Playing hooky

Last Thursday was an interesting day. It started out like every other day…busy, busy, busy. I had a report due by the end of the day but I was determined to get it done by noon so that I could start on the bigger report that’s due this coming Wednesday.

I worked my ass off all morning and, at 11:30 I finished it, printed it and dropped it on my manager’s desk.

At 11:45 the power went out. Talk about timing.

Ten minutes later we were ordered to evacuate the now dark and quiet building. After milling around for a bit in the park across the street a bunch of us went for lunch, having been given no indication of when there would once again be light. When we returned to the office, we were handed flashlights, told to go upstairs, get our stuff and go home. The emergency lights didn’t work, the phones were down, the servers were down and well it was getting awfully hot in the building because the A/C of course was down too.

Immediately, people started stressing. Because not only could things no longer get finished from the office, but taking work home wouldn’t help either because with the servers down – webmail and remote access were down too. Heck, the phone lines didn’t even work so we couldn’t leave or receive voice mails either. In other words, nothing worked and nothing could be accessed for God knows how long.

But suddenly I had a thought. Remember when you were a kid – say in elementary school – and something like this happened (and I have a vague memory of this happening to me). Either the power would go out, or a snow storm would be making a beeline for the city, or there might even have been a small fire. Whatever the case, the school board would decide to call the buses, call the parents, call whomever, and all the kids would be sent home early.

Heck, remember Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

It was like a getting a free day. Kids would be yelling and screaming with joy, because suddenly that lesson that just wouldn’t end was over, and instead of three more hours of school, the day was done and there was nothing left to do but play outside (or watch TV, or whatever).

So why is it that we can be so overjoyed at the idea of a ‘free day’ when we’re kids, but so stressed about the same idea as an adult? The work will still be there tomorrow, and if files can’t be accessed, they can’t be accessed. We all need to learn to enjoy ourselves from time to time – not stress over everything. Goodness knows I need to be reminded of that lesson more often than not.

With that in mind, I called my sister-in-law, who at that very moment happened to be at the CNE with Austin and my father-in-law. A little over half an hour later, I was feasting on Tiny Tom donuts while walking with the three of them around the Ex.

A free day is a free day and I decided I wasn’t going to miss out on it – and by extension on the opportunity to spend it with my kid. And shocker of shocker, the work was still waiting to be done when the power came back on.

And it still got finished on time, even after playing hooky for an afternoon.

My Rogers Rant

Explain to me how one of the largest multi-media companies in Canada can be so completely and utterly useless when it comes to customer service.

Of course, I'm talking about Rogers. A Rogers rant is nothing new in the blogging world, but here's my two cents.

In mid-July, I called customer service to cancel Ryan's phone and put my phone on a pay-as-you-go plan. Ryan had recently received a Blackberry from work, so we no longer needed his phone. Which meant, because we had already finished the terms of our contract, we could cancel our family plan and I could drop my phone to the bare minimum of usage -- knowing full well that I rarely use my phone and making this switch would save us about $50 a month.

After getting a few attempts to pursuade me to keep both phones and the plan that I had, the customer service woman cancelled Ryan's phone. But then offered to put me on a plan that cost only $5 a month (for 40 minutes), and, if I agree to it for a year, she'd wave the system access fee for the first year. I thought about it for a minute and then figured, why not, it's cheaper than pay-as-you-go, and honestly, no one but Ryan ever calls my cell.

So, I was told, effective July 31, Ryan's phone would be no more, and my phone would cost $5 a month.

On Monday, we got our first Rogers bill since the switch. Ryan's phone was no more, and mine cost $20 plus the system access fee. Hmmmm, curious.

So I called and complained and was told although my plan had already switched over to the new one, I had to pay for the old one on the Aug. 1 bill and then it would be credited back to me next month. Heh? So what you're telling me then is I have to pay $20 now to receive a service that only costs $5. This after the first woman told me the plan couldn't change at the time of my original call because it was mid-month.

It's not about the $20 that I have to pay today to only have put back in my pocket on Labour Day. It's about the fact that in the five or six years I've been a Rogers customer, I've never been able to make one change, or add one new service, without having to call back at least three times to complain. A few other small rants:

• When we moved in, we signed up for a digital cable promotion that gave us four extra cable outlets in the house for free (avoids having to splice your cable). When the guy showed up to do this, his workorder only indicated he was to set up one cable outlet. Despite the fact that he 'called the office' to confirm what I was telling him, he wouldn't do it. Which meant I had to waste another afternoon a week later to wait for another cable guy to show up to hook up the service I was paying for.
• When we bought our cellphones, we were already Internet and Cable subscribers. We filled out an extra form at the store to get the bundle discount on our phones. It was three months before I realized that our phones weren't being bundled with our other services, and we weren't getting the discount. The switch was made, but not even an apology, or a cent in refund, was offered.

So, I've now called twice regarding the cellphones -- once to cancel, once to complain. One more call next month and by October, I should be receiving and paying for the service I wanted in July.

It's time to do nothing at all

I'm officially on vacation!

Tomorrow we leave for a cottage on a lake in Sundridge, where aside from chasing Austin all over the property and swimming with in him the lake, I'm going to spend the next week, reading my book, catching up on watching some of the DVDs we got for Christmas, maybe work on my scrapbook, napping, and oh, did I mention reading my book!

Well in all honestly, the day time hours (aside from Austin's nap time) may be a little more productive -- but all by doing fun stuff. We may go for a hike, we may go to the nearby petting farm; or then again, we may sit by the lake.

In other words, we're going to do a whole lot of nothing...and I've never been so excited about it!

Bras (bathing suits) and boobs Part III

Guys have it so easy.

Shopping for clothes consists of seeing something they like, picking through the rack for their size and heading to the cash. This seems to apply to everything from t-shirts to dress shirts and jeans to shorts. It even seems to apply to bathing suits – which are really just shorts that can go in the water.

Women don’t have it that easy, especially with bathing suits.

A few months ago, I thought that bra shopping was difficult – after being properly fitted with a $140 bra. But bathing suit shopping was a whole new experience – and a whole new frustration.

On Saturday, I decided if we’re going to spend a week on a lake next week, I should really have a bathing suit that fits. The thought of wearing my pre-pregnancy bathing suits are laughable – if I had to throw out all of my pre-pregnancy bras, why in the world did I think I could keep my pre-pregnancy bathing suits?

And the one I did have (from last summer) that was supposed to fit, fit so terribly when I took Austin to the pool a few weeks ago that I spent as much time pulling it up as I did making sure he didn’t drown.

So, it was off to the mall for me. My first stop was Sears, hoping I could find something on the sale rack. Ten suits and who-knows-how-long in the fitting room later; I was still bathing suit-less. The problem was, once again, finding something that fits the boobs. And since I’m not a heavy girl, anything that did fit the boobs made me look like I had put on at least 20 pounds. And anything that looked ok on the rest of me, well, wasn’t exactly appropriate for a family day at the beach.

So, I headed for the Bay – still in hopes of finding a bathing suit on sale. But once again, eight suits later and who-knows-how-long in the fitting room; I was still at square one. Here I had already tried on 18 bathing suits, and only one was ‘ok’. But it was $70, and the thought of paying $70 for something that will do, and not something that I actually liked, kind of made me feel sick.

I then popped my head into La Vie on Rose Aqua, but quickly discovered without, thankfully, trying anything on, that their bathing suits aren’t designed to fit anyone over a C cup.

And then I remembered the Bikini Village in the mall. For years, I’ve always avoided that store, because I never felt the need to overpay for something I’m wasn’t planning on wearing much. But I was desperate and my options were to try there or to go home sans bathing suit.

So when the salesgirl asked if she could help me find anything, I replied, “all I want is something that fits.”

She laughed because, I realized when I looked at her, her body type was similar to mine. She found me a few options, saying “these should fit, and they’re quite slimming as well.”

I tried all three on without even looking at the price.

They all fit well, meaning, I actually got more than just “something that fit”; I also got to choose something I liked.

And for that, I paid $91. I guess that officially puts bathing suits on the same list as bras – one that fits ain’t going to be cheap.

'Klutz' strikes again...ouch

For anyone who’s ever wondered why the nickname on the back of my baseball jersey says ‘Klutz’, here’s a brief sampling:

• One day in high school, I ran head-first into a wall playing some stupid ball game. I was maybe 15 or 16 and my mom spent the rest of that evening (and probably all night) worrying about whether I had a concussion.
• In university, while swimming in the pool of a friend’s apartment building, I swam head-first into the wall (notice a trend here) while playing Marco Polo. No concussion to worry about this time, just a really bad headache.
• About five years ago, I tripped over who knows what (my own two feet probably) while walking with some friends to the bar. I rolled my ankle and spent the next few weeks on crutches – having torn a couple of ligaments. Now, note the wording of the above sentence, I was on my way to the bar. In other words, I had not yet had a drink and I can say that with absolute certainly because I had DD’d us all there from an earlier party.

Yesterday, I thought it would be fun to try falling down my basement stairs. I have no idea how I managed it, because I’ve walked those stairs at least 500 times in the last three years. I just slipped, I guess.

Thankfully, I only fell the four stairs to the first landing, but four stairs were far enough. Today, I’m sporting a rather large bruise on my ass, another large bruise on my forearm, and a hip that is so sore I’m having to walk around like an old lady. I guess it could’ve been worse – I could’ve broken something or really messed up my back (since I already have problems with a couple of discs). But oddly enough, my back doesn’t even hurt today.

But I still freakin’ hurt…and I still feel like a freakin’ idiot, or at the very least, like the klutz that I am.

Playing Scrabble, one move a day

Scrabble has always been my favourite board game. I find it challenging and always interesting, while, at the same time, occasionally frustrating. The fact that I love the game may not come as a surprise to many, as I did major in, and now work in, an English-related field.

But, no matter how much I love the game, I’ll be perfectly honest; I’m not very good at it. I’m not a puzzle kind of person – crosswords and other type puzzles are too complex for my brain’s way of thinking. But for some reason, I still love playing Scrabble.

Very rarely, Ryan and I will play – and I mean very rarely. Occasionally, I find a free download online that lets me play against the computer. But those are usually timed trial offers, and after 60 or so minutes of play, you have to buy the product to keep playing. Something I’ve never been terribly inclined to do because, playing against the computer is like playing video games – something many may like, but I quickly bore of.

So, when among the invasion of vampire, zombie and food fight applications on Facebook came an invitation for ‘Scrabulous’, I jumped on it.

And before I knew it, I was playing Scrabble with my sister in Brampton. And a few days after that, another game was started, this time between myself, my sister in Brampton and my sister in California.

Playing Scrabble on Facebook is a lengthy process. With time zones and the fact that most normal people aren’t logged in 24/7; you usually only get to make one play a day. And a game seems to take two weeks or more to play.

But regardless, it’s fun. It’s fun to not have to play against the computer; it’s fun to not have to convince Ryan to play with me; it’s fun to be able to play for only a couple of minutes a day – which in all honesty, some days that’s all the time I have. But most importantly, it’s fun to be able to play against my sisters, neither of whom live in the same city as me.

The three of us have always been close, but the miles (and time zones) between us make it difficult to talk or see each other often. But now we get to play Scrabble together, and regardless of the miles between us, it’s as if the three of us are sitting around my parents’ kitchen table again.

And, like usual, they’re both kicking my ass.

Camping trip number two

For all my rants and raves, whines and worries, I will now stand up and admit it – I like camping.

I like sleeping in a tent; I like just sitting around with nothing much to do; and I like the fact that it can be a quick and cheap little weekend vacation.

I’m always all about taking vacations – I love to travel and don’t like staying at home when taking time off work. Staying at home means ‘getting things done’ and worrying about the things that need to be done. Going on vacation, means scrambling around before leaving, but then leaving all the ‘things that need to be done’ behind.

For many of the last several years, vacations have almost always been visiting places far and wide – in the last five years, Ryan and I have been to Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico, Panama, and New York City. But now, with Austin, vacations are a little lower key and closer to home. And that’s ok with me.

And that’s what’s so nice about camping. It’s going on vacation only a couple of hours from home. But even though we’re so close to home, it’s remote enough and different enough from my real world, to really feel like a vacation. In other words, I’m able to relax, even if it’s just for a short time.

Here’s how we spent the weekend at Presqu’ile (aside from eating and sleeping at the more or less appropriate times):

• Discovering, by reading the little paper the park guys give you on the way in, that ‘gourmet VanHoute coffee’ is served at the park store and then strapping Austin to Ryan’s back and all five of us making the 1km or so walk to the store…yes, just for a cup of coffee
• Napping
• Hiding from the rain – yes camping trip number two saw just as much rain, if not more, than camping trip number one. Thankfully our friends have a screen room tent that we quickly converted into a snazzy rain shelter tent. Undoubtedly, during the 4 or so hours that it rained, we all got a little cranky, but we survived!
• Chasing Austin around the site and down the roadway.
• Eating really good food – again I say who says camping means hamburgers and hotdogs!
• Watching Catherine jump into Lake Ontario, fully clothed (we dared her to and she did!)
• Watching Austin absolutely love standing knee deep in the water.
• Sitting around the campfire drinking beer and/or polishing off a couple of bottles of wine.
• Roasting marshmallows.

In all honesty, I’m almost a little sad that this is the last camping trip for the year. I know there’s lots of summer left, but, for the most part now, our weekends are all booked up until mid-September. And although we could camp then, it may be a little too cold to do so – and besides I wouldn’t mind using some of the weekends in September to finally get back to work on the backyard project. (The weeds are starting to take over the backyard again, and well, there's still no grass.)

So for now, I’ll dream of my next vacation – a cottage on a lake near North Bay for the first week of August. It’ll be a nice change from camping, because when it rains, we’ll have a real roof over our heads!