Here’s a photo of that first nest:

Then last night (Wednesday) I discovered they’d rebuilt their nest in the same spot. I called my Dad for advice and he said I should take it down and try to put up a stuffed animal or something similar to act as a scarecrow. I did take the nest down again, but didn’t have anything to put up in its place.

Now this morning less than 12 hours later and they are rebuilding yet again. I can tell they seem to be working hard. I guess at this point I’m feeling like they really want their nest here, and I do give them a lot of credit for their effort. Plus it’s been kind of fun to watch them today. I believe it’s a Robin. There is one colorful one that is doing most of the work, and I believe I’ve seen a more dull colored one, but it was scared off so I could have been mistaken.

Here’s a photo of it in the nest:

Here’s a video of the bird:

So I want to hear from you… What do you think the pros and cons are of leaving it be and letting them nest on my front porch light? Any advice or suggestions?

This past weekend I made a couple of cute Thank You cards. They were very easy to make, and looked so cute in the end. I actually got the idea from my friend Marla at Lake Avenue Designs. So Thanks Marla!

Here are a few pictures of it. I’m sure they don’t do it justice, but I just had to share as it is SO SO special to me! Thanks again Mom! :)

When my phone didn’t ship on Wednesday or Thursday of this week I knew I was in trouble and wasn’t going to have the phone on release day. That sucks, but ohh well I’d have it really soon, right? Wrong!!

The website sucks and all it says is status “BackOrdered” the little tool tip tells me to look at the anticipated shipping date, problem is it’s empty. So on Thursday night the 13th I decide to call AT&T to see what’s up. I’m disconnected from their automated phone system Three times.

Friday morning the 14th I call back. I’m on hold for almost 30 minutes prior to my call being answered. Man is it fun to hear 100 times how “Your call is very important to us, Please stay on the line for the next available representative”. The Rep looks up my order and says that it will be 21 – 28 days before my phone ships, from the date the order processed on October 9th. I ask why it took two days to process since I ordered on the 7th, no answer. The Rep then starts to tell me that many people ordered the phone on October 5th, two days prior to me. I question this as both Apple and AT&T said the phone went on pre-order Friday the 7th. Again Rep can’t clearly explain issue.

The big problem with this is I’m going to be out of the country during the new delivery time in 3 -4 weeks. I specifically pre-ordered this phone for the new 8 mega pixel camera to use on my European Adventure.

Rep then suggests that I go down to an Apple or AT&T store today and see if I can get my hands on a phone. She says if I get a phone today I can call back, cancel my order and have them reset my eligibility so that I can purchase it at a discounted price. I ask how can I be guaranteed to have this happen, as I no longer have faith in the company. I ask if I can call her back directly to have this happen, and of course the answer is “No” we only have one line, you’ll have to wait on hold again. I’m crazy enough that I start getting ready to go down to a store. But several things the Rep has told me just don’t make sense (orders on October 5th, etc) So I ask to speak with a supervisor. I’m on hold for close to another 30 minutes, although the rep did check in with me twice. And then finally I’m sent to the “escalation” team.

So when I finally speak with the Escalations manager Lynn B. she proceeds to tell me how their system was overwhelmed and couldn’t handle the number of pre-orders it was receiving. It was “like a tunnel with only one car getting through at a time, and other cars were placed in a waiting bin”. She then proceeds to tell me that despite my ordering at prior to 7am on Pre-Order day that others were allowed to “cut in line in front of me” to get the phone, as my order wasn’t processed “from the bin” until Sunday at 2am. Ohh great that makes me so happy to hear that others cut me in line, but it’s my fault.

I then ask this escalations manager about trying to get a phone from a store today as the first Rep suggested. She said this will not work as I’d have to pay full price for the phone. She said the rep should not have suggested that, as they can’t modify an order when it’s in process like mine is.

I ask the escalations manager again if there’s anything we can do to get me a phone prior to my trip, and she says no.

An hour and five minutes into the call and being made wrong at every turn, I say fine I would like to cancel my order as I’m sure I can work with Verizon or Sprint. The answer to that… “We’re under strict orders not to cancel any orders”. The call ends here as there’s obviously nothing productive that’s going to happen. That’s a nice hour and 11 minutes wasted in my life.

During this call I’ve driven to an AT&T store. I decide to leave and start heading to the nearest Verizon store. It’s then that I realize why they won’t cancel my order. If the order processes then I am bound to the new 2 year commitment. So if I sign up with Verizon today, I’m going to have to pay an early termination fee to AT&T, despite my not having been under contract prior to the pre-order.

So let’s recap here:

• Their Online System couldn’t handle the amount of pre-orders they received
• My order took two days to process while others got to “cut in front” of me in line
• Website says no helpful information about why it’s backordered or when I’ll receive it
• No e-mail, phone call, or any pro-active communication from AT&T explaining I won’t get my phone as expected
• I call on Thursday the 13th and get disconnected 3 times
• I’m on the phone on Friday the 14th for 71 minutes and only get told wrong information by the first rep, and second escalations manager that there’s nothing she can do
• Drive all the way to an AT&T store only to find it’s not going to help anything
• Try to cancel order and told that I can’t
• If I switch providers now I’m still locked into a 2 year contract with AT&T
• So all in all today I’ve wasted 2+ hours with AT&T, drove my car to a store for no reason, ended up being an hour late to work. All be cause I pre-ordered a phone as I was instructed. Ohh and the phone won’t get here before my vacation because of the 3 – 4 week delay.

I tell you they can make every mistake, but at the end of the day it’s the customer who gets screwed. And short of paying a termination fee I have absolutely zero recourse on their behavior. Awesome!

I do get that there are much more serious problems in the world, and this issue is not the end of the world. But the main thing is that this company has no loyalty to a long time client and the customer has no recourse for their bad behavior.

Update 10/15/11:
So last night at about 7:30 PM I received an email from AT&T saying that they had shipped my order, hmm imagine that. This morning I did in fact receive my iPhone 4S from FedEx at just prior to 10 AM.

So all of my time yesterday wasted over absolutely nothing. This makes me question AT&T’s response even more. I wish that they would’ve just responded yesterday when I first called in with something like “Sorry your phone did not go out in the first shipping batch, we do apologize for this, it was a system error. We have ordered more phones, and you will be in the very next batch of phones we ship. As always we ship all of our orders priority overnight. We hope to be receiving more phones from the manufacturer any day now, but worse case scenario it could be 3 – 4 weeks.”

Since it was clearly an error in their system not processing my order for two days I would have loved something for the inconvenience and showing they value me as a client. They charge an upgrade fee of $18, why not waive that. Or give me a $10 statement credit, or heck even some free text messages since I’m only on the 200 a month plan.

Instead they left me feeling like I was the one to blame, and they really didn’t give a darn about my business.
Plus they seemed pretty convinced my phone wouldn’t arrive in time for my trip. Ohh well I have my phone so this saga is over.

Today I stumbled across a few articles that talked about “sub accounts” in ING Direct. The advice was to set up an account for unexpected expenses, or multiple accounts for your particular goals. Once you are logged into your existing account, all you have to do is open a new account and fund it.

I know several of my family and friends use ING Direct as well, so if you like this idea here is a link to a helpful tutorial: http://cashmoneylife.com/open-ing-direct-sub-account/

Let the savings begin!

There is just something about the pageantry that I find fun. It will be really exciting to see what Kate’s dress looks like, especially after so much speculation.

I’ve got the wedding and pre-shows set to record. I’m going to bed now & we’ll see how early I can wake up. 3:00am is quite early for me, so we’ll see.

While in Rome I certainly want to do some sightseeing, but my big goal is to observe the culture and eat as much authentic Italian food as possible in 5 days. We plan on staying in an 18 room Hotel that is run by a family, and has some amazing reviews online. Plus they have a professional website, which you know I take note of. ;-)

Spanish Steps Photo Courtesy Arpingstone

The hotel is in the Via Veneto district. Which from what I’ve read is a pretty trendy area and has had a lot of revitalization in the past years. It’s not too far from the Spanish Steps, But to get to the other classic museums and landmarks we will need to either take public transit or a taxi.

There are so many things that excite me about this trip, but are also very new. For instance, I’ve never been out of North America, I’ve never been on a cruise, and the 9 hour flight to London is about twice as long as my prior longest flight. I’ve also never been on a formal vacation for longer than about a week and a half, and this will be nearly three weeks.

I’ve been doing tons of reading and have also started a wish list of items I’d like to buy or take on the trip. (such as power adapter/converter). But I’m sure there is still so much to learn, and a lot that I won’t understand until I experience it firsthand.

If you have any tips for traveling to Rome, or just abroad I’d love to hear them!