{"id":7344,"date":"2021-04-14T16:54:30","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T16:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/?p=7344"},"modified":"2021-04-14T16:54:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T16:54:30","slug":"many-hoops-some-aflame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/?p=7344","title":{"rendered":"Many Hoops, Some Aflame"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pl-7344\"  class=\"panel-layout\" ><div id=\"pg-7344-0\"  class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" ><div id=\"pgc-7344-0-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-7344-0-0-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_black-studio-tinymce widget_black_studio_tinymce panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"0\" ><div class=\"textwidget\"><p>One April afternoon, I ventured to address three pieces of personal business. Way too ambitious, even for a woman born in the Year of the Dog. Yes, dogs know how to dig in and take pursuit. But, not all of us like to leap through hoops, some aflame.<\/p>\n<h4>Hoop #1<\/h4>\n<p>Respond to correspondence from Florida Sunpass, a 3-page Toll Enforcement Invoice: Due $3.50. Contains photo of my car passing through a deserted Cash Only $1 Toll Booth at 5:21 p.m. on 03\/03\/21. Nailed leaving Pass-a-Grille.<\/p>\n<p>Issues to address:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No one was in the toll booth to accept the dollar bill I held out.<\/li>\n<li>I canceled my Sunpass in 2020 when the pandemic kept me from going anywhere.<\/li>\n<li>Calling Sunpass takes time \u2013 estimated 45 minutes \u2013 as the message repeats every 60 seconds urging a visit to the website.<\/li>\n<li>Visiting the website wouldn\u2019t help since I no longer have an account.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Outcome: Day #3 of calling, I reached Sunpass Rep Melody. She is blas\u00e9 when I point out the booth was closed at rush hour. I could almost hear her filing her nails. &nbsp;\"Yes, we're closing all of them. It's all pay by camera.\" I say, \"How does one know?\" Melody says a sign clearly states it. Just this once, she'll give me a courtesy pass on $2.50 of the $3.50. I pay my $1.<br \/>\nFollow-up: On the way from Passe-a-Grille Beach to the St. Pete Beach toll booth where the whole thing started, I see no sign indicating the toll booth is empty. There might be a sign when you're already approaching the toll booth, but that's no help. Solution: Drive north through to Treasure Island and a no-toll bridge.<\/p>\n<h4>Hoop #2<\/h4>\n<p>Mortgage company correspondence requiring proof of condo flood insurance. This is an annual slog, my 15th year contacting the condo management firm to request fax of proof to mortgage company. Reply: this management company does not do this anymore. I get to do it. Emailed company that faxes mortgage companies. Confirmed the fax was sent. Brush hands of the matter and file my nails.<\/p>\n<p>Outcome: Three weeks later received a second notice from mortgage company threatening charges for my own new flood insurance policy. Call confirms mortgage company got the fax. Told to expect a third letter to disregard the second letter. Sigh.<\/p>\n<h4>Hoop #3<\/h4>\n<p>AT&amp;T cell phone billing error: My online visit shows I am auto-enrolled in plan as I understood it. Credit card shows I\u2019m being billed for a previous plan. Making my third call since February 5 to a rep to correct it. Courteous Shea and Henry in Manila had said they fixed it. Not so. Rep Wilson in Manila says to go to the website and unenroll. Nope. I hang up. Wilson texts me a phone number to a rep who has the authority to refund me. But, I'm finished for the day. Called the number a week later. Was told to call another number for a person with the authority to refund. Right. Opted to see if April charge is correct. So far, &nbsp;no April bill. I do have phone service. &nbsp;Will the next hoop be in flames?<\/p>\n<h4>Here's the Deal<\/h4>\n<p>After four years of tumult, I am fine with the way President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris handle the country's business. I sleep nights. I no longer fear for our lives and for our grandchildren's future. There's much work to be done. Cannot cancel my subscriptions to <em>The New York Times<\/em> and <em>Washington Post<\/em> and leave caring to someone else.<\/p>\n<p>But look at what I get to call hoops now. Minutia! Trivial! Folly! I sound like I should - Charlie Brown's grumpy neighbors. Wah. Wah.<\/p>\n<p>Wait, I hear the condo mailboxes slamming shut. The USPS truck driving away. Time to check the mail.<\/p>\n<h4>April Is Poetry Month<\/h4>\n<p>In the spirit of the month, I share a 2016 poem about a smoldering hoop:<\/p>\n<h5>I Know From Whence I Speak<\/h5>\n<p>Got to figure two-three hours&nbsp;<br \/>\npacing the gray carpet tiles.&nbsp;<br \/>\nSquinting under bright lights<br \/>\nas voices echo and<br \/>\nclash like cymbals.<\/p>\n<p>It's your fate to wait.<br \/>\nTo scan walls lined with&nbsp;<br \/>\ntech gear and cell cases.&nbsp;<br \/>\nTug at tethered phones<br \/>\nlocked on pedestals<br \/>\nwith smudged faces.<\/p>\n<p>Geeks speak of Two-for-One.<br \/>\nYou buy in for Pay-As-You-Go.<br \/>\nFirst, wrestle your account&nbsp;<br \/>\nfrom a flailing carrier and<br \/>\nmumble a fictional why.<\/p>\n<p>Seize your secret number<br \/>\non the very first try.<br \/>\nFeel a flutter, a thrill,&nbsp;<br \/>\nset free and moving on.<br \/>\n&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;* * *<\/p>\n<p>But the minutes<br \/>\n... tick ... off.<br \/>\nAll is slow motion.&nbsp;<br \/>\nLike a tween, you plead, \"Can I just go?\"<br \/>\nA geek peeks from a tablet and says,<br \/>\n\"Um, no.\"<\/p>\n<p>As he cracks a nutty electronic form,<br \/>\nthe geek mutters, \"Can't talk now\"&nbsp;<br \/>\ninto&nbsp;a private phone.<br \/>\nYou long to see the light of day.<br \/>\n\"Dinner break?\" you say.<br \/>\n\"Almost done,\" he lies. \"Stay.\"<br \/>\n&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; * * *<br \/>\nFirst, there are data bytes to run<br \/>\ninto your brand new groove.<br \/>\nYou trail a meandering clerk<br \/>\nto install your top ten.&nbsp;<br \/>\nFinally, you breathe, \"Amen!\"&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The new phone is so cool.<br \/>\nOff and Volume sides do fool.<br \/>\nBut, new ringtones will turn a head.&nbsp;<br \/>\nIt's just buying a phone that you dread.<\/p>\n<p>by Reggie Morrisey&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_345\" style=\"width: 203px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Statue_telephonewire.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-345\" class=\"wp-image-345\" src=\"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Statue_telephonewire-128x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"193\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Statue_telephonewire-128x300.jpg 128w, https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Statue_telephonewire.jpg 272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 193px) 100vw, 193px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-345\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\"Thumbs Up\" by Ed Morrisey<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: For more than half a century, my brother Ed and I lived 3,000 miles apart, connecting by phone. He created this statue of plaster and telephone wire, a gift for encouraging him in his art.<\/p>\n<p>Visit my&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/?page_id=6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Poetry Reading Room<\/a> and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/?page_id=177\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Listening Booth<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"pgc-7344-0-1\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-7344-0-1-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_black-studio-tinymce widget_black_studio_tinymce panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"1\" ><div class=\"textwidget\"><p><div id=\"attachment_1288\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Sketch_CockerSpanielPuppy.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1288\" class=\" wp-image-1288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Sketch_CockerSpanielPuppy-300x293.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"391\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Sketch_CockerSpanielPuppy-300x293.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Sketch_CockerSpanielPuppy.jpg 614w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1288\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Puppy Sketch by Ed Morrisey<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One April afternoon, I ventured to address three pieces of personal business. Way too ambitious, even for a woman born in the Year of the Dog. Yes, dogs know how to dig in and take pursuit. But, not all of us like to leap through hoops, some aflame. Hoop #1 Respond to correspondence from Florida [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7344"}],"version-history":[{"count":53,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7399,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7344\/revisions\/7399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}