Flippy - I Rant, You Read
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
evening
The Annoying Things List
Life has been full of so many little annoying things that are adding up to become big annoying things. Let’s just make a list and then try solve them all tomorrow and then pretend like they never happened. The only trail left behind will be the semi-large money trail.
1. Took the car in on Friday for various checks and problems. Mostly, at first, I needed a smog check to get the car registered. But then, the oil change light went on. Then, right afterwards, something started leaking. Then, immediately thereafter, the air conditioning no longer had cold air. Being in Las Vegas, that’s a problem. So, back to Friday. The dealer said we could probably have the car back to you on Saturday. I figure, one night without the car, that shouldn’t be a problem. If it’s two, then I can still deal. So, I get a call early Saturday morning. Five hundred things are wrong with the car, but my warranty at least covers the air. That’ll be $762, please. Fine, whatever, it needs to be done. They hope to have the car back to me later. No one ever calls back. I call...and they close at 1p. And lovely, they’re closed on Sundays. So, that means Monday. Right? Right!? I call Monday afternoon and find out that the replacement condenser they ordered was cracked. Also, they don’t have a loaner. We’re running out of food, we’re tired of pizza, Cricket needs her fancy shot for her knee, Phoenix needs a pill refill. I need a car. I think I’m being fairly reasonable considering I was told maybe Saturday. So, for sure this morning. This morning, right? Okay, I don’t even hear back from him this morning. I call this afternoon. He says we’ve finished everything but the smog. I said, “Cool, the smog is quick, right?” He tells me, “Usually, but I’m having trouble with our smog check machine.” Ugh. Geez. Anyway, I finally get the car back at around 4p. When I’m paying, the nice shuttle driver man comes to the cashier with me to get the key, so he can bring the car up. The evil cashier woman gets all snotty and says, “Wait, we need to see if the credit card will go through.” She acts like the guy committed some major crime. My car has been there for four days, I always bring my car there, I bought the car there, they know where I live...and I’m suddenly not going to be able to pay and steal my car back from them? Well, golly, the card is good and the nice man brings me my car, but he notices the “Engine Needs Servicing” light is on. No one reset the computer. So, I have to wait for that. Now that I’ve ranted about the evilness of the dealer, I can say...my brakes don’t squeal, my air conditioning is cold and they’ve washed the car, which it really needed.
2. I come home and look at the smog check certificate. Last year I tried to register my car online, after the smog cert had been sent electronincally to the DMV. I find out, the DMV has my VIN wrong and they expect me to come into the DMV (in person! the DMV!) to renew my registration. A nice woman in Carson City finally calls me back and tells me that she took care of it. I am eternally grateful and renew online. What does this year’s smog cert say? Yes, indeedy, it says the VIN doesn’t match and I have to bring the smog cert into the DMV. Gah! How could it have been fixed last year and be wrong again this year!? The incorrect VIN that they had wasn’t even possible for a real VIN because apparently the letters match the make of the car. I have a GM car, so the letter has to be a G in the VIN. I think it was a 3 or something last year. I just checked my registration and my smog cert, and the number matches. Grrr. I am NOT going to the DMV and wait three hours in line to take care of this.
3. I refinanced my house. Everything went well. I was happy. Then, I get a letter two weeks ago from the county telling me that I haven’t paid my property taxes and that they’re going to publish my name in the newspaper (and they’ve already charged me a penalty) if I don’t pay by May 4th. I check all of my refinancing paperwork. The title company’s papers say that my taxes are paid until August. I contact them. They tell me that my original mortgage company said that they’d already paid my taxes and to send the money to them, instead of the county. No one knows where the money is. It’s been over two weeks and no one at the original mortgage company has solved this mess. The title company says that they keep calling the mortgage company and people don’t call back. In the meantime, either I have to pay again or figure out how to get someone to actually do some work and figure out where the money went.
4. We had our electrical panel upgraded. The electricians were supposed to come back the next day and install extra outlets in the garage. They never showed up again. They never called. Oddly enough, they never asked for payment either. They did leave a hole in the wall on the outside of the house that needs to be repaired by stucco guys. It’s a very small job. After many phone calls, only one company returned the call and came out to give an estimate. $1000. Uh, no. That’s a ridiculous amount. Still, NO ONE else will come out and even look at it. Looks like we’re going to have to attempt it ourselves. Why don’t businesses ever call back? Don’t advertise if you don’t want the work. Really, it’s just that simple.
5. I bought my parents a TiVo and a three month TiVo service gift certificate for their birthdays. I get an email from TiVo saying that if my parents don’t start their service by April 30th, I won’t qualify for the $100 rebate for their TiVo. My parents are currently selling the family homestead (you know that, I know) in California, so they can’t be here until next month. Why, if I bought a gift certificate must the service be started by a certain time? The service is already paid for, so why does it matter when it’s started? So, they’ve made us waste a whole month of service (granted, it’s only $12.95, but it’s the principle of the thing), just to qualify by some arbritrary date. It’s stupid. When I’ve solved the tax problem and the DMV problem, they’re getting a lovely letter from me. I admit, I LOVE TiVo, but this is one of the silliest policies I’ve ever encountered.
6. We had our lawn ripped out today to put in desert landscaping. That’s a good thing. We’ll get a large rebate ($600+) from the water authority, we’ll save on water and our lawn has always looked horrible, no matter how hard we tried to take care of it. So, that’s all pretty much good. We also needed more reject sand for the back yard, for the dogs. We can’t afford to have that landscaped (just the sprinker system is 1k), but the dogs have been getting sore elbows from laying on the cement that is a Las Vegas back yard without extra sand brought in. The new sand that we got isn’t the same as the old sand. This stuff is almost like Dodger dirt (red clay) and, well, fluffy. What a mess. All in all, not a huge problem in the grand scheme of things, but just another little thing that’s annoying...red dirt everywhere. Maybe the summer sun will bleach it out.
7. My new mortgage company sold my loan to GMAC. I just got the notice on Saturday, the payment is due on the first. I go to the GMAC website and I’m thrilled to find out they have online payments. That always simplifies things. Also, they have the excelerated payment program, where I pay every two weeks and get extra payments in. So, yay, looks good. I go to sign up for my account Sunday night - I get this message, “We are unable to process your registration at this time. Please try again later.” I try again “later”, still the same problem. I send an email to them. So far, I haven’t heard back and I still get that error message. For most people, no big deal, they write checks all the time. I never write checks. Frankly, since I’m online so much, I’ve basically forgotten how to write anything except my signature. My nice printing has turned into a scrawl. Regardless, whatever, I don’t like to write checks. I like those immediate online payments. Normally, no big deal. This week, on top of everything else, supremely annoying. Ha, you may be tired of my ranting and it may seem like overkill, but this will help me remember all of the tedious little tasks I have to do. Funny, they all seem to involve fairly large sums of money...none of it coming back to me, except for the TiVo rebate.
Let’s talk about something good. The Amazing Race tonight. That was good. Not eating pizza again, also good. Veronica Mars still on the TiVo waiting to be watched - excellent. A Million Little Pieces
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
evening
Inexplicably Exhausted
Yep, that’s what I am. The ringing of the doorbell all day, then my nephew’s baseball game (hrumph, he should be on my fantasy team - I think he was 4-4 w/ at least two stolen bases), then we watched Lost. Boy, I sure love Lost. It certainly keeps us on our toes. Okay, I’m too tired to write anymore, so I going to go to bed and read my new Laurie Notaro book that came in the mail yesterday. I guess I’m reading backwards and out of order, but that’s life. This is the one I’m starting tonight The Idiot Girls’ Action-Adventure Club : True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
early evening
Attention, My Real Life Will Recommence April 1st
Until such time I can focus my total love and attention on you, dear blog, I’m going to post haphazardly, aimlessly, helter-skeltery, et al. But I promise you, on April 1st, I’m going to lavish attention on you. Attention like you’ve never experienced before.
Anyway, until then, I’m gonna rant about Bill Frist, obviously the most incompetent doctor to ever graduate from Harvard Medical School. What an idiot! The Bush Boys - gag. Let...the...poor...woman...go. Tom DeLay - whoa, his head is spinning with inappropriateness and hypocrisy.
Whitney Houston, back in rehab, again. Fucking pay someone to be your friend and stay with you and hang up on your drug dealer. Barry Bonds, asshole supreme. He’s gonna quit, then he’s going to slowly shrivel into a mere slip of a man. He’ll also become a human being again, instead of an animal. He’ll write a book, apologize for being a ‘roid jerk and he’ll make even more money.
I’m reading one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read My Life Among the Serial Killers : Inside the Minds of the World’s Most Notorious Murderers. I’ve read all kinds of nasty true crime books, but I didn’t know about any of this serial killer medical experimentation stuff. I suppose I should’ve guessed, but ack, I didn’t. The author is a bit pretentious, but I don’t mind it much. I just want the crime parts. Yeah, I know it’s sick. But don’t worry, after this book, I think I’m reading something uplifting and gentle.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
early evening
It’s Book Review Catchup Time
Since I’ve been sick, I’ve only wanted to read, not write about the books I’ve read. So now I have three books to review. Well, I’m gonna make this quick.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach—I loved this book. Fascinating information about what happens to your body if you donate it to science - plastic surgery, medical experiments, FBI experiments, cadaver use in school, etc. The great part about it is Mary Roach’s sense of humor about everything. And, if someone could freeze-dry me and then plant me, I’d be pretty happy. I don’t want to rot away in a coffin. Give away all the good organs, then freeze-dry me up, baby.
Skipping Towards Gomorrah by Dan Savage—At first, I thought it was a bunch of stretched out info from one of his fabulous columns, but he started to hit his stride in Chapter 2 and became the snarky Dan Savage I know and love. I loved this book, as I’ve loved all Dan Savage books. You know exactly what you’re getting from him - humor, snark, left-wing politics, gay politics, with a dash of smoking pot before scarfing down huge Claim Jumper meals.
The Rest of the Iceberg: An Insider’s View on the World of Sport and Celebrity” by Robert Smith - I thought this would be really interesting after getting into fantasy football this year and then seeing Robert Smith, formerly of the Minnesota Vikings on The Daily Show. He seem cute and bright. And why wouldn’t he write an interesting book? Why wouldn’t he, indeed. I know it’s an accomplishment to write your book yourself, but this book could’ve used a ghostwriter. Some of the views into sudden sports celebrity were interesting, but they only accounted for a few pages of the book. Mostly, it was about his injuries and his short-lived NFL career. While the story was moderately interesting, the writing was pretty poor. It wasn’t a total waste of time, but I wouldn’t rush out to read it. If it’s sitting on your bookshelf, taunting you, then give it a try.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
evening
Kindred Spirit - Hilary Liftin
I just started reading “Candy and Me (A Love Story)” and it SPEAKS to me. No, like seriously, I mean it. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved candy. All kinds. Chocolate. Fruity. Hard. Soft. Gummi. Sweet. Sour. You get the point. I didn’t consume (nor want to) nearly the sugar volume of Hilary Liftin, but my joy was no less great. I remember getting in trouble when I was little because my cousin brought me some gummi worms & pacifiers home from Germany (before gummi anything was popular here), and I ate them too quickly. I had a big bag of them and apparently they were supposed to last me a while. But, they were so very very good. Even now, I’m not big on anything lasting too long. Life is short, eat candy.
I’m also generally not happy with just your average candy. For instance, Life Savers bore me, but find me some weird Japanese candy that has to be ordered from Japan with outrageous shipping prices and I crave it. Hershey bars? Zzzz. I need Coffee Crisp from Canada or Cadbury oddities from the UK. I always notice when new stuff shows up at the store. Naturally, I get hooked on something when it’s a “Limited Edition”, never to be seen again—hear me calling, Dark Chocolate Kit Kat?