Monthly Archives: February 2012

happiness is…

my friends and coworkers at icbc sent me off with everything i need to get my garden going.  i could not have asked for a better gift or a more fantastic group of people to work with.  thank you so very much!

my dog max and the garden tools from my coworkers at icbc

happiness is...

 

more bad business…annacis lock-up

what a drag it is selling and staging a home.  following our realtors recommendation we “staged” our home to make it more appealing to those without vision.  this necessitated storing items…a cost you should be wary of.  after looking around we found what we thought was the best rate in the neighbourhood of new westminster.  annacis lock-up was our choice and the people were great…if a little chatty.  the rates we’re reasonable and the facility very good.  renting space and having to add more space was not a problem.  ending the relationship was something else.  in the busy time of moving and so forth we missed the required deadline of 2 weeks notice and provided only 8 days notice.  this will cost us another months rental!  greed is the only motivation as we never found them short of space.  in fact they likely have several vacancies as i write.  i had recommended them to many friends and acquaintances if they should ever need storage…something i now regret.  we do not recommend annicis lock-up because of their usurious penalties and lack of common compassion.

bad business…bcaa

we’ve been customers with bcaa for about 20 years…though it matters little to them.  we purchased  a home and out of loyalty to them bought our home insurance through them.  when we sold, we expected to continue with them as we have always been treated well and fairly.  how times change!  our home sold quickly, well before our new home would be ready…the fees for insuring our stored possession, virtually everything we owned along with coverage of our few possession while living in our temporary accommodation at a hotel in vancouver were essentially usury.  we tried to figure out why but the agent had a poor command of english and did not offer any satisfactory explanation for the extremely high rate.  now that our house is nearly ready we asked for a change to our policy back to home coverage.  wow!  what an outrageous amount.  we found a policy almost $400 less with equal or better coverage.  when we cancelled they charged us an additional $180 for cancellation.  this even though we had told them we were in a transition period prior to signing on.  so much for their public goodwill persona. we do not recommend bcaa for home insurance.

retired!

…what an odd word that is.  it feels strange to say it and even stranger to understand all the implications associated with it.  going to work this morning was a bit surreal and bitter-sweet. i took my dog max along and am happy i did.  he was a great distraction for me and the folks in the office – he could not have been any better behaved or cuter!

transferred my work possession to sweet, sweet daphne, so emotionally attached to all of us and has enough tears for everyone. xxoo

i wanted the goodbye to be quick and was out of there by 10.  thanks for the hugs, best wishes and smiles.  i’ll miss work and the people for a while.  good luck to all and thanks.  cheers.  s

today was my second to last day at work….

today there was a celebration for my pending retirement, it was fabulous! the commentary was fun, we had a potluck that would have fed another 100 or so and the most eclectic mix of food…delicious. i was touched by the folks there and words spoken, it was far more enjoyable that i could have anticipated.