Takin' the Blog for a Walk
Join Waukesha resident Brien Lee and his blog, Sir Fido, as they explore the city and report on the interesting things they find.
Email Brien at howlinblog@yahoo.com.
flew 'n crew
Had an uneventful weekend... until Sunday that is.
Was supposed to self-install U-verse internet and phone Friday after work, but it wasn't cooperating. Was instructed to begin installation after 8:00 p.m., but when that didn't work was told we had to wait up to 12 hours more!
Now, if it was just me online there wouldn't be a problem. In the interest of improving speed and saving money it was myself who took on the change from DSL to fiber-optics. Anticipating the day when we'd enjoy unlimited nationwide calling for lower cost, I'd accept blame if something went wrong with the install.
Of course, by 8:00 a.m. we still weren't getting the correct signal to complete the installation. My biggest concern with installing this on a Friday would be can we get help on the weekend if we need it? Fortunately the nice person I talked to on the phone scheduled a tech to come out same day - Saturday - between 8:00 and noon!
This wouldn't be much of a blog post if the tech showed up when scheduled. After waiting hours, called again and was informed tech was scheduled for tomorrow - Sunday! I was incredulous. Internet gets used a lot here. Ended up talking to a retention specialist, I wanted to cancel everything, but ended up on the phone with them for at least 20 minutes trying to trouble-shoot the problem.
Found out it takes two working days to cancel service and there was no way anyone could make it here Saturday. We at least were told we'd see a credit, which helps a little.
Sunday morning and I'm called on to crew a hot air balloon. The Select 55 shape balloon is in town for Bastille Days and is going to do a fun flight in Waukesha with a couple other balloons. I awoke at 4:30 Sunday to crew and ended up riding in the basket of RE/MAX.
It'd been over a year since my last flight so I was quite excited to go along for this one. From the Town of Waukesha south of the city on 164 we three balloons headed into the sun toward New Berlin. It was a good, long, uneventful flight of probably an hour. We passed on a perfect landing spot at Ronald Reagan Elementary School and flew on only to land later in a weedy and hilly field with trees and wooden stakes poking up. No one got hurt. Nothing got broken, lost or torn. You never know where you'll land, and that's part of the excitement.
Gathering after the flight, was informed one of the other balloons carried a couple for a proposal flight... she said Yes!
Made it back home before the tech showed up, and yes, this time he did show up. Dave wired, cut, spliced... for at least an hour on Sunday morning, but at least got it up and running, and running well. Before leaving he did happen to mention they'd probably want to charge us for the service call, so maybe our credit will be a wash. We'll see.
There was a Sunday afternoon single balloon flight from Monches, and this time I was able to crew for the two ladies who were checking this off their "bucket list." It was a long flight west to the Town of Erin and it drew a good crowd of young kids and parents on landing in a cut marsh hay field.
Notable is how really dry it is out there. Corn is tasseling at only of few feet tall with not enough moisture for ears to form. Grass is so dry it's brittle. Dangerous in more ways than one.
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