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I need a little rant-time. Please make sure your seats are in their upright positions, grip the non-skid handles and, no matter what happens, please remain seated for the duration of this rant. Do not attempt to stand, we cannot be responsible for any motion sickness, projectile vomiting or dementia that may result.
So, knowing that I have a host of bills to pay in America, and also knowing that I will not be in America to pay those bills, I spent a great deal of 2002 researching, signing up for, transferring bills, testing and running bill pay programs over the coals. I finally found one that worked for me, they have the nicest people, are reasonably priced and I’ve had no problems with them. I left the US confident that everything would be just peachy… and everything was until I tried to log on in the middle of January to pay bills.
At first, I thought their servers were just down for a couple of days. Then I received an email notice… as if nothing were wrong. Then the email correspondence began. Apparently, through no device of their own, someone upstream from them put up a firewall that will not allow anyone from outside the US to enter their site. I have been essentially locked out of my bill pay for a month. Luckily, George has a server running in the US that I can hack into and use that computer to pay my bills. It’s slower than molasses uphill, but it’s something.
The sad part is, now I have to find a new bill pay company and transfer all my bills again. I just finished this little exercise and now I must repeat it. The most frustrating aspect is that it took me many months to completely work all the kinks out of the transfers. There are always those companies that you call, you write and you call again to request a change of address and, somehow, computer pixies steal the request and use it to line their nests. I’m hoping that the three months I have in the US will be enough to work the kinks out of the new system.
Blarg.
So, knowing that I have a host of bills to pay in America, and also knowing that I will not be in America to pay those bills, I spent a great deal of 2002 researching, signing up for, transferring bills, testing and running bill pay programs over the coals. I finally found one that worked for me, they have the nicest people, are reasonably priced and I’ve had no problems with them. I left the US confident that everything would be just peachy… and everything was until I tried to log on in the middle of January to pay bills.
At first, I thought their servers were just down for a couple of days. Then I received an email notice… as if nothing were wrong. Then the email correspondence began. Apparently, through no device of their own, someone upstream from them put up a firewall that will not allow anyone from outside the US to enter their site. I have been essentially locked out of my bill pay for a month. Luckily, George has a server running in the US that I can hack into and use that computer to pay my bills. It’s slower than molasses uphill, but it’s something.
The sad part is, now I have to find a new bill pay company and transfer all my bills again. I just finished this little exercise and now I must repeat it. The most frustrating aspect is that it took me many months to completely work all the kinks out of the transfers. There are always those companies that you call, you write and you call again to request a change of address and, somehow, computer pixies steal the request and use it to line their nests. I’m hoping that the three months I have in the US will be enough to work the kinks out of the new system.
Blarg.
From: (Anonymous)
Feb 6 = Carol's birthday, correct?
Happy (belated) Birthday!
Hope you had a great day (on the 6th, right?).
Sorry I haven't written in a long time. I had to post this message "anonymously" because I have yet to get set up with Live Journal. I'm considering the pros and cons. I hesitate because I was disillusioned when I put a lot of info in the bulletin board program that George was providing, then the system disappeared and I lost all of my entries.
This system seems stable, user friendly, popular, etc... so, maybe I can trust it. And, as long as I cut, paste and save all postings on my own computer... I suppose I would feel backed-up enough to use the LiveJournal system.
Anyway, I've been busy, tying and dying... doing a bit of socializing... no big news.
Oh yeah, you may want to update your "location" info (on LiveJournal :)
And, on the subject of automatic bill paying... I use a combination of autopayments set-up thru my credit union's (free) online bill pay system, and other auto payments set-up (at the payee end, online) thru the individual credit card accounts and utilities. Works for me :)
I'd love to talk to you sometime... Is there a phone number at which I can reach you? If so, please specify the best days and times to call. (I have a calling card system that is just 4.5 cents/minute to Australia).
Thanks,
Cat
cat28@cathecate.com
http://cathecate.com/ff
phone 503-307-8982
From:
Re: Feb 6 = Carol's birthday, correct?
I'm actually leaving in the morning for Eugene. I've been holding off emailing everyone my personal info here in AU until I have personal info in AU. We decided we want to rent a place in Sydney until we are sure where we want to live and there was no point in renting anything that we wouldn't be living in for 3 months while we were back in the US.
Thanks for the birthday greetings! You and my Mom are usually the only two that ever remember.
I'd love to sit and chat with you. We'll have to schedule a trip up to PDX when I return. Three months... so much to do, so little time!