Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Classroom Rules

"We use walking feet in the classroom. Walking feet. Do we run in the classroom?" Teacher Araceli asks the group of eleven children, shaking her head to give them a hint as to the answer to her question. It's at this point that all teachers expect the students to chime in together with an emphatic "Nooooo."

That did not happen. Instead, a student that we shall call J piped up and said "Yes! I run because I'm a winner!" After which he promptly demonstrated his significant running ability by running in several loops around the classroom.

How do you argue with that type of logic?

Monday, August 2, 2010

Craving

I've been having a chocolate craving for about a week now. These types of cravings seem to slowly creep up on me...at first, I might not notice it. Then, as time passes, I will think of chocolate and say "yum." Soon, chocolate begins to be all I can think about. I will sit on the couch, muttering "chocolate, chocolate, chocolate," until Todd, who may or may not think I've finally lost it, consents to take me to the store to buy some chocolate.

Or, alternately, says that we'll go buy some chocolate, gets me in the car, and drives to the Home Depot.

"Why aren't we going to Food City, hun? It's right across the street."

"....We're going to Home Depot."

"YOU TRICKED ME!?!"

"No I didn't. You can get chocolate there."

"...."

I did get chocolate from the check-out line. But I maintain that it was still a dirty, rotten trick.

Now, I don't have anything against Home Depot...most of the time. But after moving into a house, it seems like we're always going to Home Depot. And Home Depot trips always last longer than you expect. Plus, I'm confronted by too many options and styles, most of which we can't afford/don't want to spend the money on. Then, we'll wander down some innocuous aisle and Todd will stop to look at some obscure tool/material/pipe/machine. Meanwhile, I will just sit there and tilt my head to the side while trying to forestall the "glazed over cross-eyed" look. To avoid this scenario, I just try to stay away from Home Depot. Sometimes it works....when I'm not bribed with chocolate.

Tonight, though, my chocolate craving was satiated by the ultimate dessert: Hot Chewy Fudge Brownies with Reesee's Pieces cooked inside them and....get this....vanilla ice cream. It's delicious. No, delicious isn't strong enough. Trying to find words to describe the experience of this dessert tonight is impossible. Let's just say that I hugged my bowl and could hardly talk for at least 5 minutes while I reveled in the chocolate experience.

Now I'm full, tired, and content. Mmm mmm mmm.

And I have no worries about future chocolate cravings. Safeway was having a sale on brownies...I have 6 more boxes of brownie mix in my cupboard. Mwhahaha!

Saturday, July 31, 2010

A Great Day

I think that today was a great day. What makes a great day? Well, sometimes surprises make for great days (or sometimes not). Seeing certain people can make a day great, too. But today wasn't anything super exciting or out of the ordinary...in fact, it was rather mundane. A great mundane day. How's that for an oxymoron?

But really, we didn't do anything exciting. We woke up, ate breakfast, and played a video-game for a bit. Currently Todd and I are playing EverQuest 2. It's our MMO flavor of the month. After that, I went outside and vacuumed the pool. Yes, since we don't have an automatic pool-cleaner, I have to manually vacuum the pool. It's not a lot of fun, but I love my pool so I do it. In the middle of this chore, I decided I was overheating so I jumped in the pool and swam around a bit. While I was doing that, Todd was fixing our dilapidated wooden fence in the backyard. It wouldn't surprise me if we came home one day and the fence had fallen down - that's how bad it is. We're currently in the process of getting estimates on the cost of putting a cinderblock fence in its place. Hopefully that little project will get done sometime this fall.

Oh, I should note here that today when we went outside it was pretty overcast. For a moment. Then, without us really noticing it, the sun came out. Guess which couple is now sporting some pretty awesome sunburns?

After our outside chores, we came inside and I started laundry while Todd used the steamer on our tile floors. Then I cleaned the kitchen. Occasionally I would pause my cleaning escapade to take a laundry basket outside and put clothes on the clothesline. It's a nice way to keep the house cool, save electricity, and save time. The clothes dry so much faster outside.

Then we moved a bookshelf from the sun room to the family room. After that, Todd switched out the light in the sun room and then it was shower time. And now, I'm writing a blog post and contemplating dinner. Since I made my tortilla casserole last night, we're going to have leftovers. They sound delicious. Later tonight, we'll likely just hang out either watching 'Lost' (which we alternately enjoy and make fun of) or playing some games.

That's what I mean by a great mundane day. We balanced relaxation with accomplishing things that needed to be done. It's the best of both worlds. I have that lovely tired feeling that you get when you worked during the day and the sense of accomplishment to accompany it. At the same time, we had fun and we have time to relax more tonight.

It was a great day.

P.S. This is not to say that all my weekends will be like this. Despite its greatness, sometimes you just needs those "I did nothing all day long and I'm okay with it!" kind of days. Right?

Saturday, July 24, 2010

GRRRRRRRR @ Cox

To Whom It May Concern:
My husband and I have been dealing with an issues regarding two misapplied payments. This issue has been ongoing since we received notice on June 3, 2010 that our May 2010 payment was not credited to our account. As soon as we were notified of this, we called Cox Communications (623-594-1000) to rectify the situation. The $46.95 for that month had been deducted from our account by Cox Communications, so we began dealing with the Misapplied Payments department at that time.

As per the advice of the customer service representative, we sent a fax to Cox Communications the relevant information on our bank statement so that this problem could be rectified. We also corrected the account information we had in our online bill-pay profile so that this would not occur with subsequent payments. It was at this time that we scheduled the June payment. Concerned about getting this situation resolved, we called back to make sure that Cox Communications had everything it needed to fix the problem. I was assured that this was the case and that Misapplied Payments would be able to track down the payment and credit it to our account within 24-72 hours. I informed the customer service representative that I had scheduled the June payment as normal, confident that the May payment would be applied to our account.

The problem was not resolved. Our service was disconnected. Alarmed, we immediately called customer service to find out what was going on with our account. We were informed that our account had an overdue balance on it. I told the customer service representative the situation (that the May payment was supposedly being dealt with by misapplied payments and that the June payment had been scheduled). Our service was reconnected and the service fee was waived.

Later, we received another communication from Cox, noting that our account had a overdue balance. When we called Cox Communications, we were informed that our May and June payments had not been made. I went online and verified the account information in my online bill-pay three times with the Cox customer representative. The information was correct. And I was able to see on our bank account that Cox Communications withdrew the $46.95 from our account on May 19th and June 21st. We then inquired about the May payment, since we were assured that would be resolved as well but it apparently hadn't. The customer service had no additional information to give us, except for an email address (az.tucsonresolutionspecialists@cox.com). I then emailed that address with a bank account statement, the bill-pay information, and confirmation that a payment had been sent to Cox Communications, as per the advice of the customer service representative. This email was given the subject of: Attention: Misapplied Payments - Veronica and was sent on July 15, 2010.

Over the weeks, my husband and I have continually tried to resolve this issue. We've been told by multiple customer service representatives that they would check into the situation and call and update us on it. James called back once, as did Veronica. That's it. I've spoken with numerous representatives, including Carlos (July 3rd), Aaron (July 8th), James (July 13th), Crystal (July 14th), Thomas (July 16th), Christie (July 19th), Berri (July 19th) and finally Gary (July 24th). I feel it necessary to remind the reader that this list is only composed of those service representatives that I started recording because I felt it prudent to start keeping a record of my interactions with the company. There were at least 3 customer service representatives that I spoke with before Carlos, but I failed to properly record their information.  

During this long list of constant communication with  the billing department, my husband faxed bank statements, I sent pdfs of bank statements, account information, and bill-pay information. Mary, our customer service representative from the bank, also faxed over statements, forwarded screenshots of ACH reports, and faxed transmittal reports. We were constantly promised to be kept informed of our account status but this rarely happened. As can be seen by the multiple phone calls we made to Cox, we were trying to do everything in our power to resolve this situation.

As of the writing of this letter, the situation remains unresolved. We were promised that we would received a phone call regarding our account after the faxing of the transmittal reports. That phone call was supposed to have been made by today. Since it was not, I called Cox Communications once more to get an update on our account. No information has been updated since July 21, 2010 when Veronica finally noted that the screenshots I sent her on July 15, 2010 did not give enough information to resolve the issue. In the meantime, the transmittal reports were faxed on July 20, 2010, which apparently have not been looked at or considered in regards to our account.

We are extremely frustrated by the complete lack of communication we have experienced throughout this process. We have tried as hard as possible to do what we can to resolve this issue and it seems like we are hitting an apathetic and uncommunicative wall from Cox Communications. At this point in time, we don't know what to do. Throughout this time, I feel as if it's been a one-way conversation - us calling Cox to fix this, not vice versa. I'm at a loss for words to describe the complete disregard that Cox Communications has shown us. Disappointment, frustration, anger, helplessness...these are all emotions that I feel at this point in time. I doubt that we will continue to be customers of this company if this is the sort of customer service and responsiveness that they give to consumers who are proactive in trying to do the right thing.

Sincerely,
Ashlee and Todd Hoffmann

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

I'm such a preschool teacher...

I was going to bed....really, I was. But then my husband said "Oh hey, I found some children's songs." He downloaded about 50 songs (since I'm going to be taking them to class with me) onto his computer. And now I'm sitting here listing to children's songs. A lot of them.

I should go to bed. Really, I should....

But "Down by the Station" is playing! And "Kookaburra" is next!

Woah!

I'm sitting in my office chair, contemplating the effort that a post will take and wondering if it will drain the last of my reserves for the day. If so, Todd will find me in a half an hour (once he gets done fixing the ice-maker in our refrigerator) passed out at my computer. You, my lovely readers, will also know that this has happened because this is what the remainder of the post will look like:


7 nhjklpukjkjjkhnjk;dxscxxscvxokfppppppppppppppp./<

Yes, I'm pretty talented - my face can italicize the font. So until my post looks like that, you'll at least know that I have a minimal bit of energy left.

Work has begun. I suppose that's where my "Woah!" comes from. I can't believe that the year has started already. As many of you know, I got a sad and foundation-shaking shock when I saw the facebook update of my CDA this past week. She got a promotion (Yay for her! Boo for me!). So, all my momentum for this upcoming year kind of came to a standstill. I started worrying about who my new CDA would be, if we would get along, if she would be on the same page, etc. Fari and I had such a good classroom vibe going on and I didn't want to lose that.

Well, I met my new CDA on Monday. Her name is Araceli and I can only think to myself "Wow, Ashlee, you got lucky." I got another amazing CDA! We've been working on setting up the classroom, planning home-visits, and putting together student information. I'm once again really excited for the great things we will be doing with our students this year! I can't wait to see the progress they're going to make!

The downside of work is that I'm tired. Maybe I'm not used to getting up in the morning and moving around all day. For those of you who haven't been informed of my summer...let's see...one word to describe it.....

Relaxing.

I would have said "chill," but in the extreme-heat-warning summer we've been having that word would have been absurd.

Also, as a side note, I'm about to finish the book "Would You Convict?" It's an examination of 17 cases that challenge how one thinks about the law, it's purpose, practice, implementation, vision, and consequences. I find it fascinating. I love books that challenge me to think about concepts in a new way. It's definitely a branch out from my sci-fi/fantasy genre, but I'm enjoying it.

Okay, I feel some sort of magnetism between the keyboard and my head. I better go before my post degenerates into nothing but a meaningless sequence of letters.....

Or maybe it will turn into some secret code. I guess we'll never know...

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Meow...meow...meeoooow

6:30am on a Sunday morning. Lovely. You might be thinking "Wow, Ashlee, that's great! You're up early and now you can get so much done around the house!" Okay, maybe you weren't thinking that but I'm trying desperately to think positively about this situation. Unfortunately, it's not working very well. Instead, I'm sitting here at my computer, yawning and closing my eyes for long periods of time, wishing I were back in bed.

Did I mean to get up this early? No, not really. I mean, sure, it would be nice to vacuum the pool now because it's still pretty cool. Cool being 87 degrees, that is. Yeah...looking at the temperature outside didn't really make me any more optimistic. Such is life in the middle of the desert. Outside work must be done in the "cool" morning hours.

Still, this is not the only morning I've been up this early. It seems that Titus, our not-so-little cat, has a new habit....of pawing at the door and meowing at some awful time in the morning. This time usually falls between 5:00am and 6:30. Not so early, you think? Well, it's early for us, especially on the weekend. The cat seems to be able to sense when we set our alarm and he inevitably starts making noise an hour or so beforehand. An hour is a lot of precious sleep time to miss out on.

So, last night Todd and I (a little frustrated at our morning wake up calls all week) decided to keep Titus in his cage overnight. He no longer freely roams the house and it's all his fault. I have to put a bit of blame on him otherwise I feel guilty keeping him locked up all night. In the past, putting his cage outside of our bedroom and locking him in there has been sufficient to stop the annoying little sounds in the morning.

Not this morning.

I'm not a very heavy sleeper. The little meows come at unexpected intervals and that makes them extremely difficult to ignore. Meow. Meow. Meeeoooow.

I don't really know what to do about it. Maybe I'll lock him in the laundry room tonight. It's for his own good, really. Because waking me up when it's perfectly allowable for me to sleep in could be hazardous to his health. I hope he knows what he's getting himself into.

This was my little venting session, my time to expel the "GRRR TITUS" emotions I'm feeling. The pool is calling to me. To clean it. Yay?

Now I'm just going to wake up Todd. Meow. Meow. Meeeoow.