Facie’s Ramblings

In the past few days, I have read in the paper/saw on the news two heinous acts against children. A boyfriend of some woman beat her 11-year-old son over the course of a nine-hour period, and the boy eventually died. I won't go into any more details, other than to add that the mother waited over an hour after she got home before calling 911, because what I just wrote is so disturbing as it is. Then last night, I saw on the news (and read this morning) that another boyfriend of another woman sexually assaulted a three-month old. I am so incredibly sickened and angered by this. What normal person would not be? And that is the thing: these people cannot be normal.There are lacking something, but what I do not know. In the first horrendous crime, some neighbors who were interviewed cried, saying they should have done something. This made me wonder, how many people hear screams or crying down the street or down the hall and actually call the police. Would you? I am one of thos...

I was really trying to think of a catchy yet appropriately descriptive title for this post, but, alas, I did not really succeed. But here goes the post anyway. You may recall that back in July, I attended a townhall for Raja, who is running for Allegheny County Executive. I came away impressed by what he said and convinced he was the right guy, and not just because there was free food involved. Last evening, for the first time ever, I volunteered for a campaign (Raja's, in case you could not tell where this was going). I and three others from a local Republican group made phone calls for almost two and a half hours to people who were registered Republicans (at least they were at one point in time). The whole operation seemed pretty slick. Let me explain how it works. Each call is automatically dialed simply by your pressing the "next call" button. You have a "script" you can read from, modifying what you say as needed. If someone answers the phone, you...

I have been pretty nice over the past year and a half. Well, generally speaking, I have always been a nice person; not too many people would describe me as mean, moody, or bitchy. But as much as I try to be kind (or at least not hurtful or rude), today I just have to say that some people are stupid, as mean as that sounds. Yesterday, some idiot on a bike biked right in front of me. Why was that stupid? Well, I was the second car in line waiting for the green light. Once it turned green, the first car went. Then I started to go. Except I had to stop because this moron bicyclist crossed right in front of me when his light had been red for at least 10 or 15 seconds. And he was biking on the sidewalk. At least he was wearing a helmet... ****  Last week I received a letter from a law firm that represents Duquesne Light (you may recall, we had our second power surge in just over eight months, and many of us think DL is responsible). The letter asked that we complete an inventory s...

I am not the best when it comes to making decisions, sometimes even simple ones. But in my defense, I am also pretty easy-going, so for most things, I could really go either way. I have been a Verizon customer for years. Probably since before Al Gore invented the internet. At some point during our long-term relationship, Verizon rewarded customers with a "new-every-two" deal. I swear years ago it was better, that you pretty much could get any phone you wanted once your two years were up and you signed on for two more. But phones today are so much more glitzy and complicated that there is no way they would do that now. So you get 50 bucks towards something. Fortunately, for what I want, that and whatever special they have pretty much hooks me up. I was up for a new phone this past October. Since my phone had been working fine, I waited until just before Christmas to see what my options were. But after looking at the array of choices and pretty much becoming overwhelmed, I ...

As much as I hate computerized "customer" service, based on my recent experiences, I am starting to think maybe humans are over-rated in that area. I recently signed up for Verizon's triple package, with FiOS phone, cable, and Internet. Before the installation, I called Comast to see how far in advance I would need to cancel my cable. The rep said you can cancel anytime you want, even the same day, but if you don't specifically request that the day you call be your last billing day, Comcast will try to charge you for two more weeks. Fast-forward more than two weeks, our FiOS was installed, and I called to cancel our cable. This rep said there was a two-week disconnect period. I told her that was fine, but after today I was not going to pay anymore, referencing what "Mark" had told me a few weeks before. When she said she would cancel it in two days as a courtesy, I asked to speak to a manager. The manager said two weeks is standard, but as a courtesy, she wo...