Iowa

Iowa

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

A Bad Week

When does a bad day become a bad week?
When you go to the dentist with a toothache and are told there is no cavity, that you are grinding your teeth.
When your assistant manager comes to you and tells you that you have an appointment to meet with her and your manager.
When you are driving home from work and you see flashing lights in your rear view mirror, and when you pull over, so do the police.
When you are ready to blog and your computer goes off and when it comes back on a message says that you have a corrupt or missing file and you have to restore or reformat your computer.
When Monkeyboy's team does not play at their best and the idiot parents on the other team just keep screaming at the top of their lungs. I mean, come on, when you are ahead by 14 runs, do you really need to keep screaming? By the way, Monkeyboy did an excellent job of relief pitcher. The team did not give up and fought till the end. Second place is not such a bad thing. And there is another tournament this weekend. Redemtion is just around the corner.
It seems that when under ANY stress at all, I grind my teeth at night. I was told to wear a mouth guard, but when I put it in my mouth I couldn't close my mouth, so it sits in my drawer, $19 down the tube.
I drove home from work on Friday in the 90 something heat. Took the side street that I always take. Two stop signs. Police officer said that I went through the first one and issued a citation. Now, IF I did, I will gladly pay the fine of $25. I do not understand an EMS fee of $10. Nor do I understand the MCARE fee of $30 for Medical Care of Availability and Reduction of Error Fund.....WHAT IS THAT? And then there is the fee for JCP/AT...that would be the Judicaial Computer Project/Access to Justice. Oh, and don't forget the court costs of $35.50 for a grand total of $110.50, Also 3 points on my license. I believe you can plead guilty by computer and pay the fine. So, for what would I be paying the court costs? I went to the office of the Magistrate this morning to talk to them. There were four women and a dog in the office. Yes, a dog. I love dogs, as you know, but here this dog was, sitting on a chair in the Magistrate's office.
So, I came home on Friday. Turned on the computer, as I always do to check my email. Did that, got some dinner and sat down to watch the news. I went back in and did some searching on the computer to see about my ticket. Then I went to blog, and alas, the stupid message appeared. After trying multiple things to try to fix it, I went to bed. Tried off and on all weekend to no avail.
So, yesterday, I took the plunge and did a full system restore with backup. It worked fine, except I had to call Verizon to reset my router. Then I had to call Norton to update my security. I spoke with Satheese. Satheese lives in southern India. He is married and has two children. He travels for 45 minutes each day on his way to and from work. He works for nine hours, but gets one hour for lunch. There are many people, according to Satheese, that want a job like his. He has been there for four years and won't leave since it is so difficult to find a job. He has never been to the states, but invited me to come to southern India. He would like to visit us here, but cannot afford to do so with his family. You may wonder how I know so much about Satheese. It's because we talked for the thirty minutes it took him to remotely load Norton. By the way, my subscription ends next month, and he reminded me that I didn't want to let it lapse because it was protection for my computer. I did remind him, in a pleasant way, that it did not protect my computer, and that was why I was on the phone with him now. He acknowledged that there was a failure.
Fortunately, all my pictures were saved, but if you have ever emailed me, do it again. I lost my email addresses.
Things seem to settling down. The weather is cooler, Bean's production is tomorrow night, I will be able to go to the shelter tomorrow to walk dogs....always a bright spot for me.

18 comments:

Cathy said...

Small police departments have to make money, and this is how they do it. Glad you got your computer fixed and that things are beginning to look up. And we have talked about these crazy parents before. What do they teach their children about sportsmanship?

Shelly said...

Our computer crashed, whatever that means. We had to get a new one. I couldn't believe how much I depended on that computer. I pay my bills on line, I check email, I order things on line. I made my husband go out and buy a new one right away, which is probably the biggest mistake ever. But I have my puter back....thank goodness. Glad things are turning around for you, Mia.

Tim said...

No one has mentioned the Pirates, and here I am cheering for all that I am worth. Man, oh, man.

Twigs said...

Tim, come here and root for the Phillies....we will support you. Pirates are doing well, that's for sure.
I hate these small local police. They just watch out for everything. And those added fees are stupid. It's a money making scheme. I live in fear of my computer dying. I am so tempted to get another one just as a backup...you know, bare basics.

Bill said...

What gripes me is the new rates for parking meters here....twenty-five cents for ten minutes! Are they kiddding? So one has to walk around with a roll of quarters. Stupid, really stupid. Sorry about your ticket and your bad week, Mia. Our computer crashed at one point, and we couldn't get another one fast enough. Then there is the getting familiar with the new one. We had a geeksquad guy come and set ours up for us. Click, click, click and it was done!

JD said...

That's a mighty cute dog there, Mia. Yes, when a computer goes down, it is frightening. I try to back my things up but sometimes months go by before I do it. It's too bad about Monkeyboy's tournament, but you are right, second place is still good. Parents can be such jerks when it comes to little league. It's like their kid is making up for all that they couldn't do themselves. And it certainly doesn't give the kids a good role model. And good luck with your ticket! Did you pay it? Or do you have to go back to court?

ginger said...

Wow, Mia what a bad week. Things have to get better, they can't get much worse. Boy, that ticket sounds like a telephone bill. All those extra charges and nobody knows what they are for.

I applaud and envy your knowledge of the computer, if my goes down, it will probably go out the door.
Sounds like you got really friendly with Satheese. I think he was looking for an invitation for a visit.

Miss seeing some games, hopefully we can get to see another one soon.

Jen said...

That's a lot of money for a ticket, and what stupid costs.
Love baseball, love to watch the kids play, it is fun. How often do you go to the shelter? My computer is ten years old, and I am pretty sure it is going to die any minute. What's the concensus...lap top or desk top? What do folks think?

Ben said...

Tell Monkeyboy to hang tight. Slumps happen. It's a team effort. Not any one person wins or loses a game. And Tim, we do appreciate your cheering. The Pirates are on a streak. I like what Nutting had to say today about how he plans to run the team, so much better than McClatchy.
Tickets are a pain, Mia, especially those moving violaions. Fight it, try at least to have the points taken off.

Elizabeth said...

I don't like going to the dentist. I make myself go, but I dread it.
Too bad about Monkeyboy's team, although at least he made the finals.
My computer goes down with some regularity. It's old, and tired. I back everything up once a month, so it takes awhile to get it running again, but I don't lose anything.

SocialWorker2 said...

Good things and bad things seem to run in cycles. When a really bad thing happens I try desperately to remember those time when everything is perfect. Both happen infrequently, but remembering that all things pass, good and bad, helps me. Glad to see that things seem to getting back to a somewhat even keel.

Tigger said...

I don't even own a car. It makes no sense here. But I am sorry for your ticket, that amount seems stupid. I had a dentists app't today. It hurt. They just cleaned my teeth and it hurt. There are a special breed of poeple who become dentists and do painful things without putting us under so we don't feel them.

Jackie said...

I have always said....wait, I don't remember. Monkeyboy, second place is fine...it's not the destination, it's the journey.

SassySam said...

My cure for a bad week is the mall. Sometimes I don't even buy anything, I just go and hang out, try on things, get a slice of pizza. Escape! The last ticket I got was for going ten miles over the speed limit. Cost me a new pair of jeans.

Noelle said...

Boy, it is fun to get up and see a post by Mia. And to see all the comments. I heard, I think, that the Pirates are tied for first place in their division. Good job cheering Tim, though I never knew they had cheerleaders for baseball! I like Jackie's comment about it not being about the journey. That's a neat saying. Have a great weekend everyone.

Lori said...

Hot weather here, I pity the kids who have to play baseball in this heat. They probably don't even notice it or if they do, they enjoy the game too much to worry about it. Haven't had a moving violation ticket, but have had a number of parking tickets. And they are a pain, but it would help if I would get back to the meter in time!

Jessica said...

This heat is awful! Mia, I hope your bad week has ended and good things are happening. It does seem that when one thing goes wrong it sets off a series of bad things. As for the ticket, my theory is to cry when the officer comes to the car. Not sobbing, just tears running down. It's worked twice for me.

tabela malzemeleri said...

would have a difficult time working in a shelter of any kind..would want to take everyone home!