Amazing Race

Today on the Amazing Race the teams are in Thailand. Unfortunately, they had a road block (or whichever type it was) that was really upsetting. They had to pose with a tiger that was being poked to snarl for the camera. That was horrible to watch. But, not near as bad as watching the elephants. The poor elephants have been trained to squat over people. Those poor animals. I'm very disappointed in the amazing race for choosing a challenge like this.

Wii Fit - Finally

Last year I purchased a Wii. The reason - Wii Fit. I had read a great blog about how good this game was and I was intrigued. I asked a few people and heard that this would probably be a great gaming system for me. I've never been a big fan of video games but I was really intrigued. So, I bought the system and then tried to find Wii Fit. Well, it took a year and I finally found one. In the last year of having my Wii I've had fun with the games I do have. Star Wars Lego has been pretty frustrating - my dad laughed at me a lot when he watched me trying to figure it out. But, I now have it figured out and love it!

The Wii Fit kind of started out the same way. My friend Julia had warned me that it would probably frustrate me (as those of you who know me realize - I do not have that thing called patience). I hooked it up Friday night and listened to the game tell me how overweight I was (like I really needed a game to tell me that). But, it also told me how balanced I am. I actually keep 50.2% of my weight on my left and 49.8% on my right (pretty darn balanced considering I have a bum right knee). I decided to start with the hula hoop game and I LOVE it. Now, I love the hula hoop part, but starting out I could not figure out how to catch the hula hoops being thrown at me.

I moved on to some other games and realized that I really didn't like the soccer ball game. I kept getting hit in the head with flying shoes. Then I tried one of the strength exercises and it kept telling me to raise my left leg, which I was doing. Finally I tried my right and it worked. I got really frustrated and thought Julia was right! This game is annoying.

I voiced my frustrations to some friends and they suggested that I turn the board around as it may be backwards. I had assumed that since it was working it was pointing the right way (not realizing it would work both ways). But, that was the issue. Boy did I feel stupid.

Today was my second day on the Wii Fit and I really love the hula hoop games. I am doing great at those and now that the board is facing the right way I'm doing even better. I tried more of the yoga games today. My brother has always told me that I should try yoga, but I have always felt that I don't have the patience for it. Apparently my brother knows me very well. I am kicking butt on the yoga poses so far. I have almost perfect balance on poses I've never done before.

I'm liking my Wii Fit and hoping that I stick with it. It also tells me when I've missed a day (it asks where I was), so I hope that guilts me into doing a workout every day.

BSG - The Finale

Spoilers Ahead!

Last night was the finale of Battlestar Gallactica. I headed over to Julia's for the pre-game show and the 2 hour finale. This last season has left me a little cold. I didn't watch every week when the episode was on because it just didn't hold my interest like other seasons had.

The first hour / hour and a half was really good, but the last half hour sucked (well, other than Helo being alive). It was just a really big let down. They should have ended when they jumped to Earth. That would have been an excellent ending, the ships with Earth in the background? Way better than the ending they did do. Now, I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm not an Odama / Laura fan. I just don't see the chemistry there so I didn't believe their relationship at all, and if I don't see the chemistry it just annoys me. I also really hate Lee's hair at the end and found it really distracting. I SO like the military look and hated his puffy hair.

But, overall the series was excellent and I can't wait to watch it again from start to finish on DVD.

The Heat Saga - Part 3 - Bob The Plumber to the Rescue

My dad is awesome! After all the crap of the week (and let's just say depression reared its ugly head and last night was not so good) I was starting to worry that it would never get resolved.

Last night Direct Energy were supposed to come by and take another look, of course, they didn't show up. My dad had stopped in on Friday and he thought there really wasn't a major issue, but they didn't show up. My dad did show up and probably within an hour of him being here I got a call to let me know I had hot water.... here's the kicker, they had left the PART! My dad didn't even have to go to the store, they never even attempted to install / fix the part that turned out to be the problem.

I can't believe how crazy this week was.

The Heat Saga - Part 2

Tonight there is some good news: my insurance company is awesome. They aren't paying for a new heating unit, but they are putting me up in a hotel. My friends have been awesome (thanks C&M) but I feel bad for just showing up at someone's house and sleeping there. The hotel will be close to home so that I can make sure the kitties are okay.

My dad is hopeful that he will be able to put in a unit that I own and I won't have to pay anymore money to DE. They have not been calling me back at all and I'm so sick of them.

I was also able to get my charges with DE separated off of my gas bill.

The house is warm today - the space heaters actually work (but not looking forward to my energy bill this coming month). The lowest it got to was 47 degrees.

The Heat Saga

This past weekend I went away on a work retreat. The company I now work for goes on two retreats a year. The owner has a piece of property up near my dad's place and invites the company up for a weekend of poker, food and snowmobiling or snowboarding.

After a fun weekend up north (where I was the chip leader for most of the night - but more on that in another blog), I came home to rest.

It was kind of chilly in my condo, but I was so tired I really didn't think about it too much and had a nap. When I woke up it was even colder. So, I called my dear old dad to find out what I should be looking for. Well, there was no heat or hot water and we could not get it to turn on.

Since I rent the hot water tank (which to make a long explanation short also handles the furnace / heat - it's a dual unit), I called Direct Energy. I stayed up until after midnight waiting for them to come and check it out or to call me back. Of course, neither happened. Enbridge who supplies the gas - hey, they showed! But, it wasn't a gas problem. I ended up having to take the day off on Monday to wait for the direct energy guy to show up. He did, he misdiagnosed the problem and I had to wait for a part that I actually didn't need (great). So, the next guy did some further checking. The unit is done and has to be replaced. Okay, let's get that done because now it is 51 degrees in my house. Well, they need to schedule and get a variance, blah, blah, blah. This is at 3pm. But, of course nothing happens for the rest of the day. So, today they sent out another guy who checked to see if I had attic access. Of course, none of the three guys that have been here before checked for that. NO, of course not. Because now I'm on day 3 of no heat (when it's -20 out there) we wouldn't want to speed things along. So, it turns out I don't have attic access so now we are waiting for the condo complex to get them into the neighbour's condo. After that maybe they will schedule the replacement that is going to cost me over $1000 (yet, it's a RENTAL). Plus, my rental costs will double.

Thanks to a friend's suggestion I have now called my insurance company and they are sending out a contractor to look to see if I'm covered under my house policy.

My dad is also looking into some other options and maybe he will be able to do the work and then I will own the unit and won't have to pay direct energy another penny.

I highly recommend that if you pay them any of your money now that you get out from under them. They are horrible and their customer service is non-existent.

Now I'm on the phone with them again and of course they haven't kept track of my previous calls so I am now on my 6th case number (in 3 DAYS)!