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Thursday, January 31, 2008

AT+T - Rot in Hell - a rant 

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I have had to assure the young man at the local store at several moments during our last few conversations that I was not planning to come to the store on a random shooting spree. I do not believe in random shooting. Actually, I am dead accurate with most weapons I own or have been assigned.

The latest - after all the hell I have been through since the first of November. Just today, January 31st. They finally discovered the damn problem. They (AT&T) sold me the Unity Billing Plan but they (AT&T) do not offer the Unity Billing Plan in our area. That's right. They sold me a billing plan that they do not offer in my area. All of the shit I have put up with for the last 3 months - for nothing. They offered me a plan that they do not have. I have had my business phone number changed. I have had to install new SIM cards in cell phones. I have spent seriously a week on the phone with untold numbers of AT&T representatives. I have been overcharged for 3 months. I have had my phone turned off though I paid the bill. I have heard every excuse. I have encountered technical issues that friends have told me they did not believe could actually happen. And all of that, every last excurciating detail, was for NOTHING.

From the first operator to the young man I just spoke with last, not one of the stupid SOBs realized that they sold me a calling plan that they don't offer where I live.

AT&T - Rot in Hell.

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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Grandparents' Rights and other family law mythology 

I posted about grandparents' rights several years ago. Eugene Volokh has a post about a new legal case invoking the grandparents' rights meme. I thought after the Supreme Court ruled that the matter would be closed. I admit that I thought wrong.

Remember that we are talking about a legally fit parent. We are not alleging an abusive or neglectful parent. We are only talking about a fit parent. In this case (as in most others presented in the grandparents' rights cases), the parent has been declared legally fit. They are aware of their decisions and the consequences of those decisions on the child. What is at issue is the parent has decided for whatever reason that the grandparent cannot visit the child. Why there is even a case to be made here is beyond me.

It does not matter why a parent decides to exclude a grandparent from a child's life. It only matters that the parent decides . The parent makes decisions for a child. There is no such animal as grandparents' rights. That is nonsense. A parent has the right to exclude from a child's life ANYONE to include grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, distant relatives, friends, classmates, the mailman, that random guy over there, you, me, and Jesus Christ. We may not like it, but that is the decision that is a parent's alone to make.

We may not like decisions that other parents make for the lives of thier children, but our dislike in no way diminishes the parents' right to make the decision. THEY ARE FIT PARENTS. It is their decision. To meddle with this is to invite chaos.

Legally fit parents get to decide everything from the brand of Orange Juice at breakfast to whether or not their child can have a blood transfusion. From the small to the grave in consequence, it is a parents' responsibility. Does a grandparent have a legal standing if a parent decides to send their child to public school even though the parent has adequate funds to pay for private school? Does the grandparent have a legal standing if a parent decides to home school a child? Does a grandparent have a legal standing if a parent decides to send a child to a parochial school? When does a grandparent get to make a decision in the life of a grandchild? Only when a legally fit parent approves.

A fortune cookie example - we play this game when opening and reading fortune cookies. We decide on a tag line ("in the bed" or "while driving a Mustang") that must be read after your fortune. "You will have a great adventure" becomes "You will have a great adventure in the bed". Any statement about grandparents' rights has to end with the tag line "as long as a legally fit parent approves". "Grandparents should be allowed to see their grandchildren at Christmas" becomes "Grandparents should be allowed to see their grandchildren at Christmas as long as a legally fit parent approves".

Hypothetical - A legally fit parent decides they want to move with their children from Miami to Anchorage, Alaska. Not for any reason other than they decided they wanted to move. Should a court even begin to consider a motion by the grandparents to block the parents from moving? Why?

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AT&T will not stop undermining my sanity 

So, there are numerous post below that provide more detail. The answer was finally uncovered today when I berated a Retail Sales Manager and he did some checking.

They never enrolled us in the Unity Calling Plan. That simple little mistake has cost us about $900 so far. He told me that I had gone over my minutes every month for the last 3 months. I told him that was impossible because the AT&T Unity Plan has unlimited calling to any other AT&T land or cell phone number. To go over our minutes would mean that we called a non-AT&T phone number for 700 minutes a month. AT&T is the only service provider in our business area. Although we do not have a choice but to be AT&T serviced, the upshot is that with the Unity Plan you simply cannot talk over your minutes because everyone has an AT&T phone.

If they accept their mistake, it will mean adjusting my bill from the first of November. As that does not seem likely, my attorney will probably advise me not to post what I plan to do next on this site. Watch the headlines.

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What color crayon are you? 

Well, my company is The Crayon Years. This blurb is posted on The Crayon Years Blogspot. It seems only natural that I would post my results:

You Are a Yellow Crayon

Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors.
You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius.
Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way.
While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme.

Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.
What Color Crayon Are You?


The introduction above reminds me of a scene from The Beverly Hillbillies. Jed told Mr. Drisdale as he pointed to the mounted rhino head on the wall "we figured since this is the billy-ard room, and that is the billy-ard table, well that critter up on the wall must be the billy-ard."

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Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Wonderful Pictures 







Don't you just hate having to answer the phone when you are in the middle of something important?

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