Hello? Is anybody home?

Over the last few months a representative from MTS Allstream has been leaving us messages on our answering machine regarding our "account". According to the message, there is an outstanding balance on our account that we must rectify to avoid a disruption to our service.

Up until a day or two ago, we have been ignoring these messages. Not because we don't want to rectify the outstanding balance, but because we don't have an "account" with MTS Allstream. In fact, up until today we didn't even know what they did or what kind of service they provide.

My wife decided to call the rep back to let them know that they have the wrong number. The rep who has been calling us was busy, so she spoke with another rep.

MTS Allstream apparently provides communications (phone service?) They have our number on file as the business number for Sophistication. This doesn't come as a complete surprise to us. Sophistication was a bridal clothing store. For the last four years, we've been receiving phone calls every spring from women looking for bridal gowns and/or prom dresses. You used to be able to find our number using Google. It took a few emails to various business listing web sites to get it removed. Now it seems that I can only find it using Yahoo.

Anyway, my wife told the rep that our number is residential, we've had it for four years, it does not belong to Sophistication, we have nothing to do with that business, nor have we ever had anything to do with that business, and that they can remove our number from their system.

The reply she received was "We'll see what we can do."

My wife then clarified that she wasn't asking them to remove it, she was telling them to remove it. It's our home number and they have no business calling it. They will never get in touch with Sophistication by calling it.

I don't know what else was said, but my wife said that the rep didn't seem as pleasant after that.

It wouldn't surprise me if the calls don't stop because they think that we're bullshitting them to avoid paying whatever the oustanding balance Sophistication owes them.

I hope I'm there to answer the phone the next time they call. I'll be polite. I'm really curious what they they're hoping to gain by continuing to call. I'll tell them that they're more than welcome to send someone to our home to verify that they are indeed calling a residential number. I'll also going to ask them if they have a contact name and address on file for Sophistication.

$10 says they're not mine.

Great Mileage

A recent study found the average Canadian walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found Canadians drink, on average, 22 gallons of beer a year.

That means, on average, Canadians get about 41 miles to the gallon.

Makes you proud to be a Canadian, eh?

(I have no idea if those stats are real... it's just funny)

Drive-thru follies

Image via WikipediaWe pulled into Tim Horton's this morning, the same as we do every morning, to get our coffees before I drop my wife off at work.

This particular Timmy's is a small one, with two drive-thrus (driver and passenger sides) and no seating inside the building. There is, however, a counter to place and receive your order.

We always use the passenger side drive-thru. I place the order, pull up to the window, and my wife pays and gets our coffee. That is how a passenger side drive-thru is supposed to work.

This morning, like many other mornings, some nimrod drivers alone in their vehicle used the passenger side drive-thru and held everyone up with their stupidity.

Now, if you can pull up real close to the window and reach across with your payment and get your order without the Timmy's employee having to lean out the window, it's not that big of a deal.

What drives me crazy is the two examples we saw this morning.

1. Moron pulls up to the window, stopping 2 feet short, and leaving 2 feet distance betweeen his car and the window. He then GETS OUT of his car and walks up to the window to complete the transaction. My wife summed it up perfectly. If you're going to get out of your car anyway, park it in a spot and walk inside to get your damn order.
2. This guy was immediately after moron #1. He pulled up beside the window, but left at least 2 feet between his car and the window. He then reached over the passenger seat, and out the passenger window to pay the girl. She practically had to hang out the window to reach for his payment and to hand him the tray of two coffees.
   

Why is Tim Horton's condoning this practice by serving these people? I'm sure there used to be a sign that said they wouldn't serve people at the drive-thru window if they weren't in a car. I'll have to look for it again, because if they'd enforce that, it would take care of morons like #1. As for #2, they need a new sign that says:

** ONLY VEHICLES WITH AN OCCUPIED PASSENGER SEAT WILL BE SERVED AT THIS DRIVE-THRU **

It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing.

Sometimes there's an old lady who walks her dog to this Tim Hortons, and instead of tying her dog outside and walking inside, she walks up to the drive-thru window and places her order there, which usually involves butting in line.

PCmover download link -- found it!

I finally found the download link for PCmover. Their site is so slow that the main page never finished loading. Try here for the download.

Free software = good. Making it difficult to find = bad

Laplink is giving away its PCmover software for free today only. If you can make it to their site (which is painfully slow) and find where to download it for free, that is.

PCmover is the only migration utility that moves programs, files, and settings from your old PC to your new PC. Simply install PCmover on both your old and new computers and go! PCmover will determine which programs, files, and settings need to be moved, and when the transfer is complete, your new computer will have the personality and functionality of your old PC plus all of its own pre-installed software. Works with almost any Windows operating system, from Windows 95 to Vista.

You can read all about it here.

Vent Cleaning

As a side note to our vent squirrel adventure, I must say that our bathroom vent looks amazingly clean now, assuming that the critter didn't take a crap in the vent. I think everyone should run a squirrel down their vent to clean it out. Try and find a fat one.

Vent Critter - The Final Chapter

Image via WikipediaMy wife woke me up early this morning to tell me that she didn't hear anything all night, and didn't hear anything come from the bathroom this morning.

I went downstairs to listen at the bathroom door.

Our visitor was rummaging around in the bathroom. I could hear him.. or her. It sounded like it was on the counter.

We set up our plywood barricade, left the front door open, and I carefully opened the bathroom door and waited. We opened it more. And waited. We opened it all the way. And waited. I turned on the bathroom light. More waiting.

More noise. A plastic wrap rustling sound. Flipping magazine pages sound. We thought that perhaps it got into the cupboard underneath the sink. Reading magazines? Although we had it blocked off with a case of coke, there was still a space between the doors and the cabinet where it could have squeezed in.

I stepped over our barricade and carefully pulled the case of coke away from the cupboard door. Back over the barricade and used a grabber thing to reach in and open one of the doors.

No squirrel. More sound. I tried for a few minutes to open the other door but it was stuck.

All of a sudden, it scurried out from the corner on the right. It must have been sitting in the corner the whole time, watching me move the case of coke.

It ran behind the toilet.

We waited, yet again.

Enough. Sandra handed me a long strip of wood and I poked behind the toilet to spook it out. Nothing.

After few more minutes of waiting, he or she came out from behind the garbage can, out into the open.

It was a red squirrel. I forgot they had grey bellies. Cute little thing.

It stood there wondering what to do. We stood watching it, wondering what to do. We called our son over to come see it. After a few "awwwwwws", it stood on its hind legs looking up at the counter.

Could it contemplating a return to its ceiling vent hideaway?

It jumped up onto the counter and again looked up at the ceiling, where the open vent was.

Hell no... you little bastard, it's time to go!

I still had the grabber in my hand. I stuck it in the bathroom door and whacked it (the grabber, not the squirrel) on the door frame a few times to scare it off the counter.

It scurried around on the counter for a brief moment trying to get a grip and fell off onto the floor. After a brief pause, it ran out into the hall in front of us... paused... then scooted out the door.

It barely made it out before Sandra slammed the door on its furry little ass.

Mission accomplished.

I would have had pictures, but getting the squirrel out was a priority, so taking photos was the last thing on my mind.

Sandra still wants the exterminator to come and screen off the access on the roof. I suggested calling the management office to let them know the squirrel was gone, to give them the option of doing it themselves.

Regardless, something has to be done today so we don't end up with a repeat of our adventure.