Earth Day Poop Rant

It's Earth Day today. We all need to take care of whatever tiny corner of the planet we live in. I try to recycle and reuse everything that I can, but there's still a small bag of garbage to be picked up every couple of weeks. Mostly plastic stuff that can't be recycled which makes me feel very guilty.

I'm looking after my granddog Tessa this weekend. We just went out for a nice walkies, especially enjoyable as the sky is blue and the sun is shining for the first time for a couple of weeks. My pockets always have at least 3 recyclable poop bags tucked away, in case of doggy emergencies. That's the worst thing about dog walking..... picking up that poop! Yuk.

However, I do it, secure the bag, and take it home and put it in the green bin.

But on our walk today, I saw five, YES FIVE!, used squished poop bags, full of you-know-what, tied and thrown in the bushes. Disgusting and nasty! Surely, if you can be bothered to pick up your dog's poop in a recyclable bag, you can find the energy to carry it home and dispose of it responsibly.
Come on dog owners, do your bit to keep our neighbourhood clean!

Rant over.

R M R at the C B C

If you are any nationality other than Canadian, R M R will mean absolutely nothing to you. But to most Canadians, R M R means the Rick Mercer Report shown at 8:00pm on Tuesday evenings on CBC TV.

Rick Mercer is a Canadian comedian, TV personality, political satirist, social commentator and author, and can easily be described as the Canadian Parliament's "One Man Unofficial Opposition".  I've been a fan ever since he started on CBC's 22 Minutes in the early 1990s. Now he's in his 12th year of the Mercer Report. He gets up to all sorts of antics highlighting the crazy and unusual things that happen across Canada, and each week he delivers his opinion via Rick's Rant while striding purposefully along a downtown alley lined with colourful gaffiti.... here's an example:



YoungerSon, The Bride and I had vouchers for tickets (free of course, thanks Bride!) to watch a taping of R M R at the CBC studios in Toronto. (The Other Grandma was babysitting.)  We found a cosy pub for a beer and a burger and then headed off to the CBC building on Front Street.

Tech display of the current broadcast in the front lobby of the CBC building. We had to line up with a couple of hundred other people to get our tickets, and then up in the elevators to the studio.

Getting the audience seated inside the studio. Rick came out to introduce the show and to chat to the audience before the taping started.

The set of the R M R, I took a couple of photos of Rick, but too blurry to publish, and no photos allowed when they are actually taping..

Looking up inside the CBC building. The green wall houses the elevators. RMR is taped at the top on the 10th floor.

Looking down to the main atrium level. 

I'll be watching Rick's show next Tuesday. Maybe I'll spot the backs of our heads.

Chair Update

If you missed the start of this sad chair story, scroll down to the previous post.

Phone call from the UPS Store this morning: We have a package containing two chairs for you. It's been here a while. Sears wants us to ship it back, do you want to pick it up?

Me: Yes! Yes! Yes! I'll pick it up this afternoon. I didn't pick it up before as UPS didn't answer my phone messages and neither Sears nor UPS told me it had been delivered.

UPS Man: Sears is supposed to let you know that information, not UPS.

Me: But Sears said they didn't know where the chairs were!

So now I have a package containing two chairs that apparently I have not paid for as my Sears card has been credited with a refund, but now they have deactivated my account due to lack of information which I have not supplied as the local Sears outlet was closed when I went there!  And I was promised a $40.00 credit for my inconvenience..... so what's the next move, Sears?

I'll just sit tight on the chairs and see what happens.

I Just Want to Sit Down...

Early last November, YoungerSon and The Bride acquired a large dining table and 6 chairs so they gave me their old Sears set. But I needed two more chairs.

So I went to Sears and Lo and Behold! the matching chairs were on sale. Yippee! So I ordered two, and put the cost on my Sears card. Delivery was free to my local UPS Store for me to pick up there.

2 weeks later.... no chairs had appeared.

I called Sears (3 times over the next ten days).... where are my chairs?

Sears: they were shipped but we don't know where they are. We will cancel your first order, credit your Sears card, and reorder, and deliver to the UPS Store.

Me: I've waited nearly a month, can't you deliver to my home, free?

Sears: I have to ask my supervisor about free home delivery, but we could deliver to the UPS Store and give you $30.00 discount.

Me: But I'd rather have home delivery now.

Sears: How about $40.00 discount?

Me: Thanks but I prefer home delivery.

Sears (later, after talking to the supervisor): OK, we can deliver to your home free, we can only deliver on Friday between 7am and 5pm.

They expect me to be waiting for them at home for TEN hours a couple of days before Christmas???? Am I being unreasonable here?

Me: But I have to be away from home most of the day Friday. How about Saturday?

Sears: No deliveries on Saturday.

Me: OK, we'll go back to delivery to the UPS Store with $40.00 discount.

Sears: I will let you know when the chairs can be picked up.

Sears (later): I have cancelled your first order, and credited your Sears card but I can't reorder as your Sears card has been deactivated.

Me: WHAT???? WHY?

Sears: We need more information.

Me: But you had enough information when I bought the first two chairs.

Sears: Not my problem, talk to the Chase Credit Card Company.

So I called Chase and told them the story, but the answer (from a lovely polite girl who plays the guitar and sings, so she told me) was still they need more information.

Me: I can provide that information over the phone.

Very polite Chase rep: I'm sorry, you have to go to a Sears store and provide the information in person.

GRRRR...... can you believe this? Do you think I'll ever get to sit on those chairs? I'll keep you posted.

UPDATE Monday 19 December: I went to our local Sears Catalogue Store today to update this infernal information that they need.... and it's CLOSED on Mondays!!

O No! Canada (and update)

There's a nasty rumour that the powers that be here in Canada are proposing to change the words of our national Anthem.
Apparently, some female Canadians object to the phrase "in all thy sons command".
In that case, perhaps the phrase "our home and native land" should be the next target of the revisionists?
What a load of codswallop.
Well, I'm not anyone's son (I'm a daughter), and this is not my native land (I was born in the UK), and singing those non-PC words don't worry me a tiny bit. I've been belting out O Canada for the last thirty years with no problems.

Don't the pollies in Ottawa have anything better to do to earn their outrageous salaries?

O CANADA update: Saturday March 6 2010
After a loud public outcry, the pollies have decided not to change anything. They are actually going to listen to Canadians for a change..... what a concept! If only they could manage to make all their important decisions in just two days.

Misleading the Consumer - Cuppa Tea, Anyone?

Doesn't this look delicious? Green tea with juicy Mandarin Orange segments.... just imagine yourself relaxing with a good book and a cup of this steaming hot tea, aromatic with the fragrance of mandarin oranges
Mmmmm....
And it comes in a pyramid shaped teabag too.... Pyramid Power for the People!

But if you look closely at the small print ingredients, you'll see that somebody forgot to put the mandarin oranges in. The "real pieces of fruit" (to quote the bilingual product blurb) are mango, peach and apricot. Not a mandarin within miles.

Plus it contains SUGAR! Can't we be trusted to put our own sugar in?

Huh?

Now, I agree that the label doesn't exactly claim that it contains Mandarin Orange, but when the front of the box states "real pieces of fruit" next to a picture of six juicy orange segments, don't you think the average consumer might jump to the conclusion that this product could have encountered at least one teeny weeny segment of orange during it's manufacture?

But no, sadly just another example of manufacturers misleading the consumer with devious advertising.

I called the 1-800 number on the package. I spoke to a very polite and apologetic lady at Lipton's who said she would convey my concerns to the appropriate department, and offered me coupons for more of the product.

Very kind of you, Mr Lipton, but no thanks.