In Other News,
-SUCKS HORDE HOOVES We seem to be having issues again with Time Warner Cable, this is who we use for our Internet and cable. Seems that our bill has has gone up by $30 each month! We've been told over and over that our services should be bundled, (which we requested from Day 1) and that is what the problem is..."I will make the changes to your account so this won't happen again". That's what they say to apparently pacify us and get us the EFF off the phone. Every month we have to call in to complain about our bill and each month we are told that our services aren't bundled and they'll take care of it. We've paid the disputed amount each month thinking that the problem has been resolved and next month will be better....NOT! So Clay has to call in and rip the innocent customer service rep (Rashid) a new arse-hole...I hear him in there doing that right now. He's moved on to the supervisor (Rhonda), now. Clay is requesting for a refund for the $30 amount that was added to our bill because of their inability to push the correct keys to make the changes and then hit "enter". We even make auto-payments and it's hit and miss whether or not they initiate for their payments because when they call to collect their money, we point out that we don't get paper bills and that we have our account set up to auto pay. They review our account and see that to be true and we get a "Never-mind". Get this, we STILL have to pay the late fees for THEIR mistake. Well, apparently Clay was able to walk "Rhonda" through "How to review customer contact notes 101" and she was able to magically see the once invisible individual letters that formed words, when put into order formed sentences that turned out to be 10+ calls that Clay previously made. Wow! It's a miracle! "Rhonda" just said that they would make the necessary changes to our account to bundle our services and issue us a credit!! (wait...this is so weird! It's like Deja Vu....it's like we've heard all that before or something.)




In Literary News:

Christopher Paolini announces release of Brisingr the third installment of the Eragon / Inheritance Cycle.

I cannot put into words the excitement I feel about this. I have read both Eragon and Eldest twice each. I love all the characters, different lands and of course the Dragons! Christoper Paolini has totally captivated me with the first two books. Please don't judge the books off of that horrible movie adaptation of the books...Eragon! I can't believe what an awful movie that was! Read the books. Christopher Paolini takes the time to let you intimately get to know each and every character...you know them, you love them or you hate them because through his writing, Christopher Palolini shares those emotions with you.
On September 20, 2008....Brisingr will be mine!!! I have re-entered the land of Alagaesia and am currently reading both Eragon and Eldest again so that all details and characters are fresh on my mind so that I can continue the story flow with Brisingr! I'm thinking I will go to Amazon.com and PreOrder Brisingr right now! Of course, Mother's Day is this weekend and my Birthday is right around the corner, maybe I should hold off...ahem....just in case someone might possibly preorder Brisingr for their sweet, loving Mommy / Wife... (Hint-Hint)

So, Ironman opened this past Friday and it was.....AWESOME!!! Now, I love me some Robert Downey, Jr like, always, but he was phenomenal as Tony Stark! I thoroughly enjoyed the entire movie. I don't typically like Gwenyth Paltrow at all, in any instance...but eh...she was okay...at least she didn't take away from the movie-or maybe RD,Jr and everything else about the movie was so kick-arse, it didn't matter that there was a lame-0 like her taking up screen time. Definitely sit through all of the credits for a bit of total "Nerdvana"!
On the subject of "Nerdvana", I went to Lonestar Comics with Clay yesterday. He had spent the day at CAPE
celebrating his favorite day of the year...Free Comicbook Day! Anyhoo, there was a hardback book he didn't find at CAPE, (X-Factor Life and Death Matters Vol. II) so to Lonestar we headed. Typically, I walk around behind Clay as he "OOOO's and AHHHH's over the various toys and titles, enjoying his wonderful "boyish charm". Well, yesterday, as he perused the shelves looking for the elusive title, one of the staff of Lonestar gave me a double take and turned to face me and said..."Horde Rules". Then pointed to my shirt. I was wearing my World of Warcraft "Alliance" t-shirt. I laughed and was like, "Whatever, buddy....Alliance Forever"! Well, before I knew it, I was surrounded by 4 other staff members and the WoW-Nerdfest was ON! It was AWESOME! We were discussing/debating the intricacies of Arena play, 3v3 or 5v5, which is better...surviving in the Battlegrounds...Druids and Hunters being "Over-Powered"...Shared recommendations on useful class specific trinkets and gear...Again, I say, AWESOME! You must excuse me for a minute or two...I need a cold shower.

Been down with strep throat the last coupla days...missed two days of work while I waited for my fever to break...For those of you who don't know, I'm office manager for a dental office. I got back to my office on Wednesday to find post-its and other random notes strewn all over my desk all filled with "Loli-Do's". When I was an assistant and was out...my work wasn't waiting for me when I got back (Hello, patients!)...not so true now! It took me a day just to go through all of my Loli-Do's, all that between checking patients out, answering the phone and being the sweetest, nicest person on the damn planet! The doctor that I work with is nice and laid back (thankfully) This Loli has worked with some pretty bizarre doctors in my time. Most are very, very needy, all were anal-retentive in some aspect...ahhhh the stories I could tell....Ahem! But I digress. My current doctor is really nice with a great sense of humor. He prides himself on being laid-back. I almost, at times, think that he is too laid-back, to the point that I believe it borders if not oversteps the borders of professionalism.
Example 1: He came in late one morning and we had two patients in the chairs already, one hygiene, one operative. He walks in with a bag of donuts (just enough for him) proceeds to go into each of the rooms to greet the patients and explain his tardiness while chomping on the afore mentioned donuts. The explanation in my opinion was totally unnecessary due to the fact that we all knew that the stop he made to the donut shop for the donuts he was currently devouring, was the reason he was late.
He finds that acceptable...But what do I know? I've only made dentistry my career for a mere 25 years!
All that talk of doughnuts...I would kill for an apple fritter right now!

Toodles!