Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

H2O Steam Mop

I’m not one to give reviews of cleaning utensils. Normally the subject couldn’t bore me more. But whoa boy! Did I find a gadget I could learn to love.

You may have seen the ads on TV of a triangular shaped mop that emits steam. The claims are that you don’t have to use harsh chemicals and it will clean up really tough messes without much effort. Normally I watch these TV ads for a little while, amused by how incompetent the “don’t do this” people are. Usually they are tearing into their own skin, breaking off well manicured fingernails, or squirting poison in their eyes. All of these things solved by whatever product is being advertised. But dear readers, I swear, this one is different!

I bought an H2o mop today at Wal-Mart. It was on sale for $69.99. I almost bought a different brand which had more attachments but it was more than double the price and since I wasn’t sure if I would like it, I opted for the cheaper item. I reasoned that if it really blew me away, I could step up to a better model later.

I got this thing home today and the first thing I noticed when I got it out of the box was that it was made with real steel. Remember steel? It’s that shiny metal stuff that they used to make things like vacuum cleaner hoses out of. It required a couple of screws to put together but the instructions were easy enough to follow; even for a manual dolt such as myself.

I plugged it in and whoo-hoo! It was removing stains from my floor that had been there for months. Washing after washing, some stains just won’t take a hint and scram. They had no choice with this beauty. Away you go! Take that and never come back again! I’m flummoxed! Flabbergasted! Gob-smacked! It even took some greasy stains off my kitchen wall that wouldn’t come off with the most vigorous scrubbing and the most caustic cleaning liquid. A while back I poured some toxic waste on those stains. You know the kind. The bottle has a picture of a skeleton hand immersed in liquid, except this one had a symbol of a nuclear blast mushroom cloud. Still, the stains remained.

I’m convinced now that steam is the most awesome and dangerous cleaning tool known to man. With this new-found respect, I’m going to keep my face far away from the electric kettle when she blows.

There, I said it! Doesn’t that feel better?

Say No To Rogers

Today I have decided that I am going to bring back my 2 Rogers cell phones. My beloved Nokia E71, and a HTC Dream, which are pretty good phones, and which have provided us with hours and hours of enjoyment. But the problem is that the monthly bill which was negotiated between myself and one of the oh-so-chirpy sales representatives has never arrived showing the correct amount. Not once! Instead, it is $50-60 more than the agreed upon price. Of course, when you try to read the details, you pretty much need a bevy of lawyers beside you to figure out what each and every charge is. But, every month we dutifully call Rogers and inform them that there is another error on their bill. It is an exhausting process!

First you must navigate the automated system to try and get a person. And then that person always tells you that this time you have someone who will solve your problem. The bill is adjusted, I pay the bill, and then the next month the routine begins all over again. I’m so weary! And I don’t really care what they think they can do to me if I throw both phones on their sales desk and walk away. There is a saying that fits here “you can’t get blood out of a stone”. Do your best. Hurt my credit rating. I still have plenty of good, honest, cheerful and co-operative companies who are willing to take my money so their threats are really very meaningless. I suppose if I was trying to buy a home, it would matter, but I already have one of those.

Have you ever been late paying a Rogers bill? I’ll sheepishly admit that I am late frequently enough. But as I have argued over the phone with the representatives, why don’t you take a look at my 20 year record with your company and come up with one single example where I didn’t pay? You won’t find one. I am self employed. I get paid when I get paid. I don’t have the luxury of a weekly, or bi-monthly paycheck. And sometimes, I am searching the couch cushions for spare change, while other times it seems I am months ahead in my payments. That’s the life I live and Rogers, if they keep correct records should know this about me by now.  But lord forgive me if I’m 31 days late on a payment. I can be 20 days, 25 days, but 31 days is the magic number. Then the harassing calls begin. And they will boldly tell you that until you give them a date of payment, the calls will continue. Of course, I mess with them. Okay, I will pay a week from Tuesday. ;) Borrowing from the old Wimpey character of the Popeye cartoon series. The phone operator is always too young to get that reference though and marks it down as the gospel truth.

So wish me luck people. This ought to be a battle that will leave someone in tears. Perhaps I’ll let you know which one of us it was. ;)

UPDATE: January 21 2010

I spent about an hour on the phone with a nice young lady, then another nice young man, and then the “manager” a guy who I found out to be about the age of 26 (which he said was “irrelevant” to which I replied “well, not when you are talking about a 20 year loyalty to a company it isn’t”. After a lot of conversation, during most of which I insisted that they were going to take these phones back and waive the $800 (yes, you read that right) penalty, he said he could not do that because he was offering me a solution. His solution was to change my plan again. I asked for it in writing. It was supposed to arrive by email today. Surprise! It did not. I have to admit that this manager was unflinching even when I informed him that both phones would find their way into a crevice of his that is meant only for outgoing, not incoming material.

I await that email. Anyone want to make a wager on whether or not this email will arrive? More to come….

UPDATE: June 27 2010

This was an interesting and very long interaction. The reason this update is so late is that it took months of back and forth, checking each monthly bill for problems and calling Rogers when there was. (there always was!) In the end, I happened to be reading an article in one of the major newspapers which mentioned that Rogers had an ombudsman. Well, could have fooled me. I could find no mention of it on their website. I found their contact info and within a few hours, my problems with Rogers were on their way to being solved. Although my next month’s bill was still wrong, I re-contacted the ombudsman and the woman who was assigned to my case promised to have the problem sorted out. Of course I was skeptical and figured sooner or later I’d be taking my beloved phone back but surprise, surprise! They came through and fixed the billing issues.

For those of you out there who – like me – are at times late paying their Rogers bill and are subject to their annoying collection calls. I found a solution to that too. It was quite by accident of course but one day I answered my phone and of course it was Rogers. I think I was a day late, but I had already paid the bill by internet so their payment hadn’t been recorded yet. It takes five business days when you pay online. Anyhow, the person asked for “Darlene” so I said just a minute and handed the phone to my husband. In a high voice, doing his best to mimic a woman (and failing miserably), he said “hello“. The Rogers rep began talking but my husband interrupted him and said “I don’t know any Roger“. The rep knew she was had and said thank you, I will call another time. Funny and effective. ;)

Typically Quentin Tarantino. Graphic violence, engaging dialogue. Great performances throughout notably by some top notch French and German actors who are not recognizable on this side of the ocean. Christoph Waltz leaves you feeling unsettled as the Jew Hunter; an extremely unlikeable villian. You may recognize B.J. Novak from the Office (American Version) as a Jewish-American soldier with an axe to grind and some scalps to collect. Brad Pitt is hilarious as the American known throughout Germany as “Aldo The Apache” with the heavy accent and the cowboy rhetoric. This movie had me looking away from the screen about 30% of the time, but I did manage to self-censor the violence without losing the plot. It’s difficult to discuss this movie without including spoilers so all I will say is that this is an American fantasy of how Hitler would have been handled if they could go back and re-write the events of World War II. Unfortunately history recalls the incidents differently, but this version is much more satisfying and extremely entertaining. See the reviews and descriptions here at IMDB – This movie gets an astounding 8.5 star rating by viewers.

• Movie Information for Galaxy Theatre in Collingwood, ON

  http://www.cineplex.com/Theatres/TheatreDetails/655D0AE8/Galaxy_Collingwood.aspx

• Official Movie Trailer
  Inglourious Basterds