Back Stab Update

It wasn't as bad as I thought. I showed up bright and early, hobbled in, sat there a while. They took my stats, said I was alive, asked stupid questions. Then I went back to another room with a fluoroscope (instant x-ray machine) and an uncomfortable table. I laid there on my face, they lifted my shirt and scrubbed the area on my back, smeared some iodine on me, slapped some plastic with a hole in it on me.

The doctor came in and poked me with that numby stuff that feels like you're being burned and electrocuted at the same time into my back fat... told a few jokes while he slowly poked the bigger needle into my spine. Probably not good to laugh while someone is poking a needle into your spine, but it kept my mind off of what he was doing. I didn't feel much until I said, "how's things back there?" and he responded with 99% done. Right then, I felt the rest of the juice go into my spine. From about the middle of my lumbar to the tip of my tailbone, I felt the expansion, it reminded me of one of those long balloons that they make animals out of for stupid children.

That was it, he was done. How do I feel? Well, that night I felt about the same as I did the day before with the exception of that strange animal balloon tightness. Tuesday I felt basically the same but a bit sore. Pain pills had absolutely NO effect whatsoever. Wednesday, well, yep, about the same but my left leg felt a bit better. Today I've been rather sore, I've been out a few times, hobbled around the house, loaded the dishwasher. It hurts like hell, but at least the pain pills helped a little today.

I'll be doing it again in about 3 weeks, same spot, same juice. I'm hoping this works. I've got probably 15 more visits over the next 6 months to do this in various places up my spine. Happy joy. On another note, Caprica is weird, it's weirder than Battlestar Galactica (new series) was... and that was really weird.

My Neck, My Back!

Monday I go in to spine clinic to get a spine installed! heh I wish. I'm having injections of some weird steroid blasted into my back. They call it "transforaminal epidural steroid injection". I hope it's less painful than saying it. Speaking of pain, I have a rather nice cyst-like thing on my neck, thought you'd enjoy that. It hurts like hell, maybe I was used as food while I slept.

Earlier I got to watch as my neighbor's house was raided, then the cops showed up and made them put it all back. Honestly, I'm amazed they showed up and did something. That's a good thing. Other than that, nothing really has happened in quite a while.

Straight Talk Website

This is what you get 90% of the time when trying to check your balance. It tells you not to click submit again, but I just can't resist and have been clicking it for DAYS! I would contact "Customer Care Center at 1-877-430-CELL (2355) for further assistance" but I don't feel like talking to anyone in the Philippines about anything!

I'm sure they're trying, but they aren't the best at speaking English. They seem to be a "cold" people and not really care one way or the other about helping their customers. Honestly, I get better assistance from India, for to be thanking you call again! As long as you don't need to check your balance or have any troubles, Straight Talk is fine, especially for the price. If something goes awry, well... it's not pretty.

Samsung R451C Review

It's not a great phone, but for $100 and no contract, not bad. The phone I chose was the $99.98 Samsung r541c, the bluetooth works in one direction only and that's from the PC to the phone. I would imagine they disabled it so you couldn't hack the phone so easily, or synchronize your calendar or contacts, or transfer pictures. Other than that, it takes a fairly decent picture for a 1.3MP camera, it does not do video at all. Call quality is pretty good and reception is average in a low coverage area.

The buttons are in weird places, especially the camera button. It's low and on the right side, simply picking it up will press a button, usually the camera button. It's a good idea to lock the phone after using it. The slide out keyboard isn't great, but usable. If you like to use punctuation you will have to hit 3 buttons to get a ' or ? and most other punctuation. It's still better than using T9 and the regular dialing keypad.

The browser is absolutely horrible. Entering passwords is nearly impossible, you cannot tell if the shift is on or the function key is on, sometimes it capitalizes the first letter, sometimes it doesn't. Passwords are *'s, some browsers are nice enough to briefly show you what you've typed before turning into an asterisk, not this thing! To enter C3P0, you have to turn the caps off (but not always) so, here's the key sequence: shift, C, shift, fn, 3, fn, P, fn, 0. My passwords are usually a bit longer with alpha-numeric. Not fun, especially when you have to enter it 4 times. I've got no reason to ever open the browser again after that.

While you can add pictures to the contacts, you have to import them with bluetooth and then add them one by one. On most phones you see the contact's name and the picture you selected. If you "click" on your contact you will see a tiny picture in the corner. I haven't seen much of a point in adding a photo to the contacts here.

Creating ringtones is as simple as recording something you hear or transferring an mp3 to your phone. Transferring or taking a picture to set as a background doesn't work so well, it leaves you with bars on each side of the picture. Changing the pixel size by even one pixel larger than the camera in the phone can take results in "UNSUPPORTED FILE FORMAT" error on the phone. I was both amused and upset by this.

The calendar is a total pain in the backside to use and add people to. Maybe I got used to the HTC Touch Pro 2, when it worked it was a lovely phone, but I'm not rating that phone... maybe later. Anywho, adding a calendar event is time consuming and over-complicated. I can say that using a Motorola V3m, V9m, and V3a are easier to add events to, but I'm not rating them either! From the StraightTalk website you can choose this phone and a few others. I got this phone over the V3a simply because it had a full QWERTY keyboard and I do like to text, not crazy with SMS and Twitter, but I don't care for T9.

StraightTalk uses the Verizon network in my area without any issues, it activated using the Verizon *22890. Their website is clumsy and their customer support is in the Philippines and they have been less than helpful so far. I mentioned them in another post. I'm hoping that in a few years I can maybe afford a better phone and the service is still around. Too bad it would have cost me $125 a month just to have that HTC Touch Pro 2. But that's like comparing a penny to a dollar, they're both money, but they're just not the same.

Straight Talk Service

So far, I am not amused! I placed my order on 01/06/2010 02:55:32 PM, 1:55:32 PM CST, and understood that "All overnight orders must be placed before 3 pm EST for next day delivery. Saturday and Sunday excluded.". It was not shipped, in fact, it's still sitting in their warehouse. I spent 45 minutes talking to someone in the Philippines who thought it was an order placed at 3:55 PM, immediately after stating I'm in the Philippines, the time that counts is in Florida.

I argued the fact that 2:55:32 is still 4 minutes and 28 seconds before 3pm, so it's still "before 3pm" as the site states... otherwise I wouldn't have bothered! I'm not asking for the whole $14.95 back, there's a 3 day FedEx for $4.95, I'm only asking for a $4.95 credit on my account, it's 1 day's worth of shipping cost. I don't know about anyone else, but that is completely fair. Since they're fighting with me over it, I should ask for an extra $4.95 on top of it! But I'm not. They're stalling, I'll refuse the order if they want to be that way... no problem to me. I'll deny any charges as well. I'm tired of being screwed, completely tired.

It's definitely not coming today. They PROMISE it will be here tomorrow. If it were leaving Kansas City after 3 today, I might get it tomorrow, but who knows where this thing is coming from... probably Florida. I seriously doubt I'll get it tomorrow either. If it's still "in progress" tomorrow, they can keep it. I just can't get a break! I'm tired.

To B... Or Not To B...

B is for Bankruptcy and I've been thinking about it for a very long time. Now that everything is finally crashing down around me, financially anyway, it brings the thought into the foreground. I send MOST of my income to pay on this credit card. With BOA out of the way, by their own choosing, I only have Citi to deal with. Citi tried to screw me harder than I'm letting them, but still I am getting screwed pretty hard.

If they had left me the fuck alone, I would have had it paid off in about 3 years. Instead, no, they pissed me off and I stocked up on stuff I would need for the next 5 years or so. I'd have gotten a brand new computer too, but that would have been outdated as soon as I got it home.

I don't know what to do, I'm going to just end up flipping a coin to make a decision since I am literally unable to make an informed decision about how I want to fuck my life up. I've done a bang up job so far! I can simply stop paying them and deal with daily harassment from Citi for 7 years and fuck up my credit rating. OR. I can declare bankruptcy and fuck myself for 10 years. One has no out of pocket expense, the other has a $2000 price tag. If the calls get to be too much, I can always kill the phone... I hate it anyway.

Too bad nobody has anything constructive to say about this and help me make an informed decision. I'll probably get a few more spammers wanting to enlarge my tiny penis or make my huge cock be able to scratch diamonds with its amazing hardness. Joy...

Oops! I miscalculated...

I have really screwed the pooch. It's a good thing I sent the phone back. The phone was full of issues and I was going to end up beating it with a hammer, I checked the status of my rebate and it was denied, so the phone went into the box and the box is now somewhere in Oklahoma. Good riddance! Verizon called later and cheerily said they fixed the rebate issue, I told them it would be a good idea if they re-broke it because I was done. Don't call me when I'm not home, I have no cell and I'm not planning on getting one any time soon.

Bank of America pissed me off royally today. I called to see about transferring my CitiGank to BOA and just being done with it. The representative was a total cunt, I told her "That's nice, I've been a customer for 9 years and this is how you are? Go fuck yourself lady, and have a shitty day!" I hung up on her, I rarely do that. Then I fired off an email while still pissed.

My Message text to BOA was: Your credit rep was a rude bitch... FUCK YOU!

2 hours later, they replied:

Dear (me),

Thank you for your e-mail.

Allow us to apologize for any inconvenience or aggravation that you may
have experienced in this matter. Our commitment is to provide the
highest level of service possible. These standards demand that we treat
you and your requests with understanding, integrity and respect. We are
greatly disappointed to hear of an incident where we have not met this
commitment for you. Discourteous treatment is not acceptable behavior
from any of our bank associates.

If you would like to file a formal complain about the inconvenience you
have been subject to, please call us directly at 1.800.622.8731.

You can also attend to your nearest banking center and ask for the
manager.

Or you can write to:

Bank of America
Customer Satisfaction - Customer Action Team
Newark, DE 19850-1822

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We value you as
a customer and appreciate your business. If we may be of further
assistance, please contact us again by e-mail. Thank you for choosing
Bank of America.

Sincerely,
Humberto Rosales, Bank of America

I'm actually quite surprised they replied, usually a FUCK YOU email gets shit canned immediately. Fuck 'em. I fed the card and their stupid letter to the shredder, it's history. Crosscut shredders don't leave much.

Oh, the miscalculation... I had the wrong start date on my "pay this bitch off" xls file, I've been paying too little to make it to the deadline. I'd hate to have $3000 or less left that they would demand immediately when I could have stuck them with the whole $17k. They haven't clarified what would happen at the end of my contract, but I'd imagine it's "pay us what you owe us... NOW!"

I think I'll be restricting access to my blogs again... fuck it.

Shtoopid's Shtoopid Phone

Welps, I got the price dropped to just under $80... I'll sit on that price for a bit. I have two weeks left to decide whether or not it's worth it. I really don't NEED the thing, it's just something I enjoy... a toy, something to pass the time while waiting to die. I want to keep it, but who knows.

My back hurts like hell today, stretching exercises made it go from dull knife in the kidney to shooting pain down into left foot. So, I'm just going to sit here and watch movies. Fat man tired anyway! I would like to finish cleaning my messy house. I've been neglecting it since I first hurt my back... 2 months ago!

Here I Go Again... Idiot

Well, sometime yesterday I decided it's just not worth $1500 a year to have this cell phone. I'm pretty sure it's not worth $900 a year to have this cell phone, this amount would give me mostly data, 450 minutes, which is probably plenty. I have the desire to be connected with you humans, just not the desire to be in the same room with you. This phone allowed me to have the best of both worlds, and not have to sit here at the computer all day, waiting for a reply that I may never get.

I've found a way to get on IRC (Internet Chat Relay, ancient and outdated way of typing at people). AOhell & MSN Chat, didn't really use. Twitter, more a reader than a poster, but have used it as a chat medium. Farcebook, again more a reader than a poster, but it kept me in touch with people that didn't really even talk to me much in real life (I only add people I know). I never found a yahoo chat for Windows Mobile, not one that didn't cost $40, so I didn't get to use it. I could even check my email with the thing. I really do like the convenience of not having to sit here in order to be connected with people.

Maybe if I can get the bill down to about $80 per month total, I would stay connected. I cannot really afford that either, but $960 per year is better than $1500. I suppose I could go with a data only plan. I could txt and email for help when my car croaks in the middle of nowhere. If I send the phone back, it's to cancel the entire account. They won't let me go back to the pre-paid account I had before, they want me to be on a Verizon pre-pay. Before I did this, I had 15¢ per minute, no roaming. Verizon is 20¢ and I would hit roaming towers on the way up to the city at 70¢ per minute. I would simply set the phone to home only and that's just as good as not having a phone at all... been there and done that.

I'm too indecisive and I hate that. I had convinced myself that this is what I wanted and needed to make it through my boring assed days. Reality gave me a kick in the sack. As long as I have that huge credit card bill the reality is: "It's just too expensive to keep in touch with my imaginary friends..." - I hate reality!

2 Days Left of 2k9

It snowed again last night, on top of the snow and ice we got just before Christmas. This added snow is just going to make it more dangerous for stupid people. People that KNOW they can't drive in snow, but do it anyway. I'm sure there's someone out there who rides their motorcycle in this... someone who can barely ride on dry pavement.

I'm finally over the weird strep-like disease, turned into a sinus infection, turned into an ear infection, and just left my throat a bit sore. Now I'm waiting for the flu to come and get me. I usually get that on or about New Year's Eve. Speaking of parties, I missed the one next door... guess it was last night, don't know what I did with the invitation. As usual, I haven't been invited to an actual NYE party. I'll be in the city tomorrow night, going to Jeff & Sue's to set up their wireless network... maybe they'll invite me to stay a bit. meh.

I seriously need to clean my house. Between my back being trashed and the winter diseases, I haven't had the energy or desire. I'm tired and lazy... oh, and fat. I set up a few websites, http://www.democraticpartyoflinncounty.org/ and http://www.linncoweb.net/bplogistics. Someday they'll be something, maybe. Welps, I'm bored with this... time to go be bored doing something else.

Food Unfair - Mound City, KS

I was going to have stew with fake taters... I shook the can like I always do, it was extra sloshy... expired, 03/07! I just bought it! Everything but the milk is expired... why did I shop there? I know better... sickness is no excuse! That was a complete waste of money. I'm not even going to fight with Food Unfair about it. The hot chocolate was a brick, I laughed and thought "I wonder how long THIS has been expired", March 2007. That's just fucking gross and if it's not illegal, it should be!

O Crapsmas Tree

No, it's not a gouge on Christmas. It's dismay at my situation. I hope you have a Merry Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanza or whatever you celebrate. Happy Ho-Ho, Have a Happy Happy and a Merry Merry. Looks like I may miss Christmas again this year... my throat is thrashed... I sound like the Emperor!
Something something something dark side... something something something complete...

I've got about 36 hours left to get well and not be contagious. I'm unsure I'm going to make it. I feel worse than I did yesterday! I don't know how that's possible. Lying down causes me to cough more, especially on my left side. If I have a cough drop in my face continuously, I don't hurt too bad. Mouth tastes like raw hamburger, kind of looks the same too. It's too easy for me to get strep, mom claims she's never had it.

Klingon John showed up last night, my neighbor was worried about me. That's nice of them, but he should have been more worried about my guests. I don't really trust people anymore, I didn't know anyone that he brought with him. I'm paranoid, but with good reason... so is it still paranoia? I gave him a crappy old laptop with a failing hard drive and a short in the power board. It was just barely powerful enough to run a couple of eggdrop bots. He kept wanting to play with my gun, I wouldn't let him... it's mine! I did let him look at it, he seemed offended when I unloaded it before handing it to him. WTF?

Last night, Ward brought me some NyQuil. "Tastes better than ever!" <<< BULLshit! I don't like dextromethorphan (you may know it as DXM), I think it's made from meth & orphans. Anywho, it makes me feel really weird for quite a long time. Doesn't really help much with the coughing. Some people use DXM as a recreational drug, I honestly don't know why anyone would want to feel like this... unless it just affects me differently. Second thought, it wouldn't surprise me any, caffeine makes me sleepy, anti-depressants make me more depressed. I'm an enigma.

I should go take a nice hot shower, raise body temp... my piece of shit body thinks a fever is 98.9°. It's good radio station, not good for killing baddies. Since I run about 2° cold, so what should be 100.8° ends up being just under 99°. Sleep would help. Sleep that lasts longer than 2 hours at a time.

December Sickness

I've got what appears to be strep throat, yay. I feel like total crap. Not much has happened lately, still plugging along. I decided to go ahead and let Verizon dry hump me for 2 years... I needed a cell phone, the car is getting up in years, I almost hit a deer last night (again)... what I didn't need was the type of phone I got, nor the plan they forced me into because of that phone. meh.

Still haven't seen a dime for the force site, meh. I haven't been sleeping well, sometimes not at all... I just lie there for a few hours. Add insomnia to strep and you end up with one miserable fat man. Will calling at early and late hours doesn't help... Klingon John has been calling again, late night calls, 11:30pm and shit like that. I had to silence that guy's rings, it's ridiculous. Whether I'm up or not isn't the point, it's a matter of manners.

Cold & Dark

It has just been a miserable motherfucking day... make that week. I've continued on my trek of bad and stupid decisions. I bought the carpet cleaning chemicals, they sold me too much and then signed my name. So now I have an extra 5 gallons of chemical I'll likely never use. I wasn't supposed to pay for this.

I bought a cell phone, I'm tired of being raped by Verizon... US Cell, someone who has ass hammered me in the past, doesn't work here well enough anymore to be useful, especially for $120 a month. After two weeks, I took the phone back. I'll have to fork out at least $60 for my ignorance. It's probably a good thing too, I don't really have $120 a month for even good service, let alone shoddy service.

I let the library ladies use me like toilet paper... or maybe a door mat, nope, toilet paper, because I feel shitty. I let my customers and "friends" abuse the fuck out of me... this shit has got to stop. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of it all. I'm just fed up with everything and nearly everyone. I'm sitting here in the dark, the fucking power is out here in Shit Town again. Been out for an hour or two, I don't fucking know. I'm typing this on Dink in notepad, because even though my modem says my DSL is working, it's not, the fucking thing lies.

I don't know why I bought this big fucking TV, I know I shouldn't have. I shouldn't have done a lot of things. Even though the credit card is basically dead, it doesn't mean that I should have had a last fling with it... I'm so fucking tired of it all, the lack of sleep isn't helping things at all.