Comcast gets it wrong again!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we were unhappy with Comcast and switched over to RCN starting June 20 (along with our phone number). On the day that our service was switched over, we returned all the equipment and called Comcast to cancel our service.

To our surprise, Comcast would not cancel our service, saying that there is an "open work order" on the account. It has been 3 weeks now and there is still a work order on it and we are unable to cancel, while getting billed for the service. (We've called multiple times during the three weeks to cancel). Although Comcast says that they will predate the service end date so that we will not be charged, the fact of the matter is that on paper we are still being charged. We don't want to pay but we are guessing it could affect our credit score if we don't. (I guess this is why they do this! The bastards!!)

I don't know why we cannot just cancel the service since we, the account owners are not the one requesting anything requiring a work order.

Also, adding to the insult is the inconvenience that we have had to make multiple phone calls, sometimes waiting on the line for an hour since the "cancellation line" is undermanned. Since they don't want people to cancel service, seems like they want to make it as difficult as possible to cancel service.

Ridiculous!!

Folks, don't go with Comcast unless there are no other options...

Comcast is the WORST!!

We waited the whole day today for Comcast to come and install new cable service....

Of course it never happened!

When we called to see what was going on they tell us that our appointment was never scheduled for today. Well, that's funny because we called Comcast and confirmed the appointment just last night. 

And guess what else, no apologies. But even worse, the rep accuses us of lying, saying that there is no record of us confirming the appointment.

Guess who is not getting our business... We took it right to RCN after that! 

Sex and the City

I've decided to take a little reprieve from my African journal today and write about something else instead. 

Maybe some Sex and the City?

Like many other girls who are in their 30s now, my single days in the late 90s- early 2000s, were influenced quite a bit by SATC. We used to have SATC nights on Sunday nights - we eagerly devoured the story and fashion of the new episode and sipped on cosmopolitans while dishing on our own lives and relationships. At times we would compare ourselves to the characters and see who is most like Carrie, Samantha, Miranda or Charlotte. (Of course I always thought I was more of a Carrie... )

The characters were exaggerated, the stories were fabricated. But somehow the characters and stories resonated in our hearts and minds as no other tv show had ever did. Here were girls that were going through the same experiences as us, and came out on top and looking great at the same time...

A few years have now passed since the last season of SATC. My closest girlfriends (who are still my closest friends) have all moved along - all now being married and many having children. As well as myself - now married, rarely going out on the town....

It was exciting and somewhat bittersweet to go see SATC-the movie.

 

I could see that the SATC girls had matured and so had I. And like before, we are at similar stages in our lives. None of us were really looking for the "right man" anymore. Rather we are all seeking balance in our lives. The only difference was that the girls were still looking fabulous in their Manolo Blahniks, while I was happy (and a little frumpy) in my Havaianas. 

Although I am extremely happy with my life now, watching the movie did make me miss the good old days when I had more energy, my metabolism was faster, didn't get hangovers as much and could wear 3 inch heels with no problem. (Maybe I should try wearing them again?) 

And more than anything, I miss my girls - funny, but all the other girls of the SATC night have moved away from Chicago - and the girls' nights we used to have...

That time of year again?

It seems that time of year has dawned on us again - to think about swimwear. 

What to wear as well as how we are going to fit into it again? Maybe time to start working out again?

For me, in the past years, the issue has mostly been about swimwear - not because I am confident in my figure but because swimwear to me has been such a big problem. 

I have continued to buy at least one or two bikinis a year, not because I follow the swimsuit trends or because I wear swimsuits so much that I need one every year. But because I have never been happy with swimwear that I had purchased. A lot of times, if the top fit, the bottom didn't and vice versa. And yes, many brands like Jcrew, have mix and match - but the sizes never quite fit because they are made for standard sizes - small cups for smaller girls and bigger cups for bigger girls - and the problem was that I am not a standard size and the swimsuits just never fit. I was always hesitant to go in the water or play beach volleyball for fear that the ill-fitting swimsuit will expose something that I would rather not expose. Hence I kept on looking and buying in hopes of a finding a perfect swimsuit for me. 

Happily, I can say that two years ago I remedied that situation, when I walked into my neighborhood lingerie shop, Trousseau and tried on the mix and match bikinis there - and found Vitamin A, which has turned out to be my savior, fitting me perfectly. (There were definitely some other brands that were equally great, like Vix, L-space, etc., but somehow I keep turning to Vitamin A). Since then I have bought 3 more bikinis - going especially crazy last year for the trip to Mexico last year for our wedding. 

Now that I have 4 fully functional bikinis, I should no longer fret about the swimsuit situation (and probably should focus on getting my beach-body ready) but old habits are hard to kick, and I found myself back at Trousseau trying on yet more bikinis just last week. I was actually there to purchase a bra but the swimwear on display was way too enticing... And I found a bandeau top that I would love to have (the left one in the pictures). I am trying to justify it by saying my swimwear are mostly halter styles (like the pink and brown below) and I don't really have a great bandeau....

What do you think? Do you think I should get it? Or should I try to kick my annual springtime addiction?

(pics from Vitamin A swimwear)

We're gonna be missing out on a great chance...

to see Croatia. 

Our friends A & V are tying the knot in Dubrovnik, Croatia the last weekend of May. (Just got a beautiful invite yesterday). How amazing would it be to experience a wedding in Croatia (a real Croatian wedding since V is Croatian and her family is there)?  Not to mention seeing the picture-perfect Adriatic scenery? 

Unfortunately, we booked our honeymoon in advance to be in the month of May, and our plans pretty much cannot be changed (since it is really really difficult to coordinate travel stuff in Africa and good safari lodges book up way in advance).... So we'll be missing an experience of a lifetime.

We are so bummed!! We'll have to make a trip there sometime very very soon!

 (pics from National Geographic - photography by Danny Lehman (Rovinj, top), Peter McBride (Hvar, bottom))

With sympathy...

I heard the saddest news today....
That my friend B's baby passed away after a valient 4-month struggle for his life. My sympathy goes out to B and his wife. Our prayers and thoughts are with you.

(White Gerbera daisies from the new Martha Stewart 1-800-flowers collection)

The saddest thing that I have seen....

I couldn't find a way to embed this newsclip that I saw on NBC5 news tonight, which actually made me cry. 

Apparently, there are more victims of the economic downturn - pets that are left behind. Watch the video here. 

Withdrawal...

(picture from Art.com)

I have a serious case of withdrawal....

From non other than there being no NCAA tournament games yesterday and today. I don't usually follow college hoops, but for March Madness, I make an exception. Not just because of the great plays and great games, but the adrenaline rush of close games and the exhilaration of getting my brackets right.  

Due to this withdrawal, I have not had any inspiration for a blog entry. Rather, I have spent time analyzing my bracket as well as other peoples and reading articles on the NCAA tournament. 

 

So in case you are wondering, I am not traveling anywhere. It's just that I am .... preoccupied. 

Happy Easter! I think...

Easter has kinda snuck up on me this year with it occurring a little earlier than usual.

Somehow I associate Easter with the beginning of spring and wearing spring clothes... But not so much this year. In fact, this morning I had to brave the snow and ice on the ground to get to the car and eventually to church. Even though I had my fish-n-chips on Friday and put in a visit to church this morning, I don't quite feel like it is Easter yet. Maybe some marshmallow peeps will get me in the mood? 

(photo from marthastewart.com)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Have you been enjoying the festivities this year?

Being in Chicago, it's difficult not to get into the Irish spirit of things with so many parades, Irish bars and people with (at least a bit of) Irish heritage......  

My favorite part of any St. Patrick's celebration is the Irish music and dancing.  I especially love watching the cute little kids in costume. In Chicago, there's the Trinity Academy of Irish dance, which is world famous. They're always performing in all the St. Patrick's celebrations and have been featured on Martha Stewart, Today Show etc. Here's a clip from Martha.  

I wish that I could be so lightfooted....

Bangs or no bangs?

Well, I guess, to be more accurate, do I cut them again or let them grow out?

I have a hair appointment tomorrow and I can't make up my mind. 

Not that I look like Jessica Alba.... but both look okay to me and I can't decide. 

Nature or nurture?

Either way, this 17 month old girl is amazing!

Disclaimer: Although I am working on my degree in Speech Pathology, I work with adults. So I know very little about signing and whether it is really helpful for a child's development....

Saint Patrick's Day celebration alternative

With age, beer chugging on St. Paddy's has lost its appeal.... 

At least for me. 

Maybe it's time to do something else - like a St. Paddy's tea party with these adorable sweets?

You can find the recipes for these goodies at marthastewart.com.

(photography from marthastewart.com)

Is it the start

of Spring?

After months and months of freezing temperatures, the weather today will finally be breaking the 40s. Is this a sign of spring? 

Meh. With our luck this year Chicago will likely see another month of cold and snow. 

(photography from jeremyfloyd.com)

Lemon, anyone?

Have you heard that lemons that you get at the restaurant or bar contains germs?

A total of 25 germs were found in 53 out of 76 lemons sampled in a study run Dr. Anne LaGrange Loving. Some germs were even fecal in origin! (You can read an article about this on MSN.com)

As much as I love lemon, you betcha that I will only be having lemons wedges or slices in the comforts of my own home. And you?

(Photography by Declan McCullagh)

On a separate note, how pretty is this photo of a lemon slice?

Recipe for disaster

A PhD student working on her dissertation
+ 3 articles being prepared for publication
+ participation in other lab projects
+ an interest in photography
+ an interest in crafts
+ a new addiction to blogging
+ newly purchased Adobe CS3 Design Premium
(including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, In-design, Dreamweaver)



=Disaster!!!

Happy Dol, Matthew!

It's my friend Linda's son, Matthew's dol today. 

So, I decided to dedicate this post to Linda, Sung and Matthew since we wanted to join the festivities in SF, but couldn't make it out...

So what is dol? 

Dol literally means 1st birthday in Korean. 

Dol was celebrated back in the day to rejoice in the baby's surviving the 1st year (since so many babies actually did not survive back then). To celebrate, the family would set up a huge affair with friends, family and neighbors. A dol table is set up with tons of food, most notably duk (rice cake), stacked up high, symbolizing health and prosperity for the baby in days to come. And everyone would shower the baby with gifts, and would take home the duk in return. 

One prominent (and fun) custom at the dol is the doljabi - where objects are laid out in front of the baby which represent different things in the future, like money for wealth, pen for life of a scholar, thread for long life, etc. And the crowd awaits what the baby chooses for his/her future - wealth, long life, etc. This custom has changed with the times, so now there are items like a computer mouse (for tech success, like Bill Gates), golf ball (to become a successful golfer), mini soccer ball (for EPL success) and whatever else that parents want for their offspring. 

Even though the modern era has brought advances in medicine and babies usually survive the first year, the custom is still widely celebrated in the Korean community both in Korea and out. In fact, I think I cannot think of anyone who has not had one and the dol celebration has actually become more elaborate in recent years, becoming almost like a wedding celebration (similar to bar mitzvahs), being held in hotels, banquet halls, restaurants.

Here are some photos of a dol table. Although these days the dol tables are typically bigger than this, this is one of the prettiest, traditional-looking dol tables that I have ever seen. 

Note the pretty decorations made of duk (rice cake)!

(images from my friend Youngsun's homepage. Guessing from her work, La Cuisine?)

Total Eclipse~

of the....

(pic from Chicagoist)

A total lunar eclipse will occur tonight. 

The eclipse will start at precisely 7:43pm (CST) and the total eclipse is to last from 9pm to 9:51pm. 

For those of you living in Chicago, you can go to the Adler Planetarium, where they are raising the roof and you can view the lunar eclipse through theie super-fancy telescopes. Or you can be like me and view from your back deck with your naked eye ... and a normal telescope. 

A regular Friday night

Last night we spent the night doing what we normally love to do on a Friday night.

(L pic from planet99, Sushi Mike's pic from mmmchicago)

First, start out at one of our favorite neighborhood haunts, Tanoshii (although it is not quite in our neighborhood) for the most affordable, fresh uni. Of course there are many other things that Sushi Mike, at Tanoshii is known for, like the fish-n-chips (which is actually spicy and tangy tartare of tuna, salmon with tobiko on fried chips. Yum!), and all his inventive rolls. But I am somewhat of a purist and love having uni, hamachi, ama-ebi, chutoro, namasake, maguro nigiri pieces. Especially uni. And we know that Mike gets in his batch of fresh uni on Friday, which we do not hesitate to lighten his load.   
At Mike's we order uni and we get uni prepared in a variety of ways. We've had uni nigiri with nori and without nori, on cucumber and my favorite way - uni on a spoon. Not too many places would cater to you that way. But Mike loves trying out new combinations as much as we do. And Uni on a Spoon is definitely a winner.

(pic from Chicago Reader Blogs)

After we stuff ourselves with sushi, we walked a couple blocks down to Pasticceria Natalina for the best cannolis and puff pastries on this side of the Atlantic. And we walked out with more than we can eat. Unfortunately, yesterday, they were out of cannolis by the time we got there. (Not surprising since unlike other places the cannolis at Pasticceria Natalina has feather-light sheep's milk ricotta filled to order and everyone loves them!) So instead, we got the lobster tail pastry with the same ricotta filling and the "tartufo" (called tartufo, but basically dark chocolate puff pastry). And Natalie gave us a freebie to take home with us, the cream puff with candied coating, which ended up being our favorite.  Will have to go back again soon for a cannoli and their rum cake, which they told us they are starting again next week. 

And pretty much comatose from all the food, we came back home and watched the 6th season of 24 on dvd. 

What a perfect night!

Tanoshii

5547 N Clark St

Chicago, IL 

773-878-6886

Pasticceria Natalina

5406 N Clark St 

Chicago, IL

773-989-0662

My honey's in NYC...

So I'm really feeling this song today....