Insomnia again

The scene: It's 3:42am.  You wake up, disconcerted, because there is a huge object looming over you.  Your subconscious thinks, "This is it, I'm going to be swiss cheese," as the music from the shower scene in Psycho plays in your head. 

Alas, it is only the husband standing right above you on his way back from the bathroom trying to figure out what the clock says.  He's not wielding a knife or gun like the husbands from any Ann Rule book; his myopic eyes are just a little more tired than usual.  But still, your heart went up a few beats due to the experience. 

And now I'm fully awake as he's snoring lightly/breathing heavily next to me.  Unfair! 

I read that people have 3-hour sleep cycles.  Between each full cycle you are in a really light phase of sleep and can be easily wakened.  Yep, I believe it.  To function normally, I need to go through two of these 3-hour cycles each night and preferably one 3-hour cycle each afternoon.  That makes 6 hours of sleep each night and a 3 hour nap each afternoon.  That's about perfect for me.  I should want three of these 3-hour cycles each night consecutively, but naps are just too much fun to ever give up - except for that pesky work thing.

I'm trying, trying, trying not to post at my other journal.  I'm trying not to cheat on you anymore, dear Blogger.  I will just have to disguise my disgust and rage a bit better on here, except when it comes to Chase and Bank of America.

Speaking of Bank of America, we sign our refinance papers on Monday.  (insert happy dance)  That means I can close the checking account I never wanted to open, and I will never, ever have to deal with Bank of America ever again!  They still don't have mobile banking in my state, they have an antiquated website for my state, and an incorrect loan payment amount on the website.  Plus most of the employees are bordering on incompetent.  So we will owe a lot of money to a credit union instead.  I'll let you know how that works out.

I am still left with Chase.  My Chase hate ebbs and flows.  It's getting to the point where they do something bad, but then something good before they do something bad again.  Bank of America was just a POS all around.  Chase can at least redeem itself slightly from time to time.  Plus we have a zillion different accounts there, which are all linked to other things.  Oh, what a tangled web Chase wants you to weave so you can't easily get out of it.

For the first time today, I used Bill Pay within the bank website.  Yes, I tout being tech savvy, but this is something I had never done before.  I'm not so antiquated that I used checks for everything.  Rather, I have ACHed most recurring bills from my checking account when they're due.  So if I owe $50 to the electric company, I set it up with the electric company that they take the amount directly out of my checking account, regardless of the total.  Of course I keep tabs on things and look at the bills.  But if nothing looks askew, whenever I get a bill, I just subtract the amount in my bank register.  Easy peasy, and I don't have to deal with mailing stuff.  The in-laws said that was a crazy way to do it because you'd be giving your creditors access to your bank accounts.  They can then empty you out, clean and dry.  And what if a bill comes in really high, they ask?  You've seen those stories about $10,000 cell phone bills, right?  I call the in-laws paranoid and conspiracy theorists.  In 10+ years, I've never had a problem with this system.  Okay, once I did.  Our cable company sometimes took out 50 cents more than they said they would or 50 cents less.  I would call them and they would fix it, but still...

However, using Bill Pay really does have advantages.  You can control how much you pay and the day it's sent.  I guess my problem with Bill Pay is that I never really understood how it worked.  I'm one of those that must understand the theory and practice completely to have any sort of trust.  I didn't quite grasp how if you type in the "City of Seattle" as payee and an account number that the City of Seattle will know you're paying your electric bill and properly credit your account when it doesn't know which property address it is.  Of course, the account number is the way it does this, but what if it gets credited to another account number?  It will take you eons to get it cleared up, and I already have auto debit set up anyway, blah blah blah. 

Today I paid my first bill using Bill Pay.  It's one of those that are auto debited.  So what I'll do around Wed-Thur of next week is call the utility company to see if my Bill Pay went through, and if it did, cancel my auto pay for that utility bill.  Because Bill Pay does seem like it will rock once it earns my trust.  And it gives me even more control, which a control freak loves to get more of.