Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

After lunch we’re going downtown and pay my bills and then go to the Internet Café and I’m going to call the US and cancel my iPass account; unbelievable that I can’t do that online.

At the utility sink in the laundry room I noticed a continuous stream of ants going to and from the area of the garbage can.  I followed the stream up the wall, across the window sill, under the window frame, across the outside wall and then inside the opposite wall.  They are the smallest ants I’ve ever seen and they look to be yellow.  If they were any smaller you wouldn’t be able to see them.

I finished Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail by Cheryl Strayed.  The next book is Columbus: The Four Voyages by Laurence Bergreen.  I was surprised that it was only a sample.  I went to download it and I received the message “Your credit card has been declined.  Please verify your payment information, contact your provider to resolve the issue, or add a different credit card.”  But I don’t have a credit card I only want to use the $100 gift card I bought before I left the States.  I chatted online several times with Barnes & Noble reps and was told I had to have a credit card attached to my account even though it would use the gift card first.  They assured me my debit card would work and I only had to have $0.01 on it.  I updated my credit card info with a debit card with about $25 on it and it still didn’t work.  The next rep I talked to told me that the debit card had to have at least $50 on it.  I changed my account again to access my other debit card with $100 on it and it still doesn’t work.  Isn’t it immediate?  The rep logged off before I could ask that question.  The sample itself has an option to download the book but it didn’t work so I went to the Nook store and tried to do an initial download there but it still didn’t work.  I then set up my default shipping address but it still didn’t work.  Here’s a portion of the conversation between me and the next Barnes & Noble rep, Veronica:

Veronica: I am still seeing the same error on the payment information of your account. You mentioned you are using a debit card, right? Some debit cards cannot support NOOK purchases. I need to refer you to your bank to have this checked. I'm sorry for the trouble.

Terry: What does that mean?

Veronica: There may be a problem with your bank account or it may be that the bank does not authorize NOOK purchases. It is best to use a credit card to make NOOK purchases.

Terry: I don’t even want to use a credit card I only want to use my gift card.

Veronica: I really have to refer you to your bank. This is because most debit cards reserve funds from a customer's bank account at the time of the original transaction. That amount, therefore, is unavailable to you. It may be the reason why there is still a verification error on the card.

Terry: What exactly do I ask my bank?

Veronica: Kindly ask them if they are authorizing digital purchases using your debit card.

And then she logged off before I could ask if authorizing digital purchases using my debit card is a good thing or a bad thing.  Sigh!

We caught the Santa Clara? Bus at the corner just west of the apartment.  I believe the bus lists about 6 stops on the windshield, I only recognized Av. Nutibara.  We got off downtown under the metro tracks at the corner of 49 & 50.  We walked 2 blocks south and 1 block east to the San Antonio Exito (Calle 50?). We walked to the back of the store near the cafeteria and got in line.  About 10 minutes later I paid both my utility bill and my communications bill.  I paid cash but I saw at least 1 person paying with either a credit or debit card.  I believe Reina checked and found out I might be able to pay my bill at the Laureles Exito.

We walked about 2 blocks north to the Internet Café (Junin between Playa & Maracaibo, 2^nd floor at the top of the escalator, Local 279) and I called the iPass Customer Center (1-800-824-7277) to close my iPass account.  After selecting 1 for English and 1 for iPass, I got disconnected - 3 times.  At least the Internet Cafe didn’t charge me anything for the calls.

We walked about 1 block south of Calle 50, Carrera 50 where we caught the bus back.  Again I think the bus said Santa Clara Fr-195 and again the list included Av Nutibara.

Shortly after we got back we went to Laureles Mall and had an ice cream cone.  I had a Cono Doble for 3mil and Reina had a Cucur Especial for 3,800 pesos.  Her’s included peanuts, whipped cream and a cherry on top.  We then stopped at a small store and for less than $1 I bought a bag of Cream of Wheat (farina).  One of the websites recommended this for killing ants.  I put some down and some of them stopped at it and others just keep on going toward the garbage.  I should know in a few weeks if it’s working.  (Most websites recommend cornmeal but the only kind I could find was precooked and I’m not sure that would work.)