Erulisse Dances

Wednesdays are my usual day off. But, since Chickie is communing with mountain goats in the wilds of Montana (or relatives and friends in the wilds of Montana who may bear striking resemblance to the aforementioned mountain goats), I have to work for her all week. *sigh* I have fic to finish, a request from Lai to send on, my AinA to finish the final edits on, and the MPTT Anniversary story to complete (which is quite close to being done) and I have no time to do it. At the shop, without Chickie to help out, I end up standing ALL DAY and I don't get any time to drop by my laptop at all (or have my weekly chat-fest with Aearwen). Growl.... So, my schedule is crap for the week!

( pics of mountain goats below the cut )

So I wanted to buy an album off iTunes yesterday morning. The album seemed to be just what I wanted to listen to after I finish my latest audio book on my Nano, and it was recommended by friends. I listened to sample tracks and liked what I heard. Signing on, I first got sidetracked with an Apple update *sigh*, then tried to actually buy the album. No - my password wasn't recognized as ligit. *sigh* OK, I'll reset the darned thing AGAIN (this happens regularly). An Email was sent for resetting my password, but I had to leave for work. Last night, I wanted to download it, but my DH had something else for me to do...So, this morning I finally got around to resetting my password. I'll try this one more time. Oy! If I didn't really want the album......


( pics and text below the cut )

Do you have special foods for the holidays or other special occasions that bring memories to the forefront for you? Each family sets their own traditions over time, but food traditions seem to carry through the generations.

( strange food ahead... )

 Sometimes I feel as if I am Don Quixote, tilting against the windmills of beaurocracy time and time again. On my current agenda has been monthly charges assessed to my company bank account since 2006 (yes, that's not a typo, 2006) from a firm that we never really accepted doing business with in the first place.

 

( Text below the cut... )

Unknown to us, they were assessing us a $5/month charge to our account for year, after year, after year. Then they increased their amount to $30 per month in mid 2009. At that time I tried, along with the bank, to find out what was causing this monthly charge on our account. I got nowhere. But then, in June this year, that fee increased to $85/month. The proverbial S__T hit the fan.

I started calling people - many people. I called everyone I could think of. Finally I found out that it was Elavon putting this charge on our account and that, unknown to us, the original contract with them stated that they could charge our account forever until we formally notified them that they could no longer do so.

I mean - shouldn't this be illegal? To charge on an inactive account for five F___King years????

The day I found out who was charging us I had them fax me the appropriate paperwork which I filled out, signed, faxed back to them that day, and waited for their confirmation response by fax which I was supposed to receive between five and seven days. After giving them eight days, I still hadn't heard from them, so after phoning them yesterday and talking to a supervisor because I was getting nowhere with standard customer service, I finally got my fax confirmation from them that the account is officially closed. Now I'll meet with my bank this morning to inform them that additional charges from that number is not permitted and maybe I'll be through paying money through a hole in the floor. What a PAIN! There should be a law......

Is there a website where I can post this crap?  To let other people know that these are BAD people who take advantage of their customers?  I'm more than ticked off that we lost hundreds of dollars to these crooks and that we have no recourse to recover any of it.   

 Well, so here we are at the end of another week. I have a full work day today, Italian food for dinner, and then a trip to Target for grocery shopping. I'm really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning, I'm just exhausted.  

( Celebrate beneath the cut... )
I'm looking at the glass on my desk and trying to decide exactly what I want for my next step. I have Malcom's glass saw reserved for 11:00 am on the 19th for an hour, and I want to make sure that I not only have the larger piece ready to cut out, but also any other smaller ones. It is much faster to cut glass with the ring saw, and there is every possibility that I will be able to cut several pieces. I have two larger slabs of glass that I want to have shaped smaller. On Wednesday the 11th, aside from celebrating my birthday (which I found out I share with Malcom - how cool is that!), I want to fine-tune the shapes that I ground out this past Wednesday, and if I decide to put any platinum overlays on top of the glass, this will be the time to do it. So I'll look at my glass for a while because I don't want mistakes - every step has to be deliberate. I'm not keeping this piece - it will be up for a charity auction in 2012 - but I will be putting work into it and I will be looking at it for a few months and photographing it later this summer. I'm fighting time deadlines here, and I can't afford mistakes.


 Here's hoping that you have a weekend of joy and, if you are able to spend it with your Mother, or with your children, have a very happy Mother's day.