![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Feb. 11th, 2013 08:37 amVery quiet weekend due to a good sized snowstorm on Saturday. While it wasn't quite as bad in the city as they said it would be, it was still over a foot of snow. The rest of the province away from the water got it a lot harder, as did other areas of the east coast. The winds were really high too and that caused damage. We are supposed to get a little more tonight and then it's turning to rain. Which is also typical.
I spent the weekend mainly catching up on video and stuff i'd recorded, and reading. Made a nice chicken soup in the slow cooker on Saturday and had that to keep me warm as well.
Wow, I just read that Pope Benedict will resign at the end of the month. I don't really mind one way or the other but it is significant in that it's been 600 years since the last time one quit. He says he's not strong enough to continue. And then you think about little John Paul II who kept going even while he was ill. I suppose, at 85, he probably isn't strong enough to do the job. There's been a lot of pressure on the Catholic church with the corruption and abuses being uncovered all over the place. I don't think anyone should get their hopes up, though, the church is never going to change it's main points of reference (i.e. no women priests, abortion, same sex marraige etc)
In Canada, the cell phone companies have a lock down on people. If you go with the pay as you go plan, you *must* top up regularly to keep your service and if you go for a contract, most of them are locked into 3 years. You can't get unlocked phones easily and roaming fees are scandalously high. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommuncations Commission, aka CRTC, is having hearings this week on things like that. The main issue people are griping about is the three year contract and the high fees you have to pay to get out of it early. One of the reasons there are longer contracts is so that people don't have to pay up front for the expensive phones. You always see advertising for a smartphone for nothing or under 100$ with a 3 year contract. It subsidizes the cost and you cant' get a smart phone without a contract, I don't think. And that's probably fair because the data plans would probably be astronomical if you paid as you used them. Or not. But then why have a smart phone if you aren't going to take advantage of it?
I don't have one. I have a phone that has a little keyboard for texting. I pay as i go, though the way i do it, i pay 100$ but that means it's good for a year rather than have to pay every month. It works out a little cheaper than the cheapest monthly top up. I really don't use a phone a whole lot so I get away with the least expense I can manage. The CTRC does have the ability to recommend rules and regulations for things like that. I have my doubts but they may do something useful.
I spent the weekend mainly catching up on video and stuff i'd recorded, and reading. Made a nice chicken soup in the slow cooker on Saturday and had that to keep me warm as well.
Wow, I just read that Pope Benedict will resign at the end of the month. I don't really mind one way or the other but it is significant in that it's been 600 years since the last time one quit. He says he's not strong enough to continue. And then you think about little John Paul II who kept going even while he was ill. I suppose, at 85, he probably isn't strong enough to do the job. There's been a lot of pressure on the Catholic church with the corruption and abuses being uncovered all over the place. I don't think anyone should get their hopes up, though, the church is never going to change it's main points of reference (i.e. no women priests, abortion, same sex marraige etc)
In Canada, the cell phone companies have a lock down on people. If you go with the pay as you go plan, you *must* top up regularly to keep your service and if you go for a contract, most of them are locked into 3 years. You can't get unlocked phones easily and roaming fees are scandalously high. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommuncations Commission, aka CRTC, is having hearings this week on things like that. The main issue people are griping about is the three year contract and the high fees you have to pay to get out of it early. One of the reasons there are longer contracts is so that people don't have to pay up front for the expensive phones. You always see advertising for a smartphone for nothing or under 100$ with a 3 year contract. It subsidizes the cost and you cant' get a smart phone without a contract, I don't think. And that's probably fair because the data plans would probably be astronomical if you paid as you used them. Or not. But then why have a smart phone if you aren't going to take advantage of it?
I don't have one. I have a phone that has a little keyboard for texting. I pay as i go, though the way i do it, i pay 100$ but that means it's good for a year rather than have to pay every month. It works out a little cheaper than the cheapest monthly top up. I really don't use a phone a whole lot so I get away with the least expense I can manage. The CTRC does have the ability to recommend rules and regulations for things like that. I have my doubts but they may do something useful.
