johnguinness's Diaryland Diary
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
rock bottom, deadlines & 3 great days
I got my AT&T e-mail this morning saying my new phone/Internet bill is ready. It was $30 more than I expected. It turns out that on May 6, their automatic system apparently turned my Internet off for non-payment, then turned it on again for the low price of thirty bucks. I had made a past-due payment that day. I guess they flipped it off and back on while I was asleep.
I called, and was able to get the Customer Service person to reverse it as a one time courtesy, but the Internet side is a subsidiary, so I'll have to pay the extra and get it back in a couple of months.
I was talking on the phone during today's sprint stage, then was so stressed out that I immediately started typing the letter to the Township supervisor about assistance. I've been trying to convince myself to walk it across the street, but I don't trust that woman, and I don't want to see her again after she decided I was disabled, and at the same time, not worthy of her help.
I would drive it to the Post Office and mail it so she gets it Friday, within my deadline, but I still don't know about the Brake warning light on the car.
My back is messed up a bit again, because I took the extra chair cushion off the back of the couch so I could sleep on it, and keep forgetting to bring it back, or care enough to walk in and get it. So yeah, my back is out of alignment a bit again, so when I sit down, I gasp for air. I'm not willing to do that in front of people in the high traffic blocks between here and there.
The new plan is to work up the revised 2009 Missouri taxes before I go to bed tonight. Friday I'll get up pre-dawn, and take the tax form and the Township letter to the outside box at the P.O. That kills two birds that have stressed me for weeks, plus I'm forced to get a walk in. That $34 from Missouri could get me a new air mattress, which would greatly improve my daily existence.
Three week cycling races normally have one day that everyone agrees is the "Queen Stage", the epic day in the mountains where the race can be won or lost in an epic battle. The Giro d'Italia has three of those in a row. I'm totally not even kidding. Friday they finish on top of the Grossglockner in Austria, more than 2100 meters above sea level, with snow all around. Saturday they finish on the Zoncolan, an unbelievable climb from last year, but first riders have to climb Monte Crostis for the first time in the hundred years of the race. There's been big drama because there are unbelievably steep descents, on loose road surfaces, with hairpin curves and thousand foot drops off the side. They've put up some ski nets to catch guys from flying off into space, and mattresses for them to crash into. The road is too tough and narrow to have cars mixed in, so it would just be bikes and motorcycles carrying medical help, or spare tires, or whatever on the descent. People have complained enough that they've come up with a Plan B in case of rain or snow.
Anyway, there are three days of spectacular racing, with helicopter and motorcycle views of the mountains, castles, fans, etc. Any one of the stages would be well worth watching. Eurosport feeds will be at fromsport.com. And you can see a bit of why I'm a Contador, and pro cycling, fan. Check out the view for Friday in HD.
2:25 p.m. - Thursday, May. 19, 2011
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|