Birthday Surprises and Church Talks

Well my birthday was definitely one to remember, not only did we have a great dinner at Ztejas, but when I got home....SURPRISE!!!!! NO AIR CONDITIONING!!! YEAH!!!!!! Worst night of my life on the 30th birthday, hows that for one to remember. Oh well can't win em all. Sonia said that she read that the origins of Birthdays were so that you could have 1 day a year that was the day you would have good luck. Well I don't think that worked out for my on my birthday, at least for this year. Maybe it was all the negative energy I was throwing around dreading the fact that I would be thirty and old and tired.

But things turned out alright, our AC was fixed the next day and we've been in air conditioned bliss ever since. Needless to say that was all the surprises I could stand for one birthday. :)

Church Talks, well this is an interesting one because it seems that our ward loves to have me speak. I was asked to talk on "The blessings of Hometeaching" and I found out later that it was my own Elders Quorum President who threw my name out there. Oh well, an opportunity to speak is one for growth right. Well I wrote by hand my entire talk and then delivered it just this morning. I think it went over well and their was a great speaker before me which always helps. I did get some nice comments afterward so that always good for the self esteem. I spoke about experiences from my childhood going Home Teaching with my Dad, and then my experiences after Sonia and I got married, and then shared a story from a member of the quorum of the twelve, so for all of you who feel like you missed out, there you go, you know what my talk was all about.

The Summer class that I'm taking for my masters started last week and I use the term "started" very loosely here. It turns out that it is an independent study course with the chair of the college.
So I sit down with him and determine what to study for the summer and then I get a grade on that. Well when he heard that I teach animation at the Art College he thought that would be a great place to start. Which works out great for me because I can do this project for the summer and the end result will be that I have a great component as an addition to my teaching materials in the fall.

Sonia and I are "STILL" waiting for news on the house and I'm becoming impatient. I feel like they are just taking their sweet time. It's an interesting phenomenon to observe. First the bank says they need us to hurry up and sign stuff and get it back to them, we send it. Then is sits on some guys desk at the bank for 30 days until he finally notices it and say "oh this has to be done today". Meanwhile we're just waiting until the next time they throw stuff at us to sign really fast and get back to them. Thankfully we are in the final stages of the negotiation so I hoping that we will hear something further sometime this week or at least before the end of July.
We are hopefully and waiting and I know that if and when we do get this house it'll be a great place for us to start and we'll have really gotten (I feel) a great deal on the house.
So we wait...............

Sonia has been working hard and prepping her department for some aquatic therapy over the summer which she did last year, and I think that her patients will be pleased with all the hard work she is putting into that and hopefully she'll have some fun too, getting into the sun but out of the heat and getting all wet. :)

Oh, and on a completely different computer geek related note. Our Modem was dying a slow and painful death, so in an effort to resolve the situation Sonia and I headed out to get a new one, only to find ourselves on a brand new adventure on the way to the store. We ran out of gas. That's right, WE RAN OUT OF GAS! literally. The car start to sputter, which I had never personally witnessed a car do before and then it just didn't go forward anymore. A lovely gentleman passing on a bicycle was kind enough to help us push it off the main road and thankfully we were right next to a gas station, so really it worked out exactly how we planned it. :)
It was actually not to bad and Sonia and I got to spend some more time together so who can complain about that. I guess we need to make more time for filling up the car with gas, we're so busy you know. We made it to the store and I picked up a sweet deal on a brand new modem. I got it home and hooked it up and then called Cox.

Ok, you may have noticed that I put a break here and that is because this next part is really good and I want you all to pay attention to it. I called Cox and said "I just bought a new modem and need to register the Mac Address with you so I can use it" They said "No problem." I said "Awesome". They said what is the make and model of the modem. I responded "Motorola SB6120"..........6120? That's right 6120. Oh we don't support that model. WHAT?! Yes we only support the 5100 series. Your kidding........ Well let me check with my supervisor......Yep we only support the 5100 series. So your telling me that the BRAND NEW modem that I bought I can't use because you don't support it yet. "Yes that is correct". Ok so when will you support it? We don't know that sir. OO K. IS there ANYONE else there that might know more about it?
I already asked my supervisor sir, there is no one else that can help you. Ok thanks good bye!
DID YOU HEAR THAT! They don't support it. So now I'm thinking great I have 2 options. Wait till they do support it which could be in the next hour or next week or even in a year. Or take it back and get an older less efficient modem from the store. Well I was unwilling to accept either of those options so I called Cox again, knowing that this time I would get someone else to talk to. They answered and I told them that I had a Motorola 6120 modem that I wanted to hook up and that I had just been told that they don't support it. They paused a moment and then said "The 6120?" "Yeah we support that." YOU DO?! "Yep we do". So I gave them all the info and they connected it and tada It works!
Just to make sure that you all followed that. I called the same number twice and the first time they told they couldn't do it, and the second time they said no problem and did it. Go figure. Crazy Customer Service people. So remember the next time you call customer service, if you don't get what you want the first time just call back and talk to someone else. :)

Fun stuff. Well I've chatterd on long enough and I'm sure your all bored by now so I'll let you go. Hope your all healthy and happy.