I didn't plan on this much planning

We are in the thick of planning mode - I thought once we got the big things done it would be a piece of cake, except now it's all those little, silly things that we don't really care about but know we probably should put some effort into. It's kind of annoying, and I spend a lot of time googling and bookmarking. I fear I may soon break my google, that's how much I'm googling.

Last week we accomplished quite a bit, including booking our mini-honeymoon! We got a great deal, and we're going to VEGAS! Which in itself is extremly exciting, however I am starting to feel a bit of anxiety about how we are going to swing the wedding and all this travelling along with running the business.

After two years, we're finally starting to settle in.

In keeping with the "home improvement" theme, we made a few changes to our lighting situation over the weekend. SB switched out our dining room light fixture, and also put a dimmer switch in the bathroom.

Of course nothing is ever as easy as it should be - while the light fixture went up pretty much without incident, it was still pretty time consuming. So worth it, though, it looks fantastic and the light quality is much nicer. Before we had some harsh halogen lights, but now it feels so much warmer... I'm very happy with it, and also a bit surprised that the one living space in our house that is finally totally complete and updated is the one space we use the least. Oh well.

The bathroom dimmer was another story. SB has switched out many switches for dimmers, so it should have been a piece of cake, however the wiring in the switch box was a little muddled - there was already one light on a dimmer, plus the fan switch, plus the switch we were changing out. Since there were so many wires in there, I guess it was inevitable that something would get mixed up.

Anyway, at one point one switch turned on both lights, while the other one dimmed them, and also the electrical outlet (in a completely separate box) would only turn on when the switch was on. What should have been a 20 minute project turned into a three hour ordeal, during which I was relatively useless since I a)didn't see the dismantling of the wires, so had zero clue which belonged where and b) don't know anything about this kind of thing anyway. But, SB figured it all out in the end and now we have two dimmers in the bathroom. Hoping to switch out the light fixtures in there shortly as well.

All that to say, yesterday was pretty productive. Saturday we played tennis, and yesterday I was expectedly sore, but I am still sore today which is a bummer! Gaaah, and I thought I was taking it easy on Saturday, on purpose, to try and recover quickly. Oh well.

The bathroom I love to hate

Our bathroom has been seriously bothering me lately. Don't get me wrong - I love spending time in there, taking long baths while reading/watching TV/drinking copious amounts of wine/listening to the rock and the roll. However, our bathroom is inefficient and ugly, and it's making me crazy.

We have one of those gigantic triangle-shaped tubs. This is not necessary. All I need is a tub that is long enough that I don't have to bend my knees up, and deep enough that I'm covered by water. But our gigantic tub is much bigger than that, and takes up half the bathroom.

Our shower, on the other hand, is tiny. Just big enough for a person to fit in, and next to impossible to shave your legs in there unless you are part acrobat.

Then, there is our vanity, which is again, GIGANTIC and ugly. Beech colored wood cabinet, with an ugly faux finished looking laminate countertop. The counter is also much taller than it needs to be, which means we miss out on storage. There is also a GIGANTIC ugly mirror, that runs from the counter almost all the way to the ceiling, and spans the entire width of the vanity.

The tile in the bathroom is terra cotta, which means that our options for wall paint color are very limited. And I am NOT a fan of the mediterranean look, so painting the walls royal blue is NOT going to happen. Right now the walls are butter colored.

About the only thing that doesn't bother me about our bathroom is that our toilet has a little cubby-type area. Not closed in, mind you, but set back, between two walls. I like that.

So, I'm dying to redecorate. Even just a little bit. I'm thinking of removing the mirror and replacing with something littler, and painting. I've already torn out the god-awful wooden towel fixtures, and have chosen some steel ones that I like. But we need to paint before installing those. And we need to decide about a mirror before we can paint.

Right now I would kill to be able to afford to rip it all out, put in either ivory tile or slate grey, a narrow soaker tub, move the shower and make it bigger, put extra storage where the shower is, put in a white vanity, a new mirror, and paint the walls whatever color I want because the terra cotta would be gone.

But for now, what color would you paint the walls?

I always try to dream BIG

I had a dream that SB got me a Bernese Mountain Dog puppy for my birthday. I am turning 30, so it's a big one, which should call for a BIGTIME gift.... I'm not placing any bets on this one happening, but it would be the best gift ever. Even if we didn't get the pup right away - just the promise of the pup...

On another note, I am attempting to do this 30 Day Shred thing, and it's killing me. And I'm only on day 2. Of 30, in case you didn't catch that part. I'm already sick of Jillian Michaels and her squinty, squinty face. And also sick of my ass feeling like pulled taffy.

Jon and Kate

Anyone else feeling train-wreck syndrome when it comes to these two? I have always watched - even though I'm not partial to children I find that most of theirs are cute, and they do funny things. In seeing the two of them interacting you could tell that problems would eventually brew (I'm actually surprised they have lasted this long) and I'm kinda anxious to see if the whole thing was totally blown out of proportion for ratings reasons or if they have genuine problems.

The worst part about that whole thing is the whole reason I began watching was the kids, but now we are going to have to suffer through all this relationship stuff. Although I am interested to see how Jon reconciles his resentment for being in the spotlight with his wife's seemingly greedy and egomaniacal need to be famous.

Anyway, I'm watching the marathon that TLC has been running all weekend, and it's the episode where they got the puppies. I cried when the big mama dog was playing with the baby puppy at the breeder's.

So maybe you'll see more of me.

Hey there! ***waves*** I'm alive!

I don't know why I have such a hard time updating. Sometimes funny things happen, or sad things happen, or whatever, and in the moment I say "I should blog about that" but then I just update my facebook status and forget about it.

So, I am going to try to update here at least once a week. Even if there is NOTHING going on in my life. You will have to endure it. (or just not read, but pfft, like that's an option).

Let's begin, shall we?

Last Thursday was our 11th anniversary. I'm a bit bummed about it, because as of September, our count resets to 0, kinda. No one will ask how long we've been together, they will ask how long we've been married. However, I am pretty happy that our wedding day is different then our first dating anniversary, because that means TWO celebrations each year. Yay!

For our anniversary we celebrated by having dinner at the hotel where we are getting married. The restaurant is called Aix Cuisine du Terroir and it was AMAZING. They have a great prix fixe menu, and if it was BYOW I think I would beg to go once a week. For starters, SB had this smoked salmon concoction and I had bison tartar two ways (both ways were fanatastic). As mains, SB had a veal chop with blue cheese mashed potatoes and I had a sirloin topped with seared foie gras. It was so decadent and ridiculous. Then we had a nice cheese plate, and for dessert a skor tiramisu, which was a surprise for their menu, but super delicious. I have had to be extra good about food and exercise this week to make up for it, though!

This weekend we have a mad crazy schedule - tomorrow night I have a birthday dinner for my friend Christina, Saturday we have to attend a wake for SB's boss's father in law, Saturday night we have dinner to celebrate SB's brother birthday, and Sunday SB is helping his bestfriend move. Phewf. So, I'm extra glad that last weekend we got to spend loads of time together, just hanging out and shopping and MarioKarting.

Wedding planning is becoming a bit...stressful. I thought that if we got the big things taken care of that we would be able to relax a bit, but holy heck, all the little things are starting to make me crazy.

We still don't have a new puppy. Not that I'm in a hurry to get one, but people always ask me when they find out Gabby passed away. I'm not sure when we will both be ready - I feel like emotionally I would be ready now, but timing-wise probably not until at least next summer. SB isn't sure he will ever be ready. So we'll see.

That's all for now. **waves** See ya soon!

Feeling better, moving forward

Thanks to everyone who posted their condolences, both here and on facebook. If I forgot to thank you, I apologize, but your thoughts were really appreciated.

Our lives have settled into a new routine. Not much is different, because Gabby's routine was also Charlie's routine, and Charlie is still here. There are lots of little things that I miss, but every day is easier.

That being said, I still have a hard time looking at photos of her. So I soothe myself by watching videos of Bernese Mountain Dog puppies on youtube. It's boring as hell, but so effing cute.

Epitaph

Grief is big. It throws this blanket over everything and you could smother in it if you aren't tall enough.

I lost my dog this week. She died. We had to "Put her down". It was the "humane" thing to do. I was ready for it, had been preparing for years, but things are not so cut and dry as you wish they would be. Her life had become sad, mostly, with little moments of happiness. That's not a life, even though most of us live that every day. Life should be full of joy, especially when you are a dog and when things are going shitty you have no idea why.


Grief is full. A lot of people say they feel empty, but I feel full. I feel like at any moment my sorrow is going to burst me.

She would have been 15 next month. I have known her over half my life. We went to high school together, got two university degrees, endured many shitty schedules for many shitty jobs. She always looked to me like "what's next?" with a silly grin and lolling tongue. My favorite days were spent with her and SB curled up on the sofa. She tucked neatly behind my bent legs and would lay her chin on my hip.


Grief is joyful. Because thinking about the last few months of sadness and stress and patience, impatience, fear and frustration, I have been contrasting against all the years we had that were full of joy.

The older she got, the whiter her face. Her eyebrows became even more expressive, if that was possible, since you could really see them raise and lower in her interest and apathy. She did not have much apathy, until the end. She usually basked in any attention whatsoever, desperate for a pet or belly rub. Her favorite was ear scratches, and she would grunt and moan with her mouth cocked to the side in pleasure.
Grief is funny. Especially if you are me and you find humor in absurd and inappropriate things, even when you shouldn't.

When we brought Gabby to live with us at Bishop's, she had never lived with a boy, only girls. And girls are more docile, and more calm when they play with animals. The first thing SB wanted to do was wrestle with her, which he promptly did, which promptly terrified her and caused her to not eat for a week. She would take her toys or treats and hide them in the corner behind the bedroom door, pushing them in tight with her nose. This caused her to rub her nose against the carpet, making it burn and bleed. As she was relaxing from the sedative on Wednesday, I touched that spot on her nose, and it made me smile.
Grief is comforting. If we do not love, we do not feel loss in our hearts, where it counts. So to feel grief means you have loved big, and loved fully, and loved wholly.

She gave me a lot of happiness. I hope I did the same for her.

Bye Bye March

So, March is over, and technically I have one week of work hell left until our missing employee returns from New Zealand. However, I haven't heard from her at all, even though I emailed her yesterday to confirm she was in fact arriving back next Friday and would in fact be starting work the following Monday. I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't come back. I think I may shoot myself.

Not that things have been horrible. In fact, I think I have been far too busy and exhausted to spend any time wallowing in my own misery, and thus have been a much happier person overall. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm unhappy, it has just delayed my reaction to it a little. I can even procrastinate my malcontent.

The only thing that I'm looking forward to in the next year is our wedding, and of course our subsequent honeymoon. Wedding plans are moving along, and they have their own share of...uh...challenges, but we're getting there. We booked our honeymoon this week, and I am absolutely ecstatic. Nothing like an all-inclusive week in St. Lucia in January to keep you pushing through all the crap.

I'm not sure what I will do with myself when it's all done.

Guess what?!?

One of our employees found my iPod in ice on the mountain today!

CRAZY!

Okay, so we assume it's my iPod. It's silver, and 2 gigs, and the same generation as mine. But, seeing as how it has spent a month in a block of ice, the battery is dead and it won't turn on. SB says we shouldn't plug it in for a few days so we can try to dry it out and not fry it.

Holy heck, what are the odds?

If it works again, then karma is totally back on my side. If it doesn't work, then at least I know it is dead and gone and I can go ahead and invest in a new one and send the loaner my sister sent us back to her.

In other news, Gabby had another bout of paralysis this morning, except she was totally freaked out by it this time and it was really scary. Like, we were ready to pack her up for the "final" vet visit. Cut to two hours later when she was limping around like usual again. We are trying her on a new medication, so we'll see if that helps...Dealing with geriatrics is stressful!

Karma hates me

I just don't understand.

A month ago, I visited the Running Room and bought my mom a Nike+ iPod running thingy. It's a little apparatus that you put on your shoe, and it sends signals to your iPod about how far you've run, etc. While I was at the store I also got some socks, some Yaktrax, and talked to the guy about why I can't log into my online account.

So, when I got home, SB realized that the guy had put not one but TWO Nike+ units in my bag, but only charged me for one.

I hummed and hawed, but decided that my karma didn't need the hit and I returned the unit the next day. The manager was very thankful, and gave me a coupon for 20% off my next purchase (yay new runners!). Plus, I felt good that I had done the right thing.

Cut to last week when my iPod went missing. Gone. Lost or stolen, who knows, but it is nowhere to be found. I really can't afford to buy a new one, so my sister is going to lend me her old one for a while. Hopefully mine will turn up in some random place, but holy eff, do I really deserve this? Really? I think if I knew what EXACTLY I did to throw things off balance I would feel a lot better about constantly getting shafted.

Introducing...

Oh, hi.

Ya, so I totally forgot to mention that we have a new guest in our little retirement community.

As of November, we had a 14 and a 13 year old dog. One of them has serious arthritis and can barely make it up the stairs for her twice daily walks. She frequently falls in her own pee puddle while walking. The other one gets increasingly grumpy as time passes and has a gross abscess thing that periodically grows and explodes. They both like when we rub their bunions. They also send our 8 year old cat to the store to pick up their smokes and gin.

Since we are so into the geriatric set, we (I) decided it would be a good idea to adopt a senior kittizen. Meet Osha:




You may recognize Osha since he has been featured on my blog before. Yup, I finally stole him.



No, I didn't actually steal him, but his owners are splitsville, and one of them only wants one cat and one of them doesn't want any cats. His brother got to stay, and this little cuddlebutt got to come stay with us.



He is 18 years old, and has one slightly lazy eye.

He also had a snaggle tooth when he moved in, but it fell out in the first three days he was here. SB was very disappointed and wanted to return him.

He has a nervous tick and blinks a lot.

Last week he had what we think was a seizure. One minute of us thinking he was a goner, then he was totally back to normal. (His new nickname is Grand Mal).

He has asthma, and some respiratory disorders so he is often congested, coughs, and gets a lot of boogers.

He also runs like a raccoon:

I love him so much he makes my heart explode everytime he looks at me.

Simon is adjusting - he is used to cats who want to play, and he is desparate to get Osha to play chase with him. But Osha is old, so usually after a few bats to the head he loses interest and goes to bed. Last night I caught Simon licking his face - after about ten licks he turned his head and lightly bit him on the neck. Osha hit him a few times and walked off. Then Simon leaned over and tried to bite Osha's tail. I stopped him, but I love that he is so determined. He's like "They brought you here to play with me, get on it! I will have you fired...."

Buy me a video game.

I have become slightly addicted to Super Mario Galaxy. I'm not ashamed to admit it. And it's not like I spend the whole day playing, which, although tempting, I am able to refrain from. However, there have been near smackdowns this week as SB is also slightly addicted to NHL 2K9 for the Wii too. And you can only play one game at once, you know.

Santa brought 2K9 for SB - we had rented it and he loved it. Then we had received an HBC gift card for xmas, so we bought Galaxy, which we had also rented. But, there are some games that I can't rent, and am desparate to try.

Mario Kart - Actually, probably not a great idea since my number one challenge when playing any video game is my steering (poor James Bond is constantly getting stuck in corners then blown to bits, sorry dude). But it just looks so FUN! They were sold out when we bought Galaxy, otherwise it may have been a tough choice.

Guitar Hero - all my friends who have played this are totally addicted. And I totally don't want the full band set up, just the two guitars - we have clients who have the full band and there is no way in heck I want all that crap in my apartment. But two guitars I think we can handle. There is a specific bundle I want to buy and Best Buy keeps being sold out. Plus, I've never tried the game so not sure it's actually worth it, or if it's just hype.


Anyway, video game speak over. This weekend we will be attending a wedding show, most likely our last one! We have to finalize a DJ (don't even get me started on this, I'm at the end of my rope with one guy and totally losing it), and look at some options for flowers and cake. Mmmmmm cake. We have chosen invitations, photographer is done, venue is done, dress is ordered, my sister has her dress ordered, best man has been asked. Things are moving along.

Another year, more poop.

So, we made it through another holiday season. It was busy, chaotic, and cold. But we made it, with relatively few hiccups along the way. When I was making the schedule for the two holiday weeks, and had a very difficult time fitting everything in, and I couldn't figure out why because I had cut back the number of clients per day quite substantially from last year, plus we had a few last minute cancellations. But, then I remembered that last year we had a whole extra employee on staff. So, I'm not crazy!

SB was able to take two whole weeks off from work, and he spent one of those weeks helping me with kitty cat visits. I did give him one of the seven days off, but for the most part he was chauffeur and chief pooper scooper extraordinaire.

But, now it's the new year, and 2009 is fixing to be a big one. I don't generally make resolutions, but I have been going through a lot of stuff the last few months, and some focus might do me good. So, a list of things for this year, that are not resolutions, but intentions.

1. Keep up the exercise. I have let this fall by the wayside in the last month and chalked it up to work exhaustion/frustration. But I'm sure it was mostly just laziness. Breaks are good for everyone, but this break is over.

2. Try to be happier. I have a lot of good things going on, and I need to stop letting the bad things take over my days.

3. Set boundaries. See: Try to be happier. Work sucks, I hate it, I'm over it, and am unhappy doing it 80% of the time these days. But, it is what it is and this is the bed I made yadayada. That being said, work is just work and it should start at 9 and end at 5 and not be thought of outside of these hours. I just broke this one by reading and sending an email at 6:15, but I will work on it.

4. Be a better friend. Not that I think I'm a particularly bad friend, but sometimes I'm lazy. So I want to do better. This will also help with "be happier" because my friends make me happy, and often I avoid seeing my friends when I am feeling particularly unhappy.

5. Don't become a bridezilla. So far, SB and I have had a pretty relaxed, carefree, yet organized approach to our wedding, but as the date nears I worry that things will start to spin crazily out of control. So, my goal in this whole thing is to make sure we are focused on the core things that will make us happy, and let all the other stuff happen as it will.

For those of you who haven't seen me in a while....

prepare yourself.


Since May, I have lost 30 pounds.


Actually, I'm officially at like 33, but that's not important to you. What is important is that I will be different the next time you see me from the last time you saw me unless the last time you saw me was 1997.


I haven't been blogging about it because I am famous for writing about stuff I'm going to do, and then I don't do it, then I feel sick even thinking about it (revisit: writing as a career....)


But, this is one thing that I have kicked ass at, and I'm proud of, and yay. My body actually feels better, and I do have more energy for activity than I used to, but the point of this post is not all the wonderful things that have come with weight loss for me.


The point is, my body is different then last time I was this weight. I'm not sure where I am losing the weight, and where I am holding the weight, but right now I am ten pounds heavier than I was in high school (the last ten pounds I aim to lose, by the way) but my body is different. My chest has shrunk. And my legs are smaller. I feel I know this for a fact because I am fitting into a smaller size pants, and bra, than what I wore in high school.

But I am ten pounds heavier than I was then.

Where is the weight hanging out?

I can probably chalk the whole thing up to vanity sizing, I guess, and that would probably be the answer that would drive me the least batty.

Disconnected

I started crying five minutes ago because I was watching eTalk daily (stay with me) and they were talking about this week's Giller awards.

I didn't even know the Gillers were this week.

Who am I? What has happened to my interest, passion, and ambition for literature and writing? I have been reading All the Pretty Horses for two months now and McCarthy is a god to me. I bought 7 summer novels and four of them haven't left the shelf.

More importantly I haven't written a thing in longer than I would like to admit.

My biggest fear is that I will never do this. But I am getting closer to the point where I will be ready to admit it to myself that it's not going to happen. And if I was enjoying what I was doing instead, I may feel differently about it.

But for now, it is embarassing and it is heartbreaking.

You know the saying about finding a penny and picking it up?

I don't think the same thing applies to $20 bills.

Last week I was having a great week. Monday was great. Things were going smoothly. I felt semi-relaxed. Also, Tuesday morning gas went down to 98 cents a liter, and then while on a walk Tuesday I found a $20 bill on the sidewalk. I felt like I had won the lottery! 98 cent gas AND $20???? Ridiculous! What great luck!

Then things started going downhill.

One of our employees informed me she would be cutting her hours back to max two days a week. This after we JUST (literally, two days before) hired a new girl to replace another employee whose last day was Friday.

Then, we had a client who decided, 45 days after service had been provided, to make a service complaint so we would adjust her bill. This complaint, 45 days after service had been provided, coincidentally came three days after the first interest charge had been applied to her account for non-payment. Hmmmmm.

Then we finally sent out our new contracts, which is going well, actually - everyone is very understanding and easy-going. However, I totally didn't think about the impact on my day that receiving responses to about 300 emails would have on my day-to-day. And also trying to keep track of who has responded "I agree".

Friday, our new employee's last day of training, she called in sick. I was terrified she was fixing to quit on us, but no, she started all by herself yesterday and that has been going well.

Today, one of our employees got hit by a car on her bike (the bad luck - it's spreading!), which is how she gets around. She is not hurt, thank heavens! But, her bike needs serious repair. We will lend her a bike, but I am soooooo worried she is going to feel crappy tomorrow and not be able to work. The schedule is so full, I have no idea how I will manage it if she can't work. Fingers crossed. She seemed fine, though, so hopefully I'm worrying for nothing.

And when I got home today, I found that my cat had thrown up on my *pristine* white sheets. They are soaking in spot treatment right now.

Anywho, all of this to say, if you see a $20 on the sidewalk, think twice before you pick it up. I'm also too terrified to spend it.

And then the snow fell, and then I died.

Wow, either I have zero readership or you guys really stink at travel advice!

I have had yet another complaint from the peanut gallery (this time NOT Mummy - thanks Mummy! - but SB! that's right, I'm calling you out!) that not only do I not post enough, but that when I do all I do is complain.

I would beg to differ. These last posts have been full of joy! and exuberance! and excitement! at the upcoming nuptials (finally!). And the rest, well, that's my life, and when something is really fantastic, I'm not stewing about it with a seething need to get it off my chest, I'm enjoying it. And when something sucks and makes me want to hang myself from our balcony, well, then I see it as prudent to try and write about it to work out my feelings before actually knotting the rope. So, I think that you could take my lack of posting as an indicator that life is pretty swell.

This week is not swell. This week I am tempted to sell my condo and buy a shack in the woods and never leave except for milk and eggs and good wireless connection. And this week is long. And it snowed this week.

So, keep those (or at least one) honeymoon destination ideas coming, be thankful you aren't a small business owner, and dig out your mittens and hats.

Not ready for winter

I am very sad that it is almost November. Because then the snow comes. And then I want to crawl into a hole and die.

It has come to my attention (thanks Mummy) that I haven't updated in a while, so here I am. Life seems very boring lately, so I don't have a whole lot to talk about. Work is still annoying as ever, but the contracts are finally going out this week, and then it's all about strategizing for holiday time.

Our wedding venue is booked, as is our photographer, and we are speaking with the DJ this week. Dress is ordered (I went to try it on again a few weeks ago just to see for undergarments, but it still felt 100% perfect). I think we can relax on the other details until the spring. Yay!

On October 5th SB and I ran in the CIBC Run for the Cure, which was awesome, and we have photos and a super funny video of me which I have to upload some day. Since the run, I have been trying to keep up my running fitness and hopefully improve my time so I run 5K 2-3 times per week, aiming for 5 days per week. I have a really hard time committing to anything 5 days a week, for some reason.

I guess that's all - I told you, boring!

Oh, hey, how about some audience participation? We need to plan a honeymoon, but since our wedding is in the middle of September, the Caribbean is out (pesky hurricanes). We're open to suggestions - to date we have a list of: Greece, Italy, Hawaii, Pacific coast of Mexico, Napa Valley. There is also the possibility of a "long weekend" type thing away in the fall, then a hot spot vacation in the winter if all else fails. Where would you go on your honeymoon if you could go anywhere?

Things that just keep dragging on

1. Venue booking - we are still negotiating because SB is so thorough. Thorough is not efficient. Thorough takes a very very long time and gives me panic attacks that he has pissed someone off. In the long run, thorough will most likely be the smartest way to go about things, but it is the most damaging to my mental health.

2. Photographer booking - see above, except they are keen and prompt to respond, so we are stopping by to sign everything and make our deposit tomorrow.

3. Changing a contract for my work clients. We have significantly changed one clause out of two contracts, and changed the format and some of the wording on both. However it has taken us approximately 100 years to do this. Or two weeks. I think I am so impatient because I did the initial write up in English, and have been waiting for SB to translate it to French, and tweak it. I am so glad I didn't have to try to translate, and even more thankful we didn't have to pay someone else to do it, but holy mack I want to send this thing out and forget about it.

4. 90 minute hot yoga classes. When you have had two coffees, a diet Pepsi and about 3 Tbsp of water all day. Holy eff I was dehydrated! I'm such a moron. But, at least I went, something is better than nothing :)

5. My Bell cell phone contract. We have been counting the days until May 24 2009 since June 3 2006, because that is when our contract is done and we will be done with these morons. But, wouldn't you know it my Blackberry from 1957 is slowly deteriorating (it now hangs up on people randomly! Awesome! So professional!), so we may be cancelling early anyway and switching so I can get a new phone. It turns out it isn't as expensive to cancel as I had imagined, PLUS the rate plans at the other company will save us about $100 a month. Sweet.