I really wanted to talk about Koodo with you, but I wanted to test things out for myself first. 

First let me say, this is a Canadian service just for us people. 

Hype about Koodo Mobile has been popping up all over the place.  Posters and ads claiming no contracts, no hidden fees, free phones, free activation...all seemed pretty good.  But are they as good as they claim?

I picked mine up from London Drugs.  They currently only have 4 models of phones to choose from, but each is different and very decent. I personally picked a slim Motokrzr.  It has a 1.3 megapixel camera in it, as well as a MP3 player.  The others available are the LG Shine, Motorola W385 and a Samsung U410.

The TAB

Now, once you've picked your phone you can two one of two things.  You can buy the phone outright (which costs $75 to $250 CND) or you can put up a Tab.  A tab is not a contract, but a way to get your phone for free.  It's $150 attached to your account. Basically, you talk your way out of your tab.  Every month, Koodo takes 10% of your bill and applied it to your tab.  They continue to do this even when your tab is paid off, leaving you extra cash a new phone later on if you like.

Now that's cool.  My tab is already down to $144 and I've only been with them a month. And they do plan on adding new phones in the future.

The Plans

Plan time.  No contract, but no pay and talk crap either.  You pick how much you want to spend and pick a plan that meets your needs.  Don't like them? Make your own damn plan! They have 3 ready made plans at $25, $45 and $65 a month. But you can mix and match all you like. You can add all the goodies like voicemail, call display, long distance, five essentials...whatever you like.

There is the best part.  You can change your plan once a billing cycle and change your features whenever you like! When I played with the feature cycle, I added voicemail and it took 2 minutes for the system to set it up and I could access it.  Impressive.

Coverage and Clarity

I was really worried about dropped calls and clarity of the phone.  My Telus phone was less then impressive when it came to cutting out and dropping calls.  I haven't had a problem with Koodo yet.  They are surprisingly clear and easy to hear.  I have only had one spot where I could not get service and that was down in a valley near the river.

Their coverage map is decent for a new company. They could use a bit more in BC and Ontario, but they are new and they have plans for expansion. They does cover 96% of our population though.

No Fees

When the bill came, it was nice to see that they were true to their promise.  I paid for nothing but my plan and features.  They suck up the costs of the System Access Fee, the 911 fees...all that crap.  But you still get the service for it all.  I like that.  A lot.

It's worth checking out if you are not happy with your current cell service.  So far, I haven't been so happy with my cell phone in years.

KOODO MOBILE

You can be the moon and still be jealous of the stars.

~Gary Allen~

Oh, the full moon always creates an interesting night for me.

It has been bloody hot here lately.  I'm talking 30-35C degrees the last few days.  And after a long and hot day yesterday, we decided to go down to the river to cool off. 

Of course, it was too hot to go in the daytime and by the time everyone was ready, it was after 9pm.  Josh and I grabbed the dogs and his mom and hopped in the car.  His dad got in the Mustang with Cory, and we followed Ryan and Jessica in the Jeep and headed down to the park in the dark.  When we got there, it was 10pm, so we had a good hour before the gates closed. 

The moon was huge, full and hanging in the sky that night.  I made a comment on the way to the river that something was going to happen.  It sure did.

Ryan drove his Jeep right down to the river and did a bit of driving around.  He wanted to go across and take a trail across the river.  So after he shined some light for us to walk back up to our cars, he took off.  Cory took off to go home and we followed shortly after. 

To get to the river, you take about a 5 minute drive down a long winding hill.  We got not far up when the car ahead of us started having flickering lights.  What's going on? The car stops and as we get closer we see it's the Mustang.  Cory gets out, slams his door and starts cursing his car.  It's dead. Again.

And Ryan with his tow rope is no where to be seen and none of us have cell phone service down there.  Well we can't leave it on this narrow little road in the middle of the hill, so we decided to turn it around, coast it down the hill and park it at the park entrance. We get it part way turned, taking up half the road when a truck comes racing up.  We manage to make sure they don't hit Cory's front end and they did stop.  A little drunk, but 4 big guys who helped us get that car turned in no time.  Cory tried to jump start it down the hill, but no go.  So he coasted down to the park.

Now the lady was getting ready to close the gate and told him he couldn't leave it outside or it was a $500 fine.  We managed to convince her to put it inside the gate and we'd be back the next day. 

It was a long night...that's for sure.

I want to introduce you to Cuil (that's pronounced "cool"). A new rival for Google.  A new way to look at searching the web.  If you haven't heard about this, it's about time you did.

First, lets take a look at the team behind Cuil.  The CEO and Co-Founder created Xift and worked for IBM.  The President/Co-founder worked for Google on their search index (TeraGoogle).  She was also the manager for GoogleBase and Google's ad-matching technology.  The VP of Engineering/Co-Founder also worked at Google on web ranking and spam detection.  There are defiantly some brains behind this operation.  The rest of the team is just as impressive.

Cuil believes that the Internet is huge and they want to create the solution on how to index the whole Internet and how to analyze its pages.  Did I mention they boast to have indexed more pages then Google already?

They have also adopted a Privacy Policy worthy of today's standards.  You'll have to take my word on that one, or take a look for yourself.

So let us go a bit deeper.  A Drilldown helps you explore your search a bit deeper.  Perhaps you are searching a new topic and are unsure about it, this will help you learn more.  See a word you are unfamiliar with? Roll over it...pop up definitions are a big part of Cuil. Tabs have been integrated into the page for better result categorizing and it will try and suggest things as you are typing in your search.  It's defiantly something new.

Now, don't expect to like it right away.  It is an odd set up.  It's different and can be hard to get used to.  I backed waaay off when I first heard about it, but the more research I do about the more I want to give it a chance.  Read the FAQ.

What does the name Cuil mean?

Tom Costello, our founder and CEO, comes from Ireland, a country with a rich mythology around the quest for wisdom. Cuil is the Gaelic word for both knowledge and hazel, and features prominently in ancient legend. One famous story tells of a salmon that ate nine hazelnuts that had fallen into the Fountain of Wisdom and thereby gained all the knowledge in the world. Whoever ate the salmon would acquire this knowledge.

A famous poet fished for many years on the River Boyne hoping to catch the Salmon of Knowledge. When he finally caught it, he gave it to his young apprentice Finn McCuil to prepare, warning him not to eat any. As Finn cooked the salmon he burnt his thumb and instinctively sucked it to ease the pain. And so it was Finn and not the poet who gained all the wisdom of the world. Finn went on to become one of the great heroes of Irish folklore. Any time he needed to know the answer to a question, he sucked his thumb.

As a child Tom poached salmon from the same spot on the Boyne where it is said the Salmon of Knowledge was caught.

http://www.cuil.com

Another trip to the doctor today has resulted in multiple more blood tests.  One very new and slightly scary one, of which I'm not going to share quite yet.  Once I see the results, we'll talk more about it.

I've always wondered why I was chosen to be the sickie.  I've been sick in some way for as long as I can remember, and no matter what I do, something else just arises that has to be taken care of. 

It defiantly stresses other people out too...Josh is always worrying about me and doesn't understand...same with the rest of my family. But you take it as it comes.  Or at least, that's what I try to do.

I don't have a lot to say because I have so much on my mind.  I'm not sure which things to express here and which not to. 

Josh and I took a day trip with his parents down to Jasper, to let them see the mountains before they head back to the island.  There are no words needed...and truly not even the pictures do Jasper justice.

He just turned 3 years old...and he must feel like a man now.

He's a tall, wide cat and makes our other cat, who is 6 years old, look like a kitten.  But as much as he likes to think he's the man, he's always been just a little sook.

Loves to stretch out on the leather or in your legs in bed and just purr.  Sure, he has to pee in the dirt in the summer.  Cause he's a man, you know! And sure he walks with a strut and woo'd the little black cat of the neighborhood.  But still a sook.

But now.  Well now he has reached his peak! Or at least he thinks so.

A couple days ago I woke up to a Chaos standing on my chest talking to me.  There were purrs and little meows and rubbing...I pet him and went back to sleep.  I figured he just needed some food or something and he was going to wait.  So an hour later, I got up and wandered out to the living room, where Chaos promptly woke up, stood up and began to make noises at me again.

Okay, okay, I said.  I went to his food dish.  But to my surprise, it wasn't empty! Inside was a dead mole. (or at least I believe it's a mole, looks a little different then a mouse.  Could be a big old mouse though too.)

Well now, imagine that! He kept on meowing, so I reached over and scratched his head.  He was so proud of himself.  He strutted and rubbed my hand.  I sat down and gave him some love and he fell right back asleep.  Must have been a long night!

Now forward on to last night.  Why am I up at 2am? What is with all the noise? Why is the dog whimpering?

*squeek squeek*

Ugh, dog is making his cage squeek. I wake again about 4am.

*whimper* *squeek* *SQUEEK* *thud*

Ok what the hell? I look up and Chaos is sitting near our closet, looking at a pile of dirty clothes.  Uh oh.  I quickly realize that the squeek is not the cage and is in face some sort of rodent lurking in our house.

Now I have the heebie jeebies.  It's in my clothes. In my bedroom. *shivers* I watch Chaos, hoping he would get him right away, but no luck. I poke Josh until he wakes up.  We proceed to watch Chaos for an hour. He chases it out of the room and into a seat cover that is on the floor outside of our room.  He likes this game.  The cover moves, he pounces.

Finally, some more squeeking ensues, and Chaos has the mouse.  Josh starts to laugh, but he won't let me look.  Chaos is throwing the mouse in the air, letting it fall and then chasing it again.  I guess it still has some kick in it.

Later on I look and watch him carry off the little mouse.  Wondering if he put it in the food dish, Josh gets up to look where he finds the mouse beside the bowl.  Chaos is eating.  And once he makes a whole in the food, he drops the mouse in it and comes back to us to let us know.

Now, the hunter is sleeping.  Josh has nicknamed him Killer.  He certainly has discovered something he likes.  Now if I could just find out where the damn mice are coming from....

This story doesn't get any easier to tell. Nor does it feel any better to talk about it.  But I tell it anyway to let everyone know what went on. It's a long one, I warn you now.

Friday, April 18th.  Josh and I decided to go take a look at a few cars after work. I told him about the Hyundai Tiburon so we took off for the dealership.  Coming out, we saw a used one in the Hansen Ford parking lot, beside a very cool looking WRX.  We stopped and looked and decided to come back Saturday for prices. 

Saturday, April 19th. This beautiful little Tiburon turns out to be an amazing deal.  $17,000 with only 24,000km on it, 2 years warranty left on it, fully inspected and just gorgeous.  WRX was pretty expensive since it was tricked out already.  We figure, do some paperwork and see what happens first.  A few hours later, I'm approved for the car and we go back to give it a test drive.

The car in the pictures here are the actual car that we drove. They are from the dealership's website.

The salesman says he'll stay and do the paperwork, so if we decide to take it, all we needed to do was sign the papers when we got back.  Sounded good to us.  We hopped in, started her up and backed out.  She purred I tell you.  The salesman recommended we go up the highway to get a good feel for the car, so that's what I did. 

We pulled out and headed up the highway. After the last set of lights at Costco, I started picking up speed.  It was so smooth, I couldn't even hear when to shift.  I was a bit slow since I was still getting used to the car, but as we neared the airport turn off I got into 5th gear and just got to 90km/hour. We were smiling, laughing and knew we were taking this car home.

Then, as we were about 10 feet away from the turnoff, a little RAV4 punched it and pulled out in front of us.  I barely had time to brake and all I remember is seeing the blue of the truck, then hearing Josh tell me to get the car off the road.  But he stayed conscious through it, so this is the story told by him:

He said I cut the wheel just before we hit him, trying to avoid him. Josh threw himself on me just before, both airbag blew, he got hit with both.  We went across the two lanes and into the center of the highway.  I hit my head on the steering wheel and blacked out for a bit.  The car went up the other side and across the two lanes of oncoming traffic.  The car was still running because I had my foot on the clutch still.  We were still in the road and he looked over to see a transport truck coming.  He said, "Babe, you have to get the car off the road."  I let go of the clutch, we rolled into the ditch and stalled. 

I started crying and I remember a woman getting in the car with me.  I tasted blood, my arm was swollen, my back hurt.  Josh jumped out, but almost collapsed when he found his leg wasn't working. 

The other driver was fine. He got out, came over, but went back to his truck when he that Josh was going to punch him.

The ambulance arrived and pulled me from the car in a neck brace and back board.  They made Josh get in the car and did the same for him.  We rode in the ambulance together and spent a few hours in the hospital.  It felt like a few minutes to me, but I wasn't very conscious. 

We were x-rayed in multiple places and nothing was found broken. Josh tore ligaments in his knee and was given crutches.  We were both released around 7pm and sent home, telling us we needed to come back when things were less swollen to get things reassessed.

Monday, April 21st. I'm back at the hospital and I find out that I have a fracture in my lower spine. They given me a shit load of painkillers and tell me to come back.  10 days off of work as well.  We are both getting worse it seems, but still alive.

The police told us that he was charged. 

Tuesday, April 22nd.  Today.  We are left hanging and told that the insurance companies will deal with each other.  Well where does that leave us?  So today we called a lawyer and that's where we are at right now.

There is more to say and more to talk about, but I'm a little lightheaded.  That took me about an hour and 16 minutes to write LOL

The cleaning of the basement has commenced! Jarret would like to move down there this weekend (that will be explained at a different time on a different blog post). 

Last night I took a bucket to the bathroom and Jar went to the living room to wash the walls.  I am happy to announce that the bathroom looks sparkling clean and everything has been disinfected....twice. 

Jarret got the mysterious brown goop off the walls and the living room and kitchen area actually look livable.  We are getting a carpet shampooer tonight to see what we can do with the carpet down there. This weekend we need to take the old bed to the dump and it will be ready to move things into.  It's actually exciting to see it not so gross.

While cleaning out the kitchen, I also found a capsule with cocaine in it.  Do I know it's cocaine? Not 100%, it would be something else.  But it was marked and in a pill capsule, just as I saw my friend get coke in once.  Needless to say, it reinforced our want to change the locks on the front door. 

But things are coming along well.

I am also happy to announce that I was offered a job today (which I accepted).  That is a huge stress off of me, let me tell you! It is reception for a sandblasting company.  Very quiet, not many people just dropping by.  Male dominated, only me and one other girl in the office, but I have no worries that I will be able to hold my own there ;)

Fáilte!

Instead of a history lesson on St. Patrick, I'm going to give you some information on something a little less known.  The leprechaun! Because everyone associates them with St. Patrick's Day and well...they just don't belong there!

Leprechaun comes from lobaircin, which means 'small-bodied fellow'.

These little 'fellows' were made to be cranky and tricky.  In Celtic folk tales, they were responsible for mending the shoes of the other fairies.  The belief come from the Celtic belief in fairies (which of course are tiny people with magical powers).  The Lobaircin used their sneaky and tricky ways to protect the treasure that they would hoard.

Now, Leprechauns have NOTHING to do with St. Patrick or today's celebration.  Their only connection is that the leprechaun is a symbol of good luck, for if you catch one, you can force him to give up his gold.  It just so happened, that in 1959, Walt Disney created a film that gave us a different view of this little old leprechaun.  He was a cheerful, friendly little man - and that is what the public associates him with still.

Near a misty stream in Ireland in the hollow of a tree
Live mystical, magical leprechauns
who are clever as can be
With their pointed ears, and turned up toes and little coats of green
The leprechauns busily make their shoes and try hard not to be seen.
Only those who really believe have seen these little elves
And if we are all believers
We can surely see for ourselves.
(Irish Blessing)

Saoilidh an duin’ air mhisg gum bi a h-uile duin’ air mhisg ach e fhèin!

Last night the tenants from downstairs moved out.  Finally.  If you ever decide to rent out part of your house, read this story with care and remember it always.

From a town a couple hours away, these guys came here to work.  For the money.  Like most people do.  They are young and eager and know that they can do hard labour for lots of cash.  The owner of the house knew the parents and said that they could live in the basement.  Sort of a favor to help them out. 

So they moved in.  Since it was a favor, no damage deposit was taken and they paid cash on a month-to-month basis.  No real rules, it was assumed that living in another person's house means that you respect them and the living area.  The two of them were great in the beginning. Then they asked if a friend could move in.  Sure, why not? It's a two bedroom place, but if they can make it work, so be it.

Three of them lived there.  And as circumstances changed, the landlord was no longer around much.  She visited monthly to collect rent.  Gave them leeway and extensions on rent and asked them to do things such as mow the lawn in return.  But the neighbours started to complain.  Parties were happening...it was beginning to get loud.  She spoke with them, but it only subsided for a time before it went back to being the same.

When Jar and I needed a place to live, this place was offered to us.  Live in the top part of the house so that we could keep an eye on the guys downstairs and look after the house.  Sounded like a plan.  When we got here everyone was surprised at what was discovered.

There was 4 of them living down there, sometimes 5.  They were partying on Wednesday nights.  Leaving garbage piled all over the yard. Not cleaning up after the dog.  A disaster.  The house smelt like weed and cigarettes and garbage.  Lovely.

However, they have moved now.  Everything is gone with the exception of a few things.  But what is left.....is terrible.

The carpet is stained with alcohol, dog business, puke and other foreign colors. Dishes are filling both sinks, dirty and stinking.  Some sort of brown, dripping stuff is on the walls.  Looks as if they were throwing things at it.  The bed is stained with what looks like blood or shit.  The other bedroom is where the dog lived and is full of dog stains.  It's gross.

I am pretty sure the carpet needs to be replaced.  And it will take a week to clean.  How can people treat other people's stuff like this?

Yes yes, it's been awhile.  But I really have had nothing to talk about lately....but here is a bit of an update as to what is going on around here.

The roommates? Yeah they are still here.  Hopefully not for long though. They said two weeks...that was almost 3 weeks ago.  *rolls eyes*  Mary is going to talk to them this week and see where things stand. 

Our truck...died.  It's in the shop right now. Something about the master cylinder for the brakes.  Luckily, for our birthdays, dad just gave us a cheque to pay for it all.

Yep, my birthday is in a couple weeks...YAY!

Let's see....Griffon is doing ok. He's not learning that much LOL But he starts obedience classes at the end of the month.

See what I mean? Nothing going on.  Nothing to talk about. I'm boring.

So here is a topic for you to ponder.  I bring this to you because tomorrow night I am going to a lecture about this subject, and I'm sure to have a post about all that I've heard.

The speaker I am going to see is Jim Moroney.  Moroney is the Executive Director of the Alberta Municipal Health and Safety Association.  But that is not what he will be talking about tomorrow night, so you can put your Health and Safety opinions away. 

Moroney is the director of the Alberta UFO Study Group and is going to be speaking on the UFO phenomenon in Alberta.  He's going to discuss his 20 years of research and his experiences. 

Do I have your attention now?

He's a very intelligent man and teaches at both U. of Calgary, U. of Alberta and NAIT.  He is a recognized speaker at UFO conferences in all of North American and has appeared on tv and in documentaries.  He says that his goal is to inform the public about the reality of this phenomenon. He apparently had his own experiences in 1989, which I hope to hear about at this lecture.

The website has documentation for different UFO sightings in Alberta and he does well to explain them when he can (and when he can not).

I can already hear a few of your thoughts, so let me clear one thing up.  This is a free lecture.  He travels and does this when he had downtime from his day job.  We are not paying to go to it.

Have I ever seen a UFO? That's not for you to know. I am a skeptic and although I believe that there has to be something else in the universe, I'm not convinced that they have visited us.  I am one of the first people to pass off things at satellites or shooting stars, and I don't think that lights that you capture on video is proof.  But something else?  Something more definable?  Maybe.  Maybe I've had that experience.  Maybe I'm crazy :P You will never know. 

Either way, I hope to bring some interesting thoughts to the table after tomorrow's speaker.

The situation of the house has progressed slightly....for the good? It should be, but it's not.

Mary come over and talked with the guys downstairs about a few things.  She let them know that they are to pay us the rent, clean up the yard and open some damn windows.  Not happening.

The yard...well...they had all weekend to clean it, but it wasn't done.  So we will see what happens during the next week and weekend.  We plan on having some people out for supper once we are settled and unpacked, and if it's not clean, I'm going to clean it.

Oh yes.  They don't want to know the bitching that will arises if I clean it! How f*ucking hard is it? We have a dog. I go out once a week and clean up after him.  That's part of the responsibility.  Not to mention I make our dog go out the back, where the neighbourhood can't see it all.