June 2008 Archives

so, last night, i managed to aggravate my meniscus injury by kneeling on my bed for more than 0.3 seconds. no joke. i woke up completely hobbled and annoyed. seriously, i had DARED to just THINK that i was so happy to be able to be walking around work pain-free yesterday -- i even thought "gee, i better not say this out loud or i might jinx it".

between a combination of work priorities and having used up all my sick claims for the rest of the year, i went into the office this morning. i happened to pick up the HR director at the gate and gave her a ride down the hill, too (yes, i know how to suck up). i kind-of-asked her if it was all right for me to park in the close-to-the-building visitors parking since i was gimpy, but i probably would have parked there even if she had said no.

so, four hours of training a new temp to cover me while i'm on vacation next week, lots of hobbling and even more "oh! what's wrong?!" commentary from co-workers, i finally gave up and left to come home to rest up and ice my knee before going to see my physiotherapist tonight.

fast forward 45 minutes.

i've driven back to North Van, gotten rockstar parking on Lonsdale so i can hobble into the postal outlet to pick up whatever it is my mom sent me via XpressPost (btw, i HATE signature-required mail). i've hobbled back to my car, levered myself in and i try to start the car so i can go home.

catch that? TRY to start the car. not start the car. TRY.

i've had a crash course in early-model Volkswagens these last 10 months i've had Liselotte. from the long list of things i've had fixed to the even longer list of little quirks to the franchise. one of the most annoying things has been the ignition. if you don't have the steering wheel in JUST the right position and your key doesn't slide in JUST the right way, you can spent quite a few minutes just trying to turn the car on.

at first, i thought it was a faulty ignition (hey, my Geo never did that). then i thought maybe it was temperature related (it seemed to happen more during winter). then, one day at work when my boss came out to listen to my fuel pump (to diagnose that intermittent power problem), it happened and he said "oh, yeah. that's annoying". since, i've just shrugged and said "oh, you those silly Germans".

back to today, i'm parked on a major street. the steering wheel has locked, so there's just a very small range of motion for me to move it in hopes of finding that sweet spot where the key will actually work. it's hot. i'm starting to get sweaty. and frustrated. and overwhelmed. although, i managed not to cry, which is a total victory.

instead, i called the Beetle Spa. i had a very positive (even if very brief) experience with them about a month or so ago. i figured there was no point in calling BCAA -- they wouldn't know VWs. upon calling the Beetle Spa, i gave the guy who answered the phone my name and described what the problem was. first point scored: he knew what i meant. second point scored: after he put me on hold for a very short time, he came back on the line and called me by name. third to 1,000,000th points scored: he asked me where i was and came to rescue me. no charge.

seriously. he got in his Jetta, drove to where i was, got in, worked his mojo and got my car to start. without asking me for a dime.

well, he did ask one thing: "remember the Beetle Spa". hell, how could i not with that kind of service?

thank you, Ted! you and your little moustache saved my day.

i knew when i saw that 2 pounds of strawberries on the "must sell fast" shelf for only $2.50 i had to have them. turns out that my first strawberry pie turned out pretty darn awesome.

what a perfect end to an almost perfect weekend. yay.

the built-in flash on my Nikon D70 no longer works.

*sniffle*

i knew it was only time before things stopped working on my almost 4 year old digital SLR, but after i successfully skirted the "green light of death" and the back focus issue i thought i was in the clear. alas, it seems to not be so.

sure, i don't often use the flash. but, i'm afeared it's just a sign of things to come.

well... my birthday is coming up. maybe i'll be gifted with a new D300!

do you remember your first bank account?

i don't mean the one your parents might have opened for you to "teach you the value of money" by taking you and whatever birthday loot you scored on your 6th birthday to deposit it into a savings account and have the teller update your little blue/red/silver bankbook in a dot-matrix printer which sounded like your dad pounding nails at a million miles an hour and then slip it into its little plastic sleeve where you'd never actually get to see it because you mom would always "keep it for safe-keeping".

i'm talking about the first bank account you, yourself, opened. probably as a teenager. right around the time you got your first "real" job. probably at a fast-food joint or chain clothing store in the mall. you needed a bank account to cash those paycheques and your mom couldn't find the damn bankbook for the savings account you drained to buy those AWESOME white shoes or comic books or video games or cigarettes and candy.

my first bank account was at the Royal Bank of Canada. i was 14, maybe 15. i vividly remember walking the four blocks to the bank, in through the double doors, past the receptionist with the scary bouffant and waiting in the line to get my first chequing account. i was SO excited! mostly about the cheques, because when i was little, my dad used to give me his old cheques (with the account numbers blacked out, damn) to play with. there wasn't much i liked more than writing out pretend cheques to my friends and Barbies and then balancing the register. gee, no wonder i fell into bookkeeping for a time.

well, that first bank account was gotten in 1988, give or take a year. that means i've been a Royal Bank customer for two decades now. that's 20 years. which is a really long time to be a customer of one institution. so, how do you think i felt when i got told that i don't count enough to get a free Eee PC like their other customers?

i went to the bank last Saturday (after the massage, but before the haircut) to get rolls of coins so i could do laundry for the next month. while waiting in line, i see gigantic signs advertising a FREE! EEE! PC! to any customer who switches to one of two bank accounts. well, guess what? i have one of those accounts, so i asked if i would still qualify for the free computer. the strange teller handed me a flyer with my $35 in coins with the qualification criteria on it in a handy check-box format. i immediately had a feeling i was going to be screwed.

when i got home, i decided to call the 1-866 number on the flyer just to see if i could score one anyway seeing as i'm all about getting stuff for free these days. i talked to a lovely lady named Melissa or Melanie for over twenty-five minutes while we, in cooperation with her manager, tried to figure out my eligibility for the offer. well, it seems that when RBC decided to automatically "upgrade" my account from the old Royal Certified Service to their new RBC Signature No Limit Banking (the qualifying account in question) on May 1st of this year, they effectively screwed me over. the fine print says *i* must be the one to switch my account, not them.

turns out the only way i can get the free mini-laptop now is to open a new chequing account and transfer all my direct deposits and pre-authorized payments over to it. do you know how annoying that would be? not to mention that i'd probably have to hold both accounts open for however many months at the low-low rate of $13.95 per account per month.

yeah, yeah. i know that's still a lot cheaper than buying myself the Eee PC, but still. you'd think after 20 years i'd not have to work harder than some joe schmo who just walking in off the street. they've made a lot of money off of me over the years and i just want to get a little respect.

RBC, you suck and as soon as i find an alternative, i'm so leaving you.

this is news only to those of you who don't follow me on flickr, but...

yesterday, i got a haircut. the end.