Jerzei Collie's journal

I intended to catch Clem Hammond's performance at Front Range BBQ last night. A former co-worker plays bass for Hammond's band. The restaurant was crowded both inside and out. I was able to have a seat at the bar to have dinner and a drink. I had some jalapeño cheddar hush puppies for an appetizer, followed by a spicy brisket sandwich called the John-Alex (named for a late local blues musician, John-Alex Mason.) When I finished, the opening band was still playing and there were no seats available in the performance area. I decided to head home instead and take part in Steelwoulfe's game night.

I bought a portable charger for my cell phone (and other electronic devices) recently. This will be very handy for vacations when I'm sightseeing and needing to recharge my phone and camera. I also recently deleted a couple of apps I don't use which were huge memory hogs.

"I didn't get no sleep 'cause-a y'aaaall! Y'all never get no sleep 'cause-a meeee!"

One of the Facebook groups I belong to was shut down a day or two ago. The group organizer set up a private chat room for the members. In a bit of bad timing, my cell phone private message tone began sounding around 11:00 last night as I was trying to fall asleep. I decided to stay up for a couple of hours to chat, then signed off and went back to bed. My attempt to fall asleep again was foiled by someone posting to the group just after 3 AM. I set my cell phone to "Do Not Disturb" mode, but allowing the wake-up alarm. I got maybe 10-15 minutes of sleep. I'll get more sleep after work today.

I was unable to activate my new cell phone when it arrived last week, even with help from customer service. A replacement phone I received also couldn't be activated. A third phone arrived an hour ago, so I hope the third time's a charm. The phone company's Web site says my phone's activation is pending.

15 days until Furry Fiesta!

The "Craigslist caller" is back. I got a call on my cell phone this morning from 734-780-6926. The caller claimed she was responding to a Craigslist ad from someone named Jesse advertising a room for rent. I had received previous cell phone calls in 2009 from a woman claiming my number was on a Craigslist ad offering sensual massages, asking for a different person each time. When I said the person wasn't at my number, she started flirting. At least this time, the call was made at a reasonable time.

I just got off the phone with one of the job rehab agents who had been assigned to me. I say "had" because he told me he no longer works for the company. He took down my number and said he'd contact the other agent.

In 102 days, I will either be having fun at Furry Fiesta or feeling sad at home wishing I could have gone.

I hate when the auto-pay for my bills happens the day before my paycheck is deposited. At least I'll have the paycheck money available (some of it, anyway) for end-of-month bills.



My new cell phone arrived this afternoon. My old phone (on the left) had gotten a lot of wear since I got it in 2006, when I still lived with my parents. In the condo where I currently live, I couldn't get a decent signal on the phone. Hopefully the service I'm switching to will have better reception.

The operator I spoke with said it would take 2-4 days to transfer my current cell number from my old provider to the new one. She also said she would see if the promo code I forgot to enter during the sign-up process could still be applied. The code would take 40% off my bill for the first 12 months and pay any cancellation fees from my old provider up to $350.

My replacement AC adapter and new Bluetooth dongle arrived in the mail today. The computer is remaining charged, so I know the old adapter was broken and not the outlet.

With Bluetooth capabilities, I was finally able to download the videos I had on my cell phone. These are the WMDs (Wiedlans of Mass Destruction.) My cell phone only takes 27-second videos, so two of them are combined in the video below. As with most cell phone videos, the video and audio quality isn't all that great.



A maintenance crew cleaned the outside of the condos this morning. I've always tried to remove the spider webs spun near my entrance, but some were out of reach. The spiders rebuilt the other webs as quickly as I removed them. Since I wasn't dressed and I heard the crew walking around right outside my windows, I quickly ran to put a robe on. They found the metal numbers that were previously used to mark my parking space before the retaining wall was replaced and new signs put in.

PAY for Thursday, August 6th: 3 hours (6-9 AM)

I get calls at least twice a week from a telemarketing company located in Phoenix called AIG Promotions. They claim I requested information about accepting credit cards for a home-based business. Every time they call, I tell them I never requested such information and I asked them to stop calling. I filed a complaint with the FTC and the Better Business Bureau a few weeks ago, but neither of those helped. AIG responded to the BBB report yesterday saying I shouldn't have contacted them (which I didn't) if I didn't want them to call me. Lo and behold, they called again today! I finally e-mailed the police department in Phoenix tonight to ask if I could file charges of telephone harassment against the company. I hope someone can stop them.

I changed my cell phone number yesterday. I originally called AT&T to ask if they could trace the blocked number belonging to my "Craigslist caller." They said they couldn't, so they suggested changing the number. I don't use the cell phone much anyway since the signal at the condo isn't as strong.

UPDATE: The Phoenix police responded to my e-mail by simply giving me the link to the Do-Not-Call list complaint site, even though I told the police I've already done that.

I'm really worried about the lack of applicants to my web business. The applicants who opened the e-mail I sent said they only have $100-250 to invest, and the package costs $1295. I saw a few who had the required amount, but they haven't opened my e-mail yet. My business is only about a month old, but I hope it picks up soon. I have enough to pay my car and insurance bills this month, but my Visa balance is still about $850 over the limit.

I subscribed to AOL's high-speed service through Qwest. AOL is raising its rates for dial-up, but the high-speed service will cost the same. At least I can be on the Web and the phone simultaneously with this service, so I won't have to run up as many charges on my cell phone. My last cell phone bill was about $60 higher than usual because of all the hour-long conference calls I sat in on. Having a faster Web connection will also shave some time off since I won't have to wait as long for pages to load while I'm on the phone.

The dating service hasn't found another match for me yet. Tino from KRCC told me about a teacher who frequents the bar where he works. He offered to fix me up with her.