The Vent - Part 2

[Sprailenes 47]

Ugh that sucks Em. I hope you find a better place. Sounds like this landlord has no heart at all and isn't even willing to negotiate. Oh well his loss, two great tenants will now go elsewhere.

[Krikit 1,164]

*leaves thread feeling thoroughly depressed*

Edited April 30, 2009 by Krikit

[beans 7]

As much as moving sucks...GET OUT THE GUY IS A DOUCHEBAG lol ahem...

[Ban Hammer 13,283]

argh, I am so tired of the kids that hang out in front of the apartment.... all they do is listen to music and swear up a storm... and they do this every freaking evening...

get some crystallized tear gas and spread it around out front.

[JillA 2]

also, after being off blood pressure medication for over a year the doctor has decided to put my hubby back on it because his blood pressure seems a little high.. it is a smaller dosage this time and he only needs to take one pill a day instead of 2 like before but still he is only 27 he shouldn't be having problems with high blood pressure this young..

and what really bugs me is that I am sure the smoking doesn't help and of course he conveniently doesn't mention that he smokes to his doctor..

That sucks, unfortunately age has nothing to do with it.... called essential hypertension, I was diagnosed w/it at the young age of 21! My doctor was stunned because I was a very healthy, active young lady. No smoking, I exercised, vegetarian, not overweight, etc. None of the "classic" high BP explanations. it was so bad she had to send me to a cardiologist to check out my heart and make sure it was normal, which it was. Turns out it's genetics, all my family has high BP so it carried on to me. She put me on a cocktail of 3 different drugs which I've been on since I moved here, then I found this amazing doctor here. He is trying different things and slowly weaning me off my drugs (he disagreed with what my prev doc did) and my BP is staying low! I am so glad I found this doc, I want to be off the meds completely soon. But yes, smoking could be the culprit!

*sigh.. housing drama continues.. In the midst of a recession when rents everywhere else on the planet are decreasing by 3-5% our new landlord has decided to raise the rent by $150.00 / mo. We're already paying $1100.00 for a 2 bedroom now he wants more.. He overbought on the house (has a HUGE mortgage payment) and is "cutting us a deal" at $1250.00.. (he thinks that apts. in our area support $750.00 a bedroom). Uh.. right.. not.. THEN he says.. "you have to look at it this way, it's only $75.00 a person more a month) I think the guy is outta his tree.. We're not two grad students splitting the rent here, we're MARRIED for heavens sakes and combine our expenses.. blah!

I HATE high rents.. and I HATE moving... so what does one do? *grumbles all the way to craigslist.

Damn.... is that a legal amount? I know most provinces/states have a limit on how much the landlord can raise the rent each year, for example no more than 2.5%

Okay... I'm a little annoyed.

BC employers want Canadian references, not those from Texas or anywhere else in the United States. Fair enough. Everyone prefers local references.

But here's the problem: in order to gain references, I apparently require references. I've been attempting to volunteer for various organizations. I figure I could gain some useful references and in the process, actually do some good. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to work.

In order to get "hired" on as a volunteer, I need references. However, since I don't have Canadian references (with the exception of family and that rarely counts), I'm SOL.

You'd think becoming a volunteer wouldn't be so difficult. Most people don't want to give up their relaxation time to "work for free." Yet, here I am, offering to do whatever is needed without pay and I'm still not qualified. Why? Because I need to gain Canadian references.

The only way around this that I can see is by asking my father-in-law or my brother-in-law to act as a reference. I realize they're considered family, but since both have a different surname, no one would know the difference. The trick would be getting them to agree to it. I'm not sure how they feel about lying, which they would be doing in this situation.

Aside from that plan, does anyone here have any advice on what I'm supposed to do?

I think that's ridiculous, obviously you moved there from the US how would you have Cnd references. Also what is the problem with them calling Texas it's not siberia, it's still a bloody reference!

[Udella&Wiz 325]

also, after being off blood pressure medication for over a year the doctor has decided to put my hubby back on it because his blood pressure seems a little high.. it is a smaller dosage this time and he only needs to take one pill a day instead of 2 like before but still he is only 27 he shouldn't be having problems with high blood pressure this young..

and what really bugs me is that I am sure the smoking doesn't help and of course he conveniently doesn't mention that he smokes to his doctor..

Smoking doesn't help for sure. marilyn - I'm only 38 and not a smoker or massively overweight (probably about 15 lbs max) and I have high BP

Stress is the biggie for me...I can't seem to keep it in check (see my other posts about my daughter ) and it affect s my BP. I take a newer Beta blocker called Bystolic. 1 5mg pill per day, works great! Diuretics were what they tried first on me and they were freaking horrible...dizzyness, dry EVERYTHING - from skin to mouth, to nose etc etc....had libido side effects too - I'll leave it at that.

Enter Bystolic and it's like night and day - the beta blocker slows your heart rate, thus the reduction in BP. I actually feel significantly calmer on a daily basisI and I have changed my sodium intake drastically as well - that took about 6 weeks to become accustomed to the 'bare-naked' taste of food without (or with less) salt. Within about 3 weeks my BP had dropped to avery acceptable level around 120/78 and it had previously been 150/100

The one draw back is a I do experience a little more tiredness, but additional sleep wards that off. while exercising it is harder to get your heart rate up, but nothing majorly bad there.

[Flames9_RN 358]

On any of my nursing exams, if I see smoking as one of the answers, 99% of the time, its the one,lol It is just so bad for ya, but do realize it is very difficult to stop, it it were easy, most would stop in an instant. Lot of things can lead to high BP. People think heart issues are for only old people, that just isn't the case.

[Krikit 1,164]

My husband died of a heart attack three weeks past his 31st birthday. He had no history of health problems. The doctor told me that heart attacks are much more likely to kill a younger person than an older person. The older you are, the better your chances of survival. Go figger.

[JillA 2]

My husband died of a heart attack three weeks past his 31st birthday. He had no history of health problems. The doctor told me that heart attacks are much more likely to kill a younger person than an older person. The older you are, the better your chances of survival. Go figger.

That's so sad Krikit! My Dad had a heart attack at age 38, he was driving at the time. He felt the pain and drove himself right to the hospital, otherwise the doctors said he'd never have made it. In the hospital 6 weeks, it was so scary.

[Krikit 1,164]

That's so sad Krikit! My Dad had a heart attack at age 38, he was driving at the time. He felt the pain and drove himself right to the hospital, otherwise the doctors said he'd never have made it. In the hospital 6 weeks, it was so scary.

Wow. Glad he made it through.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Mel's little chihuahua hurt his leg last night. He was jumping from on chair to get on her lap last night and didn't quite make it all the way. He yelped really loudly at first, and wouldn't put any weight on it. But after the initial yelping, he didn't whine, whimper, or even shake. He just can't really put much weight on it. She is scared and thinks we need to take him to a vet. My thinking is that he probably strained the muscle. It's not broken, and there is no tenderness. He will let you touch the area. I really hope he shows some improvement by the time I get home from work. I don't want to have to go spend money that we don't have, but what can you do. He's like a son almost

[BermyCat 1]

One of my family's toy poodles had the exact same thing happen. She missed the couch, yelped, then wouldn't really put wieght on one leg. She allowed us to palpate the leg also. It didn't feel broken to us either and we had been breeding toy poodles for years. When I took her to the vet I volunteered at, x-rays showed that the leg was indeed broken.

I know it costs money, but please take Mel's dog to the vet.

~ Catherine

[DeadPoolX 9]

Such a catch 22 DPX.

Sorry no advice to offer. But I think asking the in-laws is fine. I am sure they'd be happy to do it, as I am sure they get that its not easy starting over and would do anything to help.

I think my brother-in-law would do that over my father-in-law. I'm not positive, of course, but he's had work issues in the past and might understand my position better. He's not a "social butterfly" either, so meeting others is sometimes difficult for him.

While my father-in-law is a nice guy and likes me, he has somewhat odd ideas about meeting people. He's told my wife (and me indirectly) that we should just "go out and meet other people." How does that work? Unless there's some sort of common interest, meeting someone else is pretty damn difficult. What are we supposed to do? Go up to a stranger and start chatting? I can't imagine that'd end on a good note.

I am sure not all Canadian employers want only Canadian references..

I know when I was applying for work here in the US a few people seemed to not like the fact that I didn't have any US references but most didn't seem to care...

I'm sure some employers would be happy with references from anywhere. However, the trick is finding those employers. In my experience so far, most employers seem reluctant to call the U.S., if for no other reason, it'll cost them if they lack a good long-distance plan.

Regardless, I'm just amazed that volunteering is do damn hard. It's unbelievable that I have to jump through so many hoops simply to work for someone else without pay. You'd think these organizations would always be short-staffed, but apparently they're not.

I think that's ridiculous, obviously you moved there from the US how would you have Cnd references. Also what is the problem with them calling Texas it's not siberia, it's still a bloody reference!

It seems that fact is lost on them. It's difficult to move to a new country (as I'm sure everyone here is well aware) and in doing so, most -- if not all -- of your references are from your original country.

Yeah, I'd have imagined that calling Texas wouldn't be too bad. I guess I'm wrong. Hell, one of the references I gave is a friend in northern California, which is a little closer to BC than Texas! How is that any farther away (and any less long-distance) than calling someone in Ontario?

[Emancipation 2]

Thanks guys for the thoughts.. we are looking in our neighborhoods and there are PLENTY of openings for 1100 and less, so it looks like we may end up SAVING a little money in this move.. *sigh.. I just hate to pack up.. or rather pack up the ####### we have.. Oh and it does appear CT doesn't have limits on the % of increase.. unless it's like 50% when you have a baby or something and it's some form of discrimination.

Edited April 30, 2009 by Emancipation

[Marilyn. 340]

argh, I am so tired of the kids that hang out in front of the apartment.... all they do is listen to music and swear up a storm... and they do this every freaking evening...

get some crystallized tear gas and spread it around out front.

yeah that would go over well in this neighborhood