Vespa stress

It's been a really, REALLY stressful week. I received a letter on the 23rd from a law office in Chicago stating that a few months after I purchased my scooter in April 2006, I disputed the charge on my credit card and the money was charged back to the merchant, Vespa of Chicago, and therefore the scooter has not been paid for and if I don't forward a certified check to Vespa of Chicago in the amount of $5056.39, the merchant would file suit against me.

Needless to say, I was surprised. Quite dumbfounded, in fact, that I've been riding around on a free scooter. Something didn't sound right...

Some of you may remember the trials and tribulations I went through with this merchant back then. Vespa of Chicago was, at that time, part of a Volkswagon dealership in Maywood that went belly-up about a month after I bought the scooter. I waited months to get my title and license plate, LONG after my temp one had expired, and ended up disputing $103 of the original charge because I had to reapply for these with the state. That was the only dispute I made, and certainly the only one I got.

The lawyer sent me a copy of a letter the merchant received from Discover card, and sure enough, it stated right there that the amount was disputed. Curious as to how this happened, I called DC to ask a couple of questions. Naturally, I was transferred from one rep to another (having to explain the entire story to each one), and finally got someone who knew her shit.

She investigated and found the merchant's account was never charged that amount, nor was I ever given a credit in that amount. My account showed that the only amount disputed was $103. She said the chargeback mentioned in the letter to the merchant never happened. Well, DUH! So I requested that someone send a letter to the lawyer stating this.

What DC sent was pathetic. It mentioned nothing except that my dispute was for $103 and the original charge was $5056.39. Of course, I got a letter from the lawyer stating this was insufficient (which I knew) and they would be proceeding with litigation. I ended up calling this poor girl at DC every day this week to try to get this straightened out, and she really was doing her best to help, but working with so many other departments there was making this whole thing an even bigger mess.

It seems so easy, right? All I need is a letter stating the dispute of the entire amount never took place and that the only amount disputed was $103 and that DC made a huge error in sending that letter to the merchant because it just simply wasn't true.

SO WHY THE HELL WON'T THEY DO THIS??!

I keep getting the runaround there. And I don't completely blame them--there's the merchant. This guy Sam is the scummiest of scum. A totally irreputable douchebag who is trying his best to extort money out of me that he's NOT going to get. He knows damn good and well that his merchant account was never charged back the amount, but he's trying this anyway almost 3 freakin' years later, possibly in the hopes there's no paper trail.

He hasn't won this and he won't. He doesn't know who he's dealing with. I'll bury the fucker.I got my statements in the mail today and I plan to write a letter to the lawyer proving I paid for the scooter. I have a plethora of paperwork to send him, so much so that it'll prove beyond any doubt that his client is a rat. I'll fax that first thing Monday morning and hopefully, this will all be put to rest.I hate that I've invested so much time, energy, and emotion into it. I know I'm in the right here but it burns me up that this pathetic excuse for a human is trying this. The only pleasure I get is in taking up as much of his lawyer's time as possible, thereby racking up a $$ tally that will make his lousy head spin.

In other news, I'm officially teaching 2 classes this semester, one face-to-face and the other online. The online one has already had a few minor glitches, and I expect more since it's my first time doing this. I have 7 students registered in the face-to-face class, and 5 in the online one. Not huge numbers, but I get paid the same so I don't really care. I LOVE smaller classes anyway. Less grading!! ☺

I'm glad it's almost February--one month down this year, only 3 more to go until scooter-riding weather! You know, the scooter I FREAKING PAID FOR!!!

History

Ahhhh, a Bush-free government. FREE AT LAST! History was made today and the awesomeness of it all still brings tears to my eyes. I, for one, am not taking this moment for granted.

In other news, we saw Dr. Morris today. He has no qualms about saying it like it is. Some people like that, others don't--I definitely do. He said, basically, there's no real way to tell why the embryos didn't stick but likely, it's the fault of the embryos, not my uterus. Having a gestational surrogate isn't really necessary--if the embryos are bad, they won't stick in anyone. He recommends we get going on using the frozen embryos we have (we have 4) and try again. I asked about thawing them all out and using them all at once, but he said no to that (unless there's one that doesn't thaw successfully)--he will only implant 3 in there at a time. Paul and I haven't had much of a chance to talk about when to do all this--he's hoping for ASAP, but I need a little time. It's a massively HUGE undertaking and, while the drugs this time would be much easier on me, there are still drugs (possibly a couple weeks worth) and I need time to process that. Might sound strange to some, but please don't bug me about it unless you've had your body pumped full of hormones. I'm thinking maybe in a few months, I'll be ready to go again. I just need a little break right now.

Another quick update: I got a call from WCC today (where I teach). They aren't sure there will be enough students to have a class this semester. She (the dean, of whom I'm not fond) is going to make a decision on Friday. There's a part of me that hopes they'll cancel them both--the 102 AND the online class (which I finished yesterday!! WOO HOO!!). I need a break from that place. I've been fighting over the current book used in the 101/102 class--it's awful, but they insist on keeping it around, so after my conversation with the dean today, I have to submit a letter to them explaining why I don't like it. You know, I taught for 4 years at Benedictine, and while I ended up having some problems near the end, I had so much freedom there to do what I wanted and teach the way I felt fit. I can't believe, with as little as they pay me at WCC, they make such a stink about this crap. I'm really not happy there, but I keep hoping the dinosaur who teaches the other French class will finally retire and let ME handle the dept. Wishful thinking, I guess...

Ok, I need to get back to work, I just wanted to give a quick update to anyone who might be interested.

Peace. At last. ☺

Cold vs. Hot

Well, it's been one helluva few days here at Casa Iaco. Just when everything was quiet and peaceful....all water hell breaks loose.

A pipe. A simple pipe and it's 45 degree angled turn. It all came loose, spreading a $500 wave of water-turned-ice in the garage, and quite a bit of the basement floor (the basement being our family room and bathroom). Thankfully, the carpet stayed dry for the most part.

I was sitting yesterday afternoon, minding my own beezwax, when this horrific noise came from the laundry room area (shared with the hot water heater and furnace). I had just turned the dryer on about 10 minutes before and thought that was it, but upon further investigation, it was coming from the hot water heater area. Water slowly pooled on the laundry room floor. I made a quick call to Paul, who was at work, and told him to get home ASAP, which he did (he's only a couple minutes away, which worked out well!).

He shut off the water, thus ending the loud noise, and started making phone calls. We thought it might be the hot water heater so we called the warranty company (it has a 12 year warranty and is about 10 years old) and got things squared away with them, then we called Home Depot to arrange the switch--old one for a new one. He then called his friend, Ken, who's a genius at fixing things. Ken came out and, with the help of Paul's uncle Conrad and me, we determined that it was not the hot water heater but a leaky pipe. After some drywall digging and investigating, it was a simple pipe that had come loose from its socket. Or something like that.

Ken and Paul attempted to temporarily stop the problem, but weren't successful, so the water stayed off all night. This morning, we called a plumber (one that Paul's used before) but were told they couldn't come out until later in the day. GREAT.

Finally, in the 5 o'clock hour, the guy called and was on his way. He fixed the problem in less than an hour and checked everything out, finally pronouncing it all safe and sound. SO...we once again have water.

Now, a few hours after he left, we have HOT water. I like that.

And we're out $500. I don't like that.

But we have hot water, and for that, I'm grateful.

Bugs

Well, I last updated on Saturday and early Sunday morning, I woke up with the pukes and a fever. Thankfully, the flu bug that hit me only lasted a day (or less than that, as I was eating a little by the evening). Today, I feel fine as if nothing happened. I'm glad it did and that it's out of my system now--it could have happened last week, or in a few when school starts!

I'm determined to finish the online class by the end of Friday. I should be able to do that easily if I set aside the time to do it. Motivation isn't my strong suit (like procrastination seems to be).

We have an appointment next Tues, the 20th, to talk to Dr. Morris. When I called to make the appt, the receptionist asked me, "Will this be to discuss the frozen embryo transfer?" I said yes, but I still don't know what we're doing. It's either that or a surrogate. I don't think it can be both, at least with only 4 frozen embryos. If we had more, I'd be all for trying again in me, but I just don't think I want to waste them. I don't know. It's a big decision for us both...for us ALL.

My tan is fading, sadly, but I have lots of great photos from last week, if anyone wants to see them (look for the photo link to the right). They're probably quite depressing right now, so it might behoove most people to wait a few months before looking at them. I swear I have Seasonal Affective Disorder.

My back is killing me this week--it has for the past few weeks. I've been typing this while rolling my pelvis back and forth on a big inflatable ball. STU.PID. However, it does keep me from locking up and not being able to walk straight. I wonder how I'm supposed to birth and raise children with a back as bad as mine. I keep my chiropractor in business. This shit is for the BIRDS.

STAY WARM. I have some cool new snow boots to keep my tootsies toasted!

Contrast

Yesterday, I layed by the pool in my bikini on a chaise lounge chair, sipping a strawberry daquiri and heating up in the blazing sun.

Today, I shoveled 10-12 inches of snow off the driveway.

The contrast is stark and really quite depressing. We're in for temps below 10 for a good portion of next week. I'd rather be in Mexico.

My trip was awesome!! Despite the somewhat dumpy hotel (it wasn't all that bad, really), we had a great time. 3-5 hours of each day were spent in the sun (Tues, Wed, and Thurs...only a couple hours on Friday before we left for the airport). Then we'd do whatever...we wandered around the downtown shopping area a couple of times, and spent Thurs evening walking around the marina. The weather was beautiful and sunny the whole time we were there (and not too hot as it was, after all, winter). I would have liked that extra 1/2 day on Monday, but oh well.

Now it's back to reality. On the list this week: calling and scheduling a consultation with Dr. Morris to see what's next in the baby-making world; finishing the online class (I'm almost there!); getting ready for the new semester, which starts the 26th; cleaning the house in case a flurry of showings happen after the Super Bowl. Haha...that last one isn't likely to happen, but a girl can dream.

It's nice to be back with Paul! I did miss him. It's not the first time I've traveled without him, and we're not so attached at the hip that we can't do something without the other. It's just usually more fun with him around, especially on vacation!

Enjoy the snow--I hope the kids all made snowmen!! There are photos of Mexico on my photo site, if anyone is interested.

Hello from Mexico!

After the whole debacle getting here, we made it and it´s beautiful! The weather is, anyway. The hotel is ok--kind of dumpy, but not bad. We walked past a lot worse looking last night on our excursion downtown (we took the bus to go shopping). It´s sunny, but oddly, I don´t look tan at all, despite many hours in the sun yesterday. My theory is that it´s technically winter and with temps in the 70´s, the sun probably isn´t as strong as it might be during the summer months. I´m going to try to go without sunscreen (even though I was only wearing spf 8 yesterday!) to see if that nets me a little more color. I´ll likely end up with a healthy burn for a few days, but oh well. I NEED COLOR! I refuse to go home as pasty as I came.

Today, we´re headed to the beach, then this afternoon we´ll go to a market in the downtown area (or near it, I´m not sure). It´s nice being with someone who speaks the language, even though I could have gotten by very well without knowing Spanish. I´m so glad I came here--I was really reluctant at first, mostly for financial reasons, but I´m glad I did it. It´s a break I didn´t know I needed as bad as I did/do. At the risk of sounding totally selfish, I think I went through a lot last year, especially with the IVF. I know Paul did, too, but for different reasons. I had the physical part of it (that he didn´t have), which affected the emotional part of it for us both. I´m exhausted by it--each time going through it is exhausting, and the disappointment is unbearable at times.

I guess I just needed a break. Not from Paul...I miss him terribly here! My friend Peggy is great, but I can´t snuggle with her at night. :) The first night was hard, but of course, it´s a lot easier now. Still, I wish he was here with me. Peggy has a condo in Ixtapa (another part of Mexico) that´s rented right now, but one day Paul and I will come and enjoy it together. That´s soemthing to look forward to!

I´m outta here. Enjoy the snow back home! Hahahahahaha.......

Hola!

Well, it's Mon evening and I'm sitting in an airport in Dallas, waiting for my long-awaited flight to Mexico. After a cluster- of problems this morning, including a 2 hour delay in Chicago that resulted in us missing our connecting flight in Denver, we've ended up here. We won't get to the hotel until after 10pm tonight, if we're lucky. Missed a 1/2 day of sun, drinking, and eating, and you know I'm NOT HAPPY.

All that aside, I'm looking forward to the break! Should be nice, but I have a LOT to do when we get back--finishing the online class being at the top of the list. Shouldn't take long, I hope.

I already miss my hubby, but he's happy I'm going (not that I'll be gone, but that I'll finally be warm!). I'm going to leave this here and hopefully, the next time I update, I'll be well tanned!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!