CafeChatNoir

I have a new phone, activated and ready to go - and it’s just a phone! No camera or video, the only perk is the speakerphone option. Things are looking up for the day.

And throw in any other good cussin’ you can think of.  Not sure if things are just catching up with me or the 11-8 shift just sucks ASS or I’m still not 100% used to TC’ing or my phone is broken and Best Buy is full or morons, or all of the above, but dayum, I HAVE HAD IT tonight.

All the clients today were extra stupid with a side of dumbass.  Don’t give me attitude when I am trying to HELP you.  I have to ask you questions and if you know how to do your job (bad assumption, I know), then you should be able to answer them.  I am not asking for the fucking formula to compute terminal velocity of your ass when I chuck it out a window - I am asking you read the shit on the screen to me.  And do NOT ask me to talk about future versions of the software - they’re in the damn future and when we get there, I can tell you about it THEN.

I closed 10 calls today.  Ten.  That’s it.  That’s after closing 43 calls on Monday & Tuesday.  Yes, that likely has contributed to my less than spectacular mood.  Hell, I might as well have not even gone to work for 10 calls.  Our consultants are also trying really hard to give me an ulcer.  Don’t call and say “the client has escalated the problem to the VP dude” and expect that I can fix it any faster.  Broken is broken.  If telling the VP would make a solution materialize faster, hell, I’d call him personally about every call I got!

Best Buy had the phone I wanted on display, but not in stock.  They offered me a different one and said I could bring it back Saturday and trade it…  Um, I don’t think so.  , they don’t even HAVE your phone model there anymore.  So, it’s off to Radio Shack tomorrow morning to see if I can find what I want there.  Otherwise, I have to order from Sprint and pray that my phone doesn’t die before it gets here.  I do at least have a list of models that I like at the ready. 

I am also just really tired, and feeling a touch overwhelmed by ohh, everything.  Which is probably 99% of my problems this evening.  I know everything will shake out, it will all be fine, the various and sundry paperwork will get done, things will be settled, I will get a new phone, I will close a shitload of calls the rest of this week, I will get more used to telecommuting the more I do it, nobody is going to foreclose on the house because I just made up a number and sent the bank a check**, I have plenty of time to get to the bank and transfer some money, and even if I don’t, I have a massive overdraft available if needed, I will eventually get my computer HERE, and it will all work out.  It will all work out.  It will all work out. 

The most infuriating part of everything is that everyone says, “If you need anything, just call” - and they all TOTALLY mean it - but there isn’t really much of anything that most folks can do!  I would love nothing more than to be able to give everyone just *one* little thing they could do!  Unless someone wants to come over and fill out paperwork for me. ;)

Message on the answering maching yesterday - apparently the lawn service is starting next week… (This is legit, it’s the folks my Mom used last year.)  This in addition to another lawn service calling to follow up on an estimate they did literally the week before my Mom died.  Last year’s lawn people did a fine job, I have no problems w/them continuing, but now I have to call service #2 and tell them they’ve lost by default, and call service #1 and make sure they don’t try and bill a defunct credit card for the work.  (And actually, now that I think about it, remembering what service #1 cost and #2’s estimate, they would have lost anyway.)

GOOD NEWS - little bro found his birth certificate.

**I can’t find the most recent mortgage statement, and I know the escrow amount for taxes has changed in the past couple months, so I don’t have the *exact* payment amount.  I ended up just adding a couple hundred bucks to the payment amount on the most recent statement I could find to be totally on the safe side.

Damn display on my phone just went out. There go all my phone numbers. :(

That’s what I keep telling myself when that voice in the back of my head starts expecting that everything should be settled. Nevermind that I don’t think anyone in history has settled an estate in 2 weeks, that voice is still a pushy bitch.

I’ll be happy to get w/the lawyers next week and see what they can do, if anything at this point or if we need more paperwork. I am betting more paperwork… So far everyone seems to be looking for a court appointed executor. Which we don’t have. There is an executor on the will, but not court appointed, so I am starting to think it’s basically worthless… Lovely. Eh, another thing I’ll let the lawyers figure out.

Really tired this morning. Woke up before the alarm again, which wouldn’t be an issue were it not for it taking me so long to fall asleep last night. Just a million to-do lists flying through my head.

Snoopy came upstairs again last night, Mox was very good - had him on the leash and when he’d get a little too excited, all I had to say was No! and he backed right down. This is a very good thing. :)

I just spent a full hour and a half on the phone with ONE client.

Yes, just one.

Dear lord.

And someone came and knocked on my door and I couldn’t just yell out the window, because, well, that’s bad form while on the phone with a client. And I likely would have said something horribly rude anyway, because, well, OMG AN HOUR AND A HALF.

An excellent nights sleep. Even woke up before the alarm. (Easier to do on the 11-8 shift.)

Going to be dialing in from my place today, as the DSL is still over there. So I’ve still got a commute, but it’s 10 minutes vs 45+. I can deal with that, and I can come back here at “lunch” and let the dog out and feed him dinner. Only have to go in on Friday to pickup the beeper.

Remembered to get the trash out (GO ME!) Did the dishes this morning already, really should get some laundry done tonight, but the knowledge of the fact I’ll be in jeans all week somewhat dampens my resolve on that. Since my promotion, I can now telecommute up to 50%. Talking w/my old manager that went back to second line, she’s going to take advantage of it too - we really should take a couple minutes and coordinate days out and present it to management that way so we can show that someone will be in the office and it should be easier to get a quick OK on it. (In theory there should be no question about it, but you never know…) Neither one of us wants to do a full week in/out - I’d rather take 2 days every week. Man, that would ROCK. Extra sleep is a good thing.

Just got word back from said coworker - she’s gonna ask for Tues/Wed’s out. This should work perfectly.

Going to put the order in to get the DSL changed over next week, need to have it intact at my place to work this week, and since there will no doubt be a gap in service, if I’m not going to have any DSL for a couple days, I’d rather it be the week I am not trying to telecommute. It will be good to have my computer over here. Just need to figure out where it’s going to go. If my brother does decide to move back in, I’ll definitely get the wireless setup going so we can have the computers wherever we want in the house and not have to worry about cable length proximity to the router.

Still slogging through paperwork. Little bro needs to locate his birth certificate for one thing, and as soon as we’ve got that, we can send that out. Brokerage house is sending a packet of forms and whatnot so we can get together whatever documents we need to get that switched over. Appointment with attorneys is next week so we can get rolling on getting the will probated and see if we’re gonna have to do an estate tax return or not. I still don’t have a “complete”
list of assets - I’ve got them identified, but valuation on some is unknown at the moment.

If we do have to do an estate tax return…I may hire it out - it’s not a difficult return, but with the added issue of my grandfather’s trust, I may just put it into someone else’s hands. We’ve got 9 months to do it anyway, so it’s not like it has to be done this week. I do need to file an extension on the regular 2004 tax return, since I am not 100% sure we’ve got all the docs to do it yet - this week/end I’ll do a preliminary run through on it and see where that stands. May actually have everything and be able to just submit it, which would be good to get it off the plate.

Still have not notified the mortgage company, if they want to call the loan, I’d rather they do that *after* we’ve got funds to pay it off, which we will, just not today… So, they can wait - they shouldn’t really care since the monthly payment is being made, but I just don’t feel like tempting fate on it by calling them now.

Grumble, Grumble…

OK, so I found out *after* I got here today that I could have dialed in. Was going to just go home on my lunch break (which is now) and dial in for the evening, but it’s pouring rain out there and incredibly dark and frankly it would likely take me longer to get home than the hour I have to do it in with this weather. (Rain = horrific traffic)

I’ll have to also come in one other day this week and pick up the beeper, but I do believe that tomorrow I’ll be dialing in.

The phone is now in my name here so I can get the DSL switched over, and the fact that I can get online right now would indicate that they did not cancel the phone service, which is good. (It was rather unnervingly easy.) Called the credit card co that holds her company card, they just need a fax of the death certificate to cancel the card. Brokerage house is sending out a packet of information on what we need paperwork-wise to get things transferred over. I may be able to TC this week, which would be grand, just waiting to hear back on that, but if I don’t hear by 10, I’ll have to hit the road. No biggie cause I’d have to go in one day this week anyway to pick up the beeper.

So, things are in fact getting done.

Yeah, I should probably be in bed, but the combination of long nap (mmmmm, nap) and the knowledge that I don’t have to be at work until 11 is not helping with the “go to bed” thing.

I just sat down and made a preliminary list of stuff I need to do to put the house on the market. OMFG, it’s long. Granted I made the list by room, so “paint” is repeated a million times, but damn, lots to do. The bulk of it is going to be removing 90% of the crap out of the house, and that’s just a pain in general. Thinking if I go over there a couple nights a week on my way home and pick things up and work and on the weekends, I can probably have it decent shape by the summer. Sure as hell hope so. Figure I’ll start small, like get the bathrooms cleared out and get some momentum that way… I see lots of trips to the dump in my future…

You can get lots done in two months, right? RIGHT?!??

Seriously, I think I can do it. The worst of it really will be emptying the crap out so it’s showable. I may just hire out the painting, cause it’s not just one or two rooms, it’s the whole damn house that needs to be done. The other lingering question is going to be what to do with the furniture. The desk, sofa & loveseat will just go straight to the curb, so that’s no problem. However there is a dining room table and a full bedroom set. Ooh, just had a flash - could put the bedroom set in the basement so there is a decent bed down there and more storage. (The bed that is in the basement is actually too short for my brother, so it would be nice for him if he decides to move back in and take the basement over again.)

OK, one problem solved. :) Anybody need a dining room table?

Yeah, I see a lot of posts convincing myself that I can do this in my future and planning things out. As well as a lot of self congratulatory posts as rooms get emptied out. :-D They’re probably gonna be boring as hell and I apologize in advance for that.

Yes, I think I will start with getting the bathrooms all emptied out and go from there. Besides, I have to get things picked up for the cleaning service to come on the 11th, so that will help get things rolling too.

So damn much to do. I really need to take this week and get organized on all fronts so I can get it all tackled. But first I should probably stop hyperventilating about all this and get to bed.

Or in my case, Eat, Drink, Be Merry and then take a long assed nap. :)

We had a good time today. Me, little bro, sagamore & autiger23 all at the house. Food all came out well (*whew!*) and we had a good time hunting easter eggs in the backyard, and sitting around watching TV and such. We’re still not sure if we actually lost an egg or if we miscounted the number that actually went out in the backyard.

sagamore brought Eve over, too, and she & Moxley seemed to have a good time too, except that Mox got very annoyed every time she stood up and put her feet on the windowsill to look outside, which he’s too short to do. Much barking whenever she did that.

All in all, a fun day.

In other news, I’m on 11-8 this week, so I get to sleep in a bit tomorrow, WOOHOO!!!!

Happy Easter!

Here’s hoping Peter Cottontail is hoppin down the bunny trail to your house, too!

Slept in about an hour past the alarm this morning - I’ve just got the radio set to come on, and they were doing some sort of Beatles retrospective, and my brain just went, “Ooooh, the Beatles, let’s listen and enjoy”, instead of “hey, there’s noise, we should get up or something.”

Oh, forgot to mention - spring really IS coming!! On my way home last night, there were several spots where I drove past wooded areas and I could hear the trees frogs/crickets/whatever they are singing like crazy. That sound can only mean that warmer weather really and truly is on the way.

Oh, and a big GO ME! for managing to overcome a huge case of the fuckits last evening and actually getting about 95% of the needed pickup done downstairs.

Trying to think on how to time everything this morning… Each dish takes an hour to actually cook. Figuring I can put the potatoes in for 45 minutes, then the egg casserole, and then pop the potatoes back in to finish off. Or do the potatoes completely and then pop then in the microwave to reheat, cause they do reheat well. No matter, it will work out one way or another. We’ve got chips & guacamole and cheesy bacon ranch dip, so we can hold until everything is done.

…for giving me a 30 count bottle of pain meds that don’t make me sick or trippy.

I’ve got one knee that gets twingy on occassion, and sometimes downright bitchy. I’ve bashed said knee into solid objects on two occasions this week, and it’s been yelling at me. Was better this morning until today’s second bashing and after hoofing about all day, it started yelling again this evening.

I’m actually not big on prescription meds, but I picked up the bottle of MegaAdvil from the house this morning cause my knee had been really hurting last night, and decided to take one this evening - hopefully just the one will take care of it until I slam my knee into something else.

First, autiger23, you know I mean “neurotic & twitchy” with love. ;)

Got most of everything done that was on the list today, still have to finish picking up downstairs and maybe do some laundry, but overall, a decent amount accomplished today.

When I got home this evening from running around, and my grandmother called just as I was thinking to myself, “Oh, gotta call Grandma…” Seems she’s worried that we’re going to move and not tell her. No, I have no idea why she would think that either, but I assured her that neither of us would up and disappear. (She is one of the main reasons I am hoping to keep the phone number here at the house intact, much easier for her.) I will ask little bro to give her a call tomorrow when he’s here, too, so she knows he hasn’t disappeared either.

Also consolidated several of the flower arrangements - lots of nice ones still left, no sense in tossing them just because some of the flowers are dsead. However, I did discover that this creates a rather large mess, no matter how careful you are trying not to have leaves and bits of flowers flying about.

This evening, Snoopy was yelling at the top of the basement steps, so I grabbed the dog, and let Snoopy out. He wandered around the main floor for a few minutes, either putting up a good front for the dog, or still doesn’t know the dog is a dog. The dog was very good - interested, but didn’t try to break away from me to chase and didn’t bark.

I think this week we’ll go to putting the dog on the leash in the house and letting the cats roam about in the evenings for a while and they can start getting used to seeing each other, but I’ll still have a hold of Mox so he can’t cause trouble.

OK, back downstairs to clean up the mess and get some semblance of order for tomorrow.

10 blissful hours of sleep. Uninterrupted sleep. Ah, the joy that is going to bed early and getting up late. :) I am actually NOT feeling like I’ve been run over by a truck this morning, and that’s a wonderful thing.

Much to do today, marketing, PetCo, get mail at my place, start up the thank you notes, get some laundry done, pickup & vacuuming, at least start a preliminary list of things to do to sell my house, and possibly hop over to the computer show if time allows. Also need to check in with grandma this evening, and continue the barrage of “You’re coming for Christmas, dammit, that hasn’t changed!”

There are certain things I am consciously letting slide, like getting the utilities switched over here. Virginia Power doesn’t give a rat’s ass whose name is on the bill as long as they get paid, so I am not even going to worry about switching those types of things over until later. The one thing I do need to do is call Verizon and see if we can get the phone switched over to my name and still keep the same phone number - it would be easier for everyone if the house number didn’t change, and also once I get the phone line in my name I can get DSL activated here. (And I just checked, we *can* get DSL here, woot!) I had been planning on calling Verizon today because they *used* to have Saturday customer service hours, but looking at the bill, apparently that is a thing of the past.

At least next week I’m on 11-8 so I’ll have time in the mornings for making phone calls.

At some point I do need to bring my computer over here and just bite the bullet and use dialup until I can get the DSL switched over. It’s weird not having *my* computer here. (And there is that very bad voice in my head going, “Now would be the perfect time to get a wireless router and laptop and use the old computer as a server or something…)

I realized that pretty much all my posts lately have been long lists of things to do. Boring, but it does give me some illusion that I am somewhat in control of the situation. HAHAHAHAHA! Funny how everyone’s brain decides to deal with things differently. My brain consistently goes with “getting things done that need to be done is the best therapy”… Keeping occupied keeps me in a better headspace it seems.

I have also gotten totally re-hooked on cable. You can bet I paid the cable bill within minutes of it’s arrival yesterday. OMG, so much wonderful brain rot on the telly.

Pizza has been ordered, a beer has been cracked open and all is as right with the world as it can be.

Apparently, my brother and I now each have a 1/4 interest in my step-grandmother’s (Fran) condo. I have no idea how this is going to affect getting things settled. I don’t think it will really slow things down, just add a bit more complexity to it all. My uncle (Ron) is in charge of the trust my granddad setup that has the condo, and gave me some of the info via email. Seems Fran isn’t thrilled with the way the trust is setup, and from what I vaguely remember, never really has been, but not a whole lot I can do about that. (I’ll at least ask when he comes up here if there is something we can do to make it more favorable to her - doesn’t cost anything to inquire.) Ron said if she asks us about it to just send her back his way. Somehow, I don’t think she’s gonna bring it up with us. Hard to really explain why, but somehow I think she feels it’s my aunt’s (Sandra) doing somehow. Sandra really didn’t like my granddad getting remarried, so I think there has been a little bit of friction there, but Fran gave him another 10 years that he wouldn’t have had otherwise, of that I am 100% sure.

As it turns out, forgetting the paperwork today wasn’t the end of the world. There was one set of docs we wouldn’t have been able to send out anyway because I needed some additional information before I could send them out - I’ve got that info now, and everything can go out at once. Yay for being a scatterbrain in the morning. :)

Weird thing my brother picked up on - I had to put down my Dad’s date of death on one of the forms, and I couldn’t for the life of me remember the actual day of the month. (Weird how your mind works - you’d think you’d remember that, wouldn’t you?) He pointed out that my Dad died 12 days after my brother’s birthday, and my Mom died 12 days after my birthday. Sure, it’s just a freaky coincidence, but weird nonetheless. And, frankly, that will at least help me remember the dates… (Which I even was getting wrong with my Mom until he pointed that out.)

I think this week was easily the second longest week of my life, with last week being the longest. Funny how when things suck, time slows down, and when it’s good, it all goes by too fast. Sadly, other that going to work and submitting a decent performance there, I haven’t accomplished much of anything this week. I did at least get the appointment w/the lawyers rescheduled to week after next. I still need to remember to call Mom’s broker and get a list of documents they need to get things transferred so I can work on gathering those. Need to write a boatload of thank you notes. Need to finish getting the list of assets together for the lawyers. Need to contemplate the gawdawful prospect of prepping my house for sale this summer.**

But for now, I have cold beer, hot pizza, a dog, two cats, and a chance to sleep in tomorrow morning, so that is what I am choosing to focus on right now.

** Yeah, I wanna keep the house. Dog needs a yard, and there are just a ton of good memories here. If I have to buyout little bro, I buyout little bro - it’s worth it.