So a co-worker told me there was an underage drinking bust at an off campus home by my alma mater this weekend. I went online to find a story, and generally enraged by some of the comments that followed. For anyone who really wants to read the story you can go here.
I didn't think about this when I decided to live in Normal rather than Peoria upon moving back here...but its another reason I'm glad I did. I dealt with this crap for years and its quite frustrating. There's a general attituide around Peoria that Bradley kids are spoiled rotten rich brats. Though I'm sure there are SOME who are, this is NOT the bulk of the campus. When I was at Bradley from 1995-1999 over 80% of students received some sort of financial aid. And personally for me, the scholarships and grants I received through Bradley, in addition to my federal stafford loan, made if FAR less expensive than any other school I looked at. I'm not saying some of those spoiled rich kids aren't probably there - I'm sure they are. But most of my friends were there on financial aid packages like me, not to mention working during school as I did. I don't understand what caused this stereotype to develop in the first place, but its infuriating it gets brought up in comment to an article about Bradley kids getting busted at a big party.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Disney World Update
Hello blog land!
I promised princess Di a vacation blog and have not delivered. My free internet is up in a few hours as we transfer from the Disney Beach Club Villas to the Disney Magic so I thought I’d try to get something out now while I had more time!
Friday (Sept 19) I ended up taking the day off work because of the flooding which had closed my parking lot. There was another lot WAY across town (and the river) I COULD have taken…but I’d done that Thursday and decided since I was planning a half day anyway that Friday I’d just take the whole day. Elphaba and I cuddled, I ran some errands, and then by 1pm we were off to Naperville. We spend some time with mom and then I had to take her to the PetsHotel at Petsmart. None of the toys I brought for her were allowable (no internal squeakers allowed, which no one had TOLD me ahead of time), so mom and I did some looking around and picked up a few goodies and said our goodbyes. Miss E was signed up to be in doggie day camp every day from 9am-5pm, and everyone seemed to adore her (of course) and said she’d get lots of cuddle time.
Saturday we were up early as the limo was coming at 7am. We had an uneventful flight down and were at the Beach Club Villas by 3pm. Magical Express was a little slower with our luggage unfortunately. We wandered around the Yacht and Beach Clubs for a while, and then finally we gave up and I wore a dress of mom’s (who packs like a full week of clothes in her carry on) and off to dinner we went. For dinner we ate at Citricos, at the Grand Floridian. I was skeptical, but it was SOOOOOOOOOOOO good! I had, seriously, the best ribeye steak I’ve ever had in my life!
Sunday was our first day in the parks, and we selected Magic Kingdom. We didn’t have our timing worked out too well yet and were there WAY early…so we hopped on the monorial and headed to the Contemporary to shop and eat. I also found an Arial Jibbitz to replace the one that went missing out of my cotton candy colored crocs. Oh..did I mention those? The weekend before we left for vacation it was pouring rain and I threw on mom’s size 8 crocs which were WAY more comfy than my size 9 crocs. So I decided if I was bringing crocs to WDW to have water proof socks for all the rain we were supposed to get, they should be size 8s. But my store had NO size 8s in Disney themes. Or really, any size 8s in any good colors in the style I normally wear – the mary janes. So out of desperation I tried on the Cayman style (so ugly) in size 8 and they are SOOOO comfy! So I just bit the bullet and bought them…but prettied them up with some Disney jibbitz. Anyway..back to MK day….we headed to the park and it was EMPTY..seriously…we didn’t wait for anything until late in the day when we waited 25 minutes for Astro Orbiter. We had a reservation back at the Grand Floridian Garden View Lounge, for afternoon tea. Oh my goodness was that fabulous! We both got the “grand tea” and it was so relaxing and decadent feeling…but not OVERLY expensive..I think it ended up being like $60 total. After that we headed to Downtown Disney to shop a little..and walk around. I got the CUTIEST little short sleeve hoodie – covered with “cuties” which are this variation of the Disney characters that I’ve completely fallen in love with. Also – these little stuffed cutties of Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto. Then back to the hotel for an early night.
Monday we headed to Animal Kingdom. Again we were there way early, and again the park was empty. We did the Safarii, on the 3rd car so no wait! Then we headed to Expedition Everest, mom’s favorite ride. Between the empty line and the single rider line, we rode like 5 times before 9:15am that morning. At that point my head was feeling a little scrambled. Then we hit the Finding Nemo show, and Dinasaur, and decided we were done by about 11:30. We headed to lunch at Kona Café at the Polynesian. Mom was bummed because they took her favorite thing of the menu. I wasn’t overly impressed but it was okay. Then we decided to head over to Epcot early since we had a dinner reservation there that night. Like the other parks, Epcot was also empty. Though Monday the rain finally started. Not horrible, but not fun. Again – we did like everything with no wait. Then we had dinner at Teppen Edo which has been completely redone (and renamed) since my last trip to WDW. It was fabulous, and our chef was the best I’ve had at a place like that. He not only did lots of tricks but he was funny too. After dinner we wandered the World Showcase a bit more and then finally walked back to our hotel (which is just outside the International Gateway at Epcot).
Tuesday was Hollywood Studios day. Again, park was pretty empty. Mom insisted we go to Rockin Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror first, even though I’d heard you MUST got to Toy Story Mania first if you have any plans to ride it that day. Anyway, rode the roller coaster and tower of terror numerous times each and finally started heading towards Toy Story Midway Mania at 11:30. At that point, the line was 80 minutes in standby and fast passes were for 4:50pm. By noon it was OUT of fast passes for the day. We did decide to wait ONCE in standby to see the full queue theme, which was ADORABLE. But the line was SOOO slow in standby. But…Toy Story Mania is AWESOME! After that we wandered the park a bit more, and then we had 4:30 dinner reservations at Mama Melroses. I didn’t really remember, but I’d been there once before – mom never had. Food and service was fantastic. After dinner we got to use our Toy Story fast passes and ride that again, Yay! Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom. Now….MK was beautiful with the Halloween decorations, and it was kind of cool to see what they did for the party. But as empty as the parks were this week, I don’t think it was worth the price of admission to get in – we’d pretty much done everything we wanted at the MK already and just rode some stuff a few extra times. It was fun to see all the kids (and parents) in costumes, but the trick or treating wasn’t great because all the candy was seriously melted an sticky.
Wednesday we decided to take a pool day in the morning and then headed to Epcot again in the afternoon. Rode the good stuff in Future World again, then wandered the world showcase some more before dinner at Chefs de France. Food was okay, service ther was AWFUL. Seriously bad. We stayed to watch Illuninations “Reflections” which is pretty lame, and then headed back to the hotel.
Thursday we decided to do Hollywood Studios again, in the hopes of doing Toy Story again. We were there nice and early, but seriously the ENTIRE park makes a beeline for Toy Story after the gates open. In fact, the cast members direct traffic so there’s only ONE path back there. Mom got in the standby line while I got in the fast pass line. She actually got up to the building before I got up to the fast passes and had to start over. I snagged fast passes for 10:10 and got in line. That time, the queue moved quickly, probably because people didn’t have fast passes yet so everyone had to go through the regular queue. We rode the ride, went on the Back Lot tour (which is SERIOUSLY shortened from what it once was) and then went back on Toy Story. Then we hit Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster a few more times and headed back for an afternoon at the pool before dinner at the new restaurant at the Contemproary – The Wave. Wave was okay, I had the BEST citrius and avocado salad. Service was not good. We then took a bus to downtown Disney for final shopping. I picked up some decorations for the basement which I’m planning on doing a Disney theme, and a Snow White costume for Miss E (we’ll match since I have one!) and then back to the hotel.
Friday was the day we were probably anticipating most – our Around the World tour at Epcot on Segways. Ever since we did the Segway tour in Chicago in July, mom and I have both been anxious to get back on another Segway. Though the Segways were fun as we remembered, and it was cool to get into the World Showcase while it was still closed, and cool to see the last minute prep for the Food and Wine festival which started that day, overall we had much more fun in Chicago. Disney has the Segways there governed at 6 mph…substantially less than the 10-11 we got to do in Chicago. And we weren’t really allowed to zip around much. Plus, the tour itself was only like an hour – the first hour was training. We decided Disney needs to have a certification class for Segways for guests (they do certified cast members who zip all over on them) and then set up some more advanced tours. After the tour, we walked around the world to check out the Food and Wine offerings. Originally, we didn’t schedule dinner anywhere for that day and planned to eat around the world for dinner. But a quick glance at the offerings and we both knew I would not be eating. So we scrambled and picked up a dinner reservation at the Yachtsmen Steakhouse, and old favorite of mine. We headed back to the hotel to do laundry in prep of week 2. Spent the afternoon doing that and laying at the pool. Then off to dinner, which was not nearly as good as our Saturday night dinner at Citricos. After dinner we walked the loop around the Epcot resorts visiting Swan, Dolphin, and Boardwalk. We picked up cupcakes at the Boardwalk to bring back with us, and checked out the premier of Grey’s Anatomy thanks to free internet for Disney Vacation Club guests, and my Macbook.
Saturday was lazy since we had to get the bus to port at 11:30am .We had brunch and laid around the room reading and watching part two of the Grey’s premier. Then off to port we went!
I’m on board now, and internet is expensive – I have to strategically plan to buy a package giving me JUST enough minutes for what I’ll need for class which starts up again Wednesday. But more to come on our week on the Magic!
I promised princess Di a vacation blog and have not delivered. My free internet is up in a few hours as we transfer from the Disney Beach Club Villas to the Disney Magic so I thought I’d try to get something out now while I had more time!
Friday (Sept 19) I ended up taking the day off work because of the flooding which had closed my parking lot. There was another lot WAY across town (and the river) I COULD have taken…but I’d done that Thursday and decided since I was planning a half day anyway that Friday I’d just take the whole day. Elphaba and I cuddled, I ran some errands, and then by 1pm we were off to Naperville. We spend some time with mom and then I had to take her to the PetsHotel at Petsmart. None of the toys I brought for her were allowable (no internal squeakers allowed, which no one had TOLD me ahead of time), so mom and I did some looking around and picked up a few goodies and said our goodbyes. Miss E was signed up to be in doggie day camp every day from 9am-5pm, and everyone seemed to adore her (of course) and said she’d get lots of cuddle time.
Saturday we were up early as the limo was coming at 7am. We had an uneventful flight down and were at the Beach Club Villas by 3pm. Magical Express was a little slower with our luggage unfortunately. We wandered around the Yacht and Beach Clubs for a while, and then finally we gave up and I wore a dress of mom’s (who packs like a full week of clothes in her carry on) and off to dinner we went. For dinner we ate at Citricos, at the Grand Floridian. I was skeptical, but it was SOOOOOOOOOOOO good! I had, seriously, the best ribeye steak I’ve ever had in my life!
Sunday was our first day in the parks, and we selected Magic Kingdom. We didn’t have our timing worked out too well yet and were there WAY early…so we hopped on the monorial and headed to the Contemporary to shop and eat. I also found an Arial Jibbitz to replace the one that went missing out of my cotton candy colored crocs. Oh..did I mention those? The weekend before we left for vacation it was pouring rain and I threw on mom’s size 8 crocs which were WAY more comfy than my size 9 crocs. So I decided if I was bringing crocs to WDW to have water proof socks for all the rain we were supposed to get, they should be size 8s. But my store had NO size 8s in Disney themes. Or really, any size 8s in any good colors in the style I normally wear – the mary janes. So out of desperation I tried on the Cayman style (so ugly) in size 8 and they are SOOOO comfy! So I just bit the bullet and bought them…but prettied them up with some Disney jibbitz. Anyway..back to MK day….we headed to the park and it was EMPTY..seriously…we didn’t wait for anything until late in the day when we waited 25 minutes for Astro Orbiter. We had a reservation back at the Grand Floridian Garden View Lounge, for afternoon tea. Oh my goodness was that fabulous! We both got the “grand tea” and it was so relaxing and decadent feeling…but not OVERLY expensive..I think it ended up being like $60 total. After that we headed to Downtown Disney to shop a little..and walk around. I got the CUTIEST little short sleeve hoodie – covered with “cuties” which are this variation of the Disney characters that I’ve completely fallen in love with. Also – these little stuffed cutties of Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto. Then back to the hotel for an early night.
Monday we headed to Animal Kingdom. Again we were there way early, and again the park was empty. We did the Safarii, on the 3rd car so no wait! Then we headed to Expedition Everest, mom’s favorite ride. Between the empty line and the single rider line, we rode like 5 times before 9:15am that morning. At that point my head was feeling a little scrambled. Then we hit the Finding Nemo show, and Dinasaur, and decided we were done by about 11:30. We headed to lunch at Kona Café at the Polynesian. Mom was bummed because they took her favorite thing of the menu. I wasn’t overly impressed but it was okay. Then we decided to head over to Epcot early since we had a dinner reservation there that night. Like the other parks, Epcot was also empty. Though Monday the rain finally started. Not horrible, but not fun. Again – we did like everything with no wait. Then we had dinner at Teppen Edo which has been completely redone (and renamed) since my last trip to WDW. It was fabulous, and our chef was the best I’ve had at a place like that. He not only did lots of tricks but he was funny too. After dinner we wandered the World Showcase a bit more and then finally walked back to our hotel (which is just outside the International Gateway at Epcot).
Tuesday was Hollywood Studios day. Again, park was pretty empty. Mom insisted we go to Rockin Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror first, even though I’d heard you MUST got to Toy Story Mania first if you have any plans to ride it that day. Anyway, rode the roller coaster and tower of terror numerous times each and finally started heading towards Toy Story Midway Mania at 11:30. At that point, the line was 80 minutes in standby and fast passes were for 4:50pm. By noon it was OUT of fast passes for the day. We did decide to wait ONCE in standby to see the full queue theme, which was ADORABLE. But the line was SOOO slow in standby. But…Toy Story Mania is AWESOME! After that we wandered the park a bit more, and then we had 4:30 dinner reservations at Mama Melroses. I didn’t really remember, but I’d been there once before – mom never had. Food and service was fantastic. After dinner we got to use our Toy Story fast passes and ride that again, Yay! Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom. Now….MK was beautiful with the Halloween decorations, and it was kind of cool to see what they did for the party. But as empty as the parks were this week, I don’t think it was worth the price of admission to get in – we’d pretty much done everything we wanted at the MK already and just rode some stuff a few extra times. It was fun to see all the kids (and parents) in costumes, but the trick or treating wasn’t great because all the candy was seriously melted an sticky.
Wednesday we decided to take a pool day in the morning and then headed to Epcot again in the afternoon. Rode the good stuff in Future World again, then wandered the world showcase some more before dinner at Chefs de France. Food was okay, service ther was AWFUL. Seriously bad. We stayed to watch Illuninations “Reflections” which is pretty lame, and then headed back to the hotel.
Thursday we decided to do Hollywood Studios again, in the hopes of doing Toy Story again. We were there nice and early, but seriously the ENTIRE park makes a beeline for Toy Story after the gates open. In fact, the cast members direct traffic so there’s only ONE path back there. Mom got in the standby line while I got in the fast pass line. She actually got up to the building before I got up to the fast passes and had to start over. I snagged fast passes for 10:10 and got in line. That time, the queue moved quickly, probably because people didn’t have fast passes yet so everyone had to go through the regular queue. We rode the ride, went on the Back Lot tour (which is SERIOUSLY shortened from what it once was) and then went back on Toy Story. Then we hit Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster a few more times and headed back for an afternoon at the pool before dinner at the new restaurant at the Contemproary – The Wave. Wave was okay, I had the BEST citrius and avocado salad. Service was not good. We then took a bus to downtown Disney for final shopping. I picked up some decorations for the basement which I’m planning on doing a Disney theme, and a Snow White costume for Miss E (we’ll match since I have one!) and then back to the hotel.
Friday was the day we were probably anticipating most – our Around the World tour at Epcot on Segways. Ever since we did the Segway tour in Chicago in July, mom and I have both been anxious to get back on another Segway. Though the Segways were fun as we remembered, and it was cool to get into the World Showcase while it was still closed, and cool to see the last minute prep for the Food and Wine festival which started that day, overall we had much more fun in Chicago. Disney has the Segways there governed at 6 mph…substantially less than the 10-11 we got to do in Chicago. And we weren’t really allowed to zip around much. Plus, the tour itself was only like an hour – the first hour was training. We decided Disney needs to have a certification class for Segways for guests (they do certified cast members who zip all over on them) and then set up some more advanced tours. After the tour, we walked around the world to check out the Food and Wine offerings. Originally, we didn’t schedule dinner anywhere for that day and planned to eat around the world for dinner. But a quick glance at the offerings and we both knew I would not be eating. So we scrambled and picked up a dinner reservation at the Yachtsmen Steakhouse, and old favorite of mine. We headed back to the hotel to do laundry in prep of week 2. Spent the afternoon doing that and laying at the pool. Then off to dinner, which was not nearly as good as our Saturday night dinner at Citricos. After dinner we walked the loop around the Epcot resorts visiting Swan, Dolphin, and Boardwalk. We picked up cupcakes at the Boardwalk to bring back with us, and checked out the premier of Grey’s Anatomy thanks to free internet for Disney Vacation Club guests, and my Macbook.
Saturday was lazy since we had to get the bus to port at 11:30am .We had brunch and laid around the room reading and watching part two of the Grey’s premier. Then off to port we went!
I’m on board now, and internet is expensive – I have to strategically plan to buy a package giving me JUST enough minutes for what I’ll need for class which starts up again Wednesday. But more to come on our week on the Magic!
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Update on closing on for the new house...
Okay..so when the saga last left off..I was in the middle of trying to figure out how the HELL I was gonna close on the new house.
My realtor called the title company and then called me back almost right away last night. They asked if we could get the check from HSBC overnighted straight to the Title company. I shared that I made that request, but 1) the dude on the phone made it sound like no way in hell would that happen, and 2) I was skeptical they'd get a check mailed out at ALL on time since I got a "well respond to your request within 48 hours" notice. We hang up for her to call the title company back. Meanwhile, I made a desperate plea....
Now..most of you don't really know much about my parents.but basically..dad is well off, but we don't have a good relationship..and I take nothing from him. Mom on the other hand...got the shaft when the split, no college degree, and struggles to make it thru. I was prepping to call dad...out of sheer desperation...but thought I'd call mom first.
Me: I know you are still at work but I have a crisis and I don't know what else to do right now.
Mom: Actually, not at work, whats going on.
Me: I think I know the answer to this, but I have to ask anyway. Any chance you can pull together $XXXX in a cashiers check by Sunday, to take with you when you go to meet the realtor for my walk thru, and I can pay you back by midweek next week.
Mom: (pauses). Actually, yeah I think so..let me check my bank balance. Whats going on?
I proceed to start telling mom about the HSBC nightmare...while I'm in process..she says yes, she'll have to shift stuff out of a couple of accounts but she has the money.
HALLELUAH!
How on earth my mom has that much in savings..I don't know. Well I do..after the last time she lost her job she finally started working on her emergency account that I'd been hounding her about. And unlike my stupid emergency account, which is where my cash to close was also sitting, its at her regular bank and she can go get it!
While I'm on the phone with mom, realtor calls back..they spoke to the sellers, they don't need the money right away, so they're okay with us doing a "dry run" closing on Monday where all the papers get signed but no money, nor possession of the house, goes right away..they can wait until I can get the money moved. I tell her thats great, but that miracle of miracle..mom has the cash and is it okay for mom to bring her the check on Sunday when they meet and she can take it to closing. My sweet realtor "Bless your mothers heart". My sentiments EXACTLY!
So I call mom back and tell her to get in the car (its nearing 5pm) and go to the bank. Give her the needed info. She goes. I start thinking about...what happens if HSBC DOES get my stupid bankmail, and now initiates this check..and does do what I don't think they could..which is make it out to the title company and send it directly...the title company doesn't need that money anymore..and if its not made out to me its not like I can cash it. But again...I can't CALL anyone about my account..bankmail is my only option. So I send another one, saying
"please disgregard my note of 1 hour ago. I've made alternative arrangements. Also, please let me know what steps I need to take to close out this account. Its become clear that this account at this bank is not meeting my needs". Still waiting for a response to either of those.
Mom calls back..she's at the bank, its 4:57pm. They close at 5pm. Except...they have locked the doors and won't let her in, nor even confirm she can get the check! Now..we don't expect there to be a problem..but given how this is gone..well..you can understand my concerns. Mom's going to call today to try and talk to someone, and won't be able to get to the bank again until Friday when they are open a little later...but again..we don't expect that to be an issue.
Meanwhile..I keep stressing about what happens if HSBC tries to send this check now..which I don't want them to do. It occurs to me..start transfering the money..enough so that they CANNOT issue the check because there's not enough money in the account to issue it. Then..if they don't see both bankmails - including the one to cancel it - they'll see there is insufficent funds..and then maybe call or look at my bankmails. So...I started that last night..and the funds are already on the way to my WF account...for which they'll arrive Monday..same day mom should get a check from me..so she's only out the money 2 days.
Mom points out... "you've had a lot of bank related problems since you first moved from IL to CA"...I realize she's right. And I still have my credit union account in IL tho its not been used in years. So....once everything else gets settled down..I'll move the rest of the money from HSBC to my credit union account..then eventually when the PA home is sold, get all my other money out of WF and into my credit union account...and go back to banking with the credit union for my company that I've never had an issue with!!!!!
My realtor called the title company and then called me back almost right away last night. They asked if we could get the check from HSBC overnighted straight to the Title company. I shared that I made that request, but 1) the dude on the phone made it sound like no way in hell would that happen, and 2) I was skeptical they'd get a check mailed out at ALL on time since I got a "well respond to your request within 48 hours" notice. We hang up for her to call the title company back. Meanwhile, I made a desperate plea....
Now..most of you don't really know much about my parents.but basically..dad is well off, but we don't have a good relationship..and I take nothing from him. Mom on the other hand...got the shaft when the split, no college degree, and struggles to make it thru. I was prepping to call dad...out of sheer desperation...but thought I'd call mom first.
Me: I know you are still at work but I have a crisis and I don't know what else to do right now.
Mom: Actually, not at work, whats going on.
Me: I think I know the answer to this, but I have to ask anyway. Any chance you can pull together $XXXX in a cashiers check by Sunday, to take with you when you go to meet the realtor for my walk thru, and I can pay you back by midweek next week.
Mom: (pauses). Actually, yeah I think so..let me check my bank balance. Whats going on?
I proceed to start telling mom about the HSBC nightmare...while I'm in process..she says yes, she'll have to shift stuff out of a couple of accounts but she has the money.
HALLELUAH!
How on earth my mom has that much in savings..I don't know. Well I do..after the last time she lost her job she finally started working on her emergency account that I'd been hounding her about. And unlike my stupid emergency account, which is where my cash to close was also sitting, its at her regular bank and she can go get it!
While I'm on the phone with mom, realtor calls back..they spoke to the sellers, they don't need the money right away, so they're okay with us doing a "dry run" closing on Monday where all the papers get signed but no money, nor possession of the house, goes right away..they can wait until I can get the money moved. I tell her thats great, but that miracle of miracle..mom has the cash and is it okay for mom to bring her the check on Sunday when they meet and she can take it to closing. My sweet realtor "Bless your mothers heart". My sentiments EXACTLY!
So I call mom back and tell her to get in the car (its nearing 5pm) and go to the bank. Give her the needed info. She goes. I start thinking about...what happens if HSBC DOES get my stupid bankmail, and now initiates this check..and does do what I don't think they could..which is make it out to the title company and send it directly...the title company doesn't need that money anymore..and if its not made out to me its not like I can cash it. But again...I can't CALL anyone about my account..bankmail is my only option. So I send another one, saying
"please disgregard my note of 1 hour ago. I've made alternative arrangements. Also, please let me know what steps I need to take to close out this account. Its become clear that this account at this bank is not meeting my needs". Still waiting for a response to either of those.
Mom calls back..she's at the bank, its 4:57pm. They close at 5pm. Except...they have locked the doors and won't let her in, nor even confirm she can get the check! Now..we don't expect there to be a problem..but given how this is gone..well..you can understand my concerns. Mom's going to call today to try and talk to someone, and won't be able to get to the bank again until Friday when they are open a little later...but again..we don't expect that to be an issue.
Meanwhile..I keep stressing about what happens if HSBC tries to send this check now..which I don't want them to do. It occurs to me..start transfering the money..enough so that they CANNOT issue the check because there's not enough money in the account to issue it. Then..if they don't see both bankmails - including the one to cancel it - they'll see there is insufficent funds..and then maybe call or look at my bankmails. So...I started that last night..and the funds are already on the way to my WF account...for which they'll arrive Monday..same day mom should get a check from me..so she's only out the money 2 days.
Mom points out... "you've had a lot of bank related problems since you first moved from IL to CA"...I realize she's right. And I still have my credit union account in IL tho its not been used in years. So....once everything else gets settled down..I'll move the rest of the money from HSBC to my credit union account..then eventually when the PA home is sold, get all my other money out of WF and into my credit union account...and go back to banking with the credit union for my company that I've never had an issue with!!!!!
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
HSBC Sucks
Okay..Monday I call HSBC to find out how to do the wire transfer. I'm told there's an automated system and to allow 24-48 hours for the wire to go through.
This morning, I call HSBC to do the wire transfer, told to use the automated system, I need the telephone access code. If I can't find that, my only option is to go directly to a branch. (and I have NO idea what this telephone access code is).
Get home, FIND the access code. Call in, actually FIND the automated system, it tells me wire transfers are not permitted with internet banking accounts. Transfers me to the third dude.
He apologizes for all the misinformation, says my ONLY option is to log onto my account and use "bankmail" ask them to overnight me a check which I'd have by Friday morning assuming they receive my mail and process it by tomorrow morning at 11am. I ask him how I know my bankmail will be received right away so that I can actually GET the check by Friday AM, and not get a "we'll reply within 48 hours type message" and he tells me there is no delay and they reply right away. I ask is there anyway I can get someone on the phone to help me and he said no. I ask if there's a customer relations number I can call, since I'm frustrated at being told 3 different things, by 3 different people and now I'm stuck not being able to access my money in time. He tells me there's only the main number, he can forward my complaint on, but that what he's telling me is correct.
So I go online to do the "bankmail" he said, requesting a check be issued to the Title Company, and sent to me to arrive here by Friday AM, or better yet, send directly to the Title Company (which dude 3 said they won't do). Guess what message I get "we'll respond in 48 hours, if you need immediate assistance call us at..." the main fucking number!
At this point, there's not enough time to get the cash back into my Wells Fargo account so that I can do the wire transfer from there... so I think I'm totally screwed.... waiting to hear back from my realtor on what we do now...but I don't know how I'm going to be able to get the money to closing on time now...
And I'm TOTALLY closing this HSBC account when this mess is over!
This morning, I call HSBC to do the wire transfer, told to use the automated system, I need the telephone access code. If I can't find that, my only option is to go directly to a branch. (and I have NO idea what this telephone access code is).
Get home, FIND the access code. Call in, actually FIND the automated system, it tells me wire transfers are not permitted with internet banking accounts. Transfers me to the third dude.
He apologizes for all the misinformation, says my ONLY option is to log onto my account and use "bankmail" ask them to overnight me a check which I'd have by Friday morning assuming they receive my mail and process it by tomorrow morning at 11am. I ask him how I know my bankmail will be received right away so that I can actually GET the check by Friday AM, and not get a "we'll reply within 48 hours type message" and he tells me there is no delay and they reply right away. I ask is there anyway I can get someone on the phone to help me and he said no. I ask if there's a customer relations number I can call, since I'm frustrated at being told 3 different things, by 3 different people and now I'm stuck not being able to access my money in time. He tells me there's only the main number, he can forward my complaint on, but that what he's telling me is correct.
So I go online to do the "bankmail" he said, requesting a check be issued to the Title Company, and sent to me to arrive here by Friday AM, or better yet, send directly to the Title Company (which dude 3 said they won't do). Guess what message I get "we'll respond in 48 hours, if you need immediate assistance call us at..." the main fucking number!
At this point, there's not enough time to get the cash back into my Wells Fargo account so that I can do the wire transfer from there... so I think I'm totally screwed.... waiting to hear back from my realtor on what we do now...but I don't know how I'm going to be able to get the money to closing on time now...
And I'm TOTALLY closing this HSBC account when this mess is over!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Crazy Drunken Pirates
So last night was the first of my going away parties...hosted by my lovely lovely ladies here. I was given NO information about the evening. I was told they'd be at my house at 3:30pm. We'd leave by 4pm. To wear casual clothes and flat shoes.
The girls start to show up and I notice everyone has a sweater or jacket. So I grab a sweater. But still I know nothing.
We get in the car and start driving towards Lancaster....I have NO idea where we are going.
We end up in Mount Joy, PA at Bube's Brewery. K tells us to go to the bar and get a drink while she "checks us in". L, D and I head to the bar, tell the hostess we just want a drink. She doesnt understand why we just want a drink and starts to ask if we're here for......L jumps in and says "no we don't want her to know why we are here". OK...what the hell is going on?
We have our drink and wander around. We're told we'll be taken for whatever is happening in the basement between 5 and 5:30. (was actually closer to 6). While we're waiting in the lobby area upstairs walks a drunken pirate asking if we've seen Bridgette. He wanders around calling after her. At nearly 6 Bridgette comes out. Apparently she's Captain Jacks' wife. Pirate and Bridgette tell us the story about how Captain Jack's baby brother was killed while the Captain was out at sea the past 6 months. Bridgette is hosting a dinner, that night and she's hoping for no bloodshed until after desert.
For those of you lost, turns out we were there for a Pirate's Feast. The group was divided up into the two ships whom one of which is responsible for the death of Captain Jack's baby brother. I won't spoil all the little details since some of you perhaps might want to go some day. What I will say...is if you are easily offended...this is NOT the event for you to go to! I was nominated "Captain" of our ship by my lovely ladies...another guest with a celebration (a 27th birthday) was nominated my First Mate. (By the way..he was a totally cutie with a smokin hot brother who sat right next to us). Anyway....drunken pirate walks up to D and asks her how much her captain (me) is worth to her and if I need a rub down. D thinks he's kidding ..but pulls out $1. Drunken pirate says now he needs just $9 more, $10 if they want to get me the "hot wax treatment". K pulls out a $5 and L pulls out a $5. Next thing I know, pirate is behind me sliding my bra straps down off my shoulders (I had a tank on) and starts giving me a massage. Once I got over the shock of it..most of it wasn't too bad. Though when you aren't really EXPECTING a massage and are in the middle of a restuarant with 25 other people in the room its a little odd. That said, the wench, Ruby, offers similar treatment to the first mate, and he gets his shirt pulled off altogether for his massage. I know little of what is actually going on at this time as pirate had pulled off my glasses when he started. After a lengthly "rub down" he tells me dinner is getting close, so he'll leave me in anticipation of the "hot wax treatment" for a while. Pirate leaves, Captain Jack comes over. FILLED with crazy sexual innuendo, and extremely touchy feely. Now...I'm not a prude by any means...but seriously..if you are the SLIGHTEST bit easily offended..or just like me had NO idea what was going on..its a bit overwhelming. Captain Jack and drunken pirate take turns showering me with highly inappropriate attention. Let me tell you...within about 40 minutes in..all of our cheeks were sore from laughing so hard. In fact, even today my cheeks still hurt!
After dinner, before desert, drunken pirate comes back and says its time for my wax treatment. He asks me if I trust L, who is sitting to my right. I tell him I do now, we'll see about tomorrow! He has me lay back across L's lap and close my eyes. Now mind you...I wore and incredible LOW cut tank..like serious boobs hanging out last night. I close my eyes...next thing I know..hot candle wax being poured ALLLLL over my chest with the pirate then breathing on it to cool it off. Now I don't know if any of you have every had any experience with hot wax....but let me tell you..its not sexy like it looks in the movies. I mean..its hot wax..it hurts like a son of a bitch! When he's done he tells me it can only be taken off with someone's lips or tongue and he's happy to oblige later if need be ( the Captain also offered his services).
Anyway...thanks to large quanties of wine, much of the other details escape me..but it was one hilarious, shocking, and highly inappropriate evening! Seriously..cheeks STILL hurt from laughing! The girls wanted to make sure my going away was memorable..and BOY was it. The guys in the office are trying to figure out how to get a hold of the girls to get pictures to use in my roast next week...I pray they don't...these are NOT the kind of pics I want out in the open!
The girls start to show up and I notice everyone has a sweater or jacket. So I grab a sweater. But still I know nothing.
We get in the car and start driving towards Lancaster....I have NO idea where we are going.
We end up in Mount Joy, PA at Bube's Brewery. K tells us to go to the bar and get a drink while she "checks us in". L, D and I head to the bar, tell the hostess we just want a drink. She doesnt understand why we just want a drink and starts to ask if we're here for......L jumps in and says "no we don't want her to know why we are here". OK...what the hell is going on?
We have our drink and wander around. We're told we'll be taken for whatever is happening in the basement between 5 and 5:30. (was actually closer to 6). While we're waiting in the lobby area upstairs walks a drunken pirate asking if we've seen Bridgette. He wanders around calling after her. At nearly 6 Bridgette comes out. Apparently she's Captain Jacks' wife. Pirate and Bridgette tell us the story about how Captain Jack's baby brother was killed while the Captain was out at sea the past 6 months. Bridgette is hosting a dinner, that night and she's hoping for no bloodshed until after desert.
For those of you lost, turns out we were there for a Pirate's Feast. The group was divided up into the two ships whom one of which is responsible for the death of Captain Jack's baby brother. I won't spoil all the little details since some of you perhaps might want to go some day. What I will say...is if you are easily offended...this is NOT the event for you to go to! I was nominated "Captain" of our ship by my lovely ladies...another guest with a celebration (a 27th birthday) was nominated my First Mate. (By the way..he was a totally cutie with a smokin hot brother who sat right next to us). Anyway....drunken pirate walks up to D and asks her how much her captain (me) is worth to her and if I need a rub down. D thinks he's kidding ..but pulls out $1. Drunken pirate says now he needs just $9 more, $10 if they want to get me the "hot wax treatment". K pulls out a $5 and L pulls out a $5. Next thing I know, pirate is behind me sliding my bra straps down off my shoulders (I had a tank on) and starts giving me a massage. Once I got over the shock of it..most of it wasn't too bad. Though when you aren't really EXPECTING a massage and are in the middle of a restuarant with 25 other people in the room its a little odd. That said, the wench, Ruby, offers similar treatment to the first mate, and he gets his shirt pulled off altogether for his massage. I know little of what is actually going on at this time as pirate had pulled off my glasses when he started. After a lengthly "rub down" he tells me dinner is getting close, so he'll leave me in anticipation of the "hot wax treatment" for a while. Pirate leaves, Captain Jack comes over. FILLED with crazy sexual innuendo, and extremely touchy feely. Now...I'm not a prude by any means...but seriously..if you are the SLIGHTEST bit easily offended..or just like me had NO idea what was going on..its a bit overwhelming. Captain Jack and drunken pirate take turns showering me with highly inappropriate attention. Let me tell you...within about 40 minutes in..all of our cheeks were sore from laughing so hard. In fact, even today my cheeks still hurt!
After dinner, before desert, drunken pirate comes back and says its time for my wax treatment. He asks me if I trust L, who is sitting to my right. I tell him I do now, we'll see about tomorrow! He has me lay back across L's lap and close my eyes. Now mind you...I wore and incredible LOW cut tank..like serious boobs hanging out last night. I close my eyes...next thing I know..hot candle wax being poured ALLLLL over my chest with the pirate then breathing on it to cool it off. Now I don't know if any of you have every had any experience with hot wax....but let me tell you..its not sexy like it looks in the movies. I mean..its hot wax..it hurts like a son of a bitch! When he's done he tells me it can only be taken off with someone's lips or tongue and he's happy to oblige later if need be ( the Captain also offered his services).
Anyway...thanks to large quanties of wine, much of the other details escape me..but it was one hilarious, shocking, and highly inappropriate evening! Seriously..cheeks STILL hurt from laughing! The girls wanted to make sure my going away was memorable..and BOY was it. The guys in the office are trying to figure out how to get a hold of the girls to get pictures to use in my roast next week...I pray they don't...these are NOT the kind of pics I want out in the open!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
For the first time, horribly dissapointed by Apple
This Mobile Me transition has been a nightmare...first no more access to webmail since you have to have Firefox or Safari (or IE7 for SOME basic features) and like most of corporate america I'm stuck on IE6 with NO way to upgrade or install anything else. THEN MobileMe mail goes down altogether.... 5 days now... no end in sight....after trying all day finally got through to chat support tonight...but there was no point..
Transcript below..but bottom line...if you write me at my mac.com address normally...update your address books...write me at the same screen name on aol.com instead.
essica H: Hello Shelley. Thank you for your patience while waiting. What MobileMe billing, mail, or syncing issue can I assist you with today?
Shelley : I've not received any mail on my mobile mail account since last Friday. I would like to know when this issue is going to be resolved since the web site as said "ASAP" since Friday. I don't consider 5 days ASAP and am expecting several important emails regarding a home purchase I'm in the middle of.
Jessica H: Okay. I completely understand. The maintenance that the server that your account is on was not expected to take this long.
Jessica H: Right now the technicians are working around the clock to resolve this issue.
Shelley : What alternative exists? Is there a way to have mail forwarded to an alternate account?
Shelley : I've never experienced an outage like this, particularly with a service I'm paying for.
Jessica H: Not at this time. All of the mail will be present once the server is back up and running.
Jessica H: I wish that I had more information to tell you but all we know is that it should be up and running soon.
Shelley : I'm seriously questioning the value at this point, and its the first time I've ever been dissapointed by apple, but its a critical situation
Shelley : But how is "soon" defined by Apple?
Jessica H: I completely understand where you are coming from. The server is still undergoing maintenance. It could be an moment, or hour that it will be fixed.
Jessica H: We just don't have an ETA as of yet. I do apologize.
Shelley : Is that what customers have been told since Friday? A moment or hour? Because clearly that has not been accurate
Shelley : Is there an address I can use to send a formal complaint? I just don't feel like customers are being treated very well through this transition. One free month of MobileMe doesn't do me much good when I cannot access it.
Jessica H: I have a link that I can provide to you so that you can submit your comments about this situation if you would like.
Jessica H: http://www.apple.com/feedback/mac/tm.html
Shelley : I'd prefer a mailing address.
Jessica H: well, I can see if we can escalate your case.
Jessica H: You would be emailed then,
Shelley : But I can't receive email?
Jessica H: At this time. No.
Jessica H: It would be sent to an alternate email address.
Shelley : Maybe I don't understand what you are saying..what would I be emailed about?
Jessica H: I can see if we can escalate this request if you wouldn't mind waiting for a moment.
Jessica H: AS seeing that you were wanting to make a formal complaint
Jessica H: I can have a specialist contact you since we do not have an phone number or mailing address for a formal complaint.
Shelley : I have a hard time believing there is no address for a formal complaint, but go ahead and have a specialist contact me. I don't really understand what the specialist will do for me that isn't already being done.
Jessica H: I thought that would at least be an alternative since we do not have a means to provide to you for a formal complaint.
Jessica H: I submitted the request. It could take a few moments to see what can be done.
Shelley : Thank you.
Jessica H: Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.
Jessica H: I'll be right with you.
Jessica H: Okay
Jessica H: I have the corporate address link so that you can make a formal complaint
Jessica H: http://www.apple.com/contact/
Shelley : OK thank you.
Jessica H: You are welcome
Jessica H: Sorry that took a bit
Jessica H: I had to locate it for you.
Shelley : ok
Jessica H: That would be the link that you would use to make a formal complaint.
Jessica H: I am sorry for all of this.
Jessica H: I just wish that there was something more that we could do for you at this time.
Jessica H: Is there anything else I can assist you with?
Shelley : Me too.
Shelley : No
Jessica H: Okay. Despite the circumstances, I hope that you have a great day!
Jessica H: Please click the blue "Close" button at top left to answer a few questions about the assistance I provided during this chat, you will also have the option to request a copy of the transcript be emailed to you.
Shelley : ok
Transcript below..but bottom line...if you write me at my mac.com address normally...update your address books...write me at the same screen name on aol.com instead.
essica H: Hello Shelley. Thank you for your patience while waiting. What MobileMe billing, mail, or syncing issue can I assist you with today?
Shelley : I've not received any mail on my mobile mail account since last Friday. I would like to know when this issue is going to be resolved since the web site as said "ASAP" since Friday. I don't consider 5 days ASAP and am expecting several important emails regarding a home purchase I'm in the middle of.
Jessica H: Okay. I completely understand. The maintenance that the server that your account is on was not expected to take this long.
Jessica H: Right now the technicians are working around the clock to resolve this issue.
Shelley : What alternative exists? Is there a way to have mail forwarded to an alternate account?
Shelley : I've never experienced an outage like this, particularly with a service I'm paying for.
Jessica H: Not at this time. All of the mail will be present once the server is back up and running.
Jessica H: I wish that I had more information to tell you but all we know is that it should be up and running soon.
Shelley : I'm seriously questioning the value at this point, and its the first time I've ever been dissapointed by apple, but its a critical situation
Shelley : But how is "soon" defined by Apple?
Jessica H: I completely understand where you are coming from. The server is still undergoing maintenance. It could be an moment, or hour that it will be fixed.
Jessica H: We just don't have an ETA as of yet. I do apologize.
Shelley : Is that what customers have been told since Friday? A moment or hour? Because clearly that has not been accurate
Shelley : Is there an address I can use to send a formal complaint? I just don't feel like customers are being treated very well through this transition. One free month of MobileMe doesn't do me much good when I cannot access it.
Jessica H: I have a link that I can provide to you so that you can submit your comments about this situation if you would like.
Jessica H: http://www.apple.com/feedback/mac/tm.html
Shelley : I'd prefer a mailing address.
Jessica H: well, I can see if we can escalate your case.
Jessica H: You would be emailed then,
Shelley : But I can't receive email?
Jessica H: At this time. No.
Jessica H: It would be sent to an alternate email address.
Shelley : Maybe I don't understand what you are saying..what would I be emailed about?
Jessica H: I can see if we can escalate this request if you wouldn't mind waiting for a moment.
Jessica H: AS seeing that you were wanting to make a formal complaint
Jessica H: I can have a specialist contact you since we do not have an phone number or mailing address for a formal complaint.
Shelley : I have a hard time believing there is no address for a formal complaint, but go ahead and have a specialist contact me. I don't really understand what the specialist will do for me that isn't already being done.
Jessica H: I thought that would at least be an alternative since we do not have a means to provide to you for a formal complaint.
Jessica H: I submitted the request. It could take a few moments to see what can be done.
Shelley : Thank you.
Jessica H: Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.
Jessica H: I'll be right with you.
Jessica H: Okay
Jessica H: I have the corporate address link so that you can make a formal complaint
Jessica H: http://www.apple.com/contact/
Shelley : OK thank you.
Jessica H: You are welcome
Jessica H: Sorry that took a bit
Jessica H: I had to locate it for you.
Shelley : ok
Jessica H: That would be the link that you would use to make a formal complaint.
Jessica H: I am sorry for all of this.
Jessica H: I just wish that there was something more that we could do for you at this time.
Jessica H: Is there anything else I can assist you with?
Shelley : Me too.
Shelley : No
Jessica H: Okay. Despite the circumstances, I hope that you have a great day!
Jessica H: Please click the blue "Close" button at top left to answer a few questions about the assistance I provided during this chat, you will also have the option to request a copy of the transcript be emailed to you.
Shelley : ok
Monday, July 21, 2008
Hm...never got around to...
Finishing updating everyone.
Lets see...whats the latest....
Stuff is progrssing on the new house. Pass inspection with flying colors. Home inspector described my house as "perfect".
Got the paperwork to give the attorney in IL power of attorney to do the closing for me. Have to head to get stuff notorized AGAIN...why couldn't that have come last week when I was there and had a witness with me already? Now I need to sucker another witness into coming with me.
Stuff is progressing with the loan. Apparently the appraiser from the bank came back with some screwing input like the siding falling off the house and there being a homeowners association. I think we decided she went to the wrong house and are ignoring the specific comments.
On this end..no offers yet. The only bad feedback we were getting was on the blue walls in the living room..so they are no longer blue. Up until last week I was getting 3-4 showings a week. Last week nothing until Friday when I got a call at 11am for that afternoon (far from the 24 hours I was SUPPOSED to get). Then as soon as I got the puppy out of the house and got to the yarn store to kill time..they called and rescheduled for tomorrow. Wasn't that nice....at least they are still coming I guess. Nothing else for this week yet.
Got my buyout offer from the company...which is about $5k less than what I paid for the house and about $2k over what I owe currently. Which means even though our relocation policy lets me borrow the equity to close on the new house, there will likely be NO equity to borrow after the various prorations...at least not much. Oh..and I can't TAKE the buyout offer until Sept 8. Nearly a month after the closing on the new house. Now..before you feel too bad for me....yes the company has a loss protection clause..so eventually I'll get the difference between the buyout offer and what I paid. And yes, the company helps cover dual mortgage payments for up to 30 days...so eventually I'll get that back. But both are REIMBURSEMENTS. At this point..it will likely be late Sept early Oct before I see any of that money...which means I need the cash not only to close on the new house Aug 11...but to pay both mortgages also. Should be fun!
Oh..and I'm such a dumbass....apparently I was sooooo focused on getting the fridge in the new house (it matched the other stuff too much not to get it..I'd never find anything else to coordinate so well) that in my head I decided the ONLY appliance in the whole house I wasn't getting was the fridge. So imagine my surprise as I'm reading the inspection and the section on the washer/dryer says "not tested due to not being included in sale". WHAT??????? Looked at my purchase agreement...yup..not there. Looked at the MLS listing...YUP..not included. SOOO...guess who know has to buy a new washer and dryer?? On the other hand..I don't remember the ones there being anything special..and figured I'd replace them after a year or two anyway... But I really wasn't planning on spending that money right now.... So..I figure..I'm only in the new house about a month before I leave for 2 weeks on vacation. I'll ride it out with a W/D that month. By the time I get back from vaca I should have gotten my reimbursements for the loss protection and dual mortgage..so I can put that money towards the W/D. And maybe the new big ass tv I need for the basement entertainment wall. And maybe pay off vacation. Oh..and buy whatever craft room furniture I haven't bought by then since I've got that stuff all saved in a Target list so I can see what's onsale/free shipping/etc.
Hm..guess thats about all for now..perhaps tomorrow I'll get to a knitting related post....
Lets see...whats the latest....
Stuff is progrssing on the new house. Pass inspection with flying colors. Home inspector described my house as "perfect".
Got the paperwork to give the attorney in IL power of attorney to do the closing for me. Have to head to get stuff notorized AGAIN...why couldn't that have come last week when I was there and had a witness with me already? Now I need to sucker another witness into coming with me.
Stuff is progressing with the loan. Apparently the appraiser from the bank came back with some screwing input like the siding falling off the house and there being a homeowners association. I think we decided she went to the wrong house and are ignoring the specific comments.
On this end..no offers yet. The only bad feedback we were getting was on the blue walls in the living room..so they are no longer blue. Up until last week I was getting 3-4 showings a week. Last week nothing until Friday when I got a call at 11am for that afternoon (far from the 24 hours I was SUPPOSED to get). Then as soon as I got the puppy out of the house and got to the yarn store to kill time..they called and rescheduled for tomorrow. Wasn't that nice....at least they are still coming I guess. Nothing else for this week yet.
Got my buyout offer from the company...which is about $5k less than what I paid for the house and about $2k over what I owe currently. Which means even though our relocation policy lets me borrow the equity to close on the new house, there will likely be NO equity to borrow after the various prorations...at least not much. Oh..and I can't TAKE the buyout offer until Sept 8. Nearly a month after the closing on the new house. Now..before you feel too bad for me....yes the company has a loss protection clause..so eventually I'll get the difference between the buyout offer and what I paid. And yes, the company helps cover dual mortgage payments for up to 30 days...so eventually I'll get that back. But both are REIMBURSEMENTS. At this point..it will likely be late Sept early Oct before I see any of that money...which means I need the cash not only to close on the new house Aug 11...but to pay both mortgages also. Should be fun!
Oh..and I'm such a dumbass....apparently I was sooooo focused on getting the fridge in the new house (it matched the other stuff too much not to get it..I'd never find anything else to coordinate so well) that in my head I decided the ONLY appliance in the whole house I wasn't getting was the fridge. So imagine my surprise as I'm reading the inspection and the section on the washer/dryer says "not tested due to not being included in sale". WHAT??????? Looked at my purchase agreement...yup..not there. Looked at the MLS listing...YUP..not included. SOOO...guess who know has to buy a new washer and dryer?? On the other hand..I don't remember the ones there being anything special..and figured I'd replace them after a year or two anyway... But I really wasn't planning on spending that money right now.... So..I figure..I'm only in the new house about a month before I leave for 2 weeks on vacation. I'll ride it out with a W/D that month. By the time I get back from vaca I should have gotten my reimbursements for the loss protection and dual mortgage..so I can put that money towards the W/D. And maybe the new big ass tv I need for the basement entertainment wall. And maybe pay off vacation. Oh..and buy whatever craft room furniture I haven't bought by then since I've got that stuff all saved in a Target list so I can see what's onsale/free shipping/etc.
Hm..guess thats about all for now..perhaps tomorrow I'll get to a knitting related post....
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Realized I haven't updated in a while...
At least aside my twitter feed!
I headed to IL on Friday, June 27 to do my househunting and a few days vacation. Mom, Elphaba and I arrived in Normal around 9pm that night. Hotel was a DUMP! I knew it wasn't going to be luxury because for some reason (which we found out later was a Jehovah's Witness convention)it was the only place which would allow dogs I get could a room at. I dropped a load of stuff in the room, and ran down to get more from mom who was watching it - because the hotel had no elevator and she couldn't carry stuff up the stairs. Got back upstairs..and keys didn't work. Went to front desk, they made 3 more keys. None of THEM worked. Went back to front desk, made 3 more keys. Clerk came back up with us. None of THEM worked. Master key DID work. Mom went in with stuff, Elphaba and I went outside. Room next door hadn't been checked into yet so clerk decided to move us next door. While waiting, mom finds none of the lights work in the first room. Get upstairs, mom's in the new room. None of THOSE lights work. Call front desk. While waiting for someone to come up I start fishing around...most of the lights were unplugged..desk light didn't work. We said okay. Overall cleanliness wasn't stellar..but I've seen worse. And the beds looked clean and newer so thats more important. Well...Miss Elphaba runs around 10 minutes and finds a dirty fast food sandwich wrapper someplace. YUCK! Again, not much to be done with no other hotel rooms available. Complained, had my rate reduced. I tell you this part so you'll understand why Saturday was the way it was...we were motivated to not have to stay in the hotel a second night - even if I did get stuck PAYING for the second night.
Saturday, realtor pics us up at 9am. We have 30 houses to see. She thinks we'll see most Saturday...has a couple lined up for Sunday. Many houses are in the neighborhood I really wanted to see...cute exteriors, beautiful porches, nice big sidewalks, garages in back. Adorable neighborhood. Well...every house we saw there was a dump. And we saw like 10 houses. Plus we cut out 6 we didn't look at because they were the same model as a unit I decided was way to small. There were some for sale by owner homes in the development I wanted to see that my realtor did NOT line up...I was a bit peeved about that..but overall...I decided that if all the homeowners were as careless as the ones I'd seen..I probably didn't want to live in that neighborhood afterall. Anyway...all in all we ended up seeing about 23 houses Saturday. There were really only 2 possibilities in my opinion...so we went back for second looks on both homes between 3pm and 4:30pm. The first choice was obvious for me...as it had the biggest finished square footage...including a already finished basement. Unfortunately, we'd been following the SAME realtor with some other out of town buyers ALL day..and he was coming back for a second look as well. We decided to make an offer..and because of the interest from the other buyer (and the fact that I think the sellers had priced REALLY low intending to sell fast) I offered slightly over list price while requesting appliances and a home warranty. While we were writing the offer, the sellers agent called my realtor to ask if we were making and offer and said to hurry and get it in (hinting that if we got our offer in first we'd get accepted). We did the paperwork, mom and I hit the road back to Naperville. 30 minutes down the road my realtor called and my offer was accepted!!!
Pics of the new house!
To be continued.....
I headed to IL on Friday, June 27 to do my househunting and a few days vacation. Mom, Elphaba and I arrived in Normal around 9pm that night. Hotel was a DUMP! I knew it wasn't going to be luxury because for some reason (which we found out later was a Jehovah's Witness convention)it was the only place which would allow dogs I get could a room at. I dropped a load of stuff in the room, and ran down to get more from mom who was watching it - because the hotel had no elevator and she couldn't carry stuff up the stairs. Got back upstairs..and keys didn't work. Went to front desk, they made 3 more keys. None of THEM worked. Went back to front desk, made 3 more keys. Clerk came back up with us. None of THEM worked. Master key DID work. Mom went in with stuff, Elphaba and I went outside. Room next door hadn't been checked into yet so clerk decided to move us next door. While waiting, mom finds none of the lights work in the first room. Get upstairs, mom's in the new room. None of THOSE lights work. Call front desk. While waiting for someone to come up I start fishing around...most of the lights were unplugged..desk light didn't work. We said okay. Overall cleanliness wasn't stellar..but I've seen worse. And the beds looked clean and newer so thats more important. Well...Miss Elphaba runs around 10 minutes and finds a dirty fast food sandwich wrapper someplace. YUCK! Again, not much to be done with no other hotel rooms available. Complained, had my rate reduced. I tell you this part so you'll understand why Saturday was the way it was...we were motivated to not have to stay in the hotel a second night - even if I did get stuck PAYING for the second night.
Saturday, realtor pics us up at 9am. We have 30 houses to see. She thinks we'll see most Saturday...has a couple lined up for Sunday. Many houses are in the neighborhood I really wanted to see...cute exteriors, beautiful porches, nice big sidewalks, garages in back. Adorable neighborhood. Well...every house we saw there was a dump. And we saw like 10 houses. Plus we cut out 6 we didn't look at because they were the same model as a unit I decided was way to small. There were some for sale by owner homes in the development I wanted to see that my realtor did NOT line up...I was a bit peeved about that..but overall...I decided that if all the homeowners were as careless as the ones I'd seen..I probably didn't want to live in that neighborhood afterall. Anyway...all in all we ended up seeing about 23 houses Saturday. There were really only 2 possibilities in my opinion...so we went back for second looks on both homes between 3pm and 4:30pm. The first choice was obvious for me...as it had the biggest finished square footage...including a already finished basement. Unfortunately, we'd been following the SAME realtor with some other out of town buyers ALL day..and he was coming back for a second look as well. We decided to make an offer..and because of the interest from the other buyer (and the fact that I think the sellers had priced REALLY low intending to sell fast) I offered slightly over list price while requesting appliances and a home warranty. While we were writing the offer, the sellers agent called my realtor to ask if we were making and offer and said to hurry and get it in (hinting that if we got our offer in first we'd get accepted). We did the paperwork, mom and I hit the road back to Naperville. 30 minutes down the road my realtor called and my offer was accepted!!!
Pics of the new house!
To be continued.....
Friday, June 20, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
No progress yet....
Both my appraisels have now been done. The first dude spent like 5 minutes here looking around. The second spent almost an hour, took tons of notes, measurements and pictures. Hopefully they get their reports back quickly so I can find out my buyout offer right away on July 3, which is the earliest date they will tell me the buyout offer. I still have to market it another 30 days after that..but then I can accept around the 1st of August if need be.
Two showings so far last week. Both were quick and neither of the realtors will return my realtors call looking for feedback, so thats kind of a bummer. No takers for the open house on Sunday either. Today my agent is bringing in all the agents from her office. We'll see if that spurs anything.
So far I have about 30 houses lined up to see in Illinois later this month. Fortunately 20 of them are in the one neighborhood I really like so the odds are good I'll be able to find something there.
Two showings so far last week. Both were quick and neither of the realtors will return my realtors call looking for feedback, so thats kind of a bummer. No takers for the open house on Sunday either. Today my agent is bringing in all the agents from her office. We'll see if that spurs anything.
So far I have about 30 houses lined up to see in Illinois later this month. Fortunately 20 of them are in the one neighborhood I really like so the odds are good I'll be able to find something there.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Interest!
Got a call yesterday to set up the first showing! People coming to see the house Monday night. How awesome would that be if they fall in love and make an offer? Fingers crossed for me....
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Realtor selection over!
I met for the second time with both Realtors on Friday. I was super impressed with the woman, not so much with the man. He came in at a higher price than she did (which sounds nice but not if its not realistic and he was way higher than I was expecting) but he said a few things I wasn't crazy about. For instance "I always have my cell on me, so if I don't answer its because I can't or because I don't want to". Don't want to? Is he kidding? He followed that up with saying his phone is on all the time, except for 11pm to 6am. Okay....I turn my work phone off at that time too...but the OTHER realtor said leads go to her cell phone 24/7 and she returns calls 24/7. Like if someone clicks on the online listing and says "I want more information" that lead goes straight to her cell and she returns the call immediately no matter WHAT time it was. And another...he said he doesn't believe in open houses. WTF? I live across the street from the model homes.....we could get GREAT walk in traffic from an open house. Why the hell would you NOT do one? I mean...it will be a pain in the ass for ME when we do them because I'll have to get the dog AND the cats out of the house..but still! Oh..and the woman and I discussed the animals and what happens if I can't get home to get them out of the house for a showing. If that happens....we'll let the cats be because they are terrified of everyone anyway and always hide when company is here. But if I can't get home..the realtor will come and take Miss Elphaba out of the house! How sweet is that!
Anyway...so realtor selection over. She's coming back in the morning for me to sign the listing agreement and get the sign and lock box installed. We should have my listing online shortly thereafter and I'll be in next Saturday's paper under "hot new listings".
Yay! Progress!
Anyway...so realtor selection over. She's coming back in the morning for me to sign the listing agreement and get the sign and lock box installed. We should have my listing online shortly thereafter and I'll be in next Saturday's paper under "hot new listings".
Yay! Progress!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Next steps...
So last night the mortgage brokerage company affiliated with my relocation company emailed. Why she emailed at 10pm last night I don't understand. And I've yet to get a response to my response to her stating "yes please tell me all you have to offer, get me pre approved, and get me some rate quotes". I was less than impressed last time I was referred to the OLD affiliated mortgage company and since I had to pay all my closing costs that time anyway I didn't bother. But this time I really need to either go through them or my old bank in Peoria. Either of those ways the closing costs get direct billed to the relocation company, rather than me having to pay and get reimbursed. Which means less cash I need to have at closing..or more to put down. If the relocation company wants our mortgage business so bad why do they provide such substandard service?
Today came the first call from the moving company. This is my third time being moved with them, and its the same company that moves our big wigs..so I know I'm in good hands. The coordinator was so cute today...I called her back and she said "Is it really time for us to move you already? Didn't we just drop you off in Pennsylvania a short while ago?". She asked about any major furniture and misc purchases since I've moved here and if I thought we needed to do a full inventory teleconference again or if we should just add the new bedroom set to what we had from last time. I told her we better start fresh since they underestimate me EVERY time I move. I seem to recall running out of boxes twice last time. Of course..the shady guy they ended up contracting to do my move kept some of the boxes for himself since he had a daughter moving that weekend..but you KNOW he charged my company for them. Anyway, Monday I'll have my official phone interview with the movers to get that whole process rolling.
Tomorrow both the realtors come back in with their market analysis. Should be interesting. The women, spent over an hour here yesterday. She actually sold most of the homes in my development that are on the street behind me..she worked for the builder as the agent in the model. We talked quite a bit and then she took tons of pictures so we could get me listed as soon as possible once I choose. The man, well, he only spent like 15 minutes here...so I don't know WHAT the heck tomorrow will be like with him. I guess we'll see. But so far I'm leaning towards the women. I wish he was coming in the morning and she was in the afternoon. Then I'd know for sure when she came back I wanted to go with her and would tell her. Not that she can react immediately since I have to tell my relocation consultant who officially tells her...but still..she'd know it was coming. Oh well...wish me luck tomorrow with the realtors! (plus I have a stupid 3 hour teleconference in between those two appts!).
Today came the first call from the moving company. This is my third time being moved with them, and its the same company that moves our big wigs..so I know I'm in good hands. The coordinator was so cute today...I called her back and she said "Is it really time for us to move you already? Didn't we just drop you off in Pennsylvania a short while ago?". She asked about any major furniture and misc purchases since I've moved here and if I thought we needed to do a full inventory teleconference again or if we should just add the new bedroom set to what we had from last time. I told her we better start fresh since they underestimate me EVERY time I move. I seem to recall running out of boxes twice last time. Of course..the shady guy they ended up contracting to do my move kept some of the boxes for himself since he had a daughter moving that weekend..but you KNOW he charged my company for them. Anyway, Monday I'll have my official phone interview with the movers to get that whole process rolling.
Tomorrow both the realtors come back in with their market analysis. Should be interesting. The women, spent over an hour here yesterday. She actually sold most of the homes in my development that are on the street behind me..she worked for the builder as the agent in the model. We talked quite a bit and then she took tons of pictures so we could get me listed as soon as possible once I choose. The man, well, he only spent like 15 minutes here...so I don't know WHAT the heck tomorrow will be like with him. I guess we'll see. But so far I'm leaning towards the women. I wish he was coming in the morning and she was in the afternoon. Then I'd know for sure when she came back I wanted to go with her and would tell her. Not that she can react immediately since I have to tell my relocation consultant who officially tells her...but still..she'd know it was coming. Oh well...wish me luck tomorrow with the realtors! (plus I have a stupid 3 hour teleconference in between those two appts!).
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Wow..
Mom and I were BUSY this weekend! We did sneak in a little fun at Hersheypark on Saturday, but most of the weekend was spent cleaning, decluttering, and getting the house ready for the realtors to come in. I have a few more things to get out of the hall upstairs, and need to straighten up my makeshift desk area, and take the LARGE amount of stuff too goodwill. But other than that..its ready. And not looking remotely like my house..its too empty! Here are some pics of the downstairs.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
I don't think Miss Zella realizes....
How hard it is to do homework when she's on top of my arms and partially on the laptop!
This would be me..sitting on the couch (thank god you don't see more of me since I've been sitting here working on schoolwork since 7am this morning...right after I got out of bed). Laptop is in my lap (it actually snapped the picture) so I can get some of this weeks assignments finished before mom wakes up and we have to work on getting the house ready for the realtors to come in. And finally...Miss Zella..who has decided she's no longer going to let Miss Elphaba push her around or scare her away...curled up on top of me. As I type she's still sitting on my arms. Of course..Elphaba is ringing her bell..so as soon as I post this Z is onto the floor!
This would be me..sitting on the couch (thank god you don't see more of me since I've been sitting here working on schoolwork since 7am this morning...right after I got out of bed). Laptop is in my lap (it actually snapped the picture) so I can get some of this weeks assignments finished before mom wakes up and we have to work on getting the house ready for the realtors to come in. And finally...Miss Zella..who has decided she's no longer going to let Miss Elphaba push her around or scare her away...curled up on top of me. As I type she's still sitting on my arms. Of course..Elphaba is ringing her bell..so as soon as I post this Z is onto the floor!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Alrighty then...
Second realtor called. Completely different than the first one. We spoke for maybe 90 seconds to schedule for him to come and do the market analysis Tuesday night. Didn't ask me any questions or tell me about himself at all. If today's conversation were the deciding factor I'd defintiely be going with the other realtor...I guess we'll see how next week goes. He's coming Tuesday at 5pm and then she comes Wednesday at 9:30am.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Funny coincidence
One of the two realtors I was assigned from my reloc company to come in and do the market analysis and interview...was the agent who sold most of the units in my development when it was with the original builder. Seems like that would make her a good person to sell my place right?
Slightly less freaked...
ok..talked to a co-worker who had to use the company buyout for his house and sold at a loss.
based on company relocation policy for "loss protection" support and what I owe on my mortgage...If I have to take the buyout offer from the company I need it to be at $128k or higher for me to come out even or ahead. If I'm able to find a buyer..I need to sell at $120k or higher to come out even or ahead. I think the average SELLING price in my neighboorhood is around $135k year to date. As long as that hadn't dropped much I should be okay, though not ahead which would have been nice. That said, I was told to push to get the appraisels down ASAP as they are used to come out with the buyout price - which I can be notified of 1 month after the house has been listed - assuming the appraisels are down and reports turned in.
On the other end..the Illinois realtor called me today (don't know what the hell is taking so long for the 2 in PA). We're all set up for househunting the last weekend in June. Yay! We had a nice long chat about what I'm looking for on that end and she's going to start sending me information. I'm less concerned about that end..other than how I do on this end may impact what I'm willing to spend on THAT end. Fortunately, even at the low end of my preferred price range there...I should still come out with housing fairly equal to what I have here. Plus every place there has basements and 2 car garages...versus now where I'm on a slab with a 1 car garage.
Anyway..thats all for my relocation update for today!
based on company relocation policy for "loss protection" support and what I owe on my mortgage...If I have to take the buyout offer from the company I need it to be at $128k or higher for me to come out even or ahead. If I'm able to find a buyer..I need to sell at $120k or higher to come out even or ahead. I think the average SELLING price in my neighboorhood is around $135k year to date. As long as that hadn't dropped much I should be okay, though not ahead which would have been nice. That said, I was told to push to get the appraisels down ASAP as they are used to come out with the buyout price - which I can be notified of 1 month after the house has been listed - assuming the appraisels are down and reports turned in.
On the other end..the Illinois realtor called me today (don't know what the hell is taking so long for the 2 in PA). We're all set up for househunting the last weekend in June. Yay! We had a nice long chat about what I'm looking for on that end and she's going to start sending me information. I'm less concerned about that end..other than how I do on this end may impact what I'm willing to spend on THAT end. Fortunately, even at the low end of my preferred price range there...I should still come out with housing fairly equal to what I have here. Plus every place there has basements and 2 car garages...versus now where I'm on a slab with a 1 car garage.
Anyway..thats all for my relocation update for today!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
It begin..
Personnel announcement finally went out last night. Effective date on new job is Aug 1, though training doesn't start until Sept 8. Luckily the training dates have changed from the original ones I was told so I won't miss any training for vacation like before. I do apparently get "homework" that has to be done before training..so I'll probably stil shoot for moving mid Aug.
Assuming of course I can sell my house.. well..I mean...selling it shouldn't be the problem..as long as there's not something horribly wrong with it then I should be able to SELL it because the company will buy it. Problem is at what price and where does that leave me. I'm thinking I'll be negative right now..meaning smaller house needed on the other side. That said, relocation company finally called to get stuff rolling last night...I'm completely overwhelmed...I don't know how single people go through the sell / buy move process on their own. It was complicated enough to buy while relocating without someone to help me through the process. I don't know WHAT I'm going to do with selling.. I mean...what do I do with the animals if I'm out of town that day and someone wants to show the house?
Wish me luck....I think I'm going to develop an ulcer over this....
Assuming of course I can sell my house.. well..I mean...selling it shouldn't be the problem..as long as there's not something horribly wrong with it then I should be able to SELL it because the company will buy it. Problem is at what price and where does that leave me. I'm thinking I'll be negative right now..meaning smaller house needed on the other side. That said, relocation company finally called to get stuff rolling last night...I'm completely overwhelmed...I don't know how single people go through the sell / buy move process on their own. It was complicated enough to buy while relocating without someone to help me through the process. I don't know WHAT I'm going to do with selling.. I mean...what do I do with the animals if I'm out of town that day and someone wants to show the house?
Wish me luck....I think I'm going to develop an ulcer over this....
Friday, May 16, 2008
Too cute!
So its pouring cats and dogs here today..and I braved the downpour for my Friday starbucks treat. I'm sure I've been in when its been rainy before..but I've never seen this..look at the cute little stopper they put in my cup so the rain didn't get in!
Friday, May 09, 2008
Would you be disturbed???
Two disturbing things this week.
First....(copied this off my ravelry post on the same subject so some of you may have seen this already).....
I live at the end of a street with relatively new construction, only 10 people living in 7 townhouses, and the rest of the street is as yet undeveloped. When you pass the two buildings the road goes up a hill into a culdisac (spelled totally wrong but you get the idea - and again totally undeveloped as of yet).
Over the past couple of months I’ve been noticing pairs of cars show up, spend 10 minutes up the hill out of site, then depart. Not necessarily the same two cars every time...but pairs of cars.
Now..again..10 people live here. Prior to this..NO ONE drove down here with 2 exceptions. 1)The few of us who live here or 2) going to the model home which is directly across the street from me on the opposite corner (there are like 4 townhouses still unsold). Usually people who are going to the model, park right in front of the model and walk in. Or park in one of the open driveways and walk in. They do NOT drive to the top of the hill and then leave after 10 minutes.
So today, get home around 4pm, walking to the mailbox when I see a Camary pull up and park and sit, not at the abandoned end of the rd but in front of the houses. A minute or so later a silver honda pulls up, they talk, they drive up the hill together. After 5 mintues they drive back down the hill, park on the opposite side of the street. She gets out of her car and gets into his car. They sit..and sit..and sit. I’m outside with the dog the entire time waiting for her to go #2. Finally, after them sitting 20 minutes in the one car not doing anything, I call the local police.
I mean…these cars are coming all hours of the day and night for 10 minutes max. What would YOU think they were doing?
Cop shows up about 10 minutes later, talks to them for 3 minutes, gets in his car for like 8 minutes and leaves. Honda and Camary still sitting. Meanwhile, model (which was open) closes and agent leaves. Cop calls me 10 minutes later (cars still there) to tell me that they say they are considering buying one of the houses, and since they don’t have any outstanding warrants, seems to check out and I shouldn’t worry.
I express to him my concern, that 1) why would they not go IN to see the house versus sit on the street for an hour which it was close to at that time, 2) its not just these 2 cars, but all sorts of cars 5-6 times a day and in the middle of the night, and 3) I’m outside with the dog every 2 hours roughly and see this all the time and can’t imagine what all these cars are doing up at the undeveloped part of the street.
I told him I felt silly calling but that this whole thing just seems weird. He said not to feel silly, they’d rather I call than not call.
What do you guys think? I’m sitting hear shaky because if there is something bad going on, its probably obvious to the people who it was and what house. Plus, aside my own personal safety which is a concern. I’m getting ready to put the house on the market. What if something funky IS going on up there and a potential buyer is also concerned by it?
Do you guys think I’m worried over nothing? Would you be calling the cops every time a strange set of cars showed up (and didnt go into the model - or anywhere near it for that matter?).
Second....
I'm in the post office yesterday to mail out a package. In front of me in line are two foreign gentlemen...I honestly couldn't tell you were from I only saw them from behind and they spoke in very broken english. The one has one of those little orange cards the mailman leaves when you have to go to the post office to pick up your package. He gives it to the clerk, she grabs his letter. She tells him she needs to see some ID before she can release the letter to him. He tells her he doesn't have ID and the letter is really for his "brother" standing next to him. She asks the "brother" for ID, but he "forgot" his ID at home. Without any hesitation, she just lets them sign for the letter and leave. Mind you...the entire time the original dude is holding his car keys...so I'm thinking..."how did he drive here and he has no ID of any kind?". I get outside, and the two men are sitting in the car, and the original one is reading the letter.
Now...two things bother me here... 1) Why was neither of these men able to produce ID and 2) WHY on earth would the post office clerk release the letter! If I was the sender of that letter and required ID I'd be furious to find out that the letter was released with out it. What do you think?
First....(copied this off my ravelry post on the same subject so some of you may have seen this already).....
I live at the end of a street with relatively new construction, only 10 people living in 7 townhouses, and the rest of the street is as yet undeveloped. When you pass the two buildings the road goes up a hill into a culdisac (spelled totally wrong but you get the idea - and again totally undeveloped as of yet).
Over the past couple of months I’ve been noticing pairs of cars show up, spend 10 minutes up the hill out of site, then depart. Not necessarily the same two cars every time...but pairs of cars.
Now..again..10 people live here. Prior to this..NO ONE drove down here with 2 exceptions. 1)The few of us who live here or 2) going to the model home which is directly across the street from me on the opposite corner (there are like 4 townhouses still unsold). Usually people who are going to the model, park right in front of the model and walk in. Or park in one of the open driveways and walk in. They do NOT drive to the top of the hill and then leave after 10 minutes.
So today, get home around 4pm, walking to the mailbox when I see a Camary pull up and park and sit, not at the abandoned end of the rd but in front of the houses. A minute or so later a silver honda pulls up, they talk, they drive up the hill together. After 5 mintues they drive back down the hill, park on the opposite side of the street. She gets out of her car and gets into his car. They sit..and sit..and sit. I’m outside with the dog the entire time waiting for her to go #2. Finally, after them sitting 20 minutes in the one car not doing anything, I call the local police.
I mean…these cars are coming all hours of the day and night for 10 minutes max. What would YOU think they were doing?
Cop shows up about 10 minutes later, talks to them for 3 minutes, gets in his car for like 8 minutes and leaves. Honda and Camary still sitting. Meanwhile, model (which was open) closes and agent leaves. Cop calls me 10 minutes later (cars still there) to tell me that they say they are considering buying one of the houses, and since they don’t have any outstanding warrants, seems to check out and I shouldn’t worry.
I express to him my concern, that 1) why would they not go IN to see the house versus sit on the street for an hour which it was close to at that time, 2) its not just these 2 cars, but all sorts of cars 5-6 times a day and in the middle of the night, and 3) I’m outside with the dog every 2 hours roughly and see this all the time and can’t imagine what all these cars are doing up at the undeveloped part of the street.
I told him I felt silly calling but that this whole thing just seems weird. He said not to feel silly, they’d rather I call than not call.
What do you guys think? I’m sitting hear shaky because if there is something bad going on, its probably obvious to the people who it was and what house. Plus, aside my own personal safety which is a concern. I’m getting ready to put the house on the market. What if something funky IS going on up there and a potential buyer is also concerned by it?
Do you guys think I’m worried over nothing? Would you be calling the cops every time a strange set of cars showed up (and didnt go into the model - or anywhere near it for that matter?).
Second....
I'm in the post office yesterday to mail out a package. In front of me in line are two foreign gentlemen...I honestly couldn't tell you were from I only saw them from behind and they spoke in very broken english. The one has one of those little orange cards the mailman leaves when you have to go to the post office to pick up your package. He gives it to the clerk, she grabs his letter. She tells him she needs to see some ID before she can release the letter to him. He tells her he doesn't have ID and the letter is really for his "brother" standing next to him. She asks the "brother" for ID, but he "forgot" his ID at home. Without any hesitation, she just lets them sign for the letter and leave. Mind you...the entire time the original dude is holding his car keys...so I'm thinking..."how did he drive here and he has no ID of any kind?". I get outside, and the two men are sitting in the car, and the original one is reading the letter.
Now...two things bother me here... 1) Why was neither of these men able to produce ID and 2) WHY on earth would the post office clerk release the letter! If I was the sender of that letter and required ID I'd be furious to find out that the letter was released with out it. What do you think?
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Disney Fun!
So I'm headed to Walt Disney World for the first time in almost 10 years this September..followed by a week on the Disney Magic. I've been getting very much into the mood..listening to podcasts from Lou Mongello, gathering my vacation wardrobe, and reading up in my favorite Disney Travel Book.
So here's a little Disney fun to share....
Apparently I need to breakout the DVDs for a little review on this one:
So here's a little Disney fun to share....
Apparently I need to breakout the DVDs for a little review on this one:
Which Disney Princess Are You? | |
 | You are part Jasmine. You are loyal and would visit the ends of the earth for what you believe. You would never let obstacles stand in the way of true love. |
 | You are part Ariel. You are beautiful but impaired. At times you are na�ve. Still, your innocence and good heart make you sought after and loved. |
| Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com | |
Which Disney Villain Are You? | |
 | You are Lady Tremaine. You're the evil stepmother little girls have nightmares about. Hooray for you, who helped kids learn to love their birth parents and do everything possible to avoid stepparents. Next time, though, be careful not to get in between a girl and her dreams. |
| Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com | |
Which Disney Hero Are You? | |
 | You are Aladdin. You don't have much in life and you couldn't be more happy. Based on your background and history people often misjudge you, but you will soon show that you are a hero in a plain man's clothing. Until then, brush up on your singing and laughing because they will get you through some hard times ahead. |
| Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com | |
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Ouch!
So I may or may not have written about this in the past, but my alarm clock in the morning typically consists of either Joey or Elphaba pawing, licking, or nibbling somewhere on my face. Perhaps not the most IDEAL way to wake up, but one to which I have become acustomed. And mostly enjoy as being woken up by creatures who adore me is certainly less jaring than the alarm clock.
Until this morning.
Now, when she gets really excited (which she is in the morning usually) miss Elphaba accidentally goes from nibble to bite. This morning I woke up to Elphaba fangs INSIDE my nose with a sharp bite. Little stinker. Blood of course immediately exploded out of my already sensitive inner noise area. After the initial gushing it stopped pretty quicky, and luckily I moved fast enough to avoid getting it all over my bed and floor..but damn if my noise doesn't hurt like a ...... well...use your imagination there.
Until this morning.
Now, when she gets really excited (which she is in the morning usually) miss Elphaba accidentally goes from nibble to bite. This morning I woke up to Elphaba fangs INSIDE my nose with a sharp bite. Little stinker. Blood of course immediately exploded out of my already sensitive inner noise area. After the initial gushing it stopped pretty quicky, and luckily I moved fast enough to avoid getting it all over my bed and floor..but damn if my noise doesn't hurt like a ...... well...use your imagination there.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Yay!
Okay, it took a whole week..but I finally got my call with my official offer and I'm super excited. The person I'm assigned to for my black belt job is someone I have a TON of respect and admiration for! I feel really lucky that he's going to be my mentor and sponsor over the next two years.
Yay! Now the craziness will begin...well...once the formal announcement goes out at least..since thats when the relocation company will then contact me to get everything rolling.
I'm hoping to work things out to take a term off school from mid-aug thru end of september and then move and have my vacation during that 7 week break. We'll see how that will work out!
Gosh..now I need to get the house ready to go on the market! Yikes! I've never sold a house before!
Yay! Now the craziness will begin...well...once the formal announcement goes out at least..since thats when the relocation company will then contact me to get everything rolling.
I'm hoping to work things out to take a term off school from mid-aug thru end of september and then move and have my vacation during that 7 week break. We'll see how that will work out!
Gosh..now I need to get the house ready to go on the market! Yikes! I've never sold a house before!
Why twitter??
Okay..so if you've seen my tweets and my post about loving the twitter..but thought to yourself "huh?". Well...the CEO at Zappos put together a great little getting started guide.
So check it out! (BTW - Zappos on twitter gives away all kinds of goodies! I keep missing out on responding in time...but there have been many cool prizes!)
So check it out! (BTW - Zappos on twitter gives away all kinds of goodies! I keep missing out on responding in time...but there have been many cool prizes!)
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Rants
1. Why the heck has this dude not called with my official offer yet? I'm going nuts not knowing my effective date, when I should be moving, the craziness of selling my house. At last once I get the call we can get the ball rolling on stuff. Even my boss was surprised I'd not heard anything yet.
2. I HATE it when classmates argue with you on discussions without understanding the facts. This weeks discussion topic was ethical decisions and the internet. I posted about it being a violation of a knitwear designer's copyright for you to produce and sell items from their patterns without their permission. Everyone on in my class says what good are patterns for if you cannot sell items you make from them. They are COMPLETELY missing the fact, that the pattern is a copyrighted work. And copyright law prohibits someone from producing the copyrighted item, or a derivitaive of it (ie the knitted item) without the copyright holders permission. Though in the case of knitwears, designers accept and expect you to make items for your own personal use, or to gift them to others, but not to profit from their work. Would they copy a book or DVD and sell it? No. So why do they keep arguing with me that they should be allowed to sell the knitted item. And ONE idiot...said "well if I sold your item and lost money on it can I then sue you". I'm like SERIOUSLY? It was against copyright law for you to sell it in the first place!
3. It looks gorgeous outside today. But damn its kinda chilly!
4. I twisted my freaking ankle again Sunday. SAME one. Its feeling better already, but seriously....it just finally stopped hurting from the last time like a month ago!
5. Airfare prices are RIDICULOUS and I need to decide if I'm flying/driving home in July. Plus....if the aformentioned dude in #1 would call, then I'd know if I could combine my July trip to Chicago with househunting. And then I'd be less worried about prices!
6. Stupid wax ring on my bathroom toilet failed. Leak is between vinyl and subfloor and stained final. Which means, guess who needs to put in a new floor before putting the house on the market? I was thinking ceramic, but DAMN its expensive. May opt for the more economical vinyl tiles and do the install myself. But still a pain in the ASS!
7. Places around here want $53 a month for a 5'x10' storage space! I need to get stuff out of the house to make it presentable for selling. But this seems excessive? I know its been like 8 years since I had a storage space, but we only paid like $30 then. This seems like an awful steep increase no?
8. Zella's food does not seem to be working to regulate her digestion anymore. Joey's still good. But Zella, not so much. And she's not even using the litterbox most of the time. I swear she's leaving more mess than the dog who won't potty train still! Need to call the vet....
Guess thats all for now. I'm sure there's more, but I feel a little better after venting....
2. I HATE it when classmates argue with you on discussions without understanding the facts. This weeks discussion topic was ethical decisions and the internet. I posted about it being a violation of a knitwear designer's copyright for you to produce and sell items from their patterns without their permission. Everyone on in my class says what good are patterns for if you cannot sell items you make from them. They are COMPLETELY missing the fact, that the pattern is a copyrighted work. And copyright law prohibits someone from producing the copyrighted item, or a derivitaive of it (ie the knitted item) without the copyright holders permission. Though in the case of knitwears, designers accept and expect you to make items for your own personal use, or to gift them to others, but not to profit from their work. Would they copy a book or DVD and sell it? No. So why do they keep arguing with me that they should be allowed to sell the knitted item. And ONE idiot...said "well if I sold your item and lost money on it can I then sue you". I'm like SERIOUSLY? It was against copyright law for you to sell it in the first place!
3. It looks gorgeous outside today. But damn its kinda chilly!
4. I twisted my freaking ankle again Sunday. SAME one. Its feeling better already, but seriously....it just finally stopped hurting from the last time like a month ago!
5. Airfare prices are RIDICULOUS and I need to decide if I'm flying/driving home in July. Plus....if the aformentioned dude in #1 would call, then I'd know if I could combine my July trip to Chicago with househunting. And then I'd be less worried about prices!
6. Stupid wax ring on my bathroom toilet failed. Leak is between vinyl and subfloor and stained final. Which means, guess who needs to put in a new floor before putting the house on the market? I was thinking ceramic, but DAMN its expensive. May opt for the more economical vinyl tiles and do the install myself. But still a pain in the ASS!
7. Places around here want $53 a month for a 5'x10' storage space! I need to get stuff out of the house to make it presentable for selling. But this seems excessive? I know its been like 8 years since I had a storage space, but we only paid like $30 then. This seems like an awful steep increase no?
8. Zella's food does not seem to be working to regulate her digestion anymore. Joey's still good. But Zella, not so much. And she's not even using the litterbox most of the time. I swear she's leaving more mess than the dog who won't potty train still! Need to call the vet....
Guess thats all for now. I'm sure there's more, but I feel a little better after venting....
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Moving on again.....
So I got a call from my boss today. He said I received unanimous approval from our admin team for my next position. The move will take me back to Illinois after a long 6 years away. I'm supposed to receive the call with the "offical" job offer, my new supervisor, and details on moving in the next week or so. I start training at the end of August. I'm hoping because of my two weeks vacation scheduled the last half of September into October that they'll have me move the first part of August. Otherwise I may try and delay the move until October after I get back from vacation. I'd hate to spend a week in Illinois in training, come back and move, and then desert all the animals for 2 weeks. They'd all have nervous breakdowns!
More details to come as they work themselves out!
Good lord....I have to get the house ready to sell now....yikes!
To my PA friends: I'll miss you all! I wish I could say the same about central PA...but...well...you guys all know how I feel about that! Just remember all the places you'll get to visit me someday!
More details to come as they work themselves out!
Good lord....I have to get the house ready to sell now....yikes!
To my PA friends: I'll miss you all! I wish I could say the same about central PA...but...well...you guys all know how I feel about that! Just remember all the places you'll get to visit me someday!
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
So if you hadn't noticed...
Totally hooked on the twitter! Why the heck did it take me this long to jump on board with it?
Monday, March 24, 2008
I'm such a nerd!
I now have Dream in Color yarn in 27 of the 32 available colorways. 25 of them are in Classy. The other two are in Smooshy. One of them I have in Smooshy and Classy in my stash. And one of them I used the Fatty for the Scotty vest, which was a nice fast knit!
I'm so addicted to this yarn! In addition to baby blankets in process, I cast on last night for a Mr. Greenjeans sweater in this too. LOVE LOVE LOVE working with Dream in Color!
Here's the finished Scotty (link only works for fellow Ravelers).
It was a super fast knit thanks to the easy pattern and Fatty yarn. Eat.Sleep.Knit has Fatty as a power boost yarn for the yarn marathon this month..so I'm SOOO tempted to buy more...but the project I have in mind requires 7 skeins..making it a $119 sweater...so we'll see. May wait for a discount code and just miss out on the power boost.
I'm so addicted to this yarn! In addition to baby blankets in process, I cast on last night for a Mr. Greenjeans sweater in this too. LOVE LOVE LOVE working with Dream in Color!
Here's the finished Scotty (link only works for fellow Ravelers).
It was a super fast knit thanks to the easy pattern and Fatty yarn. Eat.Sleep.Knit has Fatty as a power boost yarn for the yarn marathon this month..so I'm SOOO tempted to buy more...but the project I have in mind requires 7 skeins..making it a $119 sweater...so we'll see. May wait for a discount code and just miss out on the power boost.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Project Updates!
Well I've been a knitting fool lately. Guess it makes sense since I have no life outside school and work these days!!!
I finished my first Tulip Sweater and its GORGEOUS! Can't wait to give this baby away! I made the 12-18 month size, and used the originally recommended colors of Dream In Color Classy for this one. Will start to experiment with other colors for the next one.
I also finished my Tilted Duster finally, just need to figure out where I put the buttons I bought and sew those on. I used the recommended Berocco Peruvia for this, only took 7 skeins rather than the recommended 8. Did make the skirt a tiny bit shorter than it should be, but it still grazes the bottom of my bottom so I think its perfect. Came out a little big overall thanks to my continued weight loss, but I think it will be a warm cozy jacket. Mom is hoping I give it to her. We'll see....
And finally, my newest piece..The Scotty Vest from Dream In Color Designs. The first of its pattern on ravelry, outside the original by the designer that is! This is using Dream in Color's bulky weight yarn, Fatty. Was a super fast knit thanks to the bulk yarn, and I'm more and more in love with the feels and colorways from Dream in Color the more I work with it. I think my whole stash will soon be overrun with nothing but DIC!
I finished my first Tulip Sweater and its GORGEOUS! Can't wait to give this baby away! I made the 12-18 month size, and used the originally recommended colors of Dream In Color Classy for this one. Will start to experiment with other colors for the next one.
I also finished my Tilted Duster finally, just need to figure out where I put the buttons I bought and sew those on. I used the recommended Berocco Peruvia for this, only took 7 skeins rather than the recommended 8. Did make the skirt a tiny bit shorter than it should be, but it still grazes the bottom of my bottom so I think its perfect. Came out a little big overall thanks to my continued weight loss, but I think it will be a warm cozy jacket. Mom is hoping I give it to her. We'll see....
And finally, my newest piece..The Scotty Vest from Dream In Color Designs. The first of its pattern on ravelry, outside the original by the designer that is! This is using Dream in Color's bulky weight yarn, Fatty. Was a super fast knit thanks to the bulk yarn, and I'm more and more in love with the feels and colorways from Dream in Color the more I work with it. I think my whole stash will soon be overrun with nothing but DIC!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Bonus!
So last week was the payout of my 2007 bonus. As usual, some of the money goes to a special something I can remind myself of my bonus with..and the rest usually goes to pay for all the other special somethings I bought duringthe year (ie credit cards).
So this year I went with:
A brand new 37" LCD HDTV from Vizio
A 160GB AppleTV which I've already rented some movies from and LOVE...they start so fast! Even the movie I rented in HD was ready to watch within like a minute!
A Harmony 550 universal remote.
Having great fun with my new toys...now if only I can make the tivo work with the tv...fortunately..I have a work around for now..though its a pain in the ass...involving using tivo 2 go to get it to my macbook and then toast to get it to my apple tv... one of these days I'll fix this...but I've had a killer cold all week and just haven't had the patience.
So this year I went with:
A brand new 37" LCD HDTV from Vizio
A 160GB AppleTV which I've already rented some movies from and LOVE...they start so fast! Even the movie I rented in HD was ready to watch within like a minute!
A Harmony 550 universal remote.
Having great fun with my new toys...now if only I can make the tivo work with the tv...fortunately..I have a work around for now..though its a pain in the ass...involving using tivo 2 go to get it to my macbook and then toast to get it to my apple tv... one of these days I'll fix this...but I've had a killer cold all week and just haven't had the patience.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Dang it
I've been gone all day, still feel like ass, and had to drive home 2.5 hours in the pouring rain. I try to settle in for a little time on Ravelry..and I get can't the damn page to load! Now how am I going to chill?
Friday, February 22, 2008
Public Service Announcement
People...if you are sick...STAY home!
This nasty flu/cold whatever the hell it is has been going around my office for nearly 3 weeks now. 3 people have been to the hospital that I'm aware of - two because their illness turned into bronchitis.... but do people stay HOME... NO. So guess what....now I'm sick! I think there's one person left in the office after me who hasn't gotten it yet. But seriously people....STAY the hell home when you are not well. Did we really need a whole office full of people feeling like death? I know I didn't need it!
This nasty flu/cold whatever the hell it is has been going around my office for nearly 3 weeks now. 3 people have been to the hospital that I'm aware of - two because their illness turned into bronchitis.... but do people stay HOME... NO. So guess what....now I'm sick! I think there's one person left in the office after me who hasn't gotten it yet. But seriously people....STAY the hell home when you are not well. Did we really need a whole office full of people feeling like death? I know I didn't need it!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Dream in LOTS of Color
Hm...so I started working on the Baby Tulip Sweater from Dream In Color over the weekend as I mentioned before. What I didn't mention..is the obscene amount of this yarn I also ordered over the weekend!
4 skeins of go go grassy for Wicked
5 skeins of Pansy Go Lightly for Mr. Greenjeans
1 skein of Petal Shower
1 skein of Ruby River
1 skein of Punky Fuschia
1 skein of Wisterious
(the signal skeins will go towards a girls Rocketry blanket I think..and or more sweaters).
And thats all just from The Loopy Ewe
I also placed an order at Eat Sleep Knit for:
1 skein Dusky Aurora
1 skein of Deep Seaflower
1 skein of Nighwatch
(these will go with the blues I already have towards a boys Rocketry blanket and maybe more sweaters).
And I ordered new Dream in Color Pattern from Pick UP Sticks for the Scotty Vest, Adult Tulip Cardigan, and Dream In Color Shrug.
Oh..then I ALMOST went back to Eat Sleep Knit to order some DIC Fatty because thats what the Scotty Vest uses...but I controlled myself...for now.
I also decided to put some of my stash available for sale (located at here for those of you interested and on Ravelry).
I guess the good news is....the stuff I bought from today's Loopy Ewe sneak up was NOT dream in color. But only because Sheri finally ran out of the Butter Peeps I kept forgetting to order.
Wow...just did the math...I ordered 4000 yards of dream in color classy this weekend! Thats 12000 feet. Thats over 2 MILES of classy!
Here's the tulip baby sweater so far. Waiting for my size 7 DPNs to show up from Sonny and Shear to finish the sleeves.
4 skeins of go go grassy for Wicked
5 skeins of Pansy Go Lightly for Mr. Greenjeans
1 skein of Petal Shower
1 skein of Ruby River
1 skein of Punky Fuschia
1 skein of Wisterious
(the signal skeins will go towards a girls Rocketry blanket I think..and or more sweaters).
And thats all just from The Loopy Ewe
I also placed an order at Eat Sleep Knit for:
1 skein Dusky Aurora
1 skein of Deep Seaflower
1 skein of Nighwatch
(these will go with the blues I already have towards a boys Rocketry blanket and maybe more sweaters).
And I ordered new Dream in Color Pattern from Pick UP Sticks for the Scotty Vest, Adult Tulip Cardigan, and Dream In Color Shrug.
Oh..then I ALMOST went back to Eat Sleep Knit to order some DIC Fatty because thats what the Scotty Vest uses...but I controlled myself...for now.
I also decided to put some of my stash available for sale (located at here for those of you interested and on Ravelry).
I guess the good news is....the stuff I bought from today's Loopy Ewe sneak up was NOT dream in color. But only because Sheri finally ran out of the Butter Peeps I kept forgetting to order.
Wow...just did the math...I ordered 4000 yards of dream in color classy this weekend! Thats 12000 feet. Thats over 2 MILES of classy!
Here's the tulip baby sweater so far. Waiting for my size 7 DPNs to show up from Sonny and Shear to finish the sleeves.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Oh...and did I mention????
Found another great online yarn store I love: Sonny and Shear. They are one of a few stores online that carry the Dream in Color line. (So does my favorite The Loopy Ewe). Plus Sonny and Shear carries my favorite Brittany birch needles.
Very productive lately!
So Friday morning..yes...7am to be exact...I cleaned out my garage finally. And now my honda has its new home! Was soooo nice to have it in there this weekend. Shame on me for being too lazy to do this sooner! That poor car spent its first two months out in the cold on the driveway! Only problem now, I have to make SURE I'm watching behind me and don't back into the impala again! After my second time doing that, I started backing the honda up the driveway so I'd SEE the impala in front of me and not hit it. But I can't back it into the garage because of what side of the car the door inside would be in....so.....I'm being careful...and the next time the cars collide the impala is definitely getting parked on the street!
I've also been getting LOTS of knitting done lately! I loaded up onDream In Color Classy yarn in a bunch of colors. And I'm well into the Tulip Baby Cardigan. And SOOOOO loving it! I can't believe how much I got done. I figured I'm going to make some girls and boys colorways for babies who are on their way since I don't know which one it will be yet! Plus..its knitting up so fast, and uses only a fraction of a skein that I figured I'd make a bunch in different sizes and colorways and Mom and Donna can sell them at this falls craft fairs.
I've also been getting LOTS of knitting done lately! I loaded up onDream In Color Classy yarn in a bunch of colors. And I'm well into the Tulip Baby Cardigan. And SOOOOO loving it! I can't believe how much I got done. I figured I'm going to make some girls and boys colorways for babies who are on their way since I don't know which one it will be yet! Plus..its knitting up so fast, and uses only a fraction of a skein that I figured I'd make a bunch in different sizes and colorways and Mom and Donna can sell them at this falls craft fairs. 
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Business Travel is a Privledge
My ASS!!!
Not only did it take me 48 hours to get home from Peoria last week...but get what happened to me TODAY (taken from an email I sent to a few friends from the airport tonight. Good news is...I'm blogging on my macbook from my desk...so at least there was a happy ending! I'm thinking need to start a book on all my crazy travel problems and what I do when I'm stranded in airports. Too bad I didn't come up with that idea like 5 years ago though....Book would be done!
Yeah so....was supposed to land in charlotte at 8:48am for a 10-3 meeting. Diverted to SC and finally got to charlotte at 11:15, putting me at the office at noon. Meeting was OVER. Lunch was over (I was offered leftovers from the day before). B, who called the meeting, tells me to try and catch the 4pm flight rather than wait til my 6pm. I call my admin to try and change my flight. She emails me that u have to try for standby. She also wrote ( which I didnt see until 4:30) that I was unchecked from the 6pm and would has to check in again. I get dropped off at the airport at 2pm. Get on standby list for the 4pm-they tell me there may be a $25 fee if I get on. And I wait at the gate and don't get on. So at that point i have 2 hours to kill and start wandering. Not til I sit down to eat do I see the line from my admin about needing to checkin again. Go to the service center in a panic, and they tell me I'm not on the 6pm flight but the 4pm which was overbooked so I was on standby. They say they can book me on the 6pm for $25. I say that's fine if I am confirmed with a seat but that I never should have been pulled off in the first place if the 4pm was overbooked and I was only on standby. She says she has no choice, so I did my thing (note: original text removed cuz only the email receipents would have gotten in...but basically I was a bitch til I got my way) and finally they figure out how to rebook me without the $25 and with a confirmed seat. Now I'm waiting hoping no more issues!
Needless to say, this is the last time I fly to charlotte for a half day meeting! UGH! May be my last flight period for a while!!!!
Not only did it take me 48 hours to get home from Peoria last week...but get what happened to me TODAY (taken from an email I sent to a few friends from the airport tonight. Good news is...I'm blogging on my macbook from my desk...so at least there was a happy ending! I'm thinking need to start a book on all my crazy travel problems and what I do when I'm stranded in airports. Too bad I didn't come up with that idea like 5 years ago though....Book would be done!
Yeah so....was supposed to land in charlotte at 8:48am for a 10-3 meeting. Diverted to SC and finally got to charlotte at 11:15, putting me at the office at noon. Meeting was OVER. Lunch was over (I was offered leftovers from the day before). B, who called the meeting, tells me to try and catch the 4pm flight rather than wait til my 6pm. I call my admin to try and change my flight. She emails me that u have to try for standby. She also wrote ( which I didnt see until 4:30) that I was unchecked from the 6pm and would has to check in again. I get dropped off at the airport at 2pm. Get on standby list for the 4pm-they tell me there may be a $25 fee if I get on. And I wait at the gate and don't get on. So at that point i have 2 hours to kill and start wandering. Not til I sit down to eat do I see the line from my admin about needing to checkin again. Go to the service center in a panic, and they tell me I'm not on the 6pm flight but the 4pm which was overbooked so I was on standby. They say they can book me on the 6pm for $25. I say that's fine if I am confirmed with a seat but that I never should have been pulled off in the first place if the 4pm was overbooked and I was only on standby. She says she has no choice, so I did my thing (note: original text removed cuz only the email receipents would have gotten in...but basically I was a bitch til I got my way) and finally they figure out how to rebook me without the $25 and with a confirmed seat. Now I'm waiting hoping no more issues!
Needless to say, this is the last time I fly to charlotte for a half day meeting! UGH! May be my last flight period for a while!!!!
Monday, February 04, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Tilted Duster and Knitmap
So first of all...for the knitters out there who read my blog (there must be one or two of you right?) do you know about Knit Map?? Its this great site where you can put in a zip code and get back all the local yarn stores in that area. And people go in and rate and comment on the stores. So if you are like me and just LOVE to check out a local yarn store whenever you are away from home check it out! There is even a special iPhone version. Oh...and I just won a skein of Socks that Rock Lightweight for commenting! YEAH!
And...this weekend I cast on the Tilted Duster...I've been coveting it since the Fall 2007 Interweave first came out. I bought the recommended yarn in a light gray colorway (poor Yarn Love was one skein short of the black otherwise I would have gone with that). Anyway, I scoped out the project on Ravelry and everyone said the top is going super fast and the skirt takes forever. Well..I must agree...I cast on Friday night and knit a bit Friday and then about 4 hours yesterday..and I've finished the back, both front pieces, and started the sleeves (done two at the same time to make sure they are the same length!). Now I just have to decide if there's enough space/time to bring them with me to Peoria this week....depends on if I stop goofing off and get this weeks paper started I guess since I need to pack, go to target, and leave to drop Elphaba at the kennel before my 6pm flight tonight.
And...this weekend I cast on the Tilted Duster...I've been coveting it since the Fall 2007 Interweave first came out. I bought the recommended yarn in a light gray colorway (poor Yarn Love was one skein short of the black otherwise I would have gone with that). Anyway, I scoped out the project on Ravelry and everyone said the top is going super fast and the skirt takes forever. Well..I must agree...I cast on Friday night and knit a bit Friday and then about 4 hours yesterday..and I've finished the back, both front pieces, and started the sleeves (done two at the same time to make sure they are the same length!). Now I just have to decide if there's enough space/time to bring them with me to Peoria this week....depends on if I stop goofing off and get this weeks paper started I guess since I need to pack, go to target, and leave to drop Elphaba at the kennel before my 6pm flight tonight.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
My 2008 Apple Wish List
Well..the keynote at MacWorld was today...and I've got lots of goodies on my wishlist....
First is of course the freakishly tiny Macbook Air. Of course I don't NEED a new laptop...and I love my Macbook. But its sooooo cool! Although this one is on my list...unless I win the lottery...it will stay on the list!
As to things I may actually BUY this year....
I wasn't that into the first AppleTV since I was turned off by the idea you had to buy your movies/tv shows and download them first to the computer and THEN move them to the AppleTV. But that problem is no more! AND when you consider that you will also be able to RENT movies and tv shows now...Apple TV seems like a no brainer. Only question is which size? I've been tivoing movies and then watching them on the laptop on the road or putting them on my ipod or burning to dvd...but deleting them when I was done with them. Perhaps I should go with the bigger AppleTV and stop deleting my movie files?
And third...the Time Capsule. My airport extreme is great. But is the original and my macbook is capable of faster wireless transmission that my airport extreme doesn't support. But with Time Capsule I'd be able to take advantage of the faster wireless speeds. Oh..and the wireless backup harddrive is freaking awesome! I only have two USB ports and a firewire port on this baby....I wouldn't have to plug the external hard drive into my firewire port if I had Time Capsule.
Hm....what to spend my tax return and bonus on....
Oh...yeah...if I get apple tv that means I need a new tv too....finally will be time to upgrade to a flat panel HDTV. Timing is probably right since when I move again (in the next six months I hope!) I hope to have more room and would be nice to have a TV in the main hang out area and then another someplace else hooked up to the wii and for playing around...... Hm....what TV to buy???? Good thing I'm getting that nice fat tax return. Better enjoy it since I finally wised up and adjusted my tax witholding now that I'm a homeowner.
First is of course the freakishly tiny Macbook Air. Of course I don't NEED a new laptop...and I love my Macbook. But its sooooo cool! Although this one is on my list...unless I win the lottery...it will stay on the list!
As to things I may actually BUY this year....
I wasn't that into the first AppleTV since I was turned off by the idea you had to buy your movies/tv shows and download them first to the computer and THEN move them to the AppleTV. But that problem is no more! AND when you consider that you will also be able to RENT movies and tv shows now...Apple TV seems like a no brainer. Only question is which size? I've been tivoing movies and then watching them on the laptop on the road or putting them on my ipod or burning to dvd...but deleting them when I was done with them. Perhaps I should go with the bigger AppleTV and stop deleting my movie files?
And third...the Time Capsule. My airport extreme is great. But is the original and my macbook is capable of faster wireless transmission that my airport extreme doesn't support. But with Time Capsule I'd be able to take advantage of the faster wireless speeds. Oh..and the wireless backup harddrive is freaking awesome! I only have two USB ports and a firewire port on this baby....I wouldn't have to plug the external hard drive into my firewire port if I had Time Capsule.
Hm....what to spend my tax return and bonus on....
Oh...yeah...if I get apple tv that means I need a new tv too....finally will be time to upgrade to a flat panel HDTV. Timing is probably right since when I move again (in the next six months I hope!) I hope to have more room and would be nice to have a TV in the main hang out area and then another someplace else hooked up to the wii and for playing around...... Hm....what TV to buy???? Good thing I'm getting that nice fat tax return. Better enjoy it since I finally wised up and adjusted my tax witholding now that I'm a homeowner.
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