Connectivity problems in the office have been on a slippery slope since last week.  Last Friday afternoon, everyone in my office lost internet access.  Several calls were made to the Help Desk, but no one knew what caused the outage.  I worked from home Monday and Tuesday.  (joy!)

This morning, I ventured back to work only to find out the VPN would connect to Philly, but we have no public internet (no cnn.com, google.com, yahoo, etc.).  That meant I could only get email (exchange server) and connect to the development and testing servers.  Inconvenient, yes, but manageable enough to work. Like being in a canoe without paddles.

After lunch today, the VPN connection failed, too.  My job is web related, and without a live connection my task list is very small. By small, I mean that I'll be organizing the My Documents folder.

Hopefully, the internet will magically reconnect, and I can post this to my blog, then return to being a happy busy bee at work.  :)

I like to do my laundry & ironing on the weekend for the following week, whenever possible.  I managed to do a ton of ironing before I moved, and today (two weeks later) I realized that I had better find the iron. 

I have a cordless iron, which needs time to heat up. I was doing other things while it was pre-heating.

This is what happened:

There should be rubber "feet" in the base right were those empty spaces are.

Sunday night and no iron... good thing its sweater weather!

One of the items I "lost" when my ex and I parted ways was the big screen HDTV.  (not that I actually lost it - he bought and paid for it - I personally would NOT have put such a monstrosity 63" rear projection TV in a friggin apartment)  I have no intention on buying a new TV, I am quite content with my 30" HD (tube) TV for the living room.  It fits nicely with my small townhouse.  :)

Although, not having a TV in my bedroom was not going to work.  I love watching TV before bed, and often fall asleep with it on.  The "sleep" feature programmable to 30 min increments is ingenious!

I decided to buy a TV tuner for my somewhat fast, dual core-something, couple of GBs worth of RAM, desktop PC.  The thought was reinforced when Justin suggested investing in the same brand tuner I was already shopping around for.

It was very easy to install and set up, and came with a WMC remote.  The only thing I don't like about it is the limitation in channels - it doesn't scan anything past channel 99.  I suspect that's because there is no cable box, but it's by no means a deal breaker.  Picture and sound quality are good (but my computer has noisy fans) and the WMC guide is easy to navigate.  I can record shows, too!

I read somewhere that I do picture-in-picture, but haven't worked that out. 

(overall, I give it 4 stars)

What is important to me on the issues?  That's easy - Health Care!  I recently became a contracted employee with a large financial company, which for me meant finding my own health insurance.  I know 2 of the prescriptions I take (Lexapro, Concerta) are quite pricey - about $150 each without any insurance coverage.  I shopped around for plans and prices and decided on paying a high premium in order to get a low deductible. Sounds easy?

Au Contraire!!!

Once my insurance company got wind of the 2 medications I take that do not have generic replacements available, they increased my deductible by $900. 

$900!!

So now, I'm paying a high premium ($200) and have a high deductible ($1,500) to meet until they start paying.  I might be better off without "prescription coverage" completely since I will only be working as a contractor for the next 10 months... 

***

I don't know who has the best health care plan, Obama or Hillary, but anything must be better than what we, as a country, have now.  Hillary will mandate all Americans have health care (which I think we all should) but I have to agree with Obama on people without health insurance don't have it because they can't afford it - not because they don't want it. 

I meant to get some pictures of the new place while it was empty, but that amount of planning was beyond my grasp ;)  These photos aren't great, but the house is starting to resemble my home (which is progress!)

I'm amazed that I have so much to unpack!! where the heck did all of this stuff come from?  Remember the box that never got unpacked from the last move?  Well, I unpacked it!  It was mostly sandals and handbags that I completely forgot I owned.  pleasant surprise - like putting on jeans and finding a $20 in the pocket

I spent the two weeks prior to moving in a seemingly empty apartment.  I was able to condense my life into one room.  TV, laptop, bed (air mattress), cats, and even the Elliptical with room to spare. Since I was used to having more furniture and other "stuff" I know that it seemed emptier than it really was. Were there was once a couch & big screen TV became gaping holes. 

It is almost moving day!!  whoo-hoo!  I am almost completely packed and ready. 

After several unsuccessful attempts to relay the information about my move to Comcast, they seem to be on the ball.  I am moving less than 20 miles, but they can't let me keep the same phone number.  I am definitely canceling the phone for $39/month!  I don't even use it!  I should have just canceled the service completely and sign up as a "new" customer at the new place... ah well.

I will be without cable tv & internet for a few days, unless I can piggy back on a neighbor's wifi.  Have a nice weekend!

One week until the big move!  I am thrilled to be counting down the days.  I think I'll be able to pack about 90% (not including cats) over the weekend.  I threw out several trash bags full of things I don't need and only served to add clutter to my closets, shelves, and everything...  Like the box in the front closet that we (I) never unpacked a year ago.  (wonder if I'll need it?)

Like most people, I hate moving (HATE).  Well, maybe not the move itself, but the ordeal of packing and eventually unpacking.  My sister, is fantastic at packing (travel light) and probably moving, too.  She seems very happy with minimal "stuff", and I bet she & hubbie could move entire content of their home themselves - no need to waste money on Movers.  Which makes me think of another funny difference between where I live (PA) and where she lives (CA) and maybe one of you can verify if this is true or at least heard of... I usually plan on moving several months (at least 3) before the lease ends, whereas she doesn't begin to look until the last month of the lease...   what is "normal" for you, Internet friends...? 

In any case, I still have lots to do and I've been on HOLD with comcast for 18 minutes!  (hate)