Missing Washington Mutual Due To Chase Bank Incompetence

I miss Washington Mutual. It was real easy to call Washington Mutual. The Washington Mutual ATMs worked real well. Unlike the Chase Bank new-fangled ATM's that vex me with way to many inputs needed.

A couple weeks ago I realized Chase had mailed a new bank card to my old address. This is the 2nd time Chase has replaced my bankcard since Chase took over WaMu.

This time it is switching from MasterCard to Visa.

So, I logged into my secure Chase account and went to their message center to tell Chase they sent the new card to the wrong address.

This began a series of nonsensical responses. The responses had the feeling that I'd reached a Ukrainian support center. I was told such a request could not be honored from an email, that I had to go talk to a Chase banker in person with 2 pieces of I.D.

I replied that that was ridiculous, that it was not a request made via email, that it was made using their supposedly secure online banking website. The reply to that told me that my account had been reviewed and confirmed a card had been sent to me June 28.

To which I replied that I already knew that, the card was sent June 28 to the wrong address. At that point, last Thursday, I decided to call Chase. That turned into the phone tree from hell. I got to the phone tree from hell after entering all the digits on my current card and the PIN. And then it told me my account balance. Which is not what I was calling about.

Eventually I got to an option to talk to a phone banker. After a few minutes a woman with an extremely thick Indian accent, that I had trouble understanding, asked how she could help me. After a lot of effort she understood the problem, said she'd take care of it right then, that I'd have my new card in 2 business days.

That was last Thursday. I still have not received the new card. I did get an email from Chase telling me that a new card had been sent and for me to activate it as soon as possible because my current card goes inoperative on September 15.

I'm assuming I'll muster the energy to visit the Chase Bank phone tree from hell again, sometime before September 15.

Oh, I forgot the most amusing thing about this Chase debacle. I asked the Indian accented phone banker where she was located. I assumed she was going to say India. Instead she told me she was in Irving, Texas. I said that's only a few miles from where I live.

Maybe I could drive to Irving and pick up my missing bank card. Or ride my bike. Or walk.

In Texas Thinking About Atom Bombing Hiroshima & My Mom and Dad's Anniversary

You are up early, under cover of darkness, sitting out on my patio with me, drinking coffee on August 6, the 65th Anniversary of the day Hiroshima woke up to an atom bomb exploding overhead.

Six years after an atom bomb exploded over Hiroshima my mom and dad got married. This makes it easy to remember my mom and dad's anniversary.

Yesterday I read somewhere that there was some upset over the refusal of America to apologize for blowing up Hiroshima. This seemed bizarre to me.

I've no recollection of Japan apologizing for what it did on December 7, 1941. Maybe there was a Japanese apology and I missed it. Japan did a lot of bad behavior in the 1930s and 40s that would seem to require a lot of apologizing.

I must remember to call my mom and dad today.

Hitting A HOT 106 In Texas Straining My A/C & Making Me Sneeze

As you can see, it is past 6pm and 104 degrees, with a HEAT INDEX of 107, currently, in my HOT zone of Texas.

I'd turned my weather monitor off this afternoon, due to not wanting to hear its relentless weather warning chirping.

So, I did not know we'd hit 106 today, before cooling off to the relatively chillier 104.

A 20% chance of showers is in the forecast for tomorrow, which pretty much means there is a bat's chance in hell that we'll see any cooling rain on Friday.

I hope I am wrong.

I think the HEAT is wreaking havoc with my computer. It misbehaved almost all day today. At one point I thought, and still do, that it was the Flock browser causing the problem.

So, I switched to Google Chrome, which is what I am using right now. I don't have some of my saved websites on Chrome, which becomes a problem, like when Elsie Hotpepper asked me to do something, with the Hotpepper info in Flock. So, I had to temporarily kill Chrome and bring Flock back to life, in order to do Elsie's bidding. A real slight sacrifice to make a Hotpepper happy. And I'm all about making Hotpepper's happy in these troubled times.

The A/C cycling off and on, in this searing HEAT, causes me to erupt in these instantaneous explosive sneezes that I fear may put my back out or knock me out of my computer chair. Or both.

I used to live in a gentler climate. At times I long for those days. And then I come to my senses.

Hiking Hot At Village Creek Thinking About Getting Obese To Keep Cool

In the picture I'm in the shade, lifting my shades to look at you, while in the Village Creek Natural Historic Area around noon.

I had planned to go get HOT on the Tandy Hills today, but at noon it was Dead Calm out there. No cooling breeze.

Going to Village Creek was a good choice because even there, with a lot of shade, I overheated. sort of. I likely would have suffered a heatstroke on the noon Tandy Hills, had I gone there today.

I put 5 bottles of water in the freezer this morning. It did not take long for them to thaw. The bulges in my cargo pant shorts are my supply of water bottles. If my heavy drinking problem continues I may have to drag out my water bladder that I never liked using when mountain biking.

Today I recollected the last time I was involved in an activity up close to an obese person, with the temperatures in the low 80s, the obese person did not sweat, did not think it was hot, while I did both, sweated and thought it felt hot.

So, now I'm wondering if I've been wrong, like I often am, in thinking that obese people must really get hot, being under those thick blankets of fat. Instead, does the thick blanket of fat insulate obese people from the heat? Is this why I see so many people in Texas who choose to be ultra-fat? They're just trying to keep cool?

I'm currently at my skinniest in 2 years, skinnier than when I was in Washington 2 summers ago. Is this why I seem to be so easily overheated on these mild Texas days of barely 100 degrees?

While it would be nice to stay cooler, I really don't think I want to lard on 100 pounds to do so. The heat stifles my appetite. I really don't think I could manage to eat enough to add 100 pounds. I've seen what obese people go through to get to that state of cooling obesity. It is almost non-stop eating. And when not eating, time is spent worrying about what to eat next.

All morning long, ever since I got up around 5, I've had one annoying computer problem after another. I finally got the system all calmed down and then Elsie Hotpepper asked me to do something. This quickly turned into a boondoggle of my own making. Eventually I was able to get done what Elsie wanted done. And then I had to get away from looking at a computer.

And now I'm back at it again. Trying to get 4 webpages made.

The Mystery Of Dollar Stores

For several years whenever I leave this place and take a left on to Bridgewood Drive I see the sign for a store called Family Dollar. Though this store is fairly close to my abode I have never been in it.

Then a couple months ago construction started across the street from Family Dollar, next to the Krogers parking lot. Eventually a "Dollar General Opening Soon" sign appeared on the new construction.

It did not take long for Dollar General to get constructed and opened. The Dollar General is a better looking building than Family Dollar, with nicer landscaping. The only jarring note is somehow Dollar General was permitted to sit their Dollar General sign on the ground. This looks sort of strange.

So, last week I popped into Krogers to pick up FW Weekly. I decided to check out Dollar General.

For some reason I thought these dollar stores were full of stuff that cost a buck or less. As I often am, I was wrong.

Near as I can tell the dollar part of the name means everything is priced in dollar increments, as in $1, $2, $3, you get the drift. No $1.99 prices.

I figured the draw for these stores must be low prices. I was a bit surprised to see that the stuff for sale was not at bargain pricing. And that the Dollar General was like some sort of strange department store, with food products, car care products, clothes, shoes. It was like a mini-Wal-Mart.

Since the prices are no bargains and the selection is not great, what is the attraction of these stores? Do they cater to people who are scared to death of Wal-Mart?

Can anyone explain the dollar stores to me?

I did not see a dollar store til I came to Texas. Are they all over the country now, spreading like a disease, like here in my zone of Texas?

It's very perplexing.

Looking At August 5's Pink & Blue Texas Sky While Thinking About The Devil's River

I think those pink things in the blue sky are clouds, not Northern Lights. I'm almost certain our Aurora Borealis outbreak ended yesterday. Then again, I woke up with my head feeling brain pain, like yesterday, when I thought my neurons were being tortured, somehow, by the Sun's Sunday flareup.

I do not know what a reddish sky means when one is 100s of miles from the nearest sea. When I lived in Washington, about 10 miles from the nearest sea, from about as far back as my memory goes I remember, "Red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in morning, sailor takes warning."

Well, it is 10 minutes since I took that picture with the dire sky warning and solid blue has now returned. So, I'm fairly sure I do not need to prepare to batten down the hatches.

Yesterday's blogging about J.D. Granger's bizarre plan to have a tube float happy hour on the polluted Trinity River brought a comment from Don Young that pointed me towards Devil's River by Del Rio.

The Trinity River is pretty much the dirtiest river I've ever seen. But, Texas also has the clearest rivers I have ever seen, such as the San Marcos River that flows from Aquarena Springs. Aquarena Springs may be the clearest water I have ever seen.

What sold me on the going swimming in Devil's River idea and visiting Devil's River State Natural Area is you can also go mountain biking there on a 22 mile long trail.

I think I'll take a virtual trip to Del Rio today. And maybe a real trip to the Tandy Hills.

J.D. Granger's Trinity River Happy Hour Tubing Party

UPDATE: Thursday, August 26, J.D. Granger's Trinity River Happy Hour Float Took Place.

I was driving the Grapevine Highway today, after leaving Tarrant County College, and glanced over at the waterpark known as NRH20. This is in North Richland Hills, hence the name.

I snapped the photo you see here as I drove by.

I saw a pool that seemed uncomfortably crowded. And a lazy river that looked like it was having an inner tube jam. Way too many people in way too little lazy river.

And then I got back here and was surprised to see inner tubes as a subject in a different watery venue.

The Fort Worth Business Press has an article today that pretty much pulls down the pants of Fort Worth's nepotism loving Congresswoman, Kay Granger's son, J.D. Granger, who the Fort Worth good ol' boy network installed as the executive director of the bizarre, non-public works project, known as the Trinity River Vision Boondoogle and exposes just what a total dumb ass this guy is.

J.D. claims interest in the TRV Boondogggle has picked up, with out of state investors interested.

J.D. says, “What we’ve found is that the big funds, the national funds want big plans, they don’t want projects with small plans, they want ones with 10-year plans. And that pick-up has been significant, about one group every week and a half.”

Yeah, that makes sense. National funds want big plans. No small plans for national funds. You need really big 10 year plans if you want to snag national funds for a boondoggle.

Apparently it surprises J.D. when he learns that someone with national funds is not aware of the TRV Boondoggle. I suppose the surprise comes from the fact, in J.D.'s mind, the TRV Boondoggle is a BIG plan, one so BIG, national funds want it. After they know about it. Whatever national funds are.

It was at the end of the article where J.D. pulled his pants down and revealed what a total dumbass he is.

First off, for you who are not in the Fort Worth zone, the Trinity River runs through Fort Worth. The Trinity River is very polluted. It is usually very muddy. There are very clear, beautiful rivers in Texas, like the San Marcos River and the Guadalupe River. Those rivers are big tourist attractions with thousands floating down the rivers on inner tubes.

With that in mind I must copy the last 5 paragraphs of the Fort Worth Business Press article for your amusement.....

"In an effort to highlight the completion of one such project, Granger said the Trinity River Vision will host a ‘happy hour’ floating event.

The floating event will begin on Aug. 26 at the soon-to-be completed portion of the Trinity Trails between Rogers Road and the Fort Worth Zoo and river passengers will float to Trinity Park, where they will be transported back to the starting place.

“This will be the site of a future canoe launch and we thought it would be a great spot for a tube float,” Granger said. “We own a bus so we’ll take people back to their cars after they float our river, just like in San Marcos.”

Granger said the river floating event is open to the public."

As you can see in the picture of J.D. Granger, above, he likes Happy Hour.

But.

A Floating Happy Hour event on the Trinity River? Tubing on the Trinity River?

This is the most insane thing I've seen involving the Trinity River, other than the TRV Boondoggle, since Fort Worth's reality challenged mayor, Mike Moncrief, tried to dye the river purple. Ironically, just a short distance from where J.D. Granger wants to have his happy hour tubing party.

Is it not time that adults were put in charge of Fort Worth?

The Legends Of The Grottos On Lovers' Retreat In Mineral Wells Texas

This morning Betty Jo Bouvier, the Wild Woman of Woolley, asked me what I knew about Crazy Water. I was surprised that somehow Betty Jo had heard about the special water that comes from Mineral Wells.

Back on November 28, 2009 I blogged about Crazy Water after I heard from the Famous Mineral Water Company via a Twitter Tweet from @lovecrazywater.

Betty Jo, asking about Crazy Water, put me in mind of Mineral Wells and an old postcard I'd found titled "The Grottoes on Lovers' Retreat, Mineral Wells, Texas."

I assumed that the Lovers' Retreat Grotto must have existed prior to the building of Mineral Wells Dam, which created Mineral Wells Lake, and was now under water. My assumption was wrong.

I do not know where, in Mineral Wells, Lovers' Retreat is located. Here's a blurb I found about this grotto, "Lovers' Retreat has long been one of the most picturesque locations in the county (Palo Pinto) and has been a favorite recreation spot since people have lived in the area. The huge rocks that jut from the earth and numerous ledges and naturally occurring caves contribute to the scenery of the place."

I could find no photos of Lovers' Retreat, which has me thinking my initial assumption may have been correct. Where Mineral Wells Lake and Mineral Wells State Park now exist, there are steep cliffs in an area called Penitentiary Hollow. I imagine the gorge, that the dam dammed, had steep cliffs.

There are two versions of why the Grottos on Lovers' Retreat are so-named.

One version has an early Palo Pinto settler, last name of Lovers, being chased by Indians. Lovers hid in one of the grotto's caves til the Indians gave up looking for him. When Lovers got back to civilization and told his tale, ever after, the grotto had Lovers' name attached to it.

The other version is an Indian legend with 2 versions and it involves actual lovers. The father of an Indian maiden insisted she marry the son of another tribe's chief. But, she was in love with a brave from her own tribe. The day before she was to be married, the maiden eloped with her brave. Her dad then sent out a pack of warriors to catch the pair. They hid out in one of the grotto's caves. When the warriors reached the caves a Medicine Man warned that the caves were haunted by evil spirits. So, they left. The Indian maiden and her brave emerged from the cave and lived in the grotto area for years, eventually joining another tribe and living happily ever after.

In the second version the warrior search party found the hiding lovers, killed the brave. And then, as they were dragging the maiden back to her dad, she broke free and jumped to her death off a 40 foot cliff.

Anyone out there know where the Grottos at Lovers' Retreat are located in Mineral Wells? I think I can eliminate the Baker Hotel as a possible location.

Up Early Looking For The Aurora Borealis To Light Up The Texas Sky

I got up early this morning, around 4, expecting to step outside to view the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights.

The Sun chose to do some major erupting on the day named after it, aiming two mass ejections of solar material directly at the Earth.

I have seen the Aurora Borealis one time previous. I got a call from a pseudo-religious friend of mine. She told me she thought God was up to something big, telling me to look outside to see if I saw the same thing. She thought maybe God was just putting on a show for her.

So, I stepped outside and was instantly amazed at what I saw happening in the sky to the north. A major multi-colored light show the likes of which I'd not previously seen.

I had no clue what it was. I'd not heard of the Northern Lights ever being visible from my location. And, unlike Sunday's Sun eruptions, there had been no forecast of incoming solar material and its resultant neon light show.

Back to Earth. Yesterday I took an interesting virtual trip to Luckenbach, Texas. I'd been in the Luckenbach zone before, to Fredericksburg and Enchanted Rock, but I'd not been to Luckenbach.

I do not know if I am going to go anywhere virtually today. I am fairly certain I am going to Hurst. And I am going swimming, likely before that Aurora Borealis causing Sun lights up the place.

Having Fun With A Chase Bank ATM Before Tandy Hills Hiking

It has not hit 100 yet. I had to go to the bank, so since it is near the hills, I hiked after I banked. Only 96 when I hit the Tandy Hills.

Speaking of the Chase Bank ATM check deposit mechanism. Using this thing has gotten much easier after multiple times of using it.

But.

Today it took 6 tries for the ATM to successfully read my debit card.

When you get to the part where you stick a check in a slot, it tells you that you can deposit a stack of up to 20, or was it 30, checks. Now, the first time I made a deposit in this new machine it kept rejecting the check, due to me not sticking it in properly.

Today I had 2 checks to deposit. They were not the same size. I did not go with the stacking option. I deposited them separately. How does this thing sort through a stack of checks? I did not see any good coming from me trying to deposit a stack of 2 checks.

Anyway, after the banking adventure I was off to the Tandy Hills. A nice breeze was blowing, but I just could not get into heavy duty hiking mode. I'm thinking maybe I'm getting sufficient aerobicizing swimming, and so the endorphin fix need is not so dire.

Whilst on the Tandy Hills I looked for a Creek Plum Tree so I could pick me some and make a Don Young Creek Plum Tart. But I had no luck finding a Plum. Probably this is for the best. The last time I tried to make pie dough it ended up clogging up my garbage disposal. The last time was the only time I tried to make pie dough.