Yukon Chatter Bug

An opportunity recently came up where I can purchase a used MacBook (15.4″/2.4 GHz/160 GB disk/2 GB RAM/OSX 10.6) for $600.

I know it’s in good shape, but for half the price I can buy a new netbook, or for the same price I can get a brand new Dell (15.6″/2.2 GHz/320 GB disk/4GB RAM/Win7-64bit).

I do use a Mac at work and like the feel of it.

Whaddaya think?

Over the last little while, I’ve started posting reviews to Yukono.com which is a site where Yukoners can post reviews of local businesses and services. Registering an account is quick and the site is easy to use. Even when suggesting a review for a business not yet on the site, turn-around time is well within 24 hours.

I especially appreciated the humour and humility displayed when something didn’t quite go as planned:

5 stars out of 5 from me!

We purchased a bell prepaid calling card last summer during our travels across Canada. When we tried to add money on it using their online site, our PIN, for some reason, would not be recognized as valid. We called the toll-free number on the back of the card, were told that the glitch was fixed, and added money to the card while we were on the phone.

Just a couple of weeks ago, we tried again to add money to the card online (even though it still had a $9 balance) and ran into the same problem as before, so again, I called the toll-free number. After explaining the problem:

Lady: Did you try closing and re-opening your browser?

Me: The problem isn’t with my browser but with your online system because we’ve had the same problem before using a different computer.

Lady: Is your card expired?

Me: I doubt it because I just checked the balance by calling your other toll-free number and I still have a $9 balance.

Snotty Lady: That’s not what I asked Ma’am. Is your card expired?

Me: (hair starts to stand on back of neck; turns card upside-down, inside-out) I don’t see an expiry date anywhere on the card.

Snotty Lady: No Ma’am, I’m the one who has to check to see if your card is expired.

Me: (Thinking, So why the hell are you asking ME if the card is expired? Idiot! TWICE! GGRRR…) Okay, so is my card expired? I hope not as I still have a balance on it. (Now I’m starting to get annoyed with her snotty attitude.)

Lady: No, your card’s not expired. Let me just check something…..no, everything looks fine with your PIN. I don’t know why you can’t use our online system. I can do this over the telephone for you.

Me: Okay, except that I’d really like to eventually be able to do it online. Is there any way you can contact your techie people?

Snotty Lady: (interrupts) Ma’am it’s 10pm here (or whatever time it was), there are no other people…

Me: (interrupts) I don’t mean right this minute. Could you arrange to let them know, at your convenience?…there may be others with the same problem.

Snotty Lady: (starts rattling off another toll-free number for ME to call during their techie people’s business hours)

Me: No, I’m asking if YOU could somehow let them know there’s a problem here.

Snotty Lady: There’s no way I can do that…

Me: (Incredulous) You mean you don’t have access, even by e-mail, to your techie people?

Snotty Lady: No Ma’am, I mean that you’re the one who has to call…

I hung up.

I’m tired Bell. I’m just tired of your crappy service. Kind of like when you inform me through a text message on my cell phone that I’m eligible for a credit to be used toward a new mobile phone. Curious, I called and learned that I have a $200 credit that I can use toward a new phone and plan.

I go to one of the Bell distributors (right term?) in town with a techie friend and yup, I have a $200 credit. After inquiring about the i-Phone with all its bells and whistles, I ask how much.

$200 for the cost of the phone (reduced from $500-600 – can’t remember the ridiculous amount).

Okay, so I’m ready to jump on when I confirm with the girl that, after using my $200 credit, then I don’t have to pay anything upfront for the phone right?

“No Ma’am, you still have to pay $200 (actually, I think it was $199) for the cost of the phone.”

Me: What about my $200 credit?

Lady: You’re already getting  a reduced rate for the phone. Its full cost is $some ridiculous amount.

We learn that the so-called reduced rate I’m being offered is the same one offered to new Bell customers. I was under the impression that my $200 credit had to do with customer loyalty. I have had a cell phone plan for several years now with a contract that has long expired. They want to keep this Bell customer, they want this Bell customer to get into another 3 or 4 year contract, so they offer this Bell customer a credit toward a new phone (and contract). Clever!

Except when this Bell customer decides to use her $200 credit, it completely disappears. WTF?

Thank you Bell. I’ll leave you to what you do best, and I’ll be on my way.

After looking over a spelling assessment I administered recently to my third graders to try to figure out where to start with them, I came across one word on the test that made me smile. Instead of writing We, one student wrote Wii.

They are keeners!

The biggest shock at work this week came when I spent time with one of the high school groups. On my second day with them, and after telling them a little bit about myself, I asked them to write a short bio.

The first kid asked, “Can we do it on our laptop?” (Every student in the secondary wing gets a laptop on loan from the school.) There were only 15 minutes of class left, so I said no, that we didn’t have time for all of them to go out, get their laptops, and get started.

“But we all have our laptops with us,” piped up another student pointing to his bag on the floor.

“Really? How long will it take you to get set up?” I asked.

“Like, thirty seconds!”

After giving them the go ahead, I had 20 students sitting in front of me with open laptops. Wow! I think it’s wonderful, but that’s only half the story.

The next day, I wrote a tongue twister on the board as a warm-up before the students were to do mini presentations.

“Some of us can’t read what you wrote on the board,” a kid on my left exclaims.

“Oh, is there not enough light? Or maybe the sun is reflecting off the board?”

I start walking toward the light switches when a few of them say, “No, no, it’s the writing…the letters like that, all connected!” I was floored.

Cursive writing is a skill usually taught in grade four, but apparently these kids either didn’t learn it or forgot how to do it. When I asked whether or not they had learned cursive writing, I was told, “Yeah, a little bit, but we don’t need it anymore!” The kid points to his laptop.

So, is cursive writing going by the wayside? When I told my story to another high school teacher, she mentioned that many kids don’t know how to write cursive, although some can read it.

Interesting discoveries this week, and this was only one of them. I’ll have to keep using this font for my blog!

I have this new blog address that ditches the “wordpress” which was part of a birthday gift from my techie hunny. So, over the next little while, I’ll be changing the theme, cleaning it up, and fixing little bugs. So, if you notice anything glaring, please let me know.

My first job will be to add my links back to my blogroll.

Living in the Yukon, long distance calls can get expensive regardless of which end of the phone you’re on. Even when using calling cards or special long-distance plans through the telephone company, the costs still add up.

Before I moved to the Yukon, I lived in southern Ontario and was subscribed to Sprint. For a low monthly flat-rate fee, this plan allowed for unlimited long-distance calling ANYWHERE in Canada (so they said in all their advertising campaigns). Eventually, they capped the number of minutes you could use, and then would charge 10¢/min. for additional minutes. It was still reasonable and perfect for calling home in northern Ontario.

When my boyfriend at the time moved to the Yukon a few of months before I did, I thought, “Perfect! It won’t cost me an arm and a leg to call him.” I even called their customer service line to ask whether their plan covered calls to the Yukon.

“Anywhere in Canada” replied the clerk without a second’s hesitation.

The first statement I received after started my long-distance calls to the Yukon looked normal. Two months later, however, I was out a few hundred dollars. Okay, I’ll just call them up and set things straight.

ME: “Doesn’t your plan cover long-distance calls anywhere in Canada?”

THEM [Again, without hesitation]: ” Unlimited calls anywhere in Canada Ma’am.”

ME: “Then can you explain why I’m being charged for calls made to the Yukon? Last time I checked, it was still in Canada”

THEM [After a few minutes detailling account information and putting me on hold to check]: “Oh, because of extra costs involved, Sprint now charges an extra fee for calls to the Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut.”

ME: “Hhhmm, you didn’t charge me on my last statement, so it’s obviously very new. Can you tell me how Sprint informed its customers of this change? There was nothing indicated on my last bill — I even read the fine print — and there were no leaflets in the envelope. I didn’t see anything informing me that your rates have changed.”

THEM: “Our rates haven’t changed Ma’am. It’s still only $xx to call anywhere, uh, I mean, almost anywhere in Canada.”

RING!!!!! WAKE UP LADY!!!! You’re charging an extra fee and claim that your rates haven’t changed?

In the end, after a bit of haggling and a few phone calls later, the company finally agreed to remove the extra charges on my telephone bill, and told me that any calls to the Yukon from that day forward would incur the extra fees. You can imagine how irritated I felt the next time I saw their TV commercial advertising, “Call anywhere in Canada…[blah blah blah].” I have very little tolerance for false advertising. I think they eventually changed the wording.

Fast forward to calling FROM the Yukon.

The ridiculously high long-distance calling rates here prompted me to purchase a calling card. I researched price per minutes, connection fees, everything, and finally settled on a plan through VOX. I won’t bore you with the details, but about the same thing happened: initially, fees are straight up; suddenly out of nowhere, I learn that my minutes are being sucked into a dark, mysterious, black hole; a call to customer service confirms a new surcharge for callers in the Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut.

Damn these long-distance telephone companies!

Today, I found a new option for long-distance calling that’s affordable. SKYPE. For about $30/year, I can make unlimited – well, up to 10 000 minutes according to the fine print — long-distance calls anywhere in Canada and U.S. using the Internet. I just plug in my headset to my laptop, and dial-up any land line or cell number.

I doubt very much that I’ll ever use up the 10 000 minute limit, unless I plan on being on long-distance calls for 5½ hours a day. Even my mom would get sick of me.

When I tried making my first phone call this morning, it was like when the sun rises, and the colours dance in the sky and warm you. It was like being right there, next to my mom, talking to her. It was divine.

Now I’ll just have to keep a close eye on my credit card bill. Hopefully, this time the hype will last.

Looking at the most searched for terms that bring people to my blog, I tried to make up a title to see what would happen. I can’t imagine an Iditarod musher on Sauble Beach, but hey, ya never know! They do get winter, and as long as there’s snow (and dogs), there can be mushing, no?

I’m not sure I’d want to be on that beach come spring time. The little packages left behind would certainly make for an unpleasant day at the beach. But there are cleaning crews out every morning to pick up the previous day’s surprises, so again, anything’s possible, no?

Now, if I could only hook my friend up with a northern musher, then perhaps I could write a post about it. She’s the one with not one, but TWO cottages on Sauble Beach. Bitch!

Any takers?

Dear Tammy,

I enjoy reading your column blog and need some advice. After having guests over for dinner and indulging in a wee bit of wine, I found myself wide awake, eyes popped open, the wide-eyed bushy-tailed kind, at 3am this morning. So, off I went to the living room sofa, book in hand, thinking I could read myself back to sleep.

On my way there, I spotted my laptop, quietly sleeping on the side table, looking so cute and all, I just had to accidentally wake it. You’re a mom, you know what it’s like. Big mistake!

After waking it out of its deep sleep, I noticed your comment on my blog and got curious. Off I went to read your blog and have been sitting here ever since laughing my brains out while slowly getting addicted to your column.

Help! It’s now 7am.

[Update: I've added Tammy to my blogroll: Average Mom]

My photographs are disappearing randomly on my blog, and it’s bugging the heck out of me. There’s no rhyme or reason, it seems. The ones linked to other sites come up of course, but many of the ones I’ve uploaded from my computer aren’t coming up.

HELP!!!!!!

[Update: Apparently WordPress is working on it. I do hope they fix it soon!] YCB