Tuesday, May 10, 2011

New age banking
I also had to take care of some business at the credit union this afternoon and met the most clueless "banker" I have ever met in my life. Mind you, I was at a branch office in a little bitty town and the "banker" couldn't have been more than about 24 years old so I guess some level of cluelessness is to be expected under those circumstances, but it was still a bit of a shock. And then I got to experience some sort of new electronic age banking thing where I discovered that the people you interact with are actually just drones who type in the information on their computer and then make a phone call to the real bankers who talk to me via speaker phone and then send the necessary documents to the drone's printer. And I'm glad I listened to the instructions the speaker phone banker gave to the drone because the drone either didn't listen or forgot them. Sigh.

Oh well, at least now I'm more prepared to win the lottery because if I do, then I'll know to drive down to San Antonio instead of dealing with the drones at the branch office.

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Checking in
I've been doing well. I'm up late tonight because I had to cook stuff for the potluck at work tomorrow and since I'm up late on a cool, dry night, I've got a decent wireless internet connection. I would not have been up late if I hadn't spent several hours earlier helping my mom (via phone call) with something that she needed to do on her computer. But hey, what's a little lost sleep when I have the opportunity to help my 87 year old mother with something that she's been unable to do herself for over a week? I've certainly lost sleep for much less valid reasons in the past. I figured while I'm waiting for this last rice dish to cook in the rice cooker that I might as well do a quick update.

Work has been going well. I'm now a Tier 4 employee which means I know how to do a lot of stuff, but didn't want to be a Shift Lead or Supervisor. Titles don't translate into more money since I still earn the same as I did as a Tier 2, but the work is more interesting and that's compensation enough at this point.

The weather has been really wacky this spring. We had above normal temperatures for many weeks in April and then got plunged into a below normal couple of days the first part of May. I can't remember ever having to run the heater in May, but this year I did when temperatures dropped into the low 40's at night. Crazy stuff.

Oh, and I found out I had money that I didn't know I had in a retirement plan with an old employer. I can't touch it for another 10 years, but it's essentially free money to me 10 years from now provided I find a new home for it in the next couple of weeks. Pretty cool, eh?

Ah, the rice is done. Time to pack it up for tomorrow and then get a bit of sleep...