FIOS, Press Conference, Volleyball

Not just an average day over here. Oh no, we took the plunge and are going to FIOS. After much debate…wringing of hands…worrying about money…we are switching to FIOS. The mountains of flyers and reminders to switch to FIOS and the door knob hangers and the cheerful FIOS door-to-door salespeople had absolutely everything to do with our switch. We were caught hook, line, and sinker. Back in July it was — “let’s see” and “we”ll revisit in the fall.”

The decision to switch was quick. The process to get switched was fraught and annoying and I may even use my new word “stabby.” My husband as he talked at length to the Verizon customer service person was very definitely stabby. Let’s just say that a Verizon person was making our switch difficult. Words were exchanged…nice ones, which is amazing in the circumstances.

Let’s just say we did not agree with Verizon’s in-house policies. The initial customer service conversation had us contemplating cancelling a home phone since 1990, cell phones from 1995 onwards (4 to be exact), DSL from 2004 due to a lack of flexibility on the part of Verizon. The buck might have stopped there, but I am not to be trifled with.

I started tweeting immediately to all the Verizon accounts on twitter. Telling them our story. Threatening to cancel service. Imploring them to look at our record. A call from Executive Customer Service was just what the doctor ordered. Our complaint had been filed up the chain of command with the result of — FIOS!

The cables that were laid in the spring are now delivering TV, internet, and phone service. Just call us a walking billboard for Verizon.

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I got two, count ’em two, invitations to a press conference with a possible SPECIAL guest. The press conference was for one of my favorite magazines — Highlights.

Highlights released its annual State of the Kid report. I’d never heard of this survey, which I found odd since we are long-time subscribers. The reason — this is the first State of the Kid survey. The survey asked kids questions about their families, school, and activities. Highlights also tackled tougher issues, for instance, the questions “What is your biggest problem right now?” and “Who is a person you admire and respect (other than members of your own family)?” The best question by far…”If you had an extra hour in your day, what would you do with it?”

The answers to this question were varied:

– most popular response — play/have fun/video games — followed by read/write/study/homework.

– spending time with parents /family was high up on the list.

– with almost equal amounts of respondees were: sports/musical activities, time with friends, sleep/take a nap/relax, spend time outside, crafts/sew/paint/cook, and watch TV/movie.

– at the bottom of the list — time with pets, shopping, and eat/have a snack.

I would have expected food to be higher up the list, but kids are just used to having food provided to them.

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After feeling all professional and grownup-y at the press conference, it was back to the reality of driving in the rain out of DC, picking up milk at 7-11, throwing dinner on the table, taking the teen to volleyball, and helping the kid with his homework. Is it possible my homelife could be more humdrum and mundane? Welcome to my life!