Verizon Tech Scheduling

These guys seem to believe their advertising. Believe it or not, their products are no better than anyone else and their service stinks. Below is an approximate schedule of every call I made or received to attempt to move the ONT box from the back of our house to the side:

Call#	Approx Date	Purpose
1	12/1/2008	Request technician come and move box
2	12/2/2008	Call back from verizon to choose date for tech to visit
3	12/5/2008	Visit from tech. Tech determined I needed to schedule a visit through his supervisor to have work completed
4	12/26/2008	Called supervisor to schedule ONT box move. He suggested I call toll free # to schedule the move.
5	12/26/2008	Called toll free number from above. Person suggests I call different toll free number to schedule the move.
6	12/26/2008	Call new toll free number and put in request again. Told to expect call in 24 hours to schedule visit from tech to perform service.
7	12/28/2008	Received call from Verizon. Indicated I put in a maintenance request and need to call back with a new service request. I refuse and suggest they call me back from the proper department.
8	12/28/2008	Received call from supervisor I contacted in call #4. He indicated I should call back with a new service request. I refuse and suggest they should figure out who does the service and call me back.
9	12/30/2008	After not receiving a call from Verizon, I call back supervisor from call #4. He indicates the he received the "same run-around" that I received. He promised to come on Friday to complete the work.

To be continued on Friday....

Bowl Results volume 2

SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION POINSETTIA BOWL
(9) Boise St 16
*(11) TCU 17

I was a bit concerned about this game after BYU got so thoroughly dominated the other night by the crap-ola Arizona (you should know that Stoops has parlayed his first winning season and crappy bowl victory into a 3 year contract extension. Dick Tome must be dying inside to see what has become of the once strong program he built.). Anyhoo, TCU proved that the MWC is indded strong with a really good defensive performance even though their offense tried like hell to give the game away.

Look Ahead to the SHERATON HAWAII BOWL:

Fatter Tuna (Sorry, Charlie) is going to call the plays in Hawaii. Seeing as how the Rainbow Warriors (I know it is really just warriors, but the gay imagery is just to funny to conjure up here) can play some 'D', I expect ND to complete their second straight losing season.

Many ND apologists keep making excuses for Weis by saying that he is loading up ND with talent. My guess is that most recruiting services are rating players ND recruits higher just because they are recruited by ND. There are many stories you can find through the blogosphere that suggest this is true. I wouldn't be surprised to learn someday that there is a backdoor deal Weis has with Lemming just to keep his recruiting numbers high.

Personally, I could care less if ND keeps him or fies him. It affects me very little. They can waste their money on that bloated windbag as the rest of America just laughs. My bigger concern is that they might one day hire someone who actually has a clue how to recruit and coach football.

Kids at the Bris

I took Eliana, Jessa and Zev to a Bris yesterday. Eliana and Jessa were very excited to get to see a "little baby".

We arrived and they were not disappointed. Eliana said, "Aww, baby Micah is so cute. Look how little he is!"

I carefully chose a seat. One where we could see baby Micah, but not necessarily see all of the "action". I felt oh-so-smart as they placed baby Micah down on the pillow and the girls could see his head, but not much else. As the Mohel started his work, Eliana notices the scalpel and says "what is he cutting?"

I gave her a thoughtful, but correct reply and added, "it's the same thing that happened to Zev at his bris."

Not a second later, Zev says "What they cutting?"

Eliana immediately interjects with a high level of confidence, "its the same thing that happened to you are your bris."

Luckily, he accepted her answer as fact and let it go.

Bowl Results volume 1

Bowl games from December 2, 2008, with commentary. My original winning pick has the *.

EAGLEBANK BOWL
Wake Forest 29
*Navy 19

I figured that there was nothing materially different about this game than the first they played this year. The first half was similar to that first game. However, Wake showed up for the the fourth quarter this time and that is why the results are different.

MAGICJACK ST. PETERSBURG BOWL
Memphis 14
*South Florida 41

In a matchup of really crappy teams, one looks for some reason to pick one over the other. In what is essentially a home game for USF, I figured they would be better prepared to win.

NEW MEXICO BOWL
*Colorado St 40
Fresno St 35

I went with conference strength on this one. Plus I figure Pat Hill jumped the shark about three years ago. The giant killing Fresno of a few years ago with their "Anyone, any time, any place" motto seems completely dead at this point.

PIONEER LAS VEGAS BOWL
*(16) Brigham Young 21
Arizona 31

I figured the MWC owned the PAC-10 this year and why stop now. With a very good MWC team playing a crappy PAC-10 team, you don't go against that trend. Shows you how much I know. I guess we can take Stoops off the hot seat and give him Crappy Bowl Winning mediocre coach status. Whoop-de-freakin-do.

R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL
Southern Miss 30
*Troy 27

Wow. A complete toss up game between two teams that serve as scare fodder for BCS teams. What a game though. Fitting it went to OT since pick 'em status seemed the only real way to handicap this one.

Bowl Game Picks 2008

Howdy Folks. After a somewhat dismal record picking games last year, I am going to give it another whirl this year. I will make the picks in a quickly in list fashion and follow later with posts on any items of hilarity or interest. Onto the picks (winners denoted by *):

EAGLEBANK BOWL
Wake Forest (7-5, 4-4 ACC)
*Navy (8-4, 4-2 home)

MAGICJACK ST. PETERSBURG BOWL
Memphis (6-6, 4-4 C-USA)
*South Florida (7-5, 2-5 Big East)

NEW MEXICO BOWL
*Colorado St (6-6, 4-4 MWC)
Fresno St (7-5, 4-4 WAC)

PIONEER LAS VEGAS BOWL
*(16) Brigham Young (10-2, 6-2 MWC)
Arizona (7-5, 5-4 Pac-10)

R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL
Southern Miss (6-6, 4-4 C-USA)
*Troy (8-4, 6-1 S. Belt)

SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION POINSETTIA BOWL
(9) Boise St (12-0, 8-0 WAC)
*(11) TCU (10-2, 7-1 MWC)

SHERATON HAWAII BOWL
*Hawaii (7-6, 5-3 WAC)
Notre Dame (6-6, 4-2 home)

MOTOR CITY BOWL
Florida Atlantic (6-6, 4-3 S. Belt)
*Central Michigan (8-4, 6-2 MAC)

MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL
West Virginia (8-4, 5-2 Big East)
*North Carolina (8-4, 4-4 ACC)

EMERALD BOWL
Miami (FL) (7-5, 4-4 ACC)
*California (8-4, 6-3 Pac-10)

CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL
Wisconsin (7-5, 3-5 Big Ten)
*Florida St (8-4, 5-3 ACC)

INDEPENDENCE BOWL
*Northern Illinois (6-6, 5-3 MAC)
Louisiana Tech (7-5, 5-3 WAC)

PAPAJOHNS.COM BOWL
North Carolina St (6-6, 4-4 ACC)
*Rutgers (7-5, 5-2 Big East)

VALERO ALAMO BOWL
*(21) Missouri (9-4, 5-3 Big 12)
(23) Northwestern (9-3, 5-3 Big Ten)

ROADY'S HUMANITARIAN BOWL
Maryland (7-5, 4-4 ACC)
*Nevada (7-5, 5-3 WAC)

PACIFIC LIFE HOLIDAY BOWL
(13) Oklahoma St (9-3, 5-3 Big 12)
*(17) Oregon (9-3, 7-2 Pac-10)

TEXAS BOWL
Western Michigan (9-3, 6-2 MAC)
*Rice (9-3, 7-1 C-USA)

BELL HELICOPTER ARMED FORCES BOWL
Houston (7-5, 6-2 C-USA)
*Air Force (8-4, 5-3 MWC)

GAYLORD HOTELS MUSIC CITY BOWL
*(24) Boston College (9-4, 5-3 ACC)
Vanderbilt (6-6, 4-4 SEC)

CHICK-FIL-A BOWL
LSU (7-5, 3-5 SEC)
*(14) Georgia Tech (9-3, 5-3 ACC)

SUN BOWL
*Oregon St (8-4, 7-2 Pac-10)
(20) Pittsburgh (9-3, 5-2 Big East)

INSIGHT BOWL
*Kansas (7-5, 4-4 Big 12)
Minnesota (7-5, 3-5 Big Ten)

OUTBACK BOWL
*South Carolina (7-5, 4-4 SEC)
Iowa (8-4, 5-3 Big Ten)

GATOR BOWL
*Nebraska (8-4, 5-3 Big 12)
Clemson (7-5, 4-4 ACC)

FEDEX ORANGE BOWL
*(12) Cincinnati (11-2, 6-1 Big East)
(19) Virginia Tech (9-4, 5-3 ACC)

CAPITAL ONE BOWL
*(15) Georgia (9-3, 6-2 SEC)
(18) Michigan St (9-3, 6-2 Big Ten)

THE ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY CITI
(8) Penn St (11-1, 7-1 Big Ten)
*(5) USC (11-1, 8-1 Pac-10)

COTTON BOWL
*(25) Mississippi (8-4, 5-3 SEC)
(7) Texas Tech (11-1, 7-1 Big 12)

ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL
(6) Utah (12-0, 8-0 MWC)
*(4) Alabama (12-1, 8-0 SEC)

AUTOZONE LIBERTY BOWL
*Kentucky (6-6, 2-6 SEC)
East Carolina (9-4, 6-2 C-USA)

INTERNATIONAL BOWL
Buffalo (8-5, 5-3 MAC)
*Connecticut (7-5, 3-4 Big East)

TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL
(10) Ohio St (10-2, 7-1 Big Ten)
*(3) Texas (11-1, 7-1 Big 12)

GMAC BOWL
(22) Ball St (12-1, 8-0 MAC)
*Tulsa (10-3, 7-1 C-USA)

FEDEX BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
*(2) Florida (12-1, 7-1 SEC)
(1) Oklahoma (12-1, 7-1 Big 12)