T-Mobile, You're Amazing

I love T-Mobile. I love, love, LOVE T-Mobile.

As many of you know, I will be Studying Abroad in Ireland for a week over Spring Break.  For those of you who don't know, I am going with a class: Irish History and Theatre.  We will visit all kinds of historic places and see several plays while we are there.  I am super excited for the trip, but I had one worry.

My phone has been getting increasingly slower, not responding quickly to my touch, taking forever to pull up an app or even load the home screen after I exit a phone call or an application, but especially the browser.  We thought we weren't eligible for upgrading until after I came back from Ireland, the Sunday after, to be specific.  This was really worrying me, because I want my phone to work while I'm traveling.  Because we are with T-Mobile, we have GSM phones and I just have to get a new SIM card after we land so it will work over seas.  But with the way it's been behaving I was really concerned.

So tonight, after a particularly frustrating period of time with my phone, I decided to check to see what deals were up on T-Mobile's website for the G2 because we had decided that when we could upgrade, that's what we wanted to upgrade to.  We needed to wait for a good deal on the phones for they are normally very expensive at market price ($499.99!!!!).  I checked online tonight and they are running an online deal and mail in rebate.  We could upgrade for $99.  YAY!

I logged into our account to see if the deal was still there when I was logged in.  And it was.  But I wanted to make sure. So I called T-Mobile's Customer Care Center and the automatic lady told me I was eligible for upgrade!  EXCITEMENT BUILDS!

I call Adam and tell him the good news.  He has some more questions and asks if I would call back.  I agree, SLIGHTLY LESS EXCITEMENT.

I call T-Mobile's Customer Care Center again and ask to speak to a representative.  I talk to a very nice and polite gentleman representative and he assures me that, yes, if I am logged in to 'My T-Mobile' Account and that is what is being shown as the price, it is what we are eligible for.  EVEN MORE EXCITEMENT!!

I go through all of the steps and I upgrade my phone, the new phone will be here a week from Monday (estimated) OMG OMG OMG!!!!! SUPER EXCITED!!!!!!!

I go through to upgrade Adam's phone, I get all the way through to submit the order and get a weird error.  "Please enter a different dollar amount." ?!?!?! CONFUSION.

I try again using Adam's card instead of mine.  Same error.  CONFUSION AND CONCERN, EXCITEMENT WANING.

I try again using an entirely different brand card (a debit card instead of a credit card).  Same Error. FRICK!  EXCITEMENT WANING MORE, WORRY GROWING.

I call T-Mobile's Customer Care Center again and talk to another representative, this time a super nice and funny lady representative.  She's just as confused as I am and she can't get her computer to let her log in to our account and try and see what I am seeing.  She tries three times and can't get it to work, OH NO!  She says that she will let her supervisor know that the website's screwing up and try again later.  OH NO OH NO!  (At least I upgraded my phone first! :P heheheheheheheheheheeeee!!!!)

I completely log out of T-Mobile and close all T-Mobile related windows.  I re-open a tab and go to T-Mobile's website and log back in.  I go through all the steps with out a hitch.  I get to the submit order page.  TENSION BUILDS.  IT WORKED, IT WORKED!!!!!! YAY!!!!

So T-Mobile has amazing customer service, we have new phones and I have less worries for my travels abroad.  YAY!!!!!!  Everyone have some sparkling grape juice because it's delicious!

Stuff is Going to Happen Whether You're Out There Or Not

I have had a history of knee problems.  I dislocated my left knee cap in 7th grade and again in 8th grade in gym class.  Then the summer before my sophomore year we were camping and I stepped over a chair and dislocated my right knee cap.  All of these sucked.

The right knee cap sucked the most because I did nothing serious to make it happen,  And we were 40 miles from the nearest hospital.  My mom had seen the doctor put my left one back in twice and she slipped it back in.  My parents splinted it, and a family friend who had happened to be there at the same time as us helped my Dad put me in the van to take me to the hospital.  None of my family had been there when I had done it previously so it was a shock to all of them to have me fall and just start screaming.  I wasn't a fan really either.  I don't really like involuntary, unexpected pain.  Expected pain sucks too, though.  And the E.R. doctor was an a-hole and didn't believe me that I had dislocated my knee cap and put me through the full range of motion not an hour after I had hurt it.  Jerk.

Anyway, jump ahead 9 1/2 years to last Friday (1/15/11) to Everyman rehearsal.  We finish the rave scene with nothing big happening.  I get back to my area and felt a floaty sensation in my knee, which happens sometimes.  I just have to fix the sensation before I sit down.  But I didn't this time.  I should have, because the next time I tried to stand I couldn't straighten my right knee, walk or put weight on it.  I hurt, a lot.  I sat out of the rest of rehearsal and Ryan and Billy helped me hobble to the car after rehearsal.  I drove home left footed, which is harder than you think.

When I got home I took a bath and was able to straighten my knee in the bath.  I iced and went to bed, expecting to be sore in the morning. I was asleep for 45 minutes and woke up crying, like, uncontrollable sobbing.  We went sleepily, grumpily and in my case in incredible amounts of pain with tears rolling uncontrollably down my face to the E.R.  We were there for four hours, had X-Rays done and had some special tests done by the E.R. doctor.  He didn't really tell me what he thought, that I can remember, until I read the material he gave me as I was released with an ace wrap, crutches and a script for a knee immobilizer.  Meniscus tear, possible knee strain.  We open in two weeks. Shit.

On Monday I got in to see a Doctor at UHS which my insurance requires me to do.  He agreed with the E.R. doctor on his prognosis and sent me to the ICC in the SAC on campus.  I had my initial eval yesterday that concurred with the last two people I have seen.  I have my first rehab appointment tonight.  If I'm not better in a few weeks the UHS doctor wants to send me for an MRI.

So, no matter whether you're playing sports or doing theatre, you always have the chance to get hurt.  Live life to the fullest and have fun while you're doing it!

P.S. You might be wondering what I am going to do about Everyman.  I'm doing the show.  I am a professional and I will be doing the show.  I will be limited and I may be wheeled around the set, but I am doing the show.  I have worked too hard and too long to not do the show.  I can't let my cast mates down either.  The show is going to be awesome a lot of us have worked hard and poured a lot into the show, please come see it. (Sorry for the shameless plug..... no, no I'm not)

P.P.S. For those interested in the show, it is being performed January 27-29 and February 3-5 at 7:30p and January 30 and February 6 at 2p.  Come see it, it will be awesome!  You can buy tickets here.

P.P.P.S. HUGS!

Why Google is Going to Take Over the World and No One Will Care

Google is amazing.  They have so many neat products and features.  You have one sign in name and you have ALL KINDS OF AWESOME!!!

Email, Blogger, Tasks, Reader, Calendar and a whole host of other great things that I haven't discovered yet!  I first switched to Gmail 5 1/2 years ago when Hotmail was being a ho-bag on a hectic day for me and I wanted to be able to email Adam.  So, I made the switch.  And much like other things Adam encouraged me to do, turned out to be a great thing.  And Google just keeps making it better!

After Gmail, I discovered Reader.  All the blogs I read in one place?! NO WAY!

After Reader, I believe I discovered iGoogle.  It was cool, and fun for awhile.  If I didn't have all the tabs I needed all the time open automatically when I open a browser I think I would like it more.  And for some reason, I just don't like having one particular page open every time I open a tab.  Home pages are stupid.  Unless it's on my browser on my phone, that is handy.

Then came Google Docs.  Even in its beta stages, I loved it.  I could share things with Adam and both of us could edit them!  When it came time for us to doing our Wedding Invite list we put it in Google Docs in a spreadsheet and shared it with our Moms.  And when RSVPs started coming in, anyone could check it off and everyone else could see who was coming!  We did a lot of wedding collaboration through Google Docs because everyone was living in a different city.

Then I discovered the wonderfulness of Google Calendar.  A superb planning tool that I did not full appreciate until I got the G1 and linked my phone to my Gmail account and I could have my calendar ANYWHERE in such a tiny wonderful package!  You can share your calendar with your friends and family - and there is a widget thing in the Labs for Calendar that lets you assess when everyone is free, which leads to pain free planning!

Blogger came into my life and I tried to blog anonymously for awhile, but I didn't like how I had to edit things to protect my anonymity and my friends, etc.  Of course, some names may be changed for the protection of the friends who prefer to remain not known by the blogosphere, but otherwise, writing here is so much easier!

Then, the wonderful Google Gadget that inspired this post appeared before me.  Google Tasks.  >angels sing here<  It seems so simple, but my life is ruled by the To-Do lists I make.  But I lose paper ones on the back of an envelope or even a piece of paper that is full size.  Because I spend so much time on campus it needs to be portable.  And I want to be able to get to it no matter what, computer or phone.  And all I have to do is log into Gmail, GCalendar or my phone. >angels sing again here<  On Monday, during my day off for MLK Jr. Day I was able to put all six syllabi for my classes in my To-Do list on Google Task.  I am super on things!  (I'll explain more of why I am in my next post)

The best part is that on my G1, everything is at my fingertips whenever I need it.  Of course there are times that I want to ignore technology and I do so willingly.  It's very relaxing to just unplug and ignore the world.  But without my To-Do lists during the semester, I get loopy and crazy (crazier) and approach non-functioning proportions.  Which is sad, but I have to be able to see the things I have to do, when they're due and sometimes specifically what needs to be done for example: the parameters of an assignment.  Google Tasks allows all of that.  My only complaint is that you can't share a task list.  I want to have a shopping list for groceries that Adam and I can share.  That'd be fantastic!  I'm not alone either, it has been suggested and I hope that Google is on that.  This is where the home page is handy, then I can go right to tasks when I fire up my browser on my phone, instead of waiting for an eternity for it to load.

To sum up the awesomeness of Google and why they can take over the world and no one would care, they have fantastic gadgets that are user friendly and easy to figure out.  They are reliable.  They listen to suggestions and they take care of the people who use their services.  As long as they continue to be a good company with sweet gadgets under one log in name, they are unstoppable.

And I am happy.

For those who want to know more of the Google Awesome, either sign up for an account or keep scrolling for a list of the awesome

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