No more land line

I finally had had enough of spam phone calls from Wells Fargo Home Insurance, AIG, Tele Performance, Card Services, Global Reach and Home Security Group and other related businesses that I decided to cancel our land line. We were averaging at least three calls from Wells Fargo alone each day, five from the others. No one calls us on that line anyway, as everyone has our cell phones.

I called Qwest to do the cancellation. Jennifer, my customer service rep, was aghast. "Why are you cancelling your phone line?"

Stupefied, I replied "Because we aren't using it anymore?"

"Oh (giggles), OK!"

She then began to do the usual Qwest tactic, telling me of all the other "cool" savings I could enjoy if I got DirectTV and my cellphone service on one bundled bill. I will bundle with Qwest next year, but for now Sprint is holding us hostage for another 16 months and a few days.

Jennifer wanted me to know that DirectTV had other options ideal for me, and asked if she could get the paperwork ready to get the TV hooked up.

"It's only going to take a few more minutes!" "Minutes" to Qwest is relative.

"We don't have TV right now, you know, all the channels are bullshit; too much reality TV. The only channel we really enjoy is PBS."

"Oh," she replied quietly She must have thought we live behind the moon. We don't really. But we do live in rural southeastern Arizona and if I play with my TV's rabbit ears I can get a Mexican station from Agua Prieta.

I didn't want to tell Jen that Kevin also likes the History aka Nazi Channel, Comedy Channel and I love my C-Span and newsy stuff. If I did, she would have kept me on the line another 30 minutes. My time was precious. I didn't want to waste any more time listening to upsales.

There were many three to five-minute down times where I was put on hold and forced to listen to a loud robo-ad about all the new features of Qwest. I'd take the phone away from my ear and place the speakerphone on and work on my email while waiting.

Confirmation to a new contract put me in touch with a third party, always an ominous sign. I had to give out all my personal information a second time, getting quite annoyed. Then I was placed on hold again, again forced to listen to loud robo-ads by Qwest.

Then I heard the line switch over yet again, but this time I got connected to another robot who then said "If you are calling to have Qwest take over your long distance service, please state 'yes!'"

WAITAMINUTE! That's not what I wanted. I wanted internet service only, not additional overpriced Qwest long distance. That's why we have long-distance anytime minutes with Sprint.

I replied with a loud "NO!"

"We seem to have a problem here" said the robot. "I'll connect you with a sales representative..."

So then I got reconnected back to a robo-ad, placed my ear set away from my face, placed the line on speakerphone yet again, and waited and played with my Facebook page. Another person came back on, and asked what was the problem. It had now been close to 40 minutes that I had been held hostage by Qwest. Now I was getting impatient with Qwest's ineptitude. By god I thought, it's really true that Qwest has poor customer relations.

"I just spent 40 minutes trying to get my phone disconnected for internet only. I don't want your long-distance!!!"

"Oh, Jen just typed in the wrong code for you, I'll take care of you." More waiting. More robo-ads.

Then I got connected to yet another robo-talk, this time to press either a "1" or a "2" but by the time I realized I was no longer listening to an ad and got back on the line, I was disconnected.

"Good-bye!" said the robot.

So now I don't even know what slick services Qwest has me signed up for. This is going to be interesting.

Neighbors moving out

Kelly and her sisters moved all their stuff yesterday. This morning there are piles of plastic bags full of trash. She doesn't realize that the waste management truck only picks up the initial green dumpsters. Trash left next to the dumpster will remain there. Whatever space I have I can use for her trash tomorrow at pick-up.

The For-Rent sign is back up. Will Hen and Jen get renters in time or will they end up paying two mortgages again for a while? They are asking for $1150 a month; houses in town, closer to post, go for much cheaper. People who live out here really must like the country and the commute over the convenience of the town.

It was a quiet weekend. The hike on Saturday was nice, but hot and dry. All the creeks were dry.

Hurricane Jimena off the Baja coast is approaching Cabos and we may get some rains off of her later this week. I sure hope so as everything is drying up again. We haven't had the yield this year in the garden as usual. The bugs have gotten to the tomatoes and squash first.

However, we are planning a trip to Canyon de Chelly over the upcoming four-day weekend. I hope we don't get rained out!

Senator Edward Kennedy has died

He died late last night in his home at Hyannis Point. He was suffering from brain cancer that was first diagnosed in May 2008 after he was rushed to a hospital after a seizure.

I don't normally comment on deaths unless a famous death reminds me of childhood memories. In Kennedy's case, I grew up hearing about Kennedys: The JFK assassination, then the Robert Kennedy assassination five years later, the Ted Kennedy at Chappaquiddick and of course the life and times of Jacquelyn Kennedy after she married Onassis.

He was preceded in death by his 88-year-old sister Eunice who died 11 August.

There is now one remaining Kennedy child still alive from the original Joseph and Rose children, Jeanne Anne Kennedy, mother of William Kennedy Smith who was charged with rape in 1991 (and of course the charges were dropped). I don't think William would be a doctor today if those rape charges had held.

I was no fan of Ted Kennedy but I admired him for his steadfast determination and passion as a Senator to help his people in Massachusetts. I saw him on C-Span a few times and he always spoke eloquently about whatever cause he was pushing, but mostly it was health care. Had he not screwed his life over with that embarrassing Chappaquiddick incident, he very well could have become president. But maybe Ted Kennedy was too divisive of a character to get the conservative front to support his causes.

There aren't too many more people still around that were influential when I was a teenager. The last person I can think of is Fidel Castro. When he croaks on his last cigar it's going to be a long and lonely future for me.

Or maybe not. Maybe I'll be strolling the sandy beaches of western Cuba after Castro dies, celebrating the lifting of the nearly 50-year embargo and travel ban for US citizens.

Wait, there's Clint Eastwood as well. Go ahead, Reaper, make my day.

More rain

(I had a great week in Baltimore but I wrote about that on my other blog)

It rained hard last night for several hours, so I excitedly got up to pull more weeds, mostly puncture vine and Love Grass. That stuff grows like, uh, weeds.

More rain is forecasted for today and Sunday.

But speaking of rain, late yesterday afternoon, sitting at the computer composing a paper, the sister of our neighbor came over. She had her two kids with her and was acting restless. She needed to get to the store for some stuff. I didn't ask what she needed, and after cleaning out the passenger seat and putting the rear seats up for her two kids, I took her to the nearby country store.

What did she buy? Three bottles of white wine and a packet of Newports. Then, out of gratitude for my taking her to the store, she insisted on getting me wine or beer. I wasn't really in the mood for either since I just got over a cold and was taking antihistamines, but she insisted. So I picked out a six-pack of Corona.

By then the rain began to fall so I dropped her off at her house. She was grateful for me and invited me in. We chatted a while. Her husband died in April in a car crash. She's receiving a monthly SSN check and with that she can live on. Her sister (the renter) is unexpectedly pregnant and she flew here from MA to be the live-in babysitter when the baby's due. But that also means that she is moving into town to be closer to her job and the house will be vacant once more in September.

I liked this woman but I was uncomfortable seeing her so drunk. She spoke coherently, but it was her body language that was so out of synch. She'd move her head around like a blind man, closing her eyes to gather her thoughts.

She loves it here. And I'm happy to know she is close to her sister. And I told her that if she needed my help again, to just drop on by. Still, I felt uncomfortable seeing her so out of whack in front of her kids.

Finally, some rain!

Yesterday morning I volunteered at the county extension office, where I busily answered questions from local gardeners. Dying peach trees, mesquite borers and girdlers, organic pesticides were the big questions yesterday. I logged in four hours before leaving.

The sky was dark from the south. Rain? The forecasters were talking about rain on Wednesday so I was a little unprepared for yesterday's storm. I shopped at Lowe's and the rain came down hard on my way home. Perfect timing!

When I got home by 3pm the dogs were happy to see me. The back yard was flooded in parts. That's the first time I've seen that much rain this summer, and I'm not going to complain as the shrubs around the perimeter needed the water.

Pulling weeds will be easy this morning, but I also have to start packing for my flight to Baltimore tomorrow; I'm flying back East to attend Dave's wedding. I'm also going to visit with my sister and friends Jill in DE and Allison and Mike in New Jersey where we are going to hike in my beloved Pine Barrens like we always did Friday nights in Lebanon State Park. I'll miss my first day of class and when I return I'm going to hit the ground running.

Our nonsoon

I went on a hike with four other people from the hiking club yesterday, up in our Huachuca mountains. Despite the 8000'+ elevation we could feel the heat, and it kicked all our butts in the end, even the dogs' butts.

The lack of rain was very obvious in the lower elevations, where strands of gambel oak are dying off.

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The annual downpours haven't arrived, and experts blame El Niño.
By Bill Hess and Dana ColeHerald/Review

Published: Sunday, August 9, 2009 1:35 AM MST

Maybe you’ve heard the cliché: “Everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.”In southern Arizona, the weather issue is more local.It’s about the monsoon — or the lack of it.

And, again, no one can doing anything about that.Well, not really.Mother Nature can, and she is doing so, by sending the boy — El Niño — to replace the girl — La Niña — in the Pacific Ocean.

The vast Pacific does much to dictate weather patterns around the world, a federal meteorologist said.When the boy is in the Pacific, there is a “warming trend of seawater” that affects the monsoon, Ken Drozd said.

Working for the National Weather Service in Tucson, Drozd said once El Niño starts in the far western waters of the Pacific along the equator, it brings a dry spell as the summer rains diminish in southern Arizona.

In June, earlier-than-expected rains occurred before La Niña was forced out of the Pacific Ocean region, he said.“Last month was a struggle when it came to the monsoon,” Drozd said of July, noting that El Niño grew in strength. Usually, the local monsoon begins around July 4. Instead, a different high-pressure system formed over Arizona, keeping the flow of rain from coming into the state from the southeast, its normal route in a good summer monsoon, he said.

The sea current changed, affecting the atmospheric current.And while people think of weather systems as separate regions, the entire globe is connected, and the main area driving weather is the Pacific Ocean, Drozd said.What happens in the Pacific creates either a strong or weak hurricane season in the Atlantic, and because of the girl-to-boy phenomenon, there has been a reduction in the number of hurricanes expected to hit the eastern United States this year, Drozd said.

While the Southwest is in a drought, one that is expected to continue through the summer because of scarce rainfall by a weak monsoon, “there is a coming upside,” Drozd said.

Later in the fall and through the winter, “there is a better chance for more rain than in the past years,” he said.The El Niño system creates the ability to bring in precipitation from the north, the federal meteorologist said.

During the last three years when the girl was in charge of the Pacific, the summer rains were better. But on the other hand, the winter rains were lighter, he said. Now, the reverse will be true, Drozd added.

Since June 15, the Sierra Vista area has received 3.25 inches of rain, which is almost three quarters of an inch less than normal, he said. Other areas in Cochise County have received their normal or higher amounts since June 15. However, it appears the cumulative amounts for southern Arizona when the monsoon traditionally ends in September will put everyone at a lower-than-normal total, Drozd said.

Noting that rain is important for ranchers and others involved agricultural economies, he said the immediate outlook is not good, but it will become better during the winter rainy season.“Dry weather is expected to continue for a while, and then it will become wetter later this year,” Drozd said. Of course, that all depends on whether Mother Nature can keep her unruly children — El Niño and La Niña — in check. But, then who knows whether even she can truly do anything about the weather.

http://www.svherald.com/articles/2009/08/09/news/doc4a7e7f88ee713783380716.txt

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Going back to school

I have decided to go ahead and register myself as a History/English major at the local college. With intensive class loads for the next four semesters, to include most likely summer courses, I could get the requirements out of the way and add these topics to my teaching credentials after taking the appropriate state exams. Both topics were topics I enjoyed when I was an undergrad but didn't take because they weren't required for my German-French double majors.

Declaring a major also allows me to register on-line and in advance AND it gives me priority for courses. Right now as an undeclared student I don't have that privilege.

All the courses I've taken in the last year other than that Anthro class I enjoyed so much were requirements for my Arizona Secondary Education Teaching Certificate. I completed that requirement. Now I can take all the other courses that were appealing to me in the course catalog but which I didn't have time to take. The college here has a good history department that offers history classes not just on the United States, but also Mexico. I have always wanted to learn more about our neighbors to the South.

The good thing about Arizona's higher education system is that its community colleges are very affordable ($52 a credit hour) and up to 64 credits are transferable toward a degree toward any of the state's three public universities: University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona State University in Phoenix, and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Compare that, for example, to UA's tuition rate of $259 a unit plus all the added fees (including the $55 "economic recovery surcharge" to compensate for the current recession) makes a full unit fee $427.50. Most UA courses are three units. Students would be foolish not to take their first two years at their local community college before entering the larger universities for the upper-level courses.

This means, though, that I will have to take dreaded math classes. Math was my biggest weakness in high school, barely earning passing grades. I may have to take a class of two of remedial algebra, classes that won't count toward my degree, for a year. This is going to be my biggest hurdle and could potentially lower my overall GPA by a grade or two. Eeech.

This also means no extended summer road trips for a while. That's a sacrifice. But I could get a lot of required courses out of the way in two short but intensive terms.

I may even try some of the on-line, non-intensive-writing courses as well. This way I could take the weekly assignments at a time that is convenient for me rather than having all evening classes four days a week like I have right now.

All the other requirements, though, are courses that I would have wanted to take down the line in the next few years, like Digital Photography for the ARTS requirement, Southwest Heritage for the Humanities requirement, even Biology for Non-Majors for the Lab/Science requirement. Too bad the college doesn't offer Botany though. That would work great with my Master Gardener certificate.

Tomorrow I'm going to talk to an advisor to see if some of my old undergrad courses could apply toward my plan. Maybe I can get a placement exam for my Spanish requirement as surely Spanish 101 would be too easy for me, a waste of time and money, and not challenging enough. Spanish is the only language that is offered at the college, and it's a graduation requirement, which means everyone will have to take the elementary courses.

Kevin is cool with my plan. Thank God. My first husband was so adamantly opposed to me taking any more college courses once we were married. "You are a mother now, you don't need to be going back to college!" he once said. And I was dumb enough to believe him then.

I was able to sign up for an additional Computer Essentials course and the required English 102 courses last week, both which are required for graduation. That leaves me with four courses for this semester, or 12 credits, of which nine are intensive writing courses. I also want to take a few more computer/network/world wide web courses just to expand my computer literacy.

By the time I am done with my plan I am going to have more than the 64 credits for two Associate Degrees, but all the courses are going to help me down the line for those more challenging graduate courses I still want to take. They, however, may be another two years down the line.

I am going to be so busy here in another week. But I am ready for the challenge.