Comcast Customer Service Sucks

Comcast is seriously pissing me off. their customer service is absolute crap. ugh.

week 1

  • last week, received note on door informing me of “signal leak” and saying to schedule appt immediately.
  • until “leak” is fixed, Comcast decides to turn down my signal, making reception look like crap
  • the appt is scheduled for a 4 hour window so i spend 4 hours sitting around waiting
  • cable guy never shows. now that i’ve been waiting for *5* hours, i call them to complain
  • they give me $20 credit and call the guy to come down
  • 2 cable guys wander around with little sensors for 45 minutes while scratching their heads and looking confused
  • finally, they give up. “maybe it’s your neighbor who has the leak?”

all in all, i wasted almost 6 hours of my day for absolutely nothing.

week 2

  • all of a sudden, reception goes to crap again
  • appt is scheduled for 2 hour window
  • wait around for 2 hours. nobody arrives
  • call to complain. woman tells me that the guy is running late and “should have called”
  • i ask for credit, and she says i have to call billing dept later for that
  • guy shows up later, fixes problem.
  • when i ask him why he is late, he says “i should have called”. when asked why he didnt call, he says “these things happen”.
  • call billing dept for credit. put on hold for 15 minutes. they hang up on me
  • call billing dept again. woman tells me that i should have gotten credit from the person i talked to earlier. she insists that billing dept can *not* issue a credit no matter what
  • i insist that it was their own employees that told me to call billing dept, but she rudely keeps blowing me off.
  • finally, she agrees to transfer me. transfers me to a number that is disconnected
  • call billing dept a third time. the guy is highly unpleasant, but agrees to give credit without argument.

ugh. such a pain dealing with these people. why bother setting a huge 4 hour window for an appointment and then not even bothering to come? why do i have to fight tooth and nail and call 4 times just to get my credit?

*v

Bar#16 Matrix Fillmore

we had just barely survived the hellish scene at Mauna Loa and, as if we hadn’t had enough punsihment, we decided to try out a second bar in the marina. from everything i had heard, the Matrix is the quintessential marina bar. looking inside, we could already see that the crowd was gonna suck. every guy in there was wearing the striped button down shirt that is the mandatory uniform required in this neighborhood. i had read online earlier that this place was filled with the kind of guy that this article was written about, and from what i could see, it was totally true. at first i was worried (or relieved) that they might not let me inside, but they did.

he bar itself looks really nice. everything is sleek and black and shiny with a large modern firepit in the center. the drinks were overpriced, but i guess that’s expected for a place like this. when i went to the bathroom, there was a bathroom attendant handing out paper towels. come on, is that really necessary?! i know they’re trying to be fancy and classy by having an attendant, but it just seems lame. we hung out for a while, trying to endure the overcrowded, overannoying, and overly lame scene, but finally, we just had to leave.

the Matrix Fillmore is at 3201 Fillmore Street in San Francisco

Bar#15 Mauna Loa

for the new year’s resolution, i was determined to explore the districts of SF that i havent really visited too much. so, despite all my reservations about it, we decided to try out a bar in the marina. i’ve always avoided this neighborhood like the plague because the bars there attract the worst people ever. well, within seconds of walking into the Mauna Loa, i could see why i’ve been avoiding this area. i felt like i walked into a frat party from hell. everyone there was super cheezy. the kind of people who used to be a fratboy/jock/cheerleader and now have lots of money and like to brag about it to everyone around them. within a few mnutes of being there, a fight almost broke out. of course, in the end there wasn’t an actual fight, instead it was just some testosterone fueled bullshit where people can act all badass and then go home later and brag to all of their friends how they almost beat someone up. ugh.

the thing is, the bar itself here was actually pretty cool. nice bartenders, decent beer selection, foosball table… the place would actually make a decent bar if it wasn’t for all the idiots that were there. after one drink, richard refused to go back inside but the rest of us toughed it out and had another drink. then, we got the hell out of there.

also, i’m still not sure why this place has a hawaiian name seeing as there is nothing else hawaiian about it.

Mauna Loa is at 3009 Fillmore Street in San Francisco

caryn’s birthday

on April 15th, while most people were frantically trying to finish up their taxes, caryn turned 30.

the present

i wanted to get her something really cool for her 30th bday, and i hadn’t ever gotten her jewelry, so i decided to get her some. it was a crazy hard decision seeing as she doesn’t usually wear jewelry, so i had no idea what style she would like. i finally settled on this silver and blue topaz bracelet. after buying it, i got really worried that she wouldn’t be into it, but she ended up really liking it a lot. unfortunately, it somehow mysteriously broke the very next day after i gave it to her… but then we got it fixed.

the wineries

i thought caryn should do something fun that she’s never before done on her birthday, so i suggested going wine tasting in Napa. we gathered a group of 7 people and hired a limo to take us around. it was so damn fun. the limo picked us up in SF and we spent the day driving around, drinking champagne in the limo, eating bread/cheese, and having a good time. man, limos are so fun!! we ended up going to 4 wineries: Madonna Estate, Robert Mondavi, Peju, and Mumm. at Mondavi we got a tour of the winery where they explained how grapes are grown, how wine is made and stored, etc. i thought it was pretty interesting. tasting wine at all the different places was a lot of fun. i dont really know much about wine, so it was cool to try such a wide variety of different kinds.


Mondavi


Mondavi


Peju

the dinner

on the day of her bday, we went out to some random Italian place with some friends, but i also wanted to take caryn out for a special dinner myself. that following Tuesday, we went to a restaurant called La Foret. it was a small place a bit south of san jose, kind of out there. the place was really fancy, not as fancy as Gary Danko of course, but still really nice. this place was i guess a bit more rustic compared to Gary Danko’s very modern feel. the food was really really good. i had excellent beef w/ chanterelles and caryn had some really good buffalo. wow, it’s so nice trying all these really fancy restaurants!

*v

moustache party!

after 3 weeks of hard work growing a respectable moustache, the day of the moustache party arrived. in the morning i shaved the beard part and was left with a full on handlebar moustache. now i really looked like i crawled out of a trailer home. perfect! i spent the day sporting my heinous new look in public. later on, i met up with natasha who, at 7 pm, still hadn’t bought a fake moustache (nor grown one). we frantically raced to the moustache supply store after convincing the girl who worked there to sell us a moustache after store hours. the next stop was Bev-Mo where natasha convinced the door guy to let her buy champagne after store hours. we were on a roll. after pouring champagne into a bunch of small empty water bottles (classy!), we set off for the party.

the party was hella cool. erica had rented out a private room upstairs at Butter. it was so damn hilarious to see all of these people with moustaches. surprisingly, a lot of people actually put some effort into going with the theme. a bunch of the girls wore fake moustaches, and a fair amount of guys actually had grown some really awful looking moustaches. erica had a bunch of drink tickets that she gave out which we could use at our private bar upstairs. a drink ticket was good for any kind of drink, so plenty of top shelf drinks and long island ice teas were ordered. as the night went on, and more and more drink tickets were used, things get a bit fuzzy, but somehow we ended up at some shop across the street, and then somehow ended up on the roof of the aforementioned shop, and then back out on the streets. what a random and hilarious night…


i won 20$ for all my hard moustache growing work


oh yeah! moustaches!


trent’s moustache was very distinguished


colleen and Erica’s girly moustaches


even natasha had a moustache (for 5 minutes)


oh yeah! 3 weeks worth of moustache!


moustaches are shocking


weird


yes, we are major dorks (w/moustaches)

I somehow managed to take over 200 photos that night! you can click here to see all of the moustache party photos.

*v

hate mail

it can sometimes be a pain to find parking at my work since there are a ton of people who park in the parking garage. one day i was looking for spots when i saw this mini parking spot at the end of a row of spaces. ok, maybe it wasn’t technically really a spot, but it was almost as wide as a spot, and my car *mostly* fit into it. after parking i looked at my parking job, my right side was sticking out about 3/4 of a foot into the diagonally stripey zone next to where i parked. not too bad. so i went off to work. after work, when i went to go drive home, i found the following note on my windshield:

dude, wtf?!?! what the hell is the problem with some people? ok, i’d understand if i had parked in a handicap spot, or parked across a sidewalk, or blocked a doorway or something… but no, i had just infringed a stripey spot by a few inches. is that really reason for someone to get so pissed off that they need to threaten to vandalize my car?? i swear, some people really need to relax and mind their own damn business.

*v

i’m growing a moustache

Kevin’s 30th birthday is on the 22nd of April, and he’s celebrating by having a moustache party. the rule is that you have to grow a moustache, draw on a moustache, or wear a fake moustache when you go. i’ve never been a fan of moutsaches… maybe they look ok on some people, but i’ve never wanted to have one myself. buying a fake moustache for the party was going to be the option i took.

unfortunately, after a few drinks at the Lone Palm, a bet was made that kevin, joey, tom, and i would not shave for 2 weeks preceding the party. 2 whole weeks without shaving?? ouch. well, to make matters worse, at some point in time, after even more drinks, the time got incresed to 3 weeks. if there’s one thing i’ve learned, it’s that making bets while drunk is *never* a good plan. unfortunately, i am one of those people that prtetty much refuses to back down from a bet. it’s not losing the 20 bucks, it’s the principal, ya know?

so, as of april 1st, i stopped shaving completely. it’s been 11 days now, and i’m starting to look pretty gnarly. i can’t belive i still have to wait another 11 days before i shave. i’ll be a freaking monster by then. the night of the party (or before then) i will shave the beard part and be left with just a handlebar moustache. oh man.

*v

Bar#14 Aub Zam Zam

After reading a million reviews about this bar, I was totally intrigued. apparently it used to be owned by a guy named Bruno, who was notorious for kicking people out if they ordered a drink he didn’t like, or asked to have their martini served with vodka, or really for any damn reason he chose. this guy was the best bartender ever and everyone loved him. unfortunately, he passed away a few years back, so when I went to the bar a couple weeks back, there was no Bruno there. *sigh*.

walking into this bar felt like taking a step back in time. the bar itself was a very small horseshoe bar with only a few stools around it. there were a few other tiny tables, but really this place is all about sitting at the bar. I wrote earlier that the Lone Palm bar reminded me of an old movie, but this place reminded me of that even more so. light jazz was playing on the jukebox, the waiter was dressed nicely, and the place mainly served martinis. I really dug the vibe there. also, oddly enough, it also had a kind of middle eastern feel to it too.

I’ve never really drank martinis, but decided that I should give it a shot since I was here. it’s great when you can just give the bartender free reign to make whatever they please and they invent something great for you. I hate it when you ask the bartender to recommend something, and they can’t be bothered to choose a drink for you or be creative at all. the bartender at Aub Zam Zam whipped up a special martini for us made from Hendrick’s gin, which is infused with rose petals and cucumbers. she also added cucumber garnish and some other stuff and the drink was really good… super refreshing. Later in the evening, we overheard her mention the “Hillary special”. when we asked what that was, she said it changes from time to time, and we decided to go for it. she ended up making us two completely different drinks, one of them a sour one similar to a sidecar, and the other one was some crazy chocolate concoction. both were super good.

there was really something about this place that makes me want to go back. I so wish this could be my local neighborhood bar…

Aub Zam Zam is at 1633 Haight Street in San Francisco

*v

(Slightly) Obsessed

for years now, I’ve tried to avoid watching the show 24. I watched part of an episode when the first season came out, and knew that if I got into the show that I would become completely addicted to it. somehow I was able to resist the temptation, and no matter how many good things I heard about the show, I avoided it. well, this year I made the mistake of watching a full episode, and as predicted, I couldn’t tear myself away from then on. every single Monday I have to see what happens. the show is so crazy and suspenseful that during the first few episodes I watched, my stomach literally hurt from being so tense. the show has so many plot twists that I am always on the edge of my seat and at the end of the hour, can’t wait till next Monday so I can see more.

this weekend caryn, Natasha, and I decided to rent the first season of 24. I had a feeling that if we watched even one episode, we’d end up watching the whole season in one weekend. once you start, you just can’t stop. well, I was right. during just one weekend, we watched almost 20 hours of 24. Friday night we watched from 9pm till almost 4 in the morning. we got up Saturday morning and watched a bunch more, and then Sunday we watched the last 2 discs until past midnight. wow. I have never watched this much TV in just 3 days. it was utterly ridiculous, but we just couldn’t tear ourselves away. each time an episode ended, we would have our finger on the play button to start the next one, or we’d have the next disc in hand ready to pop it in the second the last one finished.

it really was pretty ridiculous… but worth it. now I still have 3 more seasons that I haven’t watched. I don’t think I can waste an entire weekend to just sitting in front of the TV again, but I’m sure I can watch maybe a third of a season per weekend or something. the addiction continues…

(by the way, if you comment on this post… PLEASE don’t give *anything* away about any of the episodes)

*v