Saturday 30 August 2014

Vacation (Stay-cation) Begins - 29/08/14

Day 1 of vacation and it turned out a little stressful. It started out great. I went to Costco Hearing Aide Centre and finally ordered my purple hearing aides. They're top of the line and cost me less than half of the mid-range ones I was going to buy from that other place. Yay! I go back for my fitting on Sept. 10. I got to Costco around 10:00. I have never seen it so quiet, but if filled up by the time I was done at the Hearing Aide Centre and I struggled to get around everyone else's carts. Those carts are HUGE, and I hate crowds, so was glad to get out of there. Unfortunately, I felt like the crowds followed me around all day. I don't know if it was because I was driving in unfamiliar areas of the city, or because I don't usually drive in the city on a weekday, or because it was the Friday of the last long weekend of the summer, or because I didn't have my navigator (my buddy Phil) with me, but the traffic was crazy.
Next stop, the Canadian Tire on Fort Road. Following Google maps directions to get there, I had to take a detour because the street I was supposed to turn on had a police-erected road block, but I managed. I had ordered a carpet cleaner at the CT here in town over a month ago, having to make a 50% down payment. A couple of weeks ago I called to see if it was in and was told by the rather snooty person at the customer service desk that it was marked as shipped and they would call me when it came in. Yesterday, having still not heard, I decided to bypass customer service and asked to speak to the manager. She didn't know when it was supposed to arrive either and checked online for me and found one at the Fort Road store in Edmonton. She told me I could buy it at any store in Canada and to tell them I had her permission to do so. I wasn't sure how that worked since I had paid my deposit here in town, but took her word for it and called the Fort Road store and asked them to set one aside for me and I would pick it up today, since I would be in the city for my hearing test anyway. Hmph! Canadian Tires are independently owned and operated, so there was no way they could honour my deposit at another store. Fort Rd. called the other store and were informed that mine had arrived in their store, but the customer service manager in the Fort Rd store informed them that I had been told that I could buy one there. Anyway, I did buy the one in Edmonton, with the promise from the manager back home that they would return all of my money (deposit slips are stamped with the warning that only 50% of it would be refunded, but this screw up was not my fault). This was a different manager from yesterday (just how many managers does a small town CT need?). This unnecessarily shortened my day in Edmonton because I wanted to make sure that I got back to the CT in town to get my money back while that manager was still on duty in case I had any problems getting a full refund.
Next stop was an art supply store because I am taking an acrylic painting course starting next month, and of course I couldn't find the supplies in town. Do you know how many different kinds of brushes there are? And our instructor didn't specify what kind. She also said to get a size 7 and there weren't any. There also weren't the colours of paint I needed in 100 ml tubes, so I ended up buying 213 ml tubes. What if I decide I don't like painting after all? I will then be stuck with 200 ml of paint I don't need.
Then I headed to Johnson's Sewing Centre/Quilters Dream. Normally, I go to the south store - very easy to reach as it's just off the Whitemud Expressway. But since I was in the north end, I went to the north store. I don't think I've ever been there before. And I don't think I'll ever go again. It's in a busy area of town, and the crowd followed me there, too. I was able to find a parking spot on the street that I could fit my pickup truck into. But then the crowd kept passing by and I almost decided to climb out the passenger side before there was finally a break in traffic long enough for me to get the door open and get out without me or the truck door getting run into. I went to Johnson's because I'm taking a machine quilting class at the south store and wanted to maybe get some supplies, specifically a book they recommended. They didn't have it in. At least not that I could see. And since the crowd had followed me to Johnson's, no one offered to help me because the clerks were all serving the rest of the crowd. I'd had enough by this time and would have then headed to Fabricland, but, as I said, I wanted to get back to Canadian Tire to get my money back. And I did. And they told me that my cleaner had come in yesterday. Interesting. I never got a phone call yesterday and when I got home, there was no message on my voice mail telling me it had come in. Great customer service. But at least I got my money back.
And tonight I made vegan mint carob chip ice cream. Very yummy! And no problems with the ice cream maker this time. And I didn't have to share it with the crowd that's been following me all day.

Checking my email, I found this message from my LinkedIn profile:
Hello, I will like to connect with you here. We can do business if the need calls for it. But I won't lie, your profile picture really attracted me. Please get back to me so that we can get to know ourselves.
Seriously??? Dating scammers on LinkedIn, which is supposed to be a professional network and doesn't even have the option to display "relationship status"! Oh, and by the way, scamboy, I do know myself, quite well, thank you. Well enough to report and block you. Go away and get to know your own self. Search your conscience perhaps, if you have one. 
Maybe I should just change my profile picture to a quilt block. Oh yes, it's a professional network, so maybe a nasty-looking nurse...
http://scrubsmag.com/5-things-a-male-nurse-shouldnt-say-to-a-female-nurse/
http://www.oocities.org/tammyinsuk/HotLinks.html
Hmm, somehow I don't think that will enhance my professional networking...

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