Friday, January 9, 2009

when days are hot, when days are cold

do you want to know what really gets my goat? (i don't really have a goat by the way) what gets my goat, is finding the perfect product online, at a reasonable cost, with reasonable shipping fees, only to find out at the very end of the transaction that they don't ship to canada. WHY NOT?!?!?! it's evil. we are part of the same continent as the US. and now that i'm on this subject, why OH WHY does it cost SO MUCH to ship american magazines to canadian addresses? a ridiculous amount more. i'd be willing to pay more for postage, but this goes way beyond postage. not fair not fair not fair.

the product i wanted from the united states was the iposture. this is definitely a "want" not a "need" item. i can imagine the poorest people in africa slapping me in the face for even considering this gadget. it's a little buzzing device that you attach to your skin or bra, and when you slouch for more than a minute, it buzzes until you correct yourself. eventually it's supposed to train you to sit and stand up more straight. i want this because i'm so slouchy. sometimes sitting up straight can be painful. i see those little old hunchback ladies walking down the street, bent over their canes, and i'll be damned if that is going to be me one day. note to self: keep eating dairy! i was practicing the keyboard a couple of days ago, sitting on one of my cheap kitchen table chairs from ikea with a straight back. after five minutes my back was killing me, but i had to maintain a straight posture to play. how many slouchy pianists have you seen? anyhoo, my shipping rejection happened a few weeks ago but it got me thinking. there was a fabulous sale on the device too. boxing week 50% off or something. i wouldn't pay full price!

this morning i got up early for a 40-minute morning swim. i didn't want to (of course) but as soon as i got into the pool all was cool. the water was chilly which is best because a) it wakes you up and b) you are constantly refreshed while working out. here is my standard 40-minute swimming workout. each "length" is about 15 metres - that is going from one side of the pool to the other.

40 lengths front crawl
20 lengths breast stroke
10 lengths front crawl
10 lengths breast stroke
20 lengths of 1 breast stroke, 1 front crawl

and then at the end i do 20 lengths of "cool down" which is five times of this:
1 length breast stroke, 1 length sprint front crawl (as fast as possible... like phelps), 1 length relaxed front crawl, and 1 length back crawl.

i find that if i don't count my lengths it's very confusing. i can't just swim for 40 minutes without a plan because it's so disorganized and unstructured. swimmer's ocd!

10 comments:

Vanessa said...

I hate it when that happens! I mean seriously, how hard can it be to ship that stuff across the border?

Pfft.

Jen said...

BAH!! I hear you!!!! Seriously, there was this one thing I was looking at online...I ordered it from the american site, paid EXORBITANT shipping fees AND the exchange rate...then while shopping in Edmonton found the EXACT same item for the EXACT same ORIGINAL price at the Canadian store...really burned my buttons!!!
(even though that is different from what you were saying...still, it sucks!!!)

that sounds like a neat little gadget!!!

Anonymous said...

what do you do with your hair when you are swimming? i am always too scared that it will turn green after I paid all that money to have it coloured...

Randi said...

It is ridiculous the shipping to Canada thing. Especially the magazine thing. Plus in the states it sometimes has FREE shipping. Well we're not really that far from the border ya know. I almost want to get a post office box in the US or make friends with somebody in the states who'll accept my shipping and pass it on.

When I played piano I would have terrible posture. You don't look very professional, but it is really hard to practice for very long with perfect posture (especially if it's boring scales or something)

Lex said...

I totally know how you feel. Thats where I'm at with Bath & Body works (still no shop in Halifax....gahh)
I know there are websites that allow you to use a US Address which will forward your packages to Canada, but I haven't really checked them out:
http://www.usamail1.com/

http://www.myus.com/

Laura said...

Someone I used to work with has a P.O. Box in the US for magazine subscriptions and buying things online. She goes once a month or so to pick up her stuff (of course, Montreal's a lot closer to Vermont than Toronto is to Buffalo).

I feel your cross-border shipping woes.

All the things you can buy from amazon.com that you can't get from amazon.ca. That really burns my craw.

Amanda said...

A friend of mine has the name of a UPS store in Buffalo or somewhere else just across the border where you can ship your items and then they will ship them to you here. Let me know if you want the info and I can get it from her. I've never used the service, but she has many times.

Crissy Rae said...

Ya know, I never got why magazines were so costly to ship to Canada, either. Maybe the mail carriers have to bribe the border patrol to get those naughty mags up there, thus driving up sales for all other shipments. Hmmm....

carla said...

(**clicks away in shame as all her freebies seem to be AMERICA only as of late**)

Jack Tango said...

You're visiting Niagara Falls for Valentine's Day? Well, that's my backyard! You know, I worked in the hotel industry for 7 years, so I know a thing or two about the area; if you two have already booked I can tell you everything you want to know about your hotel -- the stuff the hotel would never tell you. :-)

Drop me a line! :-)