I'm trying not to let this day get me down

 That darn bill. I paid a portion of it, but they won't accept it. I think I'm mostly disappointed I don't have better negotiation skills. And that I'm 2 shakes away from a meltdown. Suddenly, I just feel defeated and that the world always wins.

Mind you, I am comforted by the fact that I had the good sense to have this money saved and circulating. I just hoped I wouldn't need it.

I'm even thinking of having the last $1500 taken from money I was going to send overseas. Actually I just calculated and my 4% raise this year (gross) is just about what I need to cover this bill. So technically, I'm not worse off than I was. I wish I still believed in God's little miracles. But I know that's just marketing. Oh well. He's got a good PR team!

Anyway, I accomplished a bit today

- Meeting with submission lead

- Set up a meeting with Safety Physician

- Did a brief look at document I have to review with Physician tomorrow

- Overall, feel okay about the task at hand; doubly happy that my part is due by end of week; thus, I will not have it hanging over my head when I go to Philadelphia; (however my main project is still very much TBD)

- reached out to some other colleagues for assistance

- Paid part of medical bill

- Finally read email from Orkin; I got 1 of 4 things I asked for; but I'm so tired of fighting with The Man

- rescheduled Orkin appointment to ensure they come before I leave for Philly

- 40 minute phone call with Spectrum to ask for promotional rate - almost got suckered into a deal for a free tablet (that I don't need) but ended up being $50 in fees; and considering my second plan was to cancel for a month to get their new customer promotional rate (which the agent said I wouldn't necessarily be able to do since I said it out loud); but I did ask for a seasonal hold which was $5, so tack that on to the $15/mon I was trying to save, and that's not bad. I asked for too many things and their system could not handle it, so I'll have to call back to have my new promotional rate added when I come back from Philly. If I were savvy enough, I'd get the tablet and sell it. But it looks like you can get a Samsung tablet for about $130 so it'd be a stiff margin to sell it at a discount. 

- started a conversation with Chime and Varo to see if I can get their credit builder accounts; put a freeze on my credit report; and decided to avoid any more hard inquiries for the remainder of 2023; I'm out of ideas on what I need to do to get a credit card again. 

- I wrote out some outfits to pack for Philly trip including work clothes for my yet to be approved work trip; that's half the battle; and even went into some old bins to find some cool weather clothing I can use because I was getting stuck trying to pick out a hoodie.

I might just go for a walk to the end of the street. I feel mentally exhausted eventhough it feels like I didn't get very far on my work projects.