Middle of October

October 15, 2009

Happy Birthday, Zoom! I hope you have a wonderful day, week, year, and the rest of your life!

Yesterday was a jam-packed day ... too full for someone who is getting creaky!

Peter started working on the house, setting up scaffolding and replacing the Typar.

The Sears man arrived, unlocked the washer, and told me that this model is a dud ... needing far too many repairs to the electronic systems. He told me a trick not mentioned in the manual for unlocking it myself.

I went out with Tamarack in the afternoon. We saw John Benn's show at the Snapdragon Gallery in the Glebe ... wonderful ... love what he does with sunshine in the woods.

Then we stopped at The Papery and made some fun purchases.

Afterwards, we were frozen so we went to Felina's for hot spicy black bean soup. The soup was great but even more impressive were the table and chairs in the corner that had just been freshly painted in wonderful jewel colours and decorated with chameleon-like lizards. I took photos and talked to the creators. Mmmmn! A Yummy stop.

The next part is a rant ... I hope you won't stop reading, though!

Sears Canada phoned and we had a circular conversation in which I said that Sears should stand behind the products it sells especially those they sell under the Kenmore brand name, and perhaps they would consider replacing this machine with a a lower cost, simpler top loader; and she said (over and over again) that Sears policy is to repair machines covered by extended warantees; and that the manufacturer had not issued a recall on this machine so Sears policy was that it could not be replaced. Finally I said we were going in circles and getting nowhere. I said that Sears policy was not a good one and that I and my family and friends were all bloggers, and that the electronic word of mouth discussion of everything that had gone wrong with these very expensive machines in such a short time would not be good publicity for either Sears or the Kenmore line.

She said she could offer me an extended warranty ... two years of worry-free service and one inspection each year. I said I would take it ... not because I think it was fair but rather because I think I am dealing with a large corporation which doesn't give a damn about the kind of junk they are selling or about the customers they inconvenience.

We have moved away from an honest market in which the consumer could expect decent quality appliances that would last for many years, one in which the companies that sold those appliances would stand behind their products. The new reality is that appliances are just one more example of shoddy workmanship in a throw- away world. we live in a market in which insurance has to be purchased because the products are junk.

My pocket is feeling the strain of this reality, but so is our environment.

We purchase expensive green machines that conserve energy and water, but they cost the planet huge amounts of both to produce, and then, because the workmanship and materials are so shoddy, they end up in landfill far sooner than the less expensive machines they have replaced.

The Sears repairman advised me not to purchase anything but the simplest non-electronic machines from now on. His own washing machine is the simplest model available ... and it washes clothes faithfully. He likely paid $400 for his washer which is the same age as mine. I paid over $1000 with taxes. He has not had any problems. I have had almost $400 worth of problems with this one machine.

I definitely would not buy a front loading machine with electronic components again.

Would I buy from Sears again? I don't think so. The people who are on the front line ... the sales people ... the delivery personnel ... the technicians who do the repairs ... are all fine people trying to do their jobs as well as they can. I have not had a problem with any of them ... but the faceless corporation that makes the policies and never sees a customer or experiences the frustration ... the people making the really big bucks and the bad decisions ... are impossible to deal with.

The problem is that it is becoming harder and harder to find local retailers selling Canadian made products they can stand behind, but that is what I will be looking for the next time I buy anything as important as a washing machine.

Sorry for the rant ... but I think I finally understand in my deepest self now why it is so important not to buy from the places that don't care a whit about sustainability ... of the planet ... or of local industries. Before Sears bought up Robert Simpson's, we could depend on that retailer. Simpson's hired people ... lots of them ... who tried to give good service. Simpson's sold products that were most often manufactured here in Canada by people who cared about quality. Canadians had jobs and quality products. We need to begin supporting Canadian industry and retailers or we will lose what little we have left.

I keep checking to see if someone has pasted a kick me sign on my back

Yesterday after my post I received another unpayable tax bill ... a new one from the federal tax people ... this follows a whole raft of similarly unpayable ones from both Quebec and the federal tax departments. All are the result of the cost of building this house and all of these missives have been the direct result of cashing in RRSPs to do so. If I had it to do over again, I would never again put my savings into RRSPs ... Too late wise of course ... I have no money to put into savings anywhere.

Then this morning the Sears technician phoned to tell me that the part he broke won't be in till Monday but the next available service call to repair the machine is scheduled for Friday, August 28th.

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT buy appliances from Sears. They break way before they should and their repair service is obviously under-manned. They used to be a reliable source of appliances, but not any more if my experience is typical, and I suspect it is since the technician told me that another customer he talked to this morning has been waiting 8 days for a service call.

i am almost afraid to go out and check the mail this afternoon.

Dealing with Dial-up and Quebec Bureaucracy

GRRRRR!

It is nearly noon and all I have done this morning is bake banana bread, do half the on-line banking, send off by email the submission for the workshop, and fill out the Elections Quebec form.

The rest of the chores are still not done, and it has nothing to do with procrastination this time. It just takes forever to do anything because I have to keep on re-dialing and spending time waiting for screens to load.

I also have to photocopy 2 documents before I can send off the Election forms so that I can vote in the provincial election next time. Amazing how difficult it is to live here sometimes. I had no trouble voting in the Federal election but was denied my vote in Quebec because they screwed up my address. It never helps that the form they send is unilingual. I can read it but it takes much longer to ensure that I get everything right. Sometimes I feel as if I need a mentor ... you know ... the kind of person who eases a refugee or immigrant through the intricacies of the new system. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised by how easy everything is but just as often everything seems completely foreign to me, and I feel as if I am running up against intransigent brick walls of bureaucracy that make no sense at all.

I haven't made any of the phone calls on my list and I have one more on-line chore to accomplish.

I may not get any writing done today at all. Damn.

Is it me?

Am I just old fashioned?

I must have moved the side dial on my clock radio because I woke up this morning at 6 to a news item that inspired great hilarity. The female news reader was telling us about a British couple. The woman had bitten off 1/3 of the man's tongue while they were kissing. The reason she gave was that they were having difficulty conceiving.

It was the husband's reaction to all this that caused the three people on the radio show to crack right up. The husband said he could no longer taste curry. He couldn't tell whether his toast was toast with cheese or merely toast.

At this point someone said, "Couldn't he just look?"

The news reader continued through restrained laughter that the man was no longer able to speak or work.

And then ... one of the men on this show, I think his name was Rush, immediately began to speak as if he had lost a large portion of his tongue and were East Indian. The original news reader completely lost it. She giggled till I was sure she would wet her pants.

One of the two male hosts said, "That's not funny," and the the man mimicking the husband just rode right over his protest and even began to read the next news items in the East Indian handicapped accent. The woman couldn't even attempt to contain her laughter. Wave after wave of uncontrollable giggles erupted.

A year ago I was traveling in the Toronto area and listened for a while to another on-air racist exchange, and I wondered how they got away with this on Canadian radio. This morning I realized that it is happening in Ottawa too.

I was listening to 89.9 ... the hot radio station ... the fastest growing radio station in Ottawa.

I have thought for some years now (that tells you how old and crotchety I am becoming) that CBC has really lowered its bar in an attempt to garner more of the radio audience, but CBC just rose miles in my estimation after listening to today's competition.

I guess I spend most of my life cocooned from life. I listen to CBC. I watch movies instead of television. I live forty minutes from the nearest urban area. I spend more time with dogs than I do with people.

Maybe that is why I was shocked this morning.

Funny, I was just thinking I should probably get out more. Now I am not so sure.

Yikes! Yahoos!

My blissful peace was shattered yesterday. The next door cottager had a weekend party. By noon everyone on the lake could judge the amount of alcohol that had been consumed by the level of noise. Even Kenya was offended, and found an alternate route back to shore with the sticks she was retrieving in order to avoid all contact. Kenya is a remarkably communicative dog, but this was the first time I had seen this particular body language.

Especially hard to take was a middle-aged woman with brassy bleached hair and a laugh like a hyena with lung cancer. Vulgarities streamed from her mouth all afternoon. I kept wishing she'd go under, but her pool noodle kept her afloat until she switched to a rowboat and went to visit the cottagers on the other side of me.

They were pleasant to her and her companion, saying that the noise was not bothering them, but I noticed that Carol Anne and her daughter headed out on an inflatable raft and an inner tube to leisurely navigate the lake until she went back home.

The drinking really stepped up once night fell and all the voices became somewhat intrusive, but hers still managed to stand out from all the others.

I closed the windows and tried to sleep, but at 12 and 1 and 2 they partied on. At 2:30 the crass woman was down to tears and recriminations. I heard some man's soothing voice ... then silence.

I am discovering that I have very little tolerance for that kind of intrusion on my privacy. I was angry that they seemed to be so inconsiderate of anyone else on the lake. This is a lake which does not allow motors because we value our peace. We chose this lake because it is such a peaceful retreat from life. Surely anyone who owns property here would be aware of that. Mind you I am not sure how she is related to the cottager who owns the place. I suspect she is his sister. I hope she lives in Calgary and won't visit often.



My spam filter spat out these headers today:

*Impress all in the locker room
*Replica Handbags
*Last Longer in Bed
*Enlarge
*You look really stupid bjscott
*You look really stupid bjscott
*Naked true. Best proposal of medicines

I understood the first six, but years of reading often illiterate or second language offerings has not been of much help in deciphering the seventh.

Who sends out these things? And who reads them? People like the blonde next door might be interested in the replica bags, I suppose. I overheard her conversation with the woman rowing the boat yesterday ... and it contained tidbits about how many purses and bags women need ... apparently in defence of her disputed clothing allowance. But nasty comments on your appearance? Or all the sexual aid ones?

I've figured it out ... the seventh! The unvarnished truth! The best possible deal on prescription drugs!

Maybe I could get a job editing for the people who send these out.

Today is a grey rainy day ... good thing I rescued the laundry yesterday. Today I will finish the cleaning and light a fire in the wood stove. Or maybe I will catch up on the sleep I didn't get last night. Yahoos till 2:30 and then the birds at 4 ... I may not last the whole day.