Ancestor Obsessions

When I have a few free hours, and I sit down at the computer, I find myself being obsessed with finding information about my ancestors.  Sure, I have the usual names and dates born, dates died, but now I want more ....  like stories.  Finding out they did something interesting.   Mentions in a newspaper or article of some time.    I found one who was the President of the town's bank in 1919.   I found two different ancestors who have a patent.   And a bit of military folks as well.     And yet, I still want to find more!  

Found on Google:  Such deep obsession with ancestry (“progonoplexia”) is by no means a distinctly modern fad. Indeed, it goes back thousands of years to Hesiod’s Theogony and the Bible. Nor is it a peculiarly Western phenomenon, as evident from various forms of ancestor worship all over the world.  Over the past several decades, the range of Americans exhibiting interest in genealogy, for example, has clearly expanded “from those claiming descent from the Mayflower or from Southern aristocrats, to include the descendants of African slaves and immigrants.”

For instance, if your family has lived in the same village for a thousand years there's no reason to be curious about your heritage. It's all around you. Immigrants came to America to invent new lives for themselves, so a lot of times stories from the old country didn't get passed down to later generations.  And to me, that's a shame.  I want the old stories!

It's much too easy to spend hours researching data.  Good thing summer's here and I can't do much outdoors with Sadie!   I'm going to try and wrangle the hard data and weave in some written word to create a Family Tree story for future generations.

Or just for me.

I can't seem to help myself, I'm obsessed!

She's the One!

Today was the day.

It was my designated day to buy another car!  It wasn't in the plan to buy a brand NEW car, but that's exactly what I did!   Yikes!

I headed to the dealer at 9am (on my lunch hour!) and said I wanted to see their used 2016 Malibu I found online, and a new Chevy Cruze -- mostly to make comparisons.   As we tooled around the lot on a golf cart, there was a sea of Chevy Cruzes lined 3 deep against the fence.  There must have been 45 or 50 of them all lined up, ready to sell.  I started peeking at this one, that one, looking at the options.  I was certain I wanted a white one, with grey interior.  Most of the ones white had black interior, there were a few blue ones, again with black interior.  That must be the "new thing".  Too hot in the desert for me.  

And then I spotted one!   It didn't have the extra package of a moon roof and stuff.  It was the upgraded model, as I wanted to have cruise control.   (For those who love irony, there were several Cruze models without cruise control!)  The color is called "Iridium Grey Metallic".  There's a hint of gold metallic in the sunlight!  And, of course, it was the one at the end of the row, in the back.  Took three salesmen to move the cars in order to get this one out.    Yep.  That's me, that's how I roll!

We took a little cruise around the main block.  I put the first 5 miles on my new car :)  It drives like a dream, but boy, the tech available in these new cars is amazing!  OnStar of course, because it's GM, but 4G wifi?  and it links to my phone?  My phone now has an app for "find my car" ???  A bit more complex than the last cars I've purchased!

But it was totally fun!  (Except for haggling about the price and getting payments to where I need them!)   I have a good warranty package
and shouldn't have to pay for car repairs for a
few years.  That's a good load off my mind as well!

So I'm sitting here, happy about the new car - and dreading making payments again!  The guys at Earnhardt Chevrolet treated me right, and it wasn't as much of an ordeal as I imagined it in my mind! I had to turn in my rental car, and they even took care of that for me!
Thanks, Danny and the rest of the guys, for making this as pleasant as it gets. :)

Noise Sensitivity

As it all comes together, as my anxiety over buying a car rises, I found myself short tempered and irritable today.  But I also found that every little noise seemed to grate on those nerves even more.

For me, it was like the sound of nails on a chalkboard ... all day long!

So I started to do some digging on Google, because that's how I am, and because I wanted to know if it's only me.  Thank goodness it's not!

On EverdayHealth, I found an article that says  "One recently discovered consequence of this exhaustion is hypersensitivity to sound, when the noise level of a normal conversation can seem uncomfortably loud."   That was me to a Tee today!  Every person who came in my area to talk to me was like an irritant; I wanted to punch them and send them on their way!  It also said  "Research also points out a need to recognize the potential consequences of being overly sensitive to sound. Hypersensitivity to sound can be disabling for some people, forcing them to isolate themselves and to avoid stressful situations."    Mmm hmm, totally relate.  Closing my door and just doing my work, with no interruptions is how I wished my day would go!  (As I think about it, Tuesdays and Fridays are especially stressful in that way because the main printer is in my work space, and more than a dozen people come and go all day long, picking up printouts. )

It's odd that I don't find the noises of machines operating to get on my nerves as much as it's other people's habits:  talking incessantly, scuffling their shoes as they walk (instead of actual walking) are two major irritants.  Another that popped up recently, a co-worker carries a pen and constantly 'clicks' it kachick kachick kachick as she stands there, waiting for someone to respond to her question.  Totally on my nerves recently!  (altho I confess, I do that at times, too! )

I'm not sure how other people get over this kind of problem.  I find that isolating myself is a good start.  When I get home from work, I might put the TV on to a soft music selection.  (There's a show on Netflix called "Moving Art" .... flowing images with soft instrumental music .... it often does the trick!)  I think that there are two other major things to help adjust for this:  a little deep breathing to calm the stressors and getting some extra rest to combat the emotional exhaustion I've had lately.

Over the past weekend, it seemed like every time I sat down, I was falling asleep.  That's an obvious signal that there's something going on, and attention is needed in this area.  My solution?  Crawl into bed and take a short nap.  Not sure if it's a good thing, but it was needed!

So if you're finding yourself feeling irritable or grouchy like I was today,
check around you, see if you're being hypersensitive to noises around you.
And if you are, see which ones you can eliminate!

Music Moves Ya

When it comes to music, I'm the type of person who mentally attaches music to an event, a part of life, a piece of history even.  When certain songs play, I'm transported back to whatever memory it triggers.  Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes it's poignant, and sometimes it makes me downright sad.

Today, I was scrolling around in my mp3's looking for something instrumental to attach to a slide show I'm creating for my mom, and came across a song that brings up one of those sad and poignant memories.

It's a song called "Spiritual", guitars played by Pat Methany and Charlie Haden, an album called Beyond the Missouri Sky.  For me, it's a particular memory associated with a person who means a lot to me.  We've never met in person, but I've always felt as if he's the lost half of me in so many ways.  Definitely one of those people who understands me, who took time to get to know me beyond what I normally allow people to see.   I'm not one to share a lot of myself with anyone, why put in the time if the person isn't going to be a part of my life for a long period of time?  There are sides of me that very few people see.  And that's ok.  

When this song started playing, I immediately felt a tug of the heartstrings, for things that never happened, never will.  That never meant I didn't want it to, but reality stepped in and said otherwise.

Maybe that's the Universe diverting us
because it wouldn't have worked.
We all have a part of our life that didn't go as planned,
and when that memory springs up, we're sad.

If there's ever a day that we meet,
this song will be playing in my head, in my heart.

Money Issues, Positive Thoughts

Here it is, Saturday evening.  I had to go to the dealership today to get my things out of my car.  I think I got everything, but the old sheets in there ... didn't take them.  And forgot my license plate.  ugh.   After, I wandered the new and used car lot, and got really depressed.

I tried an app at my bank to see how much car loan I qualify for.  and a 14k loan, at 60 months would be a payment of $261.  More than I wanted to spend per month, and 14k won't get me much of a car.  If I go with a new car, I might be able to get 72 months, so the payment would be less, but the overall price would be more, so am I gaining?  How do other folks deal with this kind of thing?

Making it month by month is going to be difficult.  It'll be back to PBJ sammiches for lunch, and tuna casserole for dinners.  I always assumed that having my own house, I'd be in a better place when it comes to finances.  But here it is, back to paycheck-to-paycheck.

One positive:  the car would be paid off before I turn 65.  I got a kick out of my son; when I told him that he said "I thought you had 15-20 more years til then!"   awwwwww .... :)

Another positive for a new car would be warranty coverage for a while, no repairs.  Along with no tires needed for a couple years.

If I go with something smaller, more economical, I might save $ at the gas pump as well.

So here I sit, trying to conjure positive thoughts, buying a new car should feel exciting!
But at my age, a car isn't the same symbol of freedom it was at 18, it's just a convenience that gets me from point A to point B.

Ahh the joys of aging gracefully makes one too practical to enjoy frivolous things!

Shopping?? UGH

Well.  Today I got the bad news.  Because of the age of my car, and the damages to it, the insurance company is totalling it.   So now it looks like I'll be shopping for some kind of new/used car.  Not sure what I'll be wanting ....  the easiest thing would be to get another Impala like I have, only newer.  I'm OK with the Mazda I'm driving, but it seems on the small side.  I'm not a tiny gal, I like having room in my vehicle!

The issue is going to be coming up with some kind of down payment.  I know the basic amount the insurance company is going to give me for my car (around $5500) and that'll be my down payment, but until I have that in hand, how can I shop for a car?  This is all new to me, a whole new experience for sure.  Online I found a sweet deal, what seems to be the right price, on something similar to what I had.  If memory and calculations are correct based on simple internet math, the payment would be do-able for me.  A stretch at times, but do-able.

Now it's just a matter of .... knowing which steps to take and when.
In the meantime, I'm in a rental car ......

Bad Stuff Happens

Bad stuff happens.  Even to good people.  You can do everything right, but sometimes things go wrong.  And you have to find a way to move on, to move past it, and put things on track again.

I know that I'm mad as hell at the man who hit me.  Not because of the accident, but because he chose to drive without insurance even though it's the law.  And I also know that holding on to the mad, to the hurt, will only hurt me.  He doesn't know; and probably doesn't care.

So I was Googling around and found a few things to comment on:   "...try to remind yourself that hanging on to these negative emotions only harms you in the end. No amount of anger will undo what happened. Acknowledge your feelings. Then, look within for the compassion to forgive those who harmed you and the strength to let go."   That's good advice in most situations.  The anger we're feeling doesn't have a positive effect.   Except in one instance:  when I feel a bit of angry rise up, I know I have to get rid of it, so I usually do that in a productive way.   If I'm cleaning my house like a madwoman, hellbent on spit 'n shine surfaces, my kids learned to stay away for a bit!  I've felt myself doing that at work, and it can be a good thing, focusing the anger on getting things accomplished.  I usually feel better afterward; the physicality of it helps the mad, and the end result of a job accomplished really puts a positive spin on things for me :)

Forgiving and forgetting are important parts of moving past bad experiences as well.  I'm not sure I'm ready for this step just yet, but soon.  Accidents happen, they're a part of life.  Unfortunately, his choice of driving without insurance will have quite an impact on my life.  I did the responsible thing, I paid my insurance premiums on time, every month, year after year.  And some Yahoo chooses not to;  I'm hoping the law throws the book at him.  But in my experience, I'm betting the cost of his ticket is less than I've paid for my insurance premiums for a year.

Perhaps it's time to consider tougher laws.   Shouldn't the cost of breaking this particular law be at least equal to a year's worth of insurance payments??   Stiffer penalties for law breakers!   At the very least, the first offense fine should be equal to a year's worth of insurance payments.  As it is, even though I have insurance, that I followed all the laws, it's going to cost me over $3000 by the time this is finished.   And I still have to pay my insurance premiums every month!

Debts

I swear, I think the Universe conspires against me any time I get my debt into manageable territory - meaning it's only a few months away from being all paid off!  And then I get this accident.

The bad news is my deductible is $2500.
And the rental car is on my dime, as well.

The insurance company says they'll try and "go after" the guy who hit me, but I'm guessing I won't see a dime.

Gotta let it go and move on.
But it ain't easy!

It'll take another huge chunk of time
to pay off another $3k in debt!

*sigh*


The good news is I woke up and wasn't feeling any ill effects from the accident, other than the normal nerves.  The thought of getting behind
the wheel this morning threw me off my game
for a bit, made me physically sick for a bit, but
I sucked it down, pulled up my Big Girl Panties
and hit the road for work.

Dropped the car off at the dealership to get an estimate.  Walked almost a mile to the Enterprise location to get a rental car.  Yeah, they offered to pick me up, but I decided I needed to walk off the mad.  lol   I was back at work in under an hour!   For once, that part all worked out :)

I'm in a black on black Mazda3 with bucket seats and a smallish racing style steering wheel; it feels odd to drive but I'm getting the hang of it.  The hardest thing is the key fob.  I usually wear mine clipped to my belt loop, but this one's too big!

Now we wait to see the estimate $$ and how long it's going to take them. With luck, I can be back in my car in 10 days!

Accident!

Monday.  Ugh.  Well, it wasn't all bad, normal kind of work day, no major struggles, but the day dragged on.  I left exactly on time today because I wanted to be home on time, and get back to some normal routines.

But the Universe had other plans.

Sliding along with traffic at around 30mph, there's a light up ahead, 5 or 6 cars up, the light is still green, everyone is still moving, and this ass hat rear ends me!  Stuff goes flying, my phone was sitting in the door handle slot and found it's way to the back seat floor.  My purse flew off the passenger seat, and the lid to my McDonald's cup flipped off and of course, Diet Coke sloshes everywhere.

After he hit me, my foot must have been on the gas because the engine revved, the back end of the guy in front of me got closer, and I slammed on the brakes, pulled over to the right, and stopped.  The other guy's air bags deployed, he got some kind of major radiator leak.  A good Samaritan following the other guy stopped to give his statement to police; he'd observed the guy weaving in and out of lanes.  

Fire truck shows up, two police officers show up, I'm fine, but the fireman moved my car from the street into the driveway of an assisted living facility to get us out of traffic.   The guy who hit me gives me his name, number and email -- of course he has no insurance :(

Trunk lid crumpled, bumper gone, driver side tail light and quarter panel to be repaired.  Repairs are no big deal, I'm betting I have a deductible to pay, along with a rental car.  *shaking my head*  it's so sad that the penalties aren't stiffer for driving without insurance!  First offense is less than 4 month's worth of insurance payments for me.  wtf.

Officer gave me the case number, and details he'd taken.  He also told me the other guy's plates don't match the vehicle.  Great.

Can't dwell, just moving on.

Growing Old

When I was starting out in my working "career", I had the usual kid type jobs:  I worked in a Danish Deli on weekends, and during summer break.  I worked for a radiation detection firm (they processed films that measured radiation levels on nurses, etc).  But my first long term job was with Clarklift of San Jose.  They were a forklift dealership - much like a car dealership, we sold and repaired forklifts.  I worked in the service department, doing billing, filing, that sort of thing.  It was an interesting place to work; I was the only female, and there were about 20 mechanics.  Some worked in the shop, others drove vans to get to customers' businesses to repair their forklifts.  Being young, and the only female, I looked on these guys as the older brothers I never had!   And they treated me like a younger sister, and always watched out for me.

As a group, many of them went out to 4th Street Bowl and hung out in the bar most Thursday nights.   When I turned 21, I started joining them.  We jokingly called it "choir practice".  Not sure where that came from, but it's what we did.  Tipping back a few beers, the boys would talk about the jobs they'd had that day.  It was a fun way of sharing information, even a little teaching and training happened when they compared notes on how to fix this or that.  A great sense of camaraderie was created.  Even the boss would join us on occasion.  Since "choir practice" started just after 4pm, it wasn't always easy to last all the way into the evening hours.  At 9pm there would be a DJ and we'd do some dancing.  The boys introduced me to rum and coke, and Long Island Iced Tea.  mmmmm.  But mostly we'd drink beer.

The one thing that stands out the most is what they taught me:  If you're gonna go out and drink with the boys, you can't be a sissy and call off work the next day.    lol

I've thought about each and every one of them over the years since I left.  (I was there from 1978 to 1998).  That's a long time to "grow up" with these men.   Summer picnics and Christmas Parties, where the wives and family were invited, I watched all of their kids grow up.   These men were a special part of my life for 20+ years.   The boss, Ed Show, was like a favorite uncle to me, he was smart and advised me on many things in my career and in my life.  Even after we'd both left the company, we stayed in contact with cards and letters.   Sadly, he died November 11, 2012.

His son, Grant, went into show business, starring in Ryan's Hope and Melrose Place.  He's been in several movies and TV shows, including Grey's Anatomy.  As he ages, he looks more like his father, and has his smile :)

Today, I discovered that another one of these special men died as well; Roger Tauscher in August 2016.   Roger was a quiet gentle giant in my mind.  He was so easy going, the kind of big brother every girl wants in her life!

I know that getting older means more and more people I know have died.  I think it feels so shocking because while our chronological/biological ages are ticking by, in our minds we're still young.  I know there are days when I feel as if I'm still in my late 30s or early 40s.  (and then I try to crawl out of bed after a busy day and I know that I'm not.... lol)

Here's to remembering all the good times at 4th Street Bowl, at Clarklift of San Jose, and all my wonderful "big brothers"  !!

This is ...Tired!

After two extremely busy-at-work weeks, I came home tired Friday night.

I slept all night, slept in the next morning (a total of 9 hours sleep)
after doing chores, I took a 2 hour nap.
by 6:30pm I was yawning, and by 7:30pm I was asleep
After sleeping all night again (another 9+ hours)
I find I can hardly stay awake and took a 30 minute nap,
got my groceries and took another 45 minute nap.

It seems like every time I sit down, I'm napping!

now THAT's tired!!

Red Flannel

When you hear "red flannel", what comes to mind?
The typical man's shirt?  the Christmas holidays?

For me, it means my "blankie".  And that's a laughable term coming from an old Gal!  But yes, I have a red flannel "blankie".  I've had it since the early 90s, and it's been patched and sewed back together many times!  It's been washed so many times that it weighs half what it did when it was new!   But there's nothing better than a cold winter night snuggled under a flannel blanket.   And that's why I originally purchased this one.

It was a harsh winter, colder than normal temps in the San Jose, Calif, and my bedroom was in the back of the house, upstairs.  It had no heating unit up there, and typical of old school add-ons it was short on electrical outlets as well.  So another blanket on the bed made sense!

Over time, this blanket became important to me.  When my marriage was in trouble, I had trouble sleeping.  I would snag this blanket off the bed and wrap it around me, and sit on the couch downstairs while my brain contemplated our problems and tried to come up with solutions.  When things were heated, at their worst, I would sneak down with my blanket, and cry.  My blanket kept me warm, wrapped itself around me, dried my tears, and if it could talk, could tell you some stories!

It moved with me from California, to Ohio, to Arizona.  In Ohio, it kept me warm on snowy days, wrapped up in it, sipping hot chocolate and watching old movies.  It was on my bed every winter for nearly 25 years, and has been the perfect blanket for me.  (Wait, 25 years? I'm getting OLD!)

But it's usefulness isn't what it used to be.  Every tug in the middle of the night to pull it up over me, I could hear it tearing into more pieces.  There's just not enough of it left to sew back together and keep it a full sized blanket any more.  I purchased another flannel one, in greys this time, because I realized that it's time to give up my "blankie".   But it ain't easy!   Getting over the past, getting past the hurts, all happened with time.  And now, after 9 years in Arizona, it's time to let another piece of my history go.  I'm sure my daughter would tell me "Mom, get rid of this ol' thing!"  but it isn't easy when it's always been there for you.  

Goodbye, Red Flannel Blankie! 

Busy Life, Busy Gal

As the World Turns .... an old soap opera ... but sometimes life can feel like a soap opera!  Or is it that soap operas began by imitating life?

Either way, life's been busy for this ol' Gal.  Mom and sis flew down for a visit with my Aunt Marge.  Both my sis and aunt have cancer.  Sis is fighting it with chemo, my aunt has decided that she's lived 81 good years, she's not going to try chemo.  But it's affecting her, and she gets tired easily now, and she's losing her appetite.   So a quick trip was needed!

Sis is doing well, tolerating the chemo really well, and nothing is growing or spreading as of the latest scans.  Sounds like a plus in my book for now :)  So we're happy with that.

Mom and sis stayed at my house, a FIRST!  because my aunt has a bigger house, more rooms, they usually stay there, but aunt had other company come in as well.  My mom's other sister flew in as a surprise, so the three of them spent days together, laughing it up, remembering old days, and reconnecting again.  Such a joy to see them all together!  I was happy to be able to squeeze in a long afternoon with them, even though work was incredibly busy this week.

We're doing inventory at my BigBox store, which means a crew of about 40 people come in and yes, they physically count every piece of merchandise in the store.  There's always a goal in mind of what the final tally should come up to, dollar wise, and anything short of that is NOT a good thing.  We fell short, and life at work just became that much more difficult.  Again.  I think the major issue in my particular BigBox store is a lack of training, quality time between managers and folks who work in each department.  You can't just say "here, go do this" without someone having an understanding of why they're doing something, and what makes that task important in the bigger picture.  When a team micro-manages their employees and doesn't share reasons behind the scenes ... it's a recipe for failure in my book.

I've been in retail for 16 years now, and when I look back at my first couple of years, I know there were things I didn't do correctly because I didn't understand.  Yes, I'd worked for another company and we did inventory every year as well, so that part I comprehended.  In retail, it's a little bit different, but it's still counting and adding up to the big nut.  Failure to meet the numbers means that we'll have audits from outside folks in our building, asking questions about how we do things.  And of course, changes will be made as well.  I hate those the worst!

Being busy at work means micro-managing my own life, as well.  Poor Sadie has been stuck at home more days than she likes, but it's as it has to be.  Rebellion is her nature, and she shows me her displeasure in a little pile by the door on a daily basis!  Thank goodness for tile floors and throw away rugs!  Can't wait to be back to normal for her as well as my own sake!

Just before mom came, we had 36mph winds, and it knocked all the palm fronds out of my tree!  It took me several hours to stack and tie them into bundles of about 8 fronds, then arranged with the city to have them picked up, for a charge of $22.  Not bad!  At least they're gone.  They were stinky, because of the birds who live up in that tree .....  'nuff said.  All cleaned up now, though, and I'm happy for that! 

Even though my life is busy, crazy and hectic, I still try to make time to enjoy mother nature's little miracles!  I love the little cactus blooms that happen in my yard!

DIY Daddy's Girl

Sometimes you just feel like you gotta share parts of you that some might not know about.  I'm the eldest child, and was a daddy's girl, but not in the stereotypical way.  I was more the tomboy kind.  I wanted to do everything Dad did.  When we moved into our house in 1966, we needed to put on a new roof at some point.  I think I was like 14 years old, and there I would be, up on the roof, pounding nails with my dad.

My dad could fix, work on, figure out just about anything.  And make it work right again.  I inherited that part of him.  I also inherited my mom's dislike of being wasteful.  If something is still useful, she'll keep it and find a way to use it ... eventually.   Take that combination and it makes for a very .... different kind of gal in our society who likes to "use it once, throw it away, buy another if I need one again".

This is my new computer desk.  I repurposed an old entertainment center, utilizing the top as the desk, and cutting up the sides, putting it all together to make something that I can actually use.  My old desk was one of those cheap self-assembly kind from a BigBox store.  I'd taken it apart and reassembled it twice in the past.  It was 10+ years old, I think I got all the use I could get out of it.  I ended up buying an rolling file cabinet that slides right underneath, because having a desk without a drawer or two wouldn't work for me.  I added two shelves above the desk to hold computer speakers, a couple books and the usual loose items a desktop often collects.

That's me.  The fix-it gal.  There's always something I'm doing, taking apart, rebuilding.  My son's bed is a platform bed that my father built when we moved to Arizona.  But now that he's moved out, I needed the platform to fit a double bed, not a single.  So I disassembled, cut, refinagled, bought a new piece of wood for the top and reassembled it to work for me.  Then I bought industrial pipe and created a bookshelf.  Looks awesome, in my opinion!

For another project, I collected old pallets from my BigBox store, took them apart, picked out the neatest looking boards, did some staining, painting, a mix of different things and created a headboard as well.

Sometimes, I tell myself that it's time to STOP thinking up projects!  But I'm a DIY kind of person, and it doesn't seem to stop :)

so thanks, Dad, for teaching me how to be hands on, how to think outside the box, how to do something with what I have!!

Fri-i-i-i-day!

Prepping for inventory in a BigBox store = H. E. L. L.
Especially if you're one of those 'key player' types.
And I am.

Overtime was "no problem" to them --- but heck!  I don't really want it!  I keep my hourly position because I enjoy going home at the end of an 8 hour shift!   But not this week.   My week ended Friday at 2pm ... and I had a whopping 8.5 hours of overtime this week.  UGH.   I mean, frankly, I could have stayed home today and been ahead of the game for me.  Just not for work.  I was needed, and so I stayed, getting last minute things done.

It will be difficult to get through the next several days.  And probably more OT.  There are things I need to do, but I'm struggling and juggling work and home.

My mom and sis will be in town for three days visiting my Aunt, who has cancer.  She opted for no treatment, which means her time given was "3-6 months".  Doctors, they're pretty smart when it comes to making those predictions, but they're no match for a person with a positive attitude and a reason for hanging around longer!!  And I'm expecting that's what my Aunt will do.  She's 81, has always been full of life, and at the same time, very realistic and pragmatic.  We've always gotten along, and in the past three years, we have taken many trips to Calif together.  She's been an important force in my life!

My sis continues to do well with the chemo treatments that are working for her, too.  Rather than every two weeks, she has her visits every 3 weeks, which gives her body time to heal in between rounds.  I'm proud of how she continues to live life to the fullest, even when her body isn't operating at its peak!  She's tough ... just like my Dad!

Just past 5pm, and I think we broke heat records today:   106!  *whew*   That called for a stop for pizza, no way was I going to cook, too!  Now I'm ready for some serious sleep ... maybe with the help of a little Zzzzquil!

Happy Weekend, everyone :)

Capital One

The world is run by several huge corporations, and we just have to go along with whatever their policies dictate, as just a number on an account in most instances.  I know back in the 80s when I worked an Accounts Receivable desk, it was our job to call and make sure payments are being made.  I think this world of automation and digitization is awesome in many instances, making our lives easier in so many ways.

But what's lost in the translation is good customer service.

I have an account with CapitalOne .... like so many do, "What's in your wallet?" as they say.  Well, I had mine.  I've been a long time customer with them, at one point owed them about $8000, give or take.  And I came back from that battle, paid off the account.  In fact, if I check my records, I think I overpaid, and they sent me a refund check.

I haven't used the card in ages, but to my own forgetful mind, it may be an account that something uses as an "autopay".  Which is ok, I like that feature.  This became a problem recently for me, however, in that a charge was put on this account, and I haven't received a statement via snail mail or email.  When I learned that I'd been turned into collections for a mere $146, I immediately tried to log in to my account to see what the matter was, see what the charge was for.  They've turned off my services.  I tried calling their Customer Service line, and was immediately put through to their Credit Collections agency.  There isn't even a way to call and ASK what this matter is all about.

Yeah, I'm a little pissed off.  I mean, it's one thing if it's for something that I truly owe on and made some sort of mistake in my own accountability for a debt, but I can't even verify the charge, there's not a person to call, just a place to make a phone payment, or snail mail payment.

In the end, I just paid off the amount, and wrote a Dear President letter.

I don't expect a response, I'm sure he has better things to do with his time than to make sure a customer is satisfied with any sense of customer service.

Even in this modern day digitized world, a little customer service is due to each of us.  Afterall, without customers, where would big corporations be?????

Signed:
Just a Number