House warming / holiday party

Posted on December 11, 2013 by kdarcy21

I have decided to cancel the house warming / holiday party that I was going to have this coming Saturday.  It is a bad time of the year for people – everyone has something going, I am not surprised.  I was thinking that it would be an issue when I decided to have it.  Well, with only a few days to go, I only had a couple of confirmed people coming and a few “maybe” replies.  So, I cancelled and sent a message to those who said yes and invited them for chili and a few drinks.

So, I decided to keep the dogs here for Saturday night and will drop them off at the Pet Resort on Sunday morning.  My little brother, his Mom and brother will be coming over on Saturday, I think.  Might have 6 people over, somewhere in that neighbourhood anyway.

I will still make chili – it freezes well.

Sunday morning, I will head to Grande Prairie via Edmonton.  I am having lunch with my extended family who are there – two nieces and my sister in law / ex sister in law.  It will be nice seeing them again.

Anyway, I am not too disappointed in not having a party.  The house warming part is fine, I am not really much in the “holidays”.  I don’t and wasn’t going to decorate.  Why bother?

Anyway, have a good evening and if you were planning on dropping by, please do.  See you Saturday.

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Stuck in the snow…

Posted on December 10, 2013 by kdarcy21

So, yesterday at work I had to make a trip out to the new office that we are opening in the north east of the city, essentially beside the airport.  Calgary got a few inches of snow yesterday as well, perhaps 6″-8″, in that range anyway.  Thankfully, the extreme cold snap that we were having has left us.

I got to the office with no issues and had to make a trip to Staples to pick up a business phone.  I left around 4:30pm to head home, across town in rush hour traffic.  I figured it would likely take me an hour to an hour and a half to get home, about 20km.

I leave the parking lot and decide as opposed to turning left at the next intersection, I will turn right.  I go to pass one of those huge plows, on the right, in the right lane and my vehicle slips off of the road onto the side of the road.  Now, I don’t think that there is a ditch there, but I slide into something fairly deep and am pretty well stuck.

A few good samaritans stop to attempt to push me out – no good, I am stuck.  A guy with a 4×4 truck and a recovery strap attempts to help as well – he’s able to move me a bit, but still, no good.  A third gent tries to help with skid pads – nothing, barely move.

All this time, I am on hold with AMA (Alberta Motor Association).  On Saturday, I figured that I had better sign up for a membership since I am driving to Grande Prairie this coming weekend.  So, after 45 minutes of waiting for someone to pick up and three attempts to push me out, AMA picks up.  I give all of the details and am told that since I am in no danger and am not blocking traffic, winch jobs are low priority and it will take 12-24 hours for them to respond.

I am a little shocked by that.  I am wondering exactly what I am paying for.  He does tell me that I am free to call another tow truck and that AMA will reimburse me for the expense.  They (AMA) will call me 30 minutes before they expect to show up.

So, I have a cool little app on my Nexus called Poynt.  I search in the business listings for “towing” and a huge number of results come up.  I start calling.  Each and every one is booking for this morning – 12 hours after I called so that really doesn’t help me a lot.  I am about to give up when I come across 305 Towing.  He’s happy to help and tells me he will be there in 20-25 minutes.  45 minutes later, he calls and then is there a few minutes later.  After 5 minutes or so, I am winched out and on the road.  The bill?  Not bad at all – $80.  He wants cash.  OK, let’s go to a bank machine.

So, down the road we go, he’s following me and I stop at a gas station / Subway with a bank machine.  Withdraw $60 (I actually had a $20 on me for some reason) and he writes up my receipt.

So, now I need to submit my receipt to AMA to get my money back.

I guess, all in all it wasn’t really that bad.  I understand that it was low priority and the weather recently has sucked – there were accidents everywhere, at least I was not a casualty.  I have entered this 305 Towing guys number in my phone – if I get into a similar jam in the future, I will be sure to call.

I have never gotten stuck before like that.  I do have a 4×4, but it isn’t like a Jeep, there is no 4×4 Hi/Lo.  It really isn’t designed for off-roading.  I will take this into consideration the next time and have a little more respect for winter, snow and Mother Nature, the bitch that she is.  I think if I still had my Wrangler, 4×4 Lo would have gotten me moving without the need of a winch, perhaps not, but that vehicle was pretty good in sticky situations.  Don’t get me wrong…  In most aspects, this current Dodge Nitro is hands down better.  But for some things, you really can’t beat a Jeep.  Too bad the engine sucked.  Oh well – that story has already been told.

Drive safe.  Call 305 Towing in Calgary if you have an issue.  They are awesome – thanks again !!!

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A busy week

Posted on December 9, 2013 by kdarcy21

This will be a busy week, actually, a busy two weeks I guess.

Not a lot going on at work really, same old.  Today, I complete the setup of our new office in the North East of the city.  It is not a complicated setup by any means, just need to bring some equipment and connect it.  I can likely handle it.

Saturday, Zeus and Blondie go to their Pet Resort and I host my House Warming / Holiday Party.  Nothing fancy, just a little get together.  I am not sure on who’s coming really.  I sent invitations out on a Facebook event page, a few people responded, a lot of people didn’t.  So, there might be six people here, there might be 20.  For some odd reason, no one from Ontario is coming out.  Sheesh, people.

The house is setup and ready to go.  Everything is pretty well in its place.  I do have to get rid of a number of empty boxes.  Some of them are ones that I borrowed from work – bankers boxes, so they have to go back.  Others need to be broken down and recycled.

Sunday morning, I leave for Grande Prairie via Edmonton.  I am stopping to have lunch with my nieces and ex sister-in-law.  Well, as of now, one niece has confirmed.  The SIL said she will come, as long as we are on her side of town as she may be working.  I haven’t seen them in years, at least 13 I would guess, maybe more.  After lunch, I continue to Grande Prairie with their replacement computers in tow.

I will be staying at the Pomeroy Inn, a nice hotel with an amazing buffet breakfast.  I am sure it will be cold, likely as cold as it has been in Calgary this past week.  I am there Sunday night, leaving GP on Wednesday after lunch.  We are having a pot luck lunch on Tuesday and a gift exchange and I have been invited – the staff up there seem to like me, so that is a good thing.

The following weekend, and this is now nearly two weeks off is the Calgary East / Forest Lawn Conservative Christmas Party.  Should be a good time.

So, a busy few weeks, I am sure it will fly by.

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The Weekend

Posted on December 8, 2013 by kdarcy21

The weekend is now half over.  Yesterday was a pretty busy day.

I was up early, of course.  I am not sure why I am waking up so early recently.  I guess one advantage is that I get a lot done in the morning.  It also allows me to take a massive nap in the afternoon, on the weekends I mean, they would likely frown on nap time when I am supposed to be working.  I am up even earlier today, it is now 3:05am and I have been awake for about 30 minutes.  Oh well.

Anyway, back to yesterday.  It was the Big Brothers Big Sister Christmas Party hosted by the Keg out by McMahon Stadium.  It was pretty good, excellent food – hamburgers and fries and cookies we could decorate.  They had some games for the kids and crafts and Santa was there of course.  Unfortunately, I was too old to get a gift, figures.

I brought my little brother and also gave his brother a lift and we met up with his “big couple” there.  I told my sister JB that they were referred to as a “big couple”, she didn’t care for that term for some reason.  We left around 12:30 or so to zip over to my house to let my dogs out and then off to the Subway Soccer Centre for NM’s (my little brother) soccer game.  Cross town traffic was fairly bad – I have ranted about Calgary drivers before, so I guess there is no need to right now.

As far as soccer goes, it was a pretty boring game.  But, on the bright side, NM’s team won, 5-3 after scoring a late game go-ahead goal and then the insurance goal.  DM (my little brother’s brother) and I watched from the stands, playing with my iPad Mini (excellent tablet, if you are in the market for one, I highly recommend).  DM accidentally knocked over my vanilla latte that I had just purchased – that was nice.  He thought that I was mad at him – no, annoyed perhaps, but it wasn’t like he did it on purpose.  Well, off we go to find someone to clean it up and then off I went for another.  The lady at the coffee stand charged me $4 for the replacement, as opposed to $4.75 – worked out in her favour anyway since I gave her $5 and told her to keep the change.  I held onto that one.  🙂

After the game, I drove the boys home and visited my old neighbourhood to pick up some mail.  The lady who used to walk my dogs had collected some mail for me in the last week.

Got my income tax audit papers back.  The CRA, as expected, accepted my moving expense deductions so no changes to my taxes.  I guess they didn’t mind that I had filed the paperwork a few weeks late.  I wasn’t expecting them to reject it anyway, but, it is nice to have that behind me.  I also received my insurance renewal forms and payment schedule.  For a year of car insurance and house content insurance, I am paying $1149 for the year.  Not a bad deal at all.

That will hopefully, that will be the last of the mail to arrive there.  I didn’t pay for forwarding service from Canada Post, it has gotten expensive.  I guess in their never ending ways to make money, they have jacked the price all the way to $90 for that.  The last time I took advantage of it, I think it was around $30-$35 – times have changed.

The rest of the day was spent with some shopping – I had to replace my coffee maker.  It was dropped during the move and exploded into about a million pieces – it was the one item “lost” during the move.  I looked online and could not locate a replacement pot for the machine that I had just purchased.  Of course, all of the different coffee makers have different pot types, this doesn’t surprise me at all.  I also purchased a carafe for the coffee.  On the weekends, I typically make an entire pot and then drink it over a number of hours – now it will stay hot and fresh.  Coffee is my friend.

It was an early night, likely one of the reasons why I wake up so early, I was in bed and asleep before 9pm.  I must be getting old or something.  The problem is, if I stay awake until 11pm, I still wake up way too early so there is no win-win there.

My fridge is supposed to be delivered today, between 8am-1pm.  I am doubtful.  In fact, I’ve bet the LL (land lady) that they won’t deliver it – we made the bet for $20.  If they don’t, I am $20 richer and if they do, somehow show up, it will be worth $20.

Presuming that it does arrive, I will need to purchase a few groceries and frozen goods.  If it doesn’t, oh well.

I think the deep freeze is supposed to have left us.  This morning, it is a much more tolerable -15C so I think I will take the dogs to the dog park for a walk.  There is one near my house, just have to find it.

Well, that was my weekend.  Did you do anything?

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Well, half way there

Posted on December 6, 2013 by kdarcy21

My stove was delivered today, around noon, slightly before that perhaps.  The fridge on the other hand would not fit through the door which sort of surprised me.  They took the door off and still no go.  So, a new fridge, narrower, was purchased.  I am told that it will be delivered on Sunday.

Well, given the Brick’s current record, I am doubtful.  I mean, there is a chance it could be delivered on Sunday, but, I am not going to hold my breath.

I actually bet my LL (Land Lady) $20 that it wouldn’t be delivered.  Again, given the track record, I am thinking it is a pretty safe bet.  Guess I will see come Sunday.  Everyone can use an extra $20.

The stove is great.  I have never had a new stove before – so nice and clean.  I made pasta and sauce for dinner – it boiled my water, so, as far as I am concerned, it works.  I will try the oven out this weekend perhaps.

Tomorrow is the Big Brothers / Big Sisters Christmas Party.  I am picking up my Little at 9:45 and bring his brother along with us.  I spoke with his mom tonight and she asked me to bring them to their soccer game after the party.  No problem there, she has to work until 5pm or so.  I don’t particularly enjoy soccer, but I will survive.

Should be a good weekend – everyone loves parties, right?  Free food is always good too.  No plans Sunday, other than waiting for the fridge.  LOL

Nothing big going on at work next week, not that I am aware of anyway.  The week after, I am off to Grande Prairie.  Right before that, the dogs go to their Pet Resort and I host my House Warming / Holiday Party.

It will be a busy couple of weeks – always is this time of year.

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Appliances today? I hope so…

Posted on December 6, 2013 by kdarcy21

I moved in a week ago, well not quite a week ago, I got the keys at noon last Friday.  My first experience in the new place was not a particularly good one.  Telus came to install my TV and Internet at 2pm and the tech was right on time.  Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to really know what he was doing.  The TV worked and was downloading an update when he left.  He didn’t wait to see if everything else was working, no, he had to run off to an appointment.  Well, the Internet wasn’t working and was slower than dial-up.  Telus came through big time though and got everything going for me which was awesome – thank you Telus for providing great customer service.

Originally, my appliances (fridge and stove) were supposed to arrive on Friday but that was changed to Saturday between 11-2.  I was here for most of that time, unloaded my worldly possessions.  I had to zip back to the old place to do the move-out report with the property manager so the land lady came over for the appliance delivery.  At 2:05pm, she texted me that the appliances would now be delivered between 4-6.  OK, fine.

I was just heading back to my new place when I got a call from the LL, the Brick was here – I told her that I would be back within 10 minutes.  They didn’t wait.  Well, of course not – why would they wait 10 minutes when they left us waiting all day?  That would be insane.

So, they were supposed to be back Sunday, so I was told.  Nope.  Nothing Sunday.

Monday?  Still no appliances.  There was a snow storm on Monday, I think that is what their excuse was – not sure.  Wednesday was the day.  This would work well, I work from home on Wednesday’s.  That will work out perfectly.

I texted the LL in the morning – she replied that the warehouse was closed on Tuesday because of the snow storm and now, the appliances would be delivered today, Friday, a week after I moved in.

I was not overly happy about that and let her know that as well.  My frozen food was all ruined since it was in the truck on Saturday and the temperature climbed to above freezing, it all thawed out.  Right now, it is -27C out there, it would have stayed frozen forever.  I asked that I be compensated for the lost food – I am supposed to get some sort of gift card from the Brick –  I will believe that when I see it.

In fact, I will believe that I have appliances when I see them too.  Since the LL has not met my dogs as yet, I will have to zip home whenever the Brick is supposed to be here.  It is only a few minute drive, presuming that the traffic isn’t bad.  I am now less than 3km from the office, so it should be quick.

Shit will hit the fan if they don’t deliver today.  I am getting tired of take-out food, if you can believe that one.  That is the other thing that still needs to be installed – the fan, in the bathroom.  Hopefully it gets installed today.  If not, what is the shit going to hit if the Brick screws up again?

Have a good day.  🙂

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Unpacking, organizing, fun, fun, fun

Posted on December 5, 2013 by kdarcy21

The unpacking is done – except for a few boxes of various “stuff” that I need to decide where it goes.  The organizing is pretty well wrapped up as well.  I need to connect my stereo to the PVR and TV, connect the speakers and test that, but it is a quick job.  I need to find a place for everything.  I don’t have a lot of stuff but I did move from a 3 level, 3 bedroom place into a place which is about the same size as one of the levels in the last place.

Don’t get me wrong.  This place is exponentially better than the last place.  The washer/dryer are in the bathroom so now I can hear the dinger telling me that the clothes are washed or dried – no more wrinkles in my dress shirts.  The floors are hardwood and tile – so much easier to keep clean.  There is a backyard for the dogs to run around in – they are happier, I am sure.  I would guess that the move traumatized them a bit but I think they are getting settled now.  Blondie started eating again which is a good sign of a return to normalcy for her.

I have hung most of my decorations.  I still need to find a place for my 2002 Double Hockey (Men’s and Women’s) Olympic Gold plak – I had that done up years ago and I love it.  I have found places for most everything else.

I don’t plan to move for a while.  I doubt that I will be able to find a place that is better than this place.  I am close to work, there is a convenience store across the street (very convenient) and a liquor store beside that for those times that I need that drink.  There are shops down the street, gas stations, an M&M Meats.  17th Avenue SW is only a few blocks down and it has some of the best restaurants in the city on it – it is the entertainment district.  I am sure that I will take jaunt down there in the summer.

So, all in all, I know that I will be very happy here – I am going to love it.  🙂

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In the deep freeze

Posted on December 4, 2013 by kdarcy21

The temperature, at 6:40am MST on Wednesday, December 4, 2013 is -18C, or 0F, pretty dang cold.

Deep Freeze

 

Sorta grainy – well, I don’t have image editing software on my computer, sue me.

This forecast, from The Weather Network is better today than it was today.  Of course, I am convinced that weather people simply “guess” at the forecasts.  They are wrong, it seems, more often than they are correct.  Next day forecasts are pretty accurate, any more than two days out, I don’t believe it, other than a rough guide.  When I want to know what the weather is, I can always look out the window.

Anyway, to say the least, things are pretty frosty out there.  This morning, there are very light, almost non existent winds – that is a good thing, otherwise it would be brutal.

Zeus does not like this weather.  He will go outside to pee but that is about it.  He does not want to go for a walk, at all.  Blondie seems ok with it, doesn’t seem to affect her.  She’s tough – Zeus has always been a bit of a wimp…

So, it doesn’t look like we will have any trips to the dog park coming up in the near future – maybe on Sunday when it will be a bit warmer.

Since my fridge has not yet been delivered (scheduled for today) I have been keeping fridge foods in the “mud room” – I think it hovers around the freezing mark, not sure.  I’d prefer to use the fridge though, I don’t get cold opening that.

Stay warm…

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Lunch time and the dogs

Posted on December 3, 2013 by kdarcy21

I am planning on coming home at lunch now.  When I was living in the Forest Lawn area, I did initially come home at lunch but then when the Jeep died, I couldn’t do it any longer.  The train/bus ride was simply too long.  After only a very short time, one of my neighbours volunteered to let the dogs out on a daily basis which was very, very nice.  She wouldn’t even let me pay her.

Well, I have now moved across the city so unfortunately, she can’t let them out.  So, I am coming home.  Today, I took the bus.  It was pretty quick and dropped me off right across the street.  I am sure that Zeus and Blondie are happy to have me home, even if it is only for 20 minutes or so.

I don’t typically each lunch, I think I might change that and make a sandwich or something when I am home.  I don’t have anything to eat here right now so today, I will go hungry.  I will likely pick something up near the office.

I will drive back to the office this afternoon.  There is a parking spot available in the garage.  It will be nice to melt the snow off of the truck.  Tomorrow is another “work from home” Wednesday.  I might look into working from home on Mondays as well, not sure if they will be ok with that, but, it won’t hurt to ask.  All they can say is no.  We will see.

Anyway, I’ve let the dogs out once and now will let them out again.  Back to the office and a fair amount to do.  Enjoy the rest of your day as well.

 

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Telus – The good, the bad and the ugly…

Posted on December 2, 2013 by kdarcy21

OK, everyone who reads this or otherwise knows me knows that I have moved.

I had Telus home services at my old place in Calgary and had no issues with it and no issues with any of the various tech’s who’ve done work.  That was, until this time.

So, the Internet didn’t work on Friday and didn’t work until today actually.  So, “a quick post about them:

The Good – The Telus techs who answer queries on their Twitter feed are excellent.  I had been on the phone for a total of about 3 hours with various techs on their phone system and got no answers.  By sending a simply Tweet, the “Telus Tweeter” was able to tell me what the issue was and although they weren’t able to resolve it right away, at least they answered.  Whoever handles that account, you are doing a bang up job.

The Bad – In general, I have been very happy with Telus and I am again since the issue was resolved.  The bad is the fact that the service wasn’t working after 3 days.  Pretty bad in my books.

The Ugly – I didn’t receive a response back from any of the phone techs.  They were awful.  So was the installer.  He was a joke.  As far as I am concerned, he shouldn’t have a job.  He did nothing but complain (even worse than I am complaining now) the entire time he was here.  The lack of response to my queries left me wondering what was going on and leaving me feeling like they really didn’t give a rats ass.

I filled in the survey that I was sent, before the internet got working today.  I wasn’t overly kind.  I did request that a Manager call me to discuss, I hope they do.

Again, all in all, Telus has been excellent.  I will add that the TV worked all along and the cell service is second to none.  I would still recommend them, even if there are occasional issues.

UPDATE – Tuesday, December 2 – I received a call from the Regional Manager for Telus yesterday based on the feedback form that they asked me to fill in.  Had a great conversation with him.  He listened to my complaints, asked a few questions and have scheduled a tech to come on-site again on Wednesday (a different tech, mind you) to re-cable the connection since this one sucks.  That was good customer service.  Sometimes, it seems that some people forget that customer service is the name of the game, I know that I have from time to time.

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