October 9, 2005

• The Carlisle Group, since buying Verizon Hawaii, has been crediting their customers of the ‘new’ Hawaiian Telcom $21.95 as a ‘customer appreciation’ credit. It was written in as part of the agreement of sale. I got my credit on this month’s bill. Frankly, I figured they’d squirm their way out of this, just as had the woman who bought Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts company, but I was wrong.

  
  

  I haven’t posted in awhile because I lost my phone/DSL when water got into the main connection box on the outside wall. Normally, the phone company is good about showing up the very next day to do the repairs. They promised me that it would be fixed by 7:30 pm on Thursday. It went out on the 4th. So I sat here, waiting for the repair person, rather than going to Hilo to take care of my expired license registration.

  
  

  I had been in the middle of paying my bills online when the phone went out. I did what I could to fix it myself, blowing the water out of the connection, but the arcing I saw between the contacts of the modular test plug indicated to me that components within the jack were probably bad. Even though I could dial out, there was a terrible loud hum on the line, preventing me from hearing the voice menu options at the phone company. I called from my cell phone.

  
  

  A lady repair technician showed up at my house finally just before noon on Friday. She replaced the modular test jack/hard-wire connections, tested the wire I used for my second phone (which was ok) & tested the DSL phone micro-filter, which turned out to be bad. No wonder I couldn’t get the 2nd phone to work while my son was still here even with a new cord after somehow accidentally cutting the old one. She gave me a new one. The first call I made was to the phone company, because of their guaranty. They’re going to credit me $25 within the next 2 bills for not making their promise.

  
  

  Once I got my phone line back, I had to run into Hilo to take care of my expired license plate. I had meant to take care of it last week. I went to Honolulu last Thursday, so had no time to do it then. My plan was to take care of it on Friday. Heh… yeah, right! Best laid plans, as usual. The weather was so miserable that they were recommending no one drive anywhere unless they absolutely had to. We were under a flash-flood watch. Some of the roads in Puna & Hilo were closed down because of flooding (remnants of hurricane Kenneth). Even though I’m a good driver & have driven in conditions like that & worse, I’m getting older & don’t trust other drivers very much. A fraction of a second’s inattention can result in tragedy on the highway.

  
  

  As it was, I planned to take in my old plates to replace them with Veterans plates, which turned out to be a good thing. Come to find out, the tags on my car were the wrong ones! HELLO?! Apparently, the dealership I had bought my Santa Fe from had put the tags that were registered to my car on another vehicle & that vehicle’s tags on my car! Or perhaps it’s even worse than that, since the tag number was 2 digits off. The poor lady at the counter of the DMV was flustered, never having had this happen to her before & had to ask another clerk what to do for this. I hope this doesn’t come back to haunt me, with the car with MY tag getting multiple parking violations… in MY name!!! It’s up to the DMV to find the car with my plates & clear this problem up. All I know is that my car now has legitimate plates on it, in MY name. Murphy’s Laws… Stuff like this always happens to me!

  
  

  I tried to find out what type of car my tags went onto, but the clerk wouldn’t tell me.

  
  

  I also took care of applying for the discount that the State gives to 100% disabled veterans. It cut my annual registration fees nearly in half. It would have been about halved, if not for the late fee. Why didn’t I do it earlier, in the month it was due? It got neglected due to my son’s move & paperwork, etc, involved with moving him & getting his financial aid for school. There’s still more yet with that, including getting him on ChampVA medical.

  
  

  Having gone to the DAV meeting today, with its very disappointing turnout, it seems that I wasn’t the only one with a fucked-up week. This meeting had the least in attendance of any meeting our chapter’s held. I almost didn’t go myself, but am glad I did. It’s good to keep up with what’s going on. We’ve lost a few members recently who’ve passed on. Our Chaplain, while vacationing in Virginia, fell a couple months ago. He’s still there, in the VA hospital & one of our members went to visit with him. The report is that they don’t think he’s going to come home. George, my thoughts are with you. You’ve been a blessing to all who’ve known you. Prove them wrong! Semper fi!

  
  

  Last meeting, I gave up my position as Treasurer. My performance wasn’t up-to-snuff with all the stuff I’ve been dealing with of late, so I felt that the chapter would be better served by another who’s head isn’t so messed up as mine is right now. It’s too much stress for me right now. Thanks, Kat, for taking over.

  • 4:03 am
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