Cam I Am

When does 1&1=Nothing? 

When their servers crash…and it takes them 4 days to fix the problem and put them back online..

Now, I have to admit, I don’t have a lot to complain about.  I don’t pay anything for the webhost I’m using, thanks to a friend that set up my domain for me and let’s me use his account for his webhost (Thanks Mark!), but I do find this frustrating.  The ability to rant about whatever is bothering me (or whining…either way), is kind of nice.  Every now and then, I get a response that is helpful.  But I do have another site on the server that is a side business.  It doesn’t get a lot of traffic, but occasionally I do get an inquiry.

So, my friend is going to be changing servers soon, but that does leave my sites out of the picture.  But I’ve made arrangements for this.  In the next week, I’ll be transferring my site.  Well..  Sort of..

I’ve set up my own account with 1&1..  You might be asking yourself, “Why would I stay with the same webhost company that I just had problems?”  Simply put, it’s easier to do it this way, and besides… all companies have their computer down times..   I just hope that this doesn’t become a habit..

Well, it seems that this was inevitable..

After next school year, Riverside Elementary in Maple Ridge will no longer have a French immersion program starting September 2009…

In the last year, we (the parents of students at the school) have fought the school board (and had a temporary reprieve) on the total closure of the school..

Then there was the whole “is Riverside causing cancer in teachers and students” — something that was ultimately shown to not be the case..

But with all the bad publicity about the school only six kindergarten students registered for the French immersion program there next year..

I’m sure that this is the beginning of the end for the school entirely.. 

Our oldest daughter goes there for the FI program..  We have two other children that we, ideally, would like to put into the same program when they start school..  So what do we do?  All English?  Or start the mad search, along with every other family that we be looking for a spot for their children to continue in the program we chose for our kids..

Some people may not see any benefit to the French Immersion program..  but I don’t see any problem with providing every opportunity for my kids..

Telus just keeps giving me more and more fodder to talk about!

Back in March, I posted my experience with their billing department trying to bill me for service two months past I had switched over to Shaw Digital Phone.  

Well..  they called me again in the last week..

I answered it, and they confirmed that I was me.  Then they asked me if I was still with their service..

Umm.. shouldn’t they know? 

I said no..  I had switched to Shaw.  The guy on the phone had me confirm two more times that I was no longer with them.   He sounded very puzzled.  Eventually he thanked me for my time and hung up.

At no time during this phone call did I mention that I worked for Shaw and had no intention of switching back.  That being said, at no time did he even ask if I wanted to switch back!  He took no opportunity to see if I was having problems with my new service.  He didn’t try to find even a remote possibility of me wanting to switch back to them..

How can Telus try and retain/capture market share if they don’t ASK the customer if they want it.  One of the very basic fundamentals of marketing is to ask the customer if they would use/try your service/product!

In the end, I stood there with the phone in my hand..  amazed..  or dumbfounded..  I still haven’t decided..

A couple months ago, I changed some of the “extra” options that I had on my City Fido plan.  I upgraded to a bundle that included “unlimited” surfing on my phone.

I don’t have an iPhone, or other smart phone.  I have your average Sony Ericsson Z550.  I don’t need all the bells and whistles, Bluetooth aside.  But I thought that it might be nice to do a little surfing here and there during the day, without paying 5 cents per kilobyte. 

It’s worked out great..  Everyday, I’d go a local radio stations site, look at the news (and enter my bonus code of the day!), and that’s about it..

Yesterday, I got a text message..  Here’s what it read:

Important Fido info:  Additional charges of $28.20 for usage not included in your unlimited surfing option have been incurred.  Please call us to resolve

That’s interesting..  When I spoke to the representative at the time I ordered it, she said that I could use it for any site that I wanted, as long as I was using a Fido issued phone, and not using it as a modem for a laptop.  I had not deviated from what I was initially told..

I called Fido and got an indifferent rep on the phone.  I asked her what exactly I had done that wasn’t covered. 

This is when the truth comes out..   It’s good to WAP sites only.  That was never mentioned.  I wouldn’t have gone to my favourite news page.. 

So, I got her to reverse the charges and put a block on the account so that I don’t go to any non-approved sites..

How is unlimited limited? 

I got great news yesterday morning.   The kind of news that was so amazing, I didn’t need my morning coffee!

I now have a surgery date for my herniated disc..  May 30th!  (Yes…. it’s this year!)  As long as my date doesn’t get bumped, I will be finally getting my long-awaited back surgery in less than 4 weeks!  I have been waiting so long for a permanent solution, I simply am happy that a fix is on the way!  Yaay!

Aside from that..

My youngest brother, Andrew, is going to fly out from Winnipeg on Monday and visit for a week.  He came out less than a year ago to visit, but this time he is bringing his girlfriend, Martha.  We’ve heard all about Martha, so it will be nice to meet her.   Oh yeah..  it’ll be nice to see Andrew too!