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.
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