Cam I Am

I got some good news yesterday!

Now, I heard from a number of people at work that it would be a good 2-4 months before Pacific Blue Cross would give me any payment for my short-term disability benefits.  Naturally, I was worried about how to pay the bills and feed my family without any money coming in.  But, in the phone call from them, the person on the phone asked a few questions about why I was off, and then told me that I should see a payment by early next week to cover my first month off (minus the first 7 days that they won’t cover).  Beyond that, they’ll gather more info from my doctor.

So, I’ll get a much needed payment.  I’ll still need to dip into the RRSP’s that I have saved up, but at least I won’t have to take as much out..

As for my back, it’s getting better…. sort of..

I seem to be gaining better mobility, but I still can only go for 3-5 minutes of standing or walking before I’m in a lot of pain.  I’ve been going to physio twice a week, and it is helping, but I’m not feeling confident in the original 4-6 weeks I was told that I would be off.  Based on how I feel, I think that it will be another month off work.. 

We’ll see how it goes..

Well, there isn’t much new to report.  I’ve been going to physio for my back, and seeing some improvement.  I’m hoping that I’ll be able to return to work in 3-4 weeks..  But we’ll see..

My youngest brother, Andrew, came out for a visit.  He’s been in New Brunswick, and I haven’t seen him, or any of my family from Ontario, for about 3 years.  So, it was nice to have him come out.  He was here only for about 5 days, but it was great to see him again.

Other than that, things have been quiet.  It’s hard to write something for a blog when you aren’t doing anything!

I just finished reading a blog by my friend Mark, about how Starchoice is charging him a fee for a mandatory upgrade his HD reciever.  And it reminded me about a conversation I had with my wife a couple weeks ago…

For the past 7 years, I’ve been a customer with TD Canada Trust.  My “relationship” with them started out when they were the only bank that was willing to give me a car loan, regardless of my credit history.  I figured that any bank that was willing to overlook my student loan situation, I’d be willing to transfer my business too.    Since then, I’ve have my chequing, savings, and some RESP’s for my kids with them.   The only things that I don’t have with them are my mortgage (because they weren’t competitive enough), and my RRSP’s.

Now, I am not saying that I feel like I’m one of their most valuable customers.  I’m essentially non-exisitant to them.  But I see this ads for banks saying, “Switch to us and get a free $150 gift card for blah!”, or some other comparable offer.  TD was promoting a free iPod for switching. 

What I what to know is, what are they willing to do to KEEP me as a customer?  New customers get the promo, and all I get is service charges every month.  I could easily switch to any other financial institution for a promotional deal.  Coast Capital Savings offers a free chequing account (no service fees).  BMO is offering gift cards.  Where is the customer retention plan?  The rewards for doing business with them?

Where is my free iPod?

Today is the 3rd day that I’m off work now.  I’m bored to death.  There is only so much TV, and computer that you can take.  My back is so sore, I can lift anything, stand for more than 2 minutes, or walk very far.  So, I’m sitting at home. 

I did better today, compared to yesterday.  I checked the mail yesterday…  that was the extent of me going out..  Today, I went into Vancouver to have breakfast with Syd, (co-worker and friend), went to the office with a form that they need to fill out for Short Term Disability, went for an x-ray of my back, then went to physio.

But tomorrow looks like more of yesterday.

A couple months ago, I was thinking that it would be nice to have a month away from work..  This isn’t quite what I had in mind..

Any ideas for things that I can do at home?  Scrabble on Facebook only goes so far..