Nuclear Ned Rants Pt. 2

The Incident with the Prick

So who else has had allergy testing done? They tested me for allergic reactions to two types of stinging insects (which I will from now on refer to as “bees”). Basically they started out giving me control shots in both arms. Then they started the tests. They started with a scratch test - they put a little venom on my skin, then using a pointy plastic thing they scratched my skin through the venom.

I waited 20 minutes. There was no reaction.

Then they put a low dose of venom in a syringe and injected it. 20 minutes later there was still no reaction. The whole process was repeated several times, with the venom potency increased each time. <sarcasm> Luckily for me, </sarcasm> I wasn’t very allergic to either bee, so I got the maximum number of shots - about 6 or 7 in each arm, plus multple scratch tests. The whole ordeal lasted over 3 hours. I finally reacted to the maximum potency of both types of venom.

Now I have to get allergy shots every month for 5 years …but the doctor said that when the treatment is complete, there is a 97% chance I’m cured

So what do I have to look forward to? Has anyone else taken allergy shots for a long period of time?

EDIT: Questions about my allergies? See this thread.

My Steak is Hamburger

Am I the only one, or is there anyone else out there who is tired of eating-establishments-that-barely-satisfy-the-minimum-requirements-to-be-called-restaurants calling ground & rotting horse meat “steak?” FYI - you can’t get steak at Taco Hell. In my book, steak doesn’t come in a burrito, it isn’t breaded and fried, and it isn’t ground meat of any kind. The companies that advertise for crappy “restaurants” know the power of the word “steak” - it evokes pleasant memories of summer cookouts over hot coals, a sizzling slab of beef just begging to be eaten, and grease and herbs dripping into the flames, creating smoky clouds of fragrant man-bliss. What they actually deliver often is little better than canned dog food.

Maybe I’m just a steak snob.

The Loaded Question: E-Mail Edition

I have a coworker (a contractor) who has been told by the dept head to do something she thinks is going to cause her a lot of unnecessary work. I’ve been brought in as a mediator and given a specific task to accomplish in regards to this, so we’ve been discussing the situation via email. She just sent this to me:

It appears to be a culture issue where blind obedience outweighs good corporate stewardship???

In your opinion, is this a company stand or a department stand?

There’s no chance I’m answering that.

 Little Green Men From Outerspace (Won’t Deliver My Dish)

*Two weeks ago I called up Dish Network and signed up for the basic package and the HD package.
*Last Wednesday the installer showed up and totally screwed up the installation. I’m not getting my HD channels. Apparently he didn’t even check to see if his installation worked. The setup diagnostics screen clearly shows at a glance that something isn’t correct - it isn’t picking up any signal at all from the HD satellite(s).
*Last Wednesday night, I called and complained. They set up an appointment for today to get it fixed.
*An hour before the scheduled appointment today, they called and cancelled. They won’t fix it until next Tuesday, three weeks after the initial call.

I’m going to call and raise heck about it tonight.

***UPDATE:
Below is the text of an online chat I just had with their support group. Talk about not offering to help the customer….

Please wait while we find a Sales Representative to assist you…
If your wait time exeeds your expections, please try again later or contact us at 1-888-347-4881.
You have been connected to (01)Jelyn B.
(01)Jelyn B: Welcome to the online sales department of Dish Network. How may I assist you with your buying experience?
Dean: On approximately 9/5/2007 I signed up for a new account with DN. I signed up for the America’s 100 package and the HD package. On 9/12 an installer set up the system. He did it incorrectly, and I am not receiving most of the HD channels. I placed a call with customer service that night. They scheduled a tech appointment for today. Around noon, they called and cancelled, saying that they couldn’t fix our problem until Tuesday 9/25.
(01)Jelyn B: I apologize for the inconvenience.
Dean: That means that we won’t be receiving the HD channels until 3 weeks from the date we set up the account. That is completely unacceptable.
(01)Jelyn B: I get your point and I apologize for the inconvenience.
Dean: Can anything be done to expedite the appointment?
(01)Jelyn B: You may call 1-800-333-3474 if you need to reschedule.
Dean: Ok. Thanks.

***UPDATE 2:
Since the service was originally set up through Embarq, I chatted online with their customer service rep (who, by the way, was way friendlier than the Dish rep). The final answer was that since the appointment was made through Dish, I would have to go through them to get some satisfaction.

On TheTony’s recommendation, I sent this email to a Dish email address he gave me. Now we’ll just wait and see:

To whom it may concern:

On approximately 9/5/2007 I signed up for Dish Network service through Embarq. I signed up for America’s Top 100 and the HD package. An appointment was scheduled for installation on 9/12.

On 9/12, an installer set up the system at my house. Something in the installation was incorrect because I am not getting most of the HD channels. I called Dish tech support that night. With the tech’s help, we were able to determine that my installation was not receiving a signal from the HD satellite(s). An appointment was set up to have a tech come to my house today and fix the problem.

Today around noon, someone at Dish called and cancelled the appointment. They said the earliest they would be able to fix my problem would be 9/25.

I contacted Dish via their online tech support chat. I received no offers of help from the tech for rescheduling to an earlier date. She told me to call the 1-800 tech support number. I thought I was chatting with tech support - why would I need to call someone else?

Then I contacted Embarq’s tech support through their online tech support chat. They stated that they were unable to change the appointment since it was set up through Dish Network. Once again I was given Dish Network’s 1-800 tech support number.

So I am to understand that I can’t get my HD channels until 9/25. Considering that my initial call to set up the service was placed on 9/5, this would be a three week turnaround, assuming that the installition is completed correctly on 9/25. Three weeks is completely unacceptable.

I hope you can do something to help. At this point I am seriously considering cancelling the service and signing up with your competitor.

NuclearNed

UPDATE 3:
In case you didn’t see the post below, part of the reason I’m angry is that the reason we went with Dish Network is because the previous owner of our house already had an entire Dish Network HD system installed. All the installer had to do was deliver and plug in a new receiver. Instead, he completely uninstalled the system, then replaced all the components. I’m all for getting new stuff, but at a quick glance it appears that the new equipment is exactly the same as the old equipment, except that the new installation doesn’t work.

The local installation company called last night but didn’t leave a message. They called again this morning and said they could come out this Saturday. They said they were responding to the email that I sent to the email addy that TheTony gave me - it had been forwarded to them from Dish Network HQ. I’m still not super happy about it, but if they can get things working Saturday then I’ll consider it water under the bridge. Still, it shouldn’t take 2.5 weeks to get satellite tv unless you live in Antarctica.

UPDATE 4 (9/23/2007):
I’m still without HD channels. This is the email I sent this morning to the email address TheTony supplied to me:

To Whom It May Concern:

Here is a recap of the ongoing problem I am having with Dish Network:

-On approximately 9/5/2007 I signed up for service with Dish Network. I ordered America’s Top 100 as well as the HD package.

-On 9/12/2007 an installer set up the DN system at my house. When I got home from work I realized that I wasn’t receiving most of the HD channels I should have been receiving. That night I called DN tech support. Within a few minutes the tech support person had determined that something was wrong with my installation. A new appointment was set up for the installer to come back out to my house on 9/19/2007.

-On 9/19/2007 around noon, someone from the installation company called and cancelled the appointment. They said the earliest they would be able to fix the problem would be 9/25/2007. Since I called to start my service on 9/5, this would mean that it was going to take a 3 week turnaround to get my service working, assuming that the installer would be able to correctly configure the dish on 9/25. That is a completely unacceptable amount of time to wait for satellite TV service.

-On 9/19/2007 I contacted DN customer service to complain about the lengthy delay. The customer service rep did not offer to help me. She referred me to another customer service number. I don’t understand why I would need to contact DN customer service when I already had DN customer service online.

-On 9/19/2007, since the DN customer service provided no help, I contacted Embarq customer service. They referred me back to DN customer service.

-On 9/19/2007, I wrote my first letter of complaint to this email address. I received no response, but later that night I got a phone call from the local installer; I assume this was a result of the email. They promised they would be at my house Saturday 9/22 between 12 and 5.

-On Saturday 9/22/2007, I scheduled my entire day so that I would be home between 12 and 5. The installer never showed up. I didn’t receive any communications from the installer. It is considered a general courtesy to inform the customer that you won’t be able to keep an appointment.

-On Sunday 9/23/2007, I wrote this email to make another complaint. My expectations are low.

At this point, I don’t know if or when an installer is coming to my house to fix my problem. It has been over 2 1/2 weeks since I called to set up service, and I’m still not getting the HD channels. I am an extremely unhappy customer. To help me keep the facts straight, I’m keeping a log at this website: http://forums.anandtech.com/me…id=38&threadid=2097995. This is one of the largest technical sites in the world; maybe someone there can suggest what I need to do to get some help from Dish Network.

Your very dissatisfied customer,
Dean Poling

UPDATE 5 (9.23.2007):
The email I got today. We’ll see if it gets any results. I sent back the info she requested:

Dean,

Thank you for bringing your concern to us. We would like to try and
assist you with your concern, but we were wondering if you could either
provide us with your 16-digit DISH Network account number or your home
phone number so we can pull up your account to provide you with the
appropriate resolution.

Thank you,
Jennifer Schuyler
Executive Communications
EchoStar Satellite L.L.C dba DISH Network

UPDATE 6 (9.25.2007):
A couple of guys showed up unannounced this morning while my wife was home. Sure enough, I needed a 2nd dish installed for the HD channels. I’m baffled about why the 1st installer didn’t install it. But anyway, I’m getting all my HD channels, so a big thanks goes out to Jennifer Schuyler at DISH Network Executive Communications. Also, thanks to all the people who read this thread and offered advice. Hopefully this is the end of the story.

Status Bar

Most programmers don’t have a freaking clue what a status bar is about. I’m installing software today, and the installation wizard has a status bar. Why is it that every time the status bar hits 100%, there is still 20 minutes of processing left???

Advance Notice? Nah!

I just got a phone call from my wife. I may have reason to be concerned about a local real estate agent. It seems that they don’t feel like the rules apply to them. Pity. After this afternoon, I’m quite sure they are having to take sedatives to calm their nerves, and quite frankly they deserve whatever they got at my house.

Let me rewind this story to a little over a week ago. My wife and I found a house in the country that we just had to have, so we bought it and put our house up for sale. We really need to sell our old house quickly and get the equity from it for the new house, so we specified to our real estate agent that we were going to be as flexible as possible to accommodate agents showing the house. The only stipulation we had was that someone needed to call us at least thirty minutes in advance. Our reasoning for this was that we wanted a few minutes advance warning to hide the skeletons, quit having barnyard sex, and to tidy up the house a little. Our agent agreed and was totally fine with that.

Apparently someone at her office didn’t get the memo.

Someone over there decided that the rules didn’t apply to them. Everybody knows someone like that - a person who thinks they can do whatever they want with no consequences whatever. This agent scheduled a showing today at 2pm, and they decided that the burden of calling one of us was just below their stature in life. Unfortunately, neither my wife or I are at home this afternoon.

The agent and their clients arrived at my house, put the key in the lock, and flung open the door. I can only imagine what happened next as they were confronted with 85 pounds of claws, teeth, and demonic fury.

Coda was home, and strongly disapproved of her nap being disturbed.

I would confidently say that we’ll get an advance call the next time…

Collect Calls

Last month while I was on my Mt. Rainier vacation, cell phone service was non-existant due to the mountains, remote locale, etc. The place where I was staying had a pay phone, and I was without my calling card, so I called my wife collect 3 times. The longest of the calls was 10 minutes.

That call alone cost over 30 bucks. Yes, 30 (thirty) bucks. For you mathematically impaired folks, that breaks down to more than $3 a minute. The three calls totaled more than 80 bucks.

I think I’m feeling faint.

A Little Bit of Vegas (In the Air Above Vegas)

I went to Vegas this weekend via Allegiant Air because the tickets were too cheap to resist. I had never flown Allegiant Air before, but now I may never again.

We flew out of Knoxville, TN. I’ve been on a lot of flights to Vegas through the years, so I expect people to start the party a little early and continue it on the flight. I wasn’t surprised to find that to be the case this time, and I’m ok with that. There was a huge group of people who seemed to be travelling together. I’m just guessing, but I think this group had 30-40 people in it. Also, there were several smaller groups. The one thing they had in common was that they were all well inebriated when they stepped on the plane.

Simply put, the flight crew let things get way out of hand. Even though there were people who were obviously drunk on board, the crew kept serving drinks. At any given time, there were 20-30 people out of their seats and in the aisles. All the drunks were loud, obnoxious and out of control. The captain came over the intercom more than once asking people to settle down and return to their seats, but it didn’t happen. The plane literally ran out of alcohol - I’ve never seen that happen before. Even when the plane was landing, people were out of their seats and the flight crew was bitching at them over the intercom. At least one person was so drunk that they were passed out when everybody else was deplaning. The stewardess said that if she didn’t snap out of it soon, they would have to call the paramedics.

I’m pretty ticked off about the whole thing. I think it was a dangerous situation that the flight crew should have controlled better. Am I wrong?

My Eyes! (It’s not..fair!)

I’m a computer guy, specifically I’ve been a programmer for 11 years. Most of my family wear glasses, so it wasn’t a real surprise when I had to start wearing them in middle school.

I haven’t done any computer work for slightly over a year now (its a complicated story with no real relevance to this thread). Other than gaming and internet use, I don’t even touch computers anymore.

I went to the optometrist Tuesday, complaining about how my vision has been so bad for the past few months. He ran lots of tests, and finally came to a conclusion: my vision has gotten better. My eyesight has improved to the point that my glasses are now too strong for them. I’m going to have to get a weaker prescription. The doctor had a talk with me about how there is a theory that environment can cause myopia, and that I seemed to be proving the theory.

I always assumed that staring at a monitor was bad for my eyes - now I have the confirmation. Sadly, in a month or so I’ll be a computer guy again, so the raping of my eyesight can resume.

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