This Just In...

News item: the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana, has a problem.

The majority of people responding to a survey wish to name a new Government building after a former mayor, Harry Baals.

I don't make this stuff up!

I couldn't make this up!

Well, yeah I could, but I didn't!

Honest!

Full story here and video here.

DJW

Sometimes this stuff just writes itself.

Nuclear Shmooclear

Big hullabaloo in the news.

Bruce Nuclear in Ontario has 16 radioactive generators that need recycling.

The only place that does this kind of work (gotta admit, it's kind of specialized) is in Sweden, 1/2 a world away.

So lets load them on boats and send off to be reborn as glow in the dark Swiss watches, right?

Wrong, the Mayors of 70 some odd cities along the shipping route don't want them going past their towns.

Afraid of the danger.

The experts all say the amount of nuke is similar to a chest x-ray.

Well, are they offering solutions?

Nope.

How about loading them on trucks and driving them across the frozen tundra of the north next winter?

There could be a TV series: Ice Road Nukes.

Or maybe swarms of Pegasus's (Pegasii?) could carry them aloft to their final destination.

Oh, Oh! I got it!

Put the names of all the offended cities in a hat, draw out 16 names, and they get to store one each for perpetuity.

Bloody idiots.

DJW

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

False Remembrance

This is of course the time of year for remembrance.
With the end of WWII now 65 years past, and Korea 57 years gone, our aging Veterans are becoming ghosts.

Since Korea, over 200 Canadian Servicemen and Women have lost their lives in Peacekeeping roles and Afghanistan.

Since 1922, The Royal Canadian Legion's annual Poppy Campaign has raised funds to support disabled, and now aged, Veterans. That loose change that you contribute to buy a poppy (or if you're like most of us, several because you lose them) every year goes directly to Veterans in your community.

And we all know what the Poppy looks like. The familiar image at the right is what we are all used to.

I'm a frequent flier at Canada's most popular coffee and pastry chain, and I've noticed this week, that staff at many of the stores are wearing a stylized poppy on their tops and visors similar to the one below...

A closer look reveals its a sticker!

I was served by a Manager today and asked him what was up with the poppy stickers. He said that the poppy pin falls off a lot and gets lost, so Corporate set them up with sheets of these stickers for staff to wear.

They aren't even buying them from the Legion!

Cheaters.

And further, every one of the outlets I've been in this week has a box of poppies on the counter!

I put a quarter in the box and gave the Manager a poppy.

DJW

At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember Them.

Dang, Another Delay

It seems the end is not so near after all.

Yahoo News reports that there may have been a mistake in the Mayan Calendar, and the world may not end on December 21st, 2012. (Interestingly, my 21st Wedding Anniversary.)

It says that there may be an error of between 50 to 100 years.

So either the end has been delayed, or it's already happened.

I guess I'll have to keep up with my taxes after all.

DJW

Sign seen on a coin operated air pump, Air $1.00, HST included.
Yes, they have found a way to tax air.

It Happens

Construction.

The saying goes, "We have two seasons here, winter, and construction."

Well, I'm here to tell you folks, that ain't so anymore.

Surveying is, I lost count, my 4th or 5th career, and is the one I should have started with. I've been at it now more than a decade, and have never been laid off in the winter. For the last 10 years, I've worked for a municipality, and I've worked winters.

My colleagues have witnessed me with icicles hanging from my eyelashes, and my coffee has frozen in the cup before I could finish it.

The point is construction is year round now, just more difficult in the colder months.

More to the point is, people complain.

They complain about how rough the road is, then they complain when we tear it up to fix it.

They complain about watermain breaks then complain when we make a mess to replace it.

They complain when the road isn't wide enough then complain we we close lanes while we make it wider.

I was working today (Saturday), preparing for watermain construction, when a lady pulled up and asked what we were up to. When I told her, she swore at me and drove off.

Construction needs to happen folks. Aging infrastructure needs replacing and upgrading, (Walkerton, anyone?)

We do our best to limit the impact of construction on the local residents and businesses. We send out notices, hold meetings, and post signs. When the work is happening, we do our best to accommodate those directly involved, the residents and businesses where we are working.

Those just passing through just have to put up with it.

We've worked Saturday's and Sunday's.

We've worked nights on long weekends to keep roads open in the daytime.

We go out of our way to keep people happy while we disrupt the general routine.

I once went and bought bottled water to supply a daycare while we repaired their water service.

We hear a lot of complaints, and few compliments...

...and the end result is usually an improvement on the quality of life.

DJW

This was an actual Public Service Message from an actual Public Servant.

How to Regruntle a Disgruntled Customer

Only I would go out to buy a washing machine and come home with a fridge.

O.K. We.

M.D.B. was involved with this.

Anyhow, the washer was dead, and laundromats are mostly for losers and apartment dwellers, (we were there for a few months to assess ) so we went in search of a new unit.

M.D.B. did what she does well, investigated what was the best value, and off we went on a an appliance safari.

One of the major players had a, "Don't pay a cent event" on, but we don't have a credit history with them, so they didn't want to play.

Another chain didn't have the brands we wanted.

A third chain had what we wanted, in stock, and ready to go. I had been dealing with them since 1989. So lets write it up. While M.D.B sat with the 'Sales Associate', I wandered. In the scratch and dent section was a small fridge for $140. With our current domestic lineup we are going through a lot of fresh veggies and fluids every day, requiring thrice weekly shopping trips. A second fridge (our main is 17 cubes of all fridge) would be useful. We could use this one for fluids, (including beer) and save the main fridge for food stuffs.

Then the "Sales Associate' came back to us. Because we don't have a major credit card, he couldn't help us. Never mind the 20+ year history I have with the chain.

Fine.

Let's take the fridge for cash and go.

We take the fridge home, let it sit, plug it in, and let it work overnight.

Still warm in the a.m.

Still warm in the p.m.

We bought it 'as is.'

This isn't going to be easy.

So I load it back into the van, and all the way to the store I am going over my script.

"I know I bought it as-is. But I bought a refrigerator. This is a storage cabinet."

...or...

"I bought it yesterday. If I don't get a refund, I will stand in the middle of your store and tell everyone in a very loud voice... and I can be very loud... how they will be on their own as soon as you have their money"

When I get to the store, I loaded the unit onto my own dolly, and wheeled it through the front door. Right to the customer service desk. (By the way, this is a bar/hotel sized fridge. I am not Lou Ferrigno.)

The cheerful lass behind the desk chirps the obligatory, "Can I help you?"

Me: "I bought this fridge yesterday, and it doesn't work" and I produce the receipt.

Cheerful Lass: "Would you like a refund?"

Me: "Um, ya."

C.L.: "O.K." and proceeds to punch a bunch of info into a a computer.

C.L.: "Can you wait her a sec, while I go talk to my manager?"

Me: "O.K."... Here it comes.

A few minutes later, Cheerful Lass emerges, and utters the following statement... "Sir, I see you've been a customer here a long time. So we will give you a new fridge, at the scratch and dent price.

Me: "Ah, O.K."

C.L. " And I see you live in another city, would you like us to ship it to our store there? It would be there the day after tomorrow."

Me: "Ah, ah O.K."

C.L. "O.K. You can pick it up after 4p.m., the day after tomorrow."

Me: "Ah, ah, ah, thanks."

And sure enough, the day after tomorrow, there was a brand new fridge in a box waiting for me at my local The Brick store.

So kudos to The Brick Burlington. Good customer service gets you repeat customers.

For the record, one week later, we bought our new washer/dryer at The Brick, paid cash, and deliberately snubbed the first 'Sales Associate.'

DJW

Service is half the sale!

Grief is a Journey

A year ago today my life and lives of my family changed forever.

Ma, Nan, Great-Nan, Sister, Auntie M.

Gone.

A constant in all our lives was no more.

Replaced by a new constant.

We have all heard of the seven stages of grief, and we all know we will go through them. Usually in some degree by the time we are 10. A pet, a grandparent, a friend of the family. An unfortunate part of growing up and learning about life is learning about about death.

The Seven Stages are:

1. Shock & Denial
2. Pain & Guilt
3. Anger & Bargaining
4. Depression, Reflection & Loneliness
   
5. The Upward Turn
6. Reconstruction & Working Through
7. Acceptance & Hope (source recover-from-grief.com but they are all pretty much the same)
   

There. Just like that. In that order. Like assembly instructions for a bar-b-cue.

Well, either I'm doing it wrong or the instructions are wrong.

I've already completed up to Steps 4a, 6a & b, and Step 7a. My Step 5 is missing and Step 7b doesn't apply.

I'm still working on Step 4b & c.

Today normally I would be visiting Pa and giving him a funny card, some scratch lottery tickets (Cash for Life to spite Ma) and crosswords. Ma would be fussing over us and getting us drinks and cookies and trying to slip cash in our pockets when we weren't looking. I would be telling him about all the features of my first ever brand new lawnmower, a gift from M.D.B. and all The Thing's. Later Ma would call at suppertime (whenever that was, I never knew how she did that) to tell us how much they enjoyed the visit.

My point? (omg he has a point!)

There is no instruction manual for life. Or death. Or grieving.

Tab A doesn't always fit in Slot B. Sometimes there isn't even a Slot to fill.

Like parenting, it's all on the job training.

Other duties as assigned.

DJW

Happy Fathers Day, Pa. We miss you and Ma.

Everyday.