I got the job!

Talk about a load off the mind and a huge relief. Things are looking brighter by the moment.

Can’t wait to begin. I can lock the truck in the garage and take the LRT to work in a few short weeks.

Now all I need to make the evening complete is news that my co-workers have also found work in the field.

You may remember that a few months back I was participating in a charity project via Twitter called #tweetsgiving [details here, here and here]. It was the brainchild of Stacey Monk (@StaceyMonk) the founder of Epic Change and challenged users of Twitter to band together and raise 10,000$ for the development of a classroom addition to a school in Arusha, Tanzania.

This month Epic Change is at it again.  They’re raising funds to expand the school to include its first technology lab and a boarding facility/orphanage for students. They’re hoping to raise 77,777$ by the end of March 17th and still have a long way to go before they reach the goal.  You can learn more at tweetluck.org or by following @TweetLuck or the search term #tweetluck on Twitter.

Take a few minutes, and the cost of a cup of coffee or two, and donate to Epic Change’s TweetLuck project. Then join us in telling the world how lucky you are 😉

I am lucky because I have friends & family who care for me & accept my eccentricities.

You can see pictures of the classroom built on gratitude at the Epic Change Flickr account.  I was originally disappointed that I couldn’t find my Twitter handle on the wall – but then I remembered that the project had nothing to do with me or my ego – rather it was about building hope and helping to develop a bright future for children half-way around the world and that was certainly accomplished.

I’d like a new nose please.

For as long as I can recall I’ve had sinus trouble. When it gets bad and the pressure builds up my eye starts watering. Today my eye is doing an impression of a giant fountain. Bah!

On the bright side I can’t smell anything when my nose gets like this so I didn’t have my usual gag attack when walking down the hallways at work. I like perfume or cologne as much as the next guy or gal but I can’t stand it when people bathe in their preferred scent.

Still. I wouldn’t mind a clear nose all year long. If anyone has any suggestions for relief I’m all ears.

The year before my dad was diagnosed with cancer, he and Drew climbed to the top of Whistler’s mountain in the Alberta Rocky mountains. For most people it’s not too hard of a climb. You take a tram most of the way up and climb the final 800 (or so) feet on your own.

I’m terrified of heights and never made it to the top. About a third of the way up I started shaking and freaking out. I managed to make it within sight of the summit before my journey ended. It was such a slow process for me. My body had no problem making the trek. My mind had a different set of priorities. My brain was convinced I was going to fall off the mountain. I was determined to try and get to the top but the teenage girls I was with at the time demanded to go to the bathroom and needed to be walked back down the mountain. By the time I’d taken them back I was shaking so much I knew I couldn’t manage a second attempt.

Mum only made it about 1/2 way to the top. She too suffers from a fear of heights. I remember how proud dad was that she’d managed to get that far up the mountain – knowing how scared she must have been trying to walk her way there. He kept talking about her fear of heights and how hard it must have been to have managed to get that far.

I can’t remember how far up the mountain my sister made it. So consumed by vertigo was I that I can’t place where she was in the mix.

I remember Drew running up and down the mountain a few times while dad stood at the top taking lots of pictures. One moment he was at the top with dad. The next he was with me. Then mum. Then the bottom with the kids. Then back up at the top with dad. I remember thinking how nice it must be to run around a mountain and not be terrified of “rolling off”.

When I was home last spring I got a small bag of dad’s ashes. We plan to walk to the top of the mountain to release them. He loved being there so much. Mum is planning on visiting when Drew returns home to make the trek. Surrounded by a boatload of women afraid of heights it will be a slow journey. But if dad could make it to the top of the mountain, so can we.

Shaking and squeamish the entire way. We can do this.

What “mountains” will you try to summit this year?

My parents were Credit Union members for ages. My mum still is. As a kid I had a credit union account. Drew had one too.

The only downside to Credit Unions – other than the MasterCard affiliation – is that they’re not national. Accounts would constantly need to be opened and closed with each move. Since Drew is military and we moved around a lot, we moved our accounts to a national bank well over a decade ago. Over the years they’ve held all our business – mortgage, payroll deposits, RRSP’s, etc.

Today I tried to deposit a bank draft from a Credit Union into a tax free savings account in my bank. Tried being the operative word. After making me wait 45 minutes while they “discussed” the situation, they refused the draft on the grounds that they thought it was fraudulent. Never have I been so mortified or angry in my life. If our accounts weren’t joint (or Drew had been home) I would have yanked every account and our mortgage from the bank immediately. Remember, we’ve been “customers” of this bank for over a decade. They have all our financial history stored in their computer system. They know what our income is, that we’ve never had a late payment, and anything else they could possibly want to know about us. We’ve paid their ever increasing “service fees” for years receiving little in return for the pleasure. Despite this record, apparently, I’m a sketchy character capable of trying to deposit a bad cheque.

Needless to say I left the bank fuming. And walked into the nearest Credit Union and opened a new bank account with cash. Oh, and they didn’t immediately assume the Credit Union bank draft was fraudulent. Go figure! I opened the tax free savings account while there as well.

We’re not planning on leaving the city anytime soon so I don’t think we need to have a national bank anymore. If this is how I’ll be treated after a decade I certainly want nothing to do with them anymore.

I’m not a number. And my business can and will go elsewhere. Slowly until Drew comes home. But certainly I’ll be moving my accounts away from the bank once Drew returns.

Chalk one up for the pissed off customer. I suggest banks start rethinking their treatment of customers or I won’t be the last customer they piss off and lose.