This is a long one, like Old Lady Cate might've written. If you have a short attention span for rants, you are excused.
This has been a real day. Filled with frustration from beginning to end dealing with uncooperative electronic devices.
1. I called my car insurance company because they sent me policy renewal docs, but no payment stub or remittance envelope. And the policy expires June 1. So I called to see if another bill was coming? Yes, it should've been sent but wasn't. So I wound up paying my car insurance for a year in full with CC by phone. They were cooperative enough to relieve me of over $1,900-plus, up from $1,400-something last year. You know, car ins. is going up all over the country. Of course we have no option on carrying it, law requires it in Wash. I could save around $700 a year by dropping collision coverage. I'm going to think about that; it's true we don't drive much these days. But one at-fault accident can more than make it worthwhile. Since neither of us has had need for such a claim since 1987, it might make sense to drop it.
2. When I was still working, I plunked down money in a federal employee version of a 401k savings program. I was under the old Civil Service Retirement System, which was terminated in the early 1980's when the gov't switched new hires into a new retirement system. The new people had to work longer, weren't under the old CSRS for retirement, so they created a new system for them. Which was a combination of Social Security and the 401k-like program, which the gov't paid a share of. Which we old timers weren't allowed into for years. Many years later, we were finally allowed to sink money into this system as an option, but there were no matching funds for us. Strictly dollar for dollar. By then, my kids were all grown and living on their own, so I figured I wouldn't miss a bit that I put into this savings plan.
Okay, after I retired at age 57, I didn't need any of the money in this savings plan, so I just left it alone. There were ways you could go online and check up on it, manage investment funds, etc. I tried to set up access to that when I retired, but I never used it. In the meantime, they've changed that whole system anyway so it's just as well. Many years went by, the money just lay there collecting interest. Then I had the nerve to enter my 70's in age. There was a gov't rule that once you hit a certain age, you must take mandatory withdrawals. So I had to start doing that last year. I pulled out some money in October, did it on the phone, there were no problems.
You know, when they rah-rah these retirement savings plans, they push the "tax deferred earnings" button. Making you think somehow this will be of benefit later when you are earning less. Well, it hasn't worked out that way for me. It's turned out to be a taxation pain in the butt. Now I wish I'd just paid taxes on the money when I earned it, then stuck it away. Rather than deal with paying taxes on it now. Plus it impacts the bottom line on my county property tax senior citizen exemption.
Anyway, I called today to make a withdrawal for this year thinking it would go smoothly. It didn't. It blew up. We did everything the same way it was done last October and it went wrong. They said it usually takes five minutes, but can take up to 24 hours. We'll see where this goes tomorrow. What it comes down to is, I want my money and they make it difficult to get it.
I liked things a lot better when I just kept all my saved money in one place. And when I wanted some of it, I'd go to the bank, talk to a real person and they'd do what I wanted. I hate all this password and authentication code stuff. Having to use a cell phone in conjunction with an online transaction. But these days, even going to the counter in a bank is problematic. Because they've reduced staffing so much, and also because only people with problems go to the counter. Typically. Because the routine, easy transactions are done on people's phones!
3. I sell a few things on ebay. Right now, I have exactly four (4) listings. These days, it's usually something Mrs. Merkt wants me to sell for her. There's another tech nightmare. They are always jiggering around with their system and procedures, changing stuff, and in my experience, it never becomes any easier no matter what they say. I listed an item last night, and it wouldn't let me escape from international shipping. I don't do international stuff. I've done it years ago, and mostly it isn't worth the trouble. At least for things I've sold. But last night, "the system" had me locked into international shipping and I couldn't fix it. When I went to my account settings, ebay's server was down. This afternoon, I finally circled back around to it, updated a setting but it was still glitchy. To save my life, I couldn't get it to drop (in red letters) DOES NOT SHIP TO TURKEY. Not just Turkey but anywhere overseas. I suppose there is a story there somewhere.
4. Right here was the most satisfying part of my day, gardening at one of my daughter's places. Last year, I cleared out an area there that was 25 years overgrown with blackberries. I rebuilt a garden shed that was there. I planted some trees along a fence. Got irrigation to the area. Now, I'm putting in vegetable garden beds. The weather has gotten Spring-like, some things are starting to move now.
5. On my way home, I chose a route that requires a wait in a left turn lane at a controlled intersection. The wait in that line of course depends upon how many cars are ahead of you. This is a light that stays green for left turns after the green arrow goes out so you can turn when it is safe. That is, if bone-head drivers ahead of you know how to drive. Some will not proceed into the intersection after the green arrow goes away; they sit at the crosswalk and wait for the next light cycle. Holding up everyone behind them. At such intersections, they used to post signs that said, "Left Turn OK On Green Ball."
So, I was waiting in this left turn pocket. The light went to a green arrow, a few cars turned, then the light quickly went red again. The westbound lanes next to me never went green. It was a short cycled light. I never saw an emergency vehicle. So I'm guessing that maybe some smartass strobed it illegally. It happens. Then I waited through another cycle. Again the green arrow showed, some cars ahead of me went through, the green arrow turned to a green ball, and the car at the head of the line froze. I couldn't take another cycle of sitting there, wasting gasoline, so when it was safe, I got out of the left turn pocket and went straight west using an alternate route.
6. This evening, I sat down to watch TV and there was no audio. I played around with the control, nothing doing. Mrs. Merkt came down, the usual, "It was working a little while ago." So I spent 20 minutes checking my Comcast remote. Which I hate, it's one of those voice actuated things (I don't use that feature), it's tied in with the Wifi on our PC, lots of settings. The Comcast remote is paired with the TV, should've worked. I finally went online to see if I could find any guidance. In a roundabout way, I discovered that there is a "voice" button (little microphone symbol). The online instructions said if I pressed this button, I could voice command the thing to reset remote settings. When I pressed the voice button, a message showed at the top of the screen saying there wasn't enough battery action left to operate that feature. Well what the Heck. How as I to know the batteries were low? The thing would change channels and stuff. And, before I got this fancy pants remote, batteries lasted a long time. The new remote lights up the keys when you touch it, that's got to take more juice all the time. I changed the batteries and now it works like it should again. Stupid little stuff like that.
It's all calculated to drive you nuts.
This has been a real day. Filled with frustration from beginning to end dealing with uncooperative electronic devices.
1. I called my car insurance company because they sent me policy renewal docs, but no payment stub or remittance envelope. And the policy expires June 1. So I called to see if another bill was coming? Yes, it should've been sent but wasn't. So I wound up paying my car insurance for a year in full with CC by phone. They were cooperative enough to relieve me of over $1,900-plus, up from $1,400-something last year. You know, car ins. is going up all over the country. Of course we have no option on carrying it, law requires it in Wash. I could save around $700 a year by dropping collision coverage. I'm going to think about that; it's true we don't drive much these days. But one at-fault accident can more than make it worthwhile. Since neither of us has had need for such a claim since 1987, it might make sense to drop it.
2. When I was still working, I plunked down money in a federal employee version of a 401k savings program. I was under the old Civil Service Retirement System, which was terminated in the early 1980's when the gov't switched new hires into a new retirement system. The new people had to work longer, weren't under the old CSRS for retirement, so they created a new system for them. Which was a combination of Social Security and the 401k-like program, which the gov't paid a share of. Which we old timers weren't allowed into for years. Many years later, we were finally allowed to sink money into this system as an option, but there were no matching funds for us. Strictly dollar for dollar. By then, my kids were all grown and living on their own, so I figured I wouldn't miss a bit that I put into this savings plan.
Okay, after I retired at age 57, I didn't need any of the money in this savings plan, so I just left it alone. There were ways you could go online and check up on it, manage investment funds, etc. I tried to set up access to that when I retired, but I never used it. In the meantime, they've changed that whole system anyway so it's just as well. Many years went by, the money just lay there collecting interest. Then I had the nerve to enter my 70's in age. There was a gov't rule that once you hit a certain age, you must take mandatory withdrawals. So I had to start doing that last year. I pulled out some money in October, did it on the phone, there were no problems.
You know, when they rah-rah these retirement savings plans, they push the "tax deferred earnings" button. Making you think somehow this will be of benefit later when you are earning less. Well, it hasn't worked out that way for me. It's turned out to be a taxation pain in the butt. Now I wish I'd just paid taxes on the money when I earned it, then stuck it away. Rather than deal with paying taxes on it now. Plus it impacts the bottom line on my county property tax senior citizen exemption.
Anyway, I called today to make a withdrawal for this year thinking it would go smoothly. It didn't. It blew up. We did everything the same way it was done last October and it went wrong. They said it usually takes five minutes, but can take up to 24 hours. We'll see where this goes tomorrow. What it comes down to is, I want my money and they make it difficult to get it.
I liked things a lot better when I just kept all my saved money in one place. And when I wanted some of it, I'd go to the bank, talk to a real person and they'd do what I wanted. I hate all this password and authentication code stuff. Having to use a cell phone in conjunction with an online transaction. But these days, even going to the counter in a bank is problematic. Because they've reduced staffing so much, and also because only people with problems go to the counter. Typically. Because the routine, easy transactions are done on people's phones!
3. I sell a few things on ebay. Right now, I have exactly four (4) listings. These days, it's usually something Mrs. Merkt wants me to sell for her. There's another tech nightmare. They are always jiggering around with their system and procedures, changing stuff, and in my experience, it never becomes any easier no matter what they say. I listed an item last night, and it wouldn't let me escape from international shipping. I don't do international stuff. I've done it years ago, and mostly it isn't worth the trouble. At least for things I've sold. But last night, "the system" had me locked into international shipping and I couldn't fix it. When I went to my account settings, ebay's server was down. This afternoon, I finally circled back around to it, updated a setting but it was still glitchy. To save my life, I couldn't get it to drop (in red letters) DOES NOT SHIP TO TURKEY. Not just Turkey but anywhere overseas. I suppose there is a story there somewhere.
4. Right here was the most satisfying part of my day, gardening at one of my daughter's places. Last year, I cleared out an area there that was 25 years overgrown with blackberries. I rebuilt a garden shed that was there. I planted some trees along a fence. Got irrigation to the area. Now, I'm putting in vegetable garden beds. The weather has gotten Spring-like, some things are starting to move now.
5. On my way home, I chose a route that requires a wait in a left turn lane at a controlled intersection. The wait in that line of course depends upon how many cars are ahead of you. This is a light that stays green for left turns after the green arrow goes out so you can turn when it is safe. That is, if bone-head drivers ahead of you know how to drive. Some will not proceed into the intersection after the green arrow goes away; they sit at the crosswalk and wait for the next light cycle. Holding up everyone behind them. At such intersections, they used to post signs that said, "Left Turn OK On Green Ball."
So, I was waiting in this left turn pocket. The light went to a green arrow, a few cars turned, then the light quickly went red again. The westbound lanes next to me never went green. It was a short cycled light. I never saw an emergency vehicle. So I'm guessing that maybe some smartass strobed it illegally. It happens. Then I waited through another cycle. Again the green arrow showed, some cars ahead of me went through, the green arrow turned to a green ball, and the car at the head of the line froze. I couldn't take another cycle of sitting there, wasting gasoline, so when it was safe, I got out of the left turn pocket and went straight west using an alternate route.
6. This evening, I sat down to watch TV and there was no audio. I played around with the control, nothing doing. Mrs. Merkt came down, the usual, "It was working a little while ago." So I spent 20 minutes checking my Comcast remote. Which I hate, it's one of those voice actuated things (I don't use that feature), it's tied in with the Wifi on our PC, lots of settings. The Comcast remote is paired with the TV, should've worked. I finally went online to see if I could find any guidance. In a roundabout way, I discovered that there is a "voice" button (little microphone symbol). The online instructions said if I pressed this button, I could voice command the thing to reset remote settings. When I pressed the voice button, a message showed at the top of the screen saying there wasn't enough battery action left to operate that feature. Well what the Heck. How as I to know the batteries were low? The thing would change channels and stuff. And, before I got this fancy pants remote, batteries lasted a long time. The new remote lights up the keys when you touch it, that's got to take more juice all the time. I changed the batteries and now it works like it should again. Stupid little stuff like that.
It's all calculated to drive you nuts.
