Tellico Plains

We got to spend Sunday, Monday, and half of Tuesday in the mountains. It was extremely pretty, even with the dry conditions. The leaves were in the middle of changing colors and the temperatures were just right. Tellico Plains in an extremely small town and kind of an unknown jewel in the Tennessee mountains.

We spent both full days driving to various water falls, lookouts, lakes, or through the Cherohala Skyway. It was so nice to relax, be away from cell phone service and internet, and enjoy the beauty of creation.

I'll just let the pictures tell the story.

 We had a contest to see who could hold their hand under the water the longest. Mr. Chip won when I pulled out at 8 minutes.

Big Gulps Huh

After the Samford vs Furman football game we stayed in Rebecca's office til 9 PM while she edited pictures from the day. We were already packed and ready to go for Tennessee, so we hit the road as soon as she got done.

Her parents, brother, and Granddad were already in Tellico Plains. It is about an hour or so south of Gatlinburg in the Cherokee National Forest. Mrs. Melanie loves the mountains and has made it an annual trip. She rented a cabin for a week, so we got to join for a few days. 

It was a four hour drive and in the easter time zone, so we didn't arrive til 2 AM. Eli Gold kept me going til we got to Georgia then heavy eyes started to set in. So we stopped at the always hopping Pilot station in Rising Fawn for some caffeine and sunflower seeds. One of the workers was very nice and told me about how important it was to keep the hot dog buns stocked at all hours. "If the truckers come in and look in here and there's no hot dog buns, then that's like going to a strip joint with no girls." I decided to stay an extra step back from the hot dogs, just in case. I then made my way over to the fountain drinks for some Mountain Dew and noticed they were out of cups except for the smallest and the largest. The smallest was a 12 oz, way too small for this hour. The large one was way more expensive so I asked the hot dog guy about the deal with the cups. (Apparently truckers don't get as mad about empty cup slots.) He told me they were out of all the middle sizes and to get whatever I wanted and he'd charge me for the smaller size. I said good deal. Now I've seen the Route 44, Thirst Buster, Big Gulps, etc. However, they pale in comparison to what this station had. A 64 oz, hydrate you through the sahara, half a gallon (just under 2 Liters for my metric buddies) of caffeine goodness. I had never seen a cup so big. I put mine under the fountain, set it to the desired size, went to the bathroom, then when I came out it was almost done. There was also some sunflower seeds on their clearance table. 

One of my 200 or so favorite moments in Dumb and Dumber.

So Rebecca and I came out with a gallon of coke and sunflower seeds for just over $2.00 and we escaped unharmed by the angry truckers.

Samford vs. Furman (Toe Girl Update)

This past Saturday Rebecca had to shoot Samford's football game then we hit the road for Tennessee as soon as she got done editing. I only took pictures for the first quarter, then I started going through her pictures in the press box to help speed things up after the game. Samford ended up losing 27-10.

I'm keeping an eye the old bulldog "Libby." I'm worried she may not make it one game. They've gotten a new bulldog to take its place, which shouldn't be too much longer.

The main reason for this post was to keep updated on 'toe girl' (What Rebecca, Caroline, and I now affectionately refer to her as). If you want to revisit my "Samford vs Appalachian State" post back in Samford it will get you up to speed on my feelings for her. On the 'dress appropriate' scale she has moved up from 'sideline distraction' to 'non-professional.' Still not to where Caroline asked her to be, but better. She still got in the way several times. She stood by me right at the beginning so I tried to get a no-look shot of the toe. Not the best, but you get the idea. The big annoyance this week was she constantly crossed over the media line. There is a line of photographers behind the line and then her, out on the field, blocking all of us. Caroline was about to tell her to stay back, but the ref beat her to it. He told her to "stay behind the line where you belong and I'll stay out here where I belong."

Sweet Justice.

This is Going to be a Nightmare

One of the former luxuries that is now quickly becoming standard is internet service. Rebecca and I have not paid for cable in our near year and half of marriage, but we do spring for internet. If Rebecca ever wants to be at home she pretty much has to have it. With her photography and graphic design business she is constantly uploading pictures, conversing in email with clients, and posting to her blog/website. So daily trips to Panera Bread to borrow internet just won't cut it.

So two days after we moved in I signed up for DSL. AT&T is running a new customer special, so its at a nice price. We had AT&T in Starkville and never had any trouble. So I thought this would be painless as well.

I signed up on October 4th. Our scheduled activation date was October 12th, a Tuesday. I don't know what all is involved in activating it, but that seemed to be a little long. Considering what ensued it was way too long because the activation did not cover making sure it actually worked.

We called the help line three times that day to see how we would know when the service was turned on since we didn't have to be there for the activation. This brings me to complaint #1

• Every time you call the help line you have to go through minimum of 5 minutes of automation. During which you have to key in your DSL phone number. Then, when you finally get to a real person the first thing they ask is "Can I have your phone number assoicated with your DSL account?" 

Each phone call that day ended with them telling us it would be turned on later that day. "It usually gets turned on in the afternoon." "It usually gets turned on between 6-8 PM." "Sometimes it doesn't get reset until after midnight." All seemed to be vague answers indicating they have no idea when it actually gets "turned on," whatever that means.

So, the next day (Wednesday) I called again (see complaint #1) and talked to Disney. After she asked me some in-depth troubleshooting questions like "Is it plugged in?", "Is it connected to the phone jack?", "Is the DSL light on?". Which brings me to complaint #2

• Services like this should have two phone numbers: One for people who need help plugging the modem in and a second for people who actually know how technology basically works.

After answering all her questions she scheduled a technician to come out at earliest on Thursday. We were going to be gone all of that day so it had to be Friday. Disney still insisted it was probably our modem (insinuating it was my fault) and if the technician had to touch the modem they would charge us.

Friday morning arrived. I know "having to have internet" may seem 'prima donna' but like I said she needs it for her work and her office isn't exactly mobile. I'm out working all day so I'm not there for the technicians. The guy arrives on time and finds that there is something wrong with our phone jack. He works on it and installs another kind of filter. We already had one on there so not sure for the need of this one. We would later find out it was not necessary. He also determined there was something wrong with the outside line, which he was not qualified to work on so another technician would have to come out. He told Rebecca it may be 48 hours before that happens. So Rebecca calls me (tissues in hand) telling me we still don't have it, she can't work on her stuff, we're about to go on vacation and she'll have to work on it then.

"Happy wife, happy life" came to my mind and since she wasn't exactly very happy, the latter was probably not going to be true either. So I decide to take matters into my own hands and let AT&T have a piece of my mind. Whether or not the following actually had any bearing on getting internet faster I don't know, but it made me feel better. 

I decided a better tactic than calling 1-800 help would be to get a local number so I can talk to the technician and try to get this process sped up. I get a local number but it automatically redirects me to the 1-800 number. I forget the name of the girl I finally got but she had the "You're an idiot" tone about her. I'm sure my tone didn't help that.

Girl: Can I have you DSL phone number?

Me: I just typed that in, why do I have to give it again?

Girl: That's only for our automated system, I don't see that. What is your problem today?

Me: We signed up for internet on October 4th. It was scheduled to be turned on October 12th. It was not turned on then. A technician came out this morning and determined it was something in the outside line. He said it may be 48 hours before that happens and that is unacceptable. We've been waiting for nearly two weeks, we both run businesses from home, and there has to be a faster way than this. 

Girl: Is your DSL light on?

Me: Did you not just hear what I said? The technician just left my condo, he said it was it was a problem with the outside line and it may be 48 hours before that gets fixed. That is unacceptable. 

(This is where her tone changes from "you're in idiot" to "you're and idiot and I hate you")

Girl: Sir, I'm trying to help if you'll answer my questions. 

Me: Ok, ask your questions.

Girl: Have you tried different phone jacks?

Me: Once again, I just told you the technician just left and its a problem with the outside line.

Girl: Well my computer shows that your service is activated.

Me: I don't care what your computer says, its not activated. 

Girl: Outside lines issues are another department and they don't do technical service over the phone.

Me: Can you give me the number to the local Birmingham office so I can find out from them what the issue is.

Girl: We don't have numbers for the local offices.

Me: Can you transfer me then?

Girl: The local offices don't have phone numbers.

Me: Then how in the world do you get in touch with them to do maintenance.

Girl: We do it over the computer.

Me (In a slightly raised tone): You mean to tell me that AT&T, a phone company, doesn't have phone numbers at their local offices. That is unbelievable. 

Girl: Silence

Me: Well let me talk to your supervisor.

Girl: I'll have to put you on hold

Me: Fine

Cheesy music plays. 

Girl: Mr. Long, my supervisor has access to more information than I can see, and it shows that the technician who came out this morning scheduled a line man to come out and he should be there before 6 PM today. (I would also like to note that her tone changed to much nicer at this point. Either she didn't believe me about the technician or her supervisor was listening in. It also brings me to complaint #3)

• Why do the 1st tier customer service people not get to see all your information. Wouldn't that greatly help solving problems?

Girl: Would you still like to speak to my supervisor?

Me: yes

So I talk to Joe the supervisor and he is much nicer. I tell him the whole story and he reassures me that they will be out this afternoon to fix it. I ask if I can have his direct number in case something goes wrong. He says he doesn't have a direct number but he will call me back as soon as he gets an update. Sure enough a couple hours later, he calls me back saying the guy should be there soon. Rebecca calls me right after and tells me "Mark the Super Technician" has arrived. (Rebecca described him as Vin Diesel like)

Mark informs us that the previous guy was a contracted guy and thats why he couldn't work on the outside portion. Mark also complains about how the company is run and that a lot of them are stupid. I don't know the technical terms, but apparently something wasn't even connected in the outside box so there was no way for it to work. He also criticized the previous technician for mounting an ugly filter on our wall when we already had one. A drying eyes Rebecca told him our internet saga and earned some sympathy from Mark. He gave us a new modem/router and set everything up which should cost $150. Ours worked, he just knew how to set those up easier. 

So, by 3:08 PM we had internet.

The whole story reminded me of a Brian Regan clip and gave me the name for this post. Fast forward to 7:40.

Moving-In

We are still very much still moving-in. Its nice to have all our stuff in one place and be able to eventually put it away. This past weekend both of our parents were so gracious to come and help us. We spent the first half of the Saturday cleaning up the house sitting house. Then the second half of the day moving/unpacking at our new place.

One idea I had was to do a stop motion of us bringing things in. I thought of it a little late as it would have been cooler to have started with an empty place and watch it fill up. As you'll see we already had a lot moved-in, so its more of unpacking. It covers several days and I think we'll keep it going until we reach the finished project. So more to come. We used Rebecca's camera and if it does stop motion automatically I couldn't figure it out. So everytime you walked by the camera you pushed the 'button' to take a 10 second delayed picture. The lens is a 14mm f/2.8.

My favorite part is the frames with dad sitting on the couch as the rest of us are moving things in. Looks like he was being lazy, but he had just finished putting up some shelving so it was a much deserved break.

We are finally moved into our new place, but no where near settled. Most of our stuff is still in boxes. Being in our own place has still been great though. One of the temporary adjustments has been no internet. Thus the reason for no posts about our new place. Right now we are sitting outside a closed Panera Bread stealing their internet. Rebecca had to upload some pictures which takes about an hour, so I watched The Event on my computer. Kind of a weird show so far, but its kept me interested so I'll keep going. Her pictures are about done so time for us to go.

Samford vs Appalachian State

Samford's second home football game was yesterday against Appalachian State, the Alabama of division II football. So nobody was expecting Samford to win. They put up a good fight and kept it respectable though, 35-17. The only bad thing about the game was that it was during the Alabama game and it kept us from going to Starkville to see MSU play Georgia. I solved the first problem by taking a radio and listening while I was on the sidelines.

Once again I helped Rebecca on the sidelines and took a few pictures myself. Rebecca's boss, Caroline, was there so we had three cameras going. I stayed on the sidelines until halftime. At that point I went up to the press box to start unloading her pictures from the first half. The press box was also nice because it was air conditioned, had drinks, and had the alabama game on tv.

It was much easier to shoot in the daylight, especially with my primitive lens I use from Rebecca's film days. I actually got one of my pictures on Samford's website. That was the first touchdown Samford scored. Rebecca and Caroline were on the other end of the field so I didn't have much competition for that shot.

Rebecca and Caroline in their proper attire.

Another interesting sub-story taking place on the sidelines deals with a photographer from the yearbook staff. She has been down there the past two games and managed to get in my way a couple of times. So she already isn't on my good side. A second offense is her dress attire, which to me says 'look at me, not the football game' (She's not exactly Erin Andrews either). Caroline has told Rebecca to wear pants or long shorts and tennis shoes. Reason being is the action often carries over the sidelines so you need to be able to move and if you were to get knocked over, you don't want be a youtube hit when you're dress comes up over your head. Well, the first game this girl wears a short dress and flip flops. She's constantly going over the media line and just not acting professional. I didn't see it, but at some point the action spilled over to where she was and when she got uncovered from the pile her little piggy that went to the market did not come home with its nail. Ouch. So you think next game she would dress a little differently. Nope, short skirt and sandals. It did give Rebecca a chance to get a shot of the victimized toe. She won't be a foot model anytime soon. As you can tell, I didn't have much sympathy.

Gross.