Are we in the Major Leagues-YET?

2011/07/08 Leave a comment

/…if there’s a more pathetic group of professional athletes than the Blue Jays bullpen, I can’t think of one!

In Cleveland, another incredibly inept performance.  Leading 4-nothing in the bottom of the 9th, two of the pathetic

bullpen crew managed to give up four hits and a walk, including a grand slam.  Final score Indians 5, Blue Jays 4!!!!!!

Feel sorry for the starting pitchers, and point some fingers at the New General Manager.

/…Regular gas holding at 128.7 at Shell, PetroCan, Esso, Husky and Sunoco.  The gas companies have found a way

to take away the headache that goes with trying to figure out where to buy your gas.  This morning the hosing intensifies.

Gas will be up to 131.8, at Shell, Esso, Husky, PetroCan and Sunoco.  Prix Fixe has become part of the Oil company lexicon, too!!!!

And where’s the Competition Bureau looking??..at the Toronto Real Estate Board… of course if your chauffeur always fills up, how do you know from gas? Huh?

/…somebody asked about my Air Miles mis-adventure.  Did I manage to book the routes I was looking for on the dates I wanted to go?

Yes but NOT on the Air Miles plan…As I said “you can’t get there from here.”-if you’re depending on Air Miles!!!

/…down at City Hall station it looks like the Gravy Train is still operating only the conductor has changed!  Taxpayers money continues to fly out the door

faster than it’s coming in.  The latest Major offender is Councillor Karen Stintz.  She is no match for Gary Webster the TTC General Manager, who is on a spending spree.

She thinks she’s in charge, she’s not! Why isn’t she in charge?….. Because she’s dealing with the TTC>…………………

The TTC is to Rob Ford,  what Ontario Hydro is to Flinty Mcguinty– a symbol of excess, profligate in every way, with a nasty culture

that goes with that kind of  arrogance and assumed entitlement!!*******************

/…hoohohold the phone.  The Competition Bureau has stirred!!!  Of course it’s taken the Bureau, three years to flesh out the problem.

But the  fact is, it  has fined Bell Canada, slightly more than 10-million dollars

for what the Bureau calls Bell’s misleading pricing for its wireless, broadband, phone, and satellite TV services–and that’s the ringer….

misleading the public with not just one product but everything it sells.  Another FATCAT with excess and entitlement problems.

…………never thought I’d see the day ROGER’S would be relegated to second among companies consumers love to hate.  Roger’s by the way is also looking at a 10-million dollar fine

just hasn’t happened yet.

/…Is this anyway to do business?  Misleading is lying!  Do you really have to be a liar to become BIG and SUCCESSFUL?

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You can’t get there from here!

2011/07/07 Leave a comment

/…You don’t get many air miles at one time so it takes a longtime to accumulate enough to get from  here(Toronto) to say….Chicago.

A few years ago when it was hard to find merchants who had a deal with Air Miles, I think it took me a year to

compile sufficient Air Miles to get me to Pickering,……. well maybe Ajax but not Oshawa!

Given that backdrop you can appreciate how wildly enthusiastic I was when Air Miles reported I had amassed more

4 thousand!

Because two members of our household are heading west in a few weeks it was the obvious moment to tap into the

Air Miles vault and  fly away to Calgary YYC.  So I googled Air Miles.Ca….and what followed was several hours of unsolicited frustration.

I didn’t know some organizations actually work hard to create an endless parade of  poppycock and phiffle.  My first impression was the Air Miles people

actually wanted me to be successful in  my quest.  They sent me an e-mail saying they were “glad that I was interested

in redeeming my AIR MILES reward miles for booking a flight.”   The e-mail names a roster of airlines that were at my service, some of which I’d never heard of…

Central Mountain Air,  Canadian North, Calm Air,  Horizon Air–and the biggies, Air Canada, West Jet etc…all I was assured would give me,  personal service voluntarily,

after all this is a service industry!!!!! “If you want to book right away, gushed the e-mail simply click on  “continue to flight results.”  Of course that doesn’t get

you anywhere–fool, that’s me!!   There are no other tabs or widgets or prompts to get you to “booking-a-flight,”  so we went  back to Air Miles.ca.

At this stage I wanted to ask Teresa-that helpful person from whom I received the e-mail, a couple of questions but she was beyond my growing frustration.  I wanted to call her because

near the end of the email she wrote “feel free to let me know  if I can be of  “additional assistance to you.”

That of course its poppycock because it says quite plainly in another part of the air miles website …”we assure you  that we will reply to your questions within 3 to 5 business days!!!!

OK so Teresa is not going to be of any help!!

Let’s go book something. Here we go,  from travel assistance to a place to type in flying from YYC to YXE, but it will not let you enter the date on which you want to fly.

OK, I’ll just punch find flight info–uh oh, here’s a flag–it says: “oops, there is an error in your flight search please check the highlighted fields and try your search again.”

OK, so now if you punch in the to and fro(again) they will also allow you to punch in the date you want to fly!!  Search..search..search–uh oh, another message:

“there’s no availability on the dates you have selected.”  And then they let you know there’s a cash option.  KAZAM.  Magically there’s a flight for me.  Cost $273.28!

Thanks for nothing Air Miles.  Let me try something else.  So I checked in with the FLIGHT NETWORK— YYC to YXE:  cost $188.00.

I booked that flight for two,  saved almost $200 dollars and spent no AIR Miles just so I can drive myself nuts in the future, (some rainy Wednesday afternoon) trying to book another flight to somewhere

with the assistance of  the Air Miles network!!!

Given the short supply of “available flights on the dates I wish to fly” Air Miles ought to add the GRACE L. FERGUSON STORM DOOR and FLYING COMPANY to their roster of airlines.

Bob Newhart would have understood and appreciated the falldara, gobbledygook and poppycock(or is that poopycock) of trying to book a ticket when there are” no available flights on the dates

you wish to fly.”  Pick another option!  How about another website!!!!!!

 BECAUSE You can’t get there from here!!

/…gasoline at the pumps: 126.1 at Sunoco, Shell, Esso, Husky and Petrocan.

Funny how they all picked the SAME number on the SAME day!  What do we need five major oil companies when they all charge the same price?

Why not have just one ?   Of course then you wouldn’t have all those different loyalty rewards programs, would you and that would be a shame.

?…the Competition bureau has stirred—it’s going after Bell, for not playing fair with us, consumers!!!!  More tomorrow.

/…For whom the Bell tolls, the Bell tolls for thee, English!!!

Beginning this year Sweden will be teaching Mandarin in all elementary schools!

Holy Toledo!!!

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Krokodil

2011/06/29 Leave a comment

Wednesday already!?

/Life is tough en’uf without having to worry about-Krokodil.

It’s a new designer drug that can turn an addict’s skin greenish, scaly and cause it to rot!!!!

A derivative of morphine, Krokodil, (also called desomorphine) is something new from Russia but U.S.

drug administration officials expect it in the States sooner than later!  If the past holds Canadian

health officials won’t know anything about Krokodil until the Americans tell them!

Russian police say they seized  65 million doses in the first three months of 2011.  Guesstimates,

also  by the Russians, suggest more than a million people in that country, known for its love affair with vodka, are users of KROLODFIL………main attraction:  cheap!

Mix codeine with gasoline, paint thinner, hydochloric acid and red phosphorus.  And that gives you Russian heroin!

Take some and say “Dobra vacher, Boris.”   Krokodil-another of life’s sink-holes./

/Pass me the soda pop–yes!!! no, no,no??  How about this:  diet soft drink drinkers, as a group, experienced ” 70% greater increases in  waist circumference” compared with those

who drink no diet soda!!!  Abdominal fat is a major risk factor for diabetes, cardio problems, cancer and other chronic health worrisomes.

That was the result of  studies using humans.  They did a mouse study feeding them aspartame—but we all know nobody takes just aspartame. And neither would the mice

but they were conscripted after refusing to submit voluntarily.  The researchers claim after forcing the aspartame into the mice, the mice showed elevated blood sugar levels!!!!

Remember when eggs and butter were no-no’s and after telling us to use only margarine, we were told get back to butter…..?  As I recall they started that rollercoaster with mice too……..

/The Dodgers may be bankrupt, BUT  when you consider pitching so are the Blue Jays!!!

Last night Jo Jo Reyes left his mojo in the clubhouse.  Gave up 9 hits and 6 earned runs in 3 and a half innings!

The announcer said 17-thousand paid for the game, but I don’t think 17 thousand attended.  This year’s edition has expansion written all over it…

Last night it was no pitching, poor fielding and  squandered hitting.  Night before in Detroit it was the Bullpen that missed the game.

As Casey Stengel once said about his useless New York Mets, “, can’t anybody here play this game?”

/The people of Illinois can put together a streak!  They have now elected two Governors in a row who have gone to jail.

The latest is Rodney Blagojevich(Blago) for short.  In today’s Wall street journal Roger Simon details the hilarious Blago Saga, including

a quote about the convicted Governor from a Chicago political insider–“you could cut off his head and he wouldn’t be any dumber.”

/And here’s another.  This one an observation by Paul Sullivan writing about women’s shoes in today’s freebie paper-Metro:

“wherever I look,  women’s shoes have morphed into something Darth Vader would wear if he were into cross-dressing >”

Lord ain’t that th truth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

/

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FATHEAD

2011/06/28 Leave a comment

Here’s another question for Bill Blair, the Toronto police chief who has been hounded by questions about his helmsmanship

during the G20 debacle: Chief Blair is it policy for your people in 43 division to ignore violations of a restraining order????

And if that’s true in 43 division is that policy(sort of) in other divisions as well?…./ The tragic death of a York police officer

this morning on Davis drive, Newmarket hammers home the dangers our police officers face everyday!  Next time you see an officer

working the traffic detail, walking to or standing unprotected next to a stopped vehicle–slow down and register your support!!!!/

……………/Rob Ford is making some crucial mistakes!  His ‘I’m building a subway come hell or high water, was one; the other was

proposing to dump all the work done by the previous administration to get us more transit in crucial(Eglinton ave) areas and now the dumbest

of all decisions–‘there’s no PRIDE in my life.”  The automatic rule after you are elected to serve people is axiomatic: you represent ALL

THE PEOPLE.  You violate that at your political peril>>>>we know the drill: Ford doesn’t like the Gays as a group, they don’t like him,

not many voted for him and most are embarrassed that he was elected mayor.  So what!

Despite the obvious he needed to swallow his dislike(we can’t use pride)–see above— for the coming Bacchanal in his city and do the Right Thing–

He didn’t because: (1) he’s a fathead;(2)  the people advising him are fatheads.  If he’s not a fathead then he’s stubborn and if you are the mayor of

2, 504,000 individuals and you ‘re that stubborn you will miss a second term–guaranteed!!!!  He could change his mind but the damage has been done!<<<<<<!

/Flathead, (one word) did he say FATHEAD???? What era is he from??? yes fathead, it was a common word description used when I was growing up

and you can look it up. It’s still in the Canadian Oxford and in my small world it’s still cool and particularly apt today!!! /

/The Arab spring threatens to be succeeded by the European fall.  Today’s rioting in Athens is liable to send the Greek bailout to the court of public opinion

because no matter what the Grecian parliament does, the government will have to enforce the draconian austerity measures and my guess is the

Greek people will refuse to be sent into further penury by the Banks of Europe– what we are looking at is a coming war  between the Lords and the Serfs.

The EU has told Greece, failure to accept our terms means–default!!!!!   Default or Die!  The Greeks may decide they will not be slave-driven, not now, not never!!??!

It could be contagious!!!!

We are living in perilous times!

//From the Sun sports page –“Jays ‘pen blows game.”—–how many times has this happened this year and how many more will we see?

This Jays team is marvel of inconsistency but the BullPen recalls “in the beginning ” when there was no bullpen.

//Speaking of the bizarre do you think Rob Ford’s meeting with Brian Burke will recall Saul’s epiphany and Ford will change his mind

and lead Pride Parade to it’s Glorious conclusion????

Could happen!

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