I had to get a notary stamp on some papers this week.
I trekked over to the abogado's office on the next block (I live in an old Dominican neighborhood) only to find a "not here till the pandemic is over" note on the door.
Well rats.
Back home I go.
Turns out you can get notary services online.
Okedoky, this sounds easy.
Long story short it took three hours and cost 4x as much.
But at least I got it done.
But when I tell people it takes three times longer to get anything done, I'm underestimating.
What is taking you longer these days?
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| "what's taking so damn long?" |
We always went to the nearest bank. They always have a notary present. Also real estate offices are loaded with them. But banks usually do it for free.
ReplyDelete"what's taking so damn long?"
ReplyDeleteGoing to sleep.
Waking up.
Waiting for water to boil.
Everything. Cleaning house. Work has tripled and so has exhaustion. Writing. Haven't touched my piano, flute, or violin in forever. A few of us have started singing for Mass, trying to sing without swallowing our masks,trying to hear ourselves through the mask, trying to hear each other a social distance time zone away. Surprisingly, we sound decent (our Mass is livestreamed Sundays at 0930).
ReplyDeleteBut today I'm happy. I'm at the Writer's Digest virtual conference. I've wanted to go forever but have never been able to make the trip in person. This was within reach. I know people who are used to going in person are probably cussing because they can't but I'm thrilled to be there at all.
Everything. I feel like I have been moving through sludge these last months. This really feels more like purgatory than life as of late.
ReplyDeleteWriting. Long term quarantining in the quiet seclusion of my home ought to be conducive to increased productivity. That ain't the case for me. My favorite haunt for working on manuscripts is the pub down the street. Restrictions in place since March prevent me from sitting for hours at the end of the bar, tapping away on my laptop. Sure, I can (and do) crack open a local lager at home and bang out some words. But, I really miss talking with the owners and their staff, trading insults with the other regulars, and eavesdropping on customers' conversations -- real people who inspire and influence the actions and dialog of my fictional characters. The chaos of the local watering hole is -- was -- part of my routine and without it my pace has definitely suffered. My pocketbook and liver seem happier but that's a separate issue...
ReplyDeleteFalling asleep. My mind has been all wound up, with no place to go and the off switch is funky.
ReplyDeleteWait, you can get notary services online? That's amazing!
ReplyDeleteWell, my Iron Woman training is off kilter. I’ve moved from the couch to the easy chair.
ReplyDeleteBrenda
Waiting for this damn election to be over!
ReplyDeleteWAIT!IT'S OVER!!!!!!
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Buying groceries.
ReplyDeleteYou used to just hand this archaic thing called currency over, and the cash register machine would calculate exactly how much change you needed back as fast as, well, a calculator. Then a clerk would whip out the correct amount and hand it over. 5 seconds tops.
Now: we wait for a computer to decide to let us pay. And wait. And wait. And wait. And sign. And wait. Fast and contactless? Not so much.
Everything takes longer. Want to call a doctor to make an appointment, call a bank to correct a mistake, call any company for any reason? You get put on hold...for minimum of half an hour.
ReplyDeleteLike JeffDeitering, I find it much harder to write at home. Instead of a pub, my watering hole was a coffee shop. Haven't been there since March.
ReplyDeleteMy paralegal is a notary. Every few days she brings me a stack of documents to sign. Then I sign her notary book. Done. It's easy, but I have to notarize documents so often that if it wasn't easy I'd definitely make changes to our procedures.
It took a long time for autumn to finally arrive, but it's here now. Two days ago it was 97 degrees. Today our high temp is 57. It's raining, thunder, lighting, and a gust of wind blew through and toppled a small tree in my front yard.
Home repair projects are taking FOREVER. Our shower leaks, so every time we use it we have to cover the bathroom floor with towels. I've washed so many loads of towels in the past few months that I should buy stock in laundry detergent. Mid-September, my husband had to stop his work on replacing the shower because he had COVID. It took four weeks but thankfully he finally got better, so he started the work again mid-October for maybe 2-3 days. Then our aquarium sprung a leak. We were able to rescue the fish and they're currently living in a small tank in our kitchen/dining room which makes eating at the table an adventure. We had to move our living room furniture to pull up the carpet to let it dry out. The hot weather was actually helpful [notwithstanding all the fires we've had, including one about 3 miles from my house which caused it to snow ash for four days] because the carpet finally finished drying. Then my uncle brought over his business computers for my husband to fix, which will require about a week of his time.
As of today I almost have my living room back, altho the couches are in odd places and there's currently a table set up in the middle which contains two computers with monitors. The fish will live in the dining room for another 3-4 days. We cleaned up the downed tree. The rain just stopped and there's currently about 75 small birds [we think they're finches] hunting for food in our front yard. Obviously we stopped doing stuff so we could watch the birds. It's a very nice distraction.
Waiting for the next problem. We're hopeful we'll get the shower fixed before 2021.
Anything on my computer. Something hinky is going on and I can't work out the problem. Virus scans, updates, turn off then on... nothing seems to be fixing it. Very frustrated!
ReplyDeleteYeah, everything seems to be taking longer. Sleeping, writing, waking, thinking, cooking, election results. At least we've got that last one (mostly) cleared up, thank god.
ReplyDeleteBut there is one thing that not only happened earlier than anticipated, but also served as a magnificent distraction from :waves arms: everything. My daughter-in-law had her baby Friday evening! Yes, for those keeping track, this is my second new granddaughter this year, adding to the one I already had and making a grand (HA, pun intended) total of three. I'm getting spoiled by this largesse. Mom and baby are doing well, baby Margaret is a pro at being adorable, and I almost don't care about anything else that has happened since. Almost.
Congratulations, KDJames! What wonderful news!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of adorable babies, what's taking me longer these days is getting stuff mailed -- specifically, a knitted newborn dress that is rapidly becoming obsolete. Call me superstitious, but I didn't want to dump anything extra into our beleaguered postal system in the week before the election. Especially after a federal court ruled on Oct. 29 that MN absentee ballots would not be accepted after Nov. 3, contrary to the instructions printed on the 2+ million ballots that had already been sent out, which stated they would be accepted up to a week late as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. Because why would they want to make it easier for people to exercise their franchise as COVID cases skyrocket? But I digress... I've always been postally challenged, but the pandemic is is making it harder than ever for me to get stuff sent off, magical thinking or not.
Fearless Reider, thank you! It is entirely wonderful.
ReplyDelete