The Puffster strikes again

In this Youtube video we see Senator Mike asking for money using the Olympics as a backdrop. Strange to see when the Cons said they would keep politics out of the Olympics.

Nobody Wants to Know

A few months ago I heard a song by that venerable songwriter Kris Kristofferson. Called "To Beat the Devil", it was about a crusading singer feeling discouraged to the point of giving up in his quest to compel his audience to listen and heed the message in his songs. He's broke, hungry, and listening to the Devil who's telling him to just give up; nobody is listening, nobody cares.

By the end of the song he concludes that he will keep going, that somewhere, somebody will hear the message and his travails will not be in vain. That song spoke to me, having spent a large chunk of my life in essentially that same struggle. I marvel at my friends who manage to keep going, seemingly never discouraged by the lack of results and always maintaining hope. At this point I am like the guy in the song, ready to just pack it in and forget it. But somehow, I and we never do. We keep going.

What motivates us that is not present in other people? A co-worker once told me she admired our commitment, noting that in her own life she really didn't care about anything but her immediate family and the next vacation. She thought she should be ashamed, but admitted she wasn't. That conversation has stayed with me, and for years I have tried to figure out how to reach people like her, to make them understand that caring about our fellow humans is our only hope. It is what separates us from the other creatures on the earth who just exist to hunt down their next meal.

It would be much easier to coast through life that way; nothing to keep you awake at night except deciding whether to holiday in Mexico or Florida. Trouble is, for some of us, that just isn't possible. But why? What makes us different? Why do we bother at all? The loving spouse of a friend of mine thinks we're crazy, tells us we should mind our own business and that absolutely nobody wants to hear from us.

Is that spouse right? I don't know, but I sure would like to figure it out. Any thoughts on this topic are welcome, it could be quite a discussion. Or maybe nobody cares...

Should we "settle" or WIN

In this story Rosie DiMannio of the TOStar writes: "But it was silver for defending moguls champion Jenn Heil and there's nothing, nothing, underwhelming about that." Maybe not Rosie but it wasn't a win.
Are Canadians going to be nice or be killers in this quest for gold. Jenn Heil was the World Champion, winner of 5 World Cups this season and the reigning Olympic Champion so on paper and in her mind the Gold was there, should have been a dead certainty. Don't give me the whine about a bad day, or a better opponent this Gold should have been hers, after all this is what she trained for. She didn't get it and Canada still fawns over her for putting in a good effort. Sorry folks the killer instinct must kick in, we have to learn how to win, and this case where Jenn Heil has obviously learned to win we must learn to maintain the win.
Sorry folks this SIlver is not good enough for me and we should say so!

Cobourg Council is wrong

Just because Council says "It's not our fault" they can't afford to deny liability. In the case of the flooding in the George St, Buchanan St Station St area the Town told local residents that it's not their fault that the area flooded. The reasoning being that the flooding occurred as a result of an inadequate storm drain on private property.

Quote from the NNews
"In an interview after the flood, Ted MacDonald, acting director of public works, said town staff were out in the field on Jan. 25, inspecting the George Street culvert as well as areas both up and downstream and found no evidence that the George Street culvert was blocked, based on flow rates observed in other parts of the system. The George, Buchanan and Station Street area has long been defined as a flood plain and the affected homes have been there for over 50 years, said Mr. MacDonald. Currently, new building is restricted on flood plains, given the likelihood of flooding. However, the homes in the area predate the current rules and regulations, he said.

Flooding in this area is not a new occurrence, he added. Similar circumstances back in 1980 - frozen ground and heavy rains - also resulted in heavy flooding. He added the culvert that runs under the CN/CP tracks is not on town-owned property nor was it built by the town.

"Any flooding that occurred (in the area) was not due to any negligence whatsoever on the town's part," said Mr. MacDonald. "We (Town of Cobourg) have worked hard over the last 20 years to improve infrastructure to limit any damage that may occur during flooding."

The BurdReport asks the following questions:

• If the Town has worked hard to improve infrastructure how come this area flooded?
  
• If the Town is responsible for Storm Water Management how come they haven't ordered private property owners to improve their facilities to modern standards?
  
• If the Town knew that this Railroad culvert was inadequate twenty odd years ago why haven't they followed the standards of the latest Storm Water Management Report and ordered changes on the railroad property?
• If the Town is denying culpability why didn't they tell the Homeowners to sue the Railroad Company?
  

For a video of the flood as it passed below the affected area, the railroad lands, look here; Wally's video

First of all, congratulations to Bob Spooner

So the "dinosoar" has pulled the plug! Congratulations to Bob for his public service. Read this story for the details
Now the fun begins, who will be the first to declare for the vacancy? Many names come to mind but it will probably be someone we have never heard of. That's good because whoever declares will need the time to develop a profile. You don't get one by hanging out in the backrooms of City Hall filling a committee seat.

So let's have BurdReport special - who do you want to run for Council? Nominations are open, just mail the names in and I will setup a special tracking page.

Now's the time for all....

.... Good Liberals to come together. That is they can afford the $125.00.

Everyone on the Lib mailing list, and others that the Vice-President of Funding can think of, will be soon getting the invite on the left. Lib bigwigs will be speaking to the faithful. Any excuse for the good Senator to use his "cottage" at the bottom of Bagot St. But the topic should be enlightening to policy wonks. The exception should be the results of the research that Gerard Kennedy has been doing on the "Stimulus" figures: who got what and how much has been given to the Tory faithful etc.

As an observer I find it fascinating that this event comes a month or so after a particulaly brutal AGM where long standing officers, identified with the losing side in the Nomination battle either elected not to run, withdraw or were beaten at the polls by a side run by TeamRudd, determined to have things their way. The upshot is that hard feelings are still there, an executive has been elected dominated by persons from the West and some people do not feel welcome in their party. Not a good harbinger for an expected election.

But back to the poster, click on the image to enlarge it, if you are a Liberal and want to hear pearls of wisdom delivered from the mount, pay $125.00, have some munchies sip some wine and have a good Liberal time.

An answer based on intuition, not necessarily fact

This question came in yesterday
"Now that this little saga (My experiences with phone companies which obviously bore the heck out one reader at least) has mercifully ended, for Ben and for us, can we talk about something else?
How about the news that the County is charging the County paramedics double rent for their new digs at the old Kraft research building?
This according to a story in Northumberland Today.
Are they not both landlord and tenant here? Whazzup Ben?"

So what's the answer? Unfortunately the question appeared to be a throwaway from the bulldog of County Council, Mayor Bill Finlay. I can imagine one of the reasons Bill is not running again is that he is tired of posing common sense questions, at the County level, when no-one else will, and getting snowed by the bureaucrats. But back to the question, but a bit of background. The County paid $1.5 million for the old research lab and a bit of land on William St. The purchase was justified to the Council and public by claiming that when the price was amortized and the Land Ambulance and the Food-for-all Warehouse was moved into the building the County would be paying less than rent in annual costs. Sounded good, the Council said Yay and the Feds kicked in a whack of money to cenvert the building and now the place is almost ready, but the bills have to be paid. In recent budget discussions the EMS budget was higher than planned. In a report in NToday "The 2010 budget anticipates EMS department rents at about $290,000 compared to actual expenditures on rental facilities of only about $122,000 last year." In fact in the debate about the purchase, last year, Mr Pyatt reported to Council "Presently rent for the EMS, Food 4 All Warehouse and storage trailers is about $85,000 per year, says Pyatt." "These rent expenses would stop and rental income from two unnamed agencies would begin. "
So what has happened here? For the rent to go to a planned budget of $85K (less than that with a planned rental agreement) to an actual of $122K and now a future cost of $290K?
One reason given is that the County appears to have two problems: they have purchased larger ambulances and therefore need a larger garage in Port Hope and the base in Cobourg will be charged back to the County at commercial rates. But hold on here didn't we buy a building to eliminate having to pay rent in Cobourg? So is this a paper transaction or a real one designed to pay off the building?
Either way Mayor Finlay must have been satisfied with this answer as there was no report of a followup question or an answer to his main question, "Alnwick/Haldimand Mayor Bill Finley asked during the county budget session. "Are we getting the benefit of having our own building?"
Sad really I can remember being on County Council when the budget discussions used to be the highlight of the year when every single councillor used the occasion to demonstrate to the folks back home just how much they were protecting the taxpayer by hacking and chopping every single line item. It appears that the major issue for the Council of this day is just how llttle time they can spend on discussions of any kind. After all who cares it's only the County - one step removed from the people!

The Bell saga

It's over, my flirtation with a Smartphone. Yep I sent it back and cancelled my account. This was done because it is impossible to get a plan that allows the Smartphone to operate properly for less than $70.00 a month. That's a whack of dough just to look at email on a phone. How Bell can sell a phone that is web dependent without a data plan being mandatory is beyond me but they do. So not willing to pony up that kind of money I called it quits. But this phone hell never seems to quit, this morning I have to phone Honeywell about a programmable thermostat that has never worked properly from the day it was purchased.

If this is true I wonder what the defense will be - PTSD

With the news that a military person has been charged story here with two counts of murder, I wonder if the defense will try to have him diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? That may be hard to prove considering that he has only one active service medal and a good conduct medal (I guess he loses that one) And further if it's true that the charges will stick congratulations to the Police for such a quick arrest, that is unless this guy just left such a great trail of clues behind that they couldn't fail to catch him.

New technology and customer service

Ever tried to access customer service departments lately? I have been struggling with Bell Canada and this morning with the Toronto Star.
This morning the TO star was not in its usual place when opening the door at 7am. Nor was it there at 1015 am. So I went online and obtained the phone number for the circulation department. Accessing phone hell the final stop was a notification that informed me that I had been credited with a newspaper to replace the missing one. Not satisfied I tried again attempting to guess which of the options would give me access to a real person. Finally the voice informed me., "Press #3 if you have other questions" I did and was promptly cut off. Trying again, after all I had a seven minute investment in this quest already, I connected with a person called Shonna and she informed me that i would be credited with a paper. I said, "but I want a paper" She said, "You should have called before 10am, we have nobody to deliver after 10am." But I said, "Look just find the guy in Grafton and send him out." She said, "I don't know the delivery person in that area, I have credited your account" So I said, "I really only want a paper." She said, "Sorry sir I can't help you." I said, "Please make a note and tell your supervisor I am not satisfied." She said, "Yes sir, is there anything else I can help you with?" and proceeded to explain that the Starweek will not be delivering any more and proceeded with an upsell. I disconnected.

The Bell Canada saga is much more involved and complicated but it does have its comedic spots. Having decided that I might save money by exchanging my pay-as-you-go phone with a smart phone and a cheap plan, research was made into all the options. Settling on a Palm-Pre the local Bell store was visited. Oh back up, as I went into the local mall the Source was visited and the following question posed, "You folks sell Bell phones what makes you different from the folks next door (the Bell Store)?" "Our service" was the reply, "We cannot cut the plan rates." "See that phone mount on the rack?" I pointed out, "Can you give a deal on that if I buy a plan?" "Sorry sir the boss doesn't allow us to cut prices." So I went next door.
"Can I help you sir?" asked one of the perky young females. "Yes, I would like to buy a Palm Pre with a two plan." She looked at her schedules and said, "It would be cheaper on a three year plan." "I know that but I want a two year plan, for $99.00 (the going rate advertised on the website) with a Combo fab five plan." She then went into the back room obtained the phone and then proceeded into the upsell. "These phones are prone to freezing, do you want the extended warranty for $7.00 a month?" Is the freezing covered by the normal warranty" I asked. "Yes sir but these phones are on a backorder when you try to exchange them." A for effort but still no sale. Havig invested twenty minutes of waiting and buying time she then informed me, after discovering her computer would not take the order, that the phone I wanted on a two plan will now cost me not the advertised price of $99.00 but $150.00. When I asked why does the website say $99.99 another older but officious (read snotty) person then pointed to the fine print on an internal schedule and read the disclaimer. "I then said, "I am not satisfied with that, this whole deal has been very misleading and I'm sorry that I wasted your time and mine." And left much to the amazement of another customer being served not eighteen inches away from me at the counter.
Not wanting to give up with the holy grail of a PalmPre on a two year plan for $99 I decided to go on line and order it. Finding the right page on the website and proceeding to fill out the right pages and assemble what i wanted in the "cart" I was invited to chat inside a popup box with a customer service rep. Doing this I was informed that I could have what i wanted and could I give them a phone number where they could confirm all of this in person. Ten minutes later a man named Amin went through my order and then informed me, after many holds and pauses that the phone would be another $150.00 plus the $99.00 because I wanted a two year plan. He then reduced the price for me to $150.00 all-in and I informed him that that was not good enough and terminated the call.
Aha I thought why don't I just order the bloody thing on line and see if the shopping cart gives me what I wanted. Yep I could get the order, clicked buy, supplied my credit card and two days later the phone turned up.
But it turned out that had ordered the "Uber" Combo not the "Smartphone" combo and needed to change it. Instructed, by email to register the phone and create an account where I could make changes to my plans I attempted to do this. The vagaries of the transaction were such that the registration code was not being accepted by the website and I failed to create an account. Finding a phone number and another maze of "phone hell" a contact person was found. After a while it was determined by the CSR that he couldn't help me and told me to initiate a "Chat" on the internet. "What if I didn't have a computer?" I asked. "Well I can't help you." was the only answer this man could say.
So I guess tomorrow I will be contacting the business office of Bell with two simple requests: can I register my mobile phone and can I switch plans? After all I wouldn't want to waste the nearly two hours of enquiries that I have invested so far, now would I?

If you found this tale tedious, blame me for not writing in a Leacockian way - blame Dave Chomitz for suggesting that I write about it.

PS I guess my episode is not just Canadian or uncommon amongst telecommunication companies read about this British couple's attempt to obtain broadband here