LiveLoveAutumnFall.net

For some reason this song is just sticking in my mind. I don’t think I’ve had a song stick in my head like this for a while.

I’m living in eTown (Elizabethtown) PA now, and for the most part I like it. I’m not even a mile from work, which is nice when it comes time to go to or leave from work. The downsides are my neighbors. The ones upstairs just slam stuff all the time. I’m not sure if they are slamming doors or just knocking stuff over repeatedly, but it’s fucking annoying. My other neighbors (next house over) apparently had relatives move in with them, and so there’s nine people there (4 adults and 5 kids), and it’s just a small apartment.

They take up multiple parking spaces out front, the parking isn’t an issue since I can park anywhere on the street, no big deal if I have to park on the opposite side of the street. What annoys the fuck out of me is their yelling. They must not care what anyone thinks of them, because they just yell and curse loudly on their porch either at each other or at their kids. Their kids run around like crazy too. Plus they aren’t very respectful of others property. Memorial Day weekend they took the chair off of my porch without asking. They just came onto my porch and took it. They returned it, and I would of let them use it no problem, but they should at least ask first.

I like eTown except for the lack of friends, my closest friend is in York, and I guess that’s going to change soon. Don’t get me wrong, my co-workers are great people, but they aren’t my friends. We’ve done stuff together like going to lunch as a company, we’ve done a movie night where we all went and saw Iron Man, and just last week we went to breakfast as a company. There just isn’t a connection there like I have with my friends. That may be because they’ve all known each other for years and I’m the odd one out. Growing up in MD, and only living in York for about 3 years, I can’t really go “remember that time that…” because I’m the only one who remembers it

When I’m at work, I just try to block everyone out and focus on what I’m doing, which at times is hard when people throw me off task to do something else that’s completely different from what I was working on (like throwing me from a PHP project to ASP.net). I don’t mind it except when I look back at the end of the day and feel like I haven’t really accomplished anything. I like to focus on getting things done correctly and quickly, sometimes I can’t do things the correct way for whatever reason. We have a senior designer now, but when you’re talking design in the same room as me, yeah I’m going to pay attention to it, I have a degree in design, my opinion should matter just as much as it should when discussing how something should work (that there is another post in itself)

That’s probably enough for a post, I don’t want to make this post too long. Plus I still need to do a vegforaterm.org post.

I have been living in York since July 2005, and I love it here. Unfortunately I work in Elizabethtown and with my daily drive, I put 60 miles on my car every day. I go through a whole tank of gas, plus part of another. So I’m looking for apartments in E-town (Elizabethtown). I actually have a meeting to see a place tomorrow during lunch. I like the fact that I can drive .4 miles and be to the office instead of 30. That’s a big selling point, though I haven’t seen the place, it has to be better than the last place I looked at (95ft from the office).

I’m not the only one moving though. Inovat moves into it’s new office this weekend. I’m taking my two desktops (yeah, I have two towers at work) and four CRT’s (heavy fuckers) to the new office Friday night. Going to be cool. I’ll be able to see it before the project manager (:P) and the two interns. I can’t wait.

It’s odd, I’ve been having one of those weeks from hell. I decided to turn in early last night. Well about an hour earlier than normal (10:30 instead of 11:30). Anyway I woke up for no reason at 1:30. I never really got back to a deep sleep, yet when my alarm went off at quarter of six, I woke up happy and ready for the day to start.

I’m actually not even tired now. Kind of odd how I can have a full nights sleep and feel aweful the next morning and I can have a bad night of sleep and feel great the next morning.

This morning I awoke to my Explorer 2200 showing four dashes instead of the time and an error on the screen saying “Your EXPLORER settop is NOT AUTHORIZED for use.” My first thought was “What the fuck do you mean it’s not authorized?” I didn’t have time to call Comcast this morning and since I wasn’t going to have the box, I couldn’t call at lunch. When I got home it was still the same. I called support and had the system send a refresh signal to the box (twice) nothing happened, so I did what was suggested next. I unplugged the box and the plugged it back in (how original). Still nothing.

I logged onto the Comcast website and after fighting with it for ten minutes, was able to get their chat system to work. Ended up talking to a guy for about a half an hour. It was pretty obvious to me that he only knew to do the two things I already tried. Below is the entire chat my address removed of course and I swapped the Comcast reps name to just Comcast.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:13:54 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Thank you Joshua. Please give me one moment while I am navigating your information through our systems. So, how are you doing today?

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:14:20 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Fine except for this issue.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:15:07 GMT-0500 (EST))>

I understand the issue you are having right now and I apologize for the inconvenience you have experience. I am glad to help you and let me try to come up a resolution regarding your Explorer 2200 issue.

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:15:41 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Ok.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:18:42 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Thank you. Let me check what I can do for you. Would you mind if I put you on hold while I am working this out for you?

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:18:54 GMT-0500 (EST))>

No that’s fine.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:20:35 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Thank you. Is the error message is “Your explorer setup is not authorized for use.” Is that right?

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:20:45 GMT-0500 (EST))>

yes

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:22:15 GMT-0500 (EST))>

I see. May I please know the exact error message you are receiving?

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:23:05 GMT-0500 (EST))>

It only says “Your EXPLORER settop is NOT AUTHORIZED for use. Please call(800)266-2278″, just like that.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:23:51 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Thank you. Have you contacted the contact number provided to address this issue?

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:24:18 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Yes. They sent the signal to refresh the box twice and I still have the error and it’s been about an hour.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:25:42 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Okay. And what is the next assessment they advice you to do Joshua?

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:26:10 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Unplug it, wait 30 seconds and plug it back in. I’ve done that four times. They don’t suggest anything past that.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:26:50 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Okay, so you have done the power cycle of your Explorer 2200.

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:26:56 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Yes.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:28:19 GMT-0500 (EST))>

I just want to know if your services with your Explorer 2200 is with Comcast?

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:28:33 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Yes.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:31:12 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Alright.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:33:57 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Joshua, you have mentioned earlier that it was sent a signal twice an hour ago. And you have made a power cycle of the Explorer 2200.

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:34:09 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Yes.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:35:39 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Was it working normal before?

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:36:50 GMT-0500 (EST))>

It’s been working since I’ve had service (over 2 years), it worked fine last night, and when I got up this morning it was giving me that error. I had to leave for work, so I didn’t do anything about it until I got home this evening.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:38:43 GMT-0500 (EST))>

I would assume that the issue with your Explorer 2200 is with the device itself. If you want I can schedule a technician to come into your house and have this issue fix.

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:39:23 GMT-0500 (EST))>

I’d like to have a technician come fix it.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:39:52 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Thank you. I will check for the available dates we have for you.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:40:29 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Can you please provide the serial number from the bottom of the box?

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:40:49 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Yeah, give me a minute to get it.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:41:03 GMT-0500 (EST))>

No problem.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:42:28 GMT-0500 (EST))>

I need to know if you are still online. Please reply to this message.

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:42:40 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Would it be on the bottom (on the Scientific Atlanta Label)?

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:42:48 GMT-0500 (EST))>

or on the barcode?

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:42:53 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Yes.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:43:22 GMT-0500 (EST))>

It is the sticker label at the bottom of the box.

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:43:56 GMT-0500 (EST))>

Ok, the number I have is: 745622.

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:44:55 GMT-0500 (EST))>

No, I am sorry correct. Would you please try again providing me with the serial box number. Thank you.

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:45:36 GMT-0500 (EST))>

000a731d5b10

COMCAST(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:48:17 GMT-0500 (EST))>

I am not seeing the information you have provided me on your account. Would you like to double check the box and kindly provide me the right serial box number.

Joshua_(Thu Jan 31 2008 19:49:06 GMT-0500 (EST))>

You know what, I’m just going to downgrade my service. I can’t seem to find the right number, it’s not clearly marked, and I’m just to annoyed to deal with this.

I called the 800 number and decided to just downgrade to standard cable. I don’t really watch anything past channel 78 and the premium music ones weren’t worth it. The woman on the phone was really nice and helpful. She of course wanted me to reconsider downgrading, but she also wanted me to know that if it’s an issue with the box that it’s my right as a customer to have them fix it.

I’d been meaning to downgrade for a while, but didn’t have a real pressing need to. Today was just the day to do it I guess.

So I’m sitting in my living room listening to Relient K’s “Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been” and I decided that I needed to focus and write down my goals for this year. It’s taken me a while to write this because I’m not one hundred percent sure of what I want to accomplish this year. These are in no particular order.

My first goal this year is to spend more time with friends. I rarely see any of my friends as it is and I want to change that. After I graduated High School, I never saw any of my friends, now that I’ve graduated college, I don’t want the same thing to happen. I went years without seeing any of my friends from High School, and it’s already been six months since I graduated College and I haven’t seen any of the few college friends I have.

My second goal this year is to get some freelance clients. I don’t care if they are well paying or not. I just need to keep adding to my portfolio, and I can’t do that without freelance work. Plus I’d like to actually have some money to put into savings.

My next goal is to go somewhere on vacation this year. Last year I didn’t have time or money to go anywhere. I’d like to be able to go to South By SouthWest (SXSW) this year for their interactive conference, but since it’s in March and again, I have no savings. It’s not going to happen.

The final goal of mine is to get organized. My apartment and computers are filled with clutter (I still have boxes that I haven’t unpacked and I’ve been in this apartment since September). I need to organize everything and keep it organized. I’m going to get started on that tomorrow morning.

I usually make New Years goals, and this year is no different (did you think that was going somewhere else?). I’ll post my goals later today. I need sleep and I actually get to sleep in my own bed for the first time in over a week, so the post waits.

I thought it would be good though to just figure out how I did on my goals for last year, and share them with you. My goals last year were:

1. Redesign my portfolio
2. Go to a web conference
3. Get more freelance clients
4. Move and get new furniture
5. Socialize more. Find more friends and a girlfriend.
6. Have more fun get out and play more paintball and the other things I like
7. Read more books
8. Get newish car.

So out of those goals lets see how they went.

1. Did it multiple times and it’s in the middle of one now. :/
2. Could of, but already had plans and it was Flash conference
3. Didn’t happen
4. Moved to South York, and the only furniture I bought was a new bed.
5. This is tough, I met some new people online at Twitter.com, and I’d like to think that I can consider some of them more along the lines of a friend than an acquaintance. Girlfriend thing didn’t happen. Had some crushes though.
6. Played paintball more this past year. Also had some fun. Played beer pong this past summer and loved it (though I think Miller Lite sucks). Then went to a party on my birthday and totally owned at beer pong until someone screwed up the undefeated streak. Vodka is far superior to beer.
7. I bought more books, does that count? I did read a few good books and started one that someone recommended. Well, she recommended it to me and I ended up recommending it to my cousin.
8. Ha, with student loans I sometimes barely make it so no car in the near future.

So that’s how my New Years goals last year went. This year the goals are going to be mostly different and the list will be shorter.

Happy New Year everyone.

LiveLoveAutumnFall.net is going to be where I post all of my posts about life and all. I’m not going to design it, I’m using a free theme for WordPress called Simpla, and I will probably never create a custom design for it. I’m not sure if I am going to move the personal posts from LiveLoveAutumnFall.com, or just start fresh here.

On LiveLoveAutumnFall.com I have a Tumblelog that I use to post random things I come across, I’ll be doing the same here. The only difference will be that on this site it will be only related to what I post about, whereas on LiveLoveAutumnFall.com, I Tumblelog pretty much anything that catches my interest.

In the new year I plan on blogging more, so splitting the subjects between two sites seems like the easiest way to make me post more often. Now instead of one site to update, I have two and that will hopefully keep me blogging. So make sure to bookmark this site and the other LiveLoveAutumnFall and check back often.