Monday at the Races

I was kind of proud of today.  I got done more stuff by lunchtime than I usually do the rest of a week.  I got some SMA Support stuff done, got bills paid and bank transfers and deposits made.  I got my pile of paperwork reduced by about half, with accompanying actual stuff done on it.  And I had a darned salad for lunch.  I got Kaylee back and forth from school twice and even ended up in a 20 minute long Starbucks line to find a nice low calorie option that still tasted good.  ;)

There was one thing I wasn't too proud of.  I had to apologize to a bank clerk for snapping at her.  See...the bank we have our health savings plan and SMA Support's accounts at is a TERRIBLE bank.  They charge fees and shut off your cards if you don't use your account at some specified frequency.  Well, we don't go to the doctor with any frequency, and I may have a couple months go by before I have to make a purchase on SMA Support sometimes.  So every time I go to use my card, it DOESN'T WORK.  They tell me to prevent that, I need to drive through an ATM and withdraw money every couple of weeks.  As if  that's a good idea--go through the ATM and withdraw $5 every two weeks from the health savings and SMA Support charity accounts, and what, have to go back in and deposit it?  I can't keep it, not for the purposes of either of those accounts!  And then I get my statement and they're billing me $8/month for inactivity fee.  They're charging me money for being able to hold onto my money without me messing with it for awhile.  Drives me batty.  So today I order a wheelchair for a little girl, to get there in time for Christmas, and it needs to be today.  We talk on the phone, I give him my card number, and guess what--it doesn't work.  I have to drive to the bank.  I walk in and explain my conundrum to the cashier, and it goes downhill quickly when she tells me it's never worked the way I've always used it in the past.  I get pretty unhappy, because this bank has been an ongoing problem, and tell her I need this figured out and working, today, now, so I can order a wheelchair for a little girl for Christmas, which is the truth.  She finally figures out after three phone calls that the transaction was in Canada, and this bank automatically shuts down any transactions made to/in a foreign country.  So they have to go in and initiate permission EVERY TIME you want to place an order outside the US.  You can't just agree to unlock it or whatever, you have to call the bank every time and have them give specific  permission for that one transaction.  So I did that, and finally the transaction went through.  I apologized for snapping at her, it's not her fault, but that is definitely my last straw.  I am moving banks as fast as I can get my act together,   Charging fees for nothing, shutting down your accounts and cards after a short time of inactivity, not allowing you to make international purchases without an ordeal...give me a break.  Out.

I made phone calls today, I caught up on some thank you notes, I'm just all productive and stuff.  So that part was good.  Haven't fallen off the bandwagon yet on Day 2.  Maybe after Day 3 I'll stop saying that and it'll be assumed I'm doing okay.  ;)

It was a super dreary and depressing day with wind, rain, gray clouds, and cold.   I guess this is the winter catching up to us finally.  It IS almost December, so I shouldn't complain...

I just got an email that is cracking me up.  The PT's tach quit working, so we sent it off for repair.  Well, apparently the tach has radium on the dial and it's not even supposed to be allowed in their shop.  They can't repair it unless we send it to someone else to create a mask, clean up the radium, and repaint it.  THEN they can look at it and try to fix it, with no guarantees.  Our tach is radioactive!  I can't describe why that's making me laugh, and it probably shouldn't, but it totally  is.

My last trip to pick up Kaylee tonight was a little interesting.  I got just past the highway on my way to Greentown, and all the lights were out.  There were police officers at every stoplight intersection, which were not even flashing red, they were just dead.  It lasted all the way through town, and the power was out in every business, house, and the school.  I have no idea why.  Something I thought was neat, though, was that there were cars parked in front of most of the businesses, with their lights shining in the windows, and at least one car sitting in a parking lot with its lights on in the middle of several businesses.  I don't know if they were employees, business owners, or just local folks, but people were out there protecting the businesses from anyone who got the bright idea that the police were all busy (which they were) at each stoplight intersection between Kokomo and Greentown, and that security cameras were down, no lights, and that it would be a great time to break in, steal, or loot. There wasn't going to be any of that.  I like that about small towns and straight-forward people.  :)