Mansfield University

Well a couple weeks ago my son, Two, moved away to college. He is a freshman at Mansfield University, which is located in the north central part of Pennsylvania, in where else but, Mansfield!

It's a four and a half hour drive if there wasn't any construction, over five and half with construction. That is an important fact we did not know when we had to be there by a specific time for "move in day".

He is going to major in Education and Mathematics so he can be a math teacher, at least those are his plans now. Things could change between now and the four years to graduation.

As a freshmen at Mansfield University, you are required to live on campus. When we visited the campus before he started, he had decided he wanted to stay in the dorm that was the furthest from the class rooms, and the one required an uphill walk to get to class. He felt that it would help to wake him up in the morning on the way to class. So on the 21st of August, we had two car loads of stuff to haul to his dorm room in the Cedarcrest Manor.

Before he left he told me he didn't plan to come back home until the holiday break. When he moved in he said he would be back in the mid-semester break at the beginning of October. After his first week, he showed up unexpectedly at my front door early Saturday morning for the Labor day weekend.

Mansfield is a state college, but a small campus, with under 4,000 students total, which means that it's more personal. The professors and staff get to know the students as people instead of numbers. The area the college in is beautiful and remote and if it wasn't for the length of the drive, I would visit more often.

Here' a welcome message from the college president to perspective students:

Please join me in wishing him good luck, good grades, and that he doesn't forget to have a little fun too!

Thank you... customer service?

Wow... I didn't expect people to be back so soon, or that they would forgive me so easily. Thanks! You guys are awesome!

(The puppy dog picture worked so well yesterday, I thought I would try another one today!)

The weather outside is good, I feel good, now I need to turn this positive energy into positive results. I wasn't as productive at work as I wanted to be today, but I am planning to move a couple loads of boxes from the duplex to the marital home. If I get really ambitious (although I doubt it), I will mow the lawn at the marital home.

How many people have Comcast as their TV/Phone/Internet provider? Well I have been using Comcast for many, many years. Not because they are the best, but because for the longest time they were really the only option in my area, unless I wanted to switch to satellite. Recently Verizon has opened up their phone service to include TV and Internet connection. I haven't looked into them, but I am seriously considering it.

I was reviewing my bills today and I see that Comcast has started to charge me for HBO and Starz which I have had for well over a year now for free as part of some "bundled package". Well apparently the package expired and no one told me, so they just started charging me for the extra channels. I called them today and asked them to remove the channels, and asked what else they could do to make my monthly bill a little more affordable. Angie, who was a nice representative, told me that they had a bundle that would last a year, and would give me three additional premium channels, along with HBO and Starz that I am getting now, and PAY LESS than I am now. Of course, I have to remember that next September I will need to call back in again to see what new bundles they have then, if not I will get a heck of a jump in the bill with 5 premium channels!

I asked why didn't I get automatically switched to this bundle so I would be a happy customer when I got the new channels with only a very modest increase in my bill, instead of a huge increase in my bill with no additional services. She said, that they can't add channels without the customer calling and requesting it. Apparently, it's not against their policies to increase my bill, but it is against their policy to increase my services...

I really hate the lack of customer services some of these companies offer... I have complained about this company before (Comcast 9/2007), but I think it bears repeating... What can we do to go back to a society where customer service is important?

Later Lou

Been awhile...

Well, it's been a long while since I have "rambled" here.

I have to start by apologizing to the readers and friends I had before I abruptly stopped writing. I am really sorry for just stopping cold turkey and not saying good-bye, or telling anyone that I was going to take a break or anything... I kinda just "fell" off the edge of the world.

I didn't plan on stopping, it just sorta happened. The holidays have always been a rough time for me, and this year it hit me rather hard, with all of the things that were going on in my life. I ended up in a serious depression that lasted for quite a few months.

Since I wrote last my financial situation has become pretty serious. "Sweetie" has decided to move on without me. My son, Two, has moved away to college, and my two youngest daughters have stopped coming over as frequently. So I have been dealing with money issues, loss of the love of my life, and an empty nest.

I have started to recover emotionally through a little medication, therapy, support of my friends and family, and sheer of will to finally get myself moving again.

"Sweetie" said she needed "time" last spring, and I spent most of the spring and summer hoping that after awhile she might come back. I signed up to match.com and eharmony.com and met some new people, and had a few dates. Through those sites I have made some new friends, some of which have become really good friends.

I am still looking though for someone that might be interested in being more than a friend, but then again, I am not in a real hurry. Although I will admit I prefer to not be alone. I thought I was over "Sweetie" because of the length of time it's been, but recently I saw her car at a local restaurant. I hung around a few minutes to see who she was with, and when I did, I realized I still wasn't completely over her. She wasn't with anyone I knew, but I saw she was happy and having a good time, and it filled me with mixed feelings. I was happy that she was smiling and having a good time, but at the same time sad that it wasn't with me.

We have talked since then and she has told me that she has moved beyond needing time to finally saying that she doesn't want to be with me any longer. At first, it hurt pretty bad, but very quickly that feeling was replaced with a feeling of closure, or weight being lifted off my heart. I was holding out hope that she would come back and it was weighing me down, and my heart was growing heavier day by day, without me realizing it. When she finally said to me that we weren't going to get back together, the weight lifted and I realized how much weight I had been carrying.

I still care for her, but now I feel able to really move on. One of the hard parts, besides saying good bye to her, was ending the relationship with her son. I have been a part of her family for almost 6 years, and I love him like he is one of my own kids. I wanted to continue the relationship with him, but I can't because she doesn't want to be a part of my life, and if her son is still in my life, then she has to be. I know I hurt him by telling him I couldn't hang or talk with him any longer, but I also know it's for the best. I wish him the best, and I hope and pray he becomes a great guy and someone that I can be proud of.

I am now in the process of moving my duplex to the marital home. It needs a lot of work, and because of that I can't rent it out. I can however, rent out the duplex I am living in. So I am going to move out of the duplex and rent it, so I can hopefully relieve some of the financial stress.

Thanks for taking the time to read, and I will try to write more frequently, and if I decide to stop again, I promise I will not do it as abruptly. I also want to once again apologize for anyone that used to read, comment and talk with me for my bad blogging behavior. I hope you forgive me.

Later Lou