chapstick, energy drink, and a woodchuck

I went back and kept on digging out the grass at Lynne's. While I was digging, I found a "natural" (empty) tube of lip balm. I guess I can't say it was Chapstick because the label was missing. I threw it away.

I also found a crushed energy drink can. I recycled it.

Oh! I forgot to mention that yesterday I found a quarter. I have definitely earned it.

When I got home, because I'm slightly insane, I ran. While running I saw a woodchuck. He ran the opposite direction, into the woods.

There you have it. My day in three things.

I thought about writing a haiku. I'm too tired to think that much. You got this instead. We all win.

I'm thankful that I got the one garden dug out. It's ready for pretty flowers.

the change that jingles in your pocket

I almost forgot! Despite the fact that most of the sidewalks in Chicago were covered in snow, guess who still found money?

Okay, it was only a nickel, but still.

It made me happy.

Then I laughed. I don't think there has been a trip where I haven't found money.

I'm thankful for my sharp eye.

for the love of money

I remember when I was in college and the Power Ball reached 96 million.

I declared that if I won and took the payout, which in 1990-whatever would have been let's say 50 million for easy math (and because oddly enough you can't google "what is the payout after taxes of 96 million in the year 1990-something?"), I would give ten million to my parents, ten million to my sister and a million to each of my friends, I would still be left with over twenty million dollars.

And I probably would have discovered I had a lot more friends than I thought.

And now, today, the Power Ball is five hundred million.

Bill bought tickets.

I told him we better at least win the $50 that those cost.

You can't win if you don't play.

Your odds of winning are one in 125 million.

I think those are pretty good odds, considering.

No, I really do.

Although you are more likely to get bit by a shark while swimming in a pool, according to Ellen.

And you have better odds of getting hit by lightning.

I'm going to wait for the Power Ball numbers outside. Let's see which one has better odds now!

The cat will eat your homework

Atticus is on the Naughty list. He has eaten several pieces of paper off my desk, out of the trash, out of a bag, basically if there is paper he'll eat it. Except for the mail on the stairs. He leaves that alone. Bill's desk is covered in papers and he leaves those alone. It seems to be my desk and office. After he ate a couple of pieces, months ago, I started closing the door when I was done at the end of the day. That seemed to work.

Until Wednesday. I had two post-its on my desk. One had a user name, password and security code to the online "paypal" account that I had to create so that Cate could pay me. It's not an actual bank account. It allows me to accept the cash that she is sending, it goes directly into my bank account. I entered all of that info when I signed up for this account. The only thing I'm doing is getting an email from her bank telling me that the money is there, do I accept it. I click accept and then log in. I click accept one more time and it shows up in my bank account! It's been working since October. I kept the post-it on my desk because I have to log in every other week. It was a user name and password that I knew, but I didn't memorize it. Everything needs a password these days and I have followed the advice of making them all different so no one can hack into all of my accounts.

Back to Wednesday, payday. Cate had sent the money through and I received the email. That was when I realized the post-it was gone. I know the cat ate it because Bill had caught him the day before and one of the other post-its that survived was chewed up. I tried logging in with what I thought was my password. It didn't work. Since it's not a bank account, but it's through a bank I feared that if I kept entering the wrong password it would lock me out. So I clicked the "forgot your password?" button. It wanted the security code. I didn't have that either.

I called. The first person said I didn't even have an account. That was frustrating. I told her to let me speak to someone else. The second person disconnected me and sent me back to the main menu, an accident I'm sure. Finally I explained the entire story all over again to the third person. This is when I realized I needed to explain I had a user name too. They all thought that I hadn't registered the account yet. When I gave her my user name, she finally figured it out. But the only thing she could do was to delete my account and have me start all over.

I'm still waiting for the bank to verify my account. They send through two small amounts and I am supposed to go to my account and enter those numbers. That will verify it. I have yet to receive that email, so in the meantime I haven't received my paycheck either. Because even though I can see the message telling me that Cate has sent me money, I can't accept it because my account hasn't been verified. I'm not at all frustrated that I don't have a paycheck or frustrated at all with this bank, which by the way is Chase. Bill and I no longer have any accounts with Chase and this is why.

Now, Bill pointed out that Joe Schmoe can't call in and pretend to be me and get a new password. But the people on the phone had my social security number and my email. If anyone called in with that info wouldn't I be in a lot more trouble than having someone have a password to accept my paycheck (which would still be going into my bank account)???

It's supposed to take 2-3 business days to get that verification email, and since it happened Wednesday afternoon I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and will call on Monday if I don't have an email by then (gut feeling says I won't, the first time I did all this I had that email almost immediately).

The paper no longer sits on my desk. Atticus unrolled the toilet paper and tried to eat more paper out of the trash can, and I will figure this out in the end...