— पांच हजार तीन सौ अड़तालीस —
I hate the relatively recent practice of turning nouns into verbs in dumb ways. Case in point: "Adulting." And now I keep thinking of that word, just because of all the errands and tasks I got done yesterday, including buying a new Delta Cartridge for our master bathroom shower faucet at Home Depot. We have also long been contemplating buying a replacement bulb for the ceiling light near the shower in that same bathroom, but we don't know the model of bulb it is, and we fucking forgot to unscrew it and take it with us! So, now we'll have to go back to Home Depot soon.
I did feel pretty productive with all manner of things of this sort yesterday, though. I finally got around to calling Costco about the replacement calendar I need for the version I ordered for Shobhit, because the one I received had a bunch of photos missing from the birthdays and anniversaries on the grid pages—even though they were all still right there in the template online in my Costco Photo Center account. I hadn't realized the last time I called them was actually December 26; it's been nearly a month! And the lady I spoke to then said that she would re-send me the calendar, which I kept not receiving, and so I called again yesterday. This new person said there was a note that our call had been disconnected and so they couldn't finish with me. What? As I recall, we finished the conversation after she told me she would re-send the calendar, but, whatever.
This time we really got somewhere, though. I was told I needed to bring the incorrect calendar into a store, with copies of the order confirmation and the receipt, and get a refund. In the meantime, I would need to re-order from the template online to get a new, corrected one. I placed the order and, while still on the phone, the lady confirmed the correct photos were all where they were supposed to be.
I also called Aetna, because it has been like pulling teeth to get my $200 vision hardware reimbursement for the contact lenses I got at Costco. This was the third time I called
them, and this time they confirmed the reprocessing was still underway; it was submitted January 6 and was supposed to take seven to ten business days to complete. They said the holiday may have delayed it, but even the long end of that range takes us to tomorrow. Okay, whatever.
So, after Shobhit and I had dinner (pho', his first time making it; the noodles got too thick but it was still tasty—even though all the liquids forced me to use the bathroom at Home Depot
and at Costco not fifteen minutes later), we set out for errands: get the replacement Delta Cartridge, and return the calendar.
We replaced the Delta Cartridges in both our bathrooms last summer. The problem is, the guest bathroom remains fixed and fine, but the master bathroom shower is now leaking more than ever before. We're hoping it's because it was a mistake to buy one of them from Amazon last summer; the one we bought from Home Depot is the only one that worked reliably. Once we replace the master bathroom cartridge a second time, either it will work and it's all good, or it will still leak and we'll be faced with calling a plumber. At least Home Depot said we can return it if it doesn't work, even after opening the package. That's good to know because the item cost about $65.
— पांच हजार तीन सौ अड़तालीस —
— पांच हजार तीन सौ अड़तालीस —
So then we went just a bit further south to Costco, where we made the Calendar return first. With the receipt and order confirmation printed, it went very smoothly, and I'm only out an extra $5 or so in the end. (I had to pay another $6 in shipping for the replacement calendar, whereas the average per-calendar shipping had been much cheaper before, having gotten a single package with 15 calendars in it.)
And since we were there, we did a bit of minor grocery shopping. It was kind of a dream, actually, how few people were there. We should shop at Costco on Wednesday evenings more often.
We drove home, put the groceries away. Under normal circumstances we might have asked to borrow Alexia's toolbox again immediately, but I had just taken care of Cassie the cat for the past three days and Alexia had only just gotten home from a work trip to Portland; we didn't want to bother her. I'll ask tonight, and hopefully then we can get the shower fixed for good.
After that, we settled in to watch
The Banshees of Inisherin, which is now available on HBO Max, and has four SAG Award nominations Shobhit will be voting on. He seemed to enjoy the movie but apparently didn't find it as excellent as I did; I didn't get the feeling he planned to vote for any of them. I absolutely would, though, probably for Colin Farrell in Best Actor, and definitely for Kerry Condon who plays his sister. I actually think she gives the best performance in the movie, although Barry Keoghan also comes close. They're all great, and I'm kind of astonished the great Brendan Gleeson has never been nominated for an Oscar. At least he was nominated for a SAG Award here. (He won't win it.)
— पांच हजार तीन सौ अड़तालीस —
[posted 12:29 pm]
