Queen of the Juggle

I ordered my iPhone 5s today.  However, it has taken me ALL day.  Why you ask?  Well I’m going to share the story.

I have an iPhone 4 and if I have to see the spinning circle take for freakin’ ever anymore I am going to stab my eyes out.  I’m moving back to AT&T from Verizon and will save $50 a month too!  I love corporate discounts. The store is by Carter’s preschool so I thought I’d give it a whirl.  I get to the store and there are 4 AT&T employees at the door.  I ask what the wait is.  “You’re next” says clean-cut-iPad-holding employee.  First I was stunned after I read a Facebook post from my friend Fred about long  lines.

There were quite a few people in the store but less than I thought since this is 5s day.  So I begin to tell guy at the door that I am coming over from Verizon, adding a line, porting my number and I want to buy the iPhone 5s in silver.  Um yeah…no.  Nothing but black and by-the-way, there is a 21 to 28 day wait for all who want anything but black.  I also can’t get it shipped to my home.  Only to the store. Once I knew they didn’t have it I told them i’d go order online.  No big deal.  It is what it is.  Oh that was not to be.  Once in the store they didn’t want me out of the store and they wanted me to purchase iPhone 5 accessories “that fit because the 5s is the same footprint as the 5”.  Well, yes and no.  Footprint is the same.  Camera and flash shape.  No, does not fit.  Buyer beware.

I say “alright I guess I can place an order since I’m here”.  Clean cut says “OK, someone will be right with you”.  Weird.  So I wait and then wait some more (no wait…yeah right) and wait some more for a salesperson since clean cut guy can’t take my order.   I thought “what a bummer that I can’t get my iPhone for about a month”.  More spinning circles in my near future.  Yay me!  I’m feeling like I don’t want to be there anymore and really shouldn’t have come in to begin with, should have known it would not be amazing and should have done research.  An hour later my salesperson has my order, arranges porting and I finally get to get out of the store.

So I hop in my minivan that I love so much and head on home.  Silly me thought I’d check the AT&T website and see what messages customers get when they order.  An order can be placed and it says it will ship in 7 to 14 days.  I freak when I see it because it’s THEIR website.  So I get to online chat on the website.  I tell (type) her my dilemma.  Well online can’t do anything about what happens in a store.  I call store and ask them (nicely) to cancel my order because I can get the phone in half the time if I order online on the AT&T website.  Meanwhile online chat is still going and “Mary” will wait for me.   They nicely cancel my order but not before telling me that “we give the information we are given and don’t know what’s on the website”.  I am stunned that they wouldn’t know what is on the website, but am grateful they are canceling for me so I said nothing about it.

I’m relieved that I won’t have to go back to the store.  I’m still chatting with Mary about placing the order online.  She says she’ll talk me through it.  HA!  I go through the process and too much time lapses and I get kicked out of my account after I have some trouble accessing it.  Then my browser tab is blank.  Mary asks me to clear cookies.  I go to my other PC.  Try the process and can’t port my number.  What?  Seriously?  So I go try at the Apple website.  Same thing.  Mary is still waiting and “is here for me”.  I chat back to her that I can’t port.  She tells me to call Verizon to get a release.  I chat back that at the store they had no problem.  I call Verizon anyway.  As I suspected they were not holding it and hadn’t even been notified yet.    Verizon is so awesome and the girl I spoke to was fabulous and tried to keep my business.  I told her that that I understood but they could not match our combined price from AT&T.  I had a little guilt saying that but it is the bottom line.  Meanwhile Mary is chatting to me that I should just take a new number and then when I get the phone have the number ported.  Um no.  I think not.  Soooo I ask Mary if I couldn’t do it online because they set up the port at the store?  She chats that she doesn’t know.  I dial the store and they tell me that I have to call the “port number”.  I call the 800 number and get a nice person who is in the process of removing the first port the number request and the call drops.  Awesome.  Not.  So I call back.  They cancel the port.  I am finally able to do it online but not before getting kicked out at least 3 more times because I needed to get my Verizon account number, looked at me email and didn’t advance the screen fast enough. Then I get an alert on slow phone that there was an accident near my house.  Then what do you know?  The internet goes down.  Finally, yes finally I place my order online and get confirmation.  I started at 9 a.m. when I stepped foot into the store and at approximately 2 p.m. I am successful.

So in 7 to 14 days we’ll see what happens.  Hubs says it’s because “you have to have the latest and greatest”.  Well no, not really.  I’m 3 phones ago.  Cut me some slack daddy-o!  I thought it was going to be easy!

On another note, I downloaded iOS 7 on my slow phone.  I love it.

Today I taught a class at our local food co-op about canning and preserving today.  I admit I had waited until the last minute to put everything together.  It was half out of necessity and half because I feel like I can preserve in my sleep.  I’m not a dynamo, it just isn’t rocket science and isn’t scary at all.  As always things are busy around here too.  Boys wanting breakfast this morning, me getting ready way too late in the day, and yesterday going all over God’s creation from Lemmon Valley to Washoe Valley for canning jars and a projector for my big debut in teaching canning.  On top of that, the monsters/monkeys keep us super busy no matter what day of the week it is.

Lemmon Valley was interesting.  A little sketchy at times but OK.  A place, that in the 6 years we’ve been here, we haven’t been.  Chip went to the door and retrieved the jars.  They.are.old.  Bugs, stuck on lids, boxes barely together and all.  I’ll take it!  Sold!  Especially if free.  Free works for me.

After jars we took an adventure to Washoe Valley which is the complete opposite direction by about 30 minutes.  We jetted 20 minutes to Lemmon Valley and then another 30 minutes to Washoe Valley.  It was kind of cool to do that too.  We haven’t been to Washoe Lake either, other than seeing it on the way to Carson City.  We went to get a projector to attach to my computer for the canning seminar.  The co-op does not have one but has a screen.  The event coordinator had asked me if I could get one and I tried every way to Sunday to find one.  No one would lend me one reasonably and renting was CRAZY expensive.  So on Craigslist I found one.  This thing is a dinosaur but does the job.  Anyway, we went to pick it up at this house basically on Washoe lake.  It was neat.  Gated place.  Drove in and saw this amazing house.  Knocked on the door and it was answered by really nice people who sold us the projector and showed us their views.  The view was simply amazing.  Majestic Nevada mountains and the lake.  They told us they were renting it and getting ready to move in November.  They are moving into a 5th wheel and seeing the US.  After we left when we were back in the car I told Chip that it’s so funny that various people we meet we could be friends with.  It’s random interactions but there is almost no one that we’ve met in Northern Nevada would I want to be friends with.  So I digress…

Fast forward to Sunday when I am working fast and furious to get zucchini chips in the dehydrator and also get the 2nd load of salsa going.  Add breakfast and whatever else.  Whew!  It wasn’t even 10 a.m. when I thought I might just be over the edge.  Then Chip (hubs) and I decide to try connect this projector, a behemoth of a thing, to my laptop.  Oh good lord!  It could have been like attaching the truck to the trailer hitch on our vacation.  Well not quite that bad but a serious effort from both of us while one boy or another was either arguing or needing help.  It was quite the time.  Cables that are super old, no power cable (not a crisis thank god) and trying to get this to work with Windows 8.  Are you laughing your ass off?  I wasn’t but should have been.  Good god.  We did manage to get it.  Knowing that if any cables are loose or if the remote to the projector doesn’t work we’re hosed.

I had, luckily, packed a bunch of jars of things I had already canned to taste which was already boxed up.  Also threw in the normal canning tools I use and my coveted Ball Blue Book of Canning to take to the class.  I seriously had to get my butt in gear.  As usual I was pushing the time to the wire.  10 minutes late, as always, I got out the door.  I hate this about myself.  Why can I not get anywhere without being 10 minutes late?  I’d love to know.  Anyway, I get out the door and to the co-op…yes 10 minutes later than I would like to.  I connect with dude at the cash register and find I’m pretty much on my own.  Cool.  I can do this.  I ask for a tablecloth. paper plates and an extension cord.  All delivered quickly.  Nice.  I set up all of my samples on one side and my tools on the other.  Two come in and then two more.  Than another couple of people and some singles.  Considering there were only four RSVPs I was happy with the eight who joined.

So we get started.  I’m never sure how things look to the people initially because in my head the commentary is reeling.  I have so much to say but don’t want to do verbal vomit.  I want to engage these people.  Make them part of the conversation.  However no one ever tells you if it’s too fast or it sucks unless they are your BFF.  I had none of that.  I feel like it starts to happen.  People ask questions and I answer.  Very nice.  Feels good.  One guy leaves and more questions come.  I love it.  We moved from water canning to pressure canning.  It’s all good.  The flow is awesome.

Since canning, especially water canning, is fairly simple I didn’t have a ton to say to fill 1.5 hours so we got to tasting some of what I brought.  I’m not bragging but those folks enjoyed it.  Makes my heart seriously full.  My salsa was gone.  Jelly opened and tasted with rave reviews.  Habanero sauce was tried by one and wow it’s hot.  Some, like the strawberry banana butter and apple butter were not touched was OK too.  Helps me understand what people are interested in and would like.  I’m thinking (as suspected) that salsa and jam are good things from my kitchen.

The session at the co-op ended with lovely folks asking for my email and me saying that they can join me for canning session.  I am sincere.  I don’t want them to get discouraged, before investing a fair amount of money if, it’s not for you.  Spend an afternoon at my house.  We’ll make a couple of memories, have a few laughs and everyone can go home with a jar or two of food.  At least you will know.  That’s what it’s about!