While it may appear that I am a bitter person based on my last entry alone, I'm really not. I swear! Ask anyone who knows me. I am actually a realist with a bend towards optimism.
Now, my next gripe...
Twice this week I feel like I have been screwed. Teased and dropped. It started with TimeWarner Cable....
I get a statement telling me that my 'promotional rate' was about to expire and that I needed to call for deal or my current rate would increase. By almost $50 a month. WTF? First of all, I tell them when I call, I did NOT sign up for a 'promotional rate'. It was the cost of the service. Nowhere in the paperwork did it say that this was a promotional rate. My argument was lost on this idiot I was speaking too. I finally said it wasn't worth it and they can kiss it. She says she will transfer me to the 'retention' department. Hoping to get a better deal, I stayed on the line. Suffice it to say that the deal was better, but not good. Even so, I am pretty much between a rock and a hard place because I don't have any other options in this area to get a package of the things I want. If I drop the service, I have to go with either Direct TV or Dish for television service, ATT for internet and I can't get into ATT without getting phone service that I don't need as well. This is a small town. They know this. I am screwed. I hate feeling like I have been played. Nothing I can do about it. Bastards.
The very next day, I was looking at my mortgage statement and noticed that there was a payment if $1350.00 from my escrow account made to my insurance company for my homeowners insurance policy. My annual premium is only $430 so naturally I freaked out. My escrow balance now shows a balance of negative $267. WTF? So after an hour and a half on the back and forth with the mortgage and insurance company (happens to be the same company for me) the problem was discovered...and it ain't good. Turns out that my servicing fire department was listed incorrectly and the change caused the premium to TRIPLE. So I said there has to be something I can do about it (because my mortgage payment is going to go up $150 a month with this new rate) and they said I could call the fire marshall and get the scoop from him as far as ratings for insurance go. So call the fire marshall I did. He said that he has gotten a lot of calls this week because of the increase in peoples insurance policies but unfortunately the change was correct. He said that the rating may go back down 45 days from now and to call him back then to find out. Great. I just love making little notes for myself to call people in 45 days. GGGGRRR!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Dusting off the soapbox...
I am fed up. Pissed. Angry.
I read a story on MSNBC (and no, this is not going to be a rant on the quality of MSNBC news stories) about a military hospital in Afghanistan showing a spike in patients. No fucking kidding. Fact is, we are pulling out of Iraq, but being in Afghanistan is and has been a far worse and riskier place to the lives of U.S. troops. The only reason why we didn’t see more casualties in Afghanistan than we have in Iraq is because there have been many more US troops in Iraq. Statistically there are just as many, if not more, troops killed in Afghanistan than there are in Iraq. It’s a war. Troops die. That is what happens. That isn’t even what is pissing me off.
The article was about some soldiers who were just injured and or killed in a roadside bomb that blew up their humvee. It ended with the following: "In the intensive care ward nearby, Vandergrift lay beside the one other soldier in his Humvee who survived. The soldier may be paralyzed. Holding a guitar, Vandergrift strummed a song for his friend: "The Star Spangled Banner".
Love the fact that one soldier was playing a song for his injured friend and fellow soldier. Love the camaraderie that US troops have with one another when they are fighting together. It’s all kittens and rainbows. What bothers me beyond reason is the choice of song. A song choice that says to me that the troops actually believe they are over there fighting for the freedom of America.
While I believe that as a member of the military we are paid to do a job that sometimes requires us to sacrifice our very lives in the name of OUR freedom, we need to call this what it is. We aren’t over there fighting for the rights of Americans. We are over there fighting for the Afghani’s. It has nothing to do with the freedom of our country. U.S. troops are being blown up by a bunch of insurgents and terrorists. And they aren't dying for their country. I remember September 11th just as well as everyone else, and I realize that our borders are not immune to the horrors that can be inflicted by extremists. Even so, last time I checked I still have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I still have my freedom of/from religion. Still have my freedom of speech. Afghanistan isn’t a threat to any of it. I will continue to have that freedom. The risk of me dying from a terrorist action within my own country is far less than the risk I face of being killed in a drive by shooting from a US citizen. No one lives risk-free lives, here or in any other part of the world. But that doesn’t take away my freedom as an American. And getting the hell outta dodge wouldn’t take that freedom away either.
I read a story on MSNBC (and no, this is not going to be a rant on the quality of MSNBC news stories) about a military hospital in Afghanistan showing a spike in patients. No fucking kidding. Fact is, we are pulling out of Iraq, but being in Afghanistan is and has been a far worse and riskier place to the lives of U.S. troops. The only reason why we didn’t see more casualties in Afghanistan than we have in Iraq is because there have been many more US troops in Iraq. Statistically there are just as many, if not more, troops killed in Afghanistan than there are in Iraq. It’s a war. Troops die. That is what happens. That isn’t even what is pissing me off.
The article was about some soldiers who were just injured and or killed in a roadside bomb that blew up their humvee. It ended with the following: "In the intensive care ward nearby, Vandergrift lay beside the one other soldier in his Humvee who survived. The soldier may be paralyzed. Holding a guitar, Vandergrift strummed a song for his friend: "The Star Spangled Banner".
Love the fact that one soldier was playing a song for his injured friend and fellow soldier. Love the camaraderie that US troops have with one another when they are fighting together. It’s all kittens and rainbows. What bothers me beyond reason is the choice of song. A song choice that says to me that the troops actually believe they are over there fighting for the freedom of America.
While I believe that as a member of the military we are paid to do a job that sometimes requires us to sacrifice our very lives in the name of OUR freedom, we need to call this what it is. We aren’t over there fighting for the rights of Americans. We are over there fighting for the Afghani’s. It has nothing to do with the freedom of our country. U.S. troops are being blown up by a bunch of insurgents and terrorists. And they aren't dying for their country. I remember September 11th just as well as everyone else, and I realize that our borders are not immune to the horrors that can be inflicted by extremists. Even so, last time I checked I still have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I still have my freedom of/from religion. Still have my freedom of speech. Afghanistan isn’t a threat to any of it. I will continue to have that freedom. The risk of me dying from a terrorist action within my own country is far less than the risk I face of being killed in a drive by shooting from a US citizen. No one lives risk-free lives, here or in any other part of the world. But that doesn’t take away my freedom as an American. And getting the hell outta dodge wouldn’t take that freedom away either.
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