Living on Black Lake

But not "on" in the traditional lakeside property sense of "next to" or "shore side." "On" as in "immediately above," "stacked," or "vertically adjacent."

And not technically a real lake. It's just the nickname I've given the basement this week.

It's been a very snowy winter, in case you hadn't noticed. In drier climes, like Colorado, the snow sublimates - it evaporates into the air instead of melting. In Michigan the humidity, even in the winter, is too high for the snow to do that. So the only way the snow goes away is by melting. And the water has to go someplace, usually into streams, lakes and the ground.

But when it's also been very cold all season and the ground is still frozen (maybe not at the surface, but deep down it still is), the water runs out of places to go. Add 3 days of rain on top of that, and nature is just looking for outlets for the water.

Like the floor drains in a 75 year old home's basement, that appear to be connected to drainage systems instead of sewer.

Wednesday morning, after 3 days of rain, I emptied the drip bowls in the dining room (we've a leak where an upstairs dormer meets the roof), noting that there sure was a lot since the previous day. As I was making Car Guy's lunch, I used the last plastic baggie so I went to the basement to get a new box of them. There was about 3/4 of an inch of water on the floor in the workroom. Great. I headed back upstairs and told Car Guy. He carried the shop vac into the basement and filled it pretty quickly, but there was little difference in the room. He headed off to work, after we lifted the full vac over the 3" high threshold of the room and rolled it over to the utility sink. Once he was gone, I bailed out the vac (there was no way on earth I was going to be able to pick up 160 pounds to dump it in the sink) and went back in the workroom. I sucked up 9 more vacs full that morning, and it was looking pretty good, so I headed off to run my errands for the day.

The water wasn't done coming. I left the house at noon. By the time Car Guy got home from work at 4:30, the workroom was up to 1 inch or more, and there was water on the floor in the laundry area, too. And in the other section of the basement that's a storage area/craft room. Where very little is stored in plastic. Or on shelves.

So far, we've had 2 plumbers over to check out the drains. We still don't know what's the story with them, and are still pumping water out. All the cabinets we had stored in the workroom for our eventual kitchen remodel are ruined. I haven't even started going through the craft area yet. I know there is fabric and yarn that will have to be pitched. Car Guy mentioned a cleanup company coming, but we don't know when they'll be here. The good thing is that the water is clean - it's rain water and melt from the winter, not back-up from the sewer system. So at least it doesn't stink or have nasty parasites living in it.

Phone Spam Alert

Beware!

Beware of rude service on the phone.

Not when calling to make a complaint (although that's entirely possible). I'm referring to receiving unsolicited sales calls. Specifically from a company that claims to be able to help you when you have a lot of credit card debt.

Last summer, I finally got around to placing my home phone number on the national do not call list. It did help reduce the number of calls that Car Guy and I received.

But several months ago, we started getting calls from a credit agency. Whether we answered the phone or let the machine get it, it was always the same: a recording stating that they could help us reduce our enormous debt, just press 1 to speak to a representative, or call us back at 866-213-1862.

Several times over the next months, I would press 1 and let them know that I was on the Do Not Call list, and please remove me from their list. Each time, the marketer hung up on me.

Last week, they called again. As soon as I asked the marketer what company she represented, she hung up.

Now, I'm not so naive as to give these people any personal information over the phone. But the calls are annoying. We get at least one per week, sometimes more. It's like email spam, but on the phone.

Today they called again. I pretended to be interested in their services, knowing that saying anything else to the first marketer would get me nowhere (besides, I could barely understand her around her very thick Indian accent). She transferred me to another marketer. I led him on for a few seconds, then asked him to please repeat the name of the company he represented. He said, "North Side." I told him that I was on the Do Not Call list, and to please remove me from their calling list. He indicated that he would do so, and then terminated the call.

So far, so good. Until the phone rang again 30 seconds later, with a different number on the Caller ID. Lo and behold, it was the first marketer again. She asked me what the problem was. Why was the previous call so short? When I told her about the list, she called me a MF-ing bitch. I hung up on her.

Amazing. Can't speak English worth a darn except to read (poorly) off a telemarketing script and curse people out, despite the fact that she's the one calling Americans and bothering them during their daily routine.

So here's the deal- even if you do need debt consolidation, I beg you not to use this company. (I'll post the pertinent info below.) Find a reputable agency near you, if you are unable to work with your creditors directly.

There are 2 numbers to avoid when they show up on your caller ID: 702-520-1236 (identified on the ID as US Service Grp) and 408-531-6205 (ID'd as SNJS South, CA). The 702 number is the first one that called me today; 408 is the number from which Miss Potty Mouth called the second time.

I found a lot of complaints about this place at callercomplaints.com, by searching for "North Side Credit" in Google, then by searching their site for the two numbers (702 and 408). Someone there has indicated that the number is registered to Northside Lead Services, at 41 West Hedding Street, San Jose, CA 95110. Feel free to use that address if you receive harassing calls from them. They also apparently use the number 619-801-8154, and you supposedly can reach a real, English-speaking person at that number.

And for further information, you can check out the FCC's page about unwanted telemarketing calls. That page includes instructions and a web address for filing a complaint.

Whose idea was it anyway

To put tuna in the snack box for a major airline?

Tuna? Really?

When people are stuck in an enclosed metal tube for hours at a time, and opening the cans of tuna will just make it smell like cat food?

Besides, there's no way that 2 small pieces of cheese, a single serving each of crackers, pretzels and cookies, and a small can of lemon-pepper tuna is worth $5.

So angry, I could spit

Just a rant today, people. Please bear with me.

One of my "friends I haven't met" from the internet, Angie (from Take Your Shoes Off and Chef Success) had an unfortunate incident with a credit card company this week.

A little background... Angie and I are both consultants for a kitchenwares company ("Spoiled Cook," rhymes with "Hampered Jeff"). There has been an affiliated credit card that consultants could get that had our products pictured on it and was one of the few accepted forms of payment accepted by our Home Office for some consultant purchases, like supplies. For reasons unknown, Home Office decided to change providers from Chase, to some other little bank that apparently is well known for offering credit cards to people with poor credit then jacking up the rates and fees. And this card will be the only credit card accepted for some consultant payments (we can use our proprietary debit, but sometimes it's nice to have a credit option). I'm already a little miffed that they've switched to a company that has a less than glowing reputation.

It gets worse. Angie is a military spouse, living overseas. She, her husband, and their 2 children are currently living on Okinowa. They have a military address (APO), which works exactly the same as a stateside address, as far as the US Postal Service is concerned. Angie called the new credit card company to apply for her card, and was told that she couldn't get one because they don't take applications from overseas addresses. Excuse me?!? This family is living thousands of miles away from their families and friends, serving this country and you can't give them a card because they have an APO address?

I just don't get it. There are wonderful stories about people helping the military (just check out Lori's site for primo examples), and then some total asshat of a company does something like this.

I've got one of the new cards, but damned if I'm going to use it now.

Obligations

Just gotta vent for a minute on this one, folks.

One of the supposed requirements my employer has for people in its services division is that we maintain a current resume, in the corporate standard. I've mentioned before that I'm currently assigned to the team that reviews and validates those internal resumes.

Unfortunately, there's no consequences for not updating one's resume. And some people who are on long-term client assignments don't care whether theirs is updated or not. So we have to send reminders, usually copying their account manager so they can see the lack of cooperation from the employee. For some of my less responsive people, I've taken to indicating the date of the original request in the email subject, and then driving that point home by including the number of elapsed days in bold in the body of the email, on the third (and later) reminder. For example:

To: Deadbeat.Employee@bigcompany

CC: deadbeats.account.manager@bigcompany

Subject: Request to update your Bigcompany resume (original request 9/26/2007)

Good morning. The resume team has not received the update we requested on September 26, 37 days ago. Please take a minute to update your resume, addressing the items outlined below, and return it to the resume mailbox (resumes@bigcompany) by Wednesday, November 7.

Apparently, someone got offended that we would highlight the length of time it's been by bolding it. Excuse me?!? That's the point. If you won't fulfill your obligations, then we'll embarrass you into doing it.

Apparently, they're optional

There's a section of roadway that I take on my way in to work that's under construction. In the short construction zone, there are 2 traffic signals. They are fully functional, not covered up like signals frequently are in work zones. Because they're hanging properly and actually cycling through the lights, I obey them. Unless I read differently in the Michigan traffic code, any functioning signal must be obeyed.

I guess other people don't see it that way.

TWICE this morning, people drove right through them - one driver through each intersection.

Now, the first one was arguably legal, because going through is akin to turning right on red, which is legal in Michigan. OK. I'll cut that driver some slack. But the second one clearly wasn't OK, because it was a straight shot for us, we were the main roadway though a "T" intersection, with the minor road coming in from our left. Perhaps that driver throught that because the minor road is closed comletely (and therefore had no traffic) that the light didn't count.

Whatever.

12 miles later, I'm off the freeway and back on surface streets, in the central business district. And some yahoo blatantly runs a red.

Right after I saw a pedestrian jaywalking.

Someone didn't think that one through

Ever wonder what marketers are thinking? Or "not thinking," as the case may be.

Yesterday I went out shopping for a few things to round out my wardrobe. You know, to fill in the holes from items that have been discarded due to wear, stains, etc. It's a good thing I didn't go last weekend, because I got a coupon via email from my favorite store, good for both money off, AND a percentage off when using the store credit card. Woo-hoo! Plus, there was a sale going on and many fall items were marked down. Super!

I got several sweaters and things, and saved a bunch, but that's not what was interesting about the trip. They had a rack of jeans by a famous design house. OK- that's cool, a trendy company is finally making clothes in plus sizes. Great. Now even we chubbies can be a little trendy and go with the times. The problem I have is that this company is known for splashing part of their name across the pockets in metallic embroidery. And does a woman who wears a size 20 really need "Phat" across her ass?

Medicinal additive?

So today I'm doing my usual Sunday routine - parked on the couch, playing a computer game, with the TV on for noise. And a commercial comes on for a painkiller, featuring supposed employees of the company commenting on how much love they put into every bottle of painkiller X.

I may be naive, but isn't it bad to have any foreign substances in medication? When I reach for a bottle of medicine because I've got a killer headache, the last thing I want in there is LOVE - just give me the effing medicine!

Here's a list of other things that don't need to be in my medicine cabinet:

• fluffy animals
  
• rainbows
  
• fairy dust
  
• leprechauns and other mythical/magical beasts
  
• happiness
  
• sunshine
  
• smiles
  
• hugs and kisses

By the way, I don't need any of that stuff in my cereal boxes either (although printed on the cardboard is a completely different story).