For lack of Neopets action, not to mention other kinds, I’ve been catching up on my favorite webcomics …since I’ve basically been too lazy to keep up with them on a daily basis. My Stoopid Kitties (TM) haven’t quite figured out why Mommy calls them Eben & Snooch sometimes, then erupts into near-hysterical giggling fits. And I found something on S*P that made me ask:

Has Randy Milholland been reading my firstborn’s LiveJournal?

(Yes, I’m sure I’ve got a special spot in Mommy Hell reserved for me, due to that comment. Those of you who know my “not-caring” face can imagine me looking like that right now.)

And just in case anyone thinks my firstborn is somehow slandered by that remark, I give you Exhibit A. Damm, she’s not even 17 and she already has the “you’re going to suffer for that” look down pat. I’m so proud of her.

Good news: I bought spackle & other nifty stuff for pre-painting prep, and brought home paint sample cards so Geoffrey & I can argue about – I mean, “decide on” – what particular shades to paint. Of course I bought (and used) the putty knives that professionals use when spackling, but it’s also quite fun to apply spackle with your fingers, especially the kind that I got, which is Pepto Bismol pink which fades to white as it dries! And “spackle” is a fun word to say. Go ahead, chant it aloud a few times and see if you don’t grin like an idiot.

Bad news: Anxiety & I got to the new place too late to do more than remove nails & screws from the walls of 2 rooms (kitchen & dining area), and spackle the hell out of those rooms, because there’s no lighting in the living room or bedrooms until we take some lamps over. And when I sat down on the pile of dropcloths to eat my pre-spackling snackie, a spider – that I swear to God was twice the size of the biggest one I’ve ever seen at my old place – ran out from underneath the pile and tried to eat my food. I smooshed it, obviously, which is the only sensible response to anything that gets between me & my snackies. (I also fixed the doorknob hole that the previous tenants had created in the downstairs bathroom, because I am the drywall-fixing goddess. Or something like that.)

Good news: My cell phone is back! I must have earned some good customer service karma, because after no wait on hold, I got an extremely nice and knowledgeable customer service professional on the phone, who fixed my problem in about 4 minutes flat. I’m not even cranky anymore about the 5 or 6 days that I couldn’t get incoming calls.

Bad news: I may have earned that customer service karma from the bullshit I’ve had to put up with from Neopets, since my most recent email from their customer service said only, “Is your account frozen? It might take up to 2 months to get a responce.” (That’s not a typo; the clearly clueless idiot didn’t use his spellcheck.) Like hell it will take 2 months!!! My Premium account will get cancelled faster than you can say, “Fuck off and die.” I guess it’s time to start calling 1-877-NEOPIAN every day on my lunch hour, and maybe on my way home from work too. As I’ve learned from my decade-plus of working in customer service, persistence does pay off. Sometimes they will fix your problem sheerly based on the fact that you wouldn’t stop bothering them otherwise.

Good news: I only have 2 days of work left this week! Wait a second, that happens every Wednesday, let me try again.

Good news: I only have to work 4 days next week and the week after that, since I’m taking a 4-day weekend on the last weekend of the month!

Bad news: My 4-day weekend will not be spent in Aruba or Tahiti, lounging on a tropical beach while a gorgeous Samoan cabana boy brings me refreshing beverages and rubs sunscreen all over me, but rather obtaining, loading, & unloading a U-Haul. (It’s times like these that I begin to embrace the minimalist philosophy much more fully, because considering moving all the crap I have fills me with trepidation. And reminds me how lazy I am.)

Neopets has frozen my account. Gawd only knows why, as the “reason” I was given said, “This previously inactive account was being accessed by someone other than the original owner.” That’s absolutely NOT true, since 1) my account has never been inactive, and 2) nobody has my account password, not even Geoffrey (and it’s NOT guessable, because it’s a random password that one of the IT guys at work gave me for work applications, and it has nothing to do with me personally). The only way that anyone at Neopets could think someone else was accessing my account is that I have logged into the account from the breakroom at work during my lunch hour, maybe half-a-dozen times.

If I don’t get my account unfrozen, or – gods forbid – it’s unfrozen and all my stuff is gone, I will be incredibly furious. They will get the letter-writing campaign from hell. I have over 100,000 np worth of items in my safety deposit box, and my bank account had 1.8 million np (saving up to get a couple of expensive items!).

The phenomenally stupid thing is that I’ve been paying for the Premium account level for 3 months! Why, in the name of little green bottles of sand, would they freeze the account of someone who pays real money to play their imaginary game?!

And how amusing is it that my Neomail (which I don’t actually use except to get messages from Neopets) is NOT frozen. I sent them a polite but unhappy email from that mail account, pointing out exactly how much money a Premium account is annually (which, obviously, I will NOT be paying if this isn’t straightened out PDQ). This is just so fuq’ed up.

Update: I received a prompt reply in my premium Neomail, which was very professionally-worded and courteous, but basically only said, “We’ll look into it ASAP, we do put a higher priority on premium accounts, you need to report it if you believe your account has been hacked, and get in touch with us again if you don’t hear from us within a week.” Hmmm, and my reply basically said, “I don’t know how I could have been hacked, I don’t know what the warning signs of such a thing are anyway, and I don’t know how to report it when I’m frozen out of my account. Feel free to advise me.” (What I didn’t mention is that I will be unsubbing from premium if it takes a week to get fixed, unless they want to toss me a credit for the inconvenience. I’m only patient & understanding about unpleasant or inconvenient happenings if I’m not paying for my entertainment.)

I work a few blocks from a venerable institution of higher learning (or a 4-year party with a $50,000 cover charge, your guess is as good as mine). I get my super mega caffeinated beverages at the Seattle’s Best on campus, so I see more than a few college students every day.

My darling daughter Anxiety showed me a website she found that apparently shows just how one student at that venerable institution spends his time. Most of it is juvenile, stupid, and occasionally hilarious. (I wonder if his parents have seen it… “You spent your finals week coding this?! Why can’t you just get hammered at keggers & commit the occasional daterape, like normal college boys?”)

You know what they say…if there’s not some grain of truth in it, it’s not funny. This diagram explaining the local goth “culture” is certainly all too true…

Today has been interesting. Anyone who’s tried to call me or Geoffrey on our cell phones has gotten a fast busy signal, because (as I was told after waiting on hold for 25 minutes, grr) there is currently a “known technical issue” preventing incoming calls on the (ancient) TDMA network in my area. And it’s been like that since about Friday…no word on when it will be fixed, although the guy on the line very (sarcasm alert!) helpfully told me I’m welcome to call back in 24-48 hours for an update on the issue.

In a mostly-unrelated snafu (different network, same company), the children’s prepaid phone died when I didn’t remember to call up & change the billing info after my debit card gave up the magnetic ghost & I had to get it replaced, and I have spent 5-20 minutes on hold during each of the 8 times I’ve tried to get to the department that will take a payment and turn the phone back on. During all but one of those calls, I got hung up on (luckily, I got through that once, and so the billing info is updated…but to make a payment was a different department, and I haven’t yet gotten through to that department). Hmm…they don’t want to take my money?!

Gee, now I feel so confident & reassured about the customer service of “Splat Int’l,” the company that employs me (I bet ya didn’t need a sarcasm alert for that one). Wouldn’t it be funny if I switched my own personal wireless service to a competing company? Grrrr. (Can you hear me fucking now?!)

I think I’m going to start a new feature on my blog, posted whenever needed (aka “whenever I feel like it”). It will be called:

Traffic Highlight: Today’s traffic highlight is the guy in the late-model green Saab convertible with the Oregon license plate that ends in “931,” driving east on SE Powell Blvd. For a guy who can apparently afford such a nice and expensive vehicle, it sure is sad that you can’t afford a hands-free set to use as you make a phone call while driving. How pathetic! How rude! How unsafe! Maybe you’ll spring for a hands-free set after you drive that Conspicuous Consumption-Mobile into a telephone pole (or, if the gods are truly kind, a cop car).

And now for something completely different…I stopped at the new place after work and snapped a few piccies. The lighting wasn’t great, but I wanted to get the “before” shots for the eventual “before & after” collection. (And the floors are not technically hardwood, I discovered, but rather “parquet wood.” Mmkay, whatever.) We will be spackling (nail holes & drywall dings, left by previous tenants) sometime in the next few days, painting this weekend, moving bits & pieces pretty much every day, and moving in completely the following weekend. So there’s a gallery now, of the new place. Pics include the front room, fireplace, kids’ rooms, and my second-floor balcony which is very cool and I can’t wait to decorate! Wheeee!

And the totally wonderful thing that happened today – Geoffrey got me a pressie!!! It’s something I’ve wanted for ages. If I ever win the lottery, this design will be all over the place in my life! If I get really brave, maybe I’ll get a tattoo of it someday…I would just adore a life-sized version of the original, which is about 42 feet in diameter. (42! The Answer!!!!)

I am alone in the house! Yay!

Well, except for the stupid felines, anyway. Anxiety is away for the weekend on a camping trip, and Geoffrey & Angst went out with Lyse & Mari & Doug to see a scary movie, which the reviews say isn’t all that scary. Whatever.

Before they left, Angst said I was just waiting for them to go so I could do my happy naked dance, like everyone else does when they’re alone in a house. (Now we know what goes on when she’s the only one home!) I replied that if I was to do such a thing, I’d be fine doing it in front of everyone present. Then I said, “But I don’t do a happy naked dance. Well, I guess I do, but only with one person at a time.” More funny things were said by Mari & Geoffrey & Doug.

If it weren’t for the fact that it’s going to be quite a while before I get any alone time again, I’d miss them.

Update: Mari advises that the movie (Exorcism of Emily Rose) is basically “Law & Order CVU (Catholic Victims Unit)”. Ah well, then I’m glad I stayed home.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Cameron Diaz. Okay, I liked her in Charlie’s Angels, but that was about it. However, reading one of the two magazines I’m addicted to, I saw an article where she said, “I don’t call it ‘getting dumped.’ I call it ‘divine intervention.’”

Damn, that’s fuq’ing brilliant. Just in the few minutes since I read that, I already feel better about a few nasty “divine interventions.” *cocky grin*

I like jewelry. I like earrings, but only if I pick them out. I like bracelets, but only purple ones like those trendy “awareness” wristband types (unless you are like Mari, and find the coolest rune bracelet ever!). I like pendants, but only silver and/or with purple stones. (I do not like toe rings. I used to like ankle bracelets…but those were the evil eighties, when ankle bracelets were cool rather than skanky.)

And then there are rings…I think rings are totally kick-ass. Of course I have my silver rune ring that Geoffrey gave me when we decided to do this lifetime commitment (the bracelet Mari got me is exactly matching, but she didn’t realize that when she got it, which makes it even more cool). I have my pentacle ring, which I’ve worn for about 10 years now (technically, I’ve had 3 or 4 different ones, because I keep giving them to Pagan people I love, but I always get the same exact style). And I have my Celtic knotwork band (which I couldn’t find a piccy of, in the eight gazillion pics online of Celtic knotwork rings), to honor the other (Irish) part of my heritage. I would have more rings if I could find more that I liked (and that fit!).

Definitely every girl who is a geek, or is loved by a geek, or who just thinks rings are totally kick-ass, needs this ring!

I just got off the phone with my new landlord! Yes, we got the townhouse and we’re going to be moving!!!

Finances are going to be tight because the new landlord wants us in as soon as possible; I held out for the middle of the month, but for 2 weeks I’m going to be paying double rent. There’s about a zillion things for me to be exhausted just thinking about, but for tonight I’m going to relax and be happy.

This should be terribly entertaining, considering that Lyse just signed papers on her condo – she’s now a homeowner! – and she’ll be moving soon, as well!

After 3 1/2 years of tolerating atrocious neighbors, the potholed road from hell, and various other annoyances…well, the next few weeks will probably be stress-inducing like nobody’s business, but once we’re all settled in, I have a feeling I’m going to be very relieved, contented, and flat-out happy!

Much has been said about the hurricane, and the whole concept of living in hurricane-plagued regions, in recent days/weeks. I think the following link sums it up rather nicely:

You live where, again?

I especially love the commentary on the areas of Utah and Washington DC. *evil grin*