Why I Hate Hotmail

Okay, I used to be an AOL nut. I was on-line "24/7". As soon as Shabbos was over, till the wee hours of the morning. I met plenty of people online. I met lots of friends in college and other places as well. Then it slowed down. I got married and moved away. I used AOL to keep up with family and friends. I would sit at the computer and instant message my mom, my friends while living in Rhode Island. It was great. Before I was married, in my hayday, I used to have at least five instant messages opened at once, and on the phone. No one was the wiser. The only person who knew I was "talking" to someone else was the person on the phone as they heard the clicking of the keyboard. But I was able to focus on all my conversations and not mess up. Not anymore. I must be old.

Recently, okay maybe not so recently, I switched from AOL to Hotmail. At work, it is easier to use hotmail for email. Just keep it open and refresh the mail every so often. I would respond, write, keep the mail. I would delete the junk...Etc. Oh, and it is easier for professional reasons to have a hotmail account with your name, than using ifuncused. I set up my hotmail account a little over two years ago, when I started at my current job. I liked it. It was great. I checked hotmail during the day, and AOL at night.

Then I got cable at home. No not the TV cable, though I can probably use it for the TV as well, but there is no TV at home, so it is like the DSL, but no DSL in my area just yet. I no longer use dial up. I changed my AOL account to reflect that. They had a special, switch to bring your own connection, so I did. I rarely check my AOL mail because I never installed AOL on the computer. I used hotmail at home as well. NO more using AOL as my mean of connecting to the world wide web. So why do I pay for AOL? I am paranoid. I love my screen name that I have. I have had it for close to Ten years. DID I JUST SAY THAT?? IFUNCUSED is about TEN years old now! Anyway, so many people have it, (for better and for worse) and I just don't feel like cutting the past away just yet. I like it. I use it sometimes, now more frequently than before, but still less frequently since March.

Just now I was reading my Hotmail. I opened my junkmail folder. Selected all and hit delete. Then it showed me that I still had junk mail, but no mail. I just deleted my entire current mail and NOT the junk mail. I tried to recoup it, but to no avail. It is gone to cyber world. Gone, forever. Just this morning, I took most of my mail from the main mail, and filed it into its folder. But certain things I wanted to keep but didn't have a folder for it just yet...Now I don't need a folder for it...

With AOL this would never happen. I would have the option before signing off to view what I had deleted and undelete it. Here it is impossible. I don't like hotmail anymore. I have a gmail account and wondering if I should move over there...But hotmail did just update their memory, so I do have a lot more memory than I did before.

I guess that is the difference between paying and for free. You get what you pay for!

Last night was great. We had a friends birthday party. We meaning, a few girls from high school. We arranged to take her out for her birthday. It was really just an excuse to get together, a break from our hectic schedule, and have a girls night out. It was super. There were five of us there. And yes I drove all the way to Brooklyn from Passaic. Who would have thought. I told them, when it is my birthday, they must do local, and by local I mean Teaneck as Passaic doesn't have much to offer.

IT was really great to see my friends. Some I speak to on a daily basis, and others I speak to once a year or a little more and sometimes less. It is great that with a friend whom I speak with every few months, we are able to just pick up from where we left off, and even go back in time and talk about other things that happened so long ago. For better and for worse we remember the craziest things about other people.

So we talked about our current life, and we spoke about our past life. Some of us are married and some are not yet. The birthday girl was not. I hope we didn't spend too much time talking about our families that they do not have yet. We limited it, or so I think we limited it. I hope we didn't affend them and I can say we had a great time. I had to convince them to leave the store since the workers were cleaning up around our table, and we were the last to leave. I think they wanted to close up already but were too nice to say anything. You could hear the laughter ring out loud. Then we took the conversations outside for another half hour or so. I kept telling everyone that it was an hour later than the actual time, because in my time that was what time it would be when I got home. They all had local driving, I, the lonley out of towner had to drive home all by myself.

Everything Falls into Place

Everything falls into place.

I asked the payroll person about my hours and to tell one of the girls in my office regarding my "holiday" day offs. She thinks and is under the impression that I get off for Yomim Tovim and have a full benefit package. If only she was right. I wanted to show this person that NO, that is NOT the case and that when I take off for my holidays, I am using my benefit days. I don't get a week off on top of taking a week of for Succos. They are one and the same. I don't know how or why she thought, but I really wanted to make sure the office knew that as I didn't want them to think other wise. Oh how I wish it was otherwise. It is very hard to take off for yom tov and then realize your benefit days off are gone, so you are taking off with no pay. In any event, the payroll person came back to me and said that I didn't use any benefit days the past pay check but I have one vacation day left and three sick/personal days left. All but the vacation day expire by the end of the year.

I was totally surprised. First, that was NOT what I had asked for. I wanted her to agree with me that my holiday days off were not in addition to what the benefit packaged offered to the office staff. And, secondly, I thought I was done with my benefit days and then to know that I have FOUR paid days off left?! And that three do NOT roll over. I was floored. I wanted to complain to my boss. No fair. When I was hired the old boss never told me vacation days roll over. Second, when I take off for yom tov, why cant some of the days be personal days so I can save my vacation days and accumulate them yearly. I tried twice to speak with her today, especially since she is leaving on vacation tomorrow. No such luck.

Then the phone rang.

It was the school nurse. B is sick. Come get him. Or if not you, who will be here and when. Yikes. I knew this morning that he was not well. He felt warm. Didn't actually take his temperature, but my friend who babysits said he doesn't have fever. I asked if he wanted to stay home, and he was adamant about going to school. So off to school we went. I mentioned to the Morah that he was under the weather a little and keep an eye on him. Sure enough, about two hours later, I get the phone call. I call the sitter. She cant leave now. The baby just fell asleep so off I go, start making phone calls to friends to see who is around to pick him up from school, or stay in my house for five minutes while the sitter goes to school to get him. On the first try my good friend goes to get him.

While talking to my sitter, I notice she doesn't sound so good. So I offer that I will come home. I mentioned that I will stay home tomorrow, after all I just discovered that I have all these days off to use up. She wasn't feel so well either and didn't really want the responsibility of the two boys. So, if I was offering, please come home.

So now I waited for boss once again, but for different reasons. Thankfully I didn't get a chance to mention the previous discussion, I now told her that I am taking the rest of the day off and tomorrow as well. And while she is at it, next Thursday as well...A personal day to spend with my husband since he has off and the kids have school. No problem. There you go. I found a way to use all my benefit days. Unfortunately I have to have a sick child...

We got our boss at work a Chanukkah gift. We all chipped in and bought her a gift certificate to a store near her. I arranged for it all to happen. I laid out the money and figured out what to buy, and then pestered everyone to chip in. We gave her the gift today. She loved it. She claims she shops there all the time and she definitely knows what she is going to buy there today or tomorrow. She is also leaving on Wednesday for ten days!! TEN days without the boss but then again, I am the "supervisor" here...But it is the holiday season, so go figure. She knows not much work will get done...Yet we still have our schedule to keep up to.

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I don't understand. Whenever it rains I am unable to use my internet connection at home. The wireless doesn't respond and I get disconnected from my work at home station. I asked the computer guy who just showed up today, and said check your TV reception the next time it rains. You will see the same thing. Problem. No TV in the house. Oh well. I guess I will try to call the cable company next time it happens.

School called today. If my son does not get his hepatitis B shot, he CANNOT come back to school after Chanukah vacation. I am annoyed about that. I went to the Dr and he was supposed to have given him the shot based on the information I gave him, that my son is IN school this year, in YKP nursery. He knows the requirements. He knows that the kids need all three in the series and yet, he chose to ignore me after me telling him three times. I did not know at that time, that that shot was a required shot for school! I am so mad. I am not the only one who is not so happy with him, but I seem to have a problem. I really like his hours (night time) and he is starting out here (was a Dr elsewhere). He is a frum doctor who moved to my area when I moved. He took my kids and didn't charge me much when I didn't have insurance for a month (yes, horrible idea when you have kids). My inlaws know him and m.i.l says he is great. The problems that I have are: he doesn't seem to listen to me when I talk, case given, re: shot. He was not a pediatrician before, so basically he is knew at this! He doesn't have the bedside manners that I like. He is laid back which is good, but sometimes tooo laid back for my own taste. I am not sure what to do. I think I would like to switch doctors. But do not know to who.

It is interesting. Before I moved here, whenever I called my old doctor he would always without fail, tell me to bring the child in. This doctor, tells me to wait it out unless I feel it is threatening. He tells me if I want I can bring the child in. I find it funny. Before I hated the Dr for always telling me to bring the child in, and now I am complaining that he doesn't want to see the child. (okay, not complaining about that, but you can see my point)

My babysitter answered the phone today when the school called, and told them that I was having a problem with my doctor. They said he is there to service you, if he doesn't. Leave. Find someone else. Nice practical answer for something they know nothing about. But I like the idea. Forget the guy who is trying to make a parnasah, this is your LIFE. If you are not happy, you need to find someone who will make you happy.

Now the search begins...For a new doctor that is in my plan.....

A freilichin Chanukah to you all