curtis' blog

Copacetic is a good word.

I was watching “The Mentalist” last night while eating my CK enchiladas, which I decided are not too bad, when Robby came in the room.  Not twenty seconds later, somebody on the show said the word “copacetic”.  Robby loved it.

Today, Robby figured out where he first heard the word.  It was in the movie “Catch Me if You Can”, a very good movie.  He couldn’t remember the name of the character, though… “he’s… the… DaVinci’s father?….”

I, of course, immediately was thinking of Tom Hanks’ father, because Tom Hanks played the cop in the movie “Catch Me if You Can” and the main character in “The DaVinci Code”, a very stupid and worthless movie.  However, that whole line of thought made no sense because Hanks did not have a father in CMiYC.  So, anyway, I asked Robby about it.  Turns out that he meant Leonardo DiCaprio (Frank Abignale, Jr.).  And his father was played by Christopher Walken of “more cowbell” fame.

The main point of this is to remind you how awesome the word “copacetic” is.  A subpoint is that it is awesome that DaVinci means two things in reference to CMiYC.  Another subpoint is that Robby is hilarious.

I root for Canada in the winter games. I do enjoy watching USA Olympic teams and individuals, but when the games are in Vancouver, I must cheer from my Canadian half. Now, hockey is a grand sport. It is a Canadian sport. Canada dominates the sport. However, Canada lost last night to America’s goalie. Unfortunately, Canada couldn’t get many shots in. They had more shots on net, but it didn’t work out in the end. Canada still has a shot at gold (only one loss), so Canada and the USA may even play the game for gold. If that’s the case, I will be watching it with the hockey club on campus as I did the game last night.

On another note, Canadian men are dominating curling. I know you don’t care, but Canada is beating the USA as I am typing. If (when) they win this game, it’ll be 8 wins in 8 games. The women of Canada have only lost one game.

Also, my TV tuner card and antenna (splurge purchase of the month) arrived in the mail. I can start recording the Olympics. I’m looking forward to the ski aerials.

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!!!

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In case you’re wondering, I’m not feeling well.  I don’t know what it is, nor do I care.  So what if it’s swine flu?!  It’s the flu!!!  It probably isn’t, but it doesn’t make a difference.  Anyway, don’t let me cough or sneeze on you.

I’m 19 years old.  I’m turning 20 in October.  I can’t move out of the dorm during the school year until next October.  Boo.

In the meantime, I’ll be living back in the grand ‘ole room 2593.

Does anybody know of an inexpensive futon anywhere around the Collegedale area?

I’ve almost finished moving.  I am finishing up my laundry while it still takes no quarters.  One more load in the SUV.  Then I’ll be officially moved.

Sooo…..  Robby is going to be manning the Writers’ Club (Writer’s Club, Writers Club, whatever) booth at the organizational showcase tomorrow.  I will be manning the WSMC radio station booth.  Robby will get the satisfaction of a job well done.  I will get the satisfaction and the money of a job well done.

Existentially.  Interminably.  Fivesyllablewords.  Isthisannoying?  Iwillstopitthen.

On a totally related note, we went bowling last night (me, Brooke, Robby, Christen, Tyler).  Brooke won the first game and I won the second.  Brooke and Robby were the only two that broke 100 on the first game.  I was the only one that broke 100 on the second.  That’s pretty sad.  I wonder how much a membership at Holiday Bowl costs.  We need to work on that.  As we all know, “practice makes [you slightly less horrible]“.

I downloaded fifty-something episodes of MST3K over the last two days.  Oh, yeah.  That’s Mystery Science Theater 3000 for those of you less fortunate people.  It’s awesome.  These guys keep running comedic commentary on the worst movies ever made.  It’s hilarious.  And we’ll be good for the next year or two of Saturday nights.  I also downloaded a couple seasons of A Bit of Fry and Laurie.  I love cable internet!

On the subject of TV (yes, I watched too much this summer), I’m looking forward to the new show White Collar on USA.  Go look it up.

Sorry for the seemingly random rambling.  I’m a little bit tired.  Volleyball tonight will make it go away.

On a side note to whatever you happened to be thinking (unless you weren’t, which would explain your visit to my blog), the world seems to be collapsing.  Everybody is screaming.  All the scientists tell us that we’re doomed, and that this whole thing is horrible.  Why?  Because apparently the end of the world would be catastrophic to life.  How do scientists know this?  They must use some sort of math.  They also believe that living things are causing this catastrophic event.  So.  Life is killing us.  Go figure.

And, for those of you that think a title ought to have some bearing on the post,  “funambulist” was a vocab word I had in grade 9.  It means tight-rope walker.  I still haven’t forgotten it.

I don’t really hate freshmen.  Yes, they can be weird and annoying, but freshmen orientation is much worse.  I like love am obsesed with volleyball.  I play every chance I get.  I play Sunday mornings.  And Monday evenings.  And Tuesday evenings.  And….  So when freshmen orientation rolls around every other day, all the freshmen desert the gym and rush to the meetings.  Since when do people need dozens of meetings to get used to school?  Especially when they have homework?  And VOLLEYBALL?  I must have skipped half of the meetings when I was a freshman, because I definitely don’t remember there being that many.  Maybe I’m just blocking out the memory.  At least I didn’t have the stupid “Southern Connections” class.  Yes, SAU has a class for EVERY incoming freshman.  It is supposed to help them get used to college life.  I think it’s just a way to make money and dump more work on students.  And keep them from playing volleyball with me.

I said that I could take the metaphor of Comcast even farther.  I shall.

God doesn’t like automated systems.  He wants to speak to a real human.  He doesn’t like that we keep ignoring him.  He’s tried every route except “discontinuing service”.  He’s thought about it, but he can’t stand the thought of leaving us.  We don’t even give God a way to bestow on us the simplest of blessings (not even an automated credit card phone payment system, in case I’m too vague).  We advertise all over that we’re Christians, trying to prove to others that we have a connection with God.  Perhaps we truly believe that we have a line open just for Him, but when He tries to tell us, we refuse to believe that and go right on blocking His attempts.

When God doesn’t give us what we need/want, we tack on extra “past due” fees.  If God doesn’t give us all we want now, He’d better give us an extra blessing when He does get around to it, we think.

If you like, keep making comparisons.  I think there’s a reason I had to go through it all.

My fellow bloggers on room2593.com have taken a recent turn to posts of religious depth.  People have been commenting, response-posting, and thinking a lot.  This post is in response to solitarytellurium’s comments on Robby’s original triggering post.  I started to comment, and ended up with a sermon.  Sorry for its length, but I couldn’t stop until I was satisfied with my answer.  In writing it, I affirmed some of my own beliefs.  I hope it at least provokes thought.

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solitarytellurium, for a start, you can find something you most enjoy, be it food, books, music, the beach, and then find a good use for it.  For me, it’s music.  I find great release in music.  During the school year, I help lead out in hymn sing.  During the summer, I’ve been writing music, singing in a virtual choir (Eric Whitacre’s amazing!) and going to a church that makes music a big part of the service (even if I don’t like all the songs).  I also like the outdoors.  I used to bike to work, but now I find even more pleasure walking the 1/2 hour.

If you find something you enjoy, God can use it and use you through it.  For instance, you may have thought mentioning food earlier was either just a poor attempt at a joke, or just plain idiocy.  It was neither.  When I went to Brazil on our choir tour (how’s that for fulfilling all I desire in two weeks?), I could not believe the food!  I tried many new fruits (including the delicious mangosteen, which I HIGHLY recommend) and marveled at God’s handiwork.

Praying is just one way to get in touch with God.  In fact, a very celebrated author once mentioned that music in a worship service was of more value than anything else.  I tend to agree, and I sometimes dream of starting a church service with primarily music one day.  That is my best way to talk to God–through song.

If you’re truly seeking God, that is not emptiness of thought.  Quite the contrary; it is the beginning to letting God in.

You mention that you sometimes feel like letting go.  That’s exactly what you need to do!  God’s love is not under your control.  You cannot “encourage” His love any more than it is.  There is nothing you need to do to gain his love.  Sometimes, working for His love, we make it all about us… when all we see is ourselves, we can’t tell that God has been reaching to us the entire time.  God’s already done the work for us.  All we need to do is accept.

If you just scroll down (or look in the archives just previous to this post), you’ll see that I recently ranted for a good length of time about Comcast.  It’s actually a grand example of the relationship between us and God.  God is like the distraught customer (I don’t dare claim that I, a distraught customer, am even a slight resemblance of God, but this is a metaphorical allegory of sorts).  We are like Comcast.  All God wants to do is heap blessings on us.  We refuse to send Him the invitation, or even provide a way for Him to contact us.  We insist that He isn’t doing enough for us, and that we do want His love, but we continually put up a false front.  God keeps saying, “BUT ALL I WANT TO DO IS GIVE YOU LOVE!!!”  We then continue to ask for his address, for his social security number, just to make sure he’s for real, and not just some guy out to tie up our lives and communications lines with nonsense.  We put Him on hold indefinitely.  We play for Him atrocious music.

I could take this metaphor on forever.  But the point is, the place to start is ground zero.  Just let Him get to you.  He gets to me every time I hear a good chord struck in an Eric Whitacre composition.  What’ll it be for you?

I now officially hate Comcast.  Except that they do have really fast Internet.

We got Comcast cable high-speed Internet at the beginning of the summer.  John signed the contract, and Tim and I paid him.  This was working out until our second month, when John mentioned that he still didn’t have the first bill.  So, he called Comcast.  They said he should get a new bill within the week.

The next week, without the bill, John called them again.  Turns out they had the wrong address (John may have said the ZIP code was 37315 rather than 37302, which is the next ZIP code over).  So, they said they’d fix it and send another bill.

The next week (this is the third week of trying to get a bill from Comcast), John decided that the phone calls just weren’t working, so he wrote a letter.  Yes, the snail mail kind, explaining our issue.

That was a couple of weeks ago.

We do not have a bill.

John is away for the week.

Two days ago I called Comcast.  I waited more than 30 minutes on hold.  Nobody answered.  So, I went to their website and joined the line (of 15 people) to chat with a representative.

More than 30 minutes later, “Analyst Anne” (not joking) started the chat.  I explained that we had money waiting for Comcast, they just needed to take it from us.  I stressed that Comcast wouldn’t let us pay.  I also wrote out our entire address.

I forgot to mention this–it’s important:  we didn’t have a “valid” account number.  This makes talking to Comcast annoying.  Every time John called Comcast, they gave him a new number, all of them invalid.

So, Anne asked for the account number.  I explained our predicament.  So, she needed all kinds of info.  I called John so he could relay to me the info needed.  Address.  She apparently forgot I gave it before.  So, I wrote it.  Full name.  Turns out it’s Jonathan Freese, not John Freese.  So, I told her that.  Last four digits of SSN.  I guess John trusts me, cause he gave it to me, and I her.

So, she ran “health checks” and other junk.  She found out that we were two months behind.  Imagine that!  I was right!  And she gave me the amount due.  It sounded like more than it should be.  So I asked a few times if there was a “past due” charge.  After about the third inquiry, she said that there was, for $7.00.  Of course, I don’t like paying for things out of my control.  So, I asked to have this removed, and for a way to pay.  She said that she would make a note of it, and when we paid, they would investigate to see if we deserved $7.00 of credit back.  Well, I didn’t think that was good enough, but she did.

By the end of a more-than-one-hour-long chat, she had figured out what our problem was, given us a new account number, and promised us a bill within 72 hours.  I saved the transcript.

By yesterday evening, we had our Internet cut off.

When I got home, I immediately troubleshot the issue.  It was Comcast’s doing.  So, I called Comcast.  I went through the automated stuff, then started to listen to the autrocious music.  Tim came downstairs to help out if needed (apparently he can be a very good angry customer when he needs to be, but so can I when it’s as stupid an issue as this).  So, I put it on speaker and we sat there waiting and talking about other random stuff for a while.  Then THERE WAS A VOICE!  The guy quickly assessed our situation (actually trusted us, too) when we told him all the info and offered a quick solution.  He added a digit to our account number (apparently we were one digit short–imagine that!).  He said that as a one-time courtesy, he’d take off the $7.00 charge (immediately) and transfer me to the automated pay-by-phone service.  I was thrilled!  When I asked if I could get the phone number for future phone payments, he told me that there should be a way to get there from the main automated menu.

Well, he transfered me, after I thanked him sincerely.  I started keying in my account number and such, then it told me the balance to pay:  over $90.  That was the right number, for three months, but I realized that I didn’t really want to do it at the moment.  I mean, I’ve paid John already.  So, I hung up.  I called John and left a message for him to pay by phone.

I then called Comcast again to see if I could get to the number again.  After following every route in the automated menu, I got in line again for customer service.  After another half-hour (or more, I think) of leaving it on speaker so I could do other things, my phone’s battery ran out.

Turns out there is no way to get to the payment by phone without first talking to a Comcast rep.  Seriously.  That’s what I found out after another half-hour this morning.  So I gave John the account number over the phone, and he found a way to pay online (apparently we now had a valid account number–that helps).  So, we now have Internet access again.

Why does Comcast make it so difficult to pay our bill?!  Seriously, I said MANY times (in all caps, no less) that we “WANT TO PAY OUR BILL”.  I asked things like, “WHY WON’T YOU LET US PAY?!”  Not kidding.  I asked more than five times in my chat with Anne.  Nobody told me I could pay by phone until the guy last night I talked to.  Nobody told me that to accomplish such a feat again would take years of phone-waiting.

I hate Comcast.

Note:  If you don’t believe something like this could happen, I could email you the transcript (minus account info, SSN, etc.).  It’s quite true.  Or, you could just call 1-800-COMCAST.  You’ll find that you get a human almost instantly by dialing (3, I think) to add service.  If you have a billing inquiry, you will have the longest wait.  I didn’t try dialing to discontinue service (although I’m guessing they don’t even answer that phone), though I considered it.

I’ve been listening to the radio (I can’t help it–I work at a radio station) and there was a lot of discussion about the recent environmental talks at the G8 summit.  Apparently, they’ve decided not to let the earth warm up any more than two degrees Celcius over the next half-century.  I’m serious.  They plan to do this by cutting global CO2 emissions by 20-50%.  They say this will only cost the global GDP (gross domestic product) about 2.8%.  So, with half the industrialization gone (or half of it completely converting from 100% to 0% emissions), we’ll only lose a few grand a piece over 50 years.  That makes sense.  What also makes perfect sense is that “scientists” believe that humans are the main cause of global warming.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in global warming.  There is a thermometer somewhere in the world that has read higher this century than last.  I can see that global warming has caused things from premature frost in Florida to causing the tides to continue RISING (and falling, but we don’t talk about that).

Forget the fact that when the earth gets warm the water evaporates into the air; when the ice caps melt, the sea levels will rise and cover the Alps!  We’re doomed!  Oh, also forget the fact that warming oceans release CO2 (in fact, more than 90% of the total global CO2, which may [but according to "scientists" it doesn't] suggest that CO2 is the effect, not the cause).  I almost forget to mention that.

Also, hop into the closest hybrid!  The battery acid in them is much safer for the environment than CO2.  Why do you think we exhale CO2 and not battery acid?

The idea I came up with might do more permanent good, though:  blowing up the sun.  Yes, it’s redundant to have an idea in the title and a paragraph later, but in my sophomore year of high school English class I learned that it is imperative to restate a thesis several times.  Thus, I continue:  blowing up the sun will accomplish everything the scientists want.  In fact, blowing up the sun is an entirely grand idea.  Don’t give me all the credit, though.  My kindergarten (actually, it was primary, because that’s what it’s called in Canada) teacher taught me that the sun keeps us warm.  Actually, my mother may have taught me that even earlier.  They should get all the credit for the discovery.

If some of my figures are wrong, don’t worry about it.  Even the “right” numbers will be incorrect by tomorrow.  I’m guessing the numbers will be higher, likely to follow the warming trend as we get closer to the middle of the summer here in the northern hemisphere.

I love science.