Mail Call for Joe

This is an exercise to find out if I can talk intelligibly about the most trivial things.

I will talk about my mail today. It came at 1 pm and consisted of:

A letter from an Insurance Company offering me a fantastic mortgage rate.. "because you are a good customer." Well, I dropped that Insurance Company over a month ago when I got a better automobile insurance offer somewhere else. In fact, I found that they had been overcharging me for years. I guess the word hasn't gotten throughout the company that I no longer am a customer of theirs. ACTION: throw into paper recycling.

A notice from my secondary health insurance payer letting me know that the hospital where I recently had a procedure submitted a duplicate bill for reimbursement. This resubmission occurs a lot because billers get antsy when the insurance companies don't pay quickly and resubmit just in case. ACTION: File with Joe's medical insurance info for 2009.

A very large bill from the provider of my cable TV and Internet access. A lot of money each month, but I don't know what I would do without 250 channels of HD TV and instant Internet access. ACTION: Pay the damn bill.

A postcard from some guy in Manchester, Maryland who hasn't got the word that I sold my last house in September 2008. He wants to buy the house "as is" for cash. Too late guy. ACTION: File with other material to be discussed at the June TRIAD meeting, where we talk about possible scams.

A statement from the bank where I keep my checking account showing that money out actually was slightly less than money in during April. Maybe things are changing in the economy. ACTION: Log in and balance to my checkbook. (Included is a "Debit Travel Rewards Catalog".. except that I don't do debit transactions.. that's a way to go broke.)

A publication from the Arthritis Foundation suggesting that I contribute to a Charitable Gift Annuity and "get income for life." They suggest a $10,000 donation, which at my age will earn 6.3% interest. My calculation is that I would receive about $600 per year ($50 per month) .. and if I live for ten more years, I would have received about $6000.. ($4000 less than invested).. a CD at only 4% for the same period would also have received about $6,000 in interest... but.. I would still be able to cash in and get my $10,000 back. Charitable Gift Annuities do not seem like good sense to me. ACTION: Put into paper recycling.

A sneaky offer from a former bank of mine. They offer to send you a free Credit Report upon receipt of a form that binds you to Identity Theft Protection at $13 per month payments. What they don't mention is that everyone is entitled to a free Credit Report each year by law. Also, some of the protection that they offer is automatic with credit card usage. ACTION: Put into the TRIAD file to be discussed at the June meeting of police and senior citizens.

The latest issue of Integra, The Journal of Intertel, the 1% High IQ club. Contents include an article about psychic senses in daily life and how that relates to Rhine Research Center studies. Another article cites quotes from Mark Twain's book: Innocence Abroad.. and compares them to the current situation in the world.

There also is a rather depressing story (I think its fiction) about an ordinary human being confronting the problems involved in being such an ordinary human being. (Intertel members probably are not "ordinary" human beings.. at least they are classified as having Ultra-Genius IQ's)
The rest of the journal is taken up mainly with original poems from members. ACTION: Read the rest of the journal when time permits.

An invitation to two Police/Senior Citizen meetings. One is a quarterly TRIAD meeting held in the State Capitol. Last quarter, I mixed up the date for the meeting and got there a day early.. but I wasn't the only dummy.. another fat old guy was there at the same time as me.

At these quarterly meetings, we sing the TRIAD song... an unashamed mess-up of Yankee Doodle Dandy. Most of us just silently move our mouths while a few people "sing" at the top of their lungs. But the rest of the time, we talk about new scams affecting our senior citizens and how to become protected from them.

The other invitation is for a Crime Prevention Seminar where we will discuss the danger of gangs and the prevention of financial exploitation of seniors. I think this is a duplicate of a seminar I went to last month. This was where I got so depressed over the discussion on gangs.

My final piece of mail came from the Comptroller of Maryland. It was a check.. I hit the lottery! For 4 whole dollars! ($4) I'm rich! ACTION: Deposit it.

Don't I get great mail? Elaine got a bunch of mail too, but that is her business not mine.