When I get "unfriended"

I’m not hurt by those that unfollow me on Facebook. But I am hurt when people unfriend me. I admit it.

I have two FB accounts. This is strictly forbidden by FB, and if I get caught, FB will delete one of the accounts. But because of my work, this is how it must be. What a shame that Facebook doesn't make adding friends to different lists, and posting only to certain lists, as easy as GooglePlus.

I’ve unfollowed a LOT of my Facebook friends on my personal account, for various reasons: I don't like their constant posting of prayer requests, petitions, memes, right-wing politics... if you post more of these than posts about your family, what you're doing, or what you've done, I'll probably unfollow you. But I won't unfriend you. These folks are still my friends, on FB and off. By unfollowing, while I don’t get their updates in my newsfeed anymore, I can still go look at their FB pages and see what they’re up to if I’m so inclined.

I’m also not offended by those that chose to follow me on my milquetoast, never-controversial “pro” FB account, rather than what I consider my "real me" one - that pro account is for professional colleagues and those that I think are too wimpy for the real me. At least, if you choose that account to friend instead of the real me, you still want to be connected in some way.

I know I can be overwhelming on my personal FB. But it's the real “me” most people never get to see. This very real “me” is reserved for people who I like or, at least, used to like at some point in my life. When you unfriend me, without a word of why, it hurts. And it makes me not want to be around you offline.

So, yeah, if I'm overwhelming you, unfollow me. If you unfriend me, I'll take it as a statement you don't want to be offline either. And if that's what you intend, well, okay then.

Oh, and if I do unfriend you - yeah, I’m PISSED OFF. And have probably told you explicitly why. Unfriending isn't a casual thing with me - it's quite deliberate.

What I’ve learned about Lucinda

What I’ve learned about Lucinda (Lucy), the dog we've had for about two weeks now:

• She does not like garbage day, because she’s scared of the bins. She thinks they are daleks, about to come alive at any moment and chase her. 
• She’s hungry. 
• She’s getting up every day at 5 a.m. for a quick stop outside, then will sleep until breakfast and her real walk at 8:30 a.m.
• She wants to chase cats - just to smell their butts.
• She loves all other dogs. 
• She’s hungry.  
• She no longer fears moving cars, but the UPS truck is still evil. 
• She doesn’t like anyone in a bulky jacket.
• She doesn't understand the word "come" when we're in the back yard, and most of the time in the house, but does understand it at the dog park and most other places away-from-home.
• She’s hungry. 
• She WILL get that laser point moving rapidly across the floor some day. SHE WILL. 
• She loves Stefan when he’s wearing jeans or sweatpants and a work shirt or sweat shirt, but she hates his evil twin, the one in the firefighter uniform that shows up some time, when Good Stefan is not around.
• She’s hungry.  

The meaning of noises

You make so many noises a day, and you have no idea that they betray your intentions... until you get a dog.

Dogs aren't psychic. They are, rather, just so much smarter than most people think they are. You betray so much about what you are thinking or what you are about to do based on how you move, what you do, and the noises you make - and dogs see all of it and put it together to know what you're about to do.

Lucy the dog has already figured out that the sound of the sliding door from the kitchen to the utility room means either Stefan is coming in or she's about to go for a walk. She knows the TV or radio being on means I'm not going anywhere, but when it's off, it means I'm leaving - and she hopes I'll be taking her with me. She knows when I go out the front or back door that I'll be back within seconds, but if I go out of the side door, I might be gone for a while, and she's therefore more upset about it. After yesterday, I'm guessing she now knows that the vacuum cleaner means company is coming.

I delighted in realizing what Buster, Wiley and Albi each had figured out about me based on noises. It's so much fun to get to go through that again.

Gray Max the cat, by the way, knows that when he hears the sliding door, it means, RUN, THE GUY THAT DOESN'T LIKE ME IS HOME!

Animals in my house. Oh, it's just been too long.

We Love Lucy

After eight dog-less months, we have restored order to the universe and have a canine again in the house. Her name is Lucinda - Lucy for short. Our house is a home again.

She's a year and a month old, and is originally from a beach in Baja California, Mexico. She ended up with All Terrier Rescue (which doesn't rescue just terriers anymore), here in Oregon. The organization partners with a shelter in Baja, Mexico and another in California, to bring dogs from those shelters to Oregon, with the help of Alaska Airlines and various volunteer drivers. All Terrier Rescue shows the dogs they have available for adoption on Thursdays, 4-7 p.m. and Saturdays, 11-5 p.m., at Petsmart in the Washington Square shopping center on Cascade Ave in Beaverton. Her name, "Lucy," is computer-generated, and she is listed as "Baja Lucy" on her paperwork. We liked the name Lucy, so she's keeping it - but I decided it was short for "Lucinda."

It's been a long wait for our new girl. We were both devastated to lose our Albi, but our sorry at losing her wasn't what kept us waiting this long to adopt another dog; it was our travel plans. Stefan was ready to start looking earlier than I was, back in July, but because we had travel plans to Germany in October, I decided I wanted to wait until after we got back from that trip to start looking. And we lucked out at making that choice, because work suddenly sent me out of the country for most of August and September as well, and I wasn't back in the USA, for the rest of 2014, until mid November. It would have been horrible to adopt a dog and then abandon him or her for so long.

Starting in November, Stefan and I began trolling Craigslist for possible additions to our family, but people I wrote didn't write me back, or dogs were adopted before we could even see one. I looked at the web sites of various shelters in and around Portland, but so many put their pets on PetFinder, an extremely hard-to-use web site (hard to find animals just in your area, search results are often incorrect, etc.), or the photos of the dogs they had on their own web sites didn't really tell me anything about the dog, and the descriptions of the dogs were scant regarding any insights to what the dogs were like.

After a month of searching this way, I realized we were going to have to see a lot of dogs in one location to find our dog. We needed to meet dogs, look into their eyes, talk to them, and have them talk to us, in their own way.

Somehow, I figured out that Petsmart in Beaverton had dog showings twice a week from a shelter in Aloha. And so, on December 27, 2014, we walked in to the pet store, and I promptly fell in love with every dog there. I wanted them all. The rescue organization puts most of the dogs together in a large open kennel, so you can see how they interact with each other, and I was glad to see how wonderfully socialized they were. You are encouraged to take any dog for a walk around the building.

We took one dog on a walk, and he was gorgeous and fun, but so incredibly full of energy, and the volunteers kept saying, "He'll be great for someone who jogs! He's great for people with an active lifestyle!", and I'm thinking, yeah, we don't jog... we both really liked him, but his strength and energy were... a lot. I knew we'd be overwhelmed. Maybe even frustrated. So I suggested we walk another dog: Lucy had caught my eye as soon as we walked in - she was in a create by herself, because most of the other dogs hadn't arrived yet, and she was calmly chewing on a raw hide, uninterested in us. She was put in the bigger kennel once the other dogs had arrived, and she seemed quite overwhelmed by them all. She was super timid. The volunteer I talked to had taken her home recently, and said she did well with other dogs and cats, loved to play, was skittish, and oh-so-sweet. We took her on a walk, and she pulled the leash almost as much as the first dog had. But there was something about her... I liked her. A lot.

We decided we'd foster Lucy for a week. And I promised Stefan I would be more reserved than I'd been when I took Albi home originally, to foster for just one night, and had broken into tears after an hour and said I was keeping her. I would proceed with caution this time, emotionally-speaking.

I tried, I really did... This time, I knew when she slept through both the first and second night that I couldn't give her up. So - I made it 48 hours!

I introduced her to Gray Max the Cat as soon as he showed up that first evening. He ran to the door and wailed. After a day of letting him in then right back out, I kept him in with us, no matter the wailing. It lasted 20 minutes. I kept him in for two hours that first time, and it convinced him he could come in with her and not fear being eaten. But it's taken a week of these forced stays to get him to calm down to his old self when inside. Gray Max now tolerates Lucinda and doesn't completely freak out that she's here. But he still won't sleep overnight inside. We didn't let Lucy into the backyard for a week, so he could continue to feel absolutely safe and dog-free there. I'm going to continue to work on him. We have a cat tree condo arriving in another week that will give him a place high up to sleep and hang out and feel safe inside.


Because of the holidays, Stefan had to work only two full days and two half days for Lucy's first week - in other words, he's been here far more than not for her this first week. As a result, she not only got to get to know him too, we got to take her to the dog park three times, go on a lot of walks, and she's even have some play time with just Stefan in the back yard. In one week, she's gone from a dog terrified of all cars, trucks, and any kind of machine, to a dog really happy to be walking alongside of us, cars or not. But she's still rather easily overwhelmed -- she doesn't like people to come right up to her to quickly, and she doesn't like more than two or three people around. She is terrified of Stefan in his firefighter's uniform - we'll have to work on that.

One week after we met her, we drove her to PetSmart to finish her paperwork. I'm glad we brought her, even though we didn't know if we were supposed to: the rescue organization has to see that she has her own collar, and that you have had a tag made for her with her name and your phone number, and attached it to the collar, before they hand over a dog's paperwork. She was really scared to get out of the car - I'm not sure if it was just being in a parking lot, which is always unpleasant for a dog, or all the people, or going to the place she'd been before us. We went inside, and finally tracked down the volunteer to help us finalize her adoption. I asked a bit more about her, and we both went into major, but quiet, panic when we were told she's actually younger than we thought: she's about eight months old. And we don't know her breed mixes. TO THE GOOGLE!! According to what I've read, any dog at six months, no matter the breed, is at least 75% of its full height. And studies have indicated that a small or medium breed puppy reaches 99% of its adult weight somewhere between nine -10 months. She weighs 38.8 pounds. She shouldn't get to 50 pounds. But we're keeping her, no matter what size she gets.

While still at PetSmart, we met a couple that adopted her sister! Lucy's sister is a bit smaller, and much darker - they showed us her photos on their smart phones. I would have had to adopt them both - I never could have separated them.

So, I've had four dogs since 1990. All were "rejects" - unwanted by their original owners or never owned by anyone. The first, Buster, was from Massachusetts and the second, Wiley, was from Missouri, and they not only went to more states that most people from the USA, they also went to Germany. The third, Albi, was from Hungary, also went to Germany, and also visited more states that most people from the USA. And now, the fourth, Lucinda, is from Mexico. We like our dogs international! Lucinda is our second female dog, and the youngest dog I've ever had.


Please consider welcoming a dog or cat into your life. Visit area shelters and local pet stores that host dogs and cats from shelters and rescue groups. And PLEASE spay or neuter your pets! If you want to donate money, give such to the nearest shelter to you, and/or to the wonderful Mayhew International, which I got to know in Kabul, Afghanistan - they not only help spay and neuter dogs in several countries, they also host classes for communities in those countries, like Romania, to help change attitudes about stray animals.

I'll do my best to keep adorable stories about Lucinda to a minimum on Facebook and in conversations, because I know how those can drive everyone crazy. But I make no promises to keep such to a minimum here on this blog! I'm looking forward to many, many stories... I'm already thinking about our first camping trip!

My 2014 summarized in a photo

I have already offered a written summary of my 2014. Here is how I felt many times in 2014, summarized in a photo by a friend of a friend:

2014 in review, in brief

2014: the year where nothing went as planned. I know that's pretty much every year, but this year... wow.

It started off with my book being published (and thanks to all of you that bought it).

Early in the year, I found out my ethnic ancestry, which was super fascinating. I also found out I had an ancestor named Henchcliff Higginson, and feel the need to write a novel using that name.

I paid $300 to get not-my-cat Gray Max repaired after a nasty fight with a raccoon- and that's when I knew he was pretty much my cat.

At long last came the third season of Sherlock, the first episode of which I got to watch with the fabulous Lee Family.

A certain religious group decided I was worthy of doing workshops at their annual conferences on Pennsylvania and Canada in the Spring. Yes, a RELIGIOUS group. The highlight of the USA trip was seeing Philadelphia, eating, them puking, a cheesesteak with my friend Ann L. from my theatre days, watching UK in the final four with my book co-author and then the final in the bar of an Italian restaurant in the heart of Amish country (who knew?), and spending a day and evening with Michael S, from my WKU days, and his partner, George, in beautiful Lewes, Delaware. The highlight of the Canada trip was almost being turned away at the border - that's never happened to me before!

And all that is a nice way to start the year!

But then came the sadness. And it just kept coming.

In January, I spent my last day ever with my dear friend Anne Marino, with whom I've been friends with for most of my adult life. She passed away three months later. I think about her so often... I miss her terribly.

In May, I lost my former co-worker and forever friend Michael DeLong, who died suddenly in Seattle. I almost email him once a month.

I mourned the loss of Robin Williams as much as I did my friends. I still can't believe he's gone.

But hardest of all in 2014: the loss of my incredible paternal grandmother, who I've written about again and again, and our heart-breaking last weekend with Albi. Our house is so empty without her.

I thought the highlight of 2014 would be our spectacular two-week June motorcycle trip through Utah and Nevada - 2989 miles / 4810.329 kilometers, even including my first wreck! It was an amazing adventure, one we needed BADLY.

But then, out of the blue, while we celebrated Germany's World Cup victory (oh, that Brazil game!!!) came the offer to work in Ukraine for nine weeks. Still can't believe it. And, of course, how could I be in Ukraine and not go to Chornobyl?

This was followed by a magical trip with Stefan to Dublin, Ireland, a visit in Germany (so great to see Lis, Carrie and Rita!), my first ever trip to Warsaw, Poland, and, at LONG last, a visit to Barcelona! (I've been trying to go there for more than a year and a half!)

Back in the USA in the Fall, my big issue was dealing with the animals left before when my neighbor died. I also worked to prepare Washington, County ballots in the November elections (there was an official video, where you could see me working - but it's gone now...). Sadly, because of the election work, I missed the ceremony for Stefan's promotion to full-fledged volunteer firefighter.

Stefan got to see his first professional theatre production ever: the Broadway tour of The Book of Mormon. He loved it! He also competed in the Oregon state cornhole championship and was featured before the tourney on The Oregonian.

I also finally got to see Gregg Hale - first time since the 1990s.

And as the year ends, I'm debating with myself: keep trying to consult, or try to get a full-time gig doing whatever?

Let's not mention the gas line...

My days with Tracfone are numbered

(note updates at the end)

Yes, I have a Tracfone. No, I do NOT have bad credit. I have fantastic credit. And, no, I'm NOT in debt. I became debt free in 2003 or so, except for my house mortgage, and I intend to stay that way. I realize that's very un-American of me. So be it.

One of the reasons I'm not in debt is because of how little I've spent on phone service since 2009. I hear people complaining about $500 or more smart phones and monthly phone bills in the hundreds of dollars. I want to spend that kind of money on travel, not on my phone!

Until now, there has been only one downside to Tracfone: I cannot send nor receive texts from people outside the USA. And that's been a huge pain in the rear for an international consultant with clients overseas. But I decided it was a downside I would have to live with.

Another downside: if you decide to get a Tracfone, you may not be able to keep your Tracfone phone number if you move or get a new phone. For instance, if you move into a new zip code, even one right next door, you may have to get a new phone number. This is a downside I've only just learned, today. I've been pointing my Google Voice account to my Tracfone - I thought that was a good work around, but even Google Voice may go away. And if Google Voice ever goes away, I'll be using all the money I've saved on phone service on therapy.

Back to my Tracfone horror story:

Earlier this year, I decided a needed a smart phone. I needed to be able to check and post to social media and to check my Google voice account when I don't have my laptop with me, in the USA or abroad, even when I don't have phone service. But I do not want to become one of those people always looking at my phone - even on the bus, I listen to the radio on my old Walkman, and I will not use a phone at a breakfast, lunch or dinner table, smart or otherwise. An iPhone just seems ridiculous to me - I want to spend that money traveling! For at least a year now, Tracfone has offered smart phones running Android. So I decided to get one.

Now, this next paragraph is very important - it's why I'm furious with Tracfone:

I logged into my Tracfone account, and clicked on "Buy Phones and More." Then I came to a screen that said, "Please enter the ZIP Code of the area where you will be using your TRACFONE the most." So I typed in my zip code, and I got a message that said, "The TRACFONE you will be purchasing will be activated and used in the: FOREST GROVE, OR area", and a "yes" and "no" button. And I clicked "yes."

Tracfone, if you are reading, read that previous, highlighted paragraph carefully. Read it out loud to yourself.

After a LOT of research and consideration, I chose the $80 LG Optimus Fuel™.  Yes, that's $80, not $800. It arrived at my home - the address that is on record at Tracfone, in the aforementioned zip code - and I went through the online process of moving the service from my old phone to my new phone. It said it could take up to 48 hours for my phone number and minutes to get transferred. In the meantime, I got the phone configured, downloaded apps, downloaded my contacts to the phone, and on and on. Hours of set up. By the next day, by old phone had been deactivated, and according to my account on the Tracfone web site, my phone number and minutes had been transferred. But after a couple of days, I noticed that I hadn't gotten a call in a while. That's when I figured out I couldn't send or receive phone calls nor texts on my new Tracfone smartphone.

Today, I went on Tracfone's livechat to get some help. And what do I find out? Tracfone still has my zip code from two years ago as the area where any phone of mine has to be activated. So, even though I typed in my current zip code, even though the system said, The TRACFONE you will be purchasing will be activated and used in the: FOREST GROVE, OR area, TracFone set my new phone to be activated from Canby, a city that's two hours away from where I live now. I have two choices: drive all the way Canby to activate the phone, or lose my phone number and have Tracfone give me a new number and then HOPE the phone will work - and if it doesn't, I can't get my phone number back.

So I'm driving to Canby on Friday or Saturday to sit in a parking lot and hope, at long last, my phone will activate. And I'm demanding Tracfone give me a LOT of minutes. I mean a LOT. TONS. Massive numbers of minutes. And an apology.

I've done screen captures of my live chat - I'll upload them if I have to use them as leverage.

You've screwed up, Tracfone. Big time. What are you going to do about it?

Update December 3, 2014

So, a reminder: I cannot make calls or send texts, nor receive calls or texts. I have bars on the phone - but no connection. When I try to make a call, I get connected to a Verizon recorded message that tells me I'm roaming and that I can make a call with my credit card. When I call the number to try to activate my phone, I get a Verizon recorded message that tells me I'm roaming and that I can make a call with my credit card.

Here's all I've done to try to resolve this issue, as directed by TracFone:

• I have turned my phone off and on. No change.
• I have taken the batter out of my phone, waited a few minutes, put it back in, and turned my phone on and tried again. No change.
• I have restored the phone's factory settings, losing ALL of my apps and configurations for those apps, which took me HOURS, and turned my phone on and tried again. No change.

I started tweeting about this issue, and several Tracfone accounts told me send an email to TF.twittersupport@tracfone.com. So I did:

I'm a long-time Tracfone customer. Recently, I decided to upgrade my service and get one of your smart phones.

I logged into my Tracfone account, and clicked on "Buy Phones and More." Then I came to a screen that said, "Please enter the ZIP Code of the area where you will be using your TRACFONE the most." So I typed in my zip code, and I got a message that said, "The TRACFONE you will be purchasing will be activated and used in the: FOREST GROVE, OR area", and a "yes" and "no" button. And I clicked "yes."

After a LOT of research and consideration, I chose the $80 LG Optimus Fuel™. It arrived at my home - the address that is on record at Tracfone, in the aforementioned zip code - and I went through the online process of moving the service from my old phone to my new phone. It said it could take up to 48 hours for my phone number and minutes to get transferred. In the meantime, I got the phone configured, downloaded apps, downloaded my contacts to the phone, and on and on. Hours of set up. By the next day, by old phone had been deactivated, and according to my account on the Tracfone web site, my phone number and minutes had been transferred. But after a couple of days, I noticed that I hadn't gotten a call in a while. That's when I figured out I couldn't send or receive phone calls nor texts on my new Tracfone smartphone.

Today, I went on Tracfone's livechat to get some help. And what do I find out? Tracfone still has my zip code from two years ago as the area where any phone of mine has to be activated. So, even though I typed in my current zip code, even though the system said, "The TRACFONE you will be purchasing will be activated and used in the: FOREST GROVE, OR area", even though you sent my new phone to the address you have on record for me, in the 97116 zip code, TracFone set my new phone to be activated from Canby, a city that's two hours away from where I live now.

I have two choices: drive all the way Canby to activate the phone, or lose my phone number and have Tracfone give me a new number and then HOPE the phone will work - and if it doesn't, I can't get my phone number back.

So I'm driving TWO HOURS to Canby on Friday or Saturday to sit in a parking lot and hope, at long last, my phone will activate. And then driving TWO HOURS back home.

I'm demanding Tracfone give me a LOT of minutes. I mean a LOT. TONS. Massive numbers of minutes. And an apology.

Here's what the Tracfone representative replied with:

Regarding your issue, there is no need to ask for a ZIP code if we are transferring a phone number from one phone to another as we will automatically use the ZIP code from the old phone. If you have any questions, feelf ree to send us a reply.

and then, in another message:

Once you transferred a number from one phone to another, you will have to use the original activation ZIP code where the phone was originally activated. The website notified you that the ZIP code you entered is not the same where you first activated your old phone.

So I replied:

And how was I supposed to know, when your web site asked me for my zip code, and I said 97116, and your system said "This phone will be activated in Forest Grove" and I clicked "Yes", that, in fact, the phone would NOT be activated from Forest Grove but from a two-year old zip code? How was I supposed to know that?

And they replied with the following. Note the complete LIE in the last sentence, which I've made bold here on the blog:

Once you transferred a number from one phone to another, you will have to use the original activation ZIP code where the phone was originally activated. The website notified you that the ZIP code you entered is not the same where you first activated your old phone.

Tracfone started lying about what happened. I was floored. My reply:

No, the web site did not. I never, ever received any notification from your web site that the zip code I entered was NOT the same where I first activated my old phone. And when the phone arrived at my house, there was no notice that said the zip code was different for the phone.

I learned that this happened ONLY after failing to get the phone to work, and spending almost an hour on your live chat - and I have the chat records to prove it.

Again, I NEVER got notice that this phone would not work where I live now. I NEVER got notice that I would have to either drive to a town where I lived two years ago to activate the phone, OR, that I would have to get a new number. Your web site NEVER notified me that there was ANY issue with my current zip code. Those are the facts - let's stay truthful, please.

I want the name and contact information of your supervisor - it's time to take this mistake on Tracfone's part higher up, since you are denying the facts. 

No supervisor name. It was after two days of this back and forth that I realized I was never talking to the same person via email - it's always someone new. I'm always starting over whenever I talk to anyone from Tracfone. And they kept giving me the same advice: turn the phone off and on, take the battery out and put it back in, etc.

I wrote yet again. This time, a new person responded. "Shelly." Here are her responses in full. The highlighted stuff is what you should pay attention to in particular:

We are sorry for the confusion. TracFone supports different phone technologies; we have GSM phones (phone with SIM card) and CDMA phones (digital phone technology). Thus, upon purchasing a new phone online, the system will ask for the ZIP code where the phone will be used the most in order to be able to provide an accurate list of phones that will work in the area. Some customers used different ZIP codes in ordering a phone though to be able to get the phone model that they want but are currently not available in their area.

During the activation process, the system will ask for the activation ZIP code again. However, this scenario does not apply to phone upgrade/transfer of service from one TracFone to another. In order to transfer the phone number from one TracFone to another we will need to use the original activation ZIP code from the old phone. Otherwise, you will be assigned with a new number.

Despite of the difference with the activation ZIP code and your current location, the phone should work as long as the phone technology is supported in the area and network coverage is available. As I checked on both ZIP codes, the phone is supported and network coverage is available. Therefore, the phone should work.

Please try to turn the phone off and back on. Please ensure the phone displays at least three signal bars. Then dial *22890. Wait until the programming is completed and successful. Then make a test call. Let us know if the phone will work.

The first highlighted sentence, in the last paragraph? An implication by Tracfone that this is what I did. I did not. Don't accuse me of fraud, Tracfone - I've got the proof that it's NOT what happened.

Second set of highlighted sentences, in the second paragraph. Tracfone finally admits to their policy, which they never told me during the sign up process. Never.

Third set of highlighted sentences, in the third paragraph, tell ming "the phone should work." Lie. It doesn't work. And, yes, I did everything asked for in the last sentence. No dice. And so I responded. And then I get this response:

We need to speak with you directly. Please contact one of our customer care representatives at 1-866-667-6470 and enter reference PIN 631667. Please be advised that your reference PIN is valid only for two weeks. For your convenience, our representatives are available Monday-Sunday from 8:00 AM to 11:45 PM EST.

I think, wow, great, I'm finally going to talk to someone that can help me, that will give me clear answers, that will apologize and try to make this right. I'm going to call, and type in that PIN, and the person is going to be able to call up all the information about my case, and he or she will help me! Or apologize and give me thousands of minutes as a way to keep me happy.

Wrong.

December 4, 2014

I called. The person had no idea why I was calling. The person just repeated again and again that I could have a new phone number, or I had to return to the "correct" zip code, and that there is no way that I could have gotten this phone with my current zip code, that was impossible.

So, that's where we are now. Tracfone is now lying about what happened. This is spiraling out of control, Tracfone. Tell the truth, apologize, and make this right.

Oh, and check out my frustration on Twitter - this is the reply I get EVERY time I tweet this blog out:

March 18, 2015

I ended up driving almost two hours away, to Canby, Oregon, where I used to live, and was able to activate the phone from there.

TracFone gave me, like, 30 minutes of free time. Yes, just 30. And that was only after I repeatedly pestered them.

As for the phone, I do really like it. It will be nice that I'll be able to use it outside the country for Internet access, as one CANNOT make calls in other countries on a Tracfone plan. But about 30% of the time, it won't make a phone call - I dial the number, there is a long silence, and then I get a busy signal. That's relatively okay, as I make most of my phone calls via Skype on my computer. But it can be annoying to have to text someone rather than actually call them when I'm out and about.

I'll stick with this phone for at least a year... but, indeed, this may be my last TracFone. I just can't take the horrible customer service anymore.

And I'll tweet out a link to this blog because of this update, I'll tag Tracfone, and I guarantee you thy will tweet back that I need to email them - and the person I email will have NO idea why I'm writing.