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Category Archives: Rants & Gripes

Would you have said anything?

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So Maggie had a vet appointment last night. They usually get us in early, so we always show up early (like anywhere from 5-15 minutes early). So our appointment was at 5:30 and we were there at 5:15. We walked in and the girl said “Abby?” We said no, Maggie. So, apparently they were expecting Abby.

So while we were waiting, I actually heard the receptionist call [Abby’s house] and leave a message about a missed appointment (although I didn’t hear the whole thing, that was the gist). So now it’s about 5:35, and while we have been waiting 20 minutes (which is unusual), technically it’s only been five minutes since our scheduled appointment.

And then in walks Abby (with her owners, of course!). And what does the office do? Take her first! We were PISSED. I am sorry, if you miss your scheduled appointment time, you miss it. If no one is there in your place, fine, you can be seen—otherwise, I believe you have lost your spot and you now have to wait.

While we were waiting, Maggie was enjoying the fish tank:

They put us in a room shortly afterwards, and then we got to sit in the room for another 35 minutes. Hubby was tempted to go out and complain, but he never did. I was also half-tempted to make a comment like “Do late/missed appointments always get seen before people who are on time?” but although I like to talk big, I am a puss when it comes to things like that.

Maybe they were running behind from an earlier emergency, and then the late appointment just added to it? We could have asked, but didn’t. In the grand scheme it’s not a big deal, since (like I said) we usually get in early (sometimes I’m in and out even before my appointment time) so I figured it all evened out.

Now, if it happens again, or repeatedly, I would definitely say something. But what about in this instance? Would you have said anything?

Random Blather

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I am soooooooooo tired of this heat wave. I swear this is the hottest it’s been since we moved here. Too hot to do anything except quickly rush from A/C to A/C. Tom even says it’s hot, and he was in Iraq (although he does admit Iraq was hotter).

I went to get gas yesterday morning because it was still $3.86 (it had been that for, I swear, two weeks) and I knew it was supposed to be going up this week. So I pull in and there is NO unleaded—just mid-grade and premium. Of course, after work, when they had raised the price 12c, there was unleaded. Bastards.

Why must people try to exit a gas station by making a left turn, in rush hour, at an intersection—when they could just as easily have driven through the parking lot and exited 100 yards farther down where there is much less traffic? Instead, they sit there, blocking the exit for those of us exiting and turning right into traffic (in this case, about 10 cars). So I drove the extra 100 yards and was able to turn directly into the flow of traffic and bypass the jerk who was STILL waiting to turn left.

I love my Tivo peeps. I needed help with something that I just couldn’t figure out so I posted about it—and within 10 minutes they started having answers for me.

On same said board, someone started a thread called “What do you look like today?” and I just love it! Well, everyone loves it, actually! People post pics from their cell phones or webcams or whatnot…and it’s very interesting! After posting about 10 pics myself, I noticed that I look pretty much the same in every one—I just either have curly hair or straight hair—so I said I was going to stop posting, but apparently some of the guys like the cleavage that ends up in some of the pics and have requested that I keep posting. :)) So I posted this one for them today:

Depressing thought of the day: I just happened to login to take a look at our mortgage stuff, and after paying every month for coming-up-on three years, we are just SLIGHTLY under the official selling price. GAH!

I can’t wait for our tomatoes to be ready to harvest! We do have a few jalapeño that are ready to pick, and of course I have been harvesting basil all along, but the tomatoes are what I’m jonesing for. Someday, somewhere, I hope to have a REAL garden!

On another gas note, the Prius has been wonderful! We used to use my car for everything—every run to town, every errand, every road trip—and I had to fill up about once a week. Now that we take the Prius everywhere (and I only drive to/from work), I am only filling up about every 2-3 weeks! 😀 So, we traded paying for gas for paying for a new car. I’d say that was a good trade!

The next place I work?

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PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me NOT work in close association with another Jen. It is SUCH a pain in the ass. Especially when she gets a million calls (property management) and people can’t seem to differentiate between Jen and Jennie. They call and say “Who is this?” and I say Jen and they start yakking and I have to stop them and say “Oh, you want Jennie, our property manager. [Then I preempt them by saying] We have two Jens in our office.” I say that at least three times a day, I swear.

And if I EVER have to do receptionist work again?

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me just have to transfer every incoming call without having to deal with people any more than that. I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate having to say—I swear it feels like 100 times a day—“She’s on the other line, would you like to hold or would you like her voicemail?” and then dealing with people who lead you to believe they will have a coronary if they don’t get to talk to her. Or, since we are not allowed to transfer calls internally (god forbid the phone ring in an agent’s office or they get a beep in their ear if they’re on the phone) each and every call I put on hold rings back to me every 30 seconds.

Of course there are a LOT more things I want in the next place I work, but those are my issues for today!

The Staples Chair Mat Saga

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Wednesday, May 21—I needed a new chair mat, and had a $25 off $75 coupon, so I picked a decent chair mat (that was on sale), plus two small things to push me over the $75. I ordered before 4pm so I should have had the items the next day.

Thursday, May 22—I got an email saying that “some or all of my items” were being delayed and delivery was rescheduled for 5/23.

Friday, May 23—I received the two small items but not the chair mat (which is what I really wanted). I figured maybe that was still delayed, so wanted to give them until Tuesday to see if it arrived (Monday was a holiday so no shipping).

Tuesday, May 27—No chair mat at work or at home. So I called Staples and explained that I still hadn’t received the mat. They apologized and said they would ship another one and it should be here Thursday or Friday.

Thursday, May 29—Well, something did arrive Thursday—but not the chair mat! I got a duplicate order of the piddly things! I called again, explaining, and they apologized and said “Yep, that was our error, I see the note here. We will send out the chair mat now and you should have it Monday.” And they were also sending someone to pick up the duplicate order. I wondered why it was going to take four days (not including weekends) but at that point, I just wanted my chair mat.

Friday, May 30—I swear they said that person who was picking up the duplicate order would also be delivering my chair mat, but they didn’t. >:XX They said UPS might be delivering it…so UPS came and went and still no chair mat. And no chair mat at home, either (I had changed delivery address, but thought they might have messed that up as well).

Monday, June 2—No chair mat today, and UPS delivered next door (at work) so I was not holding out hope. I figured if it didn’t show up at home, I would call and request a discount or something because this has been ridiculous.

Tuesday, June 3—Staples redeemed themselves somewhat. I still hadn’t received the chair mat, so I called to ask where it was and the rep said hmmm, it looks like you were credited for it on such and such date. Wait. What? Credited? Yes, apparently they didn’t resend it like they said they were going to, but rather just cancelled the order and credited my card. >:XX So after some discussion, the rep agreed to give me the $25 coupon on just the chair mat—so technically I got a percentage off on the few piddly things I had to order to meet the original coupon deal, and am now getting $25 off on the chairmat itself.

Thursday, June 4—It finally came! And OMG, it was in like a 6′ x 1′ box! I had to put my seat down to fit it in the car! And since it sat in my car all day in the hot temps (100+), when I got it home and brought it inside, it pretty much just unrolled and laid flat. YAY! Oh, and the box was overkill—it looks like they had to make the box from other boxes so it was just waaaay too big. Anyway, we will put it under my desk tomorrow! I am sooo excited!

I hate being up at 6am.

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I hope this morning is not going to be an indicator of the day.

My phone alarm didn’t go off this morning (I have a haircut at 7:30am) but luckily I woke up.

Then, since I had to pee on a stick yesterday and just assumed I had to do it 10 days in a row (that’s what happened the last time), I peed on the stick without turning on the monitor first…and oops, I didn’t have to pee on a stick, so now the number of sticks I have is off, and if I have to do this one more month, I will be one stick short, meaning I have to spend $30 to buy another pack. This is the first morning since I started the monitor that I didn’t check the stupid thing first. Serves me right, I guess.

THIS is exactly why I should not be up this early. I hate early mornings.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

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I just called to make an appointment to get my hair cut……and……they told me my stylist no longer works there!!!! 88| :no:

One, she never even warned me she was leaving, and I was just there in March.

Two, I never even got a phone call—which my stylists have done in the past, letting me know they were leaving, where they were going (if they were moving salons, hoping you would follow them), and/or suggesting someone to take their place at their current salon!

At least I have a little experience with one other girl there, who has styled my hair before…and I really like her so that’s good. And my hair isn’t that hard to cut…but still, this is a shock I was not expecting (haha, hence the SHOCK) and just another thing to add to the list for today being a Terrible Tuesday(tm).

Economc Stimulus

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This economic stimulus thing irritates me.

We thought we were getting $1200 back (married filing jointly, we fit all the parameters) but we only got $600.

We should be thrilled to have just received $600 in “free money” but instead I am pissed because we only got half of what we expected. And now I have to waste time trying to find/use the “stimulus calculator” to see if we really should be getting the full $1200 back…but I have to wait until I have our 2007 taxes to reference some specific lines (it might have something to do with the net income tax liability—which I have NO idea what that actually is).

4:07pm

Okay, the net income tax liability bit us in the ass. 🙄 Apparently, due tom Tom’s deployment and non-taxable income…we only get $300 per person since we didn’t pay as much taxes. Or something like that.

But we still got free money, so I guess it’s all good.

Ugh. Self-important, annoying clients.

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We just had a past client who called and wanted, get this, copies of ALL the HUDs of ALL the sales we’ve done with him over the past FIVE years. 😯

The irony? He is actually a BROKER in another city, so he surely knows the importance of keeping docs like this…and surely knows how irritating it would be to have someone request all this at the drop of a hat. 😡

In addition to that, we have some of his properties in property management, and he wants ALL his bills and 1099s for ALL his properties.

And not only did he request all this over the phone, basically saying “Clear your schedule, I will be there in 20 minutes”—he completely ignored our requests to email the necessary information so we could have the time to look this stuff up, make copies, and then call him when it was ready…because, honestly, we are not going to drop what we’re doing to take care of this ass. (Yes, he is and has always been an ass. This is nothing new.)

And why is he talking to us anyway? He should be asking the Broker (our boss), who will then pass the job to us if/when she deems it necessary. Of course she wasn’t in the office when he called, so I called her to let her know what was going on, and she told us to tell him that all his closings were at the old office so we would have no records anyway, and to tell him to call the lawyer’s offices to get the HUDs. YAY!

So he came in, all puffed up and projecting self-importance like he always does, and I got to tell him “Sorry, bad news” and went on to explain what the boss had told me to tell him. Of course, he says “So you can call the lawyers for me to get the HUDs?” and I said “No, you can call them.”

I did try looking up his past transactions while he was standing there behind me (a major pet peeve, since it means he walked AROUND the front desk), but could not come up with an easy way to see the dates the properties closed to see if they closed at our new office (I never deal with mass data like that, especially on spur of the moment, so I told him the boss usually deals with this type stuff so I was winging it).

And looky here, all of a sudden, you know what? He is “willing to email a list, after I have more time to get the details together.” Good. And good riddance.

Unfortunately…after he left (and quit breathing down my neck), I was able to figure out the closing dates—and most of them did actually close in our new office, which means we do have access to the files. And to be honest? I will have no problem taking the time (on my own schedule) to scan them all to his email.

But it’s just the fact that he couldn’t call and say “Hey, I know you’re probably busy, and I can’t get in touch with your boss, but I just realized I need these files and can’t find them. Do you think over the next week or so, you could find what I need and send them to me?” Instead, he had to basically say “Drop what you’re doing, I will be there in 20 minutes to get what I need.”

Ugh.

My stupid ankle.

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So of the two ankles I sprained three months ago, only the right one really still bothers me. So much so, at times, that I have to resort to wearing the brace. Which really isn’t all that bothersome, to be honest, just a bit annoying because eventually it cuts into my heel ever-so-slightly and I have to mess with the fabric so as not to drive me totally insane.

That said, I have discovered that walking doesn’t seem to bother it much…but standing apparently does. After about two hours of walking and standing on cement at the air show yesterday, my ankle was VERY sore—even as quickly as that night. Like actually-kinda-painful-to-walk-on sore. 🙁 So I ended up wearing the brace all day and all evening.

And all day today.

Stupid lazy agents.

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I am thinking most real estate agents are total slackasses.

Someone just called to see if we could fax our rental application. As is our usual practice, I asked if she had online access and she said yes, so I said “It’s available on our website under Property Management.”

Then she said “Well, my client only has a fax machine.”

And I honestly wanted to say “So you want me to do your job for you?” Ugh.

While I was momentarily pausing to roll my eyes at her slackassedness, she said “Well I guess I can print it and fax it.”

GEE, YOU THINK? 🙄 YOU THINK YOU CAN PRINT SOMETHING FOR YOUR OWN CLIENT AND FAX IT TO HER YOURSELF? 🙄 🙄

Of course I would have faxed it if she really needed me to, but it just makes me stop and wonder if they are just that lazy or if they just don’t think things through??

Red Lobster? Not again anytime soon.

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Marsha picked Red Lobster for her birthday lunch. Of course, she was going on the thought that HER Red Lobster has great service and good food… We have had varied experiences there, but we thought we’d give it a shot and hope for the best.

Needless to say, we don’t need to go back to this Red Lobster anytime in the future.

We only had to wait about 10 minutes to be seated (not bad) but it got worse from there. The service sucked—a waitress didn’t even approach us until we had been sitting there almost 5-7 minutes (and in the meantime, we saw two girls arguing over who would take our table—then it took another 3 or so minutes after that for someone to actually come over).

And then the waitress was slow, talked too softly, and didn’t really seem to care. Tom and I ordered the Endless Soup & Salad, thinking “How could they screw that up?”

Well, some of the lettuce in our salads was half wilted, the soups were lukewarm at best, and we didn’t get the biscuits until about minute 35 (after everyone was done with their salads and before the meals came out). Marsha said the breaded shrimp was dry, the breaded fish was inedible, the tartar sauce was bad, and she didn’t really like the other thing she got (I forget what it was).

When the waitress came back to refill drinks, she made a comment about needing to bring us more ice, so didn’t fill the drinks to the top—but then never came back with ice.

To make matters worse, a table of eight that was seated after us (right next to us) had a different waitress and got drink and appetizer orders taken with two minutes of being seated—so we were even more ticked at the poor service.

The manager did come over to ask how things were, but at that point we were just on our salads, so the worst hadn’t even come yet—and to be honest, we didn’t want to upset anyone mid-meal, LOL, for fear of what could potentially happen.

As we all agreed, we’ve had far better and far worse meals. So we left a bad tip AND a full comment card with our phone number and copy of the receipt.

New cell phones!

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I had been having problems with my cell phone for quite some time.

For no reason, it would drop to ZERO bars while just sitting in the office. I could physically hold it in my hand and watch it jump from 5 bars to 0 to 3 to 0, etc. This was a major pain when Tom was in Iraq trying to call me, and he couldn’t get through!

The most frustrating part is that when I went to make a call or send a text message—making sure I had decent bars—as soon as I hit “send” it dropped back to 0 bars and my call or message wouldn’t go through.

I finally got fed up and went in to Alltel, and they tried to tell me “Maybe a new building went up that is blocking service from the tower.” Um, no. No building of such substantive measure to BLOCK cell phone service recently went up—I wanted to say You DO know you’re talking about Jacksonville, right? Have you seen any skyscrapers go up lately? 🙄 They had no other solution for me, so I just chalked it up to gremlins and went about my daily business.

It seemed to get worse (i.e. happen more often) as time wore on, so I thought maybe something was wrong with my phone, so I decided to use Tom’s phone (since he wasn’t using it 😀 and we have the same exact phone) so I took the phones in and had them switch service (just activate his phone with my number). It took less than five minutes.

Unfortunately, his had the same problem. >:XX I wanted to get my phone replaced, but Alltel couldn’t guarantee me the same phone (a NEW phone, that is—they could try to get me a refurbished one) and they couldn’t tell me which phone they would use to replace it with UNTIL I processed the warranty claim. What a joke.

So I just dealt with it, because we were still far enough away from our contract ending that if we bought a new phone, we’d have to pay full price.

Fast forward to Tom approaching his “getting home date” and having to restart service on his phone. So BOTH of our phones would be messed up. Cutting a long story short, a friend gave us an Alltel phone he wasn’t using that Tom wanted to use (it was a fancy palm-type phone) and once Tom started using it, we noticed that it didn’t drop bars like mine did. So it had to be the specific phone.

Fast forward another month or so, and I was just flat out tired of the spotty service, so we were looking at new plans (with new companies) and went to Alltel just to see if a new representative might have a new answer for us. He basically said it could be the phone itself, and if that’s the case, exchanging it wouldn’t do any good… and long story short, was there a phone we wanted to buy instead, since we were close to our contract being up and we could get any phone at the “new” (reduced) price instead of the full price.

So I got the LG Scoop in Citrus:

lgscoop

I love it. It has a slide out keyboard and everything. It takes the same data card as my old phone, so that’s good. It was only $50 after rebate, so that’s good. And I could get it in a color, so that’s good. It has a camera, so that’s good…but it doesn’t have a flash, so that’s not good.

They transferred all my contacts, I reorganized them all, and now we’re just waiting for the cable to come from Amazon so we can load contact photos and have our own personalized ring tones again. Oh yeah, about a week after I had mine and had decided I loved it, Tom wanted one, too. So he has gray!

YAY! Cell phones that work! And don’t drop bars!

I hate solicitors.

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Not only do I not get paid enough in general, I do not get paid enough to deal with walk-in solicitors. Ugh. 😡

A Quill rep just came in to the office. I said hi, no thanks, we buy exclusively from Staples and McBee.

“Well, we’re the [something] side of Staples. No overhead. Up to 20% less.”

No thank you, we’re happy.

“Oh, so you’re not interested in saving money?”

Nope, buh-bye.

I know he’s doing his job, and I smiled the entire time, but seriously. Go away.

One of these times, I am going to ask one of these lovely solicitors just what NO SOLICITING means to them, as that’s the sign we have outside out door. 😈

WAIT. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. I hate taxes.

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Long story short, the tax guy screwed up.

Short story long, I just thought it was too weird, so we pulled out last year’s taxes to check, and there was a different line filled out than I expected—a 401k contribution.

Now, we have money taken out of Tom’s pay (the military TSP plan), but it’s not technically considered a 401k, so I checked…and discovered that, yep, the preparer had read one of MY forms wrong.

I get a statement from my 401k (an old one from Staples that I no longer contribute to and have yet to switch) and it just lists what the total amount in the account is. And he put THAT amount instead of the ZERO that was in the “current year contribution” box. (I almost didn’t even include that form in the paperwork, but like to keep all the tax stuff in one place.)

So that’s almost $2000 different. 88|

I tried to do the calculations on how exactly that would affect the bottom line, but there were additional forms it also changed, so I gave up.

All I know is we are NOT getting $2000 back. We are both going in tomorrow to redo them.

Stay tuned.

Temps are being taken.

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So I am on my third thermometer (second basal thermometer). I just couldn’t stand waiting THREE minutes for the temp to register, so had to find a new one.

(On a side note, I am completely surprised at how cheap digital thermometers are. At Walmart, there were some basic ones for like $2.98!)

So this morning was the fourth day I’ve taken my temp, and I have to say this is not a fun thing.

Why?

Well, you’re supposed to do it as soon as you wake up, before you move, before you get out of bed, before you pee, before everything. They tell you you should still be half awake when you take it.

And therein lies the problem.

When I’m still half awake, it’s dark. And I can’t see: I don’t have my contacts in—or my glasses on. And I usually have to pee. Badly. There is really no time to fumble for the light, then the thermometer, then my glasses (so I can read the results). I could skip the writing-it-down part, since the thermometer remembers the last result and I could write it down later, but it’s easier to just write it down then.

So what has actually happened?

I usually get up at about 5:30 or 6 to pee, then go back to bed, then take my temp when I actually am ready to get up—usually around 6:45 or 7.

So I’m technically doing it wrong, but I think I’m still close enough that it shouldn’t be a problem.

So we’ll see.

Next month? The Clear Blue Easy Ovulation Monitor. :>>

I am super pissed at myself.

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I signed up for a 10-day trial of Gamefly, so hubby could test out some XBOX 360 games. And I went to cancel today and yep, we’re on day 11, so I’ve already been charged $22.95 and if I cancel, I lose the $22.95—and I can’t even downgrade because it doesn’t take effect until the next billing cycle, yet the downgraded plan wasn’t available (if I recall corretly) when I signed up. And it wouldn’t be that big of deal…if we were going to BE HERE. But we leave on vacation in a week, then will be gone two weeks.

No more trial period anythings, ever.

EVER.

UGH! Two twisted ankles at 2am!

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2:44am

So long story short, I am dogsitting.

Well, she whines as soon as you put her in the crate for the night, and kept whining. And whining. And whining. Not so badly that I couldn’t fall asleep, however. I just attribute it to the fact she knows her buddy Maggie is here and consequently doesn’t want to be in her crate because she would rather be playing.

Fast forward to just a bit ago, when I wake up because she is being even LOUDER than ever. I don’t look at the clock, but go out on the landing to yell at her to be quiet (she is downstairs but directly below the balcony). As I am yelling at her, she sounds even louder, and like she is moving. I turn around, and there she is—coming up the stairs! Damn dog got out of her crate! I obviously didn’t latch it correctly, and she freakin clawed/forced her way out.

So, I was pissed at myself for not doing it right, and pissed at her for not just sleeping (like my dog does—you could not even latch the door and she wouldn’t try to get out—she knows it’s sleep time). But she’s just a dog so what can you do. So I head down the stairs to take her outside and then put her back in the crate.

And then one of my biggest fears happen—in the dark, in my frustration, I miss the last step and go crashing to the floor. Luckily my head missed the marble fireplace (but my leg must have hit it because there is a nasty scrape and bruise forming). I laid there for a few moments, in utter terror and pain, waiting for the shock to wear off so I can tell if anything was broken.

I was crying from the pain—and it felt like both ankles were twisted, although thankfully not broken. The dog is hovering above me, nosing at me, thinking I am playing. I just want to scream and cry. I manage to crawl on my knees to the kitchen to let the dog out, then hobble back to her crate and make sure she is really locked in.

Then I hobble back up the stairs—in major pain with every step—and take some Aleve, then hobble to bed. It is at this point that I look at the clock and see…it’s only 2am. I was hoping it was later, like 6am, so I could just stay up. Of course at this point, my cat decided to yak up a hairball so I had to hobble around cleaning that up.

I emailed my coworker (from my phone) to let her know I might not be in in the morning if I can’t walk. So then I just laid there, both ankles just throbbing and screaming in pain. I have some movement but it hurts.

I have never technically twisted an ankle before, so I don’t know if it’s a true twist or just a sprain or what. Should I go to the doctor in the morning? Or just keep popping pills? Is it going to hurt me to walk on it?

/off to google

2:49am

I see RICE is recommended. Ugh. I am not sure it’s worth it to go BACK downstairs to get ice. So I may just move to compression with ace bandages since those are in the bathroom. But I don’t even want to get up to get those. I may just go with elevation until morning.

7:04am

Okay, nothing looks swollen at all, but I can barely even stand, let alone walk. Friends are taking me to the doc, as I don’t trust myself to drive. Called my coworker and boss and left messages. I hope the doc can wrap them or give me crutches… I have no idea how I am going to go up and down the stairs a million times this weekend for the dogs.

3:10pm

Well, I am home and waiting for the Vicodin to kick in.

At 8am I showed up to my regular clinic, at which point they told me I had to go to the ER (base, of course) since they didn’t have x-ray facilities. Luckily my friend was able to take me. Let me just say I am not thrilled with the treatment there.

I hobble in, can barely walk or stand, tell the ER person what happened, and she tells me to take a form and “go over there by the window to fill it out.” 88| I should have asked for the wheelchair right then, but I was in too much shock that she didn’t offer. So I hobbled over, filled out the form, hobbled back, and she told me to go have a seat in the waiting room—literally 20 yards down the hallway. At this point my friend was coming back in from having parked the car in BFE, saw my distress, and asked for a wheelchair since I couldn’t walk. A wheelchair appeared immediately. I just wonder why they didn’t think of that themselves when I came in and said “I fell down the stairs and can’t walk.” 🙄

I didn’t have to wait that long before I was taken to radiology, but I had to go back in THREE times to redo x-rays that they messed up. First the tray was in backwards. Then they reused a tray that hadn’t been cleared so I had a wrist on my ankle. Ugh. I know mistakes happen (I mean, after all, that’s how I fell down the stairs) but that was kind of like strike #2.

Then it was back out to the waiting room, where the wait sucked, but it really wasn’t THAT bad—maybe an hour? I got wheeled into the actual ER and layed on the bed. Unfortunately, we were in there for almost two hours just waiting. At about 1:30 my friend went out and asked when we might be seen, just curious (because we saw docs walking around and lots of people not doing anything) and they said they only had one doc on until 2pm. (It would have been really nice had someone told us this when we first came in, or any time while we were waiting.) Interestingly, a doc was there five minutes later. He was nice enough, but he asked me if I had had x-rays taken yet. Um, I take it he didn’t even look at my chart. So he said he had to go check the x-rays and get back with us. Good lord you would think he would have already looked at the x-rays before even coming to see me.

So after another 30 minutes or so he came back and said he didn’t see any breaks so it was probably just ligaments or muscles. He didn’t seem like he was going to say anything else, so I asked him if I was going to get drugs. I asked him if I was going to get my ankles wrapped (he said “when you wrap your ankles” and I was like “Aren’t you going to wrap them for me?”). I asked if I was going to get crutches. It was like he wasn’t clued in AT ALL. I thought he would have came back and said “It doesn’t appear to be broken. We will wrap your ankles, give you Vicodin, and give you crutches.” But I guess I was expecting too much.

Here is my pathetic self leaving the hospital.

Jen on crutches

So, I went in at 8:30 and got out at 2, which is par for the course from what I’ve heard. It wasn’t that bad I guess, just frustrating that no one kept us updated on anything, when there were literally 10 nurses/support staff/etc. wandering around the whole time, talking about what they were doing for lunch, etc.

I thank god for my (our) friend Ursula, who sat with me the whole time. I am thankful she works with her husband in real estate and was able to be away from the office all day. She brought me home, gathered everything I said I would need, and even turned on lights throughout the house so if I fell asleep, there would be lights on when I got up. I am also thankful for my neighbors (Rob and Cindy) who are coming down tonight to let the dogs out. Hopefully I can do it myself later in the weekend but I want to try to stay immobile as much as possible for the first 24 hours.

As far as sleeping on the couch downstairs… it is possible. I would have the laptop (no TV, but could watch movies on the laptop) and a toilet. But my dog would still be upstairs (where her crate normally is). The dog I’m sitting for—her crate is downstairs. So no matter where I am, one dog is on the other floor. So I am in the living room upstairs with the phone, drugs, laptop, TV, pillows, blanket, water, and snacks…until the neighbor comes over at 7:30 to check on me and the dogs.

Unfortunately, Tom has no idea what’s going on. I emailed him at 2am (right after it happened) and then he called when I was on my way to the ER. But while we were at the hospital our phones had to be off so he called like five times and I obviously didn’t answer so he doesn’t know if I have two broken ankles or what. Poor guy, even called my friend’s husband in case he knew anything—which he didn’t either because her phone was off, too.

This just really really sucks. Our cruise is a hair over a month, and I just have this feeling I will not be up to par by then. I mean, I totally hope otherwise, but… with TWO sprained ankles, it’s not like I can walk on one and baby the other. When I walk, I have to walk on BOTH, so I don’t think either one is going to heal as quickly. I am not sure about work, either—I am supposed to keep my feet elevated, but that is impossible at work—and when I asked the doc, he said “just do your best.” What the hell does that mean? Ugh.

So, the Vicodin still hasn’t kicked in and it’s been over an hour.

5:07pm

Well my bosses called to see if I needed anything, so I asked them to bring me Chinese. In the meantime, my neighbor called and said he was bringing down pot roast, so I would be set for a few meals! Rob (our doctor neighbor!) stopped in my kitchen and brought the salt and pepper and silverware. I love him. He also assured me the next dose of Vicodin would help more (it builds up in your system), plus I could also take additional meds on top of it. And that the pain should subside a lot tomorrow. Here’s hoping. And I asked him about the ER doc I had (since he works at the same hospital) and he said yeah, that guy is okay, competent, but not great. Oh, it was also good timing as the dogs were whining to go out. Shortly after he left, my bosses arrived.

9:50pm

Rob has been great. He came down twice, brought me dinner (which will be lunch tomorrow), and brought me other drugs (he’s the doc). I just hate having to ask for help, which I know is ridiculous because I would drop everything to help these neighbors if/when they called. So I know they would do the same for me (which they are doing) but I still hate asking. Like just a bit earlier, I knew I wanted to go to bed, and he hadn’t been back yet for the dogs’ last walk, so I had to call. He was down within two minutes. Then after he left his wife called to tell me her schedule for tomorrow so I would know when I could call. I love them. I love all our friends. They rock.

I am just waiting for Tom to call so I can fill him in. At this point, as far as he knows, I could have two broken ankles…

Sunday, February 3—1:23pm

I am doing even better today—quite a difference from Friday when I swore it would be weeks before I was walking again. I have cut out the Vicodin and am just using Motrin at this point, and I am barely using the crutches. So, it looks like I will be going to work tomorrow, although from past experience, I know that by the end of the day, my ankles will be SORE, since now I am used to having them elevated all day.

Wednesday, February 6—9:25pm

The ankles are getting better. I gave up the crutches Monday night, and just kept taking the Motrin and icing my ankles (and keeping them elevated) at night. Today I gave up the ankle wraps and actually bought a pre-formed ankle wrap from the medical supply place (I have to go back tomorrow to get a second one – they were out of stock). I wasn’t sure how much difference one of these wraps would make, but at the end of the day, the ankle with the wrap hurts less.

So I am walking okay, albeit still slowly—and taking great precaution on the stairs. And I am bruising nicely.

I cannot wait until…

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we have a dedicated place for everything, so I can keep everything in its place. Today? My wish is for a pantry.

I ran out of paper towels today. I know I bought a HUGE pack of them at Sam’s Club a few weeks ago—but do you think I can find them? I mean, how many places could I hide 12 rolls of paper towels in this house? I thought I knew exactly where they were—where Tom and I have always kept extras (in a storage bin in the garage). Nope, not there. Hmmm, okay. I checked the second place they might be—still on the garage floor, waiting to be put away somewhere. Nope, not there (the toilet paper is there, though!). The third? Fourth? Fifth obvious places? HA. Nope. The joke’s on me.

SO WHERE CAN THEY BE? 🙄 Now I’m starting to wonder if I even bought them…but I KNOW I did.

Oh, but I did find my camera from a few posts back—on my desk, where I thought it was—I had just overlooked it in my rush to find it.

So, in our next house? I want a real pantry. A monstrous pantry. Something bigger than half a coat closet where I can put a 12-pack of paper towels or a case of cream of chicken soup, so I don’t have to store them throughout the house or in the garage.

UPDATE (5:16pm)

I found them. They were in the garage, just in a spot on the other side of the car. Not right next to the spot I originally anticipated finding them…but on the same wall. I obviously put them there because that’s as close as I could get them to the proper spot without backing the car out.

As I said, MONSTROUS pantry. 🙂

I hate 65,000 mile check-ups.

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So I took my car in for its 65,000 mile check-up, knowing I’d probably have to get something done to the brakes (considering my two recent trips to Sam’s Club for a balance)… but of course, I was due for a litany of other things (to the tune of $822.79). 88| I am sure it wasn’t 100% necessary to get them all done today, but I figured why not, better safe than sorry, at least we have the extra money in the bank now, and most of all I won’t have to do anything major for another 30,000 miles.

Computer Woes Downgraded to Computer Annoyances

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There aren’t really many woes at this point (since most of my info is transferred and nost of my software is reinstalled), just annoyances.

Windows Vista has some great new features (photo handling, search capability), but some of the things are REALLY different and are taking some getting used to (a few folders in different places, a different style start menu). Also, there are certain programs of mine that just WILL NOT install—luckily they aren’t life or death programs (like software to backup my cell phone address book), but I do need them so I have to keep messing with it.

Right now, the new computer is still hooked up on Tom’s monitor/desk, but I am thinking that by tonight, I will move it over to my desk so I can have my keyboard and mouse back (I hate the ones that came with the computer, but left the good ones attached to my old computer since I am still using it quite a bit—posting this entry from there, actually). I still need to have my old computer running for a bit, just in case I find something I didn’t transfer or some settings I need to look up.

I do have to say a big PHEW! to our backup hard drive, though. I used it to transfer all our pictures and music and documents (etc.)—which, in and of itself was great. But then, I accidentally deleted a huge folder (probably 50GB of stuff) and since it was too big for the deleted bin, it erased it completely! Backup hard drive to the rescue!!

Computer Woes

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I am so tired of this crap I want to throw it out the @#%$ window.

So if you haven’t heard, I have been having MAJOR computer issues. I tried to reinstall Windows to fix some major errors, and it didn’t work—so now I am stuck with Windows XP Pro SP1—which you need SP2 for just about everything since SP1 is not secure. So, after dealing with that for a good long week, we decided to order me a new computer—with Vista Home Premium. The first one arrived damaged, so had to send it back (and it hasn’t even been picked up yet) and I had to order a new one, which came today.

So I started up the new computer just fine, and went to transfer my settings with the stupid $30 Easy Transfer cable I bought. But guess what? It won’t work, since my old computer no longer has SP2 installed (it refused to install, which is one of the reasons we got a new computer)! Of course, NOTHING on the cable packaging says it needs SP2. Lovely. So I try to use the transfer program that is already installed in XP (which the Vista computer told me to do) and that pops up, but of course cannot find the other computer (yes, the cable is attached). However, when the cable is plugged into the old computer, I get a Found New Hardward Wizard, but the software won’t install, even if I direct it to the correct drive (which, I assume, is because I don’t have SP2 installed).

So it looks like I wasted $30 on this stupid cable. Wonderful. Maybe Sams will take it back, but it says right on the packaging that it cannot be returned, only exchanged for the same item. I either need a drink or I need to go to bed.

Why did I think this would be easy?

20 MINUTES LATER…

Oh, now I’m having even MORE fun. I discovered that I can save my settings to a CD or thumb drive to transfer them to the new computer. Cool. So I put them on a thumb drive and…Vista can’t see it (within the Transfer function). I tell it it’s on a flash drive, pick the correct drive, and hit next and it says “put the media in” — um, it IS in. I try again, nothing. There is a password field, but I have no idea what that’s for, so I try my logon password and that does nothing, either. So I think, maybe it’s an issue with the thumb drive, so I burn it to a CD. And that doesn’t work either.

GRRRRRRRRRRR. >:(

Three gripes for the day!

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  1. I just found out some family is moving to Atlanta, which excited me because Atlanta is now a direct flight from our piddly airport, so I figured we could get cheap non-stop flights. Ha. HAHA. I just checked, and the cheapest flight is still a one-stop flight. And the direct flights are 2x as much. GRRRR.
  2. People who use confusing subject lines in emails. I have been postponing submitting an ad because the email subject line said “May 19th pickup” so I thought I would do it today. Well, as it turns out, that is the ISSUE date and not the ad pickup date, so it’s too late to submit a new ad. Lovely. The boss is going to love that one. (Yes, I did read the initial email when it came in, which gave the correct information, but I was busy last week and just kept seeing the subject line.)
  3. I think I have mentioned this before, but Drugstore.com annoys me to no end. The last deployment, they had free S/H to Iraq. Now, there are surcharges and overweight charges… We put more than enough in the cart for free S/H, yet when I got to the checkout, I got knocked for $5.99 S/H + a $4.99 surcharge. GRRR.

It’s the same old argument at work…

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It’s the same old argument at work—it’s too freakin’ cold in here and the bosses don’t care. I hate hate HATE dressing for office weather—when it’s 73 and gorgeous outside, I shouldn’t have to have my heater on or wear a freakin’ sweater.

Just yesterday, the bosses (and the other agent) were going to be gone ALL day. So I innocently asked if we couldn’t bump the temp up just a smidge because BOTH OF US were freezing and they were going to be gone ALL DAY. Of course, I got attitude about it, and was told that “we keep it cool for our clients.” Okay, but if you are not going to be here, why would your clients be here? Even if they just stopped by, I don’t think having the office at 72 is going to sweat them out after three minutes.

I just get SO tired of it. And so tired of the attitude I get. One day, a boss walked in and said “It feels perfect in here so you must be freezing!” Like it’s some big joke. Yeah, haha, funny, I’m glad you are enjoying that I’m freezing. 😡

What could possibly happen next?

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I swear, the fates are conspiring against me for my weekend trip to DC…and it’s actually comical at this point. But let me backtrack just a bit.

It started last night (the night before I leave), when I went to get my carryon suitcase. It was nowhere to be found. It’s always right there, sitting in the guest room. But it wasn’t. So I looked and I looked and I looked. I looked in every bedroom, in every closet, every storage area, inside other suitcases (!), under beds, in the unused shower—I even looked in the trunk of Tom’s car!! And it was nowhere. I thought I had to be going crazy, so I started looking again, figuring I just had to have overlooked it. And I made the rounds again. And then a third time. By this time, I was frantic. I had no other suitcases that were the right size—the train station I am leaving from has no checked baggage, which means I am only allowed carryons (of a certain size, of course). So I called a neighbor and they said they had a smallish one, but I could use it. Of course, it’s smaller than mine, but what can you do? So now I am taking two smaller carryons instead of my perfect-sized carryon. I dashed off an email to Tom in the hopes that he would get it and call me, telling me where the suitcase was. At that point, I started thinking maybe we loaned it to someone??? But I don’t remember that. Oh, and another suitcase is missing as well. So how do TWO suitcases completely disappear?

And that was the start of the night…at 8:30. (It was so late because I had had dinner at a neighbors—thinking it would be a nice relaxing time before the craziness of packing and the weekend. Which it was, except I ate too much!)

So as I’m continuing to pack—now COMPLETELY thrown because I don’t have my suitcase and I’m still just COMPLETELY flabbergasted as to where it could be—other things start going wrong.

The six luggage tags I recently bought (well okay, back in December)? Yeah, I can only find one and need two. Of course, the suitcase I want and can’t find already has one one it. (And yes, I know the station will have them, but that’s not the point of the story!)

The purse I wanted? Coulnd’t find. (I found a bunch of other ones, but not the one I wanted.)

The wallet I wanted? Couldn’t find. And of course I know I’ve seen it lately, but don’t have the time to search the house for the fourth time.

The PJs I wanted? Couldn’t find. Then I found just the tops. Then much later I found the bottoms in another drawer.

The nail polish I wanted to wear? Couldn’t find. At this point, it was about 10pm.

Of course, I hate all of my clothes because I have nothing cute that fits, so that was annoying me (and depressing me). And what shoes do you take to DC? None of my cute shoes (that go with any of my outfits) are good for walking around that much. And I’m not wearing tennis shoes or crocs with dress pants. So that was irritating me. And it just felt like I was spinning my wheels—time was quickly passing and I didn’t seem to be getting anything accomplished.

Then, good news: I found the nail polish! Then, bad news: through a bizarre chain of events, the bottle got knocked off my dresser and I now have a lovely 10″ streak of red nail polish spilled all over the bedroom carpet (as a matter of fact, the same lovely shade of the kitchen grout). At that point, I actually broke down and cried. I tried a few quick things to get the polish out—none of which really worked. I ran to google and found a few more hints—one of which sort of was working, but would have taken forever, and by that time the rest of it was dry, so I figured I didn’t really have to rush and why worry about it at that point. I emailed Tom and asked him how he felt about hardwood floors in the bedroom.

So, by this time, it’s almost midnight so I hope Tom will call. And he did! He was sure he knew where the suitcase was so cool, I was thrilled. Except it wasn’t there. So I sent him another email, hoping he would see it and call me again. No dice. I think by the time I fell asleep it was almost 1am.

So this morning, I was awoken at 6am by the loud barfing of my dear Bella. That was a lovely mess to clean up when I was dead tired and really didn’t have the time.

Then I went to find my favorite lipstick, which I had thought was in my purse. Which it wasn’t. And I couldn’t find it anywhere—so I just thought, Oh I will pick some up at Target. Then I remembered Target doesn’t carry that brand. So I thought—Walgreens has everything. Except they didn’t! So I bought a new brand which completely sucks and will be going back. When I have time.

I just can’t wait to see what else possibly goes wrong. I certainly hope the rest of the weekend gets better…

Oh, wait—there is one positive note! My dog sitter said he would pick Maggie (and her crate!) up instead of me having to haul everything to their house! Yea!

GRRRRRRR, stupid taxes.

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Short version: Oh. My. God. Do I ever hate doing taxes!

Long version: Okay, so for the past few years, we just take all our forms into the tax office on base and sit there for 20 minutes while they do it all for us. For free. And I don’t worry about it, because (1) it’s free and (2) we never get back that much to worry about it (i.e. paying someone $100 to get us back $300).

When I told my friend/coworker this, she thought I was nuts. She says every year, she does her taxes on TurboTax and Taxcut online to see which gives her more, than does it herself online. She said she gets back quite a bit more because she can take her time to go through EVERY little thing. She told me I could probably write off some of my business expenses, which I never do because I don’t really make any money and I don’t really have that many expenses (i.e. I use cable internet, but we’d have it and pay for it even if I didn’t use it for the business—and I buy toners, but I’d buy those anyway, even if I do use more for the business, and besides, it just scares me to deduct for business things because I do not want an audit).

So anway, I thought fine, this year, I will follow her lead and do them online to see where I end up. Which I attempted to do this morning. And 4+ hours later I now have the biggest headache imaginable.

I did TurboTax first (the $80 premier business version, figuring if I was going to do the business deductions, I should at least do that one) and that was quite involved, but I felt good about it because it asked a me a lot of stuff about the business and square footage of my office space and my utilities and it took the percentages and whatnot and figured my deductions. In the end, after an hour of messing with it, I had a measly return of $435—in other words, not too much more than we’d normally get just doing the regular tax return (compared to previous years)…so I wasn’t sure if it would be worth it (I estimated some of the figures, because I wasn’t about to go digging through my checkbook for the past year’s utility payments, etc.).

So then I went over to Taxcut, but only selected the regular (non-business specific) version, and ended up with a refund of $337—only $100 difference for a shitload less work. When I quickly added some business info (granted, not using the business version of the software), they told me that I was not able to take any home office deductions with the info I input!

So then I went back to TurboTax and created a new account just using the basic version (which would cost $30). After another hour, it came in with a return of $345 (vs. the business-edition refund of $435). So, I would save $50 by using a lesser software edition, but would lose $90 in refund (net gain $40). Big whoop. And it seems stupid to go with the Home & Business TurboTax because while it would get me $100 more, I would have to pay $80 to use it. (I didn’t even save my TaxCut info because I just wasn’t thrilled with the site.)

I guess worst case scenario I take my basic forms (i.e. no business stuff) into the base tax office and see what they say my return is. If it is a significant difference from either of the two I did online (say, if I owe money!), I will have to either (1) go more in-depth with the base office and dig out all my business stuff or (2) just push the button on one of the TurboTax versions and deal with it.

This all just seems like a lot of work for very little return (no pun intended). And while I would like to take some home office deductions, I really don’t want to “poke the bear” and take the chance of an audit because really, you’re only supposed to use your home office as your office (100%) and that’s certainly not the case here.

I just don’t understand why this has to be so difficult… But in this case, I think I blame my coworker, LOL (you hear that, Jennie? :>>)—if she hadn’t tried to convince me this was for the best, I would have just taken everything to the tax office like the past five years and been done with it, not knowing anything different.

So, I can’t wait to see what happens…stay tuned.

Comedy of Errors

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So I got off work early (due to construction going on in our office) and figured it would be a good night to take dinner down to Rob and Cindy’s since I had extra time to fuss with it. (I have offered to have them down for dinner, but with their little one, it’s easier to eat down there. So sometimes, we take a meal down there.) So I called and left a message that I could bring down steak or chicken to grill, along with a side.

They called about 5pm and said that sounds good, but they have stuff to grill (brats and burgers), so just bring the side! And that’s where the comedy of errors really starts.

I had been planning on making candied yams to go with the steak/chicken, but that didn’t really seem like a suitable side for brats/burgers, so I went to the pantry to find something that would go better with that meal.

I thought “Oh, green bean casserole sounds good!” but of course I didn’t have all the ingredients (only one can of soup).

So then I thought “Oh, I will just take green beans and put cheese and bacon in them.” Except that the frozen green beans were a little freezer burnt and I won’t do that to friends.

So then I thought “Oh, I will make rice!” but by then I had wasted like 10 minutes trying to decide what I was making—and I was supposed to be there at 5:30—so I didn’t have time to make rice.

So it was back to the candied yams. I turned the oven on to preheat while I started reducing the sauce. I thought I smelled something burning/cooking, but there was nothing on the burner, so I didn’t think much about it. So five minutes later the oven beeps and I open the door and—OH. MY. GOD. I had left a cardboard box in there from my spa party the day before…and the edges were turning black and the plastic covering on the box was melting and there was a bit of smoke pouring out. So I grabbed it and threw it on the floor, had to grab tongs to get out a small piece of cardboard that was actually on the heating element, and then hurried to turn on all the fans and open the doors and windows—the last thing I needed was all the smoke detectors to go off! 88|

It all turned out okay, but it was not the experience I had anticipated!

The Saga About My Raise

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The short version is that last Friday, I was told that we would FINALLY discuss my raise/evaluation (which was technically due in November). As I predicted, they were too busy to get to me and other things got in the way—even after John said (around noon) “We haven’t forgotten about you. We will get to it this afternoon.” I know they’re busy, but to me, it sort of implies “We really don’t care that much and your raise isn’t important to us.”

The long version is really long—get ready.

So in the work world, you typically get a review and/or raise on your anniversary, right? You’d agree that’s commonplace? Okay, so on my one-year anniversary (which would be November 2005), nothing happens, nothing is said, no review, no raise, etc. Well, actually, John or Sue might have made some mention, but it was small (so much so that I obviously can’t remember), but I just thought/assumed that after the holidays Sue would get to it. Well, that is right about the time that things got crazy at Coldwell Banker and we were talking about moving and then we did move to the new office (March 2006). STILL nothing had been said about any raise—and we were already four months beyond my anniversary. I was ticked, to say the least. I mean, they kept telling me how great I was and how much they appreciated me—but they apparently couldn’t be bothered to give me a raise. (Now, I know they were busy—even crazy busy at times, especially with the opening of our own office—but you just don’t mess with someone’s raise.)

So one day while John and I were out shopping for the new office, it came up that I hadn’t received a raise. He was surprised, saying that he thought Sue had given me one back in November when it was due. Nope, nada, nothing. At that time, I made the comment that I sort of had an offer to go elsewhere (I hadn’t officially had an offer, but our good friend Roger had suggested that I might come work with him) but that they [John and Sue] had been good to me and I wanted to stay true to them. John appreciated me telling him that, and said he’d have a talk with Sue. A few days later I got that $2.50 raise. Since it was so much, I didn’t really feel I could complain about not having gotten it on/around my anniversary four months prior. (Of course, I still didn’t think it was what I was worth—but honestly, who ever does? 😉 ) But I was still thrilled with the raise.

Fast forward to November 2006, my second anniversary—technically only eight months since my last raise, but remember: my last raise was technically four months late. So, again, no review, no raise, no mention, nothing. Before I left on vacation, John did mention something about it, but of course nothing ever happened and then I was gone for three weeks. Upon my return, nothing was said FOR 2 WEEKS. Finally John brought it up or I mentioned it and he said he was “still working on her” because she feels that raises should now be based on WHEN WE OPENED THE NEW OFFICE, as opposed to WHEN I ACTUALLY STARTED. What the hell? He blathered on about how that’s just the way she thinks and she “just” gave me a raise in March! WHAT THE HELL? was my first thought. I mean, do they not remember that the March raise was technically the PREVIOUS NOVEMBER’S RAISE????? And he said…it’s easier for her to budget if the new girl and me are on the same schedule (which apparently means that the other girl will get her raise two months early, since she started two months after we opened) and something about tax-wise it’s easier and how she just has a hard time thinking about hourly wages because she’s so used to commission.

Needless to say I WAS PISSED. Now, I realize she doesn’t have to give me any raise at all, ever. But with how much they say they love me and how great I am and how they couldn’t live without me, you’d THINK they’d show a little more appreciation. John said something about “How would you feel about $12 an hour?” Yeah, great, that’s another $1.50/hour (a great raise in and of itself), but I think $12 is still SHIT for what I do for them. I joked that I could quit, charge them my regular fees for such things as design, website stuff, etc., and I’d be able to work half as much while making the same amount. They just DO NOT realize how much I do and how hard it would be to find someone who could COMPETENTLY do what I do if I ever left.

To add to this saga, whenever we get together with our friends, the conversation always ends up at real estate…and they ineveitably have to listen to me bitch. And as good friends, Roger (the agent I mentioned above) wants what’s best for me, so he is trying to help me get a raise—and he is the one who pointed out that since we left Coldwell Banker, we have TWICE as many listings (i.e. twice as much work for me)…meaning I should get a raise just for the fact that my workload has at least doubled. Add to that we now belong to three MLS boards (not just our local one) which means an additional 2x the amount of work on 2x the amount of listings as we used to have. The actual saga comes when I mentioned these facts to John, and happened to say that Roger was the one who actually pointed out that information out to me. Well, let’s just say there is NO love lost between the two…so right away, John thinks that Roger is trying to steal me away again and makes a comment to me [to the effect of] “I know how you play us against him.” WHAT? I did that once, and it was not really even playing one against the another—I was being honest and saying that someone else might offer to hire me and left it at that. (That said, I am not sure I could work for a friend—I mean, technically I could, but I would hate to chance ruining our friendship.)

So a week ago Friday I emailed everyone in the office to let them know I was going to be taking Thursday off (when Tom left). It was going to be unpaid, as I have no vacation left. (As a semi sidenote, Wendy and Jennie were completely AGHAST that Sue wasn’t going to give me the time off and I just shrugged it off—technically she doesn’t have to do anything, but I agreed it would have been a nice gesture.) So Wednesday afternoon, I think it was (maybe Tuesday), John emailed me to say that I could use my banked hours for Thursday and then have the remaining time off with pay…and that we’d talk about my raise Friday. Wow, I was completely surprised about the day off, and of course was geeked about my raise.

So, as mentioned earlier, Friday comes and goes with no raise. I did get a call at 8:30 that night (voicemail, actually!) saying “We just realized we forgot…we will do it Monday.” Again, making me feel extremely UNimportant.

And that’s the story.

As I was writing this post, it was 4:30 on Monday afternoon. I had actually written:

Stay tuned, I’m sure the meeting (whever it actually happens—it’s 4:30 today and it hasn’t happened yet) will be a doozy…

Then I got called into the office at about 4:35!

Long story short, I sat down, John basically said “How about $12 like we said?” and Sue said she did appreciate me, even though she doesn’t say it enough…and John agreed with her. We chatted a bit, and that was it! So I have a raise, effective immediately, and all future raises will be March 1.

Again, Wells Fargo ticks me off.

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So, I wanted to check my mortgage account information. I do have online bill pay set up, but full account information is NOT available through that account. I swear I had an account set up, but I can’t find logon info anywhere, and none of the “I forgot my username/password” links work because they can’t find my account. Of course, what makes matters worse is that I don’t know if the account is under Tom’s social or mine (or both) so I try a variety. I keep getting errors and then finally I get “We are unable to process your request without further information. Please call us at…”

So I call. After waiting on hold for at least 10 minutes, I give the guy my name and social and nope, he can’t find me. So I say it might be under hubby’s social and he immediately got snippy and said “Sorry, we can’t do that.” I totally understand the privacy issue, but told him my husband was deployed, I have a POA, and what do I need to do to gain access? He again says he can’t do anything, hubby has to do it, and suggested I have my husband call and put me on the account. I said that really was not a feasible option at this point, this can’t be the first time this has happened, what do I need to do to get online access? He tells me I could probably go to a local office, show ID and POA, but there’s nothing he can do for me. Which I guess I understand his hands are tied, but he was just waaaay too rude and snippy about it. I said “Are you sure there’s nothing you can do?” He then said “Well, I guess I could call the mortgage people and make sure.” Oh, you think? 🙄

So he puts me on hold for like three minutes, comes back and says “Here’s the number, I will transfer you.” I still have to go through all the voice prompts and entering of account numbers, and I was thinking “I thought you were going to transfer me to someone?” The gist of it? The mortgage department is closed on Sunday. Like the rep didn’t know that and couldn’t have told me that? GRRRRRRRRRRRR. >:(

I guess I will call our local Wells Fargo lady (she’s always in our office, know her pretty well) and see if she can help me. I have never had good experiences with any of the 800# reps—every time I have to call them I get ticked off.

Stupid government!

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Stupid $&#!@ government. First they tell us Tom’s leave date has been upped a week, due to leave on January 30. Then they rescind that almost immediately and say, no you will be leaving February 1. Why? You want to $&#!@ know why they added two measly days? Because if they left here on the 30th, they would get to the war zone on the 31st, and then they’d have to pay them FULL DEPLOYMENT PAY for the entire month. And that certainly isn’t going to happen if they have a choice in the matter—god forbid you give your marines a little bonus like that. GRRRRRR.

So, I found a new “diet” but…

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So, I found a new “diet” and got all excited about it—Oprah’s diet guru Bob Greene’s The Best Life Diet—and now I’m pissed.

Why?

On the show, I SWEAR Oprah said [something to the effect of] “Go to the [best life] site and sign up for free!” So today I ordered the book and just now I went to the website to sign up and…nope, not free. They want $20 a month or $150 a year for access to everything!

WHAT THE HELL?

Yes, I want to change my life, but I honestly wasn’t planning on forking out $150 up front—especially since that part was NOT mentioned on the show (I’m pretty damn sure I would remember that).

So, it either feels like “pony up the bucks to vastly improve my Diet experince and chance at success” or “I feel my health is not worth $4.50 a week.” >:(