WOP - it's like the voicemail gods are taunting me

Okay, so a few weeks ago I bemoaned the ineptitude of the idiots over at voice services because apparently my phone whose light wasn't flashing wasn't a phone that they thought they should support anymore.

And magically, the light started working again.

Well guess what...now the light won't STOP flashing, even when I don't have a message.

I know, I'm howling with laughter over it too.

Too rich. Too rich not to share...

Good GOD that's tacky

Okay, so most of you know that I hate, hate, HATE those stupid ribbon magnets that people put on their car for supporting troops, breast cancer, whatever. Not sure what it is about it but I hate them as much as I hate those bracelets that everyone was into a few years ago because of Lance Armstrong and then it took off to every cause - or profit making organization - got into having a coloured bracelet. I guess it's that whole affiliation issue I have...

ANYWAYS, I've seen a max of like 2-3 of these magnets on cars and am driven batty by them and one day just wanna go on a stealing rampage in a Walmart parking lot and then decorate one car with all of them (I won't mention *whose* car I'd like to do that to ;o) ). So when I pulled up behind this truck on the Bronson off ramp at Hunt Club, I thought I'd hit the mecca for that prank...and had to take a pic. God I love my phone...

Yum Yum, GIVE ME SOME!

Something about cooking and food lately has been leaving me feeling rather...

meh....

I'm not really into cooking which is surprising for me and as a result, I'm not really into eating. I have days of 'how little can I sustain on' because I'm just lazy, bored or just not in the mood to eat or cook. I think part of it is stress related too, as the work season of chaos ramps up.

So tonight, when I finally thought 'enough's enough, what can I eat' and I started to think that some peppered ham slices, a Babybel, glass of milk, banana and a yogurt chased by Doritos was a good idea, I opened up the cupboard to get out the Doritos and saw the new cereal I bought the other day.

And then it hit me.

Why have I never thought of having cereal for dinner before?!?!? After all, if it's part of the 'most important meal of the day' then there must be SOME nutritional value to it, non? Surely I can get away with having it for...DINNER!!!

So I had cereal with a banana in it (gotta keep the Chiquita plantation in business) with Doritos for dessert while I watched Hell's Kitchen.

Single has never tasted so good.

WHMPC - Gum Guy follow up

A while back I blogged about the Gum Guy I went on a date with. I try not to be a soapbox preacher about many things but gum in blister packs is my personal crusade so when he reacted so defiantly about it, I was turned off and appalled.

But somehow, this bizarre date lead to the Gum Guy and I forming a friendship. Bizarre as it sounds, we chat on MSN, get together from time to time and occasionally chat too. We've not talked about the whole gum issue since the day it happened. And then I got a photo text from him today with only 'damn you' as the message. This was the pic:


I WIN! I WIN!


My mission to convert everyone into paper package/stick buying gum chewers is paying off.

Have I converted you yet?

I nose....

I'd insert the tapping of my nose with my finger but well, it hurts, I don't wanna touch it.

So yesterday at rowing, I caught a crab. It's not a nice thing to catch a crab and this was probably the most violent crab I've ever seen anyone catch. It flattened me on my back and left me breathless with panic. The oar almost hit the woman behind me. And I jokingly said, 'that almost broke my nose'. It was violent enough that the woman in front of me patted me on the back and asked me if I was okay. And she's NOT the mothering type.

Fast forward about 5 hours and my face started to ache. A lot. By the time I left starbucks and got home, I thought 'geeze, you look like crap' because I looked really tired. And then I got up close to the mirror and realized that those weren't bags under my eyes but in fact, bruising.

I sat with some ice on my face and took some aspirin and thought I was feeling better.

And I was...until this pm.

My face, regardless of the tylenol Gback gave me, is throbbing. I'm seriously considering waiting a long time at the walk in clinic by my house to get it checked out. Could you imagine if I'd broken it?

For those that don't know, this is what it means to catch a crab while rowing:



But that was a pretty tame crab - this is more like the one I caught...



There was no slow mo trying to hold on to it (because sometimes you can do it and it's a 'leisurely' recline you have to do to avoid getting hit) but this was fast and hard, like that second video. Ironically, I was sitting in the same position in the boat as he was. Hmmmm....

This is also a good video so you can see how violent it can be:



But this one, takes the cake - at least this didn't happen to me:




I swear, rowing will be the death of me...

The passing of time

I'm not sure what it is about the turning of the seasons in fall that really make me remark on the passing of time. Perhaps it's the beginning of the school year that my current job reminds me with a stiff smack in the face each year during frosh week 'Welcome Week' (because apparently parents freak out over their precious little ones being initiated into university life with drinking and drugs and sex and all that is wrong in the world - ugh hello, walk into any suburban highschool and you'll see 10 times worse, you just have to look!). Maybe it's the quickly approaching birthday of mine (35 days peeps - and might I also take this moment to tell you it's only 109 until Xmas). Perhaps it's the change in the season that is much more marked than spring to summer.

I dunno.

And maybe it's that I had coffee with Mexican Princess today after helping her adjust her chandelier where we reflected on the changes she and I have both seen in our lives and I know I've had probably the best two years of my life. But it really hit me today on the ball field as I played my last softball game of the season. Almost 60 games later and somehow, 4 months have passed. And while I'm excited to be moving on to something new and focus a lot of time and effort on it (rowing), where did time go? What did I do with it? What do I have to show for it? And will I make the most of the next 4 months before Xmas that always seem to pass in a flurry of activity between work and play?

I know...it's a little...deep...for hanging up my cleats and glove for the season but it just struck a chord with me today. And so I thought I'd share it with you and fill up the cosmic void with my moment of...

Hmmm...

WoP - Voice Services Update

I was away on photo shoots on Thursday and Friday from work.

I got into my office late Thursday afternoon to see the phone message light working.

It's like the customer service gods are pulling pranks on me, just to get me riled up.

It made me laugh and shake my head.

I'd ask for my money back

If I was a paying customer of the institution I work at, and I knew there were such wastes of payroll employed here, I'd ask for my money back.

We all know I rant about the parking office and my ongoing battles with them over parking tickets, parking passes and well, anything customer service oriented.

Today though, their reign as most inept customer service on campus has been toppled...by voice services. And I quote:

L: Hi, I'm having a problem with my phone. I'm having messages left but the flashing light on my phone isn't working to tell me there are messages. Apparently this has been going on for two days.
Most Unhelpful Customer Service Agent Ever (MUCSAE): Oh, that's a known problem with the 470's. You should get a VOIP phone.
L: Okayyyyyyyy....oh, you're referring to the model number....
MUCSAE: (insert exasperated tone) well, yes, you do have a 470, right?
L: Yes.
MUCSAE: well, you should get a VOIP. We don't have those kinds of problems with that phone. But if you want, you can try scrolling through the user options until you get to something in the menu that talks about indicator lights.
L: Ugh, okay, but this problem just started this week. It was working fine before that.
MUCSAE: Yeah, you should get a VOIP phone. It's only 90cents extra a month.
L: But I was told I couldn't get a VOIP phone. When I moved down to this office a few months ago, they installed this other phone that I'd had in my old office and said they'd look into it and never got back to me.
MUCSAE: Oh, you're in which building?
L: Tory
MUCSAE: There are tons of VOIP phones in Tory so I don't think that's an issue but I'll check to see if there's an issue with your area. You're in 1146 Tory.
L: No, 421. 1146 is my phone extension.
MUCSAE: Oh. Right....
*silence*
MUCSAE: Okay, I'll look into that. In the mean time, you should get a VOIP phone. And you should check your voicemail often to make sure you don't miss any messages.
*silence*
(inside voice: *speechless* um. Wow. Okay. WASTE OF PAYROLL!!!)
L: Okay, thanks.
MUCSAE: No problem!

You know, I don't even think I need to comment on this. I think, my dear readers, that you are all smart enough to just grapple with the ineptitude that is voice services. So, again - wow...what a waste of payroll.