slobber all over it. The daughter I drove was great, the mother with the dog was an asshole.

Second ride was a lesson learner. Turn off the app by 2 PM when people want rides to pick up their kids.

So I am nearing this address and I start to notice that most of the windows are boarded up or broken out and we do not even want to discuss the landscaping. When I find the street I am literally looking for a street address and one with windows. I am taking this mother and child from the edge of hell right down into the bowels so we can pick up her niece. She does not know the address and of course this is not a real school. It is a school in the hood run by a church.

She gets the kid, gets me on the right course back because of course the google maps is out and she asks me a question. Do I believe in God.

Now I did not want to say to this woman, "Have you lost your ever lovin mind who do you think I have been discussing this trip to hell with while you are acting like this is all normal?" So then I get the Jesus lecture and now Jesus and I are all ok but even I know he would not approve of any of this situation. Then she tells her kid some shit that does not sound right and she is talking about the hitting stick and she has a stick and starts hitting the kids hand.

I get rid of them, escape the hood, my app shows I am offline, which I attribute to Jesus, I find my way home and the back ass of my car is filthy. These little ragamuffins were eating fucking crackers back there.

And BD is still stalking to Comcast.

When your stuff breaks

I have 3 broken things now. Yes, the Comcast is still broken and Big Daddy is laying in the sun in Mexico pretending to work while I am slugging it out here in the frozen Motor City. So that one is BD's baby and he will pay for every extra minute I am forced to endure the asshats.

My car is still broken, the auto start, but now I am thinking my Verizon phone is also on the fritz. When I called people on the Sync in the car it starting calling what I thought was random people. I am now thinking it called the last call made regardless of my voice instruction. I thought it was the Sync. Now I am thinking it is the phone as it happened again when I made the call from the phone.

Maybe this is a multi virus situation and I am just a growing infection of crap.

Tomorrow it is supposed colder than cold and 50 mile an hour wind gusts. They expect the electric to go out. I think this might be a snow day. I have new respect for Pearl and the Minnesota peeps who live in this weather year after year. I think it is because their brains are frozen and have never really thawed out.

Random Thoughts on a Thursday

I am angry with my supervisor, nothing to talk about just put me in a bad mood so I am looking over old notes to crack myself up.

This picture is from when the snow first started, see that odd little path . . . well Big Daddy was babbling about Mr. Slav and his snow removal efforts for the entire block. I thought BD said Mr. Slav got a new snow blower and was trying it out. Nope, he got a new snow SHOVEL and shoveled the entire sidewalk for the block plus a little extra for each house.

I climbed a volcano when I was in Portland, Mt. Tabor. It is dormant and people live on parts of it and it does not have a crater, but still a volcano in a major city is pretty cool. Nothing to see when I got up there as the weather was very overcast. Not being an outdoor gal I thought I did great, and I was the only person in a fur jacket going the route. I left new red Christmas handbag with Big Daddy and he almost got picked up with such a refined accessory, he of course could not remember where I purchased the bag. I would have had pictures but I left the phone in the bag.

This guy started to talking to me at the plant recently and I think he had to build up his courage. His English is not too good. He is Mr. Yugoslavia and he was sad he could not travel to his homeland for Christmas, not enough time. He said he needs 3 weeks for the trip. His old job he used to get 5 weeks vacation and now as a Tier 2 assembly plant worker he gets 1 week and must take it during any plant scheduled shutdown. I of course was very nice to him, I cannot stand people who are not kind to others, but I had to wonder what his old job was.

Well, the first thing to break during the start of the new year was my Oreck vacuum cleaner. It is over 25 years old and has been fixed many a time. This time the handle fell off and I thought for sure it was a goner, but nope-Banks Vacuum is fixing it one more time.

The second thing to break was of course my Comcast service. Now, I can't fault anyone with this frigid weather for a problem but wouldn't you know it, when it was restored my Internet failed again the next day, all the other service was good. So the lady on the phone sent a blip to our monitor and turned it back on and guess what? The phone kinda half ass works. We still get the br instead of the brrring, but now we get a br for every ring instead of just the one initial br. Still won't go to the answering machine though.

I have been checking and our next unscheduled vacation is the end of April and I am thinking Savannah, Georgia. Could be a good thing. I am reading up on the city and I got a tip from our bartender in Jacksonville--he is from Savannah--flying into Jacksonville can be a huge dollar difference and it is only a 2 hour drive. Many people stay at the hotel for early morning/late arrivals. It was a Crowne Plaza and fine as long as you don't eat there. Just don't do it. We turned the car in before we were aware of this. Flight crews stay there, I wonder where and how they eat.

The hatred continues; Comcast is Horrid

Now Comcast is calling asking us to hold for them to tell us why they are not shitheads.  Big Daddy is now in charge of Comcast, he went in person and if this new modem does not fix it they will send out the truck-maybe. I have heard this shit before.

Sephora just told me they lied, they cannot adjust my purchase to include my VIB status discount. They will add it to my account and God willing and the creek don't rise I will get a discount on my next mascara if I need one before I die. I am starting to get the not happy shopping mojo.

My (auto) plants are not happy and the Supervisor is still cranky. He does not seem to understand if I wanted to work nights and weekends I would be at Plant B. I am part time and working off-shift for straight time is not in the cards for me. My operator peeps are all happy with me right now, makes my life so easy.

However Production Control, the people who order parts to build the vehicles, they hate me. They were supposed to order new parts after they said all my parts were BAD. We were supposed to send information and a truck to pick up the parts. Nothing happened. Last night they had to use the "suspect" parts and there were no failures. And today a shipment showed up at our plant-out of the blue-with no paperwork. WTF, this is why I laugh about all the people saying how great it was the government saved the auto industry---but made them accountable. Yea right, and pigs fly.

But it was nice to see a woman selected to run GM, she can't be any worse than the previous asshats and she might be a damn sight better.

Well, I went to the store because I had to get a Christmas card for my one new Christmas card friend. Actually my only Christmas card friend. And as I did not trust Big Daddy I got 2 gallons of windshield juice, good to 20 below and a big snow brush and scraper combo. And I was right, we needed them.

Tomorrow, my Ebay extravaganza.

I am gonna blow, like a whale

Everyone has had this idea that putting "devices" on my television will make someone happy. Not me, as I cannot work any of the devices. Whatever, this shit does not work and is making my life miserable.

Here is my idea of television, I look for shit I want to watch and then I pick it and watch it. I use the tool that came with the Comcast service and touch the buttons that pick the stuff I want to watch.

Currently I now have 4 "tools" that belong to the main television. None of these "tools" will let me watch movies, including the Roku nightmare "tool". 


I have 2 other televisions that I cannot watch either.

I am thinking I will either have to have a one-night stand with a Comcast employee or a long term affair with someone that knows how all this technology works.

If no one shows up that looks like I could even stomach having coffee with, much less an affair, I am going to have to just rip everything out and look for a short term liaison at the local electronics store.

Meanwhile, we are all going to watch crap TV because that is what mama can find on the TV.

In other words, and make no mistake about this, if I find that I cannot turn the television on one more time, just one more time, the shit is going to hit the fan. And Big Daddy you might want to look up, cause that fan is over the bed you will be sleeping on.

Quality in Moderation

What a week. The parts I hand carried in Tuesday to band-aid the Plant Loco system issue worked great. So why did they not obsolete the old parts and ask for the new parts? Because they are disorganized and cheap. So what happens Friday when you get yet another audit call. Gregory the worm when confronted by a person higher on the food chain decides to order all new material. Problem is it is Friday and this is the lowest production run vehicle in the world. Well, there are no extra parts. And no extra people to make the parts. Why? Because your orders are so low and we don't have people sitting in the lunch room until we need them to make parts. And we are not Walmart. And I get lectured by the materials supervisor that I did not mark the parts as new level. Well they are not new level. We did a mean shift and when the Plant Loco engineers did nothing it came in as a normal shipment with mixed parts. Not my problem dude. Until I had to sort it out as they guys can't find their ass with both hands. So I am jumping hoops to help people who awarded the new vehicle to Korea. Who do you think is gonna jump your hoops next time? Just remember 5 or 6 weeks on the water and customs at Metro when you pay for air freight. Cost save my ass.

Back to my real life, passed inspection with the city on the hot water tank, leak fixed in the laundry room, window fixed on the back door. Only the dishwasher still remained a problem. Guy said he had to pull it out and take it to the shop. This is the guy that urged me to hire him for water tank. When I come back into the kitchen he is still working on the dishwasher. I ask about the pulling it out for the shop repair. He can't get it out. I tell him there have been no changes since it was put in. He does not believe me. WTF. Now he thinks it is a limit switch. He has to see if he can find one. Do not use the dishwasher as it is a hazard without the switch. And don't touch the door as it is held on with one screw. WTF? What happened to the other screws? And now I can open a cupboard drawer that I could only open before with the dishwasher open? So with only the dishwasher fucked up I thought I could have a quiet Sunday morning and just finish up a few odds and ends.

Sunday morning with the papers and the crossword from the NYT is my favorite time of the week. I keep hearing noises and convince myself there is no problem. My house is haunted but ghosts don't hurt people. It is probably thunder after all it is raining outside. Old houses creak and groan. It is normal. Just then there is a tremendous crash and I can no longer pretend all is normal. I think there is a gang outside my family room with a battering ram. As I look out the doorwall at this biggest limb of a tree I have ever seen on the ground I see a possum with something in his mouth running across my patio.

Call the handy man and try not to cry. The tree limb dented my gutters and popped a tumbled Ohio blue stone slab out of the ground. Thankfully it did not take down the wires or the roof. While the handyman was checking the roof he noticed the squirrels frolicking on the roof so he followed them to the little vent in the peak where they chewed through the wood slats and appeared to access the attic. Upon checking the attic thank goodness, and God, I have wire mesh between me and the nest the little fuckers built. So tomorrow he will clean the gutters I paid to have cleaned in November, cut up the tree limb, fix the attic thing if he can find the wood, and get me a price to have the damn tree cut down. Because guess what? Opossums live in trees and hang by their tails. And I do not want a possum in my family room while I am watching TV. Now that I have Comcast on speed dial. Sorry Big Daddy, that tree is a goner.

Monday Monday

Comcast got both of my television sets working last night. I watched TV in the family room for the first time since November. What a wonderful world.

Now I just have a broken window and a broken dishwasher. And a yard hold.

Yep, they put the yard on hold at Plant Loco for the little problem. However engineering is fixing everything on their own with double sided tape. Hmmm. Guess they think it is not me this time.

Big Daddy joined China Eastern's frequent flyer program so he can use the lounge. Wonder how that is and if they have sit down toilets or squat holes in the floor. One thing I did notice I never saw alcohol of any kind offered on a domestic flight in China. Maybe they are afraid of the crazy wine. Big Daddy checked on the price of the wine the guy gave me and it is 800 rmb. At 15.00 US to 100 rmb, 120.00 US dollars for weird wine that makes you go crazy. Think I will restart that 50's craze of putting colored water in the very pretty bottle and putting it in the window. But I ain't drinking that shit.

Now I remember why I hate Comcast

The entire day has been devoted to our Comcast experience. We had to give up our real and true proven service providers and go with Comcast as we are now broke and must get by until we move to tent city. However, we may never know we need to move as COMCAST does not provide what I would call complete service. They suck. Less than 6 hours and everything is fucked up. I knew it would happen.

I hate the Comcast mf//////

On a happier note, the cookie lady put down huge bark chips on the mud holes so now the chips will flow onto the sidewalk with the mud.

Detroit news, Visteon and Metaldyne both filed bankruptcy today. I hope this does not effect Big Daddy's maybe offer but it does validate everyone new on the Marvin program. Two Penny Jenny was on the news saying how hard she worked for Michigan and pumping up John Cherry. If Michigan does not get a normal, real, non-bullshit person to run for any office in this state I think maybe they should put the Gitmo people here-get more trash from Ontario-and shut down the Matty bridge for the gambling Canadians. Right now everything sucks.