One RingyDingy

It's good to be back in Canada. In the past couple decades, to quote Kerry Livgren, I've been tossed about like a ship on the ocean. I set a course for winds of fortune but I heard the voices say, "Carry on my wayward son. There'll be peace when you are done. Lay your weary head to rest and don't you cry no more NO! nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh na nuh na do do doo doooo..."

I was a bit wayward but the winds have blown me back to my beloved friends in Smithers, the Smithereens. And I'm hoping that here I'll settle down. I dunno if I'm ready to lay my weary head to rest yet, but I doubt I'll stray too far from here again. It could happen but it's not in the immediate future plans. Things are going all right.

I'm just home from my 9th day of training as a night auditor at the Hudson Bay Lodge here in Smithers. It's a genuine skill trying to balance all the figures for the day and to do the other book work while checking people in and out and answering phones. But little by little I'm getting the hang of it. I never thought I'd be doing anything resembling bookkeeping or accounting but I actually have a knack for it. I've balanced almost every time and aparently for this audit that's not too common. It's pretty complicated. I'm slow but when you balance you don't have to waste any time finding a missing 5 bucks or whatever. So it works out.

I've always been like that though. Do it right the first time even if it takes a little longer. I'm not in a hurry. That seems to be a good thing at this job. But I have to give some credit to my trainer, Gary. He'd be a good teacher. At least for ME. He hasn't spoon fed me. He makes me try to work things out on my own. I prefer to learn that way. It's what I try to make MY students do too. Or at least "tried." I'm not a teacher any more. Though I am hoping to hear from a couple places that will hire me to do something similar.

Also, I took my level one first aid this past Monday. I need it for one of those jobs I just mentioned. But while there I met a lady named Karen Wilson who told me there is a place in town here where I can teach ESL voluntarily. I'm gonna look into that once I finish the midnight training. They're expanding the college here to double its size and will be starting some new programs. With luck they will like the idea of an ESL class or two and I will be Johnny-on-the-spot to teach them. THAT would be really sweet!

Or I might just get a job associated with one of the giant projects that are happening in and around Smithers within the next few years. Electric lines, pipelines, railroads, there'll be LOADS of work available for a valuable piece of manpower like myself! Just gotta show the right folks that that's what I am. Word gets around in a small town.

Things couldn't be going much better actually. Add in that the Canucks are having their best season EVER and I'll be home to watch the playoffs with friends, that's just a huge bonus! But I wouldn't be me if I didn't have something to whine about. And here it is: Telus! Like Lilly Tomlin's operator says to Mr. Veedle, "The phone company is not subject to city, state or federal laws. We are omnipotent. That's POtent with an omni in front of it." Actually Lilly was pretty hot wasn't she?

But those were the days when phones were actually necessary. Nowadays we can chat, text, video conference, even phone online for free. The phone should be CHEAPER since it's a dying technology. But it's not. On my cell phone I'm getting jacked up for 70 cents a minute sometimes! And then I buy one of those long distance cards for 20 bucks and what an ordeal it is to use! I bought it by mistake actually. Thought it could be used for my cell phone. But it couldn't. So I tried to take it back to Safeway where I bought it and no dice. Once it's sold it's activated and can't be returned. So I tried to use it with my friend's home phone. Problem is there are no instructions on it. So I go online and there are webpages all over the place talking bout how there's a SUPER convenient activation number that's the same all over Canada. The rates are cheap and it's SO easy to use this number. It's as simple as dialling the phone. But nowhere in the 10 websites I checked do they HAVE this super duper convenient number!

How stupid is that?! So I call one of the Telus toll free help lines. It, of course, is a recording saying, "What number are you calling about?" What if I'm not calling about a number? Can't ask that to a computer. So I scratch off the number on the card and enter that. "We're sorry, we do not recognize that number." I call another with the same result. So I end up just dialling zero, which I'll probably have to pay for. I got a girl who couldn't help me so she forwarded me to another department that was busy at the time so after holding half an hour I got a guy who tried and tried to help me but couldn't. By the end of the conversation HE was wondering why they sold these stupid cards in Smithers. There ARE numbers listed for major cities in Canada but not for the rest of us. Finally at the point where I was almost ready to throw the damn thing in the garbage I noticed in TINY print, "If you don't have enough money to live in these cities Telus is not really interested in you but you can use THIS number I guess." Or something to that effect.

So I was able to use the card. And had a nice long convo with Mom. I might even buy another one now that I've broken the code. If that's EASY I wonder what Telus does to make things difficult. I don't really want to find out. Telus. What a company! Got rich charging people WAAAY too much for phone calls over the years and now they're overcharging for internet. That's what I'm using right now in fact.

I think they are all like this operator, Mrs Tomlin, at Telus. "When may we expect payment?" But that's just my take on the sitcheeation. Anyway, there's gotta be SOME bad with all the good. I'd get pretty scared otherwise wondering what the fates were taking so much time conjuring up for me.

Things are pretty good otherwise.