30 October 2012

Getting back to normal

Finally have internet service for more than two days in a row.  Well, sort of.  Logged on this morning and halfway through my e-mails, it dropped the signal (several cuss words ensued).  After 15-20 minutes, it came back on only to drop it again 30 minutes later (whole new round of cussing).  Called into my friends at Comcast to chew some internet ass.  Sorry, but my patience has been worn down to a nub at this point.  I even told the woman that I was expecting a discount for this month's bill since I have been without the net for most of a week.  Foolishly, she tried to defend the outage by indicating that it was due to equipment on my end (the splitter was bad), but I gently informed her that this was the same freaking hardware that THEY installed 10 years ago and, if it was having problems with the all digital conversion, then perhaps they shouldn't have made the conversion.  Not really a conversation I wanted to have at 0500 in the morning.

Despite that, I am on line and able to do stuff again.  

Trying to catch up with all my blog friends, newsletters, e-mails.  

To answer everyone's question from a few days ago, yes this is a Hummel.  Actually, that should have been easy since the MI Hummel name is stamped on the side (I didn't see it when I posted it).  This one is one of a "few" we collected while stationed over in Germany and it is called "Ride into Christmas".   



For those who are not into these figurines, these are ceramic figurines that were made in Germany.  Some of the earlier versions are considered collectibles and very valuable.  Our collection is more middle of the road.  When we were stationed over in Germany in the 80s, we would spend the weekends exploring the local towns and countrysides.  Back then, we were regular DINKS (dual income, no kids).  With all that disposable income and free time and, since we were so far from home and family, we engaged in various activities.  Hiking, volksmarches, cooking, wine tasting, traveling, photography, etc.  Whenever we were out traveling, we would collect souvenirs of our journeys.  My wife would pick up the occasional Hummel or LLadro figurines and, over the years, we amassed a small army. 





Of course, I never had any interest in collecting figurines.  I acquired more functional memorabilia.   



My division 
 BTW - these aren't mugs, they are called Steins.   

My division 
The last one is probably my favorite and the most interesting.  It is a genuine German Hunter's stein that has an interesting twist to it.  Can anyone spot what might be wrong with this stein?




And, of course, being genuine German, the story is that there are two versions of the mug - one for the bachelor and one for the married hunter.  Each one has a translucent figure stamped at the bottom of the mug that can be seen if held up to the light as the stein is drained.  Of course, I wound up getting the bachelor's version.   


5 comments:

Abby said...

Pffft, I didn't even see the "J. Hummel" the first go 'round. So much for my powers of observation! I wouldn't have pegged you a Hummel collector, the steins on the other hand... Nice collection!

As for the German hunter stein, are those buckshot holes? What is the image for the married hunter??

Abby said...

Oh, and as far as Comcast. Your problems are like deja vu for me! Lots of intermittent troubles. I was teaching online classes at the time, and that was NOT acceptable. When I brought everything back to them, they informed me that I had the wrong cable - the cable they supplied. Bye bye!

ComcastCares1 said...

Nice collection!

Sorry for the trouble with your Comcast account. I work for Comcast and I'd like to help. If you still need help, please feel free to contact me.

Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.
National Customer Operations
We_can_help@cable.comcast.com

ShadowRun300 said...

I have so many of those same Hummels! And many of our steins look similar as well!
You know, I was in Germany in the 80s as well. 82-84 to be specific. I've read some of your Germany posts, but I guess I never made the connection of WHEN you were there.
I'm curious, too, what the picture for the married hunter is. Sure seems like EVERYONE would want the bachelor stein!
Hopefully Comcast really DOES care and will be able to get you up and running without any more drops. So frustrating, isn't it?

terri said...

Frustrating that you've had so many problems with your internet. They'd better give you a BIG discount!

The Hummels are cute! If I had more space, I would collect something like those.

Mark would love the hunter's stein! :-)