Wow! Carl Edwards intentionally wrecks Brad Keselowski, resulting I a rather violent flip, and gets a nice little slap on the wrist? It’s one thing to tell the drivers they’re now allowed to settle their differences, but this incident could have been a LOT worse than it was. I think it is clear that NASCAR needs to, well, grow a pair (to put it bluntly). In any case, the Edwards-Keselowski saga could be interesting…
I grabbed the mail when I got home from work on Thursday and there was a letter for my wife. The odd thing was, it was addressed in her maiden name. Seeing as we have been married for nearly 10 years, you can imagine the strange look we gave each other. Upon opening the letter, she discovered it was a collection notice. Apparently Afni, Inc. is seeking $228.56 on a Verizon land line phone number from Binghamton, New York. The really weird part: we’ve never lived in New York, nor have we ever set foot in New York. So, I’m thinking to myself, what the hell?
On Friday, I hopped into support chat with Verizon. I had tried calling on Thursday evening, but after getting bounced to five or six different numbers, I got a message saying they were closed for the night. I was pretty confident entering the chat with the Verizon tech that all would be vindicated when she attempted to look up the account. Surprisingly, she actually verified that they had turned over an account matching my wife’s maiden name to the collection agency. Then, I hit a brick wall. She said they had no further information on the account and that I would have to deal with the collection agency.
With what the tech had told me, I immediately sent my wife a text message to get her credit report and review it. As I suspected, there was no derogatory information contained in it. We sent a letter via certified mail with a return receipt to Afni, Inc. expressing the fact that she disputes the debt and that we have never lived in New York, as necessary for her protection under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). We sent courtesy copies to the Illinois Attorney General, Nebraska Attorney General, and Verizon. Today, I went through Intelius.com and spent about $20 on background information. I ran a check on my wife’s maiden and married names. Therefore, I believe we have the documentation we need to take Afni, Inc. to court if it gets that far. I have also contacted a lawyer in Chicago, just for safe measure.
I returned from Florida on Saturday after a successful house hunting trip. I am so happy we were lucky enough to find the deal we did. It’s a three bedroom house versus a four bedroom, but I think it is plenty of space for the four of us and occasional visitors. It is close to the school and has a pool and playground to enjoy with the kids. I think life is about to get a heck of a lot better!
Well, it’s hard to believe that in just under three months I’ll be down in Florida. I’m heading down early to get things set up for the family to move. In a couple of weeks, I’ll head down there to look at houses and see if I can find somewhere for us to live. It’s another chapter in my career, but it will be hard to leave.
Reflecting back on our time in Omaha, there is very little I would have done different. I was able to complete my Bachelor’s degree and start on my Master’s. I was active in Scouts, although this last year has been fairly tied up with working two jobs. Speaking of two jobs, I’ve met some great people through Domino’s. I’m hoping I can stay in touch with a few of them, somehow. It’s been a great ride, but it’s time to move on. Five years in one place is, well, too long when you’re looking at advancing in your career.
Well, roads weren’t really an issue when we came back to Omaha. We had sunshine until we were just outside of York. It was amazing to watch the mounds of snow along the roads and in the fields increasing the further north and east we went. The last few shots are of our parking lot. I’d say we got a little snow while we were gone!
The drive home wasn’t too bad. We left late Tuesday night, stayed in Topeka, and made it to Hays late morning Wednesday. Along the way, we saw a mixed bag of weather. We drive in drizzle and fog most of the way from Omaha to Topeka. The drizzle tapered off around Sabetha and gave way to some thick fog. The roads this morning weren’t too bad, except the last eight miles of the trip. Then we ran into some slush and saw the results of an accident on the side of the road. But, we made it for Christmas!!!
We stopped at Wal-Mart when we got into town this morning. I just couldn’t help snapping a picture of the parking situation. Apparently, someone didn’t get the memo on how to park…
We had our family pictures taken, oh, about a month ago. I’m glad we did it. I wish we could have afforded some more. Maybe after the holidays, we’ll get out and have a bunch more taken. I love the shot of my girls! I think it’s an excellent picture. Of course, I love the one with both of the kids too!
I’ve seen a lot of posts about this on forums all across the Web. Well, I’m not sure if anyone else was having the same exact problem as I was, but I figured it out. I would hook my BlackBerry up to my laptop and get a good connection, then it would drop, then I would get the dreaded error. So, I would unplug it, plug it back in, and the process would begin again. I noticed that if I moved my BlackBerry, it would drop almost immediately. Upon inspection of the USB port on my phone, I noticed one pin was out of place. It was bent up slightly. So, I took a mini screwdriver and pushed it back down. I now have NO problems with the connection!
If any Military Star card carriers shop the online mall provided through the AAFES website, I have a note of caution about one company in particular. I ordered a hard drive from PatriotPC (http://www.patriotpc.us) on November 1st. I emailed them two weeks ago and was told there was a delay in the warehouse, but it would be shipped early this last week. Here it is another week and still no shipped status. I’m getting close to disputing the charge on my Star card and just finding one somewhere else.
