Thursday, October 30

Golden Key and Dishwashers

Thursday, October 30
    Two interesting things have been going on lately.  I'll do the typical "bad news first" - our dishwasher broke.  It hasn't worked since late September.  Luckily, we have a home warranty from when we bought our house.  So, we call, set up an appointment for Tuesday October 7th (anytime between 2 and 4pm - to which they didn't even show up till 4:30pm). Supposedly, we need a new water pump, so they said they'd order it, and it would arrive in a few days, and the next week things would be taken care of...as in, by Tuesday the next week.  The technician even told me they would call by that Thursday to schedule the appointment.  Well, the follow up appointment the next week was never made.  So, I was patient and waited a full week, called, and apparently the part hadn't come in yet, but was due Wednesday the *next* week (October 22nd).  So, frustrated, I accepted that, and made an appointment for them to come out on that day and install the new part.  Well, the 22nd rolls around and around 8am the repair office called me saying that a technician was out sick with strep throat. Fantastic.  I was sligtly miffed, becasue at this point we were going on 2-3 weeks without a dishwasher (ah, our dependence on technology) - but, what could I do - get mad because someone was sick?  Anyway, we rescheduled for Saturday the 25th.  I made sure to have them call us before they came over just in case we were out of the house.  Well, Saturday rolls around, and we stayed home cleaning house all morning.  No call, and no one showed.  Around 4:30 - we got tired of waiting, and, went to Momo's for a late lunch/early dinner.  I call back Monday morning explaining how no one showed up or called, and, she said that the technician said that they knocked on the door, and no one answered...?!?  Why, it is quite possible that they did show up *right* at 4:30 - I was still ticked since I explicitly asked them to call me before they came over.  So, once again, we rescheduled for Wednesday the 29th (yesterday) for the "last call" appointment - meaning, they would be there by 4pm since that's when their office closed.  Well, yesterday they called me at 1:30 asking if I was at home and available.  I told them no, because I was at work, and couldn't take time off until my originally scheduled 4pm appointment.  They acted confused, and just said "ok" and then we hung up.  Well, I left work around 3:30 to be sure that I'm home well before 4pm in case they try to pull a fast one on me and get there early.  So, I hang out.  5:30pm rolls around and no one has shown up.  So, I call the office - and of course its closed, so I left a long message explaining that I've been waiting an hour and a half, no one has shown up, they called earlier asking if I was available and I said no, but they implied they were still going to show up that afternoon.  So, the office gal calls me back this morning giving me new information.  Apparently, someone left the office at 4pm, and told her that they were headed to our house to install the part on our dishwasher.  Now she knows they didn't show - and, its starting to sound as if the incident last Saturday with "no one answered the door" is turing out to be bogus.  So, we're trying again tomorrow, and she said if she had to ride out there herself with the guy to be sure he gets there, she will!
 
    Now, for the "good news" - about a month ago I received an invitation to join the "Golden Key International Honour Society."  I was invited because my performance in grad school put me in the top 15% of my class (to which, I am proud to admit I currently hold a 4.0 more than halfway through my graduate studies).  So, I toyed with the idea for awhile, debating since, I knew I couldn't entirely commit to campus organazations since I'm a full-time employee and a part-time student.  But, I decided to go ahead and join because, its not everyday someone recognizes your academic excellence.  Well, last night was the induction ceremony.  Nothing super crazy or fancy, but, it was really cool to be there and see all these super smart people, and get to meet some distiniguished faculty members too.  Not to mention, I got this sweet certificate (that funny enough looks almost like a diploma or degree) that I want to frame and put in my office.  Its already on my resume, and I found out that the Federal Government will bump you up a pay grade level just for having Golden Key on your resume.  I wonder if I could talk the State into doing the same (haha - fat chance).  Either way, I'm generally fairly modest about my performance in school - mainly because I find my coursework fairly easy due to the fact I have 5 years of experience in my field, but, I decided that it's ok to be proud of my accomplishments whether or not I think they were "easy" - because, when I think about it, there are people in my classes that scored a D or worse on our first exams, so, not everything comes easily to everyone.  Now - if I can just keep my GPA up and make it to graduation with a 4.0, *that* would be sweet!