Today we are leaving our friends in Hong Kong. It was a great trip... Thank you Cara and Andrew once again. Cara, your bouts with sickness will be over soon, and it will be worth the effort. You are going to be a great Mom! Andrew, I wish you didn't have to work so much, the time we spend together are always my favorite parts of the trip. Keep working hard but remember to take a day off once in a while. ( to go for Yum Cha with Cara )

We love you guys very much and we will miss you. When are you coming to Smithers??

After Tai O we hiked from The Giant Buddah to Tung Chung, it took three hours from start to the very finish. It was amazing, waterfalls, Buddist temples, great views of the airport and we found the perfect place we would like to live.. I just wish I could remember the name of the place...

Yesterday we went to Tai O, it was a neat little fishing village. Lots of smelly dried fish everywhere.

What a weird day, I was interviewed three times by different groups of high school students... I was in heaven! (Yes I'm wearing socks with sandals... my sandals were only 3 days old when I got here, and they hurt my feet when I wear them without socks...)

This guy was hilarious! He was so into the interview.... I guess you just had to be there.

We went to Kowloon today to do some shopping, we found some X-box games for "The Dude", and I bought a second battery for my camera. That was all we intended to buy today... but...

We did a bit of shopping today.. I always said I would never buy a pilot watch, but I couldn't resist. Kathy's bracelet is 14k gold with 14 diamonds and 7 garnets( Her birth stone. )

I guess it's been a couple of days since I let you know what was going on.. On Friday, we went to Schenzen, China. There is a huge theme park there called Windows on the World. It has mini replicas of different places from all over the world!

Here is us in Egypt?!

After windows on the world we went to wal*mart.. Go figure, I'm half way around the world and I end up at my least favorite place. It was just like any other wal*mart I've ever been to, except the Durian.

Ever seen the movie Tomb Raider, when they jump out of the building?? This is the one! It is the International Finance Centre, IFC building.

Yesterday, (Saturday) our first plan was to hike to Mui Wo. I wasn't feeling so well, (diarrhea, damn China) so we changed our plan to take a bus to Tai O. We started out taking the bus to Tung Chung. Once at Tung Chung, it was raining raining raining. So we went to a movie, The Bourne Supremacy. Good show! When we were leaving the mall, I spotted a sign for a lounge I found amusing.

Hello Anthony,
If you recall, you were to send the dish to my address via Purolater, and I was to contact an installer myself. ( I'm still not sure why this should be my responsibility, but to speed up the installation I found an installer. )

You told me the dish would be sent on Wed Aug 18th, and would arrive at my residence on Fri Aug 20th.

Fri Aug 27th has come and gone. Still no dish. That is a week past the date you promised it would arrive.

Please give me your supervisors email.

Two months of free service is a pathetic offering for the hassle this has caused me.


Brent Evjen

Quoting Anthony O'Connor <Anthony.Oconnor@bell.ca>:
> Hi Mr. Evjen:
>
> Once the request to send a dish is made, unfortunately out of my hands in
> terms of tracking it. As advised by my supervisor, the warehouse will make
> one further attempt to find an installer in your area whether or not that
> installer is on our assigned list or not. The objective is to have the
> dish sent as soon as possible. This process can take from 3 to 5 days, but
> may on occasion take longer.
>
> Once again I apologize for the delays, however I do assure you that the
> promise of free programming will be delivered.
>
> Regards,

Look at the size of this snail! Pretty quiet day today, lots of walking, and coffee. We spent the entire day in Discovery Bay, taking naps, and relaxing... and I'm still tired!

Yesterday, we went to Stanley. Just like the rest of Hong Kong it used to be a fishing village. Now the most remarkable thing about Stanley is the market. Kathy bought an awsome jacket, and we bought some Chinese scrolls to hang on the wall. Sorry Greg, I was looking for stuff with you in mind, but nothing jumped out at me. However, I did get the Old Man's email and he can make copies of things and send them to you...

Hello Anthony,

I spoke to you last week regarding my problems having the dish installed.

You agreed to send the dish via Purolator so that I could have it installed at
my cost and you would credit my account the cost of the dish installation.

You said the dish would arrive friday.

If you recall, I left town on thursday, but that my house guests (my parents)
would be available to recieve the dish.

It is now past tuesday, and they still have recieved no dish!

Here is a quote from an email I recieved from my mother regarding the dish...

<>

We had heard nothing by noon, so Dad decided to phone Bell and see what they
had to say. Well it seems that they have done nothing. He got someone after
waiting for a little more than an hour. Then he got a person to talk to and
they wanted him to hang up and they would call back. He said he had been
waiting so long that the phone was now attached to his ear. To make a long
story short, your dish had been cancelled at 2:20 yesterday - Mon. We can
only assume that it was the installer that cancelled it. To say nothing about
the fact that it should have been here Friday. Well, he is going to sort it
all out and will phone us back tomorrow. Dad did hold his temper, and also
asked who had cancelled the order, but he said he did not have this info. He
also asked who was going to deliver this dish. He will try again to find that
out tomorrow.

We haven't done much yet as we have been waiting for the dish to come. If we
can get some kind of answer then we will know when we can be away.

If we hear from him tomorrow, I will email you as soon as he phones. You can
keep an eye on your mail tomorrow and hopefully something will have happened.
Just a thought, but why do they even have to send in a dish. Can they not
have the fellow downtown take one out of his stock and install it and then
Bell pay him?

<>

From where I sit, Bell has let me down again.

As it stands, myself and my family have wasted a considerable ammount of time
waiting for Bell to do what they have promised.

I waited for the entire afternoon, the day of the initial appointment. Spent
over three hours on the phone waiting to talk to someone regarding my
installation. And was told "F*** YOU!" by YOUR INSTALLER. Then spent more
time on the phone talking to you.

NOW, my parents have been inconvencenced THREE DAYS waiting for you to deliver
a dish, as promised by yourself. So that I could pay for the installation out
of my own pocket because your installer was unable to meet the original
installation appointment.

Currently I am on holidays in Hong Kong and I am having to deal with problems
like this!!!

I have given you every opportunity to make good on your promises, and have
recived.... a promise of two months free subscription?? I won't believe
anything until I see it.




FIX THIS PROBLEM..




Brent Evjen
(250) 847-2619
Box 5129
Smithers BC

We went to a Thai restaraunt in Tung Chung (The town in the background of the airplane picture I have on pinned on the bulletin board near my desk at work.) Andrews parents, Andrew and Cara, and Kathy and I ate the dinner for six. It was just under $100 Canadian, and we all were stuffed to the gills. The best part was the pork neck, it is in the picture, on the very right hand side near the bottom, and is cut off. Brilliant!

The latest aviation weather report at the Hong Kong International Airport issued by the Hong Kong Observatory at 17:03 HKT on 24 Aug 04

METAR VHHH 0900 10005KT 4400 -SHRA FEW016 SCT030 31/26 Q1001 TEMPO 4000 SHRA=

If you need help decoding this go to http://www.hko.gov.hk/aviat/decode_metar_e.htm

4400 meters vis translates to 2.7SM...

You should see all the pollution in the air!

Andrew, Cara and Kathy enjoying the water. I'll bet this isn't what you expected to see in Hong Kong!

This morning we went for a little hike so we could go swiming in the rock pools. Here is a pool just a bit downstream of where we swam. It was 34 degrees outside, it felt sooo good to be in the water.

Us (obviously) at the little water fall. I took a panorama shot of the whole pool, but you'll have to wait to see it until I can stich it together at home.

Here is sunrise today, the haze is caused by polution. If the winds are out of the north, all the polution drifts down from China. If the winds are from the south, the air is crisp and beautiful, from the South China Sea.

Here you can see Kathy riding the escalator. How cool is that, a monster ourdoor escalator that goes for blocks and blocks!

Yesterday, we spent the day in Central in the Midlevels and SoHo, there were tons of cool markets and neat things to see. It was VERY hot, we stopped at a Starbucks for ice tea, and air conditioning. It was a great place to visit, you can ride the escalator up, and walk down.

So after a harried trip thru the Vancouverr airport.. we arrived at the gate about 15 minutes before departure, and were given the happy seats in the front of the aircraft! Here is a picture of Kathy having some Champagne before departure. :)

Here is a view from Cara and Andrews newest flat. In the most foreground you can see a relatively new development here in Discovery Bay. The little bit jutting out from the hill in the middle of the picture is the land reclaimation in progress for the new Disney place. In the background, thru the haze, you can see Hong Kong island.

We arrived in Hong Kong at 1710, right on schedule, and after we each had a trip to the washroom to clean up, we were thru customs with ease. It was so nice to walk past all the people waiting for their luggage, while we just had carry on!

We caught the 16:30 bus direct to Discovery Bay, and had no problems finding the stop, Cara was there to meet us!

After we both had a shower and relaxed for a few minutes, we headed to the plaza for Korean BBQ. MMMMmmm. It was better than I remembered it. ( We did make a stop to get some anti-histamines, for my dog allergies )

We took money out from the bank machine, $4000 Hong Kong Dollars (our account shows a debit of 683.56 CAD). How easy was that.

I bought supper for our wonderful hosts last night, on the agreement that from now on we always go dutch, and that we get all the "I'll buy" this one arguments out of the way. Supper was $460 HK.. A little less than $80 Canadian. A great deal for such an excellent meal!

We went home and collapsed on the bed. I was awake a couple of times thru the night, all that water I drank on the plane finally came out! And had a great sleep!

It is 8:45 AM Sunday morning.

We'll see what the day has in store for us!

No, I wasn't lost. I was looking for Kisegulca Lake and I didn't see the sign. We spent over an hour last night driving around on old logging roads looking for a lake. When we did find it, it was beautiful, but too dark to take any pictures.

Complaint.

Hello.

 

My name is Brent Evjen, ExpressVu account number 8455101001474443.

 

I have recently moved and booked my new installation date with Bell ExpressVu on approximately July 26th.  I was told that the new dishes would be installed on Friday the 13th of Aug.  I adjusted my work schedule to accommodate this appointment.

 

Friday the 13th came and went without any contact from anyone regarding the installation of my dishes.

 

On the Saturday, August 14th I received a call from an installer who told me they were sorry they hadn't come on the 13th and that they did not know when they could come to do the installation.

On Sunday, August 15th I received a second call from the installer who told me that they were unable to come to install the dish until Thursday, August 19th.

 

I told her that this was unacceptable, and I would like the dish installed right away.  Her response was "I'll have to talk to my husband."

 

Later that afternoon I received a phone call from a man who informed me that he was the installer and that Thursday was the best that he could do.

 

His reasons for this were many.  His reasons included "it is too expensive to drive to Smithers for one installation." , "If Bell had their way I would be driving all over the place to do one installation at a time." , "in the north things don't work like they do in the larger centers" , " Bell doesn't give me enough notice before they want the installation done."

 

After listening to his woes, I explained to him, that I had booked the appointment for the 13th, and I had re-arranged my schedule to accommodate that appointment, and he replied, in a very sarcastic voice, " I didn't even get notification for your installation until the 13th, how do you expect me to run my business like that".

 

After hearing him complain more, I explained to him that his problems with Bell are "not my problem" and I wanted my dish installed before Thursday.

 

I suggested to him, that since he didn't have time to do it, perhaps he should phone Totem Audio (a local retailer who did my first installation ) and ask them to do the installation for him.  To which he replied, "that's not my problem."

 

I asked him if he was contracted by Bell to perform installations.  He said "Yes".

 

I asked him if he had been advised of my installation.  He said "Yes".

 

I asked him why my installation hadn't been done.  He again said that he couldn't do it before Thursday.

 

I told him "That's not good enough".

 

To which he responded, ".. then you better phone Bell and have them rebook your installation with someone else, and I hope you don't get your dish for three or four weeks."   Then he said "F*** YOU" and he hung up on me.

 

At no time in the conversation did I ever curse or use foul language.  I admittedly was not sympathetic to his problems, but I do not feel that I should have to listen to his complaints about Bell. 

 

I am the customer, my only concern is with my installation and meeting my expectations for reasonable service.  I made an appointment for August 13th and it was not met.  When I did finally speak to a Bell representative, who was the installation contractor, I was cursed at and hung up on.

 

 

This is not acceptable.

 

 

I would like a written apology, by mail, that includes the steps Bell ExpressVu has taken to prevent their customers being treated in such a manner.  In particular a copy of any reprimand sent to the contractor.

 

I have been a Bell ExpressVu customer for only approximately one year, until this point I have received excellent service and my expectations have always been met.

 

 

 

Brent Evjen

 

Box 5129

Smithers BC

V0J 2N0

 

(250) 847-2618

Frenzied cat in cockpit forces airliner down



BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) Â? An SN Brussels airliner made an emergency landing
after an "agitated" passenger Â? a cat Â? got into the cockpit and attacked
the co-pilot, the airline said Tuesday.

The Monday flight from Brussels to Vienna, Austria, had been in the air
about 20 minutes when it was noticed that a passenger's pet had escaped
from its cage, "although it is not yet clear how," according to an airline
statement.

"Once free, the animal proceeded to wander around the cabin," slipping into
the cockpit when meals were being delivered to the two-man flight crew, it
said.

"At this stage the animal became agitated and nervous," it said. An airline
spokesperson added that the cat scratched the co-pilot's arm.

The pilot decided to return to Brussels as a precaution, and the 58
passengers left Brussels two hours later on another flight.

The cat had been checked in Oslo, Norway, in an internationally approved
"flight transport bag," but the airline said it may end up changing its
procedures for pets in the cabin once it concludes its investigation.

"At no time throughout the incident was the passengers' security affected
in any way," it said.

If you're not familiar with the works of Steven Wright, he's the guy who
once said: "I woke up one morning and all of my stuff had been stolen and
replaced by exact duplicates." Here are some more of his gems:

1) I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.
2) Borrow money from pessimists - they don't expect it back.
3) Half the people you know are below average.
4) 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
5) 42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
6) A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
7) A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
8) If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
9) All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my hand.
10) The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
11) I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met.
12) OK, so what's the speed of dark?
13) How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?
14) If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked
something.
15) Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
16) When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
17) Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.
18) Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.
19) I intend to live forever - so far, so good.
20) If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
21) Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
22) What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
23) My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your
horn louder."
24) Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?
25) If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
26) A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
27) Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
28) The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.
29) To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is
research.
30) The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
31) The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
32) The colder the x-ray table, the more of your body is required to be on
it.
33) Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS
SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY
ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!!
TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS
SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY
ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!!
TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS
SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY
ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!!
TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS
SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY
ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!!
TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!! TELUS SUCKS MY ASS!!


Just in case you didn't know... we've moved again.

Telus can't fix my internet until the 10th! THE 10TH...

Despite all their promises that it would work as soon as we moved in, TELUS
SUCKS MY ASS!!


Be advised there will be no website updates before then...

Matchbox 20 - Angry

So scream you, out from behind the bitter ache
You're hangin on the memory, you need most
Still want love, ugly, smooth and delicate
Not without affection, not alone

And instead of wishing that it would get better
Man you're seeing that you just get angrier

And it's good that I'm not angry
I just need to get over
I'm not angry, anymore

Cry when you cry, run when you run
Love when you love
Represent the ashes
That you leave behind

And instead of wishing that the road had shoulder
Man you're seeing that you're sinking over time

And it's good that I'm not angry
I just need to get over
I'm not angry
It's dragging me under
I'm not angry

I'm not angry it's never been enough
It gets inside and it tears you up
I'm not angry but I've never been above it
You see through me don't you

And it's good that I'm not angry
I just need to get over
I'm not angry
It's dragging me under
I'm not angry

And it's good that I'm not angry
I just need to get over
I'm not angry, anymore