Sweet Catastrophe

Ryan’s gone until Sunday.

So is Will.

Kristi’s out for the night–she’s moving tomorrow so her computer is being packed up for that.

I’ve been watching movies and tv shows on here all day, in between cleaning. I also beat Super Paper Mario….so I’m kind of out of things to do.

Ryan and I have been up till close to 4am every night this week though, going through all the games in the closet. He taught me how to play Backgammon last night. Anyway that means I’m nowhere near ready for bed, but I’m bored out of my mind.

I’ll likely give up and lie down soon anyway, but I’m seriously considering sleeping on the couch. A king-size bed can seem gigantic for just one person. Besides, I think if I’m watching television on the couch, I might not feel so restless, so much like my body is fighting sleep. I used to sort of trick myself into falling asleep by lying down in the clothes I’d been wearing all day and leaving the lights on. Something about being in the opposite type of atmosphere I’m used to for sleeping just did the trick. Maybe I can accomplish something similar. Otherwise, we’ve gone through most of the OnDemand stuff recently so I’ll be left with just the infomercials about child insurance and amazing new kitchen gadgets to keep me company tonight.

I enjoy having the apartment to myself, I do, but I dunno, right now I just don’t feel like being alone. I’ll figure something out.

Receipts are useful little things. It contains a plethora of helpful information, such as the store you shopped in….maybe even the town that store is located in!

Of course, ordinary people don’t find these little slips of paper worth holding onto. I speak with these ordinary people on a regular basis.

Such as the ones who want to return an item we do not sell. That can be forgiven……if you don’t argue with me until you have your epiphany that you do, in fact, shop at other stores.

I can’t tell you how often I see customers who swear they’ve bought an item in our store just last week when I can promise them that in the two years I’ve been there we haven’t sold that item, that brand, that size, etc.

It’s funniest when it’s not something we’d logically carry—for instance, farmhouse sinks. I had a lady come to Customer Service to pick up a sink (”my sink” was what she referred to it as, no mention of a farm at this point) her husband had ordered. I searched the computer for every phone number and name she could provide me with to no avail. I asked if she knew who they had spoken to when they ordered it and she said it was definitely Josh. Well, we did have a Josh who had just transferred out a few weeks before, but seeing as he was a door specialist, I had no idea why he’d be involved in a sink sale. No matter, he was gone so we couldn’t go to him about it. I called plumbing to find out if they had any recent sink orders and they drew a blank. After a good 30 minutes of doing everything I know to search for this item, and explaining in every way I can how there’s no other way for me to find this unless she can provide more information–a receipt, an item number, an exact date of purchase–anything else for me to work with, she finally storms off, yelling some colorful words to me as she goes.

About the time I’ve gotten over the frustration, I see her heading my way again, looking a little sheepish.

“I’m sorry about all that dear. I forgot we actually ordered the sink for the barn at [random mom & pop supplier] in Florida. I don’t know why I thought we bought it here. You don’t even sell farm equipment! *giggles* Thank you for your troubles.”

v__v

I think I kind of hate people.

I’ve been working on cleaning up the mold from the air conditioner leak. I’m using a mask and some gloves, but it’s still pretty rough.

I’ve gotten the majority of it, I think. There’s something Ryan wants to pick up in New Orleans to help really clean out the vents.

And in looking up some of the best cleaners to use for it all, I’ve added Electrolux vacuums to my wishlist. I can’t imagine I’ll ever go long without a cat so a good vacuum that really fights against leaving allergens in the air would be a really smart buy for me.

It’s a purchase I won’t make until I’m settled somewhere, to know which one would be best wherever I’m living, but it’s definitely something I want.

The broom and dust pan just aren’t cutting it, ya know?

I need to finish up the cleaning and go take a shower before it’s too late!

Today I want to talk about pre-paid credit cards. A lot of retailers are choosing to send these pre-paid credit cards for rebates and rewards instead of sending straight checks. Essentially, it’s a gift card that you can use anywhere. [Errr anywhere that type of credit card is accepted; check the logo ]

The thing is, most people don’t understand how to use these cards. For some reason, they’re generally read by machines as debit cards, so you’ve got to be aware of this and make it known to your cashier that you’re using a pre-paid card and that it needs to be run as credit. Often I’ve had to explain this to customers and wonder if they’ve run into problems with not being able to use the money they were given simply because they don’t know how to use it.

Secondly, if you’ve got a $50 pre-paid card and your purchase is $67, it’s going to decline your card. You have to let your cashier know the amount you have on the card so that they can manually input that amount to go towards your purchase. This is why it’s important to keep up with the remaining balance on your card. Too many people leave a balance on those cards and never use them because they don’t know that they can. If you’ve only got $7.27 left and you want to use it, just tell your cashier! We type in that amount before choosing the tender and that’s it! You’re clear!

One final thing to remember is that even when you’ve cleared the balance on your card, you should take it back and destroy it yourself. For the most part, these cards aren’t tied to you in any way, but there are companies that send cards out that, in the right hands, can be traced back to your account, and thus could open you to someone gaining information you wouldn’t want them to. Being traceable back to you is a rarity, but there are instances where it’s possible, so better safe than sorry. Take it home with you and destroy it as you would any other credit card.

So now when you go out and buy a new television, LCD tv mount, and whole entertainment package and end up with a huge rebate coming your way, just remember that all it takes is a little thought to make sure you get to utilize that entire rebate.

I’m starting a weight loss program. One based around a supplement, which I’m sure not everyone will agree with.

I’ve done my research. I’ve looked into it extensively, read reports, Fenterdren reviews, testimonials–the good and the bad.

I’ve made my choice and it’s one I’m happy with. I’ve even taken a decent amount of samples of the one I’ve gone with to really get a feel of how my body handles it and I’m really happy with the results.

I know not everyone agrees with taking any kind of pills to aid with weight loss, but I feel really comfortable with it. I’ve never had a huge problem with having a little extra weight, but when I gained a significant amount in a short amount of time, I started seeing it in my face as well and I just don’t feel like me anymore. It’s gotten to the point that it’s really affecting me in just about every aspect that it can, and I can’t let some extra weight change my life so much.

I’ve changed my diet absolutely as much as I can. In that area, I’ve got everything working against me. I’m an extremely picky eater, I’m on a college student’s budget and schedule, and I’m cooking for one. Any one of those aspects presents a huge challenge and they’re all stacked against me. I’ve tried a metric ton of new things in the past year and found a few that I could like, and a lot that I could absolutely not stand. I’ve done what I can in that area.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress and I’ll be reviewing the supplement I’ve chosen over on Aftershocks.

I’ve been on a real reading binge lately. I just want to spend all of my money on books right now! I keep going to browse after work, but I talk myself out of everything because it’s not on my list right now.

I’ve got a list of books I know I can’t find in the store, but I keep going anyway! Maybe I think they’re going to pop up out of nonexistence?

No big though, the 4th book for the Twilight saga comes out this weekend, and then we head for New Orleans, so I won’t be without literature for much longer. I just can’t seem to avoid trying to find something to read!

Ever have those pains that completely randomly show up? Sometime tonight I noticed my shoulder was getting stiff. It went downhill pretty fast after that—within an hour it spread across my upper back and then on up my neck.

It’s stiff and aching like I don’t know what….It’s most extreme throughout my right shoulder and the base of my neck. I can’t imagine what I could’ve done to it.

I hate knowing that if it were to get worse I couldn’t really do anything….unless you guys know some secrets to qualify me for some cheap North Carolina health insurance…any loopholes?

Luckily for tonight I’ve got something that should help. I’m gonna take that and hope for the best. If it’s still really stiff when I get up tomorrow I’ll lay out of work and give it some time.

All week long we’ve been set to have serious storms. For hours we have severe thunder and lightning and the sun disappears. It sprinkles for about 10 minutes and it’s done.

Today was set to be clear. Maybe a chance of rain late tonight. Just guess what the weather is like right now….

There’s not even a reason to go dry my hair.

Why in the hell can’t anyone just leave well enough alone?? Have you heard the tragic news? MTV is getting ready to remake The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Can you feel the excitement? No? Oh that’s probably because there isn’t any.

How in the hell do they think they’re going to duplicate Tim Curry in fishnets?? When this makes it to the screen I hope my term life is up to date ’cause it’s likely my head might explode in annoyance. Wtf man?

They’re using the original screenplay and possibly adding new music.

What’s the point? Is there something from the original they think they can improve upon? I certainly hope they don’t think they’re gonna duplicate it!

I’m getting really, really excited about all the electronics that will soon be in my possession!

After dinner last night we went sort of window-shopping. We checked out the possible video cards that would work with my computer. Ryan explained to me the different options that each of them opened up and we narrowed it down to what I absolutely want to have, and then the optionals and finally the things I really don’t care about.

We didn’t look at harddrives, though I meant to. Ryan already knows what I want there.

Then after some gratuitous glances at Wii games, we looked at the GPS devices. It really hadn’t occurred to me at all that I could just wait and get one for my Birthday, but Ryan hinted (err pretty much stated) that’s the plan. There’s a really cute Garmin out that’s bright red, and aesthetically he really wants me to have, but it’s missing two of my must-have features. Now that I know it’s gonna happen, I’ve started some hardcore research into what I want–what all the different features really are and which ones I’ve gotta have.

So far I know I’ve got to have text-to-speech, which means it actually says the street names instead of vaguely announcing that you turn in X-amount of yards. Also I learned in my research tonight that some units don’t automatically re-route you if you take a wrong turn. Uh yeah, I’m gonna need that. That’s probably the most reassuring feature for me. Without that, I might as well have a talking list of directions.

So I’m excited about getting most of those by Christmas at the latest. On top of other random goodies here and there!! =)