Yesterday it seemed as though I stayed busy, but it doesn't seem like I accomplished much.

Krl and I had a little game of stand off going, she wanted me to deal with AT & T/Cingular about the charges for cell phones and service we didn't order. I wanted her to. She finally told me that I needed to do it so I would be responsible for the outcome.

I don't like dealing with large companies and problems like this. I actually think I have developed such a phobia about it that I have anxiety attacks. Usually by the time I get to a real person I'm already mad. Yesterday I put my game face on and decided no matter how long it took, I was going to stay with it. I was on the phone over an hour with three different customer service representatives, two of them twice. I had received a snippy letter from AT & T/Cingular telling me they were going to send my account for collection and it would be reported to the credit bureau. This problem had begun in late September of last year when we had made an inquiry as to their ability to port our cell phone numbers from our existing cell phone service. Crazy thing was we got home one day and had a message on our answering machine telling us that our new phones had shipped! I was furious that our answering machine had bought cell service. I took away the machine's power privileges for three hours! When the new phones arrived we called and asked about the numbers. They told us to activate the service and they would port the numbers later. Since we are not the trusting type we didn't open or activate the phones and were persistent about the porting issue. In November, Krl finally talked with a manager with their company and this manager told her that they could NOT port our numbers. Krl told this manager that without porting our numbers over, we did not want their service or phones and that we would be returning their phones. The manager was very understanding and courteous. I wrote a letter and sent it, telling them that at our earliest convenience we would ship their phones back but that we were at the jobsite and access was limited. They sent us a RMA code and about two weeks later I shipped their phones. In January our home phone bill had AT & T/Cingular charges of $490+- on it. I wasn't too worried, I figured things would shake out eventually. Basically they were charging us for the phones, the activations fees and an early termination fee. My February bill arrived and showed credit of $277 and an outstanding balance of $235 and change. While we were making progress, I didn't understand their math. To further complicate things, Krl changed our home service to Cable phone, so AT & T was calling the February bill a final bill. When I first called they had to send me to "closed accounts". I explained my situation and problem to them and asked them to tell me "what" the charges were for. To do this they had send me back to the customer service that had just transferred me because closed account cannot see any history, just outstanding balances. All this department that I had been transferred to could tell me was it was a Cingular charge and they would have to transfer me to them. Once I was at Cingular's customer service, they wanted the cell phone numbers the problem related to. I didn't know them and they weren't on the bill because service was never activated. Nothing I do is simple. Finally the representative tracked it down and told me the account had a zero balance, everything had been credited back. I told her what AT & T customer service had said and she told me she would transfer me back. Finally I got the service representatives to talk and they discovered that the returned phones had not been credited to the AT & T account. I told them if I had to pay for the phones I sure as thunder expected to possess them. The Cingular representative was very understanding. Finally they got it worked out and she told me there was an outstanding balance of $18.36 which was the return shipping. The helpful representative told me she could not credit this amount. I asked her why I should pay it if they shipped the phones without my authorization. She was very puzzled and very sympathetic. I made a quick calculation and decided eighteen dollars was a lot better than five hundred.

I kept notes of who I talked with and when I talked with them throughout the entire ordeal. As an act of good faith I stopped by and paid the eighteen thirty-six. We'll see if AT & T can make the math work this time.

While I was out and about I went to Lenscrafter's to have my glasses fixed. The store manager waited on me and was very personable. I was wearing the pair of glasses I got in 1996 and he wasn't much better than Krl about making fun of them. He let me watch the repair on my glasses and I was shocked. The lens are secured with a very small clear plastic string. No screws at all! Before I left he removed the other lens to clean around the edges and he even replaced the nose pieces. I was a happy camper when I walked out of there.

Next stop was Lowe's. I guess I am a glutton for punishment. I studied on a large display that was covered with parts trying to find what I needed. I knew the brand I needed, but their display wasn't grouped by manufacturer so you had to do a comprehensive study. What should have taken two minutes to find took twenty. I took a detour down the light bulb aisle, then on to the check out. I am amazed at their selection and price on bulbs. I stocked up for a while.

My final stop was at the grocery store. Just a few items.

When I arrived home Krl was cleaning, which was good. Which was bad. It was good that she felt well enough to attempt to clean, it was bad in the sense that obviously she wasn't satisfied with my efforts. Krl was rolling around cleaning and shining and that did my heart good but it made her very frustrated to work with the limitations imposed by her cast. I had gathered laundry before I left and we had sorted it (to her specifications) before I left on my errands. I don't do bleach and Krl felt some of our whites needed it, so she was in her element.

I was checking on the high school playoff pairings and was pleased to see that the 'Kats from the seasonal jobsite are enjoying success. Their football team made it to the quarter finals last season and they also had the boys doubles tennis champions last spring. The boys basketball team is playing in Fort Worth while the girls are in Austin making their first appearance at the State tournament. The girls are facing the defending state champions. They are in elite company as one of the remaining four teams is Nazareth who has made twenty-two appearances at the state tournament, winning seventeen championships. I was reading the Standard Times on line and recognized several of the kids on the 'Kat's roster. I was surprised to see the girls height listed, several players 5'9", 5'10, and even one at 6'. One thing for sure, I know where Henry Chudje is going to be! Go Kats!

I am convinced that success breeds success. For several years the Kats were mired at the bottom of the larger class A classification. They competed against much larger schools with larger talent pools to choose from. A few year ago they dropped to the smaller classification and six man football. They have enjoyed much more success and it seems their confidence has grown by great bounds.

Often times we are limited by what we believe our abilities are.

Well, Lovie, you can send me my fee. I was glad to see the Chicago Bears give Lovie Smith his new contract. He deserves it. He's not the highest paid coach. Yet.

To the victors go the spoils.

Have a day! make it a good one and I'll give you the next two off!

Victory in JESUS!