STILL NO INTERNET!

So I'm here at the library again . . .

Apparently Slime-Corner is as effed up as y'all (see, I'm suthern now!) said. They didn't show up because we hadn't paid the amount due, which their email said was $0.00. They said that even if we didn't owe anything, we still had to call and make the payment. WTF?!? Apparently we're supposed to call and say "Hi, I'd like to pay my amount due of $0.00" and they'll say "Okee dokee, all set" and then the guys will come. Right. Spousehole has authorized me to go with another company. Our choices are rhymes with Bombastic, rhymes with Phrenology (a local co), and the easily forgotten choice of Hey Key and Bee, which offers digital television too. I'm checking the various rates in another window here, so we'll see.

In addition to phone, internet, and television, I am also living without another modern convenience that most of us take for granted: a microwave. I've gone 4 weeks now without one. I wanted to bring mine from Michigan since it works great and I've had it since I was 19 and it's never given me any trouble. It was high-end when I got it and that quality has really shone through. It still looks good as new and works just as well. But it also fits perfectly in the space provided for it in the cabinetry of the Michigan kitchen, so Spousehole, my dad, and my real estate agent convinced me to leave it. But Spousehole keeps putting off buying a new one. We got a $1000 of the reimbursement for moving expenses from his employer and I expected to put a percentage of that toward a new microwave. But no-oo-ooo-ooo-ooo: Spousehole already earmarked the entire reimbursement to pay for work on his motorcycle! Idiot. He said "I told you it was $80 per hour, not including parts" My reply: But you never told me it was going to be 12+ hours!!!! WTF? That 1997 bike isn't even worth that much! Apparently something or another is leaking and something about piston rings and blah blah blah. It sounds like they are essentially rebuilding the engine from the little bit I listened to of Spousehole's explanation. He bitches about me paying for the "high-mileage" oil for my van (over 131,000 miles on it) but he can pay that for his bike? Whatever. End result is still no microwave for me. Or the kids. Or him. I plan to remedy the no microwave situation this weekend. We're getting one whether he likes it or not.

Apparently the only way you can prove you live in Podunk is to have a utility bill in your name. I have to have a utility bill in my name to get a driver license, register to vote, and even to get a library card. I'm not kidding. Since Spousehole was here first and therefore set up the utilities, nothing is in my name. Perhaps getting cable in my name will help. Even with that, I still can't get a driver license until the marriage license I just ordered online arrives. Apparently having a passport and Michigan driver license in my married name isn't enough. They still have to see the marriage license to show the legal basis for the name change from that on my birth certificate. I also have to have my social security card, even though I already showed them my passport and birth certificate to prove I am a U.S. citizen (a requirement to get a license here - what do legal permanent resident non-citizens do? just walk everywhere?). The "utility bill in your name" thing applies everywhere, even school. The lease for the house we're renting (can't buy one until we sell the Michigan house) wasn't good enough to get the boy into school. Since it was too soon for us to have gotten an electric bill yet, I had to go to the electric company and get a letter verifying that we get electric service in Spousehole's name at the address we claimed as our home. (At least the school would take something in Spousehole's name since he is also Boy's parent.) School was kind of a pain too. Even though I had all Boy's records sent well before we even left Michigan, it still took 1.5 weeks after we arrived before Boy could start school. We had to have an IEP meeting and not everyone could get together until a week-and-a-half after we arrived. God forbid they could have checked everyone's schedules and set it up for right after we arrived, but that would be way too logical. Nope - they didn't even check the schedules until after we were physically present in the state. Maybe they have a problem with people calling them a ton of times, talking to school psychologists and such, and having a ton of records faxed AND mailed from their state of origin, and then just not showing up. IDK.

Hope to be back soon. It looks like I'm going with rhymes-with-Bombastic -- keep your fingers crossed!!!

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