Happy shopping outcome

The weekend is here. Yay!

I have some errands to run later on today. I made a decent shopping list. Most of the items are food! Here's hoping that I get everything that I need.

On a slightly different note, I had placed an order online for an item with a small business that I frequent often. I got to exchange e-mail messages with the owner. I had ordered a plushie. She said that there was some glitch on her end and it wasn't available. I got a refund.

However, there was a larger version of the same plushie that she had, but wasn't listed on her site. I got it without tax. It was such a lovely outcome that I didn't expect. She has always been nice to me and it was such a nice gesture to have the tax knocked off.

Great customer service from a small, local store that has survived this pandemic. It's one of many reasons why I return.

Unexpected money

Something unexpected happened to me the other day. I'll need to explain a bit of background.

On Wednesday, I received a notification e-mail from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), indicating that I had a new message waiting for me. I was pretty busy with work that I didn't have a chance to log on to the site and check my account.

I check my finances fairly often. I logged into my bank account after work and noticed that I had more money than usual. I looked closer and it said that I got a tax refund. That's funny. I haven't filed my tax return for 2018 yet.

I didn't know if it was a mistake with the deposit. Years ago, my back accidentally deposited $15,000 into my chequing account. I didn't touch it. A day later, the amount reversed by my bank. I wasn't sure if it was the same thing.

I finally got around to logging on to my CRA online account. My tax return for 2017 got reassessed and I ended up with a refund, including interest. Nice!

The amount pays for my recent round-trip flight to Dallas and my car rental. Yay!

Productive day with a new laptop

Monday was quite a busy workday. It was nice that my manager was away, which should be the norm!

I had a conference call on my way to work. There are three of us on this call. Two of us have something meaningful to contribute each week. Our third colleague has little to contribute that is of value on any given week.

At the office, I spent my first half an hour on the phone with my cell phone provider. I got my employee discount applied and got reimbursed $32 CAD for the difference this month. Yay!

Moments later, I spent time collecting money towards a farewell gift for a colleague who is leaving the company. I find that if I don't organize such events, no one does it within our department.

Twenty minutes later, I received an e-mail indicating that my replacement laptop had arrived. I went to turn in my old Windows 7 laptop for a new Windows 10 one. The IT folks were helpful and pleasant under the circumstances. Every employee is getting a new laptop, so to orchestrate such a massive change takes a ton of patience.

Naturally, my configuring everything ran into bumps. I needed a new cable to connect one of my existing monitors to the new HDMI port on my laptop. The folks who had those cables were unavailable. Luckily, I bumped into my colleague in the washroom who had an extra cable. It made a huge difference trying to do work on a 14" screen for most of the day to a larger 32" one!

Of course, I couldn't download all the software applications that I needed from our company portal. I spent some time with an IT person over the phone to troubleshoot the issue. Ah, fun!

Tonight, I let my laptop run, sync, and sort itself out at home. Magically, everything works now. I can download the software programs that I need. My connection to the company's intranet works. I'm almost shocked.

I also managed to spend an hour late this morning reviewing documents and answering questions that my students had. We also had a relaxing lunch together with good conversation.

I love a productive day, especially when I chat with so many different folks.

Odd events lead to good karma

Sometimes, I wonder about various events. Yesterday, my guy had landed in Seattle for work. I was happy as can be, as I was going to join him for the Thanksgiving long weekend.

My guy left home without his driver's licence. It may have foreshadowed the events that took place after that.

On Monday, I had the worst time trying to troubleshoot various things with three new folks on my team. The worst was with the new writer who says that she knows everything. However, she ends up clicking various sites on her own that it causes even more problems. Her laptop had the most difficult time connecting to our company's wifi.

It was humourous how the rest of us simply assumed that her laptop was troublesome every time she tried a task on it. It's not me!

My guy texted me after I was done work, which was around 17:20. He indicated that his course was cancelled and that no one had told him about it. Bummer. Such horrible communication!

I had booked a one-way ticket to Seattle. I had also booked a hotel room to stay closer to the airport, for my flight was at 08:00. I had also booked a rental car.

All our our plans were dashed. My guy said that he looked forward to my joining him this trip, which was the highlight for him. He's sweet.

Looking on the bright side, I had already booked a staycation this weekend in his hometown. I had cancelled that reservation, but managed to rebook the same duration at a cheaper rate.

There is no penalty when I cancel my flight within 24 hours. I also managed to cancel my car and hotel reservations with ease. No harm on these fronts.

My guy flies back on Tuesday. We are meeting for some quality time. He told me that he wants to spank me for being a bad girl. Naturally, that turns me on.

We chatted twice on Tuesday. I got him off on the phone. He was so lethargic that he ended up singing.

Although our original plans didn't work out, our alternative ones are equally as good.