Patriots Day

Patriots Day
One of the few benefits of working Massachusetts is the Patriots Day holiday. And, what a day to have off from work. The weather is beautiful!

It's been a pretty good day thus far. I slept in. I went to the post office. I bought an overly big lunch, which I ate while watching part of a pretty cool documentary ("King Corn"). And soon, I think I'll take a lovely nap.

School
On the other hand, I'm also trying to get ahead in my school work for my "Legal Issues in Business" class. Because the class is totally online, our instructor set us up in groups, and she has us discussing particular issues and then posting a consensus of our opinion to a main discussion board. Then, we have to post a response to at least one other group's posting. This too has to be a consensus-based posting.

For starters, let's just say that I hate group work. We managed to get the first module stuff done on time, posting it late Friday night. We have two weeks for each module in the course, each module ends on a Friday. I was the first one to post anything to my group's module two discussion last night (Sunday). So far, not another peep out of anyone. Again, let me say: I HATE GROUP WORK.

Blockbuster
The other irritant of the day: Blockbuster. We've had a membership to Blockbuster Online for a couple of years now. One of the main reasons we went with Blockbuster over Netflix was that we could exchange movie mailers for more movies at an actual Blockbuster store. Yesterday, we discovered that our local store had gone out of business.

Today, I got an email from Blockbuster saying that they were having problems charging my membership fee to my debit card. I do have a new card, so I thought maybe I entered the number incorrectly last week. I tried re-entering the card number about six times. The message on the screen suggested that I call my bank. I seriously doubted that there was an actual problem with the card, since I had used it to buy lunch just and hour before. But, I called the bank anyway to see if they were actually rejected the charge attempts from Blockbuster. The customer service representative thoroughly checked their records. My card was fine, and they had no record of denying any charge requests to Blockbuster.

So, I sent Blockbuster a nastygram and told them if they could not get my card to work, that they were more than welcome to cancel my account. I mentioned the closing of the local store as well. Another thing I complained about in my message was how slow and bloated their web site is. I also noted that if my account was canceled that I would happily take my business to Netflix.

Supposedly they respond to most messages within four business hours. I'll update this post if and when they reply.

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Update
Fine. Blockbuster apologized for the issue with my credit card. But, I was already annoyed with them anyway. So, I quit and signed up with Netflix. Oddly enough, they couldn't process my credit card either. Same card that I used all over town today. Must be some payment processor that's having the issue. I gave Netflix another payment method that they were content with. So, life is good on the DVD rental front again.

The unoffical end of the holidays

My sister-in-law and her family drove up today for a post-holiday visit. The kids got presents. Everyone snacked. We watched a couple of videos (mind-numbing background for the chaos of small children). It was relaxing.

We left our holiday tree up especially for their visit. Tomorrow, it comes down, which will unofficially mark the end of our holiday season.

On the other hand, I am still making holiday cards (in preparation for next year). And, I get my best gift of the season on the 16th: my boss's last day with our organization.

This past week was a bit stressful at work, so I already broke several New Year's resolutions. However, since the holidays 'unofficially' stretched through this weekend, I plan to re-commit myself to the resolutions tomorrow. After all, each day offers us another chance to start our lives anew, right???

Work vs. A Day Off

I have been really looking forward to this holiday, especially since I decided to take Wednesday off as well. I initially had planned to bake a pie and work on my final project for school. Now, I also have to deal with a plumber, who is putting in our new garbage disposal. And, I am going to pick up a second pie that I pre-ordered, because I knew I wasn't going to feel like baking two. Plus, I kind of want to go to the big liquor store and pick up a nice bottle of wine. I have a feeling that I am going to be more exhausted than if I had gone to work.

I had a boatload to get done today at work. And, amazingly, I got most of it all done. As a matter of fact, I was kind of feeling like I was in a productive groove. If I hadn't had an appointment I needed to leave for, I probably would have worked late. I am feeling a bit stressed by my big project, which is scheduled for cut over to production on Saturday, December 15. On the other hand, I have been doing a pretty good job at tackling the hurdles that have come down the pike on this thing, and THAT has been noticed by upper management.

Life really is a balance.