Cam I Am

Well, I’m happy to announce that I was able to track down a Wii!!  It took two days of constantly calling countless stores and searching through all the ads on Craigslist, but I found one for a price I felt was reasonable.. 

And I picked it up tonight, including his original reciept from Future Shop..

So, even though I’m sure he’ll never see this..

Thank you Ian in Cloverdale..  you’ve made my kids Christmas!

I just got the most entertaining e-mail.  I thought that I’d share it with everyone!

As I posted yesterday, I’m trying to track down and buy a Nintendo Wii for Christmas this year.  In addition to me calling store upon store, I thought that I’d put an “item wanted” ad on Craigslist and Kijiji.  While on those sites, I came across an ad stating that he had a total of 6 for sale.  So, I e-mailed him to say that I was interested..  Here was his reply:

Price: $300.
Free shipping.
This is new in sealed box and with 1 year warranty.
Shipping method: eBay Courier.
Time delivery: 3 days.
 
I’m from Romania and in my country PayPal service is not available yet.
We can use eBay Exchange Package.
I’ll send the product via eBay Courier 3 days Air.
After that you will receive the instructions for payment via email and you will send the money via Western Union to an eBay agent.
eBay will inspect the goods and will confirm the payment and will make the exchange.
This method is ok for you?
 
I’ll wait for your reply asap!
 
Best regards!

Well..  Let me tell you..  I laughed my ass off!   I then replied that I know a scam when I see it… 

That should take care of that! 

The other night, my wife and I sat down for a talk..    The topic?  What are we going to do about Christmas this year?

We went through a few options, such as doing a name draw, like we tried last year, but that didn’t feel right only buying for one person, aside from the kids.  I’d like to get something for everyone in my family, even if it’s a small token.

How do you make a Christmas seem special when you have no money to do it?

Well, we’ve decided to go for broke, so to speak.  Despite our current financial situation, I refuse to let down my kids.  I refuse to tell them that it was a tough year for everyone, even Santa, much like the movie One Magic Christmas. 

So, with what little money we have, and high-interest lines of credit, we are going to try to minimize the impact of me not working for 4 months now, and have a good Christmas.  i don’t mean, let’s buy every single expensive toy out there..  But we are going to make it memorable.  I have very fond memories of Christmas when I was a kid.  They always “made it happen”, even the years that they had very little to “make it happen” with.

So, I’m on the search..  We’ve made a list, so we aren’t blindly walking into a mall, with a fistful of cash and credit cards.  We’re shopping around.  We know what we want, and how much we can spend on it..

My biggest challenge is trying to find a Nintendo Wii..  Apparently, I should have been buying this item about 1-2 months ago, because I think I’ve called every Future Shop, Best Buy, Radio Shack/The Source, Blockbuster, and Rogers Video looking for one.   They all have the same answer.  Sold Out….No, we don’t know when we are getting more.

Out of all of them, it was a Future Shop that offered to put one on hold.  They said that if I called them when they have them in stock, they will physically put it aside and put it on hold for me.  But they will only do it if they have it in..  I was surprised..  My impression of Future Shop has always been of sell, sell, sell..  I have never really had much luck in getting good customer service from them..  But we shall see..

Other than that, things are moving along at a snails pace.  Colleen made an appointment for laser treatment for me..  I’m not sure about that, especially since I’m supposed to see a specialist about a cortisone shot two days later, but it can’t hurt to talk to the guy..

That’s all for now..  Anyone know where I could find a Wii?  

On Friday, I got a a piece of mail I knew wasn’t good as soon as I saw the envelope..

It was from Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.

That can never be good at this time of year.

I assumed that it was a mini-audit on my income taxes.  For the past 3 years, they’ve questioned the same thing again, and I submit the info that they are looking for, and then they leave me alone for another year.  This time, the letter was for something completely different.

The general idea of it was that I owed for the provincial Medical Services Plan (MSP), or for our provincial health card/plan (for those of you that don’t know what MSP is!).  I instantly was not impressed about this letter, because as far as I knew, my wife’s employer covers that for us, as a taxable benefit.

So I called the number on the letter.  I got in contact with the Revenue Services of British Columbia, and very politely asked WTF?  It seems that in 2002, I was paying a fee every month (something like $12.80).  When I started working for Shaw, they starting covering it, but apparently, I somehow didn’t make a complete payment to keep me “up to date”.  I was then informed that I owed $45.60.  After a fairly quick discussion, I cleared up the matter by charging it to me credit card..

It took them over 5 years to track me down for $45!  That hardly seems worth it, but it seems the MSP is like a pitbull, and won’t let go until they are ready too..

Well, I thought that I’d post a few “Cable Guy Stories”…  I posted one quite some time ago about a customer who didn’t get my job title quite right!  

I’ve told a number of people this story, but one of my brothers, Andrew, has requested that I post it on my blog.

This happened back in early April..  I was working in Abbotsford at the time, installing digital phone service for customers..

I pulled up in front of this house, walked up to the front door, and rang the bell.  After about a minute, this guy answers the door.  Here’s how the converstion went..

__________________________

Me: “Hi, I’m here from Shaw Cable to install your digital phone”

Customer: “Okay….”

At this point, the average person would invite you in..  Not so much in this case..

Me: (After several silent seconds) “Okay, well I have to install this device in your house”  (I now show him the digital phone terminal)

Customer: ”Okay…”

Me: “Would I be able to have a look around inside?”

Customer: (several seconds of a blank stare) “Sure..  But that thing has to go in the house?  Are you sure that it can’t go outside?”

Me: (getting a little sarcastic here!) “I’m sure..  it would be fine until the first time that it rains, then it would short out!  I need to install it in the house near an electrical outlet, cable outlet, and a phone jack”.

Customer: (a long blank stare) “Um..  we have a problem..”

At this point the customer turns around, and goes into the house and up the stairs..  I don’t know why this guy is looking stunned at everything I say, but I follow him up into the house… 

Customer: (we are now in his kitchen) “Well, here’s the phone jack… (a long pause follows), and the cable is in the living room.”

There is another period of silence..  I’m still waiting to hear what the “problem” is, and aside from the very 70’s decor in the house, I’m failing to see a problem.  At this point, I restate that I need all three requirements together, but tell him as long as I can have it near an electrical outlet, I can install phone and cable.  He stares again, as if I’m a martian or something, and then says that he should call his wife..  He calls her and it seems that the conversation went about as strange as the one that I had with him.  In the end, his wife tells him to have it installed in the basement, in a storage room.  He takes me downstairs and opens the door to a room that is completely dark and is full of boxes and other things.  With the door open, he just stares at me.

Me: “Is there a light in there?”

Customer: “Um, no…  we use this.” 

With this, he turns on some light within the room..  I’m beginning to wonder what this guy is on..

Me:  “Okay..  is there cable and power in here?”

Customer: “No..  is that going to be a problem?”

Me:  “Well, in order for this to work yes..  I can install it in here, but I’d need to have all of these boxes moved so that I could run the lines to where I need to”

Customer:  “Well..  I’ll have to reschedule again.”

Me: “Okay..  for next week?  What works for you?”

Customer: “In May” (keep in mind this happened in early April)

Me: (getting frustrated with this guy!) “Okay, I’ll have the order cancelled and you can call in to re-order once you are ready.”

This is where it gets interesting!

Customer: (leading me to the front door) “Okay..  You’ll have to excuse me but I’m recovering from…. (long pause)..  exercise..  I’m not a professional or anything, but I’m recovering from….exercise..”

I’m thinking, WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?  Recovering from exercise? And your not a professional?  AT WHAT?  Exercise?  Is that why you seem to have the ability to react as fast as a snail on a skating rink?

With that, I left..  Believe it or not, I’ve shortened the story to spare you all..  In total, I spent 20 minutes with this guy…  It was a very long 20 minutes at that..

After a couple days of asking my parents about their parents, grandparents, etc., I did some digging..

I was amazed at what I found today..

First, I found the 1911 Canadian Census information site.  I managed to find the image of the actual worksheet that Stats Can used to fill in information as they went from house to house.  On it, I found my grandfather, his sister, and my great-grandparents information.  Address, age, birthdate, and many other things that couldn’t be asked today!  At the time, my grandfather was only 3 months old…

Then, I started to look through the marriage records in Ontario.  I then found an image of the page that my great-grandparents marriage registration was recorded.  From there, I found out my great-grandfather’s parents names (unfortunatly, my great-grandmother didn’t know her parents as she was “left on a doorstep”).

I am thoroughly impressed with the information that I was able to find about my family.  I didn’t have to leave the house to get copies of two documents that I didn’t think/know that they existed..   Of course, it would appear that anyone with enough information would be able to dig up this past…  as long as they had enough key pieces of information..

Tonight, I’m going to work on my father’s side of the family..

It’s been a few days since I’ve had a post here..  but then again, I had nothing to say…

But today, Colleen and I started researching our family trees.  Colleen did this a few years ago, for a school project, but she still had a few holes to try and fill in..  She did some searching on a couple sites, www.ancestry.ca and www.familysearch.org.  She instantly find connection upon connection.  

So I thought that I’d give it a try.

I didn’t have quite as much luck.  I made a quick phone call to my mother to get some basic details.  I was in luck, because my grandfather had started doing a family tree search..  Once she finds the book he made up, I’ll have some more details.  For now, she gave me a few names and a couple of birth dates to start with…  I plugged in the info I had, and didn’t find anything I hadn’t just been told..

So I tried my father’s side of the family..  I know very little about it..  I wasn’t able to get a hold of my father for details either..  What I do know, is that the MacDonald side of my family can be traced back to Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia…

Aside from that, I’m finding my new hobby to be satisfying..  I’ve had a few inquiries about people wanting me to make growth charts..  I’m still working out the details of a couple other things that I’d like to make..

Elisabeth turned 6 years old yesterday…  I can’t believe it!  Her birthday party at Omega Gym turned out well..  the kids all seemed to have fun.  Once I get the pics uploaded, I’ll add the link!

I have a question.. I’m hoping that someone (reads this) has an answer….

How do you dispose of an old fire extinuigisher?  We have this one here that came with the house when we bought it, but it appears to be rusting a bit around the top.  It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in me.. 

I can just picture it.. 

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Today, I’ve implemented an idea I’ve had for a while..

About 3 years ago, I made a growth chart for my kids…  It’s wood, with five objects on it.. my kids love it.. 

So, I’ve decided to try selling them.. and more..

I’m working on a few ideas, but I’ve got a webpage just for these things that I make..

http://camscraft.eagleinbc.com.. 

We’ll see how well I do…  Fortunatley, the majority of it I can do sitting, so it shouldn’t be too hard on my back..

A few days ago, I put a post up looking for ideas/solutions to babyproofing my fireplace..

Up to that point, all I could find was the KidCo Hearth Gate which seems to have a base kit costing around $200..

I couldn’t justify that much money…  so I came up with aother way to keep the kids away from the fireplace…

Here’s my solution…

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