!@#$$#@!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WARNING: IN THIS CASE, JOURNALING TODAY'S EXPERIENCE IS THERAPY. IT IS EXTREMELY LONG AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ADOPTION, OR THE KIDS. IT IS JUST PLAIN THERAPY FOR ME, BECAUSE I WANT TO BE ABLE TO NOT HAVE TO ASK A JUDGE FOR PERMISSION TO GET OUT OF JAIL SO THAT I COULD GO TO CHINA TO BRING MY DAUGHTER HOME.

Okay....That doesn't mean that I'm done walking around my house ranting and raving, but since I think that Kai & AJ are both tired of looking at me like their mother is a looney, I shall vent here! You guys can click the NEXT button and go on to the next blog if you so desire, because this will just be pissed off rambling!!!

In Sept. 2005, I bought a $2000. laptop, which included a 2 yr. accidental damage, blah..blah..blah policy. The notebook came with all the bells and whistles because I was really getting into video editing, which I love to do. Well, about 2-3 months ago, the DVD burner began freezing 1/2 way through burning. This occured regardless of whether it's a DVD or CD, music or video, I get an error message that the burning failed in every software application I used. That totally sucks! So now, I have to finish what I'm doing, transfer it over to Scott's computer and use his Nero program (which doesn't have 1/2 the stuff that my programs have) and burn it there. If he's on his computer, I either nag him to death to get off so I can burn something, or I have to wait until he's not home to use it.

So, finally, today I figured I'd make the dreaded call. You all know which call that is. When you are warped into the abyss of idiots on the other end of the phone into a tech support galaxy. I gave the boys breakfast, planted them in front of Sprout on PBS and grabbed the phone. I said a quick prayer as I dialed. Well, obviously God was not into answering techinical prayers today. The first 20 minutes of the conversation was trying to repeat serial numbers and contract numbers to some (fill in the nationality - sorry...don't mean to be racist, but I am venting!) that I could barely understand. He then puts me on hold for another 15 minutes and comes back and says that my warranty has expired. Mind you, I'm holding a receipt for my warranty with the dates on it...clearly reads 9/23/05 - 9/23/07. I reiterate to him that it is a TWO YEAR warranty and it was purchased in Sept. 2005. He says, I know "Miss Ohilda" but my computer says it expired in Sept. 2006. UGH!

After almost 4o minutes on the phone, and now the boys are starting to get into everything because they were totally bored, I felt like saying, "I DON'T GIVE A FLYING @!#$! WHAT YOUR COMPUTER SAYS, IDIOT!!!!!!" Instead, I kept taking deep breaths and trying to act "Christian", I said, "Sir, you have the paperwork in front of you that says that I bought a two-year warranty in Sept. 2005, correct?" I hear a quiet..."Yes". I proceeded, "Well, if there are 12 months in a year, and we both know there are. Then it is good for 24 months from the date I purchase it, correct?" Another quiet "yes"....., "So what is the problem? If you add 24 months from Sept. 2005, you end up in September 2007! We are in March. It is not only NOT expired, I still have another 6 months on my warranty still left!" He responds with, "I understand Miss Ohilda, but my computer said it expired in 2006!" OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (head banging on desk by this point!) And if he called me "Miss Ohilda" one more time I was going to go thru the phone and hang him with the phone cord, hence my comment about being in jail.

In the meantime, Kai is nudging me while VERY LOUDLY saying, "MAMA! MAMA! MAMA!" incessantly about 1 foot from my right ear while the idiot from HP is on the other ear. I finally give in and say, "Ok Sir, what is your solution?" He says, "Miss Ohilda, please call HP Shopping where you bought it from and have them verify your service plan." Fine, anything to hang up with the idiot. By then, I had been on the phone a little over an hour. I take a 10 minute break to change dirty diapers, give juice and a snack and settled the boys in front of the TV set again. I SERIOUSLY considered serving myself a drink....a real drink, but I thought it was waaaay too early and it would be totally irresponsible of me because I knew that one drink wouldn't be enough.

Off I went again into the office to face my demons. I pick up the phone and call HP Shopping. After going thru the digital crap, I get a customer service representative. Ahhhh, yes! She speaks English! A break-through! This nice girl's name was Sharon. I recanted my story of the last hour to her. In about 2 minutes, she had verified that yes, indeed, my warranty was valid until 9/2007. She says to me, "Stay on the line. I will put you through to tech support again and give them the order number for them to verify that your plan is valid." I had already done this, but maybe since it was coming from her, it would mean something. I am now thinking, "We're moving along here. Thank you, God!" I start listening to the music that was quickly becoming very annoying. I glance at the clock 11:36. Ok. Lunchtime for the boys is usually at noon. This will all be cleared up and over with in the next few minutes.

My new friend, Sharon, gets back on the phone and says "Hang on, we're still working on it." I quickly respond with a "No problem!". While I was waiting, the battery on the cordless had died, so I had to run into the bedroom to speak on the "old" phone. The boys were beginning to get a bit restless in front of the TV again, so I called them both into the bedroom. No playpen or way to confine them in there except for closing the door so that they don't roam the house freely. But, thinking positive, I kept telling myself that it wasn't going to be much longer. I look at the clock again....11:55. Hmmm.

At 11:57, Sharon gets back on and says, "Okay I am transferring you to tech support. You should be alright from here." I thank her profusely for her help. I hear the two beeps she said I would hear and then I heard someone say, "HP Tech Support. How may I help you?" I thought, "that's weird, wasn't she just speaking to this person about the situation?" So, I say, "Did you just speak to Sharon from HP Shopping about my warranty?" A new non-English speaking idiot says, "What is your name ma'am?" I answer. He says. "Sharon?" Then proceeds to say, "What can we do for you?" I couldn't believe it! Somehow, someway, this person whom I could barely understand had NO CLUE what I was talking about. All he would repeat was "shopping?" whenever I would say I spoke to HP Shopping about my warranty that they verfiied. Less than a minute later, I hear a click...then the 2 beeps. I'm being transferred! OH GOD, NOOOOOOOOOO!

A man now answers and I literally start crying. Looking back at it now, it's quite funny. He must've thought, "what in the world? This woman is nuts!" I digress. I begin to tell him the whole story, and stop about 1/4 of the way through, still in tears, and say, "Can I just please speak to a supervisor?" He said, "Sure. Hang on." I know he must've told the supervisor that this wacko woman was on the phone crying because the supervisor got on the phone and was so gentle. (HA! As I type this I'm cracking up thinking of what these people must've thought! I told ya this was good therapy!!) Digressing again.

A new voice on the phone says to me, "My name is Scott. I am the [whatever] supervisor. Just calm down and I will do my best and resolve this issue for you now. I hear you've been through a lot." I then through sobs relive the entire last 2+ hours, while Kai & AJ are both in the background repeating their most used word MAMA....over and over. This was after they had emptied drawers and pulled the slats off the vertical blinds. Yes, unsupervised they could be little monsters! Both of them.

Supervisor Scott says to me, "I will stay on the phone with you while we get this straightened out with tech support". I thank him and start listening to the now REALLY annoying music while I'm on hold. Another 15 minutes later, he comes back and says, "I have Fernando on the phone. I've explained all that you've been through and what you need and he will take good care of you!". I take a deep breath....thank him and say hello to Fernando.

Well, not going into each and every detail, I go through the entire thing again with Fernando, who shortly after we began our conversation quickly brought up that my 2 year warranty expired on 9/2006. He told me he was going to try and remedy the situation. By then, it's 12:30 pm. Kai & AJ are both SCREAMING like banchees in the background, so I tell him to hold on, pick up both the kids, race to their room, throw them each into their corresponding cribs and race back to the bedroom where I was praying Fernando was still holding for me.

He was there! He told me that apparently their system had not updated my plan from 2006 to 2007. That I would need to write them a letter stating where I purchased the warranty plan, when I purchased it, how much I paid for it, etc...etc...etc. The rest of what he said was a blur. I yelled, "WHAT????????????????? This is crazy!! I freakin' bought a policy that I paid $250. for. I did nothing wrong. You idiots can't update your system and now I have to sit here and write letters to have it updated so that it can be put into your system? Why am I having to do this? This is HP's fault". I waited to see if he had hung up on me. Nope, he was still there.

Poor Fernando then replied, "I'm sorry. I know you're upset. If it helps, you can fax the letter." UGH!!! I got closer to the baby monitor, turned up the volume and said to him, "Do you hear that screaming in the background? Those are two starving 1 & 2 year old children, who have been literally on their own since 9:30 this morning because their mother has been pulled around like a puppet on a string from department to department and not gotten one ioda of assistance!" There was silence on the other end. I couldn't, no let me correct that, I still can't understand why I, ME, has to be the one to go through all of the work because they couldn't update their systems. Finally, I took a deep breath. I regained my composure and gave in to his request. I asked for the fax number. He told me within 2 hours, I would be in the system and all should be well.

I hung up. Picked up the boys that were red from screaming and who by then had managed to trash whatever was in their reach from the cribs and I headed to the kitchen to fix them lunch. After lunch, I gave them a bath and laid them down for a nap. That was when I sent my first post. After sending the post, I sat in the living room and read a few chapters from the Book of Exodus, no particular reason why I chose it that book. I ended up learning that God tried to kill Moses...did ya know that? TOTALLY off course.

I relaxed a bit and came to sit in front of my computer. I open up my email and lo and behold, sitting there wating for me was an email from Hewlett-Packard's service dept. They had received my fax. The first line, "Congratulations for extending your warranty." Blah...blah...blah. The dates, through September 23, 2007!!

"Ok", I thought. "This is a good time to call them again. Everything is all cleared up now and and the boys are sleeping. Let's do it!" I grab my paperwork and head back to the office where the cordless phone should now have been charged up. I call tech support. Give them my name, case number, contract number, and blood type. Ok, maybe not blood type. Again, I get the same questions, repeat my story of what is wrong with my computer, and again, I get put back on hold. A few minutes later, Habib, or whatever the hec his name was comes back on and says that my warranty expired in 2006. I almost fell out of my chair!!!!!!!!!! I told him I had just received an email with the updated info, yada yada yada. He tells me not to worry he will take care of me.

He proceeds to troubleshoot the problem with the computer. I knew it was the drive because it happened on every program, it wasn't a software issue, but I thought I would appease him. Fortunately, while I was on the phone, Scott came home, so he took over the kids. After about an hour, Habib concludes that its not a software problem. DUH!!!! He then tells me that before they can pick up the computer, they need to reformat the drive. Well, in my experiences with computers, I know that reformatting the drive means wiping everything out and reinstalling the operational system. I said, "Won't I lose all of my data?" He said, "Yes, there is a good chance." No sh*t, Sherlock! Were you not going to mention that small detail? He then tells me I need to back up my hard drive. I said I had flash drives that I could backup maybe 20 gigs, but not the 100+ gig HD that I have. He said, "Well, maybe you can call a local technician to come and back it up for you before we service the computer". So, pretty much after an entire day of total BS, I learned that I wasted $250. in Hewlett Packards Service plan. My choices are either let them reformat the drive and lose everything (which is a definite no-go because MY WHOLE LIFE is on that computer) because they cannot just go and replace the darn DVD burner without reformatting first, or I can go out and spend another $100. and buy my own DVD burner and replace it myself...or I can have someone come out and "ghost" my hard drive so that I can back up EVERYTHING and spend more money! (Don't worry, my adoption stuff is all backed up, but I don't have enough flash drive for everything in the system.). So, at that point, I felt defeated and exhausted. I said, "Forget it. I will think about what I am going to do. Thank you." Right before I hung up, Habib says to me, "One last thing?! Would you like to purchase an additional year of warranty until 2008 for $119.? We have a special today." GOOD GOD! Thank the Lord he was not standing in front of me.

I am off to have those drinks that I thought about at 11:00 a.m. this morning.

Thanks for therapy session.