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When Caller ID Drives Me Crazy: A Question of Etiquette

July 26, 2010 By 25 Comments

I’m pretty sure the only people left in this world without caller ID are my parents. So Mom and Dad, you can ignore this question. But for the rest of you living in the 21st century, I have a question.

Is it acceptable etiquette in this day and age to return missed calls from unknown numbers asking if someone called them from that number?

In my not very humble opinion, I consider it rude and class-less. I am always appalled at the Retirement Home when I answer the phone to hear “Did you just call me?” I always tell them that if someone wants to get a hold of them they will call back thankyouverymuch and hang up on them. I mean, I’m always kind and nice and all that jazz, but what I really want to do is tell that person to get over and bleepity-bleep themselves. 

If you feel the absolute NEED to find out who just called you, try doing it with a little bit of class: “Hello, this is ______ ________ at (555) 555-5555, I recently missed a call from this number and was wondering if someone needed to get a hold of me.”

Perhaps it won’t make the person on the other end of the conversation wanting to shout expletives at you.  Trust me, if someone wants to get a hold of you, they will.

/end rant.

(But on the other hand, maybe this is actually acceptable behaviour and I am just old and crotchety. Thoughts?)

Filed Under: life, Opinionated, question, technology

A rant. Okay, a few rants.

February 22, 2010 By 16 Comments

Some ridiculous things I need to get out of my system and into the world. It’s a skimmer, trust me.

Ever

When people say “ever”, as in “I had the best time ever.” Because really? You had the best time EVER? Never, ever in your life have you had a better than the that time you had the best time EVER? I am all for exaggeration and blowing things out of proportion to get your point across, but this one irks me. Let’s be a bit more imaginative next time. How about “I had so much fun that I accidentally punched my friend in the face.” (True story, by the way. Last week at the airport. I witnessed an proposal and … let’s just say it was messy and there were tears involved.)

Just

When people describe themselves as “just” something (especially bloggers). I don’t know why, I think it’s a feminist/women empowerment  thing that I have, but when I see a blogger describe themselves as “just” this/that in their “about” section I don’t believe them. Obviously they think they are something special or they wouldn’t have started a blog. I would never describe us as just five sisters because we aren’t. We are five fabulous, wonderful, interesting women who write  this blog for each other. As soon as I see the word just in an about page, my eyes immediately glaze over.

Money

I just want to do it all, is that so hard to ask? How is it that I budget so hard and have a good income and a partner with a good income but somehow it isn’t enough. Ugh. I even stopped drinking to support my dedicated budget. Who is this person that has replaced me? I wore a pencil skirt and tights to work today. Really. Who IS this person that has replaced me? (I looked really good by the way).

Wheels

I have a beef with wheels. As in, I wish everything had wheels. I would pack my Calgary life into one long convoy and truck it across Canada so I could be closer to my family. Especially my condo – I never want to live anywhere else. But Mr. Leah pointed out that if it had wheels, then it would be a trailer. You know what? I lived in a trailer for the first few years of my life. And my Dad maintains that those were the best years of his life. Simple. Uncomplicated. Six people, one trailer, the front yard of my grandparent’s house. I could handle it again.

Now I almost feel better. Thanks for listening, blog.

What are you ranting about right now? It feels good to get it out, so rant away in the comments. Really, I want to know.

Filed Under: Calgary, life, Opinionated

Disabilities are NOT uncool

November 26, 2009 By 12 Comments

I’m writing this on Wednesday night, just 5 minutes after the latest episode of Glee ended. Like the rest of the five blondes and so many other people, I’m a major Gleek. Glee can do no wrong.

Until tonight.

It wasn’t the music – that was fine. The plot? That’s ok too.

Do you remember the scene where Glee member/Cheerio Brittany demonstrated her ‘hairography’ skills to the club? First she compared her body movements to being tased. Then came the line “it’s like cool epilepsy“.

Now, wait just a hair-tossing moment!

Having a seizure is like being tased? Epilepsy is uncool?

Maybe I’m reaching, but what is a young kid with epilepsy supposed to think about this? Epilepsy is not just shaking your head and hair around. Epilepsy can suck. I speak from experience. But nobody should be sending the message that a disability is uncool. I am not uncool because I have seizures, just as Artie is not uncool because he is in a wheelchair, and the students from the glee club from the school for the deaf are not uncool because they are hearing impaired.

I’ve had epilepsy for nearly 10 years and although it is not an easy thing to deal with psychologically, only one person ever made me feel as though I was less of a person because of it. I’m comfortable enough with my disability that I can joke around about it with friends, but it is really disappointing when it is joked about on a top primetime television show.

Disabilities are NOT uncool.

That is definitely NOT a seizure.

Filed Under: health, Opinionated, personal Tagged With: , , ,

The long arm of the auto industry

December 12, 2008 By 6 Comments

I really am shocked that the US auto bailout fell through.  That really woke me up this morning.

Last week I realized just how far-reaching the effects of the auto industry collapsing would be.  I used to work at a call center where we represented all kinds of companies – one call I would take a donation for a cancer research foundation, the next I would be processing an after-hours claim for an insurance corporation.  But by far, most of the calls we got were from Chrysler employees all across North America calling in sick.

The call center received hundreds of thousands of these calls a year.  We spoke to employees who were running late, on sick leave, or just taking a single sick day.  Call volume increased when there was a snowstorm and the freeways were slow. Although our target was to keep the calls under 60 seconds (quite easy when all you do is get their employee number and plant location), hundreds and thousands of calls a day really added up fast.

I crunched the numbers (even though math isn’t a strong point for me) and based on 200,000 calls a year, they would potentially be in a position to lay off 2 employees.

That doesn’t sound like a lot, but let’s keep going.

Mr X finds himself at CAMI (local GM plant) from time to time.  He supports some office equipment they have.  I guess he wouldn’t need to go there anymore.  Nor would any of his co-workers need to go to any auto plants, if they’re not running. Potentially less work for them.

Of course you’ve heard about the parts plants that would be affected if auto plants close.  What about the companies that support them, too?  Again, Mr X finds himself in these plants from time to time. It’s a huge domino effect.

I’m not impressed with the obvious irresponsibility of the ‘big three’ in handling finances and their businesses in general, so it’s really hard for me to advocate a bailout. I think CEOs taking multi-million dollar salaries are disgusting.  I can’t even begin to imagine how they arrived in the positions that they are in!  Unfortunately I think that without a bailout, the effects would be bigger than you might imagine.

Filed Under: Opinionated Tagged With: , , , , ,

Separation anxiety

December 5, 2008 By 6 Comments

Today I was reading my morning paper, when I noticed a poll done by the “24 Hours” free daily newspaper (one of the many free papers I grab whenever I can) and the Calgary Sun. It asked Albertans:

 ”Should Alberta consider separation from Canada in the wake of the parliamentary crisis?”

The response? A whopping 66% voted yes.The funny part is, Alberta is a very conservative province, so they voted Harper into the Prime Ministerial position and now want to separate from their country because of him (and the Opposition of course). I’m sure there are other reasons, such as oil and gas, that are pushing this willingness to separate, but my lord seeing that was a shocker to me this morning! Wasn’t Quebec like 0.5% away from separation during their big French Sovereignty Movement? Don’t quote me on that, but I do remember it being scarily close. I would really like to see the statistics on the people who took part in this poll; which kind of Calgarians are the ones who wish to separate. If Alberta did separate, I would not only be three provinces away from the rest of the blondes, but two provinces and a country away. I like it when politics goes crazy, it does get people impassioned and starting to think in new ways, but I think this is taking things a step too far. 

Watch out, Parti Quebecois, looks like the Alberta Party will be pushing for independence and we got waaay more money than you. And oil. And a lot of rednecks. With guns. Sound familiar? 

Filed Under: Calgary, Opinionated

Voting day!

October 14, 2008 By 10 Comments

Today is our election day in Canada!

( 4BlueEyes )

This is a reminder for all Canadian’s out there to GO VOTE!

Let your voice be heard.

Thank you, love the fiveblondes and all other Canadians.

Filed Under: life, Opinionated, thoughts Tagged With: ,

I'd like to help you son, but you're too young to vote

October 2, 2008 By 18 Comments

Which debate are you tuning into tonight? It was hard for me to choose, so I made a compromise:

There’s Palin and Dion. One thing I have taken out of this debate (so far) is that MAN, the Americans sure do know how to put on a better show. At times, the debate between the five Canadian prospects is messy and overwhelming, although truly reminiscent of a visit to Parliament where you will see shouting matches and vulgar language. It is more of a “debate” in the true sense of the word. Whereas the Americans is all neat and tidy and more professional looking. Does that matter? SHOULD it matter?

I liked at the beginning of the American debate when Biden quietly jabbed Palin by saying “Nice to meet you.” HA! Take that Palin, I don’t know what it is about her (perhaps all the negative bloggeries swaying my opinion slightly) but she just rubs me the wrong way! She is dragging her teenager all around to interviews all over America with her, why? That girl should be in school learning! My first thought when I noticed that she had her daughter with her for Katie Couric’s interview was that she was sending a message: “Be easy on me, my little girl is here and doesn’t want to see you being mean to her Mommy.”

Also, I don’t like the way they are dealing with gay rights. In my opinion – gay or lesbian Americans who can get married means HAPPY AMERICANS which is what America really needs right now. Their economy is heading towards the shitter, these people may have lost all their assets and investments, but at least just let those two women get married so they too can live a happy and fulfilled life! Happy Americans will lead to a happier country, in my own (admittedly slightly naive) opinion.

Okay, there is my two cents rant about politics. Now on to rant about something else – Tim’s car.

I love Tim’s car. This 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis has been through the best of times:

His car is really a party animal.

Last week became the worst of times:

It got broken into, window smashed and his GPS stolen. Can you believe that this happened in my own “secure” parkade in the basement of my apartment building?!? My building is not huge, just 6 floors with about 10 apartments on each floor and isn’t in a really busy, dangerous neighbourhood (or so I thought). This caused a huge fight between my building manager and I, resulting in my walking down the main street downtown crying! I was just soo fuming mad that this happened. The $250 repair bill didn’t help either. Calgary isn’t the safest place these days, I have laid in bed at night worrying about my own safety at times. I grew up on a farm (we don’t even know where the keys to lock our doors are) and then moved to Guelph, the only place I was exposed to actual crime and violence was in the papers.

P.S. Biden just said “Because I’m a man, I don’t know what it’s like to raise two kids alone.” WHAT!!!! Mr. Matt Logelin, and the thousands of other North American men should be shaking their fists right now, just as I am. Biden, take that back! A man is just as capable of raising children as a woman.

EDIT: Now I’ve gone and made a fool of myself – I knew I shouldn’t have talked politics!  Correction to Biden’s statement: It was more along the lines of him talking about the fact that he WAS a single parent. Did you know you can already find a complete transcription of the entire debate? I found that really interesting.

Uh-oh Biden, look what just happened:

I’ve lost you.

Filed Under: cars, Opinionated, thoughts

Back in MY day…

September 9, 2008 By 7 Comments

Now that none of us are in high school anymore (and mom is no longer a school board trustee), it’s hard to keep up with everything going on in our school system.  But that’s ok, because anything halfway interesting makes it into the local paper.

The latest happenings with the school board ’round here are that they have banned the use of “personal electronic devices” in Catholic school during school hours.  That sounds like a great idea to me.

Naturally, the new generation of students who are perpetually glued to their phones don’t like this rule.

“I don’t like (the policy) because sometimes class gets boring, and I need to text my friends,” said one Grade 9 student

Because so much has happened in the 30 minutes since you saw them last!

“The teachers weren’t as strict in Grade 8. They’d take your phone away for a day, but here they take them away for the whole semester.”

Wait – Grade 8? Elementary school? What are children (face it, if you’re in elementary school you’re still a kid in my book) doing with phones during school hours?

I don’t get it.  What happened to passing notes? Too old fashioned? Or is their handwriting so bad that no one would be able to decipher the note?  Seriously, I think this is happening. They can speed text but can barely sign their own name.

Someday we’ll be telling our kids “When I was your age, I didn’t have a cell phone to bring to school.”  Then they will start laughing and mocking us.  But it’ll be OK, because I paid attention to the boring bits in class and will know how to properly communicate with other people and write without using txt slang and acronyms.

kthxbai.

PS. fashion mania on fiveblondes tomorrow. Because we love ya.

Filed Under: Opinionated Tagged With: , , , ,

Trying to express my opinions.

August 12, 2008 By 10 Comments

I can’t even begin to express my shock and extreme discomfort while biking home from work Tuesday afternoon. I work close to a major hospital and travel by one of the main entrances every day. Today there were several dozen “pro-lifers” lining the sidewalk, displaying large pictures of aborted fetuses for everyone to see. I’m not usually squeamish, but these images crossed the line for me and, quite frankly, made my ride along that stretch pretty dangerous. I was cycling straight down the street but my head was turned to the left.

I have no problem with people demonstrating. They just stood there, probably waved a little (I wasn’t looking). I was approached by one and offered a pamphlet – while on my bike. I gave her a look that said, ‘I can’t take your pamphlet. I’m on a bike.‘ I’d much rather have a safe trip home and be able to allow both hands to hold on to the handles! I feel that they have a right to share their opinions, but maybe the sidewalk isn’t the best venue for this particular opinion. I have to wonder if similar situations have led to accidents.

As for the opinion itself, while our family is Catholic and I know that members of our family are pro-life (specifically our Oma Close – so called because she lives next door to our parents), I would say that I am pro choice when it comes to abortion specifically. I would not choose to have an abortion myself and I would not suggest that a friend go that route, however if I had a friend that decided that that was what she needed to do, I would support her. I support a woman’s right to choose.

I don’t feel that I have educated myself enough to say anything more on the subject – it can be quite divisive. I don’t often state my opinions on political, religious, or moral issues to the general public and to my extended family (many of whom will read this), but I’m trying to express my opinions better and I find writing works well for me. Opinions can change, but that never makes you wrong. You’re allowed to change your opinion! It’s yours!

Opinions lead to discussion. What are your thoughts?

UPDATE:  the London Free Press reported on the demonstration as it happened in Chatham.  Although I can’t say for sure, it is very likely that this is the same group that I saw in the late afternoon in London.  Looks like my line wasn’t the only one crossed.

Filed Under: Opinionated Tagged With: , , , , ,