Aggressively Dealing with a Skuzzball Telemarketer

The phone rang today with an important call from 1-403-255-8807 telling me they could lower my credit card interest.  Now first off, this is a huge scam so I'm writing this post as a warning to others.  Do not give them any information!  Report them to the CRTC and to Phonebusters.  What they do is charge your credit card a substantial fee then phone (although there have been reports of this being false) your credit card company requesting a lower interest rate.  When the credit card company says no, they report back to you after enough time has lapsed so as to not be able to reverse the charge on your credit card that they cannot get your rate lowered.  They have your money and you have just been scammed big time to the tune if reports are correct of $600 to $800! 


Here's how the conversation went:

representative: We have great news!  We can lower your current credit card interest rate to 6%
me:  How did you get this phone number? (It's a new phone number as we just moved.)

representative: My supervisor gave it to me.
me: Well your supervisor should not have given you our phone number.  Please remove it.

representative: No, no, no!
me: By law under the CRTC you are required to remove our phone number from your call list.

representative: No, no, no!  We are giving you a great deal like a sale.  (By now I am rolling my eyes!)
me: I don't need a deal.

representative: Yes you do because our records show you have a good credit history and pay your bills on time.
me: How did you get my credit history?  I did not give authorization for you to get any credit history!

representative: My supervisor gave it to me.
me:  Well your supervisor does not have the authorization to get my credit history.

representative:  Yes, yes, yes.  Credit history is public for anyone to get. (Bullsh*t!)
me: What is my name? (like I expected him to come back with one)

representative: Umm... (I cut him off.)
me: Here's a clue.  F-off and don't call here again! (I'm sure they will try calling again)

I seldom curse but this guy ticked me off and the knowledge that they will lure someone into their trap today made me madder!  I reported them to the CRTC and the appropriate fraud investigation units.  If they ever call this house again I will report them again but since I now have them on call block, I doubt they will get through without changing where they are calling from.  There is a good possibility of that because fraudulent scumbags do that just so they can rip others off there hard earned dollars.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Bonding Time With Hubby and Bell

My husband and I spent most of today bonding aka replacing electrical switches and outlets on the main level.  As DIYers we tend to work reasonably well together and I do know when to not say anything sometimes unless offering a suggestion when my husband gets frustrated if some repair is not going the way it should.  The power was off on most of the main level meaning no sneaking in computer time without firing up the laptop so I took charge of the prep (eg. opening those stupid over packaged cover plates), organizing the necessary pieces needed in front of each outlet and doing the clean-up.  This was a rather smooth, only run to the hardware store twice, tongue twisting once DIY repair until trying to turn on the PVR because the power had been out.  After several attempts with the PVR giving an error code that the PVR had to be 40ºF to work, my husband finally called Emily, the lovely Bell assistant.

Emily was a real doll, finally directed him to a real humanoid.  Humanoid told my husband to reset the PVR because apparently trying a good twenty times wasn't enough.  When that didn't work, humanoid said to turn off the PVR, wait 15 minutes then try again and if that didn't work wait for an hour and if that didn't work to call back.  My husband called back to get humanoid II who had him go through all the reset stuff then proceeded to tell him that we must have a faulty PVR.  At that point my temper clicked in so I got on one of the other handsets.  You see, I have dealt with Bell ad nauseum over the issue of our PVR.  We 'bought' our PVR from Bell who decided to install a refurbished rental even though we paid for a new one.  When that PVR started acting up, I called Bell who gave us a $10 monthly discount for the inconvenience.  When that PVR continued to act up they sent us out a $500 replacement PVR of which we had to pay for.  So here we are fourteen months later and that PVR is acting up and we haven't even run out of the monthly discount yet!  Yet according to humanoid II, it is a computerized piece of electronics that can fail at any time.  Her attitude bit the big one and I'm not kidding so I demanded to speak to a supervisor.  After a good 10 minutes waiting for the supervisor to come on the line I hung up.  Bell should be downright ashamed of themselves for selling used equipment as new as well as forcing users into high priced JUNK that fails prematurely!  I will definitely be filing a complaint with the CRTC.  We are looking into changing our internet, phone service and television service to cable.  If Bell wants to be this shoddy it is time for us to say adios!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Fairwell Xplornet

When we moved into our last house we had the choice between dial-up or satellite internet.  After a long and arduous relationship with Xplornet, our [sic] beloved satellite internet provider I was in seventh heaven giving them their final marching orders.  Xplornet has piss poor customer service and the internet connection is beyond piss poor.  If a mosquito flies through that beam the signal is lost.  You would think paying almost $70 per month would get you ... oh I don't know ... customer service with a smile or good gosh even working internet.  Nope it doesn't.  Toodles Xplornet, I would not wish you on my worst enemy!  Good riddence to very bad rubbish ... I'm just saying and I do believe in calling a spade a spade. 

Oh and Xpornet, I would like the refund you owe me like yesterday or I might just have to give you back of your pissy service.  Cheers!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

The Ongoing Saga of Selling Our House

Our house has now been on the market for the better part of the past year.  It was briefly off the market last September/October for about 3 weeks but other than that we've been at the potential buyers' beck and call.  Let me tell you it is getting very old!  We showed the house yesterday and again today.  It's rather ironic that there haven't been very many showings over the past couple of months but with the contract drawing to an end with this real estate company, all of a sudden they are pushing it?  The should have been pushing it harder earlier as we have no intentions of extending the contract.  If there is no offer by the time the contract expires, that's it.  We will take it private and sell it ourselves.  I've had it up to my eyeballs with fickle real estate agents!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Internet Follies

The internet has become such a large part of our lives that going without is no longer a practical option.  It now is a major way of staying connected with family and friends, finding information quickly and a source of entertainment.  I had wonderful high speed DSL two houses ago.  Our last house while have a lovely location was rural so at that time the only internet service available was dial-up.  When we moved here which is also rural we were able to get satellite internet service that according to them was a step up from dial-up.  It has been absolutely nothing but a pain in the kester!  I'm not kidding if a mosquito is so much as even remotely being near the beam the signal goes out.  Then there is the wonderful FAP graciously approved of by the CRTC.  It means that at some magical bandwidth trigger of which the satellite service does not have to reveal they will throttle down the service to lower than dial-up speeds.  Essentially what happens is you pay 100% for 40% at best of the advertised satellite internet speeds.  Now would you go into a restaurant, order a burger and pay full price if they brought you out less than half of the burger?  Not very likely but the CRTC in their ultimate wisdom on how to screw the consumer thinks so.  And Dalton McGuinty doesn't think spending over $50 for crappy satellite service is not enough so he so graciously added HST to our service increasing the price to just a little over $60. 

Our recent satellite internet outage got me thinking.  The CRTC endorses ripping off the conusmer so even though we are paying a bit over $60 for the service we really are getting $24 worth of bandwidth per month and McGuinty is pocketing about $7 thanks to his handy tax grab aka HST.  My husband put me on his office internet account for $20 per month.  Right of the bat if I stay on dial-up I will save over $40 per month and dear old Dalton will get a lot less of my money.  But it gets better than that!  The CRTC also has screwed up the National Do Not Call Registry meaning if you register your phone number to prevent telemarketing calls the reverse actually happens.  Telemarketing calls increase!  Apparently the CRTC thinks this is acceptable but it's not like they are the brightest lightbulb in the pack.  Oh and I should mention we pay for our phone service so each telemarketing call actually costs us and somewhere along the line they think they have the right to call us?  Wrong!  The only ones who have the right to call us are our family and friends.  On the brightside if I go back to dial-up rather than get a second phone line I will use our main line that will give all the lovely telemarketers a busy tone saving me the hassle of having to add them to my call block list.  All around dial-up internet is looking rather pleasing!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

The Effects of the HST

If you have been following this blog you will already know some of my views on the HST.  I wrote how to avoid paying the HST in Ontario and ways to fight the HST.  I've taken many stabs at Premier Dalton McGuinty's colossal and greedy tax grab.  An unexpected side effect of the HST is how it has affected the rest of Canada.  The HST has been in effect in BC and ON for three months now.  Let's see how well this tax is performing:

• slowed down house sales
• slowed consumer spending
• increased the federal deficit
• increased the inflation rate Canada wide
• created a tax revolt in BC forcing a referendum on the HST 
• if you believe the propaganda has created 6,300 jobs in ON

Well, it certainly does look like the HST is moving Canada into the 21^st century, doesn't it?  I give Dalton McGuinty and his sock-puppets full credit for this horrible fiasco! On a personal level, how has this affected us?  For the most part it has had a minimal effect.  Yes we are paying HST on electricity, internet and home heating that at present rates have added about $20 per month ($240 per year).  Occasionally we have to pay HST on gasoline but for the most part we avoid this by fueling outside of Ontario.   We are shopping and vacationing outside of Ontario.  Nothing is purchased in Ontario unless it is food through local farmers, orchards or organic farms.  We've cut back further on our electricity usage moving towards more solar.  All of our solar equipment will be purchased outside of Ontario as well.  We are also working on using a US internet provider that will eliminate our ON internet provider.  We did a trial run with one US provider but maxed out the bandwidth too quick for it to be feasible to make the switch.  The thing is that service worked better and was cheaper than our satellite internet and there was no HST.  We will be trying to connect to our vacation home US internet via Wi-Fi hot spot at home.  Apparently there is a good chance it will work!  If it doesn't it's just a matter of time before we find a US mobile service that will work for us.

Dalton McGuinty is driving people away from shopping or using services in Ontario.  Instead of that extra $20 collected it could be used towards buying consumer goods in Ontario.  He doesn't see that people are fed up with his dishonesty and taxing until we have nothing attitude.  This is going to be a very difficult for many Ontarians as they realize the full effects of the HST on just electricity and home heating, both of which increase during the cold winter months.  I also don't think McGuinty realizes we now live in a global community so Ontarians do have options for avoiding the HST.

I would be curious as to how many Ontarians will simply choose to leave Ontario permanently and how many will choose to live outside of Ontario for a good portion of the year?  While I've seen no reports on this effect of the HST, I'm sure it is happening.  The HST was directly responsible for our decision to buy a vacation home outside of Ontario and it is a major factor in us choosing to live outside of Ontario for extended periods of time.  I think this will be a growing trend for many!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

A Telemarketing Nightmare

Anyone who has followed this blog knows my extreme dislike bordering on hatred for telemarketers.  If you have been following this blog you will also know we have a special phone system at home to deal with these types of call.  Our land line was hooked up at our vacation house so we bought a cheaper phone set figuring we don't need a lot of bells and whistles since anyone important knows how to reach us via cell phone so the land line is really for convenience when here.  I set up the system in the late evening.  I kid you not the very first call was from a telemarketer!  This is a brand new land line so I was not amused.  When the second telemarketer call came through I was less amused.  By the third I was getting testy and by the fourth my Canadian humour kicked into full gear.  This poor enterprising telemarketer aka fourth victim  asked for me by name then went into their script at a point where they asked which did we prefer Master Card or Visa to which I replied cash.  Hey it's the truth but my gosh did this ever throw the telemarketer off especially after a bit of spluttering trying to clarify what credit card I preferred.  I calmly told them I prefer a paid off credit card.  It would appear that wasn't the anser they were looking for so they came back with choose either Master Card or Visa.  I said cash again.  Well it went back and forth like this for a good 10 minutes but heck I was bored and had nothing better to do while waiting for my husband to return from golf so I figure what the heck telemarketer amusement is better than nothing and the best part is I wrote at least one blog post while talking to the telemarketer so it wasn't like my time was totally wasted.  I honestly never did find out what the guy was selling because over the 10 minute period we couldn't get past the cash thing AND I didn't even have to mention the ethics of credit either which is likely a good thing for him because that would have stretched out the call a heck of a lot longer.  I'm hoping he calls back tomorrow, say right about that time I'm a bit bored and need some entertaining :)

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

Here's Your Sign - Talk to the Hand!

I am by nature an extremely private person both in real life and online. When someone oversteps their bounds, intruding into my personal space I tend to get a bit on the testy side. A wall will go up so fast that it really doesn't matter what the offender does after that they will be met with a solid wall along with a talk to the hand. If someone has ticked me off to the point that wall goes up the only thing they can do is talk to the hand because as far as I'm concerned they no longer exist, period.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

RMR: Rick's Rant Olympic Breakdown

I love watching Rick Mercer! It's hard to say which I like better: his humourous antics, skits and commentaries or his rants. Either way all are well worth watching. This rant does hit home! Our athletes cannot get to the point of being able to represent Canada without some type of sports funding at every step of the way. It will be interesting to see how this issue plays out now that the Olympics are over.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

The Sound of Silence

Technology is a wonderful thing! Little did Alexander Graham Bell realize when he invented the telephone that it would become an insidious pest in our lives. He did not envision the fact that a phone company would charge us outrageous prices for their service then turn around and list our phone number in a directory in addition to selling our phone numbers so that every telemarketer for miles around can call us. Nor did he envision the governing party aka CRTC above this phone company aka Bell Canada would set the ground rules that basically telemarketers can call you on the phone you pay for so basically at your expense from the hours of 8 AM to 9 PM basically 7 days per week. When the populus finally had enough to complain the CRTC set us this nice concept called the National Do Not Call List for you to add your phone number to. In essence this really became a Do Call List of which those numbers were harvested as anyone dumb enough (including us) who signed up quickly found out. If you add your name to this list the telemarketers have 31 days to purge your phone number from their system which in theory sounds fine but in practice gave them carte blanche 31 days to pester the snot out of you on a daily basis. To add insult to injury anyone you had dealt with in the past or as in Bell themselves have a current account or any charity was not governed under the new rulings so they could pester the snot out of you any time they wanted but sure shooting it was usually just as you sat down to eat.

Bell Canada offers this nice little service that you do have to pay for called call display. This allows you to see who is calling you which is great unless they choose not to identify themselves then the number comes up as long distance/long distance or private number. In reality this wouldn't be necessary if Bell did not put your name and phone number in a public directory then sell this information to telemarketers. Apparently they don't get the concept that I want communication services for those I want to communicate with not telemarketers, charities and other scammers. After the Do Not Call List major fiasco we took to only answering calls that identified themselves and we took advantage of another one of Bell's paid services called call block that allowed us to stop up to 12 calls from getting through. I turned off the answering machine portion of our phone allowing unidentified calls to ring until they gave up. The end result was not dealing with these calls but a lot of telephone ringing some days. Onto the scene came our new phone system, nice and shiny silver and white like a white knight and it has been a white knight.

This system has virtually all of the extras Bell offers built in with the exception of call display, the only service we must subscribe to through Bell but stripping our line of all the extras saved us $30 per month! Now the beauty of this system is with one click of a button all unidentified calls are automatically blocked. Period! The phone doesn't ring at all. Any call that comes in as a number only can be checked online then if desired saved to the call block list meaning if they call again the number rings once then is disconnected. The phone does log these attempts and what I've noticed is especially with one persistent telemarketer it went from 10 calls the first day to 4 the next day to 1 the next day and surprisingling a break of 2 weeks then one call and nothing since. We have effectively taken back our phone lines and I have to tell you the sound of silence is golden!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

Protest Against Ontario's Proposed HST

Despite considerable opposition the Ontario Provincial Government in their ulitmate wisdom tabled their proposal for the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) comprised of PST (8%) and GST (5%) resulting in the new HST (13%). This sparked my short rant on the proposed HST. The new HST will see an additional 8% tax on goods and services that previously were exempt from PST.

In the past week we have seen more opposition to the HST and yet the Ontario Provincial Government is determined to get the HST through legislation. What is rather funny at one point Stephen Harper said that public hearings are the cornerstone of democracy yet the government has refused to allow any public hearings with respect to the HST. The opposition party held a sit in to protest the HST and recently First Nations took to the streets of downtown Toronto in protest. They were joined by others protesting as well. Currently First Nations members are entitled to a point of sale tax rebate because they do not pay provincial sales tax. The HST will eliminate this rebate in direct violation of their treaty rights.

Get involved! Write and call your MPP and editors of newspapers. Sign petitions and join any demonstrations if at all possible. Start your own demonstration. Spread the word about any protests and demonstrations. Use as many forms of social media (eg. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace) to spread the word. Protest in as many ways as possible. The more voices heard the greater the chance of stopping the HST. Remember this tax is legalized robbery kicking people when they are already down!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

Say No to the HST

The Ontario Provincial Government in their ulitmate wisdom tabled their proposal for the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) comprised of PST (8%) and GST (5%) resulting in the new HST (13%). On the surface that doesn't sound too bad since both PST and GST has been in place in Ontario for quite some time. However, the new HST will see an additional 8% tax on goods and services that previously were exempt from PST.

This includes: gasoline, utilities (heating, hydro, natural gas), internet bills, prepared foods over $4, magazines, adult footwear under $30, admissions under $4 (eg. pool, skating rink), veterinary care, personal services (eg. hair stylist), professional services (eg. legal, accountant), membership fees, real estate commissions, commercial property rentals, condo fees, landscaping, vitamins, most admissions to live theatres, taxi fares, conferences and seminars, dry cleaning, carpet cleaning, labour costs related to home renovation, motor vehicle services, ice rink rentals, hotels, overnight summer camps, domestic air and rail travel, bus tickets, Christmas trees, electrical and plumbing services, snowplowing, bicycles, funeral costs, postage stamps, courier fees, golf green fee, new homes over $400,000 (but there's a rebate).

[rant]
Well now, if you didn't suspect Ontario was being governed by a bunch of money grabbing morons this should confirm it. Which part of we are in a recession do they not understand? Unemployment has increased and many are still living the very real fear of losing their jobs anytime. Our hydro rates are changing to Time of Use (TOU) by June 2010 meaning we will be paying more for our hydro. Food costs continue to increase and food banks are already over taxed trying to feed people who simply don't have enough money for food. The satellite and cable companies are now negotiating with the CRTC for a $10 tax per customer (aka $120/year increase) if they have to pay for local television programming. Now with the signal change folks are forced into using satellite and cable services because they can no longer get more than a couple of channels using an antenna. Gasoline is already high enough priced without taxing it more and in case these morons don't understand many taxpayers in rural communities have no choice but to drive to work. So I suppose they could get up a few hours earlier since sleep is highly over rated anyway and commute to work on their bike but they best buy it before the HST comes into effect otherwise they will be paying an additional 8%. The internet [which by world standards in Canada is the worst] has become a way for unemployed taxpayers to find jobs without having spend money they can ill afford traveling to search for employment. Those on fixed incomes rely on the internet to stay in touch with their loved ones because of the high cost of long distance phone charges. So why not penalize anyone using the internet by applying an 8% tax.

Now the premise is this HST is going to be good for Ontario by stimulating the economy and create jobs. I say that is bull hockey! People who are already giving up luxuries like warm winter clothes for kids, food and medications just to keep a roof over their heads are not going to be stimulated into spending by adding an 8% tax. It is not very encouraging when a taxpayer struggles to be environmentally friendly by reducing their hydro consumption with very little incentive from the Ontario government only to see their bill increase by 8% and the sad reality is many are reducing their consumption not because they are trying to be eco-friendly but because they simply can't afford the current rates.

People have been tightening their belts. We have changed our spending habits especially for any dollars spent in Ontario already. If the HST goes through it will not affect us as much as others but I resent the Ontario government for forcing us to consume less all the way around. Taxpayers can minimize the impact of the HST by buying used privately and eliminating things like magazines. Prepared foods (aka restaurants) can be drastically cut back on or eliminated. Add an inexpensive movie package to your television service and eliminate going to the theatre. Any home renovations should be DIY and if you can't do-it-yourself find a family member or friend to help you. As long as no money changes hand the Ontario government can't profit from their latest brain wave. Don't use domestic air, rail or bus travel. Remove your carpeting to eliminate any cleaning costs. It's better for your indoor air quality. Finally tell your family to refuse a funeral for you. Just tell them to prop you up beside the jukebox it you die!
[/rant]

What can you the Ontario taxpayer do to stop the HST? Seriously get involved! Write your MPP and often! Yes you will get a canned reply but keep writing. Sign any petition possible. Inform any services such as air, rail and bus that you use that if the HST goes into effect you will no longer use their service. These services can put a lot more pressure on the Ontario government than one person can. Take your tourist dollars outside of Ontario but be sure to inform services and your MPP that you are doing so because of the HST. Buy used privately and become a DIY but be sure to tell stores and services that you are doing so because of the HST. Again more voices are better than one. Write as many letters to the editors of various newspapers as possible expressing your concerns over having to pay an additional 8% especially on gasoline and utilities. Write about it on Facebook and MySpace. Tweet about it on and often Twitter. Blog about it then pass the word through Digg and StumbleUpon. Organize and/or participate in any form of peaceful protest you can to help stop the HST. Finally when it comes time for an election express your displeasure with the HST with your vote!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

Under Construction

On the Road
September 25, 2009

This pasted weekend we travelled to visit the grandbabies and the parents. Of course it is virtually impossible to get from point A to point B without running into some type of construction. 'Tis the construction season. Anyone who has even driven in Ontario should know this! This means that traffic slows going through construction zones and fines are doubled when workers are present. It means there may be delays as well as uneven pavement, loose gravel, narrower lanes and bumps. So this begs the question "What are some drivers thinking when they go through construction zones?" During our road trip we went through several construction zones. Here are just a few highlights we witnessed in actual construction zones:

• speeding then suddenly jamming on the breaks
• following too closely then jamming on the breaks
• aggressive driving
  
• eating as in a hamburger
  
• talking on the cell phone (I thought that one was now illegal here.)
• reading a map and in one case reading a stack of papers occasionally glancing up at the road
• speeding up on the right then cramming in just before the lane closure started
• small kids jumping around in the back seat (definitely illegal)
  
• a dog sitting on the driver's lap
  

Mind you on our journey home we were driving in some rather heavy rain after dark yet drivers were still doing many of the above. Come on! What the heck are you thinking? None of the above are acceptable at any time. All are are dangerous, finable driving offenses that show a total disregard for the safety of other drivers. When you factor in the extra precautions needed going through a construction zone these are downright life threatening to anyone within range of that driver! Either get with the program and follow the rules for safe driving or get off the road.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

Road Trips - Self Important People

Fire in the Sky
July 3, 2009

The past couple of days have been rather hard with the road trips. Friday, despite the ever present drizzle most folks I encountered were in rather pleasant moods. I find driving in Canada for the most part to be rather pleasant with the exception of my favourite city Toronto, the land of the honk the horn if a mosquito flies by. Honestly, Torontonians (did I call them babies in a previous post?) need to nix the horn! I managed to get a few great pictures of the countryside and my Alma Mater, pick-up local honey, . We are so lucky to live in an area with such beautiful eye candy! You would think it would put everyone in a good mood but apparently not so.

I was scheduled to pick-up my husband late Friday afternoon in the city. So that means a chance to pick-up a few things I can't get at home. The car behaved nicely on the way there as it should but when I started it after my first stop it made this horrid noise. I immediately thought the power steering fluid must be low so called my husband to let him know. I finished all my stops arriving where I was picking him up just a bit irritated with traffic, the car and timing. I had about 20 minutes to kill so pulled into the meeting spot and decided to check out the outdoor plant section of one store. I spotted a Brandywine (heirloom) tomato plant, like I really need another tomato plant, and an eggplant so grabbed my two purchases and headed to the check-out. All of a sudden Miss Self Important with a fully loaded nursery card almost ran me over trying to get to the check out. Had I been walking just a bit faster she would have hit me for sure!

Here I am with my two pithy plants while she had a good 10 flats plus extras! Do you think she could have let me go ahead of her and check-out like any other considerate shopper would do? NO! I stood there 10 minutes with my two plants while her and the check-out person chit chatted while the cash registered remained silent. I got frustrated with Miss Self Important and the check-out person but said nothing because I do strive to be polite but honestly there is a limit! I quietly put my plants down, all 2 of them and walked out a bit sadly because I really wanted them. About 5 minutes my husband arrived, we chatted then he added the power steering fluid then we drove by the outdoor garden centre. The same Miss Self Important was still there. Little does she know her rudeness cost that store a possible customer. They could seriously have the best plants around and I would still not shop there! Customer service would dictate that a polite "let me ring her through with 2 plants" before I "ring through your 100 plants" or even oh I don't know how about "another cashier"!

To Miss Self Important bad karma does follow you. I believe karma can be a b---- but I really do hope you enjoy your plants. You likely did me a favour by preventing me from buying diseased or unhealthy plants but I will never know that. In the mean time bad karma has been known to affect whether plants survive or not. See if you are so important that you cannot be considerate to your fellow human beings I really doubt you have a green thumb!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

Labour Stopages

On the Horizon
June 22, 2009

I woke in a lousy mood! There was no rhyme or reason for this mood other than another sinus attack but really in comparison to most this appears to be a rather mild attack. An excellent time to get a rant on is when you aren't feeling 100%. So it didn't take a whole lot after turning to my favourite Toronto news station cp24 to really tick me off. First the Toronto city workers are on strike.

Well, all right maybe those jobs could go to some of the many in Ontario that really would like a job. Their union is not doing them any favours. Heck, Windsor garbage workers have been out on strike for 11 weeks now. The striking workers under CUPE receive weekly strike pay from CUPE National Strike Fund which amounts to a mere pittance to their normal pay, only a few dollars a week. I heard a figure of $25 per week but that hasn't been confirmed. At best it is no more than $100 per week. So in these hard economic times you tell me who can afford to have their pay cut to a few dollars a week? How long can striking employees last before food and utilities come onto the chopping block? How long can before house costs (rent, mortgage) can no longer be met. The sad reality is there are going to be employee casualties out of this strike. Sadder still is the ones affected by the strike that depend on daycare. Some of those folks are going to end up losing jobs simply because they cannot find immediate replacement for the daycare they had already arranged. I should point out that unlike the last city workers strike in Toronto the pope or queen or any other dignitaries are not scheduled to visit so the city is not under any pressure to agree to anything. In fact this time it looks like they might just wait things out. Just perfect! Just what Ontario needs is more people out of work!

Now if that isn't bad enough both Bombardier and the LCBO are threatening strikes. Bombardier actually settled with the CAW this afternoon. The LCBO is scheduled to walk out at 12:01 AM Wednesday morning. Here's the thing, Bombardier did a responsible thing settling the labour dispute to the benefit of all. The LCBO well, who really cares? I'll bet beer and wine sales will soar. Yes they want job security but trust me anyone being self-employed has never had job security and some days earning $10 an hour would be a huge blessing! So get over yourself already. Anyone wanting alcohol in Ontario will have either stocked up by now or will go outside of Ontario. Those near provincial or US borders will simply go across and get what they want.

An LCBO strike is virtually meaningless aside of the fact it is the first one in their history. It will hurt hotels and restaurants but you know the Ontario government aka Dalton McGuinty doesn't really care about small business in Ontario and that apathy is wearing off on other Ontarioians. LCBO workers will try to get their demands heard on deaf ears while the Ontario government loses $5 million dollars per day for each day of the strike and you know where they are going to come to make that up, don't you? As far as I'm concerned liquour sales in this province should have been privatized a long time ago. The government no longer has to be paternalistic. I think we can think for ourselves, thank-you very much. But what the province is really saying is drink up so we can fund our hospitals but don't drink and drive wink wink because we don't want too many people in our hospitals.

Today, I found cp24 news irritating because of the sensationalization and the irrational people dumping garbage wherever. I mean come one, seriously how much garbage can some one create in one day? And how much can garbage stink in one day? The media is feeding into the fear of the people and people are reacting. For shame! People in Toronto are flipping out because their garbage has not been collected for a day. Give it a rest! Honestly! We have garbage pick-up once a week and recycle pick-up every other week. It is not uncommon for us to put our garbage out once a month or once every 6 weeks and then it is one small bag. Why? We have learned how to reduce garbage and if anything the citizens of Toronto need to learn is to reduce their garbage. Simply tossing it out in a container does not take care of the problem! Those self-centred inconsiderate imbeciles who think they can just drop their garbage anywhere well deserve the fines given and I might add I think during the strike those illegally dumping should have fines doubles. I'd love to see environmentalists get involved in this strike. Reducing the garbage put out would solve a lot of problems including not having to have as many garbage collectors. That way the city could hire extra day care workers to keep those who really want a job working!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

Dear Mr Google

Evening Moonrise
June 4, 2009

As many of you know I author five blogs. Since their inception they have continuously been modified and updated not only with respect to regular blog posts but also their over all design. The over all design involves the background, header, any titles, fonts and layout. All of my blogs use original graphics that I have made myself for the purpose of blogging. They help set the mood for my blogs. In addition to that all of my blogs have several as in almost every post original pictures I have taken myself or images I have created as part of my post. In addition to the design I try to provide quality content. Why does any of this matter?

In the world of blogging there is something called PR (page rank). That's determined by Google and it determines where you are in Google's search engin. It does fluctuate depending on the age of your blog and how you are maintaining it. Apparently a lot of bloggers are seeing their PR cut due to the new algorithim Google is using. So here lies the rant. In the last PR update Google saw fit to cut the PR on this blog and Canadian Perspective. They left the other blogs alone having decreased my gardening blog in their last update. Now this is despite regular updates, using appropriate keywords, creating what I feel are nice layouts and creating backlinks. So here is my open letter to them.

Dear Mr Google

I work hard to keep my blogs updated with good content displayed on what I feel are rather pleasing templates. Take a look at my side bar. See that Adsense listed there? Well that makes you money of which you give me a mere pittance despite me doing all the work. How fair is that? Cutting my PR means less traffic to this blog which ultimately means less money to you. Now I know the piddly little bit of money you make off of my blogs don't really matter to you in the big picture. Heck you already have enough money so you really don't need any more. So maybe I should just use my own form of PR for you and just eliminate those ads from my blogs. I'm sure my readers won't mind in the least!

Sincerely,

Garden Gnome


Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

A Sad Ending

Reflections
May 16, 2009

Several years back when our kids were pre-teens a little girl in the Detroit area went missing. At the time I followed the story of this little one. Unfortunately the outcome was not good. I cried for the family then was horrified when it later came out that the mother had been involved. I'm sorry that is just not something I can understand! Mothers and fathers are supposed to protect their children from harm. I know that just the sheer act of giving birth to a child does not make you a parent but the instinct to protect your child from harm begins for most the moment you find out you are expecting.

Once again I have been following the story of little Victoria (Tori) Stafford who was 8 years old when she was abducted in Woodstock, Ontario on April 8, 2009. Again the outcome is the worst case scenerio. Two individuals are now in custody with the 28 year old male charged with abduction and murder while the 18 female charged with abduction and accessory to murder. There is some indication her charge will be updated to murder as well even though she is helping police in locating Tori's remains.

I've been very active in trying to get the word out to bring this little girl home. Because of that I have refrained from passing judgement against the parents of Tori. I'm sorry, the following is going to sound very harsh but it echos what others have already been saying and it is my gut feeling.


Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

Entrecard Refuses to Remove My Blogs!

I requested the removal of all of my blogs from the entrecard system on March 16 (why here). I received 14 messages from them saying Mom's Cafe Home Cooking had been removed. This was the principle account with all other blogs linked to it. Today I received a message that an advertisement was waiting for approval. How could that be when my account was supposed to be deleted. Searching I found that only my primary blog had been deleted but not the linked blogs. This is priceless!

My Journey http://entrecard.com/details/88967
Garden Gnome Wanderings http://entrecard.com/details/108591
Garden Gnome at Home http://entrecard.com/details/88999
Canadian Perspective http://entrecard.com/details/104909

Now this raises a few questions. Why were these blogs not deleted from entrecard's system as I requested? Could it be they left these blogs on their system to inflate how many blogs are actually in the system to attract paid advertisers? Does Graham not know how to use the delete key? Does he not care that members are still trying to buy adverts on my blogs and without my approval the ads will run in 10 days meaning that member paid for advertising that will not be shown because I have removed the widgets?

Here's what I think. These four blogs were intentionally left in the entrecard system to make it appear to advertisers that there are more blogs in the system then there actually are. This really is a last ditched effort for entrecard that has already been predicted not to work. Several well known bloggers have already written on why this is destined for failure including this well respected blogger. Graham has decided to run paid advertising on the entrecard widget 50% of the time which means objectionable and undesirable content can appear on a member's website causing them to lose readers and possible breaking the TOS of other advertising they may already have on their blog. In short he is seeing member's blogs as his personal advertising space to do with what he pleases. He is losing quite a few bloggers who weathered it through his last fiasco over banning a member for a Twitter comment about his hat. Now some blog hosts such as Today.com will not be able to use the entrecard widget which means a lot more blogs are going to be leaving.

Graham does not understand that entrecard only exists because of bloggers and bloggers can certainly take it down. Bloggers can blog about it and he can't censor as he is so very famous for. He can't even comment on blogs unless the blogger wants him to because he taught us bloggers what censorship was all about, a lesson that won't be forgotten any time soon. Graham does not care about members period and he has made that abundantly clear over and over with his actions on the entrecard forums, his relationship with employees and volunteers behind the scenes, and his moderators on the forum. He's rude, obnoxious and very,very immature. More importantly he is running scared right now because the end for entrecard is right around the corner. I for one am looking forward to entrecard's demise!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

Skip This Ad Advertisements

No Drops

This post is meant mainly for Entrecard members but I'm sure other web surfers can relate to what I'm saying. For those unfamiliar with Entrecard, this is a social networking site for bloggers that allows you to drop your 125x125 card (similar to a business card) to say hi, I visited your blog. Bloggers participating in Entrecard can be identified by the widget on their blog that has a yellow bar with a brown "E" with a "drop" or "get one" beside it and a guest blogger's card above (see side panel). In addition to dropping you can advertise your blog on other blogs with the credits earned from dropping. It's a fun way to promote your blog while visiting other blogs.

[rant]
I author five blogs, four of which are in the Entrecard system. I try to do regular drops on all the blogs with the lion's share of 300 going to my cooking blog and anywhere from 50 to 100 each going to my other blogs including this one on a daily basis. That means on any given day I visit 450 or more blogs. I do a lot of commenting as well subscribing to my favourite blogs. Over the past couple of months I have noticed a number of blogs using the advertising as pictured. There are a couple of things wrong with this. First and foremost it is against Entrecard's TOS and can get you site removed if someone complains. That means you lose your hard earned credits. Second and most important, I the reader do not feel I should have to jump through any hoops to read your blog. I'd really like to read your blog and comment but I just don't feel I should have to click an ad to do so. I personally do not bother reporting such blogs. Instead I simply will not click the ad nor will I visit your blog. What I will do is put your blog on my blacklist of blogs not to visit. Once it is on that list, that's it. Even if you remove the offending ad I would never know because I stopped visiting. Even if I click your url I won't see your blog because it is on the blacklist. Your blog simply won't load until I remove it from the blacklist. Now you can have the best content in the world and the cutest designed blog BUT you have lost a reader. You've lost traffic that is important when I realize I'm only one reader and not all that important to your success as a blogger but if I'm offended by having to click an ad before I can read your blog then you can be sure others are too. You've missed the point that readers ARE what you want. No blogger can afford losing readers.
[/rant]

Seriously, you need to ditch that "skip this ad" advertising! Change it for something where your blog is the first thing your readers see. There's all kinds of ad programs out there that are not an in your face click me first advertising. Your readers will thank you by reading your blog, commenting and subscribing to your blog. That's what you really want.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

The Delay

Emergency Crews

We have a lot of travel experience yet it still amazes me some of the seriously bonehead ways of other drivers. We were traveling along Michigan's I-94 in some rather nasty road conditions. There was no doubt that visibility was greatly reduced and the road conditions were icy. For the most part drivers were slowed down leaving plenty of space between themselves and the next vehicle. Still there were those "I'm important" drivers that insisted on passing in a passing lane unfit to drive in and more often than not would hit the brakes to get back into the better driving lane. I shuddered each time I saw this. It would only take hitting the brakes a little harder than they thought or hitting an ice patch or dry pavement to send the car spinning out of control. What really bothered me is when it was clear there was a problem ahead so traffic was stop and go.

Honestly what is it with some drivers who feel they still have to put others at risk when it is obvious that there is a problem ahead. It doesn't matter how many unsafe lane changes, horn honks, near accidents or obscene gestures they make they are not going to get where they are going any faster until whatever is slowing the traffic clears. These folks need to seriously chill and be thankful that they are not the cause for the delay or the cause for complicating the delay.

We were in the stop and go traffic for a good 40 minutes when we finally arrived at the scene pictured above. It was a horrible accident with lanes blocked and obviously with serious injuries and one or more fatalities. So to the people in such a rush to get through the blockage that they put others on the road at risk, I hope you took a good look at what the delay was all about. Thank your lucky stars it wasn't you and realize your day was 100% better than the day the occupants of those vehicles involved in the accident were having!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2008