Hello again,

I know, I know. It’s been about a month since my last post. I kinda have been struggling a bit since the my dog’s death.

I thought that as this is Christmas and everyone must be busy, I would just post a few musings, some tidbits…you know…mind dribbles.

As the new year is almost upon us, that means all the annual events are flying at us at break-neck speed. For example, it will soon be time for South by Southwest (SXSW) again. For those who have been here before and may not noticed it, or those who will be here for the firs time..allow me to offer this bit of assistance. About half of all Austin drivers do not use their turn signals. It’s as if it’s some strange religion that they refuse to believe in. And of those who do use the signals, half of them forget to turn the signals off. Once on, why not just leave it there… eventually you will be turning that direction again. You are just prepared for the next time! So in short…you can’t really believe what people are going to do in their cars. Signal on or off, surprise!! They may just do the opposite! (uhmmmmmm……Yay?!)

Just for clarification here… Austin is not just Hipsters. Yes, there are Hipsters here. But there are also Yuppies, Hippies, Nerds, etc.. We are made up of all types. It’s what helps make us such a truly weird place. For those who doubt our weirdness, please to enjoy one of our unique ways here. While most race cars, dogs, people and horses…we race Ducks. Oh, not real ducks. And no, not radio-controlled ones. The little yellow, rubber bath duckies! Yup! We race bath duckies. See, you pay a fee..get your numbered duckie. They place them all in a netted holding area on Town Lake (now Lady Bird Lake). Then, at the race’s start.. they lift the net and all the ducks float down the lake!

Hey! It’s for charity! We just like to add our own flare to charity fund raising! (told ya we were weird!)

For those who are struggling at the close of this year (or the begining of the new year), please remember to get help. I think I will be doing just that. I have suspected for some time that I have needed …some support. Something. I just have not known how to start. I have asked some on Twitter that I know have gotten assistance. I just have concerns. I know that these are stupid worries. I worry that I will get in and the Doctor will just tell me that I am being a whiny baby. To just get over myself. I worry that my health insurance won’t cover this and that I can’t afford it. Or even worse, that I’ll get there and they will tell me that I need to be locked away! I need to just do this. I know from what others have said, that if the first one I see doesn’t seem to be a good fit or help.. that I can change Doctors. I won’t be vaporized by a ray gun if I do.

I have to say that I hope anyone out there who needs help will ask for it. Please be braver than I am and just do it! Perhaps.. we can be brave together! And together…we can get through this thing called life.

Hugs to anyone who might actually read this. Happy..what ever you celebrate. Or Happy Thursday.

-The Head Duck!

 

For the last two weeks I’ve been agonizing over a decision. The only reason I have really been thinking about this is that something changed.

I am talking about my dog. She is geriatric but still eats, pees, poops, and sleeps okay. They say a dog will tell you when it’s time. They stop eating and ‘doing Puppy things in the yard’. In short, their quality of life is gone. This is not the case for Moya.

Now there have been others that have been making ‘whispers’ about that it’s her time. And she does have health problems. But I am worried that if I do, I’d been Euthanizing her too soon. I don’t want to do this too soon. I also don’t want to make this decision too late. But am I doing one of these already? Am I putting this off too long? if you had asked me this about a month ago, I would have said it’s too soon. No reason to kill her because she is old. And well, she is pretty much blind.

However, now she is completely blind. Now blind pets can be okay. They know/learn the layout of the house. However I wonder if she also has Dementia as well. She walks into walls. She seems to be completely confused as to where she is. She gets a bit scared and frustrated then just starts crying for help out. Sometimes in a hallway, she just turns from one wall to the other, oblivious to the openings on each side of her.

She also has arthritis in her spine and hip. She has bad knees. I have her on medicine for this. But in her old age she has gotten crafty in finding the pills and shaking them out of her head.Then she has trouble walking because of pain. Now even on the pills she has some pain. (She is on Tramadol)

And the list goes on. Moya also has some anxiety. She has been taking meds for this too.

With all of this, it means I pick her up and carry her out to potty, then carry her back in. She can no longer find her way. Mostly all she can do is eat, sleep, pee/poos, whines, and cries. She is so unhappy.

She does enjoy pettings and treats.

The questions is.. is she telling me it’s time? Or am I being selfish and letting her go on too long? Is it time now. Before she just stops completely. I have not slept well for the past two nights worrying that I’d do this too soon. Would this make me a ghoul for making this decision now. Or that I am selfish and that she needs relief.

What kind of life is this?

Know this, she is my baby. She is the child I can’t ever have. And I have never had a furry-family-memeber this long. Growing up, we moved a lot. So the one time we had a pet ( a cat named Tiger), we found him a new home long before it was time for a decision. I had hoped that if it was time, she’d go peacefully in her sleep, no pain. And I wouldn’t have to make this decision.

I don’t know what to do. Being an adult sucks!

(Update: RIP Moya Kernigan LeFey 08/09/1999 – 11/22/2014)

Okay, I have been thinking about this for years now. I suppose that sounds a bit odd. Maybe even a bit crazy. To harp on something for years. But I really had no outlet to get this out of my head. So, I have this bloggy-thingy now and this is going here. If anything.. just to save my brain any further ramblings on this.

For years, I’ve been getting sales adverts, flyers and catalogs. Well that happens to everyone, you say. What’s so unusal about that?? Well I have noticed that there are some that go beyond the sending an occasional advert. There are some that do what I can only refer to as harassment. Did you know that you can request to not receive ads? There are dozens of places to do this. You can even request that from the sender themselves. I have done this to rid myself of places And it works rather well as I mostly only receive catalogs that I want.

However, there are some that won’t abide by the requests. Two of the companies that I have had troubles with are Bealls and Critic’s Choice Video. I did have an issue with Harbor Fright Tools. But it seems I finally got rid of them. Both happened in different ways. With CCV, I ordered from them once. I was dissatisfied with them so I tried to have them stop sending me catalogs. I called and asked them to take me off their mailing list. Each time they replied that they took me off the list, that there was no way to stop the next one, but that I would not receive any more. And each time I’d keep receiving the catalogs. I’d call again and get the same promise as before. I’ve called and spoken with Supervisors and Managers. Still I keep getting their catalogs.

With Bealls, it started when I received a catalog with my last name but not my first name. I was very concerned that someone had my name/address and was using it. So I went into a store and asked about it. The Manager there could not find out so she referred me to a national number. I called and I’ve spoken to the Customer Service department, their complaints department, and their Fraud department. Each one said that no one had try to buy anything in that name, no accounts opened in that name, etc. They said they’d stop mailings to me with that name. Unfortunately I wish it ended there. I got more with that name on it. I called again. Again I was promised that it would stop. Soon after that, I got more but they started varying the first name. They do seem to favor the name Kara. I don’t know why. I kept calling and asking to remove me from the list. They kept promising.. and it still hasn’t happened. I have pulled out the same flyer, sent to me three times with three different names on them. All those calls, and in the end they.. “aren’t really sending them to you. It has someone else’s name on it.” Nice little trick, both of these companies. Especially as this has been going on for years.

So what’s the answer? Do we have the Government take over and ‘regulate’ them? Do we elect a council to investigate and control them?

I wish I knew the answer. I’d like them to step in and help me.

(Photo: These are just some of what I’ve received from Bealls)

This is what I’m calling a quickie, just some random stuff I’ve thought about. So quickie.. it’s not what you are thinking. But you have a dirty mind and I respect that!

If you are looking for a job, you know what I’m talking about. See, these days companies post jobs by giving you every detail..save one. A rather important one at that. They won’t tell you how much the position pays. They may ask you to provide how much you’d like to be paid for that job. Then they will decide if they want to hire you for that amount. Or just pass on you for another person. A cheaper person. Now this is bad enough if you are staying in the same city. However, if you are wanting move to another city or State.. then you will never have any idea whether or not you can live off that salary. All I can say is This Sucks, Y’all!! Companies today have a tendency to not treat employees as well as they should. And can not be very loyal to them. They force this to be one sided. I wonder if there is a way to lead a sort of revolt against the system. But does that mean we’d all be called ‘Revolting’? hmm..

On a different note, I came across this posting on the editorial page in my local newspaper. This guy sent this in and it was posted among the complaints of traffic, bad treatment, politicians, etc..

He said “I’ve taught my Wife to flush 2 to 3 times each time, or be prepared to call a plumber.”

What??? Just what the fuck are they doing in there that they’d need to flush that much?!?!?! Central Texas has water problems.. maybe if this guy wasn’t flushing so much, all the water wouldn’t be being flushed out his porcelain reading chair.

Okay, so.. maybe this post wasn’t so quick.

So… no judgement and please don’t send me links to a dictionary result of what ‘Quick’ means.

Sorry…but not really. ;D

Some time ago I had a savings account with a bank that opened my eyes to an issue. I had received my Statement for my savings account, but I did not have to open it. It seems either the machine failed to seal the envelope or someone opened it without tearing the flap.

Now I was naturally concerned about my account and information. And rightful so, these days it takes so little for thieves to gain access to our whole lives. I of course did the rational thing, I called my financial institution worried this would happen to me. It’s when I learned something about this Bank and other Banks policies.

You see there is a major disconnect in their systems. These places will not protect your account but they will let you fill out forms to dispute charges to your account, for missing money and you pay monthly charges for this privilege.

The call to my Financial Institution went like this. I explained what had happened and the polite Representative on the phone said she note my account and send a message to the appropriate department advising them that their machine missed an envelope. I asked is that it? She responded with “Umm…Sorry?!” What?? ‘Umm sorry’ and a note is all they can do?

Now I really wanted to get ahead of any issues and so I quite reasonably said ” I was hoping to have an alert put on my account. Something to have the Bank be aware of any unusual activity.” To which her response was “We don’t do that. We just can’t keep that kind of track of people’s accounts. We would just have no way of knowing what your last check that cleared or transaction was and what might be fraud.”

Now, like most folks in this world, I always bank in the same manor. As this was a savings account I had for 5 years, I was only making deposits by direct deposit and all withdrawals were made in person at the Bank. Not to mention that I never had checks created nor an ATM card made. I would think it would be pretty simple to see if any fraudulent transactions. (i.e.: online orders, checks appearing, etc) They just can’t seem to take the time to learn the habits of their long time customers. At least not at this small Bank. (they can tell customers driving past by their cars and know people’s first names on sight. But not this.)

They did make one offer. They said I could close that account and open a new one. I did not see the advantage of having that when they could not seem to keep track of their current accounts.

I did take them up on their offer to close the account. Problem is, where to open a new one? So I took a drive to 4 or 5 different Banks to pose to them, this same scenario. They all seem to have the same policy. They would not provide protection to your money or information. It’s all ‘trust us with your financial future’, then allow thieves to steal your information. No proactive, all clean up after you’ve been hit. They need to remember, there is a long, established fact that thieves hit mailboxes looking for personal information, gift cards, cash, etc. By not doing anything to prevent theft, there are in fact assisting in it.

Where’s the trust? Where is the safety? I still have not opened a new account for savings. Due to lack of trust. So we should all be resigned to the knowledge that if you receive an opened statement, your Bank will not do anything to protect you?! That the only response is the work you will have to do after your identity is stolen?

So now, do you and your money feel safe yet?

Yeah, me neither.

(editor’s note: Of late, I have seen ads from Banks showing new systems that will alert you to any unusual activity on your account. Perhaps they finally got the message? In any case, it’s a very hopeful sign.)

Okay, this is not really what I am intending as a full on, real blog post. Just sort of an introduction/test post. In this blog I hope to share stories, photos, general things that have happened to me. Maybe something similar will have happened to you?! Great! Then we have stuff in common!

Who am I? In short.. I am a Nerd. I love Sci-Fi. I have comics, figures, and games. I go to Cons and showings. Truth: I once spent more than 8 hours at a movie theater in another city because they had a marathon of Star Trek movies.. it culminated in them premiering the newest one.

So as I said…Nerd.

And proud of it!

Q