The Ughs

I decided to rant about all the irritating things of my recent past. I recommend all readers skip this post. It's mainly here for posterity for me to re-read in the future for stupid reasons. I think everyone else should simply pretend it isn't here. I could spend more time on the post and make it a hysterical rant, but that's more energy into the blah of it all...too much time already wasted. So skip on by...don't linger here. You've been warned. I hid it behind the extended entry.

Last week and earlier this week were one of those times where all the oddities went wrong:

• I used an ATM machine that sucks in your card, instead of the machine I normally use that simply swipes your card. I was tired, I was hurrying because I had to rescue Reggie, and I drove off before the machine spit my card back out. I realized my mistake by the time I got to the other side of the parking lot and rushed back. Too late. Mr. ATM machine had shredded my card, sending it to ATM card Hades. I was a week without access to cash.
• Reggie has been going to the same groomers for over five years. The owner has been ill and not in the shop since last July, so her sister, who was always there anyway, has been running the place. When I went to drop off Reggie one morning, the sister was sitting outside the shop in her van. Turns out the owner's boyfriend has convinced the owner to let him run the shop...and he's changed the locks and one has to ring a bell to get in now. According to the sister, this is the fourth time the owner has gotten involved with a man that has ripped her off and stolen money from her. The owner is back in the hospital and probably doesn't realize the extent of what has happened. The sister has power of attorney, so she claimed she'd be able to kick the guy out soon...who knows. Of course, I only heard one side of the story I don't know the whole truth...but since the sister was locked out, it seems that the guy is not all pureness, at the least. I may be looking for a new groomer for Reginald MacGuffin.
• Lately it seems like my house gets really hot before the a/c starts. This happens even though the temperature is set the same as always on the thermostat. One night last week I was exceedingly steamed about a tech issue the hot, muggy house wasn't helping. I finally noticed the a/c was running for 10 minutes and then shutting off. I tied a few things and then replaced the filter. Wahlah, the a/c ran correctly...for four days. Then, Saturday night (of course), it started acting up again. I replaced the filter, I fiddled with the thermostat...nothing. The a/c ran a few minutes and then shut off. Saturday night...great time to call a repair person...I could feel my wallet burning to a crisp. "WHY didn't I follow through with getting it replaced last year! My fault! My bad!!! Argh!" Then I decided on one last desperate measure...desperation comes more easily when you've sweated through a shirt...I pressed the reset button on the thermostat. Nice thing those reset buttons! Not such a desperate move after all. The a/c has been running happily ever since. (Please God, I'd like it to stay that way! I know it's old and I should put it out to graze, but it works and it's quiet!)
• I've been having wireless Internet connection problems, so I decided it was time to replace the router. I got half way through the set up when the router stopped working. The manual claimed this meant the Internet connection was down even if the cable modem lights said everything was fine. The router manual was wrong...I still had an Ethernet connection. I unplugged the router for 30 minutes, per it's manual, but still nothing. Having learned from the a/c issue...I attacked with the reset button! Yay! Router working again, wireless access working peachy, and the download speed has improved almost 50%...cool.
• Ah, but router issues not completely resolved. I was able to connect my laser printer to the USB port on the router and it printed...cool. But the next morning when I turned on my computer, everything I printed the day before reprinted. Lovely waste of paper that! Turns out the printer queue was not clearing. ARGH! It took hours, I mean hours to solve this problem! Turns out it's a bug that HP knows about that required me to turn off bi-directional communication (I'd already turned off spooling, but that didn't help) and update a .dll file that didn't update when I installed the latest drivers. (Smooth going HP.) This was only one printer...I also had fun getting the inkjet printer to work. (This all happened the day the a/c was testy.)
• I've blogged before about our delightful IL state government. Earlier this week I learned that the IL Dept. of Revenue thinks somebody else owns half my corporation. Now this is an issue, but not a financial risk because my company is just me, is privately held and the stock is not traded (so, it's more paper than financial) and, most importantly, I know and trust the other person. This all happened because of a former business arrangement that was dissolved in April of 2001. The lawyer said he'd taken care of all the paperwork and we believed him. So when this other person went to register another business, she was completely shocked to learn they thought she owned half of my company. Her first reaction was whether this put a financial burden on her...they said "No, all taxes have been paid and the company is in good standing with the state." (See, I said no financial risk to me because her first reaction wasn't to rip me off...but to make sure she wasn't in trouble with the state. She then instantly called me so I can have her removed as an owner/officer.) They told her I had to file a REG-3 to correct the situation. Form REG-3 no longer exists according to their web page. But their webpage did state I could call to correct this type of error. So I spent one morning this week calling the IL Dept. of Revenue. Only, once I got through to a human being she asked "Does the State Department know this?" I said, "Yes," because I file an Annual Report every year stating I'm the only owner and officer. The nice lady on the phone then told me I had to complete form REG-1-O before they'd update their files. Form REG-1-O cannot be submitted by itself, it has to be submitted with form REG-1. I completed those forms and then decided to make some other calls. Just because I submit a report to the State Dept. saying I'm the only owner/officer...doesn't mean they paid any attention. Another call to Springfield, but they had the correct information online. Jolly good of them. Then another Springfield call to the IL Dept. of Employment Securities...how sweet, they simply didn't care who the officers were as long as the company paid up. So...a morning wasted, but no big gruel...now we'll see if the IL Dept. of Revenue goes along peacefully with the forms I submitted.

And all this was happening when I was trying to make purchases and other financial decisions to close the corporate books for the end of my fiscal year. But now that's all behind and over...right!