Adventures of Comcast Bonnie

Wedding pics!

2011-01-13T17:16:00.000-05:00

I know you wanted to see them, so here's a few!

I climbed a caterpillar jungle gym IN MY DRESS. Great picture :)

We had a cricket problem...

Live long and prosper!

Chucks are the choice of footwear for geeks.

The army table

The PIRATE table

A moment to ourselves

In your FACE!

I didn't realize it said Happy Birthday until I hung it up. I kept it this way... why not?

Green army men and lego cupcakes from sascupcakes.com

A little Guitar Hero (Thanks Activision!)

Aren't we cute?

You may now kiss the bride

So adorable.

Behold the pinkness... and the sparkly. Mmmm sparkly.

Head table with Star Trek, ball guns, Star Wars confetti

Geek table.

Rockin' out

Oh yeah. Playing with gigantic claw nails.

A little housekeeping

2010-10-02T00:31:00.000-04:00

The purpose of this blog is to bridge the gap between my personal life and my work life. You've been here with me when I bought my house, when Mylo came home, and when I got engaged. You'll be there when Will and I get married in 8 days (it's after midnight here). I wanted to update you about a few things going on, and answer some questions I've been getting over on my personal accounts from some of you.

Where am I?
Well, I'm out on disability for a little bit. The entire team is operating on a skeleton crew right now, and I wanted to put out there how amazing they continue to be when faced with unexpected and challenging times. I've had strep AND bronchitis over the last two weeks, though neither are the reason I am away from my work. I'm not going in to the "why" because I choose to keep that personal, and know that you understand and respect that (hey, there's a reason why I say you guys rock). When the Doctor says it's time to come back, I'll be back. No worries!

OMG Isn't your wedding soon?!
OH EM GEE, yes it is! As previously stated, we're down to eight days. My dress is fitted, all of the decorations are made (minus the centerpieces because of the ninja kitty...), and everything is paid off! We're still doing things like figuring out who sits where and what exactly is going on in our ceremony. Oh yeah! The ceremony will still be streamed on Sunday October 10th. Consider this your invitation :) My husband-to-be is stepping up to the plate and really helping to get things taken care of while I've been sick... and that just makes me feel even better about marrying him!

Other business
Being home means I've been watching entirely too much TV for my own good. I wanted to comment on two things. Remember, nothing in this blog is the opinion of my company... they are my own and do not represent blah blah blah. You know the story (it's at the top of this page!). Not that I expect things to be taken the wrong way!

Rick Sanchez from CNN was let go after some comments he made on a radio show. I met Rick at the Shorty Awards last year, thanks to you! He's a pretty cool dude, and I have nothing bad to say about him. I respect his right to voice his opinion, though I wonder if he was a little low on sleep. The poor guy was pretty run-down at the awards :( I wish him the best of luck with whatever he does, and hope he continues to push into new media and test fun new ways of interacting with the audience.

I want to remind you that the internet is a big and permanent place. Pretty much anything you do online is there forever. I remember my parents giving me this speech about privacy and what I put out on the net and going "Jeez, whatever!" Now, I can't thank them enough (Mom is going "I told you so!" secretly as she reads this probably). The reason I mention this now, is because I don't think that message is getting out to kids clearly. The recent tragedy at Rutgers concerning one student filming another without their consent and posting that online leading to a very VERY unhappy ending is why I bring it up. While I realize the circumstances surrounding this particular situation may involve laws broken beyond invasion of privacy, I wonder if that guy ever got that talk from his parents. I don't think I could ever EVER post something online that would potentially ruin someone's life thirty years from now. So, I ask you to mention this to your kids or people who may not realize what their actions might do down the line. It might save a life.

Alrighty, are we all caught up now? I miss you all, and thank you for your well-wishes and concern during a pretty crazy time in my life! <3

-Bonnie

Maps

2010-08-24T14:18:00.001-04:00

Remember the other week when I kept posting about storm mode and outages and all of those crazy things? I eventually got so overwhelmed trying to keep up with the outages, that I just started posting the outage maps that we have access to internally (mind you, the folks on the phones don't typically have this tool. It's meant for the monitoring folks). I had one of those lightbulb moments, and thought to myself... why don't we have this online for the customers? I mean, come on. Wouldn't you like a map? My power company does an excellent job with their outage maps and it saves me from calling them when they're probably already overloaded. Ya know?

So here's an example of one of the maps I posted recently. The black dots mean that commercial power is down. The red dots mean there's a full node outage. The yellow dots mean there's something up with the node, but it might not be an outage... could be a node health issue. I'd probably take out the yellow dots in any sort of public version of the map though. Keep in mind, no commercial power, no cable in a lot of instances. Sometimes, this isn't the case though.

Here's a form I whipped up to see what YOU guys want. Yes, YOU. I want your feedback, because you're the ones who would be using it. I don't have much traction to get this going yet, so anything you want to say SPECIFICALLY about this little project I'm taking on :) The more the better. So, sit back, relax, click some dots, and let me know!

As always, you guys are the reason I do what I do. Keep on rockin' :)

<p>Loading...</p>

Barns and Stuff

2010-08-04T13:17:00.000-04:00

So... some of you may have noticed my tweet about working from a barn for the rest of the week. Well, it's true! from 5-?pm I'll be working at the Salem County Fair in Pilesgrove, NJ. Come visit if you're in the area, there's lots of awesome there... including FUNNEL CAKE (ZOMG). I'll be in the front barn helping folks (note: not selling things) who need it, or who have questions about any number of things.

Why am I doing this? I think it's important to talk to a company you do business with face to face every once in awhile. The only avenue most folks have would be heading to a payment center and trying to talk there. Unfortunately, my area is big with not a lot of people... so we have one office which can take awhile to drive to. I'm going to be at "the" event in the county, and I'm hoping I can meet a lot of our customers face to face to talk to them!

What do you guys think about this? I mean, beyond the fact that I am most likely going to smell like cow for the next week (I think the sheep are closer to my barn though)... and that I'm going to a place where I'll be in my element (see: goat pic from yesterday). I think it'll be a fun experiment, and I hope to see some of you guys there! :) <3

Anniversary

2010-06-29T13:37:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend, I was shopping for wedding stuff at the Christmas Tree Shops (no, it's not just christmas stuff) and ran into an old family friend. We were talking shop, and I realized that very day marked my 5th year anniversary at Comcast! I said, HOLY CRAP I'VE BEEN HERE FIVE YEARS! Exact words.

So, dear readers/followers/family/friends... let's recap the rough and tumble life of a ComcastBonnie at Comcast eh? :D

Stardate June 2005 - Bonnie (age 20) gets hired as an ONLINE ONLY CAE. This means I troubleshoot internet issues. That's it. Not billing, not video, not phone (since phone wasn't really around yet with us)... just internet. Back then, we had some pretty awesome homebrew tools that folks would compile around the call center. Maybe we're nerds, maybe we're dedicated, or maybe we just like to build things. Who knows? I wanted to help, and that was that!

November 2005 - Bonnie gets the most amazing and inspiring boss ever. John L. (who will be the speaker at my wedding) understood my quirks, and worked with me to avoid being fired. I'm a loose canon, and @comcastcares can attest to this. John stuck up for me when management balked at things I said to customers. I like to tell you guys how it is, and not sugarcoat it. Ya'll seem to appreciate that, and I'm not one to play things down.

March 2006 - PROJECT TIME! We needed to upgrade our databases to make sure the addresses in our systems matched the right ratecenters established a long time ago. Three arduous weeks later, we had successfully verified hundreds of thousands of accounts! In doing this, I learned a TON about how porting phone numbers works, how rate centers work, and why things are they way they are.

June 2006 - The feared Digital Voice training came. Up until this point, a handful of folks had our Digital Voice product and well... it wasn't all that great. I heard the phone calls where people were screaming about their phones not working and all sorts of weird issues. Growing pains are NO FUN. Learning how to fix those pains was fun though! We got it down to a fine science, diagnosing issues remotely and sending technicians for things that needed techs. Learning new things every day is like... I dunno... Crack. I don't know what crack does other than kill but I do know it's addictive... and learning is VERY addictive.

September 2006 - PROJECT TIME! I was sent to our freshly formed porting department. I learned how to port phone numbers, learned how the process works between us and other providers, followed up on installs to make sure things went ok, and handled emergency situations with the utmost care. This job was awesome because of the customers I got to call. I didn't get calls from them, I called THEM to check up. I was tickled pink when I got to hear outcomes, and also followup with troublesome issues.

August 2007 - Still on that project. Got a little irritated and bored, so I searched around the company for a new gig. That landed me a position as a provisioning analyst at one of our data centers in PA. I spent my days/nights making sure that system remained up and running, and spent MANY 1-6am Sunday mornings up doing maintenances. It was mostly Unix and SQL, both of which I had to pick up along the way. Again, learning is crack.

November 2008 - @comcastcares and @comcastgeorge thought it'd be an awesome idea if I came over and interviewed for the team. Keep in mind, I didn't apply for this. I had emailed Frank awhile back telling him how awesome it was that he was keeping tabs on Consumerist and reaching out to folks online. For the longest time, we were strictly forbidden from such things. This was a HUGE sign that things were changing within the company. I wanted to be part of that change, and move things in a new direction.

Present Day - I've been tweeting since January of 2009. I have over 70k tweets, a New York Times article, a Shorty Award, 4k+ AWESOME FOLLOWERS, and the best job on earth. I'm able to do things I'd never thought possible before. I'm helping to make a difference in people's lives by bringing a tiny ray of sunshine to an otherwise dark day. This whole team is committed to bringing change within our organization. We're committed to you, the Customer. We're committed to our Employees. We're committed to making this the best place it can be. Engineers, techs, phone reps... all of us.

I know you're scoffing and saying "Sure... yeah right. I'll believe it when I see it" and you have every right to! Change of this magnitude is not something that can happen overnight. When I started tweeting a year and a half ago, I saw a positive tweet maybe once a month. Skip forward to now, I'm seeing at LEAST five a day. Now, it might seem insignificant... but that's a huge deal to me. We're starting to make that change, and it's becoming noticeable.

We've still got a long way to go, but you know what? I'm in this for the long haul, and more importantly I'm in this for you.

Cheers, to all of my new friends and family. Without your understanding and patience, I wouldn't be here today and who knows what mischief I'd be getting myself in to :) <3 you all, and I mean it.

Teaching and Teachers

2010-05-06T13:51:00.003-04:00

I don't normally write up a blog post as to the reasoning behind me taking a half day from work. Why should you care, and why should I write it up? Exactly :) Today is a special exception though.

I think all of us have had a teacher that impacted our lives. Some have simply encouraged us to be all we can be, others completely blew away our notions of how the world works. My case involves an orchestra director named Mrs. Kille. She not only encouraged me to be all that I could be, but also helped me grow as a person, a musician, and a teacher.

Some of you know that I was a music education major prior to joining Comcast. I've been playing Cello for 16 years, and teach Violin, Viola, and Bass (beginners only). I also have a penchant for percussion (marimbas are sexy). Music is a huge part of my life!

Mrs. Kille is the reason I am able to fill you guys in on how stuff works. Her unique teaching style and fun attitude made learning easy as pie. It made me want to teach others. While my music teaching career didn't pan out (no money, no jobs), I fell back on my other love in life... Technology.

ANYWAY, here I am present day teaching you fine folks about the complexities of cable, the trials and tribulations of computers, and having a whole heck of a lot of fun in the process. I hope you're having some fun too :) I hope to be teaching for a long time, be it online or in a classroom. The impact you make on a person's life when you teach is huge. Teach your students well, and they'll remember you for it.

SO, Mrs. Kille, you rock my socks. You're the reason I'm the person I am today. You've taught so many, given so much of yourself, and carried on in the face of budget cuts, personal losses, and anything else life threw at you. Your passion for music is reflected in all of the students who had the pleasure of being taught by you, and they pass that passion on to their students, children, neighbors, customers, co-workers, and anyone who carries a tune in their heart.

When I sit at your final Spring concert this evening, I'll remember playing all of the corny Christmas music, the 7am rehearsals, the crazy jam sessions, teaching you how to use the computer (do you still have the 18 zillion sticky notes?), and most importantly the passion you displayed day after day for well over 30 years.

Here's to you, Sue.

Got a story about a teacher who changed your life? Let the world know below!

Save The Date!

2010-04-16T13:13:00.006-04:00

Hello Internets!

So you all know at this point that I'm engaged to Will, your friendly resident technician (if you live out on Cape Cod). Love is a crazy thing, I tell ya. Social Media brought us together! A random facebook update saying I was in Boston for a wedding in October caused him to respond, and subsequently drive allllll the way out to see me (after work, no less!). The universe works in mysterious ways sometimes.

In any case, I'm neck deep in wedding planning now. It helps that I've done enough weddings to make a wedding planner blush. The quartet I play in has been playing weddings since I was in 10th grade! Of course I'm looking to keep things as low-cost as possible, so I headed over to VistaPrint and got 100 free postcards! I only have about 85 people coming, so this worked out splendidly!

Because this is going to be a geek wedding, I designed the post cards to reflect the theme. I know those of you who read XKCD will recognize this design :)

They came in the mail yesterday, and look MUCH better in person. Very excited :) The back side of the postcards look pretty good too (again, image quality much different in person).

For those of you wanting to watch, we'll be streaming the wedding live at 3:30-4ish in the afternoon. I'll post more fun stuff as I figure things out :)

Cooler

2010-04-02T19:40:00.002-04:00

So... You've all been seeing me tweet about the dog saga. I wanted to bring you up to speed on what the heck has been going on. Tweets are confusing when you only have so many characters to explain what's going on!

Cooler, the Great Dane/Black Lab mix, is 12-13 years old. He's got arthritis in his back hips and an issue with panic attacks (I also suffer from these, it's not fun.) when people leave him alone at home. Last week, after getting his sedative, he collapsed in the backyard. He wouldn't get back up. His breathing was shallow and you could hear/feel the congestion in his chest. Will and his mother thought that this was his last call. I rushed up to Cape Cod to be with my now fiancee and be a helping hand in a sad time.

Little did we know that he would pull out of his funk following a very thorough visit to the vet the next day! He's got an issue called Megaesophagus. The issue caused him to aspirate on his food, which introduced moisture into his lungs causing pneumonia. The very cool vet sent us home with Cipro (that'll kill Anthrax, ya know), instructions for loosening up the goop in his chest, and told us to keep careful watch over him. Thankfully, my very awesome employer lets me work from home... even if home happens to be 400 miles away for a few days. I kept watch over a very GROSS dog (you know they eat uh... things... they've already eaten), and watched him improve 100%!

Today, I get a very flustered IM from Will saying the dog couldn't breathe, and this was most likely the end. Cooler couldn't stand, and the vet had to get this massive dog on a gurney and into the office. His blood/oxygen level was super low, tongue was blue, and it really didn't look good. They put him on O2 and an IV drip of a sedative. After a few hours, they reduced the O2 and watched him without the help of the stuff. He's groggy, but alive. He had a panic attack, which in conjunction with the Megaesophagus, caused his Larynx to swell up and yeah, not able to breathe.

Right now, the game is: Watch him over the weekend. Carefully try different doses of his sedative. If things aren't better on Monday, decisions will be made. I've been through this decision too many times, and it's not easy. Cooler is the last link Will and his mom have to his step father (who passed away from pancreatic cancer), which makes this decision especially hard for them. I can only stand by and offer support to them in this really awful sad time.

So, there's the update. I hope things make a little more sense now, and why this is such a rollercoaster ride for everyone involved. We (Will, his mom, and myself) want to thank you all so much for your kind words of support. I want to thank you for being patient with me when I get these frantic calls and IM's. There's a reason I call you all the best customers in the world, and you constantly prove this to me. Thanks guys, you really are the best!

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T22:19:00.001-04:00

I would like to share a drink with all of my favorite people! If you have a webcam, join in! 10:30pm sharp! (EST)

Shorty Awards

2010-03-11T22:13:00.005-05:00

Well, I guess I'm overdue for a new blog post eh? Been a little busy helping out all of you and preparing for my excursion to New York for the Shorty Awards. I'm sure you've all heard me talking about them on Twitter enough, so I'll spare you the story. I wanted to put up all of the photos and video in one place. Guess this is a good a place as any, eh? :)

Here's the video of me getting the award:

And on to the pics! :)

That's me! OMG!

The SPEECH. You guys wrote this! :)

Makers Mark sponsored. A mighty fine hard cider!

O.M.G. IT'S GROVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Thinkgeek on the left, her boss, TIMMY, and GROVER!

And let's not forget our host for the evening, @ricksanchezcnn who assured me he did NOT pre-game before the awards ceremony. He had "been on a plane since 5 a.m.". Rick, it's ok. I won't tell :P

Now, remember guys. NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT YOU! I can't stress enough how much of a pleasure it is to work with you and guide you through life's little cable troubles. Or talk about the odd and random. Or anything. It doesn't matter, because you all ROCK MY HELLO KITTY SOCKS!

Netflix, you can has it.

2010-01-27T13:45:00.004-05:00

I follow @MajorNelson to keep up with the latest Xbox news and cool stuff (not to mention I keep a keen eye out for service issues), and noticed he posted this AWESOME link to the new Xbox Engineering Blog. I read through the newest information about Netflix and Xbox, and noticed a fancypants section about Netflix and streaming.

I am reposting this section with permission from Xbox to shed some light about how this process works, and how Xbox is working to improve the experience for you! Also, I have to throw in the comment about us "throttling" Netflix to keep competition away. This simply isn't the case, and I think the snip from the article below will help clarify what's actually going on. Enjoy!

Special thanks to the Xbox Live Team for putting this up! Remember, the full blog can be reached here!

Streaming Video
Rebuffering
One of the major challenges of streaming video is adapting to changes in available bandwidth. In the first version of Netflix, we saw a number of users experience downgrades in their video quality, accompanied by the “Your Internet connection has slowed” message, shortly after starting playback. This was often due to an ISP boosting available bandwidth for brief periods of time in order to make individual downloads faster. Since we decide which quality level of the content your Internet connection can handle by measuring bandwidth at the very beginning of a download, this boost effect causes the client to believe there is more bandwidth than actually available. Accordingly, we picked a quality level whose bitrate was too high to sustain once the boost ended and the connection reverted to its typical bandwidth characteristics. This resulted in a rebuffering event, otherwise known as a “starvation.”
We’ve done a number of things in this release to reduce the frequency of starvations:
We have switched to using Netflix’s new, more advanced VC-1 encodings when available. The VC-1 streams are much more efficient than their visually-comparable WMV9 counterparts. This allows us to better utilize available bandwidth by buffering more of the feature in less time.
We have implemented something we are calling “Seamless Stream Switching.” In the past, a starvation meant having to wait while the app rebuffered a new stream. Now, we have the ability to detect a dip in bandwidth that would cause a starvation, and react before we actually starve. Instead of forcing you to wait while the speed test and buffering is redone, we can prepare the new stream behind the scenes while playing out the old one. See the next section for details on how it all works.
Courtesy of Seamless Stream Switching, you can now switch up to a higher quality stream. Previously, you would always be locked in to the lower bitrate stream if your bandwidth had degraded during playback. Now, if your bandwidth improves sufficiently, your content bitrate could be upgraded as well.
(Mostly) Seamless Stream Switching
As mentioned above, we can now be proactive about switching to a new stream before a starvation occurs. Here’s some information on how the process works:
Like with the first version of Netflix, a quick speed test is done first to figure out what the Internet connection is capable of. Based on these results, a stream of an appropriate bitrate is chosen - one that should give you the highest video quality possible while still being likely to play back without interruptions (aka starvations).
Unlike the first version of Netflix, the client will continuously monitor the current streaming bandwidth and also the buffer level during playback. The buffer level is how much data has been read ahead from the network connection and buffered up in memory.
If the buffer level falls below a certain threshold–i.e., the buffer level falls into the starvation danger zone–then we start to get interested, algorithmically speaking. At this point, the client looks at several samples of bandwidth measurements to see how the Internet connection is performing, and we’ll also see if buffer levels have been declining. It might seem like a silly thing to do, but the reason we check the latter is that, directly after a seek or after playback starts, buffer levels could technically still be in the red zone; however, as long as they are still increasing, there should be no need for alarm. On the other hand, if buffer levels have been declining, and bandwidth measurements indicate that the client could be in danger of starving, then the client will initiate a switch downwards to a lower bitrate stream. More about that in a moment.
Now if, instead of falling, the buffer level actually rises above a certain threshold, then the client will look at several history samples of bandwidth measurements and see if the Internet connection really can take it to the next level. If so, then the client will initiate a switch up to a higher bitrate stream. Note: To avoid ping-ponging between higher and lower bitrate streams, a backoff period is enforced before switching up if there has been a previous switch down during the playback session. The backoff period increases substantially the more times a downward switch occurs. For example, suppose client starts out playing a piece of content at 2 quality bars, but then bandwidth drops and the client switches down to a lower bitrate stream. At this point, even if the connection improves to the point where the client could technically switch up again, the client will wait an additional period of time before allowing the switch to occur. If the client subsequently performs another switch down during that streaming session, then the backoff time before allowing an up-switch would be longer still. The basic idea is to avoid a cycle where fluctuations in connection bandwidth cause the client to continually vacillate between content quality levels.
Performing the Switch: The Seam
Once a stream switch is kicked off, several things happen. First, the client stops reading any data from the network for the old stream; it plays out whatever buffer has been accumulated for the old stream from here on out. Simultaneously, the newly-freed network resources immediately start grabbing data for the new stream. Once all the data from the old stream has been played, the client will hot-swap to the new stream.
Perhaps this is a good time to confess that it’s not completely accurate to call this process “Seamless Stream Switching.” As it turns out, there is a seam, but it’s very slight and consists of the screen below.
The graphic at the upper right shows you the quality level for the new stream you’ll be watching. You’ll see this screen very briefly (typically, for a second or less) during the switch over from old to new. During this time, the video pipeline is being reinitialized for the new stream. We’ve done as much of the work as we could ahead of time, but there are some things, like initializing the Direct3D device in accordance with the new video resolution, that need to happen right then. This process is fairly snappy but it’s not instantaneous, which is why this small delay exists.
Sometimes the client is unable to adequately buffer up the new stream before the buffer for the old stream runs out. This may happen, for example, if there was a sudden extreme drop in bandwidth or if the Internet connection is not capable of sustaining uninterrupted playback of the lowest bitrate stream. In these cases, you will unfortunately still have to wait to rebuffer while viewing the “Your Internet connection has slowed” starvation screen.
Streaming and Party Mode
The most important thing about the streaming experience in Party Mode is that the video stays in sync among people watching the content. We felt strongly that it would not be a great experience if your buddy laughed at a joke two seconds before you actually saw the funny part of the movie. Because we were optimizing for keeping everybody at the same place in the content, streaming in Party Mode behaves a little differently than streaming in solo mode:
There is no Mostly Seamless Stream Switching in Party Mode. The seam during the switch, slight as it is, could be enough to throw synchronization off beyond the 500 millisecond threshold that we deemed our maximum allowed drift between participants.
The headroom that we require for Party Mode playback is higher than for solo mode. For context, headroom is the amount of space required between your measured bandwidth and the selected content bitrate. In other words, for a Party Mode headroom value of say, 30% (hypothetically speaking), your measured bandwidth would need to be at least 1429 Kbps for us to select a 1000 Kbps content stream. This is Bandwidth * (1.0 – Headroom). Now, the reason why we require more headroom in Party Mode is because a starvation in Party Mode affects not only your user experience, but also that of everybody else in your party. When one person starves, everybody else in the party has to wait for that person to rebuffer to keep everyone in sync. We want to make sure that this is very unlikely to occur.
Inside Tips and Tricks for Tweaking Your Netflix Streaming Experience
Since you now know some details of how our streaming system works, there are a couple of things you can do to potentially make the system work better for you.
First off, if you absolutely hate Mostly Seamless Stream Switching, you can prevent us from using it by watching all your content in Party Mode. This works whether you watch by yourself or with others. All you have to do is start a Netflix party. If you choose to do this and don’t want to see your Avatar, then use the On-Screen display and use Display Mode to switch.
Secondly, if you have a spiky or otherwise unstable Internet connection, the Pause button is your best friend. Remember how I mentioned that the client will only consider switching down if 1) the buffer falls below a certain threshold, and 2) the buffer level had been decreasing over the last few seconds? Well, when playback is paused, we will continue to read data from the network, but the buffer can’t decrease since playback has been halted. Therefore, hitting the pause button right after playback starts and leaving the content paused for a short while (30 seconds, a minute or two, see what works best for you) is a cheap and easy way to force the buffer level to increase and potentially avoid a downward switch to a lower bitrate stream.

Bai 2009!

2009-12-31T18:55:00.002-05:00

The last year has been NUTS! It's been non-stop since I started the twitter gig at work. Ya'll keep me pretty busy :) I can honestly say the up's outnumber the down's this year, and that's a good thing! I hope that the same can be said with you. I wanted to put down on "paper" all of the great and bad things in my life, because you all help me through it every day! For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Even if you're there to yell at me at first, your kind words and encouragement... and snarkyness... make the days go by quicker, and give me the motivation to keep going.

This year, the following things sucked:

Broke up with BF of 3 years in March
Had to give my poor cat back to the shelter (medical issues)
Lived with said ex and 2 other guys until August (oh my, drama)
My Indoor Color Guard disbanded (instructor left us :( )
all of the nutty issues from buying my house
all of the nutty issues AFTER buying the house
all of the nutty issues in this past WEEK
Docsis 3.0 (not anymore!)

This year, the following things rocked:

I was in the NEW YORK TIMES (how freaking cool is that???)
I've met multiple awesome people, both at work and outside of work
My Indoor Guard Girls took 1st place in their region, and 2nd place at Championships! (after 8 years of being dead last every show!)
I BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!! (c'mon, that's pretty good for age 24!)
Docsis 3.0 (yeah, it's all sorts of hot now)
Helped well over 3,000 people directly, and thousands more indirectly
Bringing change to a company that is ready for some shakin' up
Discovered very important things about me that finally have explanations (yay a.d.d.!)
Helping YOU.

As of posting this, I will have 44,519 public tweets, over 10k DM's, over 3k followers since January. It's been a fun ride, and I'm hoping the next year brings even more awesomeness! New challenges, new issues, new fixes, new people to help... To that I say:

BRING IT ON, 2010!!!

Whoa what?

2009-12-30T17:23:00.008-05:00

So, I was reading Consumerist.com today and noticed a post about an unfortunate experience between a customer and his modem/us. The insanity that happened here is going to probably end up popping up more and more often as we transition away from legacy devices and focus on the cool new stuff (D3!). Here is the link to the page with the information about the WHY

A few things that are helpful to know about the upgrade process:

DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1 modems are the only devices needing to be upgraded
If you have a DOCSIS 2.0 modem, you're fine (unless you want super speeds)
If you have a DOCSIS 3.0 modem, you're fine
This does NOT apply to every region. If you have an EOL modem, you should receive notice via snail mail and/or email. We are doing this area by area, and I do not have a schedule of who's going to do this when. Don't freak out, just be prepared for the future! Plenty of notice for the bulk of you reading this.

A VERY HANDY PDF from CableLabs
This lists all cable modems (and EMTA's, but we're not talking about them) that CableLabs has certified. On the left side, it will state D1.0 D1.1 D2.0 D3.0. If it does NOT say D2.0 or D3.0 on the left, then your modem is not up to spec! Please note, this list does NOT mean these are OK on our network, but rather certified by the CableLabs folks. You can check to see if a modem is cool with us here.

If you're a customer leasing your modem from us, you can request a new modem using live chat, calling up, or visiting your friendly local comcast office (make sure they do equipment, though!).

If you OWN your modem and it is on the EOL list, you will need to lease a new device from us or purchase a new one. Suggestions I've been giving people are SB6120 (Motorola), DPC3000 (Scientific Atlanta), and U10C035 (Ubee/Ambit). These are ALL Docsis 3.0 modems. I figure, if you're going to drop the cash on a new modem, might as well make it one you won't have to upgrade for a long time. Remember to check the compatible equipment list before buying a modem! (I have not been paid to recommend anything. These are what we use.)

After all of this is said and done, you will need to call us to activate your equipment. If you bought a new modem, you will also need to give us the cable mac/HFC mac address and/or customer serial number from the device.

Merry Christmahanuramzamus!

2009-12-24T17:21:00.001-05:00

I like to say awesome... a lot. Fair warning.

Comcast Secure Backup & Share

2009-12-09T16:34:00.002-05:00

Another day, another blog post, another cool thing to share with you guys!

We've soft launched (haven't made a big deal, basically) our new Comcast Secure Backup & Share service for our customers.

This is cool for those of you who need to put something 2gb and under "somewhere". Portable apps, maybe some pictures you wanted to share, documents, whatever! Here's some of the specifics from what I've been told so far:

Comcast Secure Backup and Share is an easy, secure, and reliable way to back up and share all of your important files. Now, you can access your files from anywhere with an Internet connection for easy sharing. You can download the Comcast Secure Backup and Share application and have convenient access to the Comcast Vault. Components of solution include:

Comcast Secure Backup & Share PC application – downloaded to the PC during product registration. Used to backup files and restore files. Application can be downloaded on multiple PCs so that files from each computer can be backed up.
Comcast Vault – Secure Online storage of backed up files. You can access their Comcast Vault through any Internet Connection for downloading or sharing.

Comcast Secure Backup & Share features include:

Automatic backup can be scheduled
Bandwidth throttling and block level incremental backups
A secure online backup and storage utility
An easy upload and retrieval mechanism
Remote access to your files from any internet connection
Ability to share content from the vault to family and friends

Product Requirements

Comcast High-Speed Internet subscription – Primary account must complete registration
133 MHz processor
64 MB RAM
Windows 2000, XP, Vista SP1 or SP2, or Windows 7
Either Internet Explorer 7 or later, Firefox 3.0 or later
(No word on when there will be Mac support, sad to say!!!)

Accessibility

You must be a Primary High-Speed internet subscriber to purchase the service.
After purchase is made, any secondary can download the product. A secondary UID’s backed up content will contribute to overall storage purchased by primary, though the files will be stored in your own private vault.
Each UID can download CSB&S desktop application to multiple PCs
Due to copyright concerns, music files can be backed up, but not shared.

Tech for a day

2009-12-08T12:49:00.002-05:00

I had the cool opportunity over the weekend to be a tech for a day. It is something I had been meaning to do for awhile, but never had the time. I was in Cape Cod for the weekend visiting folks, and one of them happens to be a technician for Comcast. I had nothing better to do until they were done working for the day, so I tagged along and finally got some field tech time.

Some of you may have seen the tweets on Saturday. Here's the low-down!

We didn't start the day at this location, which is both a satellite office for the techs and a payment center. Saw the OLD payment center next to it... huge improvement :)

i'm at a customer's house doing a triple play install. of course two gigantic black labs are helping :) 11:39 AM Dec 5th

Having fun with punch blocks... which really aren't that much fun to be honest... 12:34 PM Dec 5th

Did I neglect to mention it was raining? A LOT?

First install finished! Next job involves finding out where a customer's dialtone ran off to. Comcast ninja skillz activate! 1:16 PM Dec 5th

ACTUALLY, we ended up picking up a job that was just a quick install of a cable box at an apartment complex. My tech, however, is a little OCD like me. We ended up cleaning up the entire box for the building so everyone would have happier cable!

Next up: Ooooh triple play install with home networking! Should be tons of fun (no really!) 2:43 PM Dec 5th

I actually spent this job setting up home networking for this customer while Will redid the phone wiring down in the basement. Sometimes, we're not given the most awesome wiring to work with from your old provider, but we'll make it work somehow! :)

(waiting for the test call to confirm service is working)

last job for the day, fixing some phone wiring to restore said rogue dialtone from earlier then done! 5:34 PM Dec 5th

This was actually an interesting dealy-o. The sad part is, we were not able to fix without an electrician (the phone line coming in was just... very unhappy). We got the dialtone, we did not get to fix the underlying problem. The GOOD news is, we know what it is and this customer knows exactly how to fix it. YAY! Also, Mr. Customer was super excited about having a social media person in his house :)

Alas, poor missing dialtone. We knew you well. Everyone should hug their next tech... they probably need it. This isn't an easy job! 5:58 PM Dec 5th

This is so true. It was raining hard, 40 degrees, never know what you're getting yourself into when you go to the next job... every house is different. Every job is a new challenge. I definitely gained a bit more insight into the field tech's day (this was a SLOW day, fyi), and how tough it can be. Gotta say, I slept like a baby that night!

Gobble Gobble

2009-11-25T17:45:00.002-05:00

I really felt it necessary to write a post about Thanksgiving this year. While listening to 93.3 (WMMR), Pierre was discussing how Thanksgiving is the "no stress" holiday. Why? No pressure of gift-giving, no worrying about who should get what. It is simply a time to spend with your family and friends and stuff your faces until you fall asleep.

What really stuck out, though, was the significance of giving thanks for what we have this year. Sure, we're all thankful for what we have going on in our lives... but this has been a VERY difficult year for a lot of folks. I see this reflected in my line of work everyday. Folks are being laid off*, money is tight, houses are being lost, food is not being had, life has been thrown into survival mode for a lot of people.

SO... I want to give thanks this year for all of the amazing things happening in my life. I'm thankful for my job, no matter how crazy it gets. I'm thankful for you, my Customers, for putting a smile on my face every day (even you grumpypants folks). I'm thankful for friends and family who have really stepped up to the plate after the unfortunate breakup earlier this year. I'm thankful for the opportunity to own a house (this still blows my mind), and the AWESOME advice a lot of you gave me. I'm thankful for my stinkybutt dog, Mylo, even if he is being bad right now.

But honestly, the thing I'm thankful for the most? Having the ability to help all of you. We've come a long way in this company in regards to this very important topic. We're working hard to improve the customer service you receive over the phone, chat, and every other avenue imaginable. It's difficult to break old habits, and I'm sure a lot of you can relate to this. The job I do is just a small cog in the bigger machine of change happening across the company. I genuinely love helping each and every one of you (if I didn't, I probably would have quit due to insanity a LONG time ago), and I want ALL of you to know that I'm thankful for YOU.

Thanks for keeping me sane during moments of insanity. Thanks for being understanding when insanity turns into chaos. Thanks for gently poking me when I forget to do something. Thanks for being there. I'll always be there for you :)

So when you enjoy your meal tomorrow (or enjoy whatever it is you're doing), take a moment to look around at what you have going for you... and give thanks for that. Oh yeah, and to make sure this post isn't TOO serious... here's the video of me being the turkey whisperer.

*For those of you who have lost their jobs, please check out http://careers.comcast.com for our job postings. We're all over the place, and have a lot of jobs that require talent from people like you!

ComcastBonnie Happy Fun-Time Learning Series GO!

2009-11-17T15:57:00.002-05:00

(I was originally going to post this back in September. Oops!)

Since the new school year has begun, let's learn some fun stuff about your internet connection and how to fix it! Prepare to amaze and awe your neighbors, family, and friends who will suddenly deem you as their tech support person :)

OK, class! Let’s begin…

Today, we’ll start off our fun learning series with the simple stuff. When I see problems, the very first thing I'll ask is: Have you reset your modem? If the answer is yes, then I'll ask: Do you have a router? This isn't because I'm trying to blame any particular piece of equipment. You'd be amazed at how many times a router will get "out of sync" with a modem, and vice versa. To fix this…

1. pull the power from both the modem and the router
2. Next, plug the power into the modem ONLY.
3. Wait for the lights on the front to calm down. On Motorola modems, you need four SOLID green lights. (Scientific Atlanta/Webstar needs a SOLID cable light. RCA modems need the Cable Link and Internet light SOLID. If you have a modem not listed here, chances are you bought it or it’s an end of life modem and should be replaced)
4. Once this is done, go ahead and plug the power back into your router and wait for it to finish up it's startup sequence.

Easy enough, right? If you’re still unable to connect, try moving on to the slightly more complicated steps below.

For a direct connection to the modem:

* PC’s: Go to “Network Connections” in your Control Panel. Right mouse click on “Local Area Connection” and click Status. Click the Support tab in this window, and check the IP address.
* Macs: Finder>Applications>System Utilities>Network Utility This will display your current IP address.
* Does the IP start with 169.254? If so, your computer is not getting a connection from the modem and you should probably give us a call. If you see 192.168, you’re connected to a router, have your IP set static, or something else is going on with the modem. Again, something you might want to call us up about.

For connections using a router:

* Make sure your router is obtaining an IP address by going to its home page at http://192.168.1.1 (login required in most cases). You should be able to check on the router's status page and see if you are getting an IP. If you see a 169.254.xxx.xxx address, your router is not connecting to the modem. This could mean that it was not powered on in the right order OR the modem is not assigning IP's.
* Make sure your computer is receiving an IP address from the router by following the steps above. A 192.168.x.x of 10.x.x.x address should show. If not, your router has a problem!
* Make sure you’re connected to your own wireless network. I get more of this than most people think. Be sure to put your wireless network as top priority over others in your network preferences.

For the super geeks out there:

Speaking of modem's not handing out IP's... I see this little problem all the time. The geeks out there seem to notice this the most, and take extraordinary measures to correct the problem. I'll see folks spoofing their MAC Addresses to get the modem to talk to the equipment on the other end. Guess what? You don't need to do that :) ANY TIME you connect something in to your modem, you will need to reset the modem. Otherwise, it will still consider the original device connected, and hence refuse to work with the new device. Easy fix, right? Make sure you’re not overlooking the basics above, since it’s easy to forget the most obvious things sometimes. I once troubleshot a modem for well over an hour, and then discovered it was in standby. The lights on the modem will tell you a lot about what’s going on.

I hope this gives you a little insight into the basics of troubleshooting. Next week, we’ll move on to checking out your internet signal from the comfort of your own home :)

Got a topic I should cover? Let me know in the comments! Got a question about any of the stuff above? Ask away! Let’s keep comments about the lessons on-topic, so we can all chirp in about each thing :)

The SUN?!

2009-10-06T15:45:00.005-04:00

It's that wonderful time of year again where the leaves change colors, the temperature gets cooler, the cable goes out because of the sun... wait, what?

Yes folks, it's Sun Outage time. It happens a few times a year, and can seriously mess with your cable! Here's the low-down:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A sun outage is an interruption in or distortion of geostationary satellite signals caused by interference from solar radiation. The effect is due to the sun's radiation overwhelming the satellite signal. Generally, sun outages occur in February, March, September and October, that is, around the time of the equinoxes. At these times, the apparent path of the sun across the sky takes it directly behind the line of sight between an earth station and a satellite. As the sun radiates strongly at the microwave frequencies used to communicate with satellites (C-band and Ku band) the sun swamps the signal from the satellite. The effects of a sun outage can include partial degradation, that is, an increase in the error rate, or total destruction of the signal.

Here's some info for the techy people out there from the HITS Satellite page:

Twice each year, the sun is positioned directly in line with the ground-based satellite dish antennas used to receive CATV programming. This positioning causes programming interruptions as the sun’s energy overpowers the C and Ku band signals transmitted by the satellites.

When the HITS Quantum digital signal is interrupted by the sun’s energy, the set top converter displays “One Moment Please” on the affected channel(s). This condition will be present for several minutes each day during the sun outage period, which lasts for several days. Because the HITS receives some of the programming used in the HITS lineup via satellite, some HITS programming services will be lost twice during this period as HITS experiences receive outages.

So, folks... Keep this in mind if you experience blips in your cable network programming!We're not making it up!

Days of Remembering

2009-09-11T13:27:00.002-04:00

Today is a day none of us will forget. It's something that may have hit you close to home, or something you only saw the effects and horror on the tv. For me, this day marked the single biggest day in my life. I can honestly say that when those planes hit the towers, every bit of that childhood innocence I had left was gone. Up until that moment in my life, nothing in my life had such impact on the way I viewed the world.

Maybe you think I'm going a little overboard, but you have to put this in context a bit. It was the first week of my senior year in high school and I was 16 (going on 17, for real). The only war in my life was Desert Storm, and that was when I was in elementary school. The only "terrorists" I knew of were those guys with issues that bombed the building in Oklahoma City. So, when something of this magnitude happened, it wasn't anything I had ever fathomed happening. I'm sure you think the same thing, depending on your life.

So today, on the 8th anniversary of 9/11, I pause to remember those who lost their lives in all three locations where these tragedies happened. I mourn the loss of the first responders who dove in head first, not even blinking at the risk in front of them. I remember sitting there in 3rd period art class hearing whispers from classmates about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. I remember the teacher turning on ABC, and a minute later the next plane hitting the other tower. Right then and there, we knew this was no accident. There was something else going on, and we were all sitting there jaws dropped and terrified.

And then... they fell.

They fell, and I fell. On the floor. Crying hysterically.

@gbrunett, my cousin, and one of the most influential geeks in my life (beside my Grandfather), worked on the 25th floor. I had been there only months before visiting his office and the city for the first time. I still have my WTC guest pass ID in my wallet. The teacher wouldn't let me use my cell phone to call my mother. The woodshop teacher next door let me use his phone, but I could not get through. I tried calling my aunts, uncles, and anyone I could think of who would know if he was ok. The lines were jammed, the whole eastern seaboard was doing the same thing as I.

Lunch came, and my friends tried valiently to calm me down. I couldn't eat, and I couldn't think. I was in this state of total utter and complete shock. My cell phone rang. Mom had been trying to call me for over an hour now, to let me know that @gbrunett was ok. A sudden nosebleed had delayed him, and he had not yet arrived at work.

A wave of relief washed over me.

I barged into my sister's spanish class (small town school, easy to find who you need), with her sitting at a desk white as a ghost and panicked looking. I took her outside, and let her know exactly what happened. This was her first week of high school. What a way to start it...

While I am glad my family and friends are OK, I am still VERY saddened by the loss of life and the fact that something like this happened. Eight years later, it still bothers me. My family of firefighters and first responders lost a lot of great people that day.

So, I ask you, dear readers and followers... What happened to you on this day? Did it change your world? Do you remember where you were, what you were doing, and how you felt? Do you think I'm nuts and blabbering on? I'd love to hear from some of you not on the east coast about what happened with you.

Awesome Cable Box News

2009-09-08T13:13:00.006-04:00

Hey guys, hope you all had an awesome Labor Day weekend! I have some pretty cool news to get your work week going...

In the past few weeks, we've been pushing out new code to our motorola set-top boxes (A28 i-guide). Features include:

A new on-screen keyboard designed to make it easier/faster to type;
"Folders" that will group your shows together (instead of 50 CSI's showing in the menu, you'd see CSI, CSI: Miami, Etc folders with a bazillion in each);
Search and set recordings by actor, director or keyword from your cable box. Great if you love catching every show/performance from your favorite person!
Have the option to switch to the HD version of a show (if available) right on the guide
Order by Remote. Capability to watch HSN and order right from the screen (probably bad news for shopaholics!).
And the big kicker....

OHMIGOSH REMOTE DVR! :)

Say hello to Comcast's MyDVR! We are currently testing this for our customers in the Chattanooga, TN area. No worries, though... we're launching this in other areas as well (I don't have dates for you, sorry!). Folks will be able to activate at http://www.comcast.net/mydvr but this is (again) ONLY IN TESTING. Broadbandreports leaked this a few weeks ago and crashed the test site. Do not try to register unless you're in Chattanooga, it won't work. Be patient :)

I had the opportunity to check some of the new features out, and it's looking pretty cool! I hear that this is not what the final design will look like, but hey... it's still in testing! Got a few screenshots below for you.

I think we should all get together and have a party now. :)

Say Hello!

2009-08-16T20:44:00.004-04:00

This is a personal post, the only thing comcast-related is the appearance of the Comcast bag in the background of the pictures :P

I've spent the last few weeks checking out dogs on PetFinder.com, and stumbled upon several shelters and rescues with dogs I've fallen in love with. After a solid week of hopping from shelter to shelter, I finally found one in Lancaster with a BUNCH of dogs I liked.

Now, this is out of state for me. Lancaster is a good hour and a half drive from my house, so emails were exchanged and applications were filled out prior to me driving all of that distance. Sadly, I arrived only to find out two out of the three I was interested had been picked up by a rescue group. The other little fella had some serious issues with guys.

Imagine the sadness I felt as I was standing at the counter hearing all of this. I was sure this would be the shelter I would adopt from. Did I really just drive forever to go home empty-handed?

Luckily, this wasn't the case! :)

Say Hello to Mylo! He's the newest addition to my crazy family. One of the administrators overheard my story of looking and driving, and asked if I was ok with a dog that needed a quiet and relaxing house with no kids. Of course, the answer was yes! He's a bit of a shy boy, so he takes some time to warm up to folks. He's about a year old, neutered, up-to-date with all of his shots, and has no crazy medical issues. There are bits of Chihuahua (pronounced chee-who-ah-who-ah in my family), Pug, and Terrier in this little guy! Nuzzling up next to you, chin rubs, car rides, and kisses are a few of his favorite things already :)

I can not say enough good things about the Humane League of Lancaster. They are not affiliated with the humane society or SPCA, but they are an AWESOME group of animal advocates. They rely completely on donations, as they receive no funding from their local municipalities they serve. If you'd like to check them out, their site is here.

And now, a few more pics for your viewing pleasure! :)

(p.s. this little bitty dog has a VERY stinky butt)

ESPN360 coming soon!

2009-07-23T15:43:00.002-04:00

Like many of you, I received and email from Comcast earlier today with a big announcement for you sports fans. ESPN360 will be available starting August 4th (very soon!!) at http://www.comcast.net/360 . This is only available to Comcast Hi-Speed Internet subscribers. So make sure you're up to speed with your internet connections (hahaha, get it? up to SPEED? oh i'm horrible...). If you're having problems, let us know!

Remember, nobody likes a stinky internet connection. 75% of the issues I see with internet connections are NOT outage related. If your connection goes down frequently due to "outages" or you find yourself having to reset your modem more than once a month, we need to check it out for you. As always, we're here to help solve life's little cable problems :)

Now, if only we can solve life's little housing problems I'd be set! :P

Houses

2009-07-21T14:40:00.004-04:00

For those of you wondering about my housing situation, here's the latest update!

The USDA said YES to my loan, so all I'm waiting on now is the actual settlement date. When this happens, I'll be out of the office for a good week... so no surprises! Now, why is the USDA involved in my mortgage process? It DOES seem a bit strange to those of you not residing in rural areas. The answer to that question can be found here.

I'm working on getting the final details hashed out right now, and am understandably VERY stressed out. I have to vacate my current rental on July 31st, so things are coming down to the wire. Over the last few weeks I might have come off of as irritated or short-tempered... to which I apologize for if I sounded that way. I have always, and will always be here for my Customers when you guys need me. When everything settles down again, things will flow much smoother.

So, would you like to take a peek inside my new place? Check it out here! Figured you might want to see what I've been posting about these last few weeks :) Bear with my spastic first iMovie experience...

Domain Helper

2009-07-09T12:43:00.006-04:00

Here's a bit of news to start the day:

Starting today, Comcast will begin trialing a service in several markets called “Domain Helper,” which will impact approximately 3 million Comcast net subscribers. This service will be automatically turned on for customers who live in the following markets

* Portland
* Denver
* Houston
* Seattle
* North Arizona
* Utah
* New Mexico

Domain Helper causes a Comcast-customized error page to display, instead of a standard 404 error page, when a user misspells a website URL or types in any non-existent URL, for example http://www.comtcas.com. Most other major ISPs are providing this same service including Verizon, TWC, Cox, Charter and Earthlink.
Got a question about it? Thoughts? Let me know in the comments!

UPDATE: To Opt-Out of this service, go to https://dns-opt-out.comcast.net

The New York Times?

2009-07-01T21:57:00.004-04:00

So I get this email from John at Seesmic asking if he could pass along my info to a NYTimes reporter. I'm instantly skeptical because the press and us have a weird relationship. Once I found out that it wasn't about Comcast, that skepticism disappeared.

So this Paul guy emails me asking when we can chit chat and sends me a list of stuff to answer. He instantly found out how the A.D.D. affects me, when he got responses completely off topic. After some clarification, he got the right info :) We finally touched base on SUNDAY when I was at my parent's house in NJ (I wasn't in Delaware). After many failed attempts on skype and several calls to my parent's landline, we finally talked. We later learned all of those failed attempts were due to the mute button on his headset. Oops! Being at the parent's house made this even more "fun" as bets were getting tossed around for how long it would take him to call back again, and my dad making fun of me while he was interviewing me!

So, just a few minutes ago, I get a message from @bradonmoase saying he read the article. I had no idea Paul had finished it! Now I have to grab tomorrow's NYTimes :)

Check it out! I feel special or something warm and fuzzy like that.

New York Times Article about Tweeting

Wow. That's kinda crazy!

Comcast DVR Remote Skip

2009-06-30T15:53:00.003-04:00

A few notes about skipping around on the DVR's. Page up and page down will skip you 5 minutes forward or backwards. For a less drastic skip, check out below!

1. Choose an unused or unneeded button on the “silver” remote to be the 30-second skip command. I use the little yellow triangle

2. Press the “Cable” button at the top of the remote to put it into Cable Box control mode.
3. Press and hold the “Setup” button until the “Cable” button blinks twice.
4. Type in the code 994. The “Cable” button will blink twice.
5. Press (do not hold) the “Setup” button.
6. Type in the code 00173.
7. Press whatever button you want to map the 30-second skip command to. Like I said before, I use the yellow triangle.

FIRST POST!

2009-06-23T00:27:00.000-04:00

Well, since you guys don't seem to dig Seesmic quite as much as I do... Here you go!

It's been so long since I've taken the time to sit and write a blog post. I remember back in high school hearing about a site called diaryland.com (which I frequently misspelled as dairyland.com) from a grass green mohawked punk chick from NYC. Wow, now that I think about it, that was 1999. I don't think the term "blog" had even come into existence yet! Anyway, I've been blogging in one form or another since 1999, 10 whole years. That's kinda nuts...

The most formidable, turbulent, and growing-up parts of my life are documented across various sites on the internets. I find myself looking back on them every now and then to pick out pieces of wisdom I unknowingly left for myself years ago. As a child of the technological age, this seems perfectly natural for me to "reside" on the net and constantly turn to technology for ways to simplify life. It's also the most amazing way to learn new things, come up with great ideas, and meet interesting folks.

I guess it only makes sense that I now reside in the world of social media. The gradual progression from individual websites catered to small groups of people to a few websites catering to large swaths of people happened with the whole "Web 2.0" thing... whatever that means. There's definitely a huge difference between the online world of today, and the world of web in high school.

I have a few central places where people know to find me including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Myspace. Yahoo! profiles nipped at the idea of a social network years ago, but they didn't have the insight to morph it into something bigger than that. Myspace made the social network scene mainstream, while Facebook perfected upon the format. And then... we come to Twitter.

People ask me all the time, "What's the use in Twitter? It seems pointless and stupid!" and I have to tell them it's not what they've heard. Twitter has become very publicized in the wake of folks like Shaq, Oprah, Ashton Kutcher, MC Hammer, and any number of celebrities using the service. They don't, however, really hit upon why Twitter is so amazing as a community tool. News programs are using this realtime (@RickSanchezCNN) to interact with their viewers and members of our Government are communicating things out to the People they serve. Companies are using it to promote products, provide news, and more importantly provide SERVICE to their Customers.

This leads me to a huge part of my world... My job!

I didn't actively pursue a career in the exciting world of Tweeting. I mean, come on... Twitter didnt even exist until recently. Let's be honest with each other. The chances of someone getting a job doing this are slim to none. Prior to coming to my current position, I was helping maintain vital systems in a data center within the company. When someone said "Hey, you should check out this job! It would fit your personality so perfectly!" I was like... what? We all know how that turned out, and you all know how my personality meshes with the online world around me (and the the real world just outside of my boss's office... Sorry Frank! *laughs*).

I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing (honest!). I enjoy running into "tough" Customers with the most crazy and outrageous issues that never seem to get fixed. I enjoy the challenge of fixing their services. The most important thing I enjoy is restoring their trust in a company that they have lost faith in. I want them to know that I'm here because I care, not because I'm getting paid to help. If I didn't believe in the people I work for, I would have left the company a long time ago. Four years later, I'm still here! I believe more than ever that we're moving in the right direction acknowledging that hey... we haven't had the best customer service record. Why don't we fix this? Well, that's what we're aiming for and I wan't to be a part of making that a company-wide change.

ANYWAY.

When I look at the big picture, there are so many possibilities for what we can do in this space. You and I can connect instantly via chat, voice, or video anywhere in the world with a decent internet connection. Heck, you can do that from your cell phone! We can collaborate in real-time, share documents instantly, and improve upon the world one keystroke or click at a time. Doctors can perform surgery remotely... who would have every thought about that happening? ANYTHING is possible, and the limit is whatever our imaginations make it out to be. What will you make of it?

ARE WE DONE YET???? Hehe. No.

This is the most coherent blog post you'll ever see from me. It took an extreme amount of concentration to write it and to be honest, that's not something I have a lot of. I'm diagnosed with A.D.D. and take medication to keep myself from crashing my car and functioning in general. It's a never-ending battle to keep track of everything in my world, and I lose track of myself occasionally. My weekends are my time to sit back and catch up on my life. Without them, I might be a really irritable person. If you've tried to reach me Saturday, Sunday, or Monday I probably didn't respond. As much as I absolutely positively LOVE MY JOB (I'm not getting paid to say that either) and want to help every person I possibly can, I have to remember to take care of myself. I hope you understand that, as I'm sure you lead a hectic and sometimes crazy life as well! Also, future blog posts wont be so um... formal. It's just not the way I am. I'd like you to remember I'm an individual, and I exist outside of my company. This blog will attempt to bridge those two worlds together in the most politically correct way I know how. Keyword here is: attempt.

(OK, we're done now!) :)