cherry blossom-ing

my mom bought some cherry blossoms for the new year and they just bloomed so i snapped a few pics.

Jumping Cow Amber Ale

i was perusing through the aisle of Trader Joe's today and i stopped by the alcohol aisle. i picked up a few bottles of "2 buck chucks" and was in the mood for some micro brewed beer.

i didn't even know where to start. i didn't want to just get something readily available like Stella Artois or Asahi, but the selection was pretty overwhelming. i spent a good 10 minutes going up and down the aisle trying to pick something out. then i came across this.

it's Bitburger, a pale ale. i first had this on tap while having lunch at the "library ale house" when i was working in Santa Monica. it's far from a microbrewery, being the market leader in Germany, but i put the 6 pack in the cart anyway. call it nostalgia, but i remember it to be pretty darn good.

so 10 minutes have gone and I'm still without my micro brew. i then came across this.

the first thing that caught my eye was the logo of the cow jumping over the barrels and what sold me was their simply and appropriately named ale "jumping cow"
even the label is simple "brewed from the finest malted barely, hops, yeast and water" i don't know if it's true but I'm a minimalist and it's brewed and bottled in Paso Robles so it nice to be able to by Californian.

at&t shenanigans - end

after 288 hours (12 days) without dsl speed internet, i now am fully apart of the internet world again.

oh midget/creamed corn porn how i've missed you.

AT&T shenanigans, not the good kind of shenanigans

*takes a deep breath*

i came home one day (last thursday) to find that my internet was down. so i go through the standard resetting/unplugging my router and modem. when that didn't work i tried releasing the ip. when that didn't work i call at&t's tech support and get connected to india. i go through all those steps again to no avail. they transfer me to the department where they do line tests to see if there was anything wrong with my line.

i wait an hour for the test to complete and the guy calls me back and tell me my dsl is disconnected, and i have to call the "business" part of at&t and get it set up again.

my sister calls at&t the next day and it turns out our neighbor who lives in attached garaged ordered a new phone line but failed to mention they were in the garage. at&t didn't go by the account number just the address, and they sent out a letter confirming the new line activation and the discontinue of the the previous line (my number an dsl) since our phone line account is under my father's name we never got the letter because he doesn't live with us anymore and we forward his mail.

my sister puts in a new order. we decided to not have a telephone number, just the dsl (dry-loop, i believe is what they called it) and the agent tells her it's all set, the order is in and it's going to be a week. we're going to be out of the internet for a week.

6 days pass and no activation. i'm awaken by a telephone call. i normally don't answer phone calls but i figured it might be at&t confirming the activation of the dsl. it's a telemarketer for the "L.A. Times"

and she says "good morning i'm from the la times"
i reply "good morning, i'm not interested"
and she responds with "i haven't offered you anything yet"

i'm half awake and groggy and hang up and i as i reach for the off button i hear her say "hello mr. heng?" and i think to myself, that's not my name, and how is she calling us when we're not suppose to even have a phone line.

i call up at&t again. they weren't able to look me up with the order number my sister provided me. they didn't provide her with an account number and there is no telephone number so they couldn't look us up with that either. i tell her my story about the telemarketer and ask her why i was able to receive that phone call and she tells me that my neighbor's line is connected to the lines in my house, so i was getting their calls. she corrects that problem, a problem that should have been fixed when my sister called and put in the order for the dsl.

the agent then tells me that because of the line mix up, our order for dsl is "in limbo" in the system. she suggests i tell my sister to cancel the order and order it again. i ask her is it going to be another week and she tells me if my sister tells the story you guys have been reading thus far there's a chance we can get expedited.

my sister calls at&t during her break at work and the agent tells her he can't find the dsl activation order or it doesn't exist. so she orders the dsl line again.

she comes home and calls at&t to check on the status of the order and the automated system wasn't able to find the new order. their lines were closed so we have to call them again tomorrow. i guess they only outsource tech support and have that 24 hours a day.

using "pissed" to describe the mood i'm in would be an understatement.

so the shenanigans continue. more later.

*exhales*

i miss my internet. i've been using my blackberry to fend off the withdrawal symptoms. i use beejive IM for my IMing needs and my the gmail app to check e-mails. i've also become acquainted with brickbreaker on my bb. my high score is now 8,810. oh how i took the internet for granted.

i had to go to the library today like an average patron and use the public wi-fi today to pay my bills and apply for jobs.

if you're wondering how i'm blogging, i looked up how to tether my blackberry and use it as a modem. i love my blackberry and "the edge" network's 56k like speed... i'll take what i can get.

this bud's for you!

hello, my name is michael, i'm 1, and i have a problem.

i haven't drawn in a while.
i really should draw more often than i do.

ya'll smell that? funk!