That’s always nice.
Today I tried to figure out why the hell Comcast charges me different amounts every month -$100-130 generally, and I did not get an answer. Especially because their stupid website says my plan is $84/month. Naturally the statements wouldn’t load on their website so I have no idea where these charges are coming from.
Shit. I thought the only problem with the laptop was that the battery wasn’t connected to the board.
I was wrong. When I reopened it in an attempt to reconnect battery to motherboard, my friend Gail thought the battery was swollen. I had noticed the battery was thicker than it ought to be because it had pushed the touchpad out, but I never thought of it as being swollen because, somehow, I was ignorant of the issue. Well, I’d never seen one. I thought it was too thick was all.
And now with the battery removed and the plug in, it won’t boot.
Guess I’ll use my phone to see if there’s a way to find out if the computer could be fixed? I don’t think it looks good for me, though.
Damnit, I planned to use this for at least another 3 years.
Many years ago when I was very sick, I was trying to pay some bills, and ended up paying my mobile phone bill twice in the same month. (This was the same time I paid the mortgage twice…I wasn’t able to cancel the payment, but I did catch it in time to redirect the whole amount to the principal.)
(._. )
I wish I had some kind of advice to offer. You shouldn’t have to suck it up. 
Years ago I set up auto payments for one of my monthly bills. When I did that, I accidentally paid and auto paid the first month.
I was a month ahead, but they weren’t happy about it and sent me weekly bills and warnings. It was a mess.
The IRS!
The USA is one of two countries that taxes based on citizenship. The other is Eritrea.
So every year I have to file a 1040 and a 2555 (foreign income exclusion) form for the pathetic $C12,000.00 on-paper dollars that I ‘earn’ (it’s just a minor tax reallocation for my husband).
And it seems like every year the IRS sends me some sort of paperwork that requires additional effort on my part. This year they want a 2555 (that I had already sent them) to be sure I’m paying proper taxes on the C$12,000. The minimum foreign income exclusion is over $100,000.
You’d think they could find a better use for their time and effort… like maybe investigating youknowwho or the bazillion other super wealthy.
I took a long vacation and spent a lot of money in December. My bank account is a little low now, but I have enough to cover my car payment. So bad news/ good news. Did I mention I finally bought a car? That’s another story. I’m also thinking about buying a ‘66 Jaguar. 
Menopause is supposed to be hot flashes, but I’m hot all the time. It’s the middle of winter, and I have the AC on and my windows open. I might have to move north for the summer! 
How do other countries tax?
Roughly speaking: tax the residents. So an e.g. German citizen living in e.g. Austrailia will file and pay Austrailian taxes but have no need to file or pay German taxes.
Conversely a US citizen living in Australia must file and pay both Australian and US taxes. But does get a dollar-for-dollar credit on their US tax bill for whatever Australian taxes they paid. The result being Austrailia gets everything they’re due, and the US gets any overage due to them.
What a mess.
The new employer ( totally remote ) has sent, through a new hire specialty company, an I-9.
I filled out section one of the I-9 through their secure server (yay). That said, now they have to verify the actual legal documents.
I’m cool with that; I’d guessed that they’d have a local company hired so I could drive there, show them, they could make copies for their records, and then I’d be on my way.
Nope.
They want me to take pictures of them w/ my phone and send them via the internet (insecure). I’m not to happy about this because it’s… how do you say… illegal? Invalid?
The copy of the email I received from the hiring manager indicated that he had the option to “select that in person verification may be required later on…”. Which again is illegal and invalid. It also allows your most personal data to be seen by hundreds of people before the company rep even sees it. This leaves any applicant open to identity theft.
I think that I’m going to request that this be done in person.
No shit, really? I’ve done this in the past upon request - just shrugged & jumped thru the latest in a seemingly neverending series of hoops, some of which were on fire at the time.
Not trying to be an ass, but … cite that this is illegal?
From page 7 of “USCIS Form I-9 Instructions” :
"Ensure that each document is an unexpired, original (no photocopies, except for certified copies of birth certificates) document.
Certain employees may present an expired employment authorization document, which may be considered unexpired, if the
employee’s employment authorization has been extended by regulation or a Federal Register Notice. Refer to the Handbook for
Employers: Guidance for Completing Form I-9 (M-274) or I-9 Central for more guidance on these special situations.
Refer to the M-274 for guidance on how to handle special situations, such as students (who may present additional documents
not specified on the Lists) and H-1B and H-2A nonimmigrants changing employers. "
.
Perhaps ‘illegal’ is a strong word; invalid is not. And they (and the company they represent) are subject to large fines.
You mean they want you to send a picture of your social security card, driver’s license or whatever? Yeah, no.
I hope this is not standard practice. Really puts you in an uncomfortable situation as a new hire.
Luckily for me, the cause of my last rant has been resolved in spectacular fashion. I hope that @Spice_Weasel, @slalexan, @Seanette, and @purplehorseshoe have similar good luck, because damn, guys, your rants were really major one. I hope my good luck spills over to people who need it badly.
As for me, after yesterday’s despair, my heart has been gladdened.
You know how the first thing tech support asks is, “are you sure it’s plugged in?”
I had checked that the power plug was firmly in the laptop. And I had checked that the other end of the cable was firmly plugged into the BackUPS. Which I knew was working because the work laptop is also plugged into it and it was happy as could be.
What I forgot was that you’ve got a 50/50 shot of the power cable being one piece or two, so I did not check the transformer (which was obscured by a nest of cables that resemble a knot of mating snakes). It’s been a long time since I set the computer up so, you know, I didn’t remember which this was and didn’t think about it maybe being two parts.
Sure enough, tonight I thought to check again (before leaving to buy an expensive, shiny new computer) and the cable plug had fallen out of the transformer.
Some cursing ensued, but I plugged the cable into the transformer and the computer booted! Yay!
I’ll probably get a new battery for it, and I may get someone else to do the installation because small parts and bad eyes, but I’ve just saved myself a bit over $2000 and that makes me very happy.
Three to five years from now, I’ll get a shiny. But I bought high-end for this one because I wanted it to last at least 8 years, and it is still excellent for now.
Yay! I didn’t follow much of that, but I’m glad you resolved the issue! Way to go fixing your own stuff!
I’m doing better after getting some work done today.
I nearly had a meltdown because I moved my CPU from my desk to the floor to try to measure space for a second monitor. I fucked something up because Windows was pinging incessantly. It turned out to be my webcam connecting and disconnecting. No idea what happened but I guess I have to replace that now. And something’s still off because the lights inside the CPU case no longer illuminate. But it’s good enough for me to get shit done and worry about it later.
There’s still a metric fuckton to do. I have about twelve deadlines due in the next week and a lot of it is brand new to me. But our beloved babysitter is coming over
tomorrow to have some special time with our kid (who adores her) so we can both get some work done.
I can’t say as I feel wonderfully better physically, but I’m able to consume food normally now. Still kinda weak and lethargic but I managed about five solid hours of work today.
This has been a most peculiar ailment.
Today was a first for me, and I’m a-gonna rant about it.
I had a couple of heavy parcels in the cart coming out of the liquor store. I picked up the first with a sort of grunt and limped my way to the car. A young whippersnapper getting into the next car said, “Do you need a hand?”. It wasn’t in the manner of one guy to another, but more in the manner of a young whippersnapper earning his way into heaven, doing his Good Deed for the Day by helping a Poor Old Man. He was a most friendly and cheerful fellow, but it did make me realize that I’m now of the age – or at least rapidly getting to the age – to be on the receiving end of Good Deeds.
Translation: my computer wasn’t plugged in even though I thought it was. Once it was plugged in for real, it worked. 
I have an older Windows PC (“old,” as in it shipped with Windows 8, has been upgraded to 10, and isn’t eligible for an upgrade to 11) that I keep around just in case I need Windows for something. Back when I was working from home, I moved it downstairs so I could connect it to my second monitor and play with it during non-work hours. This was fine for about a week or so, when the computer suddenly shut itself down. No big surprise, I thought – it is Windows, after all – so I turned it back on. The fans came on, along with the lights…then it shut down again. Uh-oh. I spent many weekends working on it, even trying a new power supply…nothing. So I wrote it off until the middle of last year, when I decided to try just one more time to get it to do something. I even opened it back up to unplug and replug all the cables, just in case. That was apparently the problem, as it started just fine after that and has worked great ever since.
As mentioned in this thread, bedbugs. Specifically the prospect of taking them home.
Any and all advice appreciated, especially for non-clothes items like electronics.