Lets start with Verizon: Last week, and the week prior to it, we suffered a lot of connection drops. Some of our local friends said they has similar drops, all with Verizon. When calling Verizon they said that some maintainance was going on and things should be back to normal soon. Maybe I should have started this with Verizon DSL, at least here in Terre Haute, is insanely stable. In almost two years here at the apartment I could count the number of problems we have had with it on one hand...and still have a few fingers to spare. So last week when the connection was dropping 3-4 times a day for 1-4 hours each time, I was VERY annoyed....but it is better now.
Sunday, me and the wife decided to run to the home town for her brother's birthday. We figured we should let them know we were coming (trips home just seem to happen with little to no planning), but the phone was dead. Given the previous DSL problems we just figured they botched something else and it would be up later..so we left. It was still dead when we got home several hours later , and still dead the next day. Oddly, we still had our DSL connection. I quickly double checked the bill to make sure I had paid last month and saw the typical balance before new charges being negative (my online banking, while usually is a two day kinda thing will periodically take upwards of 10 days so I always go ahead and add the 2% late fee since it just carries over if the payment makes it on time) so all good. I checked the cords and connections, no kittie has not been hungry and yes everything is connected as should be. The online trouble shooting guide mentioned hitting the NID ("Network Interface Device", or "the box out back the phone line comes to") and checking it out, so I grabbed my corded phone and ran out. Two NIDs (why two?), seven apartments, three test plugs (wait, I said sever apartments...do four not have phone access?), 2 of which are nonstandard connections and thus useless for testing, 2 huge bundels of wire (oh, there are the connections...damn this is sloppy), no lables, and one very confused person. I tested the standard one, which to be honest looked like the one I should be testing, and nothing. I came back up and filed a repair request on their website.
Yesterday, 8am, knocking at the door, it is the Verizon guy. This guy is just kinda filling in because I guess Tuesdays are short staffed. He looked around at stuff, played with wires, and eventually we got a dialtone. It was interresting to watch because of how whoever had wired it previously had done such a horrid job. Anyways, there was a loud humming accompanying the dialtone, but I could call people. Since we don't have the line plan and he already did more than he was required to do, I did not push the issue. We were moving soon anyways, why bother. Within the hour, the phone rang...once...then nothing. No big deal, probably dialed the wrong number and realized it quickly. 4-5 hours later the phone rings...once...then nothing. Hmmm, message the wife asking her to call home. Phone rings...once...then nothing....Fuck!!! I call the Verizon number and set up another appointment.
Today, at around 7:30am, knocking at the door, it is a new Verizon guy. This guy is the real deal. I tell him what is going on and what had happened previously. He apologized for me having to call back a second time, reinforming me that the guy yesterday was good at his actual job but not other peoples jobs. After about an hour or two everything was up and running and happy. I asked him how much it would probably run me, and he said since the NID was messed up and there had previously been no way for me to test it that there was no charge...and he made it so that it could be tested in the future.
Now for the sickness: I have had a "something stuck in my throat" feeling for, well, the better part of a week. (For the uninitiated, I had surgery on my neck when I was 4 because there was some unidentifiable growth residing in my throat...so I kinda have a phobia thing going on with all things throat related.) This feeling would normally not be too bad in the morning, but would get worse as the day progressed. It got bad enough to where I jelt like throwing up...and did on a couple of occasions. I had not noticed it until after I had been taking vitamins for a couple of days, and since that was the only thing that had changed recently, it got the blame. Vitamins don't set well with everyone, but we figured childrens vitamins might be better. After stopping the original vitamins it slightly subsided, and got wrose slowly over the past couple of days with the new childrens vitamins. All this time I was not had any nausea, headaches, or any other "sick feelings" and it slowly became aware to me that the "stuck in thoat" feeling might just be triggering a gag reflex. Today, I had the joys of spending some quality time with the toilet again. Afterwards, I spent a good hour digging through sites. Most pointed out the seemingly obvious, take a look at your throat and see if anything is wrong with it, and yeah, it looks horrid. So, I think I get to go to the doctor tomorrow, yay me.
