Thursday, April 23, 2009

I KNEW I should have stayed in bed today.

But NOOOOOO Mark insisted on my getting up. Well, fine bit of good that did me.

So, I'm rushing (as usual) because I'm trying to get to work early to get in some overtime.

I look at my dash clock - 7.45, okay, not great, but good - I go to make a right turn from the freeway exit ramp on the main road and *CRUNCH*

Whattheheck?! Is there a curb I didn't see?!

No.

It's a car. A CAR I didn't see!

%$&^(&)*()(_)(&*(^%$*&*((*%$$^!!!!!

Apparently, the car in front of me who was turning right on red chose at the last minute NOT to complete the turn. So, she turned (or, so I thought) so I made the stupid mistake of looking left, right into the sun, struggling to see a break in oncoming traffic and inched my way right into Ladyinfrontofme's driver's side rear bumper.

My first thought of course was: OH CRAP! I'm going to have to send a claim through the insurance company making that 2 claims (I had a weather related mishap in Winter '07) and I'm sure therefore causing my premiums to skyrocket. FlippingFantastic.

So, we pull off to the side of the road - goodbye oppurtunity for before work overtime - and *thankfully* (at least according to Ladyinfrontofme) I hit her where she already had a pre-existing scratch and small dent. She immediately said her car looked okay and we looked at mine, which was slightly worse, but still not too bad, and decided not to exchange info. To be honest, she seemed very hesitant to exchange info so maybe she didn't have insurance? ::side-eye:: But, whatever, it was totally my fault anyway as far as I can tell and I'd be glad to just have to worry about fixing my damage out of pocket.

I took a cursory glance at the damage to my car when I made it to work, I have some paint damage and a fairly small dent in my passenger-side front fender, but other than that, I don't think there's too much damage.

Great.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Time Warner, You Suck

Yep, that's pretty much where I'm at right now.

Eloquent? No. True? Yes.

In order to explain my full vexation, we'll have to rewind a bit. A few months back, okay, several because it was back around the wedding last year, Time Warner (TW) switched their DVR programming providers (I don't know that this is the correct term, nor do I claim to know what the correct term is, this is just what I'm calling it) from a third-party company to a new in-house design. At least from what I understand. What this meant to me as a customer is I got a crappier service for the same high monthly fee.

Oh heck naw, this wasn't going to fly.

So, I had Mark call (cable is in his name, we weren't married at the time) and I prodded him to pressure them into lowering our monthly bill due to this inconvenience. After a half-hour or so of switching from customer service rep to supervisor, to another supervisor, he accomplished this and got enough knocked off our monthly bill for us to deal with the unwelcome changes. To be honest, there really aren't a lot of options in our area - especially cheap ones - so we definitely had to at least TRY to deal with it.

Since that time we've had a lot of issues. Again, we shouldn't have to deal with any problems because we pay quite a premium to them, which makes me even more angry about the situation. We always have trouble with series records, shows taping correctly, shows playing correctly after they've been taped, etc.

It all came to a head Saturday morning. We turned the TV on and were trying to watch a program we had DVR'd. It said that it had taped, but we didn't have access to it. We tried other programs and got the same message. A few minutes later, there was a big pop as the TV and DVR shut off for an "update". This has also randomly been happening since the switch over. So, we wait... and we wait... and we wait. Mark goes out to mow the grass and I get into a book and 3+ hours later the DVR is still "updating". Not okay.

So, Mark calls TW to tell them what's going on. The outcome of the convo was that the best they could do for us was send out a repairperson on Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday. Can we just trade in the DVR box? No. They will do that if need be after they've inspected things on Tuesday.

Mark gets off the phone with TW and relays this info to me and I proceed to rant and rave about our craptastic experience lately with TW. Then, I decide, I'm looking up another cable provider and I'm switching. Right. Now.

I look up pricing, Mark's on board, we make the call, and they were able to send someone out Sunday to hook us up. AND (also by my direction ; ) ) we are saving about $10 per month with the new provider. Mark's turning into my own little bargain shopper-in-training!

We're now set up with another company, Mark is (supposed to be) happily cancelling with TW today and I can feel better about the fact that we are saving $120 a year, plus stress because I'll no longer have to rant about the terrible service we were getting with TW. The bad part about it is that we have officially lost 6 weeks of programming that was saved on our DVR (although, I doubt we would have gotten it back even if we stayed with them) since we were behind on nearly every show we watch. Guess we'll have to catch up when they show re-runs during the Summer months. I also fully blame this situation on TW.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Hallelujah the Sun has Risen!

Is 'risen' a word?

Anyway.

After 3 days of yucky, dark, wet, misty, rainy, death, the sun is finally out! I feel like it's an old friend that I thought I'd never see again! This makes me happy along with the fact that I can wear open-toed shoes without my toes getting wet! Squee!

In related news, I think I'm finally beginning to believe Mark's conviction that I may have a touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I mean really, just add that as a notch to my existing crazy-belt.

According to Wikipedia:

Seasonal affective disorder is a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year - hmm... maybe I don't fit this definition after all... - experience depressive symptoms in the winter - yes - repeatedly, year after year. Some people experience a serious mood change when the seasons change - yes -. They may sleep too much - yes -, have little energy - yes -, and crave sweets and starchy foods - yes and yes, Also see: fatty bad for you foods -. They may also feel depressed. Though symptoms can be severe, they usually clear up. – There’s hope for me yet.

Oh, and lookie there, apparently treatment involves moving somewhere warm and beachy for the duration of late fall through early spring. Not to return until the grass is green, the sun is out, and the weather is above 55 degrees regularly. Fancy that. I'll have to run this by Mark, perhaps we can relocate out of state next Fall.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Taxes. Or, why I had to end my evening with a glass of wine and pizza.

I know that taxes are what makes the world go 'round.

I know this. I really do.

However, after spending an evening up close and personal with my finances I too realize that taxes are not my friend.

Why is this? A few things actually. Please allow me to break them down.

1) I owe the federal government $917.

2) I owe the city government $27.

3) My return from the State is $114. This amount does not negate what I owe. Please see above.

4) I was not allowed to claim any education credit for tuition or school related-expenses as I have in the past. Apparently this is not allowed when one is "married - filing separately". Whaaa?! Just because I'm married doesn't mean I'm not po'. Because I am. Married. And po' money-hungry (I can't really claim poverty here I suppose). At the same time. Please see #1 as to why this is so upsetting.

5) I had 2 W-2s to deal with this year.

6) According to my multiple W-2s, I had taxes taken out for Dublin, Columbus, AND Gahanna in 2008. Three different cities. How do I still owe a city money?! Where is my return on this?!

7) I owe the federal government a considerable amount of money yet they already took 10% of my paycheck. According to my tax breakdown I actually owe them 15%. WHY?!

I conclusion, I hate the government.*

The End.

*Please note: I don't *really* hate the federal government - please don't start monitoring me 24/7 - I'm just angry when confronted with the reality of my taxes in conjunction with what that money has been spent on thus far vs. what I actually net. I got over my anger (mostly) and stopped my intermittent cussing (mostly) after I had a glass of wine and some pizza.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

I went to the gym today.

Yeah, yeah... you read right.

I went to the darn gym with Mark and his darn happily running self.

I'm not sure how I feel yet, but I still think that thooooose people who say that working out makes you happy are liar liars pants on fire. They just want everyone else to suffer the way they do!

I mean... I got all glisten-y. Yuck.

More to come.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Coming Soon To a Beach Near You!


Well... only if you live in Myrtle Beach! Woot! Woot!

Yep, that's a picture of us from our vacation to Myrtle Beach back in August '07. It was our first extended vacation together - you know, more than just a long weekend trip - and we had a BLAST!

Last year our big vacation was for our honeymoon and we went to Punta Cana, D.R. It was also my very first plane ride. I think I'll stick to car trips this year.

Soooooo we are officially booked to go down to South Carolina 5/8 through 5/17 and I can't WAIT! It's going to be so fun!

Anyway, I have something to look to forward now. I can make it 4 more weeks. Now, all I can do is think of warm weather, beautiful water, and delicious food! Ahhhh!