3 people

So I am sitting online while my speaker phone plays music with static. Awhile back I was informed my wait time for an operator will be approximately 39 minutes. TG for speaker phones. I remember the old days when a recording like that meant you had to actually hold the phone that whole time. Not any more. Speaker on, do what you want.

So yes, I am noticing we now have 3, count them, THREE, CS members who suffer from a condition I call dailypostthisitis. Every calendar day they MUST post a new question blog or a photo. If they do not terrible things happen to them.

Two of these poor unfortunate souls daily post questions on serious (to them) topics such as 'do you believe in sunrise?,' 'can birds really fly?,' 'do men like women with no hair?.' 'do women like men with no hair?.' 'do men like women who own televisons?.' 'gorls, do you like men who own tellivisions?,' etc., etc. Now these two cases are female, so perhaps this is why questions are their symptom of the disease as the only male here with this condition makes pictorial statements. I have communicated with that long time sufferer many times and he is aware of and making headway in dealing with the symptoms. Not so the two females alas. The root causes of dailypostthisitis are not fully understood, but it is probably related to empty lives and loneliness coupled with a belief the Internet isn't real. We wish these women well in coping with the symptoms of this terrible malady.

I have something ridiculously important to accomplish today which is why I am (still) holding on my phone. You see this past Friday I, for the first time ever, learned my pension began over a year ago. Previously, for those in my situation the old rules were no pension until age 62. But a few years ago Congress changed that rule and for my situation my pension begins at age 60. Someone forgot to tell me that. Yeah, I am not a happy camper. To actually get the money all I have to do is complete an online form and enter certain information my former employer has provided. Yes, I remember getting that letter 20 something years ago and placing it under a desk blotter for safekeeping. If my memory is correct I believe one of the cats used it and the blotter as toilet paper 15 years ago. Alternatively one can contact their former agency and collect the needed information there. Hmmm, a problem surfaces. There were some major re-organizations after 9/11 and my old agency simply no longer exists with different functions (three of which I handled in more peaceful days) going to other agencies. So, after 2o something years, which one has my data? So with a half completed online form, I sit on telephone hold while I try to find my data, so I can complete the form and get my money. Aaargh. This is call two. The first one kept me waiting for over an hour before a human told me not his agency and provided this second phone number which is where I am sitting today. Will my pension money be supplied retroactively to the day it was supposed to start (if someone had bothered to tell me of the rule change it would have), or have I simply lost a year's worth of income? I dunno yet. That will be my next question to find out an answer to, after I locate the missing data. Since I am again (needlessly with the new pension law) battling my bank to avoid foreclosure, a big fat check about now would be really nice.