I'm Sure It's Somewhere, but Where?

No, that's not me in the picture, but it could be.  Now that I've begun unpacking 10, 50, seems like 1,000,000 boxes, I realize I can't find things...and I thought I packed so carefully.  Among the missing:  my last books of blank checks, some of the picture books I use for speech therapy, my plates (all sizes), coffee mugs, my August attendance sheet, and probably some other things I haven't thought of yet.  Of course, they're here somewhere, either at the bottom of a box or in a box I mistakenly had put in storage.  Can I live without these things until the next move in December?  Probably, but it's still frustrating.  I know I put them in boxes I brought with me, but which ones?  Best thing to do is forget about it.

Other moving frustrations:  I needed to buy some speech therapy materials from a very large company that makes educational materials.  I found what I wanted, but I'd forgotten my password.  No big deal.  They provided a link to add a new password, but then when I checked out, they asked for both the old and new ones.  Did that make sense?  If I'd known the old password, I wouldn't have asked for a new one.  Were they crazy...or worse, was I?  No, it had to be their mistake.  But their website was inaccessible and no one answered their phone.  I finally just skipped putting in the old password, figuring if I made one up, it would be a bigger hassle, and it went right to payment and alas, their computer was reluctant to accept my new address.  And then it required proving I was a "qualified buyer," which meant providing all my professional association memberships and member numbers (which were packed away, probably with the dishes).  I finally typed it "I don't know," and that seemed to satisfy them, (whoever "they" are) and after 30 minutes, it actually let me buy the materials I wanted.

But was I finished dealing with people on the phone who are programmed to say things like, "Thank you for patiently waiting" when they put you on hold for 20 minutes (I wasn't feeling patient, but I didn't mention this, imagining if I did, it would ruin their entire afternoon).  I was at that time dealing with Amazon, trying to figure out how to connect to Wifi so I could buy a book for my Kindle.  The first person I spoke to eventually decided I needed "second level support"...I guess they triage customers.  The second level lady stayed on the phone with me for an hour and a half, trying to figure out what to do.  When we finally connected to WiFi and she asked if there was anything else she could help me with, I said, "No, and I bet you're glad to hear that."  I thanked her and told her she ought to buy herself a bottle of wine.  I hope she did.

More perils of moving to come in future posts.