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I upgraded my Comcast receiver last week to an HD receiver and the process has been so-so.

First, my OnDemand wouldn’t work. It would tell me “this channel is not activated” and ask me to activate it by pressing OK. Just for fun, I’d check in a couple times a day and press OK to see if it would ever activate.

10 days later, it works!

Next, I noticed that Fox Sports HD is showing “off-air” and shows a test pattern. Fox Sports [non-HD] is fine, though. This is important to me because Royals’ Opening Day is Monday and it’s on Fox Sports HD!

So, I thought I’d try the Comcast Chat. Here are the particular issues I had with it:

• You have to enter all your information just to chat with someone. Name, address, phone, email address
• They don’t accept the plus sign in email addresses
• The support person asked for my account number, which I don’t happen to know. They she said she could look it up if I gave her my address, which I’d already typed in to start the conversation!
• I put in a “problem topic” (at the beginning with my address) and she asked “What can I help you with?” and I just responded by copying and pasting the large topic at the top of the page.
• After she didn’t help me (”it must be a network issue”) we ended our conversation. A button popped up asking me if my problem had been fixed. I clicked No. It locked up my browser.

Comcast: Please let me know if you would like me to help write some helpdesk and chat software that helps instead of getting in the way. I’m sure we can work out a deal.

I stopped by QuickTrip today to get a mid-afternoon soda. As I approached the counter to pay for my drink, I overheard the fellow at the counter talking about his beverage of choice.

“Nesquick Chocolate Milk! It’s amazing! I’m on this diet where it’s all I drink and I’ve lost 25 pounds!”

The QT money-taker told him he should call Nesquick and tell them about this amazing program! He could be the next Subway Jared!

The man left the building crowing about becoming the next Jared, while I just stared at him as he left.

Since I’ve been working from home a lot more lately, I signed up with Skype so I could make calls from my laptop. I did the Skype Pro plan for 3 bucks a month for unlimited outgoing calling.

For the past two months, I’ve used it every week for a conference call through ReadyConference. Last week, it stopped working. Skype dials the number, it rings, and ReadyConference drops the call. I’m not sure why, but I suspect it has something to do with the way Skype handles the call.  Perhaps ReadyConference requires caller id, which Skype doesn’t do unless you pay for an incoming number.

So, curse you, ReadyConference!

It was a beautiful afternoon, so I decided to wash my car and the scooter.

After that, I decided it was time to really clean out my car. I mean, really clean it out so I can take it and vacuum it out and get all the winter sand out of it. Note that I actually mean “winters” sand, because I’m pretty sure I didn’t sweep out my car last summer, so there are a few seasons’ accumulation in there.

A brief summary of items found while cleaning:

• Four decks of cards
• 12 water bottles in various stages of fullness
• 34 receipts of which I only really needed one.
• Two complete changes of clothes
• 14 socks (presumably pulled off after playing ultimate last summer)
• Various tools: screwdriver, scissors, network punchdown, utility knife, and more
• 3 pairs of sunglasses
• 6 magazines/catalogs

I have a bad habit of putting stuff on my front seat to “take care of when I get home” and then someone will ride along with me and I’ll throw it all in the back seat where it jumbles together.

I’d promise that I’ll keep it clean from now on, but everyone who knows me would understand it’s a lie.

At least I’ll know where to look if I need some socks.