Monday, August 30, 2010

SCUMBAG! / Banks / Made in America?

Just received word that my second cousin has cancer and it is terminal. They are giving her 3 to 6 months to live. Now after learning that she has cancer her  husband of about 10 years has left her and plans to file for divorce. Never did like that guy, but what I think about him now is not suitable for posting on here.

And on another note my bank (other than the one down here) has failed to send me my new check card. I'd suspect it went to Plano rather than where it is supposed to have. (down here) Problem is that there are a few low life's living where it would have been sent if they sent it to Plano. I really hate banks! Of course it would be hard to do without them though. In this case my land payment and a couple of other bills are tied to that card and since it will expire tomorrow no telling what the heck will happen! I can't contact the bank until I can get in to SB to call on my cell phone so I'm screwed there. I also only have one check left for my old bank so will have to use it to transfer my $ to the bank down here and figure out what to do again before next month.

It looks like I'm going to have to chance taking the falcon to SB Friday since RN won't be here until next Sunday with the new tires and I have GOT to be in SB Friday to take care of the banking and do a few other things. (Like find out why no new check card!)

Oh! and one more rant! Used to be Made in America meant quality, but evidently that isn't the case now. At least for the particular jug shown below. That was my shower jug, but now I'll have to come up with something else for that. Either that or pipe from the water tank to the shower pump which will mean some pretty cool showers because the water in the tank just doesn't get hot. I could use one of the 55 gallon water drums Buddy Crawford gave me, but they are both full of water and I don't think I'm tough enough to move one of them over to the shower. They are in the partial shade of the dungeon now as is so they wouldn't get warm enough for showers either.
For once I can't blame this on Pepper, just shoddy merchandise. It hasn't been over 5 months since I bought this and its been used for the shower considerably less time than that and had been kept inside out of the sun before that. Looks like it is just disintegrating.

28 comments:

  1. WOW !!! you found something made in America!! This meand it has been engineered to fail as soon as the warrentee expires..Your cousin doesn't need to spend what time she has with a loser like that!! We should bring him to the desert for a visit! I am also in a bankng delema..Had to get on a waiting list for a PO Box in Terlingua so have nowhere to forward my mail and my old neighbor was susposed to send me my mail C/O General Delivery and my check is in it but it ain't here yet. Can I bring anything Labor Day?

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  2. frann, don't remember there being a warranty so I guess it lasted 5 months longer than it had to.

    Good thought on bringing him to the desert!

    If you like you could have your mail forwarded to my box until you can get a PO Box, but I figure some of your near neighbors would do the same and cut down on a lot of driving.

    You can bring yourselves. I think everything else will be taken care of. Sort of a joint effort between Just Me and me. Should be some whiskey, but no beer. (for later on of course)

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  3. Sorry to hear about your cousin, but I agree with Frann, she's better off without him.

    Do not try to move full 55 gal drums, David. They weigh over 400 pounds full. I suppose I'll just use the sprayer like we did on the boat. Gotta plan more redundancies into my plans.

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  4. Sorry to hear about the banking problem, I hadn't heard the final on Paula, dammit! I think Fran was talking about bring Paula out to the desert for a visit, not the scumbag. Careful taking the Falcon to town, I know you will, but I'm hoping for and uneventful trip. Things are well here, I'm at work and the girls are still in school. Wish we had time to make a trip out and help.

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  5. David,
    Please contact every payee that's tied to that card and tell them what's going on. If they make automatic drafts and get turned down, they can probably charge you the same fees they would charge for bounced checks. Don't wait until they've assessed those fees. Be pro-active and see if you can get them to stop any automatic payments for a week or two. I thought you had an account with Skype or a Magic Jack you could use for calls through your computer?

    I suggest your cousin immediately cut off any joint credit accounts and withdraw her share of any joint checking or saving accounts. Also change the beneficiaries on any life insurance policies he may have been listed on. Next, write (or re-write) a will that leaves him out. If the divorce isn't final when she dies, most states will automatically give any assets to a spouse if there's no will. Finally, bid good riddance to him and enjoy her remaining time the best she can as a "single" girl.

    Looking forward to seeing you and meeting Frann and the whole gang next weekend! Trauma and Drama or not.

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  6. Sorry to hear about your banking difficulties. Good luck on getting all that ironed out.

    Plastics and direct sunlight do not mix well.

    Scumbag, indeed! That's pretty bleeping low...

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  7. Heavy storms here and I'd be surprised if this goes through without the grid shutting down.

    the desert rose, I've already tried to move one, but said to heck with that, I used to do stuff like that when I was younger, but can't cut it now! I have it plumbed in now where I can take showers from the tank, but they will be cold showers.

    Dale, I guess I misinterpreted what frann said. Guess its the difference between the way I see things and the way other people see them. I was picturing a deep mind shaft for a scumbag and not a wish by someone else for a visit.

    Just Me, I'll see what I can do with that. Magic Jack doesn't work well with a bad internet connection which I have a lot of, but But Big Bend Telephone has eased off on a lot of their BS so I hope to get my own DSL and telephone before too long. In the mean time I'm stuck with that I have.

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  8. No sir, I knew exactly what you meant, we've discussed those mine shafts before, lol. With your back aching already, I'm glad you didn't try to do more with that barrel of water, let's see, 6.5# per gallon, 55 gallon did you say? Close enuff to 400# to hurt just thinking on it. That is so low, it's hardly recognizable as something someone would do, I can think of a couple of places worth showing him....

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  9. I knew what Frann meant, too ... was thinking the SAME thing ... that asshole :(

    What kind of cancer does she have? Is she declining treatment? Would she be willing to look into alternative treatments?

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  10. What goes around, comes around, and the scumbag will get his just desserts, and more, in his time to come. Pity he couldn't get his just desert!!!!

    My thoughts are with your cousin. And with you.

    Regarding your shower - have you thought of using a plain old coiled black pipe to shower with? You'd need to work out how many meters you'd need for the length of shower you take. I don't know where your shower is located, but you could place it on the roof of your dungeon to warm all day and just open a tap in the evening when you need to wash off the dirt of the day. Maybe add a small (thinner diameter)cold water inlet in order to mix the hot and cold. Alternatively, try sourcing a camping shower - a larg-ish black bag which you fill with water and, preferably lie in the sun all day, but you could also probably hang it up and it would get warm enough.

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  11. The plastic on the water container got brittle due to UV rays and extreme temp changes in the desert, that and it was made in China and sold at "Chinamart" (walmart).

    I grew up in El Paso,(I think I can survive a summer in Terlingua) I've seen the desert destroy all kinds of stuff.

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  12. Tuff, I thought water weighed about 8lbs per gallon. Wrong? Anyway, thank the gods you gave up on moving a full 55 gallon barrel of water! You are really taking a chance of ruining the rear end on that Falcon by going anywhere in it. Any chance someone nearby can bring you their cell phone so you can do some business without leaving home? I'm so sorry about your cousin.

    Frann, if you do get someone to share their P.O. Box, be sure to speak to the Terlingua Postmaster about the deal so he/she won't send the mail back to sender. You have to be listed as a user of the box. I would seriously doubt the neighbor in sending your mail on to you General Delivery if the check you're expecting has been more than 10 days in getting to Terlingua. Ten days is the time lag in mail that's forwarded.

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  13. No Ma'am, you are correct, gallon of water is 8#, I put the kerosene/jet fuel number in, it's 6.5# per gallon. So quit a bit more than I figured at 455#, so another 100#.

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  14. Paula started out with cervical cancer I think, but she didn't have health insurance so didn't get checked out. The doctors say she is too far gone and they could only help her live a little while longer even with the chemo and radiation.

    Just got a message from my aunt though and she said Paula has vowed to fight it and win so maybe there's hope. I know there are a lot of people living years after doctors only gave them a short time.

    On the other note, the card came today. They sure know how to cut it close! Problem is I'll need to activate it before the land payment comes out which means a trip south Thursday to take care of that and again Friday for supplies and to pay two more bills then. I might be able to activate the card via phone (MagicJack), but it has to be listed as my home phone for one and I'm not sure it is. I'm also not sure it will work, but I'll try it.

    As far as the shower goes I've decided to go ahead and use one of my two other jugs for the shower tank, but I'll do it different than the last one. I'll fill it in the morning I want to take a shower and as soon as I take the shower I'll move it inside. I'll filter the remaining water in it for drinking water. That should cut down on the UV effects by a lot and maybe it will last until I can get a steel tank.

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  15. Tuff, can you activate the card online? If you try to activate the card by phone you have to be calling from whatever phone number they have listed for you. I don't know squat about MagicJack. I pay all my bills each month--one time payments--online. I'm always afraid that some glitch will happen and the money for automatic payments won't be there. I'd rather be late than have something bounce. By drawing on my bank account, my bank can be in Timbuctoo and the transaction will still go through. Any neighbors to give you a ride into town? Have you called your card's customer service to talk to a real person to explain your dilemma?

    She's probably stage IV uterine cancer. Not much hope at that point. Oh, it makes me so angry that women are discouraged from seeking medical help for lack of insurance. Bless her heart. She's in my prayers.

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  16. Marlene, The only two options to activate the card is to call an 800 number from my home phone. That or do an ATM transaction. I checked and my magic jack number is almost listed. Evidently when I changed it I got one of the numbers off. a 1 instead of a 7. Now I tried to update the phone number and get it right, BUT it is linked to the address and since the bank's data base doesn't have my address listed as existing it won't let me change the damn phone number without putting in an address that is in their database. Not sure where in the heck they get their information from??? That's evidently caused by the screwed up postal system down here??? ARG.... I remember that when I tried to change the address after getting it I had the same trouble and finally got a customer service person to manually change it. Guess I'll have to do the same with the phone number. Anyway it looks like I'll be making the trip in the falcon between now and Friday (like it or not) because I don't have anyone that I can get in contact with down here that can take me. I'll just take it slow and hope for the best.

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  17. take the road before my road and then turn right and go all the way. that way is smooth all the way to the rover. then use the rover to go to SB.

    yer tires will be fine going that route.

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  18. I'm going to email you soon with some information for Paula ... I know you have a whole lot on your plate, but this is important to me.

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  19. Sent a secure message to Chase trying to get help with getting my home phone number changed so I could activate the card and Gee... That's even worse than trying to get someone on the phone! See the snippet below of the BS message I received back.

    Quote=Chase Bank
    "We are currently experiencing higher than normal e-mail volume and, as a result, we are not able to respond to your e-mail message within the promised 24 hours. You can expect to receive a response from us within four to five days."

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  20. Nick, not happening. For one it probably wouldn't start and for another I'd have already been half way to Study Butte by the time I'd have gotten to your land. Then it might not have even been there if someone else had it at the time. I'd have a lot better chance getting a ride home in case of a blow out on 118 than on the Ranch road or the roads going to your land.

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  21. That sounds about right, when you need them they are too busy, four to five days is ridiculous. Hoping for a very uneventful trip to SB in the Falcon and your able to get everything all settled out.

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  22. Dale, I just got back from SB. Got the card activated and a free meal to. Thanks to my neighbors (The Dawsons)

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  23. Fantastic, that's great to hear. I was dreading hearing a report on how that run went in the Falcon.

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  24. Im so sorry to hear about your cousin. Glad you got yer card taken care off. Oh, one of my 7gallon blue jugs like yours broke in the same exact spot yers did. ~Jen

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  25. Jen, I think they need to make them thicker!

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  26. Gotta love that environmental plastic... designed to break down. Not like it used to be.

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