I went to physical therapy on Monday morning. Texas Tech Health Sciences Center http://www.ttuhsc.edu/ delayed opening until 10 AM, due to the winter weather conditions, so I did not have to report to work until then. I went to PT. There were patients at PT who cancelled, so I benefitted with more time, and the PT found somethings he could do that would help me more than what we were doing.
I had to get some paperwork for NASW for the next meeting, that the branch chair had. These documents were some that I would have kept, had I been able to attend the November meeting. However, I was attending the National Runaway and Homeless Youth Conference, in Atlanta, Georgia, as a board member representing Catholic Charities, Diocese of Lubbock. But, I did connect with the branch chair, and get the paperwork.
So, Sake stopped eating again, over the weekend of November 23, 2013. I know now it is a gum infection that bothers her. She tries to eat, but is not interested in the food, be it chunks, or paté or pureé. I called the vet, and we had a Tuesday morning appointment scheduled.
Monday night, the Sprint service to my phone went out at my house. I spent almost two hours online with Sprint chat, and mostly kept getting advice to upgrade my phone. I had planned to physical therapy exercises, but finished so late with Sprint, I watched Jay Leno for the headlines, and went to bed....
As suggested, I shut my phone off, and in fact left it off overnight. But there was no resolution to the problem in the morning. So, I sent another message to Spring (via chat) about my problems. I received a response, by email, per my request, but no real help.
I took Sake to the veterinarian on November 26, 2013, and while she was upset, she did not act out as badly as she sometimes does, so we knew she was not feeling well. When we got home and she was able to get out of the crate, she did not hide, but actually sought comfort and solace from me. The vet gave her more anti-biotics, but this does not seem to be helping as much as the combined antibiotics and cortisone did last time. We will have to see what happens.
Tuesday, I did not have cell phone service at home. I had cell phone service in the parking lot at work, and again called Sprint, because they did not give me a service plan or offer any help Monday night, but during that call, they cut me off because they could not assist me while I was calling from the device that needed assistance. That was about 9 AM.
Tuesday, lIfe went on, and as I drove home, I had cell service until I turned off University Avenue onto 62nd Street west. I had some errands to run, and service resumed when I got onto Indianna Avenue, due west of my house.
I called Sprint again about this, from the parking lot of Hobby Lobby. I spent about 30 minutes on the phone with Sprint, trying to convince them that although their tower reports excellent service in my zip code, my neighborhood has no service. Not dropped calls, not interrupted calls, but no service. I am not sure I got through. I was very frustrated, and I know I took that frustration out on the service representative. I apologized to her several times. But ultimately, our conversation deteriorated to her suggesting I upgrade my phone. That was very infuriating.
While I was doing this, the battery in my car ran down. I did not realize it until I had made my purchases at Hobby Lobby. I was able to ask someone to give me a jump start, and I had cables. After the car started, the dash lights went out. I had no tachometer, no gas gauge, no speedometer, no odometer, and no radio. I drove home on side streets, and went to Auto Zone before going home. While I was parked in the Auto Zone parking lot, I changed the fuse for the dashboard cluster, but that did not help. I picked a place where there were people and auto parts, but did not need their service, and Auto Zone is close to my home. And the battery was holding a charge.
I started the car a few times overnight, and it started okay. I was able to get to physical therapy on the morning of the 27th, and then finished running the errands I had planned to run Tuesday night. The car battery was holding the charge okay. What a blessing.
One of the errands was to respond to the email I had received from Sprint about my complaint. Again, I had to be out of my neighborhood to call Sprint, so I sat in a parking lot about three quarters of a mile away from my home and made the suggested phone call. Again, this person ultimately tried to convince me to upgrade my phone. At that point, I asked for a supervisor. The supervisor told me that they would try to resolve my problem in 3-5 days. I told him that I could have service from a new provider sooner than that. He told me they did not want that to happen, and would prioritize my service call.
I went to the dealership for my car, and as I suspected, they could not get me in until Monday. I just wanted to talk to a person, rather than deal with a voice about this. The battery was holding the charge, so I went on to work. I had purchased the battery from the dealer, and I was thinking that they need to give me some sort of credit for the lack of longevity of the battery.
At the end of work November 27, 2013, I went to my car, and discovered I needed a jump start to get home from work. I took a long, slow way home, thinking to recharge the battery. I was planning to start the vehicle every couple of hours to keep the charge in the battery. As I drove to the house, the "searching for service" beeping started on my phone. I checked my phone, and I had a voicemail. I went again to a nearby parking lot, and listened to my voicemail.
It was a call from Sprint, about the service problems I was having. They gave me a different number to call, and a menu option to use. The representative I spoke to "got it" that the service problem was not dropped calls or interrupted service, but that my phone was searching for service. She understood that they could not call me at home, because I had no service at home, but they could email me if they needed to. She "got it" that the problem was in a defined geographic area in my neighborhood, no matter what their towers reported regarding available service in the neighborhood. I told her that it might not be a Sprint problem, but a blocking problem. She acknowledged that, but said they needed to find out what was going on. What a relief. To speak to a person who was not spouting platitudes, but was acknowledging the individual problem I was having. I will not say unique, someone else maybe having the same problem, but it is my problem.
Well, in the parking lot, I was stranded: the battery was no longer holding a charge. It was late, and dark. I did not want to drive around town to find someplace where I could get a new battery. I should have purchased a new battery earlier in the day.
I went home and backed into the garage. This took me a while. I was not able to park the car centered, but to one side. But, I did it.
My plan is to stay home on Thanksgiving Day. And, to ask a neighbor for help to jump start the car on Friday, and get a new battery, so I can run errands, do chores and continue activity as I need to during the weekend. And, get to the dealership on Monday.
But in the mean time, I have to deal with all the STUFF that has happening.
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