09 November 2008
Show Me The Money - We Got IT Back
10/11/08 05:54
It's been an eventful week here.
Monday we went for our flu shots. Technically Marsha got hers. I totally chickened out. OK, OK, I know, but it wasn't my fault. I have a thing about syringes. I admit it. I always really hated needles. I look away when they appear on TV. Normally I just don't look at them leading up to getting a shot. In this case the combination of a small clinic and more people than they expected meant that the nurse was filling the syringes at the front desk. A patient would leave and the doctor or nurse would come out to get the next one and a full syringe. Over and over. After 15 minutes of standing in line watching them juggling needles and I knew it was all over. By the time we got to the front of the line there was just no way it was going to happen. Marsha got hers, she grew up on a farm and nothing fazes her. I on the other hand completely punked out.
If you remember we had a bank problem the week before. Someone had withdrawn $3700 from our savings. After their investigation they determined that it was a clear cut skimming case, and returned the money and the service charges. We were really quite impressed with how fast they resolved it. Friday we discovered the problem and on Monday they had it all resolved. We had to turn in our old (compromised) debit cards and get new ones. Now I have to remember a new security code, which could take a major part of my brainpower. We did add a bunch of extra security to these cards. One that even the Credit Union hadn't thought of was to set the ATM withdrawal limit to $0. We seldom if ever used the ATMs. When we need cash we go to the Credit Union anyway, so it won't be a huge handicap. But if someone skims the card again they won't be able to get cash, which is what they nearly always want.
Tuesday was the election. Marsha and I did, well, nothing. You see, when you get up at 3:00 in the morning you have to go to bed at 7:00. Results hadn't even started coming in. So we watched a few brit-coms and then crashed. I was sure I knew what the outcome would be anyway so what would the point of staying up late and being a zombie at work.
Wednesday I got up and looked at the web and was completely, utterly, totally shocked. Obama won. By the biggest margin of any Democrat since Johnson. I honestly was expecting a squeaker that in the end would go for the Republicans. The shock was so big that I spent most of Wednesday being a zombie at work.
Thursday was Marsha's last day at NCO. They did noting. Just a few goodbyes, took her pass-card, and frog-marched her out the back door. Monday she starts her new job. Personally I think it's going to be much better.
Geiger has been a little bastard. Just nasty, needy and bitey at the same time. He has been wrestling with Momiji more than usual. Actually more than she wants to even. He even took a chunk of fur out of her neck. There was a little blood but she's recovering. We're trying to watch him more. We are making sure there is always food in the bowls. We're trying to show him more attention. He seems to be much calmer now, but he was just a little monster in the middle of last week.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, rain, rain, and more rain, but what ya gonna do. We do live in the Pacific Northwest after all. So this weekend it felt like a good day for hot soup. I made my yearly uber-chili. This time I used bell-peppers and tomatoes I grew myself. It came out really good. There was one point though when I discovered a problem. I had everything for the chili but no chili powder. I had no problem with making a really good bean soup but I had my heart set on Chili. A quick trip out to the store for bulk fresh ground chili powder. It made all the difference.
We also made sister-in-law Sue's potato soup. Yes we made it last week but after packing containers for lunch packs we ended up not having any left over for dinner. So this week we made another batch. Then we took half of it "for experiments". I dumped a bunch of shredded cheese in it and some salsa. It became a great Mexican cheese soup. We have a week of soups and chili to look forward to.
So that's the news for this week From-About-As-Far-From-Lake-Woebegon-As-You-Can-Get.
Monday we went for our flu shots. Technically Marsha got hers. I totally chickened out. OK, OK, I know, but it wasn't my fault. I have a thing about syringes. I admit it. I always really hated needles. I look away when they appear on TV. Normally I just don't look at them leading up to getting a shot. In this case the combination of a small clinic and more people than they expected meant that the nurse was filling the syringes at the front desk. A patient would leave and the doctor or nurse would come out to get the next one and a full syringe. Over and over. After 15 minutes of standing in line watching them juggling needles and I knew it was all over. By the time we got to the front of the line there was just no way it was going to happen. Marsha got hers, she grew up on a farm and nothing fazes her. I on the other hand completely punked out.
If you remember we had a bank problem the week before. Someone had withdrawn $3700 from our savings. After their investigation they determined that it was a clear cut skimming case, and returned the money and the service charges. We were really quite impressed with how fast they resolved it. Friday we discovered the problem and on Monday they had it all resolved. We had to turn in our old (compromised) debit cards and get new ones. Now I have to remember a new security code, which could take a major part of my brainpower. We did add a bunch of extra security to these cards. One that even the Credit Union hadn't thought of was to set the ATM withdrawal limit to $0. We seldom if ever used the ATMs. When we need cash we go to the Credit Union anyway, so it won't be a huge handicap. But if someone skims the card again they won't be able to get cash, which is what they nearly always want.
Tuesday was the election. Marsha and I did, well, nothing. You see, when you get up at 3:00 in the morning you have to go to bed at 7:00. Results hadn't even started coming in. So we watched a few brit-coms and then crashed. I was sure I knew what the outcome would be anyway so what would the point of staying up late and being a zombie at work.
Wednesday I got up and looked at the web and was completely, utterly, totally shocked. Obama won. By the biggest margin of any Democrat since Johnson. I honestly was expecting a squeaker that in the end would go for the Republicans. The shock was so big that I spent most of Wednesday being a zombie at work.
Thursday was Marsha's last day at NCO. They did noting. Just a few goodbyes, took her pass-card, and frog-marched her out the back door. Monday she starts her new job. Personally I think it's going to be much better.
Geiger has been a little bastard. Just nasty, needy and bitey at the same time. He has been wrestling with Momiji more than usual. Actually more than she wants to even. He even took a chunk of fur out of her neck. There was a little blood but she's recovering. We're trying to watch him more. We are making sure there is always food in the bowls. We're trying to show him more attention. He seems to be much calmer now, but he was just a little monster in the middle of last week.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, rain, rain, and more rain, but what ya gonna do. We do live in the Pacific Northwest after all. So this weekend it felt like a good day for hot soup. I made my yearly uber-chili. This time I used bell-peppers and tomatoes I grew myself. It came out really good. There was one point though when I discovered a problem. I had everything for the chili but no chili powder. I had no problem with making a really good bean soup but I had my heart set on Chili. A quick trip out to the store for bulk fresh ground chili powder. It made all the difference.
We also made sister-in-law Sue's potato soup. Yes we made it last week but after packing containers for lunch packs we ended up not having any left over for dinner. So this week we made another batch. Then we took half of it "for experiments". I dumped a bunch of shredded cheese in it and some salsa. It became a great Mexican cheese soup. We have a week of soups and chili to look forward to.
So that's the news for this week From-About-As-Far-From-Lake-Woebegon-As-You-Can-Get.