Friday, December 29, 2023

Thursday December 28, 2023 Banking Woes (Updated)

 

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Thursday December 28, 2023

Tuesday, I was up by 6am to watch the Canadians play Norway in the Junior Hockey Tournament from Sweden.  Canada's team is meshing well and they won easily.

I got emails about the gift from my daughter and the kids which should be very interesting once I get going with it.....  Storyworth!  Great idea!

Bob came by with a stupendous gift of Dr. Ho's Triple Action Back Belt because he says I am sore from bending over the computer all day...  This thing has so many bells and whistles that it would probably chop carrots if I asked....  


 Bob also gave Don an expensive style of seat cushion (donut) because of his tender tailbone.  Both of us are very appreciative of Bob's thoughtfulness.

I got a call from Brenda that they were having trouble getting the DVD player in the common room to work to show a Chevy Chase Xmas movie that evening...  The first thing I found was that the DVD player was not hooked up to anything...!!  I managed to get it hooked to the Tuner beside it and got sound, but no picture...  There was no way to access the rear of the TV which is stupidly built into a wall.  The Tuner had 4 HDMI cables going somewhere...., and I tried every possible combination with a fifth slot and still had no picture...  Movie night there was cancelled due to "Technical difficulties"...

Don came over and we watched a movie, and later I watched most of the original "Alamo" movie myself before crashing.

Yesterday, I was up late and watched the Canadian Juniors bomb Latvia.  Then Don and I went to Oliver Square shopping.  First we went by the Registry but the line-up was to the door so we reversed to Safeway for Don...  I checked M & M Foods for macaroon cake which they no longer carry.  The bacon-wrapped Filet Mignons were $52 for 6...!!!!  No sales today....

I did a quick shopping trip at Dollarama, picked up a few things for Cristina, where my credit card was refused again,... so I went stomping to the CIBC down the block.  The security person said I needed to get that fixed through a teller, so I waited in line for 20 stupid minutes only to be told that I needed to call the number on the card....  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

We came home and I offered Don some salad for supper but he insisted that I have 2 pieces of pizza which he will bring in 20 minutes.  50 minutes later, he brings monstrous pieces of pizza!  Bob stopped by and tried to eat as well, but couldn't.  The pizza had chicken and oddities on it and a spicy sauce.  I think that it backed up later on the 3 of us overnight.  Then Don and I watched a Gal Gadot movie that was quite entertaining but we missed a lot without subtitles....

This morning, I woke early and called the CIBC number on the credit card.  I actually got through fairly quickly and they admitted that they had put a "stop" on my credit card when I tried to pay for my Avianca airline tickets!  Geez!  What is the point of having a decent limit on the card if they don't allow a person to use it and they embarrass us in the process...  They unblocked the card and recommended that I make small purchases to start with in Colombia to avoid problems there.  I made the point that no alert was sent to me in any fashion about this, so I spent another 30 minutes being transferred to someone who supposedly could fix this....  Typically, the said they couldn't, that I had to do it myself through Online Banking....   Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I did a few paperwork preparations for the trip south rather that wait until the last minute.

I rode the Gio to Dollarama again because I had forgotten to get items for friends in Colombia.  I found something good for vet John who has promised again to pick me up, but forgot about the other....  The credit card was accepted.

On an impulse, I swung by the Registry again and there was zero line-up (praise the Lord) so I actually got to drop off the paperwork to correct my name and address for Alberta Health Care...

Around 4pm I checked my Online banking again and was shocked to see that the Investments I had cashed in for US Dollars were already in my account, so I left a message and emailed my contact at CIBC.  Now here again is where things get stupid again....  She claimed that I had to physically come into the branch, talk to a teller about the withdrawal, and the teller would tell me when that could happen....  or..... I could call the branch in Ontario to arrange it there....   Duhhhh????  Maybe I am too cynical to wonder why it has to be in person here, but could be done by phone there....?????????  More idiot misdirection.....

I made my salad and ate slowly, just to cool myself down.

So, the bank was open until 7pm so I returned at 6pm, and luckily there was no lineup....  I showed the teller the deposit in my account and that I wanted a substantial withdrawal quickly.  She said it may take 2 weeks and I lost it!!!!  I told her that was MY money and I was going to withdraw it before I left Jan 4, and I wanted to talk to the Manager immediately!!!  She went to the Manager and came back explaining that my contact had already explained it to the Manager and that my money should be available Jan 3.....  Not perfect, but liveable....  You all know that I do not suffer fools well at all....

From there I decided to hunt for the Duncan Hines Fudge Cake requested by Roger....  Safeway didn't have it, so I quicly searched online on my phone and it directed me to Loblaw's City Market downtown, which I had never before visited, so off I went..  It was right next to the skating rink in front of Rogers Place, home of our beloved Oilers, so I took some photos and made some calls...  City market had no Duncan Hines either...  So I went to Save-on Foods as well, where I struck out again....  I called my sister in Ontario and she pointed out that Duncan Hines is available on Amazon... go figure... and I let my buddy Roger know this, because there are many different cake mixes and the chances were that I would pick wrong...

Don came by to get my help to search for a specific massager that he has, but is damaged, and needs replacement.  We found it on eBay.

We watched the Oilers take out San Jose Sharks 5-0, so it was a productive day overall....

I hope you enjoy the pictures.  That was the day’s excitement.

Al

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My first time here

Bob and Doug McKenzie were uncommunicative