Cicada Emerges, And Mediacom Ticks Me Off!

This weekend has been full of fun little episodes that wear down your endurance with humanity!  I’m speaking of Mediacom And their TERRIBLE customer service.

First:  The situation.  Friday morning, a Mediacom truck pulls down our driveway not once, but twice!  No Biggy, we are paid in full and have no issues.  They leave, we have no service.   we spend THE NEXT FIVE DAYS trying to get the problem fixed.   We travel to Iowa city to get a new router.  Not the problem. 

The Problem!  Mediacom RANDOMLY switches people off!  ON PURPOSE!  WHY?   Even they do not know apparently!  I guess there are it squads that roam the country side looking fro pirated cable and they disconnect them.  Unfortunately, they MOSTLY get it wrong according to the technician.  Despite the cable box has not one, not two, but THREE security measures to prevent the random Joe from Hooking up some coat hanger with aluminum foil to syphon off free adult movie channels;  They still have the “cable police” out there messing up paying customer's service.

And then there is the “customer service”.  First  I did manage to get one person…in addition to the computer, who was the most helpful.  Grant, I think his name was.  Everyone else was TERRIBLE!   They misspelled my email,  Kept pushing the “EXPENSIVE PREMIUM PACKAGE” and asked me random stuff that had no bearing what so ever on the problem at hand.  Grant was the ONLY one who could see that there was a disconnection in the signal.  Everyone else either did not want or know how to do their job. 

Finally, today,  we got our service back.  It took about 3 minutes and most of that was the guy fixing the misspelled password and other SNAFU’s the customer service rep’s messed up.  I could theorize that this was a vast “BIG CABLE” conspiracy to get me to call and have them try to upsell me from $20 a month internet to $190 a month Internet, cable TV, phone, payperview, movies, streaming news, and Email.   All things I DO NOT NEED or WANT. I mean, they send me numerous leaflets and brochures asking me to give up more money than I can afford.  Why not force me to deal with incompetent customer service reps/ salesmen for five days while they neglect me the “bargain Package” .  I can hear it now

“Sorry to hear your service was randomly disconnected by our service team.   While you are on the phone…how would you like to pay almost 10 times what you are currently paying and get more stuff than you can possibly use or need.”

My answer is” If you guys can’t keep the $20 version up.  How am I going to trust you can keep the $200 versions running?  And how will I be able to call if you shut off the phone randomly?”

Anyway,  It has been a long time wanting to vent to my blog.  But there were moments of Zen.  The weather has been quite nice as of late.   And a Cicada graced us with his metamorphosis just outside our window.  It was fun to watch..even the cat got into it. 

My First Success with an Origami Crease Pattern

The totally Awesome Origami Water Dragon from Brian Chan.   I first saw this while hunting down a cool Oriental Dragon Pattern and was blown away!  I then was on a mission to try to find how to fold this dragon.   After extensive searcing, I only found the Crease Pattern.

 

It has been sitting on my computer for a while now, but today, I finally decided to give it a go and try to fold from the CP.

 

  I simply printed out the CP on a piece of white printer paper.  ( not the best) But I figured I would ‘trial and error” it untill I figured it out.   Surprisinngly, it went rather smoothly.  Although the details are a little crappy,  the initial form is as it should be.  I’m now confident that, with better paper,  I could have better results.  Perhaps even getting results I can put in my shop.   I imagine I will be adding a few things to it to make it my own. but we shall see when the time comes.   In the mean time…enjoy the pictures.

Origami Catch up!

A quick post after listing all of the items I folded up this weekend.  It is late, so I won’t say much.  This always happens when I neglect my poor blog for a week at a time.   Anyway,  Enjoy the pics!

 

Origami Wrap Up! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Tomatoes! Finally!

It seems like forever, but my tomatoes are finally bearing fruit.   In fact,  I finally see one that is turning red…-ish.  Anyway,  it might not be too long before I’ll be able to enjoy a few with our dinner.  We used to eat them all the time.  I mean…All the time.   My grandfather used to have a huge garden and he would give all of his tomatoes away….basically all to us!   My mother accepted everything, of coarse.   We canned them,  Turned them into tomato juice. Even ate them with every meal!   When I say every mean, I mean Even snack time.  We would eat tomato sandwiches, tomatoes with sugar, tomatoes with salt,  Even tomatoes just sliced up.  As a kid,  I thought this was totally normal.  Everyone ate tomatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, right?  Of coarse, only in season.   Whenever anything was in season,  we were literally buried in what ever grandpa had growing.  Pickles, beans, cucumbers, squash, strawberries, peppers, sweet corn, and, of coarse, tomatoes! 

But after Grandpa died, and I went away from home,  I realized that very few people ate those mountains of vegetables and fruits like we did.   Don’t get me wrong,  we were not thin and healthy.   We were total CHUB BALLS trying to keep up with the never ending flow of plant materials.  You see,  Mother’s zealotry for never wasting food, forced us to consume everything before it could rot.  She thought that It was an insult to grandpa if we  let one tomato over-ripen  beyond edibility .  Those early informative years shaped my life to question the vegan lifestyle.  And, when I was finally allowed to eat things OTHER than the mountains of produce, my diet quickly changed gears.

But now,  call it nostalgia,  I sometimes miss some of that fresh produce that is not found in your typical grocery store.  Granted,  I only want it sometimes, and in REASONABLE amounts, but I still crave It from time to time.  Farmers markets are actually kid of rare here.  And sometimes, if you find one open on a Thursday after 5 pm,   they usually have a limited selection or are missing the item you had in mind.   Not to mention everything is seasonal!  With that in mind I set out this year to grow my own tomatoes.

I started with just seeds.  Remember my post back in the spring?  I grew them inside with seeds I got for free.  The past has taught me that 6 plants will produce more tomatoes than a family of 4( under REASONABLE circumstances) can possibly eat for that season.  When Grandpa died,  Mom and Dad tried growing their own tomatoes and ended up flooding out kitchen with red fruit once again.  Of coarse,  Eric and I were away in college at the time and could not “help” them eat them all. 

Anyway,  I was proud when my little plants finally popped up.  I transplanted them several times and wondered if I had killed them.  You see, I’m not really a gardener.  In fact, I rather hate it.  It’s dirty, hot and sticky.  There are bugs that bit, sting and creepy crawl.   I’m impressed anyone likes doing that stuff.

However,  I recently got some compliments from the neighbor on the size of the plants.  This Iowa weather seems to welcome the tomato….if they get enough water.  So finally!  I FINALLY have a tomato that is almost ready to be harvested.  It has taken way too long, and now I remember the genius of CAPITOLISM!   Fresh fruits and vegetables everyday in and out of season.  If you have to grow them yourself.   you will first have a famine waiting for the stuff to grow…then an overwhelming tidal wave of tomatoes!  Which, judging from the small tomatoes and buds on the plants,  I’m in for. 

It’s ok,   I’m not my Mom ( thankfully!) and I will have no problem giving away or leaving tomatoes to go to seed next year.  I will not try to harness  every drop of the sun’s energy to MAXIMIZE the tomato output like my Grandfather.  I will take what I can and leave what ever else to nature.  However,  we are preparing to have those tomato snacks of yester year.   Cheryl already has a few ideas ready for experimentation.  I’ll have to see what we can do with all of these things once the storm hits and we are drowning in ripened red fruit.  Perhaps we can turn them into some alternative fuel source and save money at the pump!   Iowa is famous for that kind of Stuff!  We shall see.

ACT Project Finished!

Well that was quick!  It was a little bit of a surprise when they asked us to join up for several weeks, and it ended up being about a eek and a half total!  Well, it was fun.  And not to difficult to wrap your head around.  But now we have to figure out what to do next.   The short answer for me is to fold paper.   I need to get that shop of mine filled up with more items. I’m not sure what Cheryl will be up to, but I guess there are always stockings to sew up…..and then there are wristlets.  What ever we choose,  I’m sure we will get on the next project and hopefully that will  last until the Christmas rush begins.   We shall see.

An Origami Weekend!

Not much to do in Wellman Iowa…except fold paper.  And now that our project is going to end faster than anticipated, we find ourselves gripping our hard earned money bills more  tenaciously than usual.  Actually,  money is like water to us.   The harder you squeeze, the faster it slips out of your hand.  Anyway,  to fight the urge to spend our last dime on a trip to Iowa City, I have been folding.  Not to mention, my shop seems a little sparse at the moment, and I have to keep the stock up if I want to continue to get sales. 

With that in mind,  I wanted to post a quick entry before I hit the sack and dream about scoring papers tomorrow.  So here they are…Enjoy!

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ACT Qualification Dare Complete!

We qualified!  YEAH!

Every time we have a new project, we have to pass the test to be able to score the project.  It is nerve wracking!  No matter how many times you do it, you just want to get it right the first time.   And, even if there are no consequences, there still is a matter of pride!  Perhaps it is something unique to academics,   we have spent most of our informative years in some type of learning establishment where we are tested on a regular basis.  Anyway, you might think that we “love to be tested” but that is not true for all of us.  I for one, never really like taking tests.  I would rather “learn by doing.”

But I must say, it is a relief to get the qual set out of the way.  Now, all we have to do is hope the project lasts long enough for us to make some gains financially.  We shall see!

Can’t get enough Pegasus!

Ok!  There are some designs out there that are just not suited to wet folded cardstock.  And, unfortunately, the only way I can figure out which ones, is by folding them all!  It’s not all that bad.  I actually like folding, especially when the design/model turns out.  However,  nothing is more demoralizing, than having invested two or three hours into something and literally wrestling with the paper to make it somewhat look like what the original design picture. 

With that in mind, I present several versions of the same sculpture.  The origami Pegasus.  I must say, I was impressed with the Montroll version.   Even with thick cardstock, I was able to get it to turn out pretty good.   However,  I think I like my version the best.  It’s true, I break the origami rules a bit, but who cares?  As long as the paper and model achieve “zen” together,  the rest of the world can just back off.    I have always been fond of “forbidden love” anyway. 

So here are the versions so far.  I have not bothered to list he versions I ‘m not proud of.  I mean, Who would, right? Now I have to figure out what to fold next.  I still want to fold a brown one, just to break the rules even further.  I think it has potential! 

Golden Mane Pegasus VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Oh!  And we start back up at ACT tomorrow.  A different project, but one we have done before.  I’m hoping it will be as easy as before…and longer than the 10th grade!  We shall see…In the mean time,  enjoy my latest Golden Mane Pegasus.

Totally Giraffie!

I’m not sure what that means, but it’s a fitting word for my latest creation.  A couple of giraffes!  I guess you could say a mom and kid, but that doesn’t have to be true.  Perhaps it is a dwarf giraffe picking a fight with a larger one.  Anyway,  I thought they turned out pretty good.   and best of all, I was able to fold them all in one day!   That is to say, I was not distracted my any trips to Iowa City.  Anyway,  Enjoy the pics!  And if you like them,   click on the shop to the right and buy them…what great gifts for Mothers Day!   Enjoy!

Origami Giraffe VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL