Fun with Zach.

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Julian Rebello: Thank you for contacting Time Warner Cable. At the end of our chat you will be given the option of taking a brief survey. My name is Julian. Please give me a moment while I access your account.
Julian Rebello: I appreciate your patience.
Julian Rebello: I will certainly be glad to guide you to the right support.
Julian Rebello: I need to escalate this request to our Sales Department. I will transfer you to that support group. Do you have any further questions before I transfer you?
Matthew: How do you transfer me?
Matthew: Through chat?
Julian Rebello: Yes, please stay connected.
Julian Rebello: Again, my name is Julian. Thank you for chatting with Time Warner Cable. We value you as a customer and are here to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you would like to take a brief survey, please click on End Session and the survey will load.
Matthew: we really didn't do anything
Matthew: should I still take the survey?
Julian Rebello: Please wait while the problem is escalated to another analyst
Matthew: is that one of the survey questions?
Zach: Welcome to Time Warner Cable s SALES Chat; now featuring Roadrunner Mobile .



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My name is Zach. How may I assist you with your order?
Matthew: my parents are coming to town and my mom,dad, and cats want to watch more cable.
Matthew: I would like to increase my channels to include the animal networks
Zach: All right. I need your address related to the account please.
Matthew: *** Collington drive. They will be her tonight with all the cats.
Zach: Are you closer to Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte, or Wilmington?
Matthew: Greensboro I believe. 27302. My parents are coming from Rochester.
Matthew: I don't really care for the cable box though, the remote is hard for everyone to use
Matthew: Is that ok?
Zach: ok to upgrade your cable package it's normally an extra $30 a month before tax. I have you at just $27 a month after tax.
Zach: You can downgrade the cable back to local channels anytime.
Matthew: ok. are the animal channels included. My mom and the cats like to watch the animals
Zach: Correct.
Matthew: ok what about the cable box?
Matthew: the remote is difficult to use
Zach: The cable box is required.
Matthew: my dad has fat fingers and Brixies paws are too big for the buttons too.
Matthew: Can I use our special remote?
Zach: You can program it so that your remote works.
Matthew: Ah nice.
Matthew: do you know if it's shark week?
Zach: This week, I am pretty sure no.
Zach: We can send the technician out there as soon as tomorrow.
Zach: We have a 3:30 to 5:30 time available.
Matthew: Good because socks gets scared and hides under the couch and is a pain to get her out.
Zach: Also, a 5:30 to 7:30 P.M. time is available.
Matthew: Ok. Will i have to put the cats in their carriers?
Zach: If you feel that they might not be friendly, then yes.
Matthew: 10 are pretty friendly but there are 5 that can be snipy
Matthew: I'll put those guys away
Matthew: Tomorrow will be fine
Zach: What's your best available contact phone number for the technician tomorrow?
Matthew: ##########
Matthew: That's the home number
Zach: ok I'll put you in for 3:30-5:30 if that's ok?
Matthew: that's purrrfect.
Zach: ############# is the work order number.
Zach: You're all set!
Matthew: Thank you.
Zach: Thank you for allowing me to assist you on Time Warner Cable Sales Support. Have a nice week!

Hanukkah the festival of lights.

Although the Bay Field has many awesome features, and we love them all, it's missing lighting is some areas of the house. The closet under the stairs has zero lights and zero outlets. We store a lot of stuff in that closet and trying to find anything is difficult without a source of light. Jen was trying to get the Christmas decorations out using a flashlight. How awkward? I put on my Tim "the tool man" Taylor hat and went to work.

New kitchen light fixture.

While the turkey was roasting I replaced the light fixture in the kitchen over the island. The one that the builder installed was not giving off enough light.

We got this nice unit from Lowes. Jen and I figured that we could get some light over to the sink. If this doesn't help getting more ligth over the sink then I'll have to install a light there too.

This unit does put out a lot more light. It uses xenon bulbs.

Thanksgiving Turkey - Brined

This was one of the best turkeys I've ever made. It was very juicy and tender.

Even More Garage Mods

Over the weekend Jen requested that I make some shelves in the garage to help organize the place better. I wanted to make a space for the outdoor furniture cushions. I am fortunate enough to have a good amount of wood that I scavenged from the work sites' waste bins in the development.






As you can see, everything fits nicely and the cushions are out of the way. Pretty soon we'll be able to park a car in there. :) Let me know what you think.

More garage mods

The other weekend I had a gentleman install and mount my HD (UHF) antenna on the roof and run a cable into the living room. I had planned to do this myself but for the price it was worth paying the gentleman to do the work. Plus I'm afraid of heights.

My goal in this project was to move my router, cable modem, and VoIP phone unit to the garage. This has allowed me to clean up the area behind my TV in the living room. The "cable guy" ran a separate line for my cable modem to the garage.

He also ran my Ethernet cable to the living room to accommodate my HTPC.



I wired my home phone lines to a block then connected my Power Phone unit to feed the house lines the phone connection.

Once the cables were connected I was able to scan for channels and with my antenna I found 30 channels. I installed a 2 gang electrical box on the wall. The four plugs are just enough for the units plus a feed to strip on my work bench. I mounted the strip in front of my bench which makes it easy and accessible for my power tools, etc.


My ultimate goal is to run my HD antenna into the TV tuner in my HTPC. Then run MythTV. I'll be able to record TV in HD and watch from any PC in the house. Then I'll run the cableTV line into the TV for live TV watching.

MUTEMATH weekend

The long awaited MuteMath weekend has come and gone in a flash. Jen and I had the best time seeing our favorite band on Friday and Saturday. Some thoughts: Rush has a song called Limelight where Neil Peart writes "I can't pretend a stranger is a long awaited friend." That may be true for Rush but not for MuteMath. I have never seen a band connect with their fans on a personal level before like MM does. Of course it's smart marketing to get to know the fans and be accessible, further solidifying the bond that is already made through the music. In my opinion MM is the type of group that doesn't patronize us. They really do want to meet and get to know the fans. We have seen the group more than a dozen times over the last 3-4 years and they have gotten bigger and bigger going from driving from venue to venue in a van to traveling in a tour bus complete with roadies to setup and break down. Each time giving the fans face time after the show to sign autographs and answer questions. I'm not sure how long it will last, as they keep moving up a notch but we'll definitely take advantage if it while we can.