Cold Spaghetti

Rolling Elvi as part of the super-fun Muses Krewe Parade. 

Will and did some painting this morning! My favorite is the “Mardi Gras” themed multi-color hand print and the painting he did beside it.

I’ve been lamenting on the Royal Screw we’re getting from Creative Benefits, the third party that SAIC (Paul’s company) uses to manage it’s Flexible Spending Account (FSA) programs. My Dad offered to have his labor attorneys look over the situation, so I got PDFs of all the paperwork Paul signed and emailed it on. Reading over it, I’m thoroughly disgusted. I’m no attorney, but I think I can figure out right from wrong, and as far as I can tell, those bastards are seriously in the wrong.

Here is the situation. Paul opted to enroll in the FSA program to withhold $1300 for the 2005 calendar year to pay for one semester of Will’s 2-day a week preschool at Newcomb School, the preschool run by Tulane University. His program was to start in the first week of September. When Katrina hit New Orleans, Newcomb School was flooded and Tulane was closed for the fall. Since Will was obviously not going to be going to Newcomb in 2005 and we were unsure of how much, if any, childcare we were going to be able to find, we opted to stop withholding. That’s it; all he did was re-sign the same form changing his paycheck withholding amount, based on our change of family status, and within the guidelines of what is allowed for a change of status (evacuation due to hurricane Katrina). The paperwork clearly states: “For each calendar year, any unspent balance from my flexcomp contribution above will be forfeited.” This is the only circumstance listed in the paperwork for a forfeiture of funds; and specifies that the loss is to occur only if an unspent balance is not used during the current calendar year.

We were able to find an alternative childcare provider in late October. Will attended University Montessori School, a provider who follows FSA guidelines and specifications for using FSA funds, from late October until mid-December 2005. The school worked with us to submit the proper paperwork required by the company which runs the FSA program (Creative Benefits). We were shocked to find that Creative Benefits rejected the claim, saying that Paul “was not enrolled during that time period.” (We found this out by logging into their website to check the status of our refund from the account.) The paperwork specifies that the withholding applies to an entire year of use, regardless of amount being currently withheld.

Our impression from FSA programs and the forms Paul signed is that we saved funds to be used during the 2005 calendar year. For example, if Paul had been laid off by SAIC at the end of August (rather than hit by a hurricane) his rights to the FSA money would not have forfeited, even though he would have no longer been contributing to the program. Therefore, whether or not we were putting money into the account during the time of use shouldn’t matter: it was within the 2005 calendar year and we had money in the account that was saved during the 2005 calendar year. It seems very clear to us. From what we understand, human resources representatives from Paul’s company (SAIC) are “looking into it” although we have not received updates nor do we know exactly who is advocating for us or on what level. Considering that Paul’s company provides him with stimulating work he enjoys and the amazing quality of life gained from working from home, we don’t exactly want to burn bridges.

So what’s a frustrated family to do? Argh.

Since coming back to New Orleans, I’ve been having a hard time getting excited about Mardi Gras. Now I have some information that is making me want to get out there to a parade.

I am a life-long fan of All My Children (yes, the ABC soap opera, of all things). Feel free to make fun, I understand. AMC was something very special that I shared with my mother and especially my grandmother (who lived with my family for 13 years starting when I was 4). She mailed me clippings of the soap during college when I couldn’t watch and we faithfully wrote letters back and forth about “our story” until the day she died. I do my best to watch every now and then and keep somewhat up-to-date online. Not keeping up with the story would be an insult to her memory; it was and is our special bond. (I also hold a secret desire to be a soap writer and have fun following the silly plot twists.)

And as a soap follower, I had my special favorites growing up. One of them, Dixie Cooney, (played by Cady McClain) has just come back to the show after a hiatus of several years — and dear Dixie is going to be rolling with Morpheus on Friday night! She is actually going to be joined by several soap stars from AMC and other ABC soaps — most notably, AMC’s own Erica Kane (Susan Lucci, the diva of daytime!) The next day, the stars are throwing a free “fun in the sun” party in Jackson Square. I totally want to be well enough to see them in Morpheus… but the question is if I will actually make it out to the square with all the lunatic fans on Saturday? (And then, the real question: if I go, does that make me a lunatic fan?)

The Saturday before we left, we joined Jim and Sylvia Rudolph for lunch in their beautiful home in Chorrillos, a district in the southern cone of Lima. It was a wonderful lunch of grilled fish, vegetables, and a delicious fresh citrus juice made with a fruit that I cannot remember or identify in the market. Will had a great time playing with Jim and especially Sylvia, who brought out a variety of fun toys (like the bouncey ball above) and swimming in their wading pool!

Will tumbles around Jim and Sylvia’s yard.

A view of the back porch and house. Huge windows surround their living area looking out to the lush yard and flowers.

Paul juggles with whatever he can find. We are visiting Jude and Adam (Josefina’s family before working for us) at their friends’ home in Barranco. After lunching and spending the afternoon in Chorrillos with Jim and Sylvia, we stopped off here for sushi dinner and socializing. Will was so tired that he slept for over an hour after we arrived!

Will LOVES the bathtub. He got into the habit of ripping off his clothes the moment the sun started to suggest dusk and/or immediately after dinner each night, anticipating that there might be a bath. The plentiful bathtoys helped fuel his excitement! Now that we are back in NOLA, the little man is again without the joy of baths!

Midwifery, Volume 22, Issue 1, March 2006, Pages 78-87.

I knew things were on the mend when Paul announced that one of the eggs he used to make our egg-n-cheese bagel this morning came out with a double yolk. My Grandmothers held the mysterious double yolk as an incredible sign of good luck and I am not one to doubt it.

– We called the car rental agency and they offered to exchange the car and upgrade us for free. But it turns out we don’t need to do this, because…

– The dealership called. Everything is under warranty. We did nothing wrong; it’s a design flaw. Extra points: because the dealership was confident in us as car owners based on our previous history, they pre-ordered the parts and are doing the work today. The car will be ready tomorrow.

– SAIC has a private investigator, in addition to the government secret service investigation, working on our identity theft case. No knew news on the situation with the suspect, but it sounds like they’ve got their man. They’ve signed us up and have offered to pay indefinitely for a fraud detection service for our accounts. Hooray!

– Our department administrator offered to personally oversea my tuition waiver from the summer, check the numbers, and get back to me with it all when it is figured out so I don’t have to continue to go crazy chasing the random incorrect bills.

– Paul left a message for Will’s old daycare (University Montessori) and we are hopeful for good news (ie: they will take him again!) later this afternoon.

– I made egg salad for lunch (after making a great rice and fresh vegetable bake last night) and Paul is running to Whole Foods for fresh bread. He simply walked out the door in his slippers… one of the coolest things about living here that we will truly miss!

– I feel better today, although I am still alternating hot and cold, carrying a cough, and sounding horse. But it is getting better.

– No word on the FSA situation, but Paul did send through another ‘ping’ this morning.

– Will and I went over to the neighborhood Steinmart this morning and I successfully found two bras to fit my current new cup size. (This never happens — bra shopping is usually awful!) I went up a chest and cup size with Will, and now another cup size with this pregnancy. Watch out world… it’s a DD.

Location: Paul picked us all up yesterday and brought us home to NOLA… including cats, Will, Paul’s computer, and as much luggage as you can cram in a PT cruiser (we call it the Pay-Tay).

Me: Still sick, but seem to be getting better or at least not getting worse. The sad fact that pregnant women take three times longer to beat viruses truly sucks.

Our car: No update, yet. We should hear something today about the rain test simulation.

ID theft: There is a suspect, a disgruntled ex-SAIC employee with ties to HR. Because of the nature of the work SAIC does and the type of data compromised, the guy is being hunted for espionage. So things are looking good on that front.

Fun surprises: A huge pile of Christmas, birthday, Valentines and other fun surprises awaited us at home. Including a Halloween book sent by Aunt Deb and Uncle Gary for Will back in October! (Finally, the post system seems to be getting to a bit of the backlog!)

Sad things: NOLA looks bad. I’m beginning to question the decision to have Mardi Gras — for two reasons. One is that the 3+ million to put it on seems silly when the city is in such shambles and I question whether the city will really see the revenue that the party usually pulls in. The second, and more pressing, is that I think it gives the wrong idea. The situation here is so dire, so severe, and so forgotten that I think putting on a party gives the impression that we’re past the worst and on to better, which is quite far from the truth.

All else: Will wait until after the holiday.

Paul, driving the smoky (ugh) PT cruiser rented for us by VW, arrived in NOLA around 10:30 last night.

And found that we’ve been victims of identity theft. Apparently, there was some sort of mess up in his company (SAIC) that compromised several employees out of the DC office. Guess who was among them??? So, someone managed to get Paul’s information — and although both his first and last names are spelled incorrectly — acquired charge cards and went to town at a Target in North Carolina to a tune in the four digits.

To sum up:
– I’m still sick, sick, sick.
– We’re victims of identity theft (compliments of SAIC).
– We’re still being denied access to our FSA dollars (again, compliments of SAIC).
– Our car is dead. Warranty, although assumed, has not been verified.
– We’ve got a rental car, under assumed warranty, that smells like a damn ashtray.
– Tulane *still* hasn’t correctly processed my tuition waiver from last summer.
– Regionsbank (our mortgage holder) screwed up our early mortgage payment (again) which means we have to bug them about fixing it, removing the late fees, and re-issuing our tax forms from last year.

The good news:
– My parents are healthy and wonderful. They have both risen to the occassion and are helping us out immensely with Will and however else they can (use of vehicles, etc.)
– Paul is somehow still sane. And he managed to salvage his work and our quicken files from the dead hard-drive and will be able to get back to normal work soon.
– We have a wonderful contact at Regions and feel confident we can fix that problem without too much headache.
– Our house in NOLA was watched carefully by attentive neighbors and kept with loving care by friends Alex, Carol, and Leigh Anne, to whom we are very thankful.

We miss Lima.

The trip back was fine. Will continues to live up to his reputation as World Most Incredible Kid, dealing with both flights, bag searches, plane changes, excessive security checks and more with patience and good humor (two things rarely displayed in your average 2-year old.)

The shit started to roll soon after we arrived in Mobile. I’ll just make a list of the crap on our heads.

I am sick. I think Will picked up a little bug during our final days in Lima (he and I woke with sore throats on Wednesday morning) and while Will bounced back, I have been riding a downward spiral ever since. We made it to the midwife prenatal yesterday (went great; my weight gain is still fabulous at 19.5 pounds at the end of my 28th week and it looks like my iron levels are also remaining impressive) and I crashed shortly after getting back from the appointment. It’s going to be a few days in bed for me.

Within an hour after we arrived, Paul discovered that our the power adapter he needs for my computer (remember, Paul’s died) was missing. Paul talks about this on his blog, so you can get the jist there, but basically, it was there during a bag search in Lima — and it was not there when we unpacked yesterday. This is a Big Deal.

We set our for the prenatal appointment a little early yesterday so Paul could pick up another power adapter (his only option) at Best Buy, getting into our 2002 VW Passat Wagon which had been sitting on my parent’s driveway for the past 6 weeks. My Dad went out and ran the car weekly for about 30 minutes per run and we felt confident the car would be fine. Why wouldn’t we? We impecibly maintain it and all services have been on time and within dealerships. Not more than a half mile down the road, the car goes bonkers. I mean *bonkers*. We assume an electrical problem, realize that we could damage the engine by driving it, turn around and take my parents car. On the way to Pensacola, I call the dealership, who (like us) assumes a low voltage on the battery. We ask my Dad (home early to see Will) to go out and run the car; he tries five times, but the thing is dead. It’s still under warranty, so we call the dealership for a tow. Bottom line: there is something seriously wrong with the car. Apparently, there is some sort of leak that has been letting in rain water (something we have since discovered that is not uncommon in VWs) and there is water throughout the floorboards. Thankfully, we’ve been using this dealership since moving from Michigan (easier to have it serviced here where we have my parents to help with transportation since we’re a one-car family) and they serviced the car during our post-Katrina time in Mobile. They know the car didn’t flood and saw it post-storm. So, they put trust in us and put through an early authorization on a rental. We just picked up the rental (a PT cruiser — the last car on the lot — it’s Mardi Gras time in Mobile and rental cars are hard to find) so Paul will be able to get back to NOLA for his work machines and backups this weekend. Our car will get assessed by a flood expert on Monday and we should know more then. We have to believe that this will all be under warranty — how could it not?

So I’m sick, we’re car-less and clueless on the cars’ problem(s), and — just to kick us while we’re down — we’re still in the throws of grappling with Paul’s flexible spending account program over Will’s daycare and it’s gone up a knotch to the point that we’re close to entering small claims court. Paul has also talked about this on his blog, but the bottom line is that pre-Katrina, Will was to start a part-time daycare program run through Tulane in the fall. We enrolled to set aside pre-tax dollar monies in a flexible spending account to pay the tutition. We had about $850 in the account when Katrina hit. The daycare flooded. We un-enrolled because we didn’t know what was going to happen and it was obvious he wasn’t going to go there in the fall because Tulane was closed. The paperwork Paul signed stated that disenrolling meant that we would forefit any funds that weren’t used by the end of the calendar year — we actually double checked this at the time because we wanted to make sure we’d still have the option of using the funds if we could find an alternative, but since we didn’t know the situation, didn’t want to keep putting money in the account. Turns out that we did use daycare dollars for the couple of weeks of part-time care we had in November and December. When we put in for re-imbursement, the company claimed that our disenrolling meant we forefitted everything. And they’ve just come out from “reviewing” the claim to back the previous statement and refuse to look at it again. So, we’re being denied our own money, put inside of an account for our use — which we used, within the specified time limit, for the specified purpose, by a specified provider, and applied for within the specified manner. In other words — the crooks! The HR at Paul’s company seems to be working on this in the sense that they are sending a lot of emails (pardon my sarcasm on this one, but I feel like this should be HR’s problem, not ours) but nothing seems to be happening. Our next step: small claims court.

And so I repeat: we miss Lima.