Susie just called to tell me that our book is available tomorrow!  Just in time for Christmas!  Throw on your boots and coats and run out to get yourself a copy.  I would imagine it is available at your local bookseller and on line at various virtual book shops – so, log on, and buy one!  Buy five!  Buy twenty five!

To spread the word, I’ve been sending out a little card to our clients, friends, and family. I am pretty sure the books blog will be ready for January but keep checking as I know we’ll get some cool tidbits up there for you all to check out.

Oh, and if you need some kibbles and bits to get you interested in buying your copy, I am sure that I will be able to arrange for Susie and myself to sign yours.  Of course, you need to be in Vancouver for such a thing to happen.  How could anyone resist such deal?

We’re also doing a book launch in the next couple of weeks, so, keep watching for details and I will announce it once we get it organized.

Tags: bloggingfordummies, shane+birley, susie+gardner, book+launch, book

I was just checking my feeds (which I hadn’t done since the weekend) and I stumbled across Hessie’s post about her lack of Christmas spirit.  The thing I noted about it was I have been suffering through a similar dilemma.

My day job, Left Right Minds, is doing incredibly well.  We have a very cool client base, have a lot of interesting projects we’re building for next year, but we’re so busy that this holiday season I am suffering from too much of a good thing.  I have been having issues getting into the spirit of the holidays because we will barely have one.  Normally, we get a couple of slow weeks with a bit of time to visit friends and family and recharge.

This season…not so much.

Yet, it may be what we are doing this year.  Since we moved to Vancouver in 2001, we’ve been practicing the delicate art of “alternating” between families.  One year we visit Victoria with Regina the next.  Rinse and repeat. 

Some time this summer, we already knew we were booked up until the end of the year and we had to make a decision – would we have time to head off and enjoy it?  The answer?  We invited our families to come and visit us instead.  Initially, we believed they would turn us down.  But, as fate would have it, they agreed.  This year, they are coming to see us.  I am thrilled and it should be fun!

But, still, I can’t help but force myself into having some Christmas cheer.  Maybe with the families here, it will finally hit me.

Tags: humbug, christmas, christmas+blues, family, stress

This is a follow up to my CIBC complaint. I called yesterday to confirm that my payment to the silly credit card was made.  I spoke with a very nice man and he informed me the payment had been processed (it had arrived on Tuesday, less than 12 hours after having been told I was a loser).  I then asked how I could make a complaint about the lady from collections. 

He immediately said: “What was her name?”

I told him what I thought her name was.

“You are complaint number fifteen for me today.  This has been a problem for a couple of days and I apologize for your treatment.”

He explained that the individual has been removed from conducting further telephone work and the issue has been escalated to the marketing department (why, I don’t know).  In either case, I was exonerated from being a jerk.

One thing I did remember only today about the experience was I had mentioned to the lady on Monday that the payment had been mailed the previous Monday and I was a bit concerned that it may have been lost.  I then said to her that perhaps the Christmas rush was to blame but, in either situation, it had left our office and was on the way.  Her response to that:

“Why did you mail it?  You should pay electronically, anyway.”

I had forgotten that and it makes me a little pissed off just thinking about it.  At any rate, the nice man on Wednesday afternoon assured me the individual in question had already generated many complaints since Monday and had been removed.  He was incredibly nice and has restored some of my faith in CIBC.

Not all of it.  Just some.

Tags: cibc, sucks, cibc+sucks