Psychotomy

Last week I was reading Patricia Briggs’ “Moon Called“, first of the Mercedes Thompson novels.

Someone at the office saw me reading it while I was microwaving a burrito, looked at the cover, and said “are you reading it because of the hot girl on the cover?  yow!”

I mean, they seriously made a “yow” sound.  Hello, it’s not a penthouse novel or something, folks, it’s a freaking scifi fantasy novel.

Now, I realize that some of the authors out there ARE that kind of book, but that’s not really the kind of comment I’d expect people to make with someone they’re not friendly with.

But seriously?  Last time I remember a stupid comment like this, I was in high school reading Isaac Asimov’s “Second Foundation” with Arkady Darrel on the cover.

And when I said something about her being a teenaged girl, the response was more along the lines of “hubba hubba” than anything else.

This just supports my theory that people are idiots.

Posted in: general by attriel /
No Comments

So, one of the things I tend to do while I’m walking to/from the office is I read.  I studied for my exams that way, reading the whole certification guide piece at a time as I walked every day.

Right now I’m reading random fiction, but I still read it as I walk the 3-4 blocks to my office.  And when I need a break from a problem, I’ll take my book out and walk around the interior of the building for 5-10 minutes reading and thinking.

I get so many comments about how I’m reading while I’m walking.

“How do you see where you’re going?” “Aren’t you afraid of falling down?” Last week it was “Just because most people are out for the holiday, you think you can walk through the halls and read?”

Then there’s the people who are not only SHOCKED and ASTOUNDED by my magical abilities, they also feel the need to point out the sideshow attraction to other people.  ”Hey, did you know he reads while he’s walking?  Isn’t that incredible?  It’s so weird!”

How have these people muddled past natural selection?  Shouldn’t they be hurting themselves every time they answer their cell phones?  Get lost in thought and forget to start again?

Seriously, people.  It’s a book.  Words, paper.  You know.

Posted in: general by attriel /
No Comments

So, I have a phrase at the office …

See, whenever I make popcorn, the guy who sits in the next cube back makes comments about how evil it is that I’m not sharing.

And admittedly whenever someone else make popcorn, you always immediately want some, so it is kindof rude.

Today another coworker and I were talking while I nuked the corn, and I made my comment and she laughed and said she wanted it on a t-shirt.  Then we decided, since we can’t WEAR t-shirts at work, a nice golf/polo would be good.  A good dark color, like black, and then maybe pink lettering.

Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.  Hate me because I’m Evil!!

Posted in: general by attriel /
No Comments

Last weekend we drove out to Pittsburgh for one of my oldest friend’s weddings.  On the way home I noticed a couple times where I wasn’t sure if the car was acting up.  Specifically, Pennsylvania seems to be the Construction State, everything had almost permanent Road Work Area signs.

When we got home, I looked and one of the front tires looked a little low, and I figured the others might could use a top-off too.  This morning I did that step.

Turns out the “other three” were at 20psi.  The one that looked a bit low was 15.  Recommended 28-32.  Yeah, no wonder there seemed to be a few places that it didn’t seem to be handling <em>quite</em> right … no wonder my mother-in-law decided it was a death trap that she’s not willing to let her poor defenseless grandchildren gallivant around the east coast in for Thanksgiving.

I put them all back to ~30ish.  I felt bad for the guy who was waiting for the air pump, although I suppose the air portion was only about 1s/psi, the rest of the time was me moving the hose and removing/replacing the caps.  But still.  That’;s a lotta missing air.  I had enough for two tires to be right :o

Posted in: general by attriel /
No Comments

So, I had that draft sitting around since the Car Rental post.  But like the car rental story, I didn’t want to post about it until it was resolved.  Now it’s been resolved.  Twice.

About two weeks ago, we got the note in the mail from BGE.  They had looked at our bill and our usage, and their records show that the numbers on the bill were correct and accurately represented usage …

To verify this, take the reading from your meter.  You should find that it is higher than the number listed on the bill, showing continued usage.

Should?  If you’ve checked and verified and it’s all accurate … it pretty much HAS to read higher.  Because otherwise you’re wrong, ya?

Except, of course, I had the number from the bill, the number from that first weekend.  I went out and got the number that evening.

I even took the camera outside the next morning and got a couple digital pics of it, SHOWING that it doens’t say what they said it did.  Then I emailed their contact address and referenced their note and inquiry #, and attached the pics.  I basically explained to them that it’s pretty clear someone wrote down a 4 and it got read later as a 9.  Thats’ all it was.  Simple.

They called a few days later and talked to Kiir.  apparently the reader guy took the numbers off our neighbors meter accidentally.  Uh-huh.  They just HAPPEN to be 5k up from us, almost exactly?  And, what happened to verified and accurate?  yeaaah.

Anyway, they cancelled out our bill (so we “owe” 0$), and we’ll just get charged from the July reading through to “current reading” when they take that number … Saturday?

I sent the check for what we should owe, approximately, anyway.  That way I don’t have to worry about double-whammy next month.

(NTS:  I should take a reading saturday …)

Posted in: general by attriel /
No Comments

The electric bill came in for July.

Average usage for June 09: 60kWh/day

Average usage for July 08: 70 kWh/day

Average usage for July 09: 225 kWh/day

Uh, wait, what?  1000$?  WHAT???

So I called on friday night after getting the bill, and the first reaction was “well, I don’t know how efficient your air conditioner is, and with the high temperatures” … average temp for the month? 75.  And we were out of town for a week.  ”Well, can you look at your meter?”  Turns out it’s in the back, so, no, not so much.

Looked Saturday morning.  Looks like someone wrote a 9 instead of a 4.  Or read, whatever.  Call again, first reaction? “Well, thats what the bill says, you must have used that much.” followed by “call back during regular business hours, M-F 9-5.  go away now”

MONDAY I called back around 10ish.  First reaction? “What’s your thermostat set to?  Could you raise it?”  *sigh* But this lady at least also made a comment about how much of a jump it was.  Then she asked if I wanted to have her put a request in for High Bill Investigation.  Uh, yes?  Duh?  ”OK, they should be in contact with you within 21 days” … what do I do in the meantime, because I am TOTALLY not paying a 1000$ bill!  Turns out I don’t HAVE to pay anythign right now, my account is on hold “under investigation” but I should pay something for good faith.  Or so I don’t have double payment next month.  Or something.  Makes sense, I can send what I should be owing.

But seriously?  I got two brush offs, and in the end all she had to do was mark it for investigation???  Also, 60 to 225 kWh, and this doesn’t trigger any auto monitors??  SERIOUSLY?  I’m not even sure that I can RUN 225kWh through the house in a day.  that’s 9kWh/h, and while I’m not clear on how to do the math to figure out everything, I’m fairly sure that’s a lot :o

Oi.

Posted in: general by attriel /
No Comments

This actually happened back around the 4th when we went to atlanta, but I didn’t want to post about it until it was resolved.

So, I rented a car through HotWire, 3 days for 100$ not a bad price.  It said to have money for a security deposit with the rental company, no problem.

Except (a) my paycheck wouldn’t clear until the morning, and (b) I couldn’t find the travel card.  Oops.  But I grabbed another, figured I’d use it.

Turns out they wanted at least 200$ deposit.  For the 100$ rental.  Turns out the card I grabbed only had ~125$.  So after some back and forth with them (‘It’s a prepaid rental!’ ‘We don’t get any money for the car’ … fairly sure THAT was wrong, or they wouldn’t let me have a car even WITH a deposit :o)  When I asked about feasibility on a smaller deposit, I was informed that “some rental companies require 400 or 500$” … how does that make 200$ better?

Got the car through another place (no deposit, just the rental fee, woah) and called HotWire to let them know I couldn’t get the car.  No changes, no refunds.  Except in this case I’m not asking to cancel, I’m asking because the company wouldn’t let me have the prepaid car :o  Which is actually covered .  Except no one was answering the phone at the rental.

Two weeks ago I called again to find out the status, since it was supposed to go to the “research and validation” team or something.  Turns out no one had been answering the phone.  So the guy I was talkign to called, and no one who could talk to him was available.  So maybe people had answered the phone in between, just not useful people.

Last week I got an email, credit for the failed rental.  Yay!  Finally!

Then I turned around and rented a hotel with the money for a wedding we’re going to :)

Posted in: general by attriel /
No Comments

So, as we’re going to bed last night, kiir reads me a selection from her book. One character was griping about getting granddad a computer. “I figured he’d use it to look up senior porn or something, instead he keeps emailing me!!!”

This led to us joking about “We are 81!” and “Barely Living” (BTW , anyone else notice that motel tvs are always showing these adverts when you get in and want to put something on while you eat your late dinner before sleeping?)

Then she complained because now she had images of “zombie porn” in her head (barely living) … and THAT led to a discussion of whether zombie porn is zombies in pinup poses, or hot ganglion-on-ganglion…

And this is going to lead to the worst searches coming here, i just know it …

Posted in: general by attriel /
2 Comments

So, after I got dk down, i got up to take K out and figured I’d move to the big bed with kiir.

an hour later, i’m in the living room posting this because i’m having trouble getting back to sleep. and since they’e both asleep, I don’t want to be tossing and turning in either bed waking someone up.

and the worst part is that K probably would have been fine if I hadn’t gotten up to take him out, but I figured he’d wake up early if he didn’t get to go before bed. how was i to know i’d prefer early :/

Posted in: general by attriel /
No Comments

So, Thursday evening I flew down to Atlanta to meet up with Kiir and the kids at her parents. The fun of getting there is a different post.

As I was driving away from the airport after getting to atlanta, ~700 miles from home, I suddenly realize that I left my happy pills at home. My anti-depressents are, in fact, sitting on the shelf where I keep them away from DK. I only think of them when I take it in the evening. Just before going up for bed, I pour a glass of milk and take my pill.

So, Friday morning I call the psychiatrists office to ask about how to handle it, they say to talk to the pharmacy, they’ll fax up a request for approval, a doctor will sign off, i’ll get a few pills to catch me through until monday.

11am we hit the pharmacy, give them the information, and grab a few things mom needed at the grocery. Then we went to see if it was up yet (they’d said ~15 minutes). They hadn’t heard back from the dr’s office (I’m stunned, they’re always so prompt!!!) So we went about our business, they said they’d call when it was ready.

~4pm after we’d been swimming, I checked and I had no missed calls, no voicemail, nada. So I call the dr’s office. Since I know in the past they’ve ignored paperwork for days on end.

“I just faxed that back”
“Oh, great, thanks”
“We don’t have a followup scheduled”
“OK, I’ll call about that when I get home from vacation?”
“The doctor won’t approve it until there’s a followup scheduled”
“Uh, OK, is he in X?”
“No, he’s here Y”
“OK, 9am?”
“9:15?”
“Whatever, sure. So he’ll sign it off now?”
“Well, I’ll put it on his pile. When he gets in Monday he’ll look at it:

…

“What do I do in the meantime?”
“*shrug*”
“What should I do for my antidepressants until Monday?”
“*shrug*”
“When I called earlier, I was told another doctor could sign off for it so I could get the pills this weekend when I need them”
“Oh, I suppose I could give it to AA”

Gee thanks lady. Don’t hurt yourslef. I’d hate to think I caused you an inconvenience.

Luckily, I didn’t. AFAICT, AA never did anything with the file. At least, the pharmacy had only gotten the “bugger off” notice when I talked to them ~4:30. At which point the office had turned off it’s phones and their message said “If this is an emergency, bugger off and call 911. Otherwise, just bugger off”

Good thing it wasn’t anything worrisome. Oh, wait.

Posted in: general by attriel /
1 Comment