Pet peeve of the day

Dear on-line shopping department of far too many stores I've bought from recently and not so recently,

I am writing because I have a complaint. I appreciate you have a job to do and that it's your business to keep your company fresh and relevant in my life. I'm sure you also realise that not everyone wants to be bombarded with emails advertising your latest and greatest. This is why you have the option to uncheck and opt out of those email.

My question is: WHY DO YOU BOTHER GIVING THIS OPTION IF YOU ARE JUST GOING TO IGNORE MY WISHES!!!!!

Sincerely,
Annoyed email recipient.

CBC Family night??

Tonight I saw that Aladdin was playing on CBC starting at 7pm. Oh wait... on your channels it was probably at 5pm but we in Pang get our CBC feed from Edmonton so we are on Mountain time rather than Eastern as we should be. But anyway... Since Aladdin is my favorite Disney movie I thought I'd let Oliver stay up past bedtime so we could watch it together.

So, the movie began at 7. At 7:13 there was a 4 minute commercial break. (is it just me or is 4 minutes way too long?) The movie played again for 7 minutes and there was another 4 minute commercial. Then 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes of commercials this time. In total there was just a touch over 30 minutes of selling going on during a 90 minute movie.

Ok, I'm not oblivious to the fact that you should expect to be sold something while watching TV. The reason I'm blogging about this? CBC has the nerve to call it Family Sunday. A quote from commercial break number 2: "What you're watching might just bring your family closer together". I doubt it! How many young kids do you know easily sit through a 90 minute movie at the best of times? To expect them to sit through these overly long breaks after only a few minutes of the actual show is a formula for distraction and frustration on every one's part. It's a joke.

On top of having too many breaks, the same ads are played over and over and over again. Even outside of tonight, this has always been one of the most annoying things about watching CBC. If I'd ever thought of watching 'Heartland', seeing the trailer 8 times in the span of one movie is certain to change my mind. And how many times do I need to see that woman's thong on the 'In Security' trailer? Steven and Chris, Best Recipes Ever.... 8 times in two hours? I don't want to watch any of these shows now.

It should be no surprise that O lost interest quickly and ended up in bed at the usual time. And he's a kid that will usually sit through a movie. After the second commercial he asked where the show went and asked to go read a story instead. We did Tivo it so perhaps we'll try watching it next Sunday while they show Pocahontas. At least I'll be able to fast forward the commercials. Maybe then it will keep every one's interest and actually have a chance of bringing the family closer together. Thanks to Tivo, not CBC.

I'm being cyber-stalked.

I thought it was a little creepy when Facebook started suggesting sites to me based on the words I had used in my status update. I'm pretty tolerant when it comes to these type of breaches of privacy because I just choose not to get worked up about the sliding level of what is accepted. Having said that, the FB suggestions where boarding on 'over the line', even for me.

Today something happened that makes that creepiness seem like nothing. I went shopping and bought a couple things at Old Navy. The cashier asked for my email address and I said no and that I didn't want to get ads or anything and she completed the sale. Then when I got home I checked my email. Sitting in my inbox was an email from Old Navy with a copy of my in-store receipt. The email says I requested this which of course I did not. Their computer obviously recognised my credit card number from previous website purchases and sent me the receipt as a way to get in touch. The email tells me that by receiving the email I have subscribed to get their email ads and promos too. They're sneaky. I now have to respond to the email if I want to get off their list. I can imagine they end up with quite a few new names on their mailing list by pulling this on people.

I'm thinking I may email them and make a complaint but I would bet that somewhere on my Old Navy Online Profile I've agreed to allow this type of thing. I didn't read the fine print so it really is my own fault. Even so, extremely creepy!

Foodmail Rant

I am so annoyed with Foodmail!!

As of October 1st the foodmail program has changed and many of the things they used to allow are no longer included. The general goal is to make the choices healthier and not cover things that are not considered good for you. Fine. I get that. But they seem to have a skewed view on what things fall under this category.

Things that are no longer allowed: Sour cream, bacon, Kraft dinner. Annoying but I guess I can agree. These are not the healthiest choices.

More things that you can't get anymore: Chickpeas, hummus, brushetta, cream cheese, dry pasta noodles.  

But yet you can still get: Delissio Pizzas and Hungry Man frozen dinners.

Pasta not healthy? In moderation, it's a staple in most balanced diet plans. And in what world is a frozen pizza healthier than hummus? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy they still include pizzas because they cost $17 each at the northern. But I seriously can't get chickpeas? Since when are they not healthy? Hungry Man dinners! They are not only disgusting but a heart attack waiting to happen with their 'One Pound of Food'.

I just don't get it. Grrrrrrr.

Fuming

Warning: This post is way off topic to my usual Mommy Musings.

As you all know the G20 is going on in Toronto right now and I watched some of the protest coverage yesterday while O was napping. I can't say how angry it makes me to watch those idiots smash in windows, throw rocks and bricks and burn police cars. If you ever had any interest in catching mine, or anyone else's attention for your cause you lost that chance after the first rock was thrown. I'm personally not a fan of the protesting as a way of getting your point across anyway since most of the time you end up with a few extremists who ruin it for everyone. The legitimate groups get thrown in with the thugs and they all lost their ability to do good. But that's just my opinion.

BUT. The outrage that I feel this today isn't technically because of the damage caused. It's the fact that I hear that neither the City of Toronto, the province of Ontario or the federal government are going to help the shop owners who have lost windows and potentially merchandise in all this (The news this morning reported little to no looting going on however so hopefully it's just windows in most cases) And on a grander scale, I'm angry that these governments have chosen to even host this event in the downtown area of Toronto. Having spent over a billion dollars on security and having employed 30,000 (I think was the number) of officers on the streets to police the protesters, they obviously anticipated trouble. Should there not have been a fund put aside for the shop owners who where inevitably going to lose in this deal? Should they have to foot the bill for repairs along with the loss of revenue they are having to endure because they are too afraid to open or they are in the restricted zone so there wouldn't be anybody shopping anyway? 

The waste of money for this event is staggering. I think that billion dollars would have been better spent on the maternal health initiative or meeting the debt reduction goals our government is so anxious to put into motion. Why not have the meetings on an army base as some have suggested? My thought was that Toronto must have a warehouse in the middle of nowhere where they could be contained and easily surrounded for safety. Or what about teleconference. Hell, Skype is free people! and no security required! Ok that's a bit extreme but so is what they've chosen to do.

I'm not sure how eloquent or together my writing is here but I think I get my point out. I sincerely hope today is a much better day than yesterday and the yahoo's decide to stay home but I honestly don't hold out hope for that. Only time will tell.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming. Mommy post to follow.

Is The Honeymoon Over?

I really hate complainers. Things can't be that bad, do something about it or just shut up already. I think I need to take my own advice because I'm becoming one of those hated people. I can see it happening like I'm watching myself from outside my body.... Do I need a reality check? Do I just need to suck it up? Is my honeymoon with the north over?


As you know I've had a few complaints of late with the state of health care in Nunavut. I also have complaints I haven't talked about involving Nick's work, the airlines, the mail system, our housing....Yesterday, I went to get my drivers license switched to show our Pang address instead of the Dorset address and was told it could be up to a year to get the new one. In the meantime they were going to keep the old card in exchange for a printer receipt that doesn't have a license number or anything official to show that it's more than something I kept from my last trip to Walmart. Since I'll be heading down south in a few weeks and will be renting a car and driving on highways, I didn't think giving up my real license was a good idea. So I cancelled the request and will probably just keep the Dorset address for the duration of our life in the territory.


So yet again, I'm complaining about how inefficient things are up here. Yet again I'm whining about things I thought I accepted as part of choosing to live here. I have secretly (and not so secretly) chastised people in the last couple of years for these types of complaints knowing these types of things are just part of the northern lifestyle. So why has my attitude changed?


 Is it possible that how I feel is a normal progression? Kind of like the 5 stages of grief, is there an attitude curve of sorts for northern living. First you find the differences shocking but you quickly move on to feeling the inefficiencies add to the charm of the slower pace of your new life. Next, your ability to not freak out becomes kind of a badge of honor that you show off to newcomers who are still feeling things out. Then you move on to the stage that I'm in where you're just at the end of your tolerance level and are just annoyed with everything. Finally you come to the bliss of a long time resident where it's just normal to you to have to give blood 2 or 3 times for the same test because it never made it to Iqaluit for evaluation. It doesn't bother you, it just IS.


There are so many things that I love about living here and am thankful for the opportunities that the slower pace allows but sometimes my anger just gets the better of me. I'm going to make a better effort to stay positive and try and remember the good when the bad rears it's ugly head. I still have at least two years to live here and I don't want it to be a mental hardship. By nature I'm a positive person, up for anything and easy going. I don't want her to be lost in this chronic complainer that has emerged. I strive to find that last stage in order to maintain my sanity.

In the news....

This subject has been bouncing around the news and the not so legitimate news for a few days. I'm sure you've seen it by now....The 8 and 9 year old girls that did their dance routine to Beyonce's 'Put a Ring on it' wearing very little clothing? Since this is for the most part a Mommy Blog, I thought I'd put my thoughts as a mommy in writing.

I will be the first to say that 99% of the time when these types of stories come on the news I'm on the side of 'Give me a Break... Do you not have anything better to do than to worry about stuff like that?' So being true to form, my first reaction was just that. Now that I've seen the video 20 times or so, on every channel, I'm not feeling the same way. I really don't think I'd want my daughter in that routine. I of course don't hold any fault to the girls in this. I'm sure they worked really hard practising and there is no denying the talent that made them do that routine as well as they did. They were really very good. What I have a problem with is how the parents are saying that it is being taken 'out of context' and that 'it wasn't meant for public consumption'. Wake up people! Do you really think that nobody was going to tape it and it would get out? These things always do now a days.

When I see the real music video played along side the girls' you can't help but notice that even Beyonce is wearing more clothes than these kids are. And I'm not a prude, I know dance costumes are usually skimpy. I think it's the combination of the bumping and grinding and the half naked children that put it over the line for me. Would more clothes make me feel better about the whole thing? I think it would actually. 

Anyway, maybe I'm just getting old. I don't know. I'm not outraged about it, I think in the grand scheme of things it isn't that huge a deal. I don't think these kids are going to be scarred for life or anything. I just feel the parents and the choreographer of this dance could have made a better choice considering they were dealing with kids at that age. Isn't there enough sexualisation of age groups that have no business being sexualized? I can just see the pedophiles out there making this a go-to in their video library. Putting it in that context, I would definitly not want my daughter in that routine. 

But maybe it's just me.

** You'll notice I didn't add a link to the video as I usually would. Considering my stance on the whole thing I thought to do so would be hypocritical. If you haven't seen it and want to, I'm sure it's easy enough to find.

He went to Jared!

I'm watching the Bachelor and writing a post about the fever Oliver had today and thinking that it could be the worst, most boring post I've ever writen. Lucky for you, during the last commercial break there was a 30 second spot where this guy was telling the story of how he met his girlfriend and at the end, he asked her to marry him (with a diamond from Jared of course) so now I'm going to blog about that.

Call me traditional but I think a proposal should be between 2 people and not for millions during a bad reality show. The same goes with proposals at hockey games, at family reunions, in restaraunts.... or any other public venues. Even if you're really sure and would of course say yes, I think the pressure of everyone watching makes it so much less special. Can you imagine being proposed to where all of North America is asked to log on to some website to see if you said yes? I think that's mortifying. Maybe it's just me. Then again, who am I to judge, I'm watching the Bachelor which may be the worst show ever put on TV. But I do love watching crazy woman make fools of themselves on TV.  I should really turn it off and go read a book or something.

Off topic... how is it that all 25 of the woman fall in love with the guy? None of them meet him and say, you know, he's great but he's just not my type. Great casting? I think it's more like surpreme female competition. 

Does Sally really need their help?

I logged into Facebook a few minutes ago and was reading through my home page. Something down the right hand side of the page caught my eye.... under the 'suggestions' tab. It says,"Sally Smith. She has only 18 friends on Facebook. Suggest friends for her."

Am I the only one that finds that incredibly wrong? Sally (not the real name of course) is some one who uses Facebook for one reason, to see pictures of her Granddaughter. She has a few (17 apparently) other friends that she's picked up here and there but she's obviously not the usual obsessed patron. Does it seem right that Facebook is recruiting friends for her? Why does the suggestion feel like it's saying Facebook feels sorry for her? It makes me feel strange.

Maybe it's just me.

I'm here to save your sanity

This was my latest Facebook status update.

Morena Kelly Steeves Thank god I finally figured out how to get rid of certain people from my homepage. Some people's status updates are just tooo much. I couldn't stand it anymore.

My FB homepage is one of my first stops when I log on to my computer in the morning. I admit that I check it several times a day and always come up annoyed. My biggest pet peeve is the announcement of how John Smith is doing in Bejeweled . Or that Sally Doe got 100% on her 80's movie quiz. Farmville, and Mafia Wars... it goes on and on. Then there are the people who post the flowery, 'Oprah'-ish updates about how wonderful everything is that make me wonder if they are trying to hide how truly unhappy they really are. And I'm sure everyone has someone who posts updates that are just too personal or that you can tell they are just begging to be asked what's up? Do I really need to know the details of your latest breakup by only reading your updates?

Well it's seems I'm not the only one because I got MANY comments on my status asking how I achieved this state of utter bliss. I'm guessing that if so many of my FB friends wanted this knowledge I figured you out there in blog land might want it too. So here it is.

When you see an annoying update on your homepage, hover your mouse over the post. On the right hand side you'll see the word 'Hide' appear. Click on it and you'll get the option to hide the person or the application or both. The level of satisfaction is high and immediate. You will probably have recurrences as FB comes up with new things but it seems you'll only have to do it once. I now have a wonderfully readable page with updates from people I actually want to hear about. Oh, and by the way, if you ever want to bring anyone back up you can go to the bottom of your homepage and click 'edit posts'. It will give you the option to add people back in.

So that's my public service for the day. I hope this knowledge gives you the happiness that it has given me.

Missing the good old days

I remember the days when I rode around in the 'very back' of my parents station wagon. Somehow we survived being back there without seat belts. I could also ride my bike, without a helmet. Ironically, I was not allowed to be without fenders but the helmet, never an issue. Roller skating? No knee pads, no elbow pads, no problem. Of course in 2009, none of those things would fly. And as a parent, I get it. Times have changed and most of the time those changes are for the best.

Having said that, I still have a rant. WHY HAVE BABY WALKERS BEEN OUTLAWED!?! You remember them. The modern day excersaucer that back in the good old days had WHEELS! Now that's a fun toy. I'm sure lots of kids went down the stairs in them, including me I think. But is that a reason for them to be gone from Canadian stores? Can't we just be more careful?

Luckily, the american authorities have not yet seen fit to remove the best toy ever from the market. And even more lucky, we had someone who was willing to brave the border guards in order to smuggled one back for Mr. O and he loves it. For the record, it's a main floor toy only so there is no chance of him going down any stairs.


My connection will remain nameless but we thank you. :)