Have a great day and be blessed always!

This evening I was re-directed to a "live chat" customer service during which I noticed a very odd writing style and varied speed of typing. "Priscilla," as she called herself, seemed to alternate between very friendly not quite standard English at a somewhat slow rate, and very rapid messages which did not seem to apply to my questions. I am including some of my favorites below:

user guest has entered room
analyst Priscilla has entered room

Priscilla>
Hello guest_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Priscilla. Please give me one moment to review your information.

Priscilla>
We, at Comcast, are delighted to deliver excellent service for you today. How are you today? I hope you have not waited long to be assisted.

guest_>
I am trying to login to xfininty tv and my login information is an old email account, so I cannot reset my password.

Priscilla>
I see. I am sorry about that.

Priscilla>
I know that password sometimes confuses us and give us some troubles; we truly apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.

Priscilla>
No worries, I am the best person who can assist you and help you with this issue. At the end of this chat I will assure you that we can resolve this issue together and that you’ll be satisfied with the service.

Priscilla>
Since we do not have access to the password to your Comcast Email, I need to reset the password here in my end, would that be okay?

guest_>
sure.

Priscilla>
Thankyou.

To ensure the integrity of your account information, can I please have the Full Account Holder's Name, complete service address and your 16 digits account number?

guest_>
yes

Priscilla>
Thank you for giving me the information I need. Please allow me 2-3 minutes to pull up and review your account. I will get back to you after the said time frame for the updates of your issue.

Priscilla>
You also need that to log in to xfinity tv.

Priscilla>
Can I proceed with creating a password?

guest_>
If you can give me the password without sending it to that email, I guess that can work for me.

Priscilla>
I can change the email address for you. However, it should end with @comcast.net

guest_>
okay

Priscilla>
Is that okay?

guest_>
yes, thank you

Priscilla>
Okay. You're welcome.

Priscilla>
Would you mind trying to login to your online account @ www.comcast.net and letting me know if it works?

guest_>
yes, I will. Just a moment.

Priscilla>
Thank you.

Priscilla>
Since you have Comcast Internet service, I do not want to miss the opportunity to inform you that Comcast and Norton have partnered together to provide Norton antivirus, firewall and parental controls security products to Comcast High-Speed Internet customers at no extra charge. Norton may cost you $160.00 anually; Comcast is giving it for FREE through your Comcast High Speed Internet subscription. By using your Comcast.net email login information in downloading the Norton Anti-virus, you are a protected subscriber. You can download Norton through this link: http://security.comcast.net/?cid=NET_33_0. If you are done downloading the said anti-virus prior this information, I am more than happy to know that. It truly pays to be protected.

guest_>
Okay, I logged in.

Priscilla>
Great!

Priscilla>
Also, I strongly encourage you to personalize your password to your preference after you logged. That is made possible by clicking the USERS and SETTINGS tab through this link: https://login.comcast.net/login?forceAuthn=1&continue=/Secure/Users.aspx&s=ccentral-cima&r=comcast.net

Priscilla>
Can you try to log in to xfinity tv site now?

guest_>
yes

Priscilla>
Thankyou.

guest_>
It looks like I am logged in - I just went there from the comcast site.

Priscilla>
Okay great!

guest_>
Thanks so much, you were very helpful.

Priscilla>
You are most welcome.

guest_>
Have a good evening.

Priscilla>
To recap, you chatted in because you need to log in to your Comcast account. I have provided you your Comcast Username and password and now you are able to log in. I also asked you to change or customize your password.

Priscilla>
I greatly appreciate your patience and cooperation, Before we part ways, I want to make sure that we have covered everything. Is there anything else you need to discuss with? I will be more than willing to address them for you.

Priscilla>
Thanks!

Priscilla>
Thank you so much!

Priscilla>
Have a great day and be blessed always!

Priscilla>
Remember that you are always valued. Your role is vital in the improvement of Comcast customer service. Thank you for choosing Comcast as your service provider. Comcast appreciates your business and values you as a customer. Our goal is to provide you with excellent service. If you need further assistance, you can chat with one of our Customer Support Specialists 24 hour a day, 7 days a week at http://www.comcastsupport.com. To close this chat, please click the “end session” button at the top of the chat window.

Thank you, Dr. King

Today we had another tear-jerker assembly (well, for me, and probably many parents and teachers at my school), honoring the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and celebrating how his efforts play out for us now in our community of learners. The kids were excellent listeners and performers, and as usual were impressive in their support of each other's efforts. The first graders sang and signed "Peace Like a River," as can be viewed in the video below. Adelaide is in the top right hand corner, 2nd in (2nd tallest in her class). Also shown is a brief portion of the 6th graders performing and the audience enjoying their song.

Reading in Bed

Tonight for the first time Adelaide chose to read by herself in bed. She's been reading to me every night for more than a year, and I read to her afterwards. Tonight we had a special outing to a friend's school for her International night, and since we were getting home late when Adelaide asked if she could read in bed I told her she could but we couldn't do our regular routine too. She debated for a while, but she's really into her current book and feeling proud of herself for reading a chapter book on her own, so she chose to skip our usual.

We'll keep reading together because we both really enjoy it, but it's really fun to watch her begin to change from a reader to a pleasure reader. She can't wait to get up in the morning and open her book.

Ten on the Tenth

Thanks to my colleague Grace for posting about this idea on FB. I'm taking a picture every hour for 10 hours on the 10th of the month. Here is today.

8 a.m.

9 a.m.

10 a.m.

11 a.m.12 p.m.
1 p.m.
2 p.m.
3 p.m.
4 p.m.
5 p.m.
6 p.m.
7 p.m.
8 p.m.

I know I feel safer

I have to say, the image of someone quickly strapping on the helmet and zooming out of the store on this vehicle to chase down a shoplifter is very amusing to me. Or maybe this is a tool for shoppers like me, who would be better off without the big cart that always manages to fill itself with a minimum of $100 worth of things I didn't know I needed. Exactly whose assets need protecting here?

Taco Twist

Roasted red cabbage (with cumin, garlic, olive oil and red pepper flakes), sauteed zucchini (with fresh basil and salt and pepper), fried tofu (with cumin, cayenne, and oregano) and cheddar. Flour tortillas.

The Ego is Intact

Pre-bath conversation:

A: I know they say nobody's perfect all the time, but I know someone who is.

C: (anticipating a potential compliment for her hard work on dinner and the bubble bath, or perhaps a tribute to the wonderful first grade teacher) Oh, yeah? Who is that?

A: Me.

This Brings Back Memories

One of my Christmas presents to Adelaide (also kind of to myself, I guess!):

New Year's Day Snowshoeing

Cold and sunny weather kept us moving at a steady pace up the trail, but we managed to pause for a few photos in the sunnier places along the way.

Happy New Year!