I was also billed the “Paper invoice fee”, despite having gone to their website before the changeover and specifically selecting paperless billing. When I called to complain, the service rep not only corrected it, and refunded the charge, but also gave me two months of free service. I suspect that they somehow screwed up their change to direct billing and are bending over backwards to avoid bad publicity.
This is both a rant and WTF moment?
I got a phone call today from someone claiming they were from CVS and needed to update my information.
First, this was suspicious to me because I never used CVS as a pharmacy,
They asked for Mr. Dorvann.
And then they asked me if my address was still where I am currently living.
Then they asked me if my birthday was November 1 and I cut them off saying “No THAT is NOT my birthday.”
They then asked if this was Richard Dorvann. I said no this is Mark Dorvann. They then abruptly hung up.
The WTF part is my FATHER was Richard Dorvann and his birthday was November 1------ but he died 28 years ago.
I am scratching my head to figure out exactly happened. I assume it was some attempt at a scam.
That or your father had really good prescription insurance.
Many years ago if you wished to create beautiful printed sheet music you went with a very expensive application called Finale–they were the king of the road.
Over the past decade or so their user interface has looked more and more dated, and it became clear that the rare new releases were simple cash grabs to keep them afloat as they did the barest minimum to keep their software running on the latest version of MacOS.
But music notation software is a complex beast and it took a long time to get good at using Finale, so that’s what I use.
This month they officially pulled the plug. They sent out an email to everyone saying “So long, it was nice to know you!” and sweetened the deal by providing a heavily discounted license for a modern competitor, Dorico.
I have struggled with importing music into Dorico for the past couple of days, and I’m just not ready to devote many hours to learning how to use the new tool, but if I don’t, I’m stuck on Finale.
Finale doesn’t run on the latest MacOS (Sequoia). This means that until I finally get migrated off of Finale, I’m locked into the current OS.
I am considering simply exporting all of my hundreds of Finale documents into MusicXML files (the only route to get to Dorico) and just letting the chips fall where they may, importing them as I need them in the future. This isn’t a bad idea since the end goal of using music software is to create a finished PDF for import elsewhere, and all of mine have finished PDFs. But it still frosts my cookies!
I got an unusual email from my favorite cousin this morning…she wanted to know if it’s true that the government isn’t sending help to North Carolina, and included a helpful YouTube video. 
I haven’t watched the video yet, and I don’t know that I want to. I did send her an email confirming that yes, loads of government employees (including the National Guards of multiple states, and active duty military) are in western NC, it’s just a matter of getting to the people in need. I tried to emphasize that the mountains are loaded with now-isolated tiny communities, and that it’s likely that some of these people really haven’t had outside contact since Helene…but that doesn’t mean that first responders and government folks and even volunteers aren’t trying.
Maybe the national news hasn’t done a good enough job of emphasizing that Helene took out most of the roads??? Or that you can’t plop helicopters down just anywhere? Or that there’s a process to organizing and distributing donated goods?? (I volunteered at a donation site after Hurricane Floyd; I know first-hand that if donations are being thrown out, there’s a reason for it. Please don’t donate used underwear.)
Truly a minor rant- I had to take off time from work for a telehealth psychitarist appointment this morning. If I get a note from a doctor’s office saying I had an appointment sent to the company I work for, that time does not get taken out of my leave time. During a break, I called my psychiatrist’s office to speak with the receptionist and get a note sent. I explained what I needed. He said okay. He said that he would send me an e-mail. This showed he had not in fact understood what I had just said. I explained again that I did not need an e-mail sent to me. I needed it sent to the company I work for. I said “The e-mail address is” and I begam spelling out slowly and clarifying each letter such as ‘a as in apple’. He interrupted me. He told me my e-mail address. I interruoted him for a change. “No, I do not need the e-mail sent to me. I need it sent to the company I work for.” He said okay and I started from the beginning and gave him the e-mail address. He repeated it back but changed the .org to a.com . I corrected him.
The psychiatrist is great. The receptionist initially struck me as incompetent. Since that first conversation long ago, he has done nothing to make me change my opinion of him.
I was insulted by the checkout clerk at the liquor store today. I gave him my reusable bag to put the bottles in, and he said “you must be getting a good pension if you shop at Pusateri’s”.
“Pension?” Listen, bub, it doesn’t seem that long ago that I was being asked for ID to make sure I was over 21. OK, it was half a century ago, but still, do I really look that old? How do you know that I don’t jog ten miles every morning before my chauffeur drives me to my office where I still terrorize entire sectors of the economy with the power of my business decisions?
“Pension”! Fiddlesticks, I say. Why, I don’t even have a cane to wave around!
Good grief. I use reusable bags from a ridiculously overpriced store because they’re the best bags around. And only $1, and replaced free if they ever wear out. But I never get groceries there.
But it’s all about MEEEEEE and I want my Intertoobs back!
We have relatives in the Asheville area. They’ve evacuated to near their daughter for the next month at least.
My own rant: My company is huge on pushing billable hours. Only, I’m on a “capped” project (cannot work > 40 hours a week). I can often make up time during the same week, but not always, and within limits. I’ve been sick ehough to lose notable amounts of work time in the past couple weeks. I expect a nastrygram any day now. “I’m terribly sorry. I’ll try to schedule my life-threatening emergencies further out next time around”.
These are sometimes scam emails.
That was my initial thought - part of the message seemed like a form letter - but the overall formatting of the message was typical for this cousin, and referred to me and another relative by name. I guess those names could have been lifted straight out of her contact list or address book.
I did check the video link on a safe computer, and it’s a real YouTube link - some stand-up comedian turned raging MAGA.
Well, if it was a real email and my cousin read my responses (including a link to the surprisingly informative page of a Republican state representative), at least she’s better informed now.
Some guy with a big spoiler who came around the corner too fast when I was turning left off a residential street into the corner plaza. Nothing happened, but I got the finger. Big deal, asshole. Sorry if I did not defer to your shopping cart.
I love my air fryer and one of the best things to come out of it is President’s Choice Buffalo chicken wings. I don’t know if this is just my local store, but they’ve recently been displaced by other varieties. The one they seem really stoked about right now is “Nashville style” wings. So I picked some up today.
Feeling somewhat peckish when I woke up in the middle of the night I threw some in the air fryer.
They’re tasty but my verdict is that they are not chicken wings at all, in any true sense of the term. They are southern style fried chicken made with wings, tasting kinda like KFC. I’m either going to have to find another store or, if the entire chain has chosen to discontinue my beloved Buffalo wings, find another brand.
I’m miffed at Nestle. Its Stouffer’s brand of frozen meals has been discontinued in Canada. Not that they were any great shakes, but they were a quick and easy go-to when you didn’t feel like preparing anything. Its meatloaf and mashed potatoes were actually pretty tasty. Bring them back, Nestle!
I brought a re-usable bag from a large chain store to a local wholesaler to carry my purchases. I started getting berated by the cashier because “don’t you know they’re trying to drive us out of business? How dare you bring that bag in here…!”
Look, I buy here because I like buying here. I buy there when steak is on sale (and you don’t sell steak). Isn’t it enough that I’m shopping here? Spending money here? Aren’t I a good customer? Why are you trying to chase my business away? Just take my cash, ring up the sale, and say ‘have a nice day’, will ya…?
I am having a liturgical argument with my Born Again “Christian” brother.
I am an atheist. I cannot understand how an otherwise intelligent person could fall for that crap. Interestingly, I know the bible better than he does, having been condemned* to a very religious high school (High Anglican, practically identical to Trad. Catholic) - I fucking know that bible very, very well, often there was nothing else to read after I had finished my library books, so I had the “good news” version of god’s word to entertain myself through long and dull homework sessions at my boarding school. Often I had finished the novel I got from the library, and given the only novel I had left was the bible, I read it quite a lot.
It beat re-reading my physics or chemistry textbooks, anyway.
But Jesus, brother, I fucking know your godamned text better than you do. Don’t invoke bibical quotes in conversations/arguments.
This rant is dedicated to Mark 11:35
* edit: I did really like being in the church choir. I obviously did not believe what I was singing about, but, fuck me, those christians who wrote liturgical music composed their fucking arses off.
A request - I appreciate the link (otherwise I have to Google it), but a text based instead of an audio would be nice (“Jesus wept” for those who didn’t click). Plus, you specify Mark but the link goes to John (and assume the link is correct).
Shit. Sorry. It is John 15:34.
I will do my research better in future.
As they say, “Jesus wept” and in this case… I am to blame.
That sounds like (a very mild) Nashville Hot Chicken, which is basically regular fried chicken with enough cayenne to qualify as a war crime. The story goes that the woman who invented Hot Chicken did it to punish her husband. I’ve had proper Hot Chicken once. Once. It tasted like pain. I stick to the mild level (at Hattie B’s, natch), which has just enough heat to make it interesting.
I’d pull out my phone and shout down, “We’re so sorry! Please give me your address and we’ll get right on it!” After recording their address, I’d make sure to get to them LAST.