Over $1600 Raised! Wow!

This is so incredible!  I'm right up there with Penny Arcade and GrubberGamer, of all sites!  This is amazing!  The Mario Marathon this year has raised over $75K $76K so far and 100% of the proceeds will go to Child's Play Charity. They buy video games, consoles, toys and books for kids in hospitals around the world so that they can feel like regular kids, if even for a little while. 

Additionally, studies have shown that by having these items of play around, children tend to heal faster and are less prone to infections and such as they are in a better place, mentally. The hospital staff also use the items of play as tools to help either explain to the kid whatever procedures they may have to go through, or to distract them from being potentially scared by the explanations.  

I'm so proud to be able to be a part of this and I want to thank each and every one of you who have contributed towards this amazing cause (and an extra special thanks to those who push the donations through my blog).  As a parent, it's heartening to know that should my child ever have to spend time in a hospital, people all over the world will have made it possible to bring a glimmer of fun and childishness into an other bleak situation. 

But it isn't over yet.  The marathon is still going strong.  So far 736 of 786 potential levels have been unlocked, and they have completed 650 of the paid levels.  Check out www.mariomarathon.com and watch.  It's incredibly fun and interactive.  If you feel inspired to give, click on the Donations button.  On the right-hand side of the page, you'll see a text box titled "Partner Sites".  Click on www.mindo-canadian.blogspot.com and then click "Donate via mindo-canadian.blogspot.com".  I am currently in fourth place on the list of Partner Sites.  I'm not trying to get the top dog spot.  I am more than happy to be "losing" (no one's losing here) to Penny Arcade and GrubberGamer.com but I think if this tiny little blog, that isn't even one year old can stay firmly in the top ten it would encourage more people to put the widget on their site as it shows that anyone can make a contribution.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that this blog would be able to raise as much as it has, and I couldn't be prouder.  If you can't donate, please help spread the word .  Let's keep it going, everyone!

PS: I want to give an extra special thanks to @CoW_mAn, @malfunct, @GrubberGamer, @MMStats and @MarioMarathon for giving me so much support!  You're all amazing people and hold a special place in my heart!

Donor Push, take 2

Alright fans, we're going to do this again.


For the next three hours (it is currently 3:45 PDT) the person who donates the most amount of money for the Mario Marathon through my blog I will write a post of their choosing.  Conditions are the same: I will not write a post that violates the well established rules of the Mario Marathon itself (no cursing, no hating, no adult subject matter) but other than that it's fair game! We already have one winner and once he tells me what he wants me to write about, I'll get on it ASAP.

So send those donations in and let's raise some money for sick kids!

Much love and good luck!

PS:  In order for me to know that you've donated through my blog (you can refer this site's URL through the MarioMarathon website when donating.  The url is www.mindo-canadian.blogspot.com) and how much you've donated and what you want the post to be about, you will need to either comment on this post or tweet me at @stjohn_hippo.  At the end of the hour, I will the Mario Marathon guys and then get cracking on the post.

Donor Push

Hey guys,

If you're following my blog at all you know that I'm a huge supporter of the Mario Marathon.  The Marathon is currently on day three and as of right now they have raised over $58,000 worth of donations and I'm so very proud, humbled and amazed to see that $1197.60 $1222.60 of that has come through this blog, placing me in the fourth spot for Partner Sites.  You guys ROCK, but I know we can do better than this.

For the next hour three hours (it is currently 12:20 PDT) the person who donates the most amount of money for the Mario Marathon through my blog I will write a post of their choosing.  Now obviously, there are some conditions: I will not write a post that violates the well established rules of the Mario Marathon itself (no cursing, no hating, no adult subject matter) but other than that it's fair game! 

So send those donations in and let's raise some money for sick kids!

Much love and good luck!

PS:  In order for me to know that you've donated through my blog (you can refer this site's URL through the MarioMarathon website when donating.  The url is www.mindo-canadian.blogspot.com) and how much you've donated and what you want the post to be about, you will need to either comment on this post or tweet me at @stjohn_hippo.  At the end of the hour, I will the Mario Marathon guys and then get cracking on the post.

Today is my birthday

But I don't want to talk about that (though, thank you to everyone who took some time out of their day to wish me a happy birthday.  That was incredibly touching!)

I want to, again, talk about the Mario Marathon.  The event starts tomorrow at 11AM EST and already they have raised almost over $12,000 (update: as I was writing this post, they surpassed $12,000!).  In fact, they've raised more than the grand total of the first ever Mario Marathon, and it hasn't even started yet!  I don't know that I've ever gone into why I support the Mario Marathon so much.  In my first post about the marathon, I touched on the viewer interactivity a bit, but today I want to expand on that a little more.

Over the years, my partner and I have become regular viewers of the marathon.  Whenever they broadcast anything (such as testing the picture in picture, writing code for the Wheel of Awesome, practicing SMB3, or sewing Toad hats), we try to pop in to the social stream and watch what's going on and interact with the other viewers as well as with whomever is broadcasting at that time.  Since there are a number of people who do the same, it's turned into quite an online community.  There are a good number of people in the Mario Marathon who I consider a friend and there are often talks of meet-ups at some convention or another.  As far as I know, a handful of these people have, in fact, met IRL.

In this community we support one another.  There's a section on the Mario Marathon website that highlights partner sites (thanks to everyone for your generous donations and keeping me in the #1 spot!  Let's see if we can keep it that way, hey?) and while there's some friendly competition going on between us, we still are super proud of each others accomplishments.  One of the other top partner sites is GrubberGamer.com, and boy are they catching up to me fast!

GrubberGamer.com is a site that scours the internet for deals (either through online retailers, marketplaces and specialty stores) looking for the best video game deals and discounts.  They have done a great job of finding a way for every day people who really love gaming but can't afford big box store prices to get the games they want without harming their wallet.  If you're a gamer (or a gamer groupie, like I am), I encourage you to check out their website.  It's run by amazing people (check them out on twitter, @GrubberGamer) who won't lead you astray in your affordable video game needs.

But donate through my blog to the Mario Marathon, mmkay? Consider it a birthday present.

5 More Days!!

In five short days (one of them being my birthday!), the Mario Marathon starts.  In five days, 4 grown men (with the help/support of their significant others/children/employers/friends) are going to sacrifice sleep, showers, proper meals, privacy, and sleep for an undetermined amount of time.  In five days, they're going to give hours, and days of their own time for charity. 

In five days, they're going to play Mario games.

That's right, Mario games. 

It's quite amazing, actually.  If you haven't yet, go check out some of their previous Mario Marathons (this is the fourth year of marathons) and watch the hilarity unfold as they sit around, playing video games and encouraging people to donate to Child's Play Charity.  If you're a regular follower of this blog, you're a person of class and incredibly intelligent, and you also remember that I wrote a post about what the Mario Marathon and Child's Play Charity is all about.  If you haven't read it yet, that's alright, I forgive you.  But as a penance, you should probably go to that little wiget I have on the side and donate.  It's to the right of your screen.  See it?  It's under the list of posts and above my bio.  Yeah, that blue box there that says Mario Marathon in really cool font.  Click it.  Click it, now. 

Can't donate?  That's okay.  Come check out the marathon and see for yourself how amazing these guys are, and how much fun this marathon is.  With any luck, it will inspire you to spread the word which in turn might generate more donations for this awesome cause. 

Pox Parties

Have you heard of/have gone to a Pox Party?

From Wikipedia: "A pox party is a party held by parents for the purpose of infecting their children with childhood diseases, most commonly chickenpox, thus acquiring some immunity to the disease.^[1] According to the Washington Post, parents who expose their children to the virus in this manner believe that this method is "safer and more effective than using vaccines."^[2] Similar ideas have been applied to other diseases such as measles. In the case of chicken pox, and also some other diseases such as mumps and hepatitis A, the course of the disease is typically less severe in children than adults."

Would you send your kid to one? I have a 4 year old, and we opted not to get his chicken pox vaccine because we felt that it was an unnecessary medical intervention.  Since chicken pox isn't life threatening (except maybe in rare cases), in my opinion, there's no need to get a vaccine for it.  Other people have different opinions on that matter, and I certainly won't tell them that they are wrong for thinking the way they do.  No one knows what's best for your child other than you (except in the case of medical emergencies, IMO). 

Anyhow, a friend mine's youngest child just got chicken pox.  I'm thinking about asking the mom if I can take the little man over for a play date.  I was talking to my partner about this very thing yesterday so it almost feels like it's fate. 

Here's the dilemma: I'm still off work on medical leave.  It's really hard for me to interact with my child right now unless he's hanging out on the bed with me.  I have trouble walking, standing bending over and sitting.  Do I want to intentionally make my child sick, knowing that I won't be at my best to take care of him? 

The child's been sick for a couple of days now, so she's probably not contagious anymore but I really see the benefit of having our kid get the chicken pox now rather than when they're older.  They're more likely to scratch the lesions to the point of scarring (I did) and they'd likely miss out on school once they're school aged, either when there's an outbreak or when they actually get the chicken pox, so there's that concern too.  Our son starts school in another year, so the window's starting to close up. 

What to do.  What to do.

What would you do?

Adventures in Customer Service: UPDATE

So I got a call from a supervisor of the Scene Points program today.  She apologized up and down for their impersonal customer service and massive delay in getting me the points.  She explained that they did have trouble finding the SMS message that was sent to me amid the thousands of messages that were sent to and from Scene customers and apologized that it wasn't clearly explained to me in my previous attempts to get the points credited to my account.

She told me that I would be getting the points put into my account in no longer than 24 hours from now plus she awarded me an additional bit of points (in fairness to Scene, I'm not going to disclose the number of points).  That was really cool of them to call me directly to apologize and tell me about they plan on making things right.  The bonus points was pretty cool too.  That was completely unexpected and not something I was angling for.  I just wanted the free movie points that I won.  She ended the call, apologizing for about the tenth time.

So I'm pleased a punch now.

As I sit here typing out this blog, I get another call.  It was the supervisor again, calling to let me know that the points have been added to my account (no less than 5 minutes after our previous conversation) and that she checked personally to make sure that it went through and she wanted to let me know this.

Wow!  That additional call was totally unneeded and totally amazing customer service.  In those few short moments, she totally eradicated all the negativity I was feeling towards them.  Good customer service costs you nothing, bad customer can cost you millions.  They seem to be aware of this, and took the right steps to prove that.

Thank you Kirsten and thank you Scene!

Well, hell...

When I was a teenager, I used to write poetry all the time, and some of it was even good!  I had this great English teacher (though at the time, I thought he was a total nutbag who just happened to have momentary flashes of genius) who really encouraged my writing.  He would make the class listen to artists like Simon and Garfunkle, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan and write our own lyrics to some of their classics.  He would have us compare and contrast Bob Dylan and Dylan Thomas. I would write three to five poems a week. 

Now...nothing.

I try every now and then but it just feels forced. Looking back at the poetry I had written in the past, it was often pretty angst ridden but then I was a teenager, of comes with the territory.

Drunken Tail (this was written in the mind set of a lot of my peers at the time who loved nothing more than the taste of booze hitting their lips.  It depressed me a bit, because.. well because it's depressing knowing that your 16 year old friends were on the fast track to alcoholism/drug addiction.  Even typing this out now makes me a little sad.  I have a teenaged sister, and this is just terrifying) 

I don't know what to write

I don't know what to think

I don't know how to walk a line

Ev'ry time I drink this drink

I don't know where to say

I don't know what to look

I don't know how to stagger home

'Cuz my keys somebody took

To you, I might seem stupid

To me, I seem so smart

'Cuz to coherent think I do so well

It's almost like an art

Mommy, why you look so sad?

I made it home so soon

Is it 'cuz I'm drunk. for the second time

Even know it's only noon?

I know you think I'm a drunk

And you're probably a little right

But I'm only drunk thrice a day

And a couple times at night

And now I end my tale

As I mumble this strange thing

I'll read this in the morning

But I won't remember a thing 

Ode to Reena Virk (or Common Thread) (This was written for a friend's homework assignment that was due about 20 minutes after I wrote this.  Reena Virk was a teenaged girl who was brutally murdered near Victoria, BC and this was written during one of the many trials of the accused.. now guilty) 

We taunt and tease 

The different sons

To please the desires

Of the cooler ones

Dear Reena Virk

You have been wronged

You didn't deserve

Kelly's efforts to belong

You were attacked and beaten

Then left for dead

"We didn't do it!" 

The murderers said

Broken you were

At such a young age

Victoria's the place

Where your mother tears

This isn't a phase

Where we create the dead

This young woman's violence

Is a common thread. 

Undefined (I was in an angsty mood.  I was 17, what can I say?) 

I write the words

To ease the pain

But the pain is still there

What do I do now?

I say

Nothing

You reply

How do I change

The Circumstances?

I wasn't given a chance

Shot down I was.

Damn 

All you gun totin' Americans

Who's your president now?

Why I Love Coke More than Pepsi (Again, more 17 year old angst) 

Confusion is key

2 sanctity

Frustration's what I 

Need to be free...

Detruction unwanted.

Defamation common theme

Love unknown

Kindness unheard of

And everything we see is a registered trademark

of Coca-Cola 

Thoughts Within (The emo melodrama is kinda funny, looking back at it now.  I wrote this when I was 16) 

How did it happen?

When did it start?

How did it come to be

The day you stole my heart?

It seemed like forever

It seemed like three years

But it only took three, short weeks

To erase away the fears

Did you really love me?

Did you really care?

Did you really want forever?

Or this short-term love affair?

I wanted it forever

I wanted it to last

I wanted it - more than all the rest - 

To be different from the past

You're just like all the others

Baby, all you did was lie

The only time you told the truth

Was the night you made me cry

Now that things are different

Now that we're just friends

You remember when all you did was lie

Right to the bitter end

Now you want me back again

You want another chance

To prove your love will be no lie

If we start a new romance

But there's something you don't realize

Something you just don't understand

There's someone in the picture now

Someone to hold my hand

He cares for me, he comforts me

He never lets me go

He understands the pain I felt

He knows what there is to know

It hurts to see what you could have had

When you see what I have with him

But you understand, and it means a lot

When you keep your thoughts within 

By Their Own Hands - In Memory of Kurt Cobain (This is really disjointed. I considered refining it, so that it was at least narrated by one person, but I felt it was best to maintain the manic...prose)  

By their own hand

Their world came to an end

By their own hand

They had a message to send

By their own hand

They faded away

By their own hand

They had this to say:

If I say my heart is broke

Then help me try to mend it!

Don't ignore the words I spoke

By not trying to fix it

April 5ht was the day for him

But is it the day for you?

Ending it was the way for him

But is it the way for you?

I will always have something to say

So don't shut me up

I will not go away

So don't lock me up

By my own hand

I have brought up defeat

By my own hand

A victory bittersweet

By my own hand

I have ended today

By my own hand

I have no more to say 

These days, I can come up with a good line or two, sometimes even a full stanza but anything more than that is just not happening.  I sometimes wonder why it is that I can't write poetry anymore, but then looking back at these pieces, perhaps I never really could?  

Adventures in Customer Service

For the past month and a half (give or take a few days) I have been grappling with the Scene Points program.  Scene points is a program put on by Scotiabank that allows their customers, but the use of their Scene debit card or Scene VISA card combined with the Scene points card to build up points that will evenutally earn them free movie passes.  You don't even need to be a Scotiabank customer, you can simply use the Scene points card.

Sometime around mid to late April, I received an SMS message from the Scene short code offering me a chance to end a contest to either win tickets to the playoffs or free movie or something of that nature.  I replied, figuring it couldn't hurt.  April 26th I get a text saying that I won a free movie! That was pretty exciting, since I never win anything.  All I had to do was answer a skill testing question and then they'll credit my account 1000 points, within three business days, so that I can view a movie, free.  Seems simple enough, right?

Well, it's June 8th and I still haven't seen my points!  I called them early May (after the 3 business days had come and gone) just to see what was going on and when I can expect those points.  The Customer Service rep on the phone couldn't sound more disinterested and after repeating the complaint to me incorrectly and me correcting her a couple of times, she said she'd pass on the complaint and that I'll be contacted via email within a few days.

This is the email I received:

Good day,

Thank you for your recent contact with our Customer Care Centre.

Please be advised that they text you describe receiving was in order to enter for a chance to win 1000 SCENE points. This contest closed April 28th and the winner have been contacted. 

Should you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us by email or call us at 1-866-586-2805. Our office hours are 8:00 am- 9:00 pm Monday - Friday, and 8:00 am - 5:00 pm on Saturday (Eastern Time).

Thanks for your loyalty to the Scene program,

Not being too pleased with the brush off, I replied:

Hello,

I was contacted by Scene to say that I won a free movie.  I was told the points would be credited to my account.  It wasn't.  I would just like to know when I can expect the points.

I have attached photos of the SMS messages that indicate that I have won a free movie (by way of 1000 points) and that I need to answer a skill testing question in order to qualify and that I have correctly answered the STQ and that my account would be credited in 5 business days.  The photo also includes my Scene card as way of proof that I actually was the one who had received the SMS messages.

The messages were sent to my phone on April 26, 2011 at 13:01 PST and 13:03 PST. 

Please respond.

The SMS that says I need to answer the STQ

The SMS that says I won the free movie and that my account would be credited in 3 business days

This was how Scene responded:

Good day,

Thank you for your recent contact with our Customer Care Centre.

An investigation has been initiated on your behalf into this issue. Please allow 10-15 business days for this investigation. You will be contacted at the e-mail address we have on file for you once we have any information on this matter.

Should you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us by email or call us at 1-866-586-2805. Our office hours are 8:00 am- 9:00 pm Monday - Friday, and 8:00 am - 5:00 pm on Saturday (Eastern Time).

Thanks for your loyalty to the Scene program,

So, frustrated, I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  I complained a bit on Twitter, but the people managing the Scene Twitter account were as uninterested as the Service Rep I spoke with earlier.  I called the Call Centre once more and again I was told I will be emailed and I just need to sit tight and wait for a reply.

I got one:

Good day,

Thank you for your recent contact with our Customer Care Centre.

We have reviewed your account and we have found no record of this message being sent to the phone numbers on your SCENE account. If you could please provide the phone number where you received this text we will have this information forwarded for review. 

Should you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us by email or call us at 1-866-586-2805. Our office hours are 8:00 am- 9:00 pm Monday - Friday, and 8:00 am - 5:00 pm on Saturday (Eastern Time).

Thanks for your loyalty to the Scene program,

Upset, I reply:

Helllo,

I SENT the photos that showed that I received a text from Scene (from short code 72363)!  I don't understand why Scene is so incredibly resistant to just giving me the points you said you would.  On a customer service level, this is an unbelievable disappointment.  My phone number is ***-***-****.  At the very least, even if you contend that you don't have a record of the message being sent on my account, I'm still owed the points.  It was sent from your short code; you need to honour that.  I think I've more than sufficiently proven that I was sent an SMS by Scene stating that I will be awarded the points within five business days.  It's been well over a month now.  What more must I prove to you that which you have already done?  Is this how you treat all your "winners"?  You end your correspondence with "Thank you for your loyalty...".  Where's your loyalty to the customers?  It's hard to remain loyal to a company who doesn't keep their word.

Regards,

I got a faster reply this time.  I only had to wait four days for them to get back to me.  Tell me if this looks at all familiar:

Good day,

Thank you for your recent contact with our Customer Care Centre.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. Please allow 10-15 business days for this investigation.  You will be contacted at the e-mail address we have on file for you once we have any information on this matter.

Should you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us by email or call us at 1-866-586-2805. Our office hours are 8:00 am- 9:00 pm Monday - Friday, and 8:00 am - 5:00 pm on Saturday (Eastern Time).

Thanks for your loyalty to the Scene program,

At this point I'm incredulous at the ridiculousness of the situation:

Hello,


So let me get this straight, I have to wait yet another 10 - 15 business days?  Do you realize that this has been an ongoing issue for 34 days now (23 business days, if you prefer)?  Do you realize that you sent me this exact email  16 business days ago?  What more must I do to prove that I received a SMS message from Scene's short code?  Is there a number I can forward the message to?  Is there an office in Vancouver I can physically bring my phone in to, to show that I am the owner of the phone that the SMS message was sent to.


I am blown away at the incredible resistance Scene is showing in issuing these points.  I would have to assume that it is costing your company much more to "resolve" this issue (which, there has been simply no headway in that regard) than it would to just issue the points.  Especially when you consider that I would more than likely spend at least the equivalent amount at your concession stores.  Are all the man hours wasted on denying me the points worth saving Scene/Scotiabank those measly 1000 points?


Thank you,

So that's where things are now.  Ordinarily, I would probably have dropped the issue by now, but this just pisses me off.  They're giving the Customer Service industry a bad name.  I work in the Customer Service industry, and I take me job seriously.  I really don't like it when companies like Scene perpetuate the stereotype that all Call Centres/Customer Service companies are bots or outsourced or that the reps just don't give a hoot about you or your situation.  It insults me, professionally as well as personally.

What do you do in these situations?  Do you dig your heels or do you just let things go?