Cloudbursts, Comcast, and Culling

Today began with my going out quickly to get my walk done before the rains came. Actually, the walk was cool and pleasant, and I returned in plenty of time. It had not even begun raining when I came out of the house, all showered and ready. (The pets and I are living in the RV -- eating and sleeping. But I am showering in the house, to keep my gray tank from filling too fast.)

Next was my Comcast confrontation. I called first, to see what it was that I had to do in order to disconnect my service. They told me that I would need the converter box, the remote -- which I would have forgotten, and Michael's death certificate, since the cable had been in his name. I unhooked the box and put all the stuff in a plastic bag, against the inevitable rain. Put the death cert into the car with the box, and off I went!

I stopped first at the bank to cash an overpayment check from State Farm. They do this all the time -- send me a bill, which I pay, and then return a bunch of it, telling me that it's an overpayment. Whatever, I'll take it, but it just seems silly.

The woman at Comcast was not very pleasant, particularly when I told her that I wanted to have my service disconnected as of October 25, 2007. I explained my situation -- that I had left in a hurry after Michael's passing, and that I had called from Arizona. I had been told then that I could only disconnect the service if Michael were there in person, which was quite impossible, or if I were there in person, with a death certificate, and the cable box, which was also quite impossible.

The woman told me that I had made a choice to leave, after all, and that Comcast wouldn't be able to refund anything. I explained that I had paid faithfully while I had been away, about $830 in all, so that I wouldn't get bad credit. She said that, yes, that was the right thing to do. Then she offered to get her supervisor.

The supervisor started talking about their "policy" about disconnecting service. That's when I started to stomp my little feet and I told her that the "policy" was MEAN! I said, "Come ON! It would just be NICE to cut someone a break, when their life has been torn apart like this!"

I think that she did not like my foot-stomping, because she very calmly said, "Have a seat over there. We're going to get this done for you." I did, and she did. She returned to me in a few minutes, having talked to her boss. I'll be getting a check in 4-6 weeks! So yay.. Comcast has a heart!

Toward home I went, with rain peppering down, off and on. I went to the grocery, stocking up on some of my favorite things including Rainier cherries, chocolate pudding cups, and Quaker Mini Rice Cakes. I also got another box of Great Grains cereal, making *3* in my RV's cupboard. Sheesh. I think that'll last me a while.

Culling today was mostly in the pantry, and it was difficult again. This was tough because .. what do you do with 8 boxes of Kleenex? I'll use it eventually, but I'll have no place to store it! Same with 6 bottles of Lysol Toilet Cleaner. I think that'll last me the rest of my life, but .. where to put it in the meantime? It's a puzzlement. I think that I'll give a bunch of that to Annette, either to use, or to keep for me in case I ever get a house with particularly dirty toilets.

I also cleaned out one of the cupboards in the wall unit in the music room. This is the one where I discovered Michael had stashed his good ham radio! I'd been looking around for that, thinking that I'd offer it for sale, but then it occurred to me to give it to Ray, a ham friend of ours, who has been very helpful to us over the years. (Thank you, Ray, and may you use the Ten-Tec for many happy years!) I know that Michael would have approved.

I took a few things down from the walls and sort of wandered around a bit, as if lost. I'll attack things with more fervor tomorrow.

I got back into the RV just as the clouds burst again, around 5pm. This time, it really poured down, but there was no wind and the rain didn't last for very long. Now it's calm, dry, and cool! I had pizza and cherries for supper. Mmmm. :)