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Monday-Tuesday stuff
Jun. 13th, 2023 08:55 pmThings done so far this week:
1. Ye gods and little fishes, the Collegetown office is SO FAR BEHIND on basic tasks. Like, I understand Mom Boss and Aunt Boss's reluctance to hire people who would have a 1-hour-plus commute each way, but I really think they should start pushing the job at, like, retirees who are bored and need something to fill 20-30 hours a week. Or even just hire a temp to do a bunch of scanning and filing for one month. Every Monday I feel like I'm drowning and I only ever manage to claw back like three days at a time toward where they should be.
Anyway, I took another bundle of lease folders to the downtown office so Ms. Random Numbers could scan and upload them, because she can't do a bunch of accounting stuff until that step happens. As for when I will have time to email the tenants their copies? Who the fuck even knows.
I did get mostly caught up on processing lease guarantees, which is something. (Lease guarantees are what we do for college students in lieu of a rental history/employment verification/credit check, because those options are Not Useful for a 19-year-old undergrad, and only slightly less ridiculous for a 23-year-old grad student.)
2. I'm gearing up toward starting the staging/photo/video summer cycle for real. I wanted to stage a couple apartments today while the weather was good, but alas, they weren't ready so I will be trekking around tomorrow in the rain. Ugh. Also I need to steal a cart from the building where our office is located because I think the Commons maintenance office only has 1 cart and they will need it for moving cleaning supplies and furniture and stuff, but I can't schlep staging materials hither and yon without a cart. (Okay, I mean, technically I am physically capable of that, but it would be extraordinarily uncomfortable, and also slow and not an efficient use of my time.)
Also Aunt Boss told me on Monday that the company that makes our gimbals had their app pulled for Android phones because Google thinks it's shit on various technical levels. It's still compatible with iPhones so I am okay downtown, but who knows how long that will last? Hopefully the company updates their damn app in short order, because otherwise we'll have to research and buy new gimbals and that is an expensive pain in the neck.
3. Today I did laundry, blargh. I will do laundry again on Sunday, though that should only be two loads rather than three, and then I will be back on my normal schedule of alternating laundry weeks and recycling weeks.
4. Ms. Rise-and-Shine was complaining today about banks being closed on Juneteenth, and how it wasn't fair that this became a federal holiday in 2 years while it's been over twenty since 9/11. I said it's taken over a hundred and fifty years for Juneteenth to become a federal holiday -- since the end of the Civil War -- so even if things have moved fast recently it's missing the point to focus on the past couple years. Mr. Geniality agreed with me, and said maybe 9/11 would end up as a holiday in another decade or two. I said something to the general effect of, yeah, but Pearl Harbor still doesn't have a holiday... so maybe the idea is that all things like that sort of get folded into Memorial Day?
Anyway, it's nice to have someone on my political side in the office. (Aunt Boss and Mom Boss are emphatically on my political side, but I'm only in that office one day a week. Company Owner, Lawyer Man, and the two accountants are pretty solidly conservative, though thankfully not the frothing culture warrior type. *sigh* Small favors.)
5. Nick sent me a photo of an egret in flight over a pond near his house. :)
1. Ye gods and little fishes, the Collegetown office is SO FAR BEHIND on basic tasks. Like, I understand Mom Boss and Aunt Boss's reluctance to hire people who would have a 1-hour-plus commute each way, but I really think they should start pushing the job at, like, retirees who are bored and need something to fill 20-30 hours a week. Or even just hire a temp to do a bunch of scanning and filing for one month. Every Monday I feel like I'm drowning and I only ever manage to claw back like three days at a time toward where they should be.
Anyway, I took another bundle of lease folders to the downtown office so Ms. Random Numbers could scan and upload them, because she can't do a bunch of accounting stuff until that step happens. As for when I will have time to email the tenants their copies? Who the fuck even knows.
I did get mostly caught up on processing lease guarantees, which is something. (Lease guarantees are what we do for college students in lieu of a rental history/employment verification/credit check, because those options are Not Useful for a 19-year-old undergrad, and only slightly less ridiculous for a 23-year-old grad student.)
2. I'm gearing up toward starting the staging/photo/video summer cycle for real. I wanted to stage a couple apartments today while the weather was good, but alas, they weren't ready so I will be trekking around tomorrow in the rain. Ugh. Also I need to steal a cart from the building where our office is located because I think the Commons maintenance office only has 1 cart and they will need it for moving cleaning supplies and furniture and stuff, but I can't schlep staging materials hither and yon without a cart. (Okay, I mean, technically I am physically capable of that, but it would be extraordinarily uncomfortable, and also slow and not an efficient use of my time.)
Also Aunt Boss told me on Monday that the company that makes our gimbals had their app pulled for Android phones because Google thinks it's shit on various technical levels. It's still compatible with iPhones so I am okay downtown, but who knows how long that will last? Hopefully the company updates their damn app in short order, because otherwise we'll have to research and buy new gimbals and that is an expensive pain in the neck.
3. Today I did laundry, blargh. I will do laundry again on Sunday, though that should only be two loads rather than three, and then I will be back on my normal schedule of alternating laundry weeks and recycling weeks.
4. Ms. Rise-and-Shine was complaining today about banks being closed on Juneteenth, and how it wasn't fair that this became a federal holiday in 2 years while it's been over twenty since 9/11. I said it's taken over a hundred and fifty years for Juneteenth to become a federal holiday -- since the end of the Civil War -- so even if things have moved fast recently it's missing the point to focus on the past couple years. Mr. Geniality agreed with me, and said maybe 9/11 would end up as a holiday in another decade or two. I said something to the general effect of, yeah, but Pearl Harbor still doesn't have a holiday... so maybe the idea is that all things like that sort of get folded into Memorial Day?
Anyway, it's nice to have someone on my political side in the office. (Aunt Boss and Mom Boss are emphatically on my political side, but I'm only in that office one day a week. Company Owner, Lawyer Man, and the two accountants are pretty solidly conservative, though thankfully not the frothing culture warrior type. *sigh* Small favors.)
5. Nick sent me a photo of an egret in flight over a pond near his house. :)
taxes and voting
Nov. 1st, 2022 06:47 pmI finished two case studies and verification tests today, and I'll knock off the third next week. I am 96% done with moving up a certification level, baby! :)
(Tangentially, I learned the reason why I have been unsuccessful in downloading or using the "cloud" version of Not the IRS's proprietary tax prep software to do case studies at home. Apparently you need "work from anywhere" permissions to do that, which none of the pages explaining the software ever bother to mention, what the ACTUAL FUCKING FUCK.
*deep breaths* *counts to ten* *unclenches jaw*
It's okay. I'm fine.)
I also voted in the midterms, because I straight-up skipped a week in my head and thought it was election day TODAY instead of next week. Whoops! But because my usual polling place is currently unavailable while they make some ADA compliance alterations, my temporary replacement polling place (Ithaca Town Hall) happened to be one of the two local early voting sites, so I didn't realize my error until I overheard the poll workers discussing early voting hours.
And I mean, why NOT vote early? So I did, and the upshot is that I now have one fewer thing to worry about next week.
(Tangentially, I learned the reason why I have been unsuccessful in downloading or using the "cloud" version of Not the IRS's proprietary tax prep software to do case studies at home. Apparently you need "work from anywhere" permissions to do that, which none of the pages explaining the software ever bother to mention, what the ACTUAL FUCKING FUCK.
*deep breaths* *counts to ten* *unclenches jaw*
It's okay. I'm fine.)
I also voted in the midterms, because I straight-up skipped a week in my head and thought it was election day TODAY instead of next week. Whoops! But because my usual polling place is currently unavailable while they make some ADA compliance alterations, my temporary replacement polling place (Ithaca Town Hall) happened to be one of the two local early voting sites, so I didn't realize my error until I overheard the poll workers discussing early voting hours.
And I mean, why NOT vote early? So I did, and the upshot is that I now have one fewer thing to worry about next week.
A small, everyday example of white privilege:
On Sunday afternoon, as I was driving home from Arby's, a cop pulled me over. He was a generic white man, probably somewhere between 30 and 50 years old. He asked for my license and registration, which I provided, and then asked if I knew why he'd stopped me.
I said no, because I had absolutely no idea.
He said I'd been holding my phone, and did I know that talking on a handheld device while driving was illegal?
I said yes, I knew that, but I hadn't been making a phone call. I was just turning my audiobook back on. I then picked up my phone from the cupholder, swiped it open, and showed him that the active app was, indeed, Audible, with an audiobook cued up in the middle of a chapter.
Hmm, he said. And what audiobook was I listening to?
Herodotus's Histories, I said, as he looked at the phone in my hand. It was, of course, displaying Herodotus's Histories.
Hmm, he said again, and went back to his patrol car to do something with my license and registration.
When he came back, he returned my documents and told me to be more careful about my audiobooks. I should turn them on before I start driving, and not adjust anything while on the road.
I said I would be more careful, and should I expect a ticket?
He said no, he was letting me off with a warning. This time.
And then I drove home, carefully.
...
The thing is, I was not afraid at any point in that interaction. Worried about a potential ticket, sure! Riding a small adrenaline buzz because cop car lights are calculated to rouse that response, you bet! But not afraid. And I did get off with only a warning. (Probably because the cop didn't think his chances of winning the case were very high if I chose to contest a ticket, and he suspected I would contest it.)
I am 100% certain that my lack of fear is because I'm white, and about 90% sure the mostly-harmless way that the interaction played out is because I am not just white, but a white woman who does an excellent hapless gazelle impression when that seems like the most useful persona to display.
And that is white privilege.
Not because we should all be afraid of cops, nor because being afraid of cops is wrong. But because nobody should NEED to be afraid of cops, and at the moment, a vast percentage of people in America do, in fact, have completely valid reasons to be scared of the police. :(
On Sunday afternoon, as I was driving home from Arby's, a cop pulled me over. He was a generic white man, probably somewhere between 30 and 50 years old. He asked for my license and registration, which I provided, and then asked if I knew why he'd stopped me.
I said no, because I had absolutely no idea.
He said I'd been holding my phone, and did I know that talking on a handheld device while driving was illegal?
I said yes, I knew that, but I hadn't been making a phone call. I was just turning my audiobook back on. I then picked up my phone from the cupholder, swiped it open, and showed him that the active app was, indeed, Audible, with an audiobook cued up in the middle of a chapter.
Hmm, he said. And what audiobook was I listening to?
Herodotus's Histories, I said, as he looked at the phone in my hand. It was, of course, displaying Herodotus's Histories.
Hmm, he said again, and went back to his patrol car to do something with my license and registration.
When he came back, he returned my documents and told me to be more careful about my audiobooks. I should turn them on before I start driving, and not adjust anything while on the road.
I said I would be more careful, and should I expect a ticket?
He said no, he was letting me off with a warning. This time.
And then I drove home, carefully.
...
The thing is, I was not afraid at any point in that interaction. Worried about a potential ticket, sure! Riding a small adrenaline buzz because cop car lights are calculated to rouse that response, you bet! But not afraid. And I did get off with only a warning. (Probably because the cop didn't think his chances of winning the case were very high if I chose to contest a ticket, and he suspected I would contest it.)
I am 100% certain that my lack of fear is because I'm white, and about 90% sure the mostly-harmless way that the interaction played out is because I am not just white, but a white woman who does an excellent hapless gazelle impression when that seems like the most useful persona to display.
And that is white privilege.
Not because we should all be afraid of cops, nor because being afraid of cops is wrong. But because nobody should NEED to be afraid of cops, and at the moment, a vast percentage of people in America do, in fact, have completely valid reasons to be scared of the police. :(
This past week at the rental office has been A Lot, about 90% of which is the result of my own actions.
To summarize, I sent out notices to current tenants who had placed their apartments on hold to notify them that the hold period was ending. I then also sent notices to everyone who hadn't responded at all to our "hey, what are your housing plans?" emails in the fall to say that as a courtesy we'd been contacting them directly if someone was interested in their apartments, but because the hold period was ending, after [date x] we'd just assume their apartments were available... so did they maybe want to renew?
We have consequently been inundated by renewal requests. Which is a good problem to have! It's just a lot of work, both to pull them all together and send them out, and to keep track of what's been done and what still needs doing.
Today I sent non-renewal notices to everyone who didn't respond to this set of emails, which duly prodded at least one more person into saying, "Oh hey, actually I do want to renew!" I need to set a calendar reminder for sending the legally required 90-day notices later this month (so as to catch the late May/early June leases), and then the 30-day notices later on.
I mean, we are still more than happy to renew most of these tenants! We just can't assume they will renew if they don't respond to our attempts to contact them, you know?
...
We are also having a disruptive tenant issue in one property and it looks like the situation is getting worse. Multiple other tenants have complained and various authorities and advocates have been contacted. Ideally we can figure out and resolve whatever is going on with [name redacted], who has previously been a great tenant and generally a chill person, but their current behavior is super not okay and is creating an unsafe and upsetting environment for their neighbors. :(
( some thoughts on tenants and landlords )
But people are always going to be people, and given that truth, there will always be situations where one person makes a building unlivable for their neighbors. And there's no way to resolve that without making someone upset. :(
...
And now I think I shall go to bed early, because I will need to get up early tomorrow morning to dig myself and my car out of the 6-12 inches of snow predicted to fall by the end of this storm. Ugh. This storm has already made me miss yet another attempt to give blood (tonight's appointment was cancelled on account of ice and snow), and honestly, I am so done with winter.
To summarize, I sent out notices to current tenants who had placed their apartments on hold to notify them that the hold period was ending. I then also sent notices to everyone who hadn't responded at all to our "hey, what are your housing plans?" emails in the fall to say that as a courtesy we'd been contacting them directly if someone was interested in their apartments, but because the hold period was ending, after [date x] we'd just assume their apartments were available... so did they maybe want to renew?
We have consequently been inundated by renewal requests. Which is a good problem to have! It's just a lot of work, both to pull them all together and send them out, and to keep track of what's been done and what still needs doing.
Today I sent non-renewal notices to everyone who didn't respond to this set of emails, which duly prodded at least one more person into saying, "Oh hey, actually I do want to renew!" I need to set a calendar reminder for sending the legally required 90-day notices later this month (so as to catch the late May/early June leases), and then the 30-day notices later on.
I mean, we are still more than happy to renew most of these tenants! We just can't assume they will renew if they don't respond to our attempts to contact them, you know?
...
We are also having a disruptive tenant issue in one property and it looks like the situation is getting worse. Multiple other tenants have complained and various authorities and advocates have been contacted. Ideally we can figure out and resolve whatever is going on with [name redacted], who has previously been a great tenant and generally a chill person, but their current behavior is super not okay and is creating an unsafe and upsetting environment for their neighbors. :(
( some thoughts on tenants and landlords )
But people are always going to be people, and given that truth, there will always be situations where one person makes a building unlivable for their neighbors. And there's no way to resolve that without making someone upset. :(
...
And now I think I shall go to bed early, because I will need to get up early tomorrow morning to dig myself and my car out of the 6-12 inches of snow predicted to fall by the end of this storm. Ugh. This storm has already made me miss yet another attempt to give blood (tonight's appointment was cancelled on account of ice and snow), and honestly, I am so done with winter.
some chores and some media
Nov. 16th, 2021 10:47 pmThings done today:
1. Gave blood \o/
2. Bought groceries.
3. Took an afternoon nap, which was lovely.
4. Zoom book club meeting via my church. This is specifically a book club for reading and discussing books related to social justice, which I joined a couple weeks ago. This month's book was Defund Fear: Safety Without Policing, Prisons, and Punishment by Zach Norris.
We got onto the subject of Ithaca and Tompkins County's new Reimagining Public Safety project, which I must look into further.
Next month we are reading Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want by Frances Moore Lappé and Adam Eichen. I have purchased an ebook copy. :)
5. Tidied my fridge and disposed of some leftover mashed potatoes that had gone weirdly rancid/fermented, blegh.
6. Listened to the Patreon early release of Rusty Quill Gaming episode 216, which was entirely a fight scene because we're in the middle of the final battle and I believe the series is slated to end with episode 218. (We have been promised some epilogue material, but still!) *bites nails for next week*
1. Gave blood \o/
2. Bought groceries.
3. Took an afternoon nap, which was lovely.
4. Zoom book club meeting via my church. This is specifically a book club for reading and discussing books related to social justice, which I joined a couple weeks ago. This month's book was Defund Fear: Safety Without Policing, Prisons, and Punishment by Zach Norris.
We got onto the subject of Ithaca and Tompkins County's new Reimagining Public Safety project, which I must look into further.
Next month we are reading Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want by Frances Moore Lappé and Adam Eichen. I have purchased an ebook copy. :)
5. Tidied my fridge and disposed of some leftover mashed potatoes that had gone weirdly rancid/fermented, blegh.
6. Listened to the Patreon early release of Rusty Quill Gaming episode 216, which was entirely a fight scene because we're in the middle of the final battle and I believe the series is slated to end with episode 218. (We have been promised some epilogue material, but still!) *bites nails for next week*
assorted things make a post
May. 19th, 2021 11:55 pmThings done today:
1. Another day of the "Ye gods and little fishes can you maybe please ask for leases one at a time? deluge." *flops exhaustedly*
2. Last night I potted my peppers (is it just me or does that sound vaguely dirty? I think it's the alliteration), and this evening I moved them outside. I also sprinkled more detergent on the moss that has infested the porch timbers, and sprayed animal repellent.
I must remember to tell Landlord Dude that he needs to rebuild the porch this fall, once I am done with my container garden for the year.
3. Called my dad and chatted for ~45 minutes because it's nice to catch up. Apparently my childhood congregation is once again embroiled in real estate conundrums. This is deeply unsurprising, because that congregation has been embroiled in a multifaceted slow-motion real estate conundrum since about fifteen years before I was born. (To simplify: the original sanctuary and parish house were built circa 1900, when the congregation was much smaller and cars were not particularly a thing. Since then, the congregation has significantly expanded and also realized that having no parking lot will do nothing but get you into endless fights with A) the neighbors and B) the local city council and zoning board.) So we commiserated about rent and mortgages and church governance woes for a while. (My dad has studiously avoided serving on the Board for decades. (My mom was not so successful and served two terms when I was in high school and college.) Instead he has basically become the institutional memory of the finance committee, which is arguably more responsibility.)
4. Finally finished the damn Murderbot Diaries ficlet I'd been poking at since early/mid April. I'll post it here at a later date, but for now you can read it here: Sense of Self, 1,845 words. It's a very belated response to a Three Sentence Ficathon prompt of Any, any/any, daemon AU.
5. Listened to yesterday's new Sawbones episode. :)
---------------
Yesterday I voted in the school board election. Preliminary results have the budget passing, but the board election was tight enough that final results are still pending.
I think there's also a local election coming up in June, but I need to double-check the dates to see if I'll be out of town and will therefore have to acquire an absentee ballot.
---------------
And now, to bed, because tomorrow is my 9am-5pm day rather than my usual 10am-6pm schedule, so I need to get up an hour early.
1. Another day of the "Ye gods and little fishes can you maybe please ask for leases one at a time? deluge." *flops exhaustedly*
2. Last night I potted my peppers (is it just me or does that sound vaguely dirty? I think it's the alliteration), and this evening I moved them outside. I also sprinkled more detergent on the moss that has infested the porch timbers, and sprayed animal repellent.
I must remember to tell Landlord Dude that he needs to rebuild the porch this fall, once I am done with my container garden for the year.
3. Called my dad and chatted for ~45 minutes because it's nice to catch up. Apparently my childhood congregation is once again embroiled in real estate conundrums. This is deeply unsurprising, because that congregation has been embroiled in a multifaceted slow-motion real estate conundrum since about fifteen years before I was born. (To simplify: the original sanctuary and parish house were built circa 1900, when the congregation was much smaller and cars were not particularly a thing. Since then, the congregation has significantly expanded and also realized that having no parking lot will do nothing but get you into endless fights with A) the neighbors and B) the local city council and zoning board.) So we commiserated about rent and mortgages and church governance woes for a while. (My dad has studiously avoided serving on the Board for decades. (My mom was not so successful and served two terms when I was in high school and college.) Instead he has basically become the institutional memory of the finance committee, which is arguably more responsibility.)
4. Finally finished the damn Murderbot Diaries ficlet I'd been poking at since early/mid April. I'll post it here at a later date, but for now you can read it here: Sense of Self, 1,845 words. It's a very belated response to a Three Sentence Ficathon prompt of Any, any/any, daemon AU.
5. Listened to yesterday's new Sawbones episode. :)
---------------
Yesterday I voted in the school board election. Preliminary results have the budget passing, but the board election was tight enough that final results are still pending.
I think there's also a local election coming up in June, but I need to double-check the dates to see if I'll be out of town and will therefore have to acquire an absentee ballot.
---------------
And now, to bed, because tomorrow is my 9am-5pm day rather than my usual 10am-6pm schedule, so I need to get up an hour early.
Today I got all the 2020-21 lease end notifications mailed out. Next week, I get to construct and double-check yet another spreadsheet, and then have fun with mail merge to create a bunch of physical move-out instruction sheets and key return envelope labels. That will be just oodles of fun. *headdesk*
In Collegetown, we generally print a key envelope label for each tenant, whether they've renewed or not, just because so many people sublet over the summer and it's easier to have them on hand. I am undecided what to do for downtown, given the presence of non-student tenants, as well as grad students who aren't going to pick up and leave over the summer. On the one hand, it's a waste of envelopes and labels, but on the other hand, sometimes it's helpful to just have a record of all the apartments...
Ah well, that's a problem for Monday and Wednesday.
In other work news, I un-staged a studio whose tenant is moving in this coming week, and used most of the staging materials to dress up a mini-studio in the building next door, which has weirdly remained unrented for the past month and a half despite multiple inquiries. (...Okay, some of the explanation is that it still smells of cigarette smoke even after we repainted, installed new carpet, installed a new bed, ran an ozone machine twice, and left tins of baking soda on the furniture and floor for a week. (The previous tenant blatantly ignored the no-smoking rules in the lease, among many other faults. Do not speak to me about the cigarette burns on the bathroom floor.) But still!)
Tangentially, there has been much discussion on the Landlords' Association of Tompkins County mailing list about Monday's vote on whether to extend the NY state moratorium on evictions for another few months. The majority mailing list opinion is against this, with the feeling that first, if people are in financial trouble, there are rent assistance programs and many landlords are happy to point people toward them. Second, a blanket moratorium means there is no way to evict tenants who are creating a bad living environment for other tenants (trashing common areas, making threats, etc.), which is clearly not good for anyone. Third, there isn't a financial assistance program for small landlords who are having to eat lost rents with no reduction in property taxes and mortgages and whatnot; many are struggling to maintain their property in good condition and some are close to going bankrupt.
We'll see how that pans out.
In Collegetown, we generally print a key envelope label for each tenant, whether they've renewed or not, just because so many people sublet over the summer and it's easier to have them on hand. I am undecided what to do for downtown, given the presence of non-student tenants, as well as grad students who aren't going to pick up and leave over the summer. On the one hand, it's a waste of envelopes and labels, but on the other hand, sometimes it's helpful to just have a record of all the apartments...
Ah well, that's a problem for Monday and Wednesday.
In other work news, I un-staged a studio whose tenant is moving in this coming week, and used most of the staging materials to dress up a mini-studio in the building next door, which has weirdly remained unrented for the past month and a half despite multiple inquiries. (...Okay, some of the explanation is that it still smells of cigarette smoke even after we repainted, installed new carpet, installed a new bed, ran an ozone machine twice, and left tins of baking soda on the furniture and floor for a week. (The previous tenant blatantly ignored the no-smoking rules in the lease, among many other faults. Do not speak to me about the cigarette burns on the bathroom floor.) But still!)
Tangentially, there has been much discussion on the Landlords' Association of Tompkins County mailing list about Monday's vote on whether to extend the NY state moratorium on evictions for another few months. The majority mailing list opinion is against this, with the feeling that first, if people are in financial trouble, there are rent assistance programs and many landlords are happy to point people toward them. Second, a blanket moratorium means there is no way to evict tenants who are creating a bad living environment for other tenants (trashing common areas, making threats, etc.), which is clearly not good for anyone. Third, there isn't a financial assistance program for small landlords who are having to eat lost rents with no reduction in property taxes and mortgages and whatnot; many are struggling to maintain their property in good condition and some are close to going bankrupt.
We'll see how that pans out.
two medical things
Apr. 6th, 2021 09:11 pm1. In the event, I have NOT been slathering my new carpal tunnel surgery scar with anti-itch cream. This is because I have instead been slathering it with antibiotic ointment and wrapping it back up. See, I think I pulled one of my stitches a little -- not enough for it to come loose, but enough that one end of the incision did not close up 100% and is still kind of raw and gooey and tends to gape open a little. :(
But I have a lot of antibiotic ointment, and have purchased some non-stick wound pads/covers and gauze wraps, and have two ace bandages left over from my surgeries, so I think I will be okay.
I am uncovering the hand for showers and washing dishes and stuff, and then wrapping it back up afterwards, because I just cannot anymore with the plastic bags.
-----
2. Thanks to the new American Rescue Plan Act, I received notification a few days ago that I am now eligible for an increased Advanced Premium Tax Credit -- or, in other words, that the government is willing to pick up a bit more of the cost of my monthly health insurance premiums. So I logged into the NY state health website and tweaked that, so as of June 1, my monthly bill to Excellus will go down by $100. That is good news for my budget!
But I have a lot of antibiotic ointment, and have purchased some non-stick wound pads/covers and gauze wraps, and have two ace bandages left over from my surgeries, so I think I will be okay.
I am uncovering the hand for showers and washing dishes and stuff, and then wrapping it back up afterwards, because I just cannot anymore with the plastic bags.
-----
2. Thanks to the new American Rescue Plan Act, I received notification a few days ago that I am now eligible for an increased Advanced Premium Tax Credit -- or, in other words, that the government is willing to pick up a bit more of the cost of my monthly health insurance premiums. So I logged into the NY state health website and tweaked that, so as of June 1, my monthly bill to Excellus will go down by $100. That is good news for my budget!
Sunday afternoon at Not the IRS
Mar. 7th, 2021 06:12 pmI unexpectedly had a new tax client this afternoon, whose return itself was pretty simple (once we sorted out the filing status) but getting one of their W2 forms took an incredible runaround due partly to their generally being a non-techy person but also partly to corporate WTFery.
In summary, one store they worked at had closed, and their W2 was not mailed. They were able to get the URL of the company's internal website, but logging in required their old employee ID number, which of course they didn't have because they hadn't worked there for like 9 months. So they called a local company rep, who gave them the number of the corporate IT department, who said they couldn't hand out anyone's employee ID number and asked why the client didn't just go talk to someone at the local store? Which, of course, is closed -- and they'd said up front that that was why they were calling in the first place! *headdesk*
Finally the client remembered they still had their old ID badge sitting in a drawer at home, called their kid, and got them to read off the ID number. And then we had to walk through the password reset process, but we triumphed in the end.
It really does go to show that moving everything online can be super helpful and efficient, but you NEED a meatspace backup of some sort for when glitches inevitably strike or people fall through highly individualized cracks.
...
Also if the latest Covid-19 stimulus bill does get through Congress, we are going to have to do such a lot of amended returns to account for the sections about the first $10,000 of unemployment not being taxable and the rejiggered child tax credit qualifications and amounts. Those are both excellent provisions, but I wish to all the gods that anyone ever held holy that Congress had been able to pull their act together before the 2021 tax season opened. *sigh*
(In less directly job-related news, I spent about 45 minutes after one of my coworkers had left and while another was between clients listening to Coworker #2 (...Sonny Boy? yeah, let's call him Sonny Boy; it's the actual nickname Office Grandma uses for him) and Office Grandma spiral off into horrible Trumpian right-wing garbage. If they address me directly, I do challenge their statements, but I don't think there's much I can do by spontaneously butting into their "private" (ie, VERY LOUD but not technically aimed at me, and also part of the volume is just that Office Grandma is hard of hearing) conversations. I think I do more good by being a nice white lady who they like and poking at the edges of their misinformation bubble when more people are present than I could by setting myself up as an opponent and thus automatically to be disregarded.
Still, it is very stressful to have to listen to that kind of bullshit at extended length, particularly when they started going on about Kamala Harris being a slut who slept her way to her current job and is probably involved in illegal foreign business deals to boot. Especially when they simultaneously excuse EVERY FUCKING CRIME Trump has ever done in his life! *noises of inarticulate rage*)
In summary, one store they worked at had closed, and their W2 was not mailed. They were able to get the URL of the company's internal website, but logging in required their old employee ID number, which of course they didn't have because they hadn't worked there for like 9 months. So they called a local company rep, who gave them the number of the corporate IT department, who said they couldn't hand out anyone's employee ID number and asked why the client didn't just go talk to someone at the local store? Which, of course, is closed -- and they'd said up front that that was why they were calling in the first place! *headdesk*
Finally the client remembered they still had their old ID badge sitting in a drawer at home, called their kid, and got them to read off the ID number. And then we had to walk through the password reset process, but we triumphed in the end.
It really does go to show that moving everything online can be super helpful and efficient, but you NEED a meatspace backup of some sort for when glitches inevitably strike or people fall through highly individualized cracks.
...
Also if the latest Covid-19 stimulus bill does get through Congress, we are going to have to do such a lot of amended returns to account for the sections about the first $10,000 of unemployment not being taxable and the rejiggered child tax credit qualifications and amounts. Those are both excellent provisions, but I wish to all the gods that anyone ever held holy that Congress had been able to pull their act together before the 2021 tax season opened. *sigh*
(In less directly job-related news, I spent about 45 minutes after one of my coworkers had left and while another was between clients listening to Coworker #2 (...Sonny Boy? yeah, let's call him Sonny Boy; it's the actual nickname Office Grandma uses for him) and Office Grandma spiral off into horrible Trumpian right-wing garbage. If they address me directly, I do challenge their statements, but I don't think there's much I can do by spontaneously butting into their "private" (ie, VERY LOUD but not technically aimed at me, and also part of the volume is just that Office Grandma is hard of hearing) conversations. I think I do more good by being a nice white lady who they like and poking at the edges of their misinformation bubble when more people are present than I could by setting myself up as an opponent and thus automatically to be disregarded.
Still, it is very stressful to have to listen to that kind of bullshit at extended length, particularly when they started going on about Kamala Harris being a slut who slept her way to her current job and is probably involved in illegal foreign business deals to boot. Especially when they simultaneously excuse EVERY FUCKING CRIME Trump has ever done in his life! *noises of inarticulate rage*)
