| National City Mortgage, how may we make your life more difficult? |
[Jun. 27th, 2009|11:22 am] |
My mortgage is through National City Mortgage, which was recently (within the past year?) acquired by PNC Mortgage. Prior to the merger, I had logged into my account on their web page many, many times. I don't log in frequently because there's really not much to do there - once a month, my mortgage balance gets updated, and once a year my escrow responsibility changes (when property tax and homeowners insurance costs get adjusted.)
I tried logging in last night to check my balances, because I recently switched from MS Money to Quicken (and that's a whole 'nother story) and found that I could not log in. According to the site, my account (or someone else's account with my same account name) was locked due to too many failed logins. I tried calling the support number the site told me to call to unlock the account, but of course they were closed (it was only 11pm!)
This morning, I called and got through to someone after navigating an annoying menu with many MANY un-bypassable long pauses in it. She said my loan number didn't show up as having registered for an online account. I knew that to be impossible because I had logged in many times in the past. I insisted that I did have an account, she insisted that I didn't. Finally she mentioned that they upgraded their system 6 months ago. Apparently when they did that, they deleted all the old accounts. And didn't bother telling anyone. Buh.
Well, that's easily taken care of. I registered a new account, and was able to log in. Oh, their password requirements are lame - you CANNOT use any special characters. At all.
Anyway, I poked around in the "new" site (which doesn't look any different from the old one, and still generates mainframey looking reports) and went over to the FAQ to see if I could download transactions into Quicken. Apparently I can't. I did notice a question asking about an escrow overage check - apparently Federal law requires mortgage companies to issue a reimbursement check if the escrow balance is more than $50 over what it should be. My monthly escrow payments are based on the 2008 real estate tax, which is $600 more than the 2009 tax. That means NCM/PCN is collecting $50 more every month than they should be. This has been going on for 6 months - for a current total overage of about $300. That being over the Federally mandated limit, I'm due a refund.
I called back, navigated through the same annoying menu with the same un-bypassable long pauses, and finally got through to someone. The nice lady on the other end of the line said that my next escrow analysis isn't due until December, at which point they will refund any overage. By then they will have charged me another $300 that I don't owe. I pointed out the law, and said that I would like the refund sooner rather than later. She asked if I would like her to do an escrow analysis now... Um, yes? If that's how they determine that I'm due a refund, and I'm asking for a refund, then yes that's what I'd like her to do.
In summary... National City Mortgage (now part of PNC Mortgage) has an annoying phone system, with customer support reps who are helpful only if you are persistent. |
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| Ride to Work |
[Jun. 25th, 2009|08:00 am] |
Origin: Home
Destination: Office
Miles Biked: 14.876
Time: 1:05:58
Avg Speed: 13.5
Top Speed: 36 (in a 30.. I coulda gotten a speeding ticket!)
Bunnies: 2
Boulders blocking the road: 1 set
'course, now I have to ride home at the end of the day... |
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| LF Mafia Wars "Fearless" mafia |
[Jun. 18th, 2009|10:02 pm] |
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Do you play Mafia Wars on Facebook? Is your character the "Fearless" type? Are you level 100+? Let me know! I'm looking for such a person to fill in my Top Mafia so I can get the achievement... |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 15th, 2009|05:13 pm] |
Zen/ came up this weekend, saving me from the mind-numbing boredom that would have happened had he not come (my plans involved him being here, you see, and had he not been here I would have had to cancel some of those plans and thus would have had nothing to do!)
Friday night was cleaning night, as I waited for him to get here. He arrived fairly late, so we didn't go out or anything, just curled up on the couch and watched TV for a bit before bed.
Saturday, I woke up at 6:30am (no really!), went back to bed for half an hour, woke up again and watched him sleep for a little while, then snuck out around 7:30 to get him coffee. Zen is a very sleepy tiger until he has his morning coffee. Zen is also a very sleepy tiger when you get him coffee before he's ready to get out of bed, so I let him sleep for another hour. He's cute when he doesn't quite understand what's going on or why you're handing him something warm and coffee-cup shaped.
Once I got him up, we had breakfast while watching the morning news and something else that I don't remember. Next up was a bike ride, through Lake Acotink Park. Total distance was slightly over 10 miles, some of it on paved road, some on gravel trails, and some on rough single-track trails. We saw some sort of creature out in the middle of the lake - I think it was Nessie's little brother Ackie, but Zen says it was a bird. Otherwise the ride was relatively uneventful... We encountered a couple of other bikers, some joggers, some dogs, and about 100 yards of railroad track. Zen says we probably weren't supposed to ride on it, but nobody saw us so it's okay.
We spent rest of the afternoon shopping for the party, cleaning for the party, and trying not to stress about the party. Folks started showing up relatively on time (in the middle of Donnie Darko), which was cool. After Donnie Darko, we watched the Transformers movie - the ORIGINAL Transformers movie, the animated one with Eric Idle, Leonard Nimoy, etc. Then it was Munchkin, which Zen one (damn tigers, always cheating...)
Sunday, we had brunch down at Houlihan's, then drove around looking for ammo. Apparently 9mm ammo in particular is in very short supply - Zen's on a couple month long waiting list for some down in NC. The gun shop we tried up here had some, but had a limit of 2 per customer and wanted $19 per box of 50. Wal-Mart was currently out of stock but said they got shipments throughout the week, and had a limit of 6 per customer at only $9 per box of 50, so I'm going to check in later this week and see if I can snag some.
Sunday night, Zen had to go home. :( |
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| Biltmore biking |
[Jun. 1st, 2009|09:18 pm] |
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Oh, and biking at the Biltmore was 9.75 miles of trail riding, some double-track some single-track. |
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| Biking, June 1st |
[Jun. 1st, 2009|09:15 pm] |
Miles biked: 12
Time: 1 hour
Avg speed: 12.0 mph
Top speed: 30.6
Blocks walked carrying bike: 3
I got a flat rear tire 3 blocks from home. :-( *cries* |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 26th, 2009|10:30 pm] |
Talk about unnerving... I just got home from being out of town for 5 days... and my front door was wide open. Nothing's missing (nothing obvious anyway), nobody's here, and there are no signs of forced entry. I called the police, they said there were no reports for this location. They offered to send an officer over, but I declined because of the aforementioned lack of anything missing or anyone here. The only thing I can think of is that I must have accidentally left the door open when I left on Thursday.
I guess this does prove how low the crime rate is in this area. |
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| Weekendedness |
[May. 25th, 2009|10:26 pm] |
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I have the best boyfriend in the world. He took me out to the Biltmore Estate this weekend. Despite telling me he'd made dinner reservations for Denny's, we actually ate at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC - on the Sunset Terrace, where we got to watch the sun set over the valley while we ate. Monday, we went out to the Biltmore to go biking, tour the house, gardens, and winery. Fun was had by all. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 22nd, 2009|02:18 pm] |
Happiness is waking up next to a tiger.
Bliss is having him look over at you and smile.
Amusement is when he tells you he made dinner reservations... at Denny's. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 21st, 2009|01:00 pm] |
Today is ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) silverhare's birthday. I have no idea how old she is - I think she's like 25 or something. I think we both have the same first memory of each other... We met at burkefireguy's house for some sort of RPG, I don't remember if it was D&D, Vampire, etc. She made animal noises at me. I made animal noises back. She seemed thrilled to have met someone who would do that, and I knew right then that we would be friends.
Throughout the years, she's been a totally awesome friend, going out of her way to do nice things just because she felt like doing them. I'm glad to count her among those I know. |
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| May 20: Springfield Mall by way of Costco |
[May. 20th, 2009|07:19 pm] |
Planned trip: 11.8 miles
Actual trip: 16.2 miles
Elapsed time: Somewhere under 2 hours
For this evening's ride, I planned on following Rolling Road south past the Fairfax County Parkway and through Hooes Road Park via Cissna Road. Apparently someone failed to tell a developer that Hooes Road Park is in fact a park, as it is now entirely devoid of trees, grass, or anything resembling... well, parkland. The 'enterance' to Cissna Road was gated, so I continued past it to Fullerton, and used that to cut over to Backlick. I took Backlick up to Old Keene Mill, where I decided to take a detour over to Springfield Mall to swing by the Performance Bicycle shop there to get my rear derailer adjusted - it's been jumping between gears when in the middle 3 or 4 gears. After a brief (15 minute?) stop there, I hit the road again to head home (after another brief stop at CVS for some sunblock).
Of note, this trek was slightly longer than a theoretical route from home to work - by as much as two miles!
Next step: Find a weekend to ride to the office. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 17th, 2009|03:39 pm] |
Origin: Home
Destination: Home
Thunderstorms: 0
Miles on road: 10
Miles off road: 50 yards
Elapsed time: appx 1:15
Interesting stories: None |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 16th, 2009|07:39 pm] |
Origin: Home
Destination: Home
Via: Wakefield Park, Acotink Park
Total distance: 13.1 miles
Elapsed time: 3 hours
Attempted homicide: 0
Spontaneous thunderstorm: 1
Miles on road: Appx 6.3
Miles off road: Appx 6.8
This started as a random bike ride. I thought I might map out the first part of a route from home to work. I got as far as Wakefield rec center, then remembered something I heard about miles of off-road bike trails in the park. So, of course, I had to try them out! I went as far as I could along one trail, then turned around to explore some others. About that time the wind picked up and I heard the rumbling of thunder in the distance. I made it back to the actual rec center just before the rain started. Waited there for probably about an hour for it to stop, then hit the road again. On my way home, I found another trail and decided to explore. That turned into a long off-road trek around Lake Acotink, partly on manicured gravel trails, partly on completely off-road, wooded trails about a foot wide. Finally, made it home covered in mud.
Overall a good afternoon ride! And now I know I can do a long and challenging trek, so the next step is to find a good road or trail route to work. |
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| I can has graduated! |
[May. 16th, 2009|12:55 pm] |
College: George Mason University, Volgenau School of IT & Engineering
Degree: Master of Science
Major: Software Engineering
Date: May 16, 2009
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| Friday evening bike ride, or, how I almost got killed in DC |
[May. 15th, 2009|09:15 pm] |
Origin: Office
Destination Office
Via: Key Bridge, Georgetown (DC), 24th & M streets, Kennedy Center, Memorial Bridge
Miles: 6.5-7
Attempted homicide: 1
Biking through georgetown, in dense traffic (avg car speed = 5mph, avg car distance travelled without stopping = 50 feet), a cab travelling in the left lane aimed STRAIGHT for me (travelling along the curb), came within about a foot of hitting me, then swerved back into his lane and gunned it. He got all of 50 feet before having to stop. When I caught up to him a few seconds later, he was staring right at me, as were his passengers.
I shoulda gotten the cab number. |
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| IT Internship / Entry Level position available |
[May. 5th, 2009|10:27 pm] |
Segue Technologies, Inc. has an immediate opening for an "IT Support Intern" or "Entry Level IT Support". This could be a part or full time position, either paid, stipend, or unpaid internship depending on the needs of the selected applicant.
Responsibilities include inventory of IT software and hardware assets, license management, desktop support, backup management, and assisting senior IT staff as directed.
Work location is Arlington, Virginia (22201 zip code)
Security clearance NOT required
US Citizenship NOT required
Relocation assistance NOT available |
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| Woot! |
[May. 1st, 2009|10:19 am] |
I missed the first round, but I was able to get a Dreamwidth seed account (Galen) in the second round this morning.
I can has seedling! |
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