Busy Morning: 80% Success Rate

So I spent the morning (and will spend much of today and tomorrow) doing things we all hate: errands.

This morning I knew would be pretty nasty, since the 5 things I had to do were all Columbia or New York Sports Club stuff, which means I knew I was in for a hassle.

Things got off to a really bad start at NYSC where a miserable woman (probably fired by the Columbia Registrar when they decided to re-vamp the office and only hire nice gay men) told me that I would owe $135 to cancel my membership and that (GET THIS!) I needed to come in and PRINT FOR HER FROM MAPQUEST geographic evidence that I would not be living within 25 miles of a New York Sports Club -- and this is after I'd already shown her my new lease!

I was pretty pissed (still am -- and just called but the entire company, not just my club but the WHOLE east coast corporate headquarters, is on a lunch break from 12-1pm), and was kind of walking to my next task seething, until I remembered that this is how I felt EVERY DAY in Cairo. I don't know how I lived there for two years. Everything was SUCH a customer service struggle.

Anyway, everything else so far has been successful, so I totally re-grouped, and was even surprised by how easy everything was. This morning I also:

1. Scheduled to have my cable cut on 13 August and get a pro-rated bill.

2. Canceled my Columbia Fall and Spring leases with no fee!

3. Got MORE transcripts from the Registrar (THANK GOD for the gay guy who totally gives me a "gay solidarity" break and just, without any big to-do, politely removes the hold on my account every time I need something; last time he gave me 5 copies of my transcript with official envelopes, but I told him I didn't need the undergrad part -- turns out I was wrong and today I had to come back for the complete undergrad and law transcript and it was no problem!).

AND, the huge and unexpected victory:

4. Went to Columbia Health Services and got a copy of my vaccination history! I was dreading this, because I probably have medical records that are as easy to track and gap-filled as an undocumented immigrant...I mean seriously. Anyway, Columbia keeps records for 7 years for college students and, with only like a month before its deletion from the system, I got mine! I really didn't want to have to get baby vaccinations again at the Yale Clinic. Gross.

So those are all the things I took care of. I also bought my new mp3 player AND called the electric company in New Haven (AGAIN -- they were only open on the weekend for emergencies) but the hold time is (get ready) 1 hour 54 minutes - 2 hours 25 minutes. WOW. Anyway, they have a call-back service, so hopefully I'll hear from them soon!

There are several emails I need to send today and more things to take care of, but at least I'm moving on this stuff!

VC