spring forward...

to revisit a topic broached earlier...i did in fact pass my ITIL foundation certification (as did the rest of my team) with a score of 85%. i guess i ended up studying too hard. i could have missed 8 more questions and still passed. moving on...
enjoyed a nice long easter weekend. the weather was awesome too! was able to get a few pics posted. took some shots of the easter egg hunt on saturday too but forgot to post them (oops) maybe later...
i bought my first new new bicycle in like 25 years on friday. i'm looking forward to actually using it and taking some bike trips with the girls.
next saturday is alaina's first communion. i also have my fantasy baseball draft. (more on this later)
never a dull moment these days!

still waiting....

for my ITIL test results. figured i'd get them in the mail by today. maybe tomorrow. want to get this monkey off my back, it's ridiculous. i woke up last night at 3 am and thought about it for an hour. it's SO not worth it. they've made it clear that anybody who failed can reschedule the test. i still want to know either way :-(
looking forward to a nice 3 day weekend. it's been a little while since i've had a day off. as is usually the case, i'm feeling less than 100% phisically on my vacation day. it happened over christmas break too when i had the worst sore throat of all time. anyway, i'm not complaining...just need a day off.
that's it for now. enjoy the easter weekend.

near miss...

we received about 1.5" of snow yesterday while areas as close as 30 miles away got 8-12". just fine by me ('cuz ya know, i'm like ready for spring) but the wife is none too amused. i must admit, the minnesota winters have seemed pretty wimpy these past few years. i've used the snow blower exactly twice. snows this late in the season generally don't last too long.
i've spent a good part of this weekend mixing & burning cd's and playlists via itunes, for friends and family. i sort of enjoy it but it can be time consuming. i have my itunes library up to 12,456 digital tracks, which at times can be difficult to manage.
trying to psych up for another work week but i do have this friday off - yay. cheers for now...

the qwest spirit of service...

no one has ever been able to tell me when my residential ph. line will qualify for dsl. all i want to know is when? 2 weeks, 2 months, 2 years, never??? all i want is a straight answer! i'm 10 minutes from downtown minneapolis, i don't live in the sticks. why is this so difficult? (i changed some of my answers to "X's") I'm not sure if i was chatting with a live person or a robot but i didn't have the guts to ask.

Thank you for using Qwest.com. A Sales and Service Consultant will be with you in a moment. Currently, your estimated wait time is 0 minutes and 11 seconds.
Welcome to the Qwest.com live chat service. My name is Scott. May I please have your name?
you: DSL service is currently not available at my residence. How do I know that it will ever be available? Is there a timeline?
you: Harvard Price
Scott: Sure, I will be happy to assist you.
Scott: I apologize for the inconvenience.
Scott: May I please have your primary telephone number?
you: 651-639-XXXX
Scott: Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.
Scott: Thank you.
Scott: Just to verify that I am speaking with the responsible party on this account, please provide me with your Qwest billing account code (the last three digits of Qwest account number on your bill) or the last four digits of your Social Security number.
you: XXXX (SS#)
Scott: Thank you.
Scott: Thank you.
Scott: Just a moment while I review your account. Thanks for waiting.
Scott: Thank you. I am going to run some additional tests.
you: OK
Scott: I will be right with you.
Scott: I'm sorry, our records indicate that DSL is not available at this location.
Scott: We have no estimated date as to when DSL will be available at your location, but if you'd like I can refer your request to our DSL group for further investigation. They will test your line for the possibility of providing DSL to your residence and will contact you with the results within 5-7 business days. There is no charge to conduct this test.
you: I had this done about 6 months ago and was told that the testing proved that my line still did not qualify. Unless something has changed there's no point intesting this again. I'm more interested to know a timeframe of when I met expect this service to be available.
Scott: You may run the test again after six months. It may show different information for the results. I do not have any specific date at this time.
Scott: What would you like to do?
you: I would like the line tested again if there's a chance something has changed.
Scott: I will run the test through for you now. I do not know anything, until it comes back.
Scott: Just a moment while I review your account. Thanks for waiting.
Scott: The test has been sent.
Scott: Before we end our chat session, I would like to recommend Paperless Billing. Qwest Paperless Billing offers flexible payment options, notifies you via e-mail when your bill is available online and eliminates the hassle of mailing in paper statements. Sign up today and you can enter a drawing for a $1,500.00 gift card! If you haven?t already, would you like to take a few moments to register for Paperless Billing?
you: No thanks. How will I know when the line test is completed?
(several minutes pass)
Scott: I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.
Scott: We will call you at home by the end of the week.
you: OK, thanks

never as tired as when i'm waking up...

had a fun but short weekend. had late nights friday night and again last night where i watched the clock hit 12:30 am. i need to get caught up one of these days...i hate going to sleep and i hate waking up. what's up with that?
if i hadn't mentioned it here, alaina is taking piano lessons now. we are encouraging her and she has a lot of interest (at least now) so i think she'll do well. she has always loved to doodle on the piano, especially when i'm trying to talk to someone on the phone or watch a show on tv.
i'll spend all day tomorrow and wednesday in class studying for my ITIL certification. mine is the second wave of folks in my group who have gone through the 2 day class and taken the test and from what i hear, the test is not easy! now, i love technology but some of this philosophical stuff can get a little dry. we'll see..wish me luck. more later.

"cut the cake mom!"...

...is a classic line that comes up just about every year. i guess i must have been very young when i said this but apparently, in my view, there was too much doddling around on one birthday (when it came to the cake,) and this was my way of saying, "c'mon, let's get on with it"!
at any rate, because i strive so hard to be both informational and informative, here is a bit of history with regards to actual famous people whom i share my birthday with:

- Mickey Spillane (author)
- Vita-Sackville-West (novelist, poet)
- Bobby Fischer (chess player)
- Dennis Rader (the BTK serial killer)
- Emmanuel Lewis (played "Webster"...surprisingly only 3 years younger than me)

more later...

two quick things....

i wanted you to be aware of 2 minor changes i just made to this site. first, you may have noticed i added the blogger navigation bar at the top. not sure if i like it or not, but it's there...at least for now. beware, if you click on "next blog" in the upper right hand corner, you will be taken to someone else's recenly published blog and know that i am not affiliated with it or it's content in any way, shape, or form.
also, under "navigate" on the left side panel, i added a link to my email address called "contact me". you could have also got to my email link from my "view complete profile" link, but this is now on the main page to make it more obvious. that's all for now!