L'inconvénient, quand vous avez un combo date de naissance et nom de famille comme le mien, c'est que vous devez, à l'intérieur d'un intervalle très court, payer vos plaques et votre permis de conduire. Maintenant que le permis se paie à l'année (et assez cher, ma foi !), je n'ai même plus un an de pause.

Faut pas oublier que presque chaque année, je pars en voyage dans ladite période et je finis toujours par devoir payer tout ça juste AVANT de partir en voyage ou immédiatement APRÈS mon retour.

Ah, les difficultés de la vie.

Last night I stopped at the drugstore to buy Immodium, in case Mel or I happened to need it in Greece.

This brings me to the following question: what do you think is the single item that is most humiliating to hand the cashier in order to pay for it? Is it Immodium, condoms, pads/tampons, a pregnancy test, laxatives? Something else?

It seems it is not possible to issue a Bell calling card in less than 10 days. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

However, I was told my PIN would be available in 48 hours and I could get it by calling Customer Service. I'm still not sure whether or not this means I'll be able to make calls from Greece, but it seems I don't have a choice.

Other than that, my cell phone is acting up. Yes, the cell phone I barely ever use but was going to be quite helpful in Greece as my parents could use it to text me in case of an emergency. I bought a new battery to replace the one I've had for three years and is fading away, and somehow, this afternoon, my phone refused to let me make or receive calls, and wouldn't access some specific features - it just "rebooted". It didn't seem like the battery could be the problem, so I tested my SIM card in another phone, and another SIM card in my phone, and the results indicated the problem was my phone. I was going to pay the Rogers store a visit on my way home from work, but now the phone works fine, and, weirdly enough, the new battery I fully charged overnight needs charging again. I also noticed it has a sort of bump on it that's definitely not on my old battery, so I really don't know what's up...

Why does everything go wrong now?

Gee, is it the 21st century already?

As you may or may not know, I'm leaving for Greece in 10 days now. I'm therefore working on the last small details, such as a calling card. I usually don't call home when I'm away, I actually barely ever go online, but seeing as my dad is sick and will be getting the test results telling him what effect the chemo has had, I plan to make an exception this time.

So I began researching the calling-from-Greece issue. I opted for the Canada Direct service, which requires you to get a calling card free of charge and bills the calls you make directly on your account. So last night, I went online, read the Canada Direct website in its entirety (which isn't much) and ordered a Bell Canada calling card online.

Yes, I ordered a calling card online. It's sorta pathetic, but this is the 21st century, folks. Shopping online is the greatest invention since sliced bread - you get your merchandise at home, you don't have to make conversation with some representative/salesperson, you don't have to wait in line to get ahold of said representative/salesperson... it's just amazing. And when shipping's free, what more could you ask for?

And yes, I know, we all hate Bell. I do, anyways. Only problem is, the Canada Direct service only works with 6 (or is it 5?) company calling cards in Canada - and by "in Canada", I actually mean ACROSS Canada, so the only options in Québec are Bell and Telus. I was going to go with Telus, but as I've got my residential phone account with Bell already, I didn't see the point of creating an account with Telus, so yes, I chose the lowest low. (Sh)It happens.

After I got home from work, this evening, I checked my email. Bell had sent me a message to confirm my order. And what do you know, in this ever-evolving era of technology, guess what the delivery timeframe for my calling card is?

FOUR TO SIX WEEKS.
Seriously! Two months! For a calling card!
I created a Vegas photo album online, which I sent for processing Friday night and it was shipped today! I ordered a battery for my cell phone through ebay last week and I received this morning! Four to six weeks for a calling card, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU BELL PEOPLE???

If you're all like Raiontzukai, you're probably wondering "well, can't you just go to a Bell store and get the calling card?". The answer is, I don't know, probably. I just never in a hundred years expected there to be such a gap between online and in-store service.

So yeah. I emailed Bell again asking them my what-the-hell-I'm-leaving-in-10-days-you-losers question, but I probably will end up stopping by the store this week...