Cable & Poetry Prattle

After running yesterday morning, while cleaning up and dressing for the U, I noticed a battalion of workers with a myriad of rolling tools, gauges, and a plethora of vehicles all milling about the sidewalks in our neighborhood.  I drove off to the U wondering what was going to happen, but didn't give it much thought overall.  

When I returned home in the very late afternoon yesterday, I saw that throughout the neighborhood, various blocks and sections of sidewalk had been crushed and dug up, and new cement squares poured in various locations across the entirety of the block.  Our home had two sidewalk squares replaced.  I have no idea why, as neither was cracked nor in disrepair.  But, again, I thought nothing much of it.... I figured it was some city and/or township initiative.  

My wife and I prepared our dinner together.  It was "Taco Tuesday"..... with my usual array of "taco salad bigger than my head" , two burritos, two tostadas, and one "Mexican Pizza" which was a baked corn tortilla with light cheese and vegetables on it... baked in the oven.  My wife had decided to procure her food this day from a take-out restaurant.... instead of fixing her usual..... because she was especially tired.   I declined the offer to bring me take-out too.....  and instead made my own versions.... to decrease fat and calorie levels to a better level for me..... and more importantly.... to allow me to increase the VOLUME to calorie ratio...  to fill me up.

We had decided yesterday, while fixing our plates.... since it was rather late in the day... that we would forgo eating at the dinner table as we were both rather tired... and instead would eat on the couch and watch television together.  

It was only then, when we were comfortably situated on the couch, our delectables in front of us..... that we discovered, when we tried to turn on the television...... that our cable...... and our Internet.... and our phone were all INOPERATIVE.  

I cussed up a storm under my breath.  I already had my SUSPICIONS.  But, my wife coaxed me into the "typical" protocol... of calling the service provider's 800 number and reporting the problem and seeking their guidance.  The service provider is annoying in that it has a very, very elaborate, robotic telephone queueing system, which took me about 15 minutes before I could get away from the computer generated voice asking me question upon question...... and my zillion time repeated plea of "Customer Service Representative" was finally acknowledged.... and I was placed into their "holding" queue.  Then the on-hold voice proclaimed "We are experiencing larger than normal call volumes, your wait time may be longer than desired."   But, I had been through this before.... that is always the line.  Sometimes a real person comes on in 5 minutes, sometimes 15.  

Last night, unfortunately, it was ~45 minutes of waiting.  I was mostly aggravated by having to hear the "elevator music" in their hold system.... and was further aggravated by the service provider inserting an ad for other parts of their services every minute or so.  

Eventually, I got to a fellow named "Michael" (who actually had what sounded like a very heavy Indian accent) and he did a whole bunch of things to try to re-establish our service.  All, to no avail, as I presumed.  He then proceeded to offer a repair appointment.  This appointment will occur Thursday (tomorrow).  My wife and I both have to figure out how to handle the 4 hour window we are supposed to be home to wait for them to show up.  It may need to be me, and this will mean no Retiree's Cigar Group which immediately made me feel more sad and aggravated.  My wife is looking into her schedule, so perhaps I will be lucky and she can be here for some or all of it instead.... but I do not know yet.  

SO.....

What I damn well expect has happened..... what my suspicions are..... is that the damnable sidewalk crew, when they bashed and dug out the concrete squares they were going to replace...... very likely severed or at least damaged the underground wiring of our service provider..... the wiring of our service provider DID happen to run from the road directly under one of the replaced concrete squares to get into our property.

So, we were both aggravated and have no services of that sort at all until at least sometime Thursday.  After eating, because I was still keyed up from the aggravation of the evening, after my wife went to bed, since I could not read my Kindle, and actually reading a book did not sound enjoyable in my "keyed up" state.... I went to my office.... and sans computer (no internet), took another stab at trying to do something that is sort of like poetry.  I based the poem on my thoughts from yesterday's post about the beautiful memories of when I used to ride home in my truck in the evenings with a pipe.  It actually became more about the "getting to my truck" stage, I guess:

Start of the Evening

The office dims as autumn twilight falls,

surrounded by the weight of heavy  books.

An old professor returns from campus halls,

to seek the quiet of his hidden nooks.

He strikes a match, a sudden amber spark,

chases shadows throughout the quiet room.

He ignites the leaf as he prepares to embark,

The bowl’s ember aglow, has banished the gloom

Swirling smoke ascends in gentle rings,

Akin to ideas drifting throughout the air.

A sweet and gentle release from what the daytime brings,

and heavy burdens slip beyond his care.

With pipe in hand, the world begins to slow,

he is content to watch the ember softly glow.

PipeTobacco