Sunday July 27 - Just a Lazy Sunday

Just like old times. Old times being before our short lived retirement in May. We just hung out around the house all day watching TV and playing around on the PC’s although Ginger did make breakfast and dinner and managed to get the laundry done in between. Maybe it was just a lazy day for me.

We have been having a problem with the Direct TV HI-DEF receiver in the family room since our return. Because it was off electricity for more than 30 days I had to call Direct TV to have it reactivated which was no problem but it kept dropping the signal. Sometimes it would do this 4 or 5 times in an hour and each time you have to reset the receiver and let it boot up taking 3 or 4 minutes; makes it hard to concentrate on a mindless program.

Some days this would not happen at all but this past weekend it seemed to be taking a turn for the worse. I have called Direct TV 3 times for this. First time I had already reset the receiver when I called and the service rep said I would have to call back when the problem was occurring. It did not take long for that to happen. This time the lack of service rep could not detect a problem and said there were 2 options to remedy this. # 1 was an $80 service call to fix the problem and would guarantee the fix for 90 days or #2 a $20 service call and I would have to sign up for their service plan for $5.95 per month.

I informed the rep there was a 3rd option….Dish TV. She kind of stammered a bit and said she would note it in my file. I just hung up feeling I was being held ransomed. I had Comcast Cable in Maryland for many years with many problems but they never charged me anything for a repair and I did not feel I should have to pay anything for this.

I tried diagnosing the problem myself. Nothing seemed out of wack on the dish or cabling and the other regular receivers were OK. I did notice the problem receiver was very hot so I removed the access card and it was so hot it had a burned spot. I looked up some service issues on DTV forums and figured the receiver is most likely the problem. I called them a 3rd time and the rep agreed this is most likely the problem and is sending me a new receiver via Fed Ex but I have to pay shipping. I caved and agreed, we should have it in 2 days.

Well if you have been following this blog you know I am now employed by Wal*Mart. If you have not been following the blog you now know. I was hired as an assembler. I mostly assemble bicycles, grills, furniture, or anything else that might need to be put together. Not too bad a gig. I consider this my 1st workamping position. Hopefully it won't be for too long.

Everyone knows Wal*Mart is the #1 retailer in the world but to give you an idea of just how big they have grown since Sam Walton's opened his first store in 1962. They did $300 billion in sales last year and have more than 1.8 million employees.

I worked for Cintas Corp; the largest uniform Co. in the U.S. and Wal*Mart’s sales in 1 week was Cintas’s sales for the year. WOW!

Well Ginger just called to tell me we have a showing for the house today so I have to get moving. Maybe this will be it.

See ya down the road