Charter, actions speak louder than words.

Charter Communications commented on my last blog post. I was encouraged to contact them, for assistance with my issue. The thing is, I really have no faith that Iwon't just be irritated more. I looked back at the last bill I received from them, which they insisted on the phone that they didn't bill me for the equipment that I had returned as part of the balance due. They quite obviously did. So now I know that I can expect them to lie to me, too.

Charter, I am free of you. I am choosing not to allow you to aggravate me further.

I knew cancelling Charter seemed too easy........

After putting up with Charter Communications for several years, and several poor customer service experiences, I should have known it was too good to be true when cancelling seemed almost pleasant.

When I cancelled, I was told that we had 2 weeks to return the receivers. We received a bill 2 weeks later that included a charge for the receivers which we had returned 1 week after cancelling. Well within the window. I called Charter, and they had to "track down" the equipment which they did, and advised they would remove from the bill. I requested that a new bill be sent because I wanted to ensure that the receivers were indeed removed from my account.

Fast forward to one or two weeks ago, I haven't received anything from Charter. So I accessed my account online to try to pay, but the system appeared to be unavailable. On to today. I open yesterdays mail and open something I initially think is junk mail. I look closer and see that Charter has sent our account to collections. WTF!! I was/am so angry. Is it too much to ask for a CORRECT final bill? Apparently for Charter it is. I called customer service, which was a pointless waste of time.

Maybe I should send Charter to collections for the time our service was out for 4 days and our account was never credited........

A Good Reason to Moderate Comments.........

Someone (or automated program) tried to post a "no prescription pharmacy" link on my blog. REJECTED!!

Michael.......

As I got ready for work this morning, I found myself gazing at Michael (as I often do when he sleeps, I love that peaceful look). Today, I couldn't help but focus on how much he has grown & changed. He is no longer the baby boy I have spent hours snuggling with. Not the toddler learning to walk. Not even the pre-schooler learning to swim. He is a full fledged "big kid". Little brother, and all.

This morning, I was filled with the emotion that comes with the realization the the precious baby years have passed. And pride in the person he is becoming. He has experienced many changes through the summer, including two biggies: a new baby in the house, and kindergarten. While I will greatly miss "baby" Michael, I look forward to what is in store for him. I occurs to me today that raising kids is like getting a present on a regular basis. Each day, week, & year holds a surprise gift in the form of growth, accomplishment, learning, and caring. All of this, along with some outside influence, will determine who and what our kids will grow up to be. The ultimate surprise........

Thoughts on Ethiopia

It is hard to put to words the thoughts and feelings experienced while we were in Ethiopia. The capital city, Addis Ababa, is a very large metropolitan area. You wouldn't see anything like it in the US. Despite the many modern conveniences available, there is a lot of poverty. There were very few areas that we didn't see people obviously living on the street. You want to help everyone you see, but it is just not possible. You see a lot of people doing physical labor. Things that we would expect to be done with backhoes, jackhammers, etc. The people are very friendly, and we felt pretty safe in all the areas we visited. Because the reservoirs were low (Ethiopia's power is hydro electric), we had power every other day. In the city, life pretty much goes on as normal without power.

The country side was beautiful. Ethiopia has what it called "green drought". Enough rain for things to be green and beautiful, not necessarily enough to grow crops that are necessary. Driving out of Addis Ababa, was a gentle descent through rolling hills. As the scenery goes by, you easily observe the signs & effects of deforestation. The trees have not been harvested by companies & expansion, but by people heating & building their modest homes.

It was a life changing & perspective changing journey. Many of us think we need a bigger home if children have to share a room, or we don't have enough bathrooms. Rural families in Ethiopia may reside in a 100 or 200 square foot hut, where the animals live with the family. This experience has cemented what is really important in life: friends, family, and taking care of the ones you love.

The Long Way Home, Thursday, August 13- 14

Today we spent more time being a family of 4. WOW. I also spent a lot of time packing. Emotions were mixed between being anxious to get home & settled, and the sadness of leaving the place where we became a family with our new son. We will never forget our time in Ethiopia.

Our journey home was an experience of many frustrations. When you arrive at the Bole Airport in Addis Ababa, you go through security to enter the airport. Because of the power outages, we had purchase a "portable" battery pack for Pete's CPAP. It took us at least 30 minutes before they decided that they would allow Pete to bring it, but only if it was in his checked luggage.

When we got to our departure gate, we passed through security fairly quickly. Then found out our flight was delayed. We found a seating area where Michael was able to stretch out, and both boys fell asleep. We were awake. The flight ended up being delayed about 3 hours. The boys slept. We were awake.

We finally got going, and made the fuel stop in Khartoum, Sudan. This stop was supposed to be less than an hour. It ended up being about 2.5 hours. 77 + degrees outside the airplane, no AC inside the airplane. They had oversold & taken on too many passengers in Khartoum, then had to find and remove the luggage of those who they needed to de-plane. Melting, we were finally on our way. We were assured that all of our flight arrangements would be taken care of by the time we arrived in Amsterdam.

Our flight arrangements were not taken care of. We went to what they call the "transfer desk" (for people with connections). I was first in line, aside from the people already working with agents. The agent advised me that they were "too busy" at that station, and I would have to go to the next one. Got to the next station, and there was a long line. When I finally got up to an agent, she said that the changes were already made, and that she would just need to print boarding passes. During conversation, I discovered that she had 40 years working with KLM. Yet, somehow, it managed to take her 45 minutes to print our boarding passes; with the wrong seat assignments. She also gave us a bunch of coupons that would be worthless to us, because we no longer had time to use them. We had to rush to our gate, through security, and have the gate agents fix the boarding passes. Apparently, European airports are not air conditioned (according to another traveller). Amsterdam was no exception.

We were originally to go through Minneapolis. Due to our delays, we went through Detroit instead. We were sitting at the bulk head behind the first class cabin. Michael had to go potty, and both aisles behind us were blocked by service carts. I did what I expect any mom would do, and tried to take him to the forward lav. The flight attendant actually turned us away! I couldn't believe it (I know that this lav is generally reserved for first class, but I expect exceptions for handicapped, elderly, and children). For any of you that have had a child that is bashful about using the potty, you probably understand that this meant Michael wouldn't be going potty at this time. I was just lucky he didn't wet his pants. Then, when we landed, they actually made the coach class wait to get off the plane until first class (maybe they always do this, but I don't recall seeing it before). UGH! I thought stearage sank with the Titanic.

By the time we got through immigration, we had just enough time to get to our flight. This was challenging, because by now, the zipper was broken on one of our back packs. As we neared the gate, we saw that the flight was to be delayed. Michael was quite hungry, so he & Pete went to get a burger. I settled in at the gate, and approached the agent to ask about correcting our seat assignments. She told me I would have to wait for the other agent to arrive. When the gate agent arrive, she walked up and said "Get in line people, we're boarding". I walked up and asked her about our seating, to which her response was "You'll have to take care of that yourself onboard". So, I asked if she could at least make a general boarding call, since my husband and son left the boarding area (I thought this was a VERY reasonable request). She said "That's not my problem".

The highlight of this flight was definately the other passengers going to our city. One went to see if Pete & Michael were coming, many others helped carry our stuff (and the food Pete & Michael had gotten), and by the time we were on the airplane there were 3 seats (one in front of the other two) waiting for us.

Just to top it off, Sid let loose with a blowout while we were on final. So, before we could get off the last airplane, we changed a diaper. It was so nice to be home! We were greeted by Pete's sister Barb & her family, as well as our neighbor Molly & her girls. It was very nice to have them there. We went home, and Barb made us a nice supper. Thankfully, that first night home, Sid slept very well.........

A Day as A Family, Wednesday, August 12

This was our first full day together as a family. We spent the day getting to know Sid and his schedule. We also hung out at the guest house and visited with other families. Michael and his new friends did some plays & a talent show to entertain the families. I went out shopping for a brief time with a few of the others. We went to ALERT, which is a Leper Hospital. To support the hospital, they have a store there with goods that are made on site. We got to see them spinning thread and weaving fabric. The people there were so thankful that we visited their store, it was very touching.