Reminders, washers, and getting started ...

(No, you're not crazy: yes, some of these posts are out of place or out of order.  That's how my life is at the moment ...)

I've lost C. S. Lewis.  I've also lost my passport.  Not really, of course.  I know that I packed C. S. Lewis (or, his books, anyway), and I'm even reasonably sure that he made it to Port Alberni, since I'm pretty sure that I've seen the box, multiple times, since I got here.  I just can't find it right now.  Which is annoying, out of all proportion to it's real important, since that was the books that I wanted to unpack, onto the bookshelves, next.

The girls have done a fantastic job at unpacking, placing furniture, assembling my new desk, and fixing the bookshelves, slated for the hallway, firmly to the wall.  When you've got very tall Billy bookcases, and lots of books, that's a pretty significant requirement.  So I now have lots of bookshelf space in the hallway to unpack my books.  I found the Bibles, and they have been unpacked, in pride of place, right in the middle of the wall of bookshelves.  I wanted C.S. Lewis to be shelved nearby, as part of the religious section.  And I can't find him.  It's annoying.  In my current fragile mental state, it was annoying enough that was impeding my ability to proceed with unpacking anything else and shelving other sections of books.  But I did it anyways.  I've got five shelves of books unpacked and set up so far.

Yesterday I went to vote.  Remembering, at the last minute, that I had planned to do so.  And, of course, needing extra identification in order to do so, since I'm not on the election list.  That's when I realized I've lost my passport.  And I've lost it fairly recently, since I had to have it, to identify myself to the lawyers, when I paid for the house.  Hopefully it's not lost either, I just don't know where it is.

I am losing things.  And, maybe, I am losing it.  One of the things that I am very much missing, not having Internet at my residence, is the ability to dictate reminders to myself.  I seem to have become rather dependent upon this tool.  Possibly it's related to the bereavement brain, noted earlier, which I haven't noted recently, but which is possibly still in evidence, just covered up by my adaptations, such as the tool of dictating reminders to myself.  On the other hand, possibly it is not the bereavement brain, but the sleep deprivation that I have been living under for at least a month, as well as the disturbance involved in moving again but then again, maybe, as well as losing C. S. Lewis and my passport, I'm losing my marbles.

I am starting to figure some things here in my new place.  (What do I call it?  Is it a house?  Is it a townhouse?  Is it an apartment?  One of the oddities to decide, now that I am, for the very first time, a homeowner.)

Anyway, things that I am figuring out.  I have done a pretty good job of organizing the kitchen, if I do say so myself.  I have set up at least one of the china cabinets, displaying knick knacks, and received expressions of approval from the girls.  Which is important, since I am a guy, and therefore have no sense of design.

I am figuring out where to place at least one fan, to deal with the temperature, which is different than the other places that I have lived recently, of course.  I like to have the bedroom cool, possibly even cold.  The afternoon sun comes in the windows for the living room, and the entire place gets pretty warm.  At this point in the year not excessively so, and I haven't tried out the air conditioner yet.  But I figured that the nights, which are pretty nippy these days, should be enough to cool down the bedroom with the window open.  Apparently not: it needs some assistance from fan.  And I finally figured out a reasonable placement for the fan to do that.  Just one more adaptation that I need to do in this new place.  I'm figuring out places to put things, and also spaces, available to me, to use for storage.  For example, there are the cupboards in the china cabinets, that do not have glass fronts, and so do not display things.  They are available as storage.  But they are all in the living room, and I haven't yet thought of anything that I need to store in the living room, and have available, but do not need to be displayed.  However, it could be used for storage.  The first thing I thought of was the log cabin quilt.  I don't need it right now, since the weather hasn't got cold enough to need both the quilt and the duvet.  So it's been sitting, in a bag, on the top shelf in my closet.  But, today, I thought of putting it in storage in the china cabinets.  That means it has, in a sense, pride of place in terms of storage, and is available if anyone comes over and wants to see it.  I might put some other similar materials in there: there are the decorative pillows for our bed, for example.  These aren't things that I, as a guy, really care about, or want to put on, and take off, my bed.  But I don't just want to throw them out, so maybe I will put them in storage in the china cabinet.  There's also a quilt that came with the set of linens that Gloria liked, and match the duvet cover, and it could go into storage there as well, along with the extra mattress protector, which, when I hauled the existing mattress protector out of the dryer the other day, I noted that I may need to use fairly soon.  So, ideas about how to exist in, and use, this new space.

The new appliances are presenting various problems.  A few days ago, we put in the bedding for from Delta, which, on moving day, I had just hauled off the bed and stuffed into a garbage bag, knowing that the washing machine in Port Alberni was larger than that in Delta, and that, in any case, I had both a spare bed, and spare bedding for my existing bed.  As noted, having done one cycle for the mattress protector, the load of linen, and my towel, went through its cycle, but when I asked it for an extra rinse, it showed me an error code, and has refused to do anything at all since.  I have tried it a couple of times since then hoping that it might clear itself up.  But it hasn't.  The owner's manual, and quick start guide, do not mention anything about this error code, but then neither has any section on troubleshooting.  I cannot, of course, look up any additional documentation or any issues regarding Whirlpool washing machines in this particular error code, because, of course, I do not have access to the Internet. [Sigh.]

Somebody suggested that it might be due to stuff impeding the door.  There was nothing anywhere near the door, but I opened it up, took everything out, refluffed it, and put it all back, just in case.  Nope, no luck.  When I try to turn it on I still get the Loc code and it does absolutely nothing.

Anyway, I continued on, checked out the library (yes, it is closed on Sunday ), and went down to check out the atmospheric effect on the river at the bottom of Johnson.  I was a lot closer to it, even though it seemed to be hugging the far/west/Soomas? side of the river and was quite low down to the water.  But, in the few minutes that I stayed there, it started expanding across the water, generally in my direction, with the columns growing taller, up to about five feet sometimes.  It was really quite an interesting phenomenon.  I wonder if there are First Nations legends or traditions about this being some kind of "spirits of the ancestors moving to the next life" type idea.  It does seem like a whole mob of ghosts moving to some unknown destination.

Anyway, I headed back, intending to get to church in time for what I thought was 8:45 Sunday school.  I checked out wifi signals on churches on the way.  The Christian reform church seems to have two wifi signals associated with it, both protected by passwords.  When I went by the gateway church, they didn't seem to have any wifi signal.  Then again, they don't need it.  They are right across the street from the Shaw office, which is broadcasting a very strong Shaw Open wifi signal.  No particular surprise there.

I got to the church, and it was locked up tight.  However I also found out that I had misread the sign board: Sunday school was 9:45.  Which seems a bit brief, unless the parents were only wanting to dump their kids on Sunday school, and then take the time to socialize a bit before the service, which seemed a promising sign.  I went home, dumped gloves and toque and headed back, getting there just in time to see the minister opening the place up.  We chatted for a bit, I found out that they have a Bible study Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., but almost the very first thing the minister felt the need to tell me was that they practice closed communion, and I would have to take catechism classes if I was going to become a member and be allowed to take communion.  Since communion has been very important to me this past year (somewhat surprisingly so ), I figured that maybe I would go to their bible study on Tuesday, but try another church for the service.  So I went up to another church.

Initially, the church was not terribly promising.  A number of people did greet me, but it was American level greetings: smile, superficially friendly, not going anywhere beyond "hi."  And, when I went down for the coffee time after the service, the same thing happened.  The church members were all talking to each other, I was standing on the edges, nobody was talking to me.  But then one did, and another, and I had a really good, and lengthy, discussion with one member of the church, and later with the pastor.  They also had a Bible study at 7:00 in the evening, and so I did go back for that, and again had a discussion with another member, who also lost his wife this past February, and drove me home, and we talked in the parking lot for probably an hour.  So, some promising indications there.  They also have a prayer and praise time on Tuesday evenings, so I think I will go along to that.  I will probably a different church for next Sunday morning service.

However, before all of that, and actually during the service, I got a call back from Josh.  He essentially did confirm that no service could be provided until about 2023.  He did promise to get somebody to call me back about keeping Gloria's number on a cell phone.

So, I did call the Shaw installer, and got an appointment for installation.

I did also get a couple more boxes of books onto the hall bookshelves, and managed to find the box of Lewis books, which, of course, in some resourcing of piles ended up on the very bottom.  I am not putting anything on the shelves in the office just yet, since running cables is easier if you can move bookshelves.

And, yet another example of me being frazzled and completely mentally incompetent: I have been wondering where my office wastebasket was, and couldn't find it. It is, of course, in the office on top of the box of oversized items, in plain sight.

Putting together my computer requires that I find the USB adapter, which I have carefully put away someplace safe, and now can't remember where that safe place is, and has driven me to check out a box of electrical equipment, which contains a bunch of my phones, reminding me that all of that phone equipment is useless, since I will not have a landline for the foreseeable future. Argh.

I finally found the USB hub that I was looking for.  Apparently that was where I put all the stuff from the desk to do with the computer at the last minute when I packed it.  Including things like my keyboard and mouse and backup drive and other things which would have been absolutely necessary to get the computer up and running anyway.  And then covered it up with telephone stuff, which of course are completely surplus to requirements right now.

Pity Party

Port Alberni is a really pretty place, and I have the second best view (there's a place up on 8th and Argyle that may have the slight edge on me, particularly in regard to the harbour) in the town, and it's full of wonderful, friendly people, and God has brought me here to prove to me that I am useless and worthless, and cannot be happy even here.

Hydro won't believe that my address exists, even though they are supplying power here, and I have no idea how that is going to work out.  Telus won't believe that my address exists, and won't provide service, and won't let me keep Gloria's phone number, and has proven that their service is every bit as bad as Shaw's, and has forced me to go to Shaw again for Internet service.  Shaw has proven, once again, to be the all time winners of the "we are a near monopoly, so we don't have to care or do anything about customer service" contest.  Even Canada Post doesn't believe that my address exists, despite given me a mailbox key to a mailbox to which they refuse to redirect mail, and their local office keeps telling me they can't do anything, and directing me to a customer service line who insist that they can't do anything and directing me back to the local office.  Meanwhile, fighting with all of these non-services is taking up all of my time and I'm not getting any unpacking and setting up/settling in done.

My ridiculous diet has plateaued, big time.  Even though I've been eating salads and fruits and vegetables until I'm turning green, I now weigh more than I did two months ago.  I'll probably have to abandon the ridiculous diet and just diet until I die.  (Dieting myself to death?  Right now, that's an attractive prospect ...)  Despite contacts and research I'm no closer to getting a doctor or internist or any medical support here in Port Alberni, so I suppose that's appropriate.  (For some reason, this morning, my balance is affected, and I am feeling strangely unbalanced on my feet.  I've felt this way, before, early on at times in Delta, but I thought we had dealt with it in reducing my blood pressure medication.  Hmmm.  A little too early to be able to find a place with a blood pressure monitor this early in the morning ...)

I was a bit leery of moving here.  The last time I lived in a small town it didn't turn out well.  But that was long enough ago that it was before I was on the Internet, so that might have made a difference.  If I could get anyone to provide me with reliable Internet service ...

My gardening career has come to a careering halt.  I have hauled over the pots, but I cannot put them anywhere except on my deck, which is both limited in space and covered by a roof with an overhang, so they don't get much light or any rain.  I have found some Grand Fir samples (always had a thing for Grand Fir, and they are not common), but I hesitate to take them because I'm not sure how well I can maintain them in my new place.

Like in Delta, I am not only church shopping, but trying to find places and opportunities to volunteer.  Interestingly, everyone here seems to keep losing my applications, or contacting me, only to realize that they have no idea why.  More time wasted to no effect.  Having put in all the efforts in Delta (and with no returns or benefits to be had from all the output), it seems that I am running out of energy, steam, work, effort, cope, giving, whatever.  I am feeling completely exhausted (probably not helped by a month and a half of sleep deprivation, likely over the move, but still not lifting).  I am still trying to find places to help.  But I am no closer to getting any "return on investment" in terms of ... well, what?  Concern?  Attention?  Friendship?  Love?  Whatever I'm missing, I'm still missing.  And, although I know that there is no point in trying to "demand" that anyone love me, or care for me, or even care that I have lost wife, best friend, job, home, community, et cetera, et cetera, and that the only thing I *can* do is try and reduce the total suffering in the world by helping someone else, I am running out of the energy and ability to do that.  Which makes it not a great time to be pursuing volunteer tasks.  Which leaves me  with ... nothing?

Church shopping is going poorly, not aided by the fact that every church in Port Alberni meets, simultaneously, at 10:30 AM Sunday morning.  Actually, as you research the situation, there is some slight variation.  Not enough to make much of a difference in terms of being limited to one church per Sunday.  There are some mid-week activities.  If you have the time to pursue each church individually.  Please see above for estimates of my copious free spare time for this type of research.  I have also, multiple times, been standing outside a locked church, awaiting a non-10:30-AM-Sunday-morning event, to which I have sometimes been specifically invited, only to have nobody show up.  In at least one case, I know that the church is equipped with security video cameras that are remotely accessible, so, as a professional paranoid, it is hard to avoid the suspicion that this is for church members' amusement, as in, "oh, look, we fooled another stranger in a strange land," while the church parking lot lights pulse every five seconds to alert people to the fact.  (Not, I'm not making that detail up.)

Maybe I'm just having a bad day.  But I've fought depression for enough decades to be afraid of what might be waiting down the road.  Maybe this is just another manifestation of grief, which is always pretty weird and unpredictable.  Maybe it's just the sleep deprivation, although I got more sleep last night than I have for almost a month and a half (although that's often how it works out).

But, right now, it's not fun ...

Moved to Port Alberni, first full day, also Telus (yet again)

So, I woke up in an empty house, but it was a house in Port Alberni.  I couldn't do an awful lot without the Internet and with only minimal stuff.  And I'm still pretty frazzled so I can't really remember what I did from about 2:30 in the morning until I headed out to the Save-on, at 7:00 a.m., because I knew that they would be open and I could use their wifi to check my email and dictate some stuff.

I checked the prices at Save-On, and actually made a list of things that I wanted to get at some point.  Then, back to the house, because the girls had said that they would be there at about that time.  Even though the movers we're not going to be in Port Alberni until just before noon, and they were going to drop some stuff at Number One Daughter's storage place, before they brought the bulk of the stuff to my house.  So, with nothing particularly to do, Number One Daughter and I went and did some errands.  We went to the post office, because we were told that that was how we could get the mailbox keys which the developers had not arranged to obtain.  Got the keys, and also found out yet another mistake in the address: the postal code is different once again.  I also tried to put in a change of address and redirection, but the post office computer system wouldn't allow it.  It coughed on the address: no, not the new address in Port Alberni that keeps changing, but my address in Delta, which has been in place for some time, and which the post office, in fact, has on a mail redirection already, from North Vancouver.  May you live in interesting times.  (This has started to become a major problem.  I've been back to the post office three times now, and have had a phone call with, and email from, a supervisor, who says he can't get anyone to do anything because this is a computer problem, and belongs with a software venor, over which the post office has no control.  he said to call the 800 number service line.  The 800 number service line said *they* can't do anything, and I should contact the local post office, who could ...)

So then we went and had some copies of my keys cut, and then, armed with the new postal code, went to the Service BC office, where I was able to get my driver's license and Care card stickered with the new address right away.  So, armed with an officially stickered driver's license from the government, I was able to change the address on my car insurance, at a insurance agency in town, and will eventually get a bit of a refund.  I also stopped in at the bank, and rented a safety deposit box over here, and deposited the stuff that I had brought from the safe deposit box in town.  Once I find various things in my stuff there are a few more items that I want to put in a safe deposit box.  Number One Daughter was still with me at the beginning of the safe deposit process, and I wanted to get her signed up in on the safe deposit box as well, so that she could have access to it in case of emergency, but there was yet another new computer system involved at the bank, and it took the bank people forever to figure out how to rent me a safe deposit box.  By which time Number One Daughter had had to leave to meet the movers at her storage place.  I walked back from the bank to my place, stopping for a coffee at the local coffee shop, three blocks from my house, where I finally found out their wifi password, by which time the movers were there and starting to put stuff into my new house.  So, my house has furniture in it, not necessarily exactly where it will end up, and piles of boxes in various locations which I will have to unpack and find places for.

Number One Daughter says now that I have all of the cupboard space, and wire shelf racks in the closets in the new place, and bookcases and shelving units, I have no excuse for leaving things out on tables and counters.  I did kind of wonder about that, but the girls were absolutely terrific and we're arranging and rearranging the furniture, allowing me to concentrate on putzing around in the kitchen, and getting it into order.  I was able to break down the contents of the kitchen by quite a variety of categories, and have sufficient cupboards that I can sort them by those categories, without jamming too much into any one cupboard, and I still have three cupboards to spare, if I remember correctly.  As well as a few drawers in a couple of dressers which have ended up sort of extending the kitchen.  So, I think I can work on that: not leaving anything out.  It sort of feels like being told that you have to put your toys away when you're finished playing with them.  The problem being, I never finish playing with them!  That's what being a systems analyst is: you are always playing with things and ideas.  But I will work I'm putting them away on a regular basis when I'm not actually working with them.

All of this moving type stuff was interrupted with a massive call to Telus.  It was prompted by the fact that the Shaw cable installer was going around and very aggressively selling the people who were moving into the development, who were without Internet because Telus still can't get their act together, and selling them on the idea of switching to Shaw.  So, I called Telus, to see if they could give me any more assurance that I will have connectivity next week.  (Partly because earlier in the day two guys from Telus had showed up, and dropped a section of fiber optic cable, or at least connected it, between a box in the ground, and the building that I'm in.  Apparently there are two further connections that have to be made, one from the connection to the building to my actual unit, and one from some mythical pole somewhere which seems to be the sticking point.)

This whole Telus thing has been going on for about a month now.  On September 19th, I contacted Telus to see about the move and the possibilities.  I did not want to move, and be without Internet or phone access.  (Television is not a major concern for me.)  In any case, on September 19th they said that they were qualifying my address and would call me back within a couple of days.  They never did.  A little over a week later, on September 27th, I called them back again, since they hadn't called me.  The representative I spoke to at that time said that they would call me back within hours.  They never did.

On October 4th I called once again.  This time, they had apparently qualified the address.  Whatever that involved.  On that call, the representative made an appointment for a technician to come and do the installation, at my house, of the phone, the internet, and the television service.  I had not wanted to make specific arrangements for the move, until I had phone and Internet service at the new place.  So, based on the commitment and specific date and time, from Telus, I booked everything else. In negotiation with the girls, I booked the movers, the ferry, and arranged for Number One Daughter to be at my new place, on October the 11th, for the extended window that Telus wants you to be home for, to provide access for them to come in and do the installation.  (I should note, that at this point, the agent didn't say anything about me moving any of the existing Telus gear from Delta to Port Alberni.)

There was no further communication from Telus between that call and October the 11th.  On October the 11th, Number One Daughter was at the appointed place, at the appointed time, and waited several hours, and no Telus technician ever showed up.  So, between other things that I was doing that day, I had yet another phone call with Telus.  Two, in fact.  In the first call to Telus, the representative I talked to could not find any indication of any appointment with any technician from Telus on the 11th.  As far as he was concerned it just didn't exist.  Regardless of the commitment and assurance I had been given from Telus on October 4th.  He did agree to make another appointment, but he was very coy about whether this appointment, which was made for October the 18th, would, in fact, take place.  Apparently they were still concerned about this mythical pole, wherever it is, and whatever has to be done with it to connect this last mile problem.  At any rate, that representative did promise that I would get a confirmation email.  Which didn't happen for a few hours.  When it did happen, as previously noted in one of my postings, the phone number for the technician to contact when he was in Port Alberni and wanted access to my new house, was the landline for the house in Delta.  Which seems not only phenomenally stupid, but is also a little bit insulting, since that is a number that Gloria had before I married her, and which has been our number for the entire term of our marriage, and which Telus did allow me to move from North Vancouver to Delta, but which now Telus says they cannot move to Port Alberni.  I'm very disappointed in that, but I suppose that is only one minor disappointment against the vast incompetence of Telus in terms of providing service, and certainly in terms of the customer service, or non-service, which I have experienced in regard to this move.

So, yesterday, prompted by the offer from the Shaw Cable guy, I called Telus once again.  Once again I had to explain to the agent that I have been trying to get this move arranged for a month, that Telus has not called back when they said they will call back, that Telus has given us an appointment with the technician, who never showed up, and which appointment, according to their computer system, never existed, and perhaps the technician never existed either, and that I had no assurance that the appointment for the 18th was actually going to happen, and that I was getting frustrated, and not only was I getting frustrated, but Telus was going to lose a number of other customers as well because a Shaw cable installer was willing, at his own initiative, and on his day off, to come in and do a bunch of installations for Telus customers who were without service.  One would think that this might be of some interest to Telus.  Apparently, one would be wrong.

Having explained this whole situation, once again, to the first agent that I talked to yesterday, he wished to get someone else involved in the call.  I was on hold for a considerable length of time.  Eventually Telus' brain dead call management system kicked in on the game and, eventually, rang another agent.  Who, of course, had no idea of any of what had gone on and I had to explain the entire situation once again.  That representative wanted to get someone else involved in the call and on the line.  Once again that didn't happen.  Once again Telus' brain dead call management system, after a considerable time of music on hold, kicked in again, and transferred me to yet *another* agent, who knew nothing of the situation.  This third agent that I talked to, not only did not know anything about the situation, but very profoundly did not care.  This agent simply kept reiterating that installing the Internet on fiber optic cable was a complicated business and there could be various factors that might impede it, and I could not expect any assurance that anything would happen at any point in the future.  Tough luck.  I started to push a bit at this point, and asked if there was not any escalation process, since I had been working on this for a month without any satisfaction at all.  He said that he would transfer me to a manager.

So, that's how I got on to Josh.  Josh is apparently on the escalation management team.  If I do stick with Telus (but, at this point, I probably won't), it will be entirely due to Josh's efforts.

Josh, at the very least, understood that this was a somewhat frustrating situation.  Josh committed to pursuing the matter, and gave me a case number, and a phone number that I could call back and leave a message for him.  He also committed that he would be getting back to me on Monday.  It's actually not that much of an advance, since we would find out, by trial and error, whether the installer was actually going to show up, on Tuesday, when the installer is supposed to show up.  However, Josh did agree with my contention that I did not want to be held ransom by the agreement that I signed with Telus when I moved to Delta, to continue on as a customer for a two-year period.  Josh did agree that no penalty would be assessed if I was completely sick of Telus (since they can't seem to provide any service at all) and went with Shaw, which I thought was very fair of him.

It may, of course, be that the escalation management team is simply given license to say nice things to the customers, in order to cool them down, and give Telus time to either do something, or to wait for the customer to get tired of complaining and simply put up with whatever lack of service Telus feels fit to provide.  But it is, at least, something that their customer service representatives should be made aware of.  Telling people that they are right, and that the service that they have seen is not adequate, and that something will be done, is more effective at terms of keeping customers, then is simply telling them tough, this is a difficult process, and we're not getting you anything, and we're going to continue charging you anyway.

I had hoped, that having my stuff, and, actually, being in my own bed for the first time in a while, might have allowed me to get some sleep.  Unfortunately that was not the case.  I got about four hours sleep, and then woke up with the Telus saga rattling around in my head, and no way to dictate it out.  I also had a couple of other ideas that I wanted to get down, which now seem to have left me, because of some of the stuff that I did around the house before I took a shower, and headed out, first to the coffee shop to get a quick check of my email, and respond to my brother, who has had some medical difficulties on a trip to foreign climes, but now appears to be safely on his way home, and then to the Shoppers parking lot, to dictate most of yesterday's story, and the latest update on the Telus story, until the Save-on could open, at which point I got into the Save-on, which is much warmer than walking around the Shoppers parking lot across the street.  I'll be leaving shortly to go down to the waterfront, which may seem like a weird thing to do on a very cold day, but Number One Daughter tells me that there is an atmospheric phenomenon because of the warm ocean water that makes its way up the inlet on cold fall days.  So I want to be there at the time she suggested to see it.

The girls have something to do this morning, but early in the afternoon they are going to come over and put together my new desk.  Which will be helpful, although I won't be able to set up the computer and use it terribly effectively until I actually get the Internet connected.  In the meantime, I have other possible things to do.  I'll be unpacking the boxes of stuff for the china cabinets in the living room, and getting that set up, including the books on display.  As well, there is the bathroom and my drug supply, to get set up and put in place and organized.  Both of those are similar putzing operations to the kitchen organization that I did yesterday, so they will be tasks that take some time and will have to be dealt with by myself so it's actually an advantage that the girls have something else to do this morning.

This long dictation, and possibly the fact that I was using the phone fairly extensively yesterday, and possibly the fact that it's quite cold and so that stops the battery, means that my battery is almost dead on this phone.  So after going down to the waterfront, I'll head back to my place, and probably switch batteries on the two phones, and put the other phone, with the dead battery, on to charge.

There are things to get used to in the new house.  The fridge has a very interesting freezer section, which has no bins, only baskets.  It also has no ice cube bucket or area, so I am figuring out how to stock up on ice cubes by storing them in plastic bags and building up a supply that way.  The washing machine is still something of a mystery to me.  Yesterday we started a load of bedding, which I had simply stripped off the bed and stuffed into a garbage bag in Delta, figuring that we could wash it in Port Alberni.  The washing machine here in Port Alberni is much larger than the apartment size washing and drying unit in Delta.  However, last night when I took the mattress protector out of the dryer, and it was finally dry (the dryer is also a bit of a mystery and kept on changing its mind about how much longer it would take to dry the mattress protector), I finally had the washing machine stopped, and decided to give it an extra rinse.  However, the washer just displayed the code "Loc" on the panel and refused to do anything.  It wouldn't switch to a different cycle, it didn't matter if I opened the door and reseated the laundry inside, and I couldn't select much of anything on the system.  Even when I told the machine to shut off, it displayed the code Loc, but then did shut off.  Once it did, it would not restart, once again simply showing the code Loc and refusing to do anything else, and then shutting off.  Hopefully it will have sorted itself out by this morning, but it's definitely annoying, and I'll have to figure out what the weirdnesses of this machine are.

I had previously signed up for a library card, and then validated it by taking in my tax form, at which point I was able to actually start using it, and start placing holds.  Three of them had come in, by the time I got here, so I one of the other things that I did yesterday was to go to the library, and check out 1) their wifi access, 2) there in-branch catalogue system, and 3) how to use the checkout system.  Their checkout system is the same as was in North Van before North Van "upgraded," so one of the other things that I did in the course of all of that with memorize my library number here.  So I've gone through fair number of exercises in terms of how I'm going to use the library here.

no frills

K will not set foot in no frills because it is "too yellow."  I am a guy, and therefore basically colour-blind.  If a store wants to decorate in one primary colour, that is fine with me.

B says that no frills is too dirty.  I suppose that, possibly, yellow shows the dirt more.  I didn't find the store any dirtier than any other that allows the public at large to roam through it.

I will not have a bad word said about no frills!  In addition to having a really great price on pop this week, I am here to buy Tide Free, and they have it, and it's at a good price, and they also have Fantastic (with bleach) on sale, and they also have Dawn Antibacterial, which some places don't have, and it's on sale!

And if that wasn't enough, they have washing soda! The only place in town that does!

Relearning Shopping

I'm having problems with shopping.

This is difficult for me.  I have been good with shopping for many decades.  As the eldest of six kids, I helped mom with shopping, and learned early on how to spot specials.  I graduated from helping Mom with the household grocery shopping, to being the lead shopper for our house, when a group of guys rented a house together and split the chores while going to university, to shopping for myself, to shopping for myself and Gloria and whatever else that we needed.  Now my situation has changed considerably.  And I'm having trouble.

Part of the problem is that I've moved.  I'm in a new place, with different stores, and also with different economic factors governing the way those stores arranged their prices.  Certain things are more expensive, and certain things are not.  Some things are actually cheaper, at times.  And then, of course, there's the pandemic factor, and the current inflation pressures, that are driving up all kinds of different prices, but in very unequal ways.  I'm having to relearn an awful lot of different prices, and comparisons.  What is more expensive now because this store is more expensive, and what is more expensive now because everybody is charging more for it.

So, I'm having to rebuild my mental map of prices, almost from scratch.  Almost nothing seems to be the same as it was.  An awful lot of my database of prices has to be completely thrown out so that I can get an accurate picture of the reality of what prices are right now.

The fact that I am in a new place means that different stores are available to me.  I've lost some.  So what I remember about what those stores sold best, or cheapest, or had available when others didn't, is no longer of any use, since those stores are not available anymore.  At the same time, I am checking out different stores.  Sometimes I am checking out new stores because they are newly available to me: sometimes I am checking out new stores because I am trying to see what they have in terms of comparison pricing to replace the stores that I've lost.  So, for example, over the past couple of days I have learned that canned meat, which I used to get at Safeway, because Safeway had the best specials (when canned meat was on special), is no longer available from Safeway since there is no Safeway here.  But when looking for something else in Dollarama yesterday, I found that Dollarama *does* have canned meat.  And, since canned meat is not exactly a perishable item, nor is the retail store responsible for the quality control involved, I might as well take advantage of the fact that Dollarama sells canned meet at regular prices on a cheaper basis than even Safeway sold when it had the meat on special.  (This is, of course, if I can figure out whether or not I actually need canned meat, on my new ridiculous dietary regime.) 

In addition, of course, Gloria's death has changed things.  There are certain things that I'm not buying anymore, because I bought them in the first place because Gloria wanted them.  Then again, Gloria's death has sparked my ridiculous diet, and that means that the groceries that I buy are different as well.  So, at times, grocery stores have become triggers for grief, because I go automatically to buy something that is on sale, and even intend to stock up, and then realize that I don't need this at all, since it was a favorite of Gloria's, and, in my current dieting regime I wouldn't be eating it anyways, and it would just go to waste, even if it is a good price.

Telus (part 3)

I had one of the rare dreams that I remember, last night. Even more unusual, I know what it means.  I can't remember all of the dream, but part of it was that a delivery man was facing multiple problems, including in his personal life, because his phone kept going off with garbled messages that also upset the other electronics that he carried.  I finally heard enough of his garbled message coming through on his phone, to, in a "Guess That Tune" kind of way, figure out that it was the first few bars of Sergio Leone/Ennio Morricone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" theme.  I also figured out that it was coming through as a mixed media message from the MMS system.  The MMS system is infamously incompatible between different phones, and different phone systems.  Worse yet, some phones will take something that you think you are sending one way, and, instead, send it via the MMS system.  This means that something you think you are sending in a compatible way, maybe being converted to something that will be completely misunderstood, if it's even received, on the other end.  MMS should never be used.  It just doesn't work.  At least not reliably.  Ceterum censeo MMS delendum esse.  Once I realized what the problem was, I explained it to the driver, and he was able to contact his girlfriend, who was trying to send him messages, and at that point I woke up so I don't know whether the situation resolved.  But it's a dream anyways, so who cares?

The thing is, MMS is playing a part in this whole Telus debacle.  I am receiving MMS messages from Telus.  Except, of course, that I am not receiving the messages.  I am just receiving notifications that Telus is trying to send me something through the MMS system.  I, of course, never receive the content of these attempts at MMS messages.  All I receive is the notification.  Nothing ever comes through.  So I have absolutely no idea what Telus thinks it is trying to communicate with me, or even who, within Telus, is trying to do it.  All I know is that Telus has, once again, a "failyah to commun'cate."

I mean, Telus is a telecommunications company.  It sells mobile service.  Everybody who has studied cell phone systems knows that MMS simply is not reliable, and doesn't work in all too many cases.  A lot of my friends and relatives, who are not telecommunications experts, do not understand why I am receiving MMS messages from them, because they are not, as far as they're aware, trying to send me messages via MMS.  Sometimes they can identify that they are trying to send me something, through some other system, and it's being converted to MMS.  But most of the time they're just completely in the dark.  But, as I say, they are not telecommunications experts.

Telus is a telecommunications company.  It should understand the problems with MMS.  It should be taking text steps to ensure that nothing that they do ever generates MMS messages, since, as they should well know, MMS messages are not a reliable way to get any information to your customers, particularly when your customers are already frustrated with problems in your lack of service.

Even worse, these MMS messages are coming at a time when I am dealing with Telus' escalation management team.  The escalation management team is already dealing with problems that their frontline service and support people have not been able to handle.  Therefore, they are dealing with harder, and less tractable, problems.  So, is it possible that the escalation management team is doing something that is generating MMS messages?  To me?  That I am not getting?  I don't know.  But it's yet another indication that Telus simply does not understand its own business, which is telecommunications.

(Part the first)

(Part the second)

Long time fasting

I have lab work booked at 2 PM today.  It's fasting.

I woke up at 2:30 AM, and, of course, couldn't get back to sleep.  So I'm unpacking boxes, and setting up the bookshelves in the office (as well as filling in spaces elsewhere).

The fact that I can't eat or drink anything is driving me nuts.

It's gonna be a long morning ...

(The world's most complete (anti-)virus library.)

Sunday

Yeah, this is somewhat out of order ...

Okay, I'm not sure how far I got on Saturday morning.  I know I talked about the wifi hotspots that I was mapping out, and how cold it was, and about the Save-on wifi.  This morning, Sunday, Save-on has let me down, in terms of wifi.  Fortunately the Shoppers Drug Mart does have a decent signal available.

After mapping the hot spots, and checking out the prices in the Save-on, I was just slightly too early to buy some diet Coke that was on sale at the Shoppers.  Shoppers opens at 8:00 a.m., except on Saturday it opens at 9:00 AM.  So I headed back to the apartment no, it's not an apartment it's a house, or at least a unit in a fourplex, and I'm not renting it, I own it.  I'll have to get used to some of this.

Anyway, I got back to my home, my new home, which still feels like an apartment, and unpack the stuff that I had bought at Save-on on my walk.  I must have done some other stuff because it was shortly after 8:00 when I found out that shoppers didn't open at 8:00, and it was nine when I left to go back to shoppers and buy the Diet Coke.  There were a couple of other items that Shoppers had on sale that I figured it would be good to stock up on so I got a bit of that too.  But I had picked up the local paper the night before, and had read all the flyers.  I had made up some shopping lists, one of the items being the Diet Coke at Shoppers.  But there were some other items as well that I needed to get, most of them at Walmart.  So, since I had a list of things to get, and it would have been a bit of a chore to haul them around the city with me, walking, I took the car to Shoppers and then up to Walmart.

By the time I was finished at Walmart it was late enough that I could go and bother L, since I had left my laptop at her place, as one of the only places that I can consistently get on to the Internet, and have power for the laptop, etc etc.  I haven't tried out the library yet, and that's an option, but it doesn't open until 10:00 AM anyway.  It's also closed on Sunday, so it's not an option for today.

Anyway, I headed to L's place, and read through my email, and responded to some of the most urgent items.  While I was doing that, B, who is a colleague in the security field, and lives here, sent me a text about getting together for coffee.  So later in the afternoon we got together at one of the places in town and talked a bit about Port Alberni and various colleagues and activities going on in security.

I went back to L's place to pick up my car, and all my shopping, and headed back to my new home.  Because Telus is playing games about the address, I'm not connected yet at my new home, and this is possibly why it doesn't really feel like a home yet.  Physically, I like it.  But I'm certainly missing being connected, and also missing having my stuff, as George Carlin referred to it.  His sketch about stuff, and how uneasy you feel when you don't have your stuff, certainly resonates right now.  Of my stuff, the thing that I miss the most is my desktop, permanently connected to the Internet, and with most of my frequently used accounts pretty much permanently signed on and having all of my files.  B wanted something, for example, and while I can dig it out, and carry my backup, which I have brought with me, over to Linda's place, modify what he wants for the most current information, and then email it, it's an awful nuisance to have to do that, think of it in advance, and so forth.  This also means that there's a lot of downtime when I am frustrated because I could be doing something, but, without my various resources, need to simply make notes to myself to follow up on that item, when I get back to town and have better access to what I need.

B did tell me about a barber in town that he likes, and I definitely need a haircut.  The day that I came over on the ferry was the same day that my last hair appointment was to have been with my previous barber.  And I keep my hair fairly short, and it's been two months.  So, yes, I definitely need a haircut.  After we had coffee I went and checked out the barbershop, hoping that I might be able to get a haircut then, but the place was closed.  However, it did note that it was open at 8:00 AM Sunday morning, which seems somewhat odd in terms of business hours timing, but is possibly convenient for me right now.  I figured that if I got up at 7:00 I would walk up to the barbershop, get there at 8:00 when they open, and get a haircut before I went to church.  That's still the plan.

So, I was hoping that I would wake up not too long before 7:00 AM.  I had another test of the bathtub, and watched the movie that I had brought with me, for just such an eventuality, and got to bed about 9:30.  Then I woke up at 2:30.  I wasn't too happy about that, and was somewhat fixated on the fact that I hadn't been able to get to the closest coffee shop, which is three blocks away from me, in order to figure out what their password wifi password was.  Then I realized that the Save-on foods was only four blocks further, so why was I fixated on this one particular coffee shop in terms of getting access to wifi.  If I was going to go to Save-on and walk in circles in their parking lot while I dictated or checked anything I needed Internet access for, it wasn't really any better standing outside the coffee shop.  Indeed, in terms of the coffee shop, I probably wouldn't have been able to do as much walking as I was dictating, because the wifi signal probably wouldn't have covered as large an area. So why get fixated on the coffee shop?

I thought I might as well get up, even if it was that early, and do whatever work I could around my new home.  However, as it turns out, I must have fallen asleep in there somewhere, because when I looked at my phone again it was 5:00 AM.  So, I got up and did a little work, although not as much as I had planned when I thought I was getting up at 2:30.  Part of what I did was consider putting a load in the new washing machine.  But as I was reading through the manual, I noticed a cleaning cycle for the washing machine itself, so I did that.  It was still going when I left, and, as far as I could tell, hadn't even run water into the machine.  So I'm not quite sure what's going on, and I hope that I won't come back to a flooded unit when I get home.  That has happened to me before in terms of new washing machines, so I'm a little bit paranoid about it.

So I walk down to the Save-on, and, half a block away, got a decent signal.  My phone tried to connect to it.  And tried, and tried, and tried, and tried.  As noted, Save-on foods has let me down in the wifi department, on my first serious attempt to use it.  So, I'm across the street at the Shoppers Drug Mart, walking in circles in their parking lot, while dictating this.  Shortly I will head off to the barbershop, and see if I can get my haircut before I go to church.

While testing out the new washing machine, I noticed something interesting.  The placement of the washing machine, and the placement of the door on the washing machine, and the arrangement of the doors on the closet in which the washer and dryer have been placed, means that you can only open the washer door about a quarter of the way.  This would allow you to throw clothes into the washing machine, and get them out, but it certainly inconvenient.  There is a little bit of wiggle room in terms of the space before the washer and dryer, although not an awful lot, and moving the washing machine, also means moving the dryer, and that would place the dryer, in a position where it wouldn't be able to open doors.  I figured that getting into the dryer is possibly slightly more important than getting into the washer. But it's definitely annoying.  In addition, the soap and bleach dispenser on the washing machine is also impeded by the closet door given the placement of the washer.  This isn't exactly a deficiency in construction, as much as a design flaw in terms of placing the washer and dryer in that particular location in the first place.

I am starting to figure out how to use my new home.  I'm finding places to put things.  I am finding places for specific activities.  I am working on what I can do, and what I need, to do what I need to do, in my new home.  It's a big learning curve, and there's a fair amount of work involved in figuring out what it is that I have been doing, what is absolutely necessary, and not just something to be done because I was at a particular location, and what, of the things that need to be done, can be done, and how, in this new situation.  I know that this will get easier, eventually.  It will certainly get easier when my stuff is able to be moved over here, and that will happen when I am able to get Telus to agree to provide me with Internet access.  Or maybe I'll go back to Shaw.  In fact, the next time I talk to Telus, I will make the point that they are not the only game in town, and that I have had service with Shaw before, and if they don't get their butts in gear, I could go back to them again.

Save-on has now opened.  And I tested their wifi again after I finished that last piece of dictation, and before I head off to The barbers.  And, now I can connect just fine.  I'll have to give it a try, on some other occasions.  Maybe I will have to take away Save-on's community wifi award, if they disabled the ability to connect to their wifi when the store is closed.

Telus (part 2), Shaw, Canada Post, and other service failures

In the first account I composed for you, Telusospretus, I wrote of all that Telus began both to promise and not do.

Telus has ensured that the move has been a bit of a disaster.  The move itself was OK, and the girls have been great, but I have had no phone or net access since I got here, relying on wifi hotspots like McDonalds (and not being able to use my desktop computer, and therefore resources).  This has delayed getting bookshelves in place (wiring needs to be run before the shelves can be bolted in place), and therefore unpacking books, and anything else in with the books.  I have finally gotten Shaw to put something in place, just in time for a conference presentation I have to do later this morning, but everything is delayed.

A couple of days ago, Telus, despite having told me that they could not provide service until next year; saying that they had canceled my service, and my bills, and my appointment; a Telus installer showed up at my new house.  He eventually identified himself as a contractor, not an actual Telus person, but he installed a Telus box in the wiring panel in my house, and was checking cable fiber optic cable between my wiring panel and the outside of the house.

I suppose I need to go back even further than the past few days.  Part of the decision on the timing of the move, and this whole saga, is based on the fact that I'm supposed to present at BsidesCalgary. Besides Calgary started yesterday.  I am supposed to present on Friday, which is now today.  It is a fairly major presentation: a three hour workshop on quantum computing and the security implications thereof.  And, of course, it is being done remotely, online, over the internet, which I only got installed in my house yesterday.  By Shaw.

The day started out in a promising manner.  I made a target.  On my ridiculous diet.  This is perhaps not as important as other things in the grand scheme of things, but it was a nice confirmation that things are going to work out here in Port Alberni.  So that was a good start.  In some relation to that, I made a commitment, to myself, to walk from my place to Walmart every morning (well, not *every* morning, I mean, there's today, when I have to do the conference, so that brings the average down a bit, but I'd say ...), ostensibly to check on the dead vegetable bin.  This should encourage me to eat more fruits and vegetables, which is probably also a good thing for my health.

So, somewhat later than I expected to, I set out for the walk.  Another positive aspect to the morning, was that the staff at the McDonald's on Redford, unlike their colleagues on Johnson, were able to produce a decent cup of coffee.

I think that I have decided to avoid the Port Alberni Highway (Highway 4A), in favour of going down Roger and Gertrude and up Johnson.  The distance, and timing, is almost identical for both routes, but walking on streets that actually have sidewalks, rather than on the shoulder of the highway, is likely safer.

I'm getting more of an idea of where things are, but I'm not completely confident in my mental map yet.  The J&L Drive-in was one of the places that I wanted to check out, to see what their special was for this week.  I walked right past it, without noticing that I had done so.

The minister of the Nazarene Church has introduced me to a new tea, a Celestial Seasonings Country Peach Passion.  It's quite delightful, and so I have been looking for places to get it.  Unfortunately, both the Buy-Low and the Walmart, while they carry it (with Walmart having the price advantage), only carry it in packaging that gives a sampler pack of other teas as well.  So, I suppose I will have to try those other teas and see if I like them enough to continue to buy the sampler pack.  Or, I will have to find someplace that has a good range of Celestial Seasonings teas, and has packages of the Country Peach Passion by itself.

Another aspect, first thing this morning, was that the it was very dark, surprisingly so, when I woke up and checked the time.  When I opened the curtains, I realized why.  We were fogged in.  I wondered if that would mean that I needed to bundle up much warmer than normal.  However, when I checked the temperature standing on the porch, it wasn't too bad.  The upshot was that, with two t-shirts, and my vest, I wasn't even bundled up in my hoodie, and was still warm enough.  I did realize, as I left the house, that I probably should have worn my gloves, but, so far, my hands didn't start aching so it's probably okay.  As I was walking up Johnson, I did note some spots on my face.  I was wondering if this portended the beginning of some rain, but, it seemed to be merely the heavy mist from the fog.

While I was in the Dollarama (looking for extension outlets, or rather, adapters that allow access to power at 90 degrees to the plug in the wall), I got a call from Shaw.  This seemed to be a sales pitch, related to the service that the installer was part way through installing.  We went through the various options, and I finally ended up with a package, and now, supposedly, have an agreement with Shaw.  The salesperson on the phone, promised that an installer would be at my place first thing Friday morning.  Which would be a bit too late for BSidesCalgary.

So it was on to Canada Post.  On Monday, we tried to get mail forwarding setup.  At that point, the computer would not accept that my Delta address existed, despite the fact that I had lived there for a year.  This time the result was almost identical.  From a conversation that I overheard between the staff, it seemed to be related to Delta, itself, specifically.  They talked of getting a supervisor involved, but ultimately I did not speak to a supervisor.  The person that I was dealing with came back and said that it would be escalated to customer service, and that they would call me back.

As I was walking over to Walmart, I got another call from Josh, at Telus.  He admitted that he was in the dark as to what could be provided, and where the status of the installation was.  He suggested that he would alert the manager of the installer who was slated to show up tomorrow morning, and that we would await developments contingent upon the installer showing up and assessing the situation.  That was slated for the next morning, and so we would be finding out more at that time.

Then there was another call from the Shaw installer.  He committed that he would be at my place that afternoon, and would complete the installation at that time.  It would mean that BSidesCalgary was in good shape.  (One additional factor in all of this is that some of the deficiencies in the development, and two lots of them specifically, are due to be dealt with on Friday.  While I am presenting.  Argh.)  Rather than ending up at Walmart at 8:00 AM, as I had originally intended, all of this had meant that I ended up there closer to 10:30, and, with other things that I needed to do here, and the fact that the stress was working it's way out in my GI system, as usual, it was now close to noon and I'd better head home.

As bad as the morning had been, it was about to get worse.  Having shopped at Walmart, and dealt with the GI tract's reaction, I wandered around Walmart, dictating all of this, in an attempt to get it into fixed form, so that I wouldn't forget it all.  While I was doing that, I picked up a couple of items that I needed, and, with both hands busy dealing with the phone and dictation, I put them in my bag.  And then, being completely frazzled with being whipsawed both Shaw and Telus, I walked out without paying.  And was immediately detained by store security.  Fortunately, my story passed muster and I was allowed to pay and leave without further incident.  It would have been embarrassing for a security maven.  Particularly one who has actually worked in physical security.

Long after you're gone

So I'm on the phone, waiting for Telus.  And their "music on hold" starts playing a song [1] that says "I'll love you long after you're gone," and also "You will never sleep alone," and "Like a drum my heart never stops beating.  For you."

So, by the time the actual person came on the line I was a mess ...

[1] - "Gone, Gone, Gone," by Phillip Phillips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL8VCJsHI4A

Rustling in the bushes

I don't want to go out for a major walk this morning, because I do want to do my morning routine.  It's also darker these days, so morning walks, if not exactly less attractive, at least have fewer options.  But I have found that I can walk around and around the large common patio area, which does have a kind of a walking track around it, and, because I'm on this side of the building, still be within range of my wifi.

As I got out onto my patio, I heard a rustling in the dying bushes in the planters that they have turned off the water to, in order to kill my sunflowers and corn.  I still haven't seen what it is.  I hope it's not a rat.  As previously noted, I have never seen so many dead rats as I've seen walking around the sidewalks of Delta.  Where there are so many dead rats, there are bound to be live ones.  But it may be Delta Brown Bunnies.  Although I haven't seen DBBs for a while.

However, as I've been walking around the track dictating this, a bird flew across my path, so it may simply be birds in the bushes.

(Nope.  It's just come out.  It's a rat.  Darn.)

Last night in Delta

Where is my mug?

I mean, it's a big mug.  It's a pint beer mug.  I like a big glass of juice, or Diet Coke, when I'm working, so that I don't have to refill it as often.  So, this is my favorite mug.  And I can't find it.

I had it last night.  I know I had it just before I went to bed.  I can't find it.  It's not with the other stuff that's draining and drying, where I remember leaving it, after I rinsed it, when I finished last night.  It's not in the office on the desk where I normally have it, while I'm working, but I can't work there anymore because the computer is all packed up, so there's nothing to work at at the desk.  It's not beside the chair in front of the TV, where it sometimes is while I'm watching TV or DVDs.  It's not in the bathroom where I occasionally take it to take my pills with the last dregs of the drink.  Where is my mug?

Oh.  Finally remembered.  It's in the fridge.  With the last bit of juice out of a bottle that I figured that I should empty and deal with last night.

I suppose there is the fact that I haven't had much more than four hours sleep per night for something like the last month.  And last night, for whatever reason, and even though I abstained from caffeinated drinks after noon, and had a bath, and then watched a recorded TV show, in order to calm and prepare for bed on my last night, I couldn't get to sleep.  And then when I finally got to sleep I woke up after only two or three hours.  So, after a long period of sleep deprivation, I've had a very short sleep, and now I'm facing Moving Day.  I'm already frazzled.  Yesterday, packing some stuff in the car, I couldn't find my keys.  Couldn't remember where I had left them.  They were, of course, in the pocket where I always keep them.  Then, having put the car away in the parkade in the basement, I got into the elevator, and couldn't go anywhere, because I couldn't figure out which button to press.  My cognitive functions are that far impaired.

I was awake by about 1:00 AM.  I tried to stay in bed, and tried to get back to sleep, but nothing seemed to work, and I finally got up about 2:30.  So, I stripped the bed, bundled the pillows and duvet into one bag, bundled the sheets and some towels into another bag for washing, when I get to Port Alberni, and I've unplugged the DVD player from the TV and packed it.  I don't want to pack the Telus networking gear quite yet, because (and this is possibly another reason why I couldn't sleep last night), last thing last night I got word that my little brother is very sick while traveling on business in Southeast Asia.  I had a message from his wife (which was very weirdly formatted with colored backgrounds, and text that overlaid itself in parts, so I'm not sure that I've got the whole message and all the details) and I replied, trying to give some idea of my current situation, and the fact that I may not be able to respond to any messages from them over the next week or so, because Telus keeps on messing up the arrangements for this move and I won't have Internet access for at least another week, but I'd like to know if she's going to send another message and if there's any further details.  Their flight home is supposed to be either today or tomorrow.  So it's a bit of a concern.

Partly because of the communications problems, I've got both phones on the go.  But the one that I use more has the lower battery so that's also a bit of a concern.

L is going to get here by 7:30.  That's still another three hours away.  Just about everything is packed away, but I don't want to pack the Telus gear, as noted, until the last minute.  I also don't want to pack the freezer stuff until the last minute, for fairly obvious reasons.  So there are various things that need to be packed at the last minute.  And therefore, there are still a few open boxes for last minute packing.  And some of the last minute packing has to go in my car anyway.  I'm already mentally arranging and rearranging the various things that have to go in to the car.  This process is not aided by my current cognitive impairment.  Since I've got a few hours, maybe I'll just watch a TV show before I pack up the TV.

Telus

Well, I've just got off my fifth call with Telus on what should be a simple move.  I'm moving.  I would like to continue to use Telus at my new address.  One would think that Telus would be interested in facilitating this.  One would be wrong.

So, the first call, the rep promised that Telus would call me back in a couple of days.  Never happened.  So, I called again.  This time, the rep said I would be called back within hours.  Never happened.

So I called again.  This time they made an appointment for a tech to come out.  That was supposed to happen today.  The person who was to be at the new place called and said nobody ever showed up.

So, another call to Telus.  This time, the rep couldn't find the appointment that had been made last time, and seemed to think it was a new request.  She couldn't seem to see that this has been going on for weeks.  So she made another appointment, and said it would be confirmed by email.

No email ever arrived.

So yet another call, with no resolution yet.

There are *some* vaguely promising signs.  I finally (several hours later) got the confirmation email from Telus about the tech's visit in a week.  However, the email gave the contact number, for the tech to contact me in the new location, as the existing landline number here in Delta.  That's not going to do the tech much good since a) even though I've had the number for thirty-five years (and Gloria had it for longer than that, and I *really* wanted to keep it because of that) and Telus let me keep it when I moved to Delta, they won't let me keep it in the move to Port Alberni, b) the landline at the new location (whatever the number) won't be installed before the tech gets here, and c) it won't work for the tech to call the uninhabited apartment in Delta when he wants to get access to the place in Port Alberni.  On the other hand, the PDF of the detailed order that was attached to the confirmation email *did* have my correct cell phone number, so which one was the tech going to call?  So that generated a *sixth* call to Telus.  (The rep said he'd send a message to the tech.  You will forgive me if I lack confidence in Telus' ability to get this communication straight at this point ...)

I will, shortly, be knocking down the computer and packing it up to take over to the Island.  So, when I go dark, I won't be back up for at least a week.  (And, if Telus keeps messing up, possibly significantly longer ...)

Maybe I should just give up on Telus, since it's not a great recommendation for a telco, when they can't even communicate with their customers ...

Packing

Moving is not fun.  But this packing business is getting depressing.

I've been purging and packing for five months now.  I took Number One Daughter's advice and started early.  She thought, and I thought, that this would make it easier.  Well, it probably has made it easier.  Which makes it totally depressing to think of how hard it would be trying to do it in a shorter period of time.

I've been purging.  I've gotten rid of things.  I've made too many trips to the dumpster to count them.  I've made multiple trips to Value Village.  I've pared down what I need to take.  I've reduced the amount that I need to pack.

As I've packed, of course, the place has been a disaster.  I don't have access to a lot of my stuff, because some of it has been packed.  I've tried to keep out what is absolutely necessary, but it's hard to predict that in advance.  So some things that I end up needing have been packed, and some things I've left accessible aren't packed yet, and need to be.  Also, the place is a mess, because packing also involves some sorting, so you need space, for that, and I'm running out of it.

(As an example of "absolutely necessary," I have just had to go down to the locker and tear open one of the boxes, because I had planned and left out the cans of food that I'm eating for the next three days, and the pot I was going to cook the food in, and the knife for the carrots to augment the canned stuff, and the spoon I will be using to eat the food out of the pot [well, that's plannin', innit?  Forethought.  Planning stuff that can be eaten right out of the pot so you don't need plates and bowls and other stuff that needs to be packed], but had forgotten to leave out the can opener ...)

Possibly because of the mess, possibly because of the disturbance, possibly just because of the stress of moving again, my sleep is once again disturbed.  For over three weeks now I've been running on about four hours sleep a night.  And I haven't had any "catch-up" nights.  Last night I got two and a half hours of sleep.  Hopefully it's just because of the move, and not some weird recurrence of the bereavement sleep deprivation, and I will, once I get over to Port Alberni, start getting some sleep again.  But, for the moment, I can feel that my concentration, memory, and cognitive abilities in general are impaired.  I'll go to do something, and realize later that I haven't done it.  It's not making the packing, or planning the packing, any easier.

And there's still been lots to pack.  I packed the books.  I packed knick-knacks, and crystal, and mementos.  I packed pictures.  I devised coding systems to label boxes so that I'd be able to figure out, on the other end, which boxes contained what.  I gathered more boxes.  I think the liquor store is sick of the sight of me.

And still there is more to pack.  I've got lists of things to pack.  I've pared down those lists, but then I've added more things to those lists.  And now I'm running out of boxes, and I've still got more things to pack.  And as I pack those things on the list, things that were behind the things that I'm packing, or behind the boxes that I'm packing them in, suddenly appear and remind me of their existence!  So I'll get something packed, and have a feeling of accomplishment, which lasts all of about 1.7 seconds, until I turn around and see something that I had forgotten even existed!  And it needs to be packed!  And it needs a box, and a place on the truck, and sometimes possibly a place in my car, because I'll need a few things before the truck comes.  Or I'll need to be absolutely certain that I have that regardless of whether the truck gets on a ferry that sinks under the weight of it!

The girls have been great.  They've provided boxes, and support, and ideas, and an enormous cooler for throwing in stuff from the freezer and fridge at the last minute which I initially felt was way too big for the job but I'm starting to suspect may be just right.  (I am reminded of the statement that friends help you move: *real* friends help you move *bodies*.  The cooler is that big.)  And, again, it's depressing to think how hard this would all be without their help.

Oh, well.  Not being able to sleep and getting up early means more hours to pack ...

Plateau

I blame L.

Recently, she asked me if I had hit any plateaus on my ridiculous diet.  While there have been fluctuations, up until then I really hadn't.  For the past six weeks, though, I have been bouncing around between 170 and 180, and, for the life of me, I can't seem to get below 170.

Argh.

Fixing fans (and computers)

I've just fixed a fan.  That is, I took it apart, as far as I could, vacuumed the dust that I could reach, and put a couple of drops of oil on the shaft of the electric motor.  (Not too much.  Once you *start* putting oil on, or in, electric motors, it seems to attract even more dust, and turns it into a reasonable approximation of concrete.)  That's about the extent of my fix-it skills.  I wasn't sure (I'm never sure) whether that would be sufficient, and I'd pack it and take it with me, or whether I'd be packing it off to Value Village for someone with greater skills than I have to bring it back to life.  Fairly close to the end I was pretty sure it wasn't going to work, but then it did, so it's coming to Port Alberni.  I suppose it doesn't owe me anything.  It was a cheap thing to begin with (although the largest fan I ever got, and with twenty screws on the box frame that I had to take out to get at the innards), but it kept Gloria and I cool for a couple of summers, and it was useful this past summer.

I'm not a handyman.  I'm not good at a lot of guy stuff.  I don't have collections of tools, or care if you say nasty things about my car, or talk about transmissions when I get together with other guys.  I go along with the old computer joke: How many software engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?  None: that's a hardware problem.  I'm hardware challenged.

This is generally seen as a failure in our society.  If you're a guy, you should be able to fix things.  I can't.  Well, occasionally I can, but I'm never confident of my ability in that area (all guys are supremely confident).  If someone else wants to have at it, I'll let them.  But I still feel bad about it.  Like the new place.  I figured out that the overflow drain in the bathtub wasn't working.  It was J (who is a really great hardware and fix-it guy) who knew that you could pop the cap off the drain, and found that the builders had left a piece of tape blocking the drain.  I wouldn't even know to try.  I'd figure I'd probably break something in the attempt.

The thing is, I can fix some things.  I can fix it when someone is having a problem with their computer.  Or phone.  I can fix Apple devices, even though I only have one (and it's almost two decades old).  (I had another, but it went with the antique computer stuff in the first move.)  I can fix a lot of computer problems, with a lot of computers, even though they are way more complicated than fans or bathtubs.

And I'll tell you how to approach and fix your computer problems, while I'm doing it.  In fact, *I* won't do the fixing.  You will.  I'll be watching, and telling you what to do, and explaining what is happening, and why it went wrong in the first place.  I won't even touch your computer.  (The computer facile all, eventually, learn that if you ever touch anyone else's computer, even once, everything that goes wrong, from then on, is your fault, and your responsibility to fix.  Even if what went wrong is actually "computers don't *do* that" [for various values of "that," meaning "what I want the computer to do for me"].)  I'll explain, and teach, and direct, and you'll do it.  So that you have a better chance of fixing it next time.

The computer facile have this reputation for not explaining the arcane mysteries of our craft.  In reality, yes, there are some who jump in and fix things without ever saying what they've done or why.  But the computer facile are far better at explaining what they are doing than fix-it guys.  Starting with my Dad, I've never had *any* guy, fixing something, whether it be a bathtub, or a car, or an electrical relay signal switch, explain what he was doing, or why, while he was doing it.  There's just a flurry of tools, an occasional "Ah!" and the end result.  We, the computer facile, get a bad wrap, and rep.

Early and alone in Port Alberni

Well, I'm up early again.  I can't seem to stay asleep very long these days, even though I didn't get to bed until 11:00 PM last night.  Partly the excitement of being in my new place, partly, possibly, because I had a Diet Coke at dinner.

I tried out my new ensuite bathroom, and new bathtub.  I like the depth of the bathtub it's great.  Unfortunately, I also found that the overflow preventer/drain on the bathtub does not work.  At all.  Something else for the deficiency report.  Hopefully, it's not a major problem and only some kind of minor issue that can be resolved easily.

I've got no blinds or drapes on the place as of yet, and there are quite a few windows in some areas.  Oddly, possibly interestingly, there are no windows on the west side of the house.  The east side of the house, of course, is my common wall with the top floor unit on the other side.  Anyway, the windows are very large in the master bedroom, and the living room, which sort of doubles as the great room, or main room, of the house, and contains the total area occupied by the dining and kitchen areas, as well as a bit of a hallway.  The windows there look out to the north.  They look over Port Alberni, but at some distance, so I suppose I have a reasonable expectation of privacy, although if I wander around in the altogether, somebody with a pair of binoculars might get an unpleasant eyeful.  One area of the living room does have an east-facing window, which looks on to my patio/deck/balcony, and then is possibly visible to my next door neighbor. But she's not back for a couple of weeks anyway.  So, as long as I don't go into the south rooms, which are my office and guest room, but are at ground floor and visible to anybody in the parking lot, I don't have to worry about my personal privacy.  Then again, for a security maven, I've never particularly worried about any kind of privacy for myself, so that's not an issue.  I do, however, try to be cognizant of what I am presenting to the world, and try not to scare the horses and small children.

However, I was up shortly after 4:00.  That was a few hours of sleep, but not as much as I think I should be getting.  Hopefully when all this settles down, I will settle in, and the lack of sleep won't become a major issue.

Thinking about it, I realized that I was in a bit of a dead zone for wifi hotspots.  There is a coffee shop down the street: it's only open four hours a day.  And, in any case, I haven't yet determined their wifi password.  They do have a strong signal, and provide free wifi, but since they're only open four hours a day I haven't had the opportunity to get in and find out what their password is.

City Hall has a good free wifi system, but they are at least a kilometer away.  The library has free wifi, but they are over a kilometer away.  The drugstore, and the grocery store, both generally provide wifi, but they're a little under a kilometer away.

So, having no wifi access, I read the owners manual.  For the house.  This does contain some of the owners manuals for some of the appliances, but mostly it's promotional bafflegab from the developers, saying what great materials they used to build the place, and how easy it will be to maintain.  It also has a number of warranty cards to register warranties, but unfortunately contains none of the model or serial numbers that would be necessary to do such a thing.  After my bath last night, I thought that I might kick up the hot water tank a little bit to get a warmer soak, but the water tank doesn't seem to have an accessible temperature control.  There is a panel that I think might cover the temperature control, but it is secured by being screwed down, so I won't be able to access that until I get some tools.  So, with nothing else to do around the house, I had it off to map out wifi hotspots.

There is a motel and take out pizza place a couple of blocks away, and, while it does have an open wifi, it's one of the ones that requires you to enter a voucher number from the motel.  However, it also has a Shaw Open hotspot (obviously their wifi and Internet access is provided by Shaw), and I previously registered the phones, so I was able to dictate this.  Well, off the map out other spots in the neighborhood.

The motel with the pizza place has a fairly limited Shaw wifi hotspot, and so while I dictated that part, I wasn't able to move around very much, so I didn't get any walking in while I dictated it.  Fortunately, next door is another motel, with a U-Haul rental place and a cannabis shop, and one or the other of them has a stronger signal and so at least I can do a little bit of walking around while I dictate.  But still no free wifi hotspot being provided by any of the businesses.

At the moment, the best bet seems to be a McDonald's, about eight blocks away from my house, that is next door to some place with a Shaw hotspot.  At least I can register the Shaw Open connection there on a regular basis.

The easy winner of for community provision of community wifi, though, has to be Save-On Foods.  Their signal is extraordinarily powerful.  You can walk all the way around the outside of the store, that is, the exterior of the store, and not lose the signal anywhere.  You can't even do that at Walmart.  You can also get a strong signal anywhere in their parking lot, and, in fact, all the way down the block.  If you can see into the store from the outside through their front windows, you can probably get a wifi signal and connect successfully.

(Unfortunately, I may have to take back the award for community wifi provision.  While the signal still radiates strongly after hours, apparently, Save-On somehow disables access to it when the store is closed.  After hours, you can't connect.)

I was also impressed by the service and provision, particularly for a small town store. Their deli was obviously not designed for it, but they have provided a couple of tables and some chairs so that you can get your deli foods, and get lunch right there in the store. They also have fresh sushi sushi prepared in the store. Since I was in the store shortly after 7:00 a.m., I will definitely have to come back and try that out as an option.

The one problem that I have with them is some carelessness in the product signage on the shelf fronts.  But this is a minor issue, and obviously I'm going to have to pay particular attention to Save-On for regular shopping in Port Alberni.

Value Village

I am moving.  So I am packing.  So, in order to reduce what I have to pack, and reduce what I have to pay for moving, I am once again purging.  As previously noted, this is difficult.  Most of the stuff that I am now purging, is Gloria's stuff.  It is triggering me in a variety of different ways.  There are some things that I simply have not been able to get rid of yet.  There are some things that are going to come with me to Port Alberni, even though it makes no sense.  It's stuff that I will never use, and I don't even really feel anything about in and of itself.  But these are things that Gloria loved, and I can't throw all of them away. At least not right now.

So, I am making trips to Value Village.  Value Village is a lifesaver.  Value Village doesn't have great big signs up saying we only take clothes.  Value Village doesn't force you to try and dump things into bins where the windows are higher than you are tall.  There are lots of great things about Value Village.  I have also been buying, occasionally, things at Value Village.  I got a hat there the other day.  It's a cheap Chinese knockoff of a Tilley, and I definitely had to wash it before I even thought about wearing it, and then I had to dry it very carefully, in order for it to even think about holding its shape, for what little shape it has, but it was cheap, and it won't fall apart the first time it gets rained on.

Today I took a fairly large load to the donation site.  There was an attendant at the donation site, for once, but he didn't even ask me about what it was that I was donating.  He just asked if I wanted a discount coupon for making a donation.  So I got a discount coupon.  And, because I got a discount coupon, I decided to go into the store and see if there was anything remotely worth buying.

I was thinking about overalls.  I couldn't find where overalls might be, anywhere in the store.  (And, possibly given that Halloween is coming up, it was hugely busy.)  So I looked in the furniture section.  There wasn't anything remotely worth buying there.  So I went and looked at pants, and looked at the section of shorts.  There were a couple of pairs of shorts that I was quite interested in buying: they were cargo shorts, and I always like the idea.  So I started looking around the room for the fitting rooms.  I couldn't find them.  I went up to the till.  I asked for the fitting rooms were.  She said they didn't have any right now.

No fitting rooms?  I would have thought that, for a store which basically has a no return policy, making sure that what you are buying actually fits, is an absolute necessity.  Value Village apparently disagrees.  I find that truly bizarre.

Oh, and the discount?  The discount, on the coupon, is for a lesser discount then I, as a senior (and you only have to be sixty to be a senior) can get on any Tuesday.  While I don't find that completely bizarre, I do find it a bit misleading.

Linen trigger

So, I'm purging and packing.  And I think I might have mentioned that, when the girls moved me into Delta, they put the towels in the china cabinet, and it took me some time to find that out (and find my towels).

So I haven't given that much thought in the packing process, because I figured that I could just shove all the towels into a box at the last minute if it came to that.  Or use them for padding and packing other stuff.  But I was up early this morning, and figured I should have at some of the areas that I haven't packed, so that was one.  And I packed up a box of towels, and set some aside for padding.

But, of course, it wasn't only towels.  It was also linens.  And linens are not just bedsheets.  There were also a bunch of tablecloths.  We didn't use tablecloths, so these were embroidered tablecloths, which we almost never used, but which Gloria loved, because she loved embroidery.

I didn't break down, right then and there.  But I did put them back in the cabinet, to deal with later.  (And I still haven't dealt with Gloria's glasses ...)

Second day in Port Alberni

 Despite having had very little sleep in the week before, and despite getting quite chilled at dinner on the first day in Port Alberni, and despite staying up late watching a movie ("Blonde": I really wouldn't bother), I woke up at 3:45 AM.  Couldn't get back to sleep.  So I did a couple of hours of work, and then headed off to do some walking.  I walked up to the big box store area in Port Alberni, and even did a bit of shopping at the Walmart, buying some produce from the discounted section.

K had obtained the keys for possession of the unit, and brought them over to L's place, and the three of us headed for the unit.  I drove my car, already packed with stuff that I had brought from Delta, and we unloaded the contents into the unit.  Immediately K and L started organizing things and making the place look much better than it would have if it was just me dumping the boxes into the middle of the room.  L even found a solution to a problem with the bathrooms, which is that neither one has any bathroom cabinet space, or even drawers to store materials like toothpaste and medications.  She had some plastic sectional drawers which turned out to be an almost perfect fit for building shelving units under the sinks.  We made another run back to her place to pick up those units, and also to pick up the extra stuff that I had left at her place over two visits.

After a bit more organizing, on K and L's part, and some lunch, provided by L, we felt that the place definitely had some possibilities.  The view is absolutely gorgeous.

We then split up to do a bit of work individually. I did some shopping, getting a more solid idea of availability and prices of what I'm going to be living on in Port Alberni.  I had to be cognizant of the fact that my diet has definitely changed and that a lot of things that I was looking for before, I'm not looking for anymore.  But I also purchased supplies enough to feed myself, in a minimalist kitchen, over the next few days.  Anything else that I purchased is in the non-perishable category and can be used at any time in the future.

I met three of my neighbors.  Later in the day we had a really good visit with the neighbor on one side, who has not lived in this area, or indeed in BC, although she has relatives in the area, and is somewhat familiar with the area from visiting.  She seems a very nice person.

Then we grabbed some fast food and had a dinner, while Kay was still foraging for extra supplies and equipment for me.