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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 29, 2016 16:34:33 GMT
It was my mother's birthday today and when I phoned her it turned out that my fun gift to her had just been delivered so she opened it while we were talking. Yaaay ~ she appreciated it just as much as I knew she would! A Queen for my queenly mother ~
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Post by tod2 on Aug 29, 2016 17:56:50 GMT
How absolutely lovely Bixa! Something tells me you bought it when on your wonderful Garden tours....which means you had her in your thoughts all the time whilst eyeing the gift shops merchandise?!
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 29, 2016 18:06:44 GMT
Actually, I wound up buying it in France, as I was too appalled at the price charged in England. It was a tourist gew-gaw shop item in England -- the gift shops had much nicer stuff. I did mail her some gift shop goodies from London, but knew in my heart she would deeply appreciate the waving Queen. (we both have "a thing" about The Queen ) I also have a thing about garden and museum shops.
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Post by bjd on Aug 29, 2016 18:28:13 GMT
Oh, and ecological too with a solar panel. No need for batteries. I do hope your mother appreciated it.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 29, 2016 18:36:36 GMT
Oh yeah ~ I've got her number! She laughed like mad. (it occurs to me that you'd have been almost as delighted with this ott tchotchke as we were )
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Post by htmb on Aug 29, 2016 21:35:22 GMT
I'm so glad your mother liked her present, Bixa. Even better that you could be on the phone at the same time she was opening her package. Today I actually purchased a tiara with a light-up number on it for my oldest child's birthday. I'm sure you'd have loved it. Maybe I'll send you one for your next milestone birthday. My little thing that means a lot for me today was doing an image search for something on google and having one of my photographs pop up. Even though it was way down the page, it was pretty exciting to me.
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Post by breeze on Aug 29, 2016 22:59:30 GMT
Sounds like you found the perfect gift for your mother, bixa. She'll laugh every time she looks at it.
htmb, the same with your daughter's gift. She'll be thinking, Only my mom!
Our little thing that means a lot was that the traffic fine from France arrived and was only 45 euros. It arrived in the mail just 3.5 hours before the ante would have been upped, but we got in under the wire.
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Post by htmb on Aug 29, 2016 23:09:45 GMT
Oh, that's great, breeze! What a relief for you.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 30, 2016 1:27:48 GMT
Yeah, really, even though "only" 45 euros isn't exactly chicken feed.
Htmb, you are the best queen ever to make your daughter know she is a princess on her special day. You may need to take up a collection for my next milestone birthday, as I feel it needs a full-sized crown, a scepter, and the red, ermine-lined floorlength cape.
That is a thrill about the picture search. It must have been disconcerting for a moment before you realized it was actually your picture.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2016 3:09:57 GMT
I have written to the car rental company that charged me an administrative fee for an upcoming fine because I still have not received the fine more than a month later, and when I checked the points on my drivers license online, I am still in possession of all 12 points. The only kind of fine where I would not lose driving points would be a parking fine, and I most certainly did not park anywhere that was unauthorised on the little trip to northern France and Belgium.
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Post by breeze on Aug 30, 2016 21:29:52 GMT
Bixa, our previous fine was about ten times that. For that amount, you’d think we must have plowed into a glass storefront or led the police on a high-speed chase for an hour, but it was just a simple speeding ticket that escalated. It started when Avis wouldn’t use our credit card for their 20-euro administrative fee, though they’d used it for the rental. As I recall, they would accept a check in euros or we could wire the money. City banks might be able to handle that kind of thing, but no banks in central PA knew how it could be done. I called Avis and thought I explained our difficulties clearly (I practiced in French ahead of time) in hopes they’d accept our credit card. The woman explained that this was not the rental branch of Avis, so no go. We waited a long time for the fine itself, paid it with regret, and then tried to cheer ourselves up with the thought that we’d saved 20 euros.
Kerouac, the fact that you’re willing to tackle this head on is admirable. I hope it turns out to be minor.
Photos of tiaras are obligatory, htmb. You can blur the number if you need to.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 30, 2016 21:41:58 GMT
You have such a good attitude, Breeze!
Hope Kerouac has some good luck with his ticket.
And speaking of tickets, here is my little thing that means a lot for today: On the night of August 28 I purchased a plane ticket online & erroneously bought the evening flight rather than the morning one. I didn't realize this until the next morning when I got my confirmation email, which showed military time rather than "regular" time. *sigh* Anyway, after calling the airline & being told they'd cancel it & issue me another, I double-checked & the first ticket was not canceled. After hours on the phone with four different people (all men), I was told to call back today. Today I got a woman & within five minutes she explained how & why I would not get a refund, but suggested I call Expedia, through which I'd made the reservation. So I did, but with little hope as it was not really an Expedia problem. The lovely Expedia customer service lady checked & there was no way I could get a refund on the ticket BUT .......... she gave me a $50 coupon to use on Expedia. Since the #@$%^& wrong ticket had only cost $54.45, the coupon cheered me up immensely. Thank you, Expedia!
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Post by htmb on Aug 30, 2016 21:48:17 GMT
Oh, Beeeze, I think I've mentioned here somewhere else that my oldest will be turning 40. Clearly, I was a child when she was born on Labor Day Weekend, 1976. I asked her how she was feeling. "Like a grownup. Finally!"
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Post by htmb on Aug 30, 2016 21:49:56 GMT
Bixa!
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Post by breeze on Aug 30, 2016 22:22:43 GMT
I must have blotted out the thought that anyone here could be over 40.
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Post by htmb on Aug 30, 2016 22:28:43 GMT
In my mind, I'm about thirty-two.
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Post by breeze on Aug 30, 2016 23:09:56 GMT
bixa, she heard that you were the queen's daughter.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 30, 2016 23:37:20 GMT
Actually, my secret cosmic title is Empress of Absolutely Everything.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2016 4:05:00 GMT
So I did, but with little hope as it was not really an Expedia problem. The lovely Expedia customer service lady checked & there was no way I could get a refund on the ticket BUT .......... she gave me a $50 coupon to use on Expedia. Since the #@$%^& wrong ticket had only cost $54.45, the coupon cheered me up immensely. Thank you, Expedia! I spent almost my entire airline career dealing with this. People do not realise that when they have bought a ticket through any kind of agency, the agency is the direct customer and has collected the money. Any change or refund has to go through the agency and not directly through the airline. Only in cases where the agency was being dishonest -- or incompetent -- to the customer (such as "this ticket is not refundable" when it was) did I intervene with the agency to force them to do something. As a customer, I will admit that I had to contact an airline directly once after waiting for a refund from Opodo for six months, and the problem was quickly cleared up after that. As for my fine, the last one I received was a mistake, because it was for an expired insurance certificate on the car, but at least I received it and saw the problem immediately. It still took Europcar about 2 months to give me my money back.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 31, 2016 4:22:16 GMT
That was not exactly my problem. The problem started with confusion about their website but snowballed when the airline agent said that he could cancel one ticket & issue another, which was not true. I've had confusion issues with this airline before, but it flies in and out of Oaxaca at convenient times & for half the price charged by Aeromexico, so I'm forced to simultaneously hate it & be grateful for it.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 2, 2016 15:09:01 GMT
The glass guys are here! The glass guys are here!
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 3, 2016 3:33:33 GMT
Wow -- just checked my email & heard from and old friend of whom I'm very fond, although we'd fallen out of touch. He's here in Oaxaca on business for a couple of days so we can catch up. Nice!
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Post by rikita on Sept 5, 2016 13:29:54 GMT
hearing back from someone you gave a small advice, that what you said actually helped them, is nice ...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2016 1:01:17 GMT
I got a good acting job today. Yay.
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Post by htmb on Sept 6, 2016 1:19:44 GMT
Congratulations!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2016 1:20:30 GMT
Thanks! Whew, what a relief.
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Post by fumobici on Sept 6, 2016 1:20:53 GMT
Way to go. I'm sure you earned it.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2016 1:25:07 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 6, 2016 2:50:48 GMT
Yay for you! Can you give details, or are you superstitious about that?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2016 17:01:03 GMT
Not at all. It's a new play about a high school shooting, told through the language of mathematics. With choreography and video. An ensemble cast of seven. Beyond that, I'll have to wait until the workshop next week to find out anything more about it.
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