random thoughts - Day 2,032 (Thursday) - more again

After a couple summery days, it's back to more seasonable temperatures and the heat is back on. This morning I noticed at least half the floor registers were closed and that was rectified. That was the easy part of the day and after the tiny victory it was discoveries and mishaps.

First, I noticed the date on the desk calendar and realized the car insurance payment, due yesterday, had not been paid because I couldn't enter it into my online banking bill pay and then I forgot. Hopefully, the punishment for one day of tardiness isn't too harsh. 

There were a couple interesting jobs posted since Wednesday and the application for the second one required the level of work where I usually say "screw it" and bail. There were the usual customizing tweaks to the resume and drafting of the cover letter and then it got annoying. The application wanted a URL to a portfolio, which was when I realized my website hadn't been updated with the latest samples because I couldn't get into it the last time I tried. 

Personal website work is done seldom enough that it is a brand new adventure every time. The free website time period expired and there was a $149 fee to be able to touch the pages at all. It's on a old platform that needs to be updated, but when I try to update it, there is a message it can't be done. Awesome. On another screen there is a message not to worry about it, it's been "hardened" and is all set.

The screens to update the content were different than the last time, which is about the only constant. It took 1.5 hours to add a link to one new file and revise the order of items on one page because there is no way to highlight text and perform a cut/paste operation. No cut/paste tools, and the traditional Ctrl C and Ctrl V commands don't work because you can't choose the text to perform the operation on. The best I could do was use the tool to duplicate all the content on the page so it appeared twice, then strategically delete sections to rebuild the order how I wanted it. Ridiculous. Time consuming. I wanted to cry. I have no idea what I clicked on at one point, but the text turned to Finnish. No lie. Finnish. Which I recognized thanks to my past Finnish lessons. It was a good chance to yell "perkele!" the all-purpose Finnish cuss word. Somehow, after a lot of swearing and hitting esc and undo, it reverted back to English. I think the next time the domain, hosting, and website renewals come due I'll just delete the whole frigging thing because it's not worth the headaches. 

After the website aggravation, vegging in front of the TV seemed like the perfect form of relaxation because physical activity like cleaning the carport gutter or sanding the dresser are still off the table. And just like one month ago (September 8 to be exact), the cable was out. Not totally out. There was a a flash and then a black screen. Resetting the box produced a welcome screen, then the black screen. The app for troubleshooting wasn't super helpful (shocker!) and claimed there were no issues. Once it understood there was indeed an issue,  it took 1.5 hours for it to be resolved. If my shoulder didn't hurt so much, I might have punched a wall, but that might have ended in a broken hand, so I guess that was a good thing. 

As if all that wasn't enough fun, I had to call about the brand new prescription plan I was enrolled in on August 1st, which I learned via a letter in yesterday's mail is being discontinued as of December 31. WTF? Why would you open a plan in August that is being phased out in a few months? No wonder people hate insurance companies so much. The person I needed to speak with was unavailable and a message was left, but I won't hold my breath waiting for a callback. 

Did I make it out to the real world to get cash to cover the gap during the big banking conversion this weekend when my current debit card is rendered useless and until Tuesday when the new one will work? Nope. Hopefully I can get to that tomorrow. I had intended to close all the accounts at the former employer, but only the savings accounts were closed and there are still a checking account and 401k to be dealt with. Life is one big, endless chore lately. Every night, I fall asleep to the wish/lie "tomorrow will be better." 

Tall trees behind the house.

Tonight, as the sun was low, I went to the front yard and stared at the sky and the pine tree towering over the house that has blanketed the back yard in needles. It was calming for a minute, but then my neck hurt from looking up and it was back to the couch and the ice pack and the tennis balls and feeling like a broken toy. At least the cable was working again.

Tomorrow will be better.