Oh, good. Just a couple more days and I’m done with speech class. Thank God! With luck, I should never have to attend another one. Don’t get me wrong, the class went fine. It’s the technology, the constant assignments, and everything else.

Today, I ended up having to burn $80 I was saving on one of my insulins (Lantus). I lost my medicaid on New Years day and to be honest, until today, I really didn’t give a damn. Medicaid was giving me nothing but grief anyway. But damn -! $89 God, burning that much money on such a tiny vial of liquid.

Y’know, world, a new pair of jeans would be nice, so would a pair of shoes. Maybe a new jacket, I’m wearing the same winter coat I did back when I was 18. Hey — here’s a revolutionary idea — howzabout a suit I could interview in? POOF. Insulin.

Yeah, I know… it’s stupid to be crying over this. I need insulin to survive. I can live without clothes. In another week or so, I should be getting a student refund check in the mail. I know this is just PMS making me feel all weird over something as stupid as this.

But now I just want to cry.

Still obsessed with Naruto.

Still very short on money, especially now that I have to pay for my insulin out of pocket. ^^;

Figured out how to add a few things into the site, namely program the deadline function for challenges.

Overall, nothing new to report.

My books for college just officially annihilated me. Forget for a moment my tuition, lab fees, and other expenses for a moment.

English 301
Book: $132

Public Speaking
Book: $81
Video Camera: $88

Intro to Perl/CGI
Book: $65

Advanced HTML
XML Book: $14
DHTML & CSS Book: $18

Total: $428.88

Please…. just kill me now. X_x

Seriously, the most reasonable book prices are for the classes I actually want to take. The rest are kind “meh” classes for me, but I need to pass them for my degree. Thankfully I have a hard time failing English and public speaking has never bothered me. (I’m not even sure why I need a video camera, but - oh well.)

Going to try to finish up one last eFiction modification before my classes resume tomorrow morning and then I’m poofing for a while.

So far, my summer seems to be going well. I’m partipating in the eFiction Project actively for the first time in a long while, though probably not as much as I could be. (Actually, I’m probably being downright annoying.)

One of the large sites must have pissed people off again, my site has had a massive surge in visits and new authors. I keep checking my stats, but I can’t tell what site is referring them. I’m actually very glad I brought in all those extra moderators. I’m used to the sudden hush the RL/AR used to get; all this activity is a tab unnerving. ^^;

eFiction 3.0 is going to be very very cool, but I’m dreading switching us over. I’ve added so many extras there is going no easy way to upgrade. ^^;; But… ooh, it is awesome. There’s just so many new things in this release, it’s just going to be pure awesomeness. (Is that even a word??)

My Kiwi layout has hit a bump, since I don’t remember what I wanted to do with it anymore. I can’t find my original design sketch either, so I can check my plan. XD I might just trash it and work on Green tea instead.

While I’m thinking about it, I need up re-do my blog. I’ve begun posting my eFiction junk to it, which is kind of cluttering it. I also want it to have a more professional look, since I’m going to put a portfolio and my resume on it. (I probably should clean up the language too *grimace, laugh*)

For the first time in years, we have a garden. It’s nothing special, just some tomatos, strawberries, and some flowering plants that I’ve planted in pots so if I need to move again they can come with me.

Local news has me feeling a little more optimistic:

Google to bring 1000 jobs to Michigan

LANSING — High tech - and high-tech jobs — hits Michigan with Tuesday’s announcement that Google will open a facility in Ann Arbor.

At a morning press conference, Governor Granholm officially unveiled the project that will add 1,000 jobs to Michigan’s workforce.

The new facility involves Google’s AdWords unit, which handles “pay-per-click” advertising to Google’s users. To sweeten the deal, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation gave Google a high-tech business tax credit worth more than $38 million over 20 years. (more…)

I sincerely don’t want to move to Ann Arbor, that’s way too close to one of my mom’s aunts… who is just way too much like Sheba for my tastes. BUT if it means I can get a good job doing what I enjoy doing, then by the Gods of warfare — I’ll do it! (What Karla doesn’t know won’t hurt her me.)

Other than that, we’re holding on. Mom blew a tire last night on her way to work and had to get a ride from our neighbor, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The local tire shop quoted her about $80 for a new tire plus installation, but then the owner decuded ti only charge her $50. ^___^

DTE Energy keeps calling, demanding their money. Maryann still wants her $600 back, plus we keep getting letters from collection agencies for some of the bills we incured trying to get out of Alpine Medows… so we’re not out of the woods yet. The pressure has just been let up a bit.

I’m trying to work with a lady who bought one of my books off from Amazon.com. There were 4 audio chapter review CDs that came with the book and I said they were included in my post. I remember putting them in the envelope with the book and so does mom and Jasson, but apparently the CDs didn’t make it there. The envelope was apparently intact, so they didn’t fall out. *sighs* Being good, I retraced my steps to see if I lost them on the way to the post office. Nothing in lost and found. I called the publisher and distribution center to see if could buy new copies, they’re only part of a bundle deal.

I’m more than a little dubious about the whole thing. First of all, she waited a month to e-mail me and is now taking anywhere from 5 days to weeks to write me back each time. She says she absolutely has to have those CDs for her class. I’ll admit that they were helpful in allowing me to study during the eviction and while moving, but they weren’t that helpful nor essential. I have no idea what’s going on. I finally offered her a refund and it’s going on about two weeks since I last heard from her.

Mom has come right out and wondered if she isn’t trying to weasel copies of the CDs out of me so she can have two. She’s also wondered if they CDs aren’t/weren’t in the bottom of the envelope. *shrugs* Her guess is as good as mine.

I swear, if I sell anything else on Amazon — they only thing I’m writing is the book’s condition. No information on infotrac or anything extra that comes with it. And then I’m going to mummify the damned thing so nothing falls out.

Anyroad, that’s my summer so far. Much love to everyone.

*hugs* Thanks everyone for your support.

Well, my fight with Netbunch is getting me nowhere. They finally canceled my account after I wrote them and informed them that I would be reporting them to the BBB.

I am apparently reached the end of what I can do with them. In my first letter, I informed them that I had written and specifically requested that my account be canceled. Three e-mails later, I’m told that they’re “sorry” (bullshit) that my account was auto-billed. Did I tell them to cancel my account? *head-desk* YES, you idiot! I told you three months ago to cancel my account! I wrote them back and informed them that yes, it had, gave the support ticket number, and the person’s name who responded.

And that is it. They stopped responding. I swear, this is shades of AOL.

I suppose it’s officially time to begin my dialogue with the BBB and my credit card. yay. really. i’m really, super excited. …*sigh* I hate phone menus…

I probably should just buckle down and get an account with Paypal so I can begin accepting donations.

I suppose I should expect this, if you do a web search on Netbunch or Webhostplus and you get tons of results from people like me who have been burned by them. That’s probably one of the reasons they keep changing names every year or so. (My first suspicion being that they’re doing it to try and hide from the BBB/Attourney General due to the number of complaints they keep getting.)

Either way, avoid Netbunch / Webhostplus / Mesopia like the plague. If they buy out your hosting company, find a new one QUICK. They aren’t a good (or particularly safe) company to go with.