Ness’ Outpost

Yesterday I got an email from HR here at GE about the employee benefit of bringing in nurses to administer on site flu shots. I have to admit that I have yet to get a flu shot when they have been available ever since University.

Today I read this CBC article titled Canadians urged to get flu shots despite problems.

I think I’ll continue the trend and not get a flu shot again this year. If I was interacting with older people or newborns more often then I might. But I’m not convinced it does more good than bad. I’ll just let nature take it’s course and roll the dice.

This from a complete health care idiot.

Remember when your Mom used to make you write a list to Santa. Well now in the digital age I can do it online, update and make changes up to the night of Christmas. Of course that doesn’t mean I won’t get a lump of coal, but what can you do:

• *NEW* Paper shredder - For all this mail I’m getting with my personal information all over it.
• Snow Shoes
• Gators
• Walking Poles
• Tool Chest (Craftsman)
• Tilly Socks - full length and the Unhole-y ones ($20/pair) - absolutely worth the cost
• Hiking Socks - smart wool or other moisture wicking brands
• Pants - For work and a few for play
• Rain pants - for hiking in wet conditions - I have fleece lined winter ones, but those are too hot for non-winter activities
• Flys for fishing in southern ontario - targeting bass, trout, and the odd pike - Check out number 3 at the link
• “Fumbling with a Flyrod: Stories from the River” By Ian Colin James in hard cover
• Waders - unfortunately a very personal purchase based on fit, value, features, etc. and are likely going to be in the $300-$500 range
• Wader Boots - no sense buying these without having a pair of waders. Waders may come with boots as a combo.
• Canadian Tire or Home Depot gift cards are always welcome! ;)

If it looks like most of my gifts could come from MEC - you’d be right.

That’s right, I saw snow. That means it is time to start work on the winter beard.

Sorry Lo, but I have the means to keep my face warm. I know at least one woman that likes me in my beard, and it isn’t my Mom (although she might). Chantelle is a sucker for the beard as Grant will attest to.

Chantelle and myself donned our rain gear and headed out to a trout pond in Milton called Fish4Trout.

Chantelle had my Ugly Stick spinning rod with 10 pound braid and 7 pound fluorocarbon tippet about 3 feet in length. Spinners were the best for her. Retrieve the lure just fast enough to get the blade spinning, but no faster.

I was set up with my 9′ fly rod with floating line attached to 3 feet of braid and then 3 feet of fluoro tippet just before the fly. I only used one fly all day, a green woolly bugger with some attractive flash in the tail I bought at my local fly shop in Mississagua. I need to find some time to get there on a Saturday and start tying my own flies over the winter. A great fly and well worth the $4 cost. It held up to being water logged all day and the trout pulling on it and trying to swallow it whole. Way better than the cheap Canadian Tire specials - if you can find them - that are throw aways after 2 hours of fishing.

Here are some pictures of Chantelles catch - which became our lunch. I paid the extra entrance fee for catch and release and each trout was released successfully. Anything that was killed on my fly I would have to keep and pay for, but everybody swam away after a quick hook removal. Be sure to debarb your flies which helps a lot when you are in a catch and release situation and makes the catching part more challenging - which is ok here since there always seemed to be a trout willing to take a fly.

Don’t be scared of the larger upfront cost of catch and release. If you’re a good fisherman you’ll easily land 20 or more fish in a morning and at 60 cents an inch that can add up. Besides, the pond needs that money to breed new fish for you to catch so they can replace the ~10-30% mortality rate of catch and release - even if the fish swims away.

If you ever are down on your luck and need an outing to pick up your spirits take a trip to Milton and go fishing with the folks at Fish4Trout. They were friendly, helpful, and prepared our catch for transport on ice. I’d go again.

This past Sunday I spent the day in Georgetown upgrading my referee card to a level 2. Of course it had to be the muggiest and hotest day of the summer which was just before hurricane Ike came to town that evening.

This will get me out of house league and doing some rep and travel games.
Looking forward to the new season.

Lauren and I officially moved into our new home in Mississauga today. Thanks to everyone who came out to both sites for loading and unloading the truck. It rained quite a bit but we are in and unpacking.

The bad news is that the truck leaked through the light. The good news is that it just slowed us down a bit since the bottom of the cardboard boxes were soaked and had to be handled carefully. Luckily the piano wasn’t on that side of the truck. I complained to Uhaul and they kindly reversed the charges for the truck so it turned out all I paid for was gas.

This is far better customer service than Bell that is for sure.
I would rent from Uhaul again - overall this experience has been pleasant. There is a little bit of frustration waiting in line to get and return the trucks. It seems the service centres are a little understaffed on weekends. Next time I plan to move something on a rainy day I’ll be to get a decent truck and not put anything under light fixtures in the box.

I took a step back from all the convinces of modern day life and bought a fountain pen.

Not that I’m giving up electricity and computing or anything but this pen is somewhere in the middle. It uses a medium nib (the tip part) and ink cartridges instead of filling a well in the body of the pen from an eye drop dispenser. I can buy a well adapter if I ever wanted to use scented ink or blood to “seal a deal” — but I don’t see that happening in the near future.

I did a little research on introductory pens and found a site that recommended a Lamy Al-Star pen as a great starter pen that is rugged for daily use and the ink writes really well on moleskin paper - which is my notebook of choice.

So far I’m happy with it — when I opened the pen and punctured the cartridge I got ink on my fingers.

Our condo was sold and we had to vacate the unit by the end of July for the new owner to take possession at the beginning of August. Our new home doesn’t close until the end of August. We chose this date because Lauren is traveling and we need some time to get our ducks in a row financially and with the Lawyers and Realtors.

So all our stuff had to go into storage and I’m going into couch/futon surfing mode with kind friends for the month.

A huge thanks to Trevor, Robb, Derek, Ave, Rich, Jenn & Mr. Anderson for providing the needed labour to pack up the truck and help us put everything into storage.

The truck was supposed to be a 14 footer from Uhaul. But they failed to get me a truck in the time slot assigned to me for the service elevator in my building so they upgraded me for free to a 26 foot truck. Which is a beast to back into loading docks, driveways and try to attempt tight turns with.

If anyone is free in early September for Part II of the big move let me know! We’ll be looking for some help.

Our offer on a home in Mississauga was accepted on Monday. Tonight on the news I saw a huge drop in the TSX and a story about how the real estate market has cooled off. Apparently sellers are having to wait longer to make the sale, and with the increased number of homes on the market buyers are in no rush to make a deal. Luckily prices have remained constant so far.

Scary times ahead indeed both financially and with all the joys of home ownership. Everybody has to live somewhere no matter what the financial or real estate markets dictate. Hopefully I won’t lose my shirt.

My auto insurance policy came up for renewal in March of 2008. I did not receive any of my documentation in the mail concerning my policy renewal - but since it was not returned to sender The Personal assumed I had received it. I only discovered that I was driving with out updated insurance documents when I renewed my license plate sticker on April 30, 2008. I doddled a bit, but eventually did call The Personal and requested a new set of documents be mailed to me. These documents never arrived — and interestingly enough The Personal representitive that I spoke to does not have a record of this communication when I called to argue my payment of the penalty fee.

Since the documents didn’t arrive and I was now aware that I was diving with old insurance documents I started talking to friends and family about their insurance. I discovered I was being grossly over charged compared to the market for my 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier. I knew people with 2006 vehicles paying less insurance with the same deductibles as myself! What is even worse is that I was receiving a discount because of my OSPE membership — the premium could have been even higher. I shopped around and found a far better deal than The Personal could offer me and wanted to switch. I cancelled my policy and was charged an exorbitant fee to do so.

My final payment which is to be made on June 16th - I’m sure mostly is composed of the penalty fee for cancelling the contract - is approximately $280. My monthly payments were approximately $175.

I was a good customer, always paid my bill on time and never had an NSF payment failure to The Personal. I started my auto insurance plan in late 2005 with them. Only in March of 2007 when I had to change my address and get rental insurance did my auto premium jump greatly. This was explained to me because I live in Mississauga.

The only leverage I have left in this situation is to write about my account and discourage others from doing business with The Personal because of the way I was treated.

• I was not notified of my renewal
• I continued to pay my bill on time every month
• When I discovered my renewal had passed and found a better deal The Personal was not willing to admit their inability to provide me with the information I needed to make a timely decision.
• I did not ask for a refund. I only wish not to pay the penalty fee for contract termination as I did not knowingly enter a new contract. The insurance business has me here though as policies automatically renew if no action is taken.
• I will make my money back by switching in 3 months. But this is still my hard earned money I won’t get back.

My only advice to others in a similar situation is to do things in a different order. My proactive order was what has caused problems for myself. Had I recorded proper documentation of my call to request my renewal package I would be in a far better bargaining position. When you call the first time be sure to notify the agent that you did not receive any renewal documentation.

Please avoid doing business with The Personal. I never had to make a claim but I hope they are excellent at customer service during that time of need because they over charged me while I lived in Mississauga and were forced me to the letter of my contract.

My cancelled policy number was: K2568236 Feel free to quote that and provide them with the URL to this page.

Once I move from my apartment and can also cancel my rental insurance I will be one customer The Personal will never see again.