jus' flitting....a dabble

So ...the big news this week, was of course, the first stage acceptance into the Canadian Phd studies @ Trent. It goes now to a meeting of the two universities involved, and assuming Carleton doesn't take a dislike to my proposal or something, I'm in. Should have confirmation by the end of next week.

And then we'll be able to actually make plans & hopefully find a housing solution that works better for us... given all the hassle with TD Canada Trust, the possibility of selling our other house and paying off the line of credit, switching to another bank, and then buying a small place in Peterborough is looking very, very attractive - in spite of the depressed housing market right now.

Nothing new on TD Canada Trust.... they suck - and their complaints process is, at least so far, a joke.  When we spoke to the guy at TD Waterhouse last week, he assured us that a manager would contact us within 24 hours - we're still waiting. Additionally, I emailed their complaint department, and also that of their ombudsman - while I did get a response from the customer service department (we'll be in touch) - that was the end of it.

And the conversation I had with our own branch manager was absolutely a joke - I wound up hanging up on him after he persisted in using a very patronizing tone while telling me that Ross told him .... stuff that Ross never, ever told him - first, because it was absolutely counter to our intent, and second, I was THERE. Out & out lies.

In other banking related news, I managed to totally screw up an online bill payment... I was attempting to transfer $800 from my Royal Bank account to our TD Visa and - even though I had put the account number in correctly, when I edited the shortcuts for what I thought was the right one, I inadvertantly clicked on the wrong one and ended up paying it onto my mother's TD Visa instead (had it in there from years ago when I owed her $$ and was paying it directly to her card).

The people I talked to at both Royal Bank and TD Visa were far more helpful - and polite - than anyone we've dealt with at TD Canada Trust, thank goodness!!! But neither could actually FIX it for me easily - so Mom ended up doing it for me.

Ross has added online banking to his absent-minded professor shtick -  which started after the car accident when he had to tie my shoes and do up my coat and so on ... maybe when I get my doctorate I'll be able to tie my own shoes - or not.... blah blah blah.

The discussion about who should go to Victoria BC with me in June continues... Andrea wants to go .... Ross isn't sure that he doesn't even if not going doesn't mean having to trust me on my own.... so have done nothing about buying plane tickets or booking rooms or anything.... hope he makes a decision soon.

In the meantime, I need to make a decision about a topic to submit a proposal for - they're doing a daily Colloquium while we're there, for which 4 students each day will be selected to present a short paper on an aspect of digital editing. It is an opportunity that would be a line of my CV...so well worth at least submitting a proposal.

This weekend's main focus is to prepare for a seminar on Web 2.0 that I am to give on Tuesday. Part of preparing for that has been reading a book by Andrew Keen called the cult of the amateur. There is a review posted on my blog at flittingOnFiction and I would love to know what you think about his contention that Web 2.0 users - you, me & everyone else engaged in social networking on the net are comparable to Huxley's infinite monkeys typing on infinite typewriters who eventually might produce something of value (but clearly, Keen believes tis extremely unlikely).

Oh, and Scrooge had a good week ....being a total suck this weekend though... every time I looked at him last night he was draped over Ross.

 

He's a little big for a lapdog....but that doesn't stop him from trying.