June, no, NOTHING! (Monthly Mini-Rants)

The BBQ Pit
141

What a headache! I really do like the interac e-transfer system we have here in Canada. It has daily/weekly/monthly limits which may vary based on your bank, but I once floated $7500 to a sibling, a task that took about 3 minutes to log in and do (was a matter of free cash to pay a large bill, due to some sudden expenses and poor timing shenanigans with delays in being able to move money from different contract accounts…my sibling paid me back the same way about a week and a half later).

I picked up bagels for a colleague once. I gave them to him in a parking lot, then we walked into a building and he texted me the funds before we’d gotten inside. That was about $12 though.

142

That’s awesome. :smiley:

I wasn’t even thinking of that but I should have.

143

:wink:

:stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: (for Discourse.)

144

You know, if you place text between the arrow brackets it doesn’t show in the message (ever!). Directly below is a line enclosed in brackets:

Directly above this line I’ve typed “text between brackets” between brackets.

In the next message I’m going to demonstrate how to create an entirely blank message.

The brackets are < at the start

and > at the end

all on one line

146

I love Interac and use it frequently for things like paying service people and personal money transfers. It’s really versatile in that anyone with a bank account and an email address can receive money over Interac (or maybe just the ability to receive text messages, though I’ve never used it that way). Really fast, too – most transfers take just seconds.

It’s pretty cool tech that is basically a convenient user interface that sits on top of the SWIFT inter-bank wire transfer system.

147

Good news, everybody!

After all the stress and yelling today, I had a headache and a sore throat. I got back to Mom’s condo and took a nap. When I woke up, it was clear that I was comidng down with something. Mom was worried and had a friend leave a Binax Covid test on the front door. I took the test.

I have Covid.

I was supposed to fly back to Philly on Thursday for my beloved’s fiftieth birthday celebration. I won’t be able to see her now. My sister said I should still fly back on schedule. But rather than flying back to Florida on the 17th, I should stay in Philly.

In a minute, I will see what kind of masks Mom has. I will need to wear one on the flight.

148

Why does every business need my number to text me? I hate it. I went to CVS to get my meds, something I’ve been doing for years now. The woman asked me if I had gotten a text saying they were ready. I told her I don’t get texts. She asked me for my phone number, she looked it up, and said “you’re not in the system.”

She had to move to another computer to look me up. My meds weren’t ready so I went back yesterday. The same woman asked me again if I got a text, I told her I don’t get them and I don’t want them. After she get my stuff there was a yes/no prompt if I want texts and marketing. I said no, but the second she scanned my meds I got three damned texts.

Same kind of thing happened after I got my colonoscopy, I was told to come back in 7 years. Within days the office was texting me to schedule my next appointment. They texted me every day to make an appointment, and saying STOP wouldn’t work. That went on for months before they finally fixed it.

I have a kid who’s going to be a senior next year. For weeks they have been texting use about rezoning all of the county schools. I don’t care, she will be out in a year, and she lives near the school. The text even says reply STOP to stop getting texts, so I did. I get another text from another number saying to opt out type in some random letters, so I do that. I get yet another text from another number to do something else. Then I get another text saying that to stop getting texts please contact the school!

I like being able to text, just to people I want to hear from. I can’t always block numbers because I want reminders of doctor appointments, but I don’t want texts every day for no reason.

149

My wife and her sister went to Rio de Janeiro on Thursday to spend a month with family. They hadn’t been home in many years, with such things as the Pandemic and health issues foiling previous plans.

It’s just me and my cat here. June is going to be a long month.

One more fun bit: my wife has an American passport and a Brazilian passport, both up to date, but with different names. There is quite a bit of bureaucracy involved in registering an American marriage in Brazil, so in over 30 years of marriage we never bothered to do so.
Before they traveled, I looked everywhere to see if there would be any issues with the non-matching names–there was no crisp answer, but I figured that as long as she carried both she ought to be fine: use the US one to satisfy airport and TSA; use the Brazil one for Customs and Immigration in Rio.

A half hour after I dropped them off at Newark I got a call from my wife saying that “there’s a problem with having different names on the passports”
A guy from the airline was helping them, and he said that they couldn’t travel that way, and offered two options: 1) Get a Brazilian eVisa as an American, or 2) Change the name on the ticket.

Option 1 stumped her–standard government website and such, hard to do on her phone at the airport. I tried from home and balked when it started telling me all of the documents I needed to upload (“no phone photos allowed!”), so that was clearly not intended to be done while waiting to board your flight. Besides, one of the first questions was “Do you have a Brazilian passport?”–a “Yes” answer resulted in “You don’t need a visa, just use your Brazilian passport to enter the country.”

So option 2: changing the name on the ticket. This would be a permanent change, and would mean she would have to cancel her return ticket and buy a new one, possibly at substantial expense.

Meanwhile, I was at home frantically trying to speak with the airline. Everyone seemed to think this was the weirdest situation: Seriously, a Brazilian woman married to an American, who then becomes an American citizen but holds a Brazilian passport in her maiden name? With the volume of travelers between our two countries, this situation probably crops up hourly. It’s not unusual. Why does everyone act like it’s such a weird thing?

All the while the guy contacted various supervisors and other airport employees to try different things.
Finally someone must have explained to him “Oh, you’re in the wrong place. In this case you need to go to this other screen.”
Once he found the correct way to enter her information the whole thing evaporated.

Two hours of stress over nothing. Yes, you can travel with two passports with different names.

150

I’d drifted off watching Eons last night at about 11:30. At 1:00 or so, I woke up. Grumbling quietly to myself for falling asleep in front of the TV, I noticed the carpet was wet. Waking up fully, I realized there was water gushing out from under the sink in the basement bathroom. It took about ten minutes to turn off the water main.

I then woke up Mrs Magill and we proceeded to get as much off the floor as we could and used the carpet cleaner to suck up a couple of gallons of water before giving up at 2:30.

I put in a claim with Amica and made an appointment with the plumber. We are currently waiting for the plumber and clean up company.

151

Oh, thank you! The title meant nothing at all to me, couldn’t figure out why in the world someone had picked such a senseless thing.

152

The pun was supposed to be, “You know NOTHING!” As an accusation of ignorance. But also, a rejection of the month of June, saying you don’t want anything to do with it.

I didn’t spend a lot of time with it. I wasn’t going to make one for this month. But by late in the day nobody had done anything so I figured, we might as well have something. So the title didn’t come from a lot of planning or anything. I definitely won’t defend it. :stuck_out_tongue:

153

Oh, you have no reason to apologize. I am incredibly bad at recognizing puns when I read them – I guess I don’t internally verbalize words as I read, or something.

154

Starting an indefensible thread; you should be pitted for that!

155

156

I thought the title was from Hogans Heros.

157

Schultz may have been an inspiration, though that was, “I know nothing.”

158

Schultz was more in the style of “I see nothing! I know nothing!”.

But I do think you should be awarded the SDMB honour of being the first in line to start monthly SDMB threads!

159

You are way too kind. :slight_smile:

160

Given all the stress you’ve been under, I imagine your immune system is taking a hit. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

The ADHD Nanny State continues. From now on I have to attend monthly psychiatric appointments in person.

I saw this coming because the relaxation of the rules was a COVID exception. Looks like it’s finally hit insurance policy.

It’s still annoying. I’ve been responsibly taking stimulants for over seven years. I feel we should get special dispensation for good behavior.

I started taking Adderall in the afternoon, another attempt to mitigate the afternoon crashes. Today was my first dose and man do I wish the euphoria of a new stimulant would last. It feels so wonderful at first, just like it did with Vyvanse. Is it helping today? Yes.

Time will tell if this newfound mental clarity sticks.

(Also, construction on a busy road right outside my subdivision. I’m told it will last through December. Uuuuugh.)