Elvis Is Alive and In Niagara Falls

We’re now ready to start the bathroom renovations. Our contractor is scheduled to show up on Tuesday morning – or so we hope! With everything being stored in and around the house, we’re now anxious to get this thing going. Plus, as I’ve said before, I’m so ready for a new bathroom – or at least a sink sitting level in the countertop and not igglety, pigglety, as it is now!

While waiting for things to get started, Nat and I have been biding our time. It’s that “inbetween stage” where you can’t do a whole lot outdoors, not much to do indoors and the golf season is winding down and, in fact, done. Nat’s been trying hard to fill the hours. We’ve struggled some days, but others would find us looking around some area shops getting paint chips, ideas for towel bars and other accessories. We even took a day trip to Limeridge Mall in Hamilton to have a look about, came home empty-handed, but not empty-minded – a few good ideas and nothing more.

So it was a good thing that Nat and I had purchased tickets to see Stephen Kabakos at the Greg Frewin Theatre for Friday night. An Elvis impersonator who has won awards for his impersonation and Nat and I could certainly see why. At first, the day turned out to be a damp, rainy one and sitting in our easy chairs after supper we always get to thinking “do we really want to be bothered this time of night?”. Turned out there were no regrets on our part for getting out!! We knew it would do us good (we’re getting a little stagnant), we’d be entertained and we’d also see Thamazine, Daryl, Claudia, Darby and Michele there and how bad could that be??

The theatre is set up Vegas-style with tables and chairs, along with booth seating. Drinks and popcorn could be purchased while you enjoyed the show in a close-knit atmosphere. Needless to say the show was fabulous!!! I certainly had the feeling that Elvis was alive and well and performing in Niagara Falls (despite the fact that Stephen is a Milton boy). What the hell, he’s Canadian – and that’s a good thing!!!!

Before the show began, during intermission and after the show ended, Nat and I managed to chit chat with Thamazine and the others in their booth just a couple of seats over from us. The actual performance was Elvis’ best – some rock ‘n roll hits, some Christmas songs and even a gospel tune. A good range of songs, great costumes, great back-up band and singers and the night was complete! Stephen Kabakos is truly the best Elvis impersonator I’ve ever seen. His vocal range was right on, and I believe Elvis himself would be proud. It doesn’t hurt that Stephen has a great body and looks like Elvis Presley did in his 1968 Comeback Special – at the peak of his career.

After Friday night’s excitement the rest of the weekend was a bit of a let down, quiet and uneventful. Back to looking a paint chips and deciding what colour the bathroom should be was about par for the course this afternoon. I also managed to set up a few Christmas decorations and we’ve decided to forego the Christmas tree this year. Not to be Scrooges about the whole matter – but we’re not hosting any parties or dinners this year, not exchanging gifts with each other and will probably be on the road Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and evening. We’ll save ourselves the set-up, decorating and clean-up which can take a whole day each time, and maybe rethink things for 2010. Besides, we’d rather see family – his, mine and ours – on and around Christmas. We prefer that to presents anyday!

Please! Ma Bell, When Will It End??

Hubby and I finally did it – we cancelled our satellite subscription. November 18h to be exact. Our 3 year mandatory term was up and with much research we knew we could save a few bucks each month by switching to cable. We also knew that our reception would be so much better – no interference, disruptions and total blackouts whenever a snow storm was about or, in fact, right in our own backyard. Not to mention cleaning off black ice from our receiver in the wee hours of the evening! Our account with Bell Satellite would end on the 4th of December but with 30 days notice we would be disconnected on December 18th.

During our research we had also realized that our Bell account (satellite, internet and home phone) had increased $20.00 a month over this past year alone. We have to start cutting corners, as dear Hubby’s GM pension will be reduced starting in January and if we think things are tight now, then 2010 is going to be even more of a challenge. We’ve done pretty good in most things – the hydro, water and gas bills have been reduced as best we can by using cost-saving measures – so it stood to reason that we’d have to look at our viewing habits. We knew right away we were paying for all kinds of channels that we never watched, and after a lengthy call with Bell we were able to reduce our satellite bill to a certain extent – albeit not by much. Trust me, that telephone call with Bell was like pulling teeth in trying to get them to reduce or delete one of their “theme packages”. We were at least able to reduce our monthly bill by about $13.00 and more than willing to take what we could get.

Naturally, the discussions then started about switching to cable and after a lot of research, price checking, and consultations with the cable guys at the Mall, we were satisfied that we could save close to $60.00 each month for the first year and then close to $40.00 each month the second year. (Cable gives you a one year price reduction and the second year you go to their regular rates.) We signed up. A no brainer, I think – comparing a $13.00 monthly savings with Satellite to a $40.00 monthly savings with cable. That’s money in our pockets – not theirs’!!!

Well, wouldn’t you know it, but the calls then started. God Bless Ma Bell – she was on our case 3 days later. At first they wanted to confirm the reasons why we were leaving – the bad weather in our area – but naturally tried to convince us to reconsider our decision. We stood our ground while on the phone for close to 8 minutes and insisted we still wanted to have our service disconnected.

The 2nd call came 3 days later on a Saturday afternoon. Someone a tad bit higher in the rankings. Yes, he understood our problems with the weather, but he was ready, willing and able to send out a technician (for free, mind you!!) to re-align our satellite dish. They were pretty sure this would fix our reception problems. Again, stood our ground and insisted on the disconnection. Time on phone: approximately 8 minutes.

The 3rd call came 3 days after the 2nd. I’m sensing a pattern here!! This time someone even a little bit higher up on the corporate scale – a “Senior Agent”. He was nice. I was nice. Again, I explained the weather. Again, he was ready, willing, and able to broker us a deal we couldn’t refuse, along with sending out a technician to re-align our dish. Suddenly there was a 40% reduction in cost on the table for a year, if we wanted it. Again, I explained the weather, my husband’s pension reduction, my limited income and the fact that they couldn’t guarantee this savings beyond a year. Sorry, fellas, no deal!!  ”Always leave with the door open” my mother use to tell us, so in my best voice I thanked him for the offer but was declining. He was going to “leave the offer on the table” and should we change our minds to just call!

The 4th call came 1 day after the 3rd. Whoooaa, a real Senior Agent !! We could tell – the first three calls were only showing an “800″ number on the call display. This guy was showing up as “Bell Canada”. I’m curious as to what he’s got to say, but getting close to loosing it!! Giving him the benefit of the doubt I listened intently. He was confirming our satisfaction with the home phone service (our last connection with Bell). “Yes, no problems there”, I replied. He then begins to inquire regarding the other services available for our phone, but just being the two of us, I advised we had no interest in anything except call display. I could sense something else coming on. I interrupted him before he could get past the words “I understand …”.  ”I’m going to save you the time and effort”, I said. With that, I began to explain our whole entire situation from beginning to end – the weather, the pension reduction, the channels we pay for but don’t watch and so on. I was nice!!!! (My family knows all to well that I can get excited and go off on a tantrum – but again, I was cool, calm and above all nice!!) With that he stopped in his tracks. He asked if there was anything else he could help me with or any other questions I had. God knows, I was good to go!!!!

It amazes me that suddenly there are all kinds of offers on the table when leaving a satellite or even cable company. This same scenario happened when we moved and decided to switch from Star Choice to Bell Satellite. However, Star Choice wasn’t as intrusive. They only offered a whack of deals the day we tried to cancel. The fact still remains that there are deals out there – only for those customers that want to leave. Why aren’t these deals available to those customers that are struggling with their cable/satellite bills now – especially some seniors and retirees that struggle to make ends meet?? The satellite guys wonder why their signals were being stolen in the beginning, if not  still. Like the internet services, the greed is at the corporate end!!! Don’t even get me started on internet services – downloading and bandwith restrictions, or even the music industry and their long arms reaching into peoples’ computers!!!!

Sorry, Ma Bell, but the time has come. Our money is low and your rates too high. BUT the door has been left open should we wish to pay the $50.00 fee to re-connect – or was that going to be waived in one of your offers, too??

From Opry to Opera – Local Boy Makes Good

Awhile back Nat read an article in the Fort Erie News about a local lad that was returning to town to do a benefit concert. Tickets could be purchased from local merchants for $10.00 each and all proceeds would go towards building a new pool at the Kinsmen Park for the kids. “I’d like to see that”, he says. “Yeah, okay”, I replied, thinking how bad can it be. The article summarized his career, the numerous competitions he’d won as a youngster, along with a recording contract from Nashville and an audition for Bravo television.

Elton Lammie’s concert was Saturday mid-afternoon and much to our surprise it was great. The performance was being taped for television and aside from an electrical glitch at the beginning, the concert was most enjoyable. Mr. Lammie explains how he came into singing as a child, the contests he’d won in British Columbia (his birth province), his eventual recording contract in Nashville, right up to his Bravo audition and winning $20,000 for professional opera lessons. Sounds a bit off-beat, but trust me, this man can sing all genres!! Along with a great turnout from the good folks of Fort Erie and Ridgeway, his fans also travelled from as far away as London, Windsor, Kingston, Sudbury and beyond. Now that’s saying something about this man’s talent!

After his stint of a few country songs, he took a break and then came out with his Roy Orbison look and again, he was brilliant. If you closed your eyes you could swear Roy Orbison was in the room! He did a few Roy Orbison hits, had the audience loving it and singing right along, and then after a second intermission, he reappeared in his tuxedo along with a small orchestral trio. We were awe struck at this man’s talent. His opera arias were a treat!! Nothing over the top, just a few down tempo arias that left the audience wanting more. I love opera, Nat not so much, but even he was impressed and recognized this man’s capabilities. It was obvious why he had received a chance to do some arias with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and, in fact, one of the Orchestra’s violinists was in Mr. Lammie’s backup trio.

The whole afternoon performance was wonderful and Nat and I both felt uplifted the rest of the evening. After being in the doldrums for some time, we needed some inspiration, and Mr. Lammie provided it.

If you’re interested Elton Lammie’s web site it can be found at  - http://www.eltonlammie.com/.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised and may even become a fan yourself.

So after a nice evening, this morning Nat and I awoke to the usual chores. He wandered outside to take care of that year-old problem of clearing away the leaves from the eavestroughs, and I tackled the house cleaning. After a small lunch break, we continued on and once finished settled in for the rest of the afternoon. Now the rest of the week can be ours’ and ours’ alone. If only we had somewhere to go or something exciting to get up to!!!