purplelara

gifted

As many of you know, it was my birthday this week. Andrew never asked what I wanted as a gift, but I wasn’t worried, as he’s come up with some great ones before – maybe I’ll tell you about some of them sometime.

So on Wednesday night after I’d opened some girly lotions and manicure stuff, he sat down in front of me and handed me a velvet jewelry box (don’t get excited, it was bigger than *that*, more the size you’d find a necklace in). I pried the box open and found myself looking at this:

To say I was a little confused would be accurate. I tried to think of what to say, my mind was racing. I think I had come up with “Oh! A whistle!” and “for safety…right?” before he said “Look at the sides”.

On one side is engraved:

To Lara

And on the other:

Just Whistle

My heart grew three sizes that day.

Does this man know me, or what?

39

When I was little, I had a ritual on the eve of my birthday. I would lie in bed and remember the good things about my outgoing year and consider the things I wanted to be thinking about at the same time the next year. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized many people do this, but when I was little, I thought it made me special, and I’m glad that even as a child I knew to count my blessings.

Tonight, I’m doing that in front of the computer instead – can you imagine if I had a record of all those birthday-eve thoughts from years past? It would be amazing, so here is my new tradition – writing them down.

This year, my 39th, had it’s ups and downs as any year does, but it was mostly good. I have everything pretty much everything I need to make me happy, as previously noted. My birthday falls so late in the year it’s hard to remember back to the summer, but I know I had a wonderful summer – I hiked (including the Chief and the Grouse Grind), I swam in lakes (one secluded and quiet, the other full of slashing dogs and children). We spent sunny days in Squamish and Whistler and lovely evenings on patios – home and away.

I’m anything but materialistic, but I have a few things on my wish list I’d like to purchase before this time next year, and a few non-material goals too:

• I’d like to move to a bigger apartment, one with LAUNDRY (This is how I know I’m old).
• I want a new car. Not an upgrade, but a new-to-me car. My first car was a 1969 Volkswagen Bug, the same vintage as me, and ever since the new Bugs came out I’ve wanted one. I drive probably once every two or three weeks so I do NOT need a fancy new car and can’t justify the expense, but I’m going to sell my boring reliable Corolla and buy a used Bug this year, damnit.
• A VACATION! It has been WAY TOO LONG. Between moves and new jobs and recessions, vacations have fallen down the To Do list and they need to be moved to the top of the list this year, no matter what.
• I want to swim more. I took swimming lessons twice this year but have dropped off of them since the last session ended in mid-October. I love being in the water, it helps with my stress level and it helps keep me fit – I have no idea why I stopped.
• Add the two above and you get…snorkeling. I LOVE snorkeling and I haven’t snorkeled since the day of the tsunami, five years ago. No excuse for that. I will snorkel this year.
• I need to get myself back in better shape. I always say I gain weight when I’m unhappy (”oh screw it, my life sucks anyways, I’m ordering pizza and drinking wine”), but apparently I do it when I’m happy too (”let’s cuddle on the couch and eat pizza and drink wine, k?”). I need to dedicate two or three months to knuckling down on the food and wine and exercise fronts and just get ‘er done.
• I want to buy and learn to use a REAL camera. This is something I’ve wanted to do since high school (not kidding) but have been thwarted by the lack of money to buy a decent camera. I need to make it a priority.

Now that I’ve written it down, this is my 40 list and I won’t edit it. Come back next year to see how I did.

twitter

I’ve been sitting on this post for a while, but it’s been brewing in my head for ages. It bubbled to the surface a bit during the great Rogers debacle, but I haven’t been able to put my thoughts in order. I’m going to try now.

Let’s talk about Twitter, shall we?

A lot has been said about Twitter and those who use it and the reasons it is used. Those who use it are often called narcissists. I’ve heard people say it allows stalkers to watch you. I’ve heard it called stupid and a ridiculous waste of time and even an end to real life human connections and interactions.

Twitter can indeed be used by narcissists, stalkers and time wasters. It can also be used for charity, supporting others and for saving time. Twitter is great, not stupid, because of the diverse ways people have found to use it. There is no right or wrong way to use Twitter, and this is the very reason why it’s so amazing.

Twitter is a giant repository of opinions, humor, sorrow, news, facts and lies published by an every growing number of individuals, businesses and other sources. Celebrities tweet, news agencies tweet. Your local restaurant or a hotel a world away may tweet information that is relevant or useful to you. You can find information on your hobby, you can research purchases or trips, you can make career connections – people are even finding jobs on Twitter these days.

I use Twitter primarily for two things I love – humour and exploring the diversity of the crazy human race. I love laughing and I love that people are so different. To me, people are utterly and endlessly hilarious and fascinating and Twitter allows me to hear from and connect with people like me and with people who on the surface seem nothing at all like me. People with vastly different lives can share jokes and thoughts and opinions with others – and we may find we have more in common than we originally thought.

Does everyone on Twitter share the same opinion as me on every topic? Of course not. How very boring would life be if we only read about and communicated with those with the exact same opinions. For the most part, and for my own reasons, I choose not to involve myself in debates that pop up, but others often do. As long as it’s done respectfully, it all adds to the discussion and I love seeing how differently so many people can see one issue. Sometimes it’s frustrating but it’s almost always fascinating.

I follow, among others, stay at home moms, fitness freaks, food freaks, dry witted Brits, and an utterly lovely 104 year old who tweets about her life in a nursing home. I follow quick witted and intelligent bloggers in the States and a couple of amazing writers from my own backyard. I follow web developers, software testers, news feeds, social media experts, one or two hilarious celebrities and even a couple of fictional characters (coughdondraperobsessioncough). I want to expand my view of the world. I want to hear what other people think and I want to learn and expose myself to new ideas. To me, closing off your mind to new ideas, different points of view and new people is a sure fire way to remain immature and grow old at the same time.

I’ve used Twitter to listen to or connect with people I never would have otherwise, and to me, that is an amazing social experience. I’ve also used it to research events in my own city and while traveling. I’ve used it to save money, I’ve used it to resolve a conflict with a large corporation. I’ve used it to keep up on breaking news, to hear about updates to products and services and I’ve used it to share information with others.

Are my ways of using Twitter the only ways to use it? Of course not (you are paying attention, aren’t you?) To some people, promoting their business is extremely important. Some want a way to feel connected to minor or major celebrities. Some use it to seek out what is being said about them, both positive and negative, around the web. Some use it as a research tool. Some contribute information back out and others do not. Some people only want to follow those with similar opinions to theirs. Some want to connect with as many people as possible and engage Twitter in such a way to allow that. Some keep their feed private and use it only to communicate with others they know. Some seek a more diverse collection of connections. Twitter can be used for all or none of these reasons.

Those who say Twitter is stupid are not only closing themselves off to a wealth of information, they are telling millions and millions of users they are stupid. This attitude blows me away. There are so many things in this world I’m not interested in. Does that mean I tell people who play baseball or collect stamps they are stupid? No, we’re all different and again, how boring would the world be if we weren’t?

Because I don’t use Twitter in some ways that others use it doesn’t mean the way I use it is right, or the way they use it is wrong. It means it is an amazingly diverse tool, a tool you can make in to anything you want it to be. Is it all about what you had for breakfast? Is it narcissistic? Does it invade your privacy? Is it a waste of time? Does it lead to less human interaction? The answer to all those questions for me is no, but it could just as easily be yes, if I let it.

Twitter won’t *make you* into anything. Narcissists can use it to further their narcissistic tendencies. Stalkers can use it to stalk. Researchers can use it for researching. Communicators can use it to communicate. Business owners can use it to promote their businesses. Bowlers can use it to find new bowling shoes and porn aficionados can use it to find porn and/or interact (ahem) with it’s *providers*. Twitter didn’t make you interested in bowling or porn and it didn’t make you a narcissist or a stalker or a researcher.

Twitter can positively or negatively impact your life in any way you want it to. The choice is yours. My choice is to use it for the reasons I’ve stated above – to hear the humor, opinions, ideas and thoughts of others. Some make me smile. Some make me sad. This is life, this is what I appreciate in life, and Twitter has brought many new thoughts, ideas and people, however tenuously, into my life and I love it for that.

And by the way, I had a muffin for breakfast.

turn that frown upside down

How about something nice, for a change? I’m not going to go all Church of Oprah on you, but I do have some good things in my life, and I should probably remind myself of those things when I get blue. So here goes:

• I have a job I like and it pays me pretty well.
• I work a block from home which gives me lots of time daily for my favorite activity, sleeping.
• I have a pretty nice condo, which I renovated myself (with help, of course!)
• I live in a beautiful city
• I have great, goofy friends.
• I’m turning 40, not 50 (yet).
• I’ve traveled some pretty awesome places.
• And for some strange reason, these two guys love me, and I love them too. So much.

the end of the Rogers saga

Previously:

• Rogers made me lose my shit and I started talking smack about retarded three year olds. Also: I blew up their website
• And then I was like “I’m gonna tell Twitter on you” and they were all like “I’m not allowed to play with Twitter” and I said “Ya well, you suck”
• So then Rogers said “I’m not listening LALALALALALALA” and I was like “NO SHIT, SHERLOCK”
• Then Rogers said “Ya well, you OWE ME MONEY, pay up or else” and I said “No YOU owe ME money” and they were all “I know you are but what am I?”
• @RogersHelps stepped in and said “Hey, hey, what’s going on here, kids?” and that night the principal’s office, I mean the president’s office, called and promised to give me back my lunch iPhone money

Yes, that’s about where I left off.

So. I spoke to someone in the president’s office on Tuesday night and he said he was actively looking into the matter and would call me back the next night. I (very calmly, I may add), reiterated my concerns with their customer service:

• I was given misinformation about the best way to place an order
• Their e-care system allowed me to order a back-ordered item without any indication (or follow up) that there would be a delay
• They screwed up canceling the port request on the e-care order
• I had to speak to multiple people to find someone who could correct the port request issue
• I was given misinformation about when I could expect to receive my refund
• Their phone system assumed I was a Pay As You Go customer, making it hard to reach the right department
• Their phone system repeatedly cut me off
• They passed me around to multiple customer service reps, none of whom could help
• No one could find any evidence of the e-care order or its cancellation
• The fact that I had an e-care order prior to being a customer Blew.Their.Damn.Minds
• It took over 45 minutes to ultimately be told “umm, can’t help you. sorry.”
• Their customer contact page bombed out when I tried to contact them through their site
• The responses I received in reply to my emails were devoid of any useful information
• Their customer service staff had a complete lack of understanding regarding the implications of me taking my complaints to Facebook and Twitter
• Their own staff is unaware of the @RogersHelps Twitter account
• Their system failed to keep a complete record of their dealings with me, which led to their accounts receivable department demanding payment from me while the credit owing to me was still in dispute

He agreed that the things I experienced were neither appropriate nor in line with the kind of customer service Rogers wants to provide its customers.  He acknowledged there is a need for work to be done on some of their “back-end” processes, especially surrounding e-care, and he told me he’d call back the next day.

Early Wednesday morning , Miranda at @RogersHelps sent me a message on Twitter, asking if the matter had been resolved.  I let her know I was expecting to hear back sometime during the day, and I did – that evening I received a voicemail leting me know that they would know the “timeline” for when I could expect my refund by Friday.  Not super impressive, but a step in the right direction.

Miranda continued to follow up with me on Twitter and on Thursday afternoon, I received a final call from the president’s office – he said the refund had been processed the night before, (on Wednesday, September 23) and I should expect to see it on my credit card statement within a few business days (it showed up on Saturday – only two or three days after it was eventually processed). He apologized for the experiences I had with Rogers, especially given that I am a brand new customer.

Additionally, in order to somewhat compensate me for the significant amount of time I spent trying to resolve this matter, and for the frustration and roadblocks I faced along the way, my first month’s bill has been written off. That and the acknowledgment they had, indeed, dorked me around was enough to satisfy me and bring this matter to a close.

Am I terrified I may have to contact customer service in the future? Yeah, a bit. But I’m hopeful Rogers is trying to reach out to their customers in new ways, including Twitter, and I know they have at least one awesome customer service rep, Miranda at @RogersHelps.  I am positive that without Miranda’s help I would still be trying to storm Rogers’ customer service brick wall with email and phone calls and swear words.

Finally, I need to emphasize that this matterwas ultimately resolved using Twitter, and I’m delighted it was – but I have another post brewing in my head about that.