5-3-10 Monday (The Escalator)

I must say – when I made this “Rant Warning” icon a couple of months back, I never expected to use it so often.  Go figure.  Anymore use and I’ll have to make it fancier – perhaps even animated.  On with the rant:

The rant:  Within the past year, I’ve mentioned entertainment.com several times.  Entertainment is that book that you buy only it’s an online version hence the .COM.

Above/Below: Remember the book? 

The internet version was great while traveling since we were able to pull up BOGO coupons in so many cities.  From attractions to restaurants, we’ve made good use of it.   Monthly, I get an email featuring coupons for my area.  Back in January, I changed my “area” from Fort Myers, FL to Charlotte, NC.  I keep getting the offers for the previous area.  I’ve called entertainment.com so many times asking them to change it.  They have my current address and all but can’t seem to the get the emails changed.  Each time I call they’ve “escalated it to corporate”.  Month after month, I call.  This month was no different.  Today, I got the email with coupons from Fort Myers.  What the hell?  This email came at the wrong time.  I’m having tooth pain.  I have a dead battery.  More on that shortly.  Anyways, I call entertainment.com as typical.  I get the customer service rep who is so sorry for the inconvenience.  I ask for a manager.  He is a manager, per the voice at the other end.  I apologize before I even start.  “This is my 4th call.  I’m sorry in advance, I know it’s not your fault BUT what’s wrong with you people?  Advanced technology and you can’t figure out how to change my address?  You work with 2 separate systems but know one knows how to operate the other?”  I went on.  Use your imagination.  No curse words were exchanged.  Guess what?  He “escalated it to corporate” and assures me it will be corrected.  It will take another month for me to find out if he’s right.  He offers his name as a reference.  What good will that do me?  You people suck.

The battery:  Yesterday while at Walmart we bought new headlights for the Jeep.  The old ones were dim.  After Jim installed them we went on a roadtest.  The lights were left on overnight.

The tooth ache:  I’ve been popping Ibuprofen every day, several times a day for a little less than a month.  Reading the bottle, I see it shouldn’t be taken more than 10 days in a row.  Oh shit.  In a panic, this weekend I switched to acetaminophen. This morning I call Charlotte Root Canal Center and they’re able to take me.  I hope in the Jeep, dead battery.  Jim comes home from work to jump start me.  I rescheduled the appointment for 11.  I arrived, xrays are taken, my story is told.  The biggest problem is that I don’t know which tooth is the problem.  I feel pain all over.  I had 4 fillings redone the other day.  One filling per quadrant.  Today’s dentist was awesome.  She spent an hour and 15 minutes doing cold tests and numbing small areas at a time.  Based on the excruciating pain of freezing a tooth here and there she was able to determine at least 2 teeth need root canal.  The worst is the right lower.  Next is the upper left quadrant.  I hope that’s all – that’s quite enough.  The unfortunate thing is she didn’t have enough time to do it today.  I was quite understanding and extremely thankful for all the time she spent with me trying to figure out what teeth were the problems.  I have an appointment for tomorrow at 2 pm.  I’m actually excited.  I may stop and bring her flowers tomorrow.  There’s a video here about what root canal is and how it is performed.      

The sickness: Jim took the Jeep back to work after the battery incident.  This was precautionary in the event that it were to die again I’d be able to come to his rescue at work versus him coming to a dentist office 20 minutes away.  He wasn’t feeling well to top off all that was going on so he decided to leave early.  I had to meet him at work because I had his desk key on the ring of keys that he needed.

The success:  My mom has been working on getting disability for a while.  She hasn’t worked since her bout with C-Diff in February 2009.  That with her fibromyalgia and over abundance of other medical problems has left her bedridden on some days.  It’s all a mess, I assure you.  The good news is that she has been approved for disability.  It’s been a big battle for her.  I’m so happy that some stress from finances will dissipate.     

It was actually a busy day.  We went to Mystery Castle, then Cosanti and ended the day with the Desert Botanical Garden.   Click here and check out that days entry and slideshow!

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