November 11 – “Comcast and the U.S. Postal Service”

I had to go up to the church to meet a Comcast repairman again the other day.  After all the trouble we had the Friday before, that guy had everything working fine when he left.  Then when we arrived at church on Sunday morning, none of the three lines was working.  We didn’t even have a dial tone.  And the calls soon began from the fire alarm company to tell us they were not receiving the signal from the alarm.  At least this one came during worship while my phone was turned off rather than at two in the morning.

The new repair guy figured out right away that all three lines were out, and his first thought seemed to be that we needed yet another new box.  But he made a phone call into the main office, did a little flirting with the girl who answered, and between the two of them, they figured out something to do on her end.  Whatever that something was, the service came right up.  The dial tone returned on the phone, the “All systems Go” message appeared on the alarm system box.  Everything was working again.  For the time being.  Hate to be a pessimist, but we’ll see for how long.

Speaking of Comcast, our cable at home is acting up again as well.  It’s doing that whole cut out, pause, screen splits up into many different pieces thing.  When we do get sound it makes the people come across as sick robots.  When I called the other night the guy I talked to told me he would be sending out a brand new reception box.  Apparently the one we have is now considered a dinosaur in the industry.  Of course it is.  And I plan to call them back today, anyway.  That was the same guy who told me he would call me back in ten minutes and never did.

The cold weather must have affected our mailman, too.  We apparently have a different one that the guy who went through Hurricane Ike with us.  He knew the route and a lot of us on it.  When we were demoing the house, he would bring our mail by instead of letting it get sent to the void that was our temporary post office up in LaMarque.  We always knew about when we would get the mail, and as a result we could always tell when he took a day off or went on vacation.  Since he’s been gone we have a different person almost every day.  They are either talking on their phone or listening to music – anything to keep from connecting with homeowners.  Anyway, whichever one was assigned to us never showed up on Monday.  At all.  I put our mail out to be picked up again on Tuesday, and to my surprise a mailman arrived – before ten o’clock in the morning.  That was rare.  But then a different one stopped by around 2:30 or so in the afternoon with a few more Occupant letters.  Guess the first guy was slowed down so much by the cold that he just couldn’t finish, so he had to get done the next day.  Hey, I get that it’s tough to trudge around in the cold rain.  But what ever happened to the motto?  You know, the one about “neither rain, nor sleet, nor …” whatever else they have to go through will keep them from their appointed rounds.  I guess it must have been amended to “except in Galveston when the weather is unseasonable nasty.” 

1 Chronicle 16:10 says, “Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.”

Father, thank you for those guys who repair cable systems and deliver mail.  Help them be strong and healthy.  Oh, and forgive me for complaining.  Amen.