Disjointed Conversations

I scheduled an installation for today (Friday 12/31) between 8 and 11 am. The installer showed up at 9:00 am with box in hand. So far, so good. I explained what we where doing, and he proceeded to do the hookups. My wife has a small TV in her studio, and since she missed getting the local news, we decided to hook that TV up with basic cable - no box. The installer hooked that up, and I immediately noticed that the picture was quite bad. The installer agreed, and checked and replaced some connections and proceeded to hook up the cable box on the main television. When this was done, I again commented that the picture was crap, and I started to get that sinking feeling in my stomach, that things where not going to get better.

The installer did some checking, and reported that I was getting a very low signal in the house, and he was going to go outside and check a few things. A few minutes later he returned, and reported that the problem was indeed outside. Unfortunately (you saw that coming didn't you), he only works inside, and could not do anything to help me, except schedule a different service person to come to the house, which he did. So, now I have a new cable box, I am paying for cable, and a really bad picture. The worst part, is the HD picture is so completely underwhelming, that I am questioning the whole thing. He promised that someone would come before the weekend was over, and no, I don't need to be home, but it would be better if I was...

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it...