Subscribe to the RSS Feed for "Musings and Rants"  rss-feed-1340637685
Sep 26 2012 Tuesday – Got up this morning to find that my iMac would not start. It was just supposed to be asleep, but, well. After a phone call to Jeff, I opened my laptop and got an appointment at the Apple Store this morning.

While I was waiting to go, I thought I’d catch up on some business and do the payroll for Chesterfield Arts. So, I opened QuickBooks on my laptop. Since we back up our files with Intuit, I went online to pull up a backup files I had put on there two days earlier. However, the Intuit site only showed backups I had made in December, 2010. Yep. Nothing since then according to what I pulled up on their site. I had a brief conversation with one of their customer service folks, but ran out of time before I had to go to the Apple Store.

At the store, the tech guys diagnosed the problem as a failed logic board, which was what Jeff guessed. And it cost to repair it would be about $600. Since that is such a large percent of what I could get a new one for, I dragged the computer home. I then called Intuit again.

They verified I had a whole slew of backups and there was one from two days ago. Okay for that. The rep took control of my laptop and it took her 45 minutes to restore my file, something I should have been able to do since that’s what we pay Intuit for on an annual basis. Then it was a matter of getting print drivers for the laptop, etc. Throughout all this, our son, Jeff, was extremely helpful and spent scads of time with me all through the day.

While the rep from Intuit was working on my laptop, I used my iPhone to make a purchase of a new iMac. At the end of the transaction, I was told my credit card had been denied. Hmmmm. Well, I put in another and it went through. About 3 minutes later, the fraud division of that first credit card called to see if I had tried to make the computer purchase. Yes, I did. I was told I could enter the card again and it now would go through. Too late. On another card. And as things were about winding down from the Intuit rep in control of my laptop, the computer store where I had ordered the new machine called to verify if, indeed, I had placed the order. Yes, I did.

After a very late lunch, I hurried out to get some food and do some chores. Back in the garage, I slammed the tailgate down on my head. Ouch!

 Oh, one more thing, as if this weren’t enough. Both Monday and today, my “contacts” list on my computer and iPhone was totally messed up. I mean there were people who had passed away years ago and people in directories where they should not be. It has taken my three cleanings to get things into order, but we shall see what comes from iCloud that messes it up again.

It’s Kol Nidre tonight. So I will chill and reflect. And how was your day?

Sep 15 2012 I assume you know this familiar phrase from television advertising. In an earlier piece, I wrote about choosing a new credit card and my thoughts regarding rewards. So, I got a credit card that gives you two points for every dollar spent toward rewards that include refunding the cost of an airline ticket you purchased on that credit card.

Ah, but there is a catch that I didn’t know about when I got the card. If you have lots of points and then buy an airline ticket, no problem. You use the points to offset the cost. So, a ticket of $300 would need 30,000 points (which translates into $15,000 of credit card spending). Yes, it’s really like a cash rewards card, but more focused. Good so far.

Let’s take my situation. I get a new credit card. I then buy an airline ticket for a flight many months in the future. Over the next couple of months, I start to accumulate points (miles) for redemption. Now the hitch. When you go online to check your rewards, you find out that the card company only “erases” (their term) an airline ticket purchase made within 90 days. This makes it hard on a new card member like me. Obeying the rules posted on their website, I would have until the end of this month to meet the rewards requirement for the ticket I bought the end of June … or would lose the ability to “erase” it (i.e., get the rewards applied against that ticket).

I called customer care and explained that this requirement seems to be missing in all their TV advertising. While I am sure it’s somewhere in the fine print of what came with the credit card, this is a biggie given all the hoopla in the TV ads and what’s implied in them.

The customer service agent explained that the 90-day rule was dictated by how much data they could easily retain in the rewards department’s database. However, she would grant me a 90-day extension to meet my goal to redeem my June ticket cost. I would have to call in to do this, since there is no way around the website to get to special circumstances. I was assured that her notes would be in my record when I called in.

 Short-term problem solved. Longer term, I am rethinking the whole idea of rewards again. This is a glorified, but restricted, cash-back card and it has an annual fee. I will probably switch it to their regular 1.5% cash-back card (real cash, Jimmy Fallon?) and get an airline credit card to deal with flying.

Another reference on these cards:

http://blog.checkadvantage.com/2011/10/13/capital-one-reward-cards/

Aug 27 2012 I want to get a refill on a prescription. Using my iPhone, I opened the Walgreens app and scanned the bar code on the pill bottle which had printed on it “3 refills until 12/2/2012” and this is only August. While the scan was accepted, a message came back telling me I would have to call a Walgreens’ pharmacist since I could not get my refill accepted online.

When I called, the pharmacist looked up the prescription and queried Medco, my insurance provider. A message came back to her that they’d have to get permission from my physician to okay the refill. So, the idea that I could get refills easily by just asking seems not to be an option. She said she’d take care of contacting my doctor and they would then let me know when the prescription was ready.

About 15 minutes later, the phone rang. It was a recorded voice from Walgreens telling me that “your prescription scheduled to be picked up at 1:45 today has been delayed. We will contact you when your prescription is ready.” Since there had been no time mentioned for any pick-up and I already knew the prescription hadn’t gone through, I wondered why I got this recorded message.

And 10 minutes later my iPhone chimed with a text message from Walgreens: “Your prescription is not yet ready for pick-up. Call xxx-xxx-xxx for details.”

Sort of like the old Saturday Night Live news report: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. Yes, my prescription is still not ready.

Sep 11 2012 Eleven years ago today I was recuperating from prostate cancer surgery, still at home, still with catheter attached. It’s like when JFK was shot – we all remember, and should continue to remember, where we were and what we were doing. I was watching the “Today” show much like any other morning. First, there was the confusion about the smoke coming from the first tower. Then we saw the second airplane hitting the second tower. And, and, and from that point on down the twisting path since then over these eleven years.

About five years later, I wrote the following poem on, yes, 11/9, but reflecting:

Shadows on 11/9
 
Overhead,
three buzzards
thread the wind currents,
trace sweeping shadows
as they arc over leafless trees
south of the pasture.

On the trail today as I pass
bushes with lustrous green leaves,
cherry-red berries,
an owl’s shadow cuts across the path in front of me.
I look up,
but into the sun.

Back home,
two crows argue on the split-rail fence
outside my bedroom window.

 

Aug 23 2012 I’m worn out by all the blather on TV that masquerades as advertising for various candidates. How the other person is a doofus and has done all sorts of things reigns the airwaves. No matter if the truth, whatever that is, has been genetically modified to suit the video rant. It’s not what a candidate stands for. It’s what his/her opponent stands for even if that’s been distorted and out of context.

There are, to be sure, some reality being projected. The whole brouhaha around Todd Akin is one where video/audio doesn’t lie. Then there is the obfuscation by his own party pretending that they repudiate Akins’ words. Yes, parsing, they don’t like the stupid statement about raped women being able to “shut down” and not get pregnant. But about abortion even in the event of rape? About redefining what rape is? Just read that party’s platform.

But I digress. I am worn out from all this nonsense. When ads from either party come on, I mute them or change channels. I’ve been inundated all summer with the Missouri primary and now we’re into the general election. Billions are being spent to spew negative vibes into the air, to vilify, to distort. If this election (either locally or nationally) is determined by this set of crud on TV, we’re in a very sad place as a country.

We’re in an election of not what I’m for and what I will do. It’s what the other person supposedly is for and what he/she will do. Tired of it all. Tuning out.

Oh, Todd, please stay in the race. It’s about the only entertainment that’s out there.