Things are feeling pretty good right now. I am actually enjoying my time off, even though I actually miss school a little bit. Sleeping tons and tons is NICE.
So last week I felt productive because I got my car fixed and washed it and cleaned out the interior. I had a rental for a day and a half, a Chevy Cobalt. Not exactly my dream car, but it was good enough. My car turned out as good as new, so I was happy with the job the insurance company did.
I also spent a day and a half helping with the interviews. It was actually a really good experience and I feel pretty confident that we made the right choice. We ended up narrowing it down to two people during the first day and then asking them to come back for a second interview to help us make our decision. Well, something went wrong with one of the candidate's references, and we ended up only doing the second interview with one--but she was the one that I wanted and the one that Nathan wanted as well. She is just out of school and seems wonderful--really sweet, honest, beautiful (so much so that I thought we might be biased toward her because of it), young, and she sounds like a good teacher. We really grilled her on the second interview (and we normally don't do second interviews--the first one is pretty intense as it is). There were only a few areas that we felt she was weak in, but I was totally sold after the second interview. One of the biggest things was how she would fit in with our crazy team, but I think we need more people like her to balance the team, so I feel really good about our choice. Anyway, what was also good about the whole thing was that during the down time Nathan and I had some discussions with our administrators about our team and what we need to do to improve. We have some really strong personalities on our team and we don't function well as a group in some ways, even though we all get along pretty well. Nathan and I have our issues, but we are similar in a lot of ways when it comes to what we would like for our team. Oh, and he is the team leader next year, so I think that even though I felt sort of bad about that, it can be a really positive thing. I also felt like the administrators were very complimentary about both of us as teachers, which felt good. They want to see our team be more successful and we talked about what we should do and need to do. So not only did we have some really good discussions that way, I felt a lot better about my role professionally with Nathan. I felt closer to him, and more respected by him, after some of the conversations we had with the administrators and then afterward when we talked at my car. So I felt really good about that--he even joked around about us being co-team leaders, and I think we are on the same page about what we want to happen. I also felt good that we both wanted the same person the most out of the six people interviewed. Anyway, I suggested that as team leader he should call our new team member and invite her to go to lunch, since that is what the team leader did for me when I was a new hire to get to know me and make me feel welcome. Nathan asked that I go, too, so that she didn't think he was trying to make a move on her or something like that, so we are all going out to lunch soon. I am excited to get to know her better, but the whole thing is slightly awkward for me considering my feelings about Nathan. But maybe I can just get over it and try to remember the good things about him that made me like him in the first place...hmmm? Almost two years should be long enough to heal, shouldn't it? I am so, so excited to have another girl on the team who is young and sweet and who I can relate to. My principal also told me that he wants me to be the "go to" person on the team for her because he thinks I will be able to help her with the subject matter and based on the interview he thinks I have a similar style. I'm excited!!!
In other news I had another roommate incident that was JUST NO GOOD. I realize that I may seem too nice after what happened, but I am giving her ONE LAST CHANCE, and she knows she is on her last chance. I mentioned that we had a discussion about the rent money being late in the past, so she gave me two checks, one for this month and one for next month. Well, on the 11th a few different things happened. The first was that I got a second notice from my manager about the carpet cleaning that my roommate ordered. It was over a month ago and she ordered it without asking me if it was okay, then never paid the bill. It was $35.00, and I got the first bill on the door and gave it to her. Then I got the second bill on the 11th so I went down and paid it since apparently she is not responsible enough to take care of it. Then, and this is the big thing, I got a notice from my bank. Guess what it was? My roommate's returned check for the rent, marked non sufficient funds. The bank also charged ME $10.00 for her bounced check. Um, yeah, that is really fair. So then, on top of everything, I am walking back from the manager's and I see my british cat sitting out on top of my roommate's bedroom air conditioner. Let me remind you that I live on the third floor, and if the air conditioner was at all unstable, my british cat would be a dead cat. So that freaked me out because all my roommate put between the air conditioner and open window was a piece of cardboard. Luckily I coaxed my british cat inside, and he wasn't a victim of kitty suicide. But I was pretty pissed.
So I basically was on my last straw here. I talked to my roommate and told her everything that happened and was very angry with her. She insisted that she had $600.00 in the bank and had no idea why the check bounced. She ran out and went to the atm and got me the $345.00 to cover the fee, the carpet, and the rent. I still said that she must not have had enough in her account at the time the check went through and we talked about whether or not she should have to move out. Before she ran out and got the money, I was pretty much clear that I was going to ask her to move out. But once she did that I started to waver, and we talked about what would need to be done in order to make me feel okay about her staying. We agreed that she would pay me before the first of the month in cash so that neither of us have to worry about bounced checks. I made it clear that if this does not happen that she will have to move out because I have given her many chances. So, although I do not completely trust her to pay on time, she now has an explicit warning and knows she better get it together. We also talked about whether or not she is having money issues or whether it is just responsibility/organization. She thinks that if she aims for giving me the money before the first she will have enough time if something happens to get it by the deadline. She better! She also is keeping the kitties out of her room until she comes up with a better solution for her air conditioner. And she seems to be doing a bit better with keeping the common area clean. So hopefully it will all work out okay.
In other news, I hung out with Justin again last week and we went to Happy Hour, where he proceeded to drink six drinks in an hour and a half. I hate it when he drinks (which he doesn't do that often) because he annoys me A LOT. He was also being totally touchy feely with me and I was like BACK OFF. I guess I will always have some feelings for him, but I just feel like I can't let anything happen that gives him hope. Sometimes I wonder if I should explore that but it is way too unfair to do that to someone, you know? If we ever got back together it would need to be years from now I think. I don't know.
And then there is Chad. Yeah, failing miserably at not talking to him or seeing him. I do all of these things to cheat, and he does too. Nothing romantic has happened between us really, but we are still in a weird place. He also told me that he realized he is not ready to date afterall, which of course gave me secret hope when I need to just let go. I think we are both just kind of hanging on to something that we should let go of, although I am hanging on more than he is. Anyway, he still calls me honey and still is really affectionate toward me when I do see him (without being sexual, if that makes sense). I had him helping me set up my laptop with wireless stuff this weekend so that was my fault...I know I just need to stop but I seem incapable of doing that which puts all of the power with him and it's not good. What is my problem?
I'm trying to sign up for DSL through verizon and I have to say that they have the worst customer service I have ever experienced in my life. I will cut and past my letter to them in order to show you my outrage toward them. I don't know if you are interested or not, but I always love a good complaint letter.
---------
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to express my concern about the way that my problem was handled (or was NOT handled) this morning. Yesterday I placed an order for DSL service online. I signed up online to get the DSL for people who do not have a verizon telephone account, as I only have a cell phone for phone service. According to the web offer, I was to pay $35.00 per month and I would receive a free upgrade for a wireless modem. However, I never received the confirmation email that was supposed to arrive within 24 hours. I decided to call your help line to confirm that my order had gone through and that my modem was on its way.
I am extremely disappointed with my time spent with the help line. I spent over an hour on the phone, most of which was spent on hold, and my problem was never resolved. I talked to person #1 at 10:33 a.m. She said that because I entered a cell phone number when I signed up, the website automatically stopped my order (even though I entered this information specifically in the section that was for people who did not have landlines through verizon). She told me that I could still get the deal for $35.00 per month ($5.00 more than I would pay with a landline) and that I needed to talk with the department that deals with that (I forget the name of that department, something with the word drop in it).
I then was supposed to be transferred to that department, but was instead put on hold for about twenty minutes (I was sitting at my computer, so I timed it based on the computer clock). Finally, I got a human being, and I told her what I needed. She said again that I needed to talk to the specific department to be helped with that. I said, "Wait, I was supposed to be on hold for that department, and I have already waited 20 minutes." I was told--rudely--that the department, "must be really busy," and that she could not help me with my problem. She then transferred me to the department.
Once I was on the phone with that department, I was told that there was no way that she could sign me up for the online deal. Even though the problem, apparently, is a glitch in the website, there is nothing that can be done. She told me that the deal is only offered online and there is no way that she can offer me the same thing over the phone. Instead, I can sign up for $35.00 a month but pay $99 for the wireless modem--regardless of the fact that I tried to sign up online and the website would not take my order. I expressed my concern over this and asked if I could speak with a supervisor. She said that there was no supervisor, that they were the only ones in that department. I expressed my frustration about how the deal is only available online but that I am not able to sign up online due to no fault of my own, and she transferred me back to the DSL department to see, "If they can help you sign up for the offer online."
I then talked to someone at the DSL department who said that there is no way for me to get that deal. They gave me a number to call to see if there was something to be done. I tried calling that number and received a message that I would be waiting for 10 minutes. I had already spent 60 minutes on the phone, using daytime cell phone minutes, and I did not want to wait any longer.
Instead, I signed back on the site and tried to sign up for the DSL again. I, again, went specifically to the place for people without verizon service. I signed up, and under the place to enter a daytime telephone number, I entered my work number instead of my cell phone number. If the problem lies with the cell phone number, this should fix the problem. However, I am unsure if this is the case considering the fact that I still have not received a confirmation email. I am unable to track the status of my order because the number to track it on the website is supposed to be in the email that I have not received. This is the tracking number that I was given with my order: #W40175360, but it needs a phone number or Dedicated Data Line Number, which I do not yet have. I have no idea if my order went through or not, and I certainly do not want to call the help line again.
Because of the fact that my problem went unresolved, I am definitely questioning whether or not I want to sign up for DSL through your company. I currently have cable internet through comcast, but I was looking for a change. I don't understand why A.) I was put on hold for over 20 minutes B.) I was transferred three times, and spoke to four different people, without anyone actually helping me C.) Your customer service representatives supposedly are unable to access an online deal D.) There are no supervisors to talk to if the customer service representatives are not able to help a customer. I would like to sign up for Internet through you, but as of right now it seems virtually impossible, because your website is not working as it should and your customer service line is not doing anything to help. This can't be the first time that something like this has happened, can it?
I would appreciate receiving an email or phone call from someone who is actually able to help me sign up for the online deal that I am supposed to be able to receive--the one that is $35.00 per month with a year contract and a free wireless modem. Maybe I will receive a confirmation email and this will be a moot point, but at this point I am really not feeling confident. It seems ridiculous that your company would lose out on a customer willing to pay $420.00 total simply because of a technicality.
Sincerely,
Ms. Boombastic
---------------
Yeah, so you can see they really pissed me off--and I still haven't heard anything from them. Other than that, I saw An Inconvenient Truth, which made me love Al Gore and was really inspirational (but depressing). I need to find more ways of taking care of the earth, and one of those ways is urging you to go see the movie. I saw the movie with Mandy and we also hung out yesterday. We haven't been doing walking this summer but we are still hanging out a lot.
My mom is leaving for a trip soon, and so I have hung out with her the past two weekends. I always have a fun time with her, and we just watched The Devil Wears Prada (me for the second time). It made me want to be thin thin thin and fashionable. My gym stuff is still going well--I went five times last week. I am also trying to set little mini goals for myself because I was getting a little bored of my routine. My mini goal is to work my way up to running on the treadmill. The past two nights I did my 30 minutes on the elliptical and then 30 minutes on the treadmill, but I am slowly trying to run more and more. I started with two minutes and then moved up to five (but split into three minutes, walking break, then two more minutes). I haven't run since PE class my freshman year of high school so this is pretty difficult for me. I hate running more than life itself, too, so there's also that. But it is fun to have a goal. We'll see how it goes.
Oh, I'm reading The Shangri-la Diet which has some interesting ideas. Maybe after I am done with the book I will actually try it. It probably wouldn't hurt anything, and if it works it will be A MIRACLE. :)
