This weekend is the first nite of the 2008 NASCAR season. I was excited. I love nite racing. But the nite started off on a bad note. First, FOX decided to start the pre-race before it was even scheduled to come on. And then, they leave the broadcast right before the race was supposed to start to go back to the baseball game that had been under a rain delay.

I understand that the baseball fans wanted to see the completion of the game. But FOX royally screwed up. They were showing the baseball game on both FX and FOX. WTF?!?! I can understand showing the baseball game on one and the NASCAR race on the other. But to show the baseball game on both. What the hell were they thinking??

The baseball fans were able to watch their game on 2 DIFFERENT CHANNELS while we NASCAR fans missed the National Anthem (and Emerson Drive sang it this week ), the command to start engines, and the green flag. Yeah, FOX did switch back to the race, but not until AFTER the green flag.

I was so pissed off that I actually called our local FOX affiliate. I was surprised when someone actually answered. I asked why the race wasn’t on. I told him that the baseball game was on FX and FOX. He didn’t know that. He had no clue why the race wasn’t on. Apparently it was all the national FOX affiliate’s decision. I wonder if other people called in as well. There was a ticker scrolling across the screen saying that it was the national affiliate that made the decision to not show the race. I found that funny. That was either because of me or because of me and the other unhappy fans.

I also sent an email to FOX. I know that it won’t do any good. I doubt anyone will actually read it. But there’s always a chance. And I know there are several other fans who sent emails as well (according to a message board I’m on). Maybe they’ll finally get their heads out of their arses and actually make some changes. But I doubt it. This is the email I sent them …

I am completely baffled by the programming decisions that were made tonight, Saturday April 12th. I understand that the baseball game was delayed due to rain. But did you really have to air the baseball game when it came back on on both FOX and FX. Especially when the NASCAR race was due to begin. I understand that there are baseball fans that wanted to see the game. But there are NASCAR fans who wanted to see the race. And with the baseball game on FX, why air it on FOX as well? That is completely asinine. The baseball fans had the option of watching the game on FX. NASCAR fans had NO OPTION. We missed the National Anthem and the command to start engines, not to mention the green flag. Yeah, you switched over, but you missed the green flag.

And don’t think I’m the only person who is upset by this. I am seeing unhappy people all over the internet. You made a very bad decision tonight. I just don’t understand what you were thinking.

An UPSET NASCAR fan,
Becky R

Okay … I’m gonna get down off of my soapbox now. Time to go pay attention to the race. If FOX decides to break into the commercials with race coverage that is.

Back in December, I was diagnosed with dry eye. My eye doctor put me on Restasis eye drops. Spendy little buggers. And I’m on ‘em for the rest of my life basically … unless I want to go back to having dry eyes and not being able to wear contacts.

Luckily I have health insurance. I was without for 3 months after I switched jobs at the beginning of this year. Well, I wish I could go back to my old insurance company. The eye drops cost over $100 (I thought they were close to $120 … that’s what I was told when I called around to different pharmacies to figure out which one to go to, but it appears that they’re just under $110. Either way … they’re still EXPENSIVE!!!). With my old insurance company, I paid only $30 and my insurance paid $71.40. With my new insurance, I pay $61.97 while insurance pays only $46.97. WTF?!?!

The prescription is supposed to last about a month. There are 32 vials in the box, and you’re supposed to use each vial only once (actually … if I used the drops like that, the box wouldn’t even last a month since I’m supposed to use ‘em twice a day). My eye doctor told me it was okay to use a single vial for 2 days. So I can stretch a single prescription out for 2 months rather than 1.

Thank goodness my paychecks are bigger with this new job. Otherwise these drops would stretch me thin. I don’t think there’s a generic brand. I wish there was. I guess I shouldn’t complain. At least I have insurance. But do these drops really have to be so damn expensive? And why does my new insurance company have to be so damn cheap? That makes me leery to go in for a checkup. I really need to though. I can’t remember the last time I saw a doctor (who wasn’t an eye doctor). But if my insurance company is so cheap with this prescription, how are they gonna be with office visits and lab work and any sort of prescription I might end up having to go on?

Getting that prescription refilled sure did ruin my day. I’m glad I didn’t do it earlier in the day.

I ordered a KVM switch from Dell on Sunday nite. I really need a second screen for work. And I had a $25 coupon that Dell sent me after I bought my laptop. I couldn’t pass up the deal. Only $21 for the KVM (with tax and shipping).

As I said, I ordered it on Sunday nite. It shipped out Monday. It was scheduled for delivery tomorrow but actually showed up today. I was happy. I was planning on setting things up tonite. That is until I opened the box. I found a 12 ft video cable in the box rather than the KVM switch that I ordered. The packing slip that came with the package had the correct item on it. But some dumbass in shipping must have been going too quick and put the wrong damn item in the box. They’re not even from the same manufacturer!!

I called Dell right away to get the correct item sent to me. I really should have done it online. But I wanted to talk to someone and get things squared away as soon as possible. But of course, when you call Dell, you get someone from overseas … generally India. At least I could understand this woman. But she didn’t seem very smart. She wanted the Dell part #, but the item I was sent didn’t have a Dell part # on it. I gave her what I thought was the manufacturer’s part #, but that didn’t help her. I went to Dell’s website and searched using the part # I gave her and found the item. I then gave her the Dell part # that was listed on their website. But THAT didn’t help her either. She said she couldn’t find it. I told her I found it on their site. That’s where I got the Dell part #.

She finally put in the return/exchange. Then told me it would take 8 business days. Excuse me. Dell screwed up. I would expect them to take care of their customers faster than that. She said that was the maximum time frame they give. The CORRECT part will be shipped to me via next day shipping. It had damn well better be. She said I would get an email about this and gave me a confirmation number. I still haven’t gotten that email. I’ll give them until noon tomorrow before I call and complain.

From now on, when I buy stuff like this … I’ll get it from NewEgg. I never had a problem with them. But that $25 coupon was only good at Dell. That’s why I got it from them. They had better take care of things quickly or they’ll feel my wrath.

I should be in a good mood right now … I have my new laptop to get set up. But I’m not happy. In fact, I’m fuckin’ pissed. Today is supposed to be payday for me. But since I’m working at home, they mailed my check. Kelly said she mailed in on Friday. That means I should have gotten it on Saturday or today at the latest. Well … I went and got my mail about 10 minutes ago … no paycheck. What the hell do I do now? I have rent to pay. And other bills due soon as well. And now I won’t get my check in the bank until after 5pm on Wednesday since there’s no mail tomorrow. That means my money won’t be available until Thursday. If that check doesn’t show up on Wednesday, I’m really fuckin’ screwed.

So today went from a high to rock bottom. Dammit. Why can’t anything go my way?

Downtown Fargo buildings evacuated after skid-steer loader hits gas line

Several buildings in the area of First Avenue North and Broadway in downtown Fargo were evacuated about 10:15 a.m. today after a skid-steer loader hit a natural gas line in an alley.

[snipped]

Eileen Ketcham was among the workers in the Black Building at 118 Broadway evacuated by firefighters. She said she didn’t smell gas in her mezzanine-level office, but firefighters told her they detected gas in the basement.

…read the entire article …

I found out about this around 1pm when a former co-worker ICQ’d me. And I WORK IN THE BLACK BUILDING!!! The article says that they evacuated the Black Building … apparently it wasn’t the entire building … or at least not 4th floor. I guess we’re just not important enough.

I understand that the gas probably didn’t make it up to the 4th floor, but if there was gas in the building, there was a chance of an explosion. And if there had been one … me being on the 4th floor … I would have been screwed. That building could have had some MAJOR LIABILITY on their hands. I don’t know who to blame … the building management or the fire department. Either way, I was less than happy to find out about this well after the fact. If it involves an area that I am in … I DESERVE TO KNOW!!!

It doesn’t do any good to complain to either management or the fire department now. But I hope if this ever happens again (and I hope it does NOT), they’ll inform the ENTIRE building.

I FINALLY got my overtime pay today … only a WEEK late. And I had to ask for it 3 times. And they STILL didn’t have the exact amount that I should be getting. I was supposed to get it LAST MONDAY. One week later and they don’t have the amount. WTF?!?!

So Justin just wrote me a check for the amount that Kelly thought it would be. If it’s an overpayment, I’m assuming they’ll take it out of my next paycheck. According to the calculations I did on the Payroll Calculator that I found a while ago, they gave me about $13 too much. So that means my next paycheck will be $13 less than it usually is.

I don’t know why things are so damn unorganized. If payroll was due last Monday, they should have had the damn correct total by now. If this happens again, I WILL speak up.

But at least I have my money now. I’d love to put it all towards the laptop, but I’m gonna have to get gas in the next couple of days and groceries again since Lisa is coming up this weekend.

I don’t know if it’s the fact that it’s been so damn gloomy and rainy all week or if it’s something else. But today just wasn’t a good day. I wasn’t in a pissy mood, but I was definitely in a mood. I’ve got a serious case of the blues. :G-frown:

This morning seemed to go by pretty quickly. But this afternoon just drug on. 5 o’clock couldn’t get here quick enough.

I kept waiting for Kelly to show up at the office. Yesterday Justin mentioned that she might stop in. I was hoping she would so I could get my overtime check. Monday was payday. Kelly called (since she works from home now and only comes in every now and again) to ask if it was okay if I only got my regular salary on my check and got my overtime later in the week. I guess the guy who does our payroll was on vacation or something. I said it was fine because I wanted needed my check. I assumed I would get it Wednesday or today since Kelly’s in sometimes on Wednesdays and Justin is in on Thursdays. Well, Justin was in yesterday, and Kelly never showed up today.

I usually don’t mind being in the office my myself. I am on Tuesdays, some Wednesdays, and Fridays. I can plug my mp3 player into my speakers and not have to use headphones. And I’m not distracted with questions and other noises. But some times it’s a real pain in the ass. Like when paydays fall on days when I’m in the office myself. I hate asking when I’m going to get my check … but dammit, I earned that check and I need it to pay bills. In those cases, I generally get it early, but I still hate asking. And the floor I work on is basically empty except for us and Chris and Carla across the hall. There are days I feel completely alone up there … and that’s not a good thing for me. It helps that both Chris and Carla stop over every now and then … even if it’s just for a second as they come or go. But that helps.

What’s really getting on my nerves lately is that I have no idea when the “regular” schedule for Justin changes … at least not until he either shows up or pops up on ICQ. I’m the kind of person who likes a regular routine. I like to know what is going on in advance. Like yesterday … I had NO idea that Justin was going to be in the office. Not that it really mattered, but it would have been nice to know. That just meant that he wasn’t in the office today.

So I STILL don’t have my damn overtime check. I’ve got 5 ½ hours of overtime pay due me. I want it dammit. And now I won’t get it until Monday since no one else is in the office tomorrow. I wanted to know how much I could spend at WalMart/Target/KMart (wherever I decide to go) and how much stuff I can get. I’m at the point where I need to replenish a lot of my stuff … Tide/Downy/kitchen stuff/etc/etc/etc. I also wanna put more into savings. I’m getting really antsy about getting a laptop. I want one NOW!! I put $100 in last nite, so I’ve got $700 earmarked for a laptop, but the one I’m looking at on Dell.com is just under $1100. Plus I’ll need the accessories to go with it (wireless router, carrying bag, etc). My cousin might be able to get me one for just under $900. That would be nice, but I’ll have to see the specs first.

I’ve got the TV off right now and my stereo on (with Chris Daughtry in the player) hoping it would pick my mood up, but it hasn’t worked. Music usually can. Maybe Chris just isn’t doing it today. Hopefully I can get distracted with all my shows on tonite (Y&R on SoapNet at 6, Ugly Betty at 7, CSI at 8, and GH on SoapNet at 9). Guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

I’m starting to feel all ADD right now, so I think it’s time to end this post. I’ve jumped back and forth writing it anyways. I’m just not focused right now. Good thing Y&R is on in about 2 minutes. Time to get lost is a soap opera since I have no life of my own … :G-razz3:

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pissed off at my local ABC station (WDAY) right now. You see, the NASCAR races have moved from ESPN to ABC starting tonite. The pre-race show, NASCAR Countdown, was scheduled to air at 6pm. I turn it on at that time to see that the football game was still on … but there was only 30 seconds left, so I was fine with that. I checked back a couple minutes later only to find the damn local news broadcast. :censored: Come on … air the damn scheduled programming. It’s a LIVE broadcast for christ’s sake. The frickin’ news is going to be on again at 10pm (or after the race). I really doubt that the news is going to change between now and then.

I sent them a strongly worded email complaining about things. NOBODY gets between me and my NASCAR. :devil: I never liked the channel anyways. The only time I watch is if I like the shows … and the only ones really are Thursday nites (Ugly Betty, Gray’s Anatomy, Men in Trees [if that show is even coming back]). I don’t even watch General Hospital there … I watch it on SoapNet.

I doubt my email will even be read let alone get a response or do any good. But I HAD to do something. It was either that or give myself a coronary because I was so pissed.