Well it's been snowing for about two weeks straight up here. I'd say this is probably the most snow we've received this early in the season since I've been up here. Mont Ripley opened yesterday, but I went out with some people from the department to a bar so I didn't end up going skiing. It was free yesterday, so it was probably really crowded anyway. I'm hoping they'll get all of the hill open next week so I can try out the new lift before the holiday break.

I know that I haven't posted in a while, but it will probably be like that for another few weeks unless I get sick of doing homework. I've got a bunch of stuff to do for the last week of school and obviously it's all due soon since the semester is almost over. In fact, I should be doing it right now but I decided I'd distract myself by posting something first.

I've been on a streak of watching terrible movies lately. Mr. Bean's Holiday was pretty terrible. Mr. Bean is hilarious, but two-thirds of this movie was horrible. Shrek the Third is a complete disgrace to the series. Very little actually happens in the movie and it's full of really bad humor, relative to the previous two in the series. Finally, last night I saw Good Luck Chuck with Scott and Angela and it was also pretty horrible. I'll admit I had a few good laughs throughout the movie but it was way too predictable and cheesy for me.

Charter decided they'd give me a reason to hate them more yesterday. I was trying to pay my bill online using their quick pay page, which I like because I don't have to create a login. Well they've decided that you can't do that anymore and you have to create a login now. That's fine with me, I kind of expected to have to make one anyway, but now in order to create a login you have to have your account number and a unique security code, which is supposed to be on your latest bill. Unfortunately, my bill does not have the security code/PIN on it. I saw a page on their site that mentions you can have it sent to you in the mail if you request it in their chat room. Here is the start of the chat room conversation I had with them:

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Me: I'm trying to pay my bill online and I don't have the PIN number I need. It is not listed on my bill.

Charter rep: For identity and verification purposes, may I please have the phone number starting with the area code, the name on the account, the service address, the Charter Account number, and your account PIN code?

Me: I don't have an account PIN code, that's what I need to find. It is not listed on my bill.
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Who do they hire to work at this company?!?! Eventually he told me if I "still didn't have the PIN" to visit my local Charter office to obtain it. I quoted the website and asked for it to be mailed to me and he said he'd process that, finally.

Things like this really make me want cable deregulation. Companies should be able to compete for your cable business instead of allowing a sub-par company (i.e. Charter) to be the sole provider. I don't know the main arguments behind the website I linked to above or those opposed to it, I just know I'm sick of over paying for cable service when they aren't providing people with reasonable content. Why cable companies don't carry NFL Network is a different debate, but why can't cable companies provide anywhere near the amount of HD stations that satellite does? Is it bandwidth restrictions? People shouldn't be paying the same price or more than satellite when they are receiving a lesser amount of content.

When I move back to Rochester, I'm going to do everything in my power to get satellite instead of cable as well as trying to get DSL instead of cable Internet.

Labels: cable deregulation, charter, movies, school, skiing, snow