Hey, Adversity! Screw You!

This week running was more like a contest than something I really enjoyed.  My car has been on the fritz for the last while and I finally took it in to Russell’s to be fixed after two attempts by the garage in Bridgenorth.  To be fair they did do things that needed to be done at that garage, and did suggest that the spark plugs were the next step, but it was just too hard to get the car there early in the morning and work it out to get to work and back.

The whole back from work thing did however end up being a bit of a pain.  On Thursday it was about a flobbity-jillion degrees and I couldn’t get a ride even from Ennismore into Bridgenorth due to commitments people had at work, which was fine.  So I decided I would run to the new house and then use one of the bikes my dad has there to ride home from there.  It was a good plan.  I soaked my hat in the sink at daycare and then took off running.  It was unbearable.  There was no shade the entire way and the last leg of the run is up and over the causeway.  I was dying by the time I got to the house!  I went directly to the back yard and soaked myself with the hose before the heat took me!

Amber had called just before I left the day care and offered me a ride home from there.  I thought about turning it down but I am glad I didn’t as I was in no condition to ride home after that run!

This morning I went to go for a run and discovered that it was raining as I stepped out the door.  Typically that would have been the end of that, but the Warrior Dash is in a mere two weeks and I’m going to be ready for it.  I changed into my older runners and set out into the rain, up and down the hills again.  I was soaked before I hit the end of the road but pressed on to be about 12 seconds faster than last week.  Not bad considering that I was at the gym with Amber at the end of the day yesterday.

After being reminded of just how unbearable it is to run in the heat earlier in the week and then running in the rain today, I really hope it is raining on Warrior Dash day (but of course sunny back here for Ashley’s wedding). 

Don’t let adversity stand in your way!

Bell Is Ripping You Off

So unless something majorly bad happens it looks like all this moving stuff is proceeding forward as planned.  The couple that put the offer in on our house did their home inspection Thursday and we have not heard that the deal is off and the neighbour saw them lounging in the back yard and chatting and we saw them out by the road before they left and they looked awful happy.

With those pieces in place while I have not heard ‘yes 100% confirmed you house is sold’ we have begun to prepare some of the things we need to do to move like transfer communication services over to the new house.  While I was in the process of researching all that I looked at what Nexicom had to offer in Bridgenorth compared to what Bell had to offer.

It turns out I can get almost exactly the same service, except I will lose having RDS on TV (RDS is the French version of TSN (The Sports Network) that I usually watch the Canadiens games on.  TSN is like ESPN for my American readers). 

When I phoned Bell to cancel my service because I could get a better price with a competitor they were all like ‘Well what if we can save you that same amount?’ I thought that if I could actually save that same amount it would be worth it to stay with Bell for the consistency of email addresses and still get RDS and so on.  I was on the phone with their Customer Loyalty Representative for almost an hour.  In the end they ‘discounted’ each of my Home Phone, Internet and Satellite services to be about equal with what I could get with Nexicom.

EXCEPT – in Bridgenorth they could only provided the most basic of basic Hi-speed Internet, and there was a download cap of 30 gigs.  This for me on the phone was not a big deal.  But after I got off the horn and was able to think by myself I thought ‘we are going to have tenants, what if they are the movies downloading types, I want my own Internet to still be fast and I don’t want to run out of download space’. By the time all these types of factors were considered Bell was only going to save us about $55 a month.

So I went back to Nexicom and actually went physically to their office and did an application.  I already had a general idea of the cost in mind, but since we were signing up for all their services there was extra saving in that we don’t get charged for the PVR for the cable.  The Internet they provide is unlimited download and at the same speed I have currently (though with the problems we have had with the phone lines in the area I bet it will be faster).

By switching to Nexicom we are going to save just around $100 a month!! Seriously. I was also really annoyed by the fact that Bell was like ‘If we try to price match will you stay with us?!’  If they can offer me as good of a price as their competition when I want to leave they should provide that price the entire time!

In the end I am actually really disappointed with Bell as a customer.  To use my ECE language a bit, their Image of The Customer must be very low.  To be willing to charge so much, willing to just drop the price to match a competitor like it’s nothing, to have installers that leave things hanging from the roof, to make me stick with a certain receiver for a year when I want to upgrade to one that even gives them more money each month.

I look forward to dealing with a local company where I actually know people that work there, I’m not on hold forever, the people that I speak to I can understand easily and they are giving me a great price without the threat of me switching away.

I had always maintained that I had no issue with Bell while using their service.  I think part of that is I’m pretty easy going, part is that I was a computer tech for about seven years and could just fix my own problems and part was that I was with Bell and never looked into how much other companies were charging for the same services.

If you are on Bell now, and have the option of Nexicom, Cogeco or someone else in your area, look into it.  Even if you don’t switch, just having the ‘please cancel all my stuff’ conversation with Bell could save you a lot of money!

I Hate The Dental Hygienist

Most people claim to hate the dentist.  I have never had a problem with that position.  I’ve only had two fillings (both of with have since been replaced) it was not that big of a deal besides the needle to freeze the area, I hate needles too.

No, the person I have an issue with over at the dentists office is the hygienist.  All the scraping and poking and flossing.  It is painful!  If I was going to stick sharp tools into someone's mouth accuracy would be my main area of focus.  Stop prodding me in the gums for God’s sake!

And the flossing, ooowwww  geez take it easy would you?  I bet 10-1 that when the hygienist flosses at home she’s a lot more gentle about the whole procedure!

Anyways, my teeth are clean and my mouth hurts, I just needed to vent.

There I Have Done It!

Over 100 Kilometres in one weekend (I did have an extra day though..  well two since it was a long weekend and I took Friday off).

I started on Thursday evening by doing some hill training out in Jackson park, I followed that up on Friday morning by doing some more hills but this time going over and back on Park hill.  I used the side streets to snake my way over and back and back again.

It turns out that by running on the roads I ended up with just as much of a climb as i did in the park..  which is only about a quarter of what the Warrior Dash is.  In hopes of getting a bit more climbing in I shifted my route for Saturday mornings run over one street.

Parkhill is a nasty hill to be running over, but I think the Edinborough is an even steeper climb! By the end of these three runs I had just gone a bit over 17K.  My goal of 15 was met.

It turns out I didn’t end up riding my bike on Saturday just due to the plethora of things I had on my plate to do that day, like cleaning out the junk from under our deck in preparation of the sale of our house, and a quick 1 hour stop at the gym to do my pull day that I didn’t get to on Thursday..

So I rode on Sunday and ride I did.  Before Amber was even awake I took my bike out the Jackson Park Trail and went to the sign for the Orange Corners Trestle.

It’s not that difficult of a ride, but it is about 25K.  I came home and had breakfast and did some cleaning up of the basement and then headed out to ride to Lakefield.

The Lakefield ride is nice and a round trip is about 32K.  I always stop in at Hamblin’s and get ice cream.  I got Moose Tracks, so yummy!  I was quite satisfied to have gone about 58K in one day, but my butt sure did hurt.

This morning my butt still hurt, but I was not about to let that stand in the way of meeting my goals. I Hopped on my bike and headed out the Jackson Park Trail again.  This time I went just to where the trail goes under Highway 28.

The ride is about 18.5K and I had now covered the goals of 15K run and 75K biked over the weekend!  What I realised when I added up those number that I has is that I was just 6K short of going 100!  So when I stopped in at the gym to do push day today, I left out squats and step ups due to all the biking, but I tacked on a 2K run up a 5% incline. Then I rode my bike over to karate.

All together I went:

101.35 Total Kilometres!

Average bike speed 23.28 Km/h which is 2:35/Km pace

Average running speed 11.89 Km/h which is 5:03/km Pace (a bit slower than my flat running, but it was three consecutive days and lots of hills).

I would call that a successful weekend!

Oh, now it’s time for ice cream!