Amazon deliveries

Cheryl has prime and orders anything I need from Amazon.  On Saturday, she ordered Lexie's Christmas gifts from us.  She knows what Lexie wants and I don't need to go to the store.  It's a win-win.  I love Amazon.  They advised us we would get next day delivery.

Delivery time, Sunday night between 6 PM and 10 PM.  No problem, we were watching the Grey cup and stay up late.  Cheryl got an email saying "missed delivery" at 8:30 PM.  I was upset as I figured the driver was too lazy to go to the buzzer and phone us to open the security gate.

It was on redelivery on Monday and arrived at 4 PM, nice lady delivery driver.

Yesterday very early, my neighbour who is first on the enter phone got a call asking him to open the gate for an Amazon delivery.  He told the driver to call the recipient.  It wasn't for me.  

At lunch, my cousin told us she got an Amazon delivery on Monday at 5:15 AM!!!  Her email said delivery between 5 AM and 8 AM.  She thought it was a typo!

So Amazon delivers seven days a week from 5 AM to 10 PM.  No wonder Canada Post is losing millions!

Megalomaniac - ???

I love learning new words.  I'd never heard this one so I looked it up:

What is a megalomaniac person?

A megalomaniac is a pathological egotist, that is, someone with a psychological disorder with symptoms like delusions of grandeur and an obsession with power. We also use the word megalomaniac more informally for people who behave as if they're convinced of their absolute power and greatness.

I've never known a person that fit that description.  Now, I think I do.  Hopefully that will be a trivia question on a future cruise!

Congratulations Christine Sinclair, Canada's super star!

 Christine Sinclair, Order of Canada and Order of BC

Hailing from Burnaby, B.C., Sinclair is one of Canada's most revered athletes and ended her international career last year as the world's top goal scorer with 190 goals.

She helped the women's national team win gold at the Tokyo Olympics, and bronze at both the 2016 Games in Rio and the 2012 Games in London.

Sinclair retired from professional soccer this year after playing her 11th season with the Portland Thorns of the National Women's Soccer League.

Goodbye X, Hello Bluesky

I was driving behind a Tesla and I saw a bumper sticker before the American election that said:

"I BOUGHT THIS CAR BEFORE I KNEW WHAT AN IDIOT ELON MUSK IS"

I've been on X (formerly Twitter) since 2007.  I was working full time at Ritchie Bros. and was in a meeting when they were talking about social media.  I had never heard of Twitter.  When the meeting was over I asked the university student I worked with what Twitter was about and she explained it.  I immediately signed on and have read it more than once a day, every day since.  I find the local news, traffic information, transit changes and Canadian politics interesting.  On November 6th, I unfollowed all the American political personalities and media outlets.  I find it has really changed since Elon took it over on 2022.  I don't like what's happened to it.  Time for a change.

I've started to follow Bluesky.  It's a social media company that says they are not controlled by a single company.

Here is an interesting article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/12/style/bluesky-users-election.html?smid=em-share

Santa Letters

Every year I volunteer for the Canada Post Santa Letter Writing Program.  It's a wonderful experience and I know the children love to get the letters.

Canada Post is on strike.  I have no idea when they will go back, but they are far apart.  Canada Post is losing huge amounts of money and the employees deserve a decent wage.  They can't compete with 7 day delivery companies.  It's a sad situation all around.

I would never cross a picket line.  Our stationery may be at the Cloverdale Post Office, but even if it is, we can't get letters that have been mailed.  We can pick up letters from the shopping centers and the Santa Parades, but we can't get them to the children.  😧

Let's hope this dispute gets resolved by bargaining and not by the Federal Government forcing them back with legislation.

Charitible donations

I've been giving to friends charities who do walks, runs and many other fund raisers for charitable organizations.  Lately, the junk mail doesn't stop.  I get mail from charities I've never given any money to.  How much do these charities spend on unwanted mail that includes gifts?  I've got many address labels, gloves, shopping bags and of course one charity that keeps sending me nickels.

How do I get off the lists of the charities that send me unwanted junk mail?  They all include something inside.  At first, I put "REFUSED" on the envelope and sending it back.  That didn't stop it.  Now I'm putting "DECEASED".

If you or your children are in a charity event, please don't ask me to contribute.  I have a charity that I know won't sell my name.  There other charities that if I give to, I will check before they get my cheque!

Last week in one mail delivery I received two packages from Heart and Stroke, same envelope, same address.  I'm in their database twice.  I can't remember the other charity I received address labels and a nickel from in the same mail.  You could see the nickel in the window!  

In Canada we can get on the 'DO NOT CALL' list.  Can we get a do not mail list? 

This is my latest package, it includes a Teddy Bear:

PLEASE MAKE THIS STOP!

News

After November 5th, US election night, I decided to stop watching so much news.  When we were on our cruise, we only got CNN, FOX NEWS and BBC NEWS.  I would put on CNN and they would say "save our democracy, Trump is going to take it away".  I would turn to Fox and they would say "Kamala a Fascist".  The news in the US couldn't be any wider apart.  Who is right?  Well, we will see in four years.

I haven’t watched FOX, MSNBC or CNN at all since the election, and I honestly feel so much better. If I want to catch up on the news, I avoid the 24-hour news networks and instead watch the evening news hour on CBC, Global or late night BBC for international news.  

I am feeling better and sleeping better.  

I haven't given up on social media, but I've stopped following a lot of people.  If I feel it's time to quit, I will.  I do like the "local" news.  Weather, Canadian politics, Traffic reports and local news.  I never tweet, I just read them.