This And That

2/20/13
I have patience. With Jenni, I developed that trait early on and I continue to be patient with her 24/7. That’s just how it is. But I find myself having no patience anymore with other aspects of my life. Most of the latter falls into a category where I am pretty sure I am not alone. Let’s start with Straight Talk (I’d rather not but it’s something that has my big girl panties in a knot). After having a horrendous phone and service for all of a little more than 5 months, through Straigh Talk, I called the customer service department on February 1 to cancel my auto-refill plan. Hey, the phone service doesn’t work….. why should I fork out $45. bucks a month for nothing! May as well throw the cash from Kimmi’s upper balcony window and let it blow to the Strip! After having to call this boiler room operation, which is based in – my guess- Bangalore, I have a really hard time trying to comprehend what in the hell they are speaking! I have called these people now at least 8 or 9 times and get nowhere. Ever. SO on February 1, I call, cancel my auto-refill (or so I thought-HA) and had to call back a few days later to double check to see if it was processed. 3 phone calls later I am told that it has been done- no auto refill. I checked my credit card statement yesterday and Lo and behold, Straight Talk has charged the card. After phoning the credit card company they said they will dispute it. I contacted the good folks (sacrcasm goes here) again at Straight Talk and am waiting for a reply. How many people are out of work here in the U.S? Too many. And so many manufacturing companies ship their work to overseas facilities and I swear, it’s all in India. With 1.2 billion people living in India, Straight Talk has the market on employees, hands down. My patience has run thin with these customer service reps who speak and understand NO English!

Yesterday I had two doctor appointments going on. One for Jenni in the morning and mine in the afternoon. (Mine was back at the opthamologist’s office for an optic nerve test. I’ve had the appointment for two weeks). Jenni had her appt. since last August. Her appt. was at 10 and I made sure we were there 15 minutes earlier because this girl moves like a sloth. She is so slow moving (her dance moves are picking up- so it equals out) and the walk from the parking lot into the medical center is torturous for her. She’s never, ever been a quick moving individual, so when there are appointments she has to attend to, planning ahead and allowing time for her to walk leisurely is a must. We check in and have a seat and didn’t get get back to a room until 11:00. Her Dr. came in 10 minutes later, spent enough time for me to get new refills and that was it. Couldn’t he have just phoned in a refill? I mean, she has been seeing this dermatologist now 11 years??? Jenni’s thrill for the day was the elevator ride up and back down. She gets a kick out of that– even though she holds my hand for dear life!

Next it is my turn for my eye appointment. This place is quite a drive from us and we arrived earlier to wait. And wait. I get called in to the room and the technician starts doing things that I had done two weeks ago. Before I know it, she puts drops in my eyes to numb them (She assumed I was being dilated again). She asks me ‘why are you here today?” and I respond by telling her that I was told 2 weeks ago by the doctor to come today for a test on my optic nerve. “Oh, we don’t have you down for that. Let me see if we can squeeze you in.” I was squeezing my fists at this point and ready to toss back some drops into her eyes, when I made some remark that I had better not be squeezed in— I have an appointment for crying out loud, and they’d better DO MY TEST! Finally got around to doing it and I was ‘squeezed in’. We were there a couple of hours when it should not have taken more than 1 hour for us to have been gone (that’s with drive time). The doctor is at a loss as to why I have such horrible glare issues. He’s sending me to a Retina Specialist. (Passing the buck I’m thinking).

Next we have Century Link calling us every freaking night! We have Direct TV and our phone service is through Century Link. Century Link calls us every night and wants us to give their satellite (Prism) a whirl. Dennis tells them every night that we are in a contract for 2 years and stop calling us. Apparently Century Link doesn’t believe in inputting data into their system, because the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing. On a plus note- they aren’t from Bangalore, India!

Oh another pain in my hide is people at Wal Mart (who I always seem to get behind) who have their cart filled with items, and they tell the checker what the price should be! Comparison shopping – or more like ”Convenience shopping). C’mon! How can you know what 40 different prices are at other competing stores when you have a piece of paper in your hand that has 3 words scribbled on it? And the checker just puts in whatever number is thrown her direction. I for some reason always am behind these bozos.

Then there was my lesson today at the gym. After schlepping my ill ridden body into the place (actually my head is just now plugged, no coughing or throat soreness anymore), I was happy to be back on my elliptical. I’m pumping away, going at a pretty good clip and sipping my water regularly, but my lips are still cracked and dehydrated. They feel like sand paper. (So as I do every morning, I kept to my routine of keeping some light pink coloring on them with a smooth top coat of clear gloss to keep them somewhat moist -but it isn’t working to well). Anyway, I realize- after the fact- that I have been licking my lips to keep them moist, while working out. I had licked the top lip very slow and I noticed a man that had just walked to where my row of elliptical’s stood, and ‘nodded’ at me, eyebrows kind of raised. I didn’t have a clue to his nodding. (Sick pervert)! Then I glanced into the TV screen attached to my machine as I licked my upper lip again! Oh My God! I looked like some porn star wanna be. My thoughts of the nodding man moments earlier (where I referred to him in my mind as a perve and a few other choice adjectives) gave me an ‘Uh-Oh’ moment. Can I just crawl out of here now?

More later…..