Pat’s Weblog

I keep getting robo calls from “Ed Ecology” with “green” suggestions. I assume it is funded by some non-profit group but they don’t identify themselves. Yes, I’m on the do-not-call list but non-profits are exempt from the rules. If people wonder why I don’t run to pick up my phone, this is just one of the reasons. Anybody know who is funding these calls so I can try to stop the calls? To my friends and relatives, using my cell phone number will usually reach me faster than my home phone. If you need my cell phone number just email and I’ll send it.

Update: May 16

Aaaargh! I just had another call from “Ed”. This one was “…if everyone in the United States would recycle one newspaper a week…”. The closing sentence: “This has been a public service announcement.” Again, no identification of the sponsor.

Update: June 10
Local radio station KXL called yesterday and aired the story today. Listen online at KXL News. The story starts at 2:00 minutes in.

About 4:00am this morning I awoke, shifted my position a little, and felt a shift of something in my back like it popped into a different position. The result was an end to the back muscle cramps and enhanced mobility. Now I’m just dealing with the soreness in the lower back from all the muscle cramping the past week. I’ll take it easy the next few days, until the soreness is gone.

I’m glad I have every Friday off until the end of September. I decided to try resting my back by staying in bed as much as possible today. I got out of bed only for nature calls and meals. I finally got up about 4:30pm and I seem to have more mobility and less pain. I may try this for a few more days.

I was able to get a little more sleep between back cramps last night. One block of two hours of sleep was really nice. Hopefully I’m on the mend.

The coughing has just about quit. The problem is the muscle cramping in my back which it appears to have triggered. This is the same gut-wrenching lower back cramping I had in January. Last night was the worst. Sleep an hour, back cramps for a couple minutes and repeat all night. Valium and Tylenol didnt even help. I’m hoping for a better night tonight.

I’m almost feeling normal again - except for the hacking cough. If you had asked me yesterday if I was going to make it to work tomorrow the answer would have been “No way!”, but now I think it is probable I will make it back to work tomorrow. Since I parked the truck Thursday morning I haven’t even been out of the house. What a not-so-great way to spend a weekend.

I forgot to mention the refund check from Comcast arrived Thursday, exactly four weeks after the service was disconnected and two weeks after I received a final accounting stating it would take up to four weeks to send out the refund check.

I do feel better today. The fever really came back yesterday afternoon until I took a cooling shower. That (and some Tylenol) seemed to finally bring down the temp. I spent last night waking up about once an hour and I have no idea why. Today I am just tired, with an occasional bad cough, so I hope that is an indication the worst is over.

…the nasty illness which is tearing through our company. I left work at 9:00am yesterday with a sore throat and coughing. By evening I had a fever and a worse cough. I went to bed before 9:00pm and slept through until 7:00am (10 hours) before getting up, taking my medications, having a small breakfast, checking email and heading back to bed. Another 2 1/2 hours of sleep and I think the fever is going down but the cough remains. Most of my co-workers who have experienced this illness have spent two to three weeks coughing up a lung so I can probably expect the same.

I received my final “bill” from Comcast this last week. It showed a negative balance, as I was expecting. There was a note saying how they were sorry to lose my business and to expect the refund in the next 30 days. Why wasn’t the check in the statement? Customers are expected to pay their bills within two weeks of reception or face fees - for service not yet delivered! You want to leave the door open for a former customer to return? Provide refunds quickly and leave the former customer with a good feeling. The Comcast representative who processed my cancellation two weeks ago when I returned their equipment told me exactly what my refund would be. Why wasn’t he authorized to cut a check right then? Comcast has competitors. They are no longer a monopoly. They need to run their business like they have competition and care about their past ,present, and future customers.