Iconophiliac

So I was in a "small" car accident today. My roommate who drives a
Civic was driving through a school zone, saw a black Range Rover up
ahead, braked, and there should have been enough room BUT it was
raining and we slid right into the back end of the Rover.

So her car is completely totalled, her civic kinda went underneath the
other car (her front bumper was fine) but her hood was all smashed and
her radiator and air conditioning units were wrecked, and her battery
and engine were pushed way back. And the Rover? A scratch. No
dents, nothing (possibly a bit of denting on the muffler?). There
might be more we couldn't see but that car looked pristine, and they
drove it away.

I hate car accidents!

It was my birthday yesterday and I turned 21. I guess if I were
American that age would actually mean something, haha.

It was a good birthday on Friday my roommates threw me a party and I
trust it went well - to be perfectly honest I can't remember about
half of it...which has NEVER happened to me before .. I mustve drank
quite a bit! haha

So I was pretty much out of commission the rest of the weekend but it
was really nice because my boyfriend drove 5 hours to be with me this
weekend which means a lot of free massages!


Oh yeah, turns out I was feeling really really ridiculously tired all
the time (did I mention that to anyone on here?) due to an extremely
low level of vitamin B12, so now I have to get shots every week for a
while :(

About me calling the police and ambulance to help that friend who
supposedly overdosed?
Yeah he just came on msn tonight.

Oh yeah, I yelled at him. He only tried to use me to get back with
his ex (I think?). He also started claiming the police almost beat
him to death. Then again he was obviously high on something, so who
knows.

He is also claiming he has a good paying management job now.
Honestly, I don't know if any of it is true and I don't even care
anymore. He's blocked and deleted. I won't talk to him again.

So for anyone who was wondering.. there's the end.

Yes, after a few days of being offline me and my bf finally managed to
get Sympatico into gear and give us our internet back again!

Sympatico has been an absolute NIGHTMARE. Basically what happened was
they changed my bf's bill without telling him, so basically they
weren't getting payment for the internet since December. (He pays all
of his bills on time). They didn't even send us a disconnection
message or anything - just shut us off. I'm glad that's over!

I really hope this whole concept goes through.

So I come online a fairly-distant-but-fairly-close friend of mine
comes on and tells me he went into rehab and kicked his cocaine and
alcohol habits. Good.

However, now he's homeless. He said he couldn't deal with it anymore
and he told me he ODed on antidepressants. He then went offline to
apparently call his mother. He came back on later, said he couldn't
call her and started giving me instructions.
Including the phone numbers of his ex (who kicked him out of the
house) and his parents.

I told him to keep typing, tell me what he took, where he was etc.
I'm not sure if the address he gave me was real or not (in a different
city btw), but it got to the point where he was barely legible and
complaining about being woozy and foaming at the mouth. I called for
an ambulance and am now just waiting patiently.

Will they call me back? Or will I never know what happens? What do I
do?!

My new job, selling private school uniforms so far is great. We are
just entering the busy season now, and we get a large shipment of
stock every day so there is lots to be done. These are the jobs I
most enjoy -ones where you aren't idle, but are constantly working.

My manager is great, and so far it's just the two of us in the store
until more people are hired. (Hopefully soon because at times we have
been getting overly busy).

There is one thing that is different from this place and the other
places I've worked at. Our location provides uniforms for 5 schools.
Each school has an exclusive contract with us. Parents have no choice
but to buy the uniforms from us, and they have to have uniforms.

Yesterday a woman brought in a skirt that was 2 years old, and claimed
it was only 8 months old. (whether or not she was trying to scam us
or just genuinely didn't know, I am unsure of). This skirt was a
little damaged, nothing big, just a bit of fraying around the zipper
and the hem. This woman demanded we either give her a new one or fix
it by tomorrow (she needed it by then).

Needless to say, my manager totally stood up for herself and the
store. She did argue with the customer and eventually got her point
across (the skirt was very obviously at least 2 years old for several
reasons). The customer really still couldn't believe she was at fault
but we would not give in and give her a new skirt (skirts are at least
like $80).

Any other place I've worked at will usually give in to a customer's
demands. Several people on this site say they will not fight with a
customer. Well, we fought, and we won.

I have a new found respect for Sam's Club. I have never been shopping
at a Sam's Club, even never seen one before. However, in another
letter thread, the way they had the guts to stand up to a customer for
THEIR policy that they created. They would not budge and I really
commend them for that.

I have always had respect for people who have an opinion and stick
with it, no matter what (as long as they have a good reason for having
this opinion... racists need not apply). The other day I was reading
a wikipedia article about Rage Against the Machine and they did some
really unorthodox things for a good cause and that really just made me
like them more.

So my focus is thus: if you can find me an instance of a company
standing up for themselves like Sam's Club post is there and I will
make a conscious effort to give them my business! (If they are up
here in Canada :S)

Due to "popular" request, I have opened up a couple new groups across
the web dedicated to us - the lovely (and ruggedly handsome) posters
on PFB. They should be public access so click in and enjoy!

Hi5 -
http://www.hi5.com/friend/group/displayGroupFront.do?groupId=1049334

Friendster -
http://www.friendster.com/group/tabmain.php?statpos=tablayout&gid=8038
3

anyway those are just for starters. So...tired...

This post is to tell you about a little swell website I came across a
while ago called www.43things.com.

It's a site where you sign up your own little personal profile, and
you can add up to 43 new goals. They can literally be anything. You
can join groups of people who have the same goal as you and people who
have completed your goal and want to help. It's great for getting
support and asking any questions if you need it.

If one of your goals is to become more goal-oriented I highly
recommend this site!

If you want to look up all my crazy goals go here:
http://www.43things.com/person/jadedragn




*****Also, tomorrow is my first day at my new job! wish me luck!

http://planetfeedback.typepad.com/planetfeedback_radio/


Now you all can laugh at my young-sounding, Canadian voice :)

I really REALLY want to re-do my myspace profile. I HATE it more and
more! But, as creative as I am, I am having trouble finding ideas for
a theme that will not totally shock anyone who stumbles upon it.

This thread is open to suggestions startinggggg NOW!

So the interview today went very well. I got a job... selling
children's school uniforms of all things! lol!

The computer store one went well too but the interviewer wanted me to
wait 2 weeks to find an answer.

Thanks to everyone for your support and advice! I really appreciate
it.

I start next week!

I have two job interviews this week, one tomorrow for a computer store
and one thursday for a company that sells school uniforms. I am so
nervous! Wish me luck (p.s. although I've donr a bunch of them in the
past, have any tips for me?)

http://www.planetfeedback.com/index.php?level2=blog_viewpost&topic_id=
286536&reply_id=22552#anchor22552


See, this guy Randy is okay by me. He wrote a good letter, has valid
complaints. When I questioned them, he responding in a
well-thought-out manner and (here's the important part:) *didn't take
my posts as a personal attack*! Which is good, because they weren't
meant to be an attack!

More letter posters should be like this guy!

Good luck Randy!!!

www.dubyaspeak.com

Here are the top 10 on that site currently:

TOP 10 AS SELECTED BY DUBYASPEAK VIEWERS
(Based on the percentage support for quotes voted on in the "Favorite
DubyaSpeak" polls)

10. I'm not the expert on how the Iraqi people think, because I live
in America, where it's nice and safe and secure.

9. I want to be the peace president.

8. My most important job is to defend the homeland, to protect
innocent Americans from the deaths of the killers.

7. First thing that Medicare has done is it says that if you're --
when you join Medicare, you get preventative screenings. Put in Texas
terms, in order to solve something, you got to diagnose it.

6. Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better.

5. A political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the
facts is not a person you want as your Commander-in-Chief.

4. I want to send the signal to our enemy that you have aroused a
compassionate and decent and mighty nation, and we're going to hunt
you down.

3. I want to thank the President and the CEO of Constellation Energy,
Mayo Shattuck. That's a pretty cool first name, isn't it, Mayo. Pass
the Mayo.

2. Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They
never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people,
and neither do we.

1. This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran
is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the
table.



One of my favourites that used to be on this list but isn't anymore is
when he said "sometimes when I sleep at night, I think of
'hop-on-pop'".



http://www.dubyaspeak.com/best.phtml
There's another top 10 list there but I didn't want to make my post
too big.

If anyone has myspace and I haven't added you yet, please include your
URL here. If not... sign up :)

Is there a point to writing a letter detailing a poor experience, and
then signing it off as "there is nothing you can do, you've lost my
business"? What is the point of this?!

They've already apparently lost you as a customer, why would they
change anything now? If you really want something changed, provide a
good example instead of just saying "it's too late"! If you are only
going to write that, why bother writing a letter?



Also, I mentioned this in a thread but I'm getting a little tired of
people not proof-reading these letters. Either the form to fill out a
letter needs to be changed, or people really need to pay more
attention as I'm seeing a lot of "free product" sentence fragments at
the bottom of the letter (how is the company supposed to know what
that is about? Plus, why should they care if you can't even write a
literate letter?) also "free product" fragments after a signature!
Arg!

My teeth are getting itchy...

I know a lot of you will frown on the idea of me making a new
dicussion just devoted to her blog, but I didn't want the other
comments getting buried and you have to admit it is ridiculous

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&frien
dID=77453380


Look at her newest blog, what/who is she talking about?

There's less activity on this site?

Maybe it's just my blog, now the trolls are gone it seems so empty
*tear* ;)

I suppose you all expect me to post something wonderful about my
mother because it's "Mother's Day". Well, I'm not. Why?

I believe in telling people how I feel about them any day of the year,
and not reserving one day out of the year to say things like this. I
don't celebrate Valentine's Day, Mother's Day or Father's Day, they
seem like Hallmark holidays to me. Like I'm going to celebrate
something because a large corporation tells me to, right.

I buy my parents and partner gifts all the time, I tell them I love
them or how much I appreciate them often enough, and the idea behind
reserving one special day out of the year to do that seems a little
superficial to me. It also adds to the perception some people feel
forced into celebrating these days because of weight offered by their
peers and the media. The stores make a killing on these days.

It may sound heartless but I don't feel it is because I still do
everything people do on these days, just deliberately NOT on those
days.

I'm not putting anyone down for their celebration of these days, it's
your decision. You know me, there's an "Icon" in every bunch.

Just ti WAR everyone. I merchandised the whole week for home hardare,
and my boss is the type to buy his employees drinks. Now keep in mind
one drink is usually enough to lastn me... and he bougt me like 5.


But whatever, I had such anice week working for my old boss it was so
nice. And I'm giving an "ex" a piece of my mind right now for
treating me so badly (a lot of my friends would be patting me on the
back right now!)

I decided to make my myspace blog into a goals blog because i decided
goals are really important and I need something to keep me motivated
through the summer.

If people on here want to see my myspace profile, ill either ask
Brenny to post it or I will!

Just thougbt I'd warnt you all :D

ttyl

So I am EXHAUSTED lately. I am visting my family back home and my old
manager at the hardware store decided he would like me to work for the
week. So I've been merchandising a lot the past few days, which is
okay because it is something I enjoy doing.

It's amazing how cluttered the shelves are before I dig into them.
They are giving me all the problem areas, as when they see me working
they exclaim "Wow! You are doing a great job! I've tried to re-do
this section over and over again and just get frustrated!". Awesome.


However, working alone at this gives me a LOT of time for my mind to
wander (I don't have to think very hard about how to re-arrange
things, after over 2 years it's almost second-nature), just like old
times.

So for the nextfew days my posts here will be probably dis-jointed
ramblings of various sorts.

ANYWAY, today I was thinking back to when me and my currect bf first
got together. I was wondering if we would/should stay together (so
far so good), and a friend of mine said "if you think you can't live
without him, then you are meant to be".

I thought about this as I sorted through the grungy loft to pick out
the right size hook (a task in and of itself), and then I thought...
waitaminute.

I can picture myself without him... but I choose to be with him....
doesn't that say something more?! I don't feel imprisoned to him but
am with him 100% out of my own free will!

Oh god I should be the last person to talk about this subject...
anyway, I don't really like to toss the word "love" about...but....
thoughts?

I'm so happy I got straight A's this semester, including an A+ in my
photography class! Hooray!

Just a few thoughts:

I love stirring up conversation and controversy. I really do. I have
a lot of views that people agree with and a lot of views people
disagree with.

This view is something I've found people my age agree with but those
older than me disagree with:

I think that certain aspects of society are too forgiving, while
others are not forgiving enough. It's a sort of hypocrisy.

I dislike the form customer service has taken recently. "The customer
is always right". People expect something for nothing, and people try
and cheat as much as they possibly can now in order to exploit certain
policies and inevitably they get upset when their efforts are
thwarted.

While it sells, I do believe this gives people a false sense of
entitlement which produces a lot of letters you will find on this
site.

For example, while people make mistakes, some people are just
careless. A plumber won't bother to measure the length of pipe he
needs and of course buys the wrong size. And again, and again and
again. But the store is so kind they will keep returning the wrong
sizes, even though it means they will lose money, just to keep his
business. (This actually happened when I was working once).

If return policies were more strict, maybe he would have actually
MEASURED and gotten the correct size the first time.

I can't decide if I want to use my future powers for good or for evil.
Let's just say I'm a gray-hatter at heart...

dragonflygrrl, don't post on my blog anymore

You may or may not like eBaumsworld.com (I like some of it, dislike
some of it), but this Friday a really interesting clip was posted. It
shows the before and after pictures of meth users.

It really touched me and I don't even know anyone who uses meth!

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/faces-of-meth.html


Thoughts?

A humble suggestion from an equally humble user:

We are having a lot of problems with certain posters, and there is
one
common complaint among posts: lack of proof of education in subject
matter and coherency.

So here's the solution: make all users pass an IQ test before posting
rights are given. That way we can keep the "smart" (in the best
determination society currently has to offer) on and the
"not-so-smart" people off.

I would suggest such a test to be of likeness of the one administered
by Mensa, but that would just be cold-hearted.

Okay check out the "Now, Some Thoughts For Urban Box Office Network"
thread.

I am Canadian and it's somewhat of a shock to me that people are
talking like this. I'm not implying anyone on here is racist.

I have been taught the whole melting pot versus mosaic thing many
times in school. Honestly, if someone up here were protesting and
waving a flag from another country I really don't think we up here
would really care, I think more of us would be "oh good, someone is
exercising their right to protest".

I like to think up here, we Canadians really pride ourselves on being
multi-cultural. I know there are obviously some Canadians who are
racist, but you get some in every bunch.

I guess the Quebec thing is kinda the same for us, only it's the
Quebecois who think we are "stealing" their identity and want to
separate and have for decades.

Also, I don't think anyone up here would care if our national anthem
were translated to spanish, italian, japanese, swahili....

We really are different.