28 January, 2008
My Brain Amuses Me, Sometimes
For some reason, whenever I see the abbreviation for State of the Union, my brain reinterprets SOTU to STFU. I suppose it's because I can't stand to hear King George speak (oh, the rage just a few syllables of the bullshit he spews provokes) and my brain is actually screaming at him to STFU.
So there it is then. Did any of you watch/listen to King George's STFU address?
~~ victoria on 10:20 PM ~~ 0 comments
I'm Not Lisa
via Shakesville. Like Melissa, I'm pretty consistently marked as Lisa Simpson, so this does make a fun change.
And also:
Labels: personality quiz
~~ victoria on 7:42 AM ~~ 0 comments
27 January, 2008
Weekend XTC: Mayor of Simpleton
Because this song's been stuck in me head all week.
Labels: music, rock 'n' roll, Weekend Music
~~ victoria on 7:20 PM ~~ 0 comments
Twittered: 2008-01-25
In recognition of all of the mind-blowingly crappy weather, I hereby proclaim January, 2008 Bad Hair MONTH.
~~ victoria on 7:00 PM ~~ 0 comments
Simon Sunday: Where Does The Food Come Out?
This was taken a couple of weeks ago but I still catch Simon occasionally staring at the guitar for several minutes before trying to stick his paw inside the body, only to completely FREAK OUT when he brushes the strings and they make strange noises.
So convinced is Simon that this is supposed to dispense some kind of cat-approved food product that he's even tried to nibble on the strings. Yum!
My cat is Special.
Labels: cats, furkids, Simon, Simon Sunday
~~ victoria on 6:52 PM ~~ 0 comments
24 January, 2008
The One Where It Could Have Been A Lot Worse
On Monday, I finished off the last two tickets from my 2-week book of ferry tickets, which meant that I had to queue up to buy more tickets Tuesday morning. I saw the line and groaned, silently chastising myself for not taking advantage of the holiday on Monday when the ferry wasn't crowded.
So I finally get up to the register and ask for my usual book of 20 tickets. The deck hand swipes the card. Waits. Nothing. He asks for the card again and gives it another go. Nada. Tries again. We were just at the edge of the Estuary by then so it seemed obvious that we were out of phone signal range but we press on and he swipes it again. Noooooot quite. Finally, fifth try's a charm and out comes the receipt. I sign one copy and stuff the other one in my wallet, take my book of tickets and head back to the upper deck where one of my fellow commuters was watching the rest of my stuff. We were approaching the Bay Bridge, so there wasn't any point in getting comfortable.
Fast forward to around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday evening. I had deposited my medical reimbursement and was going to make a payment on my credit card and nearly swallowed my eyebrows when I looked at my checking account activity and saw FIVE pending charges from Blue and Gold Fleet. For $85 each. I phoned the "customer service" number and, unsurprisingly, spoke to someone who was clearly stationed overseas. I explained what had happened and that only ONE of the charges should count and I could give her the receipt number and all of the other codes on it but please make the others go away, or at least put them on ice until I can sort it out with Blue and Gold. Her solution? Since we couldn't have a conference call with Blue and Gold (being it was 11:00 p.m. at that point), we could just let all five charges go through and file a dispute. In the meantime, $340 of my money is unavailable to me. You can bet if I had deposited a check for $340, they'd put a hold on THAT until the spirit moved them to release the funds to me, but they won't put a hold on $340 of charges that I'm already disputing.
**blink**
**blink**
wanting to say "Oh hai, I have something for you! Here's a big steaming pile of I DON'T FUCKING THINK SO, just for You!"
actually saying "I'm hanging up now."
Wednesday morning, as I waited for the Encinal, I phoned the office at Blue and Gold. I got a really nice gentleman called Aidan on the line and he took down all of the particulars and assured me he'd get the right person to look into it for me. Later in the morning Dolores called and said that their merchant bank only found the one charge to my card. She had me fax over a copy of my transaction history showing all of the pending charges and the receipt. She phoned me later in the afternoon and assured me that there really was only the one charge to my card (note to self: NEVER use the debit card for this stuff! Srsly!) and that the merchant bank said the other four pending charges should be gone by that evening, or the next morning at the latest. I thanked Dolores profusely for all of her help and patience.
I checked my account when I got home from work. The one legitimate charge had gone through but the four pending ones were still there. I sighed and went to bed. At lunchtime today I checked again. They were still there. I called the CS number and navigated my way until I could get to an operator. Except, a couple of steps before I could get to a live person, I was held hostage while they played a frackin' ADVERTISEMENT for their wonderous CD savings products, forcing me to either press 1 to learn more or 2 to continue with my business. I was about 16 different kinds of NOT HAPPY by the time I was allowed to speak to an actual person. I explained that I had talked to the very wonderful people at Blue and Gold and that the one charge that went with my receipt had been processed and that the other ones were not legitimate and their merchant bank said they should have disappeared from my account by now. This person demanded authorization codes for the four bad transactions. And if I wasn't able to get them for her right away? The remaining four charges would post to my account. So, not only are they currently holding $340 of MY money in limbo, they'll just hand it over to Blue and Gold, even though they don't have any authorization codes for THOSE transactions (and they never will because, according to the merchant bank they don't bloody exist!).
I phoned Dolores again and may the blessings of Ceiling Cat be upon her because she said she and her supervisor would look into it for me. A short time later, Arlene from Blue and Gold phoned and said she had talked to a very helpful person named Stacy at my banking institution and that if I go look at my account now all of the charges would be gone. And LO! They were! Arlene apologized profusely for all of the trouble but I kept telling her I was just so grateful that they were so helpful and patient helping me get this resolved. They certainly were more helpful than anyone I got in touch with at my bank. Arlene said they were implementing a new procedure for processing cards, based on this experience.
I was damn lucky. I had received a holiday bonus and I hadn't burned through it so, if I had to, I could have covered any outstanding payments (and don't think it hadn't crossed my mind that the bank stood to gain a lot in overdraft fees if I hadn't been able to cover the payments). A year or two ago, I wouldn't have been so fortunate.
So, once again, Blue and Gold staff rock! Everyone from the office staff to the captains to the deck hands are so friendly and customer-focused that I can't imagine commuting any other way.
Labels: ferry commuting, gah, gratitude, JesusBloodyChrist
~~ victoria on 10:26 PM ~~ 0 comments
21 January, 2008
Kinda Sorta Evil-ish
How evil are you?
Labels: personality quiz
~~ victoria on 7:11 PM ~~ 0 comments
20 January, 2008
Weekend Who: So Sad About Us
This version, performed by Pete Townshend with Paul Weller, is one of my favourite versions of the Mod Who Classic, and one of the best moments of their Royal Albert Hall show (it totally made up for Bryan Adams completely effing up "Behind Blue Eyes").
Labels: music, rock 'n' roll, The Who, Weekend Music
~~ victoria on 9:31 PM ~~ 0 comments
Simon Sunday: Fresh Warm Laundry Is Good For Snuggling
Labels: cats, furkids, Simon, Simon Sunday
~~ victoria on 5:09 PM ~~ 0 comments
Hurtling Toward Bifocals
I dropped into my local Pearle Vision yesterday because I was due (or likely OVERDUE) for my yearly eye exam and I'm down to my last pair of contacts. I intended to set an appointment for some time during the week, but they were able to take me straight away. I made the mistake of mentioning that my regular doctor there has been trying to get me to take the exam where my pupils are dilated and I keep "forgetting" to make that appointment. The doctor yesterday talked me into having it (I could still drive myself home, but I'd need sunglasses and there would be some slight blurriness). It wasn't so awful, really, until I was putting in my new pair of contact lenses and saw my pupils. Totally creeped me out.
I've also hit That Age where I'm going to need bifocals soon. The doctor didn't change my prescription this time because I can either get reading glasses to use when I have my contacts in, or, when I'm wearing glasses, I can just take them off to read. But next year, she thinks it'll be time for bifocal contacts (oh, joy).
Otherwise, my eyes are perfectly fine, so yay. I'm looking forward to my new glasses, too. I haven't had a new pair in about ten years.
~~ victoria on 5:08 PM ~~ 0 comments
17 January, 2008
Outside the Federal Reserve in San Francisco
You know things with the US economy are pretty bad when Ben Bernacke takes to tagging the outside of the Federal Reserve building.
Oh, and the Dow fell another 200 points as of lunchtime today...
EDIT: The Dow dropped 300 today, giving back all of the gains for 2007. That's after only twelve trading days. Yeesh!
Labels: in the news
~~ victoria on 1:23 PM ~~ 0 comments
13 January, 2008
Simon Sunday: zzzzzzzz*snort!*zzzzzzzzzz
Labels: cats, furkids, Simon, Simon Sunday
~~ victoria on 4:18 PM ~~ 0 comments
06 January, 2008
Simon Sunday: Cattia, Heroine to Kittehz Everywhere
I had a little fun with Hero Machine and created my superhero character.
Okay, okay. I know you really came here for SIMON, so here he is, zonked after partying a bit too hard with the catnip on New Year's Eve:
Labels: cats, furkids, Simon, Simon Sunday
~~ victoria on 4:59 PM ~~ 0 comments
04 January, 2008
More DVDs For My Wish List
Flight of the Conchords is one of the funniest, most charming shows I've ever seen. Between these guys and Battlestar Galactica, I'm tempted to cave in and order cable.
This song nearly ended me.
~~ victoria on 9:21 PM ~~ 1 comments
01 January, 2008
Things I Actually Accomplished To Finish 2007
1. Haircut. Badly needed.
2. Defrosted the freezer (after 6-1/2 years!).
3. Cleaned out the fridge (did not wait 6-1/2 years to do that).
4. Acquired Indian Spice container.
5. Caught up on Battlestar Galactica Season 3 and watched BSG Razor
6. Won NaNoWriMo for the third year in a row (I can has iPhone!).
7. Backed up music collection.
8. Updated my photo backups (still need to get a DVD burner, though).
9. Got Billie to wear her collar and not "revenge pee" all over the house!
10. Got the acoustic guitar out and started playing again.
11. Held my chiropractic adjustment (back is steadily getting better).
I don't make resolutions (see Annis Horribilils, 1991) but I have a hefty list for 2008. I'm going to only concentrate on one or two things at a time so I don't get myself too stressed out (I have quite enough stress right now, thankyouverymuch) and there's a couple of very significant things that need to be fixed--sooner is better on those.
Anyway, the furkids and I wish our friends a very happy New Year. May 2008 bring us happiness and prosperity--and a non-Republican White House!
~~ victoria on 9:38 PM ~~ 0 comments
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OTHER THINKERS:
"I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions."
--Augusten Burroughs
