Currently browsing: UAB

Back to Tallahassee

Jim and I are headed down to Tallahassee in just a short bit for the FSU vs Duke game. This week is FSU’s homecoming, and I’ll be sporting another team’s jersey for the first time in a — well, EVER actually. :lol:

Also, I hadn’t had a chance to post about this just yet because we’ve had so much going on, trying to get back in the proverbial swing of things … my position at UAB has finally opened up. I had an interview yesterday with Staffing and Monday my application and resume will be submitted for my position. Barring any unseen problems (hopefully none!), my status will change from Temporary to Permanent. The biggest difference between the two is: 1) absolutely nills the chance of me being transferred to another part of the campus (i.e. I’m permanently there, which is a good thing!); and 2) I’ll be able to start attending school. I’ve been looking forward to that for a LONG time. Now all I have to do is decide what field(s) to pursue.

Of course, Jessie thinks I’m nuts to actually want to go back to school! LOL!

Electro-what?

Apparently BellSloth is having issues again. For the last two days, anything sent from UAB to a BellSouth address has bounced. I’ve heard from friends at several other companies where this is happening, as well as those whose domains are hosted by BS and are receiving no email at the mo.

Lovely … and we’ve just been taken over by AT&T … that just makes *everything* better doesn’t it?

<insert gagging noise here>

The last explanation I heard was DNS problems — how funny. They’ve been denying having DNS problems for years! ??:

On a totally unrelated note: I was just speaking to someone on one of the floors above mine here at work. They are stripping out some of the materials in their walls and ceilings. Apparently it’s interfering with their equipment and they were told to install RFI Shielding to prevent “Electromagnetic Interference” (EMI) or “Radio Frequency Interference” (RFI). These are basically types of electromagnetic disturbances that interrupt electronic devices. I’d never heard of such a thing, but hey, it was pretty neat watching them spray the new stuff on.

Pretty and coppery!

I brokeddeddit :)

As Jessie used to say when she was little, “I brokededdit!” (pronounced ‘broked-dead-dit’ LOL)

I finally upgraded to WordPress 2.2 but unfortunately it seems to have fubar’d a few of my plugins, including my beloved WP-CaTT and the javascript slide/hide thingy on my sidebar, so guess what I’ll be doing tonight, tomorrow, or however long it takes me?

In the meantime, things are going well with the new job. I endured “Diversity Training” yesterday which is (I hope) the last of my “newbie” training sessions. For now, anyways.

Now if only I could find where all the good gel pens are stashed!

Today I was lucky enough to catch up with Glas, a friend of mine who also works for UAB. Had a yummy BLT and some faboo hummus dip ‘n pita slices at the always entertaining Mellow Mushroom on Southside. (YUM!)

I hopped on over to Zooomr’s site earlier this afternoon and saw that they are still experiencing technical difficulties in getting Release Mark III launched. :cry:

Poor guys. Keep your chin up! I still lub y’all! :grin:

In case you Firefox users hadn’t already been notified, the latest updates were quietly released in the early hours yesterday. So far I haven’t experienced any issues with existing plugins … I think most everything was either already compatible or already updated.

YAY!

At least tomorrow’s Friday. The annual Bluegrass Festival is going on at the Civic Center in Gardendale Saturday night, so I might go slink over that way and catch the show. Last year’s was a blast, and I’m hoping to get more pictures this time.

The car saga

I had been holding off on this post for several days for many reasons, but the first and foremost because when I’m angry, I’m not at my best … and this whole ordeal has made me VERY angry. One of the cardinal rules of blogging is not to blog when angry, so I tried at least. Secondly, because this played out over the course of several days and I had wanted to try to post everything at once, not have to come back every day and post updates. But oh well, I do what I can, so here goes:

.

Jim’s been looking at cars for a while. I had been carpooling over to UAB with several friends who lived near us and worked a few buildings down from me. Jim had finally decided on getting a Hyundai. We’ve been very happy with my Santa Fe, and honestly when looking at his choices to shop for, I didn’t see anything that I liked better.

We had planned on using Jim’s old Stratus as a trade-in. The engine went out some time ago, but was still worth a good bit regardless (to my surprise). The car was in his ex’s name, but in the terms of their divorce, the car became Jim’s and he had been making the payments, and was to be switched to his name once it was paid off. He only had a couple payments left. His ex had been pushing for over a week to go ahead and pay it off before we went car shopping. (Odd, I thought.)

Day 1: Friday, May 18th

Jim came by to pick me up from work around 1pm. We got to Serra Chevrolet around 1:40 and walked around their Hyundai lot for about 5-10 minutes before being spotted and greeted by “Frank”, one of the sales guys — apparently he had come up there on his day off, and appeared “thuggish” (for lack of a better word, honestly!).

Jim told him what he was looking for and Frank showed us around a few cars. Jim had been eying the Tiburon for several days and seemed to really have his heart set on it, so we took one for a test drive. It purred beautifully and drove very well. The fact that it was brand new concerned me a bit, but I knew that if I co-signed, Jim shouldn’t have a problem getting it. We talked things over and Jim told Frank that we liked the Tiburon and wanted to buy it. Frank invited us into the Hyundai office to start on the paperwork. The three of us spoke for a bit and Frank took down all of our personal information. We expressed to Frank what price range we had been looking for (in monthly payments), and explained about Jim’s car, that it doesn’t run, only has a couple payments left, etc. Frank says it’s fine and Serra will buy it from him and pay it off. After that, we sat and waited. Frank walked in and out of the office several times, went in to see his manager several times, we filled out more paperwork, and didn’t see Frank again for about 2 hours.

During that time, we did what we could to amuse ourselves to help pass the time by walking around the lot several times, coming in around 3 to try to call Jim’s ex. We had never been able to reach her that day and left several messages. Jim was going to need the financing company’s name so he could get the title to Serra and get the final payoff amount verified. After 4 o’clock, Jim gave up leaving messages because she wasn’t picking up the phone, nor could he or I remember if she could even access them if she was out of minutes on her cell phone. At this point I’m getting antsy and Frank appears and asks us to follow him to the main Serra office. We sat on the couch and waited 2 more hours – during this time, Jim tries to reach his ex several more times, she never answered and he didn’t leave any messages. (He and I had already left 4!)

Between this point and 7, Frank tells us a couple times “It won’t be long” or “You’re almost done” … but he never could tell us any specifics. 7 o’clock rolls around and it’s getting dark. By this point, I’m starting to get a headache and I’m mad as all hell because no one has told us anything about our application, or even what stage it is in. At 8:30 Jim and I are getting ready to hand the Tiburon keys back to someone and just leave, when we are ushered into a tiny office with the financial manager, “Mark”. It turns out that the delay had been in dealing with the banks/lenders … a “black mark” was found on Jim’s credit report and Mark had been trying to find a way to get around it.

Now, I knew that Jim had cosigned on his ex’s truck … that was years ago. Supposedly she had been keeping up the payments and been paying everything on time. I had begun to suspect otherwise when it was repossessed a few months ago. She claimed not to know why and said that she figured that it was because she was a few weeks late. (Yeah, right.) It’s since been paid off, but what we found out Friday was that she had been late on so many payments so many times that it was repo’d after “several advanced warnings” (directly quoted from the lender’s note). In fact, Jim’s credit was quite good except for that. Mark told us that several lenders did not want to deal with us because of that, but he was able to convince two otherwise because Jim had paid off previous (school-related) debts through some sort of school loan consolidation. Mark said that was a good thing and it was enough (plus my co-signing) to get the loan approved.

What Mark DIDN’T know was the monthly payment range we had been looking for. The lender he recommended had the monthly payments set to twice what we were willing to pay. He also knew nothing about the Stratus being used as a trade-in, or that Frank had said Serra would pay it off for us. So after seeing that, I stated that it was unacceptable and asked if Frank had relayed the information we had given him earlier. To no surprise, he hadn’t. So more figuring and negotiation had to be done. By this point, both Jim and I had expressed our unhappiness with the lack of communication by the sales staff and that we had basically been there all day with nothing to show for it. They were getting ready to close up for the night!

After a bit more negotiation, we finally agreed on a price. I wasn’t thrilled with it, but Jim loves the car and to me he is worth it. Serra would still pay off the Stratus and we could get back to them with the final payoff amount and they were fine with that. Jim had already given his ex half of this month’s payment, and was told by Mark not to pay anything, that Serra would handle it. Ok, fine by us. By this point it’s nearly 9 o’clock and I left Jim to go get Jessie. She and I went straight home, and Jim was left to finish up gathering paperwork and details – or so I thought.

I got home and Jim’s ex had left a very heated (UGLY!) message on our machine telling Jim that he was a “horrible father to do that to his daughter” and that he didn’t deserve her, blathering on about how we didn’t leave any messages after 4pm and she knew she hadn’t been picking up the phone, but we could have left her a message to let her “know what’s going on”…

Hello!???! Try picking up the fucking phone once in a while!!! We only tried calling every half hour, you stupid cunt!

Aaaaaanyways, I get Jessie home and in bed and I waited up for Jim. I was already riled up from his ex being a total fuckhead, and Jim proceeds to tell me that he was going to have to come back Monday to get the three scratches I saw (one of them DEEP!) painted, get the car cleaned (they didn’t want to do it Friday night), and get our copies of the paperwork. They had required several pieces of paperwork from me and I was to fax that in Monday morning, so it was strange to me, but didn’t seem totally unreasonable. (I was tired and hungry, and clearly NOT thinking or I would have gone BACK to the dealership and stayed until everything was TAKEN CARE OF!)

Day 2: Monday, May 21st

Ok, so I had to fax in a copy of a letter of employment (no biggie, I had just started a new job, so I could understand this), a copy of my phone bill (WTF? Because I have an unlisted number???), and a copy of mail – they asked that it be a bank statement. I was very uncomfortable faxing these in because it basically gives them access to our utilities and my bank account. Jim had brought up the question of identity theft/fraud, as did several other customers there, and the consensus is: we don’t trust them and will NOT shop there again.

Monday afternoon Jim comes home, they have not cleaned the car because it couldn’t be painted -– apparently the painter only comes in on Wednesdays. WTF??? Why the hell couldn’t Frank tell us this Friday night? Also, he told Jim that he couldn’t give him the paperwork because they mail that to you. Again, WTF??? At Driver’s Way, you got your paperwork right then and in a neat little binder and everything … what the fuck is this muddled up bullshit?

Day 3: Tuesday, May 22nd

Jim finally gets a hold of his ex … she bitches and moans about Friday night and how WE inconvenienced HER. He had spoken to the financing company for the Stratus and finds out that this month’s payment is already late and they are wanting it right THEN, or they are repo’ing the car. He also finds out that several payments have been late and there are several large late fees that are due. She claims not to know anything about it. (What a fucking surprise.) He then tells her that Serra agreed to take over the Stratus payments and that he would need the half month’s payment that he gave her a week or so back. She told him that she didn’t have it anymore and that she wouldn’t be able to get it back to him for another week or so.

What I’d like to know is: Where the hell is that money? And what about those late payments? Jim always gave her the payments far enough in advance so she could send them in and them be ON TIME. So what the fuck has she been doing with his money!???!

I know one thing, I’ll be glad when this is over and she can’t milk him for any more fucking money. Because as far as I’m concerned she needs to get off her ass and support HERSELF for a change!

So Jim calls Serra to give them an update on the Stratus and the payoff amount. The financial company was wanting him to Western Union the money in. Frank told him that if he wanted to, he could put down a “down payment” to put off the financing company and Serra would pick up the car within a day or so.

WTF? :shock: I think this guy’s seriously a scammer because even though Mark wasn’t there, Jim spoke to someone else and they said that since Serra had already agreed to pay it off and it was in writing, so he didn’t need to pay anything. Who’s to say Frank didn’t want to line his own pockets?

Day 4: Today

Jim was supposed to take the car in today to be painted, but considering he’s been at the dealership for the last 3 days straight, he had to stay in for work. He’ll go next week once the shit with the Stratus has already been handled. I think they are supposed to get it today or tomorrow.

Needless to say, I’ve been very unhappy with the whole ordeal and though I suppose it could have come out worse, I don’t appreciate their sales people treating us that way — basically ignoring us once they had what they wanted. Both of us have called over the past few days and getting someone to call us back is like getting teeth pulled.

So now here we are –- still no paperwork, still no paint job, the car still hasn’t been cleaned, and I SERIOUSLY regret buying from Serra. Unfortunately they are the only authorized Hyundai dealer in the metro area — or within 3 hours of here for that matter — so if we ever need work done on our cars, we will have to take them there. Just fucking great … let’s hope their servicemen have more brains and tact than the salesmen. (they’d better, or they’ll be hearing from ME!)

You know, had I had my choice, I would have gladly bought from Driver’s Way again … but unfortunately they had no new Tiburons and wouldn’t have any for a while.

I will never EVER do business with Serra Chevrolet/Hyundai/Whatever again. Next time I’ll go back to Driver’s Way, thank you.

You’re nobody ’til somebody files your employee papers

I received the following email a few minutes ago:

From: UAB Workflow
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 2:09 PM
Subject: 07-MAY-2007 NEW HIRE

The following ACT Document has passed all approvals and the Person has been entered in the system:

Document Number: ((scrubbed))
Document Reason: NEW HIRE
Employee Name: ((scrubbed)), Nicki
The Employee’s Employee Number in the system is: ((scrubbed))

YAY! Now I’m *official*

I got a job!!!!!!

I received great news from <prospective hopeful> … I’m hired!!!! I went in yesterday to fill out paperwork and will start orientation on Monday. (HIPAA, security, etc. training … it’s been a while!)

You are now looking at the newest Web Designer for the University of Alabama at Birmingham. :mrgreen:

YAY!!!! I got a job!!!!!!

hehehe … can you tell I’m excited?

I’ll be doing a lot of Sharepoint work in the new job, pretty much brushing up on my ASP and picking up .NET and Sharepoint development — something that I’ve wanted to do for a while but never had the means or opportunity. This is WAY too sweet to pass up. (And I’ve wanted to work for this place for a long time and have heard great things about them!)

I had every intention of posting this last night when I finally got home, but it was late and I had the biggest headache. ??:

Anyways, I’m so happy to have a job again and will be getting out of the house! LOL!!

Scrubbing off the ‘Scrushy’ around Birmingham

All I can say is: it’s about damned time!

Scrushy’s name removed from Jeff State’s Hoover campus

HOOVER, Ala. (AP)– Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy’s name has been taken off the Jefferson State Community College campus in Hoover. The Richard M. Scrushy Campus is now the Shelby-Hoover Campus, and Richard M. Scrushy Hall will now be called the Math and Sciences Building.

The campus opened in 1993 as the college’s “Shelby Campus” but was renamed for Scrushy in 1998 after he donated $2 million, enabling the construction of the building that also was named for him.

College spokesman David Bobo said the decision to rename the campus and building was not because of Scrushy’s legal troubles, including his conviction in a government corruption case involving former Gov. Don Siegelman.

“That’s really none of our business, and what we have always focused on is the needs of our students,” Bobo said.

The name changes were made to better reflect the campus’ location and the kind of instruction offered to students in the building, he said.

Scrushy is an alumnus of Jeff State.

“He’s been wonderful to us, and if it wasn’t for Mr. Scrushy, more than 30,000 students wouldn’t have been able to attend that campus,” Bobo said.

OK, great … what took so long? And will we be seeing similar changes to the Richard M. Scrushy Building at UAB? Or what about Fairfield’s Richard M. Scrushy Parkway?

It seems the only group of people who want anything to do with Scrushy is the IRS. LOL!

There’s a lesson to be learned here, boys and girls. Never name anything after anyone who isn’t dead.

What holiday?

I spent the better part of this weekend working to play ‘catchup’ from the previous 2 weeks of HELL (for lack of a better word, lol). To make matters worse, the internet connection to building where my department kept dropping, so that made remoting in very difficult.

ARGH! :mad:

Ok, I’m over it now. :mrgreen:

I did get to listen to the Tide play MTSU this weekend. And cow college lost to the Jackets. *cackles!* UAB came close to beating Tennessee (they are REALLY looking good!). And Fran Fony got his rump handed to him too.

BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!! :twisted:

Ok, I’m over that too …. wait, no I’m not.

BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!! :twisted:

Ok, I feel better now. No, honest. I’m ok. :cool:

Actually, funny story about that ‘cow college’ thing, but I’ll save that for another time.

I was reading the Crimson Tide forums this weekend and ran across this article, talking about the team helping some of the Katrina victims up this way. Very touching … I’m very proud of this team. You boys are a real class act!

Can I get a ‘Roll Tide!’? ROLL DAMN TIDE! :mrgreen: *makes a note to make an alabama smiley next*

I did notice something this afternoon though, and wondered why I hadn’t before … I know the starting QB at Auburn. One of his older brothers went to high school with me.

God, I feel old now.

Anywho, not much else is going on … staying really busy with work. I haven’t really had time for much else. My hobbies are barking at me for lack of attention lately.

Anyways, I think Jim’s wanting to cut out of work early and I’m all for that today. It’s too nice to stay inside.

Stay cool everyone … you know who you are.

The Sound of Music

Last night we went to see Dvořák Symphony no. 8 performed by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. This is the first time I have been able to go in years … I had a great time! I have always loved the symphony and the Alys Stephens Center at UAB is a great arena for appreciating music … the sound quality is excellent!

Jim’s mom had gotten the tickets from a friend … these things are pricey! Single tickets (i.e. only one event) are $50 each for the good seats … the “good seats” being where we were last night: first row of the A Balcony. Season tickets will run you around a grand for two people, depending on what package you get … plus there’s the “donations” … if you donate you get special perks like discounts, access to special events, and your name in each of the concert event program books. *rolls eyes* Birmingham’s Finest Snoots!

If anything, they’re fun for watching the sort of people that come to these things.

Well, maybe I jinxed things by posting about them …

Both UAB and Alabama lost their games, so they’re out. However, I did have a great weekend despite the men’s basketball woes.

Saturday: Jessie and I spent the day together shopping, playing, and just hanging out. I think Jim needed the “away time” and I wanted to take her out to fly kites … she’d never done that before, and I remember it being pretty fun. Needless to say, we didn’t really have enough wind for the kite to take off on its own, so it kept falling but we had a good time anyways.

Sunday: Jim, Jessie, and I went to see my parents. Saturday was Dad’s birthday and today is my brother, Jeremy’s. The day couldn’t have gone more perfectly. We were a little late getting there, but as soon as we did my parents both fell in love with Jessie. And I think she found a new playmate in my brother.

I hadn’t seen Jeremy act like he did since we were kids. I mean, think about it … this young man will be graduating law school after next month, and is already making plans for his political career … but for a brief couple of hours yesterday, he was 6 years old again. He was rolling and playing in the grass with Jessie, chasing her around the yard, playing football with her … it was beautiful. I wish I had taken my camera!!!!!

My mom and my dad doted on Jessie. Dad and Jim talked sports. My dad showed Jessie and Jim old (embarassing) pictures of me, LOL. It was great.

Yesterday will definitely be one of my fondest memories.

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