You've probably seen the OLM.net commercials where they claim to be "a global leader in the web hosting industry."  Yeah right, this global leader had my website (http://www.astropop3.com) down from Friday afternoon until this afternoon (Monday), 72 hours.  Totally unacceptable.  Also no explanation.  I get a response from support that it's available now, that's it.  And of course I can find nothing on their site about their guaranteed uptime.  Like that matters though.  Most hosting companies will claim 99% uptime.  Huh, do the math, it will come up to almost 4 whole days that your site can be down.  Totally unacceptable for any organization.  It's a good thing I'm leaving OLM and going with a different host.  One that's a lot cheaper and has more features - 1 and 1 - http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=6743200

Great title.  Do you ever get the feeling that big companies can never do anything right the first time? 

 Last Wed. I ordered the new DVR (digital video recorder) service from Cox.  I already have their HD Digital Cable and it was only $4.95 a month to add on the DVR so I thought what the hell, it's a lot cheaper than TIVO, might was well give it a try.  The order process goes pretty smooth.  They said I should receive the box by the next Tues.  I only had 2 options on getting the box, they can UPS it to me from their warehouse which is 15 miles from my house, that was $14.95 or I can have a technician come over and put it in (attach 5 wires) for $29.95.  They said it was not available for pick up at a service center.  So I opt for the UPS service.

On Firday night my present HD cable box stops working.  The digital guide doesn't work and I can't get any premium channels.  Lovely.  I unplug and reset the box, still nothing.  The hell with it.  I'll wait til the morning and see if it clears itself up, maybe it's a service issue.  Next morning, same problem.  I call Cox, sit on hold for a half hour before getting someone.  Apparently cable boxes have to be in a certain order on their account screens or the HD ones will not work.  When they added my new DVR box to the account it disrupted services to my current box.  Half hour later and the problem is fixed.

Yesterday, I get the new DVR box from UPS at 5pm.  Guess what, it's just a regular HD box, no DVR.  I call Cox, all they show on the account was another HD box.  The service rep. informs me that the easiet way to handle this is to go the service center and swap it out for a DVR box.  He tells me of a specific center that has them in stock. Mother fucker, wasn't i told earlier that these could not be picked up at  a service center!  That could have kept this whole mess from happening.

I am going to be at that service center at 9am this morning and they damn well better have the cable box I want.

Update:  All turned out well at the service center, apparently the idiot that I talked to on the phone when I ordered the DVR was a complete moron.  He put in the notes that I wanted the DVR but put the normal box on my account.  I even got my shipping charge refunded.  Let's just hope that there's no issues with the new box.

So, here I go starting yet another blog that I will probably forget about in a day or two.  Seeing as how this is Microsoft though, I may be able to stick with it a little longer, and since everyone else in the world has a blog I need one too.

Interpol, best band in the world.  I just can't get enough of their new CD - Antics.  I didn't think I would like it at first but it grew on me rapidly.  The Killers did the same thing.  Now that it appears that Morrissey may be retiring, at least until his next album, we really need some good bands to takeover.

Oh well, guess that's good enough for a first post.  I'll most likely post more when something strikes me as needing to be commented on.