Tanya was amused at this story and so she thought I should share it with the rest of you.

This is the 2nd worst date I’ve had. (The first involves a complete lunatic and a car chase, and so I plan to film it someday.)

I meet a guy at an art show reception. We talk briefly and he asks if we could go out sometime. Sounds great to me. I think this was about 3 weeks after my being dumped by the last guy I was seeing. I need a boost, and to feel “dateable”.

So Jack and I arrange to meet at the Yaletown Brewery (down the street from where he lives - I was in East Van) on a Tuesday.

Monday night I get a peeved call. Jack: “Hey, what happened?”

Me: “What do you mean?”

Jack: :”I’ve been waiting at Yaletown Brewery for an hour.”

Me: “Uh, our date’s tomorrow”

Jack: “Oh.”

OK, minor bump. We reconfirm - tomorrow. Good.

At the Brewery the next night we chat a bit, going OK. We order drinks (1 each as I recall). Soon the waitress comes to say she has to cash out and could we pay for the drinks with her before we order dinner from the next server? Sure. He takes out some money and I say, “Thank You.”

Jack: “No worries - you’ll get the next round.”

Me: “No I won’t.”

Jack: “Why not?”

Me: “Cause it’s not sexy.”

Jack: “Oh. Well it should be sexy.”

Me: (Laughing) Yes, it should.

Sometime later, I excuse myself to go to the ladies room. I come back and we chat some more.

The new waitress arrives with a pizza.

Me: “Oh, wrong table”, I say, since we didn’t yet order.

Jack: “No, that’s for us. I ordered it.”

Me: “When?”

Jack: “When you were in the washroom.”

Me: “OK…” (Huh? Who does that?)

I look at the pizza - it’s a “Meat Lovers”.

Me: “Jack, I’m a vegetarian.”

Jack: “Oh well. More for me.”

Now of course, I could have ordered something after this myself, but somehow I was losing my appetite… Still my self-esteem was on the ground and I clearly needed to continue this date to get it lower. After “dinner” he asks me to come back to his apartment “to see his paintings”. Yes, I had heard this line before, but he assures me he’d be a good boy and so, like a moron, I go back to his place.

It wasn’t long before he makes his move and the kiss was fine, but that’s as far as I am prepared to go. Eventually he implies he had to get up early or some noise and he calls me a cab. The cab arrives, I get in, he makes no offer to pay for the ride. OK. Not charming.

Still, I was so glad I had had a date. Yeah - that’ll teach my ex! I’m out dating! In your face, man! (Except he wouldn’t know, but well, yeah, I’m cool…)

The next day, I wake up and think - nah, not going out with this guy again. Really not worth it. This ‘ll be an uncomfortable conversation when he calls, but whatever.

Only he doesn’t call . Not the next night, nor the one after it. Phew! Dodged a bullet there! After almost a week of not hearing from him, I’m even more certain that the non-interest is mutual and they’ll be no uncomfortable conversations. Ah - life is good.

About a week later, I get a voicemail:

Jack: “Hey, Monica! I had an awesome time with you last week. Just walking through the park, thought of you. Give me a call and we’ll go out again.”

As Jon Stewart would say, “Wha–at?”

Forget it. I don’t need to call him back. If it took this long for him to call it’s clearly not too important to him.

The next weekend, I get another voicemail:

Jack: “Hey, Monica! I left a message for you last week, didn’t hear back. Would like to see you again. Give me a call.”

Yuk. Now I have to do the uncomfortable thing. I call him back.

Jack: “Hello.”

Me: “Hi, Jack, it’s Monica.”

Jack: “Hey!”

Me: (Breath.) “I just wanted to call you back to tell you we won’t be going out again.”

Jack: “OK…. Why not?”

Me: (Pleasant, but majorly awkward:) “Do I really have to explain? It’s not going to be fun. Let’s just leave it at this and I wish you the best.”

Jack: “Well, I like you - and I’d like to know.”

Me: “OK…. ” I explain, as tactfully as possible, what I deem to be a lack of chivalrous behaviour. (Look, I have no problem being single, but when I’m with someone I want to feel that they value me, respect me and think I’m worth some effort, otherwise why bother? )

Jack: “Wow… Well, look, I’ve been out of the dating scene for a bit. I got some bad advice from my friends on how to do this & I’m sorry. Give me another chance.”

God this sucks. I feel bad now. I really don’t want to do this again, but I am feeling guilty…

Me: “Well…”

Jack: “Come on. Just come over to my place, I’ll made you a nice dinner, it’ll be fun.”

I don’t want to. I really, really don’t want to. But I feel really bad saying no. And so, again, like a moron. I agree.

When I get to his place he says he didn’t have a chance to make dinner - and would I mind going out? Not at all.

At Capone’s (down the street from his place) I become more aware of what I will later refer to as his douchbagery (again, thank you Jon Stewart)… he is pretty tacky. The waitress is wearing a Nicotine patch and when he asks about it, she looks very uncomfortable. Not picking up on this, he proceeds to ask her more questions “Yeah, it’s a big patch, makes it pretty obvious you need a fix, eh? How long since you quit?” etc.

Eventually the bill comes and he takes money out and actually points to it and says: “See? See? I’m paying for it.”

Yes, my friend, so am I…

I shall learn to be more assertive. But not quite yet. First some more punishment. He asks if I want to go to his place and watch a movie. “OK,” I respond “but I’m not ready to have sex, so it’s just a movie.” He agrees.

At his place, it isn’t long before he is trying to “give me a massage” which involves trying to take my top off. When I tell him, again, that I’m not ready. He jumps up and says: “FINE! Maybe we should just be friends then.”

No! No please, now I really want to sleep with you…!

“Great.” I say. Perfect.

He sighs. “I’ll just call you a cab.”

“OK. But I actually can’t afford a cab back to East Van right now. So if you’re not paying for the cab, I’ll just take the bus.”

“Well, I sure as hell am not paying for the cab!!!”

“Unbelievable!” I fly out the door.

As I wait, furiously for the elevator to get me out of there, he leans his head out of his apartment and yells down the hall:

“No hard feelings!”

No, none at all…

Monica’s personal blog can be found here! Always a fun read…

Do you have any crazy dating stories you want to share?

And… What are you looking forward to, this weekend?

My favourite treat these days is a date bar. Yep, you read that right. You’d think I had bathroom issues, or something, craving that. I don’t, trust me

I know… My choice is terribly exciting!

When you are craving a treat, what do you crave?

I’m not prepared to go into details at this point, but these last few weeks for me could be equated to a fast ride on a wooden roller coaster, for several reasons.

And as many of you know, I really don’t do well with extremes. Perhaps it’s a personality flaw. Perhaps not. Whatever the case may be, I recognize that for me, living with awareness is the best way to a healthy “me”.

Here’s a quote that I try to live by:

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.” - Henry Miller

So, I took some time out today to check-in, so to speak. I feel much better because of it. Really.

How was your day?

RSVP at: http://www.thirdtuesdayvancouver.com

DON’T MISS! JEFF YOUNG - A follow up to his first talk last winter — Jeff will be touching on the topics of trademarks, rights of privacy, and intellectual property law. Everyone really enjoyed his first talk, so we thought we’d ask him back to continue where he left off.

Jeff received his Bachelor of Law degree from UBC, where he also studied Commerce, before beginning his 18 year legal career which started in corporate and real estate law and ultimately focused on intellectual property and entertainment, particularly in film/TV and music. Jeff currently teaches Film Law and New Media Law in the School of Business / New Media Dept. at BCIT. Jeff is also a music composer, producer and supervisor with credits on numerous recordings including projects delivered to Warner, Universal, CBC, CTV, NBC, Global and the Knowledge Network.

This meetup will be held at Republic, at 7pm
958 Granville St,
Vancouver

See ya tonight!

For those that would like an overview later, or can’t make it tonight, Rebecca (Miss604) will once again, be liveblogging this event. Thanks Rebecca!

I’m totally exhausted (like you couldn’t tell from my previous posts) — I’ve got a bad cold, and it’s taking it’s toll. So, I’m about to crawl under the covers now.

But, I wanted to leave you with this, only because I was reminded of this very question, while Raul so kindly walked me home tonight from DIX (where Vern, Suzy and I enjoyed a relaxing dinner together).

Do you give more back to your friends, than you take? No, I’m not referring to being completely selfless… Simply, ask: are you giving back?

That’s all… I believe it’s good to check in with yourself every now and then. I was glad of the reminder.

So, I’ll leave you with something that I found extremely funny… Croudsourcing at it’s best, I think!

ps: I posted this draft from my iPhone I ♥ my new phone. I’ve missed the interface alot!

Good grief.

This has been one rollercoaster day.

Thankfully, I have a very understanding boss… (Thanks Shawn, really!)

I left work early (err, I was only there for about 2.5 hours) and went back to the Fido store because I was told they’d messed up. This time, I didn’t try to port my number over, but was told to simply do a new activation. Worked like a charm.

And, I made my first call before the iPhone was completely unwrapped in the car.

Because, well, I’m a geek that way!

I’m so damned tired now, but, I’m sitting here trying not to plant my face into the keyboard while I await the sync’ing process to finish. I have, um, a lot of music. I haven’t even *looked at the apps store yet!

So, Tanya’s a happy camper.

Now, to find the energy enough to head out with the gang for some patio action! (Maybe a beer will actually wake me up? — I know wishful thinking)

I’m exhausted, and finally at work. Note, it’s 1:30 in the afternoon. I should have been in the office by 9am this morning.

And, what don’t I have in my hot little hands? The iPhone.

What a flippen gong show. Seriously. iTunes globally went down, which isn’t the complete end of the world as we know it, but also both Rogers AND Fido’s systems are down, too. Um… Ya, can you say, NOT PREPARED?

I almost had the hardware walking out the door, but because I was porting the number over from Rogers, I was DENIED. Denied!!! The two systems weren’t playing nicely together. So…

I finally gave up.

And got my ass to work.

Let’s take stock:

– 1.5 hours sleep
– 12th in line at 4:30am
– absolutely zero communication from any of the Fido reps
– they wouldn’t even tell people if they had enough stock to provide to the 70-odd people waiting
– finally get a number putting a phone aside for me
– wait and wait and wait
– finally have my number called, only to be denied.

Man, if I wasn’t so damned tired I’d be angry. But, right now? I just want to crawl into a little ball and sleep for a few hours.

ps: on the plus side, I met some really great people in line! That’s something at least.

pps: I was also on the Bill Good show today on CKNW with John (aka retrocactus) — The lovely Rebecca was able to grab a portion of the audio for me… Thanks Rebecca!

ppps: Here’s the full hour — Scan to about 7:15 into the hour for the beginning of this segment.

Guess what?

I’m caving.

In a few short hours, I’ll be lining up very early with Tod to get the iPhone, afterall. I just couldn’t bear the thought of everyone else getting their hands on that sleek, cool, fun device before I did. Mine’s going to be the black 16 gig model… I was convinced tonight that that was the correct color for me!

So, to hell with it. I’m off to Fido… They’ve got better voice plans anyhow — Specifically earlier evenings (7pm) and per-second billing. Oh, and their CSR that I spoke with had at least some information to be helpful with. That’s more than what I can say about the Rogers experience I had, yesterday.

I hear there’s already a line up outside that store… I hope we’re going to be early enough to get one each!

UPDATE: 3:42am – Okay, I’m awake. OMG. Two hours sleep. I must be completely nuts. I’m leaving in a few minutes with my lawnchairs, and magazines in tow. Hope Tod likes “Chatelaine”

I’ve spoken with several CSRs in the past few days, and even called a couple of stores to confirm. Rogers has made it completely IMPOSSIBLE to purchase an iPhone if you have recently signed on with them, which is exactly what I did a little over 4 months ago.

The only way I could buy an iPhone at this point, is to cancel my contract, and go to Fido.

Um. How about… No.

Because, if I cancel and pay the ECF at Rogers, guess what? I have to WAIT 3 MONTHS to get another plan.

Or! Get this… I could have TWO plans! Riiight. Because I need two plans.

Gimme a break. No stupid phone is worth almost a thousand dollars. Not to mention the several thousands of dollars that Rogers will rip from my hands over the next three years. Sorry. I’m not buying into the hype.

Um. Okay. So, now what do I do??!

Unless you are living in a shack with no connectivity, you’ve undoubtedly heard that Rogers caved (for the most part) this morning. They are now offering a promotional data plan for $30… Until August 31st, anyhow. This plan isn’t unlimited, but it’s pretty close with a generous 6 gigs of data a month for that price.

Now, I ask myself… Why couldn’t Rogers just offer that in the first place? *sigh*

So, I have a decision to make — Do I pay the ECF (the ONLY way, it seems, to even get the phone as a current recent client without hardware upgrade options… how f’d up is that, huh?) and buy a new iPhone? Do I pay the ECF, and go to Bell or Telus because their smart phones are cheaper, and so are the monthly plans? Or, do I find a way to have a friend buy a second iPhone, and I just give them a bonus for doing so? (I’m not even sure if this is possible, although it is with AT&T)

Has this flip flop of the Canadian iPhone launch by Rogers changed your mind about buying an iPhone?

ps: The MID-WEEK Socializing game is still going on, below… Enjoy!

Hey guys! It’s that time of the week, again… Time to socialize on the fly! (And, I’ll have one of those shots in the photo, please!)

Here’s how it works: I’ll start with a question, and the first person answers my question, and then asks a different question for the next person in the same comment.

I’ll start!

Are you buying an iPhone on Friday?

I can’t stop yawning.

I think it has something to do with the two hours of sleep last night. How can you tell I’ve run out of 5-HTP?

Note to self: Don’t run out of 5-HTP, again. Dumbass.

Happy Independence Day to all my American friends! I hope you guys had a super duper awesome day off… I know I have, so far! (Well, at least once I got a headache this morning taken care of… Man, that wasn’t much fun. Thankfully, I’ve got great migraine drugs these days.)

I thought I’d share some silliness with you today! This, apparently, is basically me (according to Michael - Thanks Michael! Like, OMG! Sheesh.)

What are you looking forward to, this weekend? Looks like the weather in Vancouver is not going to be very nice. Doh!

I’ve been asked by a number of people to post the clip of the iPhone revolt that Global TV aired last night on their news hour.

Myself and three other Vancouverites (one of the guys on the clip is who maintains iphoneincanada.ca) were interviewed yesterday afternoon about our very vocal views on the data rates that Rogers will be charging for the iPhone when it comes out on July 11th.

And, as you all know already, I believe anything short of unlimited data for the iPhone is absolutely ridiculous. The iPhone is designed to be a connected device. With 3G speeds, and regular use of streaming video and push syncing, I guarantee the caps Rogers has will result in overages and huge bills for people using the phone as it should be.

I thought that the post below about Rogers would be my last one for a while, but, I just can’t get over my serious frustration with Rogers. I really, really do want to get the iPhone. But instead, unless they change their plans by next week, I’ll be heading over to Bell where I can get $10 unlimited data on their new Samsung Instinct. It’s a no-brainer.

I’m wondering if I should actually start v-blogging, after almost 11 years of blogging in the more conventional (if anything can be conventional when it’s only a few years old?) sense. I find typing my blog entries in, from anywhere, very easy to do when I have some spare minutes.

Video-blogging would take quite a bit more planning, but I guess the reward is two-fold: My visitors get to see the personality and the sentiment behind the post, and I can look back years later and long for my younger self (just kidding…)

So, I thought I’d ask you guys — Do you think it would add anything to this blog to have video posts from me on a regular basis?

And, for all those playing at home, and keeping with the topic of blogging…

Let’s see… If I do start again, it’ll be blog vs. 5 for me.

Guess where I am? At work! 99% of our clients are US-based, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to take the Canadian holiday off if there’s an American one right behind it, anyhow.

So, I’m taking Independence Day off, instead. I’d prefer a real long weekend, anyhow.

I hope all you Canadians are enjoying the current heat wave! Don’t get burnt…

I’m heading out in half an hour! (I started early this morning).

Are you doing anything special today? (or for you Americans, this weekend?)

I promise this will be my last post for a while on the whole Rogers fiasco!

I have decided to pay the ECF (early cancellation fee) of $500 and shop around for a new phone and plan with either Bell or Telus. Doing the math, I can easily recover the huge fee I’ve paid to get myself out of this contract (only 4 months into it) over the first year of a new contract with a reasonable plan with one of the other two providers, who will hopefully treat me better than Rogers has.

At this point, there’s little chance I’ll change my mind.

In fact, the only way I would is if Rogers reversed their position, and offered a reasonably-priced unlimited data plan. Obviously, I wouldn’t expect the EXACT same plan that AT&T is offering their clients, which is unlimited data for $30 (it was $20 for 2G!) but it would have to be close.

Knowing Rogers, it’ll be a cold day in hell before that happens.

So, I’m wondering… ARE YOU GOING TO BE BUYING AN IPHONE FROM ROGERS?

Work with me.

If it’s at all unclear, I’m unhappy (wow, that’s a euphemism!) with the Rogers Wireless plans, and the general care and attention they pay to their clients.

I mean, what other company, after months of knowing that they’ve scored the lucrative EXCLUSIVE contract with APPLE to sell their iPhone across Canada, and collect INSANE amounts of cash for the luxury of using said iPhone in our country — What other campany would leave their current clients in the lurch, and charge all clients such a ridiculous amount for the opportunity to use this one stupid electronic device.

Only Rogers, of course.

And, not only do they roll out the most ridiculous of rate plans, compared to practically any other first world country, but they leave their current clients scratching their heads wondering if they’ll be part of the spectacle that will be July 11th in Canada.

I, for one, will NOT be a part of the spectacle. Like it wasn’t obvious, already.

So, fellow Canadians, what can we do about this? For starters, stand up — At least online — And share your displeasure. It takes moments, and not a cent.

There’s much more we can do, but at least speaking out is a start…?

ps: Won’t it be awesome, when Rogers loses their stranglehold on the GSM market? The spectrum auction is almost over, and my insider sources tell me that Bell will soon be moving to the GSM band, as well. Rogers, you are about to lose a whole lot of clients. That’s the only reason why you are trying to make us sign 3 year contracts with an iPhone purchase when many of the other 21 countries will only hold their clients to 2 year contracts (not to mention AT&T, which will only be requiring a 2 year contract, on top of reasonable $30 unlimited data plans). Jerks.

UPDATE: Apparently the site I’ve linked to above has already hit the 10,000 mark. It even got CNN’s attention!

I’m going to shake off this anger for Rogers, and their stupid f’d up wireless data plans for the new iPhone, and look forward to an awesome weekend ahead!

What are you looking forward to, this fine, fine weekend? Me? I’ve got another action-packed one planned…

Tonight, it’s estrogen-bonding time — It’s going to be a smaller, but awesome group of girls tonight, sharing some chocolate martinis (of the non-spilly variety, of course) and some laughs… And depending on the mood, either a movie or some Pictionary. We’ll see!

To start the day tomorrow, I’m going to be getting in a ton of cardio with both a run first thing, and then a walk (at least partially) around the seawall with a friend. Tomorrow night, I’m getting into the Hawaiian BBQ spirit, and enjoying some good times with the Campoverde croud… It’s sure to be a blast!

Sunday morning, Mon and I are headed off for a walk and brunch… And then I have some housework to take care of. That evening, I’m hoping that Vern and gang will be in for Wall-E!

So… it’s going to be fun!!! YAY!

I hope your weekend is great, too!

Or, is that Robbers Wireless? The new Rogers plans for the iPhone were announced this morning.

Colour me shocked. Shocked, I say! (I’m obviously being facetious… I’m not at all surprised we’re being ‘bent over’ yet again)

* $60/month -150 anytime minutes, 75 outgoing SMS, + 400 MB data
* $75/month - 300 anytime minutes, 100 outgoing SMS, + 750 MB data
* $100/month - 600 anytime minutes, 200 outgoing SMS, + 1 GB data
* $115/month - 800 anytime minutes, 300 outgoing SMS, + 2 GB data

Uh. Ya.

*shaking my head*

Were you shocked that, once again, Rogers is taking us Canadians for a ride? Unbelievable.