Hidden cancellation charge with vonage

Be careful when signing up with vonage service. Their promotional ads might be tempting. But they do charge hidden disconnect fee of $39.99 if you cancel your service before 24 months of activation.
I never realized it when I signed up for their Vonage service.

Superbrain yoga (thoppukaranam)

Watch this video

Sky diving

Long time, I am planning to do skydiving...Finally, I got a chance to do this weekend with four of my nice friends.

We drove to skydiving place, which was 1.5 hours from seattle. Instructors explained us the steps to follow for 15 mins. There are basically three positions involved in skydiving. Starting position for the jump, another one for maintaining balance in free fall and third position for landing.
We entered aircraft and went up about 13000 ft. And then the aircraft door opened. It is time to do the jump. My instructor asked me whether I want to do the first jump. I said 'yes' in excitement. In next few seconds, I started jumping from the aircraft. It was an enjoyable 40 second free fall around 125 mph speed. Then the parachute launched. In another 2 mins, we landed safely. It was a great experience for me!!!

Racquet ball

In the last year after I moved to Seattle, I have started playing racquetball regularly. And we have ladder matches going on every two weeks where there is a ranking system in which you get to play a match against the player immediately above and below your rank. Your ranking gets adjusted accordingly by the results of last ladder round.
Today, I had my ladder match. I was playing against a guy - age past 60. I thought it will be a cakewalk for me. But, this guy played really good, ran well and beat me badly.
Only after the match, I got to know that he is one of the Microsoft’s former employee Bob’o’rear. He is the employee no: 7...And this guy was in NASA command center when Neil amstrong landed the moon. He is the sole programmer in bringing up MS-DOS on IBM PC.

More about him:
Bob O'Rear

Burn fat

Your Body Can Burn Fat on Its Own...Good link on how to make your fitness program effective.

Microsoft and BCCI

The Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India is all set to take assistance from Microsoft, the IT giant, for software solutions that will evaluate and help improve the performances of its umpires.

Link on cricinfo

Pathetic customer service

I had a really rough week so far. After moving to Seattle, I wanted to move my dish network service from California. After a long wait, the day for my installation finally came. I had an appointment from 2-6 pm. God only knows why these people need a 4 hour window to set up installation. And if only they can call up 10 minutes before they arrive, it will be really helpful. Unfortunately dish network wont do this. So I got stuck in the house for the whole period without internet access and TV. No one turned up till 5pm. I called up their customer service number and they said I have to wait till the 4 hour window ends. I was patiently waiting till 6pm. Again no one turned up. Losing patience, I called them. After a lot of holds in the phone, I got the response, they are running late and they will eventually come. Time is 7pm now and no one came. Again I called the customer service and after a lot of holds, this time they said they have to reschedule to the next appointment. I was so angry that I cancelled the service. I thought of going to comcast. Though comcast is expensive and does not carry the Sun TV or cricket, I thought I will go for it instead of facing the horrible customer service from Dish.

I called up comcast and set up the installation. I didnt want to again mess up with installation.
So I gave my office number to comcast and asked them to call up before they come. Since they had my mobile number too(which does not have reception in my office), I specifically mentioned them to call my office number. I had a meeting at the office during their 4 hour window 2-6pm. I made arrangements for my friend to pick up the call, if I am stuck in the meeting. I also made a request to come after 5pm(after my meeting) . They agreed to consider the request. Finally the day came. But I didnt get a call till 5pm. Again losing patience, I came to my home. And I see a voicemail in my mobile phone informing me that they have to reschedule since I am not in my house at 2:30 pm. Again I called the customer service asking them why they didnt call my office number. Again the only option for me is to reschedule for a day after 2 weeks. As always, there was a long hold for all my calls.

I dont know why in this age of technology, they need a 4 hour window. They can neither contact the dispatch unit nor they can reschedule within a week. They realise they did the mistake, still there is no action. Dish offered me $20 inconvenience charge whereas comcast said they will consider an earlier reschedule which I doubt very much. Their customer service is pathetic. I dont know how these people can let go the customers who are willing to pay $65 a month.

I now rescheduled the comcast internet installaton 10 days from now. I cancelled the comcast cable television order. I am trying to live for some time without television. I think I can survive with unsecured wireless internet connection till my installation date and live with netflix account in the near future.

Let me experience the life without TV.