More of Bailey!

Bailey has been a part of our lives for almost two months now.  Housetraining continues to be a challenge, and apparently we have to be very strict with his diet otherwise he breaks out into a nasty rash and scratches himself silly, but other than that things are going well.  He's starting to socialize with other puppies at the puppy park and gets plenty of attention from everyone... and he obviously loves it!

So without much further ado, here are a few more pictures of Bailey. 

Bailey looking adorable at the puppy park.  He's so cute and he milks it big time!!!

Bailey makes a new friend at the park.

My niece, Emma, meets Bailey for the first time.  They had such a great time together!

Bailey has arrived!

It's true.  Peter and I are parents now.    This is our little guy, Bailey.

Bailey was born on June 6, 2008, but we were only able to pick him up from the breeder last Sunday.  In case you're not sure what breed he is, he's a French Bulldog.  (He's got the tell-tale bat ears)

This past week has been quite the eye opening experience.  The puppy and Peter and I were trying to get used to the new living arrangement. 

Bailey is adorable, but definitely a handfull!  He requires constant attention when he's awake... which isn't often actually.  He sleeps a big part of the day away... but he also goes to sleep with us between 11 and midnight and wakes us up at around 6:30 a.m.  Needless to say, we don't have to worry about sleeping in anymore!

There are a lot more pictures of Bailey on facebook.  Click HERE if you want to see the album.  And trust me, there will be many more to come! 

*YAWN*

I'm bored.

The job hunt continues.  In the mean time, I've been killing time this week doing the usual stuff: cleaning, reading stuff on line, watching TV, and going to the gym.  I've also been having lunch with friends just so that I have real, face to face human contact instead of chatting with people on line.

Other than that, it's been a "BodyCombat" week for me.  I'm helping out with the release of BodyCombat #36, so I've been hitting the gym a lot in the last week.  I will go again tonight, tomorrow, and this weekend.    It's a good release, so I don't mind helping out the other instructors.  They also help me out with my classes.  Plus, I need to call on them to cover my classes now and then... like for the August long weekend when Peter and I head up to Montreal for Pride.  I'm definitely looking forward to that!

On a more positive note: loving the summer weather! 

Lack of competition = high prices

Time for a rant.

I love Canada.  Really, I do.  I think it's the greatest place in the world to live.  However, I'm not delusional.  Canada does have its share of short comings.  I'm not talking about the crazy winters or the seperatists in Quebec.  No, I'm talking about cell phones.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Canadian mobile phone landscape, there are basically three service providers: Telus, Bell, and Rogers.  (I won't include Fido because it is part of Rogers, and Koodo is part of Telus.)  Other lesser players include Virgin Mobile and Solo, which basically buy capacity from and operate on Bell's network.  Only Rogers & Fido operate on the GSM standard.  All the others use CDMA.

This limited number of carriers has meant that Canadians have been paying too much for mobile phone service.  It's Economics 101: when you have an oligopoly (a market dominated by a few sellers), the lack of competition generally results in higher prices and a lack of innovation.  This is particularly true in Canada where within the oligopoly, Rogers is the only carrier to have a GSM network.  This means that cell phone manufacturers that want to sell their GSM phones in Canada, such as Nokia or Sony Ericsson, either have to work exclusively with Rogers, or adapt their models to work on CDMA networks.  Some, like Motorola and RIM, have chosen to do work with all carriers.  It also means that, with the exception of RIM, most manufacturers bring their phones to Canada much later than they do to countries in Asia and Europe.  For example, the Sony Ericsson phone I came back to Toronto with in 2005 was introduced in Canada in 2006, or about 18 months after I got it in Taiwan.

Where am I going with this?  You'll see.

Enter the Apple iPhone!

Steve Jobs annouced that the new 3G iPhone would be sold in a number of countries around the world, including Canada, starting July 11, 2008.  People got excited!  Finally, a state of the art phone is coming to Canada!  It didn't surprise anyone that Rogers got the phone since it has the only network that can support the iPhone.  But what did shock people were the price plans and the contracts.  I won't go into details, but basically if you want an iPhone, you have to sign a THREE-year contract with Rogers for monthly service that starts at $60/month.  However, if you add in the "System Access Fee", taxes, and basic features like call display, you're looking at close to $100/month for three years.  There is no other option.  If you want an iPhone, you're stuck with Rogers for 36 months, and if you cancel the service early, you get hit with a cancelation penalty of up to $400.  The clincher is that none of the Rogers service plans include unlimited data plans, unlike in other places, so if you're not careful with your iPhone, you could end up paying a whole lot more.  Oh the joys of having a monopoly! 

So if you're set on an iPhone, have fun with your long term relationship with Ted.

What do you do if you're mad as hell at this injustice?  Do what 50,000 other people have done: sign an online petition that Rogers seems to be unphased by and unconcerned with.

An alternative: switch to another carrier.  Bell and Telus are trying to compete with the iPhone by introducing alternatives, like the Samsung Instinct and the HTC Diamond.  They are even offering unlimited data plans.  But watch out for the fine print.  Bell's SAF is almost $9/month, and today Bell & Telus announced that they would be charging for incoming text messages.

What about Virgin?  Solo?  Koodoo?  Sure, you can go with them if all you want is a basic cell phone.  But if you want a Blackberry or iPhone or equivalent, you're stuck with the big three and their outrageous fees.

So why do I care?  Because three year bond to Rogers is almost up and I'm thinking about what to do next.  Do I tie myself to Rogers for another three years just to get a discount on a new phone?  I think not.  I'm going to wait and see what happens with the spectrum auction that's been going on here in Canada.  In theory, new entrants will come into the cell phone market meaning more competitors, which means prices will come down.  Again, this is in theory.  The new entrants will want to differentiate themselves from the existing players, and will likely be aggressive in their efforts to attract customers (read: steal) to their company.  The big players will have to respond.  Or maybe they won't.  It all remains to be seen.

For now, I'm just curious to see if the rumours are true: Did Apple give Rogers a slap on the wrist and limit the number of iPhones to Canada in time for the launch on Friday?  Curious minds want to know.  I want to know!

Currently Reading Buzzmarketing: Get People to Talk About Your Stuff By Mark Hughes see related

In case you were interested... an update :-)

Next Friday, June 20, 2008, I'll collect that piece of paper I've been working my butt off to get for the past two academic years.  I'll have my Master of Business Administration and shift from student to alumni of the Rotman School of Management.  Sweet!

I actually wrapped up my academic responsibilities on April 24, 2008 at 4 p.m. when I put my pen down at my last exam.  That morning I had submitted my final paper for another class, so there was nothing left for me to do after that exam except drop my stuff off at Peter's place and go out for dinner to celebrate.  And boy did we celebrate!  We went to George, had the tasting menu with wine pairings, and left three hours later very happy (read: drunk) and full.  Not the kind of thing you can do every weekend, but definitely acceptable for a special occassion. 

For the past two months I've been applying for jobs like a mad man, and I'm happy to say that I'm finally making progress in that area.  I've had interviews with a few different companies, both over the phone and in person, and am now playing the waiting game.  I hope that by the end of the month I'll have secured a job and can move forward with my career. 

Aside from job hunting I've been hitting the gym regularly, teaching BodyCombat classes, reading, downloading podcasts, babysitting my niece now and then, and hanging out with friends.  When school ended it was a bit of a shock to the system because I'd been going full tilt for almost two years and then it all came to an abrupt stop.  I went from having no time to having nothing to do, and being the A-type that I am, I quickly found other things to keep me busy like cleaning Peter's apartment.    Eventually I learned to just relax, so although I still try to keep the apartment tidy, I don't obsess too much and spend a good amount of time just enjoying the weather, chatting with friends, and relaxing.  Soon I'll be working full time and missing these days, so I'll enjoy them while I can.

At the end of the month Pride celebrations will be popping up all over North America, including Toronto, so I'm looking forward to that.  Anyone have any exciting plans?