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| Still AliveI am still alive and have added a couple of posts recently to my other blog. Hope this finds you all well. Merry Christmas.
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| Yep it's a post, and an updateA post is up, click here.
As some of you may have already heard I am attempting to move to Michigan chasing a girl (Andrea Pancoast). What some of you might not know is that I will most likely be moving in the next couple of weeks if all goes well, but that is up to the man upstairs. I will be living in her little hometown of Shelbyville until I get a place in Grand Rapids. (Or Kalamazoo if I get other job offers). For now it is making chairs at the Grand Rapids Chair Company for me, we will see how I do at factory work.
ciacg
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| Creation v. Evolution and updateFirstly, I have a new post about the Creation v. Evolution debate that continues to rage in and out of the US Courts. To read it click here.
As far as an update: I am moving home to Columbus Ohio. Winona did me wrong as far as its job market. No, I don't want to go into Orthopedics, therefore I am sunk. Hopefully I will find something soon because my money is nearly gone.
Also, I thought a nice story would be appropriate. So, I went to www.nslds.ed.gov, it is a database for people who have gone to college and have student loans to pay off. The database lists all of the loans, principle outstanding, lenders, servicers (what do the do anyway?) and guarantors. After putting in my social security number, date of birth, last name, and Dept. of Ed. pin number I got to the page with my information. Well, all my information looked right, then I looked at the top of the page. There, in bright blue letters was the name for the account "Nathan C Smith." Now, I am sure there are lots of Nathan C Smiths, and I bet they are great guys, but unless they are going to pay off my loans I don't want their name on my loan information. This especially since one of them apparently has my social security number... Ok, so no one stole my information, I know that. But, someone did goof and if I don't want a screwy credit history I need to get this fixed. I call up the NSLDS (National Student Loan Data System, which I have memorized by now, you'll understand the humor of that later) and speak to a bright young lady. She says that "Yes, that is indeed a problem (thanks!) and that the NSLDS gets their information from the Lenders so I should contact my lenders." I had already talked to one of my lenders a few days ago (I have two) and she said everything looked good, and I remember she did call me Joshua, so I called the other. They have all my information correct. My name is wrong on the database, oh, "You need to contact the NSLDS." Ok, so I double check the other lender, now getting into the groove of the automated menus. "Yep, we have all the right information, and yes the NSLDS would need to fix that." So I call them again, "Well, we don't even have an account for your SSN on my readout. You had better have your brother call in, I bet his readout would be screwy. No, I can't look his up for you, right to information act and all." I call my brother who sounds like he views calling the Federal Government grudgingly (I wonder why?). He calls them and then back telling me his information looks right, despite what my energetic last "Representative" said. Ok, so I call again, start in with a new girl at NSLDS, "You know,"I ask, "Can I just have your supervisor since you can't do anything?" Sure. The supervisor, who speaks with too heavy of an accent to work at a call center, let alone supervise one, informs me that the reason her underlings have not been able to find anything on me is because they are looking for an active FAFSA (which, I think to myself, is definitely not what I asked them to look up). I need to call my servicers, they are the ones who input the information to us so they need to handle it. Would I like their numbers. Sure! Ok, the accented supervisor sounded like she knew what she was doing! Good, so I call one of the two servicers (I need two apparently). The stressed sounding woman responds to my request with, "Well, we actually do not send them the information. You need to contact your Guarantor. Would you like their number?" Now, at this point I feel like I am leaving no stone unturned. I called the Financial Aid office at my school. A friend answers (quite a bit nicer than talking to a stranger) who apologetically tells me that there is nothing that she can do, that it is outside of the school that the problem occurred. On a whim, I asked her to transfer me to a lady in the business office who helped me with the same problem in regards to my name as it was listed on one of my exit interviews. That lady, I am told, is going to call me back once she has made some calls. Sweet. While she is working on my problem I am going to keep going. So I call my Guarantor. A voice that gives me the picture of a kind old grandmother answers. No, we don't handle that here. Yeah, that is definitely a problem and I wish I could help you. Well she was nice about it so I thank her and call my other Servicer (whom I, for all this calling, still don't understand what they have to do with me). Their answer might have been recorded from one of my earlier conversations. So, I hang up, thinking, well, everyone has my information right except the Federal Government, which apparently does not have the authority to change an incorrect name to a correct one. It is at this point that the business office lady calls me back. Yes, she can handle this and all I need to do is give her a copy of my Social Security Card and Drivers license and I should see the results some time in the next month (since the database only updates itself monthly). YES!!!!
What I learned:
1. Very few people, especially not the majority of workers at the NSLDS, have any idea about who inputs your information into the NSLDS database. This fabled bit of knowledge is apparently only whispered in your ear after a blood rite that few have ever witnessed.
2. There is a contest to find the most obnoxious jazz and the most overplayed classical music which selects the pieces to synthesize for your listening pleasure as you hold.
3. Automated menus ought to have "Speak to a customer service representative" as the option right after the option to Habla Espaniol (sorry about the spelling, I took French and Ancient Greek, so sue me).
4. There are far too many people involved in fronting me money to go to college. I suspect that one of either Osama Bin Laden, the Russian Mob, or some portly hacker sitting at home eating snickerdoodles his mom just brought him is somehow connected and making a few buck off of me. (For those unenlightened, snickerdoodles are a delightful cookie best enjoyed with a glass of ice cold milk and handed to you by someone with a cooking apron on.)
ciacg
P.S. Man I want a snickerdoole now!
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| Art?Yeah, not normally a common topic but I have a post up on art if you are interested. To read it click here.
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