Who doesn't love a four and a half day weekend?

I tell ya, I could get used to this. Three and a half day weeks, then four and a half days off? Hell yeah - this is living! Unfortunately I can't keep up this pace and pay the mortgage all at the same time, but I can sure enjoy it while it lasts!

Today was pretty sweet, all things considered. I had a lot of wee little chores to accomplish today, but none required me to work up any kind of sweat or vacate the building until Hubs came home (from work - hehehehehe) with the car.

I had hoped to make a return trip to my happy Dragonfly (gift store) with my lovely sister in law who lives up the road but alas, it would appear that small town principles struck again - they were closed today. Boooooo.... So when she called and asked if I wanted to join she and her mom (my also lovely mother in law) on a trip to another delightfully small town with quaint stores etc etc, I sadly had to decline due to my exceedingly long to do list.

As such, I set about my business early in an attempt to strike as many chores off the list as possible in short order. I did the small amount of actual work that needed to be accomplished today (despite our offices being closed today there was still a wee thing that needed tending to), called the ETR 407 folks to fix the info on our account and finally order a transponder (after attempting to do same online last Thursday and screwing everything up royally), called Bell to find out what the hell was going on with their billing...

I'm going to pause and elaborate on this one for a minute. I'll get back to my list don't you worry, but I must rant about Bell and get it out of my system before I go postal on their telecommunications ass.

Back story - we moved into our new house February 15th. The phone was set up on February 8 so as to have said phone in service during the weekend of our painting party. Our first bill, dated March 4, arrived on March 14th and was due April 3. It was that nasty first bill, you know the one...it has the crazy installation fee, the month that just passed and, of course, they charge you in advance for the month of service to come. Delightful. Yes please, take my money, I have no qualms letting you keep it and build interest on it before I even use the service for that time period. While you're at it, lemme just bend over a smidge so you can shove your corporate foot up my tiny consumer ass. Sheesh.

As I was saying...bill was due April 3. I paid it in full on March 30th via internet banking. Transaction complete. Or so I thought.

All was delightful in bill world until I received one of their dreaded red notices, the kind I used to get when I was fresh out of school getting pennies for a paycheque, where some months I had to choose between getting behind on the phone bill or eating popcorn for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The kind that, once I started earning real money, I vowed to never get again because I was going to take better care of my finances. And I succeeded, dammit. So you can see how this red notice would instantly get my back up.

Especially since the due date on it was April 10. That's right, if I didn't pay by April 10, they were going to cut our phone off as of April 12. WTF?

Remember, the original bill, the FIRST bill we received for this house, was due on April 3. The bill said to please pay by April 3 or else late payment charges would be applied to my account. They never said those late payment fees would be $55 to reinstall my freakin line! Bastards.

Okay, so let's do the math. Tomorrow is April 10. I received this notice in the mail last Thursday, April 5th. Canada Post guidelines dictate that local mail takes, on average, two days to reach it's destination. Which means Bell had to issue said red bill no later than April 3 - the date the bill was actually due in the first place. Which is kinda moot, 'cause I paid it March 30, but apparently that's beside the point.

What the hell is going on over there?

So I call today to find out what's up, why this happened, and I get Joe Idiot on the phone. Of course. I tell him my story and he wanders off for five minutes before he tells me to disregard the notice, all is fine, they have my payment recorded and they won't be disconnecting the phone. Well no shit, smartass. I coulda told you that. I wanted to know what glitch in their system issues a disconnect bill before the due date of the original bill rolls around. And what does he tell me?

"Well, it doesn't matter, we have your money so what are you worried about?"

So many things wrong with that sentence, but alas. How do you fight an enemy with barely enough brain cells to keep them standing erect? Argh.

Fine. They've received my cash, they won't cut off my phone, but he just doesn't get it. I just want to get to the bottom of how this happened. Am I asking too much? Does anyone else think there's a bigger issue here? So I ask to speak to someone else. He asks if I want another agent. Well dur, that ain't gonna help me now, is it? No actually, I'd like to speak to your supervisor or someone else that can help me here.

And you'll never guess what he said...

"Sure you can speak to them, I can have someone call you in 24 to 48 hours."

And Bell wonders why people hate them so much. Add me to the list of haters, man. I'm through with this bullshit. Done. Finito. Ciao, Bell-a.

Phew! That felt really good. The vitriol was just flying out of my fingers there. Annnnndddd....I'm over it. Kinda.

Let's move on, shall we?

The remainder of the day. Let's see. I watched an additional five episodes of Alias, did a load of laundry, packed to go away, called in a refill to the pharmacy, renewed my library book, cleaned the kitchen, had a shower, and tidied up DeeDee's room. Desperate housewives eat your heart out.

Hubs came home just as I was finishing episode number five and we decided to get the remaining errands taken care of (Shoppers to get prescriptions, library to drop off books, Blockbuster to drop off movies, sisters place to drop off Easter goodies to she and nephew, East Side Mario's to pick up linguine chicken tetrazine) so we could rest for the remainder of the evening.

My Halifax trip is looming ever closer and we're kinda gooey, Hubs and I, so four days away is a big deal for us. Yes, we're that gross couple that really doesn't like spending stretches of time away from one another so we get all messy in the days preceding the departure, hence the hurry up and get stuff done so we can cuddle mentality.

I can hear you puking, but it doesn't bother me.

So. We get home, have dinner, pop in a movie and just chillax. And then the phone rings. It's DeeDee, and she's sobbing like crazy. Poor Hubs has no idea what's going on, whether she's hurt or in trouble or what. Turns out that she's had a falling out with her best friend and that she fibbed to Sludge, so all hell has broken loose. Hubs being the great dad he is has settled her down (DeeDee, that is) and is now trying to get Sludge to open her fucking eyes about what's going on with their daughter. Sigh. So hard on him....

So he talks, I blog. I have a feeling he'll be talking a lot longer than I'll be blogging (and this is a long one already) but that's okay. DeeDee takes priority over a little cuddle time. I can fend for myself and from the sounds of things, DeeDee really needs him to help her out right now. Wowie.

I think I'll go and finish packing while he continues in his attempts to break down the brick wall of cluelessness that is Sludge. 6 am will come pretty early tomorrow (another early morning ultrasound - yay!!) and 4:30 am will come even earlier the day after. Good thing I got to sleep in late today. Something tells me I'm really going to need every last minute I can get over the next few days.

I might be absent from blog world for the next day or two as the travel takes place. I'm going to be spending tomorrow night with Hubs at an airport hotel (hence yesterday's bow chicka bow) because we live quite the distance from the airport and my flight goes stupid early. As a result, blogging may not be top of mind wink wink, nudge nudge.

So I'll bid you all a fond few days. May the sun finally come out and warm this damned weather up. And from a completely selfish point of view, bring on said sun to melt all the freakin snow out east before I get there!!

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?