Verizon rant...

So, I have had Verizon for a long long time, and have always been happy with them. Since September I have been having nothing but problems with them though. I travel a lot, and use my phone all the time. It is my work phone, so I need something that is going to work wherever I go and won't always drop calls and what not. In September of last year I got a Blackberry Pearl. I love Blackberry's! It's nice to get office emails to your phone for immediate checkage, and to be able to sync the phone to your computer to have all your contacts on both your phone and computer. However, since I have gotten a blackberry, my service has been annoying the heck out of me.

A lot of the time when I make a call the phone will ring 1, 2, maybe 3 times and then the call will end and the phone will go back to the home screen. Also, when people call me it will ring on their end, but never ring on my phone. They will go to voice mail then I will get it anywhere from 5 minutes to 3 hours later. Sometimes it will ring on my side and I'll leave a message and the person never gets it... I don't know how that happens, but it is annoying. There is only so much I will put up with. I have been dealing with it since September, and I'm at the end of my rope. There are borrowers that are getting frustrated that I never answer my phone and it's not that I don't answer it, it's that it doesn't ring.

I've been working with Verizon about the issue since it started happening. Nothing has worked that Verizon has tried. Every time I call in I have to re-explain to some person the problems that have happened, then they transfer me 2-3 more times having me explain it to each person I get sent to. I have had close to 10 blackberries and all have had the same problem. Finally, they opened a "trouble ticket" and are monitoring my phone calls to see when and if it will happen again.

At this point I'm ready to go back to a normal phone if it will fix the problem. I love getting my email right away, but I can also remotely log into my office from anywhere I have a Internet connection. So, I might be going back to a normal phone again.

Don't get me wrong, I still love Verizon's service and everyone I talk to tries to help, I just get frustrated with the problem not getting fixed. I would totally recommend Verizon to anyone that asks my opinion too. It's just a fluke thing with my account I think. My dad, brother in law, and sister have blackberries through Verizon and don't have the problem. I really think it is just the way my account is set up. And short of completely deleting me out of the system and re-signing up to Verizon, I think I'm going to have these problems with any blackberry or smart phone I get. I don't want them to totally cancel my service and reinstate it, so I'm going to just go back to a normal phone if they can't fix the problem soon.

Anyways, that is my rant. I still think that Verizon has the best service area and Customer Service in the industry. I am just the lucky guy that gets to have problems. I always find the kinks with phones and now with freak things in the network. Oh, well.

I can feel the wind in my hair already... almost

Well, I have decided to finally start the process of working towards my Pilot's license. I bought the manuals and have started slowly reading through them. I am going up soon with a friend to see if it is something I really want to be addicted to. I'm sure it is, but it's an excuse to go flying, so I'm all up for it.

My plan is to study through the summer so I can take the written test by the end of the summer. That way, the weather isn't that hot while I'm doing my hours of flying... seeing as alot of the planes don't have A/C. I can't wait to get up there and see things from a totally new perspective!

I am a sucker for anything that I can go fast in, and for adrenaline rushes. That is why I race cars, I love the feeling of progression and accomplishment. When I race cars I can feel the progression of my driving skills and I feel good that I am constantly improving my quality of driving. With flying, I will be able to do the same thing, but on a whole other level.

Hopefully I can stick to the plan and have the license soon! :-)

The watch fettish continues...

As the months pass, I realize that I truly have a problem... I need to check into a WBA meeting (Watch Buyers Annonymous). Seriously, I in the last month have bought 3 new watches. Now, to my credit... 2 of them were "cheaper" watches than I normally buy.

I bought two Vans watches and another Nixon watch. I think that brings me to 6-8 Nixon watches, 4-5 Fossil watches, 1 Swatch watch, and 2 Vans watches... I'm sure I'm missing some in there...

It has gotten so bad that I have had to buy my own watch working tools... I hate taking watches to a store to have sized, so now I have 4 different kinds of link removers and I'm starting to look at case removers (to replace batteries). It's gotten to a all new level, and I'm not sure I'm ready to have it there. I need to scale back on the watch purchases... but I already have at least 2 more watches that are on the next to be bought list. One is a Nixon and the other is a Michelle (nicer brand) watch.

It has gotten to the point that the watches have their own drawer in my dresser. And I know that Travis is right there behind me in the watch obsession. Well, the new purchases are the following:

I'm a 3 car man again!

Well, as sad as it is to say (or be ecstatic over)I am once again a man who owns 3 cars... That is down from a one time high of 6 vehicles in my stable. I have sold the Evo. It was hard to see it go, but it is nice to have that much less expense every month.

It's funny, sometimes when you own a car that you have had to scrimp and save to get... you go to sell it and the kids that surface to purchase the car don't seem to 1) Be old enough to drive 2) have a real sense of the car they are buying 3) Know their butt from a hole in the ground.

The kid who bought the Evo was 18 but looked like 14 years old. He apparently Valet parks cars for a hotel (which is a whole different hatred of mine as it is, but that's a rant for another day). He was purchasing his first car, (a 300hp car is not what I would call an optimal car for a first car) and had Grandpa co-sign the loan for him without seeing the car in person.

This is how stupid the kid was when buying the car... he never once asked me to test drive it or to get a ride in it. That is kind of a crucial part in purchasing a car in my opinion. What if there is something wrong with the transmission or suspension, or drive shaft, ect. It's important to at least get a ride in the car if nothing else.

If you have ever seen the movie or the preview for the movie Drillbit Taylor, you have seen the kid... he would be the fat curly haired kid in the movie. Looks almost identical to that putz. Here is a picture for reference.



Yes, he would be the fat kid with the curly hair... the one that get's caught sleeping naked.

Now imagine that kid driving this car:



Well, Farewell my fast friend (speaking to the car) your peppiness will be missed.