The silent killer …

January 12th, 2007

I had the dreaded doctor visit today.  I had to go on a hunt for a new doctor because my last one sucked and I can’t really go the one I had in college, and I can’t really go to my doctor in FC, so today I met my new (and soon to be old) doctor.  He is perhaps a relative of the infamous Bruce Lee, I am not really sure, but they share the same name and look rather similar, and he scared me. He asked me about 2999 questions and typed the answers into the computer.  He never actually touched me, although I stated I was there for a check-up.  He put his scope on me and listened to my heart, and that is all.  Seriously, he did nothing else.  I had some issues and needed some antibiotics for an infection, and wanted my blood pressure checked because I had a feeling it was high since every time I go to a doctor I hear ‘hmmm your blood pressure is a little high, but maybe you are just nervous or stressed’.  My doctor today referred to it as the ‘white coat syndrome’ but I said I didn’t feel that was the case. It is quite high actually, like in the keel over and have some type of organ failure range, so I think I might die soon if someone doesn’t give me a serious solution.  I also asked for a prescription to help my cold-sores and he stated that it wasn’t his specialty but he would refer me to a dermatologist.  Since when do I have to go to a dermatologist to get a prescripton for some cream?  I’m irritated. 

 I’ve been instructed to go to a ‘hypertension class’ so I can learn about how to eat healthy and lower my blood-pressure.  I am to return in three weeks, provided I do not have a stroke before then.  I admit I don’t always eat super healthy, but I don’t eat fast-food and I might not be a supermodel but I’m not a lard-ass either.  My mom has been on high blood-pressure medication since her twenties and my grandfather takes it too.  Both of them are skinny, so I am not sure dieting is going to help.  My doctor said I should buy a blood-pressure monitor at the store.  They are like $80, um no.  I have decided I will begin a lettuce only salt-free diet and go to CVS every day and use their free blood pressure monitor.  Ughh.

In other news, I’m possibly adopting a cat.  I want to adopt her from the Animal Rescue League although the kitty is currently out at the Bethel Park PETCO.  PETCO told me I need to contact the Animal Rescue League about adoption policies and I need proof that I am allowed to have cats here, so I called my landlord yesterday and left her a nice little message asking if she could write a little letter that says I can have a cat, however it has been 24 hours since I have left the message and there has been no response from her.  This is unacceptable, so I have forged something.  Can I go to jail for that?  Yeah, that would suck.  

That’s all the ranting I have in me today.  Bye 😉 

 

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Miserable Rain …..

January 7th, 2007

It has been such a miserable Sunday … I hate it when it rains.  The rain makes me feel extremely lethargic.  My weekend was relaxing though.  On Friday I really didn’t do much – I cleaned a bit and listened to music.  On Saturday I cleaned some more because that’s what I do.  Bryan and I had plans to go to dinner at Don Pablos but when we got there at 6:30pm the wait was an hour and forty-five minutes!  I had this grand idea that if we came back around 7:30 there would not be a wait.  So we went to Target and Best Buy, and actually didn’t make it back to Don Pablos until 8:00pm.  I figured there couldn’t possibly be a long wait at 8:00pm but I was very wrong.  The wait was still 45 minutes!  And by 8:00pm we were both starving and decided waiting another 45 minutes to get seated was not ok!  So we decided to go to Mad Mex – the nice one in Robinson, and we both enjoyed our tacos and fajitas.  Mmmm, I decided I do like Mad Mex – as long as it is not the one in Oakland.  After dinner, we came home and watched “Click” which Bryan purchased at Best Buy.  I really liked the movie – Adam Sandler is awesome.  Bryan left around 12:30 today and was driving out to Philadelphia for the week for work training.  I am going to miss him ;-(.  I talked to him a little while ago and he made it out there fine but doesn’t even have free wireless in his room so I can’t even talk to him online …. sad sad sad, it is going to be a super long week. 

Bryan has given me a job this week – which is to decide what we are doing on Saturday because I said I wanted to do something special.  I have no idea what that means, but now I have to come up with something special to do.  Haha.  My other job is to decide where we are going on vacation to this summer and what dates we are going.  We do have an agreement that we are going to the beach for a week – however I do not know what beach or what month we should do this.  We are going to go to Gettysburg the first week of July for the reeinactments, so I am thinking about having our beach vacation be in early August.  If anyone has any suggestions for a relatively quiet relaxing and sunny place to go, please let me know.  I’ve been to St. Pete the past two summers and although it is extremely relaxing and beautiful there, I would like to go somewhere different.

And finally – I spent the day uploading mass quantities of pictures from the last few months.  There are now 9, yes 9 new albums in my pictures section.  I got a bit tired towards the end so I didn’t put up captions for any of the Christmas pictures, but I will get around to it.  Bryan also has some pictures of us up on his site although I usually steal most of his pictures and put them on here.  He also wrote a year in review which highlights a lot of the things I mentioned.  I think perhaps we just need to start a joint blog/picture album online!

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My mom is entertaining

January 7th, 2007

I'm going through a ton of pictures from the last few months because I'm adding pictures to the pictures section, finally ... I came across this video I took of my mom when I was home for Thanksgiving.  She didn't actually know I was recording her and she'd be pretty mad if I showed this to anyone, so since I LOVE my mom, enjoy! 

P.S. – She was imitating her mother in this video …. we are such a loving family.



 

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1and1 sucks – Part 1

January 5th, 2007

Dear Internet Users – Do not ever sign up for hosting with 1and1 ….. following will be a copy of my email to their complaint department, as I have spent a good chunk of time this week talking to non-English speaking incompetent customer reps.  I am angry now.  I also googled the hosting company and found some other very interesting rants.  The links are at the bottom of this post.  Now I must go back up everything on coffeebration as I feel there is a good chance that my threats and bashing of my host may cause my account to be suspended.

 

To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Jessica ***** and I have been a paying customer with 1&1 for nearly a year with the MS Home Package.  I signed up for the Professional Preview Package in 2003 and have been using that package to host my website.  My desire has been to transfer two domains: ***** and coffeebration.com over to the Home Package because I do not have a need for two packages.  I was told that this would take 24 hours to complete.  I initiated the transfer of xxxxx.com on December 30th and received a confirmation email:
 

From: 1&1 Internet Team [mailto: [email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2006 7:41 PM
To: Jess *****
Subject: Domain transfer request
 

Customer ID: xxxxxx
Dear Jess *****,
Your domain xxxxx.net
is being transferred to the requested package xxxxxx..
Please allow up to 24 hours for all changes to take effect. You will not be able to modify any domain settings during this time.
Once the transfer is complete, you can upload your backup files and recreate subdomains and e-mail addresses in the package that you are transferring to.
Sincerely,
Your 1&1 Internet Team

 

The email clearly states to allow UP to 24 hours and you can see it was received on Saturday, December 30.  Today is Friday, January 5th.  Tomorrow will be one week and this transfer has not been completed yet.
I have called your customer service 3 times now and each experience has been very unsatisfactory. 

The first call was made on Tuesday, January 2nd.  I explained the situation and the rep told me that I needed to wait up to 48 hours, not 24.  I responded that it had been nearly 72 hours since Saturday at 7:41 pm when I received the confirmation email.  He argued that it had not yet been 48 hours and insisted that it was January 1.  I am not sure what schedule he is on but I felt very frustrated.

The second call was made on Wednesday, January 3rd.  The rep said I needed to authorize the transfer with my previous host.  I said that 1and1 is my previous host and for several minutes it seemed he was confused and seemed unable to understand that I was transferring from one contract to another.  I was placed on hold for several minutes and was told by the rep that the case was being escalated.  I gave the rep an email address so that an admin could contact me and update me on the status.  He told me I would receive an email shortly with an approximate time frame in which this issue would be resolved.  It is now Friday evening and I have not yet received anything from your team.

I did not call on Thursday because I had hoped that two calls would get this resolved, however Friday rolled around and still nothing.  The domain is still ‘applying’ and I have not received that email yet.  So, I called today for the last time.  This was the absolute worst conversation I have ever had.  I explained the situation again, what steps I have already taken, and kindly asked if I could speak to someone who could give me a reason, explain why it has been over five days, or at least let me know when I can access this domain.  Again I was placed on hold for several minutes.  The rep came back and said that the case was being elevated and send to ‘admin’ so they could resolve the matter.  The rep said that the domain was now in my HOME package but the “thing” still had to process and transfer over.  I asked “what thing” and I felt that the response was not even in English.  This rep said “um” and “thing” so many times that I felt that continuing the conversation was pointless.  I asked if I could give him my email address so someone could update me and he said “thank you ma’am, goodbye”.  I am not sure your reps understand the language I am speaking.  I am very frustrated.
I am a paying customer and I cannot seem to get in contact with anyone who is competent to resolve this matter.  All I want is a reason, the steps that will be taken, and someone to please follow-up with me.  Instead all I am told is that my “thing” is being sent to an admin and that I must continue to wait for an unspecified amount of time. 

I have read some very BAD reviews of 1and1 – and that some people have recorded customer service conversations and put them online.  I am not surprised.  Before I read those articles I was actually thinking to myself that I really wish I would have recorded those conversations because a lot of people would be stunned that customer service could actually be that bad.  To have reps argue what day of the year it is, to have them say ‘thing’ over and over again and clearly have no clue what they are talking about.  I think I will be looking into another hosting company as soon as I can back up everything I have.  And if I do not get a reply and this is not resolved before the end of the weekend I might get really bored and have to find a project with my tape recorder.
 

Regards,
Jessica *****

Thank You for reading my rant. 
Others who hate 1and1:
1and1 Internet is the Devil
Dramatic Action was Required
And there are plenty more, but my head hurts now. 

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Why?

January 3rd, 2007

Pray for my sweetheart kitty – Nine.  He has been in the hospital since New Years Day.  He became very ill on New Years Eve with a recurring condition that he has, which is fatal if not treated quickly.  Unfortunately on New Years Eve, there was nowhere to take him.  He suffered through the night and my dad feared he would die before he could get him to a hospital.  He made it to the emergency vet in Sarver on New Years Day and he is alive but will not eat.  My heart is breaking for him, because he is the sweetest cat that ever lived.  Need proof?  His newest hobby is cuddling with my mom when she sleeps.  Nine is about nine years old and has many lives left to live, so we are praying he is going to make it home ok.  My parents are beginning to feel that they can no longer take care of him – financially, and because of his special diet which is rather impossible to enforce because we have two other perfectly healthy cats.  My dad asked me to take him, but I don’t feel he would be happy here because he can’t go outside.  He technically could go outside because there are a couple cats that just chill outside all the time, but he’d probably get into fights with them.  I don’t know though, Boo really does need a friend.

 

 

 

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Christmas, Etc.

December 31st, 2006

I haven’t written in a month – I am sorry.  Here is a recap of Christmas …. I love Christmas and I am sad it is over, but I think there is a lot to look forward to in 2007.  So I spent Christmas with my family in Ford City.  On Christmas Eve I went to my aunt’s house and spent time with all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  It is weird because my cousins are all having kids now – there are a lot of kids.  They keep asking me when I am going to settle down and have some kids.  My cousin told me I should get married in three years so my other cousin’s new daughter can be my flower girl since she will be three….. hmmm.  I spent Christmas Day at my grandparents house which is a lot more relaxed than my dad’s side of the family.  I gave and received a lot of cool gifts, which I cannot recap.  I received a cordless drill and tools from my parents and I am very pumped because it is what I asked for and now I can repair and create things, yay!
I also spent time with Bryan – actually he just spent three days with me and we had a great time relaxing with each other.  We were going to go to Virginia for a couple days but decided against it because we kind of just wanted to kick back and relax.  He got me some AWESOME gifts and I think I got him nice gifts too.  I received a really pretty sweater, shirt, and scarf, a picture frame with a picture of us in it, an ornament for my tree, season 1 of ‘Dead Like Me’, my FAVORITE ever perfume ‘Ralph’, mace (to protect me from bad guys), and a beautiful ring (and no, not an engagement ring).  It is so beautiful.  It is white gold with a pink gold heart on it and a diamond in the middle.  I heart it so much.  I bought him two DVDs, a magnet with a stamp of Stonewall Jackson and his favorite quote printed on it, an old Gettysburg stamp made into a paperweight, two dress shirts, a collectors wall plaque / clock of a battle in Gettysburg, and an array of candy and other cool stocking stuffers.
 
We have both been off work this week, so we got to spend a lot of time together which was very nice.  On Wednesday, I cooked chicken and mini tacos, we had some wine, and we opened our gifts.  On Thursday we slept in, but got up early enough to make it to the Pancake House for lunch.  We also went to the mall and I returned the comforter my grandma bought me at Macy’s.  However, I couldn’t find the right one so I did not buy anything.  We came back to my place and Bryan hooked up his XBoX while I cleaned the house and did some laundry.  Then we ordered food from a pizza place and ate and played XBoX for a few hours.  On Friday we slept in again and finally got out of the house to go see Rocky – it was pretty good.  Afterwards we went to Macy’s at the Waterfront and I found a suitable comforter and bought a new winter coat.  I like it a lot.  We came back and played some XBoX and I fell into a coma.  That brings us to today.  We went to Giant Eagle at Waterworks and got some salads (so yummy) and I bought ingredients for some snacks I want to make for New Years Eve.  We also stopped at the Wines and Spirits store and bought some stuff to drink.  Tonight I am doing nothing.  I need to wash my sheets and put my new comforter on my bed.

Tomorrow is New Years Eve, and Bryan and I plan to stop at his house, then go out to dinner somewhere (we have not decided yet) and then come back here to drink and snack and have a rockin’ New Years, just the two of us.  No crazy awesome plans, but I think it will be nice.  Of all the years I have lived for New Years, I have never gotten to spend it with someone special.  And my New Years last year was so horrible – as was the beginning of 2006.  This year is going to start right and I hope that 2007 kicks butt.

I think a lot of things are going to change in the next year.  I am not going to put up my list of goals for the upcoming year as I usually do.  There are some tentative plans in place so far – no long term life goals or anything, but … Bryan and I do plan to go to Gettysburg again this summer, as well as to a nice sunny beach somewhere.  We have not decided where yet, but I would like to go to the Florida Keys or something.  That is all I plan to reveal at this point, but life is definitely looking up 😉
2006 started bad, improved slowly, and now it kicks ass.  2007 hopefully will be even better.  Here is a recap of 2006 … recaps are fun.

January 2006
Got dumped by a selfish, sarcastic asshole, felt depressed, my bathroom started leaking brown fluid out of the light socket and the evil landlord wouldn’t fix it, I had no hopes of ever moving out or having friends … and I became quite fond of Arby’s Santa Fe Chicken Salads.

February 2006
The Steelers won the super bowl, my great-grandmother passed away, I actually left my cave-like apartment a few times and hung out with friends, played some beer pong, and went on a date with an awesome boy  named Bryan who shall be mention from here on out.

March 2006
Ants invaded my apartment, I went on some dates, I got a new bed, new sheets, and a new coffee-table, woo woo.

April 2006
Centipedes invaded my apartment, I went on some dates, and I stayed in a hotel room with a boy for the first time.

May 2006
I ate a rotten lunchable, booked my first plane ticket, and went geocaching for the first time with Bryan.

June 2006
Discovered I liked cream cheese, started wearing skirts for the first time, hung out at the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern for a few weeks, and looked forward to some good summer plans.

July 2006
Went to Gettysburg for three days with Bryan, went to St. Pete Beach for a week with Courtney, flew in an airplane for the first time, had an awesome birthday with lots of people at Church Brew Works, AND …… I moved into a new place!!!  No more ants, centipedes, spiders, or other unpleasant critters.

August 2006
Organized my new place, went to a Pirates game with Bryan and had box seats and free food and beer woo woo, went to Kennywood, AND went to my first STEELERS game ever!

September 2006
Hmm nothing much is coming to mind about this month. 

October 2006
Again, not remembering too much other than hanging out with Bryan a lot, cooking dinner, working, and getting a nasty cold.

November 2006
Went to Pittsburgh Light Up Night with Bryan, got my eyebrows waxed for the first time ever, saw the Santa Claus III, and got a dozen roses at work!!! 

December 2006
Wow …. well spent a good part of the month getting ready for Christmas, cooking dinner for Bryan, shopping, hanging out – spent Christmas with my family and a couple days with Bryan.  Got a lot of awesome gifts and am looking forward to 2007.

THE END.  Happy New Years 😉

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Thanksgiving and More

November 29th, 2006

Blogs are therapeutic for me. When I feel upset I write a lot. So I guess the sparse entries is a good thing. Perhaps I should find some new hobbies to write about. Until then, here’s another long anticipated update.

Let’s go back to two Friday’s ago, you know … Pittsburgh’s Light Up Night. Last year I was at Station Square for Light Up night and it was pretty lame. The bars and restaurants were beyond crowded and you couldn’t see any lights. And prior to last year, I had spent three winters in Pittsburgh, unaware that there was such a thing as light up night. I mean, I think I heard about it, but I just thought it meant the lights came on. I never realized what a big event it was for Pittsburgh. This year Bryan and I went downtown for the event. I think the city could use my assistance in event planning. The lights were fabulous and the fireworks were beautiful, however they lacked sufficient transportation – as the advertisements for the evening specifically said to not drive downtown. Bryan drove over to my house and we took a bus, which we waited over an hour for due to the traffic and the fact that we relied on Port Authority. The downtown scene completely lacked any type of restroom – which we found to be ridiculous. When a city plans to hold an event with 100,000+ people, asks us to rely on other means of transportation, and has all of the coffee shops wide-open on display with the fresh aroma of coffee pouring out onto the streets – you think that people are not going to need to use a restroom? Thousands of families and kids – I mean don’t kids have to go like all the time? Well despite that, I was thankful to get the opportunity to see all the pretty lights of my favorite holiday and have someone sweet to go along with me. It’s nice to make plans and do things. I’m thankful that I have people in my life who enjoy my company and will make plans with me. I feel appreciated. On a side-note, I do not recommend trying the Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks. Unless you are on a liquid diet and have a strong craving for gingerbread cookies.

Thanksgiving was special this year. I spent time with my family who I do not see as often as I would like. My grandfather had been in the hospital since the end of August recovering from quite an invasive mouth and jaw surgery to remove mouth cancer. While his mouth recovered he had been relying on a feeding tube and was unable to eat for over two months. We were thankful to have him home for Thanksgiving to enjoy dinner with us. He is doing well and is his old-self. I am sure he is on the right path to a full recovery. My mother, always the rebel, decided that nobody in the family actually likes turkey, so she cooked a roast beef – with all the regular Thanksgiving fixings of course, just roast beef in place of turkey. However, when the family got together, we learned that my mother was really the only one who voted anti-turkey. It isn’t all about the food though. This year I am most thankful for having someone to spend quality time with, having a great roommate, and a supportive family.

Yesterday, Bryan came over after work and we went out to eat at a restaurant near my house called Del’s Italian something …. it was alright. Neither of us felt so great after eating though. Oh well … we’ll be dining on my exquisite cooking this weekend.

As usual I have not even started my Christmas shopping yet this year, however I am pretty decided on what I am buying for everyone. Hopefully shopping will be painless and quick this year. Then I can focus my attention on being what I’m best at – the annoying happy Christmas girl. I put up my Christmas tree and decorations already.

I’ll add some new pictures soon. I have a bunch of miscellaneous stuff and ones from Bryan and I at Light Up night …. although I’m forever waiting for him to send me his pictures. Boys ahhhhh.

Hehe bye!

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I’m too cute to get yelled at

November 14th, 2006

The cat is OBSESSED with my closet, I don’t know why.  Perhaps it houses hidden kitty treasures that I do not know about.  Example:

 “Meow Meow, I must meow into the closet”

Perhaps I would like to wear this nice black sweater, it looks warm and in need of snags from my sharp little daggers.

Heehee, or maybe I’ll try on this lovely blue raincoat.

Nah, I think I’ll just go lay on some clean t-shirts and leave my fur all over them!

Ahh yes, this is great!

Oooh where else can I go??

I know I’m cute and Jess just can’t yell at me cause she LUVS me!!

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Checking In

November 13th, 2006

I’m pretty tired and am off to bed soon, but here’s a quick update of the fabulous weekend I had.  On Friday I went to work but was done by the glorious hour of three o’clock thanks in part to religious things that begin on Friday evening and daylight savings time, woo for three o’clock Friday’s!  On Friday evening I went to Bryan’s and had dinner with him and his parents.  It was very nice 😉  After dinner we went to Best Buy and then headed back to my place where we fell alseep within 6 seconds, before midnight.  Sleep is good.

On Saturday we had some tasty foodz at Eat ‘n Park and then went to see Santa Clause III.  If you like the Santa Clause movies, you should definitely go see it.  I think it was the best one and it was very funny.  I loved it.  We came back here and watched Thank You for Smoking and I did not enjoy it.  I thought it was boring and the guy was annoying.  I give such great movie reviews, don’t I?

Today I did nothing.  It was great.  And doing nothing makes me tired, so I’m going to bed.  Goodnight!

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Waxy

November 10th, 2006

I got my eyebrows waxed today for the first time ever.  They don’t feel or look any different than they do when I pluck them.  Although I did go to supercuts so I guess I’m lucky that I walked out alive or at least not severely deformed.  No offense, I’ve just had very bad hair-experiences there.  I swear that they’ll hand over a pair of scissors to anyone and let them prey on anyone who walks in.  I used to think my hair just sucked, but nowadays I realize it was just because I let monkeys cut my hair.  One time, back in the day … I was so broke I used to let my friends cut my hair.  That was a horrible idea.  And one time a few years ago I decided to cut my own hair – that was the most stupid thing I’ve ever done.  I didn’t use sharp scissors and I just kind of hacked what I thought was a half inch off of every section of my hair.  Hey … I bet I could get a job at supercuts.  Hmmm …..

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