Stacy Horn

The Time Warner tech showed up right on time, tested everything, and everything, it turns out, had a problem. The box was bad, some coding back at the office was bad, something was wrong with the signal, there were some software issues, he also replaced the splitter, and the connection to the splitter, pretty much everything that could be swapped out was swapped out.

The result: the most beautiful picture I’ve ever had EVER. For this tv-loving fanatic (who really should get a life) I can’t tell you how thrilling this ridiculously great picture is. Also, the newer box addressed some long standing issues I’ve had with the guide, but that would be going into more detail than anyone but me would care about.

I am SO grateful to Time Warner employee Phil Blum, who saw my post and called me and then did whatever he did to call attention to my problem. I wish I had gotten this amazing tech’s name, because he didn’t leave until we went over every issue and I was satisfied that everything was working well. Poor guy. “What about this? And this? And this?” And Krystal who kept calling to let me know what was going on and who would be coming and when, and who followed up afterwards to make sure everything was okay.

I take back what I said about Time Warner having the worst customer service ever. Also, if you’re a Time Warner customer I suggest taking down this twitter name: @TWCableHelp. Whoever is responding there seems genuinely helpful. And this email: twcable.help@twcable.com. It worked for me.

Thank you Time Warner and Phil and everyone who helped me.

(The backstory to this post is in my 11/19 post below.)

Soon after I posted about my experience trying to get my cable fixed, my phone rang and it was someone from Time Warner corporate! I couldn’t believe it. He got my visit from a tech moved up and he also arranged for a higher-level technician. Since then I’ve gotten calls from Time Warner almost daily for one reason or another.

My cable service has also since deteriorated. When I change channels for instance, it takes about 15 seconds for the new channel to appear. I also can’t record (or schedule recordings for my favorite shows) and I have to reboot once a day to get it to work at all.

But I’m very hopeful that today I will have great service again! I will report back!

This is Buddy channeling my missing-my-tv blues.

My friends Jim and Cori were married in their home in Astoria on Friday. At least I think it was Astoria, I don’t know Queens very well. Congratulations Jim and Cori!! I have a picture of them at the end.

For some reason I love elevated trains, and especially the streets and the stores and the look that evolves underneath them. I took this picture of the train as I was heading home.

Heading down their block to the wedding. I was drawn to the electrical something or other in the distance, but you can’t really see it.

Kitty!

Jim and Cori! Don’t they look great??

Long story short: The Time Warner guy came yesterday and said I needed to replace my box and gave me the wrong address to go to get a new one. I go to the right address and get a new box, and even though it had no instructions and I had to change a lot of non-intuitive options (aspect ratio and output resolution?), I installed it.

The online guide for all the shows doesn’t have anything listed past midnight on Friday. I call and they say it will take a couple of hours to update. When it doesn’t update a couple of hours later they change that to 24 or 48 hours.

At 8 when it doesn’t record the shows I had set to record, I call and they re-boot the box and now it’s able to record. Except now I’ve lost my favorite show, Bones, and Big Bang Theory. They say a tech has to come out on Tuesday to figure out the guide thing, and I say, “Shouldn’t I get a new box? A tech was here today and checked the signal and said everything here is fine except the box, so doesn’t this indicate that something is wrong with this box as well?” “If you think that will fix it, you can go get a new box.” “No, I don’t want to guess, I’m not an engineer. What would the tech be checking when he comes?” “The signal.” I ask to escalate the problem, to speak to an actual engineer and I’m told I can’t.

Also after his re-boot all the programs that were set to record were no longer set to record, so I had to re-do that.

The box records Fringe, then an hour later it reboots itself and the recording of Fringe is gone. Also, once again everything else that was set to record is no longer set to record.

A tech is scheduled to come on Tuesday. That was probably my most boring post ever, but I had to get that out of my system. Oh, but the pixelating thing didn’t happen! So something really was wrong with the first box.

These are not real babies. They are plastic movie-shoot babies. Stunt babies. (See post below).

There’s a movie shoot in my neighborhood, nothing new, but it seems like a much bigger deal than usual. Usually they slap a few signs up on some trees and street lights, letting you know in advance that it’s happening, but there was a sign inside my building, which went into more detail about the shoot. Which they said was tomorrow.

But when I went to get a new cable box (more on that later) there was movie activity all over the freaking place. Blocks and blocks and blocks of trucks. A pack of paparazzi went charging past me, chasing someone, but I was lugging a cablebox and I wasn’t in the mood to see who.

The movie is called Wanderlust. I googled it. It’s an Apatow movie starring Jennifer Anniston and Paul Rudd. Anyway, I thought the shoot was tomorrow. I took a picture of some fake babies in a stroller, which were part of what they were shooting.