2007-04-30
2007-04-29
side effects
So T had an ear infection last weekend, which accounted for her high fever and our sleepness nights. She was prescribed antibiotics, which she has to take orally, so it's in suspension. I went to Costco to fill the prescription, and I got home to discover that the flavour of the medicine is banana. This is, of course, a disaster. Not only is it nasty tasting, but T is actually allergic to banana, so she kind of has an aversion to that flavour anyway. She refuses to have anything to do with it.
We got our doctor to prescribe another kind of antibiotic that was a different flavour. Strawberry. Of course, now that she's all averse to taking the meds, she refuses again. Not with the spoon, not with the syringe, not anyhow.
We've been through this before. It takes a few days of stubborn-ness (in the mean time, we're just pouring it in there and hoping she swallows at least some of it) and then suddenly, she just decides that she's going to take the medicine with no fussing, and that's the end of it. Now she just takes it, and that's it.
The funny thing is that now she knows how to spit, having had lots of practice spitting out the medicine all over us for the last few days. Sigh.
technorati tags:kids, parenting, medicine
Blogged with Flock
2007-04-24
secrets
Have you ever had a secret that you've never told anyone, ever? I have. Which is surprising, because normally I don't keep anything really secret, at least not anything that only I know, and nobody else. So here it is. My secret. It's not that exciting, really, but more of an interesting human behaviour study.
I was conned.
A con man managed to get $20 from me.
It happened on the afternoon of my wedding rehearsal. Which probably explains the whole thing right there, because I wasn't thinking too clearly. Too much stress, right? I'm walking to the copy store to pick up our program inserts, and a man comes up to me, looking distressed. "Can you help me?" he says. He says that he's a soccer player, visiting from France, and he was just at the Varsity arena practicing, but his team left without him. He needs some money to get to the airport hotel where they're staying. As we're talking, a car drives by, and the driver slows down. "Are you getting help? Are you going to be ok?" yells the driver to the man. He turns and nods to the passing car, and the car drives off.
I ask him for more details, why he can't just call? He says he doesn't know the number. He's lost. I say that I'm actually quite busy, it's my wedding rehearsal, and I have to pick up the programs. I'm not sure why I told him this much. "Oh, you're getting married!" he says. "I'm going to send you a bottle of champagne! When I get to the hotel, I'm going to send you a bottle, and send you your money back. I just need to borrow some money to get back to my team. They're leaving in the morning." I remember he was a well dressed black man. He had some keys that he was toying with the whole time.
"That's really not necessary, I don't need the champagne," I say. "I really have to go."
"I'll come with you."
It doesn't look like I'm going to get rid of this guy, so I agree. I think I was thinking that I shouldn't be standing on the street with this guy, I should at least go to the copy store where there are more people. We walk.
We get to the store, and I take care of my programs. He waits. He takes a piece of paper, and writes down the name of his hotel, and gives it to me. "Here is my hotel," he says, "you can call and I will leave the money for you, and I really want to give you something." I take the paper.
We leave the copy place, and I'm really needing to get back, so I ask him, "How much do you need?" He hems and haws a bit. I make the mistake of taking out my wallet, and he sees that I have a $20. "I need that," he says, pointing to the $20. And I don't know what I was thinking, but I gave it to him. I pulled it out and gave it to him. Maybe I was thinking that if I don't give this to him he's going to mug me for it. I don't know. All I know is that as soon as he had the $20 his whole expression changed. His face went dead. There was no more anxiety, no more distress in his face. He took the money, turned, and walked away.
I think that a part of me simply let him con me, knowing that he was doing it, but unsure of how to get rid of him. Another part of me says he needs it more than I if he has to go to such lengths to get money from people. Another part of me is fascinated by how elaborate the whole scheme is. Like Sawyer in LOST. When I look back I'm sure that the passing driver was the second man in this 2-man con. His role is to legitimize the con, make it seem as though he's really in trouble, and really needs my help.
Why post this now? I was reminded of it on Sunday, because I think I was the intended victim of another con, this time successfully defended. I'll tell you about that one next time.
Blogged with Flock
2007-04-20
top ten "how you can tell when you've prayed enough"
This is my Top Ten ways "How You Can Tell When You've Prayed Enough"
10. Your food is cold
9. The government gives you back all the GST they ever collected
8. Scientists discover the secret to the Caramilk Bar
7. Your Mac runs Windows
6. Osama surrenders, is pardoned, and runs for office
5. You haven't had a telemarketer call in 40 days and 40 nights
4. After the carwash, your car is free of bird doo doo for 5 whole days
3. There is an end to world hunger
2. Peace breaks out all over the world
1. The Leafs win the Stanley Cup
©2007 Eugene Huo
Blogged with Flock
2007-04-19
thank you Anna
I don't know you, I just spoke to you on the phone. You work at Bell Canada, and you helped me out. Thanks! My saga with Bell is now ended. I don't owe any money, and in fact, Bell owes me $6. What a hassle. I somehow mistakenly paid some bills using online banking to an inactive account. Twice. Those payments never showed up on my bill, and the amount kept rolling over to the next bill. I thought, "well, sometime when I use the Internet, it takes a while for them to process the payment, and it shows up as not paid when in fact it is. I'll just wait for them to sort it out." Nope.
I try calling to sort it out. We track down the payments, they went to the wrong account, I am assured that they will take care of it, and since they owe me money, they'll be sending me a check. I feel good, having taken care of this loose end. About a month later, I get a call from the credit department saying that they're going to call the collection agency if I don't pay my bill. What? You owe me money and you're calling to threaten me? I'm annoyed. So talk to someone that they transfer me to, and she says that I have to send proof of those two payments to this fax number. So I download the two statements of the net, PDF them, and fax the whole thing to the number. Dutifully, I call back a week later to check what's going on. That was yesterday. Well, it turns out I"M not supposed to fax the information, THE BANK is supposed to fax it, and they have to do what's called a Data Centre Trace. So I call my bank. Can they do this? Unfortunately, they can't since it's been over 90 days since the transactions were made. (I think the bank needs bigger hard drives so they can do data centre traces further back, like say, 6 years, like I have to keep all my financial records for the government... but now I'm ranting).
So I call back to Bell (this is the 4th conversation, now, in case you're counting). I get bounced around from the billing department to the credit department, finally to some woman's voicemail, at which point I hang up because I have no idea who this woman is and I don't want to leave her a voicemail.
I wait a few minutes till I calm down a bit.
Then I called again, and spoke with Anna, who took care of things. Firstly, she thought that I had already provided enough information, and even though the bank couldn't do it, what I had provided ought to be enough. Secondly, she didn't transfer me to another department, she 'escalated' my issue to her manager, and was kind enough to keep me on hold for a long time while she did so. Frankly, I was happier to be on hold than to get transferred, so I waited. She finally got back to me and said that it would take some time to sort this out, could she get a number where she could call me back? This was yesterday afternoon. So I gave her my number, and then I didn't hear back from her until just now. Good news, it's taken care of, the money is transferred, and I'll be getting a cheque from Bell. Sounds eerily familiar...
This whole payment hassle is primarily the reason why I'm no longer with Bell.
technorati tags:Bell, Canada, phone, billing, issues
Blogged with Flock
2007-04-18
2007-04-17
facebook... i guess it was time
In response to K, to get her to join VIRB, I joined facebook.
And then something very strange happened. It asked me for my email, so it could search through my address book and see if anyone in there is on facebook. Now that is a cool feature. And then it imported all my blog posts via RSS. Nice.
If I were to characterize the social networks, I'd say myspace is like a community bulletin board where everybody just throws stuff on all over the place, facebook is like the white pages, and VIRB is like going to the record store to hang out.
But what do I know... :)
facebook was all over the news yesterday after the VT shootings... so sad, so heartbreakingly sad.
technorati tags:facebook, VIRB
Blogged with Flock
2007-04-16
VIRB is so cool
Hey, so I skipped the whole facebook thing. I know, everyone's on facebook. Everyone and their mother is on facebook. You know that something has reached mainstream when people on my wife's team at the hospital are all talking about their facebook pages. Granted, some people didn't get the finer points ("What does it mean to poke someone? It is platonic, or does it mean more than that?"), but it is definitely mainstream.
So what is this VIRB thing? Well, I don't think it's just another 'me-too' social network. I was talking with K about it, and she asked what's the point of joining something if no one you know is on it... Good point. (Touché.) And I agree, it's been kind of strange adding strangers to my friends list based on profiles. And I'm not finding any high school friends or anything like that. But I'm discovering new music, new bands. The discoverability factor for music is very high on VIRB. In fact, the ability to add music to your personal player is pretty cool, and then be able to recommend it to your friends is killer. VIRB can also track what you're playing on iTunes and automatically keep track of your playlist on your profile. As an artist you can post your tracks for fans to listen to, they can grab the lyrics if you want, and they can also download the file if you want.
Of course, what new site is complete without tagging? VIRB has tagging for everything. You can tag your photos, your blog posts. You can tag your friends (although they don't get to see your tags for them, they're just for you to sort out the real friends from the groupies... ha ha...). All your profile lists become tags, so all the music, books, movies and so on become tags that you can search by.
There's also groups, and speaking of groups... I just started my first group today. I called it "Hop On Pop" after the Dr. Seuss book, and it's dedicated to the sharing of children's books that you like to read to your kids. Check it out. And join VIRB! You'll like it, trust me. :)
technorati tags:VIRB, social, network, facebook, music, discoverability, children's, books
Blogged with Flock
2007-04-13
never ever ever
give your little ones chocolate for dessert at dinner time. They JUST finally went to sleep, like, 10 minutes ago. And only because I caved and went in and rocked T whilst singing "Hush Little Baby". I think J just finally got bored and tired enough that she lay down and was still long enough for sleep to overtake her.
Good chocolate, though... (Lindt gold foil bunnies... yum... T can actually have the dark chocolate ones, because they don't have milk. Yay!)
technorati tags:kids, sleep, chocolate
Blogged with Flock
wow, cool
Hey, just found this cool software sale at MacZOT today only, 13 apps valued at $300USD for $13USD. Not too shabby.
Check it out if you're interested. There's some productivity apps, a cool workout app (hey, now I can get in shape!) and some utilities. You can find it here. The only catch is that as of now, there's only one more chance to buy, and you only have a 13 minute window. You also have to register with macZOT first, so do that if you're interested.
technorati tags:macZOT, apps, cool
Blogged with Flock
2007-04-12
time's up
An interesting read here in the washington post:
Despite "Mommy Guilt", Time With Kids Increasing
Find the counterpoint to this article on the Parenting Blog on the Toronto Star here.
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i'm a softie
2007-04-07
2007-04-06
oh, and just so you know
Pro Tools 7.3 and OSX 10.4.9 (updated via Software Update) DOES NOT WORK!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!
I must have tried reinstalling PT, like, 4 times before I found this out on the forums. Doh!
Oddly enough, it's supposed to work if you update to 10.4.9 via the Combo Installer, which is a .dmg download (310MB, mind you... it's not small). I'm downloading it now. I thought I'd share while I wait for it to download. Lucky you.
wireless is so useful
Our wireless router is located in the basement, near the front of the house. When we park the car in the front laneway, I can connect to our router from inside the car. Which is what I'm doing now, keeping J company in the car as she naps. Too hard to move her, so we just let her sleep in the car. Good thing, we have an evening service to go to tonight. It's better that she naps.
Oh, speaking of which, I think she's awake now... :) gotta go. Have a wonderful Easter!
Blogged with Flock
2007-04-05
i just got joost
2007-04-04
8 Core Mac Pro Arrives
The Apple Store was down earlier, and now we know why! 8 core Mac Pro's are now available, utilizing dual "Clovertown" processors.
read more | digg story
2007-04-03
and so it ends
I took the bars off T's crib on Saturday. Unlike another father who shared with me, I did not cry or get emotional. Strange. My 'babies' are growing up, and I'm glad. Her new found freedom has so far resulted in a reduction of night visits, rather than an increase. I found that with J too. The novelty of a 'big girl' bed really keeps them there. This morning she woke up and came to our room with her little pillow and doll.
Me: Good morning...
T: Hi. (climbs into our bed)
Me: Why do you have your pillow?
T: Because. (smiles)
Me: It's wake up time.
T: Ok. I can get out of my bed now!
Me: (smiles) I know.
T: Ok. Bye! (hops down and wanders back down the hall)
technorati tags:kids, growing, parenting
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