I am not sure if any of you are following the Pickton trial, but I just discovered that there are two former sex trade workers following the trial. I can't imagine what it must be like for them.

http://www.orato.com Pickton Trial

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share with you some disappointing news I heard about the Breast Cancer Society of Canada. According to a recent article in the cbc.ca, the organization refused a donation from the Exotic Dancers for Cancer (which was formed by exotic dancers in Vancouver in memory of a dancer who lost her life to breast cancer). I find this to be deplorable. Check out the article here:

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/02/08/bc-dancers-cancer.html?ref=rss

What follows is a letter that I sent to the Executive Director of the Breast Cancer Society of Canada, Rany Xanthopoulo. If you feel as strongly about this as I do, I encourage you to question this decision as I did.

Jeannine :)

Dear Ms Xanthopoulo,

I was very disappointed and disheartened to read that the Breast Cancer Society of Canada refused a donation from the Exotic Dancers for Cancer. I cannot imagine why an organization such as yours would ever further stigmatize a group of women who face daily stigma and discrimination from our society.

I am outraged as a general citizen, as a worker in public health and most importantly, as a woman. Aren't we supposed to be working to change society's stereotypes and views about the sex trade and exotic dancing? Exotic Dancers for Cancer formed in memory of a woman who died of breast cancer, and now they are being denied the opportunity to support that cause. That is deplorable and completely unacceptable.

If you can explain to me the justification for a decision that to me screams of judgement and discrimination, I welcome your response.

Jeannine McNeil
Halifax, NS

p.s. I am sending a copy of this letter to all my friends, colleagues and will take any and every opportunity to post it on public blogs.

Today is Toque Tuesday and there are people all over the city selling hats and scarves. Its a national campaign that happens once a year to raise awareness about homelessness in Canada.

I just bought one of each (I buy them every year) and this is the first time I realized all of their merchandise is made in Canada. Bonus!

For more info on this campaign or to order merchandise online, check out http://www.raisingtheroof.org/tp-toque-index.cfm

Okay, I am watching the halftime show and I have to say, Prince's two back up dancers are horrible! They are dressed in black- and honestly, their dancing is brutal. They are not doing any moves that would indicate they know what they are doing. I am surprised Prince would not have professional dancers (if they are professional, they need to go back to school!)

I think Prince's performance is pretty good though...

I just recently cancelled my landline, and now exclusively use a cellphone (a brand new krzr, which I love!). I am wondering if fellow Spiners can recommend any good long distance options.

I would prefer not to buy a calling card whenever I need to make a long distance call (in fact, it is one of the reasons I held on to my landline for so long). I will mainly be making calls within Canada, with the occasional call to the US. If possible, I'd like to have a plan that does not require a minimum payment per month, which I am not sure is as common with cell phones.

Any ideas?

Hi all,

I recently started taking French classes through work (beginner, a few hours twice a week) and I am looking for people with whom to practice. I have a few people with whom I can chat, but I would also like to practice my writing.

If you are French, know the language, or someone who does, and would be patient enough to have some general conversation back and forth via email, that would be great.

In the spirit of making my fabulous co-host happy, I am going to blog for what seems like the first time in years (I believe its only months, but I am not sure). Here we go...

Since I vowed on Episode 46 of Spine Radio NOT to complain about bad food service, I did not get the opportunity to tell the listeners about one of my pet peeves. What might it be, you wonder? Well, I am hoping someone shares it.

I hate going out for breakfast. There, I said it. Do not misunderstand me, I actually like a lot of breakfast foods. I like sausage, I like bacon. Eggs, not so much. In fact, lately they seem to make me quite nauseous. I digress.

Any time there has been a big night of drinking, or people are visiting 'from away', the usual activity suggested for the next day is breakfast. Luckily, breakfast usually ends up happening after 11 am (because we are not morning people, and often feeling a little green from too many brews), so I often have lunch options. However, I don't always. There are many times we'll go somewhere and we come to find they do not serve lunch. The reaction of the crowd? Nada. Everyone loves breakfast. Who doesn't love breakfast? I DON'T!

I cannot tell you how many times I have said 'I do not want breakfast, I want lunch' and I get 'What about pancakes, what about hashbrowns, and on and on...'. It is not about the food. It is about having the choice. I do not eat breakfast most days, so going out during the weekend for breakfast is not something I want to do.

When breakfast comes up, I seem like the only freak out there who is not in love with it. Any sympathizers out there? Want to start a support group?

I have taken the first step. My name is Jeannine, and I hate going out for breakfast!

So we get a letter today from Eastlink saying that we are getting a rate increase of $4.00 per month to our bundle. Do you think its a coincidence that we just got those ten megabits a few weeks ago? Call me cynical, but I think not.

I guess one could argue that at least we got something for the increase, which is true. However, if we got the increase BECAUSE of the 10 megabits exclusively, then they should be upfront about it. Reminds me of my retail days back in high school. I would always get a raise just a few months before the minimum wage went up. Increase my ass...

I always make a point of informing friends and family when I get poor customer service, and today I am adding Spine.cx readers to my list.

I went out today in search of dispensers for toilet paper, paper towels and such. First though I can tell you about the amazing service I had at Goode Liquidators on Joseph Howe. They were AMAZING! He had everything I needed in dispensers, just not the stuff to fill it with. He even let me leave with merchandise from the store to take it to another place to see if they have the product to fill it.

Anyway, I will rave about them another day, I promise. I gave them their due in person, and told him how much I appreciated good customer service.

This blog is about bad customer service though. I am getting to it, yes! I was sent to Provincial Sanitary on Oxford Street, 2990 Oxford Street to be exact. I was told to see Adrian, but he wasn't in.

I gave the receptionist a basic idea of what I needed, and mentioned I was a non-profit. This came up because it usually makes a difference when it comes to cost. She was not able to assist me, but assured me that Daryl would. She gave him a call, and he appeared.

Daryl was on his cell phone, and told the me he'd be with me in a minute. I waited 10 minutes, and the receptionist noticed I was getting antsy, so she went in search of Daryl (who had left the room). Daryl reappeared 5 minutes later, still on the phone, giving me the 'one sec' look.

I am already pissed cause he's on a cell phone. Lately the source of all my stress seems to be around cell phones. People driving while on them, walking into things while on them, etc. However, I am absolutely annoyed because he has told me he will talk to me, and it ain't looking like its going to happen.

I can't wait around all day (and yeah should not have even waited the 20 mins or so I did), so I tell the receptionist thanks but no thanks and take off.

I am calling to file a complaint, and I am telling you not to go there, or at the least not to see Daryl. Because Adrian was recommended to me by such a wonderful customer service agent, I may give him a chance. He may be able to redeem the place for me. We'll see.

It does make me wonder though- was I given poor service because I identified that I was from a non-profit? Those of you who listened to the podcast before last will know that I do not believe in offering customer service based on the spending of the consumer. If that's what happened here, then I am DEFINITELY not happy. And you know I will ask when I file that complaint.

To be continued...

I was reading Julius Hemisphere's blog re: complaint letters and it reminded me of the time I had an awful back and forth battle between the York University administration and Royal Bank.

It was my first year of grad school, and also my first student loan. I thought I had all the necessary papers signed from the bank, and proudly presented them at York's admin building. Alas, a signature was missing and I had to trot back to the bank to get it signed.

Imagine two more weeks of this back and forth. Each time I would hand the papers to either York or Royal, something else was missing. I began to wonder if I was going crazy. Each time I clarified that I needed only A, B, and C, but for some reason both institutions created a D, E, and F every time I entered their doors.

Finally, I was at the end of my rope. Thinking I surely had it this time, I made what would be my final trip to the Royal Bank. Oh good, you say, if it was my final trip, then it must have been ok. Well not entirely. I was still missing something- what that something is I will never know. Why? When the associate told me I would have to yet again trek my sorry ass back to York to get another bloody signature, I LOST it. I did not scream or curse, I did not pee on the floor. I cried. I just started bawling like a baby. It was not planned, nor intended. But it worked.

No sooner had the water works started, I was whisked into an office to be 'dealt with', away from the prying eyes of other customers. I loudly proclaimed "Oh no, I will not be shoved in a corner. You will deal with me out in the open". And they did. Less than five minutes later I was out of there. I had everything I needed, and I never had to go to that Royal Bank or the York administration building for loan related signatures ever again.

Moral of the story? Crying works :).

I swear it is my destiny to get killed on a crosswalk! Yet again this morning I am pissed off because some asshole did not bother to stop when approaching the crosswalk. I did not almost get hit, because I did not proceed into those beloved white lines. However, this guy should have stopped, and he had plenty of time to do so.

This guy was very far from the crosswalk, clearly looked me in the eye, and then proceeded through the crosswalk. I HATE that. Why? Why would someone do that? Am I the only one that finds this annoying as hell??

So I am at the Gottingen Street Staples the other day, in search of a calling card that will allow me to call Tawain. I know that all calling cards are different, but I figure that they will have one which will allow me to make a call to this destination.

It turns out they don't. Ok, no big deal, I'll just go to a store that does offer the card I require. Here's the thing- the salesperson did not simply tell me that the cards they had did not allow me to call Tawain. She went through this whole list of places the card DID call.

"You can call South Africa"- she then looks up at me and awaits a response. "Nope, I just want to call Tawain". "You can call Turkey"- another longing glance. Perhaps she thinks I will change my mind and all of the sudden have an urge to call Turkey? "It also calls Sweden"- another hopeful plea appears on her face. Are you seeing the pattern here? I am not sure if she actually thought I'd suddenly have the desire to switch the country I was calling or what.

What I just do not get is why is she wasting time telling me this, when she has already stated that there is no way I am calling Tawain on this card? You may wonder why I stuck around, but I guess in some way by engaging me in this dialogue, she produced a faint hope that some magic card would appear, and that in the end, I really would be able to call Tawain after all.

Was this a desperate attempt to sell me the card regardless of its obvious uselessness to me, or just a bored salesperson with too much time on their hands? I guess we'll never know...

I cannot believe I have not complained about this yet, but I guess all things have their due. I was coming home today across the Commons like I always do, and as I crossed ON the crosswalk at Robie and the Commons, I almost got hit by a car. I'd like to say that this is an isolated incident, but Ray can attest to the fact that I curse drivers at that intersection frequently, because they simply fail to stop there, or stop WAYYYY too late.

I think the beeping device they have at crosswalks is great, because it gives drivers an extra heads up. However, it is not REQUIRED for a pedestrian to cross. Once a pedestrian is in between those two lines, they are on the crosswalk and SHOULD be able to cross without being sideswiped. As I understand it, the beeping device is actually designed for blind people, and let me tell ya, if they are relying on that as a safe way to cross the street, they are sadly mistaken.

This crosswalk is terrible because people just fly through it, or screech to a halt. If you drive this route every day, you can't tell me you weren't expecting the crosswalk. Yes, it might be empty, but would it kill you to slow down and make sure?

It reminds me of the time I was on a crosswalk in a parking lot in Toronto (yes, a parking lot) and a guy just nicked me with his car. He actually got out of his vehicle and said 'you hit my car'. Yeah buddy, that's what happened. I hit your car...

I am not sure if anyone has seen this article yet, but it has me pretty steamed.

It is not surprising, sexist assholes in the government throwing out slurs because Belinda Stronach chose to defect from the Conservatives. I say thank goodness she finally woke up and smelled the roses (not that the Liberals are really roses, but in comparison to the Conservatives, they are the best flower going).

Some members of government are upset because Belinda left their party, and have chosen to express themselves in the worst way. Members of the Conservatives have called her a 'dipstick' and have also said she "whored herself out for power." I find that extremely offensive. I also take issue with the use of the term 'whored' and the reference to prostitution in the article. As someone who directs an organization for those involved in the sex trade, I find the comments to be inappropriate and rude.

I know that these members of the House will not be called to task, and furthermore, if a man had crossed that floor, I do not think we'd be hearing sexist comments about him.

Once again, I am beyond disappointed with the lack of professionalism and downright disregard for respect displayed in the government. And to think that we pay valuable tax dollars for this to go on...

I am just wondering what everyone thinks about the Peel Pub on Spring Garden Road. I have been there a few times now and I really like it. My favorite thing about it is that it is CHEAP.

Anyway, I was planning on taking my brother there tonight since he is in town visiting, and I knew he would like the economic aspects of this place. As well, he is a big lover of mozza sticks, and I predict this is something they'd do well.

His friend did not have the same opinion of the place as me, however. Apparently on his visit they "burned his burger to dust and the nachos were shitty". That really sucks, but I definitely did not have that experience myself. I admit the food is not the best in the world, but for the price I think it is pretty good. I actually liked the nachos that I had there.

Do I have a point here, you may wonder. Well really I am just looking to see what other people's experiences have been. As well, I wanted to tell everyone that they can print off a coupon for a free chef's daily special, with the purchase of a second meal of equal or greater value. Check it out at http://www.peelpub.com/. It should pop up fairly quickly.

Enjoy everybody! Also, I am a big fan of their Wednesday night margaritas for $10.34 a pitcher and their Thursday night 99 cent shooters. No, I am not an alcoholic :)...

Well I figured since I have done my first podcast (first of many I hope), I should get on the ball and do my first blog. Yes, you read right, my first blog. If you know me, you know how unbelievable it is that it has taken me this long to put my thoughts into words. I love to talk, and you'd think a blog would be right up my alley. It seems that I never have the time though.

Anyway, since I have nothing of major interest to discuss right this moment, this will be a shameless plug for the podcast. Steve and I are pretty pleased with it (I promise I won't sound like I am coming out of cardboard tube next time) and it was a lot of fun. I have always wanted to do radio, and this is the next best thing. You do not have to spend hours in front of the mirror wondering 'what will I wear', cause no one will see you. Bad hair day? No worries. The only thing that needs to look good is your voice.

So tune in and listen, cause we're sure to have a lot of lively and interesting debates.

Bike Again! is a wildly creative, fun group of people working to encourage cycling for everyone. They recycle bicycles for short and long-term loans, hold teaching workshops, and organize Critical Mass rides.

They are moving Halifax towards becoming a sustainable city by providing an example of an inclusive culture based on working together rather than buying stuff. They teach and learn bike repair while working cooperatively and using shared tools.