compuserve bureaucracy

I just spend the past hour and a half embroiled in bureaucracy, so please forgive this rant.

A while back, I cancelled my Compuserve account. Or so I thought. I recall at the end of the call that the Compuserve person said he'd throw in a few extra months of service in case I changed my mind. I told him I wasn't going to change my mind, and thought that was it.

It turns out that at the END of these few extra months (during which I did not access my account, assuming it had been cancelled), Compuserve started automatically charging my credit card again, assuming I was once more a happy camper and ready to rejoin the fold.

To discover the reason I was still being charged, however, took me an hour and a half of being transferred from one department to another (the Billing department said my account was still active so I had to get it cancelled by the Cancellation Department, the Cancellation Department claimed my account was already cancelled so I had to get my refund from the Billing Department), talking to a total of seven different people. Each time, I had to verify who I was and repeat my whole story (adding new bits from previous phonecalls during the hour).

When the whole thing was finally cleared up and my account was ACTUALLY CANCELLED, the last Compuserve phone person (yes I DID force myself to remember that it wasn't actually HIS fault, though his perkiness was really getting on my nerves by this point, I have to confess) actually had the audacity to try to convince me to try out the NEW AND IMPROVED Compuserve 2000, which is apparently much better than the old nasty Compuserve I was using.

(long pause)

As you can imagine, my reaction was not entirely positive.

Urban Tapestry practice tonight. I'm bringing Bailey's and Kahlua so we can make boozy coffees and celebrate Allison's and Jodi's birthdays (and JODI'S VERY COOL NEW JOB, WOOHOO!). And hopefully get some actual practising in as well. :)

looking for patrick stewart

So Luisa and I decided to go snooping through Metro Hall on our lunch break yesterday, to see how far we could get onto the set of the X-Men before we were hauled away. Amazingly, we weren't. I'm still convinced it's because Luisa looked so confident, as if she belonged...if it was just me, I'm sure they would have seen the guilty look on the face right away and thrown me off the set area immediately. I've always been the kind to feel incredibly guilty when the customs people are asking questions at the border even if I had absolutely nothing to feel guilty about.

Anyway, we strolled past the coffee and donuts tables, camera and lighting equipment, signs saying "NO EXTRAS PAST THIS POINT" (well, we weren't extras, were we?), people rushing about with headsets and clipboards. We even passed by the Council Chambers where filming was taking place...one headset person went inside as we passed, giving us a tantalizing brief glimpse (lots of lights, cameras) of the interior before the door closed again. Luisa chatted briefly with one of the cheery headset-and-clipboard people; she's MUCH nervier than I am. :-)

Hand-written signs posted around the main lobby had pointed the way to the cast refreshment area, freight elevator, etc. No mention of the full title of the movie, just a mysterious "X".

Had a fun practice with Allison and Jodi in the evening. Exchanged presents...hey, even I got presents, even if it wasn't my birthday! Jodi got me Belgian chocolates, and Allison got me a cool percussion frog thingy. Had boozy coffees. Practiced Jodi's Dorsai song (Allison added harmonies, and I'll be adding a single flute line accompaniment), my new Phantom Menace song (this is going to be SO much fun to perform :)), and Allison's Bhigg House song (Jodi added harmonies, and I was delighted to find I still remembered my penny whistle part).

Got home to find Jeff and Doug working on an upcoming project. They both seemed deeply engrossed in their tech talk, so I retreated to the bedroom with my Harry Potter book (I'm on the second one, now).

To all fellow Canadians: have a Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

turkeys and cheese

Just came home from the cottage. Jeff and I seem to have picked up a bug during the weekend (three others up there had colds, so I'm not surprised :)). Did a LOT of eating this past weekend, mainly because one of the guests was the chef from my mom-in-law's restaurant. Rick makes the best pizzas in the world, and he can make them out of pretty much anything (one of his pizzas this weekend was from bacon, tomatoes, and leftover Caesar salad....yum).

Had fun playing with my niece Brittany; we did a lot of drawing together. I also gave her a penny whistle of her own...her mom thanked me through gritted teeth as Brittany immediately began producing repeated ear-splitting shrieks by blowing hard through the instrument. Ha ha, I love being an aunt. :-)

One of our games was the Haircutting Game. I drew a bunch of little girls and boys with long hair (created by long scissor cuts through the paper so that jumbled "hair" sprouted from each smiling face), and Brittany gave them haircuts with some safety scissors. Then she mis-aimed and accidentally cut off one of their heads, causing much hilarity on her part (ok, I confessed I laughed too)...and the game devolved into a rather gruesome version of the original. Unfortunately Brittany's mom walked in during one especially enthusiastic decapitation. I made a half-hearted attempt at explaining that the game had originally been a tame haircutting activity, but it was difficult being heard over Brittany's excited "OFF HEAD! OFF HEAD!"

On Saturday, we all went down to the north shore for the annual Cottagers' Turkey Bowl, a touch football game where the teams consisted of the cottagers from the north end battling it out with those from the south end. This year, some of our star players were put out of the running early on...Simon dislocated one his fingers catching a football, and his friend Gord had to drive him to the hospital. Another fellow, Tim, hurt his ankle partway through the game and had to stop playing. Final score: 4-3 for the other side. Jeff and Rick made some good plays, but were very sore the next morning.

On the way home from the cottage, Jeff and I were listening to a CBC panel on kids' books, and they reviewed BYE BYE PIE! (by Sharon Jennings, illustrated by my sister). They even complimented the end papers, which are covered in Sara's and Annie's handprints (Annie didn't know how to separate all her fingers, so the middle fingers are stuck together).

Speaking of my sister...Ruth gave a report from her family's Thanksgiving back in Toronto...apparently they went around the table at dinnertime, each family member telling the others about something he or she was thankful for. Sara said she was thankful for shelter and her sister. Annie said she was thankful for cheese.

university pals

Augh, feeling worse today.

Forgot to mention that we visited with Luisa and Reid last week; John Swain, an old friend from university was in town, so they had arranged a get-together. It's sort of weird (in a nice way) when my pals from university days congregate...it's almost as if no time has passed (except there are a lot more little kids running around :)). We were all pretty close in university, but split up after graduation as various people scattered across the globe. I hadn't seen John (the link is to a very old webpage from when John worked at the UofT) in about two years. After one welcome hug, however, those two years seemed to vanish. :-)

Sure wish I could spend today in bed. Still have Inklings to send out, however, and the International Small Business Congress to attend this afternoon. Scotiabank is sponsoring me this year, so I'd feel bad about cancelling out unless I was really incapacitated. Hopefully I'll feel better once I chug some Dayquil.

nasty gnomes

Today, it feels as though a dozen tiny gnomes are inside my head. Half of them are stuffing every crevice with hot cotton; the others are taking sledge hammers and banging on my brain.

I went to the International Small Business Congress yesterday with my Scotiabank contact, Darrell. I'm glad I went in spite of feeling ill...the branch only sponsored two entrepreneurs this year, and the other one never showed up. A brief crisis when they couldn't find my name at the registration desk, but it turns out they had me listed under Debbie Didpath-Ohi instead of Debbie Ridpath Ohi. I was surprised when they handed over my free briefcase...all attendees get one! Sort of cool-looking, with lots of pockets and a shoulder strap. The outside pocket displayed the sponsor logos: Industry Canada, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Canadian federal government, and "ISBC '99".

Interesting lectures, though one of the speakers used so many buzzwords (e.g. "going forward" at least half a dozen times) that it was difficult to keep a straight face. After the lectures, I went downstairs and snooped around the exhibit hall. More freebies (water bottle, Canadian pins, candy, pens, magazines) and a pile of brochures and leaflets on topics I was actually interested in (or at least had to become interested in over the next six months) such as incorporating, hiring employees, office safety, business plans, small business taxes, etc. etc.

Came home in the pouring rain (I had forgotten to bring an umbrella, of course), then staggered to my computer to finish up and send out Inklings. It's the latest I've ever sent out the newsletter, but I did get it out on time (i.e. before the end of the day).

I hope those gnomes go away soon.