Say Anything.

So my mom calls last night and we're shooting the shit and talking about Kami reading. I said oh yea she picked up one of my Harry Potter books and wanted to read it but I don't think she can...my mother says "OMG NO HARRY POTTER IS DEMONIC!!" I was like uh wtf? You've read Harry Potter Mom? Well no I haven't but I don't need to read it to know it's DEMONIC!!! So then I had to give her a lesson on how you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.

She then says well I don't know where I got the idea it was demonic...I guess you hear wizards and think demonic. Yea, real logical.

It's actually kind of entertaining now thinking about it. *Pats little fundamentalist Mommy on the head*

My own mom used to pull that shit.

She thought Everquest was the tool of the devil, because Ben Stein's son was having problems with his schoolwork and went on national TV because of it. :eh

She thought by playing Diablo and Diablo 2 I was worshipping Satan.

She has no desire to know what I do on my computer anymore, and yet she'll sit and watch my brother play WoW.
:licky

Our gas company came out to inspect our heater, because it had a pilot but wasn't working.

Turns out the heater, model PL-A series A, has a 3 digit serial number.

The manufacturer now uses 12 digit alphanumeric serial numbers.

His best guess was that the heater was installed in the 50s.

It also now works.

This has just been one of those mornings.

I actually got to work early. That's when everything started sliding (rapidly) downhill.

My boss pops up at my desk and says he has a project that has to be finished TODAY since it's due on Tuesday and I don't work Mondays. Great. Turns out, it's the results from the last Sales Tax audit we had. Crap. I was so hoping this would take a few more, oh I don't know, years before showing back up on my desk. If I haven't mentioned it before, let me say this now. Louisiana has the most f'ed up sales tax system in the country, hands down. Unlike most states, you don't simply report everything to the state and let them sort it out - oh no. In LA, you report to each parish individually. All 40 some odd of them. And every damn one of them can audit us whenver they frickin feel like. Individually. Thankfully, on this go round, there were only 2 parishes involved, and in one of them, we've only had one sale in 4 years.

So I start going through what this dingbat that did the audit thinks we owe. By the third invoice, I notice a major problem. She claims we collected $1300 and didn't pay it. So she's charging us that plus the penalties and interest (another $800 or so). Yet there's a copy of the check attached. Right about the time I notice this glaring little error, I lose power and am suddenly working off the battery backup. Great. So we spend some time trying to get that fixed - only to have the backup conk out as soon as we restore power. Headache starts to form.

So I keep trudging through her report. There are 2 other invoices she charging us for twice. to the tune of another $4,000 or so. WTF?? and two of them are listed right after each other on the report and she still didn't see this??? Headache jumps up a notch or three.

At this point my phone starts ringing off the hook with everyone seeming to think I need to drop everything to solve their problems. I was polite. Honest.

So I setup my own spread sheet, becuase by this point I've noticed that she's been extremely inconsistent in how she's determining what we've submitted for payment. In the end I manage to knock off about $6500 that are all due to her stupid ass lack of attention to anything remotely resembling detail.

So I show my boss - he says email it to her with an explanation, CC him. So I do.

Her email bounces right back. Headache ups another half notch.

So I try again.

Bounces back again. Another notch in the headache.

So I call the number on her email. Disconnected. There goes another notch. So I call the main number, fight my way through their auto-directory (I HATE those.) Finally reach her and the first thing she says is, well did you use the right email. There goes another notch. I spell it to her. "Well are you sure that's where you sent it?" you guessed it, another notch. "Well, try this one instead."

So I do. IT bounces back. And there's no fax number listed on her letterhead.

Said screw it and went to lunch. Bought a bottle of Gin. Too bad I can't open it til tonight.

And all this before 11:00 am.

I have always heard that LA is horrid for taxes, and insurance laws.
So far this boss still allows us to have a drink or two at lunch :)

Oh, I could get away with a drink or two. Officially, it's a No-No. As long as we're responsible about it, they don't mind a glass or two at a restaraunt. My boss generally just goes with the Don't Ask - Don't Tell method... but i ate at my desk so i can get out of here early darnitll

Mike got his orders (he's USAF) and come June 2008 we are fucking OUT OF HERE. We're heading back to Washington state!!! We'll be 2 1/2 hours away from both sets of parents so they'll get to know baby #2 and looking at house prices out there is encouraging. The housing crash should benefit us just fine =D

You're so lucky Roz I miss Washington so bad everytime I see something about Seattle I wanna go home lol.

Awww...gratz hon! That's super news, and one less thing to worry about :D

Grats Roz!

Awesome ROz!! Welcome back to the mainland! :D

I've only been to WA once. That was last Thanksgiving so I could spend time with my sister's little hyperactive 3 year old. I just can't believe how convenient Seattle is. Having to drive long distances to get anywhere sucks.

I still hang around my old guilds boards. They play Vanguard now and I don't have a computer that will run it. But I still do work on the forums. I pretty much laid out everything concerning recruitment on the boards; from how to post an app to moving the apps to the right section, and have access to the officer section.

About a week ago some guy starts some drama bullshit and starts some post about one of the officers and so since I've known this person for 5-ish years I defend them. Of course this puts me in the line of sight. So a day later I see a post with my name in it calling me out on how shitty my posts are. So I say don't bring me into your drama fest I'm not interested. The officers have this big long thread about this guy and the guild leader decided I shouldn't post on things about the guild as it is right now. So now I feel like I can't post there and it pisses me off. I've known some of these people for 5 years and cuz some little drama whore wants to start shit I can't say stuff.....fuckers raining on my damn parade.

Thanksgiving is next week.

Holy freaking shit.

And Christmas is barely a month away!!!!! ARGH!!!

I think we're just going to do a chicken this year. I don't have the energy to deal with a turkey. The only thing I keep hearing is "Mama can we have those spear things in butter??!?!". So asparagus is on the menu.

We did cornish hens one year, that was pretty yummy =)

I was pretty surprised how early Thanksgiving was this year; not gonna complain tho. With Veteran's Day this is a 4 day week, and next week is a THREE day week :dance

... I love my job...

OMG ROz, I just noticed; only THREE MONTHS to go!! Wow...

I wish my office had off today.

I've had three calls. Each under 5 minutes in length.

Though we did have the CEO of the company visit and give a boring-ass marketing presentation for 2 hours.

The food? Cookies and dipping snacks. Wtf.