330. Save Me -- Some Wednesday Randomness

1. Abigail is in love with the Central Park NonHoodie.  She wants one.  In turquoisey-blue.

*Lalalalalalala, I'm not LISSS-EN-INNNNNG*

Thank goodness mine is too big for her.

2. The brim to her hat I was beginning to think would kill me.  But so far I'm still hanging on...by a thread.  I've hit a knitting wall.  I've put the sweaters away and I'm trying to work on this, but I just can't seem to go on.

 

3. For no particular reason except it seemed like the right thing to do, I did a half inch (I set out to do an inch, but I just.could.not.carry.on) of tighter rib on US 2 needles, as a sort of a "turning row," so to speak.  Now I'm going to switch to US 6s and start cabling.  If this thing turns out too big, I will just have to fall on that machete that I have in the garden closet.  Actually, I kid. There must be a more efficient and less painful way of doing myself in than that -- like, for instance, keep on knitting the brim 'til I expire of knitting stress. Suicidal ideations, even.  You get it all here at Chez Norma. 

4.  I forgot how much work it is to housetrain a puppy, even one that is very smart, is catching on really fast in every way, and is partially trained already.  I'm not as young as I used to be, but Yorkies are utterly adorable and engaging -- at least this one is.

5.  I know I've said it before, but this time I really mean it:  I'm thinking of moving to Siberia, for a few reasons. 

6.  One such reason is that my Verizon phone number apparently previously belonged to someone who is running from bill collectors.  I get at least one call per day for a certain person, and I'm about to blow a fuse.  I keep telling these banks and whatevers to take my number off their records, that I do not know a C.... B....., and they keep saying they do, and then the next day a different (or sometimes the same) person calls again.  I might have gotten through to the person I screamed at yesterday.  She seemed sufficiently impressed that my ire was not feigned and that I was not impersonating myself pretending NOT to be the subject C....B....., but we shall just see.   

7.  A call to Verizon to ask if this number used to belong to someone else confirmed that, "Well, yes, there just aren't enough numbers in the world for everyone to have their own unique number," and a whole bunch of other bullshit that the person answering was trained to say in these situations.  So my choices are to get a new number which might still have belonged to someone else in a similar situation, or pay $4.95 a month to block up to 20 numbers.  P.S.  When I switched from my old Verizon cell phone (which was problem-free) to the BlackBerry, ALSO THROUGH VERIZON, they insisted that I had to change my number.  InSISted.  But there aren't enough numbers to go around.  I'm sure the answer is "it's complicated."  My favorite (not) explanation for why things suck.  

Fuuuuuuuuck.  

8.  My upper back hurts.  A lot.  Spasming.  This is a major reason for the knitting slump.  It's even preventing me from working out, which a part of me thinks might make it better, but much like the brim-knitting -- I just.can't.bring.myself.to.do.it.  Today can't come too soon, as that is when I hope to be able to get to see the chiropractor.  If he's gone early for Thanksgiving, I will just sit down and cry. Or drown myself in a bottle of rum or something.

9.  But lest you think it's all doom and gloom around here, I'm off work for several days, which is quite nice. They do give the med students a chance to breathe once in a great while. 

10.  We had a pre-Thanksgiving turkey dinner last night.  When my mom cooks, as she's going to this year, we don't get to have any leftovers.  As I think I have established, I love leftovers.  So we had pre-overs, or something.  And better than that, it was all local, mostly organic, (even the cranberries!) and included the one bag of peas I froze from our garden this summer. Fantastic. Abigail asked, "Is this a Vermontarian meal?" thus coining my favorite new word.

11.  Sometimes when one is feeling down, all it takes to prevent one from jumping off a cliff is a well placed flirtatious encounter with a hot guy or two.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.  

Comments

[naomi]

I'm glad to see you're still able to write optimistically. I hope your back feels better for the weekend!

[Sarah]

Argh! I hope you have soem relief from the back pain soon, darling.

[Laurie]

The time off will help. You will be able to coddle your back, be with family, decompress.

[Jean]

You crack me up about Abigail's CP... or should I say Abigail's not CP... Hope your back is feeling better, nothing sucks more than a hurting back. The only thing that's worse is having to change your phone number. oh. crud. Have a Happy Tday and enjoy that puppy and the fam.

[Jennifer]

Verizon S**Ks! Secundogeniture's phone is horrible, too!

Loved this line - *Lalalalalalala, I'm not LISSS-EN-INNNNNG* Please take it easy and give your back a rest. It sounds like you could use a little time off and some pampering (maybe a massage???) Feel better soon.

[Teresa C]

We had the same thing happen with our phone number! We have had this number now for something like fourteen or fifteen years. For the first SIX we would get calls for M.W. and her husband M.W. We would complain, blah, blah, but the calls did start to diminish over the years. Then, in the last few months, out of the BLUE! we got a call for her. Man! Does she not tell anyone where she is?

[Carole]

That IS the problem with dining elsewhere on Thanksgiving. I think I'm going to cook a turkey on Saturday. As for the bill collector thing, tell me about it. We get calls for Dale's ex-wife a lot and it's so frustrating. The woman hasn't lived here in over 20 years!

[Kate/Massachusetts]

My widowed mother despised phone salemen. She would "warn" them once not to call again. Thereafter, she would give them a "blast" from my father's police whistle which was hung by its lanyard beside the phone. She had no further difficulty. Just a thought...

[Margene]

Sounds like the holiday stress is getting to you already. Breath, relax and enjoy your weekend. It's time to knit something nice for yourself, say a cashmere scarf or gloves. You deserve to pamper yourself because you are so generous to others. Good luck with the chiro and if that doesn't work drink!
XOXOX
Happy Thanksgiving, my friend!

[Diane T]

Definitely go with the rum for your back. Your back will still hurt but you won't care!

Have a happy Thanksgiving.

[norma]

Commenting to myself for a test. Hi everyone!

[Elizabeth D]

Yup, I've had that phone thing at two different numbers! We've had this one for 13 years now, and I think it's been at least 3 years since the last call we got for John N. No, I do NOT know where he is, you morons!! I especially enjoy it when they ask "Are you sure?"

[Kathy]

Clearly, Abigail must learn to knit!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Patty]

YOU are the best and here's to a great weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!

[marianne]

Your Abigail sounds like my Havala. Back voodoo, that sucks, oh how that sucks. I hope your chiropractor is in and helps you out. I actually understand your mom's stand with her own left overs..(sorry)..I love leftovers too. When I cook and bake for three days only to have Bobby's side of the family descend and eat and take away and there's NOTHING left for us..well, I've cried. 'well placed flirtatious encounter with hot guy or two' the power of which simply cannot be underestimated. I'm glad they were 'there'. 'Vermontarian' sounds like a winner to me.

[Carrie]

The callers figure it out eventually. My phone number used to be owned by some eastern European drug cartel member, I'm pretty sure, but they don't call me anymore.

[Erika]

It's true about the phone numbers! In fact at some point we will run out of phone numbers entirely. The current forecast is that by 2038, we will have to start using either four-digit area codes or eight-digit phone numbers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Numbering_Plan#Future_expansion_of_NANP

[Erika]

(Err, the main article is probably a better link. Haven't finished my coffee this morning.)

[gayle]

Sounds like a perfect time for Abigail to learn to knit!

When I was in high school, my dad had a beagle puppy who was so well paper-trained that he thought that was what paper was for. He never passed up a piece of paper on the floor. Including the 5 page paper I had just written for my English class that I had set down next to me. (And this was in the Dark Ages before computers, so that was five HANDWRITTEN pages.)
The teacher found it an interesting variation on the "The dog ate my homework" theme...

[kellys]

When that happened to me with my cell, I asked for THEIR number and the name of THEIR company, then said great, the better business bureau will be contacted for HARASSMENT. Yup, I put that in caps when I talked too. Anyway, the word harassment really got through to someone...

[Mercuria]

Something similar happened to cat (domesticat?) at domesticrafts (except that, instead of having the same phone number, Duck just happened to have the same name).

http://www.domesticrafts.com/Clog/2006/08/25/BeingHarassedByStupidPeopleReallySucks.aspx

Can't your husband send a c&d? Or something like that...?

[jessica~]

"we had pre-overs" It's statements like this why I love your blog! I'm so sorry about your back. I'm battling back issues too (do to my misaligned hips, who knew?!). I wish I could recommend my (non-chriro) guy but I think the commute may be a bit too long. :( good luck with your back and have a wonderful Holiday!!

[Margene]

So, I'm looking through your ABC Along posts and find you didn't do, or didn't tag, "W". Do you do "W"? ;-D

[Manise]

I kind of like the idea with the whistle- I'm sure they won't come back for more deafening experiences. Hope your back feels better soon. Happy Thanksgiving!

[Jena (the yarn harpy)]

I get downright b!+chy when I get calls like that and they rarely hang up before you do, so I just start in on them until they do. I started to get phone calls for my brother-in-law's ex-wife and I FREAKED out on them. (I guess at some point they just start calling anyone with the same last name in hopes of finding the debtors?) The worst are the recordings because you can't do anything - we get those on our home phone for whomever had our phone number before us, so I screen almost all phone calls on the home phone.
If you have the patience to try it, ask for a supervisor, get their name, and then explain to them that they are breaking the law by continuing to call you and you will be contacting your lawyer to pursue harassment charges and will be sure to include their name in the legal paperwork. It has worked for my in-laws.

As for Verizon's answer to you about unique numbers, that's just lame. There isn't anything they can do about it, but they can at least be more human. I wouldn't shell out the $5 extra, but that's just me. That's $60 a year better spent elsewhere, I think.

[Vicki]

I could use a #11.
Happy Thanksgiving, Norma!!

[Kris]

I had a similar experience for a while, with some dude named Norman Miller who was clearly in a lot of financial trouble. Except people would assume I was Mrs. Miller and leave me messages like "Kris, I'm calling with regards to your loan application" which made me think someone stole my identity ("Kris" was the only portion of my name on my outgoing message). Since people often lie about who they are to bill collectors, it makes it really difficult to convince a bill collector that they have the wrong contact information. *sigh*

http://kriscrafts.bradandkris.com/index.php?s=norman+miller&submit=search

There's a comment on the original (second on the page) post that has some helpful suggestions. Kinda funny that my loser's name is just one letter off from yours. :P

[KittyMommy]

Oh, Yorkies are SO smart, but they also have the terrier stubborn streak in spades. It seemed like it took forever for my parents and their Yorkie to reach an agreement about appropriate toilet habits. I'm still not sure who trained whom, but it all worked out in the end!

And I probably shouldn't mention that I am working on a pair of longies in the most gorgeous (heathery, subtle) turquoisey-blue Peace Fleece (Volgassippi Blue). I mean, she is the mother of your grandpuppy, after all. ;o)

[Jill B]

I'm a pretty regular lurker, so I wanted to wish you and yours a good holiday.
The phone thing sucks big time. I ditched my land line because I would get debt collection agencies, the woman's office, heck even her child's school called and wanted to know when I was going to pick up said child. I had a hard time trying to explain to the school that I was an absolute stranger and picking-up the child would basically be considered kidnapping under state and federal laws.
You could get them to stop but 3 months later everyone was calling again.
Now my cell I've been pretty lucky with. I only occasionally get a call from the Indiana Department of Parole. Kinda makes me feel a little dangerous ;)

[claudia]

I'd ditch that number.

Hot guys! More!

[Cheryl S.]

Remind me never to change my phone number. I guess that means no Blackberry. Ever.

[rosescottage]

I had the same problem with bill collectors looking for someone who had the number before me. Ask to talk to their supervisor and ask the supervisor to take your phone number off of their contact info for this person. It took me a solid week of insisting to talk to supervisors, I talked to more than a dozen, but after that the bill collectors stopped calling at least.

[Ellen]

This probably won't be much consolation, but when my husband and son switched from a verizon phone to a Blackberry about 6 months ago, they both got to keep their same numbers. But they both have had problems with their call logs on and off.
I've also noticed that the sales people at verizon all tell you different things - and some are more knowledgeable than others..........sometimes we just keep going back until we get the answer we want!

[Julie]

I have Verizon and no problems (laughing at fate here, I know). I have back spasms every day. I always dreaded the thought of being in an accident and someone putting me on a stretcher - even looking at photos of people restrained on their backs makes mine go crazy. It helps to sit on the floor with my back against the edge of the sofa, and then I stretch my back on that. Can you picture that?

[Doris]

My son got a new number because of a "stalking" ex-girlfriend and some changes that he made in life and needed not to hear from some of his friends who could sometimes talk him into some bad decisions. We were all for it, even with the charge that we had to pay (and we pay for his cell phone right now cause he's a student). So he got a new number that belonged to someone who had "bill collectors" calling him. Only his weren't banks and the like, they were people who were threatening to kill him and his family. Needless to say he moved on to another phone number. Fortunately, this one has had no issues. Good luck with yours.

[Imbrium]

Ha...work put me in charge of dealing with telemarketers and other harassing phone calls because I'm the only person in the office willing to be mean. And really, I'm NOT mean - I just record the company, the name of the person I speak to, and the date and time, and then tell them in no uncertain terms to never call again. I'm not sure how that would work with debt collectors, but I think threats of being charged with harassment might be enough to give them pause.

[Cookie]

Clearly, the knitting is hurting your back and Abigail will be lucky to get a hat. ;^)

I hope you feel better soon. Can you get a hot guy to work on your back for you? Or maybe just the flirting will be enough.

Don't get me started on phones. It's a huge part of why we hate people.

xo

[A]

I had the same problem with my new phone number! Finally I started sending all unknown number to my voicemail and I changed my voicemail message to say "This is A's phone, not Carla's. I do not know her, I can not contact her for you, I do have her new number, I do not know why she isn't paying her bills. If you are calling for A, please leave a message, if you are calling for Carla, don't bother"

Now, I'm not sure if such a message is an option for you, but people got the hint after a week or two!!

[Cathy-Cate]

Phone stuff bites. Grrr. We have had only occasional bill collector stuff (then there was the person with my name with a lien against her, when we went to close on our house, but that got cleared up pretty quick), but our home number used to be confused with some very, um, socially ACTIVE young lady's, and we would get calls for her at 2 or 3 in the morning from bars. That gets old fast.

Hope the chiropractor helped.

We have Thanksgiving at my parents', but we and they combine the cooking, and they send leftovers home with all, while keeping some for themselves. Works out for everybody, and no one gets incredibly sick of turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Stacy]

Oh HECK no! You cannot throw that line about the hot guys in at the very end and expect us to not want details! (It has been WAY too long since I have had an encounter like that, so can I live vicariously through you for just a moment?)

[amanda]

Regular lurker here chiming in...Debt collectors will call similar names too - they don't care who pays as long as someone does. My mom had that problem with her landline, so she called the state attorney general's office. They told her it was harassment and to send a certified 'cease and desist' letter to the collection agency. Rather than spending the money she just told the collector what she was told by the AG and that put an end to it.