Guardian Angels

I seem to be, as of late, surrounded by the notion of guardians. First, I was reading Keeping Faith, by Jodi Picoult and the heroine of that book is being visited by "her guard." Then, my aunt, who is spiritual, but not at all dogmatic, gave my mother and me a meditation that centers around imagery of guardian angels. Then, this morning, I photographed our guardian angel...either mine, the kids', or all of ours.

I was taking photos of a beautiful foggy morning when a cloud formation that looked like a creature came into view. I first thought it looked like a unicorn:


Then, it appeared as a dove, winging into the periphery of the photo view finder:


It quickly traveled to mid-sky and became more pronounced, spreading its wings:


I glanced away and then back and it had truly turned into an angel, the sun streamed through and made shafts of light that reached down to us:


And, then, upon developing of this picture of Elena, I can see its light encircling and protecting her, can you?

Bank of America Sucks Donkey Butt

Just had to put this out there. I lost my job in August. Since then, I have been fighting to get unemployment compensation. I have failed to get that and it has been decided that I am ineligible...something about willful misconduct that I completely disagree with, but whatever, I am letting that particular issue go.

Just when I thought I was finally getting back on track, I started having numerous banking issues. These issues are my fault. I don't have enough in there to cover the outgoing bills. Hence, I am declaring bankruptcy. But, that little fact aside, I am still downright appalled at Bank of America for several reasons.

1) I have been charged over $250 in $35 fees for transactions that presented when there was not enough money in the checking account. The first of these happened when an automatic savings transfer went through and I had thought I had cancelled it. Grrrrrr....my fault, but they couldn't give me help with ANY of the charges.

2) I went to the bank last Friday and presented a Bank of America check. They cashed it, handed me the cash, to which I replied, "Oh, I wanted this put into my account." The teller took it back and assured me, "Ok, it's cash, it's available immediately." I went to the grocery store, got my medication (you should be saying here, "she's obviously NOT been taking it." LOL), and paid at that counter. Then, I went through the store and bought dinner and checked out and paid for the food items at a different register. Yup, you guessed it, TWO $35 charges for payments made on an overdrawn account. Why in the HECK would I have NOT taken the cash from the teller and just paid in cash? It would have saved me $70 in fees...Grrrrrrrr

3) So, yesterday I went into the bank branch to try and get them to waive the fees. Did you know that all they can do is dial the same 800 numbers we dial? I waited for over a half hour while the bank manager waited ON HOLD with the BofA HQ. Ridiculous.

4) Today, I escalated to a manager, who sounded about 20 years old named Dorian, at the 800 number. This was AFTER I called the main 800 listed on my online banking site, they transferred me to Banc of America Investments, I waited through prompts, answered umpteen questions about who I am and what numbers are associated with me, and then was told I was at the wrong number, only to get transferred again into a waiting queue where I had to again parrot answers to the same questions. The answer was no. No they can't help me. Sorry to lose your business, Ms. Gill. I even asked, "Whatever happened to the customer is always right??"

So, I am closing my account. I am transferring my banking business to Ridgefield Bank...one of the last of the local banks. Please God don't let it get bought out by Bank of America.