UsLingo.com

(This email was sent to the HT guys from Phil. We talked about this in show 48)

Hi HT guys!
I just experience 24 hours of “hell”, involving a failed install of AT&T’s U-Verse, from which perhaps some of your listeners might be able to get some recautionary tips from.  It’s a little long, but I’ll try to summarize as much as possible, and maybe you can as well!

Some background:  I live in a suburb of Chicago, about 40 miles directly west of the best city in America  (Go Bears!!), called West Chicago (go figure eh!). By some strange quirk, my lot is unincorporated, but we ARE slap bang in the middle of civilization, with a new housing development not more than one block south of me.   My lot is very wooded with old, established white oaks, many of which are 80+ feet high.

We’ve been here about 10 years, and when we moved in we found that we did not have any cable service to our house despite the fact that our neighbor, about 300 foot away did.  So satellite, DirecTV,  became the main vehicle for obtaining TV signals, as the OTA wasn’t that good either (more on this later).   It took me 18 months of exploration to find a good spot where my dish would pick up the standard satellite signal - I found one, and pointing through a crack in the trees and getting 100% signal on nearly all channels.  I did get a slightly larger dish to the normal one (off ebay!), so that snow and rain fade are not a major issue.

All good so far!!  But then along came HD, and of course like most people I was excited and asked DirecTV to install it.

Full stop there - because the HD channels are carried on different satellites, the dish would need to point to a slightly different location and guess what!  Yup, mother nature had grown a large oak tree right in the path of the signal.

I hear people saying, cut down the tree.  Aside from that being an expensive proposition (have you ever contracted a tree feller - mucho bucks), we love our trees, and trees in general, so this was not an option.  I learned to live with OTA HD signals via an HD antenna, on an extended height pole.  Come the digital changeover this year, the local channels actually come in better but I still have to turn my antenna from time to time to accomodate weather and wind conditions.  OK - I get the Bears in HD, so I’m OK with it for now.

A Shining White Knight?
In the meantime, in a phone land far far away, the great digital leader, ATT, was proclaiming great things for his empire called U-Verse.

Yes, I had heard about this and longed for the day when they brought this to my door, seeing it as a savior of digital media.  After all, I had phone lines, and DSL internet albeit at the 1.5mb speed (from AT&T already), because they told me I was at the end of the drop so would not get a faster speed.
U-Verse, FIOS based, it seemed would be the answer because it was faster and broader and would deliver TV, phone and internet in one cool package. And as I was refinishing my basement to be a home theater - English pub combo, I had invested in some good equipment to match that (Samsung UN55B7000, Denon AVR-2309CI, and a set of KEF 3000 speakers - Oppo DVD player to be purchased later based on your review!!)

The AT&T sales people did a good job of selling, spending a good hour explaining how it all worked and answering my questions. However, there was one crucial question that needed answering and one crucial point that was not discussed that we will reveal later.

Came the install day.  I arose excited and happy about my pending move into the full HD world!
As i work from home, I had risen early complete my days work on the computer as I felt that as some time they may have to disconnect my DSL to switch over.  As I had my DSL on a second and separate line to where the U-Verse was being installed, I felt confident that it might not be a lengthy outage. WRONG!! 

And here’s the first lesson learned:
U-verse and DSL do not live together, even if you have two phone lines for each separate one.  You cannot have them on the same outside phone block!

So AT&T had politely put through a DSL disconnect order, which came about at least 4 hours before the install was scheduled, and in this case continued for a full 24 hours!!  Maybe not a biggie for most people, but if you work at home it is huge.  Plus, and I hate saying this…do you know how much we rely on the internet now!!  Without it, you feel alone and stranded on an island.  Eeek!

Ok - to continue….
The installers arrived and the first job for them was to test the line for quality and capability.  Full stop!
They told me that as I was at the end of the line, the signal might not be strong enough, and even if it was I might only be able to view/record one HD channel at a time.   Still hope!
A line technician was dispatched and did an outstanding job of cleaning and tweaking the line to match the specs for what was needed for U-Verse. He failed, but at least I have one of the cleanest internet and phone lines in the neighborhood!

Second lesson learned:
If you are looking at U-Verse, then please ask them to test the line ahead of time, or at least ask them where you are in relation to the main phone box, so you can get an idea if it is even possible to get anything!!So, I’m back to my limited HD reception again, using my OTA to bring in only the local channels.

There is a good note at the end of this debacle that I should mention to be fair to AT&T - after I managed to reach a customer service manager to complain about all the problems I had had that day (and I had many more than listed here, mainly with the poor coordination between DSL and U-verse departments), they did compensate me with discounted services, for the loss of service and the angst and personal stress.  At least they realized they screwed up!

Back to my problem of obtaining good HD content, I would like to ask you and your listeners if they have any bright ideas as to how I can get this?

My next calls are to my village to ask whether they have any cable companies who might run to my house, and to DirecTV to see if they provide access via OnDemand to HD programs that I can download, despite not being able to receive the live HD signals.

Great show, keep up the good work, and I know that someday my HD prince will come….

Cheers!
Phil Clark
Landlord
www.thebritandyankee.com

Friend,
Why is it that no matter what you do, or say people can always find something they don’t like.
We are not kids any more. If you have something to say to me just say it. If we are the friends I think we are, we WILL be able to move pass whatever it is. Not saying anything tells me you don’t care. I guess the next step is up you me. But that’s a big step for me. If you don’t care about me, how am I to care about you, which I do.

Author: unknown

Last year I replaced all the windows in my house with that expensive
double-pane energy efficient kind, and today, I got a call from the
contractor who installed them. He was complaining that the work had
been completed a whole year ago and I still hadn’t paid for them.
Hellloooo,………..just because I’m blonde
doesn’t mean that I am automatically stupid.
So, I told him just what his fast talking sales guy had
told me last year, that in ONE YEAR these windows would pay
for themselves! ?
Helllooooo? It’s been a year! I told him.
There was only silence at the other end of the line, so I
finally just hung up.
He never called back.
I bet he felt like an idiot.

(This is a post from Richard Vobes blog.)

When entertainer and internet broadcaster Richard Vobes (real name Richard Lindsey), aged 46 from Worthing West Sussex, caught an amoebic bug through bad contact lens hygiene in the autumn of 2006, little did he realise he was the road to severe pain, loss of work and total blindness. Acanthamoeba Keratitis (AK) is a rare bug, caught through contacts lens misuse, that’s eats away at the cornea causing in extreme cases loss of sight and potential removal of the eye.

Once diagnosed, Richard was transferred quickly to Moorfields eye hospital in London under world leading AK specialist Doctor John Dart, who treated him with a series of anti- amoebic drugs, one chlorine based, the same stuff they put into swimming pools, but in Richard case, as can happen in some resistant patents, little proved to work.

The symptoms of the AK causes, extreme soreness, the inability of being out in daylight and holding down a regular job. Richard was forced to change his profession many times from entertainer, to video producer to internet radio presenter.

Jonathan Ross listens to the Vobes.

‘I had being running a radio show on-line part time for three years with listeners from all over the world, including famous stars like Jonathan Ross and Danny Baker’ Richard explains.

BBC Presenter Jonathan Ross called into the show one day and when asked why he listened said, ‘Richard, there are very few mavericks left and you must be encouraged and supported.

Ref: (http://members.vobes.com/media/calls/JonathanRoss.mp3)

Danny baker from BBC Five Live said, ‘Richard, you will be surprised who listens to you’.

Ref: (http://members.vobes.com/media/calls/dannybaker.mp3)

Recession

Thanks to the recession and with work drying up and the limited ability to get out do it anyway, Richard felt the only option was to put all his eggs in to one basket make hsi radio show pay. But the eye problem was getting worse and unless he could stop the pain and get back to work he would lose his house.

Eye Operations

In 2008, Richard had a biopsy to remove the infected tissue, this unfortunately proved unsuccessful and on April 1st, 2009, he had to have a cornea graff transplant. However, 30 days later, by Friday last week this had torn and started to melt as a result of a further attack from the amebic bug and his eye chamber had started to leak, potentially leading to the collapse of his eye.

Rushed to A&E at Moorfields on Friday, Richard had come to the end of this tether and was requesting a glass eye to give him closure from this condition.

‘I needed to work on my new business before the money runs out. I have to feed the kids, pay the utility bills and most important keep the mortgage going.’ Richard said.

Doctor Dart, confessed that many patients reached the same conclusion after prolonged exposure to Acanthamoeba Keratitis, but he persuaded Richard there was still a chance to save the eye albeit little hope gaining much of the vision with a second cornea replacement graff. Knowing this meant more time away from his work, and potential loss of his home, Richard has gambled on this procedure and underwent the operation on Saturday 2nd May.  

There is no guarantee this will work as the Acanthamoeba keratitis is still latent and a prosthetic eye may be the final outcome.

‘I cannot praise enough the splendid work that Moorfields do and dedication Dr. Dart and his staff have for their patients. It is extremely rare that some get to be as unlucky as I, but my fingers are crossed for a positive outcome!’ Richard said in spite of his ongoing problems.

You can catch Richard’s internet radio show at http://www.vobes.com everyday Monday to Friday.

References:

AK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acanthamoeba_keratitis

Dr. Dart - Moorfields

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(05)64138-4/fulltext

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/310/6994/1567

Richard Vobes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Vobes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4626445.stm

http://www.vobes.com/

Hi All,

I know it’s been some time since I last wrote. A few things have changed. March 1, 2009 my dad passed away. He was not having any health problems so this shocked us all.

I guess the only reason I’m writing this is for me, so if you want to tune out go for it.

My dad’s wife (my step-mom) passed away about 18 months ago and we thought he would take it hard, which he did. But in his own way. My brothers and sister and there spouses did a great job in keeping him busy and focused on the living and the now. Even my own wife had him go on a trip with her and my sister-in-law.

I on the other have been busy on my own. Yes to busy to go see him but for a few time a year. OK, not so much busy as didn’t make time to go see him. Now he was OK with this as we were cut from the same stone.  The other difference is he wasn’t lazy, I am.

I only have had my dad back in my life for about 20 years or so. (Long story and I’m not going in to it) I really didn’t know how much he loved me. Yes he said it and I believed him but I really didn’t know until the will was read. He took the time to add a few line in there that I will never forgot.

So do me a favor. Today, tomorrow and everyday after this look at the people you love and tell them that you love them. And don’t just say it, Say it!

Remember what the song said “Don’t blink”

I love you Dad. Thanks for being in my life! You da man…