Ping! Ping!

I had what I've begun to call an "Amarinda moment" today. Amarinda Jones is probably the most assertive and plainspoken people I've ever almost met. I say almost because though I know her from the internet a bit, I've never actually met her. But I read her blog regularly and I've come to admire how she deals with people in complaint departments and the like. She does not take crap. She does not let them push her around. Well today I put on my Amarinda hat and dealt yet again with our alarm company.

Our alarm system stopped functioning properly in March. Yes, March. They have the trouble ticket on file and everything. A closed trouble ticket even though the trouble was never solved. Well, several calls on my part yielded the opinion that all that was wrong, or so they kept telling me, was that my phone connection hadn't been updated due to some FCC/FAA some federal regulation that had changed and now the old backup wasn't worth a tinker's damn and that's that. (I've always wondered why a tinker's damn was worth less than anyone elses, unless it was originally dam and a reference to his mother? Anyway...) Well we called and they scheduled a time to come out and fix it. Only they couldn't come out in the evening or on a Saturday for three weeks and because we are people who actually have jobs where they expect you to show up at work, we needed an evening or Saturday appointment.

So we got the appointment and were all set. Then the day of the appointment they don't show up. We call to find out and they tell us they left a message the previous day to cancell the appointment. Right. And I just overlooked it, I suppose. Or maybe my answering machine doesn't like security maintenance folks and it ate your message on purpose. So I speak to this woman named... oh, what the hell, Rachel and Rachel tells me they will be out next Saturday to fix the problem. We are now into April.

Next Saturday comes and goes and guess what? No repair people. I call and Rachel doesn't remember making the appointment. She doesn't make appointments, she can't remember saying anything like this. But she'll get with the guy who does make appointments and call me back. HA!

So, several cancelled appointments and still no show on upgrading the security system when my cell phone gets a call tonight telling me that they had a warning of a fault in the backup system. I chewed the guy on the phone a new ass. Then he connected me to customer service where I chewed another person a new ass. Second person, oh let's say Lorraine, says that I have to talk to Antoine and he is at lunch (at 7:40pm) and will call me back. HA!

Nine rolls by and I call back. I get a poor hapless young woman from the monitoring center who informs me that the customer service people all went home at 9pm. Why was Antoine taking his lunch an hour and 20 minutes before he went home? Why didn't I get my call back? Why? Because the entire place is filled with crap monkeys for employees and can't manage to get anything right. So tomorrow as soon as I get myself out of bed I will be calling back and chewing yet a third person another new ass. At this rate I'll bet I could get very sore jaws.

I am going to be late getting my father's day cards out. Of course this will be no surprise to my dad or my step-dad since they know me well enough to be surprised I remembered the holiday at all. Now there was a time when I did the whole Martha Stewart thing. Flowers in the house, hand made cakes and candies, crocheting scarves and mittens, all the happy little homemaker stuff including keeping track of holidays, cards and the like. Now, I'm generally sending out ecards at the last minute. *shrug* I have no excuse.

I got told today that I'm acting like a first time parent. This was said with a mocking note of condescension from exactly the wrong person to be saying this to me since they are also involved in this whole first time parent thing and came dangerously close to getting something thrown at their head for patronizing me. I am a first time parent and I will be as silly, giggly, and happy family as I choose to be. So there!

I bought a photo frame for the ultrasound picture with an adorable little poem on it. Yes, it is just the sort of thing a first time parent would do. Just like the baby book that I'm putting together. I picked out the one I wanted and got it. I've scanned photos and all that good stuff. I'm filling out the inside and pasting pictures. So all I have to say is "get with the program." We are first time parents. We are allowed to be first time parents. Everyone who has children gets that first time parent pass where for a few months you are allowed to be totally obsessed with all things your baby. Suck it up and stop trying to play it cool. I saw your face when you heard that heartbeat for the first time. You are just as excited as I am, so shut up and grab a paintbrush.

Thank you, I feel better.

Hurrays to all the folks who got great reviews today. Kelly Kirch got two of them for her Cerridwen release Time For Love. It was a great book, check it out. Regina Carlylse also got a great one for Tempting Tess. Something about wild monkey sex? And the aforementioned Amarinda Jones got a stunning review on Marlow's Curse. These ladies are always a good bet for romance-warm, hot or steaming.