Is There Any Good News?
Posted on October 26, 2007 - Filed Under Life, bad hair day, clueless, introspection
Is there anything good going on in the world, because I need to hear about it. Predictions of $100 a barrell oil (which means $8 a gallon for us?), people nervous about Iran, our leaders have zero percent approval and all of the candidates for the next big race stink. California almost burned to the ground, people get ruder every day, you can’t smoke in your car and several cities apparently, we’re all going to be paying for universal healthcare, Al Gore is a hero, Bin Laden is just misunderstood, taxes will go up, Hillary will win by default, stop signs mean nothing and McDonald’s is considered a restaurant?
I know I could stick my head in the sand and think of only puppy dogs and butterflies. Not read the news or listen to the radio and forget about politics. I could get my hands on some feel good meds and look at the nice sunset. I could write stories where life is fair and everybody lives happily ever after…But…
I’m too scared to look away. Too scared to pretend this too shall pass. Too scared that not enough of us are paying attention. Too scared that the chicken littles are winning the game and we won’t know it until we’re just part of the Matrix.
Things are just looking too much like a bad sci-fi movie to me, with all of us as the unwitting bit players, saying our lines, while thinking about what we’ll have for lunch.
Zelda would say, ‘hey it’s just something to do. It’ll change, it always does.” But does it? Will it? Does the bad never end?
WC
Fire
Posted on October 22, 2007 - Filed Under Dear Readers..., acts of valor, bad hair day, heads up
Hi guys,
As you may have heard on the news, there are approximately 12 forest fires going strong here in Southern California. Unfortunately, several of them are rather nearby. The Governor has proclaimed a state of emergency and hopefully, we will have the National Guard and any other help we need to get the fires under control.
A few pictures:
The first one is a map that gives you the general locations of the fires. The others show various views from the fires. So far, 250,000 have been evacuated just from the San Diego area alone. Thousands of acres have been burned and our firefighters fight not just fire but up to 105 mile an hour Santa Ana winds, 0% humidity and dry brush. Hundreds of homes have been lost.
Say a little prayer for us, if you would. I’ll check back soon. I’m hoping against hope that we won’t be evacuated too.
Annie
Addendum:
If anyone is interested in helping here are a few links that you can follow:
http://www.directrelief.org/SupportUs/WaysToGive/WaysToGive.aspx
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/california.wildfire.donations.2.411576.html
http://networkforgood.blogspot.com/2007/10/southern-california-fires.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21444274/
Beware!
Posted on August 26, 2007 - Filed Under WTF?, bad hair day, dasterdly deeds, evil bloodsuckers, rat bastards
So, the other day I turned on my cell phone (I only turn it on when I’m going to call someone or when I’m driving, in case there is an emergency) and I saw that I had a bunch of text messages. This was odd, since I don’t send text messages and only get them if Verizon has some dumb new thing they want me to buy from them.
So, I pull them up and they are from this company . Joke a day, text messages? Are you kidding? I erased them all and went about my business, only to get another a few seconds later. Annoyed. I went to the Verizon website to see if I could block these suckers and couldn’t figure it out. So I called the 800 number.
While I was waiting, I decided to check my account details and lo and behold what do I see? A charge for $10 for a text message. So, when I get on the phone with the rep at Verizon, I find out that they can’t reverse the charges because I’ve subscribed to some service.
Of course this is bullshit, since I don’t subscribe to crap like this and I NEVER give my cell phone to companies, much less one like this. The Verizon rep gives the company’s 800 number where I finally get through to a rep who explains that I subscribed to a service. I explain to her that I didn’t subscribe to any such thing and I want my money back. She explains that the number I’ve called is the parent company and the company that charged me is a sister company, but they no longer exist. What? But she’ll give me another 800 number to call to see if I can cancel my subscription.
I lose it and tell her once again I didn’t subscribe and that I shouldn’t have to chase down phantom companies to give back money they had no right to take. Bottom line, she won’t help me, so I give her a good dose of insults and hang up.
I called Verizon back and explained the situation to yet another Verizon rep and she was very helpful and explained that somehow someone had gotten my number and the company debited my phone, just like a merchant would from an atm card and that the company had to give it back. She tracked down the number and gave me the website. I tried the phone and I couldn’t even hear the recording so I went to the website and filled out a form demanding my money back.
I have little hope that they will do the right thing and return my money. And writing the complaint to them did little to relieve my angst and writing this post probably won’t do much for it either - but at least you can be warned about them.
Also, the Verizon rep told me another thing that really freaked me out. Though i had them block text messages on my account, she said when it comes to premium text messages that the blocking is useless. They can still do it. So, it seems my choice is to chuck this phone and get another one. It’s a shame but in the end I may have to do it.
What I can’t figure out though is how they got my cell number. Literally, only about 10 people have it. I can’t imagine any of them giving it to something like this or doing this as some sort of practical joke - not funny.
I’m telling you there is no justice in the world. I know I’m out of luck and if I get any sort of response it will be bull and they will not give me my money back because that’s how this sort of company works. It’s not even the money so much as the violation of privacy. I feel like somebody sneaked into my house and took something from me without my consent. It sucks.
So, there you have it. Another good reason to not text - aside from carpal tunnel thumbs and losing the ability to spell properly.
WC
I Think my Job is Making me Sick
Posted on August 17, 2007 - Filed Under bad hair day, brain farts, clueless, working stiff
I went home from work early yesterday and took a sick day today. I’ve just been feeling crappy. Aching, exhausted, light-headed and just generally beat to hell. It’s probably just the heat and not being hydrated enough. Since I (conveniently) work in a doctor’s office, they took my vitals and everything checked out. Could be a bug or a virus or something. But it’s probably the heat.
But it’s had me thinking. I’ve made no secret that my current job has been quite the rollercoaster ride from day one and there are days I truly threaten to jump out the first floor window - but maybe it’s more than that. I feel like I’ve changed. I don’t laugh as much, I’m tired a lot. I’ve gained weight (as though I needed more of that!), my appetite is weird. I don’t want to see friends or do things. I just want to hide in my room and read or surf the web. I haven’t had a real adventure in ages and lately I just feel old and used up.
Can a job do that to you, or is it a coincidence? Can it really change your demeanor and outlook on life? Can it turn you from an optimistic goofball to a pessimistic grumbler? Make you feel uggo when you used to think you were pretty cute. Make you second guess yourself, lose confidence? I wonder. Because all of that and more has happened since I started there.
I’m sure the common response will be “Quit, who needs that?” But it’s not that simple. I have financial obligations, I need to eat, a place to live, food for my dog and cat, Internet connection, phone and so on. I’m not a twenty something up and commer who would have her choice of any kind of job out there. And even if I were, good paying jobs don’t grow on trees as Ma used to say.
So, what do you do when your job seems to be eating you alive but you have to keep it? I’ve tried compartmenting it in my mind. You know the routine, leave the job at the office and enjoy your life once you’re out of there. But by the time I get home, I just want to bury my head. I have no energy for anything. I force myself to do things - the laundry, cook dinner, blog, take care of the garden - but my heart isn’t in it.
What do you do when you’re in this situation? Or are you in this situation or ever been in this situation. I’m curious to know. I sometimes think that everyone goes through this and I’m just being a whiner and need to get over myself - other times I’m not so sure.
What do you think?
WC
Everything I Know About Getting an Agent
Posted on August 6, 2007 - Filed Under Humor, Just For Fun, WTF?, Writers, adventure, bad hair day, brain farts, clueless, writing, writing life
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Yep, that just about covers it. Anybody else know anything? 
WC 
The Wheels on the Bus go Round & Round…
Posted on July 24, 2007 - Filed Under Humor, Just For Fun, acts of idiocy, bad hair day, brain farts, my opinions, really stupid shit
Way back when - when Zelda and I were in the infancy of our friendship - we were so full of shit…ah…er…plans. We just knew we would conquer the world with our flash and sparkle.
Free spirits that we were, we loathed the 9 to 5 thing because it squelched our bon vivant souls - and we somehow found ourselves gainfully unemployed at the same time. This of course was a recipe for disaster, but we didn’t know it yet.
Rather than update our resumes and hitting the job market we thought, “Hey, we’ve got a barn, let’s do a show.” Well not a show exactly but we did stumble on the brilliant idea of becoming partners and doing some freelance business consulting.
While we were working on putting that together, Zelda happily rushed in one day and announced she found us some work. Since I was sick of eating peanut butter and jelly samiches, I too was delighted.
“Buff a bus?” I narrowed my eyes. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Piece of cake,”Zelda assured me. “I’ve got all the equipment and me and Skippy did it for months last year. Good money too.”
I didn’t really believe her but eating and paying the rent were high on my list, so I was game.
At the crack of dawn, Zelda picked me up in her old beater and we took off for parts unknown to me. Not a great neighborhood - the kind that make women like me think she should stay in the car and keep driving. But she pulled up to a warehousy looking place and said, “Wait here.” Like I was going to jump out and start flirting with the scary looking characters loitering on the street corner? No. I didn’t move. In fact, I would have been happy to stay there until it was time to go home. But she came back, pulled the car into a parking space and we were ‘there.’
All manner of jugs, gadgets, power tools and rags were pulled from the trunk and there we were, two small women against one big, dirty city bus. We were outnumbered to be sure and I was scared already. Gulp.
I’m not sure, but I think the guys in the warehouse were snickering the moment we entered, dragging our equipment behind us. Especially me, since I just really can’t pull off the macho thing with any authority. And so we began.
To be honest, much of what we did is a blur. I only remember hour after hour passing with the appearance of the bus improving - but my appearance going steadily downhill. Not to mention the fact that we were hungry and had no money to buy lunch. Water does not fill an empty stomach no matter what anyone tells you.
Finally at about 6:30 pm, we got to the actual buffing part. Zelda hands me a buffer, which was equal to half my body weight and asks, “You want the to do the roof or the sides?”
What I really wanted to say is “I want to go home.” What I actually said was, “The roof.”
For those of you who’ve never traveled to the roof of a city bus, you may not realize it is the size of a small island. suddenly the buffer didn’t seem nearly big enough. But man, did it have a motor with real get up and go! In fact, in my first attempt, it almost propelled me off the fricking roof. No, that wouldn’t do. Can’t stand up and buff. Let me try kneeling, while grasping it with both hands. Off I skidded to the edge of the roof, switching off the evil buffer in the nick of time. Okay, so the only position I could buff this baby in was lying flat on my stomach while trying to keep my face away from the buffer - no easy task.
All I remember after that was watching my arms flying out from under my body in spastic circular motions. All I really seemed to be doing is slow the buffer down as it dragged me to and fro across the roof of the bus. Up one side and down the other.
I shouldn’t complain because Zelda had the tougher job, having to hold her buffer upright while it threw her spine out of alignment , climbing up and down ladders to get to the sides and front of the evil metal monster that refused to shine. But I was so preoccupied with what I believed to be the last day of my life, that I simply didn’t have the energy to empathize.
By 10:30 pm, we were all in. We had stopped caring hours ago about the sparkle of the bus and just wanted our damned money and to go home. Naturally, the guy paid us with a check and so there was no possibility of getting food on the way home, the seven dollars we had between us had to go into the gas tank - so we gritted our teeth and scolded our stomachs and headed out.
By 11:30 pm we arrived at my house - filthy, chattering teeth, cold to the bone and starved. I took a quick shower then ordered Zelda into the bathroom while I scrounged for dinner in the kitchen.
You must understand that trying to cook when your arms have spasmed to total muscle failure is quite the trick and limits your choices of menu. So, spaghetti it was - sauce? Hardly. I couldn’t chop veggies with my teeth, now could I? I dressed the pasta with a few tablespoons of tomato paste and salt and pepper - we weren’t really going to so much taste the food as just fill up our stomachs anyway, so who cared? Our beverage of choice was water and maybe I made coffee but it was probably without cream or sugar and was on par with the fine spaghetti I’d made.
The next day, as we shuffled around like 90 year old artrhitic men - we managed to take the check to the bank and cash it. After all was said and done, we’d each made $4.84 an hour on our first freelance business venture. Oh yeah, we had definitely hit the bigtime!
To this day, I can’t look at a buffer without emitting a tortured kitten groan. I say, leave it dirty.
Bad Hair Day - and Then Some
Posted on July 1, 2007 - Filed Under Humor, Just For Fun, WTF?, bad hair day, brain farts, funny pics, really stupid shit
Just when you think you can’t find a parking space, a brilliant idea strikes you. Funny how a few drinks and lack of sleep can get your brain thinking outside the box, eh?
I guess this is what happens when you let the horse do the driving. Still, there he is again in the driver’s seat. Go figure.
Well, I’m all for curtesy on the road, but you actually need a shoulder to pull over on, doncha?
I’ve always been a little jealous that public servants get to park wherever they want - but you have to wonder, how exactly they managed to squeeze into that space. I’m sure it was meant for a compact car.
Happy Sunday, everybody and remember, drive defensively.
WC
All Washed Up
Posted on June 25, 2007 - Filed Under Humor, Just For Fun, bad hair day, cool cats, funny pics
Aren’t kittys cute when they’re all squeaky clean?
I Want a Do-Over!
Posted on June 18, 2007 - Filed Under Humor, bad hair day, crap!, good wishes, head exploding, little rants, my opinions, rat bastards, really stupid shit, temporary insanity
This past week at work has been unbelievable. Besides the usual sniping, blind-siding employees that seek to ruin my life - it seems the whole fricking universe wants to get into the act too.
Okay, Monday was okay and Tuesday started out okay but then - somebody asked me something which I needed to check on the Internet. Ooops. No internet. Crap. Have everybody check their computers to see if they are having the same problem. Yep. We’re all screwed for that. Oh well, life goes on.
A little while later, somebody said the fax wasn’t working. I noticed a message saying the cartridge was low, so I sent someone to go get a new one. Nope, that didn’t fix it. Hmmm.
I called the IT guy we use and told him the problems we were having. Naturally, he insisted in doing one of those ‘let me walk you through it’ things that never work. So, he said he’d come over. He arrived later and checked this and that and nope, we simply did not have an internet connection.Crap.
So then I spend an hour trying to figure out who the provider is because nobody knows. Since we have an Earthlink account which we pay every month, I assumed it was them. After an hour on the phone with them I realize that it probably isn’t them. Is the bookeeper any help? You know, the one who is in charge of such things as vendors - uh..duh…nope. I grab the phone bill and discover yes, my dear friends at AT&T provide the service. Okay, we go through the whole bullshit routine with them. You know the one, where the Tech guy on the other end of the line just knows it’s a user problem? Sweet. And he’s asking me which line it is - we have 15 lines mind you. And I’m thinking ‘how the hell should I know? they installed it, why can’t they just look it up on the computer?’
Finally the guy figures it out after forcing me to read a 20 page phone bill. Ah yes, it’s the fax line. So, let me get this straight - my dsl is on my fax line and so that then means they are both out, right? Crap! At least I have my backup fax line. Ah…no…that one is out too.
When can they come to fix it? Tonight at 7 p.m. What? We’ll all be gone by then you dope - this is a business, not my house, which should be pretty obvious since I have 15 phone lines, doncha think?
Okay, tomorrow between 9 & 1. It sucks but I can live with it. We just need to hang on until then. Oh by the way, the receptionist just told me the credit card machine doesn’t work either. Okay, call the company. Shit, you need an internet connection for that too? And guess what? Most of our transactions are on credit cards. So now the receptionist is writing down numbers and other pertinent info so she can run the charges the next day.
So, Wednesday I call up the company to get an update and make sure they are really coming. Guess what? The tech guy tells me that it’s actually a bigger problem and my repair ticket has been canceled because it’s actually a whole grid that is out and it will take days. Days! Probably not til Monday.
So, long story short - we spent the rest of the week without internet, faxes or a credit card machine. And I don’t even know if it’s going to be working when I get in this morning.
Oh yeah, and the doc told me she’s going on vacation in two weeks and we’ll just have to reschedule all the patients and make the associates take care of things.
Oh yeah, and the bookeeper actually twigged that if we don’t get things fixed we may not be able to do payroll on Tuesday.
Oh yeah, then there was this crazy patient who had filed some stupid ass complaint and so we had to run around trying to find stuff that we could fax…ah…er…send over to the board, so they would know she is just a nut job who threatened to off herself at the office a couple of months ago.
Oh yeah and the attorney who is (bumbling) handling a legal case of grand larceny for us - is calling me every two minutes from the police station to help him with stuff I gave him months ago.
Yep, a do-over. I deserve one and need one. Or at least have things back to normal. Wish me luck - I just know I’ll need it. Crap!
WC
It’s Official - They Hate Me
Posted on March 20, 2007 - Filed Under WTF?, bad hair day, clueless, crap!, head exploding, introspection, my opinions, temporary insanity, voices in my head, working stiff
Okay, so you all know that the new job has been rough from the beginning. But today was the ultimate - one of my staff informed me that they all hate me. Just call me office road kill. Imagine my joy at the news.
Followed by the doctor getting in my face about something, followed by the consultant making fun of me for being upset. I don’t think I’m going to make it there.
I think I am just the wrong person for the job. I have no one to talk to - and feel like such an outsider there it is just misery.
The worse part of it is - that my blogging has really sucked since I started the job too - which really pisses me off.
I don’t know what I’m going to do - I don’t even know what I can do. Tomorrow I have lunch with the doctor and the consultant - during which I expect them to get on me about whatever - so that will be a meal I won’t be eating.
I never knew I was so unlovable and in fact detestible. Gives one pause, you know? Sorry for the whining but it’s the only thing I can really think about right now. Can you say, ‘head exploding’?
WC
