Some Thoughts…

Over the last year, I have grown quite fond of reading books on my iPhone. I use the Kindle app for the most part, but I also have purchased a couple of books in mobi format, and for those I use the Stanza app. I have probably read more in the last year than in the several years previous. I’m not sure why, but I seem to be able to read for longer periods of time on the iPhone than I can reading a physical book.

I’ve wanted to try out an actual Kindle, but I don’t know anyone who has one – despite the fact that Amazon claims it is their number one selling product. So this week I took the plunge and bought a Kindle 2 from Amazon. I decided I can always send it back if it doesn’t meet my needs, and I am definitely leaning in that direction already. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a nice product. For me, however, the advantages over using the iPhone don’t justify the price.

There are some Kindle features that are definite improvements over the iPhone experience, including the larger screen size and the ability to read newspapers and magazines. The latter is actually quite nice – I spent quite a bit of time last night reading the latest USA Today and Newsweek. The Kindle also does a respectable job displaying the books I have purchased in mobi format.

However, one of the things I had hoped to do with the Kindle was read PDF documents. I deal with so many documents, especially at work, and I either have to read them on the computer (which I don’t like doing for any significant length of time) or I have to print them out to read (which is a huge waste of paper, time and clutter). I thought the Kindle would be a great alternative but the 6" screen is still too small to read most documents comfortably. This has been a big disappointment.

I’m starting to look on Ebay now to see how cheaply I can get a used Kindle DX . The PDF experience should be much more palatable on it’s 9.7" screen, but will it be too big and heavy? And is it worth the additional $100-$150 over the price of a Kindle 2?

A comedy of errors, if you will.

On August 28, I ordered the Triple Play – digital cable TV, Internet, and phone – from Comcast. I was already getting analog cable TV from Comcast, but my phone and Internet was through Verizon, and I figured I could save money each month by getting all three services from Comcast.

I ordered the service online, and the order process concluded with a chat with ‘Michael’ that included the following exchange:

Michael > Would you like to have a new phone number Bruce?
Bruce_ > no we want to keep our existing
Michael > May I have the number please and the service provider?
Bruce_ > 574-875-xxxx Verizon
Michael > Thank you.
Michael > To ensure that you can keep your number from your previous carrier, you need to complete Third Party Verification. Please click on this link http://www.comcast.com/eloa and visit the verification Web site.
Bruce_ > ok
Michael > Thank you.

On September 1st, the installer came to the house. He said the order called for one cable box, I told him I had ordered two DVRs. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive any confirmation on my order, so I had no proof of what I had ordered.  After an exchange with his home office, in which he appeared more concerned about getting his ‘points’ then he was about pleasing me the customer, he produced two DVRs from his truck and proceeded to install the system. When he had finished, he showed me my new Comcast phone number! Oh wait…I didn’t want a new number, and I showed him the transcript of the chat I had with ‘Michael’. As it turns out, Comcast had no record of my request to keep the same number. After the installer talked to seven different people at Comcast, the plan was to reschedule the phone installation (at one point, Comcast wanted the installer to rip out the TV and Internet installation as well).

Over an hour after the installer left, I received a call from ‘Paul’ (I think that was what he called himself) that I was told would come in fifteen minutes. The purpose of this call was to complete the Third Party Verification which, by the way, I had already completed online the day I placed my original order.

It soon became apparent that one of the DVR units was bad, so a technician came out a couple of days later to swap out the unit. In the process, while trying to deactivate the faulty unit, he actually deactivated the second DVR, which was working just fine. Of course I didn’t realize this until after he had left. It took another call to customer service to straighten this out, and a second call a day later to get all the channels on that unit that I was supposed to get.

On September 8, another installer came out to finally port the phone number, only to find out the porting order had never been placed with Verizon. Say what? Because it takes six business days to complete a port, they rescheduled for September 18.

On September 18, another installer came out to finally port the phone number, only to find out the porting order had never been placed with Verizon. Yup, it’s true. I took off of work AGAIN for no good reason.

We are rescheduled for September 26. This is a Saturday, so at least I won’t have to take off of work.

To top it all off, I just received my first bill for the Triple Play and they charged me for my phone service, even though I was told by ‘Paul’ that they wouldn’t.

Can a company be any more incompetent?

(For the answer click here…)

IF you enjoy listening to (or just appreciate) acoustic guitar music, you may like this (I did).

Welcome to my blog experiment. I’ve been wanting to try this for some time, and time will tell whether I can come up with enough stuff that would be interesting to others.