Friday 4 March 2011

A New Member of our Family

On Tuesday March 1st at 8:05 a.m. a new member of our family was born. My nephew and godson, Nick and his wife, Becky became the proud parents of Jack. Jack was a big boy weighing 8 lb 9 oz and is 21 inches long. The birth of Jack makes me a great aunt!

Here are some photos:

This is Jack!

This is Auntie Danica with Jack

And my sister AKA Nanny with Jack

And the proud Daddy with his brand new son



We all welcome Jack to the family!

I'm Severely Ticked Off!

OK, so I had decided I wasn't going to write a blog anymore but I wanted to write this because I think it is highly unfair.

We are customers of Bell Mobility (cell phone) here in Canada. We decided to buy our phones and go on a pay as you go plan so we wouldn't get a monthly bill. We bought our cell phones mid November 2010 after our Verizon contract was finished. We could have continued with Verizon but at $90.00 US per month, it was just too costly. I only have good things to say about their Customer Service. Unlike Bell!

Shortly after we got our phones I started getting unsolicited text messages. I should point out that Gordon and I never use texting on our phones. I should also point out that Bell charge for any incoming text messages. So I went in to the Smiths Falls office and was told they couldn't take texting off my phone. (Verizon had removed it at my request.) Yesterday we went to Ottawa and were told the same thing at the Bell store but he gave me the Customer Service number to call. So this morning I called them and was told they could indeed take texting off but I would have to pay for any incoming text messages to my phone regardless. Does that make sense to anyone? Does it make sense that I have to pay for unsolicited incoming messages? He suggested I call the people texting me and tell them to stop or text "Stop" to them. I called the number that sent me the text message "Hey" two days ago. Turns out it was a young person, probably high school age. I told her to stop texting me and she said that she didn't. I told her the message had come from her phone and maybe she should keep better tabs on it. To her credit, she did apologize.

If we hadn't purchased the phones and phone card already, I'd be tempted to tell them to stick their phones where the sun don't shine however we do need cell phones for emergencies. The alternatives are Telus who also charge for incoming text messages and Rogers who doesn't however their service area is sometimes in question routing you to US towers at times.

The service rep at the Bell store in Ottawa did send a "stop" message to a couple of spam messages so we'll see how that goes.

Anyway, after I hung up I sent an email to Bell explaining the situation and asking for a satisfactory conclusion. Do you think I'll get anywhere?

Thursday 3 March 2011

Quick Trip to Ottawa

Today we headed in to Ottawa to pick up Gordon's passport. When he took the paperwork in a couple of weeks ago it cost him $11.00 to park. Since I went with him today we were able to park at the meters and it cost $1.00 and I was able to walk around the Byward Market a bit.

Byward Market outdoor stalls


Another part of the market

In the market looking toward the Chateau Laurier Hotel

Chateau Laurier Hotel

Parliament Buildings taken from our moving car

Canadian Edifice Building

National Archives

Plowing the sidewalk in front of the War Museum

Ottawa River Parkway

Another view of the Parkway

Bate Island

Shirley's Bay Birding Area - many noisy squirrels there

Birds on a feeder

Chickadee  
We didn't stay in the city long. We had one errand to run at the Carlingwood Mall, then stopped at Mud Lake but only the same two Mallard Ducks were there so on to Shirley's Bay and then headed for home arriving shortly after 1 p.m.

Sunday 27 February 2011

To Almonte!

Almonte is home of the inventor of the game of basketball, James Naismith. Our mission today was to look for a bird feeder. We had looked around Smiths Falls but were taking comparison shopping to a new level.

While there I took some architectural photos. That's something that has been grabbing my interest lately. Here are some of the photos.

This is a part of the Home Hardware store

Neat clock tower

This is the whole building in downtown Almonte

A brick wall

Black Watch

Double doors

Single door

Door at Registry Office

Registry office building

Yellow doors on Anglican Church    




There is a lot of interesting architecture in the small towns around here. This summer I hope to get out on my bike and take some around our own town.

Oh, and no we didn't get a bird feeder yet!