Are you kidding me?!

I am going to start this one off by saying I am not perfect... no one is... but the crap that happened to me - well is just down right bullshit.

So as many of you know, I had to go to physical therapy for a few months at the end of last year/beginning of this year. Well, my physical therapist and all the little assistant people (you know physical therapists in training) were excellent... the office staff though, well was something to be desired.

Payment issues and scheduling issues and other stupid stuff really... but this one really just iced my cake.

The other night, Wednesday night actually, the rehab center calls my home and says that they didn't receive payment with the bill that I sent them. Just the invoice. Now I know sometimes I am a little out there - but I KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT I PUT THAT CHECK IN THE ENVELOPE.

So I am a little pissed and a bit concerned, especially after I went online and saw that the check was already cashed. But by this time it was all just too late to do anything, banks were closed and the people who originally called from rehab had gone home for the day.

Fine, I will call them first thing in the morning I thought.

That is exactly what I did, the woman I needed to speak with at rehab came in at 6.30am so at 6.40 am while waiting for my shuttle, I called. What a piece of work, she basically said she couldn't do anything for me because she wasn't the one who called me. WTF?!

FINE - I called my bank and had them get me a copy of the check - and hadn't been endorsed but processed for deposit in payee's account.

I called back to the rehab people and said look, I have the check here and you deposited it. I sent them a copy of the check and she said that the bank on the back wasn't who they used. WHAT? Are you kidding me??

See I should explain here that one bank in Pittsburgh was bought by another banking company that was never in Pittsburgh before. BUT the original Pittsburgh Bank still exists and does larger corporations deposits and such. Make sense?

So I asked well isn't your bank the one that bought out the other - could it be possible that they still have something to do with your account? NO NO NO - is what I got from this woman... Now I am a bit hot under my collar.

FINE I am taking this to a new level since these people at the rehab center are a bit incompetent. I called the bank, their bank. I figured that they would be able to give me some direction - and they did... they let me know that little bit of information about the other bank still doing deposits for larger corporations and that my rehab center is one of the accounts that they handle... I liked this manager lady (Maria) I spoke with at the bank - she was very helpful to me.

So somehow the rehab center called me back, and was saying that she asked others their if they had done anything with this check or some BS story she gave me. I asked her then if they still had the envelope that my payment came in. She said yes... so I asked well does it look tampered with - like someone might have taken the check out - stamps look out of place or if it had been you know resent through the post office or something (yeah like a thief would resend the bill - but I was trying to make a point here).

She said the envelope was perfectly intact - once again I was even more pissed off...

The very nice bank manager (Maria) that helped me called me back and gave me information on who to contact at the other bank - she had to find out who exactly I needed to speak with. I thought that was very nice of her.

But before I could find a minute to call, the rehab center called me back - guess what they found. Proof of Deposit of my check going into their account. I had to bite my tongue on this one because I was red hot and ready to go off on this woman. OH I couldn't believe it... you put me through hell - thinking that someone stole my check, could possibly have my account numbers and you dumb asses cashed the check...

Are you kidding?! OH no she wasn't - I am still a little pissed by this whole thing and if I knew of someone to contact I would... but I don't.

Speaking of contacting people - I am still awaiting a reply from the Georgetowne -

Oh well...

Birthday Dinner #2

Yesterday, we went out for birthday dinner number two... Dinner with mom this time... We went to the Georgetowne_Inn Saturday for a late lunch early dinner... The only thing I can say in a positive light is

the view was pretty... The picture to the right is the view from our table.

The service sucked, the food was cold and took forever to get... And lets face it... you all know I get a little cranky when I am hungry and not able to eat... ha ha

Needless to say, this morning I sent them a not so nice email. I doubt I will get a response, but you just never know. I suppose stranger things have happened.

Now I am going to go plan some summer trips - ah ha

Interesting....

I think I have made it kind of clear how I feel about this war business... That all these innocent soldiers are being killed...

This morning on the news I heard the pres talking about the veto on stem cell research. Now there were two quotes that caught my attention...

Bush said, "If this legislation became law, it would compel American taxpayers for the first time in our history to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos. I made it clear to Congress and to the American people that I will not allow our nation to cross this moral line."

and

"Destroying human life in the hopes of saving human life is not ethical, and it is not the only option before us," said Bush.

I find it ironic that he is all for not destroying human life, finds it unethical even but yet what does he think of all the soldiers who were killed in the war... that would be the destruction of human life... and what just because they are 18+ years old does that mean it is not the same thing as an embryo?

Makes me wonder...

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To completely change subjects - today at 2.06pm EST summer officially begins - yeah!!!
(I wanted to close on a good positive note)

More Pictures... Ok so I am on a photo kick

I spent a good hour looking through old photo albums for that picture of that outfit that I mentioned yesterday that looked like the dress that Nat got me for my birthday... I didn't find it - but there are still tons of photo albums to look through. I know this outfit existed, because I am not the only one that remembers it. Always a good sign, RIGHT?! haha


Anyway.... Here is the picture of what the dress looks like. It's white cotton with multi-colored sewn in strips... I like it so much...

While looking through the photo albums, I came across a few other pictures that I thought I would share... The one below is of me, my mom and grandpap. The picture was taken in 1981 in Hawaii.

It's kind of faded and dark, but I thought it was a pretty good picture nonetheless.

The picture to the left, of just me was also taken in Hawaii, like that outfit isn't screaming Hawaiian tourist. Ha Ha!!! There are several things that I just found funny about this picture, I look lost in this picture, I mean I am small in comparison to my surroundings.

Another thing I thought was funny, the flip-flops, I remember I loved those flip-flops, while they were slightly platformed... they are very reminiscent of a pair of flip-flops I have...

You say it's your birthday

It's my birthday too...
There is a specific reason why I am using the Beatles lyrics to this specific post... It's because Sir_Paul and I share the same birth date. I think it is a pretty cool thing...

I am sure though, he didn't get an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen like I did - (see picture below of zoomed in cake shot.)

Another thing I got for my birthday, is this very cool Warhol inspired bracelet from my mom and Steve. Mom and I have gone to the Warhol_Museum together before - so I thought this was also a cool gift.

For those of you who don't know, the Warhol is located in Pittsburgh's Northside section of town, both mom and I worked on the Northside many years ago -- so we went to the museum on our lunch break...

Nat got me a really cute sundress - that I am going to wear tomorrow - so I will post a picture of it then. Actually, I also want to search through some old pictures... because I SWEAR I used to have something like a skirt or shorts made out of this very same material when I was 4... and I would like to post both pictures....

More Birthday Pirate Game Pix

To the Left, another shot of Pittsburgh from PNC Park












This is just some baseball action - Sox are up to bat...

I believe the game was SOLD OUT -

Click on this darker one - it doesn't look like much all small - but it is a shot of the stadium from the parking lot - its pretty cool looking actually...

Birthday Celebrations Begin

Today the birthday celebrations began... I went to dinner with Nat and my dad. We went to McCormick and Schmick's ... which by the below copy of the menu you can see it is a seafood restaurant -- if you look close, under the seafood restaurant line is the date (they print the menus every day depending on which fresh fish they get that day) ok so under the date - it says HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLE -- and since my name was on the menu -- well I got free dessert :) ha ha...

So Nat only went to dinner, she didn't want to go to the Pirates/White Sox game... Which come on - it was bobble head night... ha ha

Nat is a hockey fan and that is about it... While I do LOVE football - I can also sit and watch baseball -- err let me rephrase that - I can sit and watch it while I am at the park - on TV - well that is another thing...

OK, so we were sitting in the middle of the row, there were 5 guys to the left and about 9 people to the right... the 5 guys on the left were 40+ and apparently this is a Father's Day Tradition of theirs. They never shut up - if the one wasn't talking to his friends or ribbing the Sox fans in front of us - he was on his cell - YOU ARE AT A BALL GAME!!! YOU CANT HEAR THE PERSON - HANG UP!!! Oh and then the guy did a dance that, well no one should have to witness.

Sadly, the Pirates_Lost, but hey, do you see how cute that bobble head is?!

I think that Pittsburgh might not have one of the best baseball teams, but I think we have one of the best baseball stadiums. Have a look see for yourself -- here are just some shots that I took from my seat...

So the top Left picture is just from the first inning, the Sox were up to bat - the picture on the Right is a shot of Downtown Pittsburgh, the view from PNC Park...

And a shot of the scoreboard at PNC Park...

Now, as you may (or may not know), there are Pierogie races during the game... Yes you are reading that correctly -- I tried to get a picture of it - but it was a little difficult... but here it is... you can see the pierogies and the Pirate Parrot and the Pirate mascots in the bottom right side of the photo.

Well I am exhausted - so I am going to go to bed now...

More tomorrow - I will have more pictures to share tomorrow :)

Friday and my birthday... just around the corner...

It's been a few days since I have posted anything - I have just been so busy that in my spare time, I didn't feel like getting online and writing anything. Well, that and I was a little disappointed by the Soprano's on Sunday and just didn't know what to say about it.

I loved how Phil died - KARMA - I think though the kid puking made the scene. HA HA... I guess I am just disappointed by the leave it up to your own creativity to figure out how it ended. No, I want to know... I don't want to come up with an ending - HBO doesn't pay me to figure out how the Soprano's ends. GESH!

This happened in my neighborhood... actually pretty close to where I live... Got to love it - that's about all I can say.

Another thing that I love, apparently Kellogg's is changing its marketing - No more Tony, Tucan, or Snap, Krackle, and Pop... Why, you ask... to help stop childhood obesity. OK... So the lack of cartoon characters on boxes and cute commercials (WHICH BTW I LOVE) are going to be a thing of the past - because KIDS are eating too much of the cereal...

Now correct me if I am wrong... BUT isn't it the parents responsibility to SAY NO to the child - so they don't develop CHILDHOOD OBESITY?! I mean - a two year old doesn't know better - and if you don't tell them no now... think of what kind of behavior they will have once they are adults...

On that note... I am going to go...

Happy Flag Day....

My Pictures Finally Uploaded

The following three pictures are from the Three Rivers Arts Festival. Just some random shots really. The sign below says Barefoot Wine - they were selling and having wine tastings of wine that was made from stomping on those grapes... Not something I wanted to try - but hey whatever floats your boat I guess... And it was hot out... I don't want to drink while out in the hot sun - unless I am on a beach, doing nothing :)

The picture to the left is a pretty cool looking fountain - I took about 5 shots of the fountain and that lady managed to get in each and every one of them - I was even moving around and zooming in on the fountain...

I just thought the pig balloon was cute - so I also took a picture of it. This was just hanging out in the middle of the street (don't worry the street was closed... drivers did not have to maneuver around it)

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Today I did some painting - and now I am just waiting for the final Soprano's episode... I hope it doesn't end too terribly bad... it was bad enough last week.

Busy weekend...

This is going to be a short post, just to make an update... I didn't realize that it has been almost a week since I have posted.

Yesterday I had taken the day off from work and had a pretty full day. It started with a trip to Home Depot to get another box of tile for my bedroom floor... that project is almost done.

When I got home from the Home Depot, I did some cleaning and some other things, then got ready to go out for an afternoon of relaxing, sunning and catching up. After that, went to eat some dinner with the family... and while sitting outside at the eatery (it is more like open sides, there is a roof) it got dark, thunder could be heard and flashes of lightening were seen. Then the rain started pouring down.

After all of that, my day was still not over. My sister, her friend, me and a few of my friends went to the South Side for a few hours of drinks and fun. We wanted to try out a new place, Double_Wide, which wasn't bad... it was actually a pretty chill place and I don't know if this establishment is NONSMOKING or if it just happened to be that no one was smoking... but I was happy for it.

Today I went to the Arts Festival, which thankfully wasn't too insane... there are a lot of things going on in Pittsburgh today (concerts, road closures just to name a few) and I wasn't sure how the traffic situation or parking situation was going to be.

Walked around a bit... I took some pictures but for whatever reason my computer is not reading my USB key that has the pictures on it. The one, if it took is pretty funny. So I will try to get them again tomorrow...

right now, I am just exhausted and want to just crawl into bed and sleep.

more to come soon -

Whoops - forgot something...

This morning I went to breakfast at Eat_'N_Park... This is the first time I have been there since they went smoke-free. In Pittsburgh the businesses are afraid to go smoke-free because they are afraid that they will not get all their patrons if they cannot smoke (but you know it is ok for the nonsmokers to inhale all the second hand smoke).

Anyway, I have never seen Eat 'N Park so packed at that time on a Sunday before... I was excited to see all the people there - as a good sign that other businesses may follow in this example.

Bunch of stuff

This is sort of a continuation from Friday's post. I had mentioned a few things that I was going to continue on and now I have a few minutes to finish up those thoughts...

First, I said I got my haircut... This is what my hair looked like New Years Eve this year... It is pretty much the same as it was when I got it cut, except maybe 2 inches longer. I couldn't take it anymore... I had to get something done because more days than not, I was wearing my hair pulled back like this.

This would be the new do. It's now all one length, about 4 inches were taken off the front and evened out around the back. I am liking it a lot.

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Ok, so some other things that I was going to chat about - or basically throw in my 2 cents into the ring. The TB guy... What was he thinking... I don't care if your doctor said that they would prefer you not to fly or leaving it as a "whatever you feel is fine" kind of situation, your father-in-law works for the CDC, you should know that TB is contagious... you don't get on a plane and very possibly infect a lot of innocent people because you need to get married in Greece...

Jail_time for the heiress... I was just watching television and they were showing the jail cell that she will be staying in while doing her 23 days... My question is... if someone that wasn't rich drove on a suspended licence (and all the other circumstances involved in this case) would they have be given a lesser sentence for "good behavior" and would we be shown the cell and told that there would be only 1 hour out of the cell and makeup can be bought at the commissary? I doubt it...

I know jail is a place i NEVER want to visit - and yes, I am sure she is going through some real mental anguish for having to do a stint in the poky -- but, I am sure that cool million dollars for her jail house diary is going to make her feel somewhat better.

There are two things that get me mad about this... one that is seems to be OK for underage people to drink in Hollywood - as long as they are a celebrity -- what kind message is that sending to people? And next, that she was obviously drinking and driving the night she wrecked the car... Drinking and Driving - I think you are an idiot for doing it...

Also, I hope rehab does her some good...

This kind of goes along with the above, DUI is serious, and shouldn't be taken lightly... probation might be fine, but is she only getting probation because of who her daddy is?

(ok I know I am on a don't drink and drive bandwagon, but I was in a car accident with a drunk driver who didn't even stop -- well until his airbag went off and couldn't obviously go any further... )

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Today I took on a project... I ripped up the carpeting in my bedroom and am putting down tile... I am a good half way through the project -- but I need to get more of the tiles to finish this project... and I just don't feel like going back out to the store...

Tonight I am going to watch the second to last episode of Soprano's... This sucks that the show is almost over... There are just too many of my favorite shows ending this spring... and I don't like it at all... :(

Well I better get this posted before the laptops battery dies...

Friday... I love Friday's : )

Well, the Three_Rivers_Arts_Festival started yesterday, and like every year the weather... is going to be wet to say the least... See the 5-day forecast for Pittsburgh (picture taken from here). Rain, Rain and more Rain for the next 5 Days. I just don't understand how every year when the Arts Festival rolls into town that it rains.

Maybe it has something to do with hurricane season starting, but seriously doubt it.

Speaking of WTAE, This lady is "supposed" to be at my work today... Our department is having a fundraiser of sorts (Since I am pretty new here, I am not sure what it is all about, but I believe it is a scholarship fund that was created in someones memory). I guess Kelly is coming to interview or show the fundraiser. I'll let you know when I figure it all out.

And the fact that Eat 'N Park went smoke-free is just very exciting to me... I hope more restaurants go smoke-free... The businesses seem to be so worried about customers not wanting to come in and eat/drink at their bar/restaurant - but come on - seriously, if people enjoy the food/atmosphere at a place - I am sure that they can wait to smoke or go outside and smoke... I just don't understand how people can smoke and eat at the same time - I have actually seen this - someone will be putting food into their mouth while holding a lit cigarette... The food has to taste like shit when combining it with the cigarette... If anyone can explain it to me - -Please...

Last night I picked up my new contacts that I had ordered about two weeks ago (I know real exciting isn't it)... But because of this warning, I was glad to get the new lenses quickly. My contact solution could cause me to go blind... that is always great to know... What is wrong with companies?! Ah...

Anyway... while I was out I decided that I needed a haircut... it had been a while since I have gotten one - And I love it.... I will take a picture later of my new (some what shorter) haircut.

Not sure what I am going to do this weekend, other than seeing these_guys perform tonight... The pending rain kind of puts a damper on my weekend...

Oh well, guess that is about all I am going to get into right now... there are a few other stories (like this and this and all related to this) that I want to talk about, I just don't have the time right now.... maybe over the weekend.