I also have several troubling things going on.

On the money front I have a local tax mess to deal with.   From Dec 2008 to May 2010, I lived in Baldwin which has a Pittsburgh zip code.  They started out with the correct rate – 1%.  I cannot tell if it was going to the right place – my company has a 3rd party collect and distribute the local tax payments.  After the pay period ending 8/22/09, someone at HR Workways changed my local tax withholding to the city of Pittsburgh.  Let me make this clear – I did not and have never lived within the city limits of Pittsburgh.  There were no changes in August of that year – no raises, no change of address, no change of anything.  The biggest problem is not only did they start sending my payments to the city of Pittsburgh they changed my withholding to the tax rate for residents of the city of Pittsburgh.  That rate is 3%.  You might be wondering why I didn’t immediately notice.  The thing is I punch in and out of a computer so they know how much I’m logged in to the second.  August was also a time when header had a lot of VTO.  I have not had 2 paychecks be the same the entire time I’ve worked for the company.  My last paycheck for the pay period ending 10/9/10 was much higher than I expected.  It was ten dollars less than what I expected to get on the week I wasn’t having my car insurance deducted which is around $30.  I compared my last two paychecks and discovered that they stopped deducting 3% and sending it to Pittsburgh and starting deducting 1% and sending to Keystone.  Again – there was absolutely no reason for them to change my local taxes at that time.  If they had changed it, it should have been in June around the time when I changed my address.  I didn’t check at that time because I didn’t expect it to change. I knew it was being sent to Keystone which is labeled as N Versailles so it wouldn’t have showed up as the individual cities changing.  Due to several problems – me working tons of OT, getting local tax bills from 2 different localities and not knowing which was correct (my apartment complex was in both – I wasn’t sure which one I was actually in), moving and losing my W2.  I would have noticed it this weekend – I had just received a copy of my W2 which I had requested and was going to fill out the taxes on the weekend.  I just got a few days head start.

I did call our local payroll person and she told me to call HR Workways since they were the ones who were responsible for entering and keeping track of that information.  I called them after I woke up Friday afternoon and after I had done research to find out when the deductions had originally changed and when it changed back.  The woman I talked to tried to tell me that I should have had my payments going to Pittsburgh since my address was Pittsburgh.  *sigh*  I really wish people would realize that just because the zip code says one city that it’s not necessarily the locality that gets the taxes.  Of course, I’ve always dealt with local people dealing with where the taxes should be sent.  Anyways, she told me she was unable to access the information and that she would open an investigation.  She’s supposed to call me Monday or Tuesday.  Keystone closes every day at 4 pm so I was unable to talk to them.  I’ll have to do that later today.  I’m thinking that I’m going to make a complaint to my company about this.  HR Workways is, from what I understand, a 3rd party company who does the administration work for the company.  Since they had no reason to change it and no reason to change it back when they did, there is something seriously wrong.  I think that someone looked at my city, said it should be sent to Pittsburgh, and made the change in August.  I don’t know why they changed it back when they did.  They should have done it in June, not October.  I’m owed over $180 for 2009 and over $550 for 2010.  I should be able to get the 2009 money relatively soon since the year is complete.  I just have to figure out who I have to get it from.  I don’t know where it is at this point.  I’m not as sure about the 2010 money.  I don’t know if it can be refunded by anyone since the year is still going on or if I have to wait for a W-2.  I am not happy.  No I did not notice it, however I should not have had to notice it.  That’s the bottom line.  They should not have made the change.  I was angry when I figured it out but I was livid when I did the calculations and realized how much money I was owed and that I may not be able to collect the majority of it until February of next year.  I’m trying to be positive – “I got a 2% raise!”  but it’s not really working very well.

I haven’t been feeling well. I was sick last week and this week I’ve apparently begun what appears to be a period although that really shouldn’t be possible at this point.  I’m taking active pills.  But I have the pain.  I’m going to have to be sure I have all the meds to take to work this week.  *sigh*  I should have about 2 months before I have to go through this crap again.

I’m also trying to figure out what to do about my cell phone plans.  I think I might split Mom off – it would be cheaper for me to pay both of them if they were separate, especially if she can get an AARP discount.  I’m also trying to decide if I want a smartphone, what smartphone I want, and if I want to stick with Verizon which has the best network but is also very expensive.  Especially since I’m not really sure my employee discount would apply to a data plan.  The possibility of me changing to Sprint exists as well.  The $69.99 plan sounds good, but I’m not sure about their network.  I’m still trying to gather research.  My contract is up in February, though I could upgrade my phone with Verizon now.  Decisions, decisions.

That’s a lot of words – I don’t update often but I make up for it with the word count, I guess.

by Livejournal user izabeth

Graphics from Enchanted Hollows

Despite getting slammed (for me) with offers this month, romance is not something I’m looking for nor is it something I even expect anymore.  Going to weddings, no matter how much I love or like the people involved is awesome, but always a little bit hard.  Jim is one of my favorite people – he always has been ever since The Beave.  I truly regret not getting to see him recently – it’s been way too long.  Stephany is awesome and I’m thrilled that they’re together and happy.   The wedding was beautiful. Stephany was beautiful.  It was great to see Jim doing one of those dances (thanks for that Stephany!).  But still – Jim was my last single RL friend.  Oh, I know the Knitting Mama doesn’t have someone right now, but that’s not exactly what I meant.  *shrug*  She’ll find someone.  She’s a wonderful woman and a wonderful mom.  I don’t think I know anyone who cares more or loves more.  It will be a struggle, I’m sure, but it will happen in the end.  I highly doubt it’s going to happen to me.

I’m not normal.  Leaving aside the whole depression complication, I’m just weird.  I love to read sci fi and fantasy.  I love Star Trek: TNG and NCIS.  I hate the majority of the reality TV shows.  I love Steeler football but have no desire to go to a game.  I love Pirates baseball and love going to the games.  I’m very literal – too literal according to my mother.  I don’t know how to do small talk.  I’m not comfortable in large groups.  Okay, certain types  of large groups.  Baseball games yes, parties no.  I find word usage funny and a lot of times people don’t get it.  It tends to lose something when you have to explain it.  I have a schedule that most people don’t follow.  I like weather disaster movies that most people think are cheesy (Twister, Volcano, Dante’s Peak, etc.).  I like spice scented and apple scented candles.  It doesn’t help that I’m overweight and not all that pretty.  I watch “Say Yes to the Dress”, “4 Weddings”, read romance novels, watch my married and dating friends’ lives on Facebook and in journals and I wish.  I do wish.  But I don’t see it happening.  Not only do I have all the things listed above, but I’m not used to romantic situations and I’m scared.  The last two I thought were serious.  I ended up with nothing at the end of both.  In fact, I had to end the last one even though he was unhappy in the relationship.  Now I don’t really talk to him because I know he has a tendency to hold on.  The one before – well, I heard he moved out of state.  Despite that, I thought I saw him the other day and I was almost terrified.  Not to mention that dating is too expensive.  Don’t try to tell me it isn’t.  I wouldn’t have to do OT if it wasn’t.

So I will go back to my unsatisfying life and hope that some day I will find people that I fit in with and who want me around and have the time and inclination to do things with me but doubting that I ever will.  I’m in the next thing to complete isolation here and it seems no matter how much I try it doesn’t change.  I’m not about to become someone who badgers people to get them to make and carry through with plans with me.  I’m not going to beg.  Fear will keep me from large groups.  Nothing will change because I don’t know how to change it and I will go on being not happy but not suicidal.  Just hoping that life won’t go on too long because, as my mother likes to tell me, I have no one to take care of me when I’m old.

I don’t normally have problems with the power company.  We don’t have many outages and the ones we do have don’t usually last long.  I’m not counting the outages during the great snow storms of February 2010, though.  That’s nowhere near normal for us.  Not to mention that I was only without power for about an hour, though I was without heat for much longer.  But that was Leland Pointe’s fault.  I digress.  I’m not too happy that rates will be going up soon, but I can live with it.

So why, you wonder, am I upset?  (And yes, I’m upset.  I’ve been fuming, panicking, and grumbling off and on, though rarely all at the same time.)  Duquesne Light has decided that they are going to upgrade the power system in Cantebury Commons.  Great! Wonderful for Cantebury Commons people.  Well, except for those who are furious that they will now have boxes in their yards.  They are also going to do some upgrading to Castlewood.  Wonderful! Why am I upset?  Because not only will I be without power during the day between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:30 pm M-R next week (though they said at the meeting that they would probably not shut the power off till Tuesday or Wednesday since they had to bring all the equipment in and junk), the power will be on and off intermittently for the next 6 weeks.   Yes, you read that right. 6 freaking weeks.

Mom went to the meeting they held on Tuesday and found out several things.  The representative (who retired from DL and now consults for them) said that the cables and equipment were 30 to 40 years old.  Um…we moved in in 2001 and Castlewood (the plan I live in) was only about 5 years old, if that, at that time.  So that makes our plan 14 years old.  Cantebury is that old, but now us.  The issue is that Castlewood is behind Cantebury.  You have to go through Cantebury to get to Castlewood.  So all the power goes through Cantebury to get to Castelwood.  So the entire time they will be working on the main part of the project (Cantebury) we (Castlewood) will have power interruptions.  It will take six weeks or so to get through it all.  They need to put three types of boxes in.  Castlewood has 2 of the 3 in spots around the neighborhood already.  All we need is the mini coffin one (the reps description, not mine).  Cantebury has no boxes – they all have underground sewer-type access.  As they progress through Cantebury the people there will stop having power outages.  The people closest to the beginning will be out the shortest amount of time.  Those of us who are practically up to date will be with power the most amount of time.

Did I mention that they didn’t bother to check the demographics of the people living in these plans?  Cantebury is younger people and middle-aged people.  Castlewood, however, is a patio home community.  The majority of the residents are retirees.  The didn’t have enough room at their meeting because they didn’t expect anyone to show up since the outages would basically be during work hours.  He said that, looked at the group there, then made the remark that they hadn’t bothered to check the demographics.  *sigh*  Now that he’s seen the people at the meeting they will definitely bring a cooling trailer in for next week.   He also said to duct tape the fridge closed so no one opens it.  Yup, duct tape.  To people over 65.  Yeah, I could an 80 year-old grandmother getting out the duct tape for that.  *rolls eyes* Mom’s going to have to unhook the electric garage opener to make it manual.  The family who has someone who needs oxygen will get a generator that will run the oxygen and the fridge.

So why won’t I be around?  Because I will be staying at my father’s house and I’m not sure how I will be able to use the internet.  He has it, but I’m not sure how I would hook it up and all that.  You see, I get up at 10:49 am.  I live upstairs in the loft on the side of the house that faces the sun in the morning.  On an afternoon when the sun was on the other side of the house and was going down, the loft went from 73 degrees to 80 degrees in less than 2 hours with the air off.  The windows do have black out drapes and yes, I have 2 windows.  However, the windows are in dormers which do not provide much air circulation.  You need a fan for that and with no power I have no fan.  Also, I will have no lights to see by.  I will not have an alarm clock to wake me up.  No hot water for my shower, not to mention that the bathrooms (both of them) are in the inside of the house with no windows.  Hard to do hair, brush teeth, put contacts in without being able to see.  I do salads for my lunch with an apple.  I would have to open the fridge to get it (I put ham on my salad for some protein.) I normally make a hot dog in the microwave and eat it as I drive out of the plan. I can do almost none of that with no power!  So I’m removing to my father’s and Kathy’s for the week.

Did I mention that they don’t work on F, S or S?  And that they can’t leave until the power goes on each day no matter how late it takes (though it should never be later than 8 pm)?  And that we should unplug everything so they don’t get fried in power surges when the power goes back on each night?

See, the first week isn’t that difficult.  I’m just going to Dad’s where there will be power even if there’s no a/c.  But at least I’ll be able to use a fan or 2!   The difficult part (for me) is the next 5 weeks.  There is no set schedule as to when the power will be out.  We can call after 5 pm to find out who the power will be out for the next day and when.  Isn’t that nice of them?  Of course, some nights I don’t get home until after 3 am which doesn’t give me much time to figure out what  the hell I’m going to do if they decide to shut the power off between 10:45 am and 12:25 pm.  And since I live in Castlewood, that could happen often.  But only on M-R!  Of course, I only work M-R and I have no time to take off until my vacation at the end of September (which is 7 weeks away, of course) and no time to take off after that until December!  If I did, I would have stayed home sick on Monday! I’m sorry, I have 5 hours.  That’s half a day.   It’s not going to go very far over 5 weeks.  Not  to mention that until I get to the last hour, I have to to take it in 2 hour increments.   So I can use it three times.  *sigh*  I wish I could move somewhere until the end of September.  It would make life so much easier.  Although I would miss Mom, Jack, Gracie, and especially my baby Kit Kit.  Who for some reason feels the need to try and cover his water dish.  I don’t know why, but I was just watching him paw the carpet and table shelf around his water bowl.  And no, I can’t just run over to Dad’s and take a shower on those days after the first week.  He lives 45 minutes or so away from Mom!  Argh!

But if you don’t see me next week, that’s why.  Stupid power company and their stupid upgrades and not upgrading Cantebury when they extended the lines to build Castlewood.

I got up a half hour early due to a closed bridge on my route. I was so happy. Its amazing how things can change. I walked out my door and closed it not stopping in enough time to keep it from closing. Why did I need to keep the door from closing you ask? Well, the door was locked and my keys were still inside. Its now 430 in the morning and my day was just beginning.

Remembering that Tom had told me that it was “easy” to break into our apartment, I tried. With his help and without his help. All I got was a damaged card and some blisters. Oh, and all hot and sweaty. Really sweaty. He said call you mom; she has a key to your car and you can still go into work. I’d be late and half to leave early to get back in the aparment to keep from paying $200+ to get back in. So I call Mom, get her out of bed and she heads up here. We’re having a horrible time staying connected. But she comes.

We knew it was going to set the car alarm off, but having been assured that yes the car would start we went for it. Well, the alarm did go off but the car did not start. *sigh* At this point Mom and I head for McDonald’s to get something to eat. We stay there till 745. Mom says JC Penny’s is opening early so we head over there so she can show me the dress she likes. Its not open. So we go shopping. And finally head over to the office to get the door unlocked.

Mr Maintenance Man had to come from his house so it looked like I was going to have to stay even longer. Luckily I got my first break of the day. One of the nice ladies who work in the office goes over to my apartment with me and lets me in. Mom gets her cup and I head for work.

I made it to work okay, but then the trouble started up again. They had me crossed off the list. I had called and told them I was going to be late and possibly not be there at all but that I was going to try to make it in. I go to the seat that they have to be in and someone’s sitting there. There is an open seat, but there’s no chair. I steal a chair and log in. I should mention at this point that I’m in one of the new dual stations and unlike everybody else the never trained me to use it. But the girls next to me said they would help. I log in and try to get into Enterprise. It won’t let me. I try again. Still no luck. They say shut down and restart so I do. The say what are you going into. I say Citrix and they say no, you have to go into alpha gateway. *sigh* So I go in there and it lets me in. However it is running like frozen mollasses. So I restart. Again. Still running slow.

I go back to the lead, Greg, and tell him my problem. He says to go to G9. I log out and grab all my stuff (jacket, purse, lunchbox, backpack, and cup) and head there. I log in and the computer won’t let me in on either side (I was in a multiple station which has two computers). I go back to Greg and he says let me see. He then says go to A. I log out and grab a seat over there. He’s still with me and I try to log in to both sides of the A station (it was a multiple, too). One side I have no luck, the other side I hit paydirt. He says stay in singles and try again in about 15 minutes and leaves me be. I go and sign the board because its taken over 20 minutes to get to a point where I can actually work. This gets my punch changed and prevents my numbers from dropping. I start working. I try the other side – no luck. I wait and try again. Yay! It works! So I punch into multiples and start working. I get one done and look! Its time for lunch.

I go to lunch and find out Gerry’s was fired yesterday, just like I had thought. Becky, Stacey, and Maryanne all know that their probation is being extended. I haven’t heard a thing about mine. Lovely, more to worry about all weekend. We hear that the schedules been changed and head over to check it out.

My seat (B33) is now highlighted and it says to go into Tampa. So I log out of the A station, grab all my stuff (again) and head for B33. I log in there and we’re talking. In the meeting yesterday they had said specifically that if you’re in a new dual station stay in it all day. So Becky goes and asks the supervisor on duty and he says no. Go into Tampa. We then realize that the stations we’re working in won’t go into Tampa. Another girl went and asked and we’re told to go to A or G. So I log out and grab all my stuff and head back to my A station. I log in and another break. They both work. So I head back to the board to log my problems and have my punches corrected again. I work.

I develop a really sore knee, a headache, tension pain in my neck and shourlders. By the end of the day I feel tired and kinda cryey. I decided that this would not be good for me to go to the party with. *sigh* I really wanted to go to the party. My friends already think that a) I’m flakey and B) I can’t be counted on and I don’t want to perpetuate that. But I’m basically done in. I also had told the SCK that there was a good chance that I wouldn’t be there due to the fact that I have to get up at 3 in the morning. That’s right – 3 am. I haven’t been able to get a hold of Tom all day (and I’ve tried three times). He did call me while I was working but I couldn’t answer then. He finally calls and I go home.

Nope, it doesn’t stop there. I get home and go to make macaroni and cheese with hot dog in it. I reach down to pull out the drawer beneath the oven which has all the pots and pans. It won’t open. I get down on the floor (with the sore knee, tension in the neck and shoulders and painful back), practically pull the door front off and can’t figure out why it won’t open. I push it in a little and pull back – voila! It opens. *sigh*

I finish eating. The whole time I’ve been having connection problems with Tom. Then I get diarrhea. I try to take a nap, but it doesn’t work. Tom wakes me (apparently I did fall asleep) and I go to take my pills. I get them out, pick them up, and realize I don’t have anything to drink. I grab it, come out to the living room, grab my computer, and sit down. Firefox crashes. Digsby crashes. I get them both restarted and the connection isn’t very good. Most of the FF pages won’t load and Digsby won’t connect. They finally do start working and that brings me to this point.

That is my bad day, but there were some bright points. I got to spend time with Mom. I got to get some groceries. I found out what happened to Gerry. I got to lie down in my bed. Most importantly – I panicked for 15 seconds or less and that was it. True, I did cry a tiny bit after work, but nothing like my depression and anxiety normally would have had me doing. Being off those pills is awesome! Sometimes I think that God does things like this to me so I know how much I can handle. Thank God.

I don’t want to find myself in a hole I can’t get out of.  At the prompting of my mother I wonder if I’m moving from depression to bipolar.  I don’t want to find myself in a place where dying is more desirable than living.  I was there once.  I don’t want to go back.  I just don’t see a way out.

I’m pretty sure Tom’s gotten his dream back.  I don’t want to say anything more because I don’t want to jinx it.  But it is amazing how God moves in people’s lives.

Mom had a tooth crack and it was removed.  That was giving her a lot of pain.  This is her first day bak at work since Thursday. She had to stay home with me Monday and yesterday which gave her two more days to recover.

Dad and Kathy came to the hospital with me.  I wasn’t sure I wanted them there, but got scared and called them Monday morning and they still came.  I wish Tom would have been able to have been there, but I know what he was doing was important.  I can’t wait to talk to him later.

Tom has Verizon on one of his phones. I have Verizon.  This means we can talk to each other on these phones at any hour of the day and not have to worry about going over minutes.  This is a good thing.  I know we used over a thousand peak minutes last month.  But I did have to get a texting plan.  So if you want to text me, you can!

Yes, I’ll probably be spammy this week as I get feeling better.  Its been a long time since I’ve had time to sit at the computer for any length of time.  Tom and I usually stay out too late!

I think tis time for me to go lie down and think about my sin of eating something too complicated too soon.  Don’t worry.  I’ll be back.

I am planning on going to work tomorrow.  I was able to get an appt with my doc, but not until Thursday night at 630.  Guess that changes those nice weekly plans I drew up last night, eh?  lol.  Tomorrow I face work and therapy.  Not the happiest of combinations, but it is supposed to be a little warmer.  Now if I could only figure out how to get a weather plug in to work, I’d show you all the weather here.  Maybe I can find someone to help me.  *sigh*  Its so complicated!

Time for sleep.  Good night all!