7 Quick Takes: Vol 4.

For more Quick Takes Fridays, check out the Conversion Diary. Good stuff, I promise.

1.
I am so absolutely livid this very moment that I don't know if I'm going to make it through this post. To make a long story short, an organization was supposed to pay me a very large amount of money (ok, large for me ... probably not really at all that large for the rest of the world) in a very specific timeframe. When that deposit did not appear as promised, I called them on the day it was supposed to post (they're usually early, which is even more befuddling), and was told that they "Um ... er ... uh ... forgot." WHAT?! You forgot to do your job?! Your one and only job, to pay people, and you forgot to do it?! Awesome. Great. Fabulous. I was then promised it would be fixed right away and taken care of overnight. When I checked my online bank this morning, nothing. When I used my 'bank on call' phone number, thinking perhaps my online banking was less cool or up to date than the other (uh, wrong, by the way ... desperate times, etc etc), nothing. When I called my bank's customer service line to see if they perhaps could see something I could not (a super pending, not accesible to my screen yet something) and then sat on hold for 30 minutes while they dug through a million records and places looking for the deposit, still ... nothing. Now, no bill paying, no grocery shopping, no ... anything until this deposit shows up. Greeeeeeat. Thanks.

(insert elevator music or a dancing monkey show to entertain you during the time I've gone to calm myself down before all of my 7 Quick Takes turn into bitter rants about crap I don't like)

2.
I had great fun yesterday chatting with an old friend over far too much coffee. There are nothing like solid friends, the people who know you (crazy or not), love you, and listen to your chaotic ramblings or not-so-hilarious stories. My thanks to him for the evening. It was a good reminder that even though we spend less time together than we did in undergrad, the friends made in college, in struggle, in intense circumstances, are still the best ones around. Good friends are good for the soul ... like chicken soup without the having to kill chickens part.

3.
My next door neighbors are being foreclosed on, or at least that's what we hear from their insane screaming at each other (when they aren't running their semi-lucrative narcotics selling business, that is). There are four houses on this side of the block. The one to the left of ours has been empty for months, also a foreclosure. The one on the far other end has been empty since long before we moved here 2 years ago. It is owned outright, but the foundation is crumbling under an otherwise really nicely remodeled house, and the owners decided to move rather than spend the enormous amount of cash lifing a house and repouring a foundation would take. I suspect one day it may just fall over. Now, the house between that one and ours will be empty as well. We keep talking about how sweet it would be, if we had the cash, to buy one or the other of the lots next to us so that we would have enough acreage per the township zoning ordinance to keep animals here. I wonder how low the prices will go ...

4.
Have you heard about the giant public debacle that was the 'Oprah Sends Millions of People to KFC for Free Chicken' event was? KFC stopped honoring their coupons, instead offering "rainchecks" for "later dates", which I suspect probably means ... never, because they "underestimated" the response. This is Oprah we are talking about here. When she says "Buy this (insert car, book, fashion accessory, etc)!, people do it post-haste. Did they not consider an even greater response if she said, "Go get this for FREE!"? This has spurred a hilariously wonderful selection of internet ramblings, especially between KFC and El Pollo Loco (which we don't have here ...). For your giggling pleasure ...



Oh! And!



Ahahahaha. I am endlessly entertained by corporations battling each other online. Nicely done!

5.
Be was released from the care of his surgeon on Wednesday, after 18 months. He will continue on a 'maintenance regimen' at physical therapy to make sure he doesn't regress for awhile, but the PT has written his 'permanent restrictions' so they believe it likely that nothing will change much. On the one hand, a huge sigh of relief that he has healed enough after 2 surgeries and countless thousands of hours of physical therapy that he no longer requires the constant attention of a surgeon. On the other hand, mildly difficult for him to handle because it means the status of his knee is probably as good as it gets. This is not the same as before the accident (obviously), and he is having a bit of a time coming to terms with that. When he still had doctor's appointments, there seemed to still be a chance that the knee would somehow go back to the way it was, its strength, stability, functions, etc.

This release also means a number of other implications regarding courts and trials and lawyers, but nothing I can tell you about. Big ole complicated mess, it is.

6.
The Red Wings (if you don't know who that is ... we may have to talk ...) won their series last night 4-3, meaning they move on to the conference finals against the Chicago Blackhawks on their road to the Stanley Cup finals (Please note, when following that link, who is pictured holding the Stanely Cup last year ... oh yes, the Wings. Note also, the number of times they have won the Finals through the history of the cup. Yea, we rock.). Hockey is the only professional sport that I watch, because I am from Michigan, and it is required here by law that all residents watch, love, and defend the honor of our adored Red Wings. I'm more of a college sports fan, which also stems largely from being a Michigander and attending a Big 10 school. Go BLUE! As such, there will be much tension and anxiety as the Wings try to make it through to the finals. There will likely be cursing, popcorn throwing, and if we're lucky some jumping up and down. It is Stanley Cup season in MI ... it's what we do.

I just spend a solid 10 minutes trying to find you the YouTube of a hilarious McDonalds commercial that runs in Michigan which lists the things we love here. Driving cars, working on cars, snow, and our moms are all on the list. Hockey also appears ... 5 or 6 times in the course of the commerical, and is the only thing that is repeated. It's terribly funny ... er ... true .... er both, probably.

7.
Did you know the US Postal Service hates recycling? Yea. They do. No lie. Apparently, they made it illegal for you to reuse a Priority Mail box for shipping other things, even if you turn it inside out or cover all the previous markings. That's annoying. Thanks for not loving the planet, Post Office. Thanks a ton. I'd suggest we all send them letters in protest, but if the rest of your local Post Office's are anything like mine, I doubt they would ever get delivered ... to themselves. The telling of the trials and tribulations of dealing with our local Post Office will be saved for another day, probably right after the next time I stop by to mail something and they are randomly "closed" because the 1 lazy, lonely guy that works in our tiny Post Office hates 1. people, 2. work, and 3. working with people.

What's going on in your life this week? Write a Quick Takes! It's fun times.


Simply,

Em.