Whatever happened to RuPaul?
I would ponder that question. If I had time. But I really don't.
So far this week, I've:
1. Interviewed for and received a part-time job as the Intern for the Hometown Tourism Commission. I will do all of the clerical work for the 5-member commission, but I will also explore ideas for increasing tourism in town and present my ideas and findings to the commission. This will be an excellent way to meet everyone in town and, hopefully, help this town continue its revitalization. Sure it's a 90% pay cut, but it'll be fun!
2. Secured health insurance for me and mine. For $200 a month! Of course, there's a $10,000 deductible per person ($20,000 per family max), but we have unlimited office visits for a $45 copay and generic drugs are only $15--all with NO deductible! It sounded too good to be true, but it IS true. I applied for it this morning, and we were approved (and covered) this afternoon. Of course, if we get really sick, we have to cough up $10,000 before the insurance kicks in (100%--no 80/20 crap), but that's not going to sink us, so what the hell.
3. Written advertising copy for the series of 3 ads that are going to begin running in the local paper next week. And gee! It's only going to cost us $264 per week for 3 ads per week! God, advertising is expensive.
4. Heard my name mentioned on the local radio station twice in 5 minutes. That's right--they actually announced that "local businesswoman Lisa Mc" received the Intern job based on "her past marketing and administrative experience." The sly DJ also slid in a plug for Ye Ol Monument Co. Then our ad, with my expert narrative, played just a few minutes later! You can't buy this kind of exposure!
5. Got Stevie ready and off to his first day of 2nd grade. Awwww. He had a good day.
6. Dealt with credit card fraud. That's right--our very first credit card transaction, the one that required us to quickquick set up a merchant account, buy a swiper, and figure out how to record payments, turned out to be a sham! The guy wanted 30 blank small monuments (Strike 1--beware an unusual quantity of a single item) for a church installation in--where else?--evil Canada. He lives in PA (or did--until I checked the address and found out it was a FAKE!). Why in the sam hell would a Keystoner buy monuments through a Midwestern company (the monuments would be shipped to us, we would do nothing to them, and then a shipping company would pick them up) and then pay to have them shipped to Canada? We couldn't get a good answer out of the guy. So he sends two credit cards and asks us to split the total between the two (Strike 2--just fishing to see which card has money on it). After two bad attempts, we ask for a different card or a check. He sends two more cards. These were approved, but neither the address nor the code matched what he gave us. Strike 3, loser. Of course, we didn't submit the cards for actual payment--we voided the attempted transactions. I asked him to verify the security code, and he sends two MORE cards with mismatched info. I call the Visa fraud line, get the numbers of the issuing banks and, sure enough, all of the card numbers have alerts on them. I was told to call the local authorities and report it, so I did. How exciting is that for a small-town gal?! Anyway, Mr. Baffoe is NOT going to get his slabs for his "church in Canada". Jackass. Dealing with all of this has taken several solid hours of Kevin's and my time. I'm waiting for some word from the cops before I write him back and call him names.
7. Found out that our house is thisclose to being sold! That word came this morning, after an evening of stress over our pathetic bank balances and staggering credit card debt. We'll know after the inspection this Saturday. Cross everything.
8. Misc. I wrote a story about the historic signature quilt I was given for another small town's newsletter. I started gathering ideas and developers for our brochure and web site. Kevin and I finished our logo (!!!) and I've been looking into pricing for hats, t-shirts, etc. Guess what all of you are getting for Christmas? I updated our price list for the remainder of 2007. I paid all of the bills, processed all of the mail, paid commissions to the funeral directors who send business our way, and entered all remaining invoices and receipts into Quickbooks--and even backed it up to our new removable hard drive.
So it's been a good and busy week so far.
So far this week, I've:
1. Interviewed for and received a part-time job as the Intern for the Hometown Tourism Commission. I will do all of the clerical work for the 5-member commission, but I will also explore ideas for increasing tourism in town and present my ideas and findings to the commission. This will be an excellent way to meet everyone in town and, hopefully, help this town continue its revitalization. Sure it's a 90% pay cut, but it'll be fun!
2. Secured health insurance for me and mine. For $200 a month! Of course, there's a $10,000 deductible per person ($20,000 per family max), but we have unlimited office visits for a $45 copay and generic drugs are only $15--all with NO deductible! It sounded too good to be true, but it IS true. I applied for it this morning, and we were approved (and covered) this afternoon. Of course, if we get really sick, we have to cough up $10,000 before the insurance kicks in (100%--no 80/20 crap), but that's not going to sink us, so what the hell.
3. Written advertising copy for the series of 3 ads that are going to begin running in the local paper next week. And gee! It's only going to cost us $264 per week for 3 ads per week! God, advertising is expensive.
4. Heard my name mentioned on the local radio station twice in 5 minutes. That's right--they actually announced that "local businesswoman Lisa Mc" received the Intern job based on "her past marketing and administrative experience." The sly DJ also slid in a plug for Ye Ol Monument Co. Then our ad, with my expert narrative, played just a few minutes later! You can't buy this kind of exposure!
5. Got Stevie ready and off to his first day of 2nd grade. Awwww. He had a good day.
6. Dealt with credit card fraud. That's right--our very first credit card transaction, the one that required us to quickquick set up a merchant account, buy a swiper, and figure out how to record payments, turned out to be a sham! The guy wanted 30 blank small monuments (Strike 1--beware an unusual quantity of a single item) for a church installation in--where else?--evil Canada. He lives in PA (or did--until I checked the address and found out it was a FAKE!). Why in the sam hell would a Keystoner buy monuments through a Midwestern company (the monuments would be shipped to us, we would do nothing to them, and then a shipping company would pick them up) and then pay to have them shipped to Canada? We couldn't get a good answer out of the guy. So he sends two credit cards and asks us to split the total between the two (Strike 2--just fishing to see which card has money on it). After two bad attempts, we ask for a different card or a check. He sends two more cards. These were approved, but neither the address nor the code matched what he gave us. Strike 3, loser. Of course, we didn't submit the cards for actual payment--we voided the attempted transactions. I asked him to verify the security code, and he sends two MORE cards with mismatched info. I call the Visa fraud line, get the numbers of the issuing banks and, sure enough, all of the card numbers have alerts on them. I was told to call the local authorities and report it, so I did. How exciting is that for a small-town gal?! Anyway, Mr. Baffoe is NOT going to get his slabs for his "church in Canada". Jackass. Dealing with all of this has taken several solid hours of Kevin's and my time. I'm waiting for some word from the cops before I write him back and call him names.
7. Found out that our house is thisclose to being sold! That word came this morning, after an evening of stress over our pathetic bank balances and staggering credit card debt. We'll know after the inspection this Saturday. Cross everything.
8. Misc. I wrote a story about the historic signature quilt I was given for another small town's newsletter. I started gathering ideas and developers for our brochure and web site. Kevin and I finished our logo (!!!) and I've been looking into pricing for hats, t-shirts, etc. Guess what all of you are getting for Christmas? I updated our price list for the remainder of 2007. I paid all of the bills, processed all of the mail, paid commissions to the funeral directors who send business our way, and entered all remaining invoices and receipts into Quickbooks--and even backed it up to our new removable hard drive.
So it's been a good and busy week so far.
posted by lulu | 2:45 PM
1 Comments:
I am impressed! Someday on my bike rides up Old 3C, I'll pass a sign at the Sunbury city limit that says "Home of Lisa McClary, monument magnate."
1. The Hometown Tourism Commission should brace itself for an onslaught on travelers.
4. Go Lisa!
5. Go Stevie!
6. Call that fool some names for me.
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