Carter Mountain

This morning, we went to the Carter Mountain Apple Orchard over by Monticello, which is about 15 minutes from where we live. We had a great time picking apples, though Luke got right down to business. We helped him pick an apple, which he grabbed and then immediately began to eat. It must have been a good apple, because he held on to it and munched at it for quite a while... until it was completely gone. And when I say completely gone, I mean it; he ate the core and everything! We also went on a hay ride and got some tasty apple donuts. Being able to do things like this is one of the many great things about living here in Charlottesville.

U2!

Last Thursday, Courtney and I went to the U2 concert here in Charlottesville at UVA's football stadium. It was awesome! Neither of us had really been to a concert before, so it was quite the introduction. We enjoyed the music, the atmosphere, and overall, just had a great time. Unfortunately, though, we somehow managed to forget our camera. This is a friend's picture from a different vantage point, but you get the idea.

In other news, it's Fall Break now, meaning I get a few days off of school. Luke has had a bad cold the last few days, but I think he's starting to get over it now.

The Cable TV Saga

About 3 weeks ago, we decided that we were going to upgrade our cable. Before, we were just getting the network channels on a basic cable plan. Some of the higher channels came through, but they were fuzzy. One of these fuzzy channels in question was ESPN (aka the Duke Basketball Channel during college basketball season). Last year, though the picture wasn't that great, it was good enough to tolerate watching. But when we came back from summer break, the picture was worse than before, seriously jeopardizing our Duke basketball viewing enjoyment! Comcast had a decent 6 month deal for a digital cable upgrade, so we decided to go with it. Then we found out DVR would only be another $6.95 a month... long story short we are now happily enjoying our DVR and getting a clear picture beyond just the network stations.

It has been a bit of a long story, though... the cable guy came by on September 8 and got us upgraded to digital cable, but he said that they were all out of DVR boxes. He said he'd schedule us in for an appointment two weeks later to install a DVR box. That was fine; besides our short stint in Cleveland this past summer, we've never had DVR anyway, so another two weeks wouldn't hurt. Fast forward two week later... we wait around at home "between 2-5pm" and no one ever shows up or calls. So that evening I call Comcast to find out what happened. The guy on the other end of the line wasn't very helpful, and to be honest, was bordering on being rude. He basically said, "we're still out of the DVR boxes... I don't know when we'll get any... if you don't hear from us in another two weeks or so, give us a call again..." Predictably, I wasn't too happy, particularly since no one bothered to tell us they weren't going to be showing up "between 2-5pm" that day. But if the story ended here, I would've gotten over it and accepted the fact that while the guy on the phone wasn't very "friendly" about it, if they didn't have any DVR boxes, there was nothing to be done.

Of course, the story doesn't end there. After I got off the phone, I decided to get on the Comcast website and try again to see what the deal was by using their "live chat" feature. It was like a total 180 from the phone experience. The guy on the chat was not only very personable and helpful, he gave us a $20 credit on our bill since no one showed up and set up an appointment for 2 days later for someone to come install our DVR box. That was a pleasant surprise. I was still a bit skeptical, since the guy on the phone flatly said they didn't have any DVR boxes, but sure enough, 2 days later, a technician showed up right at 2pm, installed our DVR box, and the rest is history!

I guess this became a pretty long post about something quite mundane, but it was just a really interesting experience to have been treated so differently by Comcast, with the only difference being the person I interacted with. Anyway, so all is well now. :)

Playin' in the Rain

Courtney had some activities this afternoon and evening at church, leaving us boys at home. Luke and I had a good time, though it was a bit of a challenge considering it was pouring down rain the whole time and we didn't have a car. Luke insisted on wanting to go outside, though, so we got our rain gear on and headed out. Luke really wanted to be out in the rain, but only on the condition that I hold him. So we took a lap around the apartment complex in the rain, as he held out his hand to catch the rain... it was quality father/son time. :)

Luke is a cool dude

Luke loves putting on our sunglasses, and he was pretty happy when he found this pair of baby sunglasses that one of his friends accidentally left at our apartment.

As a segue to talking about sports, we took this picture during the BYU-Tulane game today. It was supposed to be an easy game for BYU, and so it's good that it turned out to be easy, with a solid 54-3 win. Duke also got a win today against Army, so it was a great day of football! UVA lost, unfortunately, but they lost to TCU, one of the strongest teams BYU has left on its schedule, so it'll make a BYU win that much more impressive if TCU is also ranked high when they play. Anyway...

It's official...

...we're going to Cleveland! I received an offer to return full-time to Jones Day in Cleveland a few weeks ago, and this past week we got the official offer letter in the mail. I called this morning to formally accept. Especially in this economic climate, we feel really happy to have this opportunity and to know where we'll be after I graduate from law school next May. As hard as it is to believe, one day I'll actually be done with school!

(And I realize this is yet another post without Luke pictures... I hope you don't mind too much.) ;)

BYU 14 Oklahoma 13

Woohoo! Ok, this blog will get back to its regularly scheduled programming soon, but for now, we pause in celebration of BYU's big victory against Oklahoma. Go Cougars!