Cell Phone RAGE

Something that has been stressing me out for awhile is my cell phone. You may remember that Matt and I got matching LG Rumor (1) phones in June. His phone is fabulous- peachy even! My phone, however, started doing this "cute" thing where it would shut off for no reason. Initially it happened once or twice when I slid the QWERTY keyboard out to text something. This started happening about 3 weeks after I got it but I sort of shrugged it off because it didn't happen often. I stopped by the place we bought it and they told me that if I wanted to get it fixed I needed to call Virgin Mobile and they would send me a loaner phone. This sounded like a lot of work for a problem that didn't happen often.

Well, it started happening often. Like 10 times a day. And not just when I was sliding the text keyboard out. It would happen when I was talking on the phone regularly or if I was at the end of writing a massive text message. The phone could be fully charged and fresh off of the charger and it would do this. I would also like to add that I am incredibly careful with my belongings- I have never dropped this phone or had it anywhere near water or done anything to damage it. This is clearly a flaw with the Rumor phones (I know someone else who had a similar problem with their day old Rumor phone).

Finally I bit the bullet and decided that the annoyance of calling was less than the annoyance of living with my malfunctioning phone. So I called customer service and told someone about the problem. They listened carefully and then told me I needed to speak to another department and transferred me. I explained again and this person told me that I needed to call them back on a phone that wasn't my cell phone. Apparently I had to remove my battery and do a bunch of tests. I explained that is was my ONLY phone and no, I didn't have a landline or a friend handy. I eventually broke down and used Skype and was on hold for almost half an hour. Awesome start.

When I finally spoke to someone they didn't ask me to take out the battery or do anything so I didn't need to Skype after all. They said the loaner phone would be there in a week, at the most.

Fast forward to a month and a half later! Yes, that's how long it took the loaner phone to get to me. My phone had stopped shutting off (as much) and I'd figured they forgot about me so I was just continuing on. The phone shows up and it's hideous. I hate it. Maybe you think it doesn't look so bad but trust me, it's the phone devil. You know it's a bad sign when you turn a phone on and someone has programmed it to say "F*ck this Phone" on the background. Yeah.

I was conflicted about what to do at this point. If it took that long to get the loaner phone, how long would it take them to actually fix and return my phone to me? I called them up and they were not helpful. They made excuses. I procrastinated. Finally I had a nervous breakdown and had Matt help me figure out how to package my regular phone and hook up the loaner. This took more time than it should have! Also the first person screwed up which led to my phone and Matt's NOT WORKING AT ALL. So we had to call them back (put on hold even longer) so they could fix this. Not cool. Supposedly this is supposed to take maximum 3 weeks. It's been over a week and I'm not holding my breath.

Oh loaner phone, I hate you. I hate your crappy ring tones. I hate your screen. I hate texting with you, especially since you keep finishing my words with the wrong word and that this auto feature cannot be turned off (I've asked many people to help me with this.)! I should be able to answer "No" to someone but instead I have to write "Nope" because when I type "No" you understand it as "On". Leah's name is Leag because you won't let me write unfamiliar things. Abbreviations don't exist and you tack extra words that make no sense on the end of my sentence after I hit send! WHY!? I HATE YOU I HATE YOU! What good is unlimited texting if writing a text is a battle? Ugh. I hope they send me my regular phone back soon and that it's working or this is going to be a long, long phone contract.

Mouse Attack!

We live in a third floor apartment. You would think that this would mean that we would be spared from mice. I mean, they aren't getting in through the windows! Unfortunately we seem to have attracted a number of the little bastards. Matt was the one who first noticed one peeking out from behind the TV stand in the living room.

From there we bought some traps (mice like peanut butter more than cheese) and tried to contact our building manager. It took a long time for him to get back to us which was incredibly frustrating. We caught 7 mice in total (in a week) and four in one night! What the heck!!!! One of them died less than a foot away from me while I was checking my email! Seriously not cool.

When we managed to talk to the manager he said that they would have pest control come to our apartment and check things out. Of course, this conversation happened at about 9 pm at night and the manager said that "maybe" the guy would come the next morning and if he hadn't arrived by noon to call and let the manager know.

Needless to say, I was skeptical that anyone would arrive. So what did I do? I tempted fate. I woke up, sat around in my pajamas, didn't brush my teeth, hadn't showered (I didn't work until 3 pm), well you get the picture. This guaranteed that the pest control guy would arrive! And he did! Immediately I began shuffling around, concerned about the appearance of my apartment. Why didn't I expect him to come!? He is going to judge me!

For the most part our place is pretty clean and he must have seen a lot worse... Right? I'm sure all the other mouse infested homes looked like the one in the picture. I awkwardly made small talk with the pimple faced exterminator (see, I can judge too!) and he got to work looking for entry holes. He said it was pretty clear that if our apartment on the third floor was having issues then there were issues in other apartments. The mice were traveling around through the radiators.

I never know what to do when service people come to my place. Am I supposed to sit and watch them? Chat? Let them do their work unattended and risk them stealing something? Call a therapist and speak to them about my paranoia that an exterminator is going to steal something? What do you do? I have the same problem when the cable guy comes. I decided to wash my dishes because I would still be a presence and able to see and hear what he was doing but at the same time I could impress him with my cleanliness. See! It's not MY PLACE that is the true problem. It's the guy next door with his toxic waste collection!

Since the guy left we haven't seen any more mice in our apartment. I think he was pretty successful with blocking the hole. However, I do occasionally hear them scritch scratching and trying to get in. Or is that my paranoia again?

A Dirty Little Secret

I think it's time that I came out and said it. I hate Family Guy. Pretty much everyone I know seems to like this show but I just don't get it. I have never liked it. I remember the first time I watched it I was in university and some friends had it on. Besides being totally obnoxious and offensive, the writing is sloppy and it's just loud. It's the epitome of an "American cartoon", if by American you mean the stereotype that all Americans are loud and ignorant.

It turns out that I'm in good company for hating this show. Apparently the creators of the Simpsons and South Park also hate it. I can tolerate those shows but they aren't my first choice when I'm watching TV.

I think what it boils down to is that I'm not really crazy about TV. I just got out of the habit of watching it when I lived in Korea. I will watch it but I am usually not the person who turned it on. It just seems like a lot of noise to me. I like watching game shows, reality shows (Amazing Race, Biggest Loser, So You Think You Can Dance mostly), Friends, Lost... But I don't really follow any closely and I'm not sad if I miss them. I guess this is a good way to be although it usually means I just spend more time surfing the internet.

Anyway, I just had to let it out. I hate this show. It goes beyond irritating me and I now have started to refuse to watch it. Even hearing the theme music makes my skin crawl! Open your eyes people! This is a substandard excuse for entertainment. You can do better!

Strange Happenings

Our weekend had a couple of strange/irritating events. When we returned to Edmonton after visiting my Mom there was someone parked in our assigned parking stall. Matt and I took some deep breaths and tried to calm our rage and then parked on the street in front of the building instead. It was a really nice car too, much nicer than ours. We wrote a polite but firm note and left it on the window and then Matt proceeded to jump in the shower and start getting ready for our movie date. About halfway through his shower the water shut off completely. His hair was full of shampoo and the only rinsing option came from the Brita water filter in our refrigerator. Poor Matt.



We shook it off though, it was our anniversary after all! We set out and on the way to the movies we noticed a NORAEBANG!!! Yep, that's right, they do exist (well one does anyway) in Edmonton. We went in and chatted with the nice owner, looked at the rooms and the song lists (he updates them with current English songs!), grabbed a business card and vowed to return soon. Seemed like our bad luck was improving.



The movie was okay and gave us something to talk about since we've both read the book. We get home and the person is STILL parked in our spot and the note hasn't been touched. At this point they have been parked there for at least 6 hours (probably longer though since we were gone all day). We park on the street again and go up to our apartment. The water is still off. We go out and purchase bottled water so I can wash my face and brush my teeth. It's an interesting exercise in water usage. Hmmm...

The next morning there still is no water. Apparently a pipe broke and so they are trying to fix it. Leah and I need a shower in a desperate sort of way. Steph is still visiting Mom so I text Bryn and Alisse. They both say we can come over and we head to Bryn's (it's closer). Bryn is a total sweetheart and makes us banana chocolate chip pancakes! I proceed to get syrup all over myself. We return to the apartment and the same person is still parked there. We get them towed. Our water is fixed shortly afterward and normalcy resumes.