Today I got my Fido bill and was shocked to say the least when I opened up the bill. You see, Fido charged me for an incoming call while I was in Whistler. For all those that don’t know, Whistler is about 1 1/2 hour drive from Vancouver. Russ and I travel up to Whistler frequently during the summer as we like to camp near there, and during the Olympics we were blessed enough to get events tickets up in Whistler. I used be worried before about roaming fees, but from the past Fido has never charged for incoming or outgoing calls while I was in Whistler, until now.

When I saw this bill I quickly logged onto their site to see if anything had changed regarding calling area and was shocked to see the following.

You will notice that if you have a Vancouver number and travel up to Whistler or call Whistler it’s considered a long distance call, yet if you have a local Whistler number and call Vancouver it is not. Why the difference in standard I ask? Why gauge Vancouver residence who travel up to Whistler and not the reverse? This makes no sense at all to me.

My call to Fido customer service was treated very professionally and Eco was of great assistance to me. She did let me know that they had changed their calling maps in December of 2009. She did reverse the charges, but I did let her know that since this change makes no sense to me, they will not be getting my business when my contract runs out next year.

I will be looking for a different provider. So Telus, Bell, Wind be ready for me, the one that makes the best deal will get my business! But be warned – I’m tired of companies changing the contracts that we as consumers sign in good faith. Why is it so hard to adhere by your own rules?

During the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, many countries will host their own pavilion showcasing their countries best offerings, but I didn’t see Argentina offering a pavilion or area for their athletes to hang out at.

Being from Argentina myself and growing up with the culture I was thinking yesterday about this and have decided to open my home up to the Argentinian athletes that are participating in the games. I don’t think their are many Argentinians participating in the games, but you are welcome to stop by for a mate, alfajores, empanadas or pan dulce please let me know! I’m conveniently located downtown in Yaletown and ready when you are!

Please drop me a note or email me at gfosarolli [at] gmail [dot] com.

I’ve been wanting to write about this issue for sometime and I haven’t gotten the nerve to just write it, so here it goes.

We as bloggers get pitch on products (some more than others).  I have had the pleasure of reviewing 2 products in the past, YBF Skincare Control and the Microsoft Zune.

Now there are some bloggers out there in the blogosphere that use their blogger profile to do more than just review products, but they use it to get free stuff just for the sake of proving they have the clout. Yes most of these bloggers are considered high profile or A-Listers, but where do we draw the line at what you ask for just because you are a blogger?

I have seen some A-Listers (and B-Listers) who feel that just because they are a blogger they are entitled to free access to events, free products, free anything. I can understand that they have some pull in the online community, but as humans are we falling short here?  There are some great A-Listers that are using the blogosphere for good and helping out the community through food drives, highlighting community events, and just getting the word out on certain issues.

As bloggers should we be offended if we are not invited to attend an event, review a product, or participate in a blogger forum? I have been surprised by some grown adults acting like spoiled 2 year old when they do not “get their way”. Have the blogebrities forgotten their reason for starting a blog? I for one have to think back to why I started blogging 2 years ago.  I started to let my family know what I was doing and now that has grown into sharing my life experience with friends and family.

Do I want the fame that comes with being a blogebrity? Not really. I don’t think I could use my blog as a means to get free items for the sake of getting items. I am honoured to be able to review products, attend events, and let people know how I feel about certain companies and their products. I’m glad I have a voice and I hope through time more and more will listen to my voice.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some truly amazing bloggers out there. I am truly blessed to have some great blogger friends and I hope the fame of their blogs doesn’t cloud who they really are inside!

I have to admit I love living downtown Vancouver.  I have a 20 minute walk to work and I’m close to many restaurants, sushi bars, and close to the water. That being said, there are some draw backs as well.

With the hotter weather hitting us these past few days, I have to have windows open which brings in a lot of the downtown noise into the condo.  I have the joys of living next door to an Ambulance station as well as the Atlantis Night Club.  Don’t get me wrong I knew what I was getting myself into when I moved here.  I did my research, but I guess lately it is starting to bother me a little.

This past weekend there was nothing but constant sirens blazing the Vancouver downtown core and it seemed to be all concentrating near by.  If this wasn’t bad enough there is always the lovely after bars traffic.  The girls here really can’t hold their liquor and when they are drunk they are the loudest creatures on earth.  The profanity alone would make any mother cringed.

Last night at 2am I was awoken by someone yelling outside down the street that he couldn’t see and he needed water.  Not only was he begging for help, but he also had the profanity to go with it.  It got to a point where people were yelling outside their windows to quiet down.  Someone actually went downstairs and gave the man a bottle water, which he threw back at them (nice I know). Eventually the police showed up and at this point I was just wishing they would taser him to quiet him up (yeah I know it is probably mean, but hell I wasn’t in a great mood).

I’m also noticing more and more people camping out at Emery Barnes Park at the corner of Davie and Richards.  This is a park I like to take Junior out for his night walk and it is starting to feel more and more scary.

Again don’t get me wrong I love living downtown, but lately with the warmer weather people seem to be a little more cranky and scary.  Hopefully some rain will make people calmer and the sirens will slow down a little and let us sleep.

A friend of mine walked home today to find out that their power had been switched off.

They called BCHydro to find out why their power was off only to find out that supposedly a payment they had made a few days ago had not been received at their end.  This bill was paid at a bank online and BCHydro still hadn’t received notification.  Supposedly they had sent them a “final notification” that the power would be cut off if their invoice wasn’t paid; they hadn’t even received a first notice.  They were calling the wrong number and leaving voice messages on someone else’s phone.

Now they let BCHydro know that they had paid their bill, but yet they could not restore power.  Since it was after 4pm on the day, they could not even put in a request to have the power turned back on the next day, no they have to wait now until Thursday to have power.  To add insult to injury, they have to pay a “reconnection” fee even though they had paid an invoice that BCHydro has no record of.

I don’t understand who is at fault here, the bank for taking so long to process payment that they are so quick to take out of your account, or BCHydro for not doing more to reconnect them back up.  If this was winter they would be without heat, bad enough that they will be in the dark and have no electricity to even heat up a meal or boil water.

Come on BCHydro, get your act together.  We have no choice but to use you and you treat your customers like shit!

BCHydro you FAIL on all counts!

Ok lately I have been seeing more and more homeless people with dogs/puppies.

Being a dog owner this really ticks me off. I don’t know how they got these dogs in the first place. They don’t pick their shit up after they do their business, they are usually not on a lease, the seem to use their dogs for the “give me food” ploy. I find it just sickening to be honest.

Now most of these people can definitely work, after all there is plenty of work out there. Get a job.

Last night when I was walking Junior to our local park, I started up a conversation with another dog owner and she let me know that (and alas I cannot prove this), that if they have a dog, they get $60 more on their welfare cheques. I can’t believe the government would pay out for that. It’s almost like the government paying you money for each kid you have. I can definitely see why more dogs are being stolen downtown if this is the case.

I know that I probably will get alot of slack from this, but hey this is my “soap box” Ok there is my rant. Now I feel alittle better