Anonymous Mess

 I've sorely neglected this blog. 2020 has been a dreadful year for me, for both the pandemic-related reasons and a host of personal ones. I lost friends and family this year, to COVID, cancer, and aneurysm. I was in an accident that caused a "cataclysmic" injury, according to my surgeon, who seems eternally concerned that I'm not taking things seriously enough, and still in physical therapy. I've been sufficiently depressed to be prescribed another anti-depressant. And of course, even if I could work right now, there are no jobs in my field .  Not quite accurate, that. More specifically, there are no jobs in just my field. Employers seem to think their strongest strategy for getting through this downturn is to combine barely-related specialties into a single position: one super-data goddess, please! Yes, you must be expert in servers, database administration, data conversion, data warehousing, and data visualization. Oh, and website design/maintenance, including ...

Beginning this morning, Spouse is working from home. Till further notice. In our tiny, teeny, ~600 square-foot dollhouse of an apartment. We have a bedroom just big enough for a bed, a wardrobe and a dresser (so long as the bed is pushed into a corner and Spouse is willing to clamber over me to get in and out of it). We have a kitchen just big enough for a small (5 feet high) refrigerator, a sink, an oven range, two small counters, and two shelving units (necessary because there are no upper cupboards). We have a bathroom just big enough for a sink, a toilet crammed under an eave, and a shower smaller than a phone booth (link for those who don't remember phone booths).  The only room of any size is our living room, which is full to bursting and has: a sofa two ottomans a television shelving my desk and chair and computer(s) Spouse's desk and chair and computer(s) three cats, one of whom is hiding behind the media server So yes, clearly, all the li...

Well, here's a curious thing. Per the plan in my previous post , I sent a letter requesting resolution of the missed-fifteen-hundred-dollar-electric-incentive to the car dealership, via certified mail. I included a demand notice, since my argument is they are in breach of contract. Again per the plan, I emailed a copy of the letter and demand notice to the manufacturer's customer help address. I received a response from the manufacturer the same day, essentially telling me that I need to resolve my issue with the dealership, as the manufacturer isn't responsible. I expected this, and responded politely that I was notifying them as a courtesy, in case the dealership had failed other customers as well. No response. Nothing from corporate or the dealership for a week. Yesterday, I received the signed certified-mail receipts, proving delivery of my letter and the demand notice. Today , I got both a call and an email from the manufacturer, asking me to contact them. ...

When we purchased an electric vehicle, one of the factors we considered was government incentives. In addition to the federal tax credit, our local government also offers an incentive; while smaller than the federal, it's still a significant amount of money for us. Significant enough that, depending on income and expenses, it could impact our tax filings. So, last month I reached out to the dealership to find out what calendar year the incentive is considered part of, and what paperwork we might require. [Light fuse.] After repeated emails and a phone conversation, I learned the following: 1. The paperwork for the incentive must be submitted within a month of purchase. 2. The dealer did not submit the paperwork.  I am not angry. I am not livid. I am beyond angry and well past livid, frankly damn gobsmacked and nigh on incandescent.  The government's web site for the incentive clearly states, "Your dealer will complete and submit your ... application...

Mama always said, if you can't blog something positive don't blog anything at all. So, yeah. No job offers, damn few interviews, no tenant for house, no income from me, etc. etc. So no blog. A bit not good. At this point, I'm not even paying good attention to the numbers because I Cannot Make Them Better. I mean, hooray for savings, it's the only reason we're not homeless, but I rather wanted to use them in a non-emergency fashion. Had an interview this week for a job I don't want but will probably take if offered, because money. Dear Lord, if You had to make me, why couldn't You have made me a trust fund kid? I'm bad at life and bad at money and I really question Your judgement, bud. Thus endeth my not-entirely-sober and entirely heretical rant.