I recently read that the happiest people are those who are present in every moment instead of wallowing in the past or planning for the future. I think the problem is society places a lot of focus on future plans as do most work environments so it’s really tough not to get used to that mindset. I catch myself thinking about the future far more than the present. For instance, right now I’ve got two things I’m looking forward to – 1) our annual Thanksgiving potluck at work tomorrow and 2) getting through this insanely busy week (6 hours of overtime already in the bag and it’s only Tuesday) so I can enjoy the entire week of Thanksgiving off. Both of those things make me happy so I guess it’s not always bad to be focused on the future, especially if it helps get you through a not so pleasant present.
Category: Rants & Observations
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Ok, my Sunday didn’t actually involve any blood but I like that song by U2. Anyway…
I didn’t realize the cast of SNL only gets Sundays off. Apparently they write from Mon-Fri and do a rehearsal before the show on Saturday. What a grueling schedule.
It seems to me that everyone works just too damn much. I want to live a slower paced life and someday, hopefully soon, I’m going to make that dream a reality. Life is too short to feel stressed out and unwell so much of the time.
And now I must bid you adieu so I can get to bed at a decent hour.
Attacked by inanimate objects and companies
Yesterday I was attacked by our vacuum cleaner. Joe was vacuuming the stairs and had the cleaner at the top of the stairs. It fell and hit him on the top of the head, so I started up the stairs to go hold it for him. At the time he was telling me he didn’t need my help, it fell again, this time striking me across the forehead and one side of my nose which really hurt. It still hurts today. I’m just waiting to see if a bruise forms so everyone can assume my husband beats me. ;)
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This morning I was looking over our Discover bill since we’ve started cutting back on our restaurant expenses in order to save more money, and I noticed a charge from our paper, the Chicago Tribune, in the amount of $58.50. I was immediately alarmed because we usually pay $19.50 per quarter, and back in November we had been charged $58.50 but determined it was for a longer period of time, so we didn’t dispute it (more on that in a bit).
Joe immediately called the Tribune to inquire about the charge and was told it is now $58.50 quarterly. Yikes! That’s three times what it used to cost, and the only reason we even subscribe is for the Sunday paper. If we purchased the paper individually it would cost us $10 per month ($2.50 weekly) which is why we were ok paying $19.50 every three months (which also includes Wednesday and Friday delivery which we don’t care about). Joe asked them to cancel our subscription and refund us the charge, which after some back and forth trying to keep us, they agreed to do.
After getting off the phone I remarked to Joe that it still didn’t make sense because I know when we were originally charged the $58.50 in November we wouldn’t have just assumed the charge was for a longer time period without something to give us that impression. Sure enough, I was correct. Evernote came to the rescue, and I found this screenshot I took in November when this first came up.
Click the screenshot below to make it bigger. Notice how there’s a column to the far right that says “Paid Thru” and it says August 10, 2012 in the field? That explains why we had assumed the charge was for nine months of service at once. Sure, we weren’t exactly happy that they changed their billing from quarterly to three quarters, but it was no big deal since we pay our credit card in full every month anyway.
After looking at that screenshot Joe called them back and insisted they refund us another $39 since the original charge was misleading and we would have cancelled then if we had known their rates had tripled. At first the guy was implying it was our fault for not logging back into the account and checking on it later since that paid through date was an error. How the heck would we know it was an error, and why would the burden be on us to check the account again when what it said originally made sense to us and indicated we wouldn’t be charged again until August? Joe explained this to the guy and eventually he relented and agreed to reimburse us $39 on top of reversing the most recent charge of $58.50.
Interesting enough, when Joe was finally able to reset his password and log into his Tribune account they no longer had the option to look at past transactions and what the through date would be. How convenient for them. I’m so glad I use Evernote to document this stuff.
These companies are unbelievable! I feel like they intentionally mislead customers in the hope they don’t notice or don’t want to be bothered to dispute the charges. Well they are messing with the wrong couple because we don’t bust our butts working for our paychecks only to waste our money.
Now we’ll have to buy the paper weekly, but in a way it will be more convenient than home delivery because we’ll be able to get it on Saturday and go through the coupons ahead of time. That’s all we get it for anyway.
Scatterbrained
Want to laugh at me? I misplaced two necklaces over a year ago and have been looking all over the house for them ever since. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked through old purses and suitcases convinced they must be tucked away in a zippered compartment only to come up empty-handed. Even though both necklaces aren’t worth much (just cheap costume jewelry I got over a decade ago at Claire’s when they used to sell nice-looking stuff), I loved them because they went with so many of my outfits. I finally convinced myself that I must have accidentally donated them to Goodwill.
Yesterday I was dusting my dresser and moved my jewelry box, revealing the fact that the top opens – a fact I had forgotten. Sitting inside all safe and sound were the two necklaces I thought I’d never see again along with a few other pieces I had forgotten about. I cannot believe I’ve been looking all over for those damn necklaces for more than a year and all this time they were right there were they belonged. I feel like such a bonehead.
This just reaffirms the fact that I don’t lose things, I just misplace them… sometimes for over a year.
GlowGolf
We took the kids to Stratford mall today to try the new glow in the dark miniature golf called GlowGolf. At $30 for four of us (3 adults, 1 child) it was a bit pricey, but it does include 54 holes (there are two 18-hole courses so you get to play one twice) which do not have to all be played immediately. They will stamp your hand if you want to go shopping or grab something to eat and come back.
I do have a complaint about the place – there’s a small area in the front where they have a few booths which encourages parents to sit there while their kids play. Not so bad if the kids are old enough to behave themselves, but certainly not for a five and six year old like the siblings left to their own devices who kept getting in our way. God forbid someone look after their own children in a public place!
Another annoyance was the mom with her two pre-teen sons who kept blazing through the hole behind us and then practically standing on top of us obviously impatient while we were trying to putt. Finally they got tired of waiting (no WAY was I rushing through for their sake) and skipped a hole so they could play ahead of us.
Seriously, I’ve never understood the people who pay good money to play miniature golf and then rush through each hole as if it’s a race to the finish. I’d like my money to last. Call me crazy.
In any case, the place is ok but I doubt we’ll go back. People are just way too annoying, and that was at noon on a Wednesday. I’d hate to see the place on a weekend.