My Bad!

I know, I know, I haven't been blogging in a while. No I am not dead, just internet-less. Blogging at work is hard but today is a very slow day.

On the house front, I am all moved in. However, the woman that owns the house has turned out to be (as I had suspected) a psychopath or at the very least suffers from Disassociative Identity Disorder.

The Canadian Tire mortgage fell through because the house was too old and only had 60 amp service. So the next mortgage the broker offered me was a 65% mortgage and another personal loan for the 35% between me and the owner. She refused it. I told her it was better than the original plan we had for rent-to-own for a year, at least she would have 65% up front. And after a year they would refinance the mortgage and pay her off. And then she said something that made me suspect the DID. "Oh I would have never agreed to rent-to-own."

Excuse me but could I talk to the other personality that I have been dealing with all along? Turns out she had an offer on the house. The guy was interested in buying it as a rental property. How much you wanna bet that having someone in the house renting was a selling point for DID woman?

But I think it may be a good thing. Considering the 60 amp service that would have to be upgraded to 110 in order for me to get insurance for the house. After the conversation with DID woman, I went upstairs to dry my hair and proceeded to blow the fuses for the entire second floor of the house. Perhaps a sign from God. That turned out to be the tip of the iceberg on this house.

I won't get into it, but the plan is now: If I can renegotiate the rent ($675 nothing included) with the new owner to a reasonable amount I will stay on. But if not I already have another place lined up around the corner that is $425/mo heated. In this neck of the woods that is dirt cheap rent. The only down side is moving twice in two weeks. The helpers might rebel.

My banker on the other hand is happy this did not work out. She says that if I wait a year, I can get preapproved for a mortgage and find the place I want instead of the first one that is available to me. Good plan, I think I will go with it.

Hope you all have a good Holiday, keep your stick on the ice.

You might be a redneck!

Got in touch with a mortgage broker and she came up with a couple different mortgages I can go with. I chose...drum roll please.

Canadian Tire. You heard me. Canadian Tire actually offers mortgages. Here's the kicker. You get $400 back in Canadian Tire money.

You might be a redneck if you get your home financed at Canadian Tire.

Way cool.

House Update.

I decide to go to the bank and see if I can assume the mortgage for the house. The banker tells me I am 100 points away from qualifying for a no down payment mortgage. Shit! But she says this is good news. She wants me to rent-to-own for a year at which time I will not need a down payment. And that year will give me time to save up for the legal fees.

I relay this info to the owner of the house, "I am going to talk to my banker, I think there is a way around this." Ok, whatever she wants.

She calls me back yesterday, "Good news, I am going to write a letter saying I am your Aunt and gifting you the down payment."

"But I still need to save for the legal fees."

"Bah! Couple thousand dollars, I will pay the legal fees."

She is starting to freak me out. She is making it so I will pay nothing out of pocket. Too good to be true? Maybe, but I have nothing to lose, so I am going for it.

I just know she will be hit by a bus or something before the papers are ever signed.

That was fun. Let's never do it again.

The storm is over and the power was restored yesterday. However, the internet just came back on a couple hours ago. Some people are still without power and are understandably pissed. Me, I was just happy I could finally take a shower.

After my harrowing journey home on Saturday night. I decided Sunday not to repeat the performance and stayed in town for the night. I went to stay with Donna, a friend from work.

The power was out everywhere so it was pitch black when we arrived at her home. We tried the front door and it was locked. Donna noticed a bag hanging on the doorknob, "I wonder what this could be?"

We make our way to the back door, feeling our way around the house, carrying this bag. The back door is also locked. We fish around in her purse and finally find the key, but it is for the front door. Back we go around to the front of the house.

Much slipping and toe stubbing later we finally get in the door. Feel around in the pitch black for candles, Donna says, "Hurry and light that candle so I can see what is in this bag." I light the candle, she reaches in the bag. Can you guess what it was? I just looked at her, "You old bat!" And we both double over in fits of laughter.

The landlord had hung a flashlight on the doorknob so we could find our way around in the darkness. It apparently hadn't dawned on her to actually feel the bag to determine what might be inside.

You know your old when...

And so it begins.

Dashing through the fucking snow. First storm of the season and it is a whopper. In a perfect world I would be sitting in the comfort of my home in front of a roaring fire. However, the Undisclosed Customer Service Center� is equipped with a generator so I had to drag myself out of Butt Fuck Nowhere and into work.

Last night as the storm was just getting started I decided I would try and make way home. It was a white knuckle ride all the way. The road was not plowed or salted and it appeared that only one other person had driven that road (thankfully) so I had to drive in tracks of that poor unfortunate. Hoping against hope that he at least made it as far as my house. The trees were so heavy with snow that they were laying across the road, leaving just enough room for my car to get through.

I know what you are thinking. "What the hell was she thinking?" Believe me I was asking myself the same thing as my battery was starting to go dead.

Luckily I did make it home and the car died in the driveway. My brother had to drive me into work tonight. I will not try that treck again in the nighttime. I will stay in town tonight.

Don't ya just love winter?

No longer homeless.....and this time I really mean it......I hope.

The boy and I (and sister) went to see the house today. We love it. Ok, I love it and sister loves it but the boy could care less.

It has a fireplace (that works) and a cast iron tub. You know, the kind with feet? The kind of tub us fat chicks can actually get wet in.

Sounded too good to be true. I, of course, told her I would get back to her later in the evening or tomorrow. We go outside, I ask my sister, "What do you really think?"

"I love it, I think you should go for it."

So, later I stew over it, and my sister-in-law says, "Go for it, it might turn out alright, and if it doesn't it doesn't." Hmmmmm, wise words, what is the worst that could happen?

So, I call the lady back, "I am going to go for it."

Well, she surprised me then. The woman wants to bend over backwards to sell me this house. She is calling her bank and seeing what we can work out. She says whatever she owes on the house is what I will pay, she is even going to come down on the rent. As long as she breaks even she is fine with it. She has already told her daughter to be out by December first. "I think you are in the same boat as my daughter was and I feel that no matter what it takes I want you to have this house."

I hope she is not blowing smoke up my ass. But we are meeting tomorrow, after she speaks with her banker, and finalizing things.

I will be in my own place for Christmas. Ye haw!

And another thing...

I can't believe I didn't post anything on my birthday (Nov 3rd). I am 39, holy shit, did I say that? I had a good one, among other little gifts, the security guard at work gave me a racey card and a toonie to get a coffee at Tim's. Gotta love it.

Gotta see a man woman about a horse house.

Meeting a woman tomorrow about the possibility of renting to own her house. Not sure if I can swing the $675/mo that she is looking for but it might be possible if I can convince my sister to come with me. It is 3 bedrooms really close to work so even if she won't consider it, I could take in a border from work.

She explained that after a year of renting, if I still wanted to buy, she would put all the monies she collected for rent against the down payment. Also there is the possibility of getting 100% financing from CMHC, I may look into that as well. I am just so tired of renting with nothing to show for it. This just might be the thing, I have a semi-good feeling about it.

Wish me luck.

Overheard.

Was talking to the boy on the phone and heard his father in the background.

"I can't stand this, I can't wait till he moves out and things are back to normal."

I know what you're thinking ladies, 'she let that prince slip through her fingers?'

I need to find an apartment fast.

From bad to worse.

Last week I had an apartment, for about 2 days. The landlord called and told me it was mine if I wanted it. It was on the same street as my old place, perfect I thought. Mind you it was for a lot more money but it was 3 bedrooms. Then the landlord's wife called me two days later to say she couldn't rent from me. She gave some lame excuse about me not leaving the place clean. I explained to her that the old landlord knew two months before that he was selling the place and at that time he had had a dumpster blocking my driveway for 3 months. He could have told me then and I wouldn't have had to leave so much junk behind, I could have thrown it out then. I also explained that the junk was neatly piled in the basement. It was hard to argue with and I knew there was something else she was wanting to say, then she comes out with.

"We have heard there has been problems with your son." WTF?

"My landlord told you that?"

"No, he said you paid your rent on time and that you were a good tenant, but we hear this from other people."

"What other people, what did they say? I have never had trouble with my son."

"I don't think we should discuss it."

What was going through my head was that I would like to argue with her a bit,then rip her head off and shit in her neck. Then I realized that she also lived in the building and I knew I didn't want to live there so all I said was, "Fine then, go fuck yourself." It was the only neighborly thing to do.

But I have to find a place soon. My son is absolutely miserable living with his father. I have to tell you what the asshole said, loud enough for me to hear through the phone. I was talking to the boy and heard his father talking to his girlfriend in the background, "I can't stand this, I can't wait till he moves out so things can get back to normal." Nice. What a prince. Hard to believe I kicked that one to the curb, eh?

All I could think of was, if I had killed him when I first wanted to, I would be out of jail by now.

The cat came back the very next day!

When I moved at the first of the month I found places for most of my cats, except for one. The crazy cat my mother saddled me with. I figured I could leave it behind for a bit since it wasn't an inside cat. The neigbor was feeding it and last week I finally found a barn for it. This is the cat that shits in the food dish if he can't manager to finish the food in one sitting. He is only fit for a barn.

Anyway, I get this stupid thing in a carrier and off we go to the barn. That was a week ago, last night, the old next door neighbor calls me. The cat came back she says, "I don't know how far he traveled but he is back."

Fuck me! This cat is going to be the death of me. Now I am having nothing but cat problems. The white cat, Luci, who is staying with my cousin refuses to go into the house. She will sit at the door and meow to get in, yet once the door is opened she refuses to cross the threshold. Oscar, the boy who had babies is MIA. My brother called and said he/she has been gone for 2 days. I guess I am just not meant to have cats, well, not cats I want at any rate.

Well it is super slow at work, but I can't afford to go home early. I have to find an apartment soon.

Country living bites!

Still not dead!

Just hybernating. I am sitting here at work, furtive glances over my shoulder, since it is not permitted to blog from work. Pretty slow here tonight. Not sure if I should try and recap all that went on since I moved out, or just go on from here,and post all that other shit later. Hmmmmm?

How about if I just grab the highlights and fill it in later when I am back online.

Camper living is ok, the boy got tired of it pretty quick, he only stayed the first weekend. It is getting a bit cold, but I bought a heater and all is well. I think I will have to actually look for an apartment soon. I am getting a lot of reading done, it is very quiet and peaceful. I barely turn the computer on anymore. I have a new toy, a Palm pilot, quite retro!

The country is nice but I am starting to get a little sick of it. And so is my sister, looks like I may be taking her with me when I go. She is secretly packing her shit. We went looking at houses today, she is definately not kidding around this time, at least I hope she isn't.

Well I think I have pressed my luck enough for one night. Hope you are all doing well, since I can't surf the net at home or at work.

Goodbye cruel world.

Ok, so here I sit. Another night in an almost empty apartment. I would have gone down to my sisters but the chair is still here thus, so am I. We started moving today and were about to drag the chair out when it began raining cats and dogs. So I get one more day with the internet. One more night to down load a few more movies and TV shows. One more day in the 21st century and then it is a couple months living in the boonies with dialup access. SHIT!

Anyway, Oscar and Boogers are at my brothers so Luci has decided that she will now enter the house. She has been totally freaked out since Oscar had babies and has been avoiding this place like the plague. A half hour after the cats were gone, she was lounging in the middle of the living room, looking very relieved. We will see how she feels once we stuff her in a box to take over to Sonny's. I can pretty much guarantee she will be pissed.

So, this is the last regular post for the blog. I will have to fight my sisters teenage son for internet access. Not that any of you will notice if the commenting is any indication I will probably be back before any of you realize I am gone.

Before I sign off, I still have quite a few GMAIL invitations if anyone is interested just email me.

All ashore who's going ashore.

First day of real moving activity. For the last month I have been packing and sorting and mostly throwing things out. I have gone through about 40 garbage bags.

You know, you don't realize how much 'junk' you accumulate until its time to move it. Things you thought you just had to keep become less desirable in the face of finding a box that it will fit in.

My brother came with his truck today and his bum leg and helped Kimmy and I move some of the larger stuff. Kimmy, I have found is a work horse. I have been packing and mostly tripping over boxes for a month, and an hour after Kimmy showed up the kitchen was cleaned and the boxes neatly packed in one corner. She had my kitchen table apart and everything standing at attention waiting to be marched out the door and onto the truck. I had to act quickly a couple of times to save all my clothes from ending up in storage. She was unstoppable. I was in awe. I really couldn't have gotten this far without her.

In other news, the boy's father refuses to take in the boy's cat. Even after I told him that if he didn't I would have to have it put down. Not even for a month, not even for his son. Asshole.

My cousin, Sonny, will take care of Luci, my older cat, till I find a place. The crazy one (my mothers cat) is on its way to a barn near you. But my sons cat? Well I told my brother about Oscar's situation and he offered to take care of him till we find a place.

This is also the brother that paid for the boy to go to hockey last year. For being such a pain in the butt little kid, my brother has turned into a pretty decent adult. And on his way out the door he says, "If you got a litter box, I'll take that one too." (pointing to Boogers) Sigh of relief.

So here we sit, Boogers and I, in the last remaining chair (sans cushions), with my computer in front of it on a TV stand. I should be down at my sisters but I am clinging to the internet for as long as I can. Stockpiling movies and TV shows to watch in the camper.

Looks like I will be sleeping in this chair tonight, but thank God I stopped Kimmy just in time before she loaded all the blankets and pillows into the truck.

Everyone has a right to my opinion.

Where to start? A lot has happened as far as work is concerned. Finally had it out with my TM. He failed me on a call coach. I never fail call coaches.

It was for an OS password. I told her that for security reasons we do not break, bypass or work around passwords. We could only help her reinstall and she would lose all data on the machine. He failed me for telling her she would lose her data. He asked a tech if the password could be broken and they said yes. However, whether they can do it or not is irrelevant, we are not supposed to do it, and any recovery of the data on that machine constitutes breaking the password. I fought it, I sent it to every TM in the joint and to the MO and I, of course, won. He changed it.

When I got back in the next day he brought me into the huddle room and we had it out. There was absolutely no diplomacy on my part, I am not one to hold back. I asked him if he had a problem with me to just spit it out. Don't hold back and I wouldn't either. An hour later we emerged. I think we are starting to see eye to eye.

So, tonight the MO comes over and asks to speak with me. We get into his office and he says, "Do you smoke?"

"Yes"

"Then what the hell are we doing here? Lets go for a smoke." As we are walking out people are staring, I say, "Hey why don't you swipe me out and I will tell everyone you fired me."

"Not funny." But he is laughing. We get outside and light up.

"I just wanted to get your take on how things are going. How the new TM's are shaping up."

"And your asking me?" The man is brave, hope he isn't looking for sugar coating.

"I ask you cuz I know you don't give a shit about hurting my feelings. You will just tell me how it is." apparently not looking for the sweetened or condensed version.

So I let him have it, everything that everyone was complaining about. The Q management, he said he would have a meeting with all TM's to make sure they truly understand the concept. Stupid things in the coaching tool that bring down our score, scripting problems,(he is working with the client to change this) lack of staffing on the evening and weekend shifts. Anything and everything I could think of. He barely got a word in.

All in all it was a very good 'meeting' I think we will see some changes for the better. The MO is a good guy, I like him. And I know you are saying, "It's a good thing for him that she does."

HEY! I am a nice person. But if I don't like where you got it, I can tell you where to put it.

This is what I have to deal with.

I spoke to the boy's father today, always a treat. Told him I was starting to move things into storage because I wasn't finding a place. At the end of the conversation (believe me I make them as short as humanly possible) he says, "So, how much are you going to pay me? 100 dollars a week?" (referring to the amount of child support he currently pays) WTF?

I lose it, "What exactly is your fucking problem?"

"This has nothing to do with whether the boy comes to stay, but you will pay." Then he hangs up. That sounds like an ominous statement if you don't know the boy's half-wit, socially retarded father. He is a complete and utter moron.

First of all, in order to get child support out of me he would have to take me to court. This from a guy that wouldn't go into a bank to sign his own mortgage papers. There is no fear of court proceedings.

I am not paying that asshole one red cent. In thirteen years I can count on one hand how many times the boy has stayed overnight at his place. He has nickel'ed and dime'd me every step of the way. Oh, he paid his $100/week but not a cent more without an all out war. Even something as stupid as 20 bucks for school photos? He refused, well not exactly, he gave me the money and took it off the child support. (although still taking credit for paying for the photos) I just wish he would get over himself. We have been apart for thirteen years and he still acts like I punched him in the face yesterday.

I always try to have civil conversations with him to no avail. I could care less if he lived or died,(although I would prefer die) but I try for the boy's sake. Everything is a battle with him, last year he even refused to pay to put the boy in hockey, my brothers had to do it. (this year he agreed to half, exactly $187.50 and yes, he expected the change) He really doesn't get it. All he cares about is fucking me over, not realizing that he is doing it to his own son. I guess he figured out that it was the only way to get to me, since I could care less if I ever laid eyes on him for the rest of my life. He continues to break my heart by doing these things that make my son feel like his father doesn't even like him. I try to tell him that it is not because of him, that his father just does these things to hurt me. But even the boy can't make sense of that, so of course he won't believe me. And you can't blame him really, does it make sense to any of you?

Every day his father reminds me of what a favor I did for the boy and myself when I left him. I just wish I had left sooner so the boy wouldn't be saddled with such a mentally unstable person for a father. I really can't understand why he has held onto this for so long. Honestly, all I did to him was leave. That's it. And considering the shit he put me through I can't imagine he was surprised.

Every time I see him, all I can think is, 'I can't believe I slept with that fucktard!'

13 Days and counting.

Up bright and early today to get the boy off to school. I usually go right back to bed but today I am wired. I sent an email to MO last night to complain about the TM's management of our Q, so I am interested to hear what he has to say about it.

Still up to my eyeballs in boxes, and one kitten down.



This one should go today. A guy at work wants him/her? Well, you all know how good I am at determining the sex of a cat.

The boy still holds hope that his father will let him take one of the kittens as well as his cat with him when he goes to stay with him.



I hope so too, every time we discuss someone taking Boogers, he gets all choked up. No idea why, but he has bonded with that one.

If worse comes to worse, we can just tell the boy's father the cat is coming and to deal with it. Hope it works.

Anyway, wanted to mention to anyone that does not have a G.ma.il account yet. I have a few invitations, email me and I will send ya one.

Must get back to packing.

Deep breath.

I know, I know, I am getting slack with the blog entries but there just isn't enough hours in the day to get everything done. Bit by bit I am packing this dump up but it is going to get worse before it gets better. It's an obstacle course around here, boxes everywhere. I can't get the storage place till the 20th so I am stacking them as best I can. Can't wait till this is over.

Had a team meeting with the new TM and vented for a half an hour. Think he may be seeing things my way. I am not the type who stews in silence. Surprising as that might sound. But if people don't know they are pissing you off, then they will continue to piss you off. Might as well get it off your chest. Then if they are still pissing you off, at least you know its intentional.

I tried to drill it into his head that if he doesn't know how to do something, then ask someone, and keep asking till you find out. Don't stumble around and hope you get it right. I don't want him to fail, I want him to get up to speed as quickly as possible. The sooner he does the better off we will all be. I even spoke to a couple of other TM's and brow-beat them into offering some assistance. They know what it was like to learn all this shit, they should be ashamed that they are just letting him swing in the breeze. (the 'you should be ashamed' thing hit the spot)

What else. Oh, we had a regular TM (as opposed to a pro TM) Managing the Q on Sat night. Wait, this might get complicated if you don't know how my job works. Let me give a little bit of insight.

We are paid for a service level of 85%, anything above, we don't get paid, anything below and we get penalized. If we are in Q (meaning a shitload of people are waiting on hold) then depending on how deep we go, our service level goes down. If we have no Q and are sitting around doing nothing (BTW my dream job) then our service level goes up, meaning we are available for calls, it rings twice and there we are. Then too, if we are sitting around doing nothing for too long, the service level goes down. (hope you sort of get the picture) So, when we are not in Q and our service level is good, we can afford to jump into Super Q (mixture of cc and pro) or PPA (internal) Q and help them without hurting ourselves.

Anyway, the cc TM takes us all out of pro and puts us in PPA, to purposely drive down our service level, which in my opinion is unethical, it is essentially cooking the books. But try and explain that to him? You see the higher ups just tell the TM's to manage the Q and assume they know what that means. Some of them do not. So, we have Professional customers calling in and hearing nothing but hold music on a Sat. night, they are not impressed.

Then there is the 'customer satisfaction' (CSAT) element. People are routinely surveyed and asked about their overall satisfaction with the service. Well if you are a professional and are calling on a Sat night because your entire network is down and you have to wait on hold just to reach a customer service representative, how do you think you would answer those surveys? Favorably? I think not. If we hit our CSAT goal each month we get a bonus.

There is a balance, and someone needs to get all the TM's on the same page. This is fucking with my bonus and I am not impressed.

I am ranting now, so I think I will post.

How will I occupy my time?

Called around to find out the prices for storage in the area and found a decent place close by for $60/mon. Not bad for a 9 x 12 unit, I pick up the keys on Thursday and will start to slowly fill it up.

The boy had a great first day, he likes the school and the teachers and there are some friends from baseball in his class. After school we went to check out my new digs, and I found out I will only be able to stay in it a month before it heads for storage. That's cool, by then it will be too cold to be in a motor home anyway.

Another distressing thought, I will be without internet for that time. What will I do? Culture shock. I will still be able to post to the blog from various places, but I'm not sure if I will be able to handle going cold turkey. It will be hard late at night (my preferred surf time) but I am stockpiling movies for the boredom. Anything you want to contribute, Grog? Maybe some PC games? I will have to try and figure out who I lent the Sims to.

I will have to break the 'no internet usage' rule at work so I can read my daily's.

Oh, and I am buying Forest's Palm Pilot, my birthday gift to myself. I always wanted one and he has had one just laying around, so, done deal. Now, all I need to fill out my geek gear is a laptop. I was thinking if I went laptop I would try an Apple. Just for something different. I have never laid eyes on one before and I keep seeing them for sale in the paper.

Just one of those things I always wanted to try. I have a feeling I will be doing a lot of that in the coming months. Here's hoping.

And he's off!

First day of school, 2004. Head to toe in sk8tr gear, the boy is stylin'. A walking advertisement, every teenagers dream.

On the road....again.

The landlord came to pick up the rent and informed me that he has sold the house. He needs me out by the end of the month. WTF? I freak out for a day or so, I could fight it, he really has to give me three months. How will I find a suitable apartment in 30 days?

Then it hit me. Why am I stressing? I can send the boy to live with his father, put my stuff in storage and stay with friends. Save some money, get caught up on some things and take my time to find the right place. Sounds like a plan. I will live with Kimmy. Settled.

Ok, not. I talk to my sister. "You don't want to do that. Come out here and you can stay in the camper." She calls it a camper, how cute. When it is a motor home, central vacuum, full bath. When my sister 'camps' she is definitely not roughing it. I like this idea because of my strange work hours, it would be easier and I won't be bothering anyone.

She is excited and every so often in the conversation she interjects with, "You do realize that you will be FREE?!"

"Ya, but I am trying not to let the boy see how excited I am." This is going to be fun.