Awesomeness

But first something that wasn't too awesome. It seems that the people at my idiot bank don't know how to count. When we first bought this house our payment was $975 a month and that included the house insurance and taxes escrowed into the payment. Well last year we got a letter saying they had taken too much out in escrow and that they were going to reduce our payment to $925 plus they sent us a check for almost $1,000. Well this year I get a letter saying that because they dropped our payment down and our taxes went up they fell well short in our escrow and would have to up our payment to $981 so they would have enough for taxes next year. BUT because they chose to reduce our payment last year instead of leaving it where it was we were $1,100 short on our taxes so the bank paid it and on top of the new $981 payment we owe them an additional $84 a month for the next 14 months to pay back the $1,100 they paid for us in taxes because they were MORONS and didn't leave the payment alone in the first place so we would have enough in escrow. Had they left the payment at $975 like it was when we first bought the house we would have maybe been $100-200 short on the taxes and paying that back would have been no big deal. Now because these simpletons can't do their job right our frickin' house payment is $1,065 a month for the next 14 months which is something we were NOT prepared for. I got a fixed rate mortgage so my payment would stay the same not jump around by a couple hundred bucks every year. I am so sick of my bank. They have been screwing us over since we decided to get this house. The thing is I really would like to drop this bank and get a different one but I don't know if I want to go through the hassle of refinancing my mortgage with another bank to do it so we just might be stuck with them, at least with the mortgage.

Ok and that was the non-awesomeness. Now for the awesomeness. I got to thinking the other day when I received my associates degree in the mail that my high school diploma was an honors diploma. How do you get an honors diploma you ask? By passing all portions of the MEAP test with a level I or II score which I did. And why is this important? Because is 1999 the State of Michigan passed a bill/law/whatever stating that students who passed all four portions of the MEAP with a level I or II would be awarded the Michigan Merit Award which is $3,000 in college money. So I figured, hey I met the requirement so why not call the Office of Scholarships and Grants and see if my name was on the list as a recipient of the Michigan Merit Award. I called today and they said yes I was on the list and that this was the last year I could use it and because I had waited so long I would only get half. Then I explained to them that the reason I haven't used it in the past 7 years was because 4.5 of those years I was active duty military. Well that happens to be an exception to the only getting half thing so now all I have to do is send in a copy of my DD214 (thats a my discharge paper to all you civilians) and a copy of my marriage license because my name has obviously changed since high school and call them back in a week and they will certify my award online and send the $3,000 to the school of my choice. So in a week or two they will be sending Baker enough money to cover my expenses for spring quarter. I also get paid two payments of $1,075 for my GI bill between now and the end of spring quarter so that will allow me to set aside the $600 I needed for my trip to Chicago, buy my books for summer and fall quarter and pay ahead on my tuition a bit. This by far has to be the easiest $3,000 I have ever made. So note to all you Michiganders who graduated class of 2000 or after and completely forgot the Michigan Merit Award existed- it might be looking into because you could have a free $,3000 sitting in the state treasury.

A smaller bit of awesomeness- allergy season is starting up and for the last week or so my sinuses have been draining and fluid has been building in my ears which really make them hurt so I've been taking Tylenol Severe Allergy to help it. I have been getting to work wide awake and an hour after I get there I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. Well it finally dawned on me today that the barely being able to stay awake things coincided with when the allergy pills were kicking in so now that I know its the damn allergy pills that are putting me to sleep I can get something else that won't do that. I actually fell asleep at work today for about 15 - 20 minutes and luckily no one noticed but falling asleep on the job can get me fired so I'll be switching to some different meds now. Happy day.