"Case it up" : Zip my jacket
"No tae-bo there" : These shoes are velcro
"Sue-mah-nah" : Banana
When applying for jobs (I've had three interviews and I'm going to another one tomorrow, I have two offers and I'm hoping for at least one more), I'm going to start adding "two-year-old" to my languages spoken.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
My word is my bond, okay?
In an email earlier today, I told Sirius XM that I would never recommend them to anyone and would tell anyone who asked me that I had problems. You haven't asked, but I'm telling.
We bought a new car on September 16. It's a GM and it came with a free three-month trial of XM radio. The trial expired on December 16, and XM called our house daily with offers that got better and better, until on December 22, I agreed to a 5-month contract for $22.15. They took my credit card information, but I said I did not want to be auto-charged at the end of the 5-months. The gentleman said that they would send a bill, then, and not charge my card.
The bill came, I wrote a check (to be fair, Bucket wrote the check) and paid it. Then the credit card bill came and it was charged also. I called Sirius XM's customer care number and asked for the credit card charge to be reversed. They said it would take 7-10 days.
On the 11th day, I checked my credit card online and it had not been refunded. I called the number again, and the woman who I spoke with said that it would take another 7-10 days from that call. I asked her how my card was charged immediately but it would take this long to refund the money. She said, "That's how ev-er-y-thing works," in this sing-songy voice that I use to talk to Llama when she's being particularly toddler-ish and I'm frustrated.
I said, "That's fine, you can cancel my account altogether and refund me the balance of the contract." She put me on hold and came back and gave me a refund amount of $39.76, which would be processed by check in 3-4 weeks. The service was terminated within 5 minutes of my pulling the car out of the garage, so the kill signal was sent immediately.
I emailed Sirius XM using the link on the website to advise them that I was frustrated because they process the charges and the kill signals immediately, but refunds take so long. Also, I loved my satellite radio. Bucket has a receiver in his car that I got him when Howard Stern went to Sirius in 200... 5? Whenever. Long time ago. We've been customers for years. They offered me nothing, and continued to reiterate that the refund would take 3-4 weeks.
Bucket's contract is up in March, and guess what we aren't going to need anymore? Sirius XM radio. At this point, I would not even activate the free trial if we were to replace his car with a GM vehicle, that's how frustrated I am. You cannot tell me that it takes 3-4 weeks to process a refund when it took minutes for them to double bill me.
That is all. This is the most public forum I have, so there it is. Don't get Sirius XM unless you want to be double billed, treated like an idiot, and frustrated beyond belief.
We bought a new car on September 16. It's a GM and it came with a free three-month trial of XM radio. The trial expired on December 16, and XM called our house daily with offers that got better and better, until on December 22, I agreed to a 5-month contract for $22.15. They took my credit card information, but I said I did not want to be auto-charged at the end of the 5-months. The gentleman said that they would send a bill, then, and not charge my card.
The bill came, I wrote a check (to be fair, Bucket wrote the check) and paid it. Then the credit card bill came and it was charged also. I called Sirius XM's customer care number and asked for the credit card charge to be reversed. They said it would take 7-10 days.
On the 11th day, I checked my credit card online and it had not been refunded. I called the number again, and the woman who I spoke with said that it would take another 7-10 days from that call. I asked her how my card was charged immediately but it would take this long to refund the money. She said, "That's how ev-er-y-thing works," in this sing-songy voice that I use to talk to Llama when she's being particularly toddler-ish and I'm frustrated.
I said, "That's fine, you can cancel my account altogether and refund me the balance of the contract." She put me on hold and came back and gave me a refund amount of $39.76, which would be processed by check in 3-4 weeks. The service was terminated within 5 minutes of my pulling the car out of the garage, so the kill signal was sent immediately.
I emailed Sirius XM using the link on the website to advise them that I was frustrated because they process the charges and the kill signals immediately, but refunds take so long. Also, I loved my satellite radio. Bucket has a receiver in his car that I got him when Howard Stern went to Sirius in 200... 5? Whenever. Long time ago. We've been customers for years. They offered me nothing, and continued to reiterate that the refund would take 3-4 weeks.
Bucket's contract is up in March, and guess what we aren't going to need anymore? Sirius XM radio. At this point, I would not even activate the free trial if we were to replace his car with a GM vehicle, that's how frustrated I am. You cannot tell me that it takes 3-4 weeks to process a refund when it took minutes for them to double bill me.
That is all. This is the most public forum I have, so there it is. Don't get Sirius XM unless you want to be double billed, treated like an idiot, and frustrated beyond belief.
Monday, January 24, 2011
An important lesson from my Llama.
"Mama, you don't sing with me."
She has moved on from singing with me and she now sings solo. She has a set list that includes the alphabet and "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep," but her lyrics about the sheep are a little confused. I tried to sing along and help her, and she advised me that it would be best if I kept my musical genius to myself.
"Baa, baa, baa, baa, baa, baa, black sheep,
Any any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full.
One for my master,
One for my lame (is that supposed to be me?)
Baa, baa, black sheep,
Any any wool?"
That's where it ends. There's also a new letter called "em-en-em-en-o."
She has moved on from singing with me and she now sings solo. She has a set list that includes the alphabet and "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep," but her lyrics about the sheep are a little confused. I tried to sing along and help her, and she advised me that it would be best if I kept my musical genius to myself.
"Baa, baa, baa, baa, baa, baa, black sheep,
Any any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full.
One for my master,
One for my lame (is that supposed to be me?)
Baa, baa, black sheep,
Any any wool?"
That's where it ends. There's also a new letter called "em-en-em-en-o."
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Following up... And random thoughts.
So, I alluded last week to having "fallen and busted my leg all up." What I did was sprain my ankle, tearing one ligament completely and partially tearing another. I get to go to physical therapy three times a week for a month, and then decide on whether I'd like some surgery or not. This must be the reason I'm unemployed!
You know how I said wine was one of my reasons to be happy? Well, I started Weight Watchers, so the wine consumption is drastically decreased. I figured that since I can't run my three 5Ks that I had planned (I should be able to run two, but I'm pretty sure I won't be running in March), I should probably do something else to keep my fitness momentum going. I'm not quite the biggest that I have ever been - that was at my wedding, the opposite of what everyone else in the world does - but I'm getting there and I don't like it. I'm almost to the end of my first week, and Bucket would like to get involved. That's saying something.
My little Llamacita was ready to watch the Miss America pageant with me tonight, but she didn't make it past the first elimination. She danced to "Dynamite," by Taio Cruz, with the contestants, and then she proclaimed it "Boring," and asked to go to bed. I know that pageants (excuse me, scholarship contests) aren't exactly the preferred viewing for preschoolers these days, but I have fond memories of watching the talent portions with my mom and my grandma. Imagine my surprise when I found that the talent portion would not be aired! I guess it's a good thing that Llama was too tired to stay up. She spent all of her energy cheering for the Steelers. She wore her jersey three times this week because I didn't have the energy to argue with her about it, and she wears a shirt under it, so... it was okay, right? Edited: Apparently ten contestants get to show their talents. The first one started playing Chopsticks. I'm not even kidding.
Llama and Tuna Roll are taking gymnastics together, and that is a sight to behold. Llama does not follow directions, because she only wants to jump on the trampoline and dance with ribbons. Tuna Roll does not want to come out from under her daddy's chair for the first half of class, and then she only wants to jump on the trampoline and dance with ribbons. We've been reassured that all new students act this way for the first couple months. I guess I'm paying for the experience of watching her not listen to someone else. It is not refreshing. Of course, she loves it and talks about it all week, so she will remain in gymnastics. I love her enthusiasm, and the class is at a cheer gym... look at what I've become! From a band geek to a potential cheer mom!?
I have a lot of unorganized thoughts about princesses, fairies, gymnastics and cheering, pageants, and socially enforced gender roles and how much I wanted everything to be gender neutral around her as a baby so she would CHOOSE her way. Yeah, she chose sparkles, pink, fairy wings and wands. But she also chooses dump trucks, excavators, backhoes and sandboxes, and she regularly approaches Bucket and me with her fists up and asks us if we want to fight her. If nothing else, she's well balanced. And aggressive.
Until such time as I have another thought that's too long for Facebook or Twitter... Good night!
You know how I said wine was one of my reasons to be happy? Well, I started Weight Watchers, so the wine consumption is drastically decreased. I figured that since I can't run my three 5Ks that I had planned (I should be able to run two, but I'm pretty sure I won't be running in March), I should probably do something else to keep my fitness momentum going. I'm not quite the biggest that I have ever been - that was at my wedding, the opposite of what everyone else in the world does - but I'm getting there and I don't like it. I'm almost to the end of my first week, and Bucket would like to get involved. That's saying something.
My little Llamacita was ready to watch the Miss America pageant with me tonight, but she didn't make it past the first elimination. She danced to "Dynamite," by Taio Cruz, with the contestants, and then she proclaimed it "Boring," and asked to go to bed. I know that pageants (excuse me, scholarship contests) aren't exactly the preferred viewing for preschoolers these days, but I have fond memories of watching the talent portions with my mom and my grandma. Imagine my surprise when I found that the talent portion would not be aired! I guess it's a good thing that Llama was too tired to stay up. She spent all of her energy cheering for the Steelers. She wore her jersey three times this week because I didn't have the energy to argue with her about it, and she wears a shirt under it, so... it was okay, right? Edited: Apparently ten contestants get to show their talents. The first one started playing Chopsticks. I'm not even kidding.
Llama and Tuna Roll are taking gymnastics together, and that is a sight to behold. Llama does not follow directions, because she only wants to jump on the trampoline and dance with ribbons. Tuna Roll does not want to come out from under her daddy's chair for the first half of class, and then she only wants to jump on the trampoline and dance with ribbons. We've been reassured that all new students act this way for the first couple months. I guess I'm paying for the experience of watching her not listen to someone else. It is not refreshing. Of course, she loves it and talks about it all week, so she will remain in gymnastics. I love her enthusiasm, and the class is at a cheer gym... look at what I've become! From a band geek to a potential cheer mom!?
I have a lot of unorganized thoughts about princesses, fairies, gymnastics and cheering, pageants, and socially enforced gender roles and how much I wanted everything to be gender neutral around her as a baby so she would CHOOSE her way. Yeah, she chose sparkles, pink, fairy wings and wands. But she also chooses dump trucks, excavators, backhoes and sandboxes, and she regularly approaches Bucket and me with her fists up and asks us if we want to fight her. If nothing else, she's well balanced. And aggressive.
Until such time as I have another thought that's too long for Facebook or Twitter... Good night!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
2011: Not our best year so far.
At this time last year, we were in Disney World. It was much preferable to what I've done so far this year, which is get a lot of rejection letters from companies to which I've applied for jobs, and fall and bust my leg all up.
But lo! There are many reasons why I'm happy. Behold:
1. My little Llama calls me "Mamacita." And I call her Llamacita, even though Llama certainly isn't her real name. She makes me laugh every single day, sometimes at the last possible second before I get super angry with her. Three looms large, and I've heard "Terrible Twos... Torrential Threes... F-ing Fours."
2. Wine.
Okay, I'm out of reasons. But now that I'm fairly immobile, have graduated with my M.Ed, and am unemployed (but Llama goes to daycare three days each week so that we can keep her spot and she can continue to see other people and be less feral, more social)... I have nothing to do but apply for jobs, stalk people on Facebook, obsessively read newspapers online, and blog. Ha!
But lo! There are many reasons why I'm happy. Behold:
1. My little Llama calls me "Mamacita." And I call her Llamacita, even though Llama certainly isn't her real name. She makes me laugh every single day, sometimes at the last possible second before I get super angry with her. Three looms large, and I've heard "Terrible Twos... Torrential Threes... F-ing Fours."
2. Wine.
Okay, I'm out of reasons. But now that I'm fairly immobile, have graduated with my M.Ed, and am unemployed (but Llama goes to daycare three days each week so that we can keep her spot and she can continue to see other people and be less feral, more social)... I have nothing to do but apply for jobs, stalk people on Facebook, obsessively read newspapers online, and blog. Ha!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Love is a verb.
I have spent a lot of time trying to decide how to write this particular post. The title came to me in the middle of an eight-hour long drive, but the words have been elusive.
September 20 was Bucket's birthday. It was also the day that he left Pittsburgh for the state of Indiana, near Chicago, for work. He was gone for almost three weeks, and each night it got harder and harder for Llama. She's a daddy's girl, almost without exception, and she was missing him. For the first few nights, I handed my cell phone to her and she talked to him on the phone. She started waking up in the middle of the night, crying and asking me to get her daddy.
Bucket went and bought a webcam. My laptop has one built in. For the next week, we used Google's video chat (super simple and already set up because we both have Gmail accounts), and that helped a bit because they could see each other. But it got harder and harder for us to coordinate the chats because of his work schedule, her bedtime schedule, and the one-hour time difference. On the first night we missed one, Llama got up in the middle of the night, crying and asking me to get her daddy. On the second night we missed one, the same thing happened, only it was worse because she was hitting me and telling me that I wasn't her daddy, and begging me to go get him.
I had a free weekend, with nothing going on (a rare thing). I have a brand new car. What was stopping me from taking her to Indiana? It would be the longest drive I'd ever done alone, but I seemed to be one of the only people who was NOT concerned by that. Llama has puked in or on the way to Erie (PA), Sandusky (OH), Orlando (FL), Annapolis (MD), and many other places. But the seats are leather and she's washable. I determined that we would leave on Friday afternoon, after I was done with my internship hours, and drive through the evening and arrive about midnight.
The next day my cell phone leapt out of my pocket and into the toilet of doom. I frantically stuck my hand in a vessel of my own urine to save it, but it was not to be saved. Would I make this drive without a cell phone? No. I paid an obscene amount of money to replace it with a clone. The clone is even purple like the old one was.
My internship supervisor, upon learning of my plan, advised me to just take the day off on Friday and drive during the day. Oddly, she doesn't even know about my inability to drive safely at night. So we set off on our journey. Llama knew that we were going to Indiana and that her daddy was in Indiana, but I don't think her brain made the connection that we would see him there.
The drive was uneventful. I sent Bucket pictures from my (new, uncontaminated) cell phone at every stop so that he could see our progress. We arrived at Bucket's hotel and went swimming while we waited for him. We were the only people in the pool, and it seemed like we were the only people to use it in a long time. Llama has this neat little lifejacket/arm floaty thing and it keeps her pretty independent in a swimming pool. She's never more than an arm's length away from me, but she does not like to be constrained. She paddled around for almost an hour.
We went back upstairs, showered and cleaned up, got out some books and puzzles and played for a while, and then Bucket sent me a text that he was almost there. His room was directly over the entrance to the hotel, which was excellent for this next part. I put Llama in the window as he pulled into the parking lot. She was happy, looking at cars and telling me what color they were. And then he got out of his rental car. Llama could not contain herself - her excitement and joy were just too big. She was jumping and saying, "My daddy! My daddy is here! Look, it's my daddy!" and then he looked up and waved to her. I was in tears over how happy I had managed to make her, and we went out to meet the elevator. She was wiggling and jumping and laughing, and she kept patting his face and hugging him and saying, "My daddy." It was one of the best moments of my life, and it had nothing to do with me.
September 20 was Bucket's birthday. It was also the day that he left Pittsburgh for the state of Indiana, near Chicago, for work. He was gone for almost three weeks, and each night it got harder and harder for Llama. She's a daddy's girl, almost without exception, and she was missing him. For the first few nights, I handed my cell phone to her and she talked to him on the phone. She started waking up in the middle of the night, crying and asking me to get her daddy.
Bucket went and bought a webcam. My laptop has one built in. For the next week, we used Google's video chat (super simple and already set up because we both have Gmail accounts), and that helped a bit because they could see each other. But it got harder and harder for us to coordinate the chats because of his work schedule, her bedtime schedule, and the one-hour time difference. On the first night we missed one, Llama got up in the middle of the night, crying and asking me to get her daddy. On the second night we missed one, the same thing happened, only it was worse because she was hitting me and telling me that I wasn't her daddy, and begging me to go get him.
I had a free weekend, with nothing going on (a rare thing). I have a brand new car. What was stopping me from taking her to Indiana? It would be the longest drive I'd ever done alone, but I seemed to be one of the only people who was NOT concerned by that. Llama has puked in or on the way to Erie (PA), Sandusky (OH), Orlando (FL), Annapolis (MD), and many other places. But the seats are leather and she's washable. I determined that we would leave on Friday afternoon, after I was done with my internship hours, and drive through the evening and arrive about midnight.
The next day my cell phone leapt out of my pocket and into the toilet of doom. I frantically stuck my hand in a vessel of my own urine to save it, but it was not to be saved. Would I make this drive without a cell phone? No. I paid an obscene amount of money to replace it with a clone. The clone is even purple like the old one was.
My internship supervisor, upon learning of my plan, advised me to just take the day off on Friday and drive during the day. Oddly, she doesn't even know about my inability to drive safely at night. So we set off on our journey. Llama knew that we were going to Indiana and that her daddy was in Indiana, but I don't think her brain made the connection that we would see him there.
The drive was uneventful. I sent Bucket pictures from my (new, uncontaminated) cell phone at every stop so that he could see our progress. We arrived at Bucket's hotel and went swimming while we waited for him. We were the only people in the pool, and it seemed like we were the only people to use it in a long time. Llama has this neat little lifejacket/arm floaty thing and it keeps her pretty independent in a swimming pool. She's never more than an arm's length away from me, but she does not like to be constrained. She paddled around for almost an hour.
We went back upstairs, showered and cleaned up, got out some books and puzzles and played for a while, and then Bucket sent me a text that he was almost there. His room was directly over the entrance to the hotel, which was excellent for this next part. I put Llama in the window as he pulled into the parking lot. She was happy, looking at cars and telling me what color they were. And then he got out of his rental car. Llama could not contain herself - her excitement and joy were just too big. She was jumping and saying, "My daddy! My daddy is here! Look, it's my daddy!" and then he looked up and waved to her. I was in tears over how happy I had managed to make her, and we went out to meet the elevator. She was wiggling and jumping and laughing, and she kept patting his face and hugging him and saying, "My daddy." It was one of the best moments of my life, and it had nothing to do with me.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Another "Llama in church" story, and a song.
So I keep trying to take Llama to church. Mostly because I like church, it used to help me find peace and meaning in my life. Taking Llama mostly helps me find anger and embarrassment, but I keep trying.
Today, Father B was praying over the Eucharist, and Llama apparently thought it should be her turn to speak. "Make him stop talking now, okay?"
At least my mother-in-law says that Llama isn't as difficult in church as her father was. Llama looked cute, anyway. And on the way there, she was joyful about getting to go to church. She seems to like it, even if she doesn't quite get the whole "sitting quietly" concept.
Now for the song. Llama was singing to me this morning because she was awake and I was mostly not awake, but we were snuggled in bed together since we're on our own right now. (Bucket's away for work.) "Rock a bye baby, little baby, little baby. You are so cute. I will rock you and rock you and rock you... all fall DOWN!"
Today, Father B was praying over the Eucharist, and Llama apparently thought it should be her turn to speak. "Make him stop talking now, okay?"
At least my mother-in-law says that Llama isn't as difficult in church as her father was. Llama looked cute, anyway. And on the way there, she was joyful about getting to go to church. She seems to like it, even if she doesn't quite get the whole "sitting quietly" concept.
Now for the song. Llama was singing to me this morning because she was awake and I was mostly not awake, but we were snuggled in bed together since we're on our own right now. (Bucket's away for work.) "Rock a bye baby, little baby, little baby. You are so cute. I will rock you and rock you and rock you... all fall DOWN!"
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