Out comes the evil!

Where to begin? Last week, Coworker S invaded my personal space. Really bad. I won't get into it, but he might as well have dug through my wallet as he had no business doing what he was doing. The down side is (for him anyway), Coworker S is a complete idiot when it comes to computers and networking. And messing with me opened a can of worms that he really didn't want to open. You see, he spends most of the day chatting on AIM and Windows Live Messenger. I don't know what he is chatting about, but it must be private, since he freaks when the cable modem is down. He will not use these chat programs over the corporate Internet. Open can of worms #1.

Due to my great dissatisfaction with his performance, and his general lack of any computer knowledge, I went ahead and "managed" the router for the cable modem. Basically, at 9:15 am all the ports used for these particular chat programs are locked out for certain PC's (via the MAC address). Around 11:00 am it starts working again. Until around 1:00 pm when they miraculously close again. Around 3:45 pm they open back up, but only until about 4:30 pm which is when they are down until 6:00 pm. From 6:00pm-9:15am they are good though. And the cycle continues day after day.

About the 5th time he rebooted the router barely containing my laughter) I asked if the Internet was working. Which really confused him. Because it did. (Those ports remained open). So how can the Internet and web surfing work all day, but the IM programs don't? Must be a bad connection, or maybe a software glitch. I think I'll give it a week before I recommend formatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows.

He just picked a bad time. I was really pissed at him Friday (when it all went down) and when I got home the weekend continued it's downward spiral. There was a note on the door of our apartment stating iron gates were being put up at the entrance of our apartment complex, and the guards were being let go. I don't know about you all, but when I think of those apartment complexes with the iron unmanned gates, I think of the crime rate sky rocketing. No guards to give you that false sense of security, cops don't go through the trouble of going "in there". The bonus is, the first we heard of this was the note on the door Friday. Tomorrow (July 1st) they are supposed to be active (What is that, a litte over 96 hours notice?). So basically everyone had to go get their remotes this morning. Enter issue #2.

2.5 years ago we moved here after Katrina. We signed a year lease to live in these apartments. When the year was up we went on a month to month basis because the place was getting more run down day by day. The day we arrived was a Saturday. The management office closed at noon. So W1 headed here from NOLA at 5:00 am to get here in time to sign the lease. I arrived around 4:00 pm with H2 and the rest of our stuff. All was good, but I never thought about going and getting put on the lease.

Years down the road we now need these garage door opened things to get in and out of the complex. W1 went to get ours and was informed she was the only person on the lease so she only gets 1 opener. (Even though my drivers licence has the address and apartment number on it). They said she can purchase an additional opener for $35. Although that sucks, there isn't much we can do. So she said "fine". Well, they are currently only handing out one to each person on the lease so she has to fill out paperwork requesting an additional opener, and she should have it in a few weeks. I don't understand how this is even legal.

Their idea: Just have us renew the lease for another year and put both of our names on it. They apparently don't drug test their employees, as this guy is smoking crack if he thinks we're going to commit to living another year in this gated crime area. Especially since they have bent over backwards to be so helpful right now.

Maybe it's time to find the number for Houston's version of "6 on your side". Headlines read "Local apartment complex refuses working Katrina Victim access to his apartment."

Hey, I might be on TV!