I Have Returned!

**GlassMan** · 18th June 06, 10:18 PM

Hello All;

It's been almost a month since my last post and I wanted to just tell everyone how happy I am to be back and also to once again be connected to the larger world of the Net.

As many of you already knew, on May 19th we moved into a new home. I was and am incredibly excited about this house since it was custom built for me and was built to be fully handicapped accessible. Now more needless falling down stairs. No more aching leg at the end of the day. Heck, I have have grab rails to help me off the toilet now! I've got an elevator! This kind of convenience has been a long time in coming.

Unfortunately, no move is without it's problems. We're still trying to find everything we own, simply because the moving company did a horrible job labeling the boxes that they packed. Considering our old house had only 2 floors, it was not very helpful to label boxes as 1st floor or 2nd floor!!!! Maybe something like Master Bedroom or Kitchen or even Clothing would have been a better choice, but we simply got the floor designation.

And I'm still trying to get my business fully operational again. We haven't quite found all of my inventory, and I'm hoping the last of the new workshop furniture will arrive this week so that I can finally start working on projects again.

However, the main cause for my absence was a horrible experience with Verizon. We gave them plenty of advanced warning about the move and they promised to have my DSL service ready when we moved in. Well, on the day of the move, no service. (Oh, and they techs they sent to hookup the phones managed to screw that up anyway). A week later there still was no DSL service, but they promised it would be in by the following Thursday, and until then they gave me a free dial-up account. Well, I had forgotten how bleeding slow a dial-up account was. It was taking forever to check email and respond to the backlog of emails from my customers.

By that time I was sure that there was a huge batch of new posts from XMarks members and I new that I'd never be able to check them all using a dial-up account before the server decided to change everything back to being marked as read. And besides, I didn't want to risk losing my connection and then returning to find that a new "since you last logged in" time had been set.

Well, Verizon kept stringing me along and postponing my hookup to DSL, so finally I ditched them -- completely. Their incompetence in getting both my DSL and my regular phone service operational got me to switch to a cable modem and cable-based phone service. That got hooked up cleanly and efficiently. So now I'm back and ready to start posting like crazy. I better get busy too, since I lost a lot of valuable posting time.

I'm really glad to be back on Xmarks and once I get this place more in order I still plan on having a big kilted open-house party for all the DC area XMarkers. Just keep your eyes peeled for the XMarks posting with the invite!

--Phil

**Kilted KT** · 18th June 06, 10:34 PM

welcome back! The house sounds really sweet, pics if you please... ( did you manage to get the game room done in tartan wallpaper?)

As for the dsl/cable crisis, I had similar issues with my dsl carrier years ago...so I ditched them for cable. Now I'm fully convinced that cable is far superior to DSL...

again..welcome back!

**Rob Wright** · 18th June 06, 11:36 PM

Welcome back

Rob

billmcc · 18th June 06, 11:51 PM

Glad you are back.

**David Dalglish** · 19th June 06, 12:12 AM

Welcome back--Hope your new house works out well for you

**Hamish** · 19th June 06, 03:27 AM

Good to hear your 'voice' again, Phil, and here's hoping the traumas of the move will soon be behind you. The last time I moved, I vowed 'never again' - it was just too much. They'll have to carry me out of this place feet first!!

**GlassMan** · 19th June 06, 12:14 PM

Originally Posted by Kilted KT

welcome back! The house sounds really sweet, pics if you please... ( did you manage to get the game room done in tartan wallpaper?)

As for the dsl/cable crisis, I had similar issues with my dsl carrier years ago...so I ditched them for cable. Now I'm fully convinced that cable is far superior to DSL...

again..welcome back!

Sadly, the builder would only paint everything in builder beige, so we're getting bids from companies to paint and paper the rooms as I speak.

--Phil

**bubba** · 19th June 06, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by GlassMan

Sadly, the builder would only paint everything in builder beige, so we're getting bids from companies to paint and paper the rooms as I speak.

--Phil

Phil, they use that "color" paint because they get it so cheap it adds almost nothing to the cost. The way around it ( got this from my landlord who is a building contractor) is to supply the paint yourself by prearrangement with the builder. Otherwise you end up with cheap crappy paint.

**cessna152towser** · 19th June 06, 01:03 PM

Congratulations on the new house Glassman. When my dear wife Ann became disabled we considered moving to a bungalow (single level house) but we decided to stay here and adapt the house accordingly. We have fitted a ramp with handrails from the street to the door, a conservatory; electric stair lifts; raised toilet with grabhandles; walk-in-shower; grab handles at strategic corners etc..