Friday Was a Challenging Day - LOL

Friday turned into a very challenging day. I knew Elizabeth was going to contact me for payment for the treadmill, and of course, my new Discover card had not yet arrived *sigh*, so I was stuck putting the purchase onto a different card. I decided to use a CitiBank card that we've had for ages. We rarely use it, really keep it for emergencies, but it seemed an appropriate use, and the credit limit wasn't a problem. Of course, that had its' own set of problems, because apparently with a purchase of this large amount, they wanted confirmation, and DH's phone was the phone contact. So he got this *ping* on his cell phone, but he was in the warehouse and didn't have his phone with him. 

Our actual card isn't quite this advanced - no chip, for one 
thing. But it's good for another 1-2 years, and we rarely 
use it, so I'm not too concerned about getting the physical 
card upgraded. Our credit limit is still just fine, so no 
problem getting the treadmill paid for despite the fact that 
I couldn't use my Discover card for the transaction as I 
had planned. 

Of course, I also hadn't told him that I was putting the purchase onto CitiCard, so he texted me on the order of "Why is CitiCard trying to get in touch with me?" and, after the explanation, a few expletives. *sigh* And then, since he hadn't responded to the quest for authentication of the charged amount, the charge was declined. I spent some time with CitiCard trying to get myself at the head of the line, but it was dealing with AI bot after AI bot and was a VERY unsatisfactory event. (The sale did, eventually, go through, but I had to go through a lot of rabbit holes to contact a real human being who could make that happen.) 

Chase actually scores pretty high on comparisons, but 
Discover is with them neck and neck, and ahead of them 
in some features. If I was still doing a lot of travelling, 
Chase would be the winner. It's perfect for the business 
traveler. But, I'm pretty stay-at-home these days, and 
there, Discover takes the lead. I'm just grateful that I had 
a second card available when my Discover was hacked. 

Late that afternoon, I contacted Discover to find out when my new card would arrive, and what a breath of fresh air. A human being - right away. No bots at all, just real people. I almost cried with happiness. In fact, after my business was concluded and I was signing off, I had to tell her how very much I appreciated their customer service. "The fact that I can call and I'll always have a real person on the other end of the phone - someone who's not talking from a menu or an approved list of responses, is amazing and wonderful. It's one of several reasons why Discover is my favorite credit card, and as long as you keep up with the great customer service, you always will be my #1 card." She appreciated the positive comments very much. Discover is truly a unique credit card and it's been my favorite card for years. I should have my new card today (ideally), Monday at latest. 

I'll have my new treadmill set up within two weeks. I can 
hardly wait! I have to hold off while DH and I are working 
and Chickie is in New York state for her family wedding. 
Then, I can get the treadmill set up and get back to my 
full exercise regime once again. So pleased! 

I texted my treadmill sales rep late in the day, apologizing for the credit card sale issues and wondering if they still needed a card for payment. She said the sale had gone through and texted a copy of the completed invoice to me. So, although CitiCard was being a total pill, at least the sale went through on the 2nd or 3rd try. What a mess! However, the treadmill will be delivered the week that Chickie is back from her vacation so that either DH or I will be at the house to oversee the delivery and set-up. I can hardly wait to get back into a sic-day exercise regime once again. I know I'm going to totally LOVE my new treadmill. 

It's hard to believe, but Summer is almost over and 
the leaves are turning, making our usual spectacular 
color arrangement for Fall. Time moves on, no matter 
what I might want. LOL

Have an excellent Saturday and Sunday. We'll be at Renaissance Festival again on Sunday, and next week is the final week of the Fest. The summer is almost over, and what a summer it's been. Between the fence and the treadmill, it's certainly been an EXPENSIVE season - LOL. I'm also quite sure that we won't have a snowless winter this coming cold season. We can't possibly luck out two years in a row - LOL. Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Monday with a link to my latest story and a request for you to read, and hopefully vote. But that's Monday. See you then! 

Progress Marches On - Despite the Faint Trumpets

One of the annoying things about operating a business is that progress continues on, despite desires and bank accounts. Last week's sale was successful - at least I think so. I never did get final numbers from DH, and may have to look into the books to see the totals. But I think it was a good week. Which is lucky, because mid-week I had received notice from our credit card processing company that our terminal had to be updated within two weeks or we would no longer be able to process credit card transactions. 

I guess this is what our new terminal will 
look like - quite different than what we've been 
using for the past 10+ years. I'm crossing my 
fingers that it will work with our set-up. 

No credit cards? That's the "Gong of Doom" to any business these days. With all of the customers paying via actual card or telephone payment systems such as "Apple Pay", electronic transactions are an operational necessity. And yes, our terminal was old - but it was reliable and we owned it, so it was doing just fine. *sigh* I phoned our credit card processors on Tuesday to arrange for a new terminal. 

We accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover cards, 
but not American Express. Although AMEX may 
have changed their policies over the past ten+ years, 
they used to be too expensive for a small store like 
ours to accept because they held onto your funds for 
up to 30 days before releasing them into your bank 
account. As a small business, that wasn't feasible. 

One of the major difficulties for us is that we don't offer Wi-Fi at all. We don't have Wi-Fi available at the shop. We were hard-wired for our transactions, and they transmitted through a telephone line that was/is shared with our Fax machine (operational, but hardly ever used any more). We needed a terminal that would work with our type of system. 

There are a lot of credit card machines out there, but 
most of them rely on wireless to do their transactions. 
We run a wired system - it's old fashioned, but it's 
actually more secure in many aspects. I'll have to 
have our new machine hooked up and operational 
within two weeks. Just one more thing, right? *sigh*

After a long conversation with a very nice young woman, she came up with a terminal that will work for us, so I ordered it and it should arrive today. It's setting us back almost $450 dollars, and there will be a monthly "Network Access" fee of $25 that we'll be paying the processing company for the types of transactions we'll be doing. *sigh*. That's business - we bring in extra funds through a sale, and those funds immediately pull right back out because of operational expenses. 

Remember the old "knuckle buster" machines for credit 
cards? I'm sure I still have one of these in my storage 
cabinet for emergencies. When I first opened the business, this 
was how we did credit card transactions. The credit card 
processor sent a booklet every week of CC numbers that 
weren't valid, and you had to look up each credit card in 
that booklet before imprinting the charge slip and 
getting the card holder's signature. Slow, clunky, and 
not always accurate. Lots of problems with this type of 
system. Electronic was a BIG step forward, and we moved 
into that with the Mall of America store. 

At least yesterday's errands and cooks were successful. I now have eight individual stuffed peppers packed and ready for my dinners, and nine containers of baked pears ready for my breakfasts. I'm set for more than a week. I'm not remembering exactly what DH has me making for Super Bowl Sunday's meal, but it's easy, so no concerns there. I still have Friday to catch up in the kitchen, and I desperately want to wash the floor in the kitchen and do some dusting in the living room. The house just isn't super clean right now and it's driving me a bit crazy. LOL 

Our current credit card terminal has lasted 
for almost 20 years. It's been very flexible, 
even accepting contactless and "Apple Pay" 
style payments without a problem. Getting 
the software updated from the processor was 
always a challenge, however. That was never 
a smooth transaction. I hope the new machine 
will be better for that. 

So, off to the pool to work off a bit of this frustration. I'll see about getting that credit card terminal installed within the next week, and we'll be "cooking with gas" once again. But it may be a slightly bumpy road for a few days while we get used to the new system. I hope you have a lovely Thursday, I'll be back tomorrow - Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

I'm Spinning Too Fast For The World To Catch Up With Me - Guess I Need to Slow Down

I had a lovely, if chilling, Valentine's Day, and I hope all of you also had an excellent day. Thank you to Dreamflower and Linda Hoyland for the spectacular Valentine's Day e-cards. They brightened my day, despite our freezing cold weather. 

I started sewing up my sweater on Saturday morning, but it didn't take long to realize I had put the sleeves on backwards, so I'll pull everything off on Wednesday and reattach them properly. I'm not sure how I managed to mess up something so basic, but what can I say? "S**T HAPPENS". 

No matter when, no matter what good intentions and how 
many times directions are read and reviewed, Shit Happens. 
I'll get this mix-up fixed on Wednesday when I have time 
to deal with it slowly. 

Things haven't been working smoothly around me lately - maybe I'll blame a solar flare or the stars being out of alignment, but I'll have to spend part of today on the phone with my credit card customer service to find out what's going on (or not going on). Two different things, wrapped up together. (1) I purchased an e-class on Friday, but I'm not getting confirmation in my in-box, and (2) I paid my balance off in full (it was a large amount because Voodoo was part of that balance) and I have the confirmation number, but the money is still in my bank account. So ... time to find out what's going on!

After phoning my credit card company and speaking to an account manager, my payment is real but will take one more day to come out of my bank account because today is a holiday in the USA, and they show that the amount I paid for my e-class is also on my record as a pending payment. I guess I'll have to let the world catch up with me. LOL

I'm going to have to phone my credit card company and 
find out what's going on. I paid the balance, have the 
confirmation number, but the money hasn't been taken 
from my bank account. Don't they want their money? 

Except for those misses, Valentine's day was delightful. My usual light breakfast of oatmeal with fresh fruit, and a dinner that DH cooked of cashew and wild-rice stuffed chicken breasts, a creamed rice as a side dish, and seasoned green beans. He also bought me the next season of "Vera" on DVD and gave me a Barnes & Noble gift card (always welcome). I realize that many people stream their entertainment, and that DVDs are becoming extinct, but I don't stream and I'm not looking into changing that until after I've retired and I can spend some serious time with the electronics of this house. I'm most certainly NOT there yet. 

I love the series "Vera". I got DH into it 
too, and he bought me Season 1 for 
Christmas and Season 2 for Valentine's 
Day. Maybe I'll get Season 3 for my 
birthday? 

So, even though I'm dressed in a multitude of layers, and not looking forward to driving to work and then back home again tonight (it was -18 F yesterday morning, and currently is -17 F, so yeah ... it's REALLY cold), I'm sure I'll be fine. A bit cold, but fine. I hope all of you have a wonderful day, and once again I urge you to be kind, stay safe and please, please wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Tires and Glasses - Nothing's Inexpensive Any More

Yesterday was exciting - NOT. No problem getting my morning swim in, and the car was fine on the drive out to the dealership, but then it was a lot of "hurry up and wait". Thank goodness for a fully charged cell phone and a library full of ebooks. I think I read through three novellas on my phone while waiting for my car. 

I ended up with four new tires. One tire had been
damaged, but the other three were pretty low o
their tread. It's great to have new tires, but the
expense was a total OUCH. 

Then there was the problem of the tire - one of the two reasons I was at the mechanic's in the first place. The standard checkup and oil change I had budgeted for. The tire issues I had not. Turns out there was "an item" embedded in my tire which was causing the pressure problem. I park my car at work and it's in a parking lot, but the lot has a lot of to and from all day. I've had "stuff" in my tires in the past since I first moved to this location in early 1993. Adding one bad tire to worn treads on the others, equaled a financial tsunami. By the time I walked out around noon (almost five hours wasted waiting for my car), I was a LOT poorer. Well - to be honest, my credit card debt had grown a lot. *sigh* I'll be paying this off for months. 

I hated to add to my credit card debt, but DH said
he'd help with the bill for the four new tires. I know
I'll get it paid off, but it's higher than I want
right now. 

That left a really busy day that was cut almost in half because of my hurry-up-and-wait from the morning. Argh! I did the grocery shopping, picked up my new glasses (which are wonderful for near and far but - of course - suck for the midrange), and managed all of the laundry, pulling the final load from the dryer at 6:00 pm. I made the beds and even, amazingly enough, managed to sweep and wash the kitchen floor and have a lovely, if often interrupted, conversation with Aearwen after all. 

I've been getting my specialty frames fitted with new lenses
for many years now. Since I now have one pair I can
wear with my correct prescription, it's time to get some
new lenses in my favorite frames. 

Highest on my priority list right now is to get a set of my midrange glasses made. I'll be looking up re-lensing later today and see if I want to use the firm I've used in the past, or find a different one. These glasses are single vision, so they won't be expensive. I want to get at least one more set of bifocals too. My credit card is going to be groaning. At least DH said he would help with the car expense. There's nothing inexpensive about four new tires. 

Tonight is the Project Runway All-Stars Season 6 Finale. DH will be relieved when I'm finished with Project Runway for a while, but I'm sure it won't be for long. Fashion is always such fun and I do love watching the Runway. We did start watching the latest season of Iron Chef Gauntlet last night. It's always intense and there's some pretty amazing food being prepared by the chefs who are invited to compete. 

Talk to everyone tomorrow. Have an excellent Thursday! 

What's In Your Wallet?

It's nice when a credit card company looks out for you. Really, it is. But it can become a PITA too, especially when it's the card on which you have renewals and auto payments set up. In 2016 my Discover card was replaced two times - my original card was compromised in mid-year, they cancelled that account and sent me a new card, then sent another new card - a chip card this time - later in the year. So, in 2016 I had three different Discover cards.

I really like my Discover card. I like their service, their
interest rates, and it's the one card I use that DH doesn't
have so I can track my expenses really easily. But four
cards in a twelve month period? Really? 

Each time I got a new card, I had to access my account and review a year's worth of monthly statements to be sure I caught all of the varied places that have my card as the default, go to those various places and change to the new number, and hope that I caught everything. Yesterday I received yet another new Discover card. Apparently they had a possible data breach and sent a LOT of cards out to those of us who MIGHT be affected, so I have to go through the process again. UGH!

Credit card fraud is huge business and my little card is one small
plastic piece in a very large bucket. It's inconvenient, but I'm actually
pretty happy that the card companies try to keep up with this. It's a
pain for me, but it's also a very large issue for them and costs them
a lot of money every year. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm actually pretty happy that they are watching over my account. It's all to my benefit, I know. But it really is a pain to have to deal with the switch, and I have ten days to get it done before my old card is automatically deactivated. So I guess I'll dive into my statements one more time while at the shop today. I'm beginning to think that I should just keep a permanent list of where my card gets used. But - oh - that changes too. Oh well, at least Discover is looking out for my (and their) best interests.

Even Grumpy Cat would be bundled up against the cold on a day
like today! 

I'm diving back into the deep freeze as I travel to the gym this morning. The really nice thing about the cold snap is how warm and cozy the pool water is after shivering outside the gym doors waiting for the gate gargoyle of the day to unlock them. Poor Minion will be parked outside all day while I'm at work today, but it's a trooper - there shouldn't be a problem with it starting up properly tonight to take me back home again. Still, it will be another cold one. We're under Wind Chill Advisory until noon today with sub-zero temps and wind chills in the -20 F to -30 F range. I just hope that everyone is in some kind of shelter right now - safe, warm and out of the wind. Have a great Thursday, stay warm!