galen

My local dive shop is planning a trip to the Cayman Islands from March 13th to March 20th, 2010.  This is a live-aboard, which means we'll be on a boat pretty much the entire week.  Trip cost is appx. $2700 plus airfare, exact cost varies depending on cabin type. 

If you're interested in joining us, let me know!

This is not a shark attack. That is me kneeling in the sand, about a foot or two behind the shark.

Segue Technologies, Inc. is hiring a Java developer for a permanent full time position (salary + benefits) in Quantico, VA. Inquire within!

My score/ranking on Facebook Reversi

Games finished:	92
Games won:	79
Games tied:	1
Games lost:	12
Game points:	918
Win ratio:	86%
Current ranking:	91 / 1753

Happy 7/8/9!

My mortgage is through National City Mortgage, which was recently (within the past year?) acquired by PNC Mortgage. Prior to the merger, I had logged into my account on their web page many, many times. I don't log in frequently because there's really not much to do there - once a month, my mortgage balance gets updated, and once a year my escrow responsibility changes (when property tax and homeowners insurance costs get adjusted.)

I tried logging in last night to check my balances, because I recently switched from MS Money to Quicken (and that's a whole 'nother story) and found that I could not log in. According to the site, my account (or someone else's account with my same account name) was locked due to too many failed logins. I tried calling the support number the site told me to call to unlock the account, but of course they were closed (it was only 11pm!)

This morning, I called and got through to someone after navigating an annoying menu with many MANY un-bypassable long pauses in it. She said my loan number didn't show up as having registered for an online account. I knew that to be impossible because I had logged in many times in the past. I insisted that I did have an account, she insisted that I didn't. Finally she mentioned that they upgraded their system 6 months ago. Apparently when they did that, they deleted all the old accounts. And didn't bother telling anyone. Buh.

Well, that's easily taken care of. I registered a new account, and was able to log in. Oh, their password requirements are lame - you CANNOT use any special characters. At all.

Anyway, I poked around in the "new" site (which doesn't look any different from the old one, and still generates mainframey looking reports) and went over to the FAQ to see if I could download transactions into Quicken. Apparently I can't. I did notice a question asking about an escrow overage check - apparently Federal law requires mortgage companies to issue a reimbursement check if the escrow balance is more than $50 over what it should be. My monthly escrow payments are based on the 2008 real estate tax, which is $600 more than the 2009 tax. That means NCM/PCN is collecting $50 more every month than they should be. This has been going on for 6 months - for a current total overage of about $300. That being over the Federally mandated limit, I'm due a refund.

I called back, navigated through the same annoying menu with the same un-bypassable long pauses, and finally got through to someone. The nice lady on the other end of the line said that my next escrow analysis isn't due until December, at which point they will refund any overage. By then they will have charged me another $300 that I don't owe. I pointed out the law, and said that I would like the refund sooner rather than later. She asked if I would like her to do an escrow analysis now... Um, yes? If that's how they determine that I'm due a refund, and I'm asking for a refund, then yes that's what I'd like her to do.

In summary... National City Mortgage (now part of PNC Mortgage) has an annoying phone system, with customer support reps who are helpful only if you are persistent.

Zen/ came up this weekend, saving me from the mind-numbing boredom that would have happened had he not come (my plans involved him being here, you see, and had he not been here I would have had to cancel some of those plans and thus would have had nothing to do!)

Friday night was cleaning night, as I waited for him to get here. He arrived fairly late, so we didn't go out or anything, just curled up on the couch and watched TV for a bit before bed.

Saturday, I woke up at 6:30am (no really!), went back to bed for half an hour, woke up again and watched him sleep for a little while, then snuck out around 7:30 to get him coffee. Zen is a very sleepy tiger until he has his morning coffee. Zen is also a very sleepy tiger when you get him coffee before he's ready to get out of bed, so I let him sleep for another hour. He's cute when he doesn't quite understand what's going on or why you're handing him something warm and coffee-cup shaped.

Once I got him up, we had breakfast while watching the morning news and something else that I don't remember. Next up was a bike ride, through Lake Acotink Park. Total distance was slightly over 10 miles, some of it on paved road, some on gravel trails, and some on rough single-track trails. We saw some sort of creature out in the middle of the lake - I think it was Nessie's little brother Ackie, but Zen says it was a bird. Otherwise the ride was relatively uneventful... We encountered a couple of other bikers, some joggers, some dogs, and about 100 yards of railroad track. Zen says we probably weren't supposed to ride on it, but nobody saw us so it's okay.

We spent rest of the afternoon shopping for the party, cleaning for the party, and trying not to stress about the party. Folks started showing up relatively on time (in the middle of Donnie Darko), which was cool. After Donnie Darko, we watched the Transformers movie - the ORIGINAL Transformers movie, the animated one with Eric Idle, Leonard Nimoy, etc. Then it was Munchkin, which Zen one (damn tigers, always cheating...)

Sunday, we had brunch down at Houlihan's, then drove around looking for ammo. Apparently 9mm ammo in particular is in very short supply - Zen's on a couple month long waiting list for some down in NC. The gun shop we tried up here had some, but had a limit of 2 per customer and wanted $19 per box of 50. Wal-Mart was currently out of stock but said they got shipments throughout the week, and had a limit of 6 per customer at only $9 per box of 50, so I'm going to check in later this week and see if I can snag some.

Sunday night, Zen had to go home. :(

Miles biked: 12
Time: 1 hour
Avg speed: 12.0 mph
Top speed: 30.6
Blocks walked carrying bike: 3

I got a flat rear tire 3 blocks from home. :-( *cries*

I have the best boyfriend in the world. He took me out to the Biltmore Estate this weekend. Despite telling me he'd made dinner reservations for Denny's, we actually ate at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC - on the Sunset Terrace, where we got to watch the sun set over the valley while we ate. Monday, we went out to the Biltmore to go biking, tour the house, gardens, and winery. Fun was had by all.

Planned trip: 11.8 miles
Actual trip: 16.2 miles
Elapsed time: Somewhere under 2 hours

For this evening's ride, I planned on following Rolling Road south past the Fairfax County Parkway and through Hooes Road Park via Cissna Road. Apparently someone failed to tell a developer that Hooes Road Park is in fact a park, as it is now entirely devoid of trees, grass, or anything resembling... well, parkland. The 'enterance' to Cissna Road was gated, so I continued past it to Fullerton, and used that to cut over to Backlick. I took Backlick up to Old Keene Mill, where I decided to take a detour over to Springfield Mall to swing by the Performance Bicycle shop there to get my rear derailer adjusted - it's been jumping between gears when in the middle 3 or 4 gears. After a brief (15 minute?) stop there, I hit the road again to head home (after another brief stop at CVS for some sunblock).

Of note, this trek was slightly longer than a theoretical route from home to work - by as much as two miles!

Next step: Find a weekend to ride to the office.