Love and Other Things That You Don't Care About

Ok, I'm finally going to start the 30 day blog challenge, except as I mentioned before it won't be a blog a day, it will be whenever I get to it. But before I start that, let me tell you about some other things.

A few weeks ago a group of us went for lunch at the Calgary Tower (the restaurant revolves!). I hadn't eaten up there since my dad took us when we were really little, so I was pretty excited (I know, dorky). We had lunch and revolved 3 times. The food was fantastic not overly expensive like you might think and one of the servers even made some screaming kids go back to their table and be quite becuase the parents were letting them run wild ruining lunch for everyone else. Also, if you make reservations you don't have to pay the elevation fee to get up there. See, I just saved you some $'s and you can book it through OpenTable and collect points to get free gift certificates. Your Welcome! 

After lunch we decided to go to the casino. It was 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, what else were we going to do? BF had to go home so I got a ride with TB, but finding the car proved to be too much for 2 girls with pretty hair and not enough drinks in their system. I know it won't seem as funny to you, but we passed the same gift shop 3 times, got lockied in a stairwell, asked security for help (they directed us to locked doors) and consulted with some random strangers over a half an hour of playing "how the hell do you get to 10th Ave???" We finally made it into the parkade and down a another stinky stairwell and tah dah! There was the car (and without a parking ticket even, yay!). FYI, at the casino, we ended up meeting a guy who just loved my brother (no homo) and he ended up paying for our food and drinks ALL NIGHT! He was hilarious and we all had a great time. Also, I doubled my money in the end but probably lost about $700 through the day. And TB didn't even yell at me for anything. Amazing!

We also finished up curling and are proud to officially be the worse curling team in the city. We are the best at getting free drinks though, so who really wins?

BF's parents were in town this week and I just love them to death. They are the nicest people and they treat me so well, I've really lucked out with future in laws. 

BFM: "We used to be hippies when we were younger."

BFD: "We were not, I've always voted conservative!!!"

We all went to see Bruce Cockburn on Wed night and he played for over 2 hours - now that's getting your money's worth! Highlights were the obligatory smell of dirty hippies, BF's mom making him drive us to the Jubilee amid much argument from the boys because it is literally a 5 min walk from home (we wanted to drink more wine before the show and didn't want to lose the buzz by walking) and watching all the tree hugging earth loving hypocrites get in their SUV's and drive home. In all seriousness though, the real highlight of the show was the song Each One Lost. It is a song that reflects on a ramp ceremony, which is the honoring that bestowed on our fallen soldiers. If you have any heart at all, it's a difficult song to listen to, but important nonetheless. He mentioned that process from the song will go to Soldier On which is a great group who helps injured or sick military personnel.

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Now onto the bloggy challenge. Because music is a huge part of my life, I'm going to add a song (or two) at the end of each blog to say the things I can't express. [edit - I can't figure out how to add a song, so we're going with youtube videos instead. Hey, I'm a technotard, so just shut your yap and keep reading/watching].

Day 1 - Your current relationship - if single, discuss how single life is

Well, I think we all know I have a boyfriend, and a wonderful one at that. I know what you're all asking yourselves: "how on earth does he put up with her?". I honestly don't know because I'm a pain in the ass and I know it. This July will be 2 years together, and as BF puts is "it's pretty much been a bed of roses" (he does love his Bon Jovi) and I would have to agree. That's not to say that we don't ever get annoyed with each other or have the odd disagreement, but overall things get better and better every day and I know that I am one lucky girl.

We will be getting married eventually but on our own time, so stop pressuring us people. And yes, it will be an open bar and you're all invited!

Miranda Lambert - Love Song

Josh Grider - Crazy Like You

Dierks Bentley - You Hold Me Together

Noisy Kids - Should I complain?

I live in an apt style condo building. The first 4 years here were relatively quiet, but lucky me I now have 2 families with 20 feet of me that have children who yell and scream all day and night and I have just about had it.

Look, it's no surprise that I don't like kids to begin with, and this certainly doesn't help, but when do you draw the line of  "they are kids, what do you expect" and them interfering on my right to have some peace and quiet? The condo bylaws discuss quiet living and not intruding on your neighbors right to enjoy their space and the city bylaw includes yelling as excessive noise and worthy of complaint, but how do I determine what is acceptable?

I'm betting that most parents out there will say too bad so sad, they are kids and yelling is what kids do. But what about the argument that I am an adult and I like to drink, and when I drink I like to listen to my music loudly and if this happens on a Saturday afternoon during your kids nap time then it's too bad for you. Fair's Fair, right? And since you like to slam your door shut at 6am (or any other time) then it's fine for me to do it 3am too, right?

What do you think, is there a double standard? Do you agree with it? Where do you draw the line? Please tell me what you think or I'll have to use my own poor decision making skills on this one and that won't end will for anyone.


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In other news, I'm on Day 19 of my 30 challenge to get moving and I haven't missed a day yet. Amazing! I started a new program yesterday which you may have seen the infomercial for...and no, it's not Deal a Meal, it's KettleWorx. Now, I didn't order it from the infomercial, I'm not that cheesey, but after I saw it and did some investigating and I thought it looked like a good program to try and so far I think I'm right. I'll spare you the details, but if you ever see the infomercial you can now picture my fat ass swinging the kettle bell around my living room.

I'm on the condo board in my building and we have 2 residents that essential pick fights with the board about the stupidest things. Today, one guy is trying to tell me that the condo budget has to be out 15 days before the next fiscal year begins, so in our case by Jan 15. He says "The 15 days time limit is a universally recognized accounting practice. Then again, I don’t want to argue about this silly point, but it is law to have budgets out within 15 days (may be extended a few more days if situation warrants it) of start of a fiscal year, no matter where you go in the world, or whatever business". He says it the law any where in the world. ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!!!! I think the citizens of Libya should double check that their county's budget was on time because this could be the loophole they need to oust that crazy Gaddafi! You're probably wondering what my response to this guy will be because there are so many things wrong with his statement, but sadly, it can't be go back to the nut house you douche-a-loo. Sometimes I hate having to be polite and politically correct when idiots like this are allowed to run around and be so blatantly retarded.

 The weather. What is there to say that hasn't already been said? Cold enough for ya? We live in the great white north, it gets cold every year, get over it! To solve this cold weather problem I'm moving to Texas as soon as possible. I'll keep you posted on how that progresses.

 

Challenges

Yes, I know it's been a while, but if I don't have anything interesting to say I don't just want to blog about nothing and waste your time. See how considerate I am? Yes, considerate, that's it.

Just a couple of quick things today:

In case you didn't know, Mantracker is no more. The button heads at the production company decided it was time for a new tracker and have ousted my beloved  cowboy. I won't watch with a replacement, they can go suck an egg. And then swallow it, shit it out whole and then suck on it again.


My landlord is NOT selling my place so I don't have to move. Most of you already know this but I thought I should update the rest of you. Of course as soon as that happens and I say I'm going to stay another year a really loud, non English speaking family (of at least 18 people, I swear) has moved in across the hall. As if the screaming baby in the other apt wasn't enough now I have these people with their yappy dog who they yell at in some language that I don't understand. Oh, side note on the baby - I was thisclose to calling child protective services because it screamed day and night - and not just crying, SCREAMING, but I've since decided the thing is just retarded and instead I will turn up my music and let it scream.

I've issued myself a challenge, a 30 day Get Moving challenge. I'm trying to do something exercise like for at least 20 mins a day for 30 days. Today is day 6 and I will be doing the 30 Day Shred for the 4th day in a row this afternoon (this is a miracle because I usually quit after 2 days of pain). I figure if I can get in the habit of doing some sort of exercise I will a) not die of heart disease b) not be a sweaty out of breath fat reject when walking up a flight of stairs and c) maybe lose some of my blubber. I won't lie if I eff up and miss a day, there is no use it that, but I am going to do my best and if I can make it 30 days I will be rewarding myself with a chocolate peanut butter pie or something (the whole pie to myself, obviously!).

My 30 day challenge to myself and my upcoming blog thingy (details next post) are both inspired by my friend NC. I don't know that she would want me to post her blog link her, but she is doing a 30 post blog challenge that tackles a specific personal topic each day and I think I would like to try this as well. She has also been making incredible strides at living a healthier lifestyle which is what I'm working on. I'm so proud of her and I channel her energy every day to get my ass moving and after reading her blog I have learned a lot about her that I didn't know which has made her an even more amazing person to me. There is only one crappy thing about NC, and that is that we have never met in person yet - she's in Texas and I'm stuck in the frozen tundra. I'm hoping to change that in the next year though with a visit to Texas after Steamboat. I hope she realizes I just invited myself over....

Well, that's it for now. It's a long weekend - whoo hoo! I'm not going to the Heritage Classic but I am gearing up for the Daytona 500 on Sunday (Git R Done Jr!) and a generally quiet time with BF who has finally recovered from being sick last week.

Please Don't Make Me Move

So how was everyone's Christmas? Did you get the lump of coal you deserved? I did - in the form of diamond earrings :) If you would like to come over and see them I'd be happy to make you a latte in my new Tassimo as well. Oh yeah!
Ok, enough with the bragging. To even out all the good there was a lot of shit show stuff and high stress activities which did end up with me having an anxiety attack one night. I got tested for heart attack and stroke but got the all clear, so don't worry, I'll be around to annoy the world for a while yet.

I'm sure you're wondering what's irritating me today because I only seem to blog when something pisses me off, right? Well, I can't argue that, but if people would stop doing stupid things I could stop pointing them out! This week's agitation comes courtesy of my landlord - she's selling my place and I may have to move (here comes the anxiety again). Two things - First of all, I don't blame her for this at all. She's a wonderful lady who lost her husband the day I moved in here and has 3 young boys to take care of so she has to do what she needs to do to take care of her family. Secondly, they (the realtor, I guess) is going to try and find someone who wants to buy it as an investment property so that I can stay, but we all know whoever shows up with the money first gets to take my home away from me.

I hate moving. HATE IT! I would rather stick a hot needle into my eye repeatedly than have to move. For real. And no shit, just the thought of moving gets my heart rate up to a rate my body rarely sees (exercise what?) and I nearly barf and burst into tears 4 or 5 times a day. On a side note, who needs to exercise if you can just purge everything???

Anyway, here's the listing: http://www.jimsparrow.com/idx/residential/C3455827/details.html in case you've ever wondered what my place looks like. 5 years I've been here. 5 years! There used to be nothing but fields for miles out my window and now there is all kinds of construction and destruction. There's also a 7-11, which is probably what I will miss the most. What won't I miss? The constant dusting because of the new buildings going up and the wind which howls and blows dirt directly into my place. But that one annoyance is all part of living where I can see the mountains (not much of them anymore because the mall and college have taken much of it away) and feel like I am not really in the city (although the deliveries to 7-11 and Domino's at midnight make it hard to forget that I am indeed a city dweller).

So what am I going to do and where am I going to go? Well, I haven't entirely decided that yet. I am hoping that someone will buy and keep it as an investment property so I can stay another year or two - hello rich people of Calgary, can't someone help a poor girl out, buy my place and not make me move? PLEASE!?!?! I could maybe move into another place in my building if one becomes available and of course BF is eagerly awaiting my move in with him, so there is definitely that option which is the front runner. Or I could move to Okotoks with my parents (as if!) or in with J and D, but Brutus (the cat) would likely kill me in my sleep so that's not really a viable option if I want to stay above ground and among the living. Now I know what you're all saying...just move in with BF and be done with it already! Oh sure, but it's not that easy you jerkballs! He still has 18 months of school left and there isn't a lot of space in a one bedroom place for studying. He's said that he'll go to another place in the building to study, which is all fine and dandy except if he's out studying who will be at home paying attention to me??? Yes, I am a demanding princess, I thought you knew that about me?
At any rate, there are a lot of other things to consider as well, so until I know what is happening I'm going to keep praying that no one wants to buy my place (unless I get to stay) and I'll keep throwing up and (hopefully) get skinnier from the stress.

Side notes:

RIP Chris Kutney. I only knew him very briefly as the ice technician at the curling club. He helped us out at a practice last month and was super friendly other times we chatted. Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends. http://www.mhfh.com/kutney-j-chris/

I had a fight with Sears yesterday and I won. They had a bin full of stuff that was signed $6.00 if you use your Sears card but when I went to pay for it they said it didn't apply to the stuff I picked out. Oh really? Because the bin only had the things I bought so how could that be? The sales associate went and talked to a manager, and when she came back and said no, they couldn't do it I asked her to have the manager come and talk to me. He tried to get out of talking to me in person but when he finally came over he ok'd it at $6.00. No shit sherlock, I know how to work the system! Also, I used BF's Sears card and they didn't even look at the name - I won't give myself a point for that, but I do count it as part of my triumph. Suzanne  -1 Sears - 0

It was crazy cold/blizzardy/snowy this weekend so I pretty much stayed inside and ate Hershey's Kisses left over from Christmas. I think I watched Mantracker too but I was in a chocolate coma so I don't really remember. But I do love Mantracker, in case you didn't know.


Calgary Transit still sicks the biggest of donkey balls. That is all.

How I saved Christmas - The Shaw Fireplace

Christmas almost didn't happen this year. I bet you didn't know that but it's true and it was Shaw Cable that tried to take it away.
My sister called me a few weeks ago asking me about the Shaw Fireplace (or the Yule Log, as you may know it) and when it was going to be coming on. I hadn't seen anything yet so I told her to relax, that Christmas wasn't going to sneak past her somehow and that if she REALLY needed a hit she could turn on her own fireplace (but only during the day when D is at work. He is too cheap to pay for the gas to run it).

Fast forward one week, J calls again to tell me the fireplace is there, but it's $0.99 cents to watch it this year.Yeah right, I tell her, but as I'm flipping through the channels to prove her wrong low and behold there it is - The Shaw Fireplace, on pay per view. For $0.99 per day. Not for the whole season,  PER DAY! For full disclosure purposes, the proceeds are going to be matched by Shaw and donated to some (mystical) charity, however, no one tells me when I have to donate to a charity. I'm pretty sticky about who and when I donate to and I'm certainly not going to bullied into it by a corporation with the highest paid CEO in the city who can certainly afford the full donation out of his own pocket without taking away my sacred fake tv fireplace.

Moving on....I was pissed right off by this. You see, the yule log is quite a tradition in our family and we watch it all through December (even though yes, we all do have our own fireplaces - but they don't crackle like on TV!) so I emailed Shaw my displeasure and here is the exchange:

Question:

Re: Shaw Fireplace I was extremely disappointed to see that there is a charge this year to watch the Fireplace. We have had this on for many gatherings over the years and always look forward to its return but will not be subscribing to it this year.$0.99 for 24 hours of viewing? I don't think so! It will be cheaper to just go and buy the DVD. I understand the charitable angle, I really do, but I choose what charities I donate to throughout the year and don't appreciate being nickled and dimed to death (i.e. $0.05 for plastic bags, $1.00 donation at the grocery store, drug store, restaurant, $0.99 to watch the fireplace etc). Shaw is a huge company with huge profits - you don't need to take our money to make a donation, we are quite capable of making our own donations thank you very much.

On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 8:50 AM, Shaw - eCare Account Support <ecare.accounts@sjrb.ca> wrote:

Good morning Suzanne,

Thank you for your email dated November 29th. My name is [shaw guy] and I will be happy to address your concerns regarding our charitable donations.

I’m sorry to learn about your disappointment. You should be happy to know that we are still providing four, 30 minute showings of the Shaw Fireplace in Standard Definition and High Definition starting today (on The Frame channel, two during the day and at 6pm and 8pm daily) and going until the 10^th of January. And from noon on the 24^th to noon on the 26^th the Shaw TV channel in your area will have the Shaw Fireplace showing around the clock.

In regards to the donations specifically, we are actually matching customer donations. This has proven historically to be a fantastic way to engage customers as opposed to simply making a donation that would otherwise go unnoticed. I know that you can appreciate this decision as you’ve also noted that you make charitable donations yourself.

We donate and raise millions of dollars for dozens of charities each year – we just raised a collective 2.6 million pounds of food through the Shaw community and our partners Campbell Canada and Safeway as a matter of fact. We were so delighted with the results (our initial goal was only 1 million pounds of food) that we have added an additional cash donation of $250,000. This is also separate from our annual Season of Warmth where we come together to help shelter and cloth the lesser fortunate in our local communities.

I’m sorry if you had the wrong impression and felt as though this was a cash grab. This is very far from it. I trust that knowing what I’ve told you know, you can come to appreciate our decision and agree with it. If not, I’m sure you can at least see that we’re trying to engage our Shaw customers as best we can. This is similar to when cell phone providers were offering their customers a chance to send a text message to make a charitable donation in response to the natural disasters in Haiti recently. We are doing our best and will continue to make both cash donations in the background, as well as other more public fundraising events and programs that engage the community. Thank you for your understanding.

Please let us know if you have any additional concerns, or feel free to contact us through our Live Chat. Simply go to www.shaw.ca/chat. We look forward to hearing from you.

Hi [shaw guy],
Thanks for the response.

Just to clarify, I in no way was seeing this a cash grab by Shaw, I completely understand  the charity angle and the matching of donations. I'm not against the donations to charity at all, what I am unhappy about is the fact that you are taking away a service unless I donate. If Shaw wants to make a donation, then just do it. If you want to make a big splash about it (which they clearly like to do) to try and look good in the public light, then go for it, but don't force your customers into it $0.99 a day. This is unlike the example you have used of donating to Haiti via text message - nothing was withheld from me if I chose not to make that donation whereas here I have to pay everytime I want to see it - charity or not it is still money out of my pocket and this year I do not have a choice to a) turn the fireplace channel on for free or b) decide for myself where I would like to spend my charitable $'s. I respect the note about the Frame channel, but seriously, who has time to care about tuning in during those 2 half hours in the evening (I work during the day) when there is news or better prime tv to watch. Do people even watch that channel? I had no idea it even existed until researching this issue (and I still won't be watching it). Will they be doing the same thing with the Christmas tree channel or will that not even air this year?

Look, I know this wasn't your decision and in all honesty you could care less. Complaints don't make it any further than the front line -  I know that and I get it. It's just so annoying to be forced to participate in something if you want another product. If Shaw wanted to raise finds they could have made a "Fireplace DVD" and sold it locally with all proceeds going to charity - people would buy it. My family is all buying them this year rather than have to go the PPV route. And do you want to know the funniest thing? We all have fireplaces that we could use! Just thought you would like to know what a serious tradition the yule log is in our family.

Thanks for your time and Merry Christmas.

Suzanne

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shaw - eCare Account Support
Date: Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 10:40 AM
Subject: RE: eCare Email Submission
To: Suzanne Ferguson
Cc: Shaw - eCare Account Support

Hi again Suzanne,

Thank you for your honest response. I want to assure you that we do care, and that your opinions definitely make it past the front lines. In the last year we introduced a platform where the 10,000 plus employees at Shaw can discuss anything that’s on our mind. Whether we have a concern about our sick policies, a channel request or a customer concern that we’d like to share it’s all fair game. And everyone from the front line representatives to the highest people in senior management including our current CEO Brad Shaw or our president Peter Bissonette, etc, take part in this regularly.

We all participate in this forum and are strongly encouraged by our supervisors, managers and senior management to communicate our concerns without any fears of reprimand or rebuke. We very often escalate customer concerns because in one way or another we all are here to serve our valued customers and make them feel valued and loyal. Remember, we do not rely on contracts so it’s imperative that we keep customers happy. We are all Shaw customers, as well as partial owners through our stocks and investments so that is also kept in mind at all times.

Whenever there is a large change or announcement (or in this case, extreme customer dissatisfaction) we are all very vocal on the front lines and. Our superiors are very supportive and receptive to these concerns because we pass them on immediately. Without acknowledging our mistakes we are missing key opportunities to improve. And whenever there are situations that cause a large amount of customer dissatisfaction it’s something that’s recognized immediately. You can be sure that if something is bothering you, there are problem many other customers that are bothered by it and we are aware of it by the time you’ve contacted us.

I’ve done my best to touch base on your initial concerns in the first email. And I hope that this second email reminds you that we are a genuine company with caring employees. Although a large corporation of our size can seem cold and mechanical, I can assure you that we are very cognizant of our actions and never make a move without careful consideration. Everyone has a say at Shaw and that includes valued customers like yourself.

I would also like to thank you for your suggestion about selling a Shaw Fireplace DVD. That’s a very great idea and I shared it with a few colleagues that sit near me and they all agree. We’ll pass that suggestion along. I think our aim was to utilize our Video on Demand and Pay-Per-View services as it’d make a lot of sense. In my personal opinion, I think we should have continued to air the Shaw Fireplace 24/7 on TV. We could have chosen to include an occasional notice on the screen or in the Guide Information to advise customers that they can order the channel as well and make a donation that will be matched. I will propose these suggestions using the communication forum I had mentioned earlier. Although I believe it’s too late to make an impact this year, hopefully we’ll head in that direction next year.

Thanks again for your time, Suzanne. I hope this email helps to restore your faith in Shaw Cable.

[shaw guy]

E-Care Team
Shaw Communications Inc.
Telephone: 310-SHAW(7429) or www.shaw.ca/chat

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So I still wasn't pleased and there was no way I was going to tune in to this Frame channel in hopes that I would get my yule log fix, so I was just going to buy the yule log dvd.

But friends, if you have made it this far, you will be pleased to know that I have indeed saved Christmas! The Frame channel is now all yule log 24 hours a day at NO CHARGE! The PPV option is still there for you suckers who want to spend $0.99 a day to get the fake fire on your screen, but my cheap traditional ass will be watching it for free and playing the Fireplace Drinking Game for the next 4 weeks (every time the hand stokes the fire or puts in new logs you drink!)

So there you have it. Christmas is back on. Your welcome.