Never put off...

My decision to defer any last-minute items associated with the file due first thing this morning pretty much guaranteed that some miserable, nasty little "gotcha" would rear its ugly head and bite me. Today, it was twins. Details are unimportant, what's important is that the file has gone out the door.

And here I am, with daylight (such as it is, filtered through clouds and mist) burning and again, not the least desire to sit down and work. I will allow myself to goof off until noon, after which I shall have to superglue myself into my chair.

Cheers...

Moving along, over bumps...

Soon after my earlier post, I took Shiloh for a drive and went to gas up the car. When the CapitalOne card was declined, I was a little surprised, but as I had gone online to change my billing address earlier in the day, I figured it was a case of their system going into some kind of mode where charges are temporarily blocked until data propagates through their databases. This is probably only a rough approximation of what actually happens, but the bottom line is this: the decline didn't alarm me.

When my bank debit card was declined at the same gas station, alarm bells went off in my head. I tried calling CapitalOne, but despite the impression they like to create of being customer-friendly, their customer service sucks, and when I finally got into the queue to speak to a human, I was told my wait time would be 20 minutes. I hung up.

I went off to search for an ATM but found a station that offered even cheaper gas. There, both cards were declined also.

Now, I'm really worried. I call my bank, which reassures me that there are no problems with my account. I eventually find an ATM, which coughs up some cash without complaint.

Later, I call CapitalOne to find out what the problem was and spent well over an hour on the line with them. Each new voice would go through the usual litany of questions to verify my identity, I'd explain what I had already explained to the previous rep, and after some time on hold, I'd be transferred to another voice.

Upon hearing a third voice, I point-blank asked whether the rep had the authority to unblock my account (I had established that the account had been blocked and needed to be unblocked, but the reason was squirrely: it wasn't changing my address that triggered the CapitalOne block, it was - supposedly - the return of correspondence that had been mailed to me in Texas). I told the rep I didn't want to summarize the details of my problem again unless she had such authority, and if she didn't, to please connect me with a rep that did. As you might imagine, I was getting a little tired of having reps spend time uncovering - ta-dah! - the same problem and then trying to transfer me to someone who could actually help me.

The third time, I spent more than 30 minutes on hold. Theoretically, the problem has been solved.

I feel like going out and charging something on the card just to see if it really works (but of course, I won't).

* * *After filling up on gas, I decided to go for a drive. Along the way, I stopped at a Barnes & Noble, and managed to browse without buying anything. I think the prospect of having so many interesting books waiting for me back at the house had its effect (not to mention the fact that time is at a premium these days). Upon returning home, I moved some more stuff around and took a nap.

You'll notice I say nothing about doing any translation, despite my earlier best of intentions. I guess I'm still taking it easy.

Cheers...

Like I mean it...

Just to assuage whatever brain center it is that might feel guilty about doing nearly no real useful work today, I just completed about 15% of the assignment that's "up." I've also emptied two large plastic tubs of stuff from the move and cleared away about 20 square feet of floor area.

I feel positively... accomplished.

Owing to the fact that my afternoon nap was probably long enough to qualify as a sleep session, I'm not going to knock off this general productivity mode prematurely, though I am going to have to make sure I don't stay up too late. Shiloh is currently sawing wood (or whatever it is dogs do... chew bones?), so it's a better than even bet that I know where her muzzle will be tomorrow morning around 6 am.

Time is a-wasting!

Cheers...