Aug
18
One annoying aspect of moving is finding new health care providers (e.g., general physician, pediatrician, optometrist, dentist, specialists). Part of the difficulty is knowing what metrics to use in deciding which provider or practice is the best fit. Ideally we could get personal recommendations from friends or co-workers, but that approach is often deficient due to things like insurance participation or location.
Presently we’re trying to find a dentist near my work, as it’s time for the normal cleaning. After personal recommendations didn’t pan out, Rachel started by checking our insurance provider’s list of participating dentists in the area. From there, she went to the interwebs in search of information on said dentists. As it turns out, there is something called the Virginia Board of Dentistry, and they just saved me a mouth full of hurt. One of the dentists was listed in a Case Decision with the following publicly stated Order and Sanction,
Reprimand, monetary penalty of $4000 and probation with terms imposed for conducting his practice in a manner likely to cause injury to patients due to mental and physical incompetence.
Tempting, but I think I’ll try one of the other dentists first.
Jan
19
the (f)utility in moving
Filed under house, moving at 8:52 pm | 2 Comments
They say moving is one of the most stressful things a person can do in life. I think that’s partially because it involves working with utility companies. Some highlights this time around:
(1) The water company charges a $20 administration fee for switching the name on the account from the old owners to us, and tacks on a $60 deposit. They hold on to that $60 deposit until sometime after we close our account with them someday.
(2) The gas company has a $31 initiation charge.
(3) The electric company has a $15 connection fee.
It’s interesting to see how they all find creative terms for those 2 minutes they spend slapping your name on an account. Then there are the utilities where we actually have a choice of providers:
(4) We’ve been using Vonage for our phone service for a while now. They were a joy to have during the move. We were able to continue using our old phone number by simply hooking up our Vonage router to my brother’s network once we arrived. We kept that same number until we knew for sure where we would be purchasing a house. At that point I had a 10 minute phone call with them wherein they activated a new number for us with the local area code, and pointed our old number at it so both would work for a time while we transition to the new. By the time I hung up from that call, the new number was already active and routing to us.
(5) While we technically had a choice of who to use for Internet connectivity, the DSL route scared me because our house is 20,000 feet from the CO (and 15,000 feet is supposed to be the limit for DSL). I’m surprised Verizon even offered the service at that distance. So, we once again joined the ranks of Comcast customers. I must admit I enjoyed the 2 year hiatus, and wish I could have returned to Speakeasy. (Speakeasy has some of the best customer service I’ve ever experienced, not just with technology providers, but of any company.)
Ordering service from Comcast turned out to be a chore, probably involving a total of 3 hours on the phone with who knows how many different people and departments. I ordered the service through comcastoffers.com, as they got us a free cable modem, $125 cash back, and 6 months of service at $19.99. I just kept telling myself all the money we are saving was worth the headache of ordering. Today I got our first monthly invoice, and there are two incorrect charges. I wish I could say I’m surprised.
As for the service, Comcast says they provide up to 6 Mbps down. Even so, I was pleased to run some tests in excess of 5 Mbps this weekend (using a speed test). Have no fear, however: after two days of service, we had our first outage on Monday night lasting about 2 hours. Comcastic! Hopefully it’s not too much longer until Verizon provides FiOS in our area. Rumors are swirling about that it might be sometime in 2007.
Jan
17
our new home
Filed under house, moving at 7:43 pm | Leave a Comment
After a “short” (i.e., 4 month) stay with Brad and Lori, we are finally moved into our own place. We closed on the house mid-last week, and moved in on Saturday, taking advantage of my three day weekend due to the MLK Jr. federal holiday on Monday.
All things considered, the move went very smoothly. It helped that about 2/3 of our possessions were still packed and stacked in boxes. We are also very fortunate that Rachel’s mom flew out from CA for the week to help make sure there were enough hands to care for Micah (and Moby).
After several days of living here, we’re still very excited about the house. While there are still plenty of boxes that need unpacking, items that need sorting and storing, and pictures that need to be hung, we are over the hump that divides the initial phase of feeling like you’re living out of a suit case and the phase where things start to feel like home again (in spite of the mess).
The house has all your standard features: bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, etc. It seems to have plenty of room for years to come, and even has a nice bedroom and bathroom for visiting guests. (Hint, hint. Come visit.)
It is comforting to look back at the events during our move from MI to VA, and see how God orchestrated the timing. On Aug. 2, 2006 (Rachel’s birthday), we received the call letting us know I had my full clearance to start my new job. The next day the house we eventually purchased in VA was put on the market. The day after that we put our GR house up for sale. After encountering multiple closed doors in the ensuing months while trying to find a new place to live, we decided to wait until our GR house sold before doing any more searching here in VA. The week before we were scheduled to begin the house hunt again, the house we ended up buying dropped its price low enough so it showed up on our radar (i.e., it was in our price range). Were it not for some timely roadblocks placed in front of us, we likely would have made an offer on a house much sooner, and it would not have worked out as well as our current house.
All that to say, we’re extremely grateful for God’s faithfulness, and the help of our whole family during this process.