Sunny Day, Dark Clouds
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Hmmph!
Just got off the phone with Ms. H. from SSA, and she says that I am not eligible for payouts, because they say that my Ducati (a '94 Monster that hasn't run for 3 or more years) is worth $1500 more than the $200 I've been offered for it! And that I need proof of the sale of my trailer in January of 2014, and records of my expenses that I spent my January 2013 401(k) benefits on! And she expects detailed accounting of how I spent all of the funds I received from both!
Now I am definitely going stir crazy! I have received one monthly payment from SSA, $1459, minus $13.50 for 2 day shipping of a new debit card, and bought 2 pairs of pants, underwear, some slippers, a $27 DVD player and 3 western movie compilation DVDs, and some cooking and hygiene items not covered by food stamps, paid Sheryl $700 towards 2 months rent & utilities, paid Matt $200 I owed him from last year, and bought him lunch (Shepherd's Pie and Garlic Fries at the local Tilted Kilt).
I have $30 left on the card, and $250 in my new checking account at First Merit.
I did go to the Akron Gun Show with him, where I traded a NIB Ruger LCP .380 extended capacity magazine for a 1911 .45 acp mag, and bought 25 rounds of .45 acp for my carry piece. (I have retired my Uberti repro SAA in .45 Long Colt, and started carrying a 1911A1 in .45 acp instead that I am buying from Matt whenever I get the lump sum check!)
I still want to treat Sheryl to a nice dinner out to thank her for assisting me, but that will have to wait now.
And now I have to come up with an accounting of my all of my expenses for 2013, in the form of bank statements from a bank account that was closed a year ago!
Well, Patrice from the attorney's office just called to reassure me that these items only affect my Supplemental Security Income, and not my disability.
The bike is supposedly a deal breaker, but my monthly $1459 will not change.
So now I have to get on to the BMV about the trailer transfer, PNC about my 2013 bank statements, and get my Ducati appraised!
This is why I said I would not relax until my monthly stipend starts (got the first one last week, for December), and I get the lump sum back payout.
This sucks. Basically, according to SSA, to be eligible for SSI, I have to live in poverty and stay that way to keep collecting benefits!
The disability is separate, and is not affected by all of this. I am confused. I am still not out of the woods, and I am being further scrutinized for whatever assistance I may have received the last 31 months!
I have had only one nibble for part-time employment, but no further word on that. I have an invite to a seminar by Mature Services of Ohio on 8 February, but no other prospects at all.
God, my stomach is doing flip-flops again, and even though my monthly benefits will remain untouched (according to Patrice, that is), I may lose a lot I was told I was eligible for.
Well, at least the monthly stipend will pay my share of the rent, and buy food when my food stamp benefits get cut back to $15/month.
"Life sucks, and then you die."
Not my personal philosophy, but I can see why so many others have adopted it. Sheryl is not happy, and is losing faith and confidence daily, and I was hoping my contributions might ease her frustration and doubts, so I have to be careful that I don't muddy her waters.
Well, just got an email from Patrice, she says that Erin (my attorney) says that the bike is not an issue and they don't know why Ms. H. is making one of it, and to just supply the bank statements and trailer info!
Apparently, even for SSI, I am allowed by SSA to own 1 vehicle. So a non-running motorcycle with non current registration should not be counted against me!
So I will get on with all of the other things and continue to hold my breath...
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
"Hallelujah!"
Thursday, 22 January 2015
The debit card arrived this morning via UPS 2nd day air as promised, and I have activated it, with the December payment (minus $13.50 for the shipping) credited in full.
I am off to open a new bank account, and do some shopping!
Stay tuned to find out if we ever locate the elusive lump sum check.
Thanks for all of your support, and good wishes.
Until next time!
Thursday, 22 January 2015
The debit card arrived this morning via UPS 2nd day air as promised, and I have activated it, with the December payment (minus $13.50 for the shipping) credited in full.
I am off to open a new bank account, and do some shopping!
Stay tuned to find out if we ever locate the elusive lump sum check.
Thanks for all of your support, and good wishes.
Until next time!
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Ridiculosity Ad Infinatum!
Wednesday, 21 January 2015
OK, I have been patiently waiting since 20 November 2014 for my SS benefits that were approved then (and the subsequent approval of the disability claim on 4 December 2014), but I have yet to receive anything at all except grief from one Ms. Hopcenger of the Cleveland SS Office!
Well, after many emails back and forth with my attorney's paralegal, Patrice, we determined that there is a problem with the card issuing company that provides the debit card that my monthly stipend is to be credited to.
So after phone calls with Patrice and the card company in TX on Tuesday, 20 January (my December payment was due to be credited on 14 January), it was found that the Bedford Post Office returned the card to sender that had been issued on 26 November 2014!
And this after I discovered last Thursday, 15 January 2014, while I was in Bedford for a doctor's appointment that the Bedford Branch had failed to forward any of my mail from the PO Box there that I had leased last April! There was over 2 weeks worth of mail shoved into the box, including 2 letters confirming my address change, one from BMO sent to my old apartment, and one from the USPS sent to the PO Box, both stating that they had updated my address to Canton!
I took the USPS letter to the counter to find out why no mail had been forwarded at all. The clerk had me wait for a supervisor, and when the supervisor came, she asked me to wait at the counter while she checked on it!
She returned almost 20 minutes later, and stated that there was indeed a forward notice dated 13 December 2014 for that PO Box, but for some reason, no one had paid any attention to it! She said she had just had the box taped closed so that no more mail would accumulate there! (Now I called the Bedford branch 2 weeks before Christmas, asking that any mail that might still be in the box from before the date of my vacation forward request, be sent on to Canton. I have received some mail that had gone to the Maple Heights PO Box, but there was also a letter from Cleveland SS dated 30 November 2014, so that means that not much had been forwarded at all!)
But this BS now about the post office returning the card to sender in November is ridiculous! I had paid for another 6 months lease on the PO Box, and there was no reason to refuse delivery!
So now I have to wait until Thursday, 22 January 2015, for UPS to deliver the debit card from TX via 2 day air at the cost to me of $13.50 (something I will have the USPS refund me!!!), before I can activate it and receive my waiting monthly benefits!
First it was my denial of Medicaid in June of 2013 online, and then denial of HEAP in the fall of 2013 by County Services (I froze in my apartment with no electricity or heat all winter until my eviction on 24 February 2014), then it was the BS letters from SS Cleveland asking redundant questions when I first applied on 18 October 2014 after my 4 October 2014 neurology appointment that declared me 100% permanently disabled, then it was County Services again denying me food stamps not once, but 3 times, then the delay with a new Medicaid application (this time made by a private group, not the county or the website) after my March hospital stay at Bedford Medical Center, the mess with the Bedford Postal Branch (and the USPS website making the online reservation) trying to get a PO Box in April so that I could reapply again for food stamps, then the SS denial in early August before I finally was approved by County Services for EBT (Food Stamps) and received my Medicaid card in September, then being being led on a merry goose chase by SSA until they approved supplemental security income in November, and disability the first week week of December (they ruled that I was disabled on 11 June 2012, but since my application wasn't received until 18 April 2014, I will only receive back benefits going to 12 months prior to that!), and of course after mislaying my neurologist's report, never receiving my primary physician's report, and basing their denial on a conflicting opinions between the coronary expert and the pulmonary specialist's reports.
And then the repeated calls from Ms. Hopcenger reporting that she never received the required paperwork (PSI payroll records and BMO 1099-Rs), that were sent 3 times before she miraculously found the originals sent in a buried file, and now the USPS is still a major problem?
I don't get it. I got into it many months back on FB on a political page discussion, where an individual was bragging about how efficient the USPS was, and how it was making a huge profit for the US Government without using any subsidies at all, and so on, and so on! They took personal offense when I posted the news of heavy layoffs of postal personnel, the closing of many facilities, and reduction of services to save on the budget because even with the heavy subsidies provided by Federal Tax dollars, the USPS was billions of dollars in the red! This person claimed I was spreading lies and was undermining a perfect operation!
I suppose it is because of persons like that that are in total denial of reality, working for the USPS, that they are so poorly managed and insist that even though they can't compete with email, UPS, Fed Ex, and many other services, they still insist that by further reducing USPS services and raising postal rates continuously, that they will be able to stay on top!
Sounds just like the people in the White House and CONgress who have been insisting for 8 years that cutting spending and reducing taxes are bad for the economy, that massive [uncontrolled & irresponsible] spending is good, and that raising existing taxes and creating new ones (and printing more paper money), will fix the non-existent down economy and bring about prosperity for all!
What delusional deniers! I challenge anyone of them to tell that to any small or family run business owner! Let's see how fast they get their ass beat to a pulp!
And these same folks had the nerve to act surprised when the Republicans won nearly every race in State and local elections last November! I am not ashamed to say that for the first time ever, I voted for every Republican running in my area! Quite a feat, since Cuyahoga County is run (and very inefficiently too) by Democrats!
So, once I get my benefits in hand, including the elusive lump sum check (so where is that now? It has to have been calculated and issued, because my attorney has been paid her 25% fee by SSA already!), I will be filing official complaints with the SSA in Baltimore, MD; Cuyahoga County Family and Job Services; and the USPS!
Look out bureaucrats! I am sighting in on your ridiculousness and stupidity! Your salaries are paid for by our tax dollars, and as "Public Servants", you are by law, required to serve the public, not mistreat and fleece it!
Well I call breach of contract, and I will get satisfaction!
Until next time, sportsfans, take care and stay tuned...
Wednesday, 21 January 2015
OK, I have been patiently waiting since 20 November 2014 for my SS benefits that were approved then (and the subsequent approval of the disability claim on 4 December 2014), but I have yet to receive anything at all except grief from one Ms. Hopcenger of the Cleveland SS Office!
Well, after many emails back and forth with my attorney's paralegal, Patrice, we determined that there is a problem with the card issuing company that provides the debit card that my monthly stipend is to be credited to.
So after phone calls with Patrice and the card company in TX on Tuesday, 20 January (my December payment was due to be credited on 14 January), it was found that the Bedford Post Office returned the card to sender that had been issued on 26 November 2014!
And this after I discovered last Thursday, 15 January 2014, while I was in Bedford for a doctor's appointment that the Bedford Branch had failed to forward any of my mail from the PO Box there that I had leased last April! There was over 2 weeks worth of mail shoved into the box, including 2 letters confirming my address change, one from BMO sent to my old apartment, and one from the USPS sent to the PO Box, both stating that they had updated my address to Canton!
I took the USPS letter to the counter to find out why no mail had been forwarded at all. The clerk had me wait for a supervisor, and when the supervisor came, she asked me to wait at the counter while she checked on it!
She returned almost 20 minutes later, and stated that there was indeed a forward notice dated 13 December 2014 for that PO Box, but for some reason, no one had paid any attention to it! She said she had just had the box taped closed so that no more mail would accumulate there! (Now I called the Bedford branch 2 weeks before Christmas, asking that any mail that might still be in the box from before the date of my vacation forward request, be sent on to Canton. I have received some mail that had gone to the Maple Heights PO Box, but there was also a letter from Cleveland SS dated 30 November 2014, so that means that not much had been forwarded at all!)
But this BS now about the post office returning the card to sender in November is ridiculous! I had paid for another 6 months lease on the PO Box, and there was no reason to refuse delivery!
So now I have to wait until Thursday, 22 January 2015, for UPS to deliver the debit card from TX via 2 day air at the cost to me of $13.50 (something I will have the USPS refund me!!!), before I can activate it and receive my waiting monthly benefits!
First it was my denial of Medicaid in June of 2013 online, and then denial of HEAP in the fall of 2013 by County Services (I froze in my apartment with no electricity or heat all winter until my eviction on 24 February 2014), then it was the BS letters from SS Cleveland asking redundant questions when I first applied on 18 October 2014 after my 4 October 2014 neurology appointment that declared me 100% permanently disabled, then it was County Services again denying me food stamps not once, but 3 times, then the delay with a new Medicaid application (this time made by a private group, not the county or the website) after my March hospital stay at Bedford Medical Center, the mess with the Bedford Postal Branch (and the USPS website making the online reservation) trying to get a PO Box in April so that I could reapply again for food stamps, then the SS denial in early August before I finally was approved by County Services for EBT (Food Stamps) and received my Medicaid card in September, then being being led on a merry goose chase by SSA until they approved supplemental security income in November, and disability the first week week of December (they ruled that I was disabled on 11 June 2012, but since my application wasn't received until 18 April 2014, I will only receive back benefits going to 12 months prior to that!), and of course after mislaying my neurologist's report, never receiving my primary physician's report, and basing their denial on a conflicting opinions between the coronary expert and the pulmonary specialist's reports.
And then the repeated calls from Ms. Hopcenger reporting that she never received the required paperwork (PSI payroll records and BMO 1099-Rs), that were sent 3 times before she miraculously found the originals sent in a buried file, and now the USPS is still a major problem?
I don't get it. I got into it many months back on FB on a political page discussion, where an individual was bragging about how efficient the USPS was, and how it was making a huge profit for the US Government without using any subsidies at all, and so on, and so on! They took personal offense when I posted the news of heavy layoffs of postal personnel, the closing of many facilities, and reduction of services to save on the budget because even with the heavy subsidies provided by Federal Tax dollars, the USPS was billions of dollars in the red! This person claimed I was spreading lies and was undermining a perfect operation!
I suppose it is because of persons like that that are in total denial of reality, working for the USPS, that they are so poorly managed and insist that even though they can't compete with email, UPS, Fed Ex, and many other services, they still insist that by further reducing USPS services and raising postal rates continuously, that they will be able to stay on top!
Sounds just like the people in the White House and CONgress who have been insisting for 8 years that cutting spending and reducing taxes are bad for the economy, that massive [uncontrolled & irresponsible] spending is good, and that raising existing taxes and creating new ones (and printing more paper money), will fix the non-existent down economy and bring about prosperity for all!
What delusional deniers! I challenge anyone of them to tell that to any small or family run business owner! Let's see how fast they get their ass beat to a pulp!
And these same folks had the nerve to act surprised when the Republicans won nearly every race in State and local elections last November! I am not ashamed to say that for the first time ever, I voted for every Republican running in my area! Quite a feat, since Cuyahoga County is run (and very inefficiently too) by Democrats!
So, once I get my benefits in hand, including the elusive lump sum check (so where is that now? It has to have been calculated and issued, because my attorney has been paid her 25% fee by SSA already!), I will be filing official complaints with the SSA in Baltimore, MD; Cuyahoga County Family and Job Services; and the USPS!
Look out bureaucrats! I am sighting in on your ridiculousness and stupidity! Your salaries are paid for by our tax dollars, and as "Public Servants", you are by law, required to serve the public, not mistreat and fleece it!
Well I call breach of contract, and I will get satisfaction!
Until next time, sportsfans, take care and stay tuned...
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